After the grand elder of Lianyun City and the others left, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky. Lin Dan’s entire body was shattered and her bones were broken so she couldn’t move and could only lay motionless in the rain. However, despite her helplessness, not a single drop of the fine rain touched her. Bai Yan used his vast internal strength to form a protective barrier around her, keeping the cold wind and rain at bay.

“Your martial prowess has surpassed that of a grandmaster. What level have you reached now?” Lin Dan gazed curiously at the mist-like barrier surrounding them.

“Probably the rank of martial sage.” Bai Yan replied, his hands still firmly holding her weak ones.

“Martial sage?” Lin Dan’s eyes lit up.

Bai Yan nodded. “Yes. And above martial sage is martial divinity, but beyond that, no one knows.”

“We will know someday, as long as we keep moving forward.” Lin Dan’s eyes gleamed with newfound hope for the future.

Bai Yan seemed pleased by the word ‘we’ and chuckled softly. “Yes, one day we will know. Lin Dan, have you ever regretted learning the Asura Blade technique?”

Without hesitation, Lin Dan shook her head. “How could I regret it when I had no choice? If I hadn’t cultivated it, I would’ve died. It’s better to live a painful existence than not live at all. Perhaps you don’t know, but I am an orphan. The old sect leader picked me up and trained me as a death soldier. He threw us into the wilderness to fight wild beasts. If we didn’t kill, we couldn’t survive. After escaping the beasts, we were forced to slaughter our companions, all in the name of severing ties and eliminating weaknesses. We had no food and no warm clothes, and every time we opened our eyes, death stared back at us. No one could be relied on and no one could be trusted. We were worth less than ants, lower than dust.”

Lin Dan took a breath and continued, “If I didn’t want to be trampled on, I had to become strong. I had no other choice, so there’s no room for regret. I’m not like you, born into a prestigious family with natural talent, always handed endless resources. I am the dirt in the ground. If I don’t fight, I’ll be crushed into dust.”

Recalling the past, Lin Dan felt no resentment or bitterness, only a calm acceptance. Despite her constant pain, she was alive, and she lived with dignity. That was enough for her.

Bai Yan’s expression, however, was filled with deep sorrow. His voice hoarse as he said, “But I regret it. If I had met you earlier, if I had let go of my prejudices, you wouldn’t have become like this.”

Lin Dan smiled faintly and shook her head. “The path I chose is mine alone. No one else can be blamed.”

Bai Yan was silent for a while before closing his eyes in anguish. After a moment, he took out a porcelain bottle filled with water and gently fed it to Lin Dan, soothing her, “This is a special elixir from Lianyun City. Just one bottle can quench hunger and thirst. Since you can’t eat solid food right now, I’ll give you one bottle a day to help speed up your recovery. You’re also filled with dirt, but I’ll have them clean you up and change you into fresh clothes. You’ll feel more comfortable that way.”

He wiped the water stains from her lips and gazed at her silently for a long time before turning toward the female disciples standing nearby.

The women had arrived in a rush and hadn’t brought umbrellas so they were drenched by now. However, they dared not even breathe loudly, knowing Bai Yan’s status as the most revered figure in the Eastern Tang Continent, the only Martial Sage. Their reverence only deepened.

He Yufei, emboldened by the fact that she had once gone through life and death with Bai Yan, stepped forward and said, “Master, I have something to discuss with you. Could you come over for a moment?”

Bai Yan glanced at her deeply before walking aside and asking, “What do you want to say?”

“Master, Lin Dan practices demonic arts. If you protect her, the world will resent you. You mustn’t—”

Before she could finish, Bai Yan cut her off coldly, “He Yufei, what position are you speaking from today? You are now the Saintess of the Eastern Sacred Sect. Because of Lin Dan’s great reputation, you are also respected wherever you go. You were once her servant, protected under her wing and never suffering any harm from the other disciples. More than that, she saved your life from evil people. Your status, your position, even your life— all were given to you by her. Anyone else may speak of killing her, but in terms of loyalty and righteousness, you are the one who cannot!”

He Yufei, her argument blocked, stood there, her mouth opening and closing before she forced out one stiff sentence, “But Master, I’m doing this for your own good! You are the leader of the righteous path, a beacon of virtue. Why entangle yourself with Lin Dan and ruin your reputation?”

“Then why did you accept the position of saintess and act as the sect’s leader?” Bai Yan didn’t look at He Yufei as he coldly replied, “He Yufei, I misjudged you in the past. I thought you were pure-hearted and kind, someone worth cultivating. Luckily, you never officially became my disciple. Leave now, and from today onward, do not act under the name of the Eastern Sacred Sect, nor the banner of Lianyun City. I despise ingrates more than I do the wicked.”

Before He Yufei could argue further, Bai Yan sent her down the mountain with a gust of wind. Shortly after, both Lianyun City and the Eastern Sacred Sect received handwritten letters from Emperor Yun, nullifying He Yufei’s status. In an instant, she fell from grace, unable to return to either place.

Lin Dan knew none of this. Under Bai Yan’s careful care, she quickly recovered and prepared to leave Kunlun Mountain the next day.

Following behind her, Bai Yan asked with a smile, “Where do you want to go?”

Lin Dan pointed at the majestic mountains and rivers below the clouds and said, “I’ll first travel across Eastern Tang, slaying demons and eliminating evil, then go out to sea to explore other continents.”

Bai Yan continued asking, “You wouldn’t mind if I joined you, would you?”

“Could you bear to leave your Lianyun City?”

“I can. Why couldn’t I?”

“Then let’s go!”

Lin Dan waved her hand and Bai Yan smiled as he followed. He knew Lin Dan had long since severed all emotions, but he was willing to spend a lifetime at her side. When he first met her on the Qingjiang River, he thought meeting him would be her calamity, for he recognized the martial arts she practiced. Yet, in the end, it was Lin Dan who became his calamity.

But not only did he not resist— he gladly accepted it.

Among heaven and earth, only you are unparalleled……

———pr


Epilogue:

With Bai Yan guiding her, Lin Dan quickly broke through her limits and became Eastern Tang Continent’s second martial sage. Unlike other peerless masters, she loved standing up for justice and soon became famous, earning great respect. The Eastern Sacred Sect, in its efforts to stay aligned with her, ceased its evil deeds and frequently aided the nearby villagers, transforming into a righteous sect.

However, the Asura Blade manual Lin Dan had hidden within the sect mysteriously disappeared, and even after ten years, it had not been recovered, becoming an unresolved case.

In a remote mountain of Eastern Tang, He Yufei, fueled by hatred and resentment, finally severed all emotions and perfected her mastery of the Asura Blade. Recently, she had been having recurring dreams where she and Bai Yan, disguised in secret, lived and trained together. In these dreams, not only did she become his disciple, but over time, they grew closer and eventually became a couple. Bai Yan passed on his most advanced martial arts techniques to her, helping her rise to the pinnacle of martial prowess, eventually becoming a legend in Eastern Tang. Meanwhile, Lin Dan had been sucked dry by He Chongling that even her bones were nowhere to be found……

But after waking up, He Yufei had no choice but to face the harsh reality. She was the pitiful one, utterly alone, while Lin Dan had long become a revered figure.

She thought that once her martial arts reached perfection, she would challenge Lin Dan to a duel, letting Bai Yan see what he had missed out on. But what she never expected was that after mastering the Asura Blade, she would have to endure the ceaseless, excruciating pain of being cut a thousand times. She couldn’t withstand it even after just advancing to the level of a half-step grandmaster. She howled in agony, rolling on the ground like a mad woman.

Wielding her sword wildly, she discovered that the pain lessened slightly when she channeled her internal energy, so she hurried out in search of a fight. However, to avoid being noticed while practicing demonic arts, she had purposely chosen a remote jungle as her training ground, where there wasn’t a soul within a hundred thousand miles.

She sped through the forest at full force, but this only brought her slight relief. The agony of a thousand cuts still plagued her relentlessly, tormenting her nerves. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how Lin Dan had endured it. Back then, Lin Dan could eat and sleep like a normal person, with no abnormal behaviors whatsoever despite practicing the exact same technique— the Asura Blade! Only now did He Yufei understand why the grand elder of Lianyun City had once said that Lin Dan would go mad someday. Compared to Lin Dan, her own willpower was laughably weak.

After just two days of running through the forest, He Yufei felt she would rather be dead. She slashed her sword wildly, screaming to the sky, her once-clear eyes now bloodshot. After two more days of struggle, she finally succumbed to the creeping deathly energy, her heart meridians bursting, and she died without even making it out of the jungle to showcase her martial prowess to the world.

Years later, someone accidentally wandered into the deep forest and discovered her skeletal remains, along with the bloodstained yet still legible manual of the Asura Blade……

———pr

Arc 3

Although Ding Mujie had risen to the esteemed position of Grand Chancellor, holding sway over the imperial court, he died clutching a memorial tablet, filled with regret. In his final moments, he thought quietly that if he could live his life over again, he would never fall into Lin Dan’s trap and be forced to marry her, nor would he have stood by helplessly as Lin Wan was married off to the cruel and ruthless Prince Kang, dooming her to a life of misery.

When he opened his eyes again, he found he wasn’t in the afterlife but walking down a flower-lined path. A servant was walking ahead of him, occasionally turning back to apologize, “Young Master Ding, it’s my clumsiness that caused you such inconvenience. Please, I beg your pardon. Just ahead is Linshui^[1]Bywater Pavilion, where male guests can rest. Inside, there are fresh clothes prepared for you. Please hurry and change out of your dirty garments to avoid catching a cold. I have other tasks to attend to, so I won’t escort you inside.”

Ding Mujie immediately recalled this scene. Wasn’t this the moment that had changed his destiny? Although the servant worked for Marquis Jiang, he had long been bribed by Lin Dan. The servant deliberately spilled wine on Ding Mujie’s clothes and then led him to Linshui Pavilion, where Lin Dan was already waiting. Madam Lin, worried about her daughter’s long absence, asked Madam Jiang to help find her, and they caught the two of them together in the room.

He couldn’t talk his way out of it and had to call off his engagement to Lin Wan, eventually marrying Lin Dan instead. People said he was calculating, abandoning the concubine-born daughter to marry Lin Dan, the legitimate daughter of the Lin family, and benefiting greatly. But who could have known that it was all part of Lin Dan’s plan? She had admired him for a long time, frequently sending him letters full of nonsense. Though she knew he was engaged to her younger sister, she still pursued him relentlessly.

No matter whether this was a dream or an illusion, Ding Mujie was determined not to get entangled with Lin Dan again.