Chapter 1579: A Figure Like Jade upon the Road; a Gentleman Peerless in All the World

At the mention of the old Clan Chief, Hei Yun and the others grew somewhat somber.

Niu Youdao immediately changed the subject. "Of course, we can't sever the passage between the two realms yet. We'll wait until all the human cultivators inside have withdrawn. Once you return, mobilize the entire Demon Fox clan immediately and search every part of the Fox Immortal Realm. The moment you discover traces of any human cultivator, report it at once. I'll send people to clear them out. Even after the passage between the two realms has been severed, you yourselves must remain vigilant. No one can guarantee that every person hiding inside will have withdrawn."

Hei Yun nodded. "Very well. We'll follow Master Dao's instructions."

His tone had become quite courteous. After speaking, however, he looked somewhat hesitant.

Niu Youdao noticed. "If there's something you want to say, say it."

Hei Yun glanced around before trying, "We rushed all the way here without stopping. Once we left the Fox Immortal Realm, we came directly to this place. We've never truly seen what the human world is like. Since we've already come out, we'd like to see what people mean when they talk about the bustling world of men. Later we'll have something to tell the clan about. We'd also like to bring a few things from the human world back with us."

Niu Youdao smiled. "Then go take a look. It'll still take some time before every faction withdraws completely from the Fox Immortal Realm, so you can use the opportunity to see the human world properly. But there's one condition. Once you've seen enough, all of you return. Human cultivators will not remain in the Fox Immortal Realm, and Demon Foxes cannot remain in the human world either."

The Demon Foxes were visibly delighted. Hei Yun said, "Good. We'll only take a look. We definitely won't refuse to return."

Niu Youdao pointed at the Heaven-Measuring Ruler in his hand. "And that. If you intend to wander through the human world, leave it here for now and take it back when you return. The human world is treacherous. If the Heaven-Measuring Ruler is lost, the passage between the two realms can no longer be severed. Who can guarantee that human cultivators won't intrude into the Fox Immortal Realm and commit evil again in the future?"

That was not the only reason.

If the passages connecting the other domains outside the Fifth Domain could not be severed, then the passage between the Fifth Domain and the human world could not be severed either. There was no room for carelessness.

"All right." Hei Yun immediately presented the Heaven-Measuring Ruler again.

Yuan Gang stepped forward and took it back.

Hei Yun still looked puzzled. "Master Dao is worried cultivators might enter the Fox Immortal Realm again and commit evil... but aren't all cultivators supposed to migrate into the Fifth Domain?"

Niu Youdao did not explain the exact reason. "Just like the Fox Immortal Realm, there are too many cultivators in the human world. We can't guarantee no one will hide. We can't guarantee every last person will leave."

So that was it.

Hei Yun and the others understood and began taking the matter seriously.

Niu Youdao later arranged several flying mounts and had people personally accompany the Demon Foxes through the human world, letting them visit prosperous places and see how ordinary people lived.

That sightseeing tour lasted nearly half a month.

Hei Yun and the others did not return to Maolu Villa afterward. Carrying a great pile of things they had bought in the human world, they went directly back to the Sacred Realm.

The people who had accompanied them brought Niu Youdao a message: Hei Yun felt Niu Youdao's concern made sense. For the time being, they would leave the Heaven-Measuring Ruler where it was rather than risk losing it.

They could always collect it after the Demon Fox clan had searched the entire Fox Immortal Realm thoroughly.

Meanwhile, nearly every Demon Fox in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands had already mobilized. They spread throughout the entire Fox Immortal Realm, searching everywhere for hidden humans.

After the remnants of the great Sacred Lands had fully withdrawn, the Demon Fox clan found no more human cultivators hiding inside.

At least, they themselves found none.

The Demon Foxes sent word that the passage could now be severed.

Niu Youdao did not make them travel out again...

On Sacred Island, the entrance leading into the Sacred Realm was already being guarded by demon cultivators of the Four Seas.

Inside the walled city, Niu Youdao met Hei Yun and the others again.

Nearly every elder of the Demon Fox clan had come.

This time, Niu Youdao personally placed the Heaven-Measuring Ruler into Hei Yun's hands.

He had also come in person to bid the Demon Fox clan farewell.

Hei Yun accepted it with both hands, emotion showing faintly on his face. "Master Dao, will we ever have the chance to meet again?"

Niu Youdao smiled. "I don't know. Hopefully we won't."

Then he added, "Right. Luo Fangfei. You don't intend to let her return to the human world?"

Even now, Luo Fangfei remained asleep. No one knew what year or month she might wake.

Hei Yun looked at the elders around him, bitterness filling his face. "We'd rather let her remain in the Fox Immortal Realm. Demon Fox blood runs through her veins. She carries the old Clan Chief's bloodline. The old Clan Chief's direct inheritance has already been cut off, so the Demon Fox clan has placed great hopes in her. We can't bear to let her leave, and we'll certainly take good care of her."

"Her mother, father, and husband all sleep forever in the Fox Immortal Realm. Why make her remain alone in the human world? Wouldn't you agree?"

There was pleading in his voice.

After hearing him out, Niu Youdao slowly nodded. "Then we'll do as you wish. This is where we part. Go."

Hei Yun held the Heaven-Measuring Ruler and backed away several steps.

Then he suddenly lowered himself to his knees before Niu Youdao and kowtowed three times in succession.

Seeing this, the group of Demon Fox elders knelt as well and likewise kowtowed three times.

Niu Youdao smiled and shook his head, but said nothing.

Hei Yun and the others said nothing either.

Everything that needed saying was already understood.

They rose and turned away together.

After stepping into the rippling light, Hei Yun stopped and looked back.

The Demon Fox elders stopped and looked back as well.

Hei Yun bowed deeply one more time.

Niu Youdao nodded.

Only then did Hei Yun turn and lead the others into the bowl-shaped curtain of light, where they vanished from sight.

Niu Youdao did not leave immediately.

He remained temporarily inside the walled city.

Two days later, a great rumbling filled Heaven and Earth.

The bowl-shaped radiance inside the city shuddered violently for a time, then abruptly contracted into a single point and vanished into empty space.

The passage between the human world and the Fox Immortal Realm, which had existed here for several hundred years, had been severed.

It could no longer be seen.

The demon cultivators guarding the place looked at one another in shock.

Only now did they truly believe that the passages between the Five Domains were about to be cut off.

Niu Youdao paced around the spot where the radiance had disappeared and inspected it several times.

Then, hands clasped behind his back, he gazed toward the firmament for a while.

At last he raised one hand and rang the finger bell he held.

A flying mount dove from above.

Niu Youdao flashed forward, caught Yin'er by the arm, and brought her down onto the mount with him.

The beast rose into the sky and carried them away...

At Maolu Villa, Yuan Gang was personally standing guard inside Niu Youdao's courtyard.

He turned his head and saw Guan Fangyi and Yun Ji emerge one after another.

Yuan Gang immediately went to meet them. "How did it go?"

The two women smiled and looked back.

Yuan Gang followed their gaze.

A person slowly walked out from the room.

It was Shang Shuqing.

Her appearance was even more radiant than before, her skin finer and more delicate, as though she had become several years younger.

After coming out, she gave Yuan Gang a slight curtsy. "Master Yuan."

There was no need to ask.

It had obviously succeeded.

Even so, Yuan Gang could not help asking Guan Fangyi and Yun Ji, "Why did it take so long?"

As they understood it, using a Wuliang Fruit to remold the body should normally take a little over a month.

This time, however, a full three months had passed.

Had they not known the process was still continuing inside the sealed chamber, everyone outside would almost have thought something had gone wrong.

Guan Fangyi sighed. "The two of us had to sense someone else's body and help the Commandery Princess cleanse her marrow and remold her meridians bit by bit, with the utmost care. Do you have any idea how exhausting that was? There was no way to hurry."

Hearing this, Shang Shuqing looked alarmed and immediately bowed. "I've burdened both elder sisters. Qing'er truly doesn't know how to thank you."

Yun Ji smiled. "Don't listen to her taking credit. Commandery Princess, go move around and feel out your own body. See whether anything seems abnormal. If anything feels wrong, tell us immediately. The medicinal force hasn't completely stabilized yet, so if there is a problem, there should still be time to adjust it."

Shang Shuqing gave a soft "Mm."

She looked around, then cautiously asked, "Where is Master Dao?"

Yuan Gang said, "Master Dao went out to handle something. He should be back soon."

Originally Yuan Gang had intended to accompany him, but Yun Ji and Guan Fangyi had both been occupied here. Someone dependable needed to remain personally in charge of the villa, so Niu Youdao had not allowed him to come.

Guan Fangyi said, "Commandery Princess, listen to Yun Ji. Go outside and move around. Feel your body carefully and see whether anything seems wrong. What you sense yourself can't be completely replaced by us examining you with spiritual power."

Shang Shuqing gave another soft acknowledgment, bowed to all three, and left.

Only then did Guan Fangyi complain, "When Master Dao comes back, we'll make him compensate us properly. We nearly exhausted ourselves for his woman."

Yuan Gang replied coldly, "Master Dao sacrificed more than either of you."

Guan Fangyi scoffed. "We did all the exhausting work while he gets to enjoy a beautiful woman. What exactly did he sacrifice?"

Yuan Gang shot her a sidelong look. "You really think there's a second Wuliang Fruit left in this world?"

With that, he strode away.

Guan Fangyi and Yun Ji froze on the spot.

Neither woman was stupid.

They both understood exactly what those words meant.

Suddenly Guan Fangyi hurried off.

She went straight to Kunlin Shu and questioned him.

Kunlin Shu had remained with the Demon Fox clan ever since stealing the Wuliang Fruits, so naturally he knew the truth.

He confirmed that Yin Ji had used a Wuliang Fruit.

But Kunlin Shu had no idea why Guan Fangyi was asking.

Before he could question her in return, Guan Fangyi, looking shocked, had already run off.

By coincidence, Niu Youdao returned just then and met Yuan Gang.

When he heard that Shang Shuqing's marrow-cleansing and meridian-remolding had succeeded, he was delighted.

Then Guan Fangyi and Yun Ji came racing over together and blocked his path.

Guan Fangyi demanded angrily, "Why did you lie to us?"

Niu Youdao looked surprised. "What did I lie to you about?"

Yun Ji said, "That Wuliang Fruit was the last one. What are you going to do now?"

Niu Youdao finally understood what the fuss was about.

Calmly, he said, "That isn't important."

"You..."

Guan Fangyi pointed at him, looking as though she hated iron for failing to become steel.

This man had already reached the threshold of the Nascent Soul Realm, the realm cultivators beneath Heaven dreamed of reaching, the realm for which countless people had killed one another.

Yet at the final moment he had abandoned it.

How could anyone make such a decision?

It was almost impossible to believe.

And it pained her beyond words.

But matters had already reached this point.

The fruit was gone.

Nothing she said could change it.

In the end, she could only stamp one foot and say, "You're ruthless enough, I'll give you that. When the Commandery Princess learns what you did, you'll probably move her to death."

Niu Youdao said, "I don't need her to be moved."

"She doesn't need to know."

"Watch your mouths. Never tell her."

Guan Fangyi and Yun Ji could only stare at him speechlessly.

Yuan Gang remained silent.

Niu Youdao looked from side to side. "Where is the Commandery Princess?"

He too wanted to see what Shang Shuqing was like now.

Yuan Gang said, "They told her to go feel out her body. I think she went outside the villa."

Niu Youdao gave a small acknowledgment and immediately turned away.

He walked to the villa gate and saw Shang Shuqing among the fields, chasing butterflies.

It was a vegetable plot that Nanshan Temple had reclaimed.

After Yuan Fang and the others returned, they had replanted the abandoned ground. It was already lush and green.

Yuan Fang himself was not at Maolu Villa at present.

After learning that they would be going to the Fifth Domain, he took two men and requisitioned a flying mount. He had been running all over the place, hoping to find a suitable, ideal location for rebuilding Nanshan Temple before he left.

Shang Shuqing felt light as a feather and was in high spirits.

Eternal youth—what woman could fail to rejoice?

Then someone suddenly descended from the sky.

When she saw it was Niu Youdao, Shang Shuqing realized she had been behaving rather freely and immediately grew embarrassed.

"Master Dao."

Niu Youdao planted his sword before him and smiled. "How do you feel?"

At the villa gate, Yun Ji sighed with deep emotion. "The Commandery Princess suffered for so many years, but this time Master Dao has cherished her like this. No matter how much she suffered before, it was worth it. To meet a man this loyal and true—her life has not been lived in vain. She'll make every woman beneath Heaven envious."

Guan Fangyi was even more moved.

She had always loved the beauty of romance.

Watching the man and woman chatting and smiling upon the field ridge, their robes fluttering in the wind, she said with a trace of wistfulness:

"A figure like jade upon the road;
a gentleman peerless in all the world!"

[End of Chapter 1579]