A Meeting

When word arrived from the Palace of Grand Beginning, Wei Yuan felt as though the clouds had finally parted to reveal the moonlight. More than thirty years after the fall of Immortal Monarch Tinghai, the Palace of Grand Beginning finally had another True Monarch on the verge of ascending to immortality. When that happened, with three immortals under one sect, the palace would once again restore the magnificent sight of three immortals gathered together. This news was naturally top secret, and True Monarch Xuanyue had made the trip in person to notify Wei Yuan. As the Master of Water Moon Hall, Wei Yuan was fully entitled to know such secrets. Zhu Yan, the master of Haotian View, specialized in slaughter and combat, his prowess even surpassing Xuanyue's. In a direct head-on clash, they were evenly matched, but if Zhu Yan opened with an ambush, Xuanyue would most likely be defeated. Taken as a whole, Zhu Yan was still a cut above Xuanyue. Xuanyue, of course, had plenty to grumble about regarding this, and he did not think very highly of Zhu Yuanjin either. Back then, if she had not joined Haotian View midway through and beaten everyone from top to bottom until they pissed their pants in terror, the entire Haotian View would never have turned to intensively studying the art of assassination and taking pride in sneak attacks. Originally, Zhu Yan and Xuanyue had been neck and neck when sparring. But ever since True Monarch Zhu Yan threw shame to the wind, Xuanyue had gradually become no match for him. Later, after Wei Yuan rose, the old Daoist had been outfitted with new robes and magical artifacts, along with a supply of elixirs, and only then had he slowly reversed some of his disadvantage. All in all, Zhu Yan and Yanshi complemented each other remarkably well. Coupled with the elusive Grand Palace Master—who showed his head but never his tail—and the Patriarch's last remaining immortal sword, the Palace of Grand Beginning was finally about to break free from decades of passive defense. Wei Yuan naturally could be of little help regarding Zhu Yan's ascension, so he set out for the State of Zhao. Immortal Zhao Li's insistence on meeting in Zhao was rather strange. In past meetings, Immortal Zhao Li had either appeared directly before Wei Yuan or pulled him up into Immortal Heaven, both of which took only an instant. Yet given Wei Yuan's abilities, flying to Zhao now would take nearly half a day. Even so, Wei Yuan did not question it; instead, he directly boarded his newly upgraded jet-cylinder craft. His personal craft now possessed an ethereal silhouette, resembling a star ray gliding through the air. At its rear was a thick cylinder densely packed with sixty-four bundled jet thrusters. From a distance, the new craft looked like a long-range missile, merely with a somewhat peculiar shape. With a thought from Wei Yuan, the craft slowly rose into the air with tremendous momentum. With a shift of his body, Wei Yuan stood at the very tip of the craft. The craft first climbed to an extreme height before leveling off, streaking forward as swift as lightning while hugging the boundary of Immortal Heaven. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, feet planted on the warhead, Wei Yuan flashed across the sky with unmatched dash and style. In reality, however, Wei Yuan's true body had shrunk to the size of a tiny insect, seated within a specially crafted cockpit inside the nose cone. The figure standing outside was merely a projection, just in case he crossed paths with passing cultivators who might otherwise fail to recognize Wei Yuan's vehicle and forget Realm Lord Wei's dashing, heroic bearing. The new craft was exceedingly fast; even a cultivator at peak Scenery Command could hardly keep up. Flying at full speed, Wei Yuan soon entered the borders of Zhao and arrived over the Zhao royal capital, hovering above the city-protecting grand formation. Just then, Immortal Zhao Li's voice drifted up from below: "Come speak at the Ancestral Mausoleum." Wei Yuan flew toward the Zhao Ancestral Mausoleum outside the city. Built along the mountain slopes, the ancestral mausoleum comprised an endless succession of halls and palaces where past kings of Zhao lay buried. The guards appeared lax on the surface but were strictly vigilant underneath. As Wei Yuan drew close, he felt several gazes fall upon him, all belonging to high-level cultivators at Scenery Command. A moment later, his body seized up, already marked by the grand formation and having his movements restricted. Yet the restrictions of the formation were lifted immediately afterward, evidently dispersed by Immortal Zhao Li. Wei Yuan landed on a platform atop the imperial mausoleum. The vantage point was superb, offering an overlooking view of the mountain scenery, with drifting clouds girding its slopes like a sash. Immortal Zhao Li stood leaning against the balustrade, pointing toward the layers of tombs and palaces before them, and said, "Except for the founding Grand Ancestor, most of those lying here are my descendants." Wei Yuan was still young and had no way of sharing such a feeling. Immortal Zhao Li explained, "The longer you live, the more of those who were once close and familiar to you will perish. After thousands of years, even though you still have tens of thousands of nominal kin, you will find that you have ultimately lived to become truly alone." He pointed toward one palace and said, "Buried there is the fifth-generation ruler of Great Zhao, who was also my great-great-grandson. He was the youngest descendant I ever held in my arms, and he has been dead for hundreds of years as well." Without waiting for Wei Yuan to reply, Immortal Zhao Li moved his finger upward, pointing to the tomb of the third generation, and said, "That child Minglu had extraordinary natural talent, even higher than mine. When he ascended the throne, his cultivation had already reached the Spiritual Abode Realm, slightly higher than mine was at the time. Yet less than ten years into his reign, he suddenly went mad, and in less than two years he was gone. "At the time, I could not comprehend it. But after Minglu died, my comprehension advanced by leaps and bounds, and I finally stepped across the immortal gate smoothly. Only after ascending to immortality did I realize that he must have triggered some hidden hand laid down by the Martial Ancestor, which drove him mad. Yet during the two years of his madness, his cultivation surged, pressing straight toward the immortal gate, until one night he died inexplicably in his bedchamber. Had he been given just a few more months or half a year, he might truly have crossed the tribulation and become an immortal." This time, Immortal Zhao Li remained silent for a long while before speaking: "For a long time after ascending, I could not understand why Minglu had suddenly lost his mind. It was not until recently, when on a whim I returned to our ancestral grounds and entered his burial chamber to investigate, that I unexpectedly discovered a clue. It was a memory Minglu left behind. Though fragmented, it was preserved through the feng shui of the earth veins here and the nourishment and protection of the Zhao royal bloodline across generations. "That was... a memory concerning the founding of the nine states." Wei Yuan's heart stirred. He vaguely sensed as if a gaze had swept down from beyond the heavens, looking in this direction. But upon brushing against the mortal luck of his hundreds of millions of people, that gaze hesitated for an instant and drew back. Only now did Wei Yuan understand why Immortal Zhao Li had insisted on summoning him to Zhao. With the backing of the ancestral grounds, Immortal Zhao Li's status as an immortal, and Wei Yuan's own vast mortal luck—only with all three present could this secret be uttered without being detected. Immortal Zhao Li continued, "When the nine states were established, every royal family had a living immortal. Thus, the nine kings were all descendants of immortals. Although the identities of most of the nine immortals remain unknown, Minglu remembered that two of them were generals under the Martial Ancestor. Not long after the nine states were partitioned, the nine immortals perished one after another, and then all karmic ties were erased. "Back then, our Li family's immortal ancestor personally appointed Minglu as king in the end, rather than me. When I saw this memory, I could not fathom it no matter how I thought. At that time, our Li family differed from the other royal houses: both Minglu and I possessed the potential to ascend to immortality, and Minglu was even more gifted, progressing faster. By right, the one who took the throne should have been me, yet in the end, the immortal ancestor chose Minglu. "Only later did I realize: it was most likely because once I ascended to immortality, I would possess a divine ability to seek good fortune, allowing me to preserve my life in this chaotic world and endure much longer." This secret peeled back another corner of the Martial Ancestor's ancient schemes. Wei Yuan immediately used the Flourishing of the Many Realms to counter the karmic erasure method, preserving this secret. Immortal Zhao Li glanced at Wei Yuan and said, "Right now, the pieces placed by each of the kings are beginning to surface. The great tribulation is at hand. "And what I am thinking about now is how to flee far overseas."