December.
Under the pale sky, even whiter snow began to fall, turning the world white.
Chen Xia was still wearing his thin cyan robe, sitting on the steps outside the door, resting his chin in one hand, eyes lowered in thought.
"Wow, it's snowing!" A clear and joyful cry of delight sounded as Huang Qingyue walked up behind him and curiously asked, "Brother Chen, do you like snow?"
Chen Xia glanced back at her. Huang Qingyue was wearing a snowy white jacket, inside which was an embroidered saffron yellow skirt that accentuated her curvaceous figure.
He nodded and replied, "I quite like it."
"Why is that?" Huang Qingyue crouched down beside Chen Xia, curiously asking.
Why? This question made Chen Xia think for a moment before he softly said, "Probably because it rarely snows in my hometown, so I cherish being able to see snow."
Huang Qingyue's long eyelashes fluttered, seemingly catching some snowflakes that made her look even more exquisite. She smiled and said, "Is Brother Chen's hometown in the south? It really doesn't snow often there."
"No." Chen Xia shook his head and looked up at the pale night sky. "It's far away."
A rare hint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.
Huang Qingyue grabbed his sleeve and gave an encouraging smile, saying, "No matter how far, you can always go back someday."
Chen Xia brought his gaze back from the sky, shook his head with a faint smile, "It doesn't matter anymore."
He had nothing worth missing there anymore.
Huang Qingyue shook her head, regretting bringing up the topic that had dampened Brother Chen's mood.
So she quickly tried to remedy it by suggesting brightly, "Brother Chen, let's build a snowman!"
"Alright." Chen Xia agreed as he stood up.
Huang Qingyue had already scampered into the snow. She turned around to look at Chen Xia with a smile.
"This time let's build two snowmen, shoulder to shoulder, okay?"
She gave a radiant grin, standing amidst the snow with wisps of mist curling from her mouth, which only enhanced her fairy-like beauty.
Simply mesmerizing.
Early spring.
The flowers had yet to bloom.
Chen Xia had already embarked overseas, wanting to meet with the foreign cultivators there.
If not to slaughter them, then at least to warn these cultivators against harassing him again. Otherwise, Chen Xia really would kill every last foreign cultivator.
He did not enjoy killing.
But when it was necessary, he would show no mercy.
Overseas was mostly archipelagos, many still undeveloped and uninhabited islands where foreign cultivators could easily hide.
Chen Xia hovered in midair, his senses at the Gold Core realm spread fully open, instantly sweeping a radius of ten li like a human radar detecting any changes in the surroundings.
His gaze abruptly halted, looking towards a small island in the distance.
In an extremely hidden chamber, white-robed foreign cultivators were discussing matters. They were already greatly weakened after suffering heavy casualties. For now they had to consider how to survive.
"The Deputy Sect Leader went to the Great Song imperial city previously, supposedly to aid that emerging immortal. But the Deputy Sect Leader ultimately overestimated that old immortal..."
Speaking to this point, the cultivators' resentment grew.
"That old immortal's reputation was inflated beyond belief, yet he still dared to claim to be one of the two immortals of the mortal realm alongside the Great Song National Teacher. What a joke!"
The dead cannot come back to life, so the cultivators cursed even more viciously now that the old immortal could no longer retaliate.
"That Great Song National Teacher is also too overpowered, said to have crushed the old immortal in just thirty breaths. No one could stop him."
When they spoke of this, everyone fell silent again. After a long pause, someone anxiously asked,
"What if that Great Song National Teacher comes looking for us overseas?"
Hearing this, all the cultivators' bodies shook as someone immediately refuted,
"Impossible. Here is nothing but overseas deserted islands. We're also hidden in caverns below the deserted islands, right next to the sea. There's no way he can find us."
This response was like giving the cultivators a tranquilizing pill. They calmed down for the moment but still had doubts.
"But we can't hide here forever. We'll need outside contact eventually. What if the Great Song National Teacher lays siege to the coast?"
When faced with this problem, all the cultivators became troubled. It was indeed difficult. One person suggested,
"Why don't we try to get on good terms with the Great Song National Teacher? We have an array formation that can absorb worship power. The old immortal previously partnered with us for this very reason. I'm sure the Great Song National Teacher would need it too."
"Good idea!" The cultivators nodded but then another issue arose. "Who should we send?"
They eyed each other in silence.
No matter who they sent, it was possible they wouldn't come back. So no one was willing to go.
"How about we send a message to the Great Song National Teacher and give him some treasures too, to show our sincerity."
"Hmm, that method could work. But what if the Great Song National Teacher doesn't come?"
"He probably will. He's likely looking for us too. Who knows, maybe he's already here now, haha."
He had only meant this as a joke, but soon realized jokes shouldn't be made lightly.
The chamber they were in began to shake, furniture and walls quaking. The walls suddenly shattered into what seemed like curtains of water that vanished.
In their place stood a figure in cyan robes, as if he had materialized from the dirt. His eyes flashed an azure-green light as he asked them,
"Were you looking for me?"
The cultivators were instantly chilled to their bones, feeling as if fine needles were raking down their spines. They stared at him in horror.
Seeing their lack of response, Chen Xia walked forward. Behind him, the collapsed wall reformed and sealed up once more.
"How convenient. I was looking for you too."
Chen Xia smiled.
The cultivators couldn't smile at all. They watched the man before them with trembling dread.
Were they going to die today?
Chen Xia gave the answer with an amiable smile. "Today I'll give you two choices - death or life."
"I'm not a bloodthirsty person, but I will kill when necessary. So show me your sincerity and I may consider not killing you."
The cultivators exchanged a glance. One of them hurriedly said in a quavering voice,
"We were just discussing submitting to you. If you're willing, we're happy to set up a grand worship array. From then on, all living beings in Great Song, even this whole mortal realm, will worship you!"
Chen Xia raised a brow slightly. "What benefits are there?"
He was already being worshipped by the commoners of Great Song, but other than a small increase in ling qi on National Teacher Day each year, there were no real benefits.
The cultivator's trembling voice halted at this point. It grew heavy and solemn as he earnestly explained.
"Ascension."
Chen Xia furrowed his brows in puzzlement.
The cultivator quickly elaborated, "At your level of cultivation, you must have heard of the myriad worlds.
Chen Xia nodded. "I've heard others mention it."
Those others naturally referred to the immortal from the Upper Realm he had killed.
The cultivator placed his palms flat on the table and conjured a massive circle.
"Among the myriad worlds, there are many powerful realms. The Immortal Realm above us is one such top realm, while the one who rules over our mortal world is only a single sect, the Pillars of Heaven Immortal Sect, within the Immortal Realm."
This was all news to Chen Xia. He nodded for the man to continue and asked, "What does this have to do with ascension?"
The cultivator placed his hand inside the circle he had drawn and explained, "Each mortal world, or realm, is like this circle. And the circle can be seen as a human body with its five viscera and six bowels, four limbs and hundred bones, etc."
"The reason our realm is so weak, to the point where not even a Gold Core has appeared in hundreds of years, is because it lacks the most crucial component..."
"A heart!"
The cultivator's expression was grave as his finger tapped the direct center of the circle. "Becoming the heart means ascending to godhood and becoming the supreme existence of this mortal realm. After that, everything in this world will nourish you. Your cultivation base will also influence this realm, making it continuously stronger."
"The two will complement each other and reap mutual benefits."
Chen Xia crossed his arms thoughtfully. This was rather interesting. Curiously, he asked, "How do you know all this?"
The cultivator quickly explained, "Five hundred years ago, the Gold Core Ancestor attempted ascension to become a god and fly to the Upper Realm, but ultimately lacked the latent talent and failed. He perished amidst the Myriad Tribulations Lightning Calamity."
"There's also a lightning tribulation to overcome?" Chen Xia was even more intrigued now.
The cultivator seemed mournful recalling his sect's ancestor who died to lightning. He nodded and said, "All who wish to ascend to the Upper Realm must overcome the lightning tribulation. Ordinary versions are nothing much, but since the Ancestor wanted to ascend to godhood, he triggered a cataclysmic Myriad Tribulations Lightning Calamity."
Chen Xia glanced at the Qi cultivator and put his finger down in the center of the circle. He smiled and said, "Does this mean that even after I ascend to become a god, I would still need to cross ten thousand Tribulations of Lightning, or even more than that?"
The Qi cultivator smiled awkwardly, and then quickly said, "Crossing the Tribulation of Lightning is not a bad thing. Since ancient times, cultivators breaking through bottlenecks have had to face the Tribulation. So the Tribulation is considered a joyous sign."
"The more powerful the Tribulation, the greater the benefits to the cultivator after crossing it. Our elder did not have enough aptitude to withstand ten thousand bolts of lightning. Otherwise, if he had ascended to the Immortal Realm, he would be quite an influential figure even now."
When the Qi cultivator spoke to this point, he sighed with particular feeling. He thought back to five hundred years ago, when Qi cultivators like him enjoyed such prestige that even emperors would bow down before them. But now, they could only hide on this deserted island.
The vicissitudes of life, truly the vicissitudes of life.
Chen Xia suddenly asked, "Have there been any rumors of other immortals descending into this realm? I'm not talking about those that any top expert in the Jianghu could kill, but immortals who could raze a city with one palm strike."
One palm to raze a city?
The Qi cultivator frowned upon hearing this, seeming to recall something. He said in a deep voice,
"The books of our grandmaster record that six hundred years ago, there was one such instance, where a single palm strike destroyed an entire city. But our grandmaster speculated that the owner of that palm was not an immortal."
"Because the emissaries of Mount Shouyang Immortal Sect were unaware of this incident. If it was a colleague from the Immortal Realm, there is no way to escape Mount Shouyang's detection methods.
So the emissaries from Mount Shouyang deduced it was a being from another realm. But from which realm, that remains unknown. What is certain is that it had already attained the level of Sage."
Chen Xia stared at the Qi cultivator, his eyes deep pools of light, and enunciated word for word:
"I witnessed it a hundred years ago."
The Qi cultivator's body instantly shook, like a floating vine being battered by furious rainstorms, almost losing his balance.
Six hundred years ago.
A hundred years ago.
So the interval is...
Five hundred years?