Chapter 999, The Mastermind Shows Up

Translator: Jon

Translation Checker: Silavin

 

“I’m just strolling around since I’m bored.” Lu Ye came up with an excuse.

 

Naturally, the woman wouldn’t readily believe him as a meaningful smile played on her lips.

 

It was apparent that Lu Ye was looking for a way to leave the Hidden Realm, but there was only one exit which was guarded by Dao Thirteen. His attempt was preordained to be futile.

 

“Why don’t we exchange Brands?” Lu Ye suddenly said.

 

The woman was startled for a moment before glancing at him with an amused look. “Do you want to exchange Brands with me?”

 

“What’s wrong with that?”

 

“What are you up to?” The woman looked vigilantly at him.

 

“Forget it if you don’t want to.” Lu Ye wouldn’t force her as he turned around to leave.

 

“Wait a second,” the woman called out to him and tapped on her Battlefield Imprint, after which a blue light floated towards Lu Ye.

 

An astounded Lu Ye asked, “Are you from the Grand Sky Coalition?”

 

He had always believed that the woman was from Thousand Demon Ridge, which was why she even captured him. Much to his surprise, the woman was from the Grand Sky Coalition.

 

The woman only put on a mysterious smile in response.

 

Lu Ye pulled himself together and asked, “What’s your name?”

 

“Are you trying to look into my background?” The woman leaned on the windowsill with her hands around her chest, looking languid. Her indolence added a layer of charm to her appearance. Her chest looked especially impressive with her hands around it.

 

Despite what she had said, she still told Lu Ye her name. “Yu Daiwei.”

 

Lu Ye nodded and turned around to walk towards his wooden house.

 

As he went through his Battlefield Imprint, he found many Brands which he had exchanged over the years since he became a cultivator. All of these Brands were unreachable except for the one that belonged to Yu Daiwei. He could contact her through the Brand.

 

Naturally, Lu Ye wouldn’t exchange Brands with a Divine Ocean Realm Master like her for no reason. He just wanted to find out if the Hidden Realm was still in Jiu Zhou.

 

Now, it seemed that the Hidden Realm was indeed in Jiu Zhou. As such, he could contact Yu Daiwei through the Brand under the Heavens’ coverage. However, since the Hidden Realm was a world of its own, he couldn’t contact other people in the outside world.

 

This was similar to Lu Ye’s experience in Myriad Beast Domain. When he was in that Hidden Realm, he could contact Yi Yi.

 

One day later, when Lu Ye activated the Tree of Glyphs to absorb the power of Fire Spirit Stones, the enchantments around the wooden house were suddenly triggered.

 

He quickly stopped what he was doing and opened the door.

 

Yu Daiwei stood outside the building with a solemn expression. “Come with me. Someone would like to see you.”

 

Lu Ye arched his brow, knowing that the mastermind had finally shown up.

 

He had speculated that someone was behind Yu Daiwei. That person had ordered the woman to capture him. However, during this period, other than Dao Thirteen, who was responsible for guarding the entrance, only Yu Daiwei and Lu Ye were in the Hidden Realm. No one else was in sight.

 

Therefore, Lu Ye speculated that the mastermind had been held up by some matters, so he hadn’t shown up in a long time.

 

Anyway, both parties would meet sooner or later. Lu Ye wanted to find out why that person told Yu Daiwei to bring him to this place.

 

“Let’s go.” Lu Ye left the wooden house.

 

Yu Daiwei turned around and led the way for him.

 

When he followed her previously, the way she walked was seductive as she swayed her hips slightly. But this time, she appeared more serious as her charm was replaced by obedience.

 

This made Lu Ye realise how powerful the mastermind was as even a formidable cultivator like Yu Daiwei revered him. There was no doubt he was no ordinary person.

 

The mastermind soon came into sight. He was seated on a chair in front of Yu Daiwei’s house while holding a fishing rod.

 

When they reached the man, Yu Daiwei saluted him. “I’ve brought him here, my Lord.”

 

[My Lord?] Lu Ye frowned as not anyone could bear an appellation like that.

 

The Lord had an average appearance, and there was nothing special about him. Lu Ye wouldn’t even spare him a glance if someone like him was among the crowd.

 

However, after Yu Daiwei saluted the man with respect, Lu Ye knew he must not underestimate him.

 

The Lord turned to look at him with a penetrating gaze. As he sized up Lu Ye, he suddenly laughed in an unrestrained manner.

 

Even Yu Daiwei was puzzled as to why the Lord was so exultant. Lu Ye was perplexed by the man’s reaction as well.

 

It wasn’t until a moment later that the Lord stopped laughing and said to Lu Ye, “Have a seat.”

 

There was another chair beside him. He had prepared it for Lu Ye.

 

After giving it some thought, Lu Ye calmly sat down and glanced at the bait in the lake. He said, “There’s no fish in the lake.”

 

He had looked into the lake several days ago. It was a dead lake. Other than the fact that the water was clear, there were only weeds and plankton inside. No fish could be found.

 

The Lord put on a bright smile. It had to be said that he had an infectious smile. “Whether there’s fish in the lake doesn’t matter as long as I’m enjoying it.”

 

Lu Ye couldn’t help but think that this person might be suffering from a mental disorder. Anyway, it wasn’t like he could figure out what was on the mind of a powerful cultivator like him.

 

The Lord went on to say, “Moreover, even though you can’t see any fish, it doesn’t mean there’s none in the lake.”

 

The bait suddenly started moving. The Lord lifted his hand and pulled up a carp.

 

Lu Ye’s eyes widened in disbelief as he couldn’t understand what was going on. When he searched around under the lake the other day, he never saw any fish. Where did the carp that the Lord had pulled up come from?

 

After pulling himself together, Lu Ye asked, “Did Chen Tianchui work for you?”

 

He hadn’t thought about that previously, but when he heard Yu Daiwei calling the man ‘my Lord’, he recalled what Chen Tianchui had muttered before his death.

 

He said Lu Ye was the chosen one.

 

At that time, Lu Ye couldn’t hear him clearly, and he couldn’t figure out many things that had happened at the Chen Residence. However, if Chen Tianchui meant that the Lord had chosen Lu Ye, that explained many things.

 

The sudden change of topics caught someone like the Lord off guard, but he soon admitted to it. “Yes, Chen Tianchui worked for me. You’re pretty observant. Can you tell me how you discovered it?”

 

“I’ve only ventured a guess.” Lu Ye shook his head, not intending to explain anything. “Since you wanted to harm me, why did you even send someone to capture me?”

 

Yu Daiwei took off the bait for the Lord and put on a new one. The Lord dropped the bait into the water and said, “Although Chen Tianchui worked for me, what happened at the Chen Residence had nothing to do with me. Chen Tianchui made a decision without my permission, so he should die. I’ve never intended to harm you. Let me put it this way. If there’s only one person in the world who isn’t willing to harm you, it has to be me.”

 

Lu Ye found him ridiculous. Naturally, he wouldn’t believe such a statement that was meant to fool him. “Why did you ask someone to take me to this place, then?”

 

After a moment of silence, the Lord suddenly turned to glance at Lu Ye. “What’s your opinion on the current state of the world now?”

 

Lu Ye was startled by the sudden change of topics. He frowned and replied, “I’m only an ordinary cultivator who has no choice but to go with the flow.”

 

“You’re underestimating yourself.” The Lord smiled and lifted the fishing rod, but there was no fish this time. Even the bait was missing.

 

He put down the fishing rod, no longer in the mood to continue the activity. He then said slowly, “The world is a mess as the two sides are always against each other. According to the record of history, the war has been ongoing for 2,000 years. After such a long time, many brilliant cultivators in Jiu Zhou lost their lives. Countless young cultivators were killed before they even became powerful enough. Sects are constantly destroyed as innumerable cultivators go to Hell every year for this reason.”

 

The topic was so serious that Lu Ye couldn’t bring himself to talk. Moreover, he wasn’t in any place to give a remark on this issue.

 

The moment they became cultivators and joined either the Grand Sky Coalition or Thousand Demon Ridge, they had to destroy people from the other side. This idea was so ingrained in their minds that no one could tell them otherwise. As a cultivator in Jiu Zhou, Lu Ye naturally wasn’t spared from the conflicts. In the past few years, he had killed countless Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators. What he had done made the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators resentful of him.

 

“Why does the world have to look like this, though? Why can’t it be different?”

 

Lu Ye frowned. “What do you want it to look like?”

 

The Lord smiled as there was a sense of longing on his face. “Without the Grand Sky Coalition and Thousand Demon Ridge, there will no longer be conflicts between the two sides. Commoners can live their lives peacefully, and cultivators can cultivate their powers without worries. There will be no war in the world as the two sides no longer exist. It will be a peaceful world!”

 

“It’s a good world, but I don’t think it’s achievable.”

 

Lu Ye was secretly shocked that the Lord was ambitious enough to want to rule over the entire Jiu Zhou and destroy the two sides. Nevertheless, there was no way anyone could achieve that.

 

“You’ve said that the war between the two sides has been ongoing for 2,000 years. Since there’s a blood feud between the two sides, how are you going to resolve it?”

 

“Although it’s difficult to resolve it, it doesn’t mean there’s no solution. The goal is achievable as long as we put our hearts into it.”

 

“Tell me more about it.”

 

“Are you thinking that I’m planning to rule over Jiu Zhou?” the Lord asked him a question instead.

 

Lu Ye wasn’t embarrassed that the Lord had seen through his mind. “Aren’t you?”

 

The Lord shook his head. “Someone had tried to do that decades ago, and he almost succeeded. Unfortunately, he failed in the end. That person was an unrivalled genius, and I don’t think I’m ever a match for him. Since he couldn’t achieve it, I naturally can’t either.”

 

Lu Ye knew who the Lord was referring to. It was none other than Feng Wujiang. Now, it seemed that the Lord had something to do with Feng Wujiang.

 

“However, that person pinned his hopes on the Grand Sky Coalition. In the last battle, the Thousand Demon Ridge cultivators went all out and counterattacked, so it was only natural that he couldn’t achieve his goal. Therefore, it’s not feasible if we want to rely on the Grand Sky Coalition or Thousand Demon Ridge to destroy the other party. There’s a blood feud between the two sides, so no one is willing to be eliminated. The harder the suppression, the more fierce the resistance. It was for this reason that he failed his goal.”

 

After a pause, the Lord went on to say, “But what if there’s a new side in this world? A brand new side that will welcome cultivators from all backgrounds. If there’s indeed such a side, do you think many people will want to join it?”

 

Lu Ye furrowed his brows. “That depends on why the side was even established.” He had a feeling that what the Lord was about to say would be shocking.