"Now that's an emperor," Big Bell muttered, trying to fly out of Su Yan's chaos sea. It couldn't manage—Su Yan had swung it around too hard, and the injuries were worse than before. Still, it managed to say, "A true hero. I'd like to meet him."
The blood sacrifice had stopped. Su Yan's repositories were safe now. Part of him wanted to turn back, to see what the First Emperor looked like.
That voice had felt familiar. He'd heard it somewhere before, more than once.
But reason told him this was his chance to escape Xu Fu.
If he didn't leave now, he never would.
At the tomb entrance, Xu Fu's voice drifted back. "Your Majesty, this servant has returned from seeking immortal medicine overseas. I used it to awaken you."
"So this is immortal medicine? I feel it." Su Yan heard the First Emperor's voice. He jumped onto Yuan Qi's neck, turned, and activated Heavenly Eye to look back.
From this distance, he could only make out tiny figures. The golden coffin had opened. A figure floated within the seven ascension rainbows, the lingering medicine-aura flowing into it.
"The immortal medicine you found is excellent. Where is my Undying Immortal? Is he still alive?"
Su Yan felt a pair of impossibly bright eyes turn toward him.
"Seventh, go!"
Su Yan's body tensed. Facing Xu Fu hadn't filled him with this much dread. But facing the First Emperor—his skin crawled. If he didn't leave, he might die here.
"Probably one of my past lives suffered at his hands," he thought.
Other cultivators and nuo masters fled alongside them, many injured, their cave-heavens in ruins.
Yuan Qi had swallowed too many treasure fragments. He moved slowly. Su Yan circulated his qi and blood and lifted Yuan Qi into the air.
Yuan Qi's speed increased dramatically. "A-Yan's lifting me again. Wait—am I a magic treasure? Why can he lift me?"
He was confused.
Su Yan burst out of the tomb. A familiar voice called from behind: "Demon King Su, how have you been?"
Su Yan's heart skipped. He turned.
Veyon emerged from the tomb with several Yuan family women. Behind Veyon was Lady Yuan, supporting the Old Matriarch. Elder Xiao stood at Veyon's side.
They looked disheveled but unharmed.
Su Yan slid off Yuan Qi's head, strode to Veyon's side, and took Veyon's left hand. "I've missed you. And your lip rouge..."
Yuan Qi's eyes bulged. Inside Yuan Qi's mouth, Zhu Chanchan pushed upward, widening the serpent's jaws. She sat in the serpent's mouth, legs dangling, chin in her hands, watching with great interest.
Avia, Hua Xianchen, and the others poured out of the tomb, equally stunned. Other cultivators, seeing the scene, thought a battle was breaking out and readied their magical treasures.
Hua Xianchen raised a hand, stopping them. "It's not what you think! It's the Undying Immortal... holding a young master's hand..."
She trailed off, unsure how to explain.
In Su Yan's mind, Big Bell laughed so hard it made clanking, broken sounds.
Elder Xiao's face darkened, staring at Su Yan's hand.
Lady Yuan and the Old Matriarch both looked at Su Yan's hand. Lady Yuan's lips twitched but she said nothing. The Old Matriarch's phoenix-head cane creaked in her grip.
Veyon's heart fluttered. "He knows I'm a woman? He looks foolish, but he's known all along? Then all those times he kissed me, tried to undo my clothes..."
Veyon's face reddened. She couldn't maintain the Young Master Veyon persona anymore. "I... I'll take you to meet my family."
She dropped the noble young master act entirely, becoming a flustered girl. She took Su Yan's hand and walked toward Lady Yuan and the Old Matriarch.
"Mother—"
Lady Yuan's gaze sharpened. Veyon's hand trembled, then released Su Yan's. The young master mask snapped back into place, cold and detached. "Mother, Matriarch, this is Su Yan. You've met before."
Lady Yuan smiled and nodded. "Last time Young Master Su stayed with us, we failed to show proper hospitality."
Su Yan smiled. "Su Yan greets the Lady, greets the Matriarch."
They nodded and left with Veyon, who returned to her distant, untouchable demeanor. "Su, we part ways here."
Then another figure flew from the tomb, laughing. "The Undying Immortal himself? You can't leave so soon!"
The man landed—tall, handsome, vigorous despite his age. Yuan Wuji.
"Humble latecomer Su Yan greets the Yuan family ancestor."
Yuan Wuji hurried forward to support him. "Absolutely not! You are the Undying Immortal. Even the newly awakened First Emperor calls you senior. How could you bow to me? You'd shorten my lifespan!"
Su Yan straightened. Yuan Wuji laughed heartily. "Meeting by chance is better than invitation. Last time you visited, I was away. Today we must celebrate properly! Veyon, I took some injuries. Please entertain our guest."
Veyon assented and came to Su Yan's side. "Young Master Su, please."
Su Yan felt Veyon had grown colder toward him.
The Yuan family, though declining, still had deep roots. Yuan Wuji summoned a treasure carriage drawn by two dragon-sparrows—incense-formed spirits commonly used by great clans for transport.
The interior was spacious, but with Yuan Qi inside, everyone else had to stand outside. Even Yuan Wuji sat on the carriage shaft, healing his wounds.
Lady Yuan and the Old Matriarch, too frail for the wind, squeezed inside with Yuan Qi.
Su Yan and the others rode on Yuan Qi's head, exposed to the elements.
Hua Xianchen and the others stepped forward to stop them from taking Su Yan. Avia blocked them with her wings. "None of us can match that old man. Fighting would be suicide. We wait for Xu Fu's return!"
On the carriage, Zhu Chanchan watched Su Yan and Veyon with round, curious eyes. One pretended everything was normal. The other opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.
Su Yan broke the silence. "After we parted in the capital, I lost my memory. Many things are unclear. I only remember... things between us."
Veyon smiled. "Do you remember our wager?"
Su Yan thought, then shook his head.
"If you completed the missing portions of Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing, I would give my sister Rusi to you in marriage. If I completed it first, you would promise me one thing. I've already finished it. I can now refine the immortal medicine from the Yellow Court. What about you?"
Su Yan shook his head. "I lost three months of memory. I don't remember the wager. I lost. And I don't like your sister Rusi."
Veyon's heart turned to ice.
Then Su Yan seized both her hands, his eyes burning. "I like you! I like you holding my hand, running through streets and alleys. I like you taking me to incense spirit roads. I like you lying beside me, watching the sky. I like you leaning close, letting me smell the powder on your face."
Veyon's mind reeled. "Demon King Su, your memory is wrong. That was my sister..."
Su Yan held on, smiling. "I remember it was you. We picked flowers from the Great Huai tree together. We caught dragonflies together."
Veyon's face flushed. "Let go. Let go first! You're talking about my sister, not me..."
Zhu Chanchan sat nearby, eyes narrowed, grinning silently. "This is big. A-Yan's seal blocked his present-life memories, so he can't even remember the girl he likes. Big Bell and the serpent are rotten scoundrels, not reminding him, just enjoying the show."
Suddenly Zhu Chanchan jumped up, came behind Veyon, and laughed. "You two men, holding hands—what's the fun in that? Do this!"
She reached around from behind, placed her hands on Veyon's chest, and squeezed. "See? Real man, right?"
Zhu Chanchan looked puzzled. She squeezed again.
"What's going on? Why..."
She released her hands, squeezed her own, and murmured, "Soft. About the same size."
She walked away, dazed.
Big Bell, still clanking with laughter, suddenly stopped. "What?"
Yuan Qi, still snickering silently, also froze in shock.
Veyon broke free of Su Yan's hands, straightened her clothes, and said coldly, "If you two continue this behavior, we won't even be friends."
Su Yan sat up straight. "Veyon is right. I'm not usually this forward. My memory is confused. I need more time to adjust."
Veyon secretly relaxed and smiled. "After I perfected the Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing, I tried it and could refine Yellow Court medicine. I passed it to my ancestor. Now he has no fear of being consumed. This time he was also unaffected by the blood sacrifice, able to fight that scarred man as an equal."
Su Yan was astonished. "Ancestor Wuji is that strong? He can fight Xu Fu head-on?"
Veyon didn't understand his shock. Su Yan had seen Xu Fu's power firsthand.
Xu Fu had burned the evil flesh of the ancient cultivator in Huotong Cave Heaven to ash with a single flame. In the tomb, he'd suppressed a golden man the moment it awakened. The worm god had been nothing against his immortal body, power, and fire.
Standing on Mount Fangzhang, he'd dispatched immortals with one move each.
And Yuan Wuji could match him?
"My ancestor also deciphered an ancient cultivation method that points directly to ascension," Veyon said. "Yellow Court Dao Validation Technique. He uses it as his foundation, cultivating both qi and nuo. That's how he achieved his current level."
Su Yan understood. "No wonder."
He looked at Yuan Wuji healing on the carriage shaft. Big Bell's voice came: "A-Yan, this Yuan Wuji—his strength probably rivals pre-tribulation Zhou Qiyun. But Xu Fu's power far exceeds that."
Su Yan said nothing.
On Mount Fangzhang, Xu Fu had been a true immortal. Yuan Wuji fighting him to a draw didn't make sense.
Yuan Wuji seemed to sense his gaze. He looked up, smiled, and nodded.
Su Yan bowed slightly and whispered, "Bell, don't use spirit sense in front of him. Yellow Court contains spirit medicine. Using spirit sense against him is like bringing a candle to the sun."
Big Bell shuddered. "You mean he heard me?"
Su Yan nodded silently.
Big Bell jumped, flew out of the chaos sea, entered Su Yan's Xiyi Domain, passed through the passes and mountains, and reached Su Yan's fourth heaven.
Water and fire churned above. Su Yan was trapped here, not yet broken through.
If his spirit and consciousness could enter the water and fire, drive samadhi true fire and true water, and refine a golden pill in the furnace—then he'd be a true master.
Big Bell and Su Yan's spirit wrote on the ground: "He can fight Xu Fu evenly. That means he's far stronger than pre-tribulation Zhou Qiyun. Xu Fu could grab me by the nose even at my peak. Zhou Qiyun could hurt me, but not that easily."
Su Yan wrote back: "Zhou Qiyun said he defeated Yuan Wuji. So what changed?"
They fell silent. They had several ominous theories.
"Is it possible for someone to surpass Zhou Qiyun and reach Xu Fu's level in just six months?"
Big Bell wrote: "If it's not possible, then is Yuan Wuji still Yuan Wuji?"