After bidding farewell to Jiang Shengxiang, Yao Ranran sat at the end of the golden gourd. She watched as Longyin Village grew smaller and smaller before her eyes, until it shrank to a single black dot on the horizon. Only then did she withdraw her gaze.
Zhou Shengqian said, "The rebuilding of Bishui Village owes much to Village Chief Jiang's dedication. I heard he once left his home village in order to save it. Now, he has finally fulfilled that wish. Though his talent is average and his cultivation path unremarkable, by staying in Longyin Village he's fed countless hungry mouths. I imagine he finds joy in that."
Yao Ranran gave him a quiet glance, then lifted her eyes toward the endless blue sky.
The heavens are vast for birds to fly, the seas wide for fish to leap.
Unknowingly, that once cold and desolate village had changed under Jiang Shengxiang's leadership. More villagers had returned, and more outsiders chose to settle there.
The place that used to be a lonely refuge for old men waiting for death had become a warm harbor, a guiding light for all. Everyone had their own calling, their own strengths. Jiang Shengxiang was clearly born for that village.
Yao Ranran gazed at the sky.
Her own dream, however, was eternal life.
The Great Dao is said to be fifty, yet Heaven unfolds forty-nine. One escape always remains for humankind.
Even if Heaven had cast her as the vicious supporting role, destined for calamity, the Dao itself was never complete. There would always be a sliver of life to grasp. Perhaps fate had brought her across time just to embody that one human escape. Perhaps that chance at survival lay with her. The only question was how to seize it.
…
Langan City.
The sky stretched like an endless sea, clouds drifting like swimming fish.
The cloud-fish leapt, rippling waves across the vast blue. Countless streams of light raced from every direction, like schools of glittering scales catching sunlight as they converged.
Suddenly, the waves surged. The cloud-fish flicked their tails, and at the heart of a massive blue oceanic curtain, they joined head to tail. Their fins churned, weaving a vast whirlpool in the sky.
"It's here! The entrance to the Shui Xi Palace that has been missing for tens of thousands of years!"
Someone shouted in the crowd, and at once the gathered lights surged inward like a tide.
Pop—pop—
The cloud-fish spat bubbles, their whirlpool spinning faster and faster. The waves grew fierce, and even streams of light that hadn't touched the vortex were dragged in, vanishing into its depths.
From afar, the golden gourd approached late.
Nie Rong felt a strange, powerful force pulling from ahead. He laughed loudly, "Everyone hold on tight! Shui Xi Palace is here!"
Xiao Rong and Tang Xiangyin instinctively clutched Yao Ranran's arms. Zhou Shengqian and his daughter quietly moved behind them.
With a twist of a vine, Xiao Rong suddenly dragged the father and daughter forward until they were face-to-face with Yao Ranran, their eyes awkwardly meeting hers.
The golden gourd surged faster. The Zhou pair rolled forward, tumbling until they clung to the top of the gourd.
Yao Ranran pressed her palms to its surface, steady as a mountain.
Nie Rong abruptly stood and roared with laughter. "Hahaha! The Eastern Wilderness is barren, yet who can rival us? Shui Xi Palace appeared here for me and my master! The inheritance is destined to be ours!"
"You're dreaming! That belongs to us, you bragging blowhard!" Xiao Rong shouted back over the roar of waves.
On the other side of the vortex, Shen Yuefu stood in an indigo robe lined with silver clouds. His bearing was elegant, his features sharp and cold, his gaze sweeping across the crowd as he stepped on the tails of cloud-fish.
Among the chaos, he remained agile and unshaken. His eyes scanned the mass of cultivators.
"That voice just now… was it Senior Brother Nie's?"
The cyclone disturbed his divine sense, bubbles of mist breaking his sweep, and he found nothing.
A fat yellow gourd darted into the whirlpool's heart. Nie Rong charged forward, fearless, riding wind and waves.
…
"Where is this?"
They stood on a vast square filled with shadows of people. Everyone put away their flying tools, their eyes drawn to the enormous luminous pearl shining atop the palace.
"That pearl is mine!"
A cultivator shot forward on his sword.
Suddenly, an immense net of spiritual energy fell from nowhere, drifting down as if naturally, passing through him before enveloping the entire square.
Yao Ranran and the others did not move.
The delicate net touched the ground, then sank out of sight.
But those cultivators hovering in the air, reaching toward the glowing pearl, suddenly disintegrated into fragments. Their remains dissolved into blood, seeping into the cracks of the stone floor without a trace.
The crowd panicked. "That treasure cannot be seized!"
Then, a voice rang out: "Oh? So many guests today. Could it be my disciple is about to arrive?"
A man in a blue robe floated gracefully into view. His features were scholarly, refined, with the aura of an immortal.
"Master!!!" The crowd shouted in unison, perfectly coordinated.
The call boomed across the palace halls.
"Mas—!" Nie Rong choked on the word, his face flushing. He coughed, then turned solemnly toward Yao Ranran. "Master!"
Yao Ranran slanted him a look, then suddenly bowed to the blue-robed man. "Master, your disciple is right here!"
The crowd: Who is she? How shameless!
An Xiaolin smiled faintly, lips curving. "So many disciples… I can hardly keep track."
"I am your true disciple!" someone shouted.
"Liar! You already pledged to another master. Do you think your teacher outside would forgive this?"
"You're all mistaken. I was born gifted, destined to be a disciple of Shui Xi Palace!"
The crowd roared: "Get lost!"
With a casual flick of his sleeve, An Xiaolin scattered golden light into the air. Around them, doorways of light appeared.
"True or false disciples, one trial will reveal it. Please, enter. Whoever can pass through will be worthy of Shui Xi Palace."
"What if we cannot?" someone asked nervously.
An Xiaolin's smile deepened. "All things require a price."
"What price?"
"Go, go. You'll know once you step in." His voice carried a strange pull, urging the crowd forward.
"Boss!" Xiao Rong wrapped vines tightly around Yao Ranran, but the strange force still dragged them apart.
"Fairy Ranran, Xiao Rong, I don't want to be alone! Waaah!" Tang Xiangyin flailed desperately, though she was facing away from the doorway, her feet marched backward toward it.
The Zhou father and daughter cried, "We don't want to be separated from Fairy Ranran either!"
Who knew what lay ahead? Zhou Lili's heart ached.
She was weak!
Yao Ranran stood still, baffled.
She asked, "Wait… are none of you able to control your own bodies?"
Nie Rong turned, astonished. "Why isn't Master affected by that man's voice?!"
Half his body was already being pulled into the door…
Yet his "Master" stood there completely unharmed!
"What voice? Did you all hear something strange? I only heard him speak…" Yao Ranran scanned around, confused.
Where was this strange voice they mentioned?
Nie Rong's face twisted as he struggled. "###%!"
Yao Ranran's mouth twitched. "Nie Daoyou, your lips are about to tear apart. Just go in already. Don't talk…"