Chapter 1701: A Place Ethereal and Illusory

One day, twenty-six years later, in a certain location within the Cangxuan Realm, there lay a vast and boundless expanse of reeds. It was empty, remote, and desolate.

The Spiritual Energy here was incredibly thin, which resulted in a scarcity of demonic beasts. Only occasionally would a few rank one or rank two beasts appear. Similarly, because of the lack of worldly Spiritual Energy, the vegetation and flora contained a pittance of spiritual essence. Consequently, few people ever ventured here to hunt beasts or seek spiritual plants or immortal herbs.

Cultivators were almost never seen. Only the rarest of passersby would fly through in a hurry, their only thought being to leave this place as quickly as possible. Throughout the four seasons of the year, only the boundless sea of reeds turned green and then yellow, yellow and then green, swaying incessantly in the wind, as if they would continue to rock until the end of time.

On this day, the autumn sun hung high. Although the sky was blue and the clouds were white, the constant rustling of the endless reeds caused the wind to carry a whistling sound that fluctuated in intensity. Though the sun in the sky did its best to pour down warmth, it always gave off a sense of pale desolation and a bleak, somber atmosphere.

Li Yan flew through the air, gazing down at the sea of reeds below that resembled an endless ocean. The various rustling sounds reaching his ears made it seem as if ten thousand horses were hidden within, or perhaps as if he had reached the very edge of space.

Dong Fuyi flew by his side at a steady, unhurried pace. He did not speak to Li Yan; instead, he spread his Divine Sense, constantly probing the surroundings. Li Yan was naturally a man of few words. On ordinary days, unless there was something he needed to ask, he would never take the initiative to speak.

Over these years, Li Yan had stopped asking about the location of the Five Immortals Sect. Even if the other man told him, he wouldn’t know where that location was. He simply didn’t understand the Cangxuan Realm at all. He only needed to follow along. The two of them continued to sweep over patch after patch of reeds. In Li Yan’s eyes, there was only a vast expanse of withered yellow, stretching endlessly toward the horizon.

Suddenly, at a certain moment, Dong Fuyi spoke.

“Go down!”

As he said this, he began to drift downward like a feather.

Hearing this, Li Yan scanned the area below. He saw the same scene—the never-ending reeds. Fluff from the plants drifted in the air, blown far away by the wind. However, in the marsh below, a patch of open water was revealed. The reeds here were slightly less crowded, and the shimmering ripples of water could be seen at their roots. Because of the accumulation of rotted reed stalks year after year, the water appeared somewhat black; only some stalks on the surface were visible.

Li Yan did not hesitate and immediately followed him down.

‘Have we arrived?’

Li Yan wondered. Although he hadn’t asked lately, calculating the time, it wasn’t far off from Dong Fuyi’s initial estimate. Furthermore, for them to come to such a remote place and slow down meant something. They had flown here for over four years without encountering many cultivators. Now, they weren’t tearing through the void upward but descending; the meaning was self-evident.

Dong Fuyi stood amidst the reeds, his figure instantly submerged by them. He did not look back. Sensing Li Yan had arrived behind him, a small tripod suddenly appeared in his hand. Simultaneously, his other hand began to perform a series of hand seals. Yet, as he moved his fingers, no talismans or strange phenomena appeared.

The moment Li Yan saw the small tripod, he felt a strange sense of familiarity. He recalled the spiritual power cauldron within his body before he reached the Nascent Soul stage. It looked very similar to this tripod. After Dong Fuyi performed the hand seals, even though his Divine Sense could not detect any changes in the space below, the Nascent Soul within Li Yan’s body felt a strange Five Elements resonance. It was the Five Elements laws of the external world changing in a bizarre route according to a certain rhythm.

‘Is this… the method of opening?’

Li Yan felt that Dong Fuyi should be opening a restriction, but he had never seen such a method before. At this moment, Dong Fuyi gave off the impression of a charlatan priest performing a ritual, standing there and pointing or drawing randomly. A normal Divine Sense could not sense any spatial fluctuations at all; even the thin Spiritual Energy in the surroundings did not show any signs of gathering.

Though this took time to describe, Dong Fuyi was very fast. Just as the thought rose in Li Yan’s mind, some of the reeds in front of them suddenly became ethereal.

“Go!”

Dong Fuyi uttered only a single word. This time, he didn’t wait for Li Yan to follow of his own accord but gave a symbolic reminder. As he spoke, without any visible movement, it was as if a massive gravitational pull erupted from behind him. Li Yan was instantly pulled across by a great force.

At the same time, Dong Fuyi’s voice echoed in Li Yan’s mind.

“This is one of the sect’s entrances. Later, I will give you the opening tripod and the hand seals to open the restriction. Every time you return, you must pay attention to whether there are demonic beasts or other cultivators nearby. Although this place is exceptionally remote, there are too many people who want to find us!”

While this transmission was still echoing in Li Yan’s mind, his vision blurred. He felt his feet land on solid ground.

After arriving in this area, Dong Fuyi had kept a slow pace specifically to check for any pursuers or anything noteworthy. Of course, they could have entered using stealth methods, and Dong Fuyi was confident that even a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator might not detect him. However, Li Yan could not. At most, he could hide from the scan of a Void Refining cultivator. In that case, Dong Fuyi’s best option would have been to place Li Yan in his spirit-storing space. But Dong Fuyi’s intention was for Li Yan to know how to enter the sect.

Dong Fuyi had other means to hide Li Yan’s aura and bring him forward, but it was best not to draw unnecessary attention. From Dong Fuyi’s words, Li Yan drew a conclusion: he had finally reached the sect he had long imagined. Additionally, there were likely more than just one entrance or exit.

Looking around, the scenery had switched in an instant. Before Li Yan could react, incredibly dense Spiritual Energy flooded his nostrils like a tide. For a moment, he felt a sensation of suffocation, as if he had inhaled a mouthful of water.

They were standing on the earth, but there was no sign of late autumn’s bleakness. Instead, the world was filled with the vibrant breath of spring. Before them was a massive lake. The two stood on a shore covered in a carpet of green grass. Flowers of various colors and heights were in full bloom. Not far away, several spirit deer were leaping nimbly, as if performing a light dance. Upon seeing the two men, the deer stopped and turned their heads quickly, looking toward them with vigilance, though they did not immediately flee.

A gentle breeze blew, making everything here feel as warm as April. The surface of the vast lake ahead was a pale jade green, truly a sight of shimmering waves. Li Yan could even see down several dozen fathoms through the jade-colored water. Beneath the surface, aquatic creatures like turtles and fish were swimming about. Because the water was so clear, the figures of these creatures seemed very close to the surface, as if they were floating and could be scooped up by hand. Near the shore where Li Yan stood, the pebbles and light shells several fathoms underwater were even more clearly visible. They seemed to move slightly with the rippling waves.

The blue sky and white clouds were faintly reflected in the water. If he stared a bit too long, Li Yan felt as if the entire lake was slowly moving. It felt as though he was standing at a scenic viewpoint where the clouds moved and his body moved with them.

Diagonally above the massive lake, there were five large colored rings. From right to left, they were black, green, crimson, yellow, and white. They were separated from each other by a distance of about ten li. Li Yan’s first impression of these rings was one of familiarity, for there were similar rings within his Earthen Patch.

‘The Five Elements!’

The thought immediately rose in Li Yan’s heart.

“Follow me!”

While Li Yan was observing his surroundings, Dong Fuyi took to the air again, flying toward the black ring on the far right. Just then, two figures suddenly flew out from the black and green rings above.

“So it is Junior Brother Dong Fu!”

At the same time, a man’s voice rang out.

Dong Fuyi immediately stopped mid-air, a smile appearing on his face. He had intended to check the situation inside the sect, but the people inside had already sensed the changes in the grand formation and had come out ahead of him.

The speaker was a middle-aged man who had flown out from the black ring. This person actually gave off the impression of a farmer. He wore coarse blue cloth clothes, with his sleeves rolled up to his arms. On his feet were hemp shoes, and his trousers appeared somewhat baggy. His face was square, with a pair of thick, “lying silkworm” eyebrows, a broad mouth, and a thick nose. His skin was yellowish-brown, and a thick circle of hemp cloth was wrapped around his forehead. He had a simple and honest smile.

The other person flew out from the green ring. When Li Yan first saw her, he was instantly stunned. She was a young woman dressed in pale green palace attire. Long green silk ribbons fluttered from the elbows of her translucent long sleeves. She had bright eyes, pearly teeth, and skin as white as fresh snow. The palace dress on her gave off an ethereal, immortal air.

Li Yan had seen many beautiful women, especially his own Dao companions, who were all peerless beauties. In terms of appearance, the woman before him was on par with Zhao Min and the other two, making it impossible to declare a winner. However, the aura emanating from this woman made one feel as if she were a true fairy from the immortal realm. While she was stunningly beautiful, she also seemed like the Goddess of the Moon descending to the world. There was an indescribable ethereal quality to her. Li Yan’s impression was…

‘Immortal Qi!’

Li Yan didn’t actually know what true Immortal Qi looked like, but when he saw this woman, such a thought arose for no reason.

“I heard from Qian Chong long ago that he encountered you. But he has been back for so long, yet there was no news from you. Is this the disciple you found?”

While Li Yan was in a state of shock, the beautiful woman with the ethereal aura spoke softly. Her voice was like morning dew in the forest—without a speck of dust, pure, clear, and carrying an incomparable lightness. As she spoke, her bright eyes moved from Dong Fuyi to Li Yan.

Li Yan could not sense any spiritual power fluctuations from either of the two people who had appeared. He had no way of telling what cultivation level they had reached.