Chapter 213

Chapter 213: Fate in Your Own Hands
Yu Zhao let out a cold snort.

Su Ming’s words sounded nice, but he had not even thought about whether someone of his strength could stop the attacks of two whole groups of demonic beasts.

If Yu Zhao really believed him, she might not even make it out of the cavern before being torn apart and eaten alive by the demonic beasts swarming over her.

[Trusting people from Lone Moon Peak is worse than trusting myself.]

Yu Zhao could not be bothered to answer him. Her gaze threaded through the gaps between the many demonic beasts and finally fell on the dark underground river below.

Every path in all directions had been blocked by demonic beasts.

Now there was only one way left.

Yu Zhao did not hesitate for long before making up her mind.

She formed a hand seal with her right hand. Her soul force burst out. The Mirror of Fleeting Lives opened the way ahead, forcefully carving out a narrow path through the swarm of demonic beasts.

Then she pushed off hard with her feet. Her whole body shot out like an arrow leaving the bow and plunged into the dark river.

Splash.

Water flew up in all directions, making ripples that soon faded back into calm.

Yu Zhao had left so suddenly that she almost gave Fang Cheng Lang and Su Ming no time to think.

Su Ming had still been waiting for Yu Zhao’s answer. When he saw this scene, he just stood there, stunned.

“Careful!” Fang Cheng Lang shouted.

After blow after blow, Fang Cheng Lang had already seen clearly that Yu Zhao’s feelings toward them were no longer what they had once been. So he had been mentally prepared for this for a long time.

Seeing a Wing King Bat reaching its claws toward Su Ming’s head, he shouted and swung his sword. His own arm was slashed hard by another White Jade Swallow, and blood instantly flowed down in streams.

“First Senior Brother!” Su Ming’s eyes reddened. Waves of regret almost drowned him as he cried: “I’ll fight them to the end!”

“Don’t be stupid, we’re jumping too!” Fang Cheng Lang stopped Su Ming’s reckless charge and dragged him toward the edge of the river.

Yu Zhao had already shown them the way once. If they couldn’t even copy it, they had no right to keep living in this world.

After adding a few more fresh wounds to their bodies, Fang Cheng Lang and Su Ming finally reached the dark river.

By this time, the Wing King Bats and the White Jade Swallows seemed to have guessed what the two of them wanted to do. Their attacks grew even fiercer.

“One, two, three, jump!” Fang Cheng Lang shouted.

A sword strike like the shattering of heaven and earth lit up the entire cavern.

Countless Wing King Bats and White Jade Swallows shrieked and fell back.

Fang Cheng Lang and Su Ming took the chance to leap into the dark river.

The Wing King Bats and White Jade Swallows flapped their wings and circled above the river for a long time, unwilling to leave.

On the other side, Yu Zhao was drifting along with the current of the underground river toward some unknown place.

Once she left the cavern, she wanted to get out of the river, but she found that there was an invisible force in the water binding her. It would not let her use her spirit power.

She simply gave up struggling.

After all, she was still on the Floating Island. It was not as if it would send her all the way to the Endless Sea.

Yu Zhao closed her eyes and rested her hands over her lower abdomen. She floated up and down with the water like a fallen leaf, giving off a strange, peaceful feeling.

Her calm and steady bearing left Sect Master Ji Yuan and the others staring, one after another.

Someone asked quietly: “Do you think Yu Zhao might have fallen asleep?”

Someone else snorted: “Nonsense. How could someone her age just fall asleep like that? She’s not like us old guys.”

Another voice commented: “She isn’t anxious or restless. That’s very good.”

Yet another person sighed: “But just now was really dangerous. With that many Wing King Bats, if she had been even a bit slower, she would have been hurt. It’s a pity…”

Sect Master Bai Lian did not finish saying what was a pity, but everyone understood.

Yu Zhao had picked nests for ten days without a scratch. The moment Fang Cheng Lang and Su Ming arrived, all the Wing King Bats and White Jade Swallows in the cavern were alarmed. The difference between them was obvious.

Fang Cheng Lang had a steady nature and took responsibility. He did live up to the bearing of a First Senior Brother. But that disciple called Su Ming was impulsive and acted without any plan. In every way he was far worse than Yu Zhao.

To this day, they still could not understand Master Qing Yan’s standards for taking disciples.

Master Qing Yan was proud and aloof. When he sensed their strange gazes, he disdained to explain and also felt a ball of anger burning in his chest.

His heart was set on the Dao, so of course he did not want to spend his effort on trivial matters. Most of what he knew about his disciples came from what he saw on the surface and from Fang Cheng Lang’s reports.

The ones who had truly spent the most time with him were only Fang Cheng Lang, Yu Zhao, and Ye Cong Xin.

If not for what he had seen and heard in recent days, even he would never have believed that his disciples were full of bad habits.

Fang Cheng Lang, the First Disciple to whom he had entrusted such heavy responsibility, had still disappointed him in the end.

Yu Zhao did not know how long she floated in the water before she suddenly felt a strong pull.

She opened her eyes and saw a huge whirlpool ahead.

[Could that be the exit?]

Her eyes flashed. She decided not to move and let her body be swallowed by the whirlpool.

A strong feeling of weightlessness washed over her. Yu Zhao felt her body become light, and the force that had been binding her finally disappeared.

She immediately stirred her spirit power and leaped out of the water.

A dim sky, a dead and silent land, and an ancient stone stele by the riverbank formed a lifeless scene before her eyes.

Yu Zhao frowned. This place was the exact opposite of the Floating Island, where spiritual energy was rich. It was like an extreme on the other side.

She first walked onto the shore and looked around for a moment, then started toward the stone stele.

Halfway there, she suddenly stopped.

For some reason, when she got close to the stele, a boundless sadness rose out of nowhere, filling her heart and making her want to turn around and run.

Yu Zhao calmed herself where she stood and slowly adjusted her breathing, then took another step forward.

The stone stele was about one zhang tall and covered in cracks. Only one character was carved on it: ?.

“Fate?” Yu Zhao murmured.

It felt as if her consciousness was being pulled by something. Her right hand slowly reached out and pressed against the stele.

At that moment, an aged voice suddenly sounded in her Sea of Consciousness: “What is fate?”

What is fate?

Fate was Heaven’s Mandate, and it was also a fixed destiny.

It could not be changed by human power.

In her last life, Yu Zhao would have given that answer.

But in this life, she had a new one.

“What you hold in your own hands, that is fate,” Yu Zhao answered firmly. Her eyes shone like stars.

Then her Sea of Consciousness fell silent.

Just when she thought the voice would not speak again, a new question quietly appeared.

“Knowing something cannot be done but still doing it, how do you explain that?”

Yu Zhao only thought for a short moment before replying: “This question is flawed. If someone risks their life for something that has no value, that is foolish. But if it is for something more important than life itself, then staking your life is courage. To hear the Dao in the morning and die in the evening is enough. It is nothing more than that.”

After Yu Zhao answered, an even longer silence followed.

“Last question,” the voice finally said. “To live an ordinary life, blend in with everyone else, and enjoy a long, smooth life, or to make achievements that last for ages but be like withered orchids and shattered jade. Which will you choose?”

“I choose the latter,” Yu Zhao replied without hesitation.

“Why?”

“Maybe because I don’t want to be nameless while I live and ignored after I die.”

The corners of Yu Zhao’s lips lifted. She gave a calm, light smile.

In her previous life, she had been a lifeless Jade Communication Stone. Shui Qing Yue had traded her own life to give Yu Zhao the chance to be reborn as a human.

She had already failed Shui Qing Yue once. She did not want to fail her a second time.

“I have received your will. You will get what you wish,” the voice said.

Yu Zhao did not have time to think deeply about it. The next instant, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.