In the mountains, the peach trees withered and bloomed through three cycles.
Sword Inquiry Square had been sealed for three years. Weeds grew from the cracks in the stone, and fallen leaves blanketed the long steps. Beneath a sword stele sat a figure of mud, covered in the dust of time.
Whenever disciples in the mountains passed by from a distance, they couldn't help but cast their gazes over.
They often discussed and boasted about the sight.
"It’s been three years. Do you think this guy is dead?"
"What are you thinking? It’s only been three years. I heard that back in the day, the Book Immortal sat in the Heavenly Book Pavilion to comprehend the Dao for a hundred years. He became an immortal with a single thought afterward and was perfectly fine. This is only three years; it's nothing."
"Is that the same? Before the Book Immortal entered his epiphany, he was already a Golden Core cultivator who could practice fasting. That Xu Xian is a newcomer with not a lick of cultivation..."
"What are you worrying for? With the ancestors guarding him, they wouldn't actually let him die."
"True, haha."
"I wonder how much longer this epiphany will last."
"The longer the better. Maybe it’ll be a hundred years or even longer. When the time comes, our Wendao Sword Sect will produce a Stele Immortal to suppress all of the Three Sects."
"..."
An epiphany.
For a cultivator, it was a serendipitous opportunity that could be sought but not guaranteed. Those who experienced an epiphany would more or less grasp the laws of heaven and earth that ordinary people could not understand.
While a longer duration didn't strictly mean a better result, a long duration certainly meant it couldn't be bad.
Years ago, the Golden Cicada of the Buddhist sect spent ten years comprehending the Buddhist Dao and gained a golden body, rumored to be immortal and indestructible.
A Taoist priest once had an epiphany for a sixty-year cycle, slaying all his inner demons in a dream. Upon waking, he rose like a phoenix and became a Celestial Master.
Of course, the record holder for the longest epiphany was that old gentleman from the Haoran Academy.
In the Golden Core realm, he entered the Heavenly Book Pavilion and sat in silence for a hundred years.
He comprehended the Way of the Heavenly Book and became an immortal with a single thought. From then on, his words became law, he could summon wind and rain, and with a stroke of his pen...
This record remained unbroken to this day.
It was truly unprecedented and would likely never be repeated.
Line after line of historical records described legends who had more or less attained the Dao within a dream.
Therefore...
An epiphany was something everyone desired but few obtained.
Xu Xian had joined the Wendao Sword Sect three years ago. Carrying a sword spirit root, he had broken the Sword Ancestor’s endgame and gained enlightenment from the stele. He had sat there for three years. Regardless of the outcome, even if he woke up now, his future achievements would surely be extraordinary.
Though he sat withered before the sword stele, the rumors about him within the Wendao Sword Sect had never ceased for a moment.
Even in the world outside, there were rumors circulating about him.
They said the Wendao Sword Sect had gained a genius disciple with a sword spirit root who broke an endgame and comprehended a sword stele. Occasionally, powerful experts would lament that the Wendao Sword Sect had a successor and that their providence had been extremely strong over these last thousand years.
Whether it was flattery or mere talk, it didn't matter.
It was only hard on Li Qingshan.
Xu Xian had sat for three years, and he had stood guard here for those same three years.
Ye Xianyu had said that since he was the one who brought the boy back, he should be the one to watch over him.
To this, Li Qingshan had readily accepted. Who told her to be his master? Weren't disciples meant to be ordered around?
Furthermore, although he was the Peak Master of Zhijian Peak, he never concerned himself with the affairs of the mountain. He merely held the title. In the entire Wendao Sword Sect, aside from his master, no one was truly more idle than him.
One day, Ye Xianyu arrived. After a quick glance, she knit her elegant brows and asked, "Still not awake?"
"I don't know."
"He’s not dead, is he?"
Li Qingshan was speechless. "That’s not a funny joke."
Ye Xianyu gave him a mock glare. "You're so boring."
Li Qingshan remained silent, focusing on drinking his wine.
Ye Xianyu looked at the wine jars littering the ground, crinkled her nose, and said, "Drink a little less. Be careful not to drink yourself to death one of these days."
Li Qingshan chuckled. "When have you ever heard of an immortal getting drunk and dying from wine?"
Looking at the smug Li Qingshan, Ye Xianyu couldn't be bothered to argue. She said casually, "Immortal, my foot. Fine, I have things to do. You stay here and look after your Little Junior Uncle."
Ye Xianyu departed.
Li Qingshan looked up, observing the river of stars beneath the moon. The stars were light and the crescent moon was like a hook. He took a long draft of wine and chanted deeply.
"Drunk, I know not the sky is reflected in the water; a boat of clear dreams weighs upon the Starry River..."
Time rushed by like a galloping river of stars. In a blur, the seasons changed once more.
Another year passed.
Spring.
Grass grew and warblers flew.
It had been a full four years since Xu Xian entered his epiphany. During these years on the mountain, among the same batch of disciples, Lin Qianqian had taken the lead. She was the first to successfully complete foundation establishment and had entered the Sword Mound to seek her life-bound sword.
Zhang Yang’s aptitude was mediocre, and his cultivation was equally average.
He spent his days at Zhujian Peak. Aside from cultivating, he was busy forging iron.
During this time, he had plucked up the courage to sneak into Wendao Square deep in the night when no one was around, intending to see if Xu Xian was actually dead.
The result was predictable.
Li Qingshan had picked him up like a little chick and carried him back to Zhujian Peak.
Hearsay had it that he was punished by his master to forge a thousand catties of fine iron before he was allowed to eat.
Quite tragic!
It was also in that year that Xu Xian, sitting before the sword stele, finally showed signs of movement.
That day, Li Qingshan was drowning his sorrows in wine and wasting time as usual when he suddenly heard a noise.
His ears twitched.
Even though it was nearly inaudible, he heard it clearly. Holding his wine jar, he slowly turned to look.
He saw the mud shell beneath the sword stele remained motionless, appearing no different than before.
He knit his brow slightly.
'Hmm... was I hearing things?'
Just as he was feeling puzzled, the mud coating Xu Xian began to shed dust. Then, it cracked, with countless fissures spreading in all directions.
Li Qingshan stared blankly. "He's awake."
Crack, crack, crack—
Bang, bang, bang—
The thick mud shell completely collapsed, sliding off the base of the sword stele and kicking up a cloud of dust...
"Cough, cough!"
"What the hell? Where did all this dust come from?"
Xu Xian was awake.
He stood up, stepped down from the stone seat of the sword stele, and kept waving his hands, trying to disperse the dust in front of him.
As the dust settled and the sunlight spilled down, Xu Xian’s gaze slowly swept across his surroundings. Fallen leaves, weeds, mottled stone tiles, a floor covered in wine jars, and a tipsy young man...
For a moment, he had an illusion.
It felt as though a very, very long time had passed...
Everything felt different, even more desolate than the deserted village he had seen in the Heart Inquiry Forest.
He swallowed hard as an ominous premonition flashed through his mind, and the words slipped out.
"Holy... did the Wendao Sword Sect go bankrupt?"
He looked at the wine jars all over the ground and couldn't help but complain, "How much did you drink?"
Li Qingshan stood up, carrying a wine jar in one hand, and strode toward Xu Xian.
Xu Xian instinctively backed away. "What are you doing?"
Li Qingshan didn't speak. He walked up to Xu Xian, his tipsy face showing an unprecedented solemnity, and his eyes were full of suspicion.
He looked left and right.
He reached out, pinched Xu Xian’s face, poked at his arms, occasionally frowning, wrinkling his nose, or clicking his tongue.
"What are you doing? Don't touch me, it tickles. Seriously, big brother, have you gone crazy..."
Li Qingshan was deaf to his words. Holding the wine jar in one hand and stroking his chin with the other, he muttered to himself like a madman, "He’s actually fine?"
"Is there no difference at all?"
"His physical body grew a bit... no qi, no dantian. How has he not even entered body refining? This shouldn't be right."
Xu Xian was completely bewildered, especially seeing Li Qingshan’s abnormal reaction. He wondered just how much of a shock this guy had endured to end up like this.
He looked around at the vast square—dilapidated, desolate, and devoid of people. The sense of unease in his heart grew stronger.
He muttered to himself internally.
'I only stayed inside for a few days. Don't tell me the Wendao Sword Sect actually got wiped out? That can't be, right?'
After a moment, Li Qingshan put away the wine jar, took a long look at Xu Xian, and initiated the questioning.
"How do you feel?"
Though confused, Xu Xian answered anyway. "I feel quite good."
Li Qingshan asked again, "No discomfort anywhere?"
Xu Xian shifted his body slightly and said plainly, "No, I just feel a bit constricted. My whole body is itchy."
Li Qingshan pondered for a moment, his brows locked. He raised a finger and said slowly, "Well, your clothes are probably too small."
"Huh?"
Xu Xian looked down and saw his toes poking out of his shoes, his pant legs were too short, and the buttons on his chest were bursting. He went numb.
"Holy... what’s going on?"
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