In the boundless darkness crouched a massive, snow-white Nine-tailed Fox. The once crimson Seal on his back had now faded to near invisibility, as if it could be broken through at any moment.
As if sensing something, the fox suddenly opened his eyes, his eerie green pupils fixing on the person before him. After a moment, however, he closed them again, his aged voice slowly speaking: "...Can you see the words in the book now?"
Li Fei stared at him blankly. As if by instinct, she had delved into his consciousness—just to see him, this fox who harbored too many secrets.
"Azure City and I met eight hundred years ago." Ri Yan's tone was indifferent, concealing a trace of nostalgia not easily detected. "He had just become an Immortal, and I had just received my name bestowed by the heavens. We fought for three days, each coming to admire the other, and instead became inseparable friends."
"He was always a reckless and unrestrained man, unbothered by befriending Monstrous creatures. In that, you are quite like him."
Li Fei listened in a daze, murmuring softly, "I just like relying on you. It's completely different from Master..."
As if he hadn't heard, Ri Yan continued with closed eyes, "To me, among the countless Central Land Immortals of that time, many were brilliant and extraordinary, but none matched the breadth of his heart. I always believed Azure City would one day achieve the Great Dao, transcending the cycle of life and death. After the Sea Fall descended, he fought fiercely with the Yaksa and was gravely wounded, near death. But contrary to rumors, he did not linger in prolonged suffering. At that time, he and I wandered the Sweet Splendor Realm for nearly a century, and his injuries gradually healed. However, the battle with the Yaksa ignited an intense curiosity in him about the lands beyond the sea. He collected countless tales and anecdotes about those distant shores, but most were fabrications or wild guesses, which greatly dissatisfied him. Thus, he conceived a grand ambition—to personally explore the lands beyond the sea."
"The two of us vanished from the Eastern Sea, searching and investigating for centuries, yet we never detected the Spiritual energy left behind when the Yaksa retreated. The Yaksa tribe is peculiar indeed. The Grotto Barriers set up by the Central Land Immortals were mere decorations to them—they came and went freely, unimpeded, and could conceal their traces to the utmost. Wherever they passed, not even the faintest trace of Spiritual energy remained. It was precisely because of this that two Yaksa were able to annihilate an entire Immortal Sect without a sound. In the end, we decided to take the risk and set out from Mount Man in the Eastern Sea, heading for the lands beyond."
At this point, he suddenly opened his eyes again, gazing at her intently, as if deep in thought: "We went to those lands prepared to die. Little girl, regardless of your origins, you are about to experience the Sea Fall that comes once every five hundred years. Its cruelty and brutality will soon become clear to you. The Central Land Immortals' wariness and fear of the lands beyond the sea are not without reason."
Li Fei said nothing, quietly watching him. She only wanted to know more about her Master.Ri Yan gradually sank into reminiscence, his voice now tinged with emotion: "After flying over the Eastern Sea for ten days, we finally encountered the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea—all manner of unheard-of perils that nearly claimed our lives. By the time we reached shore, we could scarcely believe it wasn’t a dream. The Thousands of Islands were a fantastical sight, vaster beyond measure than the Central Land. We had truly been like frogs at the bottom of a well... We thought that if anyone from the Central Land intruded there, the reaction would be fierce, yet to our surprise, we faced no mortal danger. The corpses you once saw in the Outlander Tomb were but a drop in the ocean. Those from beyond the seas were not so strange in appearance—most we encountered looked no different from the people of the Central Land, save that every one of them could command Monstrous creatures. Indeed, the Overseas Demon Taming Arts originated from those distant shores."
"Azure City recorded all our experiences in the Thousands of Islands in that notebook. We had assumed those from beyond the seas would be savage, bloodthirsty, and cruel, but in truth, they were no different from the people of the Central Land—some warm and kind, others cunning and sinister. The myriad faces of humanity were much the same. Spiritual energy was sparse overseas, so Arcane Arts and Mystic Arts flourished. Those crude Arcane Arts of Azure City’s were all stolen from the Thousands of Islands. Ah, the wonders and curiosities of those isles broadened our horizons immeasurably, for him as much as for me. Had we focused on cultivation, our progress would have been boundless. Azure City was but a step away from attaining the Great Dao—what a pity, what a pity!"
Suddenly, Ri Yan stood up abruptly, his eyes once again clouded with bewilderment and indignation: "After decades adrift overseas, Azure City grew homesick. Ah! ‘Lamenting my waning years, how time flies without return. Though I sought immortality and eternal transcendence, better to return to my homeland!’ He longed for the familiar lands and old friends of the Central Land. Even at his level of cultivation, he couldn’t escape this foolish, self-indulgent nostalgia! This was his first misstep. We resolved to bring back an object from beyond the seas—something never before seen—to make our near-death journey worthwhile."
"That day, a fierce north wind raged, and we let it carry us where it would. Suddenly, we arrived at a mountain, a thousand miles in radius, utterly devoid of people, save for a single colossal tree that spanned heaven and earth. On it hung but one fruit. When Azure City cut it down, the mountain instantly crumbled, and the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea from the ocean surged toward us in an instant. We barely escaped with our lives, returning to Man Mountain grievously wounded, nearly dying once more. This injury was worse than his battle with the Yaksa. Even after decades of recuperation in the Sweet Splendor Realm, he never fully recovered, his cultivation greatly diminished. The fruit we brought back lay dormant, shrouded only in a white light. The Sweet Splendor Realm hadn’t been so rich in Spiritual energy before, but after decades with the fruit, the energy within grew so dense it rivaled the Grotto Heavens of the Immortal Sects. We found it all most strange, unsure what it was—until one day seventeen years ago, when the fruit suddenly split open, and out came a baby girl. That was you."Ri Yan slowly turned his back with a long sigh and said softly, "Your many peculiarities initially filled us with both shock and delight. Yet after you turned three, you became no different from an ordinary child. Watching you grow mischievous day by day, Azure City complained endlessly, but the look in his eyes and the tone when speaking of you gradually changed—he began resembling an ordinary old man. He could no longer see you as an anomaly but as a child he had raised himself. That was his second mistake! I urged him countless times to teach you the path of cultivation, but he always refused. In anger, we quarreled, and I left Green Mound."
Humans are always like this—endowed with a spirit no other creature possesses, yet fragile beyond measure, easily ensnared by emotions they cannot escape. Even Azure City fell into this trap. One step away from attaining the Great Dao, he was still haunted by past affections and returned to the Central Land. Then, as if fate willed it, his heart became entangled with an anomaly from beyond the seas. He nurtured her with care, tended to her, treated her as a true human—even wishing for her to live an ordinary life forever, ignorant and unskilled, so long as he could protect her.
Li Fei remembered how, as a child, she could never learn to channel spiritual energy into her body. Frustrated to the brink of tears, her Master would pat her head and sigh, "Never mind if you can't. You lack the talent for it. Better not force it—just be my little acolyte. It’s unseemly for a girl to spend her days fighting and killing. Why not focus on making a proper stewed radish instead?"
From then on, he never spoke of cultivation again. He took her wandering across the land, using arcane arts to swindle meals and drinks, never serious about anything. Even when they earned money, he was stingy to the extreme, refusing to buy her so much as a snack. That frivolous old man never spoke a kind word to her, claiming she was a girl yet raising her like a boy. Had he finally remembered she was a girl when he bought her that skirt? But he would never taste that stewed radish again.
Tears welled in her hollow eyes, and the pain of having nowhere to go seized her once more. Suddenly, she couldn’t hold back a scream. Tears streamed down her face, faster and heavier, until she was wailing uncontrollably—the endless agony now a torrent ravaging her cheeks.
Ri Yan sighed. "You, too, possess a human heart—how are you any different from them? Bound by these tangled emotions, what will you do? Once Azure City’s heart became ensnared, his cultivation could never recover. Otherwise, with his abilities, how could he have been captured by those fools from No Moon Court? Before his capture, he sent word for me to look after you. At the time, I was caught in the Year of Calamity, and his plight stirred my Heart Devil, leaving me lost in doubt. My demon qi was fully sealed, and I was pursued by a pack of lowlifes. By the time I reached Green Mound, it was too late. Knowing he could no longer protect you, he told you to seek out a disciple he’d taken on a whim. Hmph! That little Hu fellow at least had some sense of loyalty! You’ve made it this far, unscathed despite close calls—your luck is something even I’ve never heard of. But luck always runs out. The human heart is fickle—one moment inclined to kindness, the next to malice. Those who showed you kindness yesterday may turn cruel tomorrow. Weren’t those No Moon Court bastards once close to Azure City? And how did that end? When it comes to matters beyond the seas, who cares about past ties? Relying on fragile, ever-changing human hearts—how can that bring lasting peace?"He turned and stared intently at Li Fei, his eyes burning with fervor: "Little girl, you possess celestial grace and jade-like purity, born of heaven itself. Moreover, your unique constitution and unparalleled Spirit Root allow your Source Spiritual Qi to generate endless spiritual energy while absorbing others'. If harnessed properly, you could become invincible! The so-called cultivation methods of those Immortal Sects in the Central Land are nothing but a waste of your potential! Once my Seal is broken, I can help you conquer all—undefeated in every battle! Would you not wish to become the greatest under heaven?"
Li Fei stared at him blankly, saying nothing.
Ri Yan whispered: "Azure City is gone. He always hoped you'd live as an ordinary person, but now that you know the truth, you can never return to who you were before. What do you want?"
What did she want? She only wanted her Master to be alive again. But death extinguishes like a lamp—what's lost can never be reclaimed. He would never return, so her desires were meaningless. She wanted nothing at all.
Li Fei withdrew from the Nine-tailed Fox's consciousness. Her body seemed to plunge into another layer of boundless darkness until, gradually, sensation returned to her limbs. She opened her eyes to a sky full of stars—the hail and gales had ceased, the clouds parted, and the Eastern Sea had shifted from winter back to summer.
She found herself cradled in someone's arms, leaning against a tree in utter silence. Only his breathing and the distant sound of waves rose and fell in rhythm. His long hair swayed gently in the night breeze, strands brushing against her cheeks.
Lei Xiuyuan's fingers combed through her thick locks, stroking slowly. After a long while, he murmured: "I searched for you so long... and finally found you."
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