The morning sun rose, and the small town on the outskirts of the Myriad Immortals Assembly began to bustle with life. Perhaps it shouldn’t be called a small town anymore—the disaster caused by the Sea Fall four hundred years ago hadn’t been as devastating as imagined. Among the Ocean Sect’s territories, only the Guangshenghui had suffered the heaviest damage.
After the Sea Fall ended, with the approval of numerous Ocean Sect leaders, the Myriad Immortals Assembly—closest to the Guangshenghui—took in some of its disciples and the peripheral towns under its jurisdiction. The once modestly sized town of the Myriad Immortals Assembly, previously limited by its unique terrain, gradually flourished over time. Today, its outskirts had grown into a major city of the Eastern Sea, rivaling even Yangxi City, with frequent exchanges between the Central Land and the inland regions.
Li Fei adjusted the floral scarf on her head. She had used an illusion spell to disguise herself as an ordinary village girl, while Lei Xiuyuan beside her had once again transformed into a rough, mud-stained laborer. Ri Yan had shrunk to the size of a thumb, dangling from Li Fei’s belt as a decorative ornament, his beady eyes darting around as he exclaimed, “How it’s changed! I can’t recognize a thing!”
Li Fei whispered, “Ri Yan, lower your voice. What if someone hears you? We’ll be exposed.”
“So what if we are? What’s there to fear?” Ri Yan rolled his eyes fiercely.
Patiently, Li Fei replied, “I’m here to absorb spiritual energy, not to engage in magical combat. Besides, Xiu Yuan wanted to see the Central Land, and didn’t you also want to catch some rare monstrous creatures? How can we do that if the Central Land Immortals discover us?”
Why not just kill them all? Ri Yan thought, but he refrained from saying it aloud. He knew it was unrealistic to expect Li Fei to slaughter all the Central Land Immortals. What was even more infuriating was that that brat Lei Xiuyuan never took his side, making him—the elder—seem like the unruly troublemaker in front of the two youngsters.
“I wonder if we’ll get to see Ge Lin and Lu Li,” Li Fei mused as she strolled casually, marveling at the transformed Myriad Immortals Assembly town. It had changed so much she couldn’t even recognize where Baili Gelin’s old courtyard had once stood.
Only four hundred years had passed since the last Sea Fall, and it was clear the Central Land hadn’t yet made any preparations for the next one. The atmosphere was unusually relaxed and leisurely. Truthfully, she shouldn’t have sneaked into the Central Land at this time, but back on Juying Island, Ri Yan had constantly pestered her to open a Lesser World to store corpses—after all, it was far more practical than Lei Xiuyuan digging a basement. Reluctantly, she had selected a bronze mirror and, following Ri Yan’s method, expended a considerable amount of spiritual energy to create the Lesser World.
After that came the task of healing Lei Xiuyuan’s injuries. He had been wounded by the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, and even after centuries of rest, he hadn’t fully recovered. Treating the Yaksa’s injuries and reattaching his broken horn had drained even more of her spiritual energy, leaving Li Fei once again feeling the urgent need to replenish it.
The sparse spiritual energy overseas couldn’t satisfy her, so the three of them had no choice but to secretly return to the Central Land. Calculating the time, only four hundred years had passed—likely too soon for the Central Land to have taken any precautions. This was the perfect opportunity to return and discreetly visit old acquaintances. Both Lei Xiuyuan and Ri Yan were the type to act on impulse, so Li Fei mustered her courage, swallowed the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, and rode the wind all the way back to the Central Land she hadn’t seen in four centuries.She felt somewhat uncertain. Time passed differently overseas compared to the Central Land. For her and Lei Xiuyuan, four hundred years had been spent in slumber, making past events seem as though they had occurred just yesterday. But for her friends, every moment of those four hundred years had been lived through in real time. The passions of their youth would likely now be met with a rueful smile.
Noticing a persistent gaze fixed upon her, Li Fei turned her head to meet Lei Xiuyuan's eyes. She smiled faintly. "What is it? Never seen me dressed as a village girl before?"
Lei Xiuyuan slowly shook his head. Watching her composed demeanor, he asked quietly, "Are you truly unharmed? That Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea..."
The Central Land and the lands beyond the sea were separated by the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea, a terrifying natural barrier that would claim the life of any ordinary person who touched it. Yet he had witnessed her fly straight into it. Moments later, the entire Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea had been absorbed into her body, and she emerged unscathed, even able to joke about it.
Li Fei patted her chest. "It's not that I'm completely unaffected, but compared to last time, it's within my tolerance. I've stored them here in my chest for now. When we return, I'll release them, and everything will be fine."
Ri Yan suddenly let out a strange cry. "So there's no Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea now?! Does that mean people from overseas can come and go as they please, and those from the Central Land can leave freely?!"
"Most likely," Li Fei replied, still patting her chest. "Didn't the Central Land and the lands beyond the sea have exchanges in the past? I think it was only possible when the Graftwood Seed swallowed the Heavenly Thunder Fire Sea and drove away the ferocious beasts and monstrous creatures lingering at sea. This time, we're a hundred years early, and the sea hasn't been drawn into Guixu... That's good, isn't it? For the Central Land, the Sea Fall that comes every five hundred years won't return."
Her hand was suddenly grasped by Lei Xiuyuan. He shot a disdainful glance at her chest and remarked flatly, "Stop patting. The more you pat, the flatter it gets."
"Y-you... what did you say...?" Li Fei gaped at him in shock. Had she misheard him?
Lei Xiuyuan chuckled. "Nothing. Let's go."
Fine! This was the second time! She hadn't forgotten—back at the Academy, even as a brat, he'd already been shamelessly eyeing her figure!
Li Fei glared at him fiercely, but her hand remained naturally clasped in his as they walked down the street, one after the other. To onlookers, they appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary young couple from the countryside.
"Ah, that slope," Li Fei finally spotted a somewhat familiar landmark. Dozens of miles beyond the slope lay the shimmering waters of the Eastern Sea. Once, the six of them had gotten drunk together at a tavern behind that slope. "And that inn—Xiu Yuan, do you remember?"
She pointed at a particularly tall building in the distance. After hundreds of years, it couldn't possibly be the same inn, having likely been renovated countless times. The structure was much taller now, its colors more garish and flamboyant, with numerous domesticated monstrous creatures still lingering around it. Back then, when she had gotten drunk, it was Lei Xiuyuan who had carried her back to the inn. The memory was still vivid.
Lei Xiuyuan squinted at it for a long while before slowly shaking his head. It wasn't that he had no recollection of the place at all—there was a vague sense of familiarity, the scent of the wind and the sea. He must have been here before, but the specifics eluded him completely."It's alright. Once I've replenished my spiritual energy, we can sneak off to No Moon Court and take a look at Master’s old residence at Hu She Feng. Oh, and we can also visit the Academy, and that little courtyard you used to live in at the foot of Star Rectitude Hall—though it’s been so long, I wonder how much it’s changed..."
Li Fei eagerly listed many nostalgic places in the Central Land, but before she could finish, Lei Xiuyuan covered her mouth with his hand, frowning. "Are you that eager for me to remember?"
She pried his hand away and grinned. "You said it yourself—whether you remember or not makes no difference. You’re still the same person, so what does it matter?"
"Sharp tongue now," he pinched her cheek. As they say, one takes on the color of their company—perhaps he was reaping what he sowed. After spending so much time with him, this girl was no longer the simple-minded fool she used to be.
Ri Yan coughed impatiently. "If you two want to get affectionate, save it for the privacy of your room at night! What’s with this broad daylight nonsense? Show some restraint! Look over there—don’t you sense the intense spiritual energy fluctuation?"
Exchanging a few jokes counted as affection?! Li Fei was utterly exasperated—this fox was getting better at making his presence known. She followed Ri Yan’s direction and saw that the city had an inexplicably empty plot of land near the sea, shrouded in a dense Spiritual Qi Net spanning about a mile in radius. Within the net stood an enormous, several-zhang-tall object covered in black cloth, its form indiscernible.
A sudden realization struck Li Fei. She glanced at the surrounding scenery and spoke up. "That... is the Spirit Stele I left behind?"
That day, she had inscribed Master’s decades of overseas experiences onto the Spirit Stele, leaving it for the Immortals of the Central Land. She never imagined its fate would be to be sealed away. If she recalled correctly, hadn’t countless Celestials of the Central Land once been deeply curious and yearning for the lands beyond the sea?
Ri Yan sneered. "They all treated the lands beyond the sea as a treasure trove! What you left behind is so tempting—if everyone saw it and started yearning to go overseas, what would those so-called sect leaders and Celestials at the top do? What benefits would they gain? Besides, with Sea Fall wreaking havoc for so many years, you suddenly leave behind something telling them the lands beyond aren’t what they imagined—who could accept that? What would they do with their restless hearts? It’s far easier to cling to the old than embrace the new! Sealing it away is the most convenient solution!"
Li Fei fell silent. The complexity and fickleness of human hearts were indeed something she hadn’t fully considered. She had left this stele too soon. Even after Master’s life’s work was revealed to the world, it had been suppressed for four hundred years. The Spirit Stele was like an irresistibly tempting fruit no one dared to taste—for four centuries, people had only looked at it, sealed it away, leaving this karma for future generations.
"...Let’s go take a closer look." She nimbly jumped down the slope and strode toward the Spirit Stele.
The massive stele, shrouded in black cloth and the Spiritual Qi Net, seemed to have become a famous landmark in the outer towns of the Myriad Immortals Assembly. Early in the morning, crowds had already gathered around it, gawking. A few locals, pretending to be knowledgeable, were even spinning wild tales about the stele’s origins to onlookers.Li Fei even heard someone say this was a divine stone that fell from the heavens four hundred years ago. Amused yet exasperated, she turned to see who was spouting such nonsense. As figures shuffled before her, she suddenly caught sight of an extremely familiar, graceful silhouette. The girl stood with her back turned, wearing the disciple uniform of the East Sea Myriad Immortals Assembly, revealing a slender waist as pale as snow, her long hair cascading like a waterfall down her back.
Li Fei trembled all over and couldn't help calling out: "Ge Lin!"
The people around her turned to stare at this village girl, unsure who she was calling. Yet that particular girl didn't turn around. She stood with arms crossed, seemingly fascinated by those absurd legends, listening with great interest.
Li Fei pushed through the crowd and gently tapped her shoulder, calling again: "Ge Lin."
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