Yi Wenjun 5

When Luo Qingyang came to see Yi Wenjun after she had given birth, she made a point of warning him about Xiao Ruofeng's hostility toward the Shadow Sect. "Now that Father is dead, senior brother, you've only just taken over, and you don't have the formidable authority he built up over the years.

"And now the old emperor is about to die. Xiao Ruofeng won't deal with the Shadow Sect just yet, but once the dust settles, whether Xiao Ruofeng or Xiao Ruojin takes the throne, Xiao Ruofeng won't let our Shadow Sect off.

"Senior brother, you must keep a close watch on that little building. As long as it stands, even if our Shadow Sect is weak for a time, it won't fall."

The little building Yi Wenjun spoke of held all manner of private secrets about the great aristocratic clans and martial arts sects, accumulated by the Shadow Sect over generations. As long as the building stood, no matter how many people wanted to destroy the Shadow Sect, it would not fall.

But Xiao Ruofeng had long looked down on the Shadow Sect, and he also had the help of Baixiao Hall. He could not have been unaware of the building's importance. If he wanted to abolish the Shadow Sect, that little building would be the first thing he destroyed. And he would not have his own people do it, but would find another organization whose hands were not clean.

Yi Wenjun asked Luo Qingyang, "Does the Dark River, which is notorious throughout the jianghu, have any connection to our Shadow Sect?"

Luo Qingyang was surprised. This was a secret only the sect master was allowed to know. Their master would not have told junior sister, so how did she know?

Yi Wenjun needed only to see Luo Qingyang's expression to know that the Dark River was also a hidden force of the imperial family, probably kept under the Shadow Sect's control.

No wonder the Dark River had stood for so long and offended so many people, yet remained standing.

In that case, the Dark River was probably Xiao Ruofeng's hidden force.

Yi Wenjun looked solemnly at Luo Qingyang. "Be wary of the Dark River. They're probably going to turn against us, and they've already hooked up with Xiao Ruofeng."

She got out of bed, and, without regard for the fact that she had given birth only a few days ago, began dressing and getting ready.

Luo Qingyang looked at Yi Wenjun in some confusion. "Junior sister, what are you..."

Yi Wenjun put her hair up in a simple bun and said, "I'll go back to the Shadow Sect with you, senior brother. I learned a formation before that offers very strong protection. Let's go set it up around the little building first."

Luo Qingyang truly could not understand his junior sister, whose temperament had changed so greatly. "Why don't you wait until you're feeling better? And I haven't seen Lingchen since I arrived. Is he well?"

Yi Wenjun said indifferently, "For someone who practices martial arts, this little injury is bearable. As for Lingchen, Xiao Ruofeng took him away, but I don't suppose he'd mistreat his own son. You don't need to worry, senior brother."

Luo Qingyang wanted to speak, but hesitated. He was not worried about Lingchen. He only wanted to ask, Do you no longer care even about the child you gave birth to?

But in the end, Luo Qingyang said nothing. After all, he was one of the people responsible for Wenjun becoming the way she was. He simply returned to the Shadow Sect with Yi Wenjun in silence.

Once Yi Wenjun had set up the formation, she secretly scattered a deadly poison within it. She also sent word to her people in the Shadow Sect to inform her immediately if anyone broke in.

The reason Yi Wenjun cared so much about the Shadow Sect's survival was that her martial arts had not yet reached the point where she was unrivaled in the world. If she wanted to live freely in Heavenly Revelations, the Shadow Sect under Luo Qingyang's leadership was also something she could rely on.

Back in her room, Yi Wenjun set aside her worries and resumed recuperating while cultivating the Heavenly Devil Instruction.

She had now broken through to the third layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction and begun absorbing external energy for her own use.

And Yi Wenjun finally understood why one had to sever the roots of emotion to cultivate the Heavenly Devil Instruction.

Severing the roots of emotion did not mean cutting oneself off from all feeling and love. Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness would still remain. It was only that, whether in love or hate, one would no longer become obsessed to the bone and give up everything for that feeling.

For example, if Yi Wenjun took a fancy to a man, she would only like him; she would never fall in love with him. If he died or betrayed her, she would not throw herself between life and death or destroy heaven and earth for the sake of a mere man.

Precisely because she could still feel emotions, when Yi Wenjun used desire and hostility as energy to cultivate the third layer of the Devil Cultivation Method, her thoughts would be trapped by the vast amount of negative emotion, making her more violent and ruthless in her actions.

If she had not been without roots of emotion and thus unable to become obsessed to the bone, then under the corrosion of all those negative emotions, a practitioner of the Heavenly Devil Instruction would truly become a great devil who killed without blinking.

Starting from the third layer, each layer required one to cultivate a Devil Cultivation Method first, then cultivate the Dao. This was so that, after advancing in realm, one could use the Dao to strip away the refined negative emotions, leaving the cultivator's state of mind flawless as they continued to cultivate the next layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction.

Hearts were dark in Heavenly Revelations, and schemes and plots were everywhere, so negative energy was plentiful. As a result, Yi Wenjun cultivated the third layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction very quickly.

In just the month of her postpartum confinement, she had reached the middle phase of the third layer of the Heavenly Devil Instruction-each layer comprised the early phase, middle phase, late phase, and perfection. This was equivalent to the Immortal Realm in this world.

The Heavenly Devil Instruction had nine layers in all. The first four were not particularly difficult to cultivate. The first two optimized and forged the body and soul, bringing them to the best aptitude a cultivator could refine.

The third and fourth layers were for cultivating immortality. Upon reaching perfection in the third layer, one was already equivalent to the Spirit Transformation Stage.

Breaking through to the fifth layer was the first threshold. After breaking through, one became an immortal devil; in the world Yi Wenjun's original body came from, this meant undergoing tribulation and becoming an immortal.

After that, breaking through each layer was fraught with difficulty. Whether in her original body or her current one, Yi Wenjun had only ever cultivated as far as Nascent Soul, so for now she gave the later layers no further thought.

And so, with no one at the Prince of Langya's Residence paying her any attention, Yi Wenjun quietly waited for the new emperor to ascend the throne, considering how she should walk the road ahead.

Yi Wenjun stayed in Heavenly Revelations partly for its inexhaustible supply of negative energy, and partly because she did not want to let the Xiao Ruojin brothers have an easy time. Besides, after marrying into the prince's residence, no one could stop her at her current realm, so why not cultivate in comfort there while enjoying a life of wealth and luxury?

She had been sealed away for many years before and was deeply afraid of a monotonous, dreary life.

She wanted to see people, see the scenery, eat fine food, and wear brocade.

While Yi Wenjun focused on cultivation and, along the way, planted her own people throughout the Prince of Langya's Residence, Emperor Tai'an's life finally came to an end, and the bitter fruit of his allowing the princes to fight for power also came due.

The upheaval known as the Rebellion of the Eight Princes began. Apart from the Xiao Ruojin brothers, the other six princes all led troops against the imperial city, and for a time, blood flowed like rivers through Heavenly Revelations.

In the end, Prince Qing, who had been the most powerful of the eight princes aside from Xiao Ruojin, drew his sword and slit his own throat. Xiao Ruojin ultimately ascended the throne and became known as Emperor Mingde.

But in the intelligence sent by her subordinates and the Shadow Sect, Yi Wenjun noticed something amiss: one copy of the Dragon Seal Scroll, which named the emperor's chosen heir, had been torn up by Xiao Ruofeng after he read it; another should have remained at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, but had mysteriously disappeared.

Yi Wenjun thought of someone, someone who had been closest to Emperor Tai'an, yet had been sent away to the imperial mausoleum after his death. "Zhuoqing, could it have been you?"