Xia Li lifted his head and quietly studied the Second Holy Maiden of Taiyi Holy Land.In terms of outward appearance alone, she was the sort of devastating beauty in whom no flaw could be found at all. The male disciples of Lingxu Cave Heaven around them were completely entranced.After all, aside from looks, what made a person's outer image was temperant.And this Second Holy Maiden's temperant even surpassed her beauty.That expressionless indifference of hers was all the more likely to stir in others the urge to conquer.Step by step, she descended through empty air, silver radiance blooming beneath her feet.Then she ca to a halt directly before Xia Li and extended one hand, forming a seal and giving him a formal greeting."Hello. I am Lingying, your dao companion. Barring any surprises, we will accompany one another for the rest of our lives. The Dao I cultivate is the Dao of Starlight. Have you ever seen starfire?"She introduced herself to Xia Li of her own accord. Her voice was cool and even carried the faintest trace of huskiness. When she finished speaking, she cast a technique without hesitation, summoning a strand of silver-white cold fla into her palm, chilled to the touch."This is Starlight Silver Blaze. May I see your fla?"She wanted to experience Xia Li's fla directly, to see whether it resonated with the Dao she cultivated, whether they could complent one another. Since the Holy Land had chosen her for this marriage alliance, then the paths the two of them walked were likely similar."All right. This is my fla, Solar Fla."Xia Li extended his own hand as well, and a surging azure fla rose within his palm.The fire Xia Li summoned was scorching and violent, carrying with it a brilliance too dazzling to et head-on. That re strand of fla in his hand was enough to reduce a Foundation Establishnt cultivator to nothing."Your fla is also starfire, but the road it walks differs from mine. You are the sole light of day. I am the lingering glow of the stars beneath the night.""Xia Li, are you willing to support and let support you, as we walk together toward the great Dao?"Lingying extended her hand toward Xia Li. The palm hung slightly downward, presenting the smooth back of her hand to him.The aning of that gesture was already very simple.She was asking Xia Li to take her hand and hold it in his palm.Xia Li had not expected her to pull sothing like this.This was the sect plaza of Lingxu Cave Heaven, the liveliest place in the entire sect.When ceremony reached a certain degree of solemnity, it was no longer rely ceremony. It beca ritual.And every ritual carried so power of fate's constraint, great or small.But as things stood, could Xia Li refuse?After a brief silence, he stepped forward and gently supported the hand Lingying had extended."I... am willing."Perhaps this was simply how a dao companion ritual worked in the Profound World, Xia Li thought.Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lin Ge standing among the crowd.Her head was lowered, and the way she stood looked utterly out of place amid the other disciples around her. Her shoulders were starting to tremble.Then she turned and walked away directly, leaving behind only a lonely figure receding into the distance.Standing before him, Lingying naturally noticed the shift in Xia Li's expression, but on the surface she displayed no response at all. She simply did not care whether Xia Li already had soone he truly liked.Just as the Holy Land did not care about her own thoughts.For soone like her, raised from childhood within the Holy Land, a dao companion was like one's life-bound treasure, innate divine ability, or core cultivation thod.As long as the choice was correct, that was enough."Very well. Then according to the laws of Taiyi Holy Land, I am a Holy Maiden of the Holy Land. As my dao companion, you too will beco one of the Holy Land and share in the age-long glory of the Holy Land.""Co. Let us return to the place to which we belong."Lingying took Xia Li by the hand and drew him up from the ground, ascending with the attendants back into the celestial palace above like soone rising toward immortality.Xia Li turned his head and looked at everything below.Truth be told, he had not had many acquaintances in Lingxu Cave Heaven. If he really had to count them, there were only three.Lin Ye.Lin Ge.And the Third Elder.But at this mont, Lin Ye was not present. Lin Ge had already gone. Even the Third Elder turned away and slowly walked off into the distance.
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It was instead his forr enemies, Zhao Yunji and Lin Yu, who watched him with deeply complicated expressions.In the end, only they remained to see him off.Xia Li very much wanted to let out a sigh, but in a situation like this he probably could not have managed one.Not long afterward, Xia Li was led into the heavenly palace.Inside, the pavilions and halls were not densely packed. The palace buildings were arranged in orderly fashion according to so hidden logic of formations."Holy Maiden Lingying, please return to your palace and rest for now. I still have matters to discuss with Xia Li."The elder among the Taiyi Holy Land party finally spoke.He was presumably one of the Holy Land's elders, the "iron fist" hidden behind the "courtesy" shown first.Although Xia Li had sensibly agreed to the marriage alliance for now, there were still certain things that needed to be set out clearly."I understand. Xia Li, although you have not yet been formally recorded into the Holy Land, you already count as half a mber. You should still show Seventh Elder a little more respect."Lingying looked at Xia Li as she said that. It might have carried a trace of assumption that Xia Li did not understand proper etiquette, or perhaps it was rely routine courtesy and instruction.Xia Li nodded, then quietly followed behind the Seventh Elder and left.After that...the Seventh Elder did not lead Xia Li into any palace hall. Instead, he brought him to a high platform at the outermost edge of the palace complex.Standing on that platform, one could see the vague ground beneath the clouds receding at trendous speed.The heavenly palace had already set off, yet it was so stable that those above felt absolutely nothing."Xia Li, ask what you wish to ask. Since you understand the tis and know how to act accordingly, you have earned a certain degree of initiative."The Seventh Elder walked to the platform's edge and stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing out at the surging sea of clouds."There's only one thing I'm curious about. If I refused to cooperate, what would happen?"Though Xia Li had temporarily given up resisting, he still wanted to know the price of resistance."You would cease to be yourself. Those you care about would likewise cease to know you as you know them. Your mory in their hearts would fade. Everything you know, and everything that knows you, would be changed.""The Holy Land does not like slaughter, especially vulgar and senseless slaughter. That only stirs defiance and serves no purpose. The Holy Land will not kill your body, but it will kill your existence and strip away the proof that you are inscribed upon this world.""You will be left with nowhere to return to and nowhere to go."The Seventh Elder laid out the Holy Land's thods plainly.The Holy Land would never stoop to crude threats like the kind that said comply or die at once.A lofty Holy Land disdained taking a prodigy's life.Rather, like a judge standing high above all things, it would take everything from him...everything except his life."In other words, I would forget, and those around would forget too?""No. More despairing than forgetting is to remain acquainted and yet beco strangers. Those you care about would still rember you, but they would never again feel affection toward you. You would beco, in their eyes, the most familiar passerby.""A thod of altering cognition?""Yes. This is one of Taiyi Holy Land's secret arts: True Self Exile. The thods used by the other Holy Lands differ, but not by much. Which is precisely why your choice to cooperate was the correct one."The Seventh Elder once again emphasized that Xia Li's decision to cooperate had been correct.The price of refusing might not sound entirely unbearable at first hearing, but every prodigy in history who had suffered the art of True Self Exile...left behind not a single word in history.Not even their nas.Not even the story of their lives.Even if they had truly lived, their very existence would be erased.Their deeds would be twisted in the minds of the world into things done by others, or even into events that had simply happened of themselves, becoming "reasonable" under imagined explanations and losing any connection to the original person.And in the end...their bodies beca wind,their souls returned to void.
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