Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 600: Forget the Four Idols, Only Then Can You See the Sky

Xia Chichi lay on her side, propping her cheek on her hand, leisurely watching what could only be described as a masterpiece: the scene of Venerable Black Tortoise being... healed by the Fire Pig of Shi, accompanied by a symphony of rather scandalous sounds. She let out a sigh, one laden with complicated emotions.

She felt a tinge of jealousy—just a little, not enough to make her react. After all, this was something she herself had orchestrated.

Who would have thought, back when she and Zhao Changhe were separated, that things would ever come to this?

She understood the mindset Zhao Changhe had been in back then.

Even though they had spent a good amount of time together before parting ways, they had only just solidified their feelings right before the separation. Their relationship had not yet been tested. The future was uncertain. One of them was a saintess, the other a mountain bandit. Their difference in status and strength was only going to grow, compounded by the burdensome responsibilities of being a saintess. It was far more likely they would drift apart, becoming strangers in the end.

He had known this.

Zhao Changhe had once said that five or six-tenths of his drive to cultivate came from wanting to be worthy of her, and she knew he had not lied. Even leaving aside the issue of Vermillion Bird, deep down, he had always wanted their statuses to be an even match.

Back then, Zhao Changhe had been stubbornly fixated on having her as his one and only girlfriend, and honestly, that had made him rather adorable.

But now? The idea of matching status seemed almost laughable. He had gone so far as to bring down a venerable—and in such a manner, no less—and all of this right in front of her.

She could imagine the satisfaction in Zhao Changhe’s heart. If there was any regret lingering in him, it was probably just that the venerable in question was not Vermillion Bird.

As Xia Chichi continued enjoying her masterpiece, she started to notice that something felt off.

The so-called water bed was really just a convenient term. There was not an actual bed here. The entire floor of the space was made of buoyant water, making the ground itself the bed.

Which meant that, technically, they were all lying on the same surface. And with all the activity, they were gradually getting closer...

Xia Chichi suddenly realized that Lady Three’s hand, flailing unconsciously in her haze, was now within reach of her own body.

Her heart skipped a beat. Panic surged through her as she tried to roll her limp and weary body further away. But before she could escape, her wrist was caught—Zhao Changhe had grabbed her.

She turned her head to glare at him with a mix of indignation and amusement, meeting his fiery, eager gaze. With a snort, she muttered, “You tyrant.”

The next moment, he pulled her over and into his arms, stacking her on top of Lady Three, their bodies pressing together. Lady Three, lost in her daze, seemed completely unaware of what was happening, her expression blank and dreamy.

Xia Chichi bit her lip, her heart burning with frustration. Now she was the one being drawn into the chaos. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the show. How did I end up part of the act?

Her mind spun bitterly as she cursed herself. You really can’t give a man too much leeway. Once you open that door, everything spirals out of control... I encouraged you to take her—was this your plan all along, to lump me in with her?!

I’m not even that close to my aunt-master! W-wait... ahhh, this is too much!

* * *

In the abyss with neither sun nor moon, who could say how long their absurd entanglement lasted? But under the effects of the divine art of dual cultivation, all three emerged radiant and refreshed by the end.

Lady Three, the one with the heavy injuries, looked incomparably better. Her wounds had healed at an almost miraculous pace, and by the time the rain cleared and the clouds dispersed, she felt more than halfway recovered.

Meanwhile, the Sea Emperor’s divine weapon wept silently in the corner.

In a competition between divine artifact and divine art, the trident had lost completely.

Both women lay lazily against Zhao Changhe’s shoulders. Each could see the other’s face clearly, and for a long moment, they stared at each other, puffed up with silent indignation.

Finally, Lady Three broke into a languid smile as she said, “We’ve completely ruined the Four Idols Cult’s reputation. How utterly disgraceful.”

It was true—even if this were a ritualistic act of devotion to a god, it would have never been this decadent. By all accounts, not even the gods themselves seemed to indulge in such things, let alone their most faithful followers.

Xia Chichi, unbothered, let out a smug hum. She had long since embraced her role as the rebellious biker chick of the sect—dragging her auntie down into the mud with her only bolstered her courage. Lady Three, however, was clearly still concerned.

She cast a glance at Zhao Changhe, who was currently basking in the post-battle tranquility of a sage at rest, and said lazily, “As I told you earlier, you need to take forging the Night Emperor’s sword seriously now. Do it for the sake of our reputation, at least.”

Having reaped the lion’s share of benefits, Zhao Changhe knew he needed to offer reassurance. Hugging both women closer, he flashed an apologetic smile. “To be honest, I’ve never been careless about it. But finding Night Flowing Sand isn’t the most critical step right now. The real prerequisite for forging the sword is understanding the intent of the stars—astral intent. Without that foundation, forging the sword would be meaningless. And as for astral intent... I’ve been quietly contemplating it all along.”

Lady Three raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Contemplating? What could you possibly have been contemplating? Nothing you’ve done these past two months seems remotely related to the stars. Don’t tell me you’re counting this as part of your training.”

Zhao Changhe shook his head. “Actually, your astral intent is precisely what I’ve avoided focusing on. What I’ve gained through dual cultivation with you two is primarily the elemental derivatives of water and wood—not that of the stars themselves.”

Lady Three’s curiosity deepened. “Why? Astral intent is the cornerstone of our power. The elements are merely tools. Why would you ignore what we have to chase after something you aren’t even certain about?”

Zhao Changhe answered earnestly, “Because Vermillion Bird once advised me to walk my own path. She said not to let the Four Idols Cult’s intent steer me off course. Only when I’ve reached a bottleneck in my own understanding should I seek guidance from the Four Idols Cult—it would be more beneficial that way. I think her advice makes sense, so I followed it.”

Lady Three and Xia Chichi exchanged wide-eyed glances, completely flabbergasted.

Seriously?! After everything we’ve been through, the person you respect most is still Vermillion Bird?!

In his heart, Vermillion Bird is the true powerhouse. As for me, it looks like I’m nothing but a stand-in!

If he finds out he’s already turned his so-called idol into putty under his grasp, I wonder how he’d react.

But in hindsight, they had to admit Vermillion Bird’s advice was not only correct but also surprisingly magnanimous. Lady Three felt a twinge of embarrassment as she begrudgingly conceded. “She’s got a point. So... have you gained any insights on your own?”

“I have.” Zhao Changhe smiled and raised a hand, snapping his fingers.

Before them, ripples spread across the water’s surface, reflecting tiny points of starlight.

Lady Three’s eyes widened in astonishment. As a venerable of the Four Idols Cult, she could instantly tell that these stars had nothing to do with their cult’s astral intent. Yet each point of light gleamed with an ethereal brilliance, conjured entirely through Zhao Changhe’s manipulation of light.

In silence, she marveled at his technique. With just a snap of his fingers, he had created a celestial panorama in the water, a scene imbued with an almost divine elegance. For someone who had once been a mere mountain bandit, this display was nothing short of breathtaking.

Is this new technique of his useful in battle or is it just for show? It’s probably not just for show. It has to have some power behind it.

Lady Three pondered the nature of the light itself, while Xia Chichi, ever curious, pointed some of the stars out, “These stars are supposed to be incredibly small, nearly invisible. Why do yours stand out so prominently, almost like massive stars? Are you planning to focus on these secondary stars?”

Zhao Changhe replied, “Well, that’s because they aren’t small at all. In fact, they might be larger than the biggest stars you’ve ever seen and far more powerful.”

Xia Chichi blinked, stunned. This concept was beyond the comprehension of most people in this world.

“The size of the stars we see is merely a trick of distance,” Zhao Changhe continued. “It doesn’t reflect their true scale or power. Of course, the further away they are, the harder it is to draw on their power. But that doesn’t matter—we aren’t here to borrow the power of stars anyway.”

Lady Three felt a rare sense of relief. The Four Idols Cult was not about borrowing the power of the stars, though other cults might be. However, the common misconception was that they did. Zhao Changhe’s insight showed that, while he had not delved deeply into the techniques of the four idols, he understood their essence quite well.

Zhao Changhe elaborated, “The four idols represent the celestial order of the four cardinal directions. The Four Idols Cult aligns with the laws and principles these directions symbolize, not the stars themselves. The Night Emperor mastered these principles, but precisely because of that mastery, his thinking became trapped within the framework of the four idols. When it came to incorporating concepts from other stars, he couldn’t break free of his own rigidity. His thoughts were bound by that framework. But me? I’ve never believed the four idols represent everything. They’re fundamentally unrelated.”

Lady Three and Xia Chichi stared at him, their eyes wide with shock.

To the Four Idols Cult, such a perspective was outright heretical. If he had said this in earlier times, he would have certainly been marked for death.

Zhao Changhe snapped his fingers again, and this time, the stars representing the Four Idols began to emerge within the celestial display reflected in the water. The entire sky filled with stars, each one shining equally brightly. But because the earlier stars were already in place, the four idols blended seamlessly into the array. Their brilliance was indistinguishable from the others. Even Lady Three and Xia Chichi, with their intimate familiarity with the four idols, could not immediately identify them.

There were no four idols anymore—only a unified sky.

“I’ve never studied the Four Idols’ techniques,” Zhao Changhe said. “I don’t know what insights you’ve drawn from your respective paths. But I can tell you this: the so-called ‘interconnectedness’ of the Four Idols is obvious because they’re part of a whole. No matter how you divide them, they’ll always exist within one another.

“To truly see the heavens, you must forget the four idols.”

Lady Three and Xia Chichi stared in awe at the indistinguishable stars reflected in the water, their hearts and minds shaken to the core. This was not a matter of cultivation—it was a shift in perception.

The realization that the four idols themselves might be the barrier preventing a true understanding of the heavens... the thought reverberated through their souls, challenging everything they believed.

To truly see the heavens, you must forget the four idols.

The four idols did not exist—not as separate entities. Instead, they were obstacles to comprehending the greater cosmos. Even the Night Emperor had failed to escape this limitation.

From a distance, the blind woman floated silently in the void, her gaze falling on the three tangled figures still wrapped in their debauchery.

Clothes discarded, bodies still slick with... no, wait, that isn’t lotion. Fuck.

She sighed inwardly. This is exactly why I had to call in reinforcements from outside this world.

To break through the barriers of perception that limit humanity’s understanding of the world, the sky, and the cosmos itself, one must transcend the boundaries of the world of martial arts’ cognition. Only then could the heavens themselves be shattered.

Disgusting as he was, this man had achieved something even Xia Longyuan had failed to accomplish. There was no other reason for it—it was simply because of his deep ties to the Four Idols Cult. It had driven him to explore and challenge their principles, while Xia Longyuan had dismissed them as worthless.

It was this reason that had kept her from following Xia Longyuan in the past. And her lack of attention had allowed Old Xia to spiral out of control.

And now, here she was—stuck by Zhao Changhe’s side, watching his increasingly scandalous antics day after day, as if she were a helpless spectator in an endless live performance, unable to leave even if she wanted to.