IS Chapter 59
by VolareThe scenery in the valley was indeed deep, secluded, and beautiful.
However, Li Yuan felt quite disappointed that they hadn’t arrived directly in the Dragon Realm.
It seemed Wei Sheng Xian’s array skills still needed to be lowered a bit more.
The Abyss Sea Palace, as its name suggested, was located at the bottom of the Hidden Abyss, the deepest part of the vast sea region of the Dragon Realm, more than a hundred times deeper than the North Sea. Once Ye Zhuo got there, the only way he could see the light of day again was if he, Li Yuan, brought him out.
At that time, no matter how much Ye Zhuo cried for help, no one would answer, wouldn’t he be at his mercy then?
As Ye Zhuo walked, he suddenly felt that Dragon Li Yuan’s gaze was a bit strange.
“What is it?”
Li Yuan calmly shifted his gaze: “Nothing, just thinking about the Dragon Realm.”
Ye Zhuo: “If you miss it so much, you might as well go back.”
“My grudges aren’t settled, I won’t return.”
“Then you might as well think more about the Ghost Realm.”
“The Ghost Realm is dark and gloomy, there’s nothing to think about.”
“Isn’t your Dragon Realm’s Hidden Abyss dark and gloomy?”
How did this person know he was thinking about the Hidden Abyss? He really was vigilant.
Li Yuan said: “The Abyss Sea Palace has thousands of lamps that never go out, and pearls all over the ground, how could it feel dark?”
Ye Zhuo didn’t comment on this.
After a long while, not hearing anyone praise his teleportation array, Wei Sheng Xian felt very disappointed and could only walk silently.
Suddenly, a patch of white appeared in his view.
“Oh, this is…”
Mount Sorrow has always been plagued with miasma.
In the past month or two, there had often been gusts of Yin wind, which was very frightening.
In the past two days, there were also rumors of hunters and herbalists dying strangely in the mountains, transforming into vengeful ghosts. Now, very few people dared to enter Mount Sorrow anymore.
Duan Dacheng sat at the entrance of his tea shed, sighing in melancholy.
Now that those who went into the mountains to gather herbs, mine, collect snake skin, and hunt no longer came, it looked like his tea shed was going to have to close down. Maybe in a few days, he would have to move away with his family.
They all said that outside the mountains, there hadn’t been a war in over a decade, and the world was at peace, making it easy to earn a living. The family of his little sister, who settled down at the foot of Green Mountains in the south, had also sent word two years ago, saying that there, the weather was good, the taxes weren’t heavy, and there were even handsome and gentle Immortal Rulers who watched over them from time to time, and they were living a very happy life.
If it weren’t for being unable to part with his godfather, Duan Dacheng really wanted to hitch up the donkey cart and leave with his family.
It was only eight or nine hundred *li*, the old donkey at home could walk thirty *li* a day, stopping and starting, and they would arrive in a month.
In his lifetime, he had stayed in this Emerald Valley and had never seen what those rumored Immortal Rulers looked like.
Duan Dacheng sighed again and looked into the valley.
Two large locust trees, one alive and one dead, were rooted in a place he could see, the branches and leaves on the crowns all growing together. It had been like this for so many years, it seemed.
When he was a child, his father had taken him and pressed his finger on the locust trees to acknowledge them as his godfather.
He also said that the Duan family, including you, for seventeen generations have acknowledged these two locust trees as their godfather, and in future generations, you must guard them.
When he was young, Duan Dacheng always felt proud when he saw the two locust trees, thinking that no other family had something to do that had been passed down for generations like this, their family must have some kind of origin. Maybe one day the godfather would manifest and take them all to become immortals.
But now that half of his body was in the ground, he hadn’t seen the godfather say a word, Duan Dacheng no longer thought about those things.
Every day, looking at the locust trees, he would only think, since seventeen generations of ancestors had acknowledged it as their godfather, shouldn’t he address his late father in his grave as a brother?
Thinking of this, Duan Dacheng couldn’t help but laugh.
But he heard a flurry of footsteps and then saw his little daughter rushing in from outside.
“Daddy—outside—”
Duan Dacheng picked up the girl and looked outside, suddenly hearing a strange rushing sound. It didn’t sound like animal hooves walking on the ground, but rather like stepping on clouds and water.
Before he could hear clearly what the sound was, a team of carriages and horses floated to a stop in front of the tea shed.
—Duan Dacheng’s eyes almost popped out.
The carriage was spacious and tall, the color was plain, but the wood was smooth and shiny. Duan Dacheng had lived in the mountains his whole life and had never seen such good wood or such good carvings.
And what was pulling the carriage wasn’t horses, but strong and agile creatures that looked like they had scales on their bodies and feathers on their heads, and some even spewed sparks from their nostrils.
These were monsters!
Then, twenty or thirty young people in deep purple Daoist robes welcomed a person out of the central carriage.
—That person was tall and slender, wearing a purple robe and a black cloak, supported by someone, walking slowly towards them.
At first glance, his aura was completely different from that of ordinary people. For some reason, he also looked a bit frail.
Duan Dacheng didn’t dare to look directly at him and lowered his head.
He heard a refined voice: “The Poor Passage Temple is traveling and would like to borrow your place to rest for a while, is that okay?”
Whether it was Poor Passage or Rich Passage, with such a display, it was definitely an immortal sect. How could Duan Dacheng dare to refuse: “Yes, of course, Immortal Rulers, please come this way.”
He raised his head, wanting to lead the way, but when his eyes turned, he unexpectedly saw points of flowing light operating behind the Immortal Ruler, and he was immediately terrified and didn’t dare to look again.
Halfway through the road, he heard the person high above say: “I am not an immortal, do not call me Immortal Ruler.”
“Then…”
The attendant replied to him: “Just call him ‘Mister’.”
After inviting the “Mister” to sit in the best seat, Duan Dacheng finally saw his face clearly.
If he had to describe it, Duan Dacheng could only say that he was truly extraordinary.
The Immortal Ruler’s long hair was casually draped over his shoulders, hiding strands of frost white, but he looked less than thirty years old. The deep purple Daoist robe set off his unusually beautiful face, but his skin was a bit pale, as if he had a touch of illness.
His phoenix eyes were extremely beautiful, but it seemed there were no pupils in his eyes, all hazy, as if he couldn’t see things clearly?
Duan Dacheng didn’t dare to look too much and put his eyes on the table, but he accidentally saw the sword placed on the table by the Immortal Ruler.
It was a slender wooden sword, and strangely, from the hilt to the blade, it was surrounded by a section of lifeless dead branches. It didn’t look like it had been wrapped around it later, but rather like the sword had grown it itself.
Truly an Immortal Ruler, all of his were divine methods and divine objects that he had never seen before.
Duan Dacheng tremblingly said: “Mister, would you like to drink some tea?”
That Immortal Ruler, however, seemed not to have heard.
His misty eyes narrowed slightly, looking at his little daughter, as if trying to see clearly.
After a while, he stretched out his hand: “Come here.”
The girl hesitated for a moment, then walked up generously.
The Immortal Ruler’s fingers touched her skull, shoulder bones, and hand bones.
“Such a clever and beautiful girl,” he said, “Born in the seventh month of the Tiger year? What’s your name?”
“Replying to Mister, I was born in the seventh month of the Tiger year, my surname is Duan, and my name is Duan Xiao Cheng,” the girl said.
The flowing light behind the Immortal Ruler slowly shifted a few times, and then said: “Not seeking Great Success, but instead achieving Great Success. Your name is truly interesting, why not make friends with Mister.”
Duan Dacheng wanted to find a crack in the floor and crawl in.
The girl said: “Then what’s your name, Mister?”
The flowing light moved again.
Duan Dacheng finally vaguely understood.
This Immortal Ruler’s eyes looked hazy and blind, and he probably couldn’t see things clearly, maybe he couldn’t even hear.
Each time, that flowing light moved a few times before the Immortal Ruler reacted, could that be the Immortal Ruler’s eyes and ears?
Sure enough, this time the Immortal Ruler also spoke after the flowing light shifted.
“My name is not as good as yours,” he said, “I have no surname, my name is Yin Ye.”
The girl nodded: “I remember it.”
“Little girl, when you grow up, do not cultivate immortality, do not learn the Dao.” The Immortal Ruler said towards the girl, “Enter the court in twenty years, become Prime Minister in forty years. Die at seventy-three, and be famous for a lifetime.”
Duan Dacheng opened his mouth, suspecting that he had misheard something. After thinking for a long time, he finally reacted and repeatedly said: “Thank you, Mister, for your kind words!”
The points of flowing light shifted again a few times.
“Not kind words,” the Immortal Ruler who called himself “Yin Ye” said to him faintly, “The divination fee is seventeen taels of silver.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Duan Dacheng felt a wave of surprise and doubt in his heart.
One was surprised and doubtful why a dignified Immortal Ruler would ask for silver, and the other was surprised and doubtful how the Immortal Ruler seemed to know that he and his wife had just counted their life savings the day before, which was exactly seventeen taels of silver.
The girl, however, crisply opened her mouth: “Mister, my father didn’t ask you to tell my fortune, why do you want to charge my father seventeen taels?”
Yin Ye had no reaction to these words, and the flowing light behind him shifted again in a strange trajectory. When the flowing light finished shifting, a smile curled up at the corner of his lips.
“Little girl, in this world, one thing is exchanged for another. You used your ears to hear the Heavenly Secret, so you have to pay money to settle the karma. Do you want to pay seventeen taels of silver, or seventeen generations of ancestral blessing?”
The girl said: “What if I don’t pay either?”
“If you don’t pay, naturally it won’t be accurate.”
A few words made Duan Dacheng’s face turn pale: “Girl, nonsense, Mister, don’t blame her! I’ll go find my wife and get seventeen taels of silver right now!”
As for the auspicious words of being enfeoffed as a marquis and appointed as prime minister, he would just listen to them. A girl from the mountains who had accidentally read a few books and knew a few words, if she could live a safe life, Duan Dacheng would die without regrets.
The situation was stronger than the man. The small tea shed had five or six tables, filled with purple-robed immortal disciples. These seventeen taels of silver, if they said they wanted it, how could common people like them not give it?
Not only did they give the silver, but they also had to offer the best tea in the tea shed. This tea tasted best when brewed with boiling water, so naturally it was served scalding hot.
“Mister, it will be drinkable after letting it sit for a while.”
—Then, Duan Dacheng watched as the Immortal Ruler quietly looked at the scalding hot tea, picked it up, and drank it like cold water, without even blinking.
“…”
Duan Dacheng didn’t dare to speak.
And after the Immortal Ruler finished drinking the tea, he didn’t do anything else, just looked out the window, without moving.
After a long time, the girl asked: “Mister, what are you waiting for?”
The flowing light shifted like the transformation of stars.
Yin Ye’s voice sounded gentle and watery in his ears: “Mister is waiting for someone.”
“What kind of person?”
“Little girl, do you know ‘eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind’?”
“I know, these are the six roots of man.”
A smile appeared on Yin Ye’s face, saying: “More than twenty years ago, I used the first two of these six to exchange for a divination from the heavens, then I used the middle two to exchange for a second divination, and then I used the last two to exchange for a third divination.”
“The one I’m waiting for is the person in the divination.”
The girl looked at this Mister Yin Ye.
When he smiled, he was like a fox demon in a story, making people feel a little scared.
Her tea shed was too small to accommodate such a powerful Mister.
“When will that person arrive?”
“Yes, when will he arrive?” Yin Ye’s soft words seemed to surge with a lot of unspoken affection, “Calculating the time, he should have arrived long ago.”
As if talking to himself, he frowned again, with an expression like a complaint: “Could it be that he doesn’t want to see me?”
Looking at the Immortal Ruler in this state, Duan Dacheng and the girl Duan Xiao Cheng retreated at the same time.
—At this moment, deep in Mount Sorrow.
Ye Zhuo was expressionlessly practicing his sword under an ancient tree, it had been one or two hours already.
It wasn’t that cultivation was so important, but that he really didn’t want to deal with the two people next to him.
“Almost ready.” Wei Sheng Xian’s voice faintly came, “We should be able to call Ah Zhou now.”
“Wait a little longer.”
Along with the voice came the strange aroma of meat.
Ye Zhuo couldn’t bear it any longer, finished one Small Heavenly Circuit, and opened his eyes.
In the clearing in the forest stood a glazed pill furnace, with Heavenly B Fire burning underneath, and a pot of inexplicable wild mushroom and pheasant soup simmering inside.
Sometimes Ye Zhuo would think, was this Dragon Li Yuan really so out of touch with reality, that now even Wei Sheng Xian was being led astray?
It all started when Wei Sheng Xian accidentally discovered a patch of wild mushrooms with white long stalks and small flowers in the forest.
He vowed that this thing was a specialty of the mountains in the southwest, recorded in books, and extremely delicious when used to make soup.
Then, he “accidentally” encountered a wild pheasant of medium size, the pheasant was unfortunately poisoned by miasma in the mountains, and was already weak and close to death, longing for a quick end.
Soon, he even “accidentally” discovered that he had actually brought seasoning spices in his storage ring on this trip.
There was even a clear mountain spring not far away, where he could collect water to make soup.
Originally, things would have ended there, because although he had brought all the seasonings, he didn’t have a suitable pot.
At this time, Dragon Li Yuan silently took out a top-grade Nine Revolutions Glazed Pill Furnace used for refining pills, the size of which was just right.
With proper temperature control, a pill furnace could be used for refining pills, and naturally it could also be used for stewing chicken.
It just so happened that Dragon Li Yuan knew a little about alchemy, and Wei Sheng Xian also had quite a bit of experience in it.
In the end, it evolved into this kind of appearance.
They had even set up a table and soft chairs on the flat ground, the shape was very exquisite and magnificent. It would naturally be suitable if placed in the Dragon Palace, but it was very abrupt in such a mountain forest.
“You’re awake?” Li Yuan sensed the change in Ye Zhuo’s aura and said happily, “Just right, it’s ready to eat. Come and sit down.”
Ye Zhuo only felt that he had eaten more in the past six months than in his entire previous life.
People who cultivate immortality do not eat worldly food. Even if they eat grains and meat, it will eventually turn into spiritual energy in the body, so what’s the point?
Looking at the pill furnace emitting white mist with a fluctuating expression, Ye Zhuo felt that the owner of this pill furnace should be thrown into it the most.
But the dragon was now scooping soup, picking out a few pieces of chicken, and garnishing it with a few mountain mushrooms, walking over to hand it to him: “Do you want to try it? It’s a bit hot though, wait a moment.”
He gently stirred it with a spoon, letting the heat dissipate a little, before handing it to the person in front of him.
Ye Zhuo tasted a bite, and it did have some flavor.
Li Yuan: “How is it?”
Ye Zhuo: “The pill furnace is good.”
Dragon Li Yuan smiled upon hearing this.
Wei Sheng Xian had also tasted a little, nodding in praise: “The pill furnace has nine revolutions, the taste is fresh, sweet, and moist, it has truly cooked out the essence of Chicken Brother and Mushroom Brother.”
Now that the cooking was successful, next was to share the food.
Wei Sheng Xian glanced at the sky: “When we came from Upper Purity Mountain, their flying boat had just set off. It seems that it will take another hour or two to arrive, just enough time to finish eating—today is so perfect, everything is ready, truly a gift from Heaven.”
The delicious food was completely taken from the mountains, and it was the first time Li Yuan had experienced such a process, he happily agreed: “Heaven gives birth to all things, spring blooms and autumn bears fruit, there is indeed some enlightenment.”
Hearing these words, Ye Zhuo couldn’t help but raise his head to look at the aura of these two people.
There were no signs of sudden enlightenment or breaking through a realm.
Ye Zhuo was slightly relieved and continued to taste the food.
Just as they were settling down, a light female voice with a smile came from the ancient tree behind them.
“In such a situation, you can still go mountain hiking and enlighten yourselves before soup. Palace Master Wei Sheng and Young Master Li are truly impressive to have such leisure and elegance.”
Someone had been on the tree all along, and without hiding it, Li Yuan had already sensed it.
Since Wei Sheng Xian didn’t say it, and Ye Zhuo didn’t say it, then he wouldn’t say it either.
Now it seemed that it wasn’t a bad person.
They even knew his name, who could it be?