Chang Songzhu was actually quite a pretty girl. Her hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, with a pair of heroic sword-like eyebrows, deep-set features, and full lips. She wore a short top and long pants, with the cuffs and pant legs tightly bound, clearly dressed for ease of movement.
Now, she was accompanying Yuan Lian, and just as she said, she felt about thirty percent less tired. If she weren’t completely exhausted, she could have chattered on about her ancestors for eighteen generations.
Chang Songzhu looked about the same age as Yuan Lian, but without her saying anything, Yuan Lian could tell that this girl had just turned eighty and was at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation.
At this age and cultivation level, she would be considered a divine prodigy in the Middle Thousand World, a young talent in the Great Thousand World, but unfortunately, in the Divine Realm, she could only be called “average.”
“It’s just, it’s just that my talent isn’t great, but I’ve got plenty of ambition,” Chang Songzhu said with a breathless giggle, showing her white teeth.
“I’ve struggled for years to reach my current cultivation level, but to go further, being a rogue cultivator isn’t enough. That’s why I’m trying everything to join a prestigious sect.”
Yuan Lian, though not often out and about, knew some basic facts.
In the Divine Realm, getting basic cultivation techniques was easy. As long as you had some comprehension, even without guidance, refining essence and condensing qi wasn’t difficult. But reaching the Nascent Soul stage and beyond was a threshold into another realm, and unless you were a prodigy, you needed someone to teach you.
She could have used her divine sense to observe the girl beside her, but instead, she turned her head to look at her.
Her gaze was cool with a hint of curiosity, making Chang Songzhu want to say more without realizing it.
“If I’m going to choose, I’ll choose the best. Sword Mountain has special requirements and definitely wouldn’t want me. Ding Tian Mausoleum is so austere it’s like they’re all about to become monks. Then there’s the Forbidden Demon Cave… it’s hard to explain, but I don’t want to go crazy. After thinking it over, only Wanyi Sect seems normal. The sect doesn’t produce monks or madmen…”
As she spoke, she noticed Yuan Lian walking forward with composure, yet not saying a word, which made her blush a little. “Sorry, am I talking too much…?”
Indeed, it was quite a lot. At least Yuan Lian had never met someone so outgoing, but that wasn’t what she was thinking about…
Yuan Lian slightly turned her face, hesitating, “You…”
“What is it, what is it?” Chang Songzhu was delighted to see her respond.
“Do you know that everything you do and say on the Trial of Immortality is watched by the sect elders?”
Chang Songzhu’s smile froze, and she immediately recalled the things she said to please Yuan Lian earlier.
Monks… crazy people…
Then she tripped on a step and fell face-first onto the path.
Yuan Lian stepped back a couple of steps and didn’t help her up. She slightly raised her chin and said indifferently, “I told you, I won’t help.”
Chang Songzhu struggled to get up, her face once again filled with a smile. “No need to help, I can get up… Besides, I didn’t say anything much, just a few truths. The sect is broad-minded, they wouldn’t bother with someone like me…”
She was comforting herself, but Yuan Lian thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. “Ding Tian Mausoleum aside, the Forbidden Demon Cave… with Wanyi Sect’s relationship with Lan Yu, they wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with what you said.”
Especially Yan Hang, whose relationship with Lan Yu was so bad that he could only badmouth him behind his back. Hearing what Chang Songzhu said, he might even secretly laugh.
Chang Songzhu was just a small figure in the Divine Realm and didn’t even know who “Lan Yu” was. She wanted to ask, but seeing Yuan Lian already walking ahead, she had to use her remaining strength to climb the mountain.
As they walked, Yuan Lian noticed they had reached a place covered by an illusion array.
She neither stopped nor warned Chang Songzhu, but walked straight into the formation.
To say that this level of formation could confuse an Immortal Venerable’s divine sense was undoubtedly a fool’s dream. Yuan Lian could easily see through the illusion and reality.
Being Yuan Lian, her life was almost flawless, so what appeared before her were memories she remembered vividly but felt no emotion towards.
“You and I have known each other since childhood, for over a hundred years now… no one else, never anyone else.”
“Now the situation is uncertain, and the evidence against your family is complete. To uphold the law, Zhen Niang, I have no choice.”
“To be husband and wife, to love and trust each other… never to part, to live and die together.”
“I truly like you… if you don’t believe me, I’ll swear by my ancestors’ true name…”
…
…
Whispers passed by her ears, and Yuan Lian cast them all aside. The last stretch of the path replayed the most memorable scenes from her current impressions.
She stood at the edge of a cliff, watching a couple embracing not far away.
The girl, still in the Essence Refining stage, cried with tears streaming down her face, burying her head in her companion’s shoulder, her voice hoarse, “Did you see… Dad and Mom’s hair is all white, they, they just turned fifty…”
At that time, Feng Yunqing’s expression was a bit youthful, his eyes red, but he still earnestly comforted the Yun Lian in his arms, “It’s okay, it’s okay, if you can’t bear it, we’ll visit them often…”
Yun Lian felt terrible. They both knew it wasn’t about companionship—their parents had only a few years left to live.
They were still at the beginning of their lives, and in the cultivation world, the Essence Refining stage was just the starting point. But who would have thought their parents’ deaths would come faster than their growth?
Losing parents, watching familiar faces age and pass away, was a tribulation every cultivator was destined to face.
A tear quietly slipped from the corner of Feng Yunqing’s eye. He closed his eyes tightly to hide his vulnerability, holding Yun Lian even tighter, “Xiao Lian, I’m still here… I’ll always be with you.”
Yun Lian sobbed, unable to speak coherently, “W-we’ll work hard together… don’t, don’t leave me…”
“I won’t, I won’t… we’ll be together forever…”
Hearing this, Yun Lian cried loudly in Feng Yunqing’s arms, not caring about her image.
That year, they hadn’t yet confessed their feelings for each other, nor had they become dao partners, but their embrace was enough to move any onlooker—even if they weren’t lovers, just as companions, their feelings were deep and sincere.
Yuan Lian stood not far from them, coldly watching this scene, close enough to feel the same mountain breeze, the cold wind making her sleeves rustle.
No one could tell what thoughts she held as she watched this scene she had once experienced firsthand.
Was she sad, upset? Could she even feel a trace of emotion as “Yun Lian”?
Perhaps even Yuan Lian herself couldn’t say.
Unlike that memory she couldn’t fully comprehend, watching this scene with another pair of eyes finally made her understand the regret in this relationship.
The sincerity of the past was real, but what about the eventual change of heart?
How did the girl, immersed in the sorrow of her parents’ impending death, face her lover’s gradual change of heart and distance?
Thinking of this, Yuan Lian felt a string in her heart being gently pressed down, slightly heavy.
Yuan Lian no longer cared what scenes the illusion had prepared for her, closing her eyes to focus on the feelings of this moment.
Ordinary people closing their eyes would inevitably be invaded by the illusion, but she was no ordinary person. No matter how finely crafted the formation was, it wasn’t enough to deceive her.
After an unknown amount of time, Yuan Lian slowly opened her eyes, and before she could habitually extend her divine sense, she was startled by a face suddenly close to hers.
“Great, you’re finally awake! We still have a chance!”
It turned out that after much effort, Chang Songzhu had just escaped the illusion and saw Yuan Lian sitting cross-legged on the stone steps, eyes closed, as if she was at a critical point in her cultivation.
There were definitely more people on this path than just the two of them, all competitors. Although time was tight, she didn’t dare leave Yuan Lian there and walk away alone.
Fortunately, Yuan Lian’s meditation didn’t last long, or Chang Songzhu would have been eliminated.
On the way, Yuan Lian watched her stumble, sweat pouring down as she surpassed one person after another, finally crossing the finish line almost on all fours.
Chang Songzhu felt her cultivation, which had been shaved away on the Trial of Immortality, had returned to normal. After confirming she passed within the time limit, she collapsed on the ground like a pancake, just like the other exhausted disciples.
She was so tired she didn’t even notice that throughout the journey, including now, no one questioned Yuan Lian’s presence, as if the neatly dressed person with a completely different style didn’t exist.
Yuan Lian, of course, wouldn’t lie on the ground like her. She stood over Chang Songzhu, looking down at her.
From this angle, she looked quite good.
Chang Songzhu thought in a daze.
Yuan Lian said softly, “Actually, you didn’t need to wait for me.”
The spirited girl replied without hesitation, “I was worried something might happen to you. There are so many people on this path, wanting to leave you behind and get you eliminated is one thing—at least no one would die. But what if someone had worse intentions… If you hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known people were watching here. They don’t know, so there’s no restraint, anything could happen.”
Yuan Lian hadn’t expected her to be so carefree yet so attentive.
Chang Songzhu sighed, “I didn’t see Pan Fan… I guess he didn’t pass the trial. What’s he after? He looked so sickly, and we had to let him drink water along the way… It’s only at critical moments that you see true intentions.”
Yuan Lian silently recalled how “she” had once been led by someone through a similar path. Back then, they were only seven or eight years old, their minds not yet set, far more difficult than Chang Songzhu’s journey, but even so, that person held her hand firmly, never letting go, and they practically dragged each other to the end.
For those two children at the time, that was the most “critical” moment. Didn’t that prove true intentions?
She shook her head and said to Chang Songzhu, “But sometimes, true intentions may not be constant. Distance and betrayal might come more unexpectedly and quietly than you think.”
Talking about human nature was something her father or senior brother had explained to her before. It was her first time understanding it herself and telling someone else, so she was a bit unaccustomed and stopped after one sentence, turning her thoughts back to the formation they had passed.
That formation was quite interesting.
There were few things Yuan Lian couldn’t identify at a glance. She had to calculate for a moment and finally understood why such an ordinary-looking formation could dig into her memories, even if it was just a split soul, it wasn’t easy.
This formation must have been the work of a God King.
The cause and effect pointed to the west, it must have been the masterpiece of Miao Chang Shenwang.
Every strength has its weakness, and Miao Chang Shenwang, being the oldest God King after Dao Ji, was a master of illusions, even surpassing Cang Hai.
“……”
Thinking of this, Yuan Lian finally realized why she had felt something was off since earlier—
—She seemed to have forgotten about her senior brother…
Dear readers, please leave some comments. This kind of complex multi-line structure is a bit challenging for me, and writing solo makes it easier to lose my way. Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or watered me with nutrient solution between 20220819 05:59:33~20220820 07:08:13~