After Shu Yu and Fu Wang left the demonic realm, they returned to the Malice-Suppressing Sect. Fu Wang simply turned his original body into the image of the Eldest Martial Brother and sent missives to the other martial brothers and martial sisters, saying that he would take his new disciple out for some “field experience”.
The eldest martial brother possessed authority and respect amongst them, there was naturally no objections against his decision.
This time when Shu Yu saw the isle full of stardew blossoms, she immediately felt different seeing it.
When all his love and hatred had vanished, over such a long period of time, all that was left of Fu Wang was this inextinguishable habit and obsession. If the place underneath the Malice-Suppressing Sect was the cage that confined the body of a fiend, then this Blossom Island in the surface was the prison that he personally built to trap his heart. Generation after generation he guarded this place – was imprisoned within it – so how was it even possible for this person to have ever been free from his own thoughts?
“Xiao-Yu, come here.”
Shu Yu stopped zoning out. She quickly walked away from the endless sea of flowers, reaching for Fu Wang’s outstretched hand. They stepped on his hovering sword and left the Malice-Suppressing Sect.
After he changed his robes, the eldest martial brother transformed into the Grand Advisor and his aura turned from gentle and serene to cold and imposing, there wasn’t a single crack to be seen in his disguise, he was basically a Best Actor winner. She really couldn’t be blamed for not being able to see through him at first, it was all because Fu Wang was too mean. Shu Yu recalled how anxious and sad she had been at the time and that Fu Wang had simply watched her be. At this moment, she silently decided in her mind to refuse his such and such requests tonight and be a tranquil, clear-minded person.
The Crescent Pavilion of the Grand Advisor of Tianyun Kingdom saw its master leave and return, but not a single person seemed to have realized this period of absence. When Shu Yu stepped again into the high tower of the Crescent Pavilion, her mood was also very different from before.
This was the place Fu Wang had stayed in for a thousand years. Just like the Blossom Isle of the Malice-Suppressing Sect, Fu Wang’s presence was everywhere in this place. She had missed him for so many years, there was a blank period in the middle where she knew nothing about Fu Wang, so now she was especially eager to find the traces he had left behind over the years.
Unfortunately, Shu Yu didn’t notice anything interesting even after she roamed the high tower from top to bottom. Aside from a huge pile of books, jade slips, and huge tools that she couldn’t really understand, there was nothing else. The place seemed more like a workstation than anything else. The feeling it gave her was as if it were a second Flower Isle, there were no traces of a person’s life here, it couldn’t be compared at all to their small courtyard.
It was completely the room of a research-fanatic bachelor alright. The only thing that could pique Shu Yu’s interest was probably the fact that a few spiritual creatures were being raised here.
There were Self-Shadows that lived within the lamps and would automatically light up when sensing other people. There were some Answering Echoes that lived within the walls, they had slight intelligence and could open their mouths to speak and convey the messages of their master. Also, the huge white fish that lived within the lake of the Crescent Pavillion. The boat that would automatically go to and from the high tower was a result of the huge, white fish acting as its “Captain” beneath the waters.
The massive white fish was as long as two ships. Sometimes it would jump out of the water and the splash it caused could even reach the fourth floor of the high tower. When the sun was out, it loved to flop its white belly atop the water.
And if you looked at the impressive conman image that the Grand Advisor exuded, it was actually those small spiritual creatures that were helping him create that image.
Shu Yu finished touring Fu Wang’s entire territory before stopping her exploration in satisfaction.
Fu Wang was wearing the traditional white and black robes of the Grand Advisor. He wasn’t wearing his mask. He laid by the open window, letting the rays of sunlight fall on him. His delicate face was so pale beneath the sunlight that it seemed translucent.
She was obviously being tempted every now and then pulled over to pah pah pah, so how is it that she didn’t learn from her experiences? She would still be seduced successfully time and time again. As she pondered this, she saw Fu Wang smile at her, and Shu Yu couldn’t help but walk over and sit next to him.
The weather outside was nice. The sun was high in the sky, it was late in spring, and it was starting to get slightly warm. Once Shu Yu walked over, Fu Wang reached out, his hand coming to rest on the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. When Shu Yu tried to reciprocate, she was greeted even more enthusiastically, her entire body weight fell on top of Fu Wang, gasping for air from being kissed.
“Huhm… Wai-ummn… Wait!” Shu Yu switched their positions and pushed Fu Wang beneath her. She seized his hands and made sure to fix her clothes, her face was slightly reddened. “Don’t do these things all the time. It’s rare for the weather to be so nice, why don’t we just talk about things?”
“What does Xiao-Yu want to talk about?” Fu Wang put his thumb inside his own mouth and bit down with a tiny amount of force, making a small wound, then he pressed the bleeding thumb against Shu Yu’s slightly swollen and reddened lips.
Shu Yu grabbed his hand in slight exasperation and licked his thumb. “Don’t hurt yourself all the time, I only need one drop of blood a day.”
“I like seeing how my blood enters Xiao-Yu’s body.” Fu Wang said with a straight♂ face, leaning up and licking away the dark purple bloodstains that remained on her lips.
… So filthy, this person is really too filthy! I cannot beat him at being filthy!
“Fu Wang, didn’t you say there’s something you hadn’t done yet? What is it?” Shu Yu wisely changed the subject, pretending she hadn’t heard Fu Wang’s words at all. She casually asked, “What did you mean before by stealing fate?”
Fu Wang chuckled as he laid back down. One of his hands twirled a lock of her hair between his fingers as he explained, “Those with fate that can defy the heavens are those whose karmic fate is so abundant that they can oppose the balance decreed by the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao itself has no consciousness, it is merely a law that decrees balance. I’ve been researching this subject all these years, and so I learnt to observe the fate of others as well as take other people’s fate for my own.”
“In the past, when gods and devils both existed, they served to suppress one another, and afterwards when the gods perished the devils perished after them as well, and the demons became trapped within Mengze. This was the balance decreed by the Heavenly Dao. However, I appeared. Me, a unique, newborn devil. I was never supposed to exist, but for some reason I came onto this world, and I suspect I also disrupted the world’s original trajectory. And when the Heavenly Dao sought to eradicate me but was stopped by an unknown force, I began to realize that something was off about this situation.”
“Long Xuan and the body of Situ Jingjing that Xiao-Yu inhabited before have a karma and fate that is entirely different from that of the Heavenly Dao. I used to call it the favoritism of the Heavenly Dao, but now I think it’s more plausible to say that the Heavenly Dao cannot do anything either against these people that are overflowing with fate and karma. It’s because I suspect that the fate and karma that appear on their bodies belong to a different world, otherwise why would the Heavenly Dao be rendered helpless against them?”
“Is there an end to this world? Are there other worlds beyond this world? What are those worlds like? I began to ponder about these questions centuries ago. If I wanted to leave this world, then how should I do it?”
“In the end, I calculated a feasible way to do so. I’m going to transfer the unique fate apparent on those that the Heavenly Dao cannot touch onto myself, and then, I’ll be able to break free from the restrictions of this world’s Heavenly Dao and be able to go to another world.”
Teacher Fu Wang’s scientific and theory class is in session~
What to do if the Heavenly Dao keeps wanting to finish him off? Mostly, it’s just asking to be beaten up, so things will be ok after tearing it apart. —— Fu Wang’s words vaguely expressed his propensity for violence.
After Shu Yu finished listening to Fu Wang’s theories, she was about ready to kneel down to him. As expected of a BOSS. As a native with an overwhelmingly godly existence, his theories were really going big, and the key point was that he actually guessed the truth about many facts. The most important part was that not only did he make theories about it, he was even ready to act on them.
He really was going to – sincerely and genuinely – go beyond the sky!
Shu Yu thought about this world, and then she thought about the Original Plot’s peaceful, romance-focused world, and she suddenly felt that the butterfly’s wings flapped a little too hard, it changed the entire trajectory of history and the future, and also almost indirectly created a great demon king that nearly destroyed the world. And now, this great demon king was even ready to head out of this world and towards the cosmos.
Wait, was there really a thing such as a cosmos outside of this fantasy-esque world? Shu Yu’s head was filled with scrolling pages of commentaries and her expression was that of a spectator. After Fu Wang finished vocalizing his theories, she asked, “So you still have to take the fate of the Tianyun Kingdom’s Emperor, Long Xuan, in order to be able to break the restrictions of this world’s Heavenly Dao?”
“Yes, and very soon. I’ve prepared this stage for so many years and have finally gotten one such Emperor with outstanding fate and karma. And here I’m not only going to take the fate on his person, the fate of the entire Tianyun Kingdom will also come to be in my grasp.” Fu Wang spoke in a casual, lighthearted manner, seeing absolutely nothing about the rise and fall of a country.
Seeing Shu Yu slightly look into the distance with a small frown as if worrying about something, he reached out and poked the space between Shu Yu’s eyebrows. “This is how it is in the human realm. The rise and fall of countries, the changes of dynasties, they are extremely common things. I’ve guarded Tianyun Kingdom for many years, so now I’m merely taking it back. Moreover, I promised Xiao-Yu not to kill indiscriminately, but I won’t meddle with the wars that mortals themselves wish to wage.”
Shu Yu didn’t know if she should tell him that she wasn’t really thinking about that at all. The reason she frowned was because she saw a girl in the garden in the distance— a girl that looked exactly like Situ Jingjing.
Yep, her current body was just off the charts, she didn’t need a telescope to see the things happening in the garden far, far away. Situ Jingjing was currently in a catfight with a bunch of concubines. But most importantly, hadn’t Situ Jingjing’s body been absorbed by Fu Wang? Why was there another one here? Real vs fake female lead plot?1 真假女主 Real and fake female lead, the plot where there’s a real one that was replaced by the fake one. So it’s the classic plot where there are two people vying for the position of “real” protagonist/heiress/princess etc.
After pondering, Shu Yu still decided to tug Fu Wang closer and pointed at them. “Look.”
Fu Wang looked over and finally realized what she had been thinking about. He chuckled, “It’s another Situ Jingjing I arranged, or more accurately, Long Xuan’s entire harem are people I arranged for, the only exception had been Situ Jingjing who was brought in from outside the palace by Long Xuan, but now, she’s one too.”
Shu Yu suddenly felt that the Original Plot’s Male Lead was very pitiful. She mourned for him for all that lasted for a second.
Hum, well, she originally hated him, and it was impossible to even cross paths with him anyways. However Shu Yu remembered Fu Wang’s other identity, and asked again, “Then what about Ye Linhuai?”
“Dead,” Fu Wang replied without care. “The emperor caused his death, that’s why Imperial Tutor Ye loathes the emperor to death right now.”2 Translator: The meaning here is that basically, Fu Wang’s fake identity was “killed” off by the Emperor. There was never an original Ye Linhuai, Fu Wang just killed off his “fake persona” to get rid of it, which consequently caused his persona’s “father” bearing hatred towards the emperor for killing his “son”.
Ah, it was another of his schemes. Shu Yu didn’t understand very well, but she decided she’d better not care about it anyways, everything that needed to be cared for would be taken care of by Fu Wang. And even if she were to understand everything going on, there was nothing she could offer to the table.
“Fu Wang, what time will you be able to succeed in what you’re doing?”
“Probably, two years.”
Receiving this answer, Shu Yu quietly thought over the Original Plot and realized this was around the time of the ending. The Male Lead would’ve unified the four surrounding great kingdoms and crowned the Female Lead as the empress.
“Xiao-Yu, there are two years to go. The things you said you wanted to do before, I will do them with you, that’s why, don’t let your gaze linger on anyone else but me.”
Shu Yu stopped zoning out and saw a huge tail swaying in front of her eyes. Fu Wang’s smile towards her was fiendish, and yet extremely bewitching. Without a second word, Shu Yu leapt forward.
Pulling out his tail to lure her was simply foul play!
There was even more foul play waiting for her. Turning into a little fox and all that, no matter what he did she wouldn’t be able to get angry with him at all, alright!
In the following days, Shu Yu lived the days where she was suppressed by a fox and where she suppressed a fox in turn. Sometimes she would carry a small pudgy fox and go for a walk outside, or they would even spectate the emperor Long Xuan and “Situ Jingjing” as they progressed through a plot similar to the Original Plot.
Fu Wang acted as the Grand Advisor in great comfort, there was basically nothing to do, and no one dared to bother him because of his high status, plus there was also his abilities to account for. So, he was able to accompany Shu Yu and leisurely roam outside every day.
Shu Yu further discovered more of Fu Wang’s control over the entire imperial palace, because this Mr. Grand Advisor led her around the imperial palace as if there was no one else there, and every palace servant that saw them never showed a look of surprise and instead were very respectful. The Emperor, Long Xuan, didn’t even know about it.
Delicious meals and an endless stream of offerings were sent into the Grand Advisor’s tower and placed in front of Shu Yu for her enjoyment. Shu Yu looked at the large pile of things and once again felt as if she had become the favored concubine of a certain emperor. It was the same in the demon realm, those little underlings of Fu Wang would offer gifts and they would be placed in front of her by Fu Wang, letting her choose whatever she wanted as she wished, as if it were a pile of cabbages. Fu Wang’s attitude of a tyrant that spoke “I love my beauty, not the territory I own” was truly being shown to its utmost limit.
If Shu Yu showed that she liked anything at all, then after a while more of the very same things would be sent over. She dared to say that even Emperor Long Xuan wasn’t this extravagant.
While Long Xuan and “Situ Jingjing” were entangled in their dance of love and hate, Shu Yu and Fu Wang went traveling outside. From the southern rivers to the northern deserts, the borders and the neighboring countries, as long as Shu Yu wanted to go, they went and walked through them all. On the road there would occasionally be a few small-probability encounters, such as coming across pirates in the ocean or even succubus that would suck the lifeblood of others within a run down temple; the formers were dealt with by Shu Yu’s sword, and the latter was also taken out by Shu Yu’s sword. Fu Wang didn’t really have to do anything, he merely had to obediently stay in Shu Yu’s arms and be a docile pet fox.
Shu Yu and Fu Wang even made sure to arrive in record time to follow Situ Jingjing to go look for the lake where the Original Plot’s boss appeared, and the result was that the one who saved Situ Jingjing wasn’t any divine doctor, but a young lord from another country. Shu Yu breathed a sigh of relief and then no longer paid attention to Situ Jingjing, and continued to take Fu Wang and travel around.
Regarding the matter of them being within a book, Shu Yu never spoke about it to Fu Wang because she felt that it was no longer necessary. Things that should’ve been revealed had already been revealed long ago, perhaps Fu Wang even knew more than she did, and since he didn’t ask, she didn’t need to be hung on the matter. What’s more, after seeing the mountains and rivers of this world with her own eyes, she was no longer sure if this was merely a world within a novel.
Once, Mr. Zhuang had dreamt of being a butterfly3庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶 Zhuang dreamt of butterflies. The verse after this part speaks of how Zhuang isn’t sure if he went into a butterfly’s dreams (hence being a butterfly) or if the butterfly would’ve gone into Zhuang himself (thus the butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang). It’s basically a philosophical saying, from what I read, of how can you be 100% sure YOUR reality is the true reality and not another one’s fake dreams? This can also be applied to a lot of transmigration into book plots; how are you sure the real world is the REAL one and not the “book”? Or maybe it was all fake and you’re dreaming of going into another world? Or maybe your past life was the “dream” all along and you’re delusional.… so how could she really be sure that she herself wasn’t a character within another’s novel? Maybe the world from where she came from – the story of her life – was just another story within a book for someone from another world.
Traveling thousands of miles can open the heart, this sentence was true; in these two years, Shu Yu gradually became more outstanding, her presence became calm and tough, and even if she were to conceal her beautiful face, she still attracted a lot of people’s attention. Of course, those who dared to come forward and strike a conversation with Shu Yu all ended up in mysterious and unfortunate circumstances.
In order to prevent the people who wanted to try their chance from also trying out their one-lifetime guarantee, Shu Yu could only maintain a cold expression and pretend she was a heartless person in order to dissuade those people. Two years down the road, Shu Yu evolved from a girl who didn’t like talking much and was slightly introverted into a girl who maintained an indifferent expression as if she had a heart of stone but who was actually making a lot of scrolling commentaries internally.
Shu Yu had also made a name for herself during the last two years. A wandering swordswoman in red clothes. Red robes, high ponytail, a sword, and a fox; there were rumors of her all over the lands, even her gender was a matter of discussion.
In regards to this, every time Shu Yu changed clothes and ate food in some inns and listened to others talking about herself, she felt a quiet kind of hidden satisfaction.
During this period, she even met someone that seemed like an old acquaintance, it seemed like the young lady Ji Shenglian from the Spirit Clan years ago. She didn’t see her poker-faced little brother Ji Luolian, but there was a seductive young man by her side. Shu Yu felt that the young man looked familiar. Just as she was about to take another look, Fu Wang grabbed her chin and peppered her in kisses.
After that, Shu Yu couldn’t find those two anymore. She wasn’t sure if it was truly them, perhaps they merely looked similar, because that Ji Shenglian seemed to be a young miss from a rich family and not a demonkin.
This was nothing but a small incident, Shu Yu didn’t really put much importance in it and continued taking Fu Wang to their next destination.
Two years passed in the blink of an eye. Fu Wang had to go back to collect the spoils of his fishing net.
Shu Yu sat alone on the top of the Crescent Pavilion of the Grand Advisor’s tower, watching as the crescent moon turned into a blood-red full moon. The bright sky instantly turned dark with dark clouds and churning strikes of lightning, and fire struck the imperial palace where the emperor lived. Thunder churned endlessly, stars blinked out of existence, it was a night of fear and trepidation that continued on until dawn when the overcast clouds dispersed and a ray of dusk broke through the layers of clouds.
A green-clothed Fu Wang returned while stepping upon the haze of dusk. He smiled as he held a hand towards her.
“Xiao-Yu, come here, let’s find the way to your home.”
【Human Realm, End】
【Starting from next chapter, it’s the Quick Transmigration series, the bigger fish takes the smaller fish on a trip to find her mom and home.】
Chapter Description: The end of the Human Realm Arc.
