Chapter 249: A Long Journey
“So, it is a deal!” Mu Chen looked at Li Qiye and handed the token over to him.
The War God Temple had stood strong from the immemorial times till now; they had ancient laws, Emperor Laws, and even Immortal Emperor True Treasures! However, they wanted Immortal Physique Laws even more!
Li Qiye nodded and finally spoke: “This will do. Wait until I reach the peak and accept the Heaven’s Will; all these promised things will happen.”
Li Qiye made such a deal not for himself, but for the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect. He couldn’t spend too much time training the sect, so he needed a heritage with power and experience — like the temple — for its protection. Regarding disciple training, the War God Temple was truly great!
Eventually, Li Qiye and Mu Chen settled on a deal and Li Qiye used his True Fate to formalize it while Mu Chen used the prestige of the War God Temple.
“This time, by coming into being, I have spent enough time in the mortal air. I’m afraid I will be spending time and suppressing my lifespan again inside an Era Blood Stone.” Before leaving, Mu Chen told Li Qiye: ”However, the War God Temple will still be able to satisfy your demands, just directly communicate with Elder Jiang from now on!”
A person who had lived through eras like Mu Chen could not last so long by just relying on himself. He needed to borrow the Era Blood Stone to seal himself and suppress his blood.
The price necessary for an ancestor like Mu Chen to come into being was inconceivable; this time was because Mu Chen wanted to bury their forefather! Moreover, before sealing himself again, he wanted to do a good job negotiating with Li Qiye for this young disciple was completely worthy of the temple’s support.
To someone like Mu Chen, time was gold and he didn’t want to linger around much longer. He quickly left along with Elder Jiang after the pact.
The moment when the group of Gu Tieshou found out that the War God Temple will send people here to teach the Cleansing Incense disciples, they became extremely excited!
The sect of today was not only lacking resources; the most crucial thing was the absence of wise teachers! Even though they had lost many Emperor Laws, there were still numerous Virtuous Paragon and Heavenly King Laws. These were enough to strengthen the sect; however, they still needed good teachers!
Now, not only will the War God Temple pour resources into the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, but they will also be sending teachers to guide their disciples. How could the group of Gu Tieshou not be stirred from excitement?
“This is really amazing… I really can’t even dare to imagine this!” Gu Tieshou was a bit at a loss for words when he saw Li Qiye. He knew that Li Qiye strived for this ending just for the sect.
Compared to their excitement, Li Qiye was still calm and collected. He slowly spoke: “No matter how much they will be supporting us, there will always be a limit; their resources are not left entirely to our request! Their wise teachers will not always be here at our sect!”
“To us, the support of the War God Temple is nothing but a chance for us to rise up — a simple pillar! However, true strength must be won by our own abilities. In order to sweep this world with powerful strength, we can only rely on ourselves — we can only develop and work on it ourselves. If we just rely on the War God Temple, it will be nothing more than being a dependent! We want to become a powerful lineage and be able to rely on ourselves alone!” Li Qiye spoke without haste; each word contained an air of solemnity and gravity.
Li Qiye’s words were like bells waking up the excited Gu Tieshou! Li Qiye was correct, the War God Temple will not always support the sect without other conditions. They must rely on themselves alone in order to become powerful.
“I will remember these words well, and the rest of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect will also remember!” At this moment, Gu Tieshou reached a moment of clarity for Li Qiye words had awoken him!
“Good!” Li Qiye nodded. Even though Gu Tieshou was old, he was still worthy of an enlightenment. Even though he will never be able to reach Virtuous Paragon in this life, he still has room to grow. Moreover, within the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, his insight was not bad.
For this reason, Gu Tieshou brought together all the elders and protectors of the sect for an overnight meeting. During this night, the entire Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect became excited with ambition and surging motivation. All of their hearts contained a renewed heroism of wanting to revive the sect!
Demon King Lun Ri stayed as a guest for a few days at the sect. Before leaving, he formally spoke to Li Qiye: “As long as you say the words, no matter what it is, my Nine Saint Demon Gate will muster all of our strength to complete the task!”
Even Mu Chen was willing to help Li Qiye so needless to say, their Nine Saint Demon Gate will also do the same. There was no one else more worthy of investment than Li Qiye in Demon King Lun Ri’s eyes.
Regarding Demon King Lun Ri’s powerful rhetoric, Li Qiye simply smiled and did not reject it. If other people were willing to become his friends, he’ll be happy to make an ally!
Li Qiye became even more assured after winning the support of the War God Temple for the sect. He wanted to go on his path without having to worry about the sect’s matters.
After Li Shuangyan and Chen Baojiao formally began their isolated cultivation, Li Qiye started his trip to the Eastern Hundred Cities.
Li Qiye took out Su Yuhe’s coffin from the Yearning Lunar Peak and started on his trip. Before leaving, Nan Huairen and Niu Fen also wanted to come along.
However, Li Qiye did not bring them. What he did do was pass down the True Solutions to Niu Fen! Niu Fen’s loyalty was able to withstand the test, so Li Qiye passed it down to him. In the future, the sect needed a Heavenly Ancestral Snail like Niu Fen! Just like the Calamity God in the past who was the sect’s divine beast protector!
As Li Qiye’s henchman, Nan Huairen naturally wanted to follow by his side and exert his strength for him. Unfortunately, Li Qiye thought that his path would be long and tortuous so he didn’t bring Nan Huairen along.
The Eastern Hundred Cities was truly too far from the Grand Middle Territory; they were separated by millions upon millions of miles. Who knew how many years it would take to reach it just by walking or flying.
Because of this, the sect didn’t mind consuming a huge amount of refined jade to open the dao gate for Li Qiye to go to the Eastern Hundred Cities.
Li Qiye immediately went to a place the moment he reached the Eastern Hundred Cities’ territory. He wanted to first bury Su Yuhe at a particular place because he had promised her.
In a deep green forest and mountain, at an empty place with weeds and wild grass everywhere, there were only beasts and birds at this place; there wasn’t any sign of humans. Under a small hill was a peach tree.
The peach tree nearly died of old age, but it still stubbornly survived in this place. Its roots had grown here for who knew how many years as young shoots were growing from it.
It did not seem to have much time left as it seemed as if it could die at any time. However, for those with discerning eyes, they would be able to see that there were marks of lightning at the roots of the peach tree. This was a punishment from the heavens!
“In the end, it could not reach grand accomplishment for its grand dao! The old heavens will not allow it!” Seeing the lightning scars on the peach tree’s roots, Li Qiye murmured: “Who knows how many more years this will take?”
Li Qiye had too many memories about this humble, old peach tree. Who actually knew that this old peach tree had been blessed and lectured by Immortal Emperors? 1
A very long time ago, there used to be a village at this place. This was Immortal Emperor Min Ren’s home when he was still a young boy in love with martial arts. There was a peach tree planted in front of his house. After his parents passed away, this old peach tree was the only thing by his side!
As the Dark Crow, after taking Min Ren in as a disciple, Li Qiye had spent a long time at this place. Under this peach tree, he accepted Immortal Emperor Min Ren as his disciple and led him on the long and tortuous path of the dao. It was not until much later before he brought Immortal Emperor Min Ren from this place. Below this peach tree was the sweat and blood of Immortal Emperor Min Ren.
There were also times when Immortal Emperor Min Ren happily smiled as Li Qiye — as the Dark Crow — stood watching him atop of this tree.
Later on, once Immortal Emperor Min Ren carried the Heaven’s Will and became an Immortal Emperor; he came back here and opened this peach tree’s mind to grant it sentience. He used to preach the scriptures to this old peach tree hoping that, one day, this old peach tree will be able to be reborn again out of its grand dao.
However, to reach the grand dao as a tree was not so easy. This was not tolerated by the high heavens, so this old peach tree had withstood more than just one heaven’s punishment, and it struggled from the ancient era all the way till now! Even though it could not reach the grand dao, it was still able to survive till the present.
Eventually, Li Qiye dug a grave under the old peach tree and placed Su Yuhe’s coffin inside. Li Qiye then gently sighed and also placed the ancient zither into the grave before saying: “This zither followed Little Brat Min Ren his entire life. Now, I have buried you in the place that gave birth to Immortal Emperor Min Ren. This can be considered as the fallen leaves returning to their root!”
The last yearning sentiment of Su Yuhe was buried at this place, a place filled with Immortal Emperor Min Ren’s laughter and sentiments!
After becoming an Immortal Emperor, even Su Yuhe’s yearning sentiment rarely saw Immortal Emperor Min Ren smiling happily. Even as an Immortal Emperor, he was not happy like he was during his youth, and his brilliant luster was no longer there.
It was especially so after Li Qiye — as the Dark Crow — disappeared into his hibernation; Immortal Emperor Min Ren talked to her the most about this old peach tree. He couldn’t forget about it for there were too many memories at this place!
Because of this, this yearning sentiment lingered for a long time without dispersing. Its final aspiration was to be buried under this old peach tree.
1. I don’t know if Immortal Emperor here is plural or singular