IS Chapter 166

It was dark, and Li Yuan lit the lamps in the front and back halls.

Someone was talking mysteriously with a friend by the Cold Pool, hopefully about something important. Their human world’s Ascension Ceremony was about to begin. He would read under the lamplight.

Why did they leave again while talking? And even glanced in his direction. Where are they going? Towards the Medicine Hut. What are they going to do, get poison? He would read under the veranda outside.

What human affairs could take so long to discuss? It wasn’t like Wei Sheng Xian was ascending. If they didn’t come back soon, he would go over there.

—When Ye Zhuo returned to the front of the hall, he saw Dragon Li Yuan leaning against the veranda. The book was open on his body, but he wasn’t reading. A pair of eyes was watching him with a deep gaze.

For some reason, Ye Zhuo found it amusing.

He walked over and found that next to Li Yuan was still that small tank. Three lotus seedlings had just emerged from the water, their leaves unfurling. Several clear and translucent water-attributed spirit stones were placed in the water.

He looked at the shallow tank, then at Dragon Li Yuan.

In Feng Jiang’s Medicine Hut, there was also a shallow water altar. Inside, there were some spirit stones and water jade, along with several water lilies. Beside it were the various medicinal herbs and spiritual orchids that Feng Jiang usually tended to.

The dragon egg was placed in the water.

Ye Zhuo asked why it was placed like this. Feng Jiang said it liked it.

The little dragon was sleeping soundly, how could it possibly like it? Unless it dreamt about it. Feng Jiang said it was a feeling.

The feeling of a medicine cultivator, Ye Zhuo didn’t find reliable.

But seeing Dragon Li Yuan set up this scene, he had a strange feeling. Maybe it really did like it?

Oh well, whatever. Anyway, it was alive. Feng Jiang didn’t put poison in the water, and didn’t allow his two children to get close, only allowing them to watch from afar and wag their tails. The deer fawn was cautious and quiet, and could come closer to look at the water.

Li Yuan was really strange.

What was Ye Zhuo looking at on his face?

“What are you looking at?” Li Yuan said in a low voice.

Ye Zhuo walked two steps towards him, and he wasn’t sulking anymore. His eyes immediately filled with a gentle smile.

“Come closer,” Li Yuan said.

The veranda was surrounded by lush vegetation, and Ye Zhuo stood under the glazed wind lantern. The red on this person’s clothes was deepened by the night, and his slender shoulders and back were like ice strings on a zither, tapering down to his waist, bound like a section of bamboo after the rain. The wind blew, and the lantern flame, the hem of his clothes, and the green leaves on the branches swayed gently together, as if everything in the world was still, except for the immortal before him.

Seeing him, one would lament white hair; no wonder Yong Xuan was so moved.

Even Li Yuan suddenly thought at this moment, if such a person closed his eyes and then opened them again, would the world have passed a thousand years?

Ye Zhuo stood next to him, and Li Yuan grabbed him and hugged him tightly. The pages of the book fluttered to the ground, but no one cared.

Li Yuan hugged Ye Zhuo, burying himself against him. When Ye Zhuo wasn’t around, Li Yuan always had the urge to tidy up and manage the entire Misty Green Hall. After decorating Ye Zhuo’s living quarters for the third time, he inexplicably didn’t know what he was doing. He walked out, and suddenly began to think about planting flowers and grass outside the hall.

It was really strange. But as soon as he hugged Ye Zhuo, all the things he wanted to do were immediately forgotten. What millenniums or tens of thousands of years, what pine trees, bamboo, flowers, and trees, all the gods and spirits were in his arms, and the spring blossoms and autumn moon rushed towards him, filling his chest all at once. This feeling, perhaps, only he could experience in the world.

“Ye Zhuo,” Li Yuan said.

Ye Zhuo already knew what he was going to say next.

“The Ascension Ceremony is on the sixteenth of August,” Ye Zhuo said.

Not letting him finish, Li Yuan bit him in annoyance.

“It’s soon,” Li Yuan said.

Ye Zhuo casually played with the accessories on his clothes. Dragon Li Yuan’s clothes always had hidden patterns and embroideries, and felt like a dragon to the touch.

“I might not be able to do it,” Ye Zhuo said suddenly.

Li Yuan looked at him quietly.

“You can do it,” Li Yuan said. “Ye Zhuo can do anything.”

It had always been like this, and he had always believed it.

Why was he so immovable now? Ye Zhuo said, “Then what were you doing climbing on the roof yesterday?”

He had been seen, Li Yuan blinked his eyes, “I probably wasn’t thinking about this then.”

“Then what were you thinking about?”

“Oh.” Li Yuan thought for a moment, and said, “I suddenly thought, if I took you back to the Abyss Sea, what would I call you? What would they call you?”

“?”

“The Abyss Sea Underground Palace is also a palace, so I can still call you Palace Master Ye. I was wondering how to introduce you when I met my peers, or the ancestors. I can’t just hold your hand and tell them, this is… my enemy.”

“?” What exactly was Dragon Li Yuan thinking about all day long?

“You’re laughing at me.” Seeing Ye Zhuo’s eyes, Li Yuan was extremely dissatisfied.

Ye Zhuo: “Do you think it’s funny yourself?”

Li Yuan thought about it. It did seem quite funny.

He made Ye Zhuo stand up in front of him. And he was still sitting on the veranda, and he had to look up to see Ye Zhuo’s face. Li Yuan reached out and carefully smoothed out the collar and waist sash of this person that had been rumpled by the hug, and then took his hand.

“In the Abyss Sea, I went to see the remains of my father and my mother,” Li Yuan said, “And also my uncle’s, his name was Zhen Yuan. His remains are in the deeper sea abyss, only the bone in front of his heart is outside, and it became my sword. I also saw other Black Dragon seniors, and the Dragon Ancestor of the Black Dragons.”

“Ancestor Huan Ming said that the Black Dragon lineage has always declined since ancient times, whether it was because the karma of killing was too heavy during the ancient wars among the myriad realms, diminishing the blessings of the heavenly way. I don’t think so. If that were the case, the retribution should be on the entire Dragon Realm. And I often feel that the Great Dao has favored me a lot.”

He stretched out Ye Zhuo’s fingers one by one, carefully inserting his own fingers in, interlocking them, and slowly said: “I think they are all arrogant, and also solitary. They often hurt themselves, they often die by themselves, they bury themselves at the bottom of the abyss and never come out again. They themselves don’t want the protection of the heavenly way, but instead hope that I will take their bones and not repeat their mistakes. But I am the same.”

He put Ye Zhuo’s fingers on his cheek: “I lit a longevity lamp in the Abyss Sea, telling them, if the Great Dao truly has favor, if the heavenly way truly has blessings, if they have kept them unused for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. If the heavenly way really protects me a lot too. Then give them all to you. Giving them to you is good enough. I asked the Dragon God for glazed pearls in the East Sea, and I also want to ask them for your safety talisman in the Abyss Sea.”

Ye Zhuo looked at him quietly, for a long time, he used his other hand to gently cover Li Yuan’s forehead.

“As for this posture?” Ye Zhuo said.

“Look, you also said ‘as for’,” Li Yuan said. “So I only ask for your safety, and nothing else. I know you can definitely do it. I can also do it. Ye Zhuo, I’m really looking forward to that day. I want to see your sword.”

Li Yuan’s eyes seemed to have a bright glow that could illuminate the entire night of Green Mountains.

“That must be a very good sword,” Li Yuan said confidently.

Ye Zhuo smiled softly.

Li Yuan also smiled, he had to finish what he was saying even if he was interrupted.

“Ye Zhuo.” His eyes were bright, “Like.”

That person looked at him helplessly.

“I know,” Ye Zhuo said.

A crescent moon hung in the sky.

When the moon was about to be full, the current sect master of the Dao Sect and several old immortals came respectfully to the secret hall of the Main Sect.

The hall was filled with incense. Looking up, the open roof of the hall seemed to connect to endless stars. Eight large chimes and two sets of chime bells were placed outside the altar. Gray-robed disciples of the Main Sect rang the chimes and struck the bells in turn, forming extremely mysterious and solemn music.

The Dao Ancestor of the Main Sect had a full head of white hair, wore luxurious Daoist robes, and held a peach wood sword. In the Bagua diagram in the center of the altar, he was walking the steps and following the patterns with a strange rhythm. Sometimes he muttered to himself, sometimes he closed his eyes and looked up at the sky, as if he was communicating with the immortals and gods above the high heavens.

Finally, the incense burned out, the sound of the chimes and bells stopped, and the Dao Ancestor opened his cloudy eyes and looked at the people below.

“Go on the sixteenth of August,” the Dao Ancestor said in an aged voice. “I will be here to open the Gates of Heaven for you.”

The Dao Sect Master, who also had white hair, said: “I wonder if this journey to the heavens will be safe.”

“The road to the heavens has always been difficult,” the Dao Ancestor turned his back to them. In the remaining smoke, he looked like a huge statue of a celestial master. “The scenery of the human world is getting worse year by year. If we don’t leave, I’m afraid there will be no way to heaven and no door to enter hell.”

The people below all understood.

The Heavenly Dao was weak, and the tribulation lightning that broke through the boundaries in ancient times could no longer be summoned. But with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth declining, how long could this Ascension Road, which was agreed to be opened every ten years with the Upper Realm, last?

A few days ago, the spiritual energy of Upper Purity Mountain suddenly decreased to 30% of its original amount, and the spiritual veins were cut off overnight, which was why there was such a commotion, but no one said anything.

The road to the heavens must be very difficult. However, with their lifespans coming to an end, if they didn’t make a desperate gamble this time, there would be no way to achieve immortality in the future.

Weren’t those sects that still depended on Upper Purity Mountain doing so for the sake of ascension?

“The disciples understand,” the leader bowed deeply. “The Dao Ancestor asked us to investigate the movements of Green Mountains. Ye Zhuo has recently returned to Green Mountains, but there is nothing else. The Ascension Ceremony is approaching, and we have not seen any reaction from them. We have not sent invitations to the sects associated with Green Mountains, and they are not participating in this ceremony.”

“They are all still young,” the Dao Ancestor said deeply. “They still don’t understand that everything is fate, and time hurries people to grow old.”

“Is the Dao Ancestor saying that they would rather not ascend?”

“In their twenties or hundreds of years old, they are busy lamenting the state of the world. How could they want to ascend? When they reach your and my age, they will become like this.” The Dao Ancestor sighed, “But by that time, I don’t know what a scorched earth the human world will be. These years, with me suppressing it, I have already sent out fewer spiritual veins and blocked too many storms, but my lifespan is also coming to an end. You go, go as far as you can, and when you get to the immortal realm, don’t forget to take care of your homeland. A big tree needs to grow, but it should always be pruned, so that the soil can rest and recuperate.”

In a silence, the Dao Ancestor coughed a few times and continued: “Alright, go, until the sixteenth of August. I will be here to see you off for the last time.”

The people below responded and withdrew in turn.

The Dao Sect Master looked back at the majestic mountain gate of the Main Sect, and was silent for a long time. He was originally the previous generation’s Supreme Elder, but with mediocre aptitude, he barely became a Human Immortal when his lifespan reached four hundred years. During the four hundred years, his fellow disciples ascended one by one, and in the past year, the next generation of disciples and nephews had fallen one by one.

Ascension was a good thing. After enduring and enduring, the good thing finally fell on his head.

But inexplicably, he remembered the words of the Micro-Snow Palace Master Wei Sheng Xian in the widespread rumors of the martial world. Wei Sheng Xian said that realm cultivators could not ascend, but since the spiritual veins were sent to the immortal realm, the Main Sect’s realm cultivators could ascend.

Was the Dao Ancestor’s lifespan also coming to an end? When the Gates of Heaven open, who will ascend in the end?

But, knowing this, the road to the heavens was ahead, would he not go? He had no time left.

“Yuan Ying. How is the preparation for the Ascension Ceremony going?”

The Yuan Ying Daoist said: “Returning to Grand Uncle-Master, everything is ready. It’s just… it shouldn’t be as grand as in previous years.”

The Dao Sect Master sighed deeply: “Let it be.”

If he ascended, it would naturally be the end of everything. If he died on the road to the heavens, it would also be the end of everything. No matter how vexing things were, they would soon come to an end. This human world was ultimately about to end, and this immortal path was really chaotic and dirty. But who cared about the frost on other people’s tiles?

Looking at the mediocre Yuan Ying Daoist, the Dao Sect Master rarely felt a sense of sympathy. Back then, among his fellow disciples, wasn’t he also in such a dog-despised situation?

“After the ceremony is over, find an excuse to go down the mountain. It’s not good to cultivate immortality, and the hope of longevity is always empty. There’s no point in enduring.” He patted Yuan Ying on the shoulder. “It’s better to return to the green mountains and live freely.”