Qiu Wuji stared blankly at the void for a long time before finally letting out a wry smile, treating it all as fleeting clouds.
When I tried to defy heaven, you were still nowhere to be found. Now, I don't even know if it's me who's going to defy heaven or that wicked disciple who's going to defy his master…
Whether we defy each other or not, and in what way, is none of your business.
She turned to look at the servant Lu Shaotong had brought. The servant was dumbfounded, sitting blankly on the ground staring at his young master's empty shell, his mind completely blank.
Qiu Wuji scrutinized him for a moment, then said calmly, "You're the one spreading rumors about our sect, aren't you?"
The servant snapped out of his daze and knelt down in fear, "Sect Master Qiu, spare me! I was just following orders, it really has nothing to do with me..."
"Why would I bother a servant like you?" Qiu Wuji sighed. "Just take your young master's body back to the Lu family and report what happened here truthfully."
The servant was stunned for a long time, then hesitated, "This..."
"Your young master had no good intentions towards me from the beginning, you should know that," Qiu Wuji said. "Is he always fond of these roundabout, underhanded tricks?"
"No, no, my young master used to be a rather pedantic scholar, and his cultivation was slow... I don't know when he..." "Initially, his cultivation progressed rapidly, and his temperament became somewhat strange. He always liked to play bizarre schemes..." The servant couldn't help but tease his young master, "In my eyes, many of his 'schemes' are utterly pointless."
"It's not that he likes to beat around the bush, it's just that he wants to circumvent the Heavenly Dao in his actions, so naturally he needs to be circuitous, hence the use of deception. Over time, he's become accustomed to it." Qiu Wuji asked, "Approximately when did he begin to change?"
The servant thought for a long time, then said uncertainly, "Two or three years? I forget the exact time. He often told us he had benefactors helping him, but now it seems he was already possessed by witchcraft and turned into a puppet back then..."
Qiu Wuji glanced at Chu Ge, who seemed thoughtful.
The timeline in the book is different from reality. Two or three years ago would roughly be shortly after Qiu Wuji transmigrated.
At that time, Qiu Wuji perceived the "Heavenly Dao" and saw through the "illusion." It turned out that during a similar period, others had also discovered this and were carrying out certain operations.
This man was no ordinary person; he had awakened even earlier than Yan Qianlie, though he wasn't as direct as Qiu Wuji.
Seeing the servant's somewhat bewildered expression, Qiu Wuji knew there was no point in asking him, so he said, "Go on, I'll see you off." With a flick of his sleeve, the servant was momentarily disoriented, and before him lay a town a hundred miles away, right outside the tavern where he had been chatting the previous night.
Including the entire thousand-mile mountain range, a flick of his sleeve had instantly transported him hundreds of miles.
Chu Ge asked, "Are you sure he's alright?"
"No, this person's cultivation is extremely low. If there were any problems, they definitely wouldn't escape my senses." Qiu Wuji asked in a low voice, "What do you think?"
"I'm thinking, did Lu Shaotong previously think he had the protagonist's luck and a powerful grandfather by his side, only to become a puppet parasitizing him?"
"...He hasn't read web novels." Qiu Wuji retorted, then chuckled, "But maybe his mindset is similar?"
Chu Ge sighed, "A pie falling from the sky isn't so sweet. I don't know if I'd dare use a system if I had one in the future." Qiu Wuji said irritably, "Stop talking about this. Can you even guess who it is? I don't recall any witchcraft cultivators this powerful."
Chu Ge shook his head: "I was thinking before, since I haven't written about Lu Shaotong, could it be someone else's fanfiction that influenced this place, giving it some 'Heavenly Dao' attributes... but then I realized it's definitely not like that."
Qiu Wuji knew it wasn't, but he was still intrigued by the idea and asked, "Why? Because others don't have your materialization ability?"
"Also because there are many fanfictions, and many people at the same time..." "If completely opposite actions are taken—for example, someone kills Chu Tiange, someone becomes sworn brothers with Chu Tiange, or you fall in love with A one minute and B the next, etc… these conflict with each other and cannot be reflected at all. Therefore, fan fiction should not affect reality. If it can, then it should only be fan fiction that I acknowledge, which would be equivalent to my opinion." Qiu Wuji sighed: "That's good. Even if it wasn't this time, I was afraid this situation would occur in the future."
"Of course, only I can write my Qiuqiu's little essays!" Qiu Wuji roared in anger. "You're not allowed either!"
"Uh..." Chu Ge chuckled apologetically, "We've gone off-topic. As for this powerful figure who uses witchcraft... he might not have originally used witchcraft."
"Hmm?"
"He's 'fighting against the Heavenly Dao.' This is a huge matter, and he's afraid of being discovered, so he does things in all sorts of roundabout ways, even something as simple as approaching you is habitually made incredibly complicated. Even his own servants complain about it, let alone cultivating a method that's like vying for authority with the Heavenly Dao? He obviously doesn't dare to cultivate it rashly on his own, afraid of making a mistake, and also afraid of being discovered by the Heavenly Dao, so he cultivates it separately." "He used this puppetry technique to make these vessels cultivate for him." Qiu Wuji pondered for a moment, then nodded, "That should be it. At least, the art of witchcraft and parasitism isn't his signature technique."
"If my judgment is correct, he probably had more than one puppet at the same time, using it to observe the progress of different cultivators, allowing him to fill in gaps and accumulate experience. At the same time, he hoped to create a smokescreen, preventing me from finding the real person, and if things were to be exposed, he could mislead me into searching for cultivators practicing witchcraft." Qiu Wuji agreed with Chu Ge's assessment: "But if we do that, wouldn't our leads be cut off?" "?" Chu Ge tilted his head and stared at her for a long time, until Qiu Wuji was completely bewildered, before suddenly laughing, "Theoretically, you and this person are allies." Qiu Wuji retorted irritably, "Can't I just betray them?" Chu Ge smiled brightly, "Our leads haven't gone cold."
"Why?"
"This person approached you, though with ill intentions, he also had some genuine feelings. He wanted to form an alliance with a cultivator of your level, but he didn't trust you, or perhaps he was too controlling, so he wanted to subdue you."
"He can't do it at all." Qiu Wuji sneered, "He..." "Schemes require close contact; this drawn-out, hesitant approach was something I could have detected long ago. While I might not have realized it was the power of Heaven's Dao, I'd most likely mistake it for soul-controlling magic and kill him outright."
"Uh, that's not what I want. Since this person has come to your door, they'll naturally seek out other qualified 'allies,' like Yan Qianlie. Wasn't what I had Yan Qianlie do precisely to await this day?" Qiu Wuji went through it all, remaining silent for a long while before helplessly saying, "The more I think about it, the more I feel you're the villainous boss, and I'm just an accomplice..."
"The Demon Consort." Qiu Wuji With a fierce tug at her eyebrows, Qiu Wuji grabbed Chu Ge's ear: "Are you itching for a beating again?"
"Hey, hey, no, no, no!" Chu Ge winced in pain, forcing a smile. "Don't you know who the villain is? How could someone like him, a parasitic possessor, possibly be on your side? Even if we're both going to deceive the heavens, we have different methods."
Qiu Wuji sneered: "Then what method am I?"
"He wants to possess, you're bullying, isn't it all the same..."
Qiu Wuji chuckled: "Then today, I will deceive the heavens!"
"Heavenly Dao" was pitifully dragged by the ear by this traitor, and he mounted his sword, heading down the mountain.
"So where are we going now?" Qiu Wuji sat cross-legged on his sword, leisurely saying, "We've been out in the martial world for a whole day and are still wandering around Cloud Peak Mountain."
"Now our destination is quite clear...to find Little Flame, there's no other choice."
"Hold on tight." The sword flashed like lightning, disappearing in an instant.
"Too high, too fast, I can't keep my balance." Chu Ge's voice faintly drifted from high above.
"So?" Chu Ge muttered, "Some people on the back of an electric scooter hold onto the driver's waist..." Qiu Wuji fell silent.
The traitor, in his momentary amusement at pulling Chu Ge's ear, forgot that Chu Ge was actually a spirit, and the issue of stability didn't exist for him... He actually found it quite nice that his experiences in reality were reversed... Chu Ge tentatively reached out to hug him, and Qiu Wuji stiffened for a moment but didn't refuse.
Chu Ge chuckled.
High above, the shadow of the divine sword weaved through the clouds. Qiu Wuji sat cross-legged in front of the sword, expressionless. The traitorous disciple, with his arms wrapped around his master's waist, gently inhaled the fragrance of his master's hair, smiling like a fox stealing food.
"I read the comments; the pedal-powered flying sword isn't good," Qiu Wuji said sternly. "Now that I see it, it's indeed much better to use a sword to escape." Chu Ge didn't even bother to reply.
No matter how good, how cool, or how dazzling the sword-wielding technique is... with a thousand spells and endless paths, I only ask one question: May I embrace my master?