In the season when autumn was changing into winter, Qiu Yi came to find Chen Xia outside the pavilion.
She said she wanted to become his disciple.
Chen Xia looked her up and down curiously and asked, "I know quite a lot, what specifically do you want to learn, mystic arts, pill refinement, or chess?"
Qiu Yi was a little stunned for a moment, then very quickly replied, "Ex-except for chess, anything is fine."
This sentence was unusually fluent for her, which showed how important it was for her not to learn chess.
Chen Xia shook his head, "No, you must learn chess. I can't let my exquisite chess skills fall into ruin."
Qiu Yi had no choice. She knitted her brows slightly in her cold and clear expression, a little troubled, and stammered,
"Then I'll learn everything."
"Good," Chen Xia nodded. He directly took out a chess set from behind him, "Then I'll first test your aptitude."
That's what he said, but really it was just playing his usual opening move of attacking the horse.
For some reason, Chen Xia could never make a different opening move, perhaps this was where the joy of having poor chess skills lay.
The previous month, Qiu Yi didn't learn anything and just played chess with Chen Xia the whole time.
Qiu Yi hadn't had much contact with Chinese chess before, so for the first month she played evenly matched games with Chen Xia, this rotten chess basket.
But after that Chen Xia felt something was off.
He couldn't beat Qiu Yi anymore.
Indeed, there was a reason he had been a rotten chess basket for thousands of years.
In the second month, Qiu Yi already had the upper hand and could steadily defeat Chen Xia.
By the third month, Qiu Yi could completely crush Chen Xia without leaving a single piece on the board.
The opening move of attacking the horse was very satisfying, but she could only be satisfied for a moment. Qiu Yi was satisfied the whole time!
So in the fourth month, Chen Xia decided not to play chess anymore and started seriously teaching Qiu Yi some mystic arts and techniques.
The first technique he taught was the Profound Primordial Dao Chapters.
Qiu Yi just looked at the first section and immediately became engrossed, feeling that condensing these esoteric chapters was truly marvelous. She diligently studied them with great care.
Chen Xia sat to the side, occasionally pointing out some areas to resolve her doubts and clear up confusion.
The Profound Primordial Dao Chapters didn't really require much instruction, it relied more on perceiving ability and talent.
Chen Xia saw that the most talented he had encountered was Huang Qingyue back in the Little World. Her speed of condensing the chapters was extremely fast.
Later she went to the Immortal Realm with the Upper Realm immortals.
Thousands of years had passed now, and he didn't know how she was doing now.
Chen Xia felt somewhat nostalgic, but could only feel nostalgic. Looking now at how diligently Qiu Yi cultivated, he was reminded to some extent of that young girl he had met in Weixi Town.
Xu Zhen.
He really did easily encounter talents around him.
Chen Xia shook his head slightly, thinking he must go take a look at the Immortal Realm in the future.
It didn't necessarily have to be a teary reunion, but at least he should find her.
As for whether their relationship would be the same as before, Chen Xia couldn't say.
Because people will inevitably change over time.
Chen Xia sighed, putting away his impractical sentiments, and continued instructing Qiu Yi.
Qiu Yi's talent was not bad, and her speed of carving dao chapters was also very quick. In just one or two years she had carved a rather complex dao chapter into her body.
During this time she would also idly play chess with Chen Xia, both appearing evenly matched, but really it was Qiu Yi deliberately holding back to let Chen Xia take more pieces.
Chen Xia saw it but didn't say anything.
After all, the books did say that disciples need not be inferior to masters, and masters need not be wiser than disciples.
Not being able to win was very normal. Being able to beat him was enough.
Life in Qing Province was very peaceful. Chen Xia planned to leave Surging Sea on a nice sunny day when the timing was right.
He was a guest, he shouldn't stay for long.
1,500 years after the collapse of Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Within the starry sky, various powers rose extremely quickly, initially led by the seven great sects of the past.
Because the sect master had died, and the grand protective array had been worn down previously, Jade Terrace Mountain fell to the bottom of the seven great sects.
But even so, with a Heaven Mending Realm cultivator presiding over it, Jade Terrace Mountain was still considered upper tier in the starry sky, not an existence average sect disciples dared provoke.
These were the sects that first rose to prominence, but they were not the most prosperous.
The most prosperous were not the sects, but the various great clans.
Clans with Empyrean descendants were almost as radiant as the sun, just waiting for the Empyrean descendants to grow into the Heaven Mending Realm, then they could lead the clan to become a behemoth within the starry sky.
And the first Empyrean descendant to become a Saint could obtain the sole authority within this region of the starry sky.
Needless to say, becoming an Empyrean was practically the next Blue Sky Sword Sea.
It's worth mentioning that most of these Empyrean descendants came from Blue Sky Sword Sea, with only a small portion coming from other prosperous sects.
For example, the top ranking Empyrean descendants were all former elders of Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Below them were Jia Bai and others who had been Blue Sky Sword Sea's top ten formal disciples.
After them were Emperor Capital and Qiu Li, who had shockingly joined the same thriving clan, and were now the precious sons of the clan, lofty and unapproachable.
Li Yang and Liu Qing had also found good sects to join. These sects weren't big, but precisely because of this they held Li Yang in extremely high regard, giving her very preferential treatment, hoping to use her to help the sect flourish.
In this way, it seemed the original Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky were all developing quite well.
But soon people discovered something amiss.
Chen Xia was missing.
Or rather, there was no news of Chen Xia.
This name that had once shaken Blue Sky Sword Sea had now completely vanished without a trace, with not even a whisper of him being heard.
With his Heaven Mending Realm cultivation and Fourth Law Elder position, as one of the Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky, how could there be no news of him at all after he came out?
Some guessed that Chen Xia had gone into seclusion after coming out, and that was why there was no news.
But soon people rejected this idea.
They said that now was the time of the great era beginning, when fortune and opportunities were feeding back to the cultivators of the starry sky. Those with outstanding talent even more needed to seize them, it was impossible to go into seclusion.
This made sense.
So very quickly the second guess that most cultivators accepted emerged.
Chen Xia had died inside Blue Sky Sword Sea.
This was grievous news.
In the end, one fewer of the Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky remained, and the starry sky was missing an Empyrean descendant, missing a future hegemon.
When Emperor Capital and Qiu Li heard this news, although they had been beaten up by Chen Xia many times, they didn't feel happy about it. On the contrary, they felt somewhat depressed.
In the end, they were fellow Empyrean descendants of the same generation.
Emperor Capital and Qiu Li erected a simple grave mound to Chen Xia, very mournful.
"I was saying that after reaching the Heaven Mending Realm, I still wanted to fight you one more time, even though it was very likely I'd get beaten up again, but I didn't expect I wouldn't even have the chance to get beaten up."
Emperor Capital said sentimentally.
Qiu Li also shook his head and said,
"Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky, in the end you were the only one who didn't escape. I actually really admired you for that. I just didn't expect you were so bold, staying till the last moment without running."
Of the three fellow Empyrean descendants of the same generation, walking along, ultimately one fewer remained.
At the heights of the stars.
Li Yang stood with her hands behind her back, her heroic brows relaxed as she gazed at the distant starry sky.
She stood like this for a long time.
Only when the starry sky darkened did she turn around. Her usually firm tone softened somewhat as she gently said,
"You don't need to pay back the 10,000 spirit stones."
In the farthest reaches of the starry sky.
In the hollow, desolate dead star system, the figure sitting on the Throne of Lost Souls extended his hand, drawing the entire dead star system which he endlessly absorbed.
It doesn't matter if your main body isn't here, your avatar hitting someone still hurts.
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