The Last Immortal

Chapter Ninety-Nine

A thousand years after the battle at Rakshasa Land, the Celestial Emperor returned to the Immortal Realm but continued to reside overseas on Phoenix Island. Since the Peacock Clan had contributed significantly to the battle at Rakshasa Land and the High Immortals of the Heavenly Palace had suffered heavy casualties, the Four Immortal Venerables petitioned the Celestial Emperor to allow Peacock King Hua Mo to assist in governing the Four Seas. Hua Mo declined the position, citing damage to his Immortal Elixir and the need for secluded cultivation, but strongly recommended his daughter Hua Shu to take the role. The Four Venerables tacitly approved this move out of respect for Lanfeng Supreme Lord and petitioned the Celestial Emperor again. Celestial Emperor Feng Ran granted the request. For the next thousand years, Hua Shu resided in Xiuyang Hall of the Heavenly Palace, governing the Four Seas and effectively ranking among the Five Venerables.

"Phoenix Sovereign? You mean that Little Phoenix Lord of the Phoenix Clan has already ascended to the throne?"

In Xiuyang Hall, Hua Shu paused her hand as she caressed a peony, her eyes, which had remained calm for a millennium, showing rare surprise.

Hong Que, who had returned from delivering an invitation to Phoenix Tree Island, knelt on the ground, reporting to Hua Shu that Feng Yin had ascended to the position of Phoenix Sovereign.

"Yes, Your Highness. I presented your invitation to the Celestial Emperor, but the Great Elder of the Phoenix Clan stated that the Phoenix Clan's throne had already been inherited by Little Phoenix Lord Feng Yin. From now on, Wutong Phoenix Island reveres Her Majesty Feng Yin, and all matters of honor and invitation shall prioritize Her Majesty Feng Yin."

After issuing the Edict of Reverence to Heaven, Celestial Emperor Feng Ran remained on Phoenix Tree Island. Since it was for Pu Yan's birthday celebration, it was natural to invite Feng Ran back to the palace. Hua Shu also wanted to meet the Little Phoenix Lord who, upon awakening, had caused all the wonders of the Three Realms to manifest on Phoenix Tree Island.

Though the events of a thousand years ago were buried deep in her heart and she now held a position of power and prestige, some matters remained a thorn in Hua Shu's side, including the long-forgotten Feng Yin.

"How could the Celestial Emperor make such a decision? She's just a thousand-year-old girl, yet she's been enthroned as the sovereign of her clan. Even if the Celestial Emperor's Ascension is imminent, this move is far too reckless."

Hua Shu's voice betrayed her disbelief at Feng Ran's decision, along with a hint of barely concealed envy. After all, she had painstakingly cultivated for thousands of years and meticulously schemed to reach her current position as merely a princess of the Peacock Clan, barely ranking among the Five Venerables of the Heavenly Palace. Meanwhile, Feng Yin, who had once been Soul Scattered and Spirit Dispersed, merely slept for a thousand years and awoke to ascend as sovereign. Given the Phoenix Clan's transcendent power, Feng Yin's status was nearly on par with Celestial Emperor Feng Ran.

"Your Highness! This is the Heavenly Palace." After all, this was the Heavenly Palace, not their own Hundred Birds Island. The Four Venerables were fiercely loyal to Feng Ran. Hearing Hua Shu's words, Hong Que couldn't help but whisper a reminder.

Hua Shu suppressed the anger in her eyes, walked to the window, and gazed westward, saying solemnly, "Enough. What does the Phoenix Clan's affairs have to do with me? Does the Divine Lord know I have prepared a birthday banquet for him?"

The direction Hua Shu gazed toward was the location of Clear Pond Palace in the Qilian Mountains. At her question, Hong Que grew even more uneasy. "Your Highness, when I went to Clear Pond Palace, I did not see the Divine Lord."

"What did you say?" Hua Shu frowned. "You carried my invitation. Could it be that even the Divine Lord refused to see you?"

A thousand years ago, Yuan Qi secluded himself in Clear Pond Palace, concealing his divine status and name, calling himself Pu Yan, and withdrawing from worldly affairs. Yet, all beings of the Three Realms addressed him as Divine Lord, showing their reverence for him.

"Your Highness, please calm your anger. High Lord Chang Que said that the Divine Lord left the palace to travel a few days ago and was not present, which is why I did not see him."

Hua Shu's anger subsided slightly, but her heart grew even more astonished. "You mean the Divine Lord left Clear Pond Palace?"

Since Yuan Qi went into seclusion, he rarely left Clear Pond Palace, except for...

"Your Highness, could it be that the Divine Lord left the palace because that day is approaching?" Hong Que asked cautiously, not daring to look at Hua Shu's expression.For so many years, even though her own mistress held a position among the Five Venerables of the Heavenly Palace, she had never received a gentle expression from that Divine Lord of Clear Pond Palace. If not for the Divine Dew of the Jade Pool from the late Supreme Lord Lanfeng and her mistress's Peacock Feather Crown having once saved the life of that Water Condensation Beast, this maidservant likely wouldn't even be able to set foot within the mountain gates of Clear Pond Palace. Her mistress understood this perfectly clearly, yet after Supreme Lord Lanfeng's passing, she looked down upon all other Immortal Lords, focusing solely on drawing closer to Divine Lord Yuan Qi. However, that thunder punishment back then had caused the Water Condensation Beast's soul to scatter and spirit to disperse. Over all these years of her mistress visiting Clear Pond Palace, aside from a few distant and indifferent greetings, she had never even been offered a cup of warm tea.

"Something's not right, there's still some time left. The Divine Lord never leaves Clear Pond Palace outside of those few days. Did Immortal Lord Chang Que mention where the Divine Lord went?"

Hong Que shook her head. "Supreme Lord Chang Que does not know Divine Lord Yuan Qi's whereabouts." She worriedly said, "Mistress, the invitations you prepared for the Divine Lord's birthday banquet have already been sent to all the mansions in the Immortal Realm. If the Divine Lord does not attend that day, your face..."

Hua Shu's brows tightened sternly. "No matter where in the Three Realms he has gone, he will inevitably visit the Ghost Realm before the birthday banquet. When the time comes, I will naturally find him."

Seeing Hua Shu's expression turn cold, Hong Que dared not say more. She acknowledged with a "Yes" and withdrew from Xiuyang Hall.

Ever since that Water Condensation Beast Ayin's soul scattered and spirit dispersed under the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder, that Divine Lord would appear in the Ghost Realm around the anniversary of her death every year. Throughout the Three Realms, it was well known that Clear Pond Palace's Immortal Lord Pu Yan held an unyielding obsession over this matter, unable to let go for a thousand years.

Unfortunately, in over sixty thousand years across the Three Realms, not a single immortal who perished with their soul scattered and spirit dispersed under the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder had ever had their soul retrieved and life and death reversed.

What Divine Lord Yuan Qi of Clear Pond Palace sought in his heart was ultimately an obsession, a futile endeavor.

That exquisitely elegant invitation from Hua Shu had been lying in Phoenix Roost Palace for several days. When Feng Yun first delivered it, he had been quite eager to chatter to his little monarch about what origins and background that Immortal Lord Pu Yan of Clear Pond Palace had. Unexpectedly, Feng Yin's one sentence—"I know, it's that scoundrel who ruined my Nirvana Rebirth. I heard he was personally trained by Master Sovereign?"—left Feng Yun speechless.

The old Elder, with a pained expression, held back for a long while before cautiously bringing it up: "Your Majesty, what happened back then was indeed Divine Lord Pu Yan's fault. But given the Divine Lord's status, although he was at fault, he was still young and inexperienced after all. For a thousand years, he has been searching for your soul, which shows he has been attentive. Back then, Great Marsh Mountain's Divine Lord Donghua also gifted the Soul Suppressing Pagoda to the Phoenix Clan to help nurture your body. If not for that, when you returned from transcending the tribulation this time, it would likely have been difficult to attain Demigod cultivation. In the future, when you go to the Heavenly Palace to attend the banquet, if you happen to meet the Little Divine Lord, please do not hold a grudge over what happened back then. After all, you are destined to ascend to godhood and enter the Divine Realm in the future..."

Feng Yin had thought that after a thousand years, her own glass heart had long since tempered into old porcelain stone. Yet when Feng Yun mentioned Donghua, she couldn't help but feel a twinge in her heart. Without even hearing Feng Yun's words to the end, she listlessly waved him away.

Even after a thousand years, the tragic scene of Great Marsh Mountain's complete annihilation remained imprinted in the deepest, most desolate part of Feng Yin's heart. Once touched, it bled profusely.She had been cooped up in Phoenix Roost Palace for several days, doing nothing but flipping through ancient texts collected by the Phoenix Clan, not even bothering to step outside half a step. Her temperament had become even more placid than when she first awoke. Seeing this, several Elders fretted until their eyes turned red, blaming Feng Yun for making their little Majesty endure the one from Clear Pond Palace. That was a great calamity of Soul Scattered and Spirit Dispersed—even if that person’s status was noble, it shouldn’t have been their little Majesty who had to swallow her pride.

Feng Yun endured the reproaches of the protective Elders and thought that his Majesty had indeed suffered an injustice. There was truly no need to yield to that Divine Lord any longer; it would be better if the two never met. So he sent someone to the Heavenly Palace to politely decline Hua Shu’s invitation to the birthday banquet. He secretly thought that this time Feng Yin should feel more at ease and hurried to Phoenix Roost Palace, intending to offer a few more words of comfort. To his surprise, he found the place empty. Feng Yin, who had nearly grown moldy from staying in Phoenix Roost Palace, was not sunbathing on her large, comfortable lounge chair made of ten-thousand-year jadeite stone. She had long since disappeared without a trace.

The day she was kicked off the River of Oblivion by Xiuyan, startling the Three Realms into unrest, was the day Feng Yin opened her eyes inside the Soul Suppressing Pagoda.

At that time, the loneliness of a thousand years of reincarnation slowly faded from her eyes, leaving only that fleeting moment in Rakshasa Land when she looked back and saw her soul scattered and spirit dispersed.

When she gazed at the long line of excited and expectant, gray-bearded Elders before the Soul Suppressing Pagoda, she realized with silent resignation that the Ghost King who had accompanied her on the Bridge of Helplessness for a thousand years had spoken the truth.

Her thousand-year journey through the mortal world had been so vexing and miserable because she had offended an immensely powerful figure in the Three Realms—Yuan Qi, the son of a True God from the Divine Realm, the most exalted person in the Lower Three Realms.

Being sent to the west with her soul by a strike of his Heavenly Thunder, her life as Ayin the Water Condensation Beast wasn’t too disgraceful after all. Thinking this, Feng Yin finally felt somewhat better.

There was no need to remain troubled by those outdated misfortunes forever. After sunbathing in Phoenix Roost Palace for a few days, Feng Yin became much more at ease. Feng Yun was right: once matters in the Lower Three Realms were settled, she would eventually enter the Divine Realm. There, they would inevitably cross paths, and she might even have to rely on that son of a True God for support. Getting acquainted with him in the Lower Three Realms could save her much trouble in the future. However, this so-called birthday banquet was an exception—she truly had no patience to see that Peacock Clan princess from Hundred Birds Island again.

Claiming credit for others’ deeds and being fiercely jealous were one thing, but those six Heavenly Thunder strikes had genuinely been meant to take her life. As for Hua Shu’s banquet, even if she were invited with six grand sedan chairs or with three bows and nine kneelings, she had no desire to see the malicious heart hidden beneath that Peacock Princess’s fair face.

With these thoughts swirling in her mind, Feng Yin wandered aimlessly around Phoenix Island and unintentionally walked to the ancient phoenix tree forest behind the island. Lifting her gaze, she caught sight of the Ancestral Phoenix Tree before her and couldn’t help but sigh softly. Speaking of which, the first time she and Yuan Qi formally met in their true forms wasn’t a dozen years later when the Water Condensation Beast opened its eyes, but the moment she hatched from the phoenix egg. Back then, she had no idea of the entanglements that would follow in the years to come. If she had known, she would have preferred her soul to scatter and disperse rather than let a wisp of her soul enter the body of that Water Condensation Beast...

“Since you have come, why not show yourself?”

A brisk voice interrupted Feng Yin’s reminiscence. She looked up and saw her Master Sovereign, dressed in casual red robes, lazily leaning against the trunk of the Ancestral Phoenix Tree halfway up, basking in the sun.Fire Phoenixes are indeed quite lazy, Feng Yin thought to herself. The Master Sovereign's words didn't seem directed at her, so after a moment's consideration, she hid behind the ancestral tree without revealing herself.

Sure enough, a young man in black robes slowly emerged from the Phoenix Tree Forest ahead of Feng Ran. His brows were sharp and cool, and his dark eyes, at first glance, resembled aged wine sealed away for millennia, carrying a particularly distinctive charm.

Seeing that person, Feng Yin was slightly taken aback. She sighed inwardly, never expecting that even without leaving Phoenix Island, she would encounter an old acquaintance from a thousand years ago.