I Am the Fated Villain

Chapter 1791. Judge by deeds, not by intentions — the Divine Kingdom fades and departs

After returning to the Daochang True World, Gu Changge began arranging to take the Divine Kingdom away as well. As for matters regarding Xi Yao, he did not hide them from Yue Mingkong.

Yue Mingkong, however, expressed understanding, because she still remembered that at the wedding banquet, there had been a lone figure sitting quietly in a corner, silently drinking.

She just hadn’t expected that in the end the Xi Yao Empress would choose such an outcome—had she truly become disheartened to the point of despair?

She couldn’t help but think of her own memories from before her “rebirth.” At that time, she herself should have been much like Xi Yao Empress.

“Are you planning to keep her with you?”

Yue Mingkong looked at the white porcelain basin Gu Changge had brought back. Inside, a fish was swimming freely—beautiful, carefree, with a pair of bright, clear eyes that held both innocence and a faint trace of spiritual intelligence.

It was just unknown, when Xi Yao Empress regained her past-life memories and realized that Gu Changge had truly fulfilled her wish—turning her into a fish—whether she would be left speechless.

Yue Mingkong smiled lightly, her eyes narrowing slightly, even feeling a bit of anticipation for that scene.

“I happen to have a pond in my courtyard. Let her stay there,” Gu Changge said.

Yue Mingkong gave a soft “mm” and nodded. “I’m going into closed-door cultivation again next.”

“I’ll stay by your side this time,” Gu Changge said with a faint smile.

“Mm.”

“However, what about the Temple of Fate? Aren’t you going to take a look?” Yue Mingkong asked suddenly, resting her head against Gu Changge’s chest.

Although she had just come out of seclusion not long ago, most matters in the Daochang True World could not escape her attention. She was also aware of many women related to Gu Changge.

“Lu Ruoyin… she is also a pitiful person, and she is also your woman,” she said, lifting her clear eyes to look at him.

“You really don’t get jealous at all? So generous?”

Gu Changge smiled. Seeing Yue Mingkong glance at him sideways, as if she were about to pinch his waist, he said, “I will go.”

After Xi Yao Empress’s matter, Gu Changge had also been thinking: if from the beginning he had been a bit colder and more ruthless, and instead of speaking the truth had fabricated a reason or excuse, perhaps Xi Yao Empress would have felt better.

Even if those words were lies.

Judge by deeds, not by intentions.

But in the end, he had softened and did not continue deceiving her.

As for Lu Ruoyin, her situation was actually similar to Xi Yao Empress. At the beginning, both were merely using each other.

Gu Changge had used her to scheme for the Creation Immortal Ship, while she had coveted his power and status.

Now, with the passage of time, everything has changed completely. In Gu Changge’s eyes, Lu Ruoyin was merely someone he once had a connection with—nothing more.

But as Yue Mingkong said, she was his woman.

The Temple of Fate was even more desolate than Gu Changge had imagined. When he stepped inside, the woman dressed in a witch-priestess ceremonial robe, with a tied high ponytail, had not yet noticed him and was quietly lighting lamps.

“Fate Void Physique…”

Gu Changge knew her identity, knew her origins, and also knew why Lu Ruoyin had brought her here. He did not disturb the woman, and instead walked into the inner hall, where he saw Lu Ruoyin seated cross-legged in meditation on a cushion.

“To risk death in pursuit of rebirth—such willpower. Unfortunately, if I had not come, she would still fail.”

Gu Changge saw through Lu Ruoyin’s problem at a glance: her heart demon was entrenched, her Dao heart flawed. She had already once attempted to break through the Dao realm, and this time she intended to purify herself completely, cutting away all imperfections.

But that flaw had already been like thick ink staining her entire Dao heart. If she wished to sever it, she would have to shatter her Dao heart entirely and start over; otherwise the result would not change.

To resolve it, she either had to reconstruct her Dao heart and remove the root of the problem, or achieve Dao through imperfection. The moon has its wax and wane; the Dao heart does not necessarily need to be flawless—it depended on whether she could understand and accept it.

One is not inherently flawless; why obsess over a single imperfection? Accepting oneself and acknowledging oneself—this too is a form of purity in the Dao heart.

“Your Majesty…”

Lu Ruoyin suddenly opened her eyes. Her gaze was calm and unmoving.

Gu Changchang did not conceal his aura, so she naturally sensed his arrival.

“I don’t like that title. I prefer when you call me Young Master Changge,” he said, sitting casually on a jade stool nearby and pouring himself a cup of tea.

The tea had long gone cold, no one knew how long it had been there.

Lu Ruoyin stared at him, momentarily stunned, then rose gracefully. “I’ll go brew a fresh pot.”

“No need,” Gu Changge waved his hand. “I’ll just sit for a while.”

Lu Ruoyin nodded, still looking somewhat puzzled, not knowing why he had come.

Although she had subconsciously wanted to see him, now that he truly appeared, she did not know how to face him or what to say.

“Sit. No need to stand,” Gu Changge smiled.

After hesitating, Lu Ruoyin sat down beside him, her skirt gently gathered. A few strands of hair fell along her cheeks. Just as she was about to tuck them behind her ear, a warm hand reached over and gently brushed them aside for her.

She froze, meeting his calm, gentle gaze at close distance.

“Is life in the Temple of Fate still comfortable? I see you’ve taken in a successor—you plan to pass your legacy to her?”

Lu Ruoyin softly replied, “Yes. Her name is Wu Qi. I found her by chance in a lower world. She has the same Fate Void Physique as me. I feel her future achievements will surpass mine, so I brought her here and guided her.”

“The Temple of Fate is indeed quite desolate. Having someone to talk to is good,” Gu Changge nodded.

Lu Ruoyin looked outside the hall. “Wu Qi is quite diligent. She cleans the dust and lights the lamps every day. I’ve been freed from much trouble and have more time to study fate…”

Gu Changge nodded in agreement.

Lu Ruoyin had long stayed in the Temple of Fate cultivating, rarely leaving even half a step. Aside from cultivation and seclusion, she probably had little else to talk about.

Wu Qi’s presence had indeed given her something to break the monotony.

So Gu Changge continued asking her about Wu Qi.

Lu Ruoyin, seemingly forgetting his earlier words of “just sitting for a while,” began speaking more and more about her daily life with Wu Qi.

Gu Changge did not interrupt, listening quietly. When she occasionally looked at him, he would respond with a smile.

Later, he asked about her cultivation and her insights into the Dao of Fate. Lu Ruoyin gradually spoke more as well, also taking the opportunity to ask him questions she could not resolve.

She knew Gu Changge’s cultivation had already reached an unfathomable level.

Although he did not specialize in the Dao of Fate, all great Dao paths ultimately converge.

Gu Changge answered everything in detail, even demonstrating some of his understanding personally.

At this time, Wu Qi, who had come to find Lu Ruoyin, witnessed this strange scene.

The usually cold and unsmiling Lu Ruoyin actually had a faint smile on her lips, sitting beside a remarkably handsome and otherworldly man, conversing happily. So much so that she seemed to have forgotten Wu Qi’s presence entirely.

“Is that the current Alliance Master?”

“He looks so young… and quite well-matched with Lady Ruoyin.”

Wu Qi shrank her head back. She had no idea how Gu Changge had arrived, but seeing her master finally show such a smile, she felt sincerely happy and quietly closed the hall door before leaving.

“Sometimes when I return to the Daochang True World, time is too short and I fail to see you. It was not intentional neglect…” Gu Changge said calmly.

“I understand. I can comprehend it. It is enough that Your Majesty… Young Master Changge came to see me once.”

Lu Ruoyin quickly corrected herself. Since Gu Changge did not like the title “Your Majesty,” she returned to the old way of addressing him. In a trance, she seemed to return to the past—when she still carried a worldly, opportunistic mindset, chasing wealth and status.

As for whether his words were true or false, it no longer mattered.

What mattered was that he had come.

“In the next few days, I plan to take the Divine Kingdom away. At that time, the Temple of Fate will also be moved into the Pervasive Void under the Patching Heaven Alliance. If you are unwilling, I can leave it here,” Gu Changge said.

Lu Ruoyin paused slightly, then softly replied, “It is the same wherever I am. Whether in the Pervasive Void or the Daochang True World, wherever the heart is at peace is home.”

Seeing Gu Changge nod and stand to leave, her eyes trembled slightly.

“Tonight… Can you stay here and rest?”

Gu Changge seemed slightly surprised, then nodded.

“Alright.”

A faint blush rose behind Lu Ruoyin’s ears.

Several days later, the entire territory of the Divine Kingdom—covering part of the upper world’s chaotic regions, an ancient city in the Eight Desolations and Ten Regions, and a village named Qing Mountain—rumbled together, enveloped in boundless light.

Between heaven and earth, a hazy passage appeared, connecting outside the Daochang True World to an unknown realm.

The Daochang True World shook. All clans and sects knew that Gu Changge had opened the passage from the Daochang True World to the Pervasive Void.

From this moment on, the Daochang True World would truly connect with the Pervasive Void. Whether this was fortune or disaster, opportunity or danger, remained unknown.

At the same time, as the Divine Kingdom rumbled and rapidly departed, many powerful cultivators sensed an overwhelming aura emerge within it—a new Dao realm expert had been born inside the Divine Kingdom, with the Dao of Heaven and Earth resonating and strange phenomena appearing.

But no one knew who it was.

The original location of the Divine Kingdom was now left as an empty void.

The Patching Heaven Alliance in the Daochang True World also began migration, moving outward through the newly opened passage.

“They’ve all left…”

“Yet why is the aura left behind by the Ancestor growing fainter? Have I overlooked something?”

A Gu family ancestor had not left the Daochang True World, instead staying behind with some members of the Gu clan.

As he looked at the departing Divine Kingdom, his brows furrowed tightly. He felt as though he had overlooked something.

After countless years of waiting, the Ancestor had not returned.

That existence who once approached the realm of truth had left behind traces and prophecies—there must be a reason.

“Should I return to the clan’s ancestral land in the Nine Heavens?” He murmured, falling into deep thought.