Yi Wenjun 2
Wen Qiushui recalled the pearl in her mind that had absorbed the last of her True Qi before she lost consciousness. She closed her eyes and focused, carefully examining it within her sea of consciousness. The more she looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.
After a while, Wen Qiushui remembered that it was the pearl she had once found in a palace within a secret realm. Although the pearl had been dull and lusterless, Wen Qiushui had sensed it was no ordinary object. She had tried dripping Essence Blood onto it, covering it with her Divine Sense, and every other method she could think of, but the pearl had shown no reaction at all.
In the end, although Wen Qiushui had not given up, the pearl had suddenly vanished without a trace, leaving her no choice but to leave the palace.
Although she had not obtained the pearl, the palace had contained many ancient texts from High Antiquity, recording numerous secret methods. After obtaining them, Wen Qiushui had shared them freely with her master and her lover.
Sadly, her openness back then had now become a joke. They had known Wen Qiushui all too well, so after capturing her, they had stripped her of every treasure she carried. As a result, in that place devoid of Spiritual Qi, Wen Qiushui had not possessed a single secret treasure she could use to cultivate.
She had encountered the pearl only once, and because she had thought it had slipped through her fingers, she had been too embarrassed and angry to tell anyone about it. Now, it had become her one chance of survival.
She tried touching the pearl with her mental power, and this time she formed a connection with it. The pearl was called the Chaos Pearl, a supreme treasure from the Primordial Era. But the pearl had a spirit of its own and did not wish to acknowledge a master, so when people fought over it, it had shattered the void and fled.
Eventually, its power had run out, and it had fallen into a secret realm in Wen Qiushui's world.
This was a supreme treasure of chaos. Neither spiritual power nor Essence Blood could make it acknowledge a master; only the power of a Cultivation Method like the Heavenly Devil Instruction, which led directly to the Great Dao, could bind it.
The pearl had entered Wen Qiushui's body before binding itself to her only because it had discovered that she possessed a Devil Bone and was one of the rare people capable of cultivating a Cultivation Method of the Great Dao.
Unfortunately, Wen Qiushui's luck had been poor, and she had been sealed in a place devoid of Spiritual Qi. Her Devil Bone kept her from dying, but the Chaos Pearl would vanish without power. In the end, it had no choice but to take the initiative, absorbing the True Qi in Wen Qiushui's body and forming a preliminary bond with her.
With the Chaos Pearl's power exhausted, it now had only a small space available for use. Its other ability was to use the power of chaos to absorb Wen Qiushui's power and carry her soul across space and time, possessing a body and taking it over in a small world. That let her escape the place devoid of Spiritual Qi and cultivate in soul form.
The Chaos Pearl could also absorb the power Wen Qiushui cultivated to restore itself.
Wen Qiushui learned the general situation from the Chaos Pearl and reflected inwardly that heaven never barred every path.
She thought no more about it and began merging with her current body, recalling its owner's identity and circumstances.
A moment later, Wen Qiushui wore an indescribable expression.
The body's previous owner was named Yi Wenjun, the daughter of the Shadow Sect's sect master in the Northern Li Dynasty. To curry favor with Prince Jingyu and shed his status as an imperial secret guard, her father had sold his daughter for glory, giving her as a concubine to Prince Jingyu, who had taken a fancy to her beauty.
Unwilling to lose her freedom, Yi Wenjun had spent her days lamenting her fate. Not long ago, she had saved an expert from the martial world and planned to use her beauty to tempt him into taking her away. In the end, however, she discovered that he was Ye Yun, her childhood fiancé. Somewhat reluctant to use him, she had ultimately watched him leave Prince Jingyu's residence's separate courtyard with Li Changsheng, the greatest under heaven.
With the wedding day drawing near, Yi Wenjun, who had previously done nothing but lament her fate, finally drugged her senior brother, who was watching him, into unconsciousness and prepared to flee, so that Ye Yun would not risk coming to snatch her away from the wedding.
In the end, his father, Yi Bu, had struck her so hard she spat blood, then sealed her martial arts.
Wen Qiushui sneered. Sure enough, the world was full of heartless, faithless people.
She did not care where the body's owner had gone. Now, she herself was Yi Wenjun.
Yi Wenjun rose, dressed, and walked slowly into the courtyard. She gazed greedily at every blade of grass and tree before her. Even though her roots of emotion were gone, she still could not stop her heart from surging. How long had it been since she had seen such beautiful scenery? How long since she had lain on a high bed with soft pillows?
Yi Wenjun sat in a chair, gazing motionlessly at the scenery before her.
At last, a man walked up to her and spoke gently. "Junior sister, how are you feeling?"
Yi Wenjun glanced sideways. Was this Luo Qingyang, the senior brother who seemed to love her, yet had also been ordered to watch her?
Yi Wenjun's face was expressionless. "Senior brother, I want some time alone."
Luo Qingyang left with a sorrowful expression.
Yi Wenjun began planning her life from then on. Leave Heavenly Revelations? Not a chance!
As the imperial capital of Northern Li, Heavenly Revelations was filled with demons and monsters, and people's hearts were treacherous. Wasn't this the perfect nourishment for her cultivation of the Heavenly Devil Instruction? Besides absorbing Spiritual Qi, the Heavenly Devil Instruction also drew nourishment from baleful Qi, Devil Qi, and other negative emotions. That was what made the Devil Bone so extraordinary.
Although her current body was not her original one, the Devil Bone was formless and traceless; it could reside in either the body or the soul.
But Yi Wenjun's martial arts were now sealed, and the True Qi she had cultivated before had all been absorbed by the Chaos Pearl.
She still had to find a way to buy some time. No matter what, she could not marry Xiao Ruojin in such a humiliating way.
She thought of Xiao Ruojin's younger brother, Prince Langya, Xiao Ruofeng, whom outsiders described as flawless as white jade, a gentleman like jade.
Yi Wenjun's eyes turned, and an idea came to her.
She no longer cared about chastity, but the thought of giving her first time to Xiao Ruojin was rather sickening. Xiao Ruofeng, on the other hand, was quite good. And if Yi Wenjun married him, wouldn't both brothers suffer terribly?
Yi Wenjun smiled. That would be fascinating.
For now, she first had to postpone the wedding.
And so Yi Wenjun pondered her plans while circulating the Heavenly Devil Instruction to improve her current body's aptitude.
Thus, while Yi Wenjun appeared to outsiders to be staring into space, she cultivated the first layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction without stopping for a moment.
The next day, Yi Wenjun found Luo Qingyang and spoke to him as if issuing an order. "I want to go back to the Shadow Sect."
Luo Qingyang still wore a pained expression. "Junior sister, Master is keeping a close watch now. You can't escape."
Yi Wenjun forced out a single tear. "Senior brother, I've given up. When Father struck me with that palm, I knew my fate couldn't be changed. I only want to spend these few days at home before I submit to my fate. Besides, Father's people are everywhere in the Shadow Sect. How could I possibly escape?"
Luo Qingyang had no answer, but faced with Yi Wenjun's tears, he went to ask Yi Bu and Prince Jingyu for permission.
Perhaps they too thought it would be improper for Yi Wenjun to be married from the separate courtyard, so both agreed to her request.
When Yi Wenjun returned, Yi Bu met with her and warned her not to play any tricks.
Yi Wenjun kept her head lowered the whole time, as though she had resigned herself to her fate.
For the next few days, Yi Wenjun wandered around the Shadow Sect, seemingly bidding it a final farewell, but in truth looking for opportunities to gather medicinal herbs in various places.