Chapter Ninety: Departure

Lanyu returned to her little courtyard with mixed feelings of joy and unease. She was glad to have passed the Grand Ceremony of the White Emperor Sect, yet worried about what had become of Luo Yun.

“You’re back?” Fan Xianshu was flipping through a book in the main room. Seeing her enter, he studied her expression and smiled. “Looks like you made it through.”

Lanyu nodded, her spirits high. “Luck was on my side. What about Senior Brother Luo? Has he come back yet?”

“Not yet. He may be running a little late.” Then, with evident curiosity, he asked, “So how exactly does a great sect hold one of these grand ceremonies?”

The two of them talked while waiting for Luo Yun, and when they heard what had happened at the ceremony, and that it was connected to what they had experienced that night, Fan Xianshu was astonished.

“So the one who appeared that night was the girl Yan from the Soaring Pavilion...” He fell into thought. “Strange. What could she possibly have needed, coming all the way to find Senior Brother Luo in person?”

“You know that Miss Yan?”

Fan Xianshu shook his head. “How could I know her? I only heard people mention her at the auction house.”

Lanyu grew curious. “Oh? Who exactly is this Miss Yan? She’s only a dancer from the Soaring Pavilion, and yet she had such abilities?”

“If you hadn’t said so, I wouldn’t have believed it either.” Fan Xianshu began to relate what he had heard. “Very few people know where Miss Yan came from. About five years ago, she appeared in the Soaring Pavilion and quickly became famous. They say her aptitude was ordinary; among female cultivators, there was nothing remarkable about her. The Soaring Pavilion has quite a few women of poor talent—that’s part of their distinctive character. Mortal women, after all, are always a little less tempting to cultivators...”

Realizing that this was not quite appropriate to explain to Lanyu, Fan Xianshu stopped himself in time. Seeing that her expression remained unchanged, he continued. “I once heard that Miss Yan was only at the Qi Refining stage. But she was astonishingly beautiful, with dance that could topple kingdoms, and she was especially skilled at winning people over. She had very good relations with many high-level cultivators. I heard that even two Core Formation elders of the Immortal Alliance were quite fond of her. As for what their exact relationship was, outsiders have no way of knowing.”

“Ah...” Lanyu thought of how someone had tampered with the formation of the Eight Sects. It seemed likely that Miss Yan had used her connections, perhaps those Core Formation elders of the Immortal Alliance, to alter it in secret. Only an elder of the Immortal Alliance, one who held authority over Feilian City, would have had the standing to change a formation without anyone noticing.

She wondered what had become of her and Fu Yuanqing. After Xu Zheng emerged, he never mentioned them at all, and neither did Fu Changchun nor Granny Jueyin. Could it be that they too had perished?

At that thought, Lanyu sighed. Whether it was Fu Yuanqing or Miss Yan, she had no real acquaintance with either of them. Still, she felt a pang of sorrow. So-called immortal fate had to be won with one’s life. So-called immortality, so-called mastery of the heavens—on the road to such a realm, no one knew how many would die. It was like that path to seek the Immortal: one leap and the blue sky might be reached, but there were also those who could not make it across, falling into the abyss and shattering to pieces.

“Hm? You’re both here!” As she was thinking, Luo Yun returned.

“Senior Brother Luo!” they both rose to their feet.

“You’re welcoming me so formally?” Luo Yun was in an excellent mood and even found it in himself to joke.

Seeing this, Lanyu finally let out the breath she had been holding. It seemed he had not been affected; most likely, he had passed the Purple Firmament Sword Sect’s ceremony.

Fan Xianshu exchanged a glance with her and smiled. “Senior Brother Luo, you passed?”

Luo Yun nodded, so happy he seemed ready to fly. “I thought I was done for. I never expected that so many people didn’t want to join a sect, took their rewards, and ran off, and I got counted in by accident.”

“Oh...” Lanyu thought about it, then asked directly, “Senior Brother Luo, who was the woman who came looking for you that night? What is your relationship with her?”

“Who?” Luo Yun was still caught up in his excitement and did not immediately understand.

“The woman in the cloak.”

Luo Yun stared blankly at her, then at Fan Xianshu, and asked in a low voice, “You all noticed?”

The two of them nodded together.

Luo Yun looked a little embarrassed. “It’s not that I meant to hide it from you. Miss Yan hoped no one else would know about this matter, so...”

“What exactly did you help her with?”

“It was nothing much. Miss Yan asked me to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill, but that day I had just quit my job and couldn’t find her, so she came to my door herself.”

“No wonder you asked me before where one could buy a Foundation Establishment Pill,” Fan Xianshu said thoughtfully.

“That means she had only been Foundation Established for less than a month?” Lanyu focused on that instead.

“Miss Yan succeeded in Foundation Establishment?” Luo Yun was surprised.

“If you mean the Miss Yan from the Soaring Pavilion, then yes, most likely.” Lanyu asked seriously, “Aside from helping her buy the Foundation Establishment Pill, there was nothing else between you, was there?”

“No.” Luo Yun shook his head without hesitation. “Back when I was working at the Soaring Pavilion, I only knew Miss Yan. Later, when she asked me to help with things, we had a few more dealings.”

“That is odd,” Fan Xianshu said, lightly tapping the tabletop. “Your relationship with her wasn’t especially close, and yet she entrusted you with something so important. A Foundation Establishment Pill is no trivial thing—wasn’t she afraid you’d simply take the spirit stones and disappear? Besides, she was the pavilion’s famous dancer. Even if it was inconvenient for her to show her face, surely she had someone else she could have asked?”

Lanyu took up the thread. “It seems this Miss Yan was in an unfavorable position herself. In a hurry to buy a Foundation Establishment Pill, and she went to a Senior Brother Luo she wasn’t very familiar with... It probably wasn’t just for the matter of the Abyssal Secret Realm. Otherwise, with all those high-level cultivators she knew, it would have been no more than a trifle.”

“Perhaps she was hurrying to establish her foundation precisely so she could break away from those high-level cultivators. Interesting, very interesting!” Fan Xianshu smiled with narrowed eyes, then sighed. “What a pity. Someone like that may already be gone.”

If the truth was really as they had guessed, then this Miss Yan was truly no ordinary person. She moved with ease among high-level cultivators, yet secretly plotted to establish her foundation; she had the nerve to entrust something like purchasing a Foundation Establishment Pill to an acquaintance she barely knew, and she even dared to tamper with the formation of the Eight Sects...

“Miss Yan perished?” Luo Yun was startled.

Lanyu shook her head. “It’s only a guess.” Then she briefly described the matter of the formation.

Luo Yun sighed at once. “No wonder Senior Xu looked so grim after coming out of the formation. Miss Yan truly was bold beyond measure...”

Lanyu watched his reaction carefully. Seeing only regret and no strong emotional response, she finally relaxed. If Luo Yun had merely bought a Foundation Establishment Pill for her once, then even if Xu Zheng found out, it would not matter. Perhaps they already knew anyway. From Miss Yan’s words, Xu Zheng had been tracking her that night, and most likely he had already met Luo Yun long ago.

The world of these Foundation Establishment cultivators was truly complicated. Merely recruiting disciples, and yet such tangled affairs lay hidden beneath it.

“Oh yes, when are you leaving?” Fan Xianshu suddenly asked.

Lanyu looked at Luo Yun. “The White Emperor Sect departs in ten days.”

Luo Yun nodded right after her. “The Purple Firmament Sword Sect as well.”

“Ten days... Then I’ll see you both off in a few days.” A note of sorrow flickered in Fan Xianshu’s eyes. “I hope you both enter your sects and get what you desire.”

Ten days passed quickly. Early in the morning, Lanyu and Luo Yun set out, gathered at the Affairs Hall, and once again traveled to the Ringing Isles. This time there were far fewer people—only seven or eight hundred in all, not even a thousand.

The leaders from the Heaven Punishing Gate, the Hall of Myriad Selves, and the Temple of Insight had all been replaced. Seeing that, Lanyu felt even more sorrowful. Life and death could turn in an instant. One moment, people were laughing and talking together; the next, they might be separated forever by heaven and earth. Irretrievable, irreversible. There was nothing in this world colder than that.

The flying vessel sailed out of Feilian City and flew toward the Ringing Isles.

Outside Feilian City stood a man gazing up at the flying vessel as it drifted away overhead, letting out a long, lingering sigh.

Today they part, and who knows when they will meet again. Three years together still could not outweigh five years of separation. The Lanyu of today was still the same Lanyu of old, but the Fan Xianshu of today was no longer the same Immortal Stone of yesterday.

One can only offer a word of cherishing. With mountains high and rivers long, perhaps fate will bring them together again.

...

After gathering on the Ringing Isles, Lanyu discovered that an unfamiliar cultivator had appeared on the little island belonging to the White Emperor Sect.

This cultivator appeared to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight, handsome and composed, clad in the White Emperor Sect’s high-ranking robe, white with silver trim, giving him an air of uncommon authority. What drew the eye most of all was the astonishing force of his presence; at a glance, it was obvious he was far stronger than the earlier Foundation Establishment seniors.

Fu Changchun’s injuries had apparently been treated. Today he still looked vigorous and spirited, though his face was faintly pale, perhaps from too much blood loss. When the flying vessel landed, he respectfully cupped his hands to the cultivator. Lanyu heard him say, “This disciple greets Uncle Master Lan.”

Uncle Master Lan? Lanyu frowned slightly. The name sounded strangely familiar... Since Fu Changchun addressed him as uncle master, could this be a Core Formation cultivator?

At that thought, Lanyu stared at the man without blinking. She had never seen a Core Formation cultivator before. The Core Formation experts in Feilian City were very lofty and, under ordinary circumstances, would not appear on the streets. She herself did not go out often, so she had never had the chance to see one.

Perhaps her gaze was too bold. The Core Formation cultivator glanced over, saw only a newly arrived junior disciple, and said nothing.

Lanyu, however, was startled and quickly lowered her eyes, no longer daring to look around indiscreetly.

“Are all the people here?” asked this Uncle Master Lan.

Fu Changchun’s attitude remained reverent. “Please instruct us, Uncle Master.”

After Lan Muyang nodded, Fu Changchun stepped forward and called out, “Fellow disciples, this is the Core Formation true person of our sect. His surname is Lan, and his given name is Muyang. You are to address him as Ancestor Master Lan.”

The crowd bowed in greeting. “This disciple greets Ancestor Master Lan.”

More than a hundred people greeted him in unison; the sight was truly impressive.

Lan Muyang gave a slight nod and raised a hand in a casual, supporting gesture. “No need for such courtesy.”

“From today onward, fellow disciples, you are the formal disciples of the White Emperor Sect. Regardless of what status you once held—whether loose cultivator or clan descendant—now that you have entered my White Emperor Sect, you must abide by our rules. The past will be wiped clean. Whatever offenses you may once have committed, we need not pursue them. But from this day forward, if any of you dare bring your old vices into the White Emperor Sect, do not blame me for showing no mercy!”

First gentle, then threatening. After saying this, Lan Muyang waved a hand. “Very well. Set out.”