Zhao Min carefully studied Ji Tongzhou’s expression. After so many years, he was no longer the naive youth who wore his emotions on his sleeve. Now, he could likely remain impassive even if a mountain crumbled before him.
She could only focus on his eyes. His pitch-black pupils suddenly dilated, and she managed to catch a flicker of an indecipherable emotion.
Zhao Min felt an inexplicable sensation in her heart. Hundreds of years ago, when everything was still in order and Li Fei was still around, she would often mention her friends to Zhao Min: Bai Lige Lin from the Ten Thousand Immortals Assembly in the distant Eastern Sea, Ye Ye, and Bai Chang Yue from the Dizang Sect, and Ji Tongzhou from the Xingzheng Hall.
She had never revealed the entanglement between her and Ji Tongzhou. Perhaps they would never hear it from her lips. All these secrets were merely Immortal Cuixuan’s conjectures, yet surprisingly, he had guessed correctly.
By then, the Sea Calamity had passed. No matter how unwilling they were about the disappearance of Jiang Li Fei and Lei Xiuyuan, life had to go on. With the primary threat gone, what remained were other potential dangers.
First was the joint sanctions against the Dragon Throne Sect by the immortals of the Central Plains. Ambushing and fatally wounding another sect’s elder during the Sea Calamity was a serious offense. However, in the eyes of immortals accustomed to killing, it wasn’t considered a major transgression. Since the deceased was the Xuanmen Elder of the Xingzheng Hall, and given the influence of major sects, the immortals had to take a stance. After half a month of deliberation, they finally decided to punish the involved Dragon Throne Sect elders by confining them to their sect for three years.
Upon hearing this, Immortal Cuixuan had sighed. When he learned that the Dizang Sect had intervened, secretly assisting in an attempt to strike at the Xingzheng Hall’s genius disciple, he shook his head and said, “If that child doesn’t become a dragon or phoenix in the future, he will surely become a regional hegemon. Talented disciples come every five or ten years, but one like him is rare. What’s the point for the Dizang Sect to make an enemy of such a genius for the sake of two ordinary disciples? I fear it won’t end well for them.”
Zhao Min remembered that Immortal Cuixuan was involved in the affairs of the Yue Kingdom at that time. He seemed to have made a promise to Ji Tongzhou to protect the Yue Kingdom for ten years. The older generation of immortals placed great importance on keeping their word. Even though they hadn’t caught Li Fei, they still fulfilled the promise made to Ji Tongzhou. During those ten years, Ji Tongzhou remained in the Xingzheng Hall without taking a single step out. Immortal Cuixuan had once sneered, “Even though geniuses are rare, to think one could achieve immortality within twenty years of cultivation is simply a pipe dream.”
Even the famed Qingcheng Immortal of yesteryears took nearly a hundred years to achieve immortality after stepping onto the path of cultivation, which was already considered extremely fast.
However, in the tenth year, purple stars suddenly fell from the sky above the Xingzheng Hall, each as large as the Big Dipper. This was a sign that someone was about to achieve immortality. The news shocked everyone in the cultivation world. Upon learning this, Immortal Cuixuan sat in meditation for three days and nights, his expression grave, lost in thought.
After Ji Tongzhou achieved immortality, his appearance remained as youthful as before, but his once jet-black hair had turned completely white, a testament to the immense effort he had expended over the past decade, far beyond what they could imagine.
At that time, he hadn’t yet received his Daoist title. Elder Zong Quan of the Five Zhang Mountain in the Dragon Throne Sect, probably hoping to settle matters quickly while Ji Tongzhou was still newly immortal and not yet formidable, ordered Wu Gou to launch a massive attack on the Yue Kingdom as soon as Immortal Cuixuan withdrew his protection after the tenth year. Tens of thousands of troops at the Yue Kingdom’s border were incinerated without a trace by a rain of black fire, along with dozens of Dragon Throne Sect cultivators who perished on the spot.
This incident made Ji Tongzhou even more renowned. Due to his possession of the overwhelming and unstoppable Xuanhua Fire, his Daoist title became “Xuanhua.”
Within the hundred years following his ascension to immortality, several Dragon Throne Sect elders who had grudges against him perished under his black fire. Up to this point, it could still be considered his revenge. But afterward, everything spiraled out of control. The Dragon Throne Sect immortals were nearly wiped out by him within a hundred years. Subsequently, it was Elder Han from the Dizang Sect, who had once openly rebuked him, along with several other elders.
The Wuyue Court’s elders, including Qingle Dongyang, also had run-ins with him. Elder Dongyang suffered severe injuries from the Xuanhua Fire, greatly diminishing his spiritual essence.
Upon learning of this, Immortal Cuixuan’s first reaction was to cry out in dismay. Ji Tongzhou was like a wild beast just released from its cage, perhaps even more terrifying. He seemed intent on erasing everyone who might know about his past.
The Xuanhua Fire was incredibly difficult to deal with. In the Wuyue Court, Chongyi could detect the most subtle spiritual fluctuations, while Guangwei possessed immensely powerful immortal techniques. If the two of them joined forces, they might have a chance of gaining the upper hand. However, after the Sea Calamity, Chongyi became obsessed with collecting various exotic tales from overseas, remaining in the Eastern Sea and staring endlessly at the Spirit Stele, neglecting his cultivation entirely. Guangwei, unable to resolve his inner conflicts regarding Lei Xiuyuan and Hu Jiaping, had long since left the sect, his whereabouts unknown, much like Qingcheng in the past. As for Immortal Cuixuan and the other old immortals, they couldn’t possibly gather to deal with a newly ascended immortal, and the four sect leaders were even less likely to do so.
Thinking back now, Immortal Cuixuan was probably the most worried among the Wuyue Court. Before the Sea Calamity, he was concerned about its arrival; after it passed, he worried that once Ji Tongzhou’s fangs fully matured, he might bare his bloody maw at the Wuyue Court.
He had been racking his brains for a solution, but no one could directly contend with the Xuanhua Fire. This legendary fire of heart demons grew stronger the more twisted and agonized its possessor became. He had originally thought Ji Tongzhou’s pain stemmed from his inability to protect the Yue Kingdom, but now it seemed the matters in his heart were far more complex than imagined.
Two hundred years after Ji Tongzhou achieved immortality, at the height of his power and seemingly unstoppable, he suffered his first and nearly fatal ambush. The perpetrators were his former friends, the Eastern Sea disciple Bai Lige Lin and her Dao partner Lu Li, along with the Wuyue Court’s newly ascended immortals Su Wan and Deng Xiguang.
After that day, Su Wan and Deng Xiguang never returned, much like the disappearance of Bai Chang Yue and Ye Ye years ago.
Zhao Min saw Bai Lige Lin on the third day. She looked terrible, like a startled bird, her jaw so gaunt it was almost deformed. She would pause for a long time after saying just one sentence. Although she had become immortal, compared to the cheerful and energetic girl Li Fei had described, she seemed like a completely different person.
Immortal Cuixuan seemed particularly skilled at exploiting confused and resentful hearts. He had used this trick to tempt Ji Tongzhou years ago, and Ji Tongzhou had taken the bait. But who knew that once hooked, he would prove far more formidable and difficult to handle than imagined. Now, the same tactic was being used on Bai Lige Lin, but it failed to work.
After listening to Immortal Cuixuan’s words, this dispirited woman left only one sentence: “I’ll avenge my grudges. No need for others to interfere.”
Afterward, no matter how Immortal Cuixuan tried to persuade her, she remained silent.
The next day, she quietly left the Wuyue Court. Zhao Min never saw her again, nor did she hear any news about her, until now.
As these old immortals like Immortal Cuixuan aged day by day, over the long four hundred years, countless sect leaders and renowned elder immortals in high positions passed away, replaced by fresh blood. No one remembered Immortal Xuanhua’s naive past anymore. In everyone’s eyes, there was only the formidable immortal who possessed the unstoppable Xuanhua Fire, who had achieved fame at a young age, and whose Yue Kingdom had annexed countless countries to become an unshakeable hegemon.
Four hundred years passed, and Immortal Cuixuan, who had held out until the last, finally reached the end of his lifespan. Chongyi, Guangwei, and the other elder immortals from those days had long since vanished. Su Wan and Deng Xiguang had most likely died at Ji Tongzhou’s hands. In the vast Wuyue Court, the only one who knew of the past events was the current Zuiyu Peak Elder, Zhao Min.
On the night Immortal Cuixuan passed away, Zhao Min was summoned. He was so weak he could barely sit up, half-slumped in his chair. Looking at her, he spoke word by word: “The matters hidden in that boy’s heart are likely nothing more than ambition and emotions. Since his ambition has been pursued and satisfied, only matters of the heart can still confuse him. We cannot allow him to continue being so prominent.
All of us old folks are dead, and none of you youngsters are his match! If we don’t eliminate him, what happened to the Dragon Throne Sect today will be the Wuyue Court’s fate tomorrow! Over these years, I’ve carefully pondered his every word and action from back then. It seems he and Jiang Li Fei must have had some entanglement. Go through Jiang Li Fei’s sealed belongings carefully, and see if there’s anything suspicious. Hurry! If you find something, bring it to me immediately.”
Afterward, Zhao Min took out this old dressing case. The purple jade cricket and lacquered comb were quite luxurious, unlike Li Fei’s usual frugal style. Lei Xiuyuan was also a disciple of modest means, and gifts from old friends like Su Wan or Bai Lige Lin wouldn’t be so valuable. Moreover, they wouldn’t have been hidden at the bottom of the dressing-case as if Li Fei wanted to conceal them.
Thinking carefully, after the Eastern Sea trial, she never heard Li Fei mention Ji Tongzhou again. It was highly likely that the current Immortal Xuanhua’s inner conflict was planted at that time.
Seeing these two items, Immortal Cuixuan’s eyes immediately lit up. With his last breath, he instructed: “You… find an opportunity… to return these things to him… disturb his state of mind… The Xuanhua Fire, the fire of heart demons… I want to make it burn… burn even more fiercely… until it consumes him…”
Before he could finish, this immortal who had worried for most of his life passed away. With this, the last of the old generation of immortals in the Wuyue Court had perished.
At this moment, looking at Ji Tongzhou’s shocked eyes, Zhao Min felt a thousand emotions well up in her heart. She deliberately moved the dressing-case closer, calmly using a lie to shatter his last bit of defense: “After Li Fei returned from the Eastern Sea back then, she would play with these two items every day. I once saw her secretly shedding tears. Heh, youth is wasted without romance. Since Li Fei is no longer a member of our Wuyue Court, these two items should be returned to their original owner. Returning them to Immortal Xuanhua also serves as a memento worth reminiscing about.”
She watched as Ji Tongzhou froze in place, saw his gaze quickly return to its icy state, watched him raise his hand to gently pick up the purple jade cricket and lacquered comb, hold them in his palm, and look down at them closely, and finally tuck them into his sleeve as if nothing had happened.
“Thank you for this,” he said without changing his expression. After speaking, he turned and left, shouting sternly, “Jing Wu! Keep up quickly!”
The panicked young boy stumbled as he mounted his flying sword, following behind him, and in the blink of an eye, they flew out of sight. Zhao Min silently gazed at the gray sky, recalling those old yet fresh events from four hundred years ago, speechless for a long while.