Chapter 50 - 47: The Tomb of My Husband, Lu Changyuan
"After that person shattered the Grand Array, the Sect rebuilt it, using the wondrous Celestial Purity Dao Lotus as its foundation."
The Fairy’s voice was gentle and pleasant.
’Who could be so terrible, shattering their Grand Array like that?’
’Oh.’
’It was me.’
’Not only did I shatter the Yuyue Immortal Palace’s Grand Array, I also dragged Feng Xianlong out and gave her a beating.’
’I guess I have to clean up my own mess.’
Lu Changyuan asked doubtfully, "Fairy, how could you know such a secret?"
’This is the kind of secret kept under lock and key. Even if Xia Lianxue was once a True Inheritor, she shouldn’t know it.’
"I saw it in some of the Sect’s ancient texts, Young Master."
Lu Changyuan put away Broken Thought and said, "Shouldn’t we buy some Fasting Pills? I need to eat."
[The Drunken Red Simurgh is about to appear]
[The Miao Yu Palace is about to be annihilated]
Xia Lianxue didn’t seem to hear Lu Changyuan’s words. She just tightened her grip, and strange images once again flooded her mind.
A moment later, a loud "Snap out of it!" startled Xia Lianxue out of her daze. "Young Master?"
Lu Changyuan waved a finger in front of her face. "What were you thinking about? You were completely lost in thought."
Xia Lianxue didn’t know what she was thinking about either. Her long hair swayed gently in the wind. "Nothing."
The closer she got to Miao Yu Palace, the more strange images appeared in her mind. This was the first time this had ever happened.
Lu Changyuan said calmly, "Let’s go. It’s time to ascend the ladder."
The two of them had actually already arrived at the foot of the Heaven-Ascending Ladder.
Just ahead lay ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine steps.
Looking up from the very bottom, one could only see an endless flight of steps. At the top of those steps was the unattainable, lofty Miao Yu Palace.
They both stepped onto the staircase at almost the same time.
Lu Changyuan asked casually, "What Dao are you comprehending?"
Xia Lianxue shook her head. "Young Master, I originally thought I was comprehending the Sword Dao."
’What does she mean, "originally thought"?’
RUMBLE!
A clap of muffled thunder exploded.
Xia Lianxue suddenly grabbed Lu Changyuan’s hand, a little scared. "Young Master, something... is calling my name."
Lu Changyuan naturally sensed it as well.
The thing wasn’t just attracting Xia Lianxue; it was attracting him, too.
No, to be precise, it was calling out to them.
So Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes and said, "Don’t resist. Let’s go see what it is."
Their figures abruptly transformed into a stream of light and vanished from the steps.
"Where are we?"
Before Lu Changyuan’s eyes was a waterfall, like a bolt of white silk, plummeting from a great height with a world-shaking roar. It crashed into the surface of the pool below, which churned as if boiling, splashing water onto the green stone steps.
Behind them was a bamboo forest, the slender stalks so dense they blotted out the sun and sky, remaining a vibrant green even in autumn.
And the pull was coming from beyond the bamboo forest.
Xia Lianxue’s heart pounded so hard it was difficult to breathe. "Ahead is where the Palace Master undergoes her seclusion... It’s a forbidden area."
’She had never seen the Palace Master since joining the sect. Whatever others said, she simply accepted as truth.’
Lu Changyuan noticed the Fairy was trembling slightly. He reached out, patted Xia Lianxue’s head, and toyed with a strand of her hair. "Let’s go. We’ll take a look inside."
Xia Lianxue lifted Lu Changyuan’s hand off her head. She thought his hands were a bit big—at least, bigger than hers.
"But that’s a forbidden area, Young Master!"
Sure enough, after passing through the bamboo forest, they came to a cliff. Across from the cliff was a mountain suspended in mid-air.
Gazing out from the cliff, an immeasurable white mist shrouded the Immortal Mountain, making it look ethereal, like the mythical dwelling of ageless Immortals.
That was the place where the Miao Yu Palace Master was in seclusion.
Lu Changyuan stopped at the edge of the cliff.
"Young Master, we can’t go any further! If we go on, we’ll start aging in reverse!"
Xia Lianxue tugged on Lu Changyuan’s arm.
Lu Changyuan murmured, "What great ambition."
"Young Master?"
’This is the Magic emanating from the Miao Yu Palace Master’s seclusion. It is also her Dao.’
’Anyone who gets too close will be affected by the Miao Yu Palace Master’s Dao and begin to regress in age. By the time they reached the Immortal Mountain, they would likely be a swaddled infant. If they still tried to press on, they would die within the reflection of her Dao.’
’Such is the power of the Seventh Realm Yao Guang.’
"Your Miao Yu Palace Master is certainly audacious."
The Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique circulated within him, and Lu Changyuan’s heart became as still as water.
"You see an Immortal Mountain, right?"
Xia Lianxue asked in confusion, "Is that not what you see, Young Master?"
Lu Changyuan shook his head. "In my eyes, what’s before us is a thatched cottage."
A sudden warmth spread across her hand. The Fairy looked down and found that Lu Changyuan had taken her hand at some point.
"Don’t get distracted. I’ll take you for a look."
Lu Changyuan took a step forward, and Xia Lianxue felt as if everything was moving backward. It seemed they were walking forward, but in reality, they were retreating.
Winter, autumn, summer, spring.
Everything was regressing.
A journey against the flow of time.
An unknown amount of time passed, and time itself lost all meaning. Xia Lianxue just held tightly to Lu Changyuan’s hand, not daring to let go.
"We’re here. Your Miao Yu Palace Master is truly capable."
Xia Lianxue cautiously opened her eyes. Before her was no longer a cliff and an Immortal Mountain, but a small thatched cottage enveloped in a bright yellow void.
A wave of familiarity washed over her, and memories, no longer suppressed, came rushing forth.
The Fairy stared blankly.
The thatched cottage was as familiar as a common house in the countryside.
A tall tree grew not far away. Beneath it was a neat pile of firewood, a stack prepared in advance by a farmer for their hearth.
Everything was just so, exactly like the home of a mortal farmer.
Lu Changyuan reached out and caressed the tree with its thick growth rings.
"Just as I thought. The Immortal Mountain you all see isn’t the real place where your Miao Yu Palace Master is in seclusion. She used her own Dao to distort time and construct this space that exists outside of it. That’s why none of you remember her name—because she erased herself."
’The Supreme Pure Spirit Forget Immortal Technique enables Illusion-Breaking, allowing one to see the "reality" outside of time.’
Xia Lianxue said nothing, merely standing silently under the tree and carefully taking in her surroundings.
’A feeling called happiness suddenly welled up inside her.’
’She didn’t know where it came from.’
’Perhaps it was because she had come here with the Young Master.’
Lu Changyuan said, "She wants to break through the realm beyond Yao Guang and achieve transcendence. When did someone so formidable appear in this world?"
’To use the Path of Time as the authority to prove one’s Dao... what kind of talent is that?’
"Young Master."
Xia Lianxue spoke softly, her voice like a whisper in a dream. "Look. There’s a grave over there."
Only then did Lu Changyuan look into the distance. There was a small grave with a line of words written on it, but due to the peculiar nature of this place, they were hard to make out.
"Whose grave is this?"
’It couldn’t be the Miao Yu Palace Master’s grave, could it?’
’The Miao Yu Palace Master shouldn’t be the type to erect a grave for herself.’
Lu Changyuan endured the pressure of time with each step as he walked to the grave. Before it lay an embroidered sachet, which looked very familiar to him.
Then, Lu Changyuan looked up. The handwriting was elegant yet sloppy, a clear sign of the Miao Yu Palace Master’s heart-wrenching grief when she erected the tombstone.
He read the words on the tombstone aloud, word by word.
At that moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl.
"Tomb of my husband, Lu Changyuan."
’This is... his grave?’
’There’s a grave for me here?’