"Hahaha... I'm finally out! This godforsaken heaven, you created such a death trap, but didn't I still get out..."
His voice echoed around, shaking the heavens and the earth!
This was a gray-robed old man, tall, with a head of snow-white long hair scattered to his shoulders. His face was gaunt, and his eyes were like an abyss or an ocean, unfathomably deep.
After a long laugh, he hovered in mid-air, looking at the completely different world in the distance. He looked up at the long-lost sunlight and took a deep breath.
Feeling the slightly warm air entering his body, the gray-robed old man squinted his eyes.
"Three hundred and ten thousand years. Time flies. I wonder how the other four sects are doing with their legacies now? I've been trapped for too, too long this time, and finally came to this place. It was really hard on this old man. I wonder if there are truly superior spirit roots in this place where even the great powers of the Immortal Spirit Realm failed to establish a legacy sect in ancient times. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a huge loss?"
He thought to himself as he felt the pure Spirit Qi between heaven and earth.
"Well! No matter what, I've finally arrived here. I have to search for it properly. Oh, by the way, did that boy named Li Yan escape from the cultivator surnamed Ji? After this matter is over, I must go back and look for him. If he's dead, I'll have to kill that cultivator surnamed Ji no matter what. But if that Li Yan is still alive, then the Gui Water Immortal Sect will have a successor. I wonder if Qian Chong, Ning Ke, and the other four have found successors? Alas!"
The gray-robed old man sighed in his heart. If he had known he would meet Li Yan, he wouldn't have had to come here, which almost caused him to be trapped in that death trap forever.
"It would be great if I could find another disciple here. But if I need to leave this place, even if I have to tear open the void and walk into the endless chaotic flow space, I will never step into that world of ice and snow again."
The gray-robed old man looked back at the snowflakes and red lightning blowing out from between the two ice peaks. His face couldn't help but twitch, and his heart was still extremely depressed.
Immediately, without any visible movement, he had disappeared into thin air, leaving only the two completely different worlds here, continuing their eternal, unchanging replacement.
...
On the Desolate Moon Continent, in a mountain village on the outskirts of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, a man in his late forties was brandishing a whip in his hand, shouting out a work song as he pulled a large cart full of rice back to the village.
Stepping on the smooth, green-stone-paved road, the man's body was particularly strong. Blocks of dark muscles jumped with vitality under the sunlight as he moved.
The man's face vaguely resembled Li Yan's, but his skin was rougher and darker, and wrinkles had already appeared on his face.
He greeted people along the way, his honest face full of smiles, looking extremely simple and unadorned.
After he had driven the cart to his own doorstep, he began to unload the rice from the cart with an iron pitchfork and then spread it flat on the ground in front of the courtyard.
At this time, a young man in his twenties walked out of the house. His body was as strong and sturdy as the man's.
"Dad, how much is left in the fields? You rest for a while, I'll do this!"
The man, hearing this, did not look up. He used the iron pitchfork to spread out the rice on the ground and said with a laugh, "Oh, it's Wenwu, you're back. This is the last cart. How was your harvest after a few days in the mountains?"
As he spoke, he continued to forcefully insert the iron pitchfork into the long ears of the rice on the cart, and then with a flick, he lifted it up again.
The young man called Wenwu picked up another iron pitchfork leaning against the wall, walked over in a few steps, spat into his palm, and also forcefully thrust the iron pitchfork into the rice in the cart.
"Not bad. Each household can get a portion of a pig's leg and some deer meat and fur. It's just that Grandpa Guoxin injured his leg a bit, got poked by a deer's antler. But he'll be fine after ten days or so of recuperation."
The man, hearing this, paused the iron pitchfork in mid-air. Then, with a flick, he tossed a small pile of rice onto the ground. He said with a dissatisfied expression, "I told Uncle Guoxin not to go into the mountains long ago. This time, because I had to take care of your grandfather and these things in the fields, I didn't go to see him. How did he go with you again?"
"Dad, you can't blame us. After we entered the mountains, Grandpa Guoxin was already waiting in the mountains. He knows the way into the mountains better than we do. We tried to persuade him to go back, but he wouldn't listen. We couldn't just force someone to send him back, could we? We were already very careful to take care of him in the mountains. It's just that Grandpa Guoxin, while we weren't looking, saw a deer fall into a trap and rushed up himself. In that situation, an injured deer, seeing someone approach, would fight to the death. How could we protect the people around?"
"Alas, this is good too. After getting injured, let's see if he goes into the mountains again!" the middle-aged man muttered. But he also knew that "Uncle Guoxin" would only be honest at home for a short time. He then sighed helplessly.
"I'll go see Uncle Guoxin later!"
The young man's eyes lit up when he heard this.
"Dad, are you going to give Grandpa Guoxin the immortal medicine left by Fifth Uncle? I've heard since I was little that Fifth Uncle knew immortals, but it's been so many years, how come he hasn't come back even once?"
The man shook his head upon hearing this.
"Those medicines are long gone. But if you rinse the medicine bottle with water, the water that comes out is still much better than our own healing medicine! You'd better not be so loud. How many times have I told you not to talk about your Fifth Uncle, not to talk about it... Your grandma and grandpa got sick because of this..."
The man suddenly lowered his voice and scolded the young man with a stern face.
The young man immediately looked back at the courtyard gate, and seeing that there was no movement, he said in a low voice with a look of shame, "Dad, it was just a slip of the tongue. I'll be careful next time, I'll definitely be careful. Then Fifth Uncle, he..."
"Don't talk about it, don't talk about it..." the middle-aged man said, waving his hand with a somewhat dim expression.
Seeing the man like this, the young man named Wenwu dared not ask any more. He knew that his father seemed to have a good temper, but once he got angry, he would directly hit people.
He would inevitably get a good beating then. At that time, even his mother couldn't persuade him.
He had of course heard of the legendary Fifth Uncle whom he had never met. And many people in the village had talked about the time when Fifth Uncle brought two fairies to the village.
It was said that he had not only seen Fifth Uncle, but that person had also held him. It was just that he was too young at that time, and his memory was very vague. It seemed like it had happened, and it seemed like it hadn't.
He had heard about some things about Fifth Uncle from many people in the village no less than a thousand times since he was a child. In fact, he had already sketched out Fifth Uncle's appearance in his mind.
But as for things about Fifth Uncle at home since he was a child, of course, his own family knew best. So, he hoped that his father could say more about this mysterious Fifth Uncle.
It was just that his father had always been taciturn and was not willing to say an extra word about anything.
On the contrary, his grandparents were the most willing to talk about Fifth Uncle. But as soon as they mentioned him, his grandfather would be silent for many days without speaking, while his grandmother would be like she was possessed, muttering non-stop.
The most common thing she said was, "Old Five has forgotten me, forgotten me..."
The man was precisely Li Yan's third brother, Li Wei. Although he didn't want to mention Li Yan, he was already chanting in his heart, 'Old Five, did you die outside? Although Mom and Dad have the immortal pills you left behind, their health is getting worse and worse. A heartache is hard to cure! You... are you dead or alive... you don't even want your family, you don't even want your parents...'
Li Wei was silent. He soon spread the rice from the cart evenly on the ground with the previous few carts.
After it had dried enough, they could thresh it and collect the grain.
Li Wenwu then let him go back to the house to rest. He diligently went to do the remaining things like cleaning up the cart and the ox.
After being reminded of his worries by his son, Li Wei walked silently into the courtyard. He saw his wife coming out of the kitchen. The Xiao Yu of the past had already become a middle-aged woman.
"Is it all sorted out? Have a drink of water first. We can eat soon!" Seeing Li Wei return, she wiped her hands on her apron and said softly.
"Oh, where are Xiao Jie and Xiao Yue? Where have they run off to again? Today, Scholar Zhou went to the city, why don't they know to review their lessons in their room?"
Li Wei now had two sons and one daughter. The second son was already fifteen years old, and the youngest daughter was also twelve.
It was almost time to eat, and he didn't hear the sound of his son and daughter in the house. He knew they had run out again and couldn't help but frown and ask with dissatisfaction.
People in mountain villages had always been very casual with naming. Li Wei was the same. Apart from his eldest son Wenwu, whose name had some hopeful meaning, the other two children were just raised simply.
It would be enough to raise them to adulthood and see them get married. So their names didn't have too much meaning.
However, ever since listening to Li Yan's advice, Li Wei had always made them study more. Seeing that Li Jie was about to go to the county examination.
As for his daughter Li Yue, he just let her study more. In the future, seeing that she was well-read and courteous, maybe she could marry into a good family.
"They went to accompany Mom and Dad. Recently, Dad has been smoking more and more and coughing a lot. He won't listen when we try to persuade him. If we get anxious, he just closes the door. Mom likes to stay in that side room in the back house for no reason, sitting there for half a day, talking to herself. So Xiao Jie and Xiao Yue went to see them. After Wenwu came back just now, he also went to see the two elders!" Xiao Yu said with a worried expression.
Li Wei nodded upon hearing this. Mom and Dad liked these three children the most, especially Xiao Jie.
That was because Xiao Jie looked five or six parts like Li Yan, especially his calm face and taciturn personality.
He of course understood the meaning of the side room his wife mentioned. It was the room he and Old Five had lived in as children. After Old Five had left a lot of gold and silver, their family had already built many spacious large houses, but Mom and Dad just wouldn't let them touch that side room.
At most, they would repair some damaged furniture and the roof. Apart from their own family, outsiders were not allowed to enter.
Li Wei sighed and silently walked towards the back hall.
"Bring the food to the back!"
...
When Li Yan returned to "Sacred Demon City," it was already the evening of the sixth day.
He had been calculating the time in the "Earthen Patch" and finally carefully sent out his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings.
He wasn't worried that Zhao Min would be worried about him. His and Zhao Min's lives were already one.
After confirming that there was no danger around, Li Yan flashed out of the "Earthen Patch."
But he didn't stay for a moment. After putting away the "Earthen Patch," he used the Earth Evasion Art underground. After turning in a few directions and burrowing for nearly ten thousand li, he finally broke through the ground.
Only then did he find the right direction and fly towards "Sacred Demon City."
This time, Li Yan changed his appearance again, transforming into a middle-aged man. After paying the Spirit Stones again, he re-entered the city.
Then, he lingered in some restaurants and teahouses, wanting to see if he could get any news from them.
After all, the commotion in that mountain range was not small. Whether Dongli Qing was alive or dead, with "Sacred Demon City" being so close, by this time, news should be flying everywhere.
Then, Li Yan heard the news that a Nascent Soul from the "Sacred Demon Palace" had died, and the entire "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" had been killed.
Li Yan was both shocked and extremely satisfied by this.
He had not expected that Dongli Qing had really been killed by him. Although he had had this hope before, he had felt that the possibility of the other party surviving was greater.
He did not contact Zhao Min immediately, but found a remote place to restore his appearance, and then returned to the shop with a turbulent mind.
Not long after Li Yan arrived at the shop, just as he was frowning in thought, his expression changed.