Chapter 73

Chapter 73: You Want to Destroy the Heaven-Questioning Sect?

Song Wan Ning had expected the stone to be stubborn. She didn’t interfere, not yet. Liu Lan Yi’s cultivation was far higher than hers—if anyone could force a treasure to acknowledge a master, it was Martial Uncle Liu Lan Yi.

If Liu Lan Yi truly couldn’t, Song Wan Ning could always drag the stone into the Sword Dao True Realm and “teach” it obedience.

It was from this stone that she’d learned what she had comprehended: the Sword Dao True Realm, a world that belonged to her alone.

There, she was the ruler.

As long as she pulled the stone in, she had plenty of ways to make it submit.

But she wasn’t foolish enough to believe she was invincible. Someone with far higher cultivation might not be pulled into the Sword Dao True Realm at all—or worse, might shatter it.

Song Wan Ning let her thoughts drift as Liu Lan Yi worked.

At first, Liu Lan Yi believed it was ordinary. Then, as the bonding deepened, she felt resistance.

It had spirit.

Liu Lan Yi’s expression sharpened. She poured more focus into it, spiritual power steady and cold.

Time passed. Still nothing.

At last, she opened her eyes and looked at Song Wan Ning, clearly annoyed. “Sit here. I’m going somewhere else.”

She refused to believe she couldn’t handle a mere stone.

“All right,” Song Wan Ning said easily, waving a hand. “Go ahead. Don’t worry about me.”

The moment Liu Lan Yi left, a smile tugged at Song Wan Ning’s lips. Martial Uncle was stubborn in the same way she was—the more you told her she couldn’t do something, the more she would insist on doing it.

Song Wan Ning stretched out on the couch and closed her eyes, letting herself drift into a nap.

…

A few days later, a surge of spiritual power shot into the sky from the back mountain.

In the next moment, tribulation clouds gathered—fast, violent, swallowing the heavens whole. Blackness rolled in like an ocean turning over, carrying a pressure that felt ready to crush everything beneath it.

Someone was going to face a tribulation.

The Heaven-Questioning Sect exploded into motion. Disciples rushed toward the back mountain, eyes bright with excitement. Many had never seen such a grand scene.

But the Sect Master and several elders turned deathly pale.

“How could it be the back mountain?” the Sect Master roared, sprinting as if the ground itself were burning beneath his feet.

The Seventh Elder tried to steady him. “Maybe it isn’t Martial Uncle Liu facing the tribulation. Sect Master—don’t panic yet!”

“How can I not panic?” the Sect Master snapped, pointing up at the terrifying thunder. “Look at that tribulation—does it look like it’s meant for an ordinary person? In our sect, besides her, who else is in the Divine Transformation Stage?”

The other two Divine Transformation Ancestors were traveling outside. Right now, the only Divine Transformation Stage cultivator in the sect was Liu Lan Yi.

The elders fell silent and pushed themselves harder, faces tight with dread.

They didn’t know that Liu Lan Yi was also stunned.

She rushed back into her residence, heart pounding, and the first thing she saw was Song Wan Ning sitting calmly—smiling as if she’d expected this all along.

Understanding struck like lightning.

Liu Lan Yi said nothing at first. She sat across from Song Wan Ning and stared into her eyes.

Then, quietly, “Why?”

Why force her to bond?

Why shove her straight into an Ascension Stage tribulation?

If she’d known the stone held such power, she would never have claimed it.

Song Wan Ning met her gaze. Reluctance and guilt flickered there—real, unhidden.

In her previous life, because of Song Wan Ning, Liu Lan Yi hadn’t just failed to ascend. She’d ended with her soul scattered, her life extinguished.

This time, Song Wan Ning wouldn’t let her shoulder that risk again.

“Martial Uncle,” Song Wan Ning said softly, “you’ve already given enough to the Heaven-Questioning Sect.”

“The Heaven-Questioning Sect isn’t worth you doing this.”

Liu Lan Yi’s breath caught.

For years, to protect the Heaven-Questioning Sect, she had forcibly suppressed her cultivation, refusing to take the step that would’ve led her to ascension.

And what had the Heaven-Questioning Sect done in return?

In Song Wan Ning’s previous life, they had sent Liu Lan Yi down the road to the underworld.

A rotten sect like that should’ve broken apart long ago.

Liu Lan Yi stared, mind spinning, a sharp thought stabbing through her disbelief.

“You… you want to destroy the Heaven-Questioning Sect?”

Song Wan Ning didn’t deny it.

Instead, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Liu Lan Yi, the way she always had when she was younger—tight, stubborn, seeking warmth.

“Martial Uncle,” she murmured, voice carrying a thread of grievance and longing, “you only need to pass the heavenly tribulation and go to the Spirit Realm to send my greetings to Master.”

“I miss Master.”

The words were soft, but they hit Liu Lan Yi right in the chest.

Her heart ached. After a long moment, she sighed, the fight in her draining away.

“Fine. Fine.” Her tone turned wry. “I’m about to ascend anyway. Everything here is settled, and from now on it has nothing to do with me.”

As an Ancestor of the Heaven-Questioning Sect, her duty had been to protect it.

But if she ascended, whatever happened afterward would no longer be her responsibility.

She didn’t know what had driven Song Wan Ning to this point.

But she knew Song Wan Ning.

Wan Ning repaid kindness. She didn’t bare her fangs without reason.

The Heaven-Questioning Sect must have failed her. Must have bullied her.

All these years, from the moment Song Wan Ning began refining pills, she’d supplied the sect endlessly—rare pills that couldn’t be bought outside, handed over without hesitation.

And what had the sect given her?

Almost nothing.

If anyone was owed, it was the sect that owed Song Wan Ning.

“Martial Uncle,” Song Wan Ning said, voice low, pressing closer, “I’ll miss you.”

She nuzzled against her with shameless attachment.

“I’ll cultivate hard. When I’m done dealing with matters in the Lower Realm, I’ll come up to find you all.”

By then… maybe Master would blame her for destroying Gu Qing Yuan.

But Master would understand her choice.

Song Wan Ning lowered her eyes, hiding the killing intent that flashed through them like a blade being drawn.

When she lifted her gaze again, it was pure admiration—and it struck Liu Lan Yi’s heart once more. Liu Lan Yi couldn’t help touching Song Wan Ning’s cheek.

“All right,” Liu Lan Yi said softly. “Your Master and I will wait for you in the Upper Realm.”

That was when the Sect Master’s voice came from outside the door.

Liu Lan Yi raised her brows and led Song Wan Ning out.

“Martial Uncle,” the Sect Master demanded the moment he saw her, impatience and accusation bleeding into his tone, “what is going on with this lightning tribulation?”

Liu Lan Yi’s face fell. “What, I’m facing a tribulation and I have to explain myself to you?”

The Sect Master startled, color draining. “This disciple didn’t mean—”

“Hmph.” Liu Lan Yi didn’t buy it. She lifted her chin, voice ringing clear. “You can all see it. My cultivation has reached the point where it can’t be suppressed. I can only face the Ascension Stage tribulation.”

She glanced over the stunned elders. “From now on, the sect is in your hands.”

“What?”

“No!”

“Ancestor, if you leave, who will sit in command of the Heaven-Questioning Sect?”

“That’s right, Martial Uncle, you have to think about us!”

“Every great sect has a peak Divine Transformation Stage cultivator holding the fort! If Martial Uncle ascends, our status will be affected. Please think twice!”

Panic erupted. Voices overlapped in frantic pleas.

Liu Lan Yi listened—and instead of warmth, she felt cold creep through her veins.

In that moment, she understood Song Wan Ning’s choice.

—