Chapter 640: Meeting Zuo He Again
He Qingling turned around, her gaze landing on the back of the middle-aged man who had just brushed past her.
The metallic collision of two sword scabbards rubbing together sounded almost pleasant to the ear.
She did not suspect this person's identity, after all, the Du Cang Mountain token could not be forged.
Besides...
"Senior, are we returning to Du Cang Mountain now?"
He Qingling called out toward the middle-aged man's back:
"If we're going back to Du Cang Mountain, wouldn't it be safer to stop by Xuan Sheng Sect first?"
"No, it's best to head straight back to Du Cang Mountain."
The middle-aged man replied without turning his head.
"But Xuan Sheng Sect is much closer from here, and if we return to Xuan Sheng Sect, my Grandmaster is there."
He Qingling said.
From her current standpoint, returning to Xuan Sheng Sect was indeed the optimal solution given their present circumstances.
After all, Xuan Sheng Sect naturally had her sectal ancestor, Liu Puzhong, holding things down.
Grandmaster was a Divine Ability Realm cultivator.
Across the entire Chenping Continent, those who dared claim their cultivation surpassed Liu Puzhong's numbered fewer than fifty.
And among those fifty, one would have to include the several Immortal Ascension Realm great powers currently on Chenping Continent, as well as the Dao Union Realm cultivators.
Ever since He Qingling could remember, Grandmaster had always been the protective umbrella shielding Xuan Sheng Sect from all storms.
If someone wanted to kill her, as long as she returned to Xuan Sheng Sect...
"No."
The middle-aged man refused without hesitation:
"Someone has already come to Yun Capital to intercept and kill you. I don't dare gamble on whether there might be an ambush lying in wait along the necessary route from Yun Capital back to Xuan Sheng Sect."
"But if we go directly from here back to Du Cang Mountain..."
He Qingling didn't finish the second half of her sentence, but her meaning was already perfectly clear.
Wouldn't there also be people setting up ambushes along the road from Xuan Sheng Sect back to Du Cang Mountain to intercept and kill her?
"So we won't return to Du Cang Mountain directly. We'll take a detour."
The middle-aged man said as he walked off into the distance.
He Qingling gazed at the back of the middle-aged man in light gray daoist robes, hesitated for a moment longer, then hurried after him.
"Senior, may I ask your name?"
He Qingling inquired.
"Li..."
The middle-aged man had barely uttered the first half of the syllable "Li" before he hesitated for a brief moment.
Better not to reveal his real name.
After all, Li Haowen himself knew best exactly how notorious his reputation had become.
If he told her his real name, it might very well invite unnecessary complications.
"Li?"
He Qingling's confused voice came from behind him.
"Lin."
Li Haowen said calmly:
"My name is Lin Fan."
......
The Endless Sea.
Once again, Chen Yan traversed a distance of one hundred and eighty million li to arrive above the Endless Sea.
This time, Chen Yan's cultivation had also advanced from the early Immortal Ascension Realm to the middle Immortal Ascension Realm.
With Chen Yan's current cultivation, even without mobilizing the One Hundred Thousand Immortal Artifacts to intimidate those Immortal Ascension cultivators on Heavenly Summit Mountain, he could easily crush three Immortal Ascension cultivators wielding immortal artifacts with nothing but his own power alone.
Yet before this vast Endless Sea, Chen Yan still felt his own insignificance.
Moreover...
Chen Yan's gaze fell upon the deep, dark sea surface beneath his feet.
Within the abyssal depths of this Endless Sea, upon that expanse of gray, desolate continental remnant, sat the remains of a Sage.
The residual might of the Sage lingering upon that corpse was enough to make even the primordial will of the Endless Sea itself feel fear.
The higher one's cultivation, the smaller one felt.
Having now stepped into the Immortal Ascension Realm, this was how he saw it.
But what if his cultivation realm were to reach an even higher position?
Say, becoming a True Lord of the Returning to Void Realm, or a Sage of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm...
Would he then, before an even more majestic existence, come to a profound realization of his own insignificance?
Chen Yan believed the answer was most likely yes.
Whether it was the Sage of Imperial Void Bai Chen, or the Tianji Sage Zuo He... as well as the Sage Fusheng, the three Sages who had once appeared in the history of this domain's heavens, he had personally conversed with each of them.
Only, some were in the flesh, and some were remnant souls.
Even Sages of the Uncarved Simplicity Realm each carried their own suffering and despair.
The Sage of Imperial Void, in order to save himself, had severed his "remains" into several segments of cause and effect, hiding them in various corners of the world.
The Tianji Sage had acted recklessly, deliberately allowing the twelve Immortal Sects of Tianji Continent to descend into chaos, ultimately triggering a sweeping "Fallen Immortal Calamity" across Tianji Continent. This caused irreversible damage to the laws of heaven and earth in this domain, while also costing him his life.
As for the Sage Fusheng, also the Sage Chen Yan was most familiar with, he was born into a world where the laws of heaven and earth had already collapsed, upon the chessboard of the Sage of Imperial Void. He had groped his way to the threshold of the Sage Realm on his own, only to be targeted by that unknown 'existence,' ultimately falling eight thousand years ago in pursuit of unraveling the mystery.
And the Mr. You that Chen Yan knew most intimately was, in truth, merely the "seventy thousand years ago" Immortal Venerable Fusheng created when he combined the Weaving Dreams Night Sky Observation Mirror with his own Dao Basis.
What exactly lies at the end of the Path to Immortality?
Floating in midair, Chen Yan sighed with such feelings, then reached out his right hand once more, sweeping away all the thoughts that had surfaced in his mind.
Then that pitch-black long sword, shimmering with starlight like eternal night, appeared once again in Chen Yan's hand.
"Open!"
With a single slash of the Falling Star Sword, he split the sea water beneath his feet in two.
The process was basically identical to last time. Chen Yan plunged down through the gap in the parted waters and dove into the abyssal depths.
The primordial will was still attempting to assimilate Chen Yan's very existence, as if wanting to make him a part of the Endless Sea's ancient consciousness.
Barely resisting the erosion of that will, Chen Yan once again arrived upon that deathly gray continental remnant with its withered mountains and shattered rivers, then cast his gaze toward the lone figure seated there, the corpse of Bai Chen, the Ultimate Sage of Imperial Void.
With a flicker of his form, Chen Yan stood before Bai Chen's remains, raised his right hand, and placed it upon Bai Chen's forehead, once again diving into his sea of consciousness.
Within a pure white space, standing far, far ahead, was a hazy gray silhouette.
As the distance closed, one could make out that it was a figure clad in pitch-black daoist robes.
"How interesting."
Zuo He, the Ultimate Sage of Heaven's Extremity, turned around and spoke toward Chen Yan's direction, the exact same words as their last meeting:
"You carry the cause and effect of the Qingxuan Immortal Sect, yet you are not from Tianji Continent. So, who exactly are you?"
This time, Chen Yan did not ponder.
Instead, he directly clasped his hands in salute and said:
"I greet the Tianji Sage. I have important intelligence I wish to share with you, concerning the Sage of Imperial Void and his schemes for the future of this domain's heavens!"