That smile sent a chill down Xu Ying's spine.
The smile on Li Xiaoke's face was peaceful and untroubled, stripped of his former obsession and devoid of the hypocrisy once concealed beneath it.
Yet the more it looked that way, the more Xu Ying's hair stood on end.
The Li Xiaoke before him was nothing more than a human skin; he was no longer the Li Xiaoke of old.
He was dead.
His flesh and bones had been hollowed out.
His flesh and blood, his Primordial Spirit, the immortal medicines of the six secret depositories within him, and his grand cave-heavens—all of them had been harvested and stripped away.
He had become an empty shell.
Li Xiaoke dispersed his sword qi, wiped the sweat from his brow, and walked toward Xu Ying with a smile. He was merely a skin and had no sweat, yet he wiped his forehead with utter earnestness.
Xu Ying returned the smile.
Seeing that they hadn't come to blows the moment they met, the woman breathed a sigh of relief as well and said with a smile, "I'll go brew a pot of tea for you two. Please, take a seat first."
Xu Ying offered his thanks.
Li Xiaoke gestured invitingly, asking Xu Ying to take a seat at the stone table outside the thatched cottage to take in the sunset within this Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground.
The woman's Hidden Scenery was a pastoral landscape radiating the beauty and leisurely warmth of everyday life, as though the bloodshed, slaughters, and bitter vendettas of the pugilistic world had drifted far away.
Time seemed frozen in this moment, so beautiful it felt unreal—so beautiful it brought tears to one's eyes.
Watching the woman's retreating back, Li Xiaoke said softly to Xu Ying, "Don't tell her."
Xu Ying's eyes flickered, and he probed, "Don't tell her what?"
Li Xiaoke said, "Don't tell her that she's already dead. She doesn't know she has passed away. An obsession preserves her shell, allowing her to go on living here. Many years ago, in my heart, she lived here just like this. She was a woman without ambition. I don't want her to be hurt—even if it's only her obsession."
Xu Ying looked toward the woman's back.
She too was merely an empty skin, bereft of flesh, bereft of soul. Her obsession propped up this skin, making her appear alive.
In truth, her obsession believed so as well.
As long as no one exposed the truth, her obsession would continue living here like a living person until, with the passage of the years, the obsession faded away.
"She was my tranquil harbor. I often returned here to speak with her and live with her for a time, as though returning to the past. Back then, she and I were carefree."
Li Xiaoke settled into a rare serenity and smiled. "I always longed to return to a life like that—pursuing neither immortality nor power."
He turned to look at Xu Ying with the relief and lightness of someone who had laid down every burden. "In the past, I felt immortality was an absolute necessity; it became my fixation, my obsession. But after returning to her side, I feel immortality is no longer so important."
Xu Ying was stunned. At this moment, Li Xiaoke seemed completely unaware that he had died. He spoke like a hermit describing the life he yearned for most.
"Looking into my own heart, I realized that what I truly wanted was never longevity or immortality. What I truly wanted was simply to be with her. Even if I could not live forever, even if it were only a fleeting few years."
Li Xiaoke smiled. "Was it because you taught me the Heavenly Dao? Suddenly, I feel as though I've attained a great awakening."
Xu Ying was certain now: he truly did not know he was dead.
What surprised Xu Ying most was that what Li Xiaoke should have preserved above all else was his obsession with immortality, his obsession with vengeance. For over three thousand years, hadn't immortality been what Li Xiaoke craved most? Why was the obsession he manifested after death not immortality, but the pastoral scene before him?
He ought to have been like Chen Mianzhu, the ruler of the Southern Dian Kingdom, who, even after being eaten until only a human skin remained, still clung relentlessly to immortality and vengeance. Chen Mianzhu had gone so far as to pose as an immortal and impart harmful cultivation arts to make body seizure easier, and had even enslaved deities and harvested souls to refine the Myriad Spirits Pill!
Xu Ying felt that Li Xiaoke's evil should have been far greater!
In death, he was undoubtedly capable of far worse villainy!
Xu Ying was certain that over three thousand years, Li Xiaoke had committed countless atrocities, secretly teaching trapped Nuo methods to many, harvesting many Nuo immortals, and mutilating countless lives.
He was certain Li Xiaoke had become addicted to consuming humans, stopping at nothing to secure his own immortality, even harboring insidious intentions toward the disciples he taught so he could conveniently seize their bodies to replace his own.
He was certain Li Xiaoke was a hypocrite who threw mud at Qingbi after failing to win her over, all while maintaining an illustrious, magnificent facade before others.
Yet why did the deceased Li Xiaoke possess no obsession of that sort?
Steadying his mind, Xu Ying asked, "How did your wife die?"
Li Xiaoke's facial skin rippled like waves; evidently, his wife's death had become an unforgettable obsession.
Back then, he had carved away his negative memories and stuffed them into a mirror, giving birth to the other Li Xiaoke within the reflection, yet he had never severed this heart-wrenching memory.
Recalling the past, Li Xiaoke said, "Back then, because Qi Refinement could not grant immortality, Nuo methods began to flourish, gradually threatening to supplant the Qi Refiners."
Xu Ying knew this history. When a Qi Refiner reached the Ascension stage, they had to face the Heavenly Tribulation. Even if the strong possessed means to evade it, they still had to hide in corners, terrified at the mere sound of thunder.
Qi Refinement was no longer a wondrous path; instead, it became a life of constant dread and perpetual fear.
Nuo methods, however, allowed one to become a Nuo immortal upon opening nine layers of cave-heavens, innovatively cultivating an Immortal Realm within one's body, which granted true longevity instead.
Nuo methods were not as arduous as Qi Refinement and lacked its numerous realms, so it was only natural for them to supplant the complex practice of Qi Refinement.
"At that time, signs of conflict between Nuo methods and Qi Refinement began to surface. Some Qi Refiners believed Nuo methods were unorthodox and corrupted Qi Refinement, while some Nuo immortals believed Qi Refiners were suppressing innovation, burning books and burying Nuo practitioners alive, persecuting Nuo immortals."
Tenderness filled Li Xiaoke's eyes as he said, "Back then, duels between the two sides were frequent, with casualties on both sides. In those days, I suppose I was still a good person."
The meeting and romance of a young man and woman were born of chance, especially as Qi Refiners and Nuo immortals grew increasingly incompatible like fire and water. Nuo immortals were frequently discovered dead within their Hidden Sceneries, leading other Nuo immortals to suspect Qi Refiners were striking secretly in the shadows and triggering deadly counterattacks against Qi Refiners.
As animosity deepened, Li Xiaoke, an outstanding figure among Qi Refiners at the time, naturally became a target for many Nuo immortals.
He was severely wounded and rescued by the woman. A gifted scholar and a rare beauty, they fell in love at first sight. As the Nuo immortals' pursuit continued, they supported each other on the run. Misunderstood by both factions, their bond only grew deeper with each passing day.
They shared a wondrous romance and became husband and wife.
Back then, Li Xiaoke's mind was not yet twisted. He was an idealist, striving to restore ancient lost spells and divine powers, trying to revive the glory of the Qi Refiners.
He discovered that the decline of Qi Refiners was in fact tied to a historical fracture among Qi Refiners during the Great Shang and Great Zhou eras.
He discovered the beauty of Nuo methods through his wife, coming to see that they were not as wretched as claimed, and even conceived the notion of fusing Nuo methods with Qi Refinement.
Yet beauty was always fleeting. At the height of his happiness, his wife died—reduced to a human skin.
Li Xiaoke changed.
In his hunt for the culprit, he uncovered more and more of the truth behind Nuo methods consuming humans and the truth behind burning books and burying Nuo practitioners. He probed into older histories, and his findings grew ever more shocking.
As he pursued his enemies, he gradually noticed that he was aging; white hairs sprouted at his temples.
A sudden terror of death took root in him.
He began obsessing over youthful, vigorous bodies, falling for Qingbi, who had always come to him seeking guidance in Daoist methods and divine powers. He sought to stave off his aging, to stave off his death. Then one day, as he pushed Qingbi—who had repeatedly spurned his advances—into a stone well to seal her away, an epiphany struck him.
If others could consume people to achieve immortality, why couldn't he?
He was struck with sudden clarity and roared with laughter.
Reaching this point in his tale, Li Xiaoke looked at the woman carrying the tea over, and that blissful smile surfaced on his face once more, as radiant as it had been more than three thousand years ago.
Xu Ying lifted his cup and took a sip of tea.
Li Xiaoke also sipped lightly from his tea and smiled. "I practiced your Thirteen Heavenly Sword Forms, yet never could master them. But just now, it felt as though something suddenly clicked, bringing a great awakening, and those obsessions were gone. If I can live a blissful life with my wife, does immortality really matter all that much?"
Xu Ying smiled. "You speak the truth, and hearing it lets me breathe a sigh of relief. You were always hunting me down, keeping my heart in my throat."
Li Xiaoke laughed heartily. "You can put your mind at ease now. From this day forth, you have one less enemy."
Xu Ying rose to his feet. "Since that is the case, I won't disturb you any longer."
Looking toward the splendid setting sun, Li Xiaoke smiled. "You and I were enemies after all, so I won't see you out."
The woman smiled gently. "Even an enemy is a guest. How could we not see him off? I'll walk him out."
Xu Ying followed the woman to the broken door. With a smile on her face, she whispered pleadingly, "Don't tell him that I'm already dead. He has never known, and I just want to stay by his side like this."
Xu Ying's body shuddered slightly, and he turned to look at her.
The woman looked back toward Li Xiaoke beside the stone table, her eyes overflowing with gentleness as she whispered, "I have never seen him so peaceful. In the past, he was always hurrying in and out. I can't bear to leave him."
Xu Ying nodded gently.
He stepped past the broken door and turned around, only to see the woman walking toward Li Xiaoke. The two leaned against each other, watching the setting sun together.
Xu Ying shut the broken door, sealing this Hidden Scenery away.
The youth felt a wave of melancholy. He was not Lord Ying who had weathered countless ages; his memories only began with catching snakes in Jiangjiatian. If he were Lord Ying, who had lived through countless joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, he probably would not have felt such melancholy over Li Xiaoke and his wife.
"Li Xiaoke gradually lost sight of his original desire along the path of vengeance. From seeking revenge, it turned into fearing death; from hunting down the anglers, he became an angler himself,"
Xu Ying thought quietly to himself as he walked downstream along the Nai River. "He gradually turned into the very thing he hated most, reveling in it and believing it to be his pursuit, his dream. Yet it was only the passage of time blinding his original heart.
"Only after death, with his flesh, Primordial Spirit, cave-heavens, and immortal medicines all stripped away, leaving behind nothing but a human skin, did he realize that what he truly wanted had been by his side all along, never cherished."
Yet it was all too late.
Now, only the lingering remnants of two souls remained within that Hidden Scenery, draped in two human skins and pretending to be alive, keeping each other warm.
As for Li Xiaoke and his wife, they had long since passed away.
"Graveyard Grass, Li Xiaoke consumed a leaf of the immortal medicine. If he returns to the Five-Colored Immortal Mountain, will he be resurrected?" Xu Ying pondered for a moment before asking the purple immortal plant.
The purple immortal plant had been hiding in his Bubbling Spring secret depository. Hearing his voice, it swam up from the Bubbling Spring, slipped out of the Realm of Xiyi, and settled upon his shoulder.
Its roots danced in the air, arranging themselves into words.
"No. What bore the immortal medicine was his physical body and Primordial Spirit, his divine sense and yuan qi, not his obsession and human skin," the purple immortal plant wrote. "If anyone were to be revived, it would be the one who ate him, not him."
Xu Ying nodded gently.
Li Xiaoke was most likely truly dead, he thought.
"I should tell Lady Qingbi about this so she no longer obsesses over vengeance. I should tell Xue Ying'an as well, so he doesn't have to live in constant fear. They both deserve to enjoy life and be happy and bright inside."
A smile appeared on Xu Ying's face, making him look like a sun-tanned boy. He leapt into the air and landed atop the surface of the Nai River.
Two lotus leaves spontaneously blossomed beneath his feet, and stepping atop them, he drifted downstream with the current.
"I should head back to Haojing too,"
he said with a chuckle. "Lord Bell, Lord Seventh, and Lord Jin must be sick with worry waiting for me. And Zhu Chanchan probably doesn't miss me, but she's definitely eyeing my treasures. Grass, you'll love them."
The purple immortal plant wrapped its roots tightly around his neck, attempting to strangle him to death.
Xu Ying paid it no mind, continuing, "They are all so gentle and friendly, especially Lord Jin. By the way, have I told you about Lord Jin? He'll definitely adore you. Let him have a bite—he's getting up there in years, so having a bite of you is just taking precautions."
Hearing that, the purple immortal plant tied its roots into a dead knot around his neck and choked him with all its might.
Chapter 193