Chapter 253: Illumination

After chatting with Huang Ying until nightfall, Chen Luo stayed in a nearby guest room.

Void Sage remained in seclusion on the mountain, and the situation with the sect’s founder on Divine Lake Peak was unclear. The ten major peaks were all shrouded in the aura of Core Formation, deterring Chen Luo from entering the mountains. The current state of the God Lake Immortal Sect felt strangely off. The chaos he had anticipated hadn’t materialized, and even the Corpse-Raising Sect and Nine Poisons Valley hadn’t sent scouts.

The entire sect radiated an unsettling aura.

That night, Huang Ying sat in her room, holding the Foundation Establishment Pill Chen Luo had given her. After a moment of hesitation, she gritted her teeth and swallowed it.

Foundation Establishment!

She had been accumulating spiritual energy for years, and now with the Foundation Establishment Pill, she was determined to break through in one go. Once she overcame this barrier, she would officially become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, finally on the same level as her senior brother.

The pill dissolved the instant it entered her stomach.

Huang Ying closed her eyes, and her spiritual energy surged violently. Her perfected spiritual energy rapidly transformed. Under the pill’s effects, the small snakes of spiritual energy gradually metamorphosed, evolving toward becoming true spiritual dragons. Driven to its limits by her Soul Transformation Art, her body began to transform, shifting from a mortal vessel to a Foundation Establishment spirit body. Completing this final step would grant her the status of a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a lifespan of five hundred years.

Time passed quickly, and Huang Ying’s spiritual energy rapidly transformed, reaching about one-third of its full metamorphosis. However, at this point, she began to feel drained. She swiftly retrieved a Qi-Blood Pill she had prepared and swallowed it. The pill’s effects reinvigorated her vital energy, accelerating its circulation, but the boost soon began to wane.

External aids had become ineffective.

Burn her lifespan!

Huang Ying gritted her teeth and made the decision. This was a step every Foundation Establishment cultivator would face. True ascension couldn’t be achieved solely through external means unless one was cursed like Wang Tianji and his group, with parasitic entities attached to their bodies. But such power wasn’t one’s own; even Foundation Establishment would be useless, only hastening death.

As her lifespan burned, Huang Ying’s strength surged.

Seventh layer, eighth layer…

When she reached the ninth layer, the pace abruptly slowed. As her lifespan burned, strands of silver appeared in her hair, wrinkles formed on her face, and an aura of twilight descended.

The presence of death began to manifest.

Strangely, at this critical moment, Huang Ying suddenly opened her eyes, gazing at her hands with childlike wonder as if seeing something beyond the withered, liver-spotted hands of an old woman.

“I did it! I finally caught up to Senior Brother!”

Like all Foundation Establishment cultivators undergoing their breakthrough, Huang Ying had fallen into a delusion.

The God Lake Immortal Sect produced Qi Refining disciples as numerous as carps crossing a river each year, yet only one cultivator successfully reached Foundation Establishment every two decades. Before Huang Ying, there had been Chen Luo. This starkly illustrated the abysmal success rate. Though Huang Ying possessed decent talent, it paled in comparison to Chen Luo’s extraordinary gifts, and like all cultivators undergoing the breakthrough, she had strayed onto the wrong path.

“Too impatient,” said a voice as Chen Luo appeared silently in the room.

Extending his index finger, he condensed the power of the Demonic Heart Art into a glowing point and pressed it against Huang Ying’s forehead.

A crude street.

Unlike Elder FusionSpirit’s Demonic Heart Tribulation, this felt more like a dream. The area was small, roughly the size of a county town, surrounded entirely by dense fog. Upon closer inspection, even the faces of passersby appeared hazy.

“Husband, your journey is long and perilous. Please be careful and avoid conflict along the way.”

Hearing a voice, Chen Luo turned to find himself standing at the entrance of a small courtyard. Huang Ying, dressed in plain white robes, stood in the doorway, gazing at him with a face full of reluctance.

Chen Luo glanced down and noticed his own attire had transformed into a scholar’s Confucian robe, complete with a square headscarf, radiating youthful vigor.

This was the man Huang Ying had always imagined him to be.

Chen Luo never expected to become Huang Ying’s tribulation.

“Rest assured, my dear,” he said.

Chen Luo hoped Huang Ying could maintain her integrity. If she failed, his presence wouldn’t help. He had only used the Demonic Heart Art twice, and many aspects remained unclear.

The point of spiritual light he had evoked was primarily meant to safeguard Huang Ying’s original nature, exerting a subtle, transformative influence.

“Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll take good care of Father,” a voice piped up beside him. Chen Luo looked down to see an eight- or nine-year-old child holding his hand, dressed in a similar scholar’s robe.

After a final farewell, Chen Luo left his hometown by carriage with the child and the dried provisions Huang Ying handed him.

They departed beyond the county limits.

The surrounding mist coalesced, blurring the world outside. The carriage and the child beside Chen Luo seemed to turn to wood. Time itself seemed to be fast-forwarded, racing forward at an unnatural pace.

In what felt like an instant, half a year had passed.

When Chen Luo’s vision cleared, he found himself disoriented. Before he could fully grasp the situation, the sound of gongs rang out.

“Aliens advance south! The northern frontier has fallen! The Son of Heaven has perished!”

Hordes of defeated soldiers poured into the city as countless scenes flashed by in rapid succession, like pages of history turning at breakneck speed.

“Father! Mother is still in Ji City!”

The child tugged at Chen Luo’s sleeve, his face etched with worry, desperate to turn back. But before they could reach the gate, it slammed shut.

A new emperor ascended the throne, proclaiming the establishment of a new dynasty.

Nomadic tribes from the north had established their own state, casting covetous eyes southward.

The conquered northern lands became the new dynasty’s territory, and a former county town was transformed into its capital. Hu nobles seized power, establishing a new court. For the common people in the occupied regions, however, life remained largely unchanged. They were too insignificant, like ants. No one cared about them, and they barely existed in the annals of history.

These ‘nonexistent’ people lived lives filled only with daily necessities—firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

A matchmaker, basket of fruit slung over her arm, arrived at Huang Ying’s door, her face beaming with auspicious tidings.

“Miss Huang, joyous news!” she exclaimed. “With a word from you, this match is as good as settled. From this day forward, you’ll enjoy boundless wealth and luxury!”

Huang Ying, who had been washing clothes in the courtyard, wiped sweat from her brow and looked at the matchmaker with puzzled eyes.

“Wang Po, what’s this joyous news?”

“Prince Wanyan has taken a fancy to you! If you agree, you can move into his grand estate immediately and live a life of luxury!”

Having accepted bribes, the matchmaker lavishly praised the prince, describing him as peerless under heaven and earth. Only his infatuation prevented her from resorting to forced abduction; why else would she need such elaborate schemes?

“Silence!”

Huang Ying cut her off mid-sentence, her face turning glacial. She grabbed a nearby washing stick and advanced menacingly.

“I am already a married woman! How dare you insult me like this!”

“Oh, my dear girl!” Wang Po cried, retreating to the gate in alarm. “This heaven-sent fortune is within your grasp! How can you be so blinded by loyalty? You’re young—don’t choose the wrong path! These are turbulent times; who knows if your husband is even still…”

“Get out!”

Huang Ying grabbed the stick in her hand and hurled it at Wang Po. The matchmaker had never witnessed such a scene before. Terrified, she knocked over her fruit basket, sending its crimson contents rolling across the ground as she fled in panic. Standing at the doorway, the recovered matchmaker erupted into a furious tirade, but Huang Ying completely ignored her, striding forward to bolt the door shut.

Meanwhile, in the distance…

Having just settled in, Chen Luo looked up, his consciousness spanning the distance to witness Huang Ying’s decisive choice. A faint smile touched his lips.

Good.

With this choice, the world seemed to grow noticeably clearer, indicating that Huang Ying’s spirit was strengthening. The rate at which her life force burned slowed, and her spiritual energy surged even more dramatically.

Huang Ying had decisively chosen her true heart over superficial glory.

As Chen Luo, her husband in the dream world, he also reaped some benefits from this choice.

The mist thickened again, and another three years passed in a blink.

During those three years, Chen Luo’s position advanced, allowing him to continuously seek news of his wife in the North. His son grew older and began searching for his mother alongside him. Compared to their relatively mundane lives, Huang Ying’s path became increasingly vivid and distinct.

She had truly become a person of this world.

To support herself and maintain her small courtyard, Huang Ying toiled at every dirty, backbreaking chore. Because she had rejected Wanyan Wangye’s offer, Hu soldiers began harassing her intermittently. For three years, Huang Ying lived in extreme hardship, her body growing increasingly gaunt. Yet her eyes remained bright as stars, unwavering in their resolve.

Creak

The door swung open again.

Huang Ying looked up and saw Wang Po the matchmaker entering, followed by a group of Hu soldiers. The soldiers lined up in two rows, each carrying five large wooden chests.

“Wangye has issued the order: you will marry him on the fifteenth of next month,” Wang Po announced, standing by the wall, her face beaming. She had been working toward this for three years, and now that Wangye had made up his mind, her reward was finally within reach.

The Wangye, having lost patience with Huang Ying, now intended to crush her with his power.

After delivering the wedding invitation, Wang Po and her entourage turned to leave.

Huang Ying set aside her work and went to open the chests. Inside were bolts of fine silk and brocade, along with gold and silver jewelry—ten chests full. Any single chest of such treasures could sustain an ordinary family for life. Their sheer number revealed the extent of the Wangye’s wealth.

“Might? Over my dead body!”

Huang Ying glanced at the contents of the box, a flash of disgust crossing her eyes. She picked up the silks, silver, and gold inside and tossed them out the door.

After closing the door again, she returned to the courtyard and resumed washing her clothes.

Though life was austere, at least it was clean.

Second choice.

A faint smile appeared on Chen Luo’s face. He knew Huang Ying would soon awaken.

Time accelerated again, five years passing in a blink.

In the courtyard, wrinkles etched themselves onto Huang Ying’s face, her hands grew rough, and her youthful beauty faded with age.

Clang!

Wang Po entered once more, this time carrying a sheet of paper.

“News of the eldest Chen son has arrived.”

At these words, Huang Ying froze mid-motion. She rushed forward, snatched the paper from Wang Po’s hand, and read the message aloud:

The Chen father and son have entered the Southern Court. Both have received honorable titles from the Emperor of the South, and the Southern Emperor has bestowed a marriage upon them.

When she reached the final line, darkness fell over Huang Ying’s eyes.

All her years of unwavering devotion had led to this cruel mockery.

“You fool!” Wang Po spat, her voice venomous. “You kept waiting here, clinging to your fantasy of being his Chen family’s daughter-in-law, while he’s living a life of luxury over there with three wives and seven concubines!”

Huang Ying gazed at the letter in her hand, suddenly calming herself. She rolled it up carefully and tucked it away.

“Has the young lady thought it through? If you agree, the prince is still willing to marry you.”

“Get out!”

Huang Ying lifted her head, her expression hardening once more.

“You!!”

Wang Po froze, instantly consumed by fury.

“I told you to scram!”

“Let’s see how you die!”

With that parting threat, Wang Po stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

As Huang Ying finalized her third choice, the marks of her life force burning away completely vanished. The weakened state Chen Luo had forced her into with his Demonic Heart Art was forcefully reversed. The spiritual energy snakes coalesced into a single mass, transforming into spiritual energy dragons. The aura of Foundation Establishment radiated from her body.

A finger touched her forehead, conjuring a life’s journey before her eyes.

This technique, akin to the legendary ‘Immortal’s Guidance,’ could be called ‘Enlightenment.’