Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 892: The Endpoint of Profound Control
Ye Wuming was mildly surprised but not tremendously so.
After all, she had watched this man grow up. She knew full well that while he often appeared preoccupied with showboating or flirting, beneath that frivolous surface was a mind that saw far deeper than most. Those fooled by his antics were now watching grass grow from below.
He had risen from being a mere pawn to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her in strength, and the same went for insight and comprehension of cultivation paths.
She simply had not expected him to pierce through the principles of other systems so swiftly... Oh, and he wasn’t merely observing. He seemed to have been fairly deeply immersed when he cleaved through the Hall of Heroes, coming into direct contact with its energies.
“It’s a different system, sure. But in the end, they’re all just forms of energy. And energy, by nature, can be transformed.” Zhao Changhe took the Heavenly Tome from her hands as he spoke, his tone calm and matter-of-factly. “Old Xia’s Six Harmonies Art involved converting between various forms of energy. Even back then, he’d glimpsed the essence. In these matters, he was an unparalleled genius.”
He opened the tome. With no wind to stir it, the cover still turned on its own.
“My thirty years of slumber were actually a deep meditative state. I know nothing of the outside world during that time, but my internal cultivation remained crystal clear.”
The pages fluttered open.
“In the past, our cultivation was split into two paths: external arts and internal energy. I was always a physical cultivator, channeling internal energy outward until I practically forgot that I had any internal energy at all. So when I rebuilt my foundation, I thought, why keep them separate? Energy is energy. If I can comprehend the core principle, then what does the form matter? So now, what I cultivate is neither the Vicious Blood Art nor the Six Harmonies Art... and it’s not the so-called Eternal Blood Demon Body, either. It’s something I’ve created myself.”
He paused, glancing at Ye Wuming. “Even if the foundation is the same, any technique born from one’s own insight will inevitably reflect personal meaning. And for me, unsurprisingly, that meaning is the vastness of the starry sky, where the Milky Way shines and the sun and moon move together in harmony. As of now, it’s nameless. What do you think I should call it?”
Ye Wuming tilted her head. “Why ask me? You created it. You name it.”
“But it’s your guidance that brought me here. I was once heir to the Vicious Blood Art... The trajectory of my cultivation is your responsibility.”
“Oh? And Lie’s legacy is better than mine, is that it?”
Zhao Changhe tilted his head.
Ling Ruoyu imitated him perfectly.
Ye Wuming said nothing further.
Women... Zhao Changhe stared at her, his expression oddly strained. At last, he gave a helpless sigh and shook his head. “Fine. No name, then. The point is, the power I wield now can be easily converted into any nature I choose. Back when I observed the battles within the Hall of Heroes, I had already deciphered everything.”
As his words fell, the Heavenly Tome flared with light, its pages flipping with a rustling whirl.
The principles of the Five Elements, Yin and Yang, illusion and reality, life and death, light and shadow, time and space—all streamed forth in layers of dazzling brilliance.
But unlike before, when each page unfolded its secrets one at a time, the revelations now coalesced into a single, unified whole. Everything was interlaced.
They had always been.
Ling Ruoyu gazed upward, entranced. A flood of indescribable insights surged into her mind. It was as if she were basking in the pure light of the Dao, standing at the gates of the world’s highest truths, all laid bare before her, open for the taking.
For a martial artist, no sensation could be more intoxicating.
Ye Wuming stared in silence for a long while before murmuring, “Your power... It’s already greater than it was yesterday when we fought.”
“Of course,” Zhao Changhe replied. “I was prematurely awakened. I’d planned to remain in seclusion for a little while longer and finish things up, but our little girl kicked up a fuss and ruined the schedule. Even so, my cultivation was already rising with each passing day.”
Ling Ruoyu rolled her eyes.
How did this conversation circle back to me? I am just a bystander, ignore me. Thanks.
“And these past days, I’ve watched time flow like water. I’ve witnessed the evanescence of worldly affairs. I’ve followed you through dimensional passages, across bridges that fold space, catching glimpses of worlds utterly foreign to me, witnessing systems of cultivation entirely unlike our own. That, too, is cultivation.” As Zhao Changhe finished speaking, the radiance pouring from the Heavenly Tome abruptly withdrew.
Suddenly, Ye Wuming felt an overwhelming suction force descend upon her. This suction force was far more terrifying than the cloth sack artifact they had seen back in the Hall of Heroes. This was a pull that engulfed all, leaving no room for escape.
It was not just the power of the Heavenly Tome itself; Zhao Changhe’s cultivation had clearly reached at least the mid-stage of the third layer of Profound Control. Only with such strength could he harness the treasure’s full capabilities. His rate of growth is just staggering. Is he truly here to train a child... or to temper himself? Or perhaps raising the alt is simply a means of feeding the main?
But unfortunately, no matter how powerful the Heavenly Tome was, it could not affect Ye Wuming. She was the Heavenly Tome, and she had no reason to slap herself.
Thus, while bathed in brilliant light, Ye Wuming remained motionless, an immovable mountain. Meanwhile, Ling Ruoyu, who was cradling River of Stars and quietly spectating from the side, was abruptly enveloped in darkness. In the next instant, she and her sword vanished into a streak of light, sealed within the Heavenly Tome.
Ling Ruoyu: “???”
“Ahem.” Zhao Changhe cleared his throat awkwardly and promptly released the poor girl. “Still working on fine-tuning my control. Friendly fire, my bad.”
Ling Ruoyu was dazed from the moment she was pulled in to when she reemerged. She had River of Stars in her arms, and in such a state, she could go toe-to-toe with forces across worlds. The cloth sack artifact in the Hall of Heroes could not even scratch her. And yet now, just by brushing the edge of a misfired suction force, she had not even had time to react before being captured completely.
And this was not even the genuine Heavenly Tome. This was merely its manifested projection.
If this version could achieve that... then what would the true Heavenly Tome, which was the very world they lived in, be capable of?
Of course, the real tome had a spirit. And without the spirit’s recognition, its full power could never be unleashed.
What exactly are they even doing, testing the Heavenly Tome like this? Ling Ruoyu snuck a glance at Ye Wuming and decided to keep her mouth shut.
Zhao Changhe flicked his wrist. The Heavenly Tome snapped shut, once more appearing as a plain and unassuming tome.
He returned it to Ye Wuming with a look that carried more meaning than words. He did not elaborate further. “Suction and suppression are just one function. There are others, but there’s no need to demonstrate them all. You just need to know that I’ve mastered its use.”
Ye Wuming accepted the tome with an unreadable expression and gave a simple nod.
Silence fell between them.
A gentle breeze stirred the air within the Night Palace, carrying the faint fragrance of rare herbs blooming in the garden. But there were no birds singing, no cicadas chirping, only silence. It was as still and quiet as the Abyss of Jiuyou once was.
Zhao Changhe had come to the Night Palace for two purposes. The first was to inquire whether there were materials for reforging Dragon Bird, and the second was to discuss how they might contend with the Heavenly Dao.
The former had been resolved.
The latter remained a shadowy, unspoken thing. The alliance to resist the Heavenly Dao seemed almost naturally assumed, as if it did not need to be said. Yet both of them understood that what they had now was not enough.
Without breaking through the final threshold of power, the best they could hope for was a repeat of what happened thirty years ago: a deadlock with no end in sight.
The proposal to fuse the Ye sisters into one? They would never accept it. Even Zhao Changhe himself did not want it. Was there another path?
Perhaps. That path was Zhao Changhe becoming the wielder of the Heavenly Tome.
“Lady Tome Spirit... would you consider letting me use it?” Zhao Changhe’s voice was light and teasing.
However, this was not something to be decided by mere negotiation, and whether this plan was viable remained unknown. The test they had done had been simple, perhaps even too simple to mean anything at all.
Whatever understanding passed between the two of them, Ling Ruoyu could not comprehend it. All she could sense was the strange, uneasy tension in the air between them—one that made her heart feel inexplicably heavy.
After a long while, Zhao Changhe finally said, “I’ve been gone for a full day and night. I need to take Ruoyu home.”
Ye Wuming replied, “Then go. But Ruoyu has no more room to grow in the mortal realm. It’d be better to leave her here. Whether it’s rare treasures or insights from other worlds, I can offer her what you cannot.”
Zhao Changhe fell quiet, then said slowly, “Do you truly think Ruoyu is lacking in training or growth?”
Ye Wuming said, “She likes the stuff I have here.”
Zhao Changhe looked at her and said, “Well, why don’t you ask her why she’d be willing to stay here with you. Is it because she likes that stuff, or is it simply because she wants to stay with you?”
Ye Wuming felt a faint tug in her heart as she looked at Ling Ruoyu, silent for a moment.
The girl kept her head lowered and softly said, “I want to stay with you, Mom.”
Ye Wuming’s expression brightened. “Then why not stay?”
Ling Ruoyu answered earnestly, “Well, why can’t you come home with us?”
Ye Wuming was caught off guard. “I’m not in that kind of relationship with him. What do you mean come home with you?”
Ling Ruoyu feigned ignorance. “What kind of relationship do you mean? Birdy and I live together every day, so why can’t you two?”
Ye Wuming wanted to say, You’re sixteen, not six. After everything you’ve seen, you seriously don’t know? But staring at the girl’s clear and innocent face, the words refused to come out of her mouth. She could only say, “You and Birdy are both girls, so of course you can live together every day.”
“But Dad and my aunts live together too,” Ling Ruoyu said.
Ye Wuming finally snapped, “That’s because I have no intention of being one of them!”
Ling Ruoyu asked, “What if you were the only one?”
Ye Wuming choked, caught entirely off-guard. For a long moment, she had no response. When she finally spoke, her voice was a little stiff, “What’s the point of a hypothetical that’ll never happen? What, are you planning to tell your master to stay away from him? She’d kill you on the spot.”
Ling Ruoyu did not answer. She did not need to.
She had already done what she came to do. To make Ye Wuming falter, even just for a breath, was more than enough.
Zhao Changhe chose that moment to interject, “Time to go. If someone values pride more than you, there’s no need for tearful goodbyes.”
Ye Wuming: “You...”
“Did I say anything wrong?” Zhao Changhe rolled his eyes. “We’re leaving.”
Pride... Ye Wuming almost laughed in exasperation. Trust Zhao Changhe to distort logic like that! Sure, maybe not going to the mortal realm was a matter of pride. But saying she would not become one of his women? That was not pride but principle. And yet he had lumped the two together and left her speechless before she could even sort them out.
By the time she had unraveled her thoughts, Zhao Changhe was already gone, vanishing from the Night Palace with Ling Ruoyu in tow.
Ye Wuming had a bellyful of unspoken words and nowhere to vomit them out. She glanced around at the quiet Night Palace. The usual stillness, once serene and beautiful, now felt unbearably dry and suffocating.
A loneliness she had never known before crept in. Quiet, insidious, impossible to ignore.
Forget it. I’ll just see what those two are up to now.
She peered through the veil of heaven and earth and saw that Zhao Changhe... was getting beaten up.
* * *
“You snuck off to see Ye Wuming. You took matters into your own hands. You put yourself in danger!”
In the underground firmament at the Imperial Palace, atop the astronomical observatory, Zhao Changhe, who had been so smug moments ago, was now hunched down covering his head as Lady Three, Huangfu Qing, and Xia Chichi surrounded him, each one kicking him in turn.
Ling Ruoyu had wisely retreated to a corner with Dragon Bird in her arms, far away from the battlefield. Only a fool would try to step into this fight.
“I’m being wronged!” Zhao Changhe cried out. “I went to find materials for reforging Dragon Bird, stuff from beyond this world!”
Huangfu Qing seized him by the collar. “Do we look like idiots? Where’s the material?”
Ding! 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
With a crisp chime, a piece of iron appeared before them.
Huangfu Qing: “...”
He actually got a chunk of material. It even looks quite rare and troublesome to obtain. And it only took him a single day...
Lady Three narrowed her eyes. “What, did you sell your body to Ye Wuming?”
Zhao Changhe let out a half-laugh. “As if she’d even want it. Right now, I’m the only one interested in her. She couldn’t care less about me.”
“Oh, really? Then why didn’t she beat you to a pulp? Why’d she give you stuff instead?”
“That loot came from a raid. We killed someone and took their stash. Oh, speaking of that...” Zhao Changhe puffed out his chest and pulled a ring from his storage. From within, he produced a golden rope gleaming with divine light. “This artifact is called the Immortal-Binding Rope. I thought it’d suit Lady Three. Next time we do the tortoiseshell bondage thing, we can use this—”
“Get lost.” Lady Three snatched the rope, her eyes lighting up at the energy radiating from it. Clearly intrigued, she began inspecting it with growing excitement. “Still, I’ll let this stupid pig off the hook just this once... seeing as he remembered to bring me a gift.”
“What about mine?” Huangfu Qing held out her hand.
Zhao Changhe grinned and placed a pearl in her palm. “This contains a sealed flame. They call it Samadhi True Fire. Take a look.”
Xia Chichi held out her hand expectantly. “And mine?”
Zhao Changhe, ever the magician, produced a pill. “This nourishes immortal fetuses and nurtures the power of their immortal spirit. It’s more precious than any other treasure.”
Xia Chichi happily accepted the pill.
Ye Wuming: “...”
So the reason he asked me to help him pick out suitable treasures... was just so he could use them later to curry favor with his women? I even carefully categorized and labeled them all, and now he’s using them to avoid a beating?
What the fuck was I thinking?
And then, to add insult to injury, Zhao Changhe actually spoke up on her behalf, “These gifts, by the way, were handpicked with Ye Wuming’s help. You can consider them a gesture of goodwill from her.”
Xia Chichi blinked in surprise. “She has goodwill toward us?”
Even Ye Wuming herself was not sure what kind of goodwill she supposedly had toward them.
Zhao Changhe continued, “She’s the true Night Emperor. I’m just an imposter. Technically, you all used to worship her. That makes you her people, so... some degree of incense-fed kinship exists, doesn’t it?”
Ye Wuming nearly spat out blood. You actually have the gall to say that?
The three women exchanged glances, unsure how to respond. How should they even begin to unpack that?
In all fairness, Zhao Changhe had only taken the title in the first place because two of the original “venerables” had willingly fallen under his spell. Even though everyone knew he was not the real Night Emperor, they collectively chose to creatively interpret the doctrine, allowing him to seize the position by force of personality, if not legitimacy. In other words, they were all heretics and usurpers.
That the real Night Emperor had not annihilated them on the spot was generosity bordering on sainthood.
She recalled how, once upon a time, in order to stop her own worshippers from turning their holy cult into a brothel under this man’s reign, she had secretly meddled with fate, trying to trip up their romantic threads... but in the end, none of it had made a difference. The Four Idols Cult still fell in its entirety.
And ironically, the one who ultimately pushed Zhao Changhe onto the Night Emperor’s throne... was Ye Wuming herself. This was because the “essence of the night sky” he manifested in his later years was the very path she had once pursued in the ancient era. And as an outsider to this world, only Zhao Changhe could express it with such clarity and purity. What Lady Three and Huangfu Qing had once considered a distortion of doctrine... was not really a distortion at all. It had been her path.
So, blaming them for betrayal seemed pointless now. She held no grudge against them. And if they still acknowledged her as Night Emperor, then maybe they could all be considered part of the same faction.
The Night Emperor’s faction within his harem... had grown even stronger.
...Ugh. No. Absolutely not.
Then, Lady Three spoke hesitantly, “Changhe...”
“Hm?”
Lady Three said slowly, “Back during the battle thirty years ago, Ye Wuming declared herself the Heavenly Dao... and you, the Night Emperor. But now, it seems like your positions have reversed. Are you suggesting she remain the Night Emperor... and you wield the Heavenly Tome?”
Ye Wuming’s heart stirred.
This might truly be the fundamental contradiction between the two of them.
From her perspective, Zhao Changhe had always been in the subordinate role, appointed and guided by her. But from his perspective, he had only ever wanted to pin her down.
In strength, in status, in the war between man and woman, he never intended to stay beneath her.
Ye Wuming tilted her head and looked to the sky, a faint smile playing on her lips. It was absurd. She had spent two entire eras orchestrating her escape from being controlled by another only for the pawn she herself had drawn into the game to now reach for control over her.
Was this what they called driving out the tiger through the front door, only to let the wolf in through the back?
And yet, strangely enough, her resistance to this wolf... was nowhere near as strong as it had been toward the original Heavenly Dao. Instead of anger, all she felt now was a vague, exasperated sense of absurdity.
Somewhere in her wandering thoughts, she heard Zhao Changhe respond to Lady Three, “Wielding the Heavenly Tome means having reached the Other Shore. In our world’s cultivation system, Profound Control can simply mean to command something. And when one is able to command the Heavenly Tome, then they have reached the endpoint of Profound Control. But personally, I have no interest in wielding the Heavenly Tome. I really only want to borrow it, if necessary, to resist the Heavenly Dao.”
Lady Three frowned slightly. “What do you mean by the Other Shore? Have you been reading Buddhist scriptures again?”
Zhao Changhe chuckled and gave a brief explanation based on Ye Wuming’s theory. “In her words, it represents the cultivation level of the Heavenly Dao itself.”
Everyone nodded, quietly digesting the idea.
Though they all knew Zhao Changhe was not the type to crave power, Xia Chichi still could not help but ask, “Are you saying that even if you do reach the Other Shore, you don’t want to own or be the master of the Heavenly Tome?”
“Wielding the Heavenly Tome may symbolize the Other Shore, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that one must first reach the Other Shore in order to achieve such a feat. Consider the difference between sufficient and necessary conditions,” Zhao Changhe said seriously. “Even when it comes to scattering the gods and Buddhas, there is no need for Zhao Changhe to be the one to do it. This world doesn’t need someone to wield it or control it. If that were the case, then our entire journey would’ve been a joke.”
Ye Wuming’s heart trembled slightly.
And then Zhao Changhe added, with a lopsided grin, “As for me? My ambitions are much more mundane.”
“How mundane?”
“Compared to commanding the Heavenly Tome, I’d rather command Ye Wuming.”
