“You can go, but first, you have to reach the tribulation transcendence stage...”
Lu Yuan’s lips moved as he prepared to speak. “Wh—”
Xu Xian immediately pointed at him. “Don’t ask me why.”
Lu Yuan opened his mouth. “I—”
Xu Xian cut him off again. “Just tell me, are you going or not?”
Lu Yuan: “...”
After hesitating for a long time, Lu Yuan managed a single word. “Going.”
Xu Xian spread his hand and gestured toward the exit. “Fine. Now get lost.”
Speechless, Lu Yuan stood up dejectedly.
He didn’t forget to grumble under his breath, “I’m fed up with you. You won’t even let a person speak. What a piece of work...”
“Fine, tribulation transcendence it is.”
“Just you wait.”
“...”
After Lu Yuan left, Xu Xian let out a long, helpless sigh.
“Sigh...”
He actually didn’t want Lu Yuan to risk his life.
The little book spirit teased, “Does Master care that much about this little deer? Speaking of which, you haven’t done... that with any girls all these years. You don’t like men, do you? Is Lu Yuan your type?”
Xu Xian rolled his eyes at it. What kind of logic was that?
Yet he still said, “I’ve looked after him for four hundred years. Of course I’ve grown fond of him.”
The little book spirit didn’t deny it.
The little deer
was actually quite decent.
However,
it felt that taking him along wasn’t a bad idea.
Lu Yuan’s strength was nothing to scoff at. If he reached the tribulation transcendence stage, his combat power might rank second in all of Fanzhou. Coupled with the fact that he originally came from Above the Heavens, he might actually be able to help...
It proactively changed the subject. “Since you’ve laid your cards on the table, when are we building that guillotine?”
Xu Xian corrected it irritably, “What guillotine? For heaven’s sake, it’s called the Ascension Platform.”
“It’s the same thing, isn’t it?”
“It is not.”
The little book spirit yielded and quickly changed its tune. “Fine, fine, fine. It’s different. Then, my dear Master, when are we building that Ascension Platform?”
Xu Xian leaned back in his chair, slowly rocking. Under the shade of the locust tree, autumn leaves fell. The weather was slightly cool, and the tea had a faint sweetness. He said nonchalantly,
“No rush, no rush. Let’s wait a bit longer.”
“Wait for what?”
“Wait for the right moment...”
That night.
Learning that Xu Xian had finished his work in the fields and returned to the grotto-heaven, Xia Chu Yi gathered the group and brought good wine and meat to Xu Xian’s cave abode.
The enthusiastic crowd, however, was met with an empty house.
Xu Xian was not there.
No one knew where he had gone.
Xia Chu Yi was fuming, cursing Lu Yuan’s ancestors back eighteen generations.
“That dead deer,”
“He dared to play me.”
“Just wait,”
“Sooner or later, I’ll skin him and make a fur coat...”
Tu Kongkong added fuel to the fire. “Why wait? Winter is almost here. Do it now. Time waits for no one.”
Xia Chu Yi flatly refused. “Not now.”
Tu Kongkong pressed for an answer. “Why?”
Xia Chu Yi replied with a straight face, “I can’t beat him...”
Tu Kongkong looked solemn. “Fair point.”
Lin Qianqian was speechless.
Yao Xiaoxiao rubbed her forehead.
They had grown up and their cultivation had increased, but unfortunately, they seemed to have left their brains behind.
...
That night.
Xu Xian left the sect and headed straight for the far north.
He was going to see someone and strike a deal.
Based on the memories from his dream, Xu Xian arrived at a certain spot deep in the far north and stopped.
The little book spirit asked him, “Aren’t we going to see that guy? What are we doing here?”
Xu Xian looked down at the icy, snow-covered land beneath him. “He is right down there.”
Puzzled, the little book spirit used its Pupil of Insight again to peer through... looking several times.
It was empty.
“There’s nothing there?”
Xu Xian didn’t explain and descended into the wind and snow.
The little book spirit continued to ask how Xu Xian could be so sure.
Xu Xian told the truth: he had seen Him in a dream, right here.
The little book spirit was speechless.
You can trust a dream?
Xu Xian didn’t explain. Ordinarily, a dream couldn’t be trusted, but the dream Xu Xian had was different.
To guide him, to make him succumb, and to achieve His goals, the Twilight Emperor had simulated everything in the dream based on the reality of Fanzhou.
Every scene and character that appeared in the dream existed in reality. He was naturally no exception.
The little book spirit didn’t press further.
It knew everything about its master, except for that heart demon dream.
It only knew
that after the heart demon dream, its master had been gloomy all day, like a resentful woman in a deep courtyard.
Xu Xian landed in the snow, seeing only a vast expanse of white.
From time to time, a cold wind howled past,
swirling up heaps of frozen snow.
The little book spirit asked, “Should I dig?”
Xu Xian glanced sideways. “Dig for what?”
“Didn’t you say He was down there?”
Xu Xian looked at it as if it were an idiot.
Then, he sat cross-legged in the snow, not forgetting to take out a white cloud fur coat to drape over his shoulders.
The wind and snow fell around him but did not soil his body.
The little book spirit felt this was bizarre and wanted to grumble, but before it could speak, its master spoke to the swirling snow.
“Let’s talk.”
Two simple words.
His voice was very soft,
hardly audible over the sound of the wind and snow.
After his voice fell, the world remained as usual, the wind and snow still blowing...
But from the little book spirit’s perspective, it could see an aura beneath the ten-thousand-year-old ice and snow, steadily approaching. It pierced through the ice in a way imperceptible to the naked eye.
Then,
amidst the snow and the ripples in space, a figure appeared—half-real, half-ethereal.
To say He was fake
would be wrong, as He stood there so realistically, every frown and smile vivid and lifelike.
But to say He was real
would also be wrong; He left no footprints, made no sound when breathing, and the swirling snow passed right through His body...
Xu Xian looked up.
Golden cloud fox fur, ink-black hair,
handsome features, and a regal presence fully displayed.
He looked exactly the same as when Xu Xian had seen him in the Emperor’s Tomb, unchanged. Only today, He lacked the golden throne and the backdrop of the dark sky.
He seemed a few degrees less overbearing and arrogant.
Of course,
it was also possible that in the past, Xu Xian had been afraid of him.
Today,
he was simply fearless.
He drifted to a spot directly in front of Xu Xian, looking down from a standing position. The playful curve of his lips remained, and the thick mockery in his eyes was palpable.
He asked, “What took you so long?”
Xu Xian’s expression remained calm.
The book spirit was completely bewildered.
They had an appointment?
Xu Xian said, “I had some matters to attend to.”
He didn’t say anything else and sat down just like Xu Xian, not forgetting to straighten the sleeves of his cloud fox robe. He offered a mocking remark, “You are too young and have seen too little, yet you have no shortage of attachments. You worry too much. In the future, it will be hard for you to achieve great things.”
Xu Xian smiled.
“Heh.”
He shook his wide sleeves, rested a hand on his knee, and looked straight at Xu Xian, feigning ignorance. “Tell me, then. Why have you come to see me? Have you had a change of heart?”
Xu Xian didn’t answer but asked instead, “Since you knew I was coming, you naturally know why I’m here. Why bother asking?”
The Twilight Emperor’s lips curled into a faint, enigmatic smile. “Things still need to be made clear. Since you’ve come to beg me, you should be the one to speak first.”
Xu Xian had no intention of arguing over such childish games.
Who begged whom,
who compromised,
who humbled themselves—
did it matter?
None of it mattered.
What he wanted was the result. As long as he got that result, the process was irrelevant. He wasn’t even afraid of death; why would he fear bowing his head?
He got straight to the point. “I am opening the Sky Gate. Are you leaving or not?”
Rate on N.U.
