Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 915: Reputation Destroyer

How could Sovereign Withered Wood possibly comprehend the whirlwind of shame and fury Ye Wuming felt when forced to personally acknowledge herself as someone’s wife? That single word felt as if she was spitting a razor that cut her lips and threatened to cut the interlocutor’s ears too. It brimmed with murderous intent.

Why is she so hostile? Is it just because I asked if she's one of them? But she is one of them.

Ye Wuming was simmering. Did Zhao Changhe send me here to get into trouble with you?

Granted, the other party was right to be cautious. This was a sudden encounter, and verifying information before trusting someone was the basics.

But of all the ways to phrase it, did he really have to phrase it that way?

In truth, the reason her aura carried Zhao Changhe’s aura was not just because of dual cultivation. They had not truly dual cultivated, only passed through a transference process, so that alone would not leave such a potent imprint. No, the real cause was that she was carrying River of Stars, which was practically her and Zhao Changhe's legacy.

Ye Wuming had thought Sovereign Withered Wood’s first reaction would be to sense that they shared a lineage. Or better yet, if he was tactful enough to assume she was Zhao Changhe’s master, that would have been a nice ego boost. But instead, his immediate assumption was that they had dual cultivated.

You’re a dignified sovereign. Why do you think like this? Does everyone who meets Zhao Changhe end up with their brains warped?

Only the heavens knew how deep the impression of Ye Jiuyou saying “not just us two” was to Sovereign Withered Wood.

So, how was she supposed to respond now? Denying it would only raise more questions and demand tedious explanations. Claiming to be Zhao Changhe’s master would only invite skepticism. Saying they were fellow disciples did not mean they were close. There was no winning.

After a few seconds of rapid calculation, she realized the simplest answer was also the most efficient one. She just had to admit that she was his wife. It was direct and final and made them a team.

With the confirmation he expected, Sovereign Withered Wood’s demeanor relaxed considerably. Stroking his beard, he sighed, “Two flowers of the Other Shore, and both with Fellow Daoist Zhao? Truly, his methods are awe-inspiring... And to think there’s more of you....”

What the hell are you sighing about?

Ye Wuming nearly thrust River of Stars straight into his gut. She gritted her teeth. “This is not the time for idle chatter.”

Sovereign Withered Wood nodded solemnly. “I delivered your husband to the edge of the black hole. He and your... is it your little sister or big sister? They said they intended to cultivate there. Did they run into Luo Chuan?”

My husband? Also, what does her being my little sister or big sister have anything to do with you? Ye Wuming took a deep breath and fought back the urge to stab someone. “We think that area is actually Luo Chuan’s hidden lair. There could be more demonic cultists inside and out.”

“And your husband wants me to deal with the others?”

Ye Wuming replied coldly, “If Luo Chuan saw you escorting Zhao... my husband to the black hole, then he knows there’s a potential alliance forming between us. He wouldn’t wait for us to band together and launch a coordinated hunt. He’ll strike now while we’re apart.”

“So?”

“So we’re baiting him. The trap is ready. We’re confident we can hit him hard, maybe even defeat him. However, we can’t guarantee he won’t escape. This is your home field. You should have preparations set all over the place, right? So this can be considered a heavenly net for capturing Luo Chuan. We don’t need you to act directly. You only need to seal the area.”

Sovereign Withered Wood mused briefly, then nodded. “It can be done, but this will cause a stir. Will you be able to finish this fast enough?”

Ye Wuming’s tone was calm, even aloof. “No one can guarantee a quick battle. Whether you can hold off outsiders is part of the test of our alliance. Surely you considered this from the beginning?”

Sovereign Withered Wood smiled. “I'm merely testing if you truly understood the nature of our partnership. It seems that you are indeed Fellow Daoist Zhao’s wife.”

Oh, now you bring that up again. Ye Wuming’s temper nearly exploded. “Of course. Only my husband, with his generous spirit and habit of befriending the entire jianghu, would treat a not-yet-solidified alliance as a reliable ally. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have come at all. I hope that you don’t waste his trust.”

With that, she flung her sleeve and vanished. “The battle begins. Move fast.”

Even if it had not started yet, she had no intention of saying another word. Her referring to Zhao Changhe as “my husband” had started to flow a little too smoothly from her lips. What started as an act had turned into something all too real. And to make it worse, Ruoyu was lounging inside River of Stars, chin in hand, watching her with great interest...

Ye Wuming did not even dare to look at Ruoyu’s expression and fled back to her main body at top speed.

At this moment, her main body in the Heavenly Tome was already embroiled in a fierce battle.

* * *

Luo Chuan’s first move was to hurl the Heavenly Tome straight into the depths of the black hole.

From what he had observed earlier, Zhao Changhe seemed to have broken through to the Other Shore, and so had Ye Jiuyou. By extension, Ye Wuming, who had always been the strongest figure within the Heavenly Tome’s world, should logically have reached the Other Shore as well.

Three members of the same household, all at the Other Shore... Even if they were only at the early stage, any rational being would stay as far away from them as possible and never show their face again.

But ten thousand years of obsession was not so easily cast aside.

Their strength must be a bluff. Barely twenty days ago, Zhao Changhe was fleeing from me like a rat. He was utterly powerless to resist, so how could he have possibly reached the Other Shore already? Since when was the Other Shore like the Profound Gate? Also, the Ye sisters haven't fused, so there should be no way for them to have reached the Other Shore.

As the one who set that trap in motion, Luo Chuan knew this better than anyone. He truly believed that the chances were high that it was all a ruse.

Of course, he also believed that given more time, they might truly break through. In other words, now was his best chance, and quite possibly his last chance too.

Shoving the Heavenly Tome into the core of he black hole would throw its inner world into disarray, disintegrating it into dust. Ye Wuming, as the spirit of the tome, would be forced to protect its lifeforms and divert her full strength to resisting the pull. That would leave her essentially incapacitated in the fight. As for the rest? He could take his time breaking them down. After all, the opponent who mattered most to him had always been Ye Wuming.

He flashed to the Heavenly Tome’s side and struck out with a palm.

The Heavenly Tome, which had previously been hidden away by Zhao Changhe, was forcibly revealed by his attack, its form tearing into visibility like a meteor streaking toward the heart of the black hole.

Luo Chuan followed close behind like a shadow, launching another palm strike, this time aimed directly at the tome's interior.

He knew better than anyone else that the seed of creation within the Heavenly Tome lay inside the Abyss of Jiuyou. If he could destroy the source, he could once again tamper with the internal laws of this world and wrest control from the Ye sisters.

He had just seen Zhao Changhe carrying Ye Jiuyou into the tome, kissing her as they tumbled in. If his guess was right, the couple should be tangled up in the sheets by now. Would it not just be delightful to interrupt them with a sudden ambush?

His palm plunged into the Heavenly Tome, and from the perspective of the beings within, it was as if a colossal hand descended from the heavens, threatening to crush the world beneath it.

Luo Chuan’s face broke into a gleeful smile.

That smile froze an instant later.

An arc of saber light cut across the sky, sundering heaven and earth itself. It tore straight toward his wrist, aiming to sever the hand he had thrust into the world.

And the land beneath that massive palm had transformed into a swirling vortex of darkness. Suspended at its heart floated Ye Jiuyou, her long hair drifting like silk, eyes closed in stillness.

For that brief moment, Luo Chuan could not even tell whether it was Ye Jiuyou or Ye Wuming.

He only knew one thing, and that was that her power was real. She had truly reached the Other Shore.

The black hole outside was mirrored by the one within. Ye Jiuyou now stood at the epicenter of the purest chaos and annihilation.

His hand, caught within, felt like it had been dragged into a vortex. Escape became impossible. The terrifying power of annihilation threatened to dissolve heaven and earth, reducing everything to dust and reverting the world back to its original form as nothingness.

And within that short moment, Zhao Changhe’s saber reached his wrist.

Luo Chuan let out a pained scream. He had waited across two entire eras for this moment, only for his long-desired incursion into the tome to become a nightmare.

Thankfully, he was no pushover. In the very next breath, the hand Zhao Changhe and his partner had been trying to separate from the rest of Luo Chuan simply turned translucent and vanished.

Outside the Heavenly Tome, Luo Chuan reappeared, clutching his wrist. Blood was dripping freely from his wrist, and his fingertips were missing.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Zhao Changhe leaped out from the tome, executing a flawless toad-style leap as he unleashed Scattering the Gods and Buddhas unto Luo Chuan. “I've been waiting for you!”

Clang!

A flying sword intercepted him at the last moment, halting the space-cleaving strike in midair.

Ripples of energy surged through the void. In the distance, entire floating celestial bodies were silently reduced to ash.

Ye Jiuyou’s figure appeared behind Luo Chuan like a ghost, her jade hand slamming toward his back. The hatred in her eyes burned so intensely it felt like it had even become tangible.

She, more than anyone, loathed Luo Chuan. Even more than Ye Wuming. And yet, this was somehow her first direct confrontation with him.

A strange soul banner unfurled behind Luo Chuan, intercepting her strike. In an instant, ten thousand wailing souls swept across the universe, the very void turning into a ghost hell.

One sword, one banner. Luo Chuan had finally brought out his true arsenal. The clash from front and rear collided nearly simultaneously. All three let out muffled grunts. Luo Chuan remained unmoved while Zhao Changhe and Ye Jiuyou were blasted backward, drifting tens of thousands of li through the void.

Blood welled at the corners of their lips. But their eyes, fixed on Luo Chuan at the center, grew only colder.

So Luo Chuan at full strength was indeed stronger than both of them, even now that they had both reached the Other Shore... That much was clear. Ye Wuming had held her own because she had the entire Heavenly Tome’s world bolstering her. They did not.

But compared to the past, when Zhao Changhe could not even take a single blow and had to flee, coughing blood and running for his life, the current gap was laughable. Zhao Changhe had seen far worse.

By his standards, they were not even players finally getting to see the boss monster's health bar; they were practically evenly matched.

Zhao Changhe bared his teeth in a gleaming grin. “Surprised? Didn’t see this coming, did you?”

Luo Chuan inhaled slowly. “So you knew I was nearby all along?”

“Not really. It was as much a surprise to us as it was to you,” Zhao Changhe said with a slight smile. “We were racking our brains over how to track down whatever rat hole you’re hiding in, whether witchcraft would backfire, or if we’d alert you and you’d vanish again. The whole thing was a headache, but then you popped up on your own. It would have been rude not to accept it. Seriously, man, falling into obsession and devilry does not make you smarter. You’ve reached the Other Shore, yet you still don’t grasp something that basic?”

Luo Chuan didn’t respond directly. “Twenty days ago, you were nowhere near this level.”

“Ah, about that... I really should thank you,” Zhao Changhe said sincerely. “Your lesson back then was unforgettable. I’ll be sure to repay it.”

Luo Chuan: “...”

The fuck are you thanking me for? I really went all out with that strike. I even used divine arts. It's a miracle that you even managed to survive, so how the hell did you actually manage to learn something from that strike?!

Luo Chuan had traversed the segmentum for countless years, but he had never seen such heaven-defying talent.

“So your rise wasn’t some stroke of luck after all.... I assumed you had advanced so quickly because of the Heavenly Tome, or perhaps Ye Wuming had bestowed her legacy upon you. But now I see it clearly. With talent like yours, even without the Heavenly Tome, you would have found your path in battle.”

“You flatter me. Without the Heavenly Tome, I doubt I’d have progressed this fast. Still, I’ve done a damn lot better than you. You encountered the Heavenly Tome, too, didn’t you? And look at you now, you're nothing but some wandering dog still stuck at the Other Shore, with nowhere to go.”

Luo Chuan clenched his teeth.

“What’s not yours was never meant to be. Surely someone like you has studied karma, so why force it?" Zhao Changhe sighed. "A divine artifact is meant for those fated to bear it. When you first encountered the Heavenly Tome, if you’d shown a little kindness to the tome spirit, even if you might have been unable to claim it, you could have at least made an ally. But no, you didn't do that, and now look at the mess you made.”

“I have no need for sanctimonious lectures. We of the demonic path seize fate from the heavens. If we cannot conquer it, we destroy it.”

“Well, I also aim to conquer,” Zhao Changhe said, his tone shifting subtly. “We just chose different battlefields.”

Luo Chuan’s mouth opened, only to close again a moment later.

In just a few short exchanges, he had been rendered speechless three times.

This was his first real conversation with Zhao Changhe, and he was utterly unprepared for such a conversation. What truly unsettled him, however, was that Ye Jiuyou, who moments ago had tried to obliterate him with her eyes burning with extreme hatred, was now simply standing behind Zhao Changhe. Even as Zhao Changhe spoke so much absurd nonsense, she showed no signs of impatience and quietly suppressed her emotions while listening from behind.

Indeed, it seemed Zhao Changhe was doing quite well on his own battlefield. It was a battlefield of body and heart, rooted in emotion.

However, it was not a technique just anyone could learn. At the very least, Luo Chuan, who was a proper wizard, did not even measure up to a Profound Gate novice when it came to this particular domain.

Of course, Luo Chuan also understood Zhao Changhe was not idly chatting to pass the time. The banter clearly carried the flavor of stalling for something. His eyes narrowed. Suddenly, he barked out, “Where's Ye Wuming?”

He had assumed Ye Wuming was still inside, guarding the Heavenly Tome's world. But now, something felt off.

The Heavenly Tome was no longer being pulled toward the black hole. Instead, it had quietly nestled itself into Zhao Changhe’s embrace. Zhao Changhe remained motionless, and the Heavenly Tome rested against him like an immovable mountain.

Luo Chuan felt a jolt in his heart. The tome had not acknowledged a master, yet its behavior now looked as if it had.

He could not help but mentally conjure the image of Ye Wuming curled up demurely in Zhao Changhe’s arms like a delicate little bird. Luo Chuan felt a wave of revulsion wash over him as he had that thought.

Behind him, Ye Jiuyou spoke coldly, “Did you really think Ye Wuming would obediently waste her strength on guarding the tome? A top-tier combatant, relegated to babysitting duty?”

A flicker of panic crossed Luo Chuan’s eyes. “Shit!”

Far off in the depths of the black hole, at the point where annihilation and creation met, Ye Wuming stood alone, River of Stars in hand, intercepting a figure who had just been constructing a spatial passage toward the battlefield. “Fellow Daoist, please stay.”

It was a familiar line, but it was not a line from a xianxia novel or something. Instead, it came from that time when their “family of three” was ambushed while traveling together. Someone had intercepted the spatial passage that Ye Wuming had made, and that person had said exactly these words.

That battle had revealed their presence and drawn Luo Chuan to them, forcing Zhao Changhe to while carrying the Heavenly Tome and suffering grave injuries in the process. More importantly, it had led to her willingly fusing with Ye Jiuyou, which caused her to be tormented for over ten days by the lecherous lovers.

Of all the grudges she had ever borne in her lifetime, this one ran the deepest.

And now, the one she was blocking was that very same demonic cultivator who had intercepted them back then.

The cultivator’s eyes widened when he saw her appear without warning. “You’re... that cultivator from before? How did you find this place?”

Ye Wuming answered coolly, “I only meant to seal off Luo Chuan’s escape route, but it seems I’ve stumbled upon an unexpected bonus.”

The demonic cultivator’s shock quickly turned into a sneer. “Back then, your little throuple didn’t even dare to face me together. And now you come alone? Are you here to die?”

Ye Wuming’s lips curled into a mocking smile. Her figure flickered, and River of Stars sliced forward like moonlight on black water. “Do you really think that we backed off last time because we were afraid of you?”

The demonic cultivator instinctively raised his arms to defend himself but realized in that instant that there was no way for him to dodge. The sword cut through time, pierced the fabric of space, severed the river of eternity, and sundered the four dimensions.

The void fractured like glass, and the demonic cultivator shattered into thousands of pieces.

Ye Wuming did not even spare him another glance. With one stride, she stepped toward Luo Chuan’s base. “You could have died a cleaner death, but you just had to open your stupid mouth."

The demonic cultivator died, never understanding what his mistake was.

I just said “are you here to die?”... Was it that rude?

Even if he could smash his head open, he would never be able to guess what Ye Wuming was really thinking.

Why is it that no matter where I go, people keep saying I'm his wife? Even a random passerby calls us a goddamn throuple....

Inside the sword, Ling Ruoyu sighed quietly.

You might as well accept it already. What’s the point of resisting...?