Long spent in a cage, trapped in a narrow space, one eye on the gray sky, one eye on the desolation, walking in the darkness...
Ten days,
A hundred days,
A year,
Ten thousand miles,
A hundred thousand miles,
A million miles,
Ten million miles,
Covered in the dust of travel, letting the years rush by, it remained difficult to find the dawn, the morning dew, or even half a lamp.
In the mortal realm of Fanzhou,
Since Xu Xian reopened the sky path and the world's experts ascended, two or three years had passed in a flash...
In every sect and every clan, the soul lamps had all been extinguished.
Of the more than four hundred lamps, only seven still burned.
This matter,
Was no secret.
This matter,
Was known to all under heaven.
The path to immortality?
Longevity?
Only a mountain of white bones.
Fortunately, both lamps of the Wendao Sword Sect remained lit, and everything was as usual. With the matter of ascending finished and the soul lamps of the strong extinguished, the Wendao Sword Sect naturally became the only sect in all of Fanzhou to possess experts above the ninth stage.
Undisputedly, it had become the number one sect of Fanzhou, the hegemon of the mortal realm.
The ten thousand races submitted, keeping to themselves.
The disciples were busy cultivating, entering the world, and saving others.
Li Qingshan was still the Sect Master. If no accidents occurred, he would remain in this position for a very long time to come.
Ruan Hao had become the number one master forger, because the one more powerful than him had ascended to the Heavens and then died.
As Xu Xian had promised, the Wendao Sword Sect gave up the lands north of the far north, allowing the demon race of the North Sea to enter the continent.
Tushan became the leader of the eight islands due to Tu Kongkong's connection.
The Central Plains remained as they were, shared by the Three Sects, Hundred Schools, and Thousand Sects. The Demon Abyss did not emerge, and the East Desolation remained calm.
Peace reigned over the world.
Thus, a golden age of cultivation, where the myriad beings of the ten thousand races sought the Dao with one heart, slowly began in Fanzhou...
Xu Xian was gone, but his story continued to spread, just like that of the Sword Ancestor of old, yet the disciple had excelled the master...
Above the Heavens, after two or three years—nearly a thousand days of time—Xu Xian and the others, guided by Li Shuhe, traversed thirty-six desolate provinces and arrived in the Far East, on the west bank of the Spirit River.
They emerged from the gloom, walking out of the desolation, stepping onto a range of high mountains while covered in the dust of travel.
Standing atop a peak,
After three years, they finally saw a glimmer of light in this endless Grey Realm Above the Heavens that did not belong to the darkness.
It was a magnificent aurora, like a single line hanging at the edge of sight, looking as if someone had used scissors to cut a slit through a sheet of black and white paper.
The light was extremely distant and faint...
Yet the light was incredibly long, stretching from south to north, manifesting from the void and disappearing back into it.
If one's divine sense was strong enough, it would be clear that this streak of light was not a straight line, but a winding, irregular wave hung across the horizon.
Its light was brilliant, its radiance flowing.
They stood together on the mountain peak, gazing at the horizon. Catching a glimpse of this line, long-absent smiles finally appeared on their weary faces.
Xu Xian reached up and pulled back the hood of his gray robe, revealing his travel-worn face. His messy hair, unbound at the forehead, danced in the sorrowful wind as he gazed into the distance with deep eyes and asked:
“Is that the Spirit River?”
Li Shuhe gave a soft sound of affirmation.
“Yes!”
Tu Sisi whispered, “A streak of brilliant white, flowing while suspended in the air... what a celestial river. It truly looks like the work of a divine brush, supernatural craftsmanship!”
Even though it was very far away—so far that from their perspective, the river looked as thin as a strand of silk in the darkness—they could still tell that the river did not flow upon the earth, but across the sky.
It was like a mortal looking up at the sky and seeing the stars, the sun, and the moon.
Such a river,
In their understanding, should not be called the Spirit River, but rather the Celestial River.
The Sovereign said lazily, “I don't remember such a river existing in the 3,000 provinces...”
Lu Yuan also shook his head. “Neither do I. It's not in my memory either.”
One came from the early Era of Ancient Immortals, and the other from the end of it; both originated from the Heavens.
Yet in their impressions, this river did not exist.
The Little Book Spirit sitting on Xu Xian's shoulder indicated that it hadn't seen it either. This was indeed a long river that originally did not exist.
Li Shuhe said, “This river wasn't there originally. It only appeared long after the darkness had been attacking the 3,000 provinces.”
The eyes of the group lit up, their thirst for knowledge reaching its peak at this moment.
Looking at the line of the river again, their eyes were filled with a hunger for answers.
Xu Xian pondered for a moment. “Then where did this river come from?”
Li Shuhe knit her elegant brows, speaking each word slowly. “I heard that one day, the river suddenly came from Chaos, flowing through Cangming. It flows from the south all the way to the north. As the river's light shines down, the darkness retreats, unable to advance even half a step. A corner of the 3,000 provinces has been preserved to this day because of it. The surviving beings of Cangming crossed the river to live, and the Immortal Land was born from that. For the next ten thousand years, the darkness and the light have been locked in a long confrontation along both banks of this river...”
This was what she knew.
There were also things she didn't know.
It was only hearsay...
“As for where this river came from, why it came, and what gave birth to it, the answers are only known to the people on the other side of the river. I don't know either. Once you cross the river, you should be able to find out.”
Jin Qing interjected with a question, “Have you never been to the other side, Senior?”
Li Shuhe shook her head and said with a hint of helplessness, “I cannot cross...”
Hearing this, the group looked at Li Shuhe several times. Because she couldn't cross, she had to stay in this desolation, enduring that endless loneliness all by herself?
It was truly distressing and heart-wrenching to think about.
Xu Xian remained silent, but a trace of reluctance quietly flashed in the depths of his eyes.
He understood.
By saying this, Li Shuhe was telling them that a thousand-day escort must eventually end in parting. The moment they crossed the river would be the day they said their goodbyes.
However,
Now was not the time to talk about that. The most important thing now was whether they could cross that river alive.
He looked back at his surroundings. There were once over four hundred who ascended, but after the struggle at the Spirit Tower in the Sword Province, only nine remained. Now, two years later, there were still nine people who had made it here.
But that was including the Sovereign and Li Shuhe.
The saint from Ancient Sword Mountain had died, and Huang Xiao's father had also passed away.
Three years.
Over seventy million miles of road.
They had walked for three whole years, and those three years had not been smooth sailing.
Along the way, they had encountered more than one conflict and had been discovered by dark creatures more than once.
Fortunately, Li Shuhe and the Sovereign were strong enough to resolve the death traps time and again, allowing the seven of them to reach this point.
Only half a province's distance remained beneath their feet. If they could step across it,
They would live!
But they also knew very well that the dangers of this final half-province would far exceed those of the thirty-six provinces they had traversed over the past three years.
In fact, as they drew closer to the Immortal Land recently, the figures of dark creatures had appeared more frequently.
The footprints of those dark creature spies were nearly everywhere along the path heading east. They had never stopped their pursuit and liquidation for even a moment.
They had arrived,
And the other side knew they had arrived.
The enemy could not possibly stand by and watch; they had likely already laid out an inescapable net and been waiting for a long time.
While Xu Xian's group was waiting for this moment, so were they.
The group discussed the matter of the Spirit River, speculating on its source and longing for the days ahead when they would bathe in the light, listen to the wind, and smell the fragrance of flowers...
The Sovereign spoiled the mood, waking them up with a metaphorical blow. “Stop dreaming. Next, there will be a fierce battle. I'm afraid some of you youngsters are about to fall into a sleep you'll never wake from!”
Rate on N.U.
