Ranran followed the voice and saw several immortals who had previously supervised the *Ten Thousand Calamities Divine Punishment. Now, they were all surrounding a central figure with white hair and eyebrows, yet with a youthful appearance.
* I referred to it as Heavenly calamity otherwise its such a huge mouthful
It was this white-haired immortal who spoke.
In the celestial realm, immortals are also *divided into ranks. Those with relatively shallow qualifications, like the Medicine Immortal, are only lower-level immortals. However, seeing the other arrogant immortals' deference towards the white-haired one, he must be a high-ranking upper-level immortal.
*三六九 different ranks
The Medicine Immortal addressed him as Venerable Purple Light, said to be one of the Eight Great Upper Immortals.
Xue Ranran greeted him with folded hands, saying, "After reincarnation, Ranran in this life, does not remember past events. I hope this Upper Immortal can understand!"
The white-haired immortal raised his eyebrows slightly. "You cunning little girl, are you planning to use your lack of memory as an excuse to evade responsibility?"
Ranran's feelings towards these immortals were quite complicated now, especially since they had all arrived only after the fact, so she felt even weirder about them.
So she spoke without reservation "As a mortal, I have never stood high above and overlooked the world's affairs. Therefore, I do everything with all my might, not betraying the conscience of heaven and earth! In order to resist Duntian and prevent the masses from falling into despair, we had to use everything available to us. This is how we barely defeated Duntian and prevented widespread disaster… Perhaps if all of you had arrived earlier, we wouldn't have needed to pry into heavenly secrets, and victory would have been assured!"
Ranran's words were like hidden steel needles within cotton! Anyone with a shred of dignity would blush upon hearing them. However, the immortals high above had long ceased to be ordinary humans, upon hearing Ranran's sarcasm, they maintained impassive expressions.
What Ranran said was the truth. Those upper-level immortals had initially made a convenient decision because they couldn't destroy the Bone Tower, opting to overturn the world to prevent time from flowing backward.
Now that Xue Ranran and the others had risked their lives and not only destroyed the Bone Tower but also killed the demonic Duntian, the heavens should not criticize them, morally or logically.
Just like mortals, immortals are judged by an invisible balance in the world. Su Yi Shui and Xue Ranran's actions had brought substantial benefits to the people and punishing them with death right now, would likely result in bad karma on those immortals who made such a decision.
So even though Xue Ranran had violated a major taboo by revealing heavenly secrets, the upper-level immortals had to consider their actions carefully.
The white-haired immortal continued, "The theft of the Heavenly Book is no small matter. Both you and Su Yi Shui are involved, and Su Yi Shui, as a demonic immortal, had used his nascent soul to intervene in the cycle of life and death without authorization, allowing someone who should have died to be reincarnated. *What's the difference between this and what Duntian did?… Ten days later is when the gates of the celestial realm will open, and even those who haven't transcended mortality can ascend to the heavens. At that time, you must enter the celestial realm and plead guilty before the Celestial Sovereign…"
*what difference was, Su Yi Shui gave something precious of his own, and did not harm anyone else doing that lol those huffy immortals are really annoying right?
Perhaps this upper-level immortal also had difficulty deciding on the severity of punishment, so he simply passed the hot potato to the *Celestial Sovereign, who oversees the upper immortals.
*天尊 in most xianxia this is the big voice in the sky
They had already destroyed the page of the Heavenly Book and could now report back to the higher authorities. As for other heavenly punishments, they would have to wait for the Celestial Sovereign's decision ten days later.
However, the Medicine Immortal had acted on his own and joined these mortals in their nonsensical actions, so the Venerable Purple Light coldly ordered the Medicine Immortal to immediately return to the celestial realm to plead his case and await punishment.
The Medicine Immortal didn't care much about being punished anymore. Perhaps Ranran's merciless criticism of immortals had awakened him, and he realized he had forgotten his original intention of ascending to immortality.
Today, as a lower-level immortal of the celestial realm, he shouldn't have been involved in such matters. However, the battle today was too thrilling and satisfying?
Furthermore, being able to fight side by side with Feng Mou again, it felt like a beautiful dream. Unfortunately, dreams always end. He glanced reluctantly at Feng Mou but was enveloped in a halo of light cast by Venerable Purple Light, ascending to the celestial realm.
When he looked back down at the ground, Feng Mou, who had repeatedly risked her life to protect him during the fierce battle just now, was unwilling to look at him.
He wanted to say something but didn't know where to start. He could only sigh as his body gradually ascended and disappeared into the sky…
When the immortals all left, the people on the ground began to clean up the battlefield.
Although there were no casualties for Xishan, their injuries were severe. Gao Cang and Bai Baishan stabilized their heart meridians after taking the pills given by the Medicine Immortal, but their dantians were damaged, requiring a long period of recuperation.
The most frustrating thing was, despite their desperate efforts and placing their lives on the line, they were left with a deferred judgment from the celestial realm. Qiu Xier found this extremely disheartening and began cursing loudly at the sky after the immortals had left.
Ranran didn't have the mood to join in cursing. She was currently using her spiritual energy to heal Su Yi Shui. His injuries were very severe, and although he could survive because of the Green dragon's blood, he still needed quiet rest.
Ranran never knew that her reincarnation was actually exchanged with Su Yi Shui's celestial status. If he had truly perished with Duntian, she definitely would not have wanted to stay alive by herself and *would follow him.
*but Su Yi Shui will be so mad! lol would they be two bickering ghosts?
But now that he was still alive, she could finally feel at ease. As for what would happen in ten days, she decided to take it one step at a time.
While everyone was recuperating, Wen Chunhui went up the mountain to inspect the houses of the Kongshan Sect. Despite Duntian falling into darkness, he wasn't inherently bloodthirsty. The followers he had controlled were weak-willed and greedy, so most of the disciples of Kongshan Sect were imprisoned and those who had been controlled were gradually regaining their senses without fear for their lives. She instructed the injured to stay in guest rooms on the mountain until they recovered enough to leave.
However, Wen Chunhui politely excluded Wei Jiu and urged him to return quickly to Red Flame Mountain to assess the situation.
The Bone Tower in Kongshan was the main tower of the Heaven-defying tower, and now that the main tower had collapsed, the other towers were likely gone as well. As the backbone of Red Flame Mountain, he must return.
Wen Chunhui saw through Wei Jiu's character, he was a true despicable schemer!
At such a critical moment, Wei Jiu still found opportunities to scheme. Now that Duntian had been dealt with, if Wei Jiu went up the mountain, who knows what trouble he might cause at Kongshan.
Wei Jiu also sensed the subtle hint in Wen Chunhui's polite words, so he laughed coldly three times and waved his sleeve, telling Tu Jiuyuan to follow him back to Red Flame Mountain.
He was also eager to see how much of his foundation remained and had no interest in staying here any further.
Even though Su Yi Shui was injured now and it was an excellent opportunity to kill him. However, with those two dragons around, he would not be likely to succeed.
He had always felt that his abilities were comparable to Su Yi Shui's, but Su Yi Shui had already cultivated into an immortal with the body of the demon's son twenty years ago!
Wei Jiu finally understood the vast difference between them, and this bitter taste was enough for him to ponder over for the rest of his life. So he left rather quickly, without any dragging of his feet.
Tu Jiuyuan pursed her lips and followed Wei Jiu.
However, not long after, Tu Jiuyuan secretly returned to Kongshan by herself.
Ranran was leading a few disciples of Kongshan in the mountains to gather herbs when she suddenly returned. Naturally, she asked her if she had lost something.
Tu Jiuyuan, however, knelt down in front of her with a thud. "I already owe you a great debt, so I'm shamelessly asking for another favor. Please think of a way to protect my child."
As the saying goes, a mother's love knows no bounds. Wei Jiu made it clear that regardless of whose child was in her womb, she couldn't keep it. If she returned to Red Flame Mountain with him, she would have to drink a bowl of abortion medicine.
But if she tried to escape, the punishment for traitors from Red Flame Mountain was bloody and brutal, and she still couldn't escape death.
So after thinking it through, Tu Jiuyuan could only come to Xue Ranran and see if this clever girl could come up with a solution.
Ranran looked at Tu Jiuyuan's pale face as she held her stomach and reached out to check her pulse. Despite Tu Jiuyuan's tumultuous emotions, her fetal pulse was stable, indicating a healthy baby inside.
Ranran pondered for a moment before saying, "Originally, I could shelter you in Xishan, but with the celestial punishment awaiting me and my master in ten days, without knowing what will happen, I can't offer you complete protection… Perhaps there is a place where you can seek refuge, but you need the owner's permission. I can ask on your behalf."
When Xue Ranran later brought this up with the Dragon goddess Feng Mou, Tu Jiuyuan realized that the ideal place Ranran spoke of was the legendary Dragon Island.
Surrounded by dragons, it was an extremely dangerous place. Even Wei Jiu, with his prowess, wouldn't dare to venture and harm a pregnant woman there.
However, Ranran wasn't sure if Feng Mou would agree, as Dragon Island was a forbidden place, unwelcome to mortals.
Ranran was shocked how Feng Mou immediately agreed to this, when she broached the subject with her.
However, Feng Mou mentioned that her help was also self-serving, it depended on whether Tu Jiuyuan would agree.
It turned out that the Dragon goddess had violated heavenly rules by leaving Dragon Island without permission, and punishment was inevitable. Feng Mou had previously lost five hundred years of cultivation due to divine punishment, and her appearance was also greatly affected. If she were punished again, it would be even more severe.
*I thought she took on the Medicine Immortal's tribulations for him, why was this lumped together haha
So Feng Mou was willing to form good karma and help Tu Jiuyuan protect the child in her womb. When the punishment arrived, it was uncertain whether her good deed would lessen the punishment.
More importantly, unborn babies were pure and untouched by sin; divine punishment wouldn't harm the pregnant woman, as the child has yet to sin in this life.
If Tu Jiuyuan agreed to help her as her protector in the future, she might be able to escape calamity.
Tu Jiuyuan agreed immediately. Growing up in Crimson Flame Mountain, influenced by the environment, she was ruthless in her actions but had a strong sense of loyalty. So when Feng Mou straightforwardly told her the situation, she readily agreed.
Regardless of where she went, she wouldn't be able to escape Wei Jiu's pursuit, so she might as well take a gamble. Even if something unexpected happened, she would take her child with her!
Feng Mou seemed to sense Ranran's worry and added, "Don't worry, even if I don't survive the heavenly tribulation, since there's no divine punishment, the little Dragon will also protect her. After she gives birth, he will send the mother and child out of Dragon Island."
The Dragon she mentioned was the young dragon. Born outside Dragon Island, it hadn't been imprinted with restrictions, so he wouldn't incur divine punishment even if he left the island. That's why she had brought it out of the island with her earlier.
*LOL technical oversight
Hearing the Dragon goddess's words, the young dragon immediately protested with howls, seemingly unhappy with its godmother's bleak words.
After arranging everything, Ranran bid farewell to the two dragons and Tu Jiuyuan, then returned to take care of her Shifu, prepare his medicine and wait on him by the sickbed.
They hadn't had a chance to be alone since Su Yi Shui regained his memories.
Now, after a major battle, here was a rare moment of tranquility.
After feeding him the medicine, with the sun yet to set, but rain started to fall again.
They were staying in a guest room surrounded by dense banana plants. The sound of raindrops hitting the leaves made people drowsy.
So after feeding him the medicine, like a tired and coquettish kitten, Ranran climbed onto the bed as well, and buried her face in Su Yi Shui's chest.
Su Yi Shui thought she was tired and wanted to rest, so he didn't disturb her. He just held her, sniffing the faint fragrance on her body, and closed his eyes to rest.
But soon, he felt his shirt becoming damp. He raised her chin with his hand and saw tears streaming down her tender face.
"What's wrong?" he couldn't help asking with a furrowed brow.
Ranran choked out "You big fool, you actually gave up your nascent soul for me. Don't you know that its different from a golden core? Once damaged, it's hard to repair!"
Cultivators spend their lives pursuing immortal cultivation to transcend mortal life and achieve eternal life.
But Su Yi Shui cultivated into a true immortal with the body of the demon's son, and yet he easily gave it up for her. Did he know what exactly he had given up?
Su Yi Shui wiped the tears from her face with his long fingers but found that the more he wiped, the more tears appeared. So he stopped wiping and directly used his lips to kiss away the tears on her cheeks, then lowered his head to kiss her lips, swallowing her sobs as well.
When the two separated, Ranran's breathing was unsteady, and she found it was hard to work up the feelings to continue crying.
"I'm talking about something serious, why are you being so unserious?" She couldn't help but try to push him away, but the man was like a rock, to heavy to be pushed away no matter how hard she tried.
Su Yi Shui's gaze deepened as he stared at her, as if he wanted to devour her in one gulp.
He asked softly, "Do you know why I was able to have a breakthrough with the demon son's body and ascend so quickly back then?"
Ranran swallowed and shook her head.
"Back then, there were too many men milling around you, but you never looked at me. I was thinking, when could I become stronger, strong enough that you couldn't ignore me, and your eyes would be filled with me…"
Ranran couldn't help but laugh at his sincere words. Did jealousy motivate one to progress? There were plenty of jealous people in the world. Following his logic, wouldn't everyone be able to become an immortal from the demonic path?
"What about now? If other men appear around me, would you become like Duntian and fall into darkness again?"
Su Yishui raised an eyebrow. "I can save the trouble now. Haven't I already proposed, and your parents have agreed? Although I've become an immortal, I still want to follow the secular etiquette. Tomorrow, let's return to Xishan and get married."
By then, he would be her husband, and if any reckless person dared to approach her disrespectfully, he would be absolutely justified in killing them!
Huh?
Ranran had thought Su Yi Shui would be worried about the heavenly punishment and discuss countermeasures with her. But she didn't expect him to bring up marriage out of the blue.
This…was completely unrelated!
Su Yi Shui deeply regretted his arrogance when he had lost his memory. He didn't know how to seize the opportunity. He should have consummated the marriage when he proposed, instead of wasting so much time.
So he felt it was time to move the wedding forward.
Ranran wanted to say something, but Su Yishui was afraid she would refuse, so he simply covered her mouth with his hand. "When I remembered everything, you were afraid that I only loved you from twenty years ago; after I lost my memory, I forgot all the old feelings, didn't I still fall for you and landed into Xue Ranran's hands again? If you make any more excuses, I will have to take you to court. Are you just toying with me and refusing to give me your heart?"
Ranran and he were nose to nose, and she looked at him as he questioned her coldly, while showing a fierce look as if he was afraid of being toyed with. It was just like his bad behavior back when he lost his memory!
In fact, in this life, Ranran had regarded Su Yi Shui as her master for the first two years since they have met. As for when it evolved into deeper affection, thinking back, it seemed to have happened when he lost his memory.
At that time, Su Yi Shui had none of the demeanor of being a master, and his temperament was very difficult! He was completely like the wild beast from the Fierce Beast chapter in the [Playing Classics]. But it was precisely because of this that she saw the bad temper beneath his usually aloof and perfect appearance and *couldn't help but fall for him…
Ten days would fly by, and when that time came, she would face the celestial trial with him, with uncertain outcome.
But if she could marry him now, even if it was just ten days of sweetness, she would have no regrets in this life!
Thinking of this, she forcefully pushed away his hand covering her mouth and deliberately showed a flirtatious smile, teasingly lifting Su Yi Shui's chin, looking at his handsome face with leering eyes, and couldn't help but give him a kiss, saying, "Since you're so eager to get married off, I'll reluctantly accept you… A~h…"
She hadn't finished her careless words yet when Su Yi Shui turned and pressed her beneath him, and for a while, they were swept away by passion under the waves of the blankets, their low laughter continuing… lessening the apprehension of facing the heavenly trial.
The next day, the group from Xishan finished their preparations and were ready to return.
Along the way, Ranran had some free time to quietly ponder over what Feng Mou had told her before they left.
Feng Mou said that the Heavenly Book was originally a wordless book set up on the Ascension Platform in the heavenly realm. The pages of the book were closed all year round and couldn't be opened by ordinary people.
So how did Mu Qingge manage to enter the heavenly realm to read the wordless book and even tear out a page? It seemed to be an impossible and bizarre experience.
If Ranran could remember everything from her past life, perhaps she could solve the mystery. When they faced the heavenly trial, she could also handle it more calmly.
As for Su Yi Shui's identity, it was indeed an awkward existence for the heavenly realm.
The demon's son had been born as a tribulation for the mortal realm. If his merits were completed, there was still a possibility of ascending after exhausting his use, rewarded with a lower immortal status and slowly enduring hardships to progress up the ranks.
But those who became immortals with demonic bodies were already outside the hierarchies of the immortals and were not under the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Sovereign. Such a variable, and his mere existence made all immortals uneasy. And Su Yi Shui's abandonment of his nascent soul was actually welcomed by the heavenly realm.
Even the Rebirth Tree Su Yi Shui had obtained back then was guided by a higher power. Whether it was done with good intentions or ulterior motives, it was up for debate.
Su Yi Shui looked at Ranran, who was lost in thought, and said mildly, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."
But Ranran couldn't help but ponder everything that had happened. After experiencing a series of twists and turns, she looked at everything around her with suspicion.
Additionally, there was a thought that had been lingering in her mind—was it also a conspiracy that Mu Qingge managed to see that Heavenly Book?
When they returned to Xishan, Ranran's parents were already restless from waiting.
During these days, there were sudden changes in the world, especially with the four black towers surrounding Xishan. Lightning and thunder even reached Xishan, making everyone feel uneasy about the situation over at Kongshan.
Later Ranran had used messenger birds to inform Emperor Su Yu and at the same time informed uncle master Zeng Yi who was at Xishan, to take her parents and escape first.
However, when Qiaolian and Carpenter Xue had heard that their daughter was in danger, they flatly refused to leave. They cried and said they couldn't leave Ranran alone to face the danger. They insisted on staying in Xishan and waiting for Ranran to return.
Fortunately, Heaven didn't let down their love for their daughter, and Ranran finally returned all in one piece.
Qiaolian cried tears of joy and wanted to hold her obedient daughter in her arms like a baby, then hurried to the kitchen to prepare food and let her daughter who had worked hard for several days rest and recuperate.
Others may not know, but her obedient daughter was a first-rate hero who saved the world!
At the dining table, Ranran's bowl was filled to the brim with food picked out by her mother.
Of course, Su Yi Shui took advantage of the mealtime to announce two things.
The first thing was that he was going to step down as the Sect leader of Xishan and return Xishan to Xue Ranran, at the same time severing the master-disciple relationship with Ranran.
This statement stunned the cheerful diners, and Bai Baishan asked cautiously, "Master… are you going to exile yourself from the sect?"
Su Yishui nodded, and Gao Cang immediately looked like he was close to tears. "Master, don't you want us anymore? Moreover, how did Junior Sister anger you? You're actually going to leave Xishan by yourself?"
Ranran felt that the table was full of delicious dishes that needed to be savored, but Su Yi Shui's cryptic behavior was making everyone lose their appetites, which was a letdown for the chickens, ducks, fish on the table.
She glared at Su Yi Shui and then, ignoring her own embarrassment, loudly declared, "Don't worry, although your Master is exiling himself from the sect, he has also found a good place to settle down… um… I'm getting married!"
Qiaolian blinked her eyes and was the first to understand. Her daughter had finally figured things out and was going to marry Master Su!
In this way, giving Xishan to her daughter would be part of her dowry, but wasn't it still circling back to Master Su? Thinking that her dowry accumulated over all these time was finally being put to good use, Qiaolian was overjoyed. She grabbed Su Yishui's hand and started calling him her son-in-law, my son…
Now, everyone finally relaxed and burst into laughter.
However, those who had been to Kongshan still had a hint of bitterness in their smiles.
They had heeded Ranran's repeated urging and didn't reveal the fact that they would have to face heavenly punishment for prying into heaven's mandate, to Qiaolian and her husband.
So now, after hearing the news that the two were about to be married, their hearts were filled with mixed feelings: ten days later, facing the heavenly trial was going to be an unknown thunderbolt.
But for now, they still needed to prepare wholeheartedly for the wedding of this immortal couple.
Unfortunately, this joyous occasion couldn't stop evil from coming to the mountain. On the second day, just as everyone was preparing the decorations, Wei Jiu had barged into the Xishan gate, aggressively questioning Su Yi Shui, "I'm asking you, where did you hide Tu Jiuyuan?"