Originally not lively, Blue Sky Sword Sea is even more deserted now.
Chen Xia also rarely went out for a walk. Occasionally when he went out for a bit, it was just to randomly stroll around, sit in a dilapidated pavilion, then he returned to his own cave dwelling.
How many more cultivators are left in Blue Sky Sword Sea?
This was a question Chen Xia had asked Zhang DaoMing before, and the answer he got was even more amusing.
Only one out of ten remains.
And of Blue Sky Sword Sea's heavily touted Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky, there are now only four people left, all of whom are the latest big sect seedlings to join.
Emperor Capital, Qiu Li, Chen Xia and Li Yang.
It sounded somewhat funny when you think about it.
The ones who stayed the longest turned out to be the newest arrivals.
The reasons why Emperor Capital and Qiu Li did not leave were simple. They were the big sect seedlings cultivated by Blue Sky Sword Sea, and the factions behind them also had enormous ties with Blue Sky Sword Sea.
So naturally they would not leave yet for now.
But would they stay in the end?
Chen Xia felt they wouldn't. For now it wasn't time yet. When Blue Sky Sword Sea's declining trend expands further, those two should leave as well.
After all, how could promising new big sect seedlings possibly spend the rest of their lives with the dying Blue Sky Sword Sea?
It was impossible.
As for Li Yang, Chen Xia figured the reason she hadn't left yet was probably because she hadn't decided where to go, so she was still loitering in Blue Sky Sword Sea, since at the very least there were still the Heavenly Pavilion's secret arts and divine methods she could look at.
But when the time came, they should all leave, Chen Xia included.
Chen Xia would probably be the last of the big sect seedlings to leave.
Although you never know, what if Blue Sky Sword Sea got sick and just wanted two big sect seedlings to keep it company till its burial?
Anything is possible.
Big Yellow Dog often came back to find Chen Xia. With nothing else to entertain themselves, the two, one human and one dog, still played Chinese Chess after two thousand years.
And they still weren't very good at it.
It could only be said that playing chess was not something you'd play well just by having high cultivation level and combat strength.
Chen Xia's skill at chess was the same as a dog's.
This was not an insult, just a statement of fact.
The two rotten chess players, one human and one dog, always played with great interest. And while playing chess, Big Yellow Dog also talked about what happened with Chi Yu.
"Chi Yu left."
"I guessed that already," Chen Xia lightly nodded as he maneuvered a cannon over a mountain to capture one of Big Yellow Dog's pawns on the chessboard.
"He wanted to bid you farewell at the time, but you hadn't come out yet," Big Yellow Dog moved a chariot upwards to attack the cannon.
Chen Xia moved the cannon backwards and gently shook his head.
"No need for that. Rather than a farewell, I'd prefer a greeting."
"I don't really like the sorrowful mood of bidding farewell, and I can't stand separation either. But if I think of meeting instead, it makes me a little happier."
"It sounds like self-deception, but I think it's pretty good."
"Haha." Big Yellow Dog suddenly laughed and said, "Your cannon is gone, I'll eat it!"
The horse moved as the sun rose, obliquely capturing the cannon.
The corner of Chen Xia's mouth curved up slightly as he smiled and said, "Your horse is gone too."
A game with an extremely high number of horses exchanged.
In the end, it finished with Chen Xia's slight victory, both sides' pieces entirely consumed, roughly evenly matched.
"Chess is indeed only interesting when played against someone at a similar level as yourself," Chen Xia couldn't help but sigh.
"Indeed," Big Yellow Dog nodded in agreement.
It still remembered the previous time it played chess with Chen Xia, when they were evenly matched at first, but then that old geezer Zhang DaoMing just had to stand behind Chen Xia and direct things.
Then Big Yellow Dog somehow mysteriously lost half its pieces within thirty moves, getting totally wiped out, which even angered the normally indifferent-to-winning-or-losing Big Yellow Dog at the time.
"Old geezer Zhang, what do you mean, butting into the chess game too?"
"Just directing, just directing," Zhang DaoMing gently waved his hands, his old face smiling in full bloom.
He had finally found something he could teach Chen Xia.
"You call that directing? You ate all my pieces, didn't even leave me a couple to eat." Big Yellow Dog still resentfully said.
"It really did lack gameplay experience," Chen Xia chimed in agreement.
So Zhang DaoMing recited at the side, "Chess is not played like this. It should be intricately interlocking, plans laid out for thousands of miles. Let me test you two, how many opening moves are there?"
After thinking for a bit, Big Yellow Dog and Chen Xia gave a unanimous answer.
"One."
Zhang DaoMing was somewhat puzzled. "Which one? Cannon rush, horse deployment, or pawn movement?"
Big Yellow Dog and Chen Xia both shook their heads, speaking in unison.
"Opening move horse capture."
Extremely low strategic value, extremely high insult level.
Coupled with saying "Your horse is gone," it could possibly escalate from chessboard maneuvers into actual person-on-person combat.
But no worries, because that was Chen Xia's specialty.
Of course there was also a simple counter to opening move horse capture.
Just capture it right back.
That's beating someone at their own game.
Though of course, that said something about the person's quality, definitely not high.
The chessboard kept clacking.
Time passed this way, slowly.
It was probably the first month after Chen Xia returned from Pan Dadao's grave mound when Zhang DaoMing was tidying up Pan Dadao's cave dwelling and saw a letter placed on the table with three written characters on the sealed flap.
To Chen Xia.
And so Chen Xia received it.
He held the envelope, looking at it over and over, but didn't open it for half a day.
Big Yellow Dog anxiously urged at the side, "Hurry open it, hurry open it."
"Mm," Chen Xia tore open the old seal, revealing the yellowed spirit energy paper inside.
[Some words I cannot say to you face-to-face, what a pity.]
That was the first line.
[Thousands of words and phrases were swirling in my heart, but when it came time to write them, I somehow could not get them out. In the end, I only have the word 'thank you.']
[I know you borrowed quite a bit of money, and are probably lacking money now. In the southeast corner of the cave dwelling, ten meters underground, I left a storage treasure artifact. The array formation is easy to break. There are a few thousand spirit stones inside, take them.]
[I thought about it, and actually the purple gold coffin wasn't that great. A dead person is just dead, they can't even see it themselves, might as well leave you something better.]
[If we have a next life, and can meet again...]
[I hope we can be friends.]
That was the ending.
Chen Xia shook the envelope and exchanged looks with Big Yellow Dog's big eyes staring at his small ones.
"Do you want these spirit stones?" Big Yellow Dog asked.
"No, but I'm going to go take them out." Chen Xia had already stood up.
"What for?" Big Yellow Dog asked curiously.
"I'll burn the damn things all for him. His own money, and he doesn't want to take it with him to use, what's that supposed to mean? If there's lacking money up there, is there no lacking down below either?"
"Makes sense."
Big Yellow Dog nodded in agreement.
Some things, doing them might be quite stupid, and hearing about them sounds even stupider.
Yet you would still do them.
For example, Chen Xia really did burn those thousands of spirit stones completely with true fire.
No reason for it, it just made him feel carefree inside.
Year 2300.
Blue Sky Sword Sea's sky suddenly shattered at an edge, as if a piece was missing. The already scarce spirit energy leaked out even more from the rupture.
That same year.
Emperor Capital and Qiu Li left together, unclear where they went, but they were definitely gone.
Twenty years later.
Li Yang found Chen Xia and bid farewell with some words.
"Ten thousand spirit stones. If we have a chance to meet again in the future, you can pay me back then. I won't charge interest."
"Can't not pay it back?" Chen Xia frowned.
"If you die you don't need to pay back," Li Yang lightly laughed. "But you probably won't die."
"Who knows?" Chen Xia indifferently shrugged his shoulders.
And that was goodbye.
Year 2350.
Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky.
Only Chen Xia remained.