Chapter Sixty-One: Shadows of the Past

The old dean’s letter came in the form of a recording.

In it, he first revealed his true identity—a member of the Eleventh Elder Council of the ancient Wind Clan, revered as Elder Wind Three.

Wind Three proudly told Feng Ke’er that the Wind Clan was descended from the great Pangu. For nearly ten million years, the Wind Clan had produced generations of outstanding talents, their power sweeping across the divine realms. Other cultivation families had always followed the Wind Clan’s lead. Their dominance was only challenged with the sudden rise of the Hua Clan.

Originally, the Hua Clan was a minor cultivation family in the spirit realm. Through some stroke of fortune, within a mere two hundred thousand years, two male cultivators of the Hua Clan attained the Golden Immortal stage, earning the family a promotion to the divine realm. Witnessing the immense potential of male cultivators, the Hua Clan devoted itself to training their sons. Their efforts bore fruit; soon another Golden Immortal emerged, and more than ten male and female cultivators reached the True Immortal level. In terms of strength, beyond the Wind Clan, none in the divine realm could rival them.

The Hua Clan broke tradition by resisting the pressure from all other cultivation families—including the Wind Clan—and astonishingly appointed a male Golden Immortal as their clan chief. Traditionally, women are revered, as decreed by Pangu. He believed nothing binds closer than blood, and since men seek women for lineage, they are inevitably influenced and distracted, leading to internal strife. Thus, Pangu declared women should oversee all affairs, with men in subordinate roles, and even the children belong to the mother’s family.

As the creator of heaven and earth, Pangu’s decree was absolute. For millions of years, men had been suppressed, rarely producing anyone remarkable. Elder Wind Three himself was an exception. The Wind Clan remained the most faithful executors and guardians of this decree.

Thus, a rivalry formed between the Wind Clan and Hua Clan.

Other families, witnessing Hua Clan’s miraculous rise, began to recognize the strength of male cultivators and shifted their focus to training their sons. Yet, the Wind Clan’s overwhelming power and Pangu’s legacy made them unshakeable, even by the united forces of all divine realm clans.

Clearly, the new Hua Clan chief understood this. He began extending goodwill to the Wind Clan. The Wind Clan, seeing the Hua Clan’s humility and out of a desire for stability, graciously accepted their presence, maintaining an air of magnanimity.

On the surface, the two clans coexisted peacefully, their juniors mingling as siblings, and many formed partnerships. Children born to Wind Clan women were, by custom, wholly claimed by the Wind Clan. If a Hua Clan woman chose a Wind Clan man, the Hua Clan would generously send both mother and child to the Wind Clan, calling it a ‘marriage’.

With both substance and reputation secured, the Wind Clan had every reason to be pleased. From the clan chief and elders to the men, all basked in newfound pride.

Until one day, neither clan chief could smile. The reason: Wind Clan’s Saintess, Wind Lixi, and Hua Clan’s eldest son, Hua Taiyi, had grown up together and fallen in love. Hua Taiyi was the most outstanding of his generation and the future chief of the Hua Clan. Both were central to their families’ legacies.

Although the cultivation world never interfered in matters of the heart, both clans’ leadership suppressed this ill-fated pair, seeking to expose their relationship.

Faced with adversity, Wind Lixi chose steadfastness, but Hua Taiyi’s resolve faltered. The Hua Clan chief declared that if Taiyi persisted, he would be stripped of his surname and ‘married’ off to the Wind Clan.

If truly ‘married’ to the Wind Clan, would Taiyi be able to continue his cultivation? It was doubtful, yet he couldn’t bear to abandon Wind Lixi.

Could Wind Lixi ‘marry’ into the Hua Clan? Not only was she the Saintess, but even an ordinary Wind Clan woman would face fierce resistance from the Wind Clan chief, who’d rather eliminate her than let the clan suffer disgrace.

Thus, their love became trapped.

The Hua Clan chief devised another scheme: The Wind Clan always claimed to be Pangu’s inheritors, adamant that his decree must not be violated. Yet Wind Lixi had done just that—twenty thousand years ago, when she descended to the lower realm for trials, she secretly established a third realm, and there, modeled clay figurines after herself and Taiyi, infused them with spiritual energy, giving them life—calling them ‘humans’.

After her trials, Lixi returned to the divine realm, but the ‘humans’ she left behind reproduced prolifically, soon spreading uncontrollably. They revered Wind Lixi as their mother, consuming resources while alive and becoming lingering spirits after death, disrupting the cultivation of lower realm practitioners.

For nearly a thousand years, the divine realm’s cultivation alliance received hundreds of complaints from below, all suppressed by the Wind Clan chief in his capacity as alliance leader.

The Hua Clan chief secretly rallied other clan leaders and, during an alliance meeting, launched a sudden attack on the Wind Clan.

Caught off guard, the Wind Clan chief had no choice but to agree to the proposal: Whoever caused the trouble must resolve it. Since Wind Lixi created the ‘ants’, she would descend to resolve it herself.

According to Pangu’s cultivation hierarchy, Wind Lixi, now a Golden Immortal, had passed the trial period for the lower realm. By rule, a Golden Immortal may descend but must not use spiritual power there. Thus, before descending, she had to publicly remove her immortal bone.

The instrument should have been prepared by the Wind Clan chief, but the Hua Clan chief argued that, to avoid suspicion, another clan should provide it. All agreed, and the Hua Clan chief was chosen.

Wind Three explained that their chief sensed a plot and took precautions: the night before, he secretly extracted a fragment of the Saintess’s soul and sealed it in the Wind Clan’s legacy jade scroll; then obtained a concealment talisman from the Phoenix Clan, secured it in the jade scroll, and entrusted it to Wind Lixi’s guardian spirit, Wind Ling, a True Immortal unable to freely enter the divine realm. Arrangements were made for Wind Ling to flee to the demon realm.

Afterwards, the Hua Clan chief secretly met with Wind Lixi. Wind Three didn’t know what was said, but the next day, Lixi was restless, her gaze sweeping below the execution platform.

Finally, the drums sounded. The Hua Clan chief glanced at Lixi, handed the jade box containing the execution tool to the executor.

Suddenly, Lixi’s face changed; she clutched her chest, spat blood, grabbed the bone-extracting knife, and forced a smile: “The Dao is merciless. Sentiment dies, mercilessness thrives. To attain great sentiment, one must first sever it. I, Wind Lixi, accept my fate. Taiyi, I depart. May you soon achieve the Dao!” With that, she plunged the knife into her heart’s sea, extracting her immortal bone.

Her decisiveness stunned all present—the customary extraction only required removing a small piece, sealing it away. Lixi uprooted hers entirely.

Immediately, a deafening explosion erupted within her heart’s sea. Her body and soul were obliterated.

The Wind Clan chief was first to react, crying out, “My child!” and accusing the Hua Clan chief of treachery—cursing him for placing a restriction on the instrument.

It was then revealed that the knife was indeed tainted; even a small extraction with it would annihilate the soul.

“And what if I did?” The Hua Clan chief sneered.

The two clashed, sparking chaos as their clans joined the fray. Curses and combat filled the air.

Wind Three wasted no time, clutching the teleportation token given by the chief, attempting to escape as planned.

But the Hua Clan had anticipated this, sending three True Immortal brothers to watch him. As he tried to flee, they closed in.

With these three on his tail, he could not escape unless he fought hundreds of rounds. Bearing heavy responsibility, Wind Three dared not engage, his predicament noticed by the Wind Clan chief, who forced his way over and sent Wind Three away.

As Wind Three sped through the realms, he heard the chief’s cry of pain and other clansmen’s shouts: “Master…”

When Wind Three regained his senses, he had left the heavenly realm.

He waited at the rendezvous point for forty-nine days, but Wind Ling never came. Instead, the Hua Clan brothers arrived. They claimed Wind Ling was slain by Hua Taiyi’s golden halberd, and the divine realm battle was over—the Wind Clan chief and all elders present at the execution had perished. The Wind Clan was finished. If Wind Three was wise, he’d surrender the legacy jade scroll.

Wind Three was infuriated, but their last words cooled his rage—he realized they knew nothing of the jade scroll’s whereabouts, only that it had been with Wind Ling. But with Lixi’s destruction, Wind Ling, her guardian, must have fallen as well. Thus, Wind Three’s urgent task was to find the jade scroll.

He feigned madness, fought desperately, but in truth used his power to escape.

Yet the three True Immortals were quick to react, unleashing their ultimate attacks.

Wind Three was struck unconscious, his body flung like a broken kite.

When he awoke, he was gravely injured, trapped in an unfamiliar subspace. Eventually, he recovered and broke free, only to find that vast ages had passed—a hundred thousand years gone.

In that time, calamity had struck, and the realms had suffered unprecedented devastation. The divine realm had been reshuffled; Wind Clan, Hua Clan, and all others had become fleeting memories. Old friends vanished, and Wind Three was cut off from his world.

Still, he discovered tales of the Wind Clan’s Saintess—but not Wind Lixi. This Saintess was called Nuwa. She, ashamed of her Wind Clan heritage, never claimed the surname.

Wind Three was deeply moved—he had missed so much. The Saintess had already reincarnated and achieved extraordinary feats.

Regardless, he resolved to visit the places where tales said the Saintess had fought, hoping to dispel the inner demon that blocked his cultivation, for he had sworn before the chief, and now could not advance his power.

Unexpectedly, he encountered his old foes—the Hua Clan brothers.

Their fate was bitter; failing to capture him, they were expelled from the heavenly realm, stripped of their clan status. Resentful, they vowed to reclaim their honor by capturing Wind Three and seizing the jade scroll.

Thus, over a million years, while the past faded, their pursuit never ceased. Upon meeting Wind Three, they demanded the jade scroll. They claimed Wind Ling had truly died at Hua Taiyi’s hand, and the scroll had fallen into the boundary river during the battle. But the Wind Clan chief was cunning; why entrust such an artifact to Wind Ling, knowing her imminent demise? All evidence pointed to Wind Three as its true keeper.

Wind Three had no jade scroll, but the story differed greatly from legend. Suspicious, he fought the brothers and escaped.

From then on, he evaded their pursuit, searching the realms for traces of the jade scroll.

After searching for over ten thousand years, just as he was about to give up, he witnessed a young cultivator bidding farewell to his mortal lover at the Path of Reincarnation. The young man’s Dao heart was ruined by love; his mortal beloved, her lifespan exhausted, was taken by the underworld. Unable to defy fate, he watched her soul enter the cycle, lamenting: “They say cultivation is good, but I regret it. Had I known, I would never have taken this path.”

Wind Three, no longer aloof after his ten thousand years’ journey, understood the regret: mortals can reincarnate, but cultivators’ deaths are final—dust to dust.

But the young man’s words sparked an idea: legend said the Saintess vanished after her great deeds; some claimed she ascended to higher realms like Pangu, others that she died and, moved by her merit, the gods of higher realms restored her soul, allowing her to reincarnate like mortals.

Could the Saintess have truly reincarnated? Wind Three resolved to try. He forced his way into the Path of Reincarnation, overturning everything, and indeed found the jade scroll, containing a remnant soul.

Cursed gods! Everyone knew a soul fragment could not reincarnate, let alone such a faint remnant. Wind Three’s life took on new purpose: to restore the Saintess’s soul, and help her enter the cycle and be reborn.

Through tireless effort, just as his lifespan neared its end, he succeeded.

“Xiao Qian, you are the Saintess’s reincarnation. I’m sorry for deceiving you all these years,” the old dean sighed. “Watching you grow, I regret everything. The past is gone. You should have had a normal childhood, protected by your parents, happy and carefree. But my stubbornness and selfishness made you an orphan, deprived of parental love. Is cultivation truly so wonderful? I’ve asked myself countless times, and found I can no longer be sure. So I dared not decide your path, nor lead you into cultivation. I could only do my best for you. Xiao Qian, by the time you hear this letter, I will have fallen, dispersed into the world. Fortunately, I used all my strength to adapt the Wind Clan’s legacy jade scroll into your familiar computer interface. Perhaps the upgrade prompts and guides within can protect you. May fate be kind; I hope I haven’t ruined you. I’m sorry, Xiao Qian. Farewell.”

Feng Ke’er finished listening, tears streaming down her face. She was Nuwa? Oh gods, how could it be! No, she was not the kind to despair and self-destruct over lost love.

She wiped her face, no longer interested in her advancement or the scroll’s upgrades. To hell with cultivation—this was not the life she wanted! So, she seized the chance to escape, determined to leave the world of cultivation behind.

Yet, in a flash of white light, she found herself transformed once more into a soul, drawn into the thick mist.

Ah, this chapter is rather long. Well, someone revised it three times… apologies for the rambling, and nearly a thousand words were added as a bonus. (To be continued.)

Heavenly Tome, Chapter 61: Past Affairs—Update Complete!