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Join the Server“Collapsed? What does that mean?” The young cultivator in green robes perked up with interest.
“What else could it mean? Literally, it’s collapsing.” The gray-robed cultivator popped a peanut into his mouth.
“That secret realm has never been stable anyway. Over a thousand years, it’s opened and closed so many times that the spatial cracks inside have multiplied. Word is, some areas have already started to collapse. At this rate, it’ll crumble to dust in another hundred or eight years.”
“A hundred or eight years? That’s still a long way off…”
“Long way off?” The gray-robed cultivator shot him a look. “Do you know what’s hidden inside that secret realm?”
The green-robed cultivator shook his head.
The gray-robed one glanced left and right, making a show of it, then bobbed his head mysteriously. “There’s a rumor that an ancient great power left behind a method to reopen the severed immortal path inside the Tianyan Secret Realm.”
The moment those words hit, the other two at the table changed expressions. Even the people at the neighbors’ tables perked up, straining to hear.
Yan Li’s hand, holding the spoon, froze midair.
Yan Shu’s mouth had been hanging open for ages, waiting for her food. When nothing came, she let out a shrill baby cry: “ma…ma…”
The sound exploded across the room, pulling glances from half a dozen tables.
Xuan Shiyan raised a brow and bowed his head over his porridge to hide the shake in his shoulders.
Yan Li’s temple throbbed.
Seeing that Yan Shu was about to cry again, he quickly shoved the spoon into her mouth. Still, his ears remained tuned to the conversation.
“The immortal path?” The green-robed cultivator swallowed. “You can’t mean the one that…”
“Obviously.” The gray-robed cultivator sighed. “After the great calamity a thousand years ago, the immortal path was severed. Since then, no one has ascended successfully.”
“For a thousand years, countless brilliant cultivators have been stuck at the Mahayana stage. Forget ascension; even the tribulation-transcending stage is becoming a legend.”
The gray-robed cultivator shook his head. “No matter how powerful someone is, once their lifespan runs out, they turn to a handful of dirt.”
“Think about it. If there really was a way to reopen the immortal path, what would that mean?”
The green-robed cultivator’s breathing turned shallow. “Wait, that sounds too far-fetched. Is that real?”
“Far-fetched?” The gray-robed cultivator sneered. “Precisely because it’s far-fetched, those old monsters at the Mahayana stage have been sending people into the secret realm for all these years. They’re all hunting for it.”
The black-robed cultivator across the table, who hadn’t spoken all along, finally chimed in. “But if such a thing actually existed, why hasn’t anyone found it in a thousand years?”
The gray-robed cultivator choked on the question. “How would I know?”
The green-robed cultivator hesitated. “If the secret realm is about to collapse, then…”
“Yes. That last sliver of hope goes with it.” The gray-robed cultivator shook his head and mourned, “No one’s ascended in a thousand years. If this keeps up, we might as well quit cultivation and go back to tilling fields.”
At that, the monks at neighboring tables who’d been listening also sank into gloomy expressions.
Yan Li’s hand holding his bowl tightened.
The great calamity a thousand years ago, the severed immortal path, no one ascending… These were common knowledge in the cultivation world. But the rumor that the Tianyan Secret Realm held a method to reopen the immortal path? That was new to him.
He looked up at Xuan Shiyan. Their eyes met in the air, then each looked away.
The conversation at the next table continued.
“Speaking of which, but the ones who get into the Tianyan Secret Realm are all the finest young disciples of each sect. I wonder if anyone’s ever found anything in there.” The green-robed cultivator muttered.
“And if they did, what would it matter?” The gray-robed cultivator waved dismissively. “That secret realm only allows cultivators below the Golden Core stage. Those green kids barely out of their swaddles, what would they understand?”
“Point.”
Yan Li lowered his head and continued feeding Yan Shu her porridge.
The table turned quiet for a bit, until the green-robed cultivator waved his hand again. “Well, anyway, whether I’ll even form a core in this lifetime is a coin toss. Ascending or not has nothing to do with me.”
He stuffed a bite of food into his mouth and sighed. “Rather than worry about that, I should think about how to report to the boss about those herbs we haven’t finished counting yet.”
With those words, the heavy topic drifted away. The group quickly moved on to other chat: from the severed immortal path to rising spirit herb prices, from rising prices to some sect’s unmarried female elders’ romantic exploits, from romantic exploits to whose spirit beast just gave birth to a litter.
The topics meandered, but no one mentioned the immortal path again.
Affairs that concerned the entire cultivation world’s survival became, in their mouths, no more than peanuts to swallow down with drink.
Better to worry about whether tomorrow’s herbs would fetch a good price than about such ethereal things.
Meanwhile, Yan Shu had grown drowsy after eating her fill. She let out a small yawn, looking perfectly content.
Yan Li gazed at the little one in his arms, his eyes growing heavy.
‘This little thing… she came from that very place.’
‘The secret realm holds the secret of the severed immortal path, and she appeared there.’
‘Could she be connected?’
He stared at her drooping little face for a moment. ‘Absurd. If she had some earth-shattering origin, why would she be born with broken meridians and a frail, sickly constitution?’
‘All true treasures glimmer with dense spiritual energy. How could she be so fragile?’
He concluded it was just an abandoned child. Some female cultivator must have given birth inside the secret realm, discovered the child’s broken meridians meant a slow death, and left her in that ruined cave dwelling.
Such things weren’t uncommon. Some female cultivators became pregnant after dual cultivation, unwilling to let it stunt their progress. If the child had good aptitude, they’d keep it; if it was born deficient, it became a burden, given away if possible, or discarded in some corner to fend for itself.
Yan Li gently patted Yan Shu.
He could understand those choices. Resources were scarce, lifespans finite; no one wanted to sacrifice their own path for a child doomed to die young.
But understanding wasn’t the same as accepting. Seeing such a tiny infant left in a secret realm to die still made his heart heavy.
He let out a silent sigh and pulled his thoughts back.
What mattered most now was finding the medicine to cure her illness.
As for ascension, the immortal path, those earth-shaking matters that concerned the whole cultivation world’s fate, those were for the Mahayana ancestors to fret over. Not a small sword cultivator at the middle Foundation Establishment stage like him.
“Senior brother, let’s go.”
Xuan Shiyan’s voice dragged him out of his tangled thoughts.
Yan Li nodded, gathered Yan Shu in his arms, and rose. “Let’s go.”
After a simple cleanup, they checked out of the inn, passed out of Luoyan City, and flew south on their swords once more.
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