“What is this miasma you speak of?” In the humble courtyard, Baili inquired for information.
Lu Liu shook his head, “I don’t know either; everyone in the village calls it that. But we all know that once miasma enters the body, one cannot live for long.”
“How does the miasma enter the body? Where is the exact location? Can you lead us to take a look?” Gao Qiu asked with an urgent tone, wishing he could locate and eliminate the demonic entity right this instant.
Lu Liu’s eyes were filled with bewilderment. After thinking carefully for a moment, he shook his head and said, “I don’t know. A-Qing stayed by the river last night and contracted miasma; you two can go take a look by the river.” He looked at Baili, the desolation in his eyes interrupted by the pair’s questioning, and mustered a bit of spirit. “The two immortal elders can go on your own. Please forgive us for any lack of hospitality.”
A-Qing had only just woken up; he couldn’t let his excess emotions show, nor could he leave A-Qing with any sense of reluctance to part.
Baili and Gao Qiu exchanged glances. Gao Qiu plopped down onto a stool and complained, “Senior Brother, I’m not going; I want to stay and keep guard here. Anyway, it doesn’t look very dangerous here either; Senior Brother, you go ahead.”
Baili nodded, his expression calm and detached. “Alright.” He hadn’t really expected his junior brother to accompany him anyway.
Watching his senior brother head out the door, Gao Qiu surveyed the surrounding environment, a trace of disdain flashing through the depths of his eyes. This place was even inferior to the residences of the outer disciples.
However, through the fragmented words of the villagers, he had gleaned some information. The two Lu brothers were not looked upon favorably in the village; Lu Qing had apparently been a fool previously, contracted demonic qi by the river yesterday, and only regained his senses today.
Thinking of this, Gao Qiu looked at Lu Qing, who was sitting under a tree, stood up, and walked over to stand right in front of him.
As a shadow fell over him, Lu Qing raised his head and smiled at him, his brows curved in an exceptionally approachable manner: “Immortal Elder Gao, is something the matter?”
He knew it. Before he had time to ingest the pills, upon hearing that cultivators had arrived, trouble was bound to follow.
Gao Qiu smiled, bending down slightly with a few strands of hair drooping forward: “Extend your hand, let me check your body to see if there are any lingering ailments.”
If the demonic qi remained long-term in the body and wasn’t expelled, it was possible something adverse might happen.
However, after hearing Lu Liu’s words, he knew there was something amiss with this village. Now that his senior brother had gone to the riverbank, by interacting with Lu Qing, he might perhaps uncover a trace of clues.
Demonic entities ran amok and wreaked havoc on the human world. No matter what, they were cultivators themselves, and since doubts had been raised, they couldn’t simply let the matter slide lightly. If something went wrong in the future, they would bear the consequences and be unable to escape blame.
Lu Qing roughly guessed what Gao Qiu was plotting. Things had happened in too much of a rush, and he also wanted to know if his physical body had any discomfort.
He extended his right hand. Gao Qiu pressed his index and middle fingers together onto Lu Qing’s wrist, channeling spiritual power into his body to circulate and inspect it, but found nothing amiss.
Gao Qiu lowered his hand, straightened up, and smiled amicably: “There’s nothing wrong with your body. I’m going to go check on my senior brother. The two of you brothers depend on each other for survival; speak more with one another before parting ways.” He turned and stepped out of the courtyard.
Lu Liu was cooking in the kitchen. Lu Qing got up, walked to the kitchen doorway, and leaned against the door frame to watch.
Sensing the gaze from behind him, Lu Liu’s spine stiffened slightly. He had been thinking just moments before that A-Qing had never left Luoxia Village and possessed no memories of his past twenty-four years. Now, as he prepared to leave home without knowing the malice and wickedness of the outside world, his heart truly couldn’t rest easy.
“Brother.” Lu Qing knew this was a game world; whether toward the world or toward Lu Liu, he didn’t possess a shred of genuine affection. To put it bluntly, this body was merely game data, a fabricated construct, and a logical pretext.
He had always been cold-hearted and detached since childhood; whether it was familial affection, friendship, or romance, he had never experienced any of them.
Therefore, as for Lu Liu’s emotions, he could perceive them, but he didn’t quite know what to say.
“Older brother is right here.” Lu Liu wiped his hands, stood up, and looked at him with a gentle gaze: “I’m genuinely happy that A-Qing can leave the village. Since A-Qing is able to cultivate and achieve a lifespan as boundless as the heavens, I’m glad for you.”
Looking at that forced smile, Lu Qing frowned slightly: “If you don’t feel like smiling, then don’t. It’s just a pity that you don’t have a spiritual root and can’t cultivate. If you don’t want us to part ways, I can ask Gao Qiu if he can bring you along as well.”
Mortals also survived in the Shifang Realm—they were children born to cultivators who formed dao companions, and those without spiritual roots were sent out to live and be raised in the outer world. Over time, the number of mortals in the Shifang Realm was by no means fewer than those in the mortal world.
“Pfft, what would I go there for? Wouldn’t I just be adding to everyone’s chaos?” Lu Liu said in a firm, strict tone: “This is your opportunity, your fortune; you cannot miss out on it because of me. Listen to your brother, things should be as they are.”
He grinned broadly, his expression relaxed: “It’s good that you’re leaving; that way, I can finally take a wife and have children. After I die in the future, I won’t feel ashamed to face the trust entrusted to us by our mom and dad.”
Lu Qing’s lips moved slightly before he shrugged: “Well, then that’s great. I wish you good luck.”
He turned and left the courtyard, following the route in his memories to arrive at the riverbank, where he saw Baili and Gao Qiu standing side by side, gazing out over the river water and wondering what they were contemplating.
Gao Qiu turned around, a flicker of surprise crossing his face: “Lu Qing, what brings you here?”
“I came to take a look at you two.” Lu Qing walked straight over, came to a halt behind them, and raised a hand to point toward the right side: “This morning, I woke up right over here. Did the two of you notice anything?”
“We didn’t notice anything at all. The demon…” Gao Qiu swallowed the rest of his words and laughed instead, “Even if I told you now, you wouldn’t understand. Once you go to the Shifang Realm to cultivate, you’ll naturally understand.”
Baili raised a hand to set up a soundproof barrier, speaking with a mixture of doubt and wariness: “Strange, when we arrived, we clearly sensed demonic qi, but now the demonic qi has already dispersed, and nothing can be investigated.”
This was the first time such an incident had occurred. Either someone had eliminated the demonic entity here, or the demonic entity had already left this place, which was why the demonic qi had dissipated.
Gao Qiu didn’t care. Now that the quest was completed, he wanted to leave this backwater place as quickly as possible.
He chuckled softly, “Isn’t this a good thing? It saves us from having to do it ourselves, and Luoxia Village won’t suffer any harm either. Once we bring these people back, we’ll be able to return to the Shifang Realm.”
Among the Ten Directions and Nine Sects, the Lingyao Sect occupied the primary position as head of the sects. They belonged to a branch and were outer disciples. Yet they were also reluctant to come to the mortal world; spiritual qi here was thin, and staying for long might lead to accidents.
In a place like this, he couldn’t figure out why a demonic entity would choose to co-exist here; in his view, whoever did that must have something wrong with their brain.
Unable to find the source of the demonic qi, and with all demonic qi having completely dissipated now, doing any more work would be a futile effort.
Baili let out a light sigh, his expression turning cold and indifferent: “Forget it. Matters having reached this point, this is the only way.” Once they returned to Jinyu Town, this incident would have to be reported to the Elder.
Baili withdrew the soundproof barrier and turned to look at Lu Qing: “Lu Qing, we’ll be intruding for these next two days.”
Suppressing the doubts at the bottom of his heart, Lu Qing shook his head. “It’s nothing.” Remembering Lu Liu’s expression, he ultimately didn’t voice his underlying thoughts.
The three of them turned to leave the riverbank, greeted warmly by the villagers they met along the way, brimming with the rich warmth of human fireworks.
Shifang Realm, Lingyao Sect.
The Lingyao Sect knew no winter; there were only spring, summer, and autumn. An ancient pine tree aged ten thousand years stood proudly within the sect, beneath which an eight-zhang-tall stone tablet was inscribed with three characters: Lingyao Sect. Moving forward led to a precipitous cliff, where an iron chain bridge swayed in the wind. Beneath the bridge lay an abyss spanning ten thousand fathoms, wreathed in white mist whose bottom remained invisible.
Looking ahead, various halls were exquisite, grand, and prosperous, with an ancient bell standing solidly right in the center. Cranes flew overhead, and disciples clad in cyan and yellow robes practiced sword flight. Immortal energy drifted and billowed, while their dharma robes shimmered with flowing radiance.
Within the main hall, Sect Master Shen Zhihang wore a solemn expression, flanked to his left and right by men of composed and steady temperament.
The one on the left was dressed in a cyan Taoist robe, wore a golden crown, and had a face as flawless as jade. He sat upright with lowered eyelids, his well-articulated hand holding a teacup as wisps of steam blurred his features.
The one on the right wore a white robe, leaning back slightly while resting his chin in his hand, his white hair cascading down to his waist. An ethereal and intangible aura surrounded him, making it impossible to clearly discern his specific expression.
Shen Zhihang wore a yellow robe embroidered with golden lotus patterns on the collar, a black jade pendant at his waist, and a wide collar dotted with pale lotus blossoms.
He let out a scoff and said with displeasure: “I called you two here not for you to zone out, nor to drink tea. Right now, a demonic star has descended, bringing calamity upon all living beings. Do you both have any plans?”
Situ Lin didn’t even lift his head as he held his teacup and smiled playfully: “What use is it to find us about this matter? Rather than asking us, you’d be better off going to ask Yunchuan.”
At the mention of Yunchuan, the three of them fell silent.
Yuan Luogui chuckled softly, raising his gaze to look outside the hall where pine needles were vaguely visible: “Yunchuan has been in seclusion for five hundred years. He walls himself off and refuses outside contact why bring him up out of the blue?”
“Although Yunchuan practices the Daoist legal system, he stays cooped up in Wangxu Palace and never steps outside. Now that such a major event has occurred, it is about time for him to come out of seclusion,” Shen Zhihang snorted coldly. “The Lingyao Sect was built single-handedly by him to achieve its current success; dumping this burden onto me, what kind of behavior is that?”
“Relying solely on this reason to get him out of seclusion is probably difficult,” Situ Lin sneer-laughed. “Ever since Yuqing perished, Yunchuan went into seclusion, and nobody knows when the end of it will be.”
A trace of annoyance flashed through his eyes: “I just said, using this reason alone is not enough to get Yunchuan to come out.”
“No matter what, we still need Yunchuan to make an appearance. Otherwise, the other sects will think Yunchuan has fallen and might harbor malicious intentions against our sect,” Shen Zhihang said with a headache, his expression cold and stern. “Three days ago, I observed the stars. The place where the demonic star descended to the mortal world is in the mortal realm.”
“So you sent so many outer disciples to the mortal world precisely to investigate the truth about the demonic star?” Yuan Luogui pondered thoughtfully, lightly knitting his brows. “Then do you suppose this demonic star is an infant or an adult?”
Whether it was an infant or an adult, finding the demonic star would probably be extremely difficult. The only thing they could do was continuously investigate and ferret out the demonic star.
Shen Zhihang shook his head slightly, “I don’t know.” He let out a soft sigh, his expression troubled. “The demonic star is blurry and indistinct, incapable of being specifically pinned down. Even using the divine artifact, the Dome Eye, we cannot see it.”
“If that is the case, it is a great catastrophe,” Situ Lin said in a drawn-out tone. “We should probably notify the other sects about this matter and formulate a concrete plan together.”
“That’s easily said,” Yuan Luogui shook his head to himself. “Let’s go to Wangxu Palace to see Yunchuan; we must work out a course of action.”
“Since you can’t find the demonic star, what use is it just sending outer disciples? The mortal world suppresses cultivation, and since you also intend to recruit disciples, dispatch some inner disciples there instead.” After saying this, Yuan Luogui’s avatar vanished into the void. “I’m going to select suitable inner disciples to head to the mortal world.”
“Since he’s going to select disciples, I’ll go inform the remaining sects. As for Yunchuan’s side, I’ll leave it to you to speak with him,” Situ Lin said before disappearing as well, leaving the tea in his teacup completely untouched.
Shen Zhihang sighed softly and, in the blink of an eye, arrived at Wangxu Palace. Wangxu Palace was lonely and icy, devoid of a single breath of living energy, and even the palace buildings were pitch black. It was difficult for anyone to grow fond of such a place, as an endless sense of silence enveloped the surroundings.
Not long after he arrived, a deep and ethereal voice echoed from all directions: “Since you’ve come, then come on in.”
The array of Wangxu Palace unlocked, and the broad, heavy palace doors parted from both sides.
Shen Zhihang walked inside in silence. Passing through the front courtyard, he caught sight of a withered peach tree. The soil was dry and devoid of moisture, not even growing a single blade of weed.
“Immortal Lord Yunchuan,” Shen Zhihang lowered his head and said respectfully, “This time a demonic star has descended, bringing calamity upon all living beings. I…”
“Immortal Lord Yunchuan?” Sounding half-mocking and half-sighing, that voice drifted down ethereally, “Has it already been five hundred years?”
“Yes.” Shen Zhihang stated the purpose of his visit. “The demonic star carries turbid qi, and perhaps it can be found among the disciples recruited on this trip. I hope Immortal Lord Yunchuan can come out of seclusion to observe and assist.”
The temperature within the hall plunged until it felt like an icy frost had descended. Shen Zhihang lowered his gaze, and after receiving no response for a long time, he grew somewhat urgent.
He said, “I observed the stars three days ago; the demonic star descended in the mortal realm. I have already dispatched outer disciples there, but yesterday I received news that demonic entities are running amok and even the Demon clan is stirring restlessly. This time threatens to be a great catastrophe.”
“The Immortal Lord possesses profound cultivation and practices the Daoist legal system; perhaps the Immortal Lord can discern the clues within and find a way to save the world.” Shen Zhihang fell silent after speaking, awaiting a response.
After a long while, a soft sigh rang beside his ear: “Forget it. At the very least, it was his wish you may go now. Once those people are brought here, this monarch will appear.”
Joy surged in Shen Zhihang’s heart, and he quickly acknowledged: “Please rest assured, Immortal Lord. I will certainly do my utmost and will definitely not allow the demonic star to plunge all living beings into chaos.”