Chapter 476: Return

The old handsome bastard’s cultivation really was extremely high.

Even though he smoked, drank, went clubbing, was constantly weighed down by romantic entanglements and often dragged off to be a hostage cultivation partner, and even set up a stall at the foot of Qianfeng Lingshan selling blessed souvenirs and figurines, his cultivation really was extremely high.

He could even instantly detect a "time displacement" that theoretically shouldn’t leave any trace in the real world, noticing that Yu Sheng had just gone "somewhere else."

"Let me rest a bit first," Yu Sheng said. He first glanced at Yuan Hao in surprise, then waved his hand in response to the concerned gazes from the three Ailins stacked on top of each other. "Let’s go to the living room, and I’ll tell you everything slowly."

"Oh, should we call the silly fox and C-type Clasp back?" the Ailins blinked. "The silly fox just went down the mountain to eat anyway…"

Yu Sheng shook his head. "No need. It’s a rare opportunity, let them enjoy themselves."

A moment later, Yu Sheng and Yuan Hao arrived at the living room. The Ailins also picked one at random and climbed onto the coffee table in front of Yu Sheng. That doll spread out a small cushion, sat cross-legged and perfectly upright on it, her face utterly serious.

Yu Sheng didn’t know why this little doll, who was always laughing and joking about everything, had suddenly turned serious, but under her crimson, intensely earnest gaze, he really did feel a bit of pressure.

…That pressure might also have something to do with the temple he had seen deep in that darkness, and the connections and speculations he couldn’t help but make.

"I just fell into the mirror," Yu Sheng said, slowly organizing his words. "I saw a whole new dimension connected to the mirror…"

He laid out everything he had experienced in the depths of that black mist, including the phantoms kneeling around the temple, the noise they emitted, and that reverent and fervent "prayer" whose content was more or less eerie and contradictory.

—Worshipped yet cursed, embraced yet resisted, praised, a terrible yet merciful omen of doom.

It sounded like a prayer offered to a deity, yet somehow it was off, tinged with a bit of insanity.

The little doll’s head was completely spinning. She shook it back and forth on the coffee table for a long time, then suddenly blurted out: "…So what they were doing when they died was cursing their own god? No wonder the temple ate people—it must have lost a shouting match with its believers, gotten red-hot, and went on tilt."

Yu Sheng: "…"

That angle of understanding was very much in line with Ailin’s usual style—emphasizing understanding without really understanding, not good at thinking but with a great attitude.

Yu Sheng carefully observed Ailin’s reaction and found that the little doll still looked like her usual self. Even though she had tried hard to pull a serious face earlier, that expression hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes.

Especially when the TV next to her started playing a variety show. It was obvious that the computing power of this Ailin, who was supposed to be here for serious discussion, suddenly became insufficient.

Yu Sheng immediately felt relieved, realizing that his worry about this fool doll had been unnecessary.

At least for now.

"What you saw is quite different from the scene I saw deep within the Black Star," Yuan Hao said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps as you said, it is some kind of 'history,' the appearance before that ruin collapsed… but it’s clearly not just an illusion. That temple was able to trap your mind, and it even vaguely carried a murderous intent. That kind of power cannot be achieved without the skill of a Great Power."

"There’s still the question of why the mirror leads to that place," Yu Sheng said, thinking as he spoke. "The 'beacon' you provided was 'deduced' based on your own situation when you first fell into the Black Star. Even if it wasn’t entirely accurate, it shouldn’t have directly pointed to another space, let alone another timeline… And then there’s the strange situation I encountered when opening the door in that black mist. It gave me a feeling…"

As Yu Sheng spoke, he found it hard to find the right words. After thinking for a while, he finally continued: "…It’s as if once you enter that darkness, all the 'parameters' related to time and space get scrambled and reset."

Yuan Hao frowned slightly, then raised his hand and began to calculate with his fingers: "Another universe?"

Yu Sheng stared fixedly at the strange gestures Yuan Hao was making as he kept deducing with his fingers. He only felt that this old handsome bastard’s cultivation was truly unfathomable: "Another universe? Did you deduce that?!"

"No, I guessed."

Yu Sheng: "…Then why were you over there calculating and flipping your fingers!"

"Since I couldn’t figure it out, I had to guess," Yuan Hao spread his hands. "Not every deduction yields a result."

As he spoke, he stood up and looked around, then walked over to the refrigerator near the dining room as if he owned the place, opening it to browse: "Got anything cool and thirst-quenching here? All that calculating has made my mouth dry…"

Yu Sheng stared at him, but before he could say anything, the old handsome bastard had already fished out a can of cola, opened it with a "pssht," and chugged it down, his face showing a look of enjoyment.

The more Yu Sheng looked, the more familiar that expression seemed. After a moment’s recollection, he remembered that it was the same state Xuan Che had been in when he drank cola here last time.

…So even the junior apprentice uncle’s hobby of sneaking sweet drinks had been taught by his senior apprentice uncle?

While his mind was wandering, Yuan Hao had already turned around and walked back slowly, saying between burps, "Anyway, one thing is clear: my 'beacon' obviously works. Even if it doesn’t lead precisely to where it was first recorded, it at least really can open a passage in that spirit mirror… but where you end up depends on fate."

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and was about to speak when Ailin jumped off the coffee table. The little doll nimbly climbed onto his shoulder and grabbed his hair: "Then you’d better not touch that mirror casually anytime soon. With your kind of fate and misfortune, what if next time I can’t pull you out?"

Yu Sheng frowned, staring fixedly at the little doll before him: "…Bloody disaster?"

Ailin stared back blankly at him, her crimson eyes seeming to glimmer faintly. But after staring for a long while, she still shook her head: "Can’t see it. But I just feel this isn’t reliable."

"…I understand," Yu Sheng let out a gentle sigh. "Either way, I’ll be cautious. Before I figure out what’s really 'down there,' I won’t mess with it."

"The 'beacon' I left has already imprinted itself in that room. I examined it just now and found that part of it has already fused with the mirror. Removing it rashly would be difficult," Yuan Hao chimed in. "I’ll go over later and place a few seals to prevent the beacon from being triggered by external forces."

The image of the old handsome bastard bricking up a few walls in the room at the end of the second floor instantly flashed through Yu Sheng’s mind—to be fair, when Yuan Hao said the word "seal," he almost asked him if he needed cement, but thankfully he swallowed those words in time.

Then he saw Yuan Hao reach into his sleeve, pull out a square, spirit-light-radiating brick, and carry it up to the second floor…

What else could he say? It really wasn’t his fault for thinking that!

…

Deep within Qianfeng Lingshan, at a halfway-up-the-mountain pavilion on Beast Taming Peak, two figures with an immortal bearing were sitting at a stone table, facing the mountain wind, enjoying tea.

Both of them bore some injuries.

Yuan Ling raised his tea cup, took a slow sip, and the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

"…Senior apprentice brother seems quite angry."

Yuan He said nothing, just watched the leaves slowly swirling in his tea cup. His face… looked slightly rounder than usual.

The ancestral master’s teachings were true—drinking too much alcohol really did harm the body.

Seeing that his junior apprentice brother wouldn’t speak for a long time, Yuan Ling took another sip of tea and finally said unhurriedly, "Still worried about that girl?"

Yuan He’s expression finally changed.

He sighed. "I’m not really worried… It’s just that I received news last night that she had already left the Nether Valley. With her cultivation as a Great Yao, even without taking a spirit boat, she should have returned by now. The Nether Valley isn’t far."

"When she left, she didn’t say she was coming back," Yuan Ling raised an eyebrow. "That was your own assumption. Maybe she’s traveling the world? A Great Yao who has achieved the Dao can already establish her own sect in remote areas."

"Where could she travel to? She’s never seen anything of the world," Yuan He shook his head. "…This silly girl, she’s not spending the night in some desolate mountain forest, is she?"

Yuan Ling was torn between laughter and tears: "…She is a snake yao first and foremost! What’s wrong with spending the night in the mountains? You’ve been going crazy these past two days. Drink your tea, drink your tea. I think you need a good jolt as well."

Yuan He finally sighed again, but just as he was about to raise his tea cup, his movements suddenly stopped. Then, as if sensing something, he looked up at a certain direction.

Yuan Ling also looked up.

Moments later, a streak of black-purple mystic light unexpectedly shot up from the sea of clouds, then landed on the mountain path beside them. A long figure crawled out of the mystic light, accompanied by her signature, disrespectful shouting: "Yuan He, you old thief! I’m back!"

"See? What did I tell you!" Yuan He jumped up from the stone table in an instant, showing off to Yuan Ling as he looked up at the snake demoness crawling over. "Isn’t she back now… Hey, head, head, you’ve got an extra head on the side! Put it away!"

"Oh, oh, didn’t notice," Snake Ji glanced at the leopard head she was carrying on her shoulder, casually slapped the extra head back in, then looked up at Yuan He with a carefree grin. "I actually came back last night, but I saw fireworks going off in the city below, so I watched for half the night. Then I got tired and found a cool place to sleep. I just now got fished out by someone saying I’m not allowed to sleep in the moat…"

As she talked, she crawled into the pavilion. Seeing the snacks and fruit laid out on the table, she leaned in and took a bite. This immediately made Yuan He next to her wince in pain: "Use your hands! How many times do I have to tell you to use your hands—if you don’t practice, you’ll never learn!"

Snake Ji pretended not to hear. She had a few grapes in her mouth as she raised her head. Then she seemed to notice something else. She swallowed the grapes and looked at Yuan He in surprise: "Hey, old thief, why is your face swollen?"

Yuan He’s cheerful expression froze instantly, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

"Ah, drinking hurts the body… and the face."