In the endless darkness, a giant snow-white nine-tailed fox was curled up. The once blood-red seal on him had now faded to near invisibility as if it could be broken at any moment.
As if sensing something, the fox suddenly opened its eyes. Its pale green pupils stared at the person before it for a moment before closing again. An aged voice slowly resonated, “…You can see the words in the booklet now?”
Li Fei woodenly gazed at him. As if by instinct, she delved into his consciousness, wanting to see this fox who had hidden so many secrets.
“I met Qingcheng eight hundred years ago,” Riyan’s tone was indifferent, concealing a hint of nostalgia that was not easily detected. “He had just become an immortal, and I had just received my name bestowed by heaven. We fought for three days, mutually impressed by each other, and ended up becoming the closest of friends.”
“He was always an unrestrained person, able to befriend demon creatures without a care. In this aspect, you are quite similar to him.”
Li Fei listened in a daze and said softly, “I just like to rely on you, that’s all. It’s… completely different from Master.”
Riyan seemed not to hear, and with eyes closed, continued, “In my opinion, among the countless immortals in the Central Plains at that time, there were many with extraordinary talents, but none could match his magnanimity. I always believed that Qingcheng would one day achieve the great Dao and transcend the cycle of life and death. After the Sea Calamity descended, he battled fiercely with the Yaksha and was gravely injured, nearly dying.
But he didn’t linger in illness as the outside world rumored. At that time, he and I wandered in the Ganhua Realm for nearly a hundred years, and his injuries had gradually healed. It was the battle with the Yaksha that sparked his intense interest in the overseas lands. He collected countless tales and anecdotes about the overseas to read. Most of these stories were full of fabrications and speculations, which naturally left him very dissatisfied. Because of this, he formed a grand aspiration to personally explore the overseas.”
“We disappeared in the East Sea, searching and investigating for hundreds of years, but we were never able to detect the spiritual energy left behind by the Yaksha when they retreated that day. The Yaksha tribe is quite peculiar. The realm barriers set up by the immortals of the Central Plains were like decorations to them, allowing them to come and go freely without any hindrance. Moreover, they could conceal their traces to the extreme, leaving not even the faintest spiritual energy wherever they went. It was precisely because of this that two Yakshas were able to silently annihilate an entire sect of immortals that day. We finally decided to take the risk and set out from Manshan in the East Sea to venture overseas.”
At this point, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked at her intently, seemingly lost in thought. “We went overseas with the mindset of certain death. Little girl, regardless of your background, you will soon personally experience the Sea Calamity that occurs once every five hundred years. You will quickly understand the various brutal and violent experiences, and why the immortals of the Central Plains have such vigilance and fear towards the overseas. There are reasons for everything.”
Li Fei remained silent, quietly watching him. She only wanted to know more about her master.
Riyan gradually sank into his memories, his voice becoming more animated: “After flying over the East Sea for ten days, we finally encountered heavenly thunder, seas of fire, and various unheard-of natural barriers. We nearly lost our lives there. When we finally reached land, we thought we were dreaming. The thousand islands were bizarre and varied, countless times vaster than the Central Plains. We truly had been like frogs in a well before… We initially thought that if people from the Central Plains entered, they would surely react violently. Who knew there would be no threat to our lives at all? The corpses you saw in the Yimin Tomb were just a drop in the ocean. There aren’t many people with strange appearances overseas. The people we saw were no different from those in the Central Plains, except that everyone could control demon beasts, which indeed originated from overseas.”
“Qingcheng recorded all our experiences in the thousand islands in that booklet. We had thought that the people overseas must be cruel, violent, and bloodthirsty, but in reality, they were no different from the people in the Central Plains. There were kind and enthusiastic ones, and there were also cunning and treacherous ones. The myriad facets of human nature are no different. Spiritual energy is scarce overseas, so various techniques and mystical arts are prevalent. Those crooked techniques Qingcheng knew were all learned from the thousand islands. Ah, the various wonders of the Thousand Islands were a great expansion of horizons for both him and me. If we had focused on cultivation there, we could have made countless advancements. Qingcheng was just one step away from achieving the great Dao. What a pity, what a pity!”
Riyan suddenly stood up, his eyes revealing a mixture of confusion and resentment: “After wandering overseas for decades, Qingcheng developed a desire to return home. Alas! ‘I lament that I am old and declining, the years pass swiftly and do not return. I think of my long life and prolonged immortality, but it’s not as good as returning to my homeland!’ He missed the land and old friends of the Central Plains. Having reached this stage in cultivation, he couldn’t escape this foolish, self-indulgent nostalgia! This was his first misstep. We decided to bring back an object from overseas to the Central Plains, something never seen before, to make our life-threatening journey worthwhile!”
“That day, the wind was howling, and we followed it aimlessly. Suddenly, we arrived at a mountain where there wasn’t a single person for thousands of miles. There was only one giant tree spanning heaven and earth, with only one fruit on it. Qingcheng picked the fruit, and instantly the mountain crumbled. The heavenly thunder and seas of fire from the ocean approached in an instant. We could only flee for our lives. By the time we returned to Manshan, we were both severely injured, almost losing our lives again.
This injury was even more severe than his battle with the Yaksha. Even after recuperating in the Ganhua Realm for decades, he couldn’t fully recover. His cultivation was greatly reduced. The fruit we brought back showed no signs of activity, only covered in white light. The Ganhua Realm originally didn’t have such dense spiritual energy, but after the fruit was there for decades, the spiritual energy became as thick as in an immortal sect’s realm. We all found it strange, not knowing what it was, until seventeen years ago when the fruit suddenly cracked open, and a baby girl came out – that was you.”
Riyan slowly turned his back and sighed deeply, saying softly: “Your many peculiarities initially surprised and delighted us, but oddly enough, after the age of three, you became no different from ordinary children. Watching you being so mischievous every day, Qingcheng complained constantly, but the way he looked at you, the tone he used when talking about you, gradually changed. He changed into an ordinary old man. He could no longer treat you as something different, but as a child he had raised. This was his second misstep! I suggested countless times that he should teach you the ways of cultivation, but he always refused. In a fit of anger, I quarreled with him and left Qingqiu.”
People are always like this, possessing a spirituality that no other beings have, yet being incredibly fragile, trapped by emotions, and unable to extricate themselves. Even Qingcheng couldn’t escape this fate. He was one step away from achieving the great Dao, yet he couldn’t forget old sentiments and returned to the Central Plains. Then, he allowed his heart to be captured by an otherworldly being, nurturing her, caring for her, treating her as a real person, and even wanting her to live an ordinary life forever. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t learn anything; he would protect her well.
Li Fei remembered how, when she was young, she could never learn to imprint spiritual energy into her body. She was desperate, but Master would pat her head and sigh: “It’s fine if you can’t learn. You don’t have that talent. You might as well not learn at all. Being my little acolyte is good enough. It’s not proper for a girl to be fighting all day. You’d better focus on making a good braised radish dish to eat.”
From then on, he never mentioned cultivation again. He took her traveling far and wide, using his techniques to deceive people, swindling food and drink without any sense of propriety. When he did earn money, he was incredibly stingy, not even willing to buy her a snack. With his perpetually frivolous demeanor, he never said anything nice to her, claiming she was a girl but raising her like a boy. Did he finally remember she was a girl in the end? Is that why he bought her a silk dress? That braised radish dish, he would never be able to eat it again.
Tears gradually welled up in her wooden eyes. The unbearable pain gripped her once more. She suddenly couldn’t help but let out a scream, tears streaming down her face, more and more. She finally broke into loud sobs, all the endless pain turning into tears, raging across her face.
Riyan sighed: “You also have a human heart. How are you different from humans? Bound by various emotions, what do you intend to do? In the past, once Qingcheng developed emotional attachments, his cultivation could no longer recover. Otherwise, with his abilities, how could he have been captured by those frauds from Wuyue Palace? Before he was captured, he sent me a message asking me to take care of you. That happened to be the year I encountered misfortune, and Qingcheng’s situation caused my heart demons to multiply, leaving me confused and conflicted.
As a result, all my demonic energy was sealed, and I was chased by a few ruffians all the way. By the time I reached Qingqiu, it was too late. Knowing he could no longer protect you completely, he simply told you to find a disciple he had casually taken in during his leisure time. Hmph, that little Hu fellow did have some sense of loyalty and righteousness! Your journey so far has been thrilling but safe, with luck so good it’s unheard of even to me.
But good luck always runs out eventually. The human heart is such that one thought leads to kindness, another to evil. Those who were kind to you in the past might become evil tomorrow. Weren’t those frauds from Wuyue Palace once close friends with Qingcheng? And how did it end up? When it comes to overseas matters, who cares about those friendships? How can one find lasting peace by relying on the fragile and fickle human heart!”
He turned back and stared intently at Li Fei, his eyes showing some fanaticism: “Little girl, you have an immortal disposition, born of heaven, with a special constitution and a unique spiritual root. Your primordial spiritual energy can generate endless spiritual energy and even absorb others’ spiritual energy. If you use it well, you will surely be invincible in the world! Those damn cultivation methods of the immortal sects in the Central Plains are simply wasting your potential! Once my seal is removed, I can help you become invincible in battle and unstoppable in conquest! Do you want to be the number one person under heaven?”
Li Fei stared at him blankly, saying nothing.
Riyan said softly: “Qingcheng is gone. He always hoped you would be an ordinary person, but now that you know the whole truth, you can never go back to being the ordinary person you were before. What do you want?”
What did she want? She only wanted Master to still be alive. But death is like a lamp extinguished; what’s gone can never be retrieved. He would never come back, so her desires were meaningless. She didn’t want anything anymore.
Li Fei left the nine-tailed fox’s consciousness. Her body seemed to fall into another layer of vast darkness. Gradually, all sensations returned to her limbs. She opened her eyes to see a sky full of stars. The hailstorm and fierce winds had retreated, the clouds had dispersed, and the East Sea had returned to summer from its realm state.
She was being held in someone’s arms, sitting against a tree. All around was silent, with only his breathing and the distant sound of waves intertwining. His long hair swayed gently, brushing against her cheeks.
Lei Xiuyuan’s hand was inserted in her thick hair, stroking it repeatedly. After a long while, he said softly, “I searched for you for a long time. I finally found you.”