World's First Traitor System (435)

Chapter 435 - All Are Gone

"It's over!"

"It's truly over this time!"

Sage Ruler Jin De fled back to the mainland only to discover she had become separated from Sage Ruler Miaoyin.

She was inexplicably terrified.

Having deserted in battle, she would henceforth find no acceptance from Empress Yao Guang.

She absolutely dared not return to Great Ci.

For a moment, Jin De was overwhelmed by panic, darting aimlessly through the mountains like a headless fly.

"Eh?"

"Is there actually habitation here?"

A stretch of bamboo forest entered her vision. Verdant bamboo cast interconnected shadows amidst wooden bridges and fences, and further off, a thatched hut was faintly visible.

Jin De pondered briefly before deciding to approach for a closer look.

If it was just an ordinary hermit, so be it. If there was a threat, she could strike first and eliminate them quickly!

Drawing nearer, Jin De heard the clear sound of someone reading aloud. What surprised her even more was that the reader seemed to be a young woman of marriageable age. The girl's voice was as sweet and clear as spring water, refreshing the hearts of those who heard it.

"To grasp the One is most noble; the most noble is invincible."

"A foot of wood must have knots; an inch of jade must have flaws."

"A good learner borrows the strengths of others to compensate for their own shortcomings."

"To not know, yet think one knows, is the root of a hundred calamities..."

Sage Ruler Jin De considered herself the foremost female Confucian cultivator in the world. In terms of Confucian Dao attainment, she only acknowledged that Marquis Wenxin of Lu City, Lu Chunqiu, was slightly superior. Yet now, the mysterious young woman in the thatched hut recited verses, each one carrying profound meaning, worthy of being passed down through generations.

Shock rippled through her heart!

"From which classic do these verses originate?"

"How have I never read them?"

"Could it be that a reclusive great Confucian scholar lives here, and this girl is the hermit's disciple?"

"Judging by her voice, she cannot be older than twenty."

"To be immersed in such Confucian classics from a young age, her future accomplishments might... even surpass my own?!"

A strong sense of crisis surged within her! How could Sage Ruler Jin De permit the emergence of a female Confucian scholar more outstanding and with greater potential than herself?

The intent to kill instantly arose in her heart!

Inside the hut, the young woman stopped reading and began to play the zither. The notes tinkled like jade beads, blending perfectly into the small world of the bamboo forest.

Sage Ruler Jin De was secretly astonished!

"How can her musical skill also be so high?"

Her murderous intent grew heavier as she silently crept towards the door of the thatched hut. Peering through the wicker fence, Jin De looked inside.

A mere girl under twenty, no matter how exceptionally talented, was not someone Jin De would normally regard. She was wary only of the girl's hermit master. If the master possessed Great Vehicle cultivation, Jin De, being injured, wasn't confident she could defeat the mysterious hermit.

However, when Jin De clearly saw everything inside the hut, she was first shocked, then secretly delighted.

Shocked, because in the open space outside the hut lay several stone and wooden instruments – tools for calculation, capable of working out astronomy, calendar systems, solar terms, and more. There was also an archery target, several arrows embedded in its center.

What did this mean? Besides music, the girl also studied mathematics and archery?

The hut's window was open, allowing Jin De to peer inside. She didn't see where the girl was but noticed several scrolls of calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls. The characters were complex, including seal, clerical, running, regular, and cursive scripts.

Upon closer inspection, Jin De felt a secret sense of shame. Based solely on her own calligraphy skills, she couldn't surpass the few lines of script on the wall.

"Her master must have written them!" Jin De told herself silently.

As the world's foremost female Confucian scholar, losing to a reclusive Confucian master was barely acceptable; losing to a mere sixteen-year-old girl was something Sage Ruler Jin De could never accept.

One painting on the wall depicted complex and varied content: dancing, music, sword fighting, mounted archery – seemingly a grand court performance. There were envoys presenting treasures, performing great rites of obeisance. A high platform in the painting seemed to be where the Son of Heaven observed the ceremony.

Jin De looked a few more times at the Son of Heaven and felt a vague sense of familiarity.

"This emperor looks somewhat like... Fan Li?!"

Sage Ruler Jin De nearly cried out in shock! That mere treacherous minister of Great Chu was actually depicted wearing dragon robes and an imperial crown, reigning supreme, receiving tribute from all nations?

"What kind of ridiculous painting is this? Does that Fan Li even deserve this?"

Sage Ruler Jin De felt both angry and amused, completely failing to notice that the girl's zither music had stopped at some point.

"Rites?"

"Music?"

"Archery?"

"Charioteering?" (Implied by mounted archery/court context)

"Calligraphy?"

"Mathematics?"

Wait! Jin De suddenly realized: could the girl residing in this inconspicuous bamboo hut be cultivating the “Six Arts of the Gentleman”

What did this imply? The girl's cultivation path actually followed the standards of the ancient sages of the Spring and Autumn period?!

"What an arrogant hermit!"

"Does he intend to cultivate a Confucian Sage for this generation?!"

Sage Ruler Jin De's face filled with disdain, yet she couldn't suppress the envy, jealousy, and hatred welling up inside her. She thought back to when she first stepped onto the Confucian path; if someone had guided her in this manner, how could her achievements today be limited to this?

The Confucian Dao should be a Great Dao! But her own accomplishments, especially after Sage Ruler Blood Phoenix's death, had relegated her to the lowest rank among the Pure Land Sage Rulers.

"Wait!?"

Sage Ruler Jin De finally snapped back to reality. The hut was already empty; the zither-playing girl had vanished?

She spun around sharply!

"You..."

Sage Ruler Jin De saw a young woman standing in the courtyard, smiling sweetly at her.

The girl was exquisitely beautiful! Though not yet fully matured, her city-toppling allure was already impossible to conceal.

"How can such a beautiful woman exist in the world?!"

Even Jin De, herself a woman, couldn't help but praise her inwardly. In a daze, she also felt the girl looked very familiar.

Familiar?

How could that be?

As a Confucian cultivator, Jin De naturally possessed an eidetic memory; otherwise, how could she have learned volumes of classics? She was certain she had never seen this girl before, yet the strong sense of familiarity lingered.

Kill her? Or not?

Besides the familiarity, Jin De's jealousy towards the girl grew ever stronger.

Her starting point was inferior!

Her innate talent was inferior!

Her future was inferior!

Even her womanly appearance was far inferior to this girl's.

"This girl absolutely cannot be allowed to live!"

Sage Ruler Jin De made up her mind in her heart; she still had to kill!

She walked down the steps from the hut into the courtyard, looking the girl up and down. She couldn't see through the girl's cultivation level?

Understood! The girl must possess a special treasure. After all, given her age, even with exceptional talent, her cultivation realm couldn't possibly exceed Jin De's.

Jealousy burned like a raging fire in her heart. Sage Ruler Jin De made a gesture with one hand, and her personal artifact, the book Female Virtue, appeared in her grasp.

During the battle on the island, she had been ambushed by Xue Susu, and Female Virtue had suffered severe damage. However, the advantage of Confucian spiritual treasures was that even if only a single page remained, they could still unleash divine abilities. Female Virtue had only lost a third of its pages, leaving most of the book intact and still capable of battle.

"Are you alone?" Jin De asked aloud.

She didn't rush to attack but first pretended friendliness to probe the other party's background. Most importantly, she needed to confirm that the girl's hermit master was not nearby.

"Hee."

The girl smiled faintly but didn't answer.

Jin De frowned, thinking she had been too abrupt. She should have introduced herself first to avoid making the other party wary. With this thought, she bowed politely.

"Fellow scholar, I was enjoying a spring outing and happened upon this place by chance. Attracted by your reading voice, I rashly came to listen, which was truly impolite. Please forgive me."

"My name is Jin Yao. May I ask for fellow scholar's esteemed name?"

Jin De adopted the guise of an ordinary Confucian cultivator, greeting the girl as an equal. She paid no mind to the bloodstains on her clothes or her disheveled appearance, nor how unconvincing this story must sound.

The girl was still smiling. But as she smiled, a book also appeared in her hand.

Jin De merely glanced at the cover before her eyes widened abruptly, her face showing shock, fear, and panic!

On the cover, rendered in bold, iron-like strokes, were four large words:

Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals!

The supreme treasure of the mortal world's Confucian Dao!

"Who are you?"

"What is Lu Chunqiu to you!?" Jin De demanded shrilly, her hands moving swiftly.

Pages flew from Female Virtue, transforming into sheets of golden paper that sliced towards the girl like blades. Yet, the golden paper stopped a foot before the girl, unable to advance even a hair's breadth.

Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals opened automatically without any wind, and just by turning a single page, a dark yellow light enveloped the girl. Protected by this primordial yellow radiance, Female Virtue couldn't harm the girl in the slightest!

"Speak!"

"Who exactly are you!?"

Her attack failing to break the defense, Jin De lost her composure and shrieked. If she couldn't even deal with a young girl, how would she face Lu Chunqiu if he arrived?

"My name is Diao Chan," the girl said lightly, parting her crimson lips.

Her answer left Sage Ruler Jin De utterly dumbfounded.

"Princess Ping An of Great Jin, and concurrently the current Marquis Wenxin of Lu City."

As her voice fell, the pages of Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals turned again.

The bamboo forest and thatched hut, this entire area of heaven and earth, became shrouded in the dark yellow color.

Chaotic! Heavy! Magnificent and vast! It strongly resembled the legendary cosmic membrane that once enveloped the primordial world!

Although the dark yellow color only encompassed the bamboo forest and hut, from this moment on, the master of it was the ruler of this domain. Unless someone could emulate the giant Pangu, splitting heaven and earth to transcend the cosmic membrane!

Unfortunately, Sage Ruler Jin De possessed no such power.

…

An hour later.

The cosmic membrane retracted on its own. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of Diao Chan's mouth, and her green Confucian robes bore bloodstains. But she stood tall, her eyes bright and spirited!

The thatched hut had been razed to the ground, and torn golden pages were scattered everywhere.

Sage Ruler Jin De lay sprawled on the ground. She was covered in blood but still breathing faintly, her eyes wide with unwilling, furious resentment.

"Trai... traitor..."

"Betraying Yao Guang... you'll die a horrible death..."

Hearing this, a flicker of confusion crossed Diao Chan's eyes. "Yao Guang? This princess does not know her."

"But Grandfather said you are Father Emperor's enemy."

"Grandfather also said your Female Virtue is narrow-minded and biased, not worth mentioning, and that this princess could easily defeat you."

Upon hearing this, the dying expression on Sage Ruler Jin De's face was replaced by fury! She wanted to say more, but lying on her back, she happened to see the image reflected in the Sky Phase Mirror high above.

In the sky, a scene appeared that Jin De could never have imagined even in her dreams.

The founding monarch of Great Ci, the only reigning female emperor in the mortal world, Yao Guang, was kneeling before Emperor Jiajing, kowtowing in surrender!

"How could this be?"

"Why surrender?"

"Why not dare to fight to the death?"

"Weren't you confident you surpassed all men under heaven?"

"Where is your pride?"

"Where is your confidence?"

"You don't even have the courage to die, so why found a dynasty, why declare yourself emperor?"

"Yao Guang... you deceived all the women in the world..."

Towards the end, Jin De could no longer produce any sound. On her ravaged face, only endless unwillingness and regret remained.

So, it had been wrong from the very beginning?