"Is that the only reason why you came here?" Jian Yu didn't think that someone like Cang Yue, who only looked out for benefits, would come here to just announce the matter of her marriage.

Although her getting married was important, it was hardly a big deal.

In this world, where women ruled, it wasn't unheard of for powerful women to marry several men. Hell, even she herself has married seven men. Though they all died due to one reason or another.

"That and to get my share of resources." Cang Yue replied without batting an eye.

"Your share of resources?" This time, Jian Yu was truly confused. She couldnt even understand what Cang Yue meant by those words.

*Snort

With a cold snort, Cang Yue spoke while suppressing her voice that contained a tinge of anger.

"The resources that I… one of the Grand Elders of the Sword Sect is entitled to."

Her words instantly brought clarity to Jian Yu's eyes, who then, in turn, reached inside her robe and, after a while, took out a simple wooden token before throwing it towards Cang Yue.

"You can collect it yourself."

"....."

"....."

"Do you need anything else?" Looking at how Cang Yue simply put the token away and still stood there with a slight smile, Jian Yu couldn't help but ask.

"Nothing." Cang Yue simply shook her head with a smile that didn't seem like a smile as she cast one last glance towards the white masked woman before turning around, leaving one last sentence as she walked away.

"Oh! And don't disturb me for the next fifteen days or so. I will be in seclusion to breakthrough."

"...." Jian Yu merely watched her departing back before letting out a sigh.

"What a talented young lass." Her voice contained a hint of appreciation along with a hint of approval.

"Less than thirty years old and already about to step into the 5th Vein expansion realm."

"To think such a talented young lass is soon going to..." She didn't complete her sentence, but the meaning behind her words was obvious.

"Is it really necessary, though?" This time, the white masked woman sitting beside her finally asked in confusion, "Can't we just not do it? After all, it hardly changes anything, does it?"

"...." Jian Yu was in a brief period of silence before she shook her head with a smile.

"Master." This time, the white masked woman finally couldn't hold it any longer.

"We are the righteous sect, right?"

Her question was met with a nod from Jian Yu, who was still gazing in the direction of Cang Yue's departure.

"In that case, is it really necessary for us to do something like this?"

"How does it make us any different from all those demonic sects?"

"....."

"....."

Jian Yu didn't answer immediately but kept on gazing in the direction of Cang Yue's departure. It wasn't until a few more minutes passed that she let out a heavy sigh, turned her head to look at the white masked woman beside her and spoke in an incomparable soft voice that was full of tenderness.

"Do you think we have the luxury to choose morality over results?"

Her question was met with silence as the white masked woman just closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, other than confusion and defeat, there was nothing else.

"But do we really need to sacrifice Cang Yue?"

In that instant, even Jian Yu's body trembled for a moment before she shook her head as her cloudy eyes gazed at the sky.

"Do you know how many years our lineage has taken care of that 'thing'?"

"You have told me before." The white masked woman nodded in response. "If I am not wrong, then it must be more than twenty thousand years."

"Twenty-one thousand years to be exact." Jian Yu corrected her before letting out a mouthful of turbid air.

"Do you know the lifespan of the Soul Tempering realm?"

The white masked woman simply nodded again before giving a reply, "Core condensation is five hundred years, and soul tempering is five thousand years."

"Mmm…" Jian Yue simply gave a nod before asking another question.

"Although Soul Tempering realm powerhouses can live upto five thousand years, you will hardly find anyone that old."

"Most of the experts in this realm couldn't even live up to one thousand years due to various reasons. From ambush, to backstabbing and betrayals… There have been countless examples of it in the past."

"And not to mention that damned tribulation once every two hundred years."

Jian Yu's voice contained a hint of fear as she mentioned the tribulations, but then she shook her head to throw it out of her mind.

"For the past twenty-one thousand years, our lineage has fought and tried to keep the thing inside. We kept it so that the world outside can live in peace."

"Fifteen people… Before me, fifteen people have guarded this palace, day after day, months after months, years after years… Not moving, not going anywhere… always stuck here in constant fear of what might happen if that thing got outside."

"No one in this world knows just how much we have sacrificed to keep this world a safe haven."

"And I… I am the sixteenth one in our lineage, watching over that damned thing inside the ruins."

"It is our duty to keep it inside and make sure it never leaves the place. Otherwise, the Azure Dragon Continent would cease to exist as we know it."

"If nothing happened, you would have been the seventeenth person in the lineage to carry on this duty. To brace this curse and spend your entire life stuck here."

"But now…" Speaking till here, her voice trembled in excitement as she clenched her fists tightly. "But now we have a chance."

"We don't need to be stuck here. We don't need to worry about taking care of that thing."

"In the next few weeks, we will get rid of it."

'We will get rid of something that our predecessors failed to do. Not only that, we will step into a higher path… a realm that has always been a myth."

"Heaven step." The white masked woman couldnt help but utter those words.

"Heaven step." Jian Yue nodded as she repeated those words again.

"Do you know the lifespan of those in the Heaven Step realm?"

This time her question was met with silence. Even with her strength and current knowledge, the white masked woman didn't seem to have an answer to that question.

"....."

"....."

The scene plunged into a brief silence before Jian Yu spoke in a muffled voice.

"Fifty Thousand Years." Though she appeared calm as she uttered those words, the faint trembling in her fingers and body betrayed her feelings.

Taking a deep breath, Jian Yu controlled her riling emotions before muttering under her breath. "And you won't even be plagued by the tribulations once you reach the Heaven Step."

"The sacrifice of one person for the greater good of the entire world is not evil, but a noble cause."

"We are not sacrificing her… There is nothing that is common between us and the demonic sect."

"We are doing this for the greater good. To save the world."

"If the death of one person can save this world, then I say it is not a sacrifice but a heroic deed."

No one knew whether Jian Yu's words were meant for the white masked woman beside her or for herself.

"Master…" The white masked woman still seemed a bit hesitant. "Are you sure that sending her inside will actually kill that 'thing'?"

"Mmm." Jian Yu simply nodded in response.

"Just…" The white masked woman's voice trembled for a moment. "You never told me exactly what it is that has been sealed there."

"You said you would tell me when the time is right."

"For the past four hundred years, you have been telling me the same thing. And now that it is going to be over… What exactly has been sealed there? What is it that makes you so afraid?"

"...." Jian Yu's body trembled for a moment before she took in a sharp breath.

"Now that you mentioned it." Her voice got incomparably soft as she spoke further. "Four hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye."

"I still remember the day I picked you up from the ruins of a village overturned by demonic practitioners."

Speaking till here, she cast a glance at the white masked woman beside her.

"Fine."

"Since it is all going to end anyway, there is no harm in telling you about it."

Taking a deep breath, Jian Yu collected her thoughts as she began to narrate slowly.

"Do you know about the prophecy?"

Jian Yu's very first words stunned the white masked woman, who couldn't help but ask in return.

"Which prophecy?"

There were numerous prophecies in the Azure Dragon Continent, from the emergence of an Immortal fate, to the coming of the chosen one, as well as the rise of the Demonic Cultivators and beasts. As long as there was a particular topic, there would be a prophecy about it.

Jian Yu, too, knew about it, so when the white masked woman asked, she couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

"I almost forgot how every cat and dog has been giving out a new prophecy every year."

"Haha." Letting out a burst of laughter, she shook her head, "Not these baseless prophecies spread by those idiotic storytellers."

"There has been only one prophecy, and that is…"

"Destruction of the Azure Dragon Continent" Both Jian Yu and the white masked woman spoke at the same time.

"Yes, that's right." Jian Yue nodded in response as she spoke in a grave tone.

"Almost twenty-one thousand years ago, there was a destructive war… A war that almost ended the entire Azure Dragon Continent."

"No one knows what or why it happened, but there were some obscure rumours back then that the strongest sect of that time, with almost a hundred Soul Tempering realm experts together with a rumoured Heaven Step powerhouse, fought against a force that suddenly invaded the Azure Dragon Continent."

"After that war, the overall strength of the entire Azure Dragon Continet plummet a notch, but we were able to defend ourselves."

"Not only did we defend ourselves, but we also managed to eradicate everyone who dared to invade the continent."

"All, except one."

Speaking till here, Jian Yu's voice trembled for a moment.

"Their leader."

"...."

"...."

A brief silence descended on the scene as the white masked woman sat in silence, afraid of even breathing out loud. She merely sat there in silence, intently looking at the old woman beside her in awe.

"After innumerable sacrifices and the death of the rumoured Heaven Step powerhouse, we somehow managed to imprison their leader, but that was all…"

"No matter how we tried, their leader couldn't be killed."

"Only a heaven step powerhouse could kill another heaven step powerhouse, and because we had none, the only thing we could do was to wait."

"And the rumoured Heaven Step powerhouse of the Azure Dragon continent, with her dying breath, managed to seal the opponent."

"And thus the bloody war that once threatened to destroy this continent came to an end."

"Of course, the descendants of the Rumoured heaven step powerhouse established a long lineage to ensure that the opponent stayed sealed forever till another Heaven Step realm being is born."

"We have waited and waited and waited…"

"And finally, there is hope."

With this sentence, Jian Yu took a long pause as she closed her eyes. Though the trembling of her eyelashes was enough to show the turmoil in her heart.

"You said, only a Heaven step powerhouse could kill another Heaven step powerhouse."

"In that case, wouldn't it be simple to just invite Yun Ning and let her take action against that thing inside the ruin?" The white masked woman couldnt help but ask in a doubtful voice. Since there was a simpler way to kill the thing inside the ruins, why did they even need to go through such a complicated process?

"Heh." Jian Yu simply chuckled in response as she shook her head before opening her lips to speak in her old, exhausted voice…

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