Two hundred years ago, Bai Li Ge Lin was full of ambition. She had her dao companion Lu Li by her side, and close friends Su Wan and Deng Xiguang. Everyone was doing their utmost to help with her revenge. Although she was often melancholic, Ah Jiao could still see traces of a smile on her face before they left for Heng Mountain.
To counter Ji Tongzhou’s Xuan Hua Fire, these four former young disciples had put in a lot of hard work over the past two hundred years. In the libraries of Wu Yue Ting and Wan Xian Hui, they had thoroughly read almost every text that mentioned fire-attribute immortal techniques.
There were quite a few records about the Xuan Hua Fire, mostly stating that its possessors had capricious temperaments. Even after becoming immortals, none were known for longevity. Some people suddenly fell from their peak, with the black fire leaving their bodies. Others passed away with regrets after just a few hundred years. There were even records mentioning the founder of Xing Zheng Guan, Sect Leader Xuan Hua. It was said that he was burned to death by his black fire. The truth of this was hard to verify, as Xing Zheng Guan had always been secretive about its founder, rarely discussing him.
Hard work pays off. After spending decades poring over books in the library, they finally found a way to counter the Xuan Hua Fire.
This fire was a demonic fire that could only manifest in those with a fire-attribute spiritual root. Why such a strange fire would appear was still unknown. People could only find some commonalities among its possessors – they were usually individuals with much stronger wills than others. The black fire seemed to be their only weapon of retaliation as if they had been forced into a desperate situation.
Among the Five Elements, water overcomes fire, but no matter what immortal technique was used to summon spring rain or celestial water, nothing could defeat the Xuan Hua Fire. So rather than seeking a solution through elemental interactions, it was better to focus on the possessor.
The first requirement was the heart of a thousand-year-old fierce beast Shen. The second was an extremely complex and lengthy immortal technique that would briefly prevent the Xuan Hua Fire’s possessor from using the black fire, allowing their enemy a very short window to strike and kill them.
This record was very ancient and incomplete, and its effectiveness was uncertain, but Bai Li Ge Lin and the others decided to try it anyway.
The fierce beast Shen only appeared near the Eastern Sea. The one they encountered in the Eastern Sea Trial Grounds years ago must have been young, which was why Lei Xiuyuan had managed to escape and eventually chop it to pieces. Even veteran immortals wouldn’t dare to face a thousand-year-old Shen lightly. Sometimes, one’s own heart is unfathomable – appearing confident on the surface, but who knows what temptations might suddenly arise, making it difficult to escape?
Among the four, Bai Li Ge Lin had a heart condition, so she naturally couldn’t go. Lu Li was hesitant and indecisive. Deng Xiguang repeatedly shook his head. His feelings for Su Wan had persisted from his youth to his ascension to immortality. He had expressed his desire to become dao companions and be with her many times, both directly and indirectly. Despite his usual frivolous appearance, he was incredibly focused when it came to matters of the heart.
However, Su Wan never gave any response. When asked too often, she would only smile and say, “I only see him as a good friend, nothing more.” This “good friend” statement cut off all his paths to get closer to her. Deng Xiguang didn’t give up, but he also didn’t continue pursuing. For two hundred years, they had been together every day. Although nothing had happened between them, at least they were together daily, which seemed good enough for him.
Everyone found the thousand-year-old fierce beast Shen troublesome, except for Su Wan, who laughed when she heard about it, “Let me go! I’ve been wanting to see how formidable the Shen is! I want to see what kind of illusion it can create for me.”
When Deng Xiguang heard she wanted to go, his expression changed, “Then let me go instead. It’s just a paradise of wine and pleasure! I’ll enjoy myself and come back! Maybe I’ll even meet a beauty as stunning as Junior Sister Jiang!”
His sudden mention of Li Fei caused everyone to fall silent. After a while, Bai Li Ge Lin forced a smile and said, “I wonder if Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan are still alive or…”
The incident they caused years ago was too big to be concealed. They were struck by the Heavenly Thunder and Fire Sea, with one’s fate unknown and the other missing. Over the years, their old friends would sigh whenever they were mentioned.
Seeing the mood turn somber, Su Wan smiled again, “I don’t think those two are short-lived. They might be living the good life overseas. Old Deng, you don’t need to say more. Let me handle the fierce beast, Shen. You all just wait here.”
After attaining immortality, Deng Xiguang took the Dao name Bo Yi. Su Wan found it awkward to pronounce, so she called him Old Deng. He took advantage of this and also stopped calling Su Wan by her Dao name Yu Zhen, instead calling her Little Su.
Two hundred years had passed. The once slender, naive girl was now a beautiful woman nearing thirty, and the once hot-headed youth had become immortal with a neatly trimmed beard. Old Deng and Little Su – the nicknames were affectionate yet maintained a subtle distance. Since changing their way of addressing each other, Deng Xiguang has never made a mistake. But seeing Su Wan about to leave, in his urgency, he called out, “A Wan!”
Su Wan just smiled at him, then disappeared miles away.
Seeing Deng Xiguang about to chase after her, Lu Li quickly stopped him, shaking his head, “You can’t go. Look at the mist in the forest – that’s Shen’s mist. If you’re tainted by even a bit, you’ll never escape. Since she’s confident, let’s trust her this once. We’ll wait here. If she doesn’t return in half an hour, I’ll go.”
Deng Xiguang remained silent. He was no longer the carefree young man who dared to say anything and smiled all day. Only in front of Su Wan would he still deliberately act mischievous, as if wanting her to know he hadn’t changed. He brushed off Lu Li’s hand, determined to chase after her, but Bai Li Ge Lin also stopped him.
“Let her go. She should be fine,” Bai Li Ge Lin stared into his eyes. “But if you go, you’ll certainly die. Do you not understand why she wants to go?”
Deng Xiguang was stunned, “…What do you mean?”
Bai Li Ge Lin smiled, “You’ll know when she comes back. We’ve waited two hundred years, what’s another half hour, right?”
Deng Xiguang finally stopped. For the entire half hour, his gaze remained fixed on the white mist in the distance, until it suddenly dispersed, blown away by the mountain wind. The next moment, Su Wan appeared before everyone with a smile on her face. She looked relaxed, holding a black pearl the size of a chicken egg in her hand, with demon blood dripping from her fingers onto the ground.
“I didn’t expect the Shen to look like a giant clam. Not interesting at all,” she tossed the black pearl. “Here, the heart of the thousand-year-old fierce beast Shen. I told you I’d be fine, didn’t I?”
Deng Xiguang moved closer to examine her carefully, confirming that she didn’t even have a small scratch. Only then did he sigh in relief and smile bitterly, “Alright, you’re impressive.”
He remembered what Bai Li Ge Lin had said earlier and hoped Su Wan would talk about whether she had experienced any illusions and what she had seen. But she just smiled and tossed the Shen’s heart to Bai Li Ge Lin, seemingly with no intention of discussing what had happened in that half hour. He felt both disappointed and nervous, wanting to ask but not daring to.
After a long while, he couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “Little Su, just now… um, did that Shen leaves you with any trauma?”
Su Wan frowned and smiled, “Don’t mention it. I never want to eat demon meat again! There were piles and piles of demon meat earlier, as high as mountains. Just looking at it made me nauseous!”
Demon meat? Deng Xiguang was stunned for a moment before he realized. This daring girl had always said she wanted to taste demon meat. Could it be that she truly had no hidden thoughts? A thousand-year-old fierce beast Shen, and she only saw mountains of demon meat? What was her heart made of?
Deng Xiguang didn’t know whether to sigh or feel disappointed. Bai Li Ge Lin’s words had suddenly given him hope, but now, the disappointment after hope was more painful than never having hope at all.
As they were flying, Su Wan suddenly spoke again, “By the way, Old Deng, you looked much more handsome and dashing in the illusion than in real life. I couldn’t tell.”
He abruptly stopped, doubting what he had heard, and urgently asked, “What, what did you just say?! Say it again!”
Bai Li Ge Lin had already pulled Lu Li ahead, leaving the two of them to fly slowly behind. Su Wan glanced back at him and smiled, “Old Deng, I always thought that liking someone should start at first sight, at least their appearance should move my heart, right? I considered you a good friend, truly thinking we could be lifelong friends, better than anyone else. I didn’t fall for you at first sight, so I always thought there was no chance. But in this world, no one has decreed that liking someone must start at first sight, right? Even you, I’m sure you didn’t fall for me at first sight either, did you?”
Deng Xiguang’s mind was in a complete muddle, unable to comprehend her meaning. Afraid of overthinking, afraid that she didn’t mean what he hoped, he could only nod randomly, looking at her in bewilderment.
Su Wan moved closer, looking up at his neatly trimmed beard, and grinned, “So, how about this? How’s the weather today? Is it nice and sunny? How about we become Dao companions today? What do you think?”
Deng Xiguang listened blankly at first, but as he heard the latter part, he stumbled and almost fell from the sky. Su Wan quickly grabbed him to prevent him from falling flat on his face. She held his arm and laughed, “You don’t need to be so shocked…”
Before she could finish, Deng Xiguang hugged her tightly. His whole body was trembling as he said softly, “You… say that again!”
Su Wan frowned, “Do you make a woman say such things twice? Are you stupid?”
Deng Xiguang suddenly burst into laughter, followed by a series of sighs, repeatedly slapping his forehead, “No, no! I should have said it first! How did it end up with you saying it first? Just now doesn’t count, let’s do it again! No, no… forget it! Let’s go back first! We’ll talk about it slowly when we get back!”
That day, Su Wan’s laughter echoed through the forest. It was their last and happiest time together.
Remembering the events of that year, Ah Jiao couldn’t help but sigh deeply, “By then, they had prepared everything and left Wan Xian Hui full of confidence. It was said that the prince had appeared near Heng Mountain. Heng Mountain had the divine beast Qilin, so he must have been planning to hunt it to forge divine weapons. Ge Lin and the others went to Heng Mountain. After three months, four went, but only two returned. It was already much better than I had anticipated.”
Ah Jiao didn’t know whether Deng Xiguang and Su Wan had truly died. After Ge Lin returned, her emotions were unstable, and nothing could be asked of her. Lu Li was also severely injured by the Xuan Hua Fire and unconscious. She never saw these two people again. Just like Ge Lin’s sister and brother-in-law who suddenly disappeared from the world, these two young immortals from Wu Yue Ting also vanished without a trace.
She could never forget that night when Bai Li Ge Lin appeared before her, carrying Lu Li who had been severely injured by the Xuan Hua Fire. She was so shocked that she couldn’t utter a word. Ge Lin gave her a weak smile and said softly, “Sister Ah Jiao, please save him. He can’t die.”