# Chapter 4072: No-Self
The Great Saint's mansion was solemn and grand, built against a mountain, with abundant sacred qi. The main gate was over ten zhang high, adorned with seated lions and carved dragons, standing eternally in the wind and snow.
As dusk fell, the sky grew dim, and lamps lit up one by one.
A deer-drawn carriage stopped before the gate.
Liao Kuo jumped down from the carriage shaft and stood beside a zhang-tall stone lion, his brow slightly furrowed.
Before him, the Xu Mansion's main gate was tightly shut, with not a single guard in sight. Only eight glazed lamps hung above, swaying in the wind.
Liao Kuo and Xu Mingjing had been close friends for many years. Logically, since they had already informed the household in advance, the Xu Mansion should have sent someone to greet them at the gate.
Liao Kuo was the one Nalan Danqing had mentioned—a Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator from the Book Alliance two thousand years ago.
"Milord, it seems something unexpected has happened. Should I use divine thought perception to deduce?" Liao Kuo walked to the side of the carriage and said in a low voice.
A voice came from inside the carriage: "Do not do that! Go knock on the door. We are merely ordinary visitors."
The gate was knocked open.
The one who opened the door was an old man who had reached the Half-Saint level. He looked warily at Liao Kuo, recognized him, and immediately moved to kneel in salute.
Liao Kuo helped him up and asked, "You know me?"
"Two hundred years ago, Senior Liao visited the Xu Mansion, and everyone in the household came out to greet you. I was young then, with low cultivation, and only saw Senior Liao's divine countenance from afar."
The old man's face was full of confusion. "Why didn't Senior Liao inform us in advance of your arrival?"
Liao Kuo asked, "Where is your family head?"
"The family head returned yesterday!"
Knowing well the deep friendship between Liao Kuo and the family head, the old man did not overthink and invited him into the Xu Mansion.
The gate opened wide, and Liao Kuo walked in front with an upright posture.
The old man led the deer-drawn carriage behind.
Another group of guards hurried toward the family head's courtyard to report. The entire Xu Mansion, like a massive beast awakened, quickly came alive and bustling in the icy, snowy landscape.
But Liao Kuo's heart kept sinking.
With Xu Mingjing's cultivation, if he sensed Liao Kuo's arrival at the Xu Mansion, he would surely appear immediately. Why would someone need to go report it?
Arriving outside the family head's courtyard, all the Saint realm elders of the Xu family had already gathered.
"Greetings to the True God!"
Seven elders bowed in unison to Liao Kuo.
A large crowd knelt around them.
Liao Kuo bypassed the crowd and stepped into the family head's courtyard, but found no trace of Xu Mingjing.
One of the elders, who had reached the Saint King level, stepped forward cautiously and said, "True God, the family head is not in the mansion."
"Where did he go?"
Liao Kuo felt uneasy.
That Saint King elder said, "We don't know what happened either. The family head returned yesterday and should have been in the courtyard... but when the guards reported just now, we learned he had left again!"
"Left again? Did he truly leave on his own?" Liao Kuo said, almost as if talking to himself.
Outside the courtyard, a figure completely wrapped in a black robe stepped down from the deer-drawn carriage.
He took down the ancient lamp hanging from the carriage roof, held it in his hand, and walked into the courtyard. "Everyone, get out."
The Xu family members looked at each other, unsure of the black-robed man's identity.
Liao Kuo said, "Everyone, please leave!"
"Yes."
Led by the seven elders, the Xu family members retreated like a tide.
The courtyard gate then closed.
Liao Kuo cupped his hands in salute and said, "Milord, I truly did not expect such an accident to occur. I have already carefully investigated and found no traces. Xu Mingjing should have left on his own. Perhaps something urgent came up. I will contact him again."
"No need. He might be hiding from you," the black-robed man said.
Liao Kuo was stunned. "That is absolutely impossible. Our friendship is deep."
"Precisely because your friendship is deep, that is why you learned the secret the Xu family most cannot reveal to outsiders."
From within the black-robed man's wide sleeve, a powerful hand extended, and a finger pointed at the void. Immediately, the void turned liquid, with countless tiny ripples appearing.
The ancient lamp in his other hand brightened by half.
"Let's go to the Qiming Sect. Erase all traces of our visit."
The black-robed man turned and walked toward the gate.
Liao Kuo's face turned pale. "Milord, are you saying... kill them all to silence them? It doesn't have to come to that!"
"We don't have to kill them all to silence them, but we must make the entire Xu family disappear. You figure out how," the black-robed man said as he opened the gate and entered the deer-drawn carriage.
The two white deer trod through the snow and departed.
Seven days later, Liao Kuo caught up with the deer-drawn carriage on the official road.
As he drove, he spoke: "I have disbanded all the Xu family members, made them change their surnames, leave Wind Frost City, and no two of them may ever see each other in their lifetimes. If anyone exposes their identity as Xu family members, I will kill without mercy."
Hearing no response from inside the carriage, Liao Kuo finally spoke the words weighing on his heart: "Milord, is such caution really necessary? I myself find it extremely cruel, utterly unreasonable. They did nothing wrong."
A voice came from inside the carriage: "Dying for doing wrong is deserved. Dying for doing right is not unusual. You think we are too cautious, but do you know that if this matter is exposed, it will not just be the Xu family of Wind Frost City that dies, but all people surnamed Xu in the entire Book Realm. Even the entire Book Realm might be wiped out of existence."
At that moment, Liao Kuo finally understood what a terrifying high-level game he had been drawn into. After a brief moment of suffocation, he calmed down and asked, "With mine and Milord's cultivation, we could reach the Qiming Sect in an instant. Yet we travel slowly like ordinary cultivators. Are we avoiding the perception of some existence?"
"The Book Realm has too few gods. Any divine-level fluctuation of power would be especially conspicuous. Better to go slowly than to make a mistake."
The voice inside the carriage continued: "If you are smart enough, you must learn restraint. Do not ask about things you should not know."
...
Another half month passed, and Liao Kuo drove the deer-drawn carriage to the Qiming Sect.
The Qiming Sect's Sect Leader, Wen Qingxiu, was a Great Perfection Upper-Level God who had survived one Eon Calamity. She received Liao Kuo in a grove of red maple trees.
Beneath a tree, she had a slightly full figure, wearing a goose-yellow divine robe and feathered garments. She sat beside a chess table, playing against herself.
"Liao Kuo, you entered the divine realm five hundred years ago and have now reached the Middle-Level God. Such fast cultivation speed."
Wen Qingxiu only stared at the stone chessboard and said casually, "Do you think your actions in Wind Frost City can escape my perception?"
"Divine Lord Qingxiu is the number one in the Book Realm. When a god appears in the Book Realm, naturally it cannot be hidden from you," Liao Kuo said.
Wen Qingxiu raised her head, revealing a celestial face that could topple cities and kingdoms, with a sharp, cold light in her eyes. "Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
Liao Kuo showed no fear and countered, "Can Divine Lord Qingxiu first tell me why you have been monitoring the Xu family's every move?"
"What do you mean?"
"Even a god cannot monitor everything within a realm at all times. After I entered the Book Realm, I did not release any divine thought or divine qi. How did Divine Lord attract your attention? There is only one answer: Divine Lord did not notice me because of the Xu family, but noticed the Xu family because of me coming to the Book Realm."
Liao Kuo continued, "Where did Xu Mingjing go?"
Wen Qingxiu reexamined Liao Kuo. "The one who went to the Xu family was you. That question should be mine to ask you. Eh..."
Wen Qingxiu's gaze shifted from Liao Kuo to the black shadow ten zhang behind him.
The black shadow held an ancient lamp, like something from the underworld.
"Whoosh!"
In the red maple grove, dense divine patterns emerged, like chains of light sealing heaven and earth.
Wen Qingxiu had already stood up, her elegant figure straight, her black hair moving without wind. A white divine light text appeared before her, suspended in the void, her extraordinary aura pressing down on Liao Kuo, making it difficult for him to move.
Compared to her gentle demeanor during the Red Dust Assembly an eon ago, Wen Qingxiu had grown not just in age but had cultivated a powerful momentum.
The black-robed man held the lamp and walked forward slowly. "Do you know why we found our way here? Because before we arrived at the Xu family, you had already been there and cleaned up all the traces. But it was precisely your act of cleaning traces that exposed them."
"You can see that?"
Although Wen Qingxiu could still maintain her composure, her heart was in turmoil. It was hard to imagine what terrifying existence Xu Mingjing had provoked.
"I can see it, which means any means you employ are meaningless against me. Tell me Xu Mingjing's whereabouts. You only have one chance."
The black-robed man formed his five fingers into a claw. "I will perform a soul search!"
Wen Qingxiu said, "Imperial Dust has already returned to the Wuding Divine Sea. How could he allow you to act recklessly? To tell you the truth, I am one of Linglong Fairy's people. If you touch me, think carefully about the consequences."
"One of Ao Linglong's people?"
The black-robed man chuckled, then shifted and appeared before Wen Qingxiu.
Wen Qingxiu reacted quickly and immediately retreated, but although her legs were long, she could not move them, as if someone had grabbed her.
"Whoosh!"
A dragon-bone seven-stringed zither flew out from deep within the red maple grove, but as soon as it entered the range of the ancient lamp's light, it was frozen, unable to advance another inch.
Yu Zhenxiu flew in with a sword, but before she could strike, she was sent flying by a palm strike from the black-robed man.
Wen Qingxiu circulated her divine qi, ready to destroy everything together with the black-robed man, when under the lamplight, she saw the lower half of the black-robed man's face. Her eyes were instantly filled with shock.
After a long moment, she dispersed her divine qi, her expression extremely complex, and bowed deeply before him.
The black-robed man said, "Now can you speak?"
Wen Qingxiu struggled to digest the shock in her heart. Many questions she wanted to ask, she dared not voice at all. "After Xu Mingjing returned to Wind Frost City, he rushed back to the Qiming Sect that same night and asked me to send him out of the Book Realm to find a safe place to take refuge."
"Refuge from what?" the black-robed man asked.
Wen Qingxiu gently shook her head. "He would not say! He only said that great calamity had befallen him and he did not want to bring disaster upon the Book Realm. May I ask... may I ask, Milord, what crime has he committed?"
The black-robed man said, "Do you think this is something you should know?"
Wen Qingxiu bowed again. "Qingxiu wants to know if the Book Realm still has a way to survive."
"You must first tell me where Xu Mingjing is," the black-robed man said.
"Southern Universe, Purple Lord Star. It was once a mineral planet under the Book Realm's jurisdiction, very remote, known to few. With the great worlds of the Southern Universe moving to the Heavenly Court and the Sword Realm, it is definitely a good place to hide from the world," Wen Qingxiu said.
The black-robed man said, "For the Book Realm to survive, there cannot be any who know of this matter."
Wen Qingxiu showed a desolate expression. "Qingxiu understands!"
Then she slowly raised her palm, divine flame appearing in her palm, and with a fierce look, she prepared to strike her own divine sea and divine source.
"I see you do not understand at all. Even if you want to die, you must first take me to Purple Lord Star," the black-robed man said.
Liao Kuo stood in the distance, unable to move his body. He could only see Wen Qingxiu bowing to the black-robed man but could not hear the content of their conversation.
His understanding of the black-robed man's identity and strength deepened further.
Definitely a terrifying great figure, for even the number one person of the Book Realm had to bow to him. Just moments ago, she had been arrogant, looking down on all living beings with cold pride, and the next moment, she was as obedient as a little maid.
Yu Zhenxiu was one of the other Bihai Four Beauties from back then.
Only she and Wen Qingxiu had survived to this day. The other two had fallen long ago.
"Junior Sister, I must leave the Qiming Sect with this Milord for a time. The Book Realm is now in your hands!"
Wen Qingxiu took out the Sect Leader's token and seal and handed them to Yu Zhenxiu.
Worried that Yu Zhenxiu might not understand the gravity of the situation and report this matter to the Sword Realm, she said with extreme caution, "Today, you saw no one and know nothing. This concerns the life and death of the Book Realm. Do you remember?"
Yu Zhenxiu could feel that her senior sister might never return from this journey, so she shook her head desperately.
Wen Qingxiu said, "If you cannot remember, your senior sister can only kill you now, for soon I will follow you anyway. If you want to live, you must obey."
Yu Zhenxiu had not shed tears in who knows how many years, but at this moment, tears flowed endlessly as she watched the three figures disappear into the blurry curtain of tears.
...
The deer-drawn carriage passed through a Space Teleportation Array, left the Book Realm, and also left the Wuding Divine Sea, heading toward the space wormhole leading to the Southern Universe.
Liao Kuo was still driving.
Wen Qingxiu sat upright inside the carriage, her jade hands folded before her abdomen, her eyes moving as she carefully observed her surroundings.
The space inside the carriage was extremely large, like a room.
The floor was covered with fragrant white fox fur. On the table were thick scrolls and volumes. On the walls hung various postures of paintings of Kasyapa Buddha.
Wen Qingxiu asked softly, "Is the trouble Mingjing has stirred up related to that legendary painting?"
The black-robed man raised his head, no hood covering it, revealing his true face. "You know of this matter?"
It was none other than Zhang Ruochen.
To be precise, it was a doppelganger of Zhang Ruochen.
Wen Qingxiu shook her head. "Just a guess! I did not know he was connected to that painting. If I had known, I would have sent him to the Sword Realm immediately and handed him over to Imperial Dust for disposal."
"Before I came, I did not hold much hope. But since he chose to flee the Book Realm, this instead shows that he truly knows something."
In Zhang Ruochen's view, Xu Mingjing must have returned to the Xu family and just then heard the news about that painting, knowing that this matter had shaken the universe. When Liao Kuo visited at this time, how could Xu Mingjing not connect the two things?
His fleeing the Book Realm was precisely to avoid Liao Kuo.
He had clearly realized that, two thousand years ago, when Liao Kuo approached him and befriended him, it was related to this matter.
The No-Self Lamp hung from the roof of the deer-drawn carriage, concealing all aura, heavenly secrets, and karma.
This most complex and difficult-to-refine lamp was precisely refined by the Life Ancestor to counter the Immortal. Before Gong Nanfeng returned to his era, he told this secret to Zhang Ruochen.
With the No-Self Lamp, one could evade the perception of the Immortal and do what one wanted to do.
This was the true meaning of the two words "No-Self"!
And all of Zhang Ruochen's carefulness and caution when his true body returned to the Wuding Divine Sea was done to deceive the Immortal lurking by his side. Only in this way could the other party let down their guard and believe that everything was under control.
(This chapter ends)