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Chapter 414 Returning with a Wish
"I'm only at the Yingtian Realm, still a long way from the Divine Travel Realm. How can I possibly regain my physical body like this?"

It took the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy a long time to come to his senses: "Before you can achieve the Divine Travel, you must not even get too close to your physical body, otherwise you will be locked in your soul again."

Upon hearing this, Ji You couldn't help but look up at the sky: "But when I was breaking through to the next realm, I felt that the Heavenly Dao was extremely silent and I gained nothing."

"It was shrouded in darkness, and coupled with its already weakened state, the laws of nature began to gradually lose their influence on this world, and the connection between heaven and man naturally became faint."

"Then how can I continue my cultivation and break through to a higher realm?"

"Go to meet the night."

The Heavenly Academy's master raised his hand, pointing to the boundless night: "Cultivators comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, transforming the power of these rules into their own. At the same time, they elevate their souls based on their understanding of the laws of the world. Although the night before you is the Heavenly Dao refined by the Holy Emperor of the Remnant Clan, it still needs the laws to operate and maintain the stability of Qingyun after it is released. The foundation remains. In fact, our ancestors sensed the Heavenly Dao of the Remnant Clan and cultivated in the ancient times. At that time, they were called Fire Thieves by the Remnant Clan."

Upon hearing the sound, Ji You looked behind him, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Before successfully establishing his path, he had already shut down his senses, fearing that he might go astray.

So he had only been looking at the night sky with his eyes before, but now, using his soul as a bridge, he suddenly felt the surging power of the laws.

The feeling was like facing a surging tide, which was awe-inspiring, but at the same time, he had some questions.

"Can the Heavenly Dao of the remnant race be easily sensed by the human race?"

"It has lost its own will; it is merely a tool held in the hands of the Holy Emperor of the Remnant Clan, and is neither good nor evil."

After speaking, the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy turned to look at him again: "Ji You, you have extremely high talent and a thorough understanding of the Heavenly Dao. Now, this ancient Heavenly Dao is boiling, and the power of the rules is fully revealed. For you, this is actually a good thing for rapidly improving your realm, because you will never have the opportunity to see such a boiling law again."

Master Chen's eyes narrowed upon hearing this, and he added, "But be careful, the remnants will discover you through your divine sense, so you must be careful not to be discovered."

Ji You gazed at the rolling darkness and nodded gently.

I understand, it's sexual assault in front of the husband...

The headmaster of the Heavenly Academy stroked his long beard and said, "If you want to see the night, you must return to Qingyun. So the next question is about your grand ambition to return. Do you have any ideas?"

Ji You snapped out of her daze and looked at the two of them, saying, "What are the requirements? We can't just accept anything, can we?"

"You must understand what Heaven needs now. Just like when Cui Lang died, the Night Watch was cut off. Yan Liang knew that Heaven needed a new Night Watchman, so he descended to the mortal realm to take Fang Ruoming in as a sacrifice..."

Master Chen: "?"

Upon hearing this, Ji You looked at Master Chen and asked, "What about the restrictions?"

As the former headmaster of Lingjian Mountain, the previous generation's appraiser, and an immortal who had ascended to heaven, this old man has been holed up in Fengzhou, doing nothing.

Therefore, Ji You knew that there must be limitations to returning on one's own terms.

Seeing this, Master Chen spoke softly: "Besides fulfilling vows in the mortal realm, those who make vows must not be involved in too many karmic consequences outside of their grand vows, otherwise they will be punished. When Shu Yi was attacked, I was punished for forcibly intervening, and the crack in my soul has not healed to this day. Therefore, in recent years, I have been unable to do anything except pass on my legacy to you and Fang Ruoming."

"Is there anything else besides that?"

"If your grand ambition is not fulfilled, your soul will be scattered and you will disappear from the world."

Ji You looked at Master Chen: "You...?"

Master Chen laughed heartily, and after a moment of magnanimity, nodded calmly: "Indeed, I do not have much time left."

"They're about to be gone, yet you remain so calm."

"Because I have no regrets. Like Shuyi, I was exceptionally talented from a young age and cultivated at an astonishing speed. After my father passed away, I took over the Lingjian sect and became its leader. I planned to live out my life without joy or sorrow, and ascend to heaven with my predecessors. But why ascend? What would it be like after ascension? I had no idea. So for those years, I lived without joy or sorrow, just like a hundred years passing by. Looking back, I had nothing to remember. It wasn't until Cui Lang passed away that I realized there are two kinds of things in this world: things that others want me to do and things that I want to do myself. These past few years have been very fulfilling. I teach and nurture people like an ordinary old man, watching those children grow up. I live a very comfortable life. Except for not being able to drink alcohol, I have no regrets."

Master Chen spoke frankly, his face filled with satisfaction.

Ji You understood what he meant, because her own arrogant son was just like that.

Because he was indifferent to joy and sorrow, and remained unchanged for decades, he only awakened his talent for running away from home after meeting himself, and began to have his own ideas.

Not everyone in this world wants to live forever; some people, upon hearing the truth in the morning, are content to die in the evening.

Just as the two were lost in their memories, the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy quietly spoke up from the side: "You've gone too far off topic, and you haven't even finished talking about the important things. You're so muddle-headed, no wonder you chose Fang Ruoming."

Master Chen angrily shook his sleeves: "Is there anything else I haven't said? If you're so capable, then you do it!"

The old sect leader turned to Ji You and said, "Regarding the matter of your grand ambition, in addition to conforming to the Way of Heaven, the most important thing is that your grand ambition must be made from the heart to be effective. The Way of Heaven sees through everything and will not be deceived by lies."

"That's true, grand and lofty ambitions won't work..."

Master Chen realized he had indeed forgotten about it, and spoke with all his arrogance gone: "I do have a suggestion, you can listen to it."

Ji You raised his head: "Please speak, Master."

"Now that the remnants of the race have revived, causing widespread suffering, you went there because of this. Naturally, you can vow to resist the remnants. This is exactly what Heaven needs, and the chances of success should be extremely high."

"That's...not bad."

The old headmaster of the Heavenly Academy rarely agreed with him, and couldn't help but nod in affirmation.

The Holy Emperor of the Remnant Clan intends to refine the Heavenly Dao and enslave all races once again. This is their greatest calamity at present, and all wills to resist will be granted. If this grand ambition is related to the Remnant Clan, then it is also timely.

Upon hearing the two singing in harmony, Ji You couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Acting according to one's heart is in accordance with the Way of Heaven, but one should not get involved in karma other than fulfilling vows, otherwise, failing to fulfill a vow will result in the soul being scattered.

Honestly, the rules for making a vow and returning are actually very strict, with the first two being particularly difficult.

After all, the way of Heaven is to take from those who have more than enough and give to those who have less than enough, while the way of man is not so; it is to take from those who have less than enough to give to those who have more than enough. The two have never been compatible.

The latter two rules further serve to check and balance each other.

If you want to do more and gain greater freedom, you must make grander aspirations. The wider your network, the more freely you can act. However, the bigger your aspirations, the higher the chance of failure.

Master Chen's suggestion to focus on resisting the remnants of the fallen clans was indeed a good choice.

Ji You pondered for a long time, his brows sometimes furrowing and sometimes relaxing, as he looked at Master Chen and the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy.

"Are there any further questions? Please feel free to ask."

"It's nothing, we can begin."

As Ji You spoke, he began to hold his breath and calm himself, then raised his head to face the heavens directly.

Through the direct perception of the divine soul, the Heavenly Dao appears as a giant white dragon, coiled above the endless white expanse, its massive body resembling a continuous mountain range.

Ji You had once accompanied the Great Xia delegation to the demon race and had seen the most magnificent Hundred Thousand Mountains in the Qingyun world, but the grandeur of the Heavenly Dao that he encountered was even greater.

But just as the old doctor said, the Heavenly Dao is now truly on its last legs. If one does not carefully perceive it, one might even think it is nothing more than a huge, lifeless thing.

After observing for a long time, Ji You fixed his gaze, and as the mysterious light around him roared, the connection between heaven and man was activated.

Upon seeing this, the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy and Master Chen knew that he had made up his mind to make his vow, so they took a few steps back to give him space and then looked up at him.

As Ji You's thoughts were perceived by the heavens, a magnificent celestial light guided him into view.

In the instant of sensing the connection between heaven and man, Ji You felt a magnificent and irresistible force approaching, and his entire body was suddenly pulled upwards.

Upon seeing this, both of them in the white world couldn't help but stare intently.

Whether Ji Youxin's thoughts will ultimately be validated by the will of Heaven is uncertain to them.

Because he repeatedly emphasized after his recovery that he only wanted to go back and die with the people he wanted to die with, if his desire to punish the dead on behalf of Heaven was not so strong, the chances of a response would be extremely small.

More importantly, the Heavenly Dao is too weak now, and they don't know whether it still has the strength to respond to Ji You's vow.

"You said if..."

"boom!!!!"

Just as the old headmaster of the Heavenly Academy was about to speak with Master Chen, his words were suddenly interrupted by a tremor of the Heavenly Dao.

Before their eyes, the dying Heavenly Dao suddenly supported its enormous body, as if it were struggling to raise its head, and a sense of immense size and vastness immediately overwhelmed them.

At the border of Qingzhou and Lingzhou, on the Moon Soul Plateau northeast of the Great Wilderness Forest, under the endless darkness, countless soldiers of the Remnant Clan surged forth, like a black tide relentlessly charging forward.

In the direction they were facing, countless cultivators rose up in resistance, and in an instant, the loess-covered plateau was littered with corpses.

Some of these cultivators came from the Lan and Bian families of the original Youzhou. After the barbarians entered Youzhou, they settled in Qingzhou. In addition, there were the Lian, Sha, and Gong families of the Tu ethnic group from Qingzhou, who were once the three largest families among the marriage-related families of the Dan Sect.

The first wave of killing intent after the resurrection of the remnants did not directly target this place, but unexpectedly, the second wave rolled towards them in an instant, catching them off guard.

boom! ! !
Under the cover of night, the patriarch of the Sha family swallowed a pill, causing his aura to surge, and he wielded his longsword to strike down with a thunderous roar.

With a heavy force of the blade, the approaching remnant clan was brutally killed.

"So what kind of remnant clan is this? They're nothing special!"

"They killed my people and destroyed my home; they deserve to die!"

The patriarch of the Sha family let out a sharp cry, then suddenly rolled up his sleeves and rose into the air once more, fiercely attacking the remnants of his family who were devouring his own clansmen.

But just as his second strike was about to fall, a figure came rushing in, its hand slamming down towards his head, gripping his claws tightly.

There was a click.

The patriarch of the Sha family suffered a shattered skull and collapsed like a limp rag as he fell from the sky.

The third prince of the remnant clan, Mo Yuan, stood in the night sky, looking at the blood between his hands, and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

A servant is a servant. Even though he learned the cultivation techniques of their clan, he still couldn't give him any surprises.

boom! ! ! !

Just then, a loud roar suddenly rang out from the sky, causing Mo Yuan to suppress his smile, fix his eyes, and look up.

In an instant, he seemed to sense a sudden flash of energy, which made him feel a sense of unease rising from within his body.

At this moment, amidst the vast white expanse high above, boundless celestial light roared down, as if igniting the entire sky.

The headmaster of the Heavenly Academy and Master Chen looked on in astonishment, raising their heads even higher.

After a long while, Ji You suddenly fell from an even higher place in the sky, his whole body surging with heavenly energy.

What made the two of them even more wide-eyed was that Ji You's aura had changed drastically, and a huge halo of light was floating behind him.

He himself was also puzzled and did not know what it was. He only knew that it suddenly appeared after he made a wish, but he could feel a surge of power throughout his body, a feeling that was inexhaustible.

At the same time, he felt that his five senses were more acute than before, and his mind was also incredibly clear.

"So making a vow has its benefits? Why didn't Master Chen tell me?"

"?"

Master Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, unsure of what to say to Ji You upon hearing the news.

At that moment, a dazzling golden light began to fall from beneath Ji You's feet, piercing through the layers of darkness and descending into the Qingyun land.

At that moment, he was dragged along and hurtled towards the dark, billowing sky of Qingyun.

Seeing this, Master Chen turned to the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy and asked, "What is that thing wrapped around his body?"

"The seven ancient sages of my human race were bestowed with divine favor."

Master Chen's expression froze, and he looked up at the Heavenly Dao, which was now even more on its last legs.

As a sect leader himself, he was naturally aware of the celestial signs recorded in ancient texts. In fact, the human race's techniques of embracing various laws evolved from this.

It resembles a technique, yet also a state of being, originating solely from the initial favor of Heaven.

According to ancient texts, it is the power of the Heavenly Dao residing in the cultivator, as if the might of Heaven were bestowed upon them. In the ancient war, the seven sages used this power of Heaven to defeat the remnant race.

What exactly did he wish for?

After thinking about these things, Master Chen was momentarily lost in thought.

The dying Heavenly Dao giving away its power once again is tantamount to suicide.

He himself was a vow-maker, and knew that this was not something that could be obtained simply by making a vow; the only difference might lie in the content of the vow.

Upon hearing Master Chen's question, the headmaster of the Heavenly Academy seemed to realize that Ji You's grand ambition was different from what he had said before, and so he suddenly waved his sleeve.

Before long, the oaths of the Heavenly Dao condensed in the sky and gradually appeared before their eyes.

That vow was only four short sentences long.

Establish a heart for the heaven and earth, and establish a destiny for the people.

To continue the lost learning of the sages and to usher in an era of peace for all generations.

The two of them froze instantly, their minds buzzing...

Is the calamity of Qingyun Tianxia truly only due to the resurgence of the remnants of the ancient race? Will eliminating the remnants bring eternal peace?
No, that's not the case.

Ji You knew clearly that the calamities of the human race had always originated from the human race itself, and even the successful resurrection of the remnant race was due to this.

He didn't want to see people who had suffered all their lives become slaves and food again, nor did he want to see the arrogant ghosts die because of it. Naturally, he had to go back and fight alongside them, but this kind of resistance had to be worthwhile.

Even assuming, hypothetically, that humanity does have a chance to survive this calamity, what then?
Should we return control of this world to those idle cultivators who squander their wealth? And then, bound by our grand ambitions, become like Master Chen, merely a bystander? What would be the point of all the arduous struggle against the remnants of the ancient race, even if we were to win?
Therefore, it should not just be the descendants of the deceased, nor should it be solely the descendants of the deceased.

boom! ! !
As darkness enveloped the area, Ji You's soul fell into a dark mountain forest.

He stood up and looked at his body, finding it to have an almost translucent quality of light, while a small tree next to him easily pierced through his arm.

He moved his arm slightly, letting the branch weave back and forth between his arms, thinking to himself that he really needed a clay body first.

Ji You's five senses were already highly developed. When he focused his hearing, he heard the sound of flowing water coming from the west, so he took a step and walked over.

The moonlight shifted westward, the night grew quiet, and a cold wind blew continuously from all sides, with a menacing aura lingering within.

On the west side of the mountains, beside a babbling brook.

The soil dug from the mountain was being lifted by a burst of spiritual energy and gradually shaped on a blue stone on the riverbank.

Ji You's expression was very serious as he sculpted a replica of Daniel Wu.

After a while, he glanced at his work and thought to himself, "Fine, Lei Jiayin will do too."

However, the eyebrows still need to be changed; they need to be more striking and bold.

After fiddling with it for a long time, Ji Youchao took a few steps back and looked at the clay figure that had already taken shape from a greater distance, and couldn't help but frown slightly.

Was what Captain Jia said a bit too much?

Meanwhile, high in the sky.

Master Chen sat amidst a vast expanse of white, staring at the endless sky, his expression slightly stunned, his eyes filled with bewilderment.

He should have transformed into the Dao of Heaven and Earth, but Ji You's sudden appearance put his plans on hold for the time being.

According to his intuition, the punishment for disobeying should have already been imposed by now, but for some reason, he felt nothing.

"It seems that the laws of Heaven do not consider your grand ambition to protect the night to have failed," the Dean of the Heavenly Academy said softly.

"?"

He clearly failed to protect anything, and the darkness successfully appeared in Qingyun. His vow should have been declared a failure at that moment, but Heaven did not consider him to have failed.

Master Chen was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then suddenly looked down at the direction Ji You had left, his expression one of astonishment.

(It was a bit difficult to write today, so there are fewer words. I'll make up for it tomorrow. Please vote with your monthly tickets.)
(End of this chapter)