Cang Hai indeed had a heavy burden on his shoulders. Although this Immortal Mansion was built by Dao Ji Shenwang for the two of them, how long he could stay here depended on whether the patched-up, drafty heavenly canopy would hold up.
The Divine Realm was vast and boundless, but it was generally divided into five states centered around Buzhou Mountain. The mountain itself was at the center of the Middle State of the Divine Realm, while the other areas were divided into the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern States.
Due to the geographical features of the Divine Realm, the Middle State was naturally the most prosperous and also the smallest in area. Thousands of years ago, the issue of demonic qi backflowing from outside the heavenly canopy had already shown signs, but at that time, it was mainly in the Middle State. Dao Ji Shenwang used his vast true essence to fill the heavenly canopy of the Middle State.
However, later on, the invasion of the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon into the Divine Realm caused more severe damage to the heavenly canopy, and it was no longer limited to the Middle State. Dao Ji, unable to leave the Supreme Heavenly Palace, was beyond reach, so the other areas were managed by the other two God Kings.
When Cang Hai was promoted to the position of Supreme, he naturally couldn’t escape this responsibility.
This time, in the Buzhou Immortal Mansion, he wasn’t doing anything else but mainly helping Yuan Lian repair her soul platform, consolidating her soul, and striving to minimize the impact of the split soul threads.
In the world of cultivation, time flies. When Yuan Lian awoke from her introspection, more than half a month had passed since the Wanyi Sect’s trial on the Path of Immortality.
Cang Hai, sitting cross-legged opposite her, also opened his eyes and said to her, “There’s demonic qi backflow in the Western State, suggesting something’s wrong with the heavenly canopy. I need to go there.”
Yuan Lian nodded, “Be careful.”
“Don’t worry, Junior Sister. The heavenly demons aren’t much of a threat to us. Mainly, it’s just using our spiritual energy and true essence to mend the heavenly dao, nothing dangerous.”
He rubbed Yuan Lian’s head and finally relaxed, “Master was right. Your closed-door cultivation won’t benefit your cultivation level anymore. You haven’t stepped out of the Middle State for years. Why not go out and explore… If you find it interesting, find some people to have some fun…”
Yuan Lian didn’t quite understand what he meant, so she tilted her head and looked at him.
Cang Hai smiled but didn’t explain. He just leaned in slightly, close to her face, and asked, “I’m being so generous, shouldn’t you reward me with something?”
Yuan Lian thought for a moment and said straightforwardly, “You want to dual cultivate? But my soul platform isn’t stable now, I feel it might hurt…”
In the Divine Realm, “dual cultivation” doesn’t simply refer to the act between a man and a woman but rather a method of cultivation where two or more people connect physically or through their primordial spirits, allowing their spiritual energy and divine souls to communicate, circulating true essence through their meridians and qi seas to enhance their cultivation.
Between Cang Hai and Yuan Lian, regardless of their titles, there was more of a sibling bond. Cang Hai was saved by Dao Ji Shenwang and brought to the Supreme Heavenly Palace. When he first met his master’s beloved daughter, Yuan Lian was not yet twenty, which, for their divine race, was barely considered born.
Yuan Lian grew up under Cang Hai’s watchful eye. She lacked emotional threads, so she naturally had no concept of romantic feelings. Their dual cultivation initially stemmed from Yuan Lian’s curiosity about whether this method could truly enhance cultivation, without any romantic or intimate intentions.
Cang Hai, originally a noble young master from a bureaucratic family in the Middle Thousand World, only formally embarked on the path of immortality in his twenties. His views on such matters were entirely shaped in the mortal world.
Perhaps over the years, through his experiences in the cultivation world, he understood the importance of the primordial spirit, which, to cultivators, was sometimes considered more significant than the physical body. However, having never tried dual cultivation with anyone, his mindset was still that of the mortal world. He subconsciously believed that as long as it was controlled well, divine union was similar to their usual healing and spiritual transfer, just more intimate.
Cang Hai was very fond of Yuan Lian and couldn’t resist her request, so they naturally tried it once.
Just that one time shattered the deeply ingrained beliefs Cang Hai had since his youth.
He had never engaged in the rites of Zhou Gong with anyone. Although he had a fair understanding of the desires between men and women due to his age and cultivation level, it was all theoretical. Even so, after experiencing divine union, he dared not assume that physical union could be more intimate or… more sensational.
He thought he was already the Supreme of the Divine Realm, capable of easily controlling his primordial spirit, ensuring that only cultivation occurred without unnecessary feelings. But once it began, he realized that controlling it was impossible once the divine souls were connected.
The more embarrassing part was that due to Yuan Lian’s deficiencies, her perception of pleasure was significantly diminished, at least far less sensitive and intense than what Cang Hai experienced.
She merely found it somewhat comfortable, and her cultivation indeed improved. She could even calmly comment afterward, “It felt okay, just took too long. Next time, can it be quicker?”
Cang Hai was speechless and had to go to Dao Ji Shenwang to confess.
At this point, Yuan Lian’s refusal wasn’t because she was unwilling, but because her soul platform indeed couldn’t be recklessly moved anymore.
Cang Hai shook his head, silently watching her.
Yuan Lian was slightly surprised, but after all, she was no longer the same as before. Even though the emotions of the split soul hardly affected her, those memories were completely retained, so she wasn’t as ignorant as before.
She paused for a moment and lightly touched her senior brother’s cheek.
Like a dragonfly skimming the water.
After her senior brother left, Yuan Lian’s days in the Buzhou Immortal Mansion were no different from before.
She spent some time digesting and experiencing the benefits she gained from her previous stage of cultivation and accepted the changes they brought.
Then, not long after, she found her tolerance for loneliness and monotony had decreased significantly.
Although the path of cultivation inevitably carried a bit of monotony, Yuan Lian hadn’t felt much of it before.
Every breath she took was part of her cultivation. She lacked nothing in terms of methods, resources, companions, or places. Just staying in the Heavenly Palace and Immortal Mansion, cultivating behind closed doors, her cultivation naturally advanced rapidly, so there was no need to venture out like ordinary people to seek secret realms and opportunities.
This more boring and rigid path of cultivation didn’t seem bad to her.
But this time, every time she woke from meditation, noticing the celestial children standing motionless like dead objects in her residence, the surroundings—including the entire Buzhou Mountain—were so quiet it felt like she was the only one there. Inside the hall, whether day or night, it always maintained a bright but not glaring light. Outside the Immortal Mansion, there were no seasonal changes, no magical creatures or animals. The immortal plants had long lifespans and grew slowly, not necessarily growing an inch in decades or centuries.
Everything was so unchanging.
One day, during the moon’s shift, Yuan Lian sat on the cloud platform, listening to her own breathing, and suddenly wanted to heed her father and senior brother’s advice to temporarily leave this seemingly frozen, unchanging place.
She didn’t extend her divine sense to observe, just thought briefly about where to go, and without bringing anyone, she walked down from the cloud platform, out of the Buzhou Immortal Mansion. She didn’t leisurely walk down Buzhou Mountain step by step, nor did she choose to fly or ride a cloud. Instead, she used the technique of shrinking the earth to an inch, descending the mountain at a pace neither fast nor slow. From leaving the hall to reaching the foot of Buzhou Mountain, it took half an hour.
She wanted to see with her own eyes what Buzhou Mountain, where she had lived for so many years, truly looked like.
At the foot of the mountain, she glanced up at the direction of the Supreme Heavenly Palace, then turned and transformed into a stream of light, disappearing into the sky.
Chang Songzhu, although not particularly gifted, managed to join the Wanyi Sect through sheer determination and was temporarily placed in the outer sect, along with over three hundred others, scattered across the various peaks of the outer sect.
Based on her cultivation level, she was assigned to live at the foot of Wangchen Peak, sharing a small courtyard with a few other disciples, each having their own room. The treatment was surprisingly good.
Enjoying the spiritual energy in the Wanyi Sect, several times denser than outside, she cultivated peacefully for a month and reached the late stage of Qi Condensation. At the beginning of the month, the spirit stones and celestial rice allocated to outer sect disciples were not withheld at all. Each peak in the outer sect had a lecture hall, where high-level disciples from the inner sect took turns explaining cultivation doubts.
Her days were going wonderfully, and she admired her foresight in choosing such a perfect place.
However, one thing weighed on her mind, causing her both anxiety and worry, and she didn’t dare to tell anyone about it, fearing it would cause trouble for her friend.
One night, unable to sleep, she quietly got up and went to the bamboo forest outside the courtyard to practice the sword techniques she had recently learned.
Since it wasn’t a main course, the sect didn’t provide swords uniformly, and Chang Songzhu was in a state of poverty, so she was practicing by forming a sword with her fingers, repeatedly going through the sword forms.
“Wrong…”
Chang Songzhu was startled and immediately turned around, assuming a defensive posture.
Then she saw her friend, who had disappeared after they first met, standing not far away.
Yuan Lian’s hair was half-tied, braided and draped over her shoulder. She carried a bamboo basket in her right hand, wearing a light blue long dress that was slightly shorter than the previous white one, giving her a more casual look and softening her aloof aura.
“Xiao Lian?!”
She lowered her hand and quickly walked over to her, pulling her aside without a word, “Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Compared to their first meeting, where Yuan Lian seemed a bit at a loss due to inexperience, she was much more composed this time and answered seriously, “I went home.”
Chang Songzhu looked at her, conflicted, and after a long while, stammered, “Xiao Lian, tell me the truth, who exactly are you?”
“Why?” Yuan Lian asked in return.
Chang Songzhu had been on edge these days because she realized a problem after the second trial. The number of eliminated and selected participants totaled 378, matching the number of people who passed the first trial, but Xiao Lian wasn’t among them!
From that moment, Chang Songzhu was already unsettled. Later, she subtly inquired from a senior sister who accompanied the elders monitoring the first trial and made an even more shocking discovery: in their eyes, there was never a person named “Xiao Lian.”
Chang Songzhu had climbed the Path of Immortality herself. For a while, she was talking to herself, and people thought she was confused by an illusion. Later, she stopped even talking to herself, and under everyone’s watchful eyes, she passed the trial without any abnormalities.
Chang Songzhu was absolutely certain that Xiao Lian wasn’t a figment of her imagination, which made her existence highly suspicious. Yet, she was too worried to tell anyone about it, fearing she might inadvertently harm her friend.
“Are you from the Wanyi Sect?” she asked nervously.
Yuan Lian shook her head.
Chang Songzhu gasped, looking around like a thief before asking in a low voice, “Then how did you sneak in? The Wanyi Sect… The Wanyi Sect is pretty good, don’t do anything rash.”
Yuan Lian understood why she thought of visiting Chang Songzhu first after coming out.
Because this child was truly interesting and always brought joy to others.