Cultivating To Immortality

There was more than one voice speaking; there were both male and female voices.

"This time, after returning from the Border Region, I’ve been cultivating diligently within the Sect for some time..."

"So, as soon as I emerged from seclusion, I wanted to ask everyone if there’s any news about the chess manual."

Everyone’s voices were indistinct, as if separated by a veil.

But this voice, Song Yan found quite familiar.

"What? You called everyone out just for this?"

It was a female voice, sounding quite young.

Her tone seemed a bit disappointed.

"I thought you brought back something fun from the Border Region..."

Entering the space, there was no longer a dizzying sensation, and some outlines gradually became clear before his eyes.

The black mist before him was slowly dissipating. Song Yan activated his Insightful Void Sword Eye to accelerate the process, clearly seeing the scene before him.

It was still that colossal humanoid statue.

Song Yan’s silhouette appeared on the giant statue’s right thumb.

However, this time, this space was no longer empty as before.

On the ten outstretched fingers of the giant human figure, besides himself, there were actually four other people standing.

They were standing on the left thumb, ring finger, and the right middle finger, and right index finger, respectively.

Like Song Yan, everyone was just a black silhouette with a pair of eyes, their faces indistinguishable.

The person standing on the left ring finger was not tall, similar in stature to Gu Qingqing.

At this moment, this figure suddenly widened her eyes, looking in Song Yan’s direction.

"Wow! Look!"

The figure stretched out her hand, pointing at him from afar.

"The person on the thumb has appeared!"

From her speaking voice, this should be a girl, but Song Yan was not interested in the gender of these people.

Because the four people present were all staring at him.

"..."

Song Yan didn’t know what these people were doing, nor did he fully understand the current situation.

He had originally intended to observe secretly for a while, but he didn’t expect to be discovered so quickly.

However, thinking about it, this was quite normal.

There were only ten fingers in total; if they couldn’t even notice this, their Divine Sense strength would probably be insufficient to allow these people to have the mask acknowledge them as its master.

The person standing on the right index finger was closest to Song Yan.

He, too, was currently turning his gaze this way, seemingly about to say something, but was interrupted by the person on the left thumb.

"Ah! I remember now."

This person seemed to suddenly realize, saying with some embarrassment, "This is actually the most important reason why I gathered everyone."

"We have a new Fellow Daoist."

"Really?" The girl on the left ring finger was a little suspicious: "You didn’t seem to mention this at all just now..."

"I think it’s an improvisation."

"Cough, cough."

The figure on the left thumb lightly coughed, ignoring the female voice’s undermining, and looked at Song Yan: "Fellow Daoist, may I ask you..."

However, when he saw the pair of golden eyes in the darkness, his voice suddenly paused.

"..."

A sudden silence fell upon this space.

After a few breaths, he continued, "Fellow Daoist, may I ask your name?"

Only this time, his tone seemed to have a subtle change.

"..."

Song Yan frowned slightly. Everyone here could only see silhouettes and eyes, so they couldn’t see his expression.

However, he couldn’t be happy.

Because from the moment he entered this place until now, he had been continuously operating the Insightful Void Sword Eye.

If anyone here had seen this eye technique of his, and then connected it with his voice, it would likely be very easy for them to recognize him.

For example, the person on the left thumb.

This familiar voice, searching for a chess manual... The first person Song Yan thought of was Wang Ke.

However, there was no direct evidence at present, and he didn’t expose it.

With a thought, he felt the connection between himself and the mask, ensuring that he could leave this strange space at the first opportunity, which made him feel a little more at ease.

He looked at the person on the left thumb but didn’t immediately answer his question.

Instead, he posed his own question.

"What is this place?"

From the previous conversation among these few people, it could be inferred that they had met here before.

He was not the first, but rather one of the later ones.

Since that was the case, there was no need to pretend to understand or act profound.

Asking directly and frankly was much faster than the so-called "probing" in a roundabout way.

"Heh heh, I was indeed too eager."

This person chuckled, dispelling some of the unfamiliarity.

This voice... it was too much like Wang Ke’s.

"This matter is a long story."

"This space is actually not created by me; I don’t have that capability."

"It was just something I stumbled upon by chance."

"I have always enjoyed collecting ancient books and old artifacts. Several years ago, while exploring a secret place with a friend, I discovered a mask."

"At that time, the mask was discarded in a corner crevice, unnoticed, almost entirely covered by soil."

"Perhaps there was a subtle guidance in the dark; I retrieved it, cleaned it with water, and saw that its form was ancient and simple, neither metal nor wood, and extremely heavy in hand."

"Out of curiosity, I attempted to communicate with it using Divine Sense, and felt my Divine Soul being drawn in by a powerful suction, after which I appeared in this place."

Song Yan nodded slightly.

It was no different from his own way of entering this place.

He believed it somewhat in his heart.

"At first, I didn’t know what effect this mask had, or what was special about this space, only this giant statue."

"Later, I also spent some effort, consulting all the ancient texts about Nuo Gods in the Sect’s archives, cross-referencing them."

"The name carved on my mask is Cuo Duan."

"One of the Twelve Nuo Gods in ancient legends."

"Then one day, the second Fellow Daoist appeared here, who is Fellow Daoist Bo Qi."

He casually pointed to the figure standing on the right middle finger.

But this Fellow Daoist Bo Qi did not speak, merely lowered his head in contemplation, seemingly thinking about something.

The person on the left thumb continued, "Subsequently, all of you also successively, through Destiny, obtained your respective Nuo masks."

"Fellow Daoist Lan Zhu."

He pointed to the girl on the ring finger, who waved at Song Yan in a friendly greeting.

"Fellow Daoist Zu Ming."

He pointed to the figure standing next to Song Yan, on the right index finger.

The other person nodded slightly, which counted as a greeting.

"Whenever a new Fellow Daoist arrives, we gather to communicate with each other and cross-reference the information about how we entered this place."

"So, when I just asked for your name, I actually wanted to know which of the Twelve Nuo Gods your Nuo mask represents?"

Putting himself in their shoes, no one, suddenly arriving in this inexplicable place, would honestly reveal their true name.

Moreover, the person on the left thumb, who was suspected to be Wang Ke, was also "Cuo Duan."

The information he mentioned could be cross-referenced with the content recorded in the Yang Family Jade Slip.

It should not be false.

According to the Yang Family Jade Slip, "The Twelve Nuo Gods are ’Jia Zuo’, ’Qiu Wei’, ’Xiong Bo’, ’Teng Jian’, ’Lan Zhu’, ’Bo Qi’, ’Qiang Liang’, ’Zu Ming’, ’Wei Sui’, ’Cuo Duan’, ’Qiong Qi’, and ’Teng Gen’."

Looking at it this way, his mask actually ranked first.

Song Yan pondered for a moment, believing that there was indeed no need to conceal this matter.

"My mask is carved with Jia Zuo."

Cuo Duan didn’t react much, as if he had already guessed.

Instead, the others were slightly startled.

Zu Ming turned his head again to look at Song Yan, and even Bo Qi, who had been silent all along, subtly shifted his gaze.

"Wow, Brother Cuo Duan, he’s Jia Zuo."

Lan Zhu looked at Cuo Duan.

"But... why is he the last to arrive, while you, who are ranked so far down, were the first to arrive?"

Cuo Duan smiled slightly and said gently, "Isn’t that quite normal?"

"Think about it, when your Tang Sect holds a clan meeting, don’t the people with higher prestige arrive later?"

"Hmm? It seems so, oh."

Tang Sect... Song Yan looked at the girl.

He was not unfamiliar with this term, but he had not heard of it in the Chu State; rather, it was a name that resonated loudly in his previous life.

From the conversation among these few people, some information could be roughly inferred.

At least Cuo Duan and Lan Zhu were both in the Central Region.

The other two were probably also more or less there.

Was there also a Tang Sect in the Central Region?

The map he had seen earlier in the Liangyi Realm did not mark the various Sects, so Song Yan couldn’t be sure.

Seeing Song Yan lost in thought, Cuo Duan thought he had misunderstood something and quickly began to explain.

"Heh heh, Fellow Daoist Jia Zuo, please don’t misunderstand, she accidentally blurted that out herself."

"Heh heh." Lan Zhu scratched her head a little sheepishly.

"No one will force you to reveal your true name, your Sect affiliation, or your origin."

Song Yan nodded.

His gaze circled once more, then fell upon the giant statue.

"There are twelve Nuo Gods, but there are only ten positions here."

Song Yan pointed to the giant statue: "Even with him, there are only eleven."

"Why?"

Cuo Duan pondered for a moment, then continued, "This human figure is probably not one of the Twelve Nuo Gods."

"Ancient texts record a special type of person called Fang Xiangshi."

"Fang Xiangshi were a unique existence among the ancient peoples; legends say they possessed the ability to communicate with the unknown and summon mysterious powers."

"By wearing specific masks and performing ancient rituals, they could invite Nuo Gods to descend, expelling terrifying beings called ’Ghost Plagues’ that wreaked havoc among humans."

Cuo Duan slowly turned around, looking at the giant human figure.

"If my guess is correct, he is very likely the first Fang Xiangshi in the legends, between heaven and earth."

"He is the one who can communicate with and borrow the power of all Twelve Nuo Gods."

Song Yan’s eyes narrowed. The Yang Family Jade Slip also mentioned the name Fang Xiangshi.

But it never said that there was such a person who could communicate with all the Nuo Gods.

The origin of this human figure was Cuo Duan’s personal opinion, and he also said it was just a guess.

After all, statues don’t speak.

"So, for convenience, I call this place the Nuo Realm, and we, these individuals, are ’Fang Xiangshi’."

"Of course, these are just my casual suggestions; you can call it whatever you want, it doesn’t matter."

Originally, Song Yan had thought these people were led by Cuo Duan.

Now it seemed that there was no single leader here; everything was relatively loose and free.

This was not a bad thing; on the contrary, it made Song Yan feel a little more relieved.

"As for why there are only ten... we don’t know that either."

Cuo Duan said, "There are only some fragmented guesses, so I won’t say them out loud to mislead everyone."

"Currently, besides Fellow Daoist Jia Zuo, there are already six companions. However, two Fellow Daoists seem to have matters today and did not enter this place."

"We all come from various places, and our identities are also different."

"If Fellow Daoist is curious, you can arrange a meeting time and talk to the other party individually."

From all corners of the world... Song Yan sighed slightly.

This "from all corners of the world" probably refers only to the Central Region’s various places.

However, at this point, Song Yan also roughly understood what kind of place this was.

Lan Zhu’s shadow twitched, then changed from standing to sitting.

She looked like she was ready to have a good chat with Song Yan.

"Fellow Daoist Jia Zuo! Where are you from..."

She seemed completely unconcerned about the protection of personal privacy information and immediately asked directly.

"I’m in Ba Shu, Cuo Duan is in Zhongzhou, Zu Ming is in Chang’an..."

"Hey, you!"

Lan Zhu giggled, revealing everyone’s locations without their consent.

But actually, everyone seemed to be indifferent.

"Quick, tell me where you are; maybe we’re close, and I can come visit you."

The names mentioned by the young girl were both unfamiliar and familiar to Song Yan.

Unfamiliar because he had never heard of them in the Chu State, and familiar because he had seen them on that map.

Indeed, all these people came from the Central Region.

Combined with Song Yan’s guess about Wang Ke, it seemed that, apart from himself, everyone here was a Disciple of a large Sect.

No wonder they weren’t worried about being exposed... However, this also relieved Song Yan of any burden.

These people were all from the Central Region; they wouldn’t possibly look down on a country bumpkin like him.

If they traveled thousands of miles to the Border Region to harm him, he didn’t know what they would gain.

So, with the idea of fitting in, he also introduced himself: "I may be different from everyone else present."

"I come from the Border Region."

Song Yan didn’t say he was from the Chu State; one, there was no need.

Two, for these Young Masters and Young Misses, they might not even have heard of the countries in the Border Region.

"Ah?"

Unexpectedly, Lan Zhu exclaimed, "You’re in the Border Region?"

Song Yan nodded: "What’s wrong?"

Lan Zhu pointed a small hand at Cuo Duan next to her: "He just went to the Border Region two years ago! You two didn’t happen to meet there, did you?!"

When Song Yan first heard this, he was actually a little annoyed.

How small did the Border Region appear in the eyes of these Young Masters and Young Misses?

What annoyed him even more was... this time, she might have actually been right.

Song Yan looked at Cuo Duan, finding that the other person was also looking at him.

"Heh heh," Song Yan chuckled lightly: "The Border Region is also divided into many countries; it’s not that coincidental."

Cuo Duan’s eyes flickered, then he nodded.

"Oh..." Lan Zhu muttered to herself: "So the Border Region isn’t just one country."

"..."