novelHire Chapter 869: Cangyun Mountain and River Map
Chapter 869: Cangyun Mountain and River Map
...Cangyun Realm, Upper Realm Cloud Pavilion.
White Sword's fingers lightly tapped on the go board, producing crisp, rhythmic *tock-tock* sounds.
"Forcing the pace of growth..."
He repeated Real Person Jade Compassion's words. In his eyes, perpetually covered in frost, a rare flash of contemplation appeared.
"That's not wrong."
"A bunch of immortals with empty realms who have never even seen blood. On the battlefield, they'd just be higher-grade rations for that Divine System of Earth Star."
"Since that's the case, then give them time."
White Sword slowly stood up.
He gazed into the void, pondered for a moment, then abruptly extended his right hand towards the ethereal, empty sky beside him.
"Come out."
Just two simple words.
*Whoosh—*
From the depths of the void, the thunderous roar of a great river surging suddenly sounded.
It wasn't just the sound of water; it was the sound of time flowing.
Behold, a long river with no visible head or tail, shimmering with a silvery-white light, was forcibly pulled out from nothingness by White Sword's supreme immortal power.
This was a River of Time.
The river flowed with countless years of the Cangyun Realm. Within it, life, death, brilliance, and extinction were all decided in a single thought.
"ROAR!!"
A vast, ancient dragon's roar rang out.
Within the long river, a white dragon completely condensed from the principles of time was struggling frantically.
Each of its scales reflected the vicissitudes of life. Each breath was accompanied by the withering and flourishing of the ages.
It was furious. It roared.
As the embodiment of time, how could it willingly be enslaved by a living being?
However.
White Sword merely lowered his head slightly, his indifferent eyes giving it a cold glance.
Just one glance.
*Hum.*
The Time Dragon, which had been churning the river and sea, trying to break free from its confinement, froze as if petrified, instantly rigid.
It felt... the will of Heaven.
If it didn't obey, it would be killed.
"Come here."
White Sword raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air.
The Time Dragon, tens of thousands of feet long, let out a whimper of grievance. Its body rapidly shrank,
finally transforming into a wisp of pure, silvery-white light obediently coiling around White Sword's fingertip.
"With heaven and earth as paper."
White Sword brought the fingers of his right hand together like a sword. Using this fingertip as a brush and the dragon as ink, he painted within the inch of void.
*Swish, swish, swish—*
His sword-fingers danced.
It was an extremely profound and mysterious trajectory.
Every stroke was accompanied by the restructuring of spatial rules; every line was filled with time power so dense it was almost tangible.
Mountains, rivers, sun, moon, stars.
In just a few breaths.
A flowing scroll, radiating an ancient, weathered aura, took shape at his fingertips.
"Condense."
White Sword uttered a soft command.
The scroll instantly solidified, transforming into a scroll about three feet long, glowing with a faint silver light, and landed in his palm.
This was an immortal artifact.
Its grade was indescribable.
Because by the Cangyun Realm's classification system, this immortal artifact's grade could not be defined.
But it was absolutely an artifact that would drive cultivators from other worlds mad with desire, yet also drive them to despair.
"This object shall be called the [Cangyun Mountains and Rivers Scroll]."
White Sword looked at the masterpiece in his hand, his tone flat, as if he had merely casually molded a clay figure.
He casually tossed it.
The scroll transformed into a streak of light, pierced through the boundary wall, and accurately landed in the hands of Real Person Jade Compassion, who was in the Lower Realm.
Simultaneously, his icy voice exploded in Jade Compassion's mind:
"This scroll is named the Cangyun Mountains and Rivers Scroll! It contains a world within itself!"
"I have sealed three thousand years of time within it, distorting the flow of time inside."
"An instant outside... is three thousand years inside."
Real Person Jade Compassion, who was flying on a beam of light, shuddered violently upon hearing this, nearly falling from the sky.
An instant equals three thousand years?!
What kind of heaven-defying method was this?!
Before she could finish being shocked, White Sword's voice continued, carrying a chilling cruelty:
"All who pass the talent and temperament test are to be thrown into the scroll."
"Three thousand years is enough for even a pig to cultivate into an immortal."
"But remember this."
"These three thousand years are time I have forcibly compressed.
Within it, there is no mortal world, no karma, only endless monotony and cultivation."
"Even a genius, if they stay inside too long, their divine soul will collapse from being unable to withstand the erosion of time."
"Those who come out might be immortals."
"Or perhaps..."
White Sword paused, the corner of his mouth curling into a mocking arc.
"... they might be a group of emotionless monsters, or complete lunatics."
Real Person Jade Compassion gripped the icy-cold scroll in her hand, feeling a chill shoot straight to the top of her head.
"This..." she couldn't help but transmit her thoughts, "Isn't the price too great? If they all become lunatics, how can they fight?"
"Lunatics are better."
White Sword's voice held not a single ripple of emotion.
"The Heavenly Dao is inherently emotionless; the Supreme Being should naturally be free of emotions."
"Although this Mountains and Rivers Scroll has flaws, it also helps them sever those useless mortal worries, turning them into weapons that only know killing and obedience."
"This... is the boon I give them."
The mental transmission cut off.
Real Person Jade Compassion hovered in mid-air, clutching the [Cangyun Mountains and Rivers Scroll] tightly in her hand.
A boon?
Stripping away emotions, turning people into machines—this is called a boon?
She subconsciously raised her head, looking towards the distant Upper Realm Cloud Pavilion.
Though separated by endless void, she could almost see that aloof man sitting alone before the go board, facing a stalemate.
And sitting opposite that man was Tu Shan Yue.
That Nine-Tails Heavenly Fox whose eyes were full of him.
"If one truly becomes free of emotions like the Supreme Being..."
Real Person Jade Compassion looked at the scroll in her hand, a strange sense of absurdity rising in her heart.
"If one truly sees the mortal world as worthless grass, considers emotions a burden..."
"Then why... do you still keep Tu Shan Yue by your side?"
"Why, when playing Go, do you stop because of a single complaint from her?"
"Ah—!" Real Person Jade Compassion sighed. "Have you yourself... truly severed everything cleanly?"
The wind rose.
It ruffled her daoist robe.
Real Person Jade Compassion collected her complicated thoughts, her gaze becoming firm once more.
Regardless of whether White Sword was deceiving himself or not, this order, she had to grit her teeth and carry it out.
*Boom!*
She took a step forward, her figure instantly vanishing from the spot.
The next moment.
Moon Shadow Sect, Ascension Platform.
Outside the [Heart-Refining Demon-Slaying Formation] presided over by the avatar "Chen Huaian."
A majestic, vast, and overwhelmingly authoritative True Immortal aura descended without warning.
Auspicious clouds spread for miles, radiant energy streamed in thousands of strands.
Real Person Jade Compassion, holding a horsetail whisk, clad in robes of celestial light, descended steadily onto the high platform like a goddess from the Nine Heavens descending to the mortal world.
...