Chapter 776: Lou'er

In Shenfeng's capital, two moons filled the air. Loss chants echoed throughout heaven and earth, preventing anyone from drawing near.

The fight between the two combatants had produced countless void ripples that flooded the battlefield.

Xiao Nanfeng and Lou Yujing continued to attack each other intensely. Xiao Nanfeng controlled the Taiqing grandmaster's eidolon, whose horsetail whisk launched thousands of streams of red light at Lou Yujing. His Hegemon's Fist leveled mountains for dozens, hundreds of miles around. Either cultivator's fist or leg seemed able to shatter the very stars.

Lou Yujing, wielding heavenly law over vitality, was able to draw endlessly from the world's energy.

The grandmaster's eidolon seemed to be able to draw from an infinite supply of energy as well, leaving Lou Yujing shocked and bewildered.

"How could the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon be so strong?" Lou Yujing exclaimed.

His other two avatars had successively been defeated, a source of great frustration for him.

"Lou Yujing, when you slaughtered the disciples of the Taiqing Immortal Sect, did you ever consider that the Taiqing Grandmaster would take revenge? If you can't even win against his eidolon, what will you do if he shows up himself?" Xiao Nanfeng demanded.

"Strong though he might be, the heavens still defeated him," Lou Yujing hissed.

"You're not the heavens."

"And you're not the Taiqing Grandmaster!"

The two cultivators' fight continued even more intensely than before.

Neither seemed as if they would run out of energy anytime soon. For the moment, neither was able to overwhelm the other.

However, Xiao Nanfeng couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency. Once he used the Loss Diagram, the Taiqing Grandmaster would be aware of what was going on. Though Yu Fuli had helped him weaken the connection between the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon and the Taiqing Grandmaster himself, it wouldn't last for long.

If things were to drag out, Xiao Nanfeng would be in grave danger.

He recalled his final conversation with Yu Fuli.

"At the level of a late-stage Boundless Immortal, natural law starts to fade in importance, as does physical strength. What will truly play a role in a decisive victory is a battle of the heart. Focus on that if you end up in a stalemate with Lou Yujing."

"What does a battle of the heart entail?"

"Strike at the depths of Lou Yujing's heart. I doubt you have any understanding of such principles just yet, but if you're using the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon, it'll likely be worth a try."

"Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."

"Within the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon is potent energy that stems from the heart. I'll teach you how to use it."

"Thank you, Heavenly Emperor!"

Recalling Yu Fuli's teachings, Xiao Nanfeng began to focus.

As the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon waved his horsetail whisk, a red river surged toward Lou Yujing.

Lou Yujing frowned coldly and defended with a fist. Crescent blades shot toward Xiao Nanfeng.

The two cultivatros were, again, evenly matched.

Just then, the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon formed a seal with his free hand and pointed at Lou Yujing. A sinister beam of red light shot straight toward him.

Lou Yujing instinctively defended with a qi barrier, but the sinister beam of light passed straight through and struck his body.

Red light enveloped Lou Yujing, giving him a sense of palpable unease.

Both Lou Yujing and the Taiqing Grandmaster's eidolon suddenly froze as they hovered in mid-air, though their techniques continued to launch at each other. Fire and wind blazed.

Both cultivators suddenly found themselves in a new mental world.Xiao Nanfeng, as the cultivator who had attacked Lou Yujing with heart energy, remained conscious. He seemed to see deep into Lou Yujing's soul.

Lou Yujing initially seemed to be comatose; the next moment, he awoke. He found himself in a strange room.

He frowned. Not quite so strange. It was a room steeped deep within his memories.

As he awoke, he saw a beautiful young woman by his side. When she noticed that he had awakened, she leapt up from her chair and smiled. "Lou'er, you're awake! Wonderful!"

Lou Yujing stared at the beautiful young woman in shock. With some astonishment and fear, he cried out, "M-Master?"

The young woman was excited beyond belief. "You were saved thanks to the grandmaster. I thought you might never recover! I'll send for them."

She rushed out of the room, without any of the dignity that a master should possess.

Only then did Lou Yujing belatedly discover that he had lost all this cultivation. Only a trace quantity of qi remained in his body, and his hands seemed to have grown far smaller.

"What's going on?" Lou Yujing exclaimed.

He glanced around in a daze, as if there were something he had forgotten. He got off the bed and walked up to a mirror to see a small child's reflection—precisely what he had looked like when he was little.

"Who am I?" Lou Yujing murmured.

Just then, a group of people walked into the room.

The young woman reached out for a middle-aged man's elbow. "Father, look! Lou'er's awake. Your pill worked!"

"You're too old for such rash behavior," the middle-aged man replied, patting the young woman on the head.

"Ah, don't do that! I'm not a child anymore." The young woman pouted.

"Junior Sister, is this the child you managed to rescue? You won't be the youngest among us anymore," a cultivator joked. "You'll have a junior brother yourself."

"What do you mean, a junior brother? He's going to be my disciple! He'll have to call me Master in the future," the young woman replied proudly.

"Nonsense! Your cultivation is hardly sufficient for you to be taking on disciples." The middle-aged man frowned.

"Well, I want to! Lou'er has already gone through the rites to take me as master. Father, he'll be my disciple in the future. None of you are to take him away," the young woman cried out.

The middle-aged man shook his head, but did nothing.

"Don't worry. I can guarantee that he'll be loyal to me. His entire family was killed by a spirit, and I avenged him. He swore to be my disciple after that. I'll teach him about cultivation properly. I promised!"

The middle-aged man sighed while the young woman's senior brothers and sisters crowded around her.

Lou Yujing glanced at his new master in a daze. She was vivacious, youthful, and exuberant. He couldn't help but sniff.

"Master!" Lou Yujing suddenly began to cry.

"Don't cry, Lou'er! I'll take good care of you." The young woman patted her chest firmly.

Thereafter, Lou'er became the young woman's lackey.

The young woman was neither obedient nor docile. One day, she brought Lou'er with her to dig up an Immortal herb that her senior uncle had cultivated for many years; the next, she stole a spiritual chicken an elder had been rearing; the day after, she placed a stone that gave off vile fumes within an esteemed elder's cauldron. She made a fuss wherever she went, causing all sorts of trouble throughout the sect.

"Don't blame Lou'er! I was the one who roasted that bird. It's not Lou'er's fault!"

"Blame me for what I did. Don't bully Lou'er!"

Even so, whenever anyone tried to cause trouble for Lou'er, she would jump out and defend him.

Whenever he thought of this, Lou'er couldn't help but frown. He seemed to recall that he was the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue, but also not—or rather, with his master before him, he didn't want to think about those memories at all.

Lou'er gradually grew older and taller. He was particularly handsome and talented at cultivation, and gradually attracted the admiration of his senior and junior sisters.

"What are all of you doing? Go and focus on cultivation! Or do you want to die at your enemies' hands? Go on, shoo!" The young woman chased away all the female disciples that had gathered around Lou'er.

"Lou'er, you aren't allowed to stare at other women! Focus on your cultivation," his master chastised.

Lou'er nodded and focused entirely on cultivation. Thereafter, she would frequently sneak glances at him while he was cultivating. Sometimes, she would stare at him in a daze, her face red.

"A present for you, Lou'er."

"Lou'er, my father introduced me to a prospective suitor today, but I don't want him at all. I just want you to remain by my side."

"Lou'er, once my cultivation advances, I'll help you found a kingdom. We can leave the Taiqing Immortal Sect then. You can be emperor, and I'll be... I'll accompany you."

"Wouldn't it be great if we weren't disciples, Lou'er? If that were the case, we could have..."

"Lou'er, I'm going for training with my fellow disciples. Make sure to train obediently, alright? I'll bring you the best treasure when I return. I'm going to help you advance past your bottleneck. Don't worry. I'll definitely succeed. No one will look down on you then!"

Suddenly, Lou'er shook his head in fear. "No, Master, don't go!"

However, his reality seemed to be nothing more than a dream. The young woman didn't notice his distress. She smiled. "I'm heading off now, Lou'er. Wait for me to return!"

"No, Master! Don't go. You're going to die! Don't go!" Lou'er shrieked.

"I'll be right back!" The young woman flew off alongside a group of Taiqing disciples.

Lou'er's face was filled with tears. He tried to chase after her, but the dream realm ignored his will. Everything was predetermined; the young woman vanished over the horizon.

Before long, she did return, but only as a corpse. The majority of the Taiqing disciples had perished during the training.

"No! Master!" Lou'er bellowed in pain.

His young master had been exuberant and passionate in life; in death, she was nothing but an ice-cold corpse.

"Chi Hai, I'll kill you! Return my master to me!" Lou'er cried out in despair.

Since then, Lou'er became reticent and uncommunicative. Whenever the Taiqing Immortal Sect issued missions, he would be the first to volunteer. He achieved great deeds for the sect, but everyone had noticed that, ever since his master's death, Lou'er had stopped smiling.

Lou'er was forced to learn how to smile for one of the missions that he took on. He forced himself to face a mirror, to contort his face into a passable representation of a smile. With enormous effort, he learned to smile stiffly; it took him far more time to make his smile look more natural, though there was always something a little off about it.

Things proceeded until one day, he encountered a saint known as Chi Hai. His entire body was shuddering.

"Lou Yujing, the guardians of the Taiqing Immortal Sect will surely kill you. Are you willing to destroy the Taiqing Immortal Sect alongside me?" Saint Chi Hai asked.

Lou'er glanced at the saint before him and smiled. "I am willing to serve, Saint."

Lou'er's smile was the happiest and most genuine smile he had displayed in many years.