Chapter 165: Time Urges Men to Grow Old

The moon was reflected in the water, and as the night breeze blew, the full moon gradually shattered.

That solitary figure remained seated by the riverbank. His somewhat aged eyes welled up with a few turbid tears at some unknown moment. Looking closer, the young man actually appeared remarkably aged.

This feeling, so mismatched with his youth, was nevertheless truly happening to him. Even the withered old man standing not far behind him felt a trace of reluctance—reluctance to interrupt his deep absorption at this moment.

……

On the bitterly cold Lesser Snowy Mountain swept by howling wind and snow.

That pink, graceful figure clutched a bone-chilling dagger.

Her pale face was utterly devoid of expression.

Snow, youth, blood.

A heavy body collapsed with a crash. The previously expressionless maiden ultimately fell to the ground, sobbing incessantly. Her tears fell onto the snowflakes, piercing through layer after layer of accumulated snow.

……

Still the Lesser Snowy Mountain.

Only the fallen youth had long since been covered by heavy snow, to the point where even his silhouette was no longer visible.

A person dressed in purple walked bitterly into the Lesser Snowy Mountain, forcefully reaching his hand into the snow. With a mighty tug, the youth finally emerged from beneath the blanket of snow.

Streams of spiritual energy were lavished upon the youth without the slightest hesitation. This heavy expenditure left the purple-robed man looking pale, appearing far from well.

……

An ethereal, red-robed woman was the first person the youth saw upon waking.

Not a particularly stunning woman, she appeared very gentle.

She made the youth inevitably feel close to her.

……

That winding mountain path.

The youth, leaving alone, was hunted down by a man in yellow.

The red-robed woman took the brunt of it, shielding him from the front.

Even when coughing up blood from severe injuries, even when offending the powerful figures within the sect.

She was determined to ensure the youth's safety.

……
……

Right, all of this should have been this way, so why still feel sorrow?

Could it all be the result of his own wishful thinking? This world was inherently so beautiful; it was merely cultivation that had left his original heart shattered and incomplete.

Gradually, the youth opened his eyes, silently gazing at the waning moon reflected in the water, and sighed softly: "Tell me, why must we practice the Dao?"

The withered old man behind him was not surprised that his presence had been discovered. Instead, quite willingly, he said: "When I was still a child in a certain prefecture and county of Great Song, I knew nothing of the Dao. Mostly, I just envied the immortals hiding deep within the mountains."

At this point, the withered old man suddenly smiled, saying: "Perhaps every cultivator's childhood holds such a dream of becoming an immortal, which is why they embark on this path."

Su Fan sighed with profound meaning, cupped a handful of clear spring water, and smiled faintly: "When we truly step onto this path, we finally discover how difficult it is to walk. I often wish I could turn back and walk no further."

Seeming to resonate with this, the withered old man nodded excitedly and laughed heartily: "Indeed, indeed. The first time entering a sect, the first time killing a man, the first time being hunted down. Those scenes from the past seem as though they are right before my eyes."

The detached recounting drew hearty laughter from the two of them. Seeming to recall some other sorrowful deeds, both fell into silence.

"The first person I killed was my first master," Su Fan said softly.

The withered old man cast an amused glance at Su Fan and smiled lightly: "Killing one's master? It is nothing. The first person I killed was my own son."

Su Fan did not ask why, just as the withered old man did not ask Su Fan why.

These were the scars hidden within each of their hearts. Since they couldersort to dealing a fatal blow, there must have naturally been a reason for doing so. Before their hands were stained with blood, no one was born with a bloodthirsty nature.

After an exchange of smiles, Su Fan suddenly realized that the withered old man, usually so steady and arrogant, did not appear quite the same at this moment, and even seemed somewhat worthy of respect.

"Nothing in this world can be judged by a single event," the withered old man seemed to see through Su Fan's thoughts and said afterward.

He chuckled softly to himself, then motioned for the withered old man to sit down, and said with a wistful sigh: "The affairs of this world are so infuriating; could it be that everything is predestined and unchangeable?"

Looking slightly despondent, the withered old man was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "There is nothing predestined in this world. Back during the great war with the Wu Clan, my hometown was invaded by them, and it was the powerful cultivators of Great Song who repelled the enemy. Back then, I believed Great Song's cultivators were the finest people in the world. But alas, the events that followed finally made me see the truth."

"Is that why you want to destroy Great Song?" Su Fan asked out of curiosity.

The withered old man did not object to Su Fan's words, nor did he attempt to conceal anything. He immediately acknowledged Su Fan's question and said with indignation: "Destroying Song is the lifelong pursuit of my life."

"So Senior relies on such an obsession to cultivate to this realm," Su Fan slowly remarked.

The withered old man's expression shifted slightly. Looking at Su Fan in astonishment, he suddenly patted Su Fan's shoulder and gave a light shout: "To be able to attain such realization! It seems your cultivation is about to make another great leap forward."

Hearing the withered old man's words, Su Fan suddenly discovered that many of the lingering doubts in his heart, as well as the obstacles in his Dao heart, had all vanished during tonight's candid conversation.

Now, provided with sufficient spiritual energy and a few months of meditation, he could break through to the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

He did not display an overly excited expression, merely offering a faint smile as he continued to converse with the withered old man. He understood that the path of cultivation could not be rushed; everything required natural maturation.

If tonight's conversation had inadvertently yielded such massive gains, then those who spent their days cloistered away, cultivating behind closed doors, would likely find it difficult to ever achieve greatness in their cultivation.

"The path of cultivation places prime importance on enlightenment. You have grasped the first. Once you comprehend the second, you may reach the Three Realms of Dao Transformation. And if fortune allows you to understand the third, you truly might ascend to immortality as a feathered immortal," the withered old man discoursed eloquently.

Su Fan's expression changed, and he hurriedly asked: "Does an immortal truly exist in this world? Has Senior ever seen one?"

Without answering Su Fan's question immediately, the withered old man fell into deep thought, as if searching through long-sealed memories, or perhaps considering how to express it accurately.

"If we speak of immortals, I suppose there is someone in this world I once saw who could be called an immortal."

Having long since grown disappointed with the notion of immortality—believing that seeking the Dao was far more realistic than chasing immortals—he had merely asked offhand, never expecting that immortals truly existed, or that someone had actually seen one.

"When I was still young, I followed my master to the imperial capital for the first time. My master was the Grand Preceptor of Great Song, so I had the fortune to accompany him into the imperial city. At the very center of the imperial city's heart, I witnessed that ascension."

"Ascension?" Su Fan asked out of curiosity.

Observing the withered old man's eyes, there was a trace of reverence within them, and even a hint of panic and fear, which aroused countless new doubts in Su Fan.

"The one who ascended is the most powerful existence in this world—the Realm Lord. Legend has it that the Realm Lord was the very first person in this world. During his cultivation, he subdued a fierce beast in each of the four directions of this heaven and earth: the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise."

"These four divine beasts guarded the Realm Lord's side when he ascended. That day, fierce winds and rain raged with ceaseless thunder. The Realm Lord transcended the three tribulations of fire, water, and wind to become a feathered immortal, yet the four divine beasts lacked immortal destiny and were left behind to guard the four quarters of the imperial city."

Though that event seemed to have passed many years ago, mentioning it now still stirred the withered old man deeply, making him almost emotional enough to shed aged tears.

Indeed, that event was grand enough to evoke such a state; such a soul-stirring affair was deeply inspiring even to Su Fan as he listened.

Mortals cultivated the Dao, yearning for the joys of being immortals, praying day and night to ascend to the Ninefold Heavenly Palaces to peer into the mysteries of immortals. Yet over ten thousand years, only a single person like the Realm Lord had ever succeeded.

Presumably, the tales of the Realm Lord battling the Demon Saint and Ghost Emperor from back then were merely embellished stories by later generations; in reality, the Realm Lord must have dealt those two fatal blows simply to secure his spot for ascension.

Although this was merely Su Fan's momentary speculation, it was not without reason. The world of cultivation was inherently this cruel, and history was written by the victors. Without having personally experienced past events, how could one know whether current accounts were true?

Su Fan did not bring this up to the withered old man. Given how deeply the withered old man revered the Realm Lord, had he heard such an interpretation from Su Fan, he undoubtedly would have given Su Fan a sound beating.

Pondering for a moment, Su Fan asked again: "I wonder how Senior came to the Outer Realms?"

The withered old man paused slightly and smiled bitterly: "Back then, I was dissatisfied with certain actions of the Imperial Sovereign and spoke bluntly about them, as a result of which I was banished to guard the borders in a bitter, freezing wasteland."

"I am someone who practices the arts of derivation; my duty should have been calculating the destiny of the nation, and border defense had nothing to do with me. But a king's command cannot be defied, and in the end, I went there..."

Listening to the withered old man's brief account, Su Fan finally understood why a disciple of Great Song's Grand Preceptor had ended up traveling far to the Outer Realms, and why he harbored such a deep, irreconcilable hatred for Great Song.