In truth, back on New Year's Eve, while watching the fireworks fill the sky, she had already entertained the thought of leaving the capital.
Why? Simply because she was too poor.
The fireworks that night were beautiful, but they couldn't burn away the embarrassment of her empty purse.
With less than a thousand years of Dao Cultivation, this meager fortune might have made a splash in the past, but now that she had reached the Zhonglian Realm, it was no longer enough.
Want to deduce a Cultivation Technique? Not enough.
Want to infuse Yao demons? Not enough.
Staying in Chang'an was certainly comfortable, but for her, possessing a system panel and desperately needing slaughter to fill the deficit, such a life was nothing short of torture.
It just so happened that she was strolling through the General Bureau that day.
She bumped into You Wujiang coming out, looking worried.
While You Wujiang had high talent, his naivety... was truly adorably honest.
She had only made a few probing remarks, and the silly boy had anxiously spilled all his secrets.
Jiangnan West Circuit.
The Yao Saint had broken the seal, and Yao Kings were gathering.
When she heard those eight words, Jiang Yuechu's eyes lit up.
This wasn't a dangerous place; it was clearly a place filled with Dao Cultivation.
As for danger? Hah.
In the past, she might have hesitated.
But now, she possessed the [Cloud Journey of Ten Thousand Li] of the Golden-Winged Great Peng clan.
If she really encountered danger, could she not simply outrun it?
Thinking of this, Jiang Yuechu composed herself.
She took a step forward, brushing past the terrified You Wujiang, and faced Lü Qinghou directly.
"It is precisely because I am the Grand Princess of the Great Tang."
"It is precisely because the blood of the Li family flows through my veins."
"At this moment..."
"I cannot leave!"
Lü Qinghou was stunned: "Your Highness, what do you mean?"
Jiang Yuechu didn't even blush or miss a beat, declaring with grand spirit: "With the Yao scourge currently before us, the common people are displaced, and our soldiers are fighting in a bloodbath."
"Though I am a woman, and though I am of the Imperial clan."
"I still understand that one who wishes to wear the crown must bear its weight."
"The people of the Jiangnan West Circuit are also my subjects."
"Now that they are trapped in deep waters and scorching fire."
"Since I possess the power to slay Yao, why should I not come?"
Her words were righteous and impassioned, every syllable striking at the heart of duty to the nation.
Lü Qinghou opened his mouth, but he couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal.
He looked at the tall, upright girl before him.
In a trance, he even developed the treasonous thought that this Grand Princess seemed more suited to sit on the throne than the current Emperor.
Yuan Tiangang, standing to the side, listened until his blood boiled, his old eyes filled with reverence.
"Your Highness is truly righteous!"
"This Old Minister... is ashamed!"
Jiang Yuechu calmly accepted the bow.
In her heart, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Finally... she had fooled them.
"Very well..." Lü Qinghou waved his hand, his face full of helplessness and exhaustion.
"Since Your Highness has made up your mind."
"Then... you may stay."
"But there is one condition." Lü Qinghou's expression turned serious as he stared intently at Jiang Yuechu.
"If the situation becomes impossible, Your Highness must promise me to return to Chang'an immediately!"
"You must not force things!"
Jiang Yuechu nodded slightly.
"Agreed."
After all, when that time really comes, there would be no need for him to say anything; she would be the first one to run.
...
Deep within the Luoxiao Mountain Range.
Cold crows did not caw, and Beasts were nowhere to be found.
Only a layer of black fog, which never dispersed year-round, covered the hundred-mile radius tightly, not letting a single ray of daylight through.
Amidst the overlapping peaks, there was a bottomless secluded valley.
In the center of the valley stood a solitary stone platform.
On the platform sat an old man cross-legged.
The old man wore a washed-out linen robe, looking just like an old widower one might see anywhere by the roadside.
Beside him stood a woman in white.
The woman was in her early thirties, her dark hair like a waterfall, held up casually by a single wooden hairpin.
Before the two of them was a pitch-black, deep well.
The mouth of the well was not large, only about a zhang in diameter, yet it was bottomless.
Whoosh—
A gust of cold wind suddenly came from the depths of the well.
The woman in white furrowed her brows slightly.
The old man on the stone platform did not open his eyes, only speaking indifferently: "Do not panic, that Beast is just turning over."
As soon as the words fell, black Qi suddenly rose from the stagnant water of the well.
"White Jade Tower... I didn't expect that after so many years, we would still meet again."
The old man slowly opened his eyes, his gaze calm: "Indeed, in the blink of an eye, it has been over six hundred years."
"I still remember, back then you were following behind your Master, what was your Realm at that time? Ink Dot Realm? Or just entering the Seed Lotus?"
"Hmm... I don't recall."
"If you don't recall, then so be it." The old man narrowed his slightly cloudy eyes and said indifferently.
"All that came before is as if it died yesterday; all that comes after is as if it were born today."
The voice from the bottom of the well chuckled.
"What a 'died yesterday, born today.' In the past, when facing me, did you ever dare to speak to me like this?"
White Jade Tower did not get angry.
He simply extended a withered palm and gently pressed it upon the pitch-black well mouth.
Hum—
The restless black Qi was instantly suppressed back into the bottom of the well.
"These things are not important. What is important is that I am sitting here now."
"My Master was able to suppress you once."
"Now..."
"I can also suppress you once more."
The bottom of the well fell silent for a moment.
Then, a low burst of laughter erupted.
The laughter reverberated, causing the entire secluded valley to tremble slightly.
"White Jade Tower."
"You can suppress me for another ten years, fifty years, or even hundreds of years."
"But..."
"If I am not mistaken, you are also reaching your limit. Your blood and Qi have long begun to wither. How many more years can you hold on? Ten years? Or a hundred?"
"My Lifespan is one hundred thousand years; I am as eternal as heaven and earth, shining with the sun and moon."
"In a few hundred years, you, White Jade Tower, will be nothing more than a withered bone in a desolate grave, your name forgotten by all."
Speaking of this, the black Qi surged again.
"When that time comes."
"In this world, who else can stop me?"
"Could it be..." The voice paused, carrying a hint of mockery.
"You are counting on this girl beside you?"
The woman in white, who had been standing to the side of the stone platform, lowered her eyelids upon hearing this.
"It is yet another Reincarnation... generation after generation."
"Old Monster Xu died, and you replaced him."
"If you die, then this girl will replace you."
The voice of the Yao Saint became ethereal, carrying a trace of vicissitudes.
"Is this endless attrition, this hopeless persistence... meaningful?"
"How many more Reincarnations can your Great Tang endure?"
"As for the Dynasties of this world, division leads to unity, and unity leads to division."
"When the fortune of the Great Tang is exhausted, when this Dragon vein collapses."
"I..."
"Will ultimately come out."
"By then, in this world, who can stop me for even half a step?!"
White Jade Tower was silent for a long time, not refuting the claim.
Because what the other party said was a fact.
Though the Lamp-Lighting Realm was strong, it was not eternal life.
The Lifespan of the Human Race always had an end.
This was the unique advantage of the Yao Race.
Even if they were not a match, even if they were suppressed.
As long as they endured.
They could outlast even the most brilliant Prodigy of the Human Race, grinding them into a pile of withered bones.
After a long while, he said leisurely: "The affairs of hundreds of years from now will be for future generations to worry about."
"As long as I am still alive for one day..."