Was this really... the Xiaoqiong Peak that this old Daoist knew?
Inside a trapping array near the pill chamber, Qi Yuan—newly ascended immortal of the Du Xian Sect, his eyes unfocused and his Dao robe in disarray—stared blankly at the three small paths before him.
Several days had passed, and he still couldn't find his way out.
He had spent many years studying formation arrays, but his skill in the Dao of formations was quite limited.
After all, during the following centuries, Qi Yuan had spent most of his time repairing his Dao Foundation. His method of studying formations consisted of simply setting up arrays according to diagrams, memorizing the layout, and considering that a minor success.
So when faced with a chained maze-confounding array...
"Who among the experts set this up on my Xiaoqiong Peak? Is there some hidden agenda?"
Qi Yuan muttered to himself, desperately trying to recall the route he had been walking in circles along.
In a daze, amid the confusion, Qi Yuan discovered yet another new path.
Ahead, the forest was lush and green, without the white mist typical of such illusions. The scenery was quite ordinary.
Qi Yuan stepped forward cautiously, and this time he quickly made a new discovery.
A wooden sign hung from a tree branch ahead, bearing three large characters:
**[Lost?]**
Qi Yuan nodded instinctively, then shuddered, eyes filled with wariness.
Why did this handwriting look so familiar?
Qi Yuan stared at the wooden sign for a moment, then noticed another sign hanging from a tree behind it. He took two steps forward, and the surrounding scenery shifted slightly, but the sign behind remained.
The second sign read...
**[What brings you to Xiaoqiong Peak?]**
"This poor Daoist lives here!"
Qi Yuan shouted in annoyance, but his hands trembled involuntarily.
Could it be... Could this be the legendary Rift of Flowing Time?
According to ancient legends, some primordial beings had stepped into a canyon and emerged on the other side tens of thousands of years later, unaware that any time had passed.
Could such a preposterous thing have happened to this poor Daoist?
Was the current Xiaoqiong Peak no longer the Xiaoqiong Peak he remembered? Had thousands or tens of thousands of years already passed?
Seeing another sign behind, Qi Yuan followed it forward. When he stood before the next sign, the surrounding scenery would shift slightly—like a spatial displacement—clearly the effect of a formation array in operation.
Behind one sign, there was another.
And the handwriting on each successive sign grew more and more familiar to Qi Yuan...
It was as though a dark shadow followed behind him, whispering questions continuously in his ear, driving him ever closer to some kind of trap—yet he dared not retreat.
**[Are you a member of the Du Xian Sect?]**
**[This array exists solely to protect the pill chamber and complies with all sect regulations.]**
The pill chamber? His disciple had mentioned it vaguely before.
**[Did you trespass onto Xiaoqiong Peak without permission?]**
How could this poor Daoist need to trespass? He was the peak master of Xiaoqiong Peak!
**[Please do not damage any plant or tree here. This path leads to an open area without a soundproofing array.]**
Eh? Was this the exit the array's creator had left?
**[This is just a filler directional sign.]**
**[The open area is just ahead.]**
**[You've arrived. Please take three steps forward.]**
Qi Yuan froze, instinctively holding his breath. He saw a large tree ahead and, with some suspicion, took three steps forward.
The scenery shifted again. An open space surrounded by thickets appeared before Qi Yuan, the ground covered in fallen leaves. A low table stood in the clearing, with a bucket of spirit spring water beside it.
"Wh-what is this place?"
Seeing another wooden sign ahead, Qi Yuan walked over. He studied the writing—handwriting he knew intimately but couldn't quite place—
**[Please wait here briefly. If this poor Daoist cannot arrive in time, it is likely due to closed-door cultivation or a critical moment in pill refinement.**
**If you cannot wait, you may channel immortal power and shout toward the outside—calling for help, crying "help," and so on.**
**Xiaoqiong Peak sincerely welcomes your visit. However, please use the front entrance next time rather than wandering near the pill chamber.**
**Xiaoqiong Peak Master Qi Yuan, with respectful regards]**
Qi Yuan's hands trembled. He stumbled backward two steps, but his back struck a tree trunk.
His retreat had been unknowingly sealed.
*This... this was set up by this poor Daoist himself?*
Qi Yuan's eyes went wide as if he had seen a ghost. The lingering traces of intoxication vanished instantly. His gaze swept across his surroundings, and the world seemed to spin slightly.
Had this poor Daoist encountered something evil?
No—no, could this be due to being a muddy immortal?
When he was drinking earlier, a sect elder had warned him that muddy immortals were easily tainted by terrestrial energy, making their Dao hearts susceptible to inner demons.
Could it be... could this poor Daoist be nothing more than a heart demon of the real Qi Yuan?
Qi Yuan's hands began to tremble uncontrollably. He rushed back to the wooden sign and stared at the words written there, his eyes filled with disbelief.
The handwriting on these signs...
Wasn't it his own? His very own handwriting!
His foot slipped, and Qi Yuan collapsed onto the leaf-strewn ground, sitting there with a vacant stare, his already disheveled gray-white hair becoming even more unkempt.
Rift of Flowing Time, muddy immortal, heart demon...
Rift of Flowing Time, muddy immortal, heart demon...
"Who am I really? Could this poor Daoist truly be nothing but a heart demon?
No—impossible! This poor Daoist is absolutely not a heart demon. I am Qi Yuan!
I am Qi Yuan. Qi Yuan is me. I stepped into the Rift of Flowing Time. I cannot be a heart demon!
No—no!
No... no...
NOOOO—"
Qi Yuan clutched his head, then suddenly threw it back with a scream that startled flocks of birds throughout Xiaoqiong Peak's forests and drew the curious attention of several distant figures passing through the sky.
Suddenly, a female voice called out from nearby, tinged with surprise:
"Master?"
Qi Yuan's scream cut off abruptly. He asked in a trembling voice: "Ling'e?"
"Master, you're trapped inside the array?"
"Are you truly Ling'e?"
"Of course, Master. Would your disciple make such a mistake?"
"No—no, you could be a heart demon... you could be this master's heart demon..."
Outside the array, Ling'e—who had just arrived—couldn't help but press her palm to her forehead.
It was over. Master had been broken by Senior Brother.
She murmured to herself, then quickly came up with a plan. "Don't move! There are many arrays in there!
And don't walk toward the direction of my voice—if you leave that small area, you won't be able to hear anything from outside!
I'm coming in to find you!
But it will take me time to find the path through the formations to your position. Only Senior Brother can unlock the arrays here—everything was set up by him. Please wait patiently, Master."
Qi Yuan was momentarily stunned, then heard the "ouch" that came from outside.
What had his little disciple just said?
Senior Brother?
This was all Longevity's work?
Doubt filled Qi Yuan's eyes, but the contemplation gradually calmed him.
Half an hour later, Blue Ling'e—covered in grass burrs and fallen leaves, her face somewhat bruised—appeared before her master with a rueful smile and offered a Dao salute.
"Master, your disciple has come to find you."
Qi Yuan fixed his gaze on her. Blue Ling'e calmly performed several minor techniques—exactly the ones Qi Yuan himself had taught her.
"Master, it really is Ling'e..."
Qi Yuan relaxed slightly and smiled bitterly: "What exactly is going on here?"
"Mm," Ling'e bit her lip and murmured, considering how to smooth things over for her senior brother.
She quickly produced a treasure pouch, hurried to the low table, and took out two cushions and a tea kettle. Smiling, she said: "Master, please come rest over here. Allow your disciple to explain slowly."
Qi Yuan's eyes still held a trace of suspicion, but once he sat on the cushion and watched Blue Ling'e's familiar tea-brewing technique, his doubts faded another degree.
The forest was quiet, with only the soft rustle of wind through the branches.
Looking up from here, with the surrounding trees concealing the view, the azure sky seemed to have shrunk to just this small patch...
In a moment of clarity, something became apparent to the old Daoist.
He surveyed the area and asked in a low voice: "This... all of it was arranged by your senior brother?"
Ling'e replied: "You could say it was designed by Senior Brother, with the actual implementation carried out by Martial Aunt Jiu Jiu of Potian Peak—a True Immortal."
"Oh, no wonder," Qi Yuan smiled bitterly. "So Martial Sister Jiu Jiu helped with the setup."
"Actually, Martial Aunt Jiu Jiu doesn't understand formations at all. Senior Brother told her every step—place this here, put that there..."
Ling'e paused, then lowered her head. "Master, did you truly never notice?"
Qi Yuan raised his tea cup and took a sip—it was indeed his favorite chrysanthemum and lotus seed tea.
"Notice what? That you fancy your senior brother?"
"Master!" Ling'e's face instantly flushed crimson.
Qi Yuan frowned, studying her. "Don't you like Longevity?"
"That... you can't just say it directly... your disciple would be too embarrassed..."
Ling'e quickly composed herself and said softly: "Senior Brother, he is actually quite remarkable."
"Oh?"
Qi Yuan's gaze carried a trace of doting affection as he smiled: "In your eyes, your senior brother is naturally remarkable."
"No, Master," Ling'e brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Senior Brother is truly far more accomplished than you realize.
Take this array, for example—Senior Brother constructed a chained formation entirely from basic arrays.
Even though he had Martial Aunt Jiu Jiu assist, if Senior Brother had done it alone, the result would not have been any different."
Qi Yuan was stunned anew.
Ling'e continued:
"Over the more than ten years since your disciple entered the sect, Senior Brother has taught me a great deal.
Many times, after you delivered a lecture, Master, I was confused and couldn't grasp the meaning—but Senior Brother would always come to explain the essence to me.
Often, just one or two sentences from Senior Brother could illuminate the true meaning, which is why I have made such progress."
Qi Yuan's brow furrowed deeply as he regarded Ling'e, momentarily at a loss for words.
Ling'e continued gently: "Also, Master—what level do you think my cultivation is now?"
Qi Yuan stroked his beard, considering. "Ninth-rank Qi Refiner?"
Ling'e formed a complex hand seal with her sword fingers, and her aura suddenly surged outward. "And now?"
Qi Yuan's eyes went wide. "Fifth-rank Return-to-the-Dao! Ling'e, since when—"
Ling'e made a silencing gesture, reformed the seal, and her aura rapidly contracted inward.
She whispered: "This is the Turtle Breath Qi-Soothing Technique that Senior Brother passed to me. It conceals one's cultivation as long as one's body is not touched by a True Immortal. It can even simulate whatever level one wishes to display."
Only shock remained on Qi Yuan's face.
"Master, Senior Brother has been in the sect for a century. You have spent most of that time in closed-door cultivation, striving toward the immortal realm. Your understanding and care of Senior Brother have been... far too little."
Ling'e raised her tea cup, supporting the base with two slender fingers of her left hand while her right held the rim. She took a delicate sip, and the hesitation in her eyes had vanished.
"While Senior Brother is away at the East Sea thanks to Uncle Jiu Wu's scheme, I want to make these things clear to you, Master.
I have watched from the side as Senior Brother did so much for you, Master—yet you knew nothing of it. And every time you saw Senior Brother, it was either to scold him or belittle him.
Master, Senior Brother is likely very close to becoming an immortal.
And the Immortal-Dissolving Pill you used for your sword-release—if my guess is correct—was made from the Immortal-Resolution Grass that Senior Brother personally ventured deep into the Northern Jambu Continent to gather during the training assembly years ago, which he then refined.
You worried about your Ascension Tribulation, Master, and Senior Brother's greatest concern was also your heavenly tribulation. He worked tirelessly for it.
What you saw was merely that Far-Whatever Birdcage... but actually, Senior Brother spent the last two years creating more than a dozen items to resist the tribulation. All of them proved ineffective in subsequent tests.
The few times I saw Senior Brother truly frustrated were when he crouched before those tribulation-destroyed treasures.
The one and only time I saw Senior Brother nervous was during the moments of your tribulation."
Ling'e looked at Qi Yuan, who now sat in a daze, his eyes vacant, as though petrified.
"Master, Senior Brother is truly remarkable—this is not idle flattery from your disciple..."
Slowly, Ling'e recounted what she knew about her senior brother.
Although she kept certain things hidden at his instruction, there was no exaggeration in anything she said.
Qi Yuan gradually returned to awareness. He asked Ling'e to demonstrate the Turtle Breath Qi-Soothing Technique once more, examined the myriad immortal pills and poison pills she carried, and then sat there in deep contemplation.
After a moment.
Qi Yuan asked uneasily: "Ling'e, what should this master do? When your senior brother returns, should I offer him praise?"
"Master, the best thing to do is to pretend your disciple said nothing today. Treat it as if this never happened. Continue as you normally would," Ling'e said with a smile. "Soon Senior Brother will be coming in to retrieve us. You should take the fly whisk and give him a few swats on the behind...
But don't actually swing hard.
Every time you've hit Senior Brother before, he was deliberately leaving openings for you to catch."
Qi Yuan's forehead sprouted several dark lines as he smiled ruefully: "Am I really that useless?"
"Ah—Master, you are wise and mighty! Your immortal arts are boundless!" Ling'e quickly exclaimed.
Qi Yuan hesitated: "Then... I should just pretend I never heard any of this?"
"Senior Brother's greatest desire is for no one to pay attention to him, so he can quietly build his fortune in secret," Ling'e puffed her cheeks. "Even I have to deliberately act a bit slow and clueless in front of Senior Brother now—playing dumb when needed, or he'll gradually push me away..."
Ling'e deftly shifted the topic, beginning to enumerate the various ways her senior brother supposedly bullied her as the junior sister, attempting to ease her master's melancholy.
Before long, Qi Yuan was laughing heartily, his spirits fully restored.
"You! Hahaha!"
Qi Yuan rose and walked to the side, surveying the formations whose workings he could not comprehend, turning away so his little disciple wouldn't see the moisture at the corners of his eyes.
"This master has been too selfish—obsessed only with the tribulation, only with closed-door cultivation.
Sigh—after bringing your senior brother into the sect and passing on his techniques, I entered seclusion. Seclusion, again and again.
This time, having survived the tribulation, I thought I could finally guide you two properly in cultivation—only to discover that I am the one who has been taken care of all along.
Fine—fine. This master will stop meddling. The less I interfere, the better.
Having such a disciple, I can face the ancestors of Xiaoqiong Peak with a clear heart!"
With that, Qi Yuan turned to Ling'e and smiled: "And my little disciple has become so sensible as well."
Ling'e smiled somewhat shyly and murmured: "To be worthy of Senior Brother, your disciple has always been trying very hard..."
"Oh?"
"Ah—Master, drink your tea! It's getting cold!
And everything your disciple told you today—please, please don't let on!"
"Very well. We shall both play the fools together and put on a show before your senior brother." Qi Yuan sat back down behind the low table and retrieved his fly whisk. "When I discipline your senior brother shortly, you join in as well. Try out the feel of it."
Ling'e's eyes lit up instantly. "May I, Master?"
"Of course! After he's been playing me like a fool for all these years, he certainly deserves a good lesson!"
Blue Ling'e cheered with delight.
Qi Yuan added: "Don't worry—soon this master will enter seclusion to study the muddy immortal cultivation method. From now on, you two can do as you please on Xiaoqiong Peak."
With that, Qi Yuan gazed at the tea before him, seeing his aged face reflected in its surface, and shook his head with a soft laugh.
Truly...
Wonderful beyond words.