Chapter 366: Chapter 87 Another Fake Death
The Life Lamp, a magic artifact capable of sensing the condition of its master.
By entrusting a trace of one’s detached Soul Consciousness and igniting the wick, one could determine safety or danger based on the strength of the flame.
If the flame were to extinguish, it would mean that this thread of Soul Consciousness had been extinguished, signifying the fall of the person to whom the Soul Consciousness belongs.
This is the fundamental effect of the Life Lamp.
Extremely convenient, but equally dangerous.
Because this trace of Soul Consciousness was not only useful in confirming life or death, but could also be used as a catalyst for curses. Since the Soul Consciousness and the Divine Soul of the body were one and the same, such curses were almost irresistible, only to be endured with gritted teeth.
This is why Life Lamps were so rare; only those who could entrust each other with life and death would exchange Life Lamps.
Even within a Sect, it was not common practice to keep the Life Lamps of disciples. Who knew if there was someone within the Sect who harbored ill intentions?
Now that Gongsun Qingyue had declared that Tianxuan’s Life Lamp had gone out, Elder Tianji couldn’t help but turn grave, even though he knew this was very likely a falsity.
If Tianxuan had truly perished, that would be a serious problem.
No.
One might rather say that if this news spread, the problem would be significant.
Tianxuan, being attacked under the Emperor’s feet by a third-grade assailant—the prime suspects were naturally the Emperor or a third-grade associated with the Emperor.
Because she had already shown opposition to the Emperor, and because it was impossible for everyone to believe that a third-grade could attack Tianxuan under the Emperor’s nose without his knowledge.
The Emperor was at the very least an accomplice.
This was the consensus of most people.
"Nephew-disciple, have you thought this through?" Elder Tianji asked solemnly.
The message came from the mouth of Tianxuan’s direct disciple and was credible. This implied that the Emperor would be thrust into the limelight.
Yet the Emperor was Gongsun Qingyue’s elder, and the Ji Family and the Gongsun Family were, in reality, one clan.
When Elder Tianji asked this, he was inquiring if Gongsun Qingyue understood the consequences of her actions.
In response, Gongsun Qingyue just sneered coldly, "I would like to ask that individual if he thought it through when he took action against my master and junior brother."
The junior brother’s incident was somewhat a half-passive act directed by himself, but this incident with the master was not orchestrated by Tianxuan and Jiang Li.
Had it not been for that individual’s intervention, how could the current situation have arisen?
"It’s just karma coming full circle," Gongsun Qingyue said so.
Having done the deed, one should be prepared to face the backlash.
Following the attack on Tianxuan, conflicts within the Ji Family grew increasingly acute.
"Then let it be as you say."
Seeing that Gongsun Qingyue was resolute, Elder Tianji no longer pressured her, opting instead to follow her wishes. Giving Gongsun Qingyue a deep look, Elder Tianji turned and left.
After he departed, Gongsun Qingyue’s face, which had been calm all this while, finally showed changes in expression.
She let go of her composure, furrowed her brows, and summoned a white jade plate, pressing her hand onto it to sense carefully.
After a moment, Gongsun Qingyue lowered her hand and sighed lightly, "Still no response."
This Wordless Heavenly Scripture contained Tianxuan’s mark, which would have allowed her to pull Gongsun Qingyue into a dream. Ever since Gongsun Qingyue arrived in the Divine Capital, she had been waiting for Tianxuan to reach out in this way, but there had been no responses at all.
If it were not for the mark within still being intact, Gongsun Qingyue truly would have feared that Tianxuan had met with some misfortune.
And Jiang Li...
Gongsun Qingyue, sensing another link, also felt a sense of disquiet.
Jiang Li held her Authority Seal.
This Authority Seal, cultivated with the blood and sweat of Gongsun Qingyue, represented her identity and power. Before Jiang Li left the Sect, Gongsun Qingyue had personally handed it over to facilitate his actions.
Within a certain distance, it could also be used to determine Jiang Li’s safety.
Previously in the Dinghu Sect, exceeding the distance meant Gongsun Qingyue was unable to sense the Authority Seal, but now that the distance had shortened, she had been able to confirm that Jiang Li was mostly unharmed, and then...
Jiang Li too had disappeared without a trace, never appearing in person.
Now with Tianxuan’s disappearance causing turmoil, Jiang Li had every reason, both emotionally and logically, to meet with Gongsun Qingyue, to communicate, and thus prevent any mishaps.
Yet Jiang Li had vanished just like Tianxuan.
Both individuals were likely not in life-threatening danger, yet both had disappeared. This either meant that both of them currently were in a situation where it was inconvenient for them to contact Gongsun Qingyue or return to see her, or that for some reason, they couldn’t reach out, or even...
These two were very likely together!
Gongsun Qingyue felt that the latter possibility was extremely likely.
And if it weren’t for one being the master and the other the disciple, and with the master, Tianxuan, high above, Gongsun Qingyue would really have suspected something else between these two.
Yet, even so, Gongsun Qingyue still felt displeased, so she simply let the master "die".
With this move, it not only maximized the consequences of the attack, inciting the Ji Family to share a common enemy in indignation, but it also allowed her to vent her pent-up spite. Two birds with one stone, Gongsun Qingyue thought it was an ingenious plan.
"The situation has evolved to this point; if they truly were unscathed, they should surface very soon," Gongsun Qingyue muttered to herself thoughtfully.
It was only because she had mentally prepared for this, otherwise, upon arriving at the Divine Capital, with the younger brother disciple dead and the master missing, she might have been on the verge of collapse.
...
...
At this time, Jiang Li and Tianxuan were still on their way back to the Divine Capital.
When they left, they used the Heavenly Star Escape Technique to cover nearly a thousand miles, but on the return, they took their time without any urgency to get back to the Divine Capital immediately.
The wheelchair rolled down the mountaintop with the wind, and the two traveled for about an hour, then rested in a small pavilion by the roadside for half the night. Afterwards, they didn’t take the main roads but chose to travel on secluded paths.
They were not in a rush at all.
It was the Emperor who should be worried.
The Emperor felt that getting rid of Tianxuan, despite the ensuing impacts, was more advantageous than disadvantageous and fully acceptable.
But this was under the assumption that Tianxuan could be eliminated.
If not, then when it came time to accept the drawbacks and the backlash, Tianxuan would also manipulate the situation to her advantage, which was bound to be a much bigger problem than before.
"Three days’ time is enough for the effects to ferment."
Tianxuan, pushing the wheelchair, chuckled, "Perhaps by now some are suspecting that I have already perished, after all, that was a third-grade acting, and it’s even possible that the Emperor himself made a move."
Third-grade against fourth-grade, and an ambush at that, was already a situation with slim chances of survival. If the Emperor himself made the move, it meant there wasn’t even that sliver of a chance left, turning it into certain death.
"Does Master want to fake his death?" Jiang Li, understanding the unspoken meaning, asked knowingly.
"Indeed," Tianxuan responded, patting Jiang Li’s head with a look of approval, "My ’death’ can ignite the conflict, pushing the Emperor to opposition with most people."
Another death, and one related to the Emperor, and even possibly at the Emperor’s own hands.
This time, the pressure was all on the Emperor.
Tianxuan was a significant figure of the Ji Family; if she could be killed, then who was safe? Those in the know, upon learning of the situation, would probably think that the Emperor, in his quest for immortality, had truly gone mad.
Even members of the Ji Family would hardly be able to hold back.
The Emperor should have anticipated this, and he might even have prepared for it, but he certainly did not foresee that Tianxuan was still alive and yet had to confront such a scenario.
The problem was not resolved but instead amplified, combining two troubles into one, and his original plans were predicated on the assumption of Tianxuan’s death.
Jiang Li thought it over and also found the strategy brilliant, but wondered if he should tell his elder sister disciple, so she wouldn’t worry upon hearing the news.
"There’s no need to worry about Qingyue,"
Tianxuan, predicting Jiang Li’s concern, smiled; "Inside the Wordless Heavenly Scripture, there is my imprint. If anything were to afflict me, the imprint would react. Once the news reaches Qingyue, she’ll know I’m actually unharmed by checking the imprint in the Heavenly Book."
"As for the Immortality Elixir, you mentioned earlier that the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron has always been in a state of neither haste nor delay. If I’m not mistaken, the preparation of the Immortality Elixir requires forty-nine days, and on the fiftieth, it will be completed. Take that Da Yan 50, escaping one."
This "one" was that glimmer of hope.
Jiang Li, well-versed in the principles of Yi Dao, also knew the statement to be true.
And as the Immortality Elixir pertained to everlasting life, even if it couldn’t truly prevent aging and death, it definitely wouldn’t be successfully prepared in a short amount of time. Forty-nine days was already a very reasonable estimate.
Even if it wasn’t forty-nine days, given the state of the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron, the two of them should have quite some time.
"This is very good," Jiang Li nodded gently and eased his mind.
At this time, they were unaware that Gongsun Qingyue had already arrived in the Divine Capital.
Activating the imprint required significant effort, and unless necessary, Tianxuan would not undertake such an action.
Thus, the two traveled at a leisurely pace for another day. When walking became tedious and the scenery lost its charm, they used the Escape Skill to return to the Divine Capital.
When they were near the Divine Capital, a certain piece of news had already spread throughout the city.
Even the common folk knew that a few days ago, a royal family member had been attacked, which led to the tremendous upheaval they’d recently witnessed. Now that person had died, and the entire Divine Capital might soon face a major upheaval.
"So..."
Tianxuan, concealing her and Jiang Li’s forms with an Illusion Technique, hadn’t expected the situation to change so drastically, "I’m dead?"
She had indeed intended to fake her death, but in her plan, she would only "die" after returning to the Divine Capital, stirring things up in the shadows.
Before that time, Tianxuan’s life or death should still be unknown. There might be suspicions of her death, but it wouldn’t be confirmed.
The result was that before Tianxuan could take action, she had already "died".