After tying up Yun Ting, the old beggar entered the dense, ancient forest on the edge of the Immortal Region and shakily weaved his way between the towering ancient trees.
After walking several hundred meters in, a crude, thatched hut appeared deep within the forest.
“Hic.”
The red-faced old beggar belched, his breath reeking of alcohol. His legs trembled as he approached the hut and sat beside the stone table in the front yard. He raised his gourd to his lips and tried pouring more booze into his mouth, only to discover that, at some point, it had run out.
“This is an ‘endless gourd of wine?’ What nonsense.”
He casually tossed the gourd to the ground, then drunkenly lay down in the gra.s.s to sleep beneath the stars. As he lay there, he gazed up at the brilliant light of the Milky Way.
“It’s been a hundred years.” A low murmur escaped the old beggar’s lips. At that moment, his voice had lost its former raspiness. Instead, it was worn and weary with a hint of melancholy.
“It’s been a hundred years. Your bones have long since grown cold but I’m still alive. It’s ridiculous…… in a hundred years, I’ve yet to discover even a single wisp of your souls or trace of your bones.”
Beneath the pitch-black night sky, his bitter words stung the ears.
“This is a divine artifact! How could you throw it away just like that?”
At that moment, a white-robed man suddenly appeared in front of the thatched hut. He raised his right hand and summoned the gourd the beggar had tossed away. Then he walked up to the stone table, sat down, and sat the gourd on its surface.
The old beggar paid this new arrival no heed. It was as if he hadn’t even seen him. He just kept lying there on the ground, gazing up at the vast and glittering Milky Way.
“Hey, I’m talking to you…… Back then, I retrieved a wisp of your soul from that soul lock and let you reincarnate. I ought to be considered your benefactor, right? Can you at least quit ignoring me?”
The white-robed man crouched and said helplessly, but the old beggar only snorted derisively, “are my affairs any of your business?”
“Hey, you……” the white-robed man frowned, speechless, but he quickly unfurrowed his brows and sighed dejectedly, “you’re too cold-hearted. You’ve worked me like a horse for the past hundred years, having me search high and low for news of Xia Keke and Su Yiyun. Just now, I found a lead so I thought I’d come looking for you, yet this is how you’re treating me? Forget it. Let’s just say it was none of my business. I’ll be on my way, then.”
“Wind Barrier.”
Just as the white-robed man was about to leave, a wall of wind trapped him within. The dejected-looking beggar’s spiritual power instantly shook off his drunkenness. He leaped to his feet and landed right before the white-robed man, blocking his path.
“Just now, you…..”
The old beggar’s voice shook violently. Beneath his unshaven whiskers and unkempt hair, you could see light as brilliant as the stars above flash through his eyes
As he reached for the white-robed man his hands trembled subtly and his breathing grew rapid. “Gu Zichen, don’t even think of joking with me, if you…..”
“If I do, then what?” the white-robed man smiled calmly, then indicated at the seal, “aren’t you going to disperse the wind barrier for me?”
As soon as he spoke, the barrier disappeared. The white-robed man took the chance to sit back down beside the stone table.
His fingers drummed lightly on the table’s surface. The old beggar hurriedly sat down and faced him, a nervous look in his eyes. “You said….. You said you had news of them?”
“I never would have guessed that after not seeing you for just a few short years, you’d achieve enlightenment in the five elements. A saint of ten reincarnations truly has an astonis.h.i.+ng advantage when it comes to comprehending the Laws.”
The old beggar had an extremely short fuse. When the white-robed man’s response didn’t answer any of his questions, it set him off.
“Tell me! What did you hear?!”
Rumble! Crack!
A sudden bolt of lightning boomed in the sky. At the same time, the beggar gradually started emanating a terrifying spiritual pressure.
The Laws around his body were in chaos. The earth trembled beneath his feet and s.p.a.ce distorted around him.
The birds and beasts of the forests couldn’t bear the spiritual pressure and fled, wailing, from the forest.
The white-robed man sitting peacefully on a stone chair arched his brows. When he saw the bloodl.u.s.t emanating off the old beggar, he got to the point. “I can’t really say it’s ‘news of the two of them.’”
“Tell me everything!”
The old beggar’s words carried overwhelming pressure. Although this didn’t mean much to the white-robed man, he still shook his head and said,
“It seems I saw Xia Keke in the Yao Realm. However, I can’t be completely certain it was her. Judging from her aura, though, there shouldn’t be any mistake. Right, it seems like I saw Su Yan there as well.”
“She…..”
When he heard Su Yan’s name, the beggar’s gaze inexplicably shook.
However, he said nothing at all. He simply let out a melancholy sigh then stared at the white-robed man, his eyes s.h.i.+ning.
“So,” he said, furrowing his brows, “you’re telling me I have to ascend, right?”
“You can interpret it like that.” The White-robed man nodded noncommittally. “Besides, given your strength, you should have ascended to G.o.dhood long ago, it’s just that you’ve always been forcefully repressing your body’s spiritual power. Judging from the waves of energy emanating off you, it’s starting to overflow. You won’t be able to suppress it much longer anyway, right? You might as well just seize this opportunity and ascend already.”
The old beggar’s gaze was suddenly alert. When he saw this, the white-robed man couldn’t help but sigh. “Ye Zichen, do you think I’m lying to you?”
In response, the old beggar brushed his hair aside. Now that his unkempt locks no longer obscured his face, it was clear: this was none other than the Immortal Region’s Emperor Ye, Ye Zichen.
“Can I trust you?” Ye Zichen asked suspiciously. His eyes gleamed as he stared intently at the white-robed man, almost as if he were trying to see right through him. “You"re sure this isn’t just some ploy to make me ascend?”
“Believe it or not. It’s up to you.” The white-robed man snorted, seemingly irritated. “In any event, I’ve said all I had to say. What you do in the end is your choice. That’s it for now. Bye.”
With that, the white robe-man abruptly turned and left. Ye Zichen watched him fade into the distance, then sat on the stone chair for a long time, unable to make up his mind.
“Forget it.”
After a lengthy silence, Ye Zichen stood up, slowly walked away, and gazed up at the glistening stars of the Milky Way.
“I would have had to go sooner or later anyway. I’ll just go, then.”
With that, Ye Zichen made up his mind. He no longer suppressed his spiritual power. The instant his power flooded outward, it was greeted with heavenly lightning.
Little did he know, high up in the sky above the thatched hut...
The white-robed man was watching him. The moment he saw Ye Zichen invoke his tribulation, he smiled.
He understood Ye Zichen far too well, as well as he understood himself.
Leaving directly was the practical solution; it would motivate him far more than wasting time explaining things to him.
Besides, the current result really did please him.
His only concern was that Ye Zichen had been through several tribulations already but had failed each time. This was now his tenth reincarnation. He’d forged himself a saint’s soul, so this divine tribulation might be even fiercer than the ones before.
Gu Zichen wasn’t sure he could successfully overcome it!