The deep blue waves stretched endlessly, without a single island in sight for thousands of miles. The night was dark and silent, with loneliness all around. A solitary boat drifted upon the sea, where Meng Qi and Gao Lan sat at its bow and stern respectively. Before them were jars of the famed “Wang You” wine. They had removed their “Ping Tian” hats and “Shan Yun” crowns, their hair loose and unrestrained.
“Cheers!” Gao Lan, unable to hide his grief, lifted a jar of immortal wine, his throat moving as he gulped it down in one go.
Meng Qi also felt regret over what had transpired in the Su Nu Immortal Realm, and was deeply worried that his jocular senior brother might suffer another personality split. Before reaching the legendary threshold of self-integration and understanding “who I truly am,” such a condition was almost equivalent to cutting off his martial cultivation path. Thus, he too raised a jar of Wang You wine and drank it all in one go.
With the “Myriad Worlds Universal Knowledge Realm,” everything had become incredibly convenient and comfortable. Even deep in the Eastern Sea, without any prior preparation, he could still purchase a small boat and celestial wine through the mall. Alas, even if the farthest corners of the world felt as close as neighbors and communication between universes faced no barriers, the essence of emotional matters remained unchanged through the ages—bringing both joy and sorrow, love and solitude.
Ten years of sitting in solitude, ten years of a solitary lamp—compared to Gao Lan’s decades of preparation, effort, and anticipation, which were shattered in a single day, Meng Qi felt a sense of shared sorrow.
The two silently drank several jars of wine. Finally, Gao Lan let out a long sigh, his hair blowing in the wind, his majesty diminished and replaced with a sense of chaos and loss: “In this world today, you and I stand at the peak. Across the entire martial world, there are no more than two who can rival us. Yet, alas, we remain powerless before fate, watching helplessly as destiny plays its cruel games.”
“What use is this realm to me? What use is this power?”
His tone was filled with deep emotion, reminiscent of when Meng Qi first met him. His words were not exaggerated, merely a straightforward expression. After reaching the Immortal Sage realm, Meng Qi, whose “Indestructible Primordial Body” had finally formed the embryonic form of a multiverse, already possessed strength comparable to the ancient sages of the middle ages. In this era, he had no need for humility. He could openly declare that among all the martial cultivators in the True Realm whose names were known, only two and a half could rival him.
Although Senior Lu had entered the Immortal Sage realm many years ago, his insistence on forging his own path without relying on others meant he had to blaze his trail through hardship and slow progress. Though his future potential was vast, his current cultivation level still lagged significantly behind the ancient sages. Even if his sword techniques surpassed Meng Qi’s slightly, overall, he still fell short.
Back when Meng Qi was still a Celestial Immortal, he could withstand the attacks of the “Primordial Fairy” and “Primordial Golden Vessel” combination for a long time. Although his opponents might have held back, it still proved the might of his “Ultimate Blade” and “Infinite Seal.” Now that he had become an Immortal Sage, it was only natural that he surpassed the Primordial Fairy.
Therefore, aside from hidden experts and great adepts of external paths, the two Immortal Sages Meng Qi found difficult to handle were “Demon Sage” Han Guang and “Heavenly Sword” Su Wuming. The former possessed the avatars of “Yama” and “Heavenly Emperor,” and his true body contained both the positive and reverse Tathagata forms. His profound techniques controlled time itself, as demonstrated during the joint battle against the World-Building Brahma in the Jade Void Palace. As for the latter, Su Wuming had not walked the martial world for many years, and his true cultivation level was difficult to discern from the scattered words in the “The World’s Righteous Path Is Full of Trials” group. However, Meng Qi believed that with his accumulated experience in “communicating with his other selves,” even if he had not yet laid the foundation for the legendary threshold, he was likely very close, and his strength had surely surged.
The remaining half was Gao Lan within the Great Zhou realm.
Even against them, Meng Qi had no less confidence. Hearing Gao Lan’s sigh, he gave a faint bitter smile: “Can everything always go as one wishes? All we can do is strive ceaselessly, seeking to remain guiltless before heaven and earth.”
At that moment, a figure he currently found difficult to oppose suddenly flashed through his mind—Shawujing, the awakened legendary adept who had risen ahead of schedule. However, after leaving the Jade Void Palace, the opponent had vanished without a trace, and no one knew where he had gone or what secret mission he had undertaken.
Thinking further about the Old Mother Without Birth’s deliberate reminder regarding the secret of the Journey to the West, Meng Qi suspected that Shawujing had gone to the Journey to the West world.
Gao Lan raised another jar of wine and gulped it down. His hair was disheveled, his expression slightly frenzied, as he pointed at the heavens and roared: “Cursed Heaven! I will surely replace you!”
“So what if fate toys with us? So what if destiny is hard to defy? Once I reach the other shore and reverse time, I can bring her back to life. You cannot break me!”
Though the Wang You wine was strong, it could not confuse an Immortal Sage, yet the wine did not make one drunk—people made themselves drunk.
His furious cries echoed, and suddenly Gao Lan turned sorrowful. With his rough, hoarse voice, he sang out:
“A hundred years of life, like a butterfly’s dream, looking back, the past is but a sigh.
Spring has come today, but tomorrow the flowers will wither.
Hasten to raise the cup before the night lamps go out…”
…
“Think of life as a limited cup, how many Double Ninth Festivals can one truly enjoy?”
His song was like weeping. Scenes from the days before their sworn brotherhood seemed to replay before Meng Qi’s eyes, yet this sorrow cut deeper. Meng Qi seemed to see ten years of solitude beneath a solitary lamp and a shattered golden Bodhisattva statue. Flowers bloomed and withered countless times, yet neither Tathagata nor man appeared.
He slapped the side of the boat and joined Gao Lan in singing:
“…Fear the dusk, suddenly another dusk comes; how can one not grieve again and again?
Fresh tears cover old ones, a heartbroken soul remembering another heartbroken soul…”
Singing with sorrow, sorrow with song, Gao Lan threw away the wine jars one by one, softly humming:
“A heartbroken soul remembering another heartbroken soul…”
The song ended, but the pain remained. Suddenly, Gao Lan took steps forward, ascending step by step, heading westward. His now-normal voice reached Meng Qi’s ears:
“I plan to advance into the myriad worlds and spread the light of humanity.”
Advance into the myriad worlds and spread the light of humanity? Meng Qi was momentarily stunned, but then quickly understood it was the legendary path of the Human Emperor lineage, using it to connect with “his other selves” and prove himself as the one and only across all worlds.
However, despite Gao Lan having been an Immortal Sage for several years, Meng Qi still doubted his ability to perceive the myriad worlds unaided, akin to the effect of the Heaven Mirror fragment. Of course, as a complete legacy from a figure of the Other Shore, the “Golden Book of the Human Emperor” might well contain corresponding esoteric techniques.
As Gao Lan’s figure disappeared, his final words echoed:
“The Southern Wilderness should not be beyond the light of humanity. I will eventually fight that person, but not now.”
Meng Qi’s eyes sharpened, his drunkenness gone. This truly placed him in a difficult position. Fortunately, his jocular senior brother had once again been deeply affected and was now urgently seeking to prove his legend, leaving room for maneuver.
“Where should I go next?” Meng Qi exhaled after a long silence.
Repairing the barrier within the Endless Abyss was the top priority. The only item he could currently think of was the Calming Pearl. To find it, he needed to reverse time and obtain clues, which required an item akin to the “Moonlight Treasure Mirror.”
Regarding this, he did not need to seek elsewhere—the “Seven Kill Stele” was still on his person, not yet returned. Since the fall of Heaven from the Journey to the West had only been eight or nine hundred years ago, it was sufficient for time reversal.
The only issue was that its power had been exhausted and required ten years of immersion in the Time River for restoration.
“The Abyss will certainly undergo anomalies within four years. There’s no way to wait ten. I’ll have to find a universe where time flows at a different rate,” Meng Qi nodded slightly. “Also, I must leave enough time to search for the Calming Pearl. Ideally, a few months in the True Realm would equate to ten years.”
Although he had sensed many universes through the Heaven Mirror fragment and even created many legends, he had yet to find one with such a time-speed contrast.
“Zhiwei has studied this longer than I have, and Senior Su even more so. I should ask for their advice.” Meng Qi took out the Myriad Worlds Universal Knowledge Talisman, logged into the communication group, and spoke within the “The World’s Righteous Path Is Full of Trials” hall.
After a while, Jiang Zhiwei’s familiar voice sounded: “I actually do know of a universe like that, but the faster the time flows, the more fragile the universe becomes. It cannot withstand our arrival.”
“Cannot withstand our arrival?” Meng Qi thought for a moment and privately messaged Jiang Zhiwei: “What if we channel the power of the Seven Kill Stele through other means? Would that work?”
Jiang Zhiwei hesitated slightly before replying: “Perhaps. But you should test it first. Don’t directly send the Seven Kill Stele in, or you might cause the universe’s destruction and the death of all living beings.”
“If it works, sending Yu Shu and Old Fifth Zhao there for ten years of cultivation might be a good idea,” Meng Qi smiled slightly.
…
Within the Divine Blessing Kingdom.
A teenage boy sat motionless beneath the eaves, gazing at the moonlight, his face filled with confusion. Tomorrow was the day to sense and communicate with his “Protective Deity.” Yet in his private attempts, he had received no response at all.
The foundation of the Divine Blessing Kingdom was the “Divine Communication Art,” which allowed one to receive the power of a guardian deity during battle. Therefore, this matter was taken extremely seriously. Without a “Protective Deity,” one was considered useless.
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