Only a true elite, and one as uniquely attractive as Luo Pin, could arouse this level of fervor and ardent yearning within Wu Yu.
In this world, there would always be people whom one would desperately hope to catch up to. Luo Pin was one of these people. Since her appearance in his life thus far, Wu Yu could only look up to her elevated position for now.
Wu Yu had a burning desire to improve himself now, and he felt as if his entire body was charged with energy. His greatest motivation was definitely to attain immortality and live forever! Moving on, if he had to identify another two sources of motivation, the first would be to avoid facing the feeling of helplessness that he had experienced today during his confrontation with the Ghostly Emperor. The second would be in order to pursue someone like Luo Pin.
The divine continent, which had been cloaked in despair, was now, in the blink of an eye, welcoming the dawn!
Everyone was obviously still in a state of stunned disbelief at this point, and could not react in time to rejoice. In the midst of the silence, the Yan Huang City Lord asked doubtfully, "Are you sure the Ghostly Emperor is truly dead?"
Luo Pin replied with a gentle smile. "No matter what, his soul is still that of a human, and has been destroyed by me. I"ve also sundered his body into a million pieces and scattered it into the sea, where they will be carried far apart from each other. At this extent, not even the most unparalleled immortal could resurrect themselves, and such a being would never exist in the mortal world anyway. Even the Heaven Devouring Evil Lord"s original body would never be able to survive such an ordeal."
Luo Pin was stronger than all of them, so her words naturally carried much authority.
Wu Yu said, "Everyone, rest a.s.sured that if she wasn"t certain, she wouldn"t make these sorts of casual remarks."
Luo Pin"s personality had always been meticulous.
Upon hearing his words, the Taixu Sage Master exclaimed exuberantly, "Everyone, the Ghostly Emperor is dead! It"s over! The divine continent has been saved!"
The rest of the elites were also delighted.
When even these people were convinced of the Ghostly Emperor"s demise, the rest, who had been scared stiff by the Ghostly Emperor, could finally fill the air with exultant cheers. Everyone"s expressions were filled with the jubilation of being liberated from the utter despair brought on by the Ghostly Emperor, with some even weeping tears of joy.
Friends and peers embraced one another.
It was a lively scene.
The news spread across the divine continent. Everyone knew that it was a mystical dragon who had saved them.
They could never have imagined that Luo Pin would be able to deal with the Ghostly Emperor all by herself. Hence, at this moment, the position she occupied in their hearts was elevated well beyond any other. They treated her as though she were a G.o.ddess, and their gazes were filled with admiration and wors.h.i.+p as they looked upon her.
The Yan Huang City Lord and the Imperial General did not choose to pursue the case of Luo Pin"s entry into the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence. After all, they were very grateful to Luo Pin for putting an end to this incident once and for all. And the subsequent events arising from their entry into the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence had been an accident. There was another piece of good news resulting from this battle: the ghostly cultivators had been annihilated.
"Lady Luo had been residing in the Imperial City for so long, and yet we couldn"t even tell that you had such a high cultivation level. We stand ashamed," the Imperial General said laughingly.
"I"m guessing Lady Luo will be going back home now. Do remember to visit us here in the divine continent often."
They were extremely taken with Luo Pin; the more they chatted, the more they came to respect her. Luo Pin"s current status amongst the crowd ranked higher than even the Yan Huang City Lord, and many of the other cultivators were casting reverent glances in her direction.
She was undeniably the paramount figure at this time.
Nonetheless, as Wu Yu stood by her side, speaking with the Yan Huang City Lord and the rest, Luo Pin retrieved a Sumeru Pouch and said, "I"ve returned most of the cultivators" possessions to their sects. These are the items belonging to the eight Emperors that were swallowed by the Ghostly Emperor. There are many riches and dao treasures within. Unfortunately, a large majority of it can only be used by ghostly cultivators. If these things were to be circulated, it would only result in the proliferation of the ghostly cultivators once more. Although the Yan Huang City Lord says that these are my spoils of battle, I don"t have any use for them, so I"ll be leaving it to you. There are many immortal medicines well-suited for your purposes. As for the ghostly cultivation manuals, it"d be better to give them to the Yan Huang City Lord for him to destroy."
The items in the Sumeru Pouch probably encompa.s.sed the possessions of the last six ghostly cultivator elites devoured by the Ghostly Emperor, including the Dragon Slaver Lord!
It was difficult to imagine what a colossal amount of riches lay within! Even if much of the ghostly cultivators" items could not be used, the remaining amount already far surpa.s.sed the value of the 50,000 Inner Sea essence pills given to him by Luo Pin before.
Wu Yu"s instinctive reaction was to reject the gift. It was too precious, and rightfully belonged to Luo Pin. He had not killed the Ghostly Emperor.
Therefore, before the envious eyes of the crowd, Wu Yu hurriedly shook his head and replied, "No, I don"t deserve this. I can"t accept it."
Luo Pin had already expected him to give this answer. She smiled fondly and shoved the Sumeru Pouch into Wu Yu"s hands, saying, "Don"t be so stubborn. These things are useless to me and I dislike carrying the ghostly cultivators" belongings around. Moreover, I don"t lack any of these riches. If you don"t want it, I"ll give it to someone else. Wu Yu, I"m probably leaving for real this time, and we might not have many chances to meet in the future. Don"t you want to come to my world and find me as quickly as possible?"
As she spoke, her eyes betrayed a change in expression. They were filled with tenderness, and made one feel as if they were lost within her captivating gaze.
She had taken the initiative to say this.
This woman wanted Wu Yu to fight for the chance to find her, and to catch up with her. When he heard this, Wu Yu"s eyes started burning instantly. In this moment, he did not care in the slightest about how many thousands of years old Luo Pin was, nor whether the difference in their ages made them seem incompatible. He was indeed hoping to truly stand by her side one day, as an equal!
"This is my present to you. I"ll be waiting for you. Hopefully that day isn"t too far away."
Everyone knew that Luo Pin"s words obviously displayed how highly she regarded Wu Yu; she was perhaps even showing some level of endearment. And now she had given him a chance to pursue her. After all, this was the world of cultivation, where one"s level and strength were extremely important. If they were to really become dao companions, they would definitely not last long together if Wu Yu were still at the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm while she was close to becoming an immortal.
Romance in the world of cultivation was brutal indeed.
The chances of attaining fairy-tale companions.h.i.+p were exceptionally low. Despite the great benefits that having a dao companion would bring, the bulk of people still remained single throughout their lives.
Perhaps it was the experiences within the Yan Huang Ancient Well and the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence that made her feel indebted towards Wu Yu. If not for Wu Yu, it was highly unlikely that she would have found the Precursor Dragon Scale, and she probably would have been dead by now. She owed him her life.
A gift.
Especially a gift from a woman.
Wu Yu suddenly remembered the Nine-Directional Demon Imprisonment Column. That was the most important gift he had ever received in his entire life!
He abruptly turned, craning his neck to seek out Nangong Wei amidst the Shushan party. However, at this time, everyone"s stares were focused on him and Luo Pin; they were spectating their conversation, excited that Wu Yu had actually managed to win the favour of a woman like Luo Pin. Nangong Wei had probably seen what was going on as well, but he could not find her amongst the crowd.
She had probably left.
"Wu Yu." Luo Pin drew his gaze back towards herself. "This world is much bigger than you can ever imagine - one day you"ll find out for sure. The Dong Sheng Divine Continent is only the bottom of the well; this place is far away from the core of the Jambu Realm. The real elites and geniuses are residing in a place way bigger than the Dong Sheng Divine Continent. I can"t reveal too much right now, but I hope that one day you"ll be able to break free of the divine continent. If you"re able to do so, then maybe you"ll come to know my ident.i.ty and be able to find me then. If there"s such a day, I"m looking forward to meeting you then. Please don"t blame me for making these arrangements, because this is the path of cultivation towards immortality. I"ve started long ago and have had a significant headstart compared to you, so you"ll have to catch up with me, right?"
She was gentle and affectionate, and her watery gaze made him melt within. Her every word and action seemed to caress and nourish his heart; it felt as if Wu Yu was being held in her loving embrace, and the feeling was indeed pleasurable. However, her words also held reason. She had to leave this place and allow Wu Yu to progress on his own in order to truly pursue her. Otherwise, no matter how well she thought of Wu Yu, the gap between them would still be as wide as that of heaven and earth.
"Alright. Wait for me!" Wu Yu heeded her words and stowed her gift away. Right now, his eyes were burning and his heart was firm. The woman before him was too perfect, and he wanted her so badly.
More so, he wanted to conquer her.
This was a surge of intense desire, providing him with boundless resolve. Perhaps it was the arrogance of youth at work, as Wu Yu declared before the crowd, "Give me 10 years and I"ll definitely see you!"
Such a feat would undoubtedly require outstanding talent.
10 years was too short.
Even Luo Pin wanted to remind him not to overestimate himself and make a promise that he could not fulfil. But when she saw the fierce determination in Wu Yu"s eyes, she kept her words to herself, saying instead, "Mm, then I"ll wait 10 years for you."
It was impossible for her to bring Wu Yu wherever she was going. Firstly, it would attract all sorts of unwanted rumors from the people around them. Secondly, living a sheltered life under Luo Pin"s protection would not benefit Wu Yu at all. Instead, it would only restrict his progress, as he needed to forge his future through his own efforts.
"I"ll be leaving, then."
The longer she stayed, the harder it would be for Wu Yu to harden his resolve and strive for progress. The life-and-death experiences in the divine continent this time held special meaning to her.
Wu Yu nodded. Following that, Luo Pin"s visage grew more and more distant, eventually disappearing before his eyes. During this time, the smile on her face would forever be etched upon his heart.
10 years! 10 years!
This period of time was of paramount importance to Wu Yu!
He wanted to go to the wider world, to chase her down!
Even though to everyone else, this was too difficult to achieve.
After Luo Pin"s departure, everyone looked at Wu Yu, still with some manner of respect. With regard to his emotional adventures, it had spread far and wide, and everyone was familiar with it.
Before this, Nangong Wei had still been here. But by this time, the Mizar Sword Immortal had already brought her back to Shushan.
Wu Yu still remembered that during their moment of mortal peril, she had subconsciously clung onto himself and depended on him as her pillar of support.
Nonetheless, in life, there were some things that once missed, would always remain imperfect, never to be reconciled.
Dao cultivation required one to respect one"s inner feelings.
His inner feelings at the moment only hungered for more strength, for Luo Pin, and for the new world.
As for Nangong Wei, she wasn"t bad. However, the complex love-hate relations.h.i.+p that they were entangled in caused Wu Yu to be at a loss as to how to face her. Perhaps when their hands were clasped together, she had already forgiven him. However, with Luo Pin"s sudden appearance, she would definitely flee as soon as she compared herself to Luo Pin.
Perhaps, she was devastated now.
"There"s still a long road ahead. I guess it"s better for her to take things one step at a time. Hopefully she"ll focus on cultivation in the future and be able to make great progress."
He still hoped that Nangong Wei would have a better future ahead of her. If she needed any help, he would surely not refuse.
At this point, the Yan Huang City Lord asked, "Wu Yu, we plan to ride on the momentum and take down the Four Islands of the East Sun. Will you be joining us?"