The Immortal Emperor had received word long ago that someone resembling Qingxuan had appeared, selling steamed buns soaked in human blood at the site of the decisive battle between Xu Ying and Emperor Changsheng.
Later, this individual came and went like a phantom, stealing the mounts of many Immortal Court masters and even kidnapping ten chefs from the imperial palace to cook a variety of delicacies for him, stirring up quite a disturbance.
He also loved bustling crowds, always nosing in wherever excitement was to be found. Fortunately, he had not caused any major catastrophe.
The Immortal Emperor had originally hesitated over whether to meet this man who looked so much like Qingxuan. He was unsure if this person truly was Qingxuan, nor was he eager to stir up old memories.
Only today, having set the date for his decisive duel with Xu Ying, did he come looking for him.
Seeing Useless Qingxuan lying sprawled on the recliner, the corner of the Immortal Emperor's mouth twitched. This Qingxuan was vastly different from the master in his memory.
The Qingxuan of his memory had been high-spirited and eloquently spoken, visionary and far-sighted, superior to all others in both wisdom and comprehension.
Qingxuan had been stern with his disciples, and even more rigorous with himself.
Under his tutelage, the Immortal Emperor had likewise been unsmiling and solemn.
Yet the man before him who looked like Qingxuan was indolent, gluttonous, fond of spectacles, aimless, and rumored to have sneaked into Moon Splendor Pool to watch immortal maidens bathe—only to be caught by the fairies of Moon Splendor Palace and hunted across millions of li.
When immortals of the Immortal Court found his behavior intolerable and cursed him, he would corner and thrash them.
To the Immortal Emperor, this seemed merely an uncanny lookalike, possessing not the slightest resemblance to Qingxuan beyond his physical appearance.
Yet the moment he laid eyes on this Qingxuan riddled with bad habits, he suddenly became certain: this slovenly, disheveled man was indeed Qingxuan.
A Qingxuan who had been hidden beneath a radiant, towering, and sagacious exterior.
The stray thoughts excised and severed by Qingxuan.
"Master, your disciple has come to see you," the Immortal Emperor said.
Useless Qingxuan yawned, lazily waking up. Glancing at him, he rolled upright with a grin. "Ah, it's Meng Shanming. When did you arrive? Is this girl your daughter?"
Primordial Monarch Zitong shook her head. "I am his hostage."
"Look at you, Shanming—moving up in the world." Useless Qingxuan cast an astonished glance at the Immortal Emperor and marveled, "You actually know how to take hostages to threaten your opponents now."
He reached out to lift the pot's lid. Inside simmered what appeared to be some kind of immortal beast, with a layer of glistening, translucent gelatin between the skin and meat. The broth bubbled vigorously, popping bubbles making the meat, skin, and gelatin quiver incessantly, releasing an intoxicating aroma.
Useless Qingxuan pinched a piece with his fingers and tossed it into his mouth. Praising its flavor, he remarked, "In the past, you were always full of schemes—far more than anyone else. I told you back then that your distractions in seeking the Dao would keep you from achieving greatness. But looking at it now, scheming isn't entirely bad. You've even taken the imperial throne. That's quite an extraordinary achievement."
The Immortal Emperor froze slightly. "Master, do you think you were mistaken?"
Useless Qingxuan chuckled. "Of course I wasn't mistaken. What I said about your distractions preventing you from achieving greatness remains true. You merely used underhanded means to ascend the imperial throne and seize what never belonged to you. But your true achievements are still beneath contempt."
The Immortal Emperor flared with anger and flapped his sleeve. "I am now the exalted Immortal Emperor, holding sway over the lives and deaths of countless beings in the Earth Immortal Realm! With a single command, tens of millions of immortals mobilize at my beck and call. Wherever my command banner points, they charge through fire and water! A single word from me decides the rise and fall of the realm, the life and death of myriads! Are my achievements not high enough?"
Useless Qingxuan ladled a bowl of meat and shoved it into his hands. "Don't just talk. Eat."
Holding the bowl, the Immortal Emperor stared stubbornly at him.
Useless Qingxuan ladled another bowl and handed it to Primordial Monarch Zitong. Then he stood up, scuffing his slippers as he looked for three pairs of chopsticks, sloshed them carelessly in a water vat, shook off the droplets, and handed them to the Immortal Emperor and Primordial Monarch Zitong.
Holding the chopsticks and bowl, Primordial Monarch Zitong glanced around; there were no tables or chairs.
Useless Qingxuan squatted in the corner of the wall, eating meat as he spoke: "I wasn't talking about your status. Does status count as an achievement? Status is built on the foundation of real attainment. You were already distracted in your cultivation, and once others pushed you onto the imperial throne, you became even more distracted, constantly worrying that this one is plotting against you or that one is scheming against you. It'd be a wonder if you could cultivate the Dao properly."
The Immortal Emperor also squatted down in the corner. Shoveling a bite of food with his chopsticks, he fumed, "If I hadn't kept my wits about me and stayed so calculating, I would have been killed just like you long ago! It is precisely because I racked my brains all these years that I have lived until now. You said my achievements wouldn't amount to much, yet didn't I cultivate all the way to the Supreme realm?"
Useless Qingxuan glanced sideways at him. "What does the Supreme realm count for? The Supreme realm is only the beginning; the realms beyond are where things truly get interesting. You've merely crossed the threshold, but as far as you're concerned, the road ahead is already severed. You will never reach the next realm."
The Immortal Emperor remained unconvinced.
Useless Qingxuan said, "Of my Grand Daos, you could only comprehend six, yet six was never your limit. Had you devoted your heart and soul to comprehension, you could have grasped a seventh and an eighth, and your achievements would not have lagged behind your junior brother's. Yet you chose instead to squander yourself on divine calculations, ruining your own prospects."
Seeing the two of them squat down, Primordial Monarch Zitong carefully gathered her skirt and squatted in the corner as well. Lifting a piece of meat to her lips with her chopsticks, she took a gentle bite. An indescribable sense of satisfaction instantly washed over her—tender yet delightfully chewy, leaving a lingering fragrance between her teeth.
Over the years, she had purged her worldly desires and paid no heed to earthly appetite, but tasting this now, she suddenly felt as though she had returned to the mortal world.
The Immortal Emperor declared proudly, "You are wrong, Master! Once I harvest Xu Ying, I will advance to the next realm! Six hundred thousand years ago, while you were still alive, I already calculated that if I wished to attain the Supreme realm, there was only one path—and that was after your death."
Useless Qingxuan raised an eyebrow.
"Back when you and the Holy Venerable had yet to attain the Supreme realm, I had already deduced this ending," the Immortal Emperor said. "I once sought to defy heaven and alter your destiny, to change the doom that awaited you. I searched for every method to alter fate—praying to the Seven Stars, balancing forces to reshape destiny. I even sought out demonic sorcery and slaughtered thousands of cultivators in blood sacrifices to change your fate. Yet no matter what method I tried, all ended in failure."
"I knew nothing of this," Useless Qingxuan said.
The Immortal Emperor sneered. "Of course you didn't. If you had known, you would never have allowed me to kill so many people to prolong your life. You would surely have told me that man can conquer nature and never to believe in destiny. Yet you still fell to your tribulation and died! The moment I realized your death was inevitable, my heart finally turned to ashes. I would not save you anymore; I had to live for myself."
He shifted his feet, took a sip of broth from the bowl, and spoke with a grim countenance: "I had to plan for my future. Your fortune was ill-fated, but I possessed the destiny of an emperor. Only after you died could my imperial destiny manifest, and only then would I have hope of becoming a Supreme. Not only did I want to become a Supreme, I wanted to become an unmatched Supreme—a Supreme as flawless as you were, or even surpass you!"
Useless Qingxuan spat out a bone and said, "Don't just drink soup. Eat some meat."
Squatting in the corner and holding a piece of meat with his chopsticks, the Immortal Emperor sneered. "While attempting to alter fate for you, I also calculated my own destiny. Mine is the destiny of the Ninth-Five Sovereign, a fate destined for meteoric rise, yet also one shadowed by dark clouds—there would always be a few figures lording over my head, denying me peace! But altering my destiny was far easier than altering yours. That is why I laid my schemes before your death; back then, I planted a seed for my future! The seed was planted in Kunlun, and after you died, it began to sprout. Until forty-eight thousand years ago, he was finally born into this world."
Primordial Monarch Zitong listened spellbound, quietly chewing the meat in her mouth without daring to make a sound.
The Immortal Emperor continued, "The day to break my deadlock finally arrived, so I ordered Heavenly Venerable Yuan Daohai to move against Kunlun on the pretext that the primordial heavenly gods were difficult to discipline. Master, do you still remember that senior brother surnamed Xu who received you when you first went to Kunlun to visit Daoist Yuxu?"
Useless Qingxuan's memories were incomplete; he only hazily recalled such a person existed.
"His name was Xu You, the ancestor of the Xu family, and he revered you greatly. He once wished to follow the rebel army, but you bade him guard Kunlun, saying it was the gateway to the myriad worlds and carried immense responsibility. Thus, he remained stationed in Kunlun ever since."
The Immortal Emperor said, "After you passed away, I went to see him and imparted the six secret depositories to him in your name, claiming they were taught by our master before his demise. He wept tears of gratitude. But in truth, the six secret depositories were modified from your six great Dao sceneries. The six secret depositories became the ancestral method of the Xu lineage, eventually passing down to Xu Jing's generation. And Xu Jing had a son named Xu Ying."
Everything finally fell into the future he had deduced.
Following the tragedy of Xujiaping, Xu Jing and his wife protected Xu Ying and fled Kunlun. Afterward, the Immortal Emperor took Xu Ying's mother, Lan Suying, as his goddaughter, forced Xu Ying to ascend using a hairpin, and aided Xu Ying's meteoric rise.
With his backing back then, Xu Ying's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, but he could not comprehend the ten great Dao sceneries, falling far short of the Xu Ying he anticipated.
Thus, he had the Imperial Monarch expose Xu Ying's identity as a rebel, and the Imperial Monarch laid siege to Xu Ying, ultimately striking him down on the Heavenly Road.
"Through forty-eight thousand years of reincarnation, he has finally grown as I desired in this lifetime, striving tirelessly toward the goal of defeating the Imperial Monarch. Following the trajectory I foresaw, he traveled to the Ancestral Court, discovered the ancestral method, revived the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirits of Daoist Taiqing, Daoist Yuxu, and others, and obtained the Ten Cave-Heavens Comprehension Method I left for him through the Demon Ancestor."
The Immortal Emperor remarked leisurely, "In the end, he did not fail my expectations, opening the ten great cave-heavens. He arrived at the Ziwei Ancestral Court, and just as I anticipated, the Last Lord of Ziwei imparted to him the Taiyi enlightenment, summoning the Taiyi Cave Abyss. At that point, I could use his hands to master our teacher's ten great Dao sceneries and obtain the Taiyi Cave Abyss."
Zitong had been listening intently and suddenly asked, "Then what about me? Where do I fit into your plan?"
The Immortal Emperor smiled. "That is the most ingenious part. In this plan, you are his companion. Nothing is more exquisitely poignant than tens of thousands of lifetimes entangled in devotion; this cycle of reincarnation is something neither of you can escape."
He continued calmly, "Xu Ying thinks I will use his parents against him, never suspecting that I will use you. Accompanying him through lifetime after lifetime of reincarnation, you formed a reincarnation curse, entangling ever more tightly. When this power of reincarnation is stirred, it will pull even a titan who blazed a new path like him off his feet, forcing him to plunge into reincarnation."
Primordial Monarch Zitong said, "I will become the weapon you use against him."
The Immortal Emperor nodded gently. "You need not feel sorrow. Forty-eight thousand years ago, from the very moment I arranged for the two of you—a brilliant youth and a peerless beauty—to meet, your ending today was already sealed."
Her meeting with Xu Ying had all been part of the Immortal Emperor's plan.
Back then, the two most outstanding talents of the Immortal Realm had met. On the Silver River, two small skiffs, holding umbrellas as they brushed past each other—all of it had been calculated and arranged.
The two young figures possessed peerless talent, neither able to overshadow the other; ultimately, mutual admiration bloomed into love.
Even the wisest would stumble into this river and become part of the reincarnation cycle.
Useless Qingxuan sighed, "If only you had poured your energy into cultivation..."
The Immortal Emperor sneered, "If I had poured it into cultivation, I wouldn't even be a Supreme! Master, after you passed away, where in the Immortal Realm was there any place for me? Every major cave abyss already belonged to someone else; where was my wealth? I had to scheme, I had to become the Immortal Emperor—only then could I survive!"
Useless Qingxuan fell silent for a moment before saying, "You calculate the future and believe it never changes, don't you? Perhaps the future can be changed."
"It cannot. The future is long since set in stone." The Immortal Emperor's expression turned frigid. "Master, I have already proven this with you. I failed to save you."
He rose to his feet, intending to leave.
Useless Qingxuan looked up. "Won't you have another bowl?"
"No." The Immortal Emperor Supreme smiled faintly. "You are not the true Qingxuan; you are merely the stray thoughts my master severed. Even so, seeing you still brings me joy. Master, as I go forth to harvest Xu Ying and succeed, I will become the perfect Qingxuan, possessing the complete Taiyi Cave Abyss. I will even surpass the you of yesteryear."
Useless Qingxuan stood up, stretching lazily. "Don't try to avenge me. You will die. Your abilities fall short; you cannot best them. Even I died..."
"No!" The Immortal Emperor smiled. "I will surpass you! I will accomplish the grand feat you never achieved! One by one, I will slay your enemies so your name is no longer a taboo! This world is unjust, so I shall change it—and Xu Ying is the sacrifice upon my altar!"
Just as he turned to leave, Primordial Monarch Zitong hurriedly called out, "Wait!"
The Immortal Emperor turned back, an inquiring look on his face.
Primordial Monarch Zitong said, "I'll have another bowl."
The Immortal Emperor hesitated, then nodded silently. "Eat, then. It is your final meal. I have wronged you."
Primordial Monarch Zitong ladled another bowl of meat and ate in silence. As she ate, her tears dripped steadily into the bowl, and swallowing her tears along with the food, she finished the dish.
The Immortal Emperor's heart was hardened, unmoved. Once she finished, the two departed one after the other.
Useless Qingxuan watched them depart in the distance without trying to stop them.
At that same moment, Xu Ying arrived at Yuxu Peak of the Kunlun Mountains, standing upon the former site of Xujiaping.
He sat there in utter silence, quietly cultivating as the Taiyi Cave Abyss gleamed brilliantly behind him.
At night, the wronged souls of Kunlun seemed to weep softly.
On the morning of the third day, Xu Ying rose. Behind him, two rings of the Taiyi Cave Abyss overlapped into one.
With a shift of his body, he tore through the sky and departed.
This day was the day of his decisive battle against the Immortal Emperor Supreme.
Countless people were rushing toward that abyss above the Heavenly Sea—the Heavenly Abyss. The Dao Burial Abyss divine power of Xu Ying's first lifetime had originated from this very place.
Chapter 617