58: The Cataclysm of the Cloud Heaven Realm, Su Qingyin's Doubts

Deep in the back mountains of Dream Bamboo Peak, on a solitary peak shrouded in mist year-round and brimming with Spiritual Qi, stood a quiet bamboo building.

This was the residence of Second Senior Sister Su Qingyin: Qingyin Pavilion.

Outside the building, the stream gurgled, and spirit birds occasionally chirped clearly; inside, the ethereal and clear sound of a zither drifted year-round.

At this moment, Su Qingyin sat alone before the zither table by the window.

She was still dressed in a plain cyan gown, her face shrouded in a soft glow, making it hard to see clearly; only a pair of clear eyes that seemed able to see through the world quietly watched the flowing clouds outside the window.

Her fair hand lifted slightly, resting on the nine-stringed ancient zither before her.

Her fingertips plucked, but no actual zither sound was produced. Only ripples, difficult to discern with the naked eye and containing a strange Dao charm, rippled out silently from her as the center, merging into the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

This was her cultivation, and also her way of glimpsing the tributaries of the long river of destiny.

After her Rebirth, her Exquisite Zither Heart from her previous life had somehow mutated into the current Eternal Zither Heart. While playing, it would occasionally trigger the properties of the Eternal Zither Heart, allowing her to glimpse moments of the future destiny of certain people or events.

Having been back for over two hundred years since her Rebirth, relying on this mutated Eternal Zither Heart that could glimpse fragments of the future, she had avoided many risks in advance and secretly paved the way for the Sect and her Junior Sisters.

The future she had seen, although difficult to change in its overall trend, at least gave her the advantage of foresight.

With her zither heart clear and her Divine Sense merging with the Dao charm, her consciousness seemed to slide along those invisible ripples toward a place where chaotic, hazy light and shadow intertwined.

That was the mist of destiny, the fragments of time.

Familiar scenes—mountains of corpses and seas of blood, collapsing Immortal palaces, desperate wails... those were the tragic images of the Sect's destruction and the successive falls of several Junior Sisters and Junior Brothers in her previous life.

Even after seeing it countless times, every time she saw it, Su Qingyin's heartstrings would still tremble, and the zither music would take on a touch of sorrow.

This was the Great Tribulation of the Cloud Heaven Realm hundreds of years later. Even now, she did not know how this great tribulation would arrive or why it happened.

Everything occurred without any warning, without the slightest prelude.

Once it happened, it was a world-extinguishing scene.

Fifth Junior Sister Li Miaoer revealed her original form; of the nine cat tails originally behind her, only the last one remained as she let out a shrill wail toward the collapsing sky before finally dissipating into light.

Sixth Junior Sister Lin Xiaoyou's countless Clones were all destroyed and dissolved, the battlefield was littered with fragments of her Puppets, and only a wisp of her weak Qi remained in the remnants of the Formation... and... Junior Martial Brother Lu Yu.

In his previous life, Lu Yu had great talent and eventually took on the heavy responsibilities of the Sect, but at this point in the previous life, he had not reached such a dazzling level.

During that great tribulation, to cover the retreat of his fellow disciples, the Junior Martial Brother stayed behind alone to intercept those dozen or so extremely powerful unknown existences.

Fighting to the end, he was struck by a sudden world-extinguishing black light pillar carrying a dense aura of death, sufficient to destroy the sky and earth. His protective Spirit Treasure shattered instantly, his Primordial Spirit wailed, and his body turned to ash in resentment... That was his ending in the previous life. At that time, she had just returned to the Cloud Heaven Realm battlefield and witnessed the moment of her Junior Brother's fall; the scene remained clearly visible in her mind.

She herself was also killed by these unknown existences within the black mist in the near future, before being reborn.

Su Qingyin's heart sank slightly.

At that time, Eldest Senior Sister and she, as well as Third Junior Sister, Fourth Junior Sister, and their Revered Master, had all already ascended to the Immortal Realm.

It was only because the secret methods she left in the Lower Realm before her Ascension noticed something that she was able to arrive in the Lower Realm at the moment of Lu Yu's fall, only to watch her Junior Martial Brother perish.

In the end, even after ascending to the Immortal Realm, she was no match for those mysterious existences and could not change the outcome of the Cloud Heaven Realm's destruction. She was besieged and killed by those unknown existences, eventually being reborn.

The opponents possessed powerful and unknown terrifying Immortal Artifacts that could forcibly suppress the cultivation of an Immortal descending from the Immortal Realm, keeping their cultivation below the Immortal level!

This was also the main reason for her ultimate demise, and having such a powerful Immortal Artifact was enough to show the strength of the person behind those unknown experts.

At the moment of final extinction, she also saw the entire Cloud Heaven Realm turn into ruins and collapse, even the world's Origin being taken away... She had seen these scenes too many times; it was the Junior Martial Brother's fixed fate in his previous life.

After being reborn, she had tried several times in secret to change things, but the Junior Martial Brother's trajectory of destiny seemed shrouded in mist. Her intervention always yielded little result, and the scene of the world-extinguishing light pillar descending remained stubbornly in the fragments of the future she glimpsed.

However, just as she thought this peek would again be in vain and her mind was gradually enveloped by the sorrow of her previous life—

The zither strings moved without wind, emitting an extremely faint tremor that seemed to come from the depths of the Soul!

Su Qingyin's concentrated consciousness suddenly shuddered!

The scene before her eyes, like a lake surface with a stone thrown in, fluctuated violently, shattering and reorganizing!

It was still that familiar scene representing the Junior Martial Brother's fall.

The world-extinguishingly destroyed battlefield, the Chaos—that terrifying black light carrying an aura of death tore through space, shooting toward the slightly thin but majestic figure with a grand aura in the center of the scene!

At the instant the black light was about to touch—

A sudden change occurred!

Inside that figure, a brilliant golden light, as magnificent as the sun and more fierce and powerful than imaginable, suddenly erupted. Nine Rounds of the Vast Sun rose into the air, their boundless light shining upon the Nine Heavens, and all gloom was wiped out under this strike!

Within those nine rounds of golden light, purple lightning snakes danced wildly, and even more, nine Golden Crow phantoms, pure and vast as if they could defy the Nine Heavens, soared into the sky. Flames scorched the earth and burned the heavens as they surged upward!

It was no longer the desperate burst of spiritual power from the previous life, but a surging power that was endless and stood at the peak of the world!

The black light and these nine Golden Crow phantoms collided violently!

The scene flickered and shattered violently, the specific details unclear, with only countless fragments of light and shadow flying.

But Su Qingyin clearly saw that the point of light representing her Junior Martial Brother, though it dimmed significantly and shook violently, even spraying a mist of light representing blood...

Yet... it did not go out!

He didn't turn to ashes instantly like in his previous life!

He endured it!

Under that certain-kill blow, he survived!

Immediately after, the scene shattered completely, turning into countless chaotic and difficult-to-interpret streams of light and shadow, dissipating into the mist of destiny.

This peek also came to an abrupt end.

“Zheng—!”

The ancient zither in front of Su Qingyin had its seventh string snap without warning, letting out a sharp wail of sorrow.

Her fair hands resting on the zither trembled slightly; on her face shrouded in a glow, for the first time, an extremely clear expression appeared, a mix of extreme shock, bewilderment, and confusion.

Just now... what did she see?

Junior Martial Brother... that certain-death ending in the future... has changed?

How could this be?

In the two hundred plus years since her Rebirth, although the fragments of the future she glimpsed through her zither heart were scattered, the important nodes regarding several close people, especially those scenes of their fall, had almost never undergone any substantial change.

She once thought it was the mandate of heaven, a predetermined trajectory.

She had also wasted several years because of this unchangeable fate, her face full of worry all day long.

But just now, the Junior Martial Brother's trajectory of destiny had, for the first time, shown a branch completely different from her memories of the previous life!

Moreover, the power the Junior Martial Brother erupted in the scene... that aura of extreme Yang and strength containing thunder, while also blending pure flames and the vast sun.

This was absolutely not something the Junior Martial Brother at that point in time in the previous life could possess!

“Is it because of this trip to Canglan?”

Su Qingyin murmured to herself, light flowing in her clear eyes as countless thoughts flashed by.

Junior Martial Brother in this life had achieved a Breakthrough to Nascent Soul much earlier than in the previous life, triggering an unprecedented Heavenly Tribulation, and his Physique seemed to have undergone an unknown evolution.

All these changes occurred after he went to the Canglan Sacred Sect.

Was it an Opportunity from Canglan?

Or... did he encounter some other Opportunity?

Luo Qingxue? Leng Qingshuang?

Su Qingyin's zither heart was exceptionally sensitive to changes in Luck and destiny.

Since her Rebirth in this life, she had also made some achievements in the cultivation of Luck.

She had long noticed that since the Junior Martial Brother returned from Canglan, the light of Luck on him had become exceptionally complex and vigorous, far beyond what it was in the previous life.

And he had become deeply entangled with two powerful currents of Luck from a distant land.

One as cold and clear as the moon, the other as dignified and vast as the sea... they undoubtedly corresponded to that pair of Revered Master and disciple.

Was it because he had formed a deep bond with these two Daughters of Destiny, thereby indirectly changing his own destiny and Luck, to the point of shaking the original death trap?

Or could it be... that a more fundamental change, which even she as one who has been reborn hadn't expected, had occurred within the Junior Martial Brother?

Su Qingyin gently stroked the snapped zither string, a slight stinging sensation coming from the break.

This foretold that the changes she had just glimpsed were of great consequence, even causing a backlash from the trajectory of destiny.

The future, for the first time, had become so blurry and unclear, yet filled with... new possibilities.

“Little Seven...”

She looked toward the direction of Lu Yu's small courtyard, her gaze deep, letting out a sigh so low it was barely audible.

In that sigh, there was confusion, worry, but even more, a sense of relief as if the dust had settled, and a faint but firm hope reignited.

“What secret are you hiding?”