Mu Daoying left.
On the day Cheng Xun recovered, Joyous Union Palace no longer stopped him.
The next day, the palace maid who had been tending to him went to his hall as usual, only to find it empty—the person had already gone far away.
Cheng Xun had recovered, but Mu Daoying’s body had not.
A bone-gouging injury could not fully heal without three to five years of effort.
During that time, he could not use escape light. The hundreds of miles from Joyous Union Palace to the Immortal Alliance’s main camp had to be traversed on foot, leaning on a bamboo staff, one laborious step at a time.
Each step felt like walking on the tip of a knife, with cold sweat pouring out.
When he finally arrived at the camp gates, ragged and covered in dust from travel, he saw the tall watchtower. The tension that had gripped him for days suddenly eased, and the world spun before his eyes.
He collapsed right at the gate.
The guarding soldiers hurriedly dragged him inside.
However, what followed was even more fraught with deadly perils for Mu Daoying, nearly costing him his life.
He was already notorious. At first, the Immortal Alliance did not believe him and assumed he had secretly colluded with the Immaculate Old Mother. They decided his defection to the Immortal Alliance was just a ploy—she had sent him as a spy to infiltrate them.
A minor commander threw him into jail with the captured Demonic Sect disciples, beating him day and night under brutal torture.
The beating nearly took half his remaining life.
In the end, Wu Huayun stepped in, along with the Immortal Alliance disciples he had previously released, to vouch for him.
Only then did the Immortal Alliance release him.
Before Mu Daoying could catch his breath or recover, he was hauled off to Supreme Harmony Sect.
The war had entered its final stages. The Immortal Alliance had suffered heavy losses in the assault on Joyous Union Palace, and reports kept coming in of Luo Naji appearing near Supreme Harmony Sect.
Alliance Leader Qin Xiandu simply issued an order for everyone to return and defend Supreme Harmony Sect. They absolutely could not let the Trace World Mirror fall into the hands of the Demonic Sect again.
Supreme Harmony Sect stood amid the islands of the Eastern Sea, with flying pavilions linking perilous peaks built across the waves. Clouds rose with the surging tides, embracing divine palaces, while long whales occasionally breached the surface, their cries echoing endlessly—a true immortal paradise.
From the moment he arrived at Supreme Harmony Sect, Mu Daoying was placed under strict watch by dedicated personnel.
Day and night, people came to question him about Liu Qiao’e’s whereabouts, hoping to pry the Immaculate Old Mother’s weaknesses from her former close male favorite.
Mu Daoying said nothing. Even when he had been in Joyous Union Palace, he had refused to go along with the Demonic Sect’s evil deeds.
Now that he was with the Immortal Alliance, it was even less likely that he would betray Liu Qiao’e.
Later, Zhao Yange finally received special permission to visit him.
Seeing his weakened, disheveled state, they stared at each other in speechless dismay.
After a long moment, Zhao Yange sighed. “With your temperament, you really don’t please anyone, no matter which side you’re on. Both sides have to kick you.”
Mu Daoying could not refute it and fell silent.
“How is Jade Clarity Temple?”
“Same as always,” Zhao Yange said. “I came to pass on a message for someone.”
Mu Daoying frowned. “What message?”
Zhao Yange said, “Elder Lan wants to see you.”
–
If one looked across the entire Eastern Florescence Realm, the most powerful woman in the world at that moment could only be one of two.
One was the Immaculate Old Mother, Liu Qiao’e.
The other was Supreme Harmony Sect’s Sect Master, Lan Shuying.
She had risen to fame even earlier than Liu Qiao’e, with immense prestige and the highest seniority—an unquestioned senior figure of her era.
When the righteous-demonic war broke out and the enemy advanced on Supreme Harmony, she had been attempting a breakthrough to the Eight Realms but was forced to emerge just days ago.
About to meet such a legendary senior, Mu Daoying could not help feeling a bit nervous.
Under the guidance of Supreme Harmony Sect disciples, he unconsciously straightened his back and stepped solemnly into the sect master’s main hall.
The hall resembled an ice cave, simple and unadorned, without excessive decoration.
Only a single stick of incense burned, its clear fragrance wafting like glimpsing a white plum blossom defying frost and snow while walking through it—blooming quietly.
And in the hall, the person Mu Daoying met was an elderly woman with silver hair like snow and the poise of a winter plum.
Lan Shuying nodded slightly upon seeing him and invited him to sit.
Mu Daoying hurriedly declined.
Lan Shuying said, “Sit.”
Only then did Mu Daoying take a seat on the edge of a lower position.
Lan Shuying looked at him and asked him just one question.
She gazed deeply at him with those gentle yet stern eyes.
“I know of you. You are one of the outstanding young disciples of this generation. In the future, the Immortal Alliance will rely on youngsters like you to lead it.”
A flattering compliment came right at him, and Mu Daoying quickly stood up again. “This disciple dares not.”
Lan Shuying said, “To be honest, the Immortal Alliance is short on talent right now. Qingxu defected, True Person Zhan is gravely injured, Cloud Mountain is useless, and everyone is looking to me to hold things together. But I can’t be everywhere. I’m wondering if I can use you young ones.”
Mu Daoying fell silent. Back at Jade Clarity Temple, he had been reliable and hardworking, assigned all sorts of tasks—from caring for junior brothers and sisters to slaying demons. He did them all, busy as a tireless donkey.
This taught Mu Daoying a lesson: when elders showered him with praise, it often meant the tasks ahead would be grueling and numerous.
He vaguely foresaw the purpose of Lan Shuying summoning him and felt a faint unease.
“I never pay attention to those rumors. The more outstanding young people like you, the better.”
“Elder Mu.” Lan Shuying’s expression turned serious. “I know you were once the Immaculate Old Mother’s male favorite.”
“I only ask you this: if you meet her on the battlefield in the future, are you prepared to kill her?”
Even though he had some mental preparation, Mu Daoying shuddered and remained silent for a long time.
Lan Shuying did not press him. If he had agreed immediately, she would have questioned whether to use him.
Mu Daoying closed his eyes briefly.
Things had come to this—did he still harbor any naivety?
The moment he walked out of Joyous Union Palace’s gates, he should have been prepared. Liu Qiao’e had already forced him to choose through the matter with Zhu Qing.
After a long silence, he slowly raised his hand and bowed deeply. “Personal affections versus the greater good of the world—Daoying can distinguish them. Next time we meet, Daoying will absolutely not hesitate.”
As the words fell, his voice was drier than he realized, sweat trickled down his temples, and his face was unusually pale.
Lan Shuying glanced at him and sighed. “As long as you understand, you may go.”
Lan Shuying only wanted a clear stance from him.
Not long after this meeting, Mu Daoying was assigned a modest position in the Immortal Alliance, along with plenty of spirit pills and medicines to heal his body.
An injury that should have taken one or two years to recover from healed more than halfway in short order.
Afterward, Lan Shuying had him test his mettle by leading troops to wipe out a few small squads of demonic soldiers.
He was a man of his word—once he stated his position, he threw himself into his duties with utmost diligence and dedication, never slacking for a day.
His temperament was mild, he rewarded and punished fairly, managed his troops well with the right balance of tension and relaxation.
He often predicted events accurately and led from the front, quickly earning the respect and obedience of his fellow cultivators.
Not only did he secure a place in the Immortal Alliance, he also gradually helped Zhao Yange and the others restore Jade Clarity Temple bit by bit.
The more official business he handled, the more chills ran down Mu Daoying’s spine.
The Immortal Alliance was rotten to the core, and Jade Clarity Temple was no stranger to exorbitant taxes, exploiting the common folk.
Did such an Immortal Alliance even deserve to exist?
He could not eat or sleep in peace, tossing and turning at night.
But one thing he knew for certain: demonic qi was foul, representing chaos, with slaughter and destruction as its core tenets, aiming to return the world to primordial “one-ness.”
No matter what, they could not let the Demonic Sect take power, plunging the world into endless disasters and constant warfare.
The war between the Immortal Alliance and Demon Domain grew ever more intense.
Mu Daoying knew he would eventually meet Liu Qiao’e on the battlefield again, and he quietly awaited that day.
Finally, the day came when Demon Domain’s allied forces closed in on Supreme Harmony Sect.
Yet Supreme Harmony Sect’s Sect Master, Lan Shuying, did not appear.
She had been forced out of seclusion earlier and now seized every gap in the battles to hastily attempt her breakthrough.
She hoped to break through to the Eight Realms soon and change the tide of the war.
After all, in the entire Eastern Florescence Realm, there was truly no one else available.
Alliance Leader Qin Xiandu and the others knew his cultivation had reached the Eight Realms, but with the Demonic Sect not fully mobilized and Luo Naji sitting idle, he could not act rashly or reveal all his cards.
He was a legendary figure himself. In recent years, he had been little more than a puppet for the Immortal Alliance’s three great families until the situation flipped dramatically, allowing him to gradually set things right.