Fellow Daoist! That scoundrel has written a new book again.

Back when she first entered the Star-Picking Tower, she accepted a team mission in order to gain contribution points. She went to Jiguanshan to mine spirit ore with Hua Yingting and Xu San'er.

Unexpectedly, there were very few spiritual minerals in the mountains.

All of these were false reports made by Li, the urban management officer in the city management office.

The purpose was to attract cultivators from the Zhaixinglou sect to come and, during their exploration of the mountains, wipe out a wave of mountain bandits, so that fewer of the mortals under their jurisdiction who coveted mountain delicacies would die.

That city management officer, Li, was dutiful to the people under his jurisdiction.

They went so far as to conceal the truth and trick the cultivators from the Star-Picking Tower into coming to risk their lives.

Li, the city management officer, feigned drunkenness and revealed the whole truth, telling Zhu Wuyao to assess the team's strength and decide whether to go into the mountains. The man who confessed felt completely relieved, shifting the moral dilemma onto Zhu Wuyao, which was truly infuriating and frustrating.

For this matter, Zhu Wuyao first performed a divination for her, and the divination result said—

"Many grains of sand make a tower, and united we stand together to build a fortress; this is one person who has contributed to this righteous cause."

With this divination as a basis, Zhu Wuyao also believed that Li Chengguan was a good person and accepted this unfortunate matter.

At that time, she had murmured a sentence to herself—

"Since it's a righteous act, shouldn't we be the first to suffer? If we have the time and resources in the future, we might be able to lend a hand."

Zhu Wuyao almost forgot about this.

This kind of promise, secretly murmured in one's heart, has nothing to do with others; it's something one must give oneself.

the most important is--

When she remembered this incident, the thread of cause and effect began in her heart, and the final step of Zhu Wuyao's Falling Leaf Sword required the resolution of cause and effect.

And that's not the only thing.

Over the years, she has traveled all over the country. As the past came to light and memories resurfaced, all the things she kept in mind and wanted to do were clearly condensed into a cause-and-effect line.

Zhu Wuyao needs to settle each matter one by one and push her to give an explanation.

What's puzzling is that Zhu Wuyao always felt that the number of causal lines didn't match his memory.

It seems a bit lacking...

The spirit pen doesn't care where it's going.

"Four years have passed. I wonder which new talents have emerged in the world, and who will be at the forefront now. Zhu Wuyao, you need to wake up and move on!"

Zhu Wuyao focused his attention on the cold jade corpse puppet and asked:

What should it be done?

The skeleton stood atop the mountain peak, bathed in light, its silhouette faintly visible among the mountains.

The belongings she left behind could not be taken out of this world.

With a flourish of her brush, she traced the reflection of the white bones, carving the image of the woman from years past amidst the mountains: long hair entwined with the wind, a sickle on her shoulder, standing atop the mountain.

It extracted a line of poetry from Zhu Wuyao's past life memories and engraved it in the secret realm—

"You and the painting are two illusory bodies, destined to turn to dust in the ever-changing world."

Lingbi's writing was extremely open-minded, and his tone was full of expectation:

"The rise and fall of all things is predetermined. Whether it is her or this painting, they will eventually be forgotten and return to dust. People do not need to remember her name, because people will also wither away."

"You are but a passerby in this world; how can you have the leisure to grieve over another passerby? Let's hurry and set off on the next journey!"

Thus, Zhu Wuyao realized that the Spirit Pen would never possess human emotions. Even if it were vivid and lively, it would ultimately be another kind of existence that looked down upon all living things.

Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are dogs.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Shen An descended the mountain.

He went to the theater in Dongji City, where he watched a performance of "The Golden Buddha" and met the bookseller whose fate had been altered and whose life would be uneventful.

He stood at the finish line, following in Zhu Wuyao's footsteps as he walked back.

Heading south, we arrived at Tongzhou City.

Shen Anzhi saw the orphans left behind by the Seven Illusions Sect of Star Point, scattered in various places.

I also met a female merchant who should have been deceived, but because of Zhu Wuyao's wrong divination, she managed to minimize her losses without touching any key points in fate.

He saw the woman who should have committed suicide, and her blind son.

I also saw a bandit who should have been caught and beheaded by the city management officers. However, when he was arguing with someone while holding a knife, his belt came loose, and he lost face as a leader. Ashamed, he put down his knife and became an easily angered pig butcher.

Shen Anzhi witnessed a chaotic fate.

Wherever Zhu Wuyao had been, over the years, some places were repaired by the Heavenly Dao, and people repeated the same mistakes, rushing to the critical juncture of their destiny.

In some places, minor changes, like a snowball rolling downhill, have led to huge unpredictable events.

The implications are far-reaching, even extending to an entire town or city.

Shen Anzhi arrived at a farmhouse in the suburbs.

"Dong dong dong——"

The homeowner was a kind-faced old woman. Seeing that the visitor was dressed like a scholar and had gentle features, she felt relieved and opened the door, asking:

"Have you come asking for water?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the old woman lowered her head, shooing the curious child who was peeking through the crack in the door behind her, muttering:

"Go away, go away! Don't even put on your clothes, or you'll catch a cold!"

After the child went inside, the mother-in-law looked at the guests.

But the scholar's gaze seemed to have been following the child who entered the room until he finally came to his senses.

The scholar lowered his head and spoke in a gentle tone:

"Excuse me, I'm here to kill your grandson."

……

As he walked along, he made corrections and erased everything that shouldn't exist, just like tidying up the dusty books in the courtyard.

When Zhu Wuyao emerged from the secret realm, Shen Anzhi had already arrived in the territory of the demon race.

He bent down beside the clear stream and washed the blood off his fingers.

Just like washing your hands before each time you brew tea.

Over the past year, it's not that no one has wanted to find him, nor that no one has wanted to kill him, but Shen Anzhi is a divination cultivator, and one with exceptional talent at that.

Those who practice divination are skilled at seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune.

When others harbor murderous intent or regard him as an enemy, Shen Anzhi can always see where this thread of cause and effect comes from.

He didn't even need to consult the oracle.

He just needs to go and see.

That way, everyone who wants to find him won't even be able to catch a glimpse of him.

There is one exception—

Ye Xiaozhou.

As he bent down by the stream, a woman in a red dress appeared out of nowhere, sitting on a tree nearby, looking at Shen Anzhi with great curiosity.

She stayed in the demon race for a long time.

Killing this person would offend that person; some were just petty scoundrels, while others were truly capable. When she finally found Shen An, she still had old wounds that hadn't healed.

Ye Xiaozhou stroked his chin, watching Shen Anzhi wash the blood away.

She thought for a moment, then took out a deer head from her storage bag, grabbed it by the antlers, and smashed the blood-soaked deer head against Shen Anzhi.

As expected, it was blocked by the flickering spiritual shield.

Fresh blood smeared on the protective shield and slowly slid down.

During this brief pause, Ye Xiaozhou tossed a copper coin, still puzzled, and asked:

What are you doing?

Shen Anzhi wiped the water off his hands and said:

"Junior Sister Ye, I was looking for someone and was just putting everything back in its place when I ran into you."

Ye Xiaozhou frowned slightly, scrutinizing Shen Anzhi from head to toe for a long time, seemingly trying to determine whether this was Shen Anzhi or the will of Heaven. The strangest thing was—

She cultivates the way of killing and warfare.

Even though Shen Anzhi had just killed a demon, Ye Xiaozhou couldn't sense any murderous aura from the killing.

"Can you find it?"

Shen Anzhi replied:

"Since I know where she came from, I know where she is going."