The Immortal Fairy bristled. "Immortal" was a title she took immense pride in—how could she let a petty Body Integration cultivator slander it?
"This celestial will freeze you into ten-thousand-year ice marrow, coat you in batter, and deep-fry you in a cauldron!" the Immortal Fairy threatened viciously.
Did he really think Celestials were pushovers?
Even that guy called Perfected Faxian had been poked to death with a single finger from her. She refused to believe this fellow could withstand one of her fingers either!
"Don't be rash, don't be rash." In the spiritual space, Lu Yang held the Immortal Fairy back, making her roll her sleeves back down.
The Body Integration cultivator was named Perfected Sanli. The confession he gave afterward was virtually identical to what Perfected Faxian had said. The only thing of any value was the location of a grotto-heaven.
"The grotto-heaven is right there, containing my life's wealth. If you don't believe me, go look for yourselves, and you will see I speak the truth.
"However, I laid down Rules over that grotto-heaven: only cultivators at or below Foundation Establishment can enter, but Foundation Establishment cultivators can never gain control of it. As long as you swear you won't refine me, I will give you that grotto-heaven!" Perfected Sanli threatened.
Yun Zhi gave no agreement, having no intention of even humoring him with false pretenses.
Even if the Dao Seeking Sect refined souls, had rotten customs, and had even recruited Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, it was still a prestigious orthodox sect at the end of the day. It had a baseline to uphold: no lying.
Yun Zhi led Lu Yang out of the cell. As they stepped out, they happened to cross paths with Meng Jingzhou and their Grandmaster, who had also just concluded their interrogation.
Yun Zhi compared their respective confessions with the Grandmaster. They were essentially the same, with the sole difference being that the Body Integration cultivator on the Grandmaster's side knew of someone named Immortal Ying Tian.
"Immortal Ying Tian is somewhere in the vast East Sea, but he doesn't know the exact location."
Yun Zhi nodded. This was hardly new intelligence. Having captured so many ancient Body Integration cultivators, coupled with research into ancient texts, they had long known that Immortal Ying Tian, one of the Five Ancient Celestials, was in the East Sea.
"Immortal Ying Tian?" This was not the first time Lu Yang had heard the name; the Immortal Fairy had muttered it several times.
According to her, Immortal Ying Tian was a Celestial equal in strength to herself.
Taking into account the Immortal Fairy's strength and personality, Lu Yang still lacked an accurate impression of Immortal Ying Tian for the moment.
"Immortal Ying Tian is in the East Sea? Let's go, let's go! Take this celestial to find him! Once I step forward, with my great name, I guarantee you'll feast on the finest food and drink and have whatever your heart desires!" In the spiritual space, the Immortal Fairy piped up excitedly, painting a grand, pie-in-the-sky picture for Lu Yang.
Lu Yang reminded her, "Don't forget how you died. To this day, you still don't know who killed you. Besides you, there were four other Celestials, so it had to be one of them. Aren't you afraid it was Immortal Ying Tian?"
Dousing her with cold water, Lu Yang made the Immortal Fairy calm down. She stammered, "Th-that shouldn't be possible, right? Immortal Ying Tian is quite a nice person. He doesn't look like he has a wicked bone in his body..."
"Then which of the four Celestials do you think was most likely to kill you?"
The Immortal Fairy fell silent. She felt none of them would kill her. Everyone usually behaved with great harmony and treated her very courteously.
Yet she had to admit that her death was inevitably tied to one of the four Celestials.
"Then who do you think had the power to refine the stars filling the sky into a continent?" Lu Yang asked, thinking this was a clue that could narrow down the identity of the Ancient Nameless One.
The Immortal Fairy didn't catch his drift. "All five of us could."
Lu Yang: "...Holy crap?!"
*Fairy, were you actually that formidable? Was my attitude toward you a bit too casual before?*
Lu Yang finally realized that "Celestial" was not merely a cultivation realm. The word represented a cultivator's lifelong pursuit, signifying that one had reached the pinnacle of cultivation, wielding limitless, wondrous might. Turning the world upside down with a wave of a hand and refining the stars was nothing more than routine!
The Immortal Fairy had simply never had many chances to display her power because she was still recovering!
At that moment, Yun Zhi said to Lu Yang, "The ancient Celestials were Immortal Ying Tian, Immortal Kirin, Immortal Suiyue, and Immortal Jiuchong."
To the common folk, Celestials were high and unreachable, beyond fathom, and people weren't even certain they truly existed. For instance, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had only learned of the Immortal Celestial through the Immortal Cult.
Standing in Yun Zhi's position, however, she knew far more than ordinary mortals. The titles of the four Celestials were no secret to her.
"The exact locations of the four Celestials remain unclear. But what is certain is that Immortal Ying Tian is in the vast East Sea, Immortal Kirin is in the Southern Demon Domain, and the whereabouts of Immortal Suiyue and Immortal Jiuchong are unknown."
Lu Yang noticed one of the titles and shuddered. "Kirin?"
He recalled the little Medicine Kings in the Herb Garden, among which was a Kirin Immortal Herb.
Legend had it that kirins did not exist, and what the ancients saw were actually Kirin Immortal Herbs.
Since he was called "Immortal Kirin," did that mean his true form was a kirin?
Seeing Lu Yang's interest, the Immortal Fairy offered an explanation: "Immortal Kirin's true name is Shihe.
"His true form is indeed a kirin. According to him, he is a one-of-a-kind existence in the world, an incredible being born only through gathering all the world's fortune. In any case, there was only one kirin in my era. I don't know much about the present era, but a second kirin shouldn't have appeared."
In fact, before the Immortal Fairy emerged, Yun Zhi had always believed there were only four ancient Celestials. To be precise, everyone thought so.
Among the Body Integration cultivators imprisoned in Prison Peak, the oldest could be traced back to the Daqian Era, more than two hundred thousand years ago. According to him, there had only been four ancient Celestials.
It wasn't just the prisoners on Prison Peak; ancient records said the same. There were four ancient Celestials: Immortal Ying Tian, Immortal Kirin, Immortal Suiyue, and Immortal Jiuchong.
Before the Immortal Cult appeared, history contained not a shred of record regarding the "Immortal Fairy"!
After the Immortal Cult emerged, some cultivators believed this was a fabricated Celestial that had never existed in antiquity.
"This celestial was illustrious in ancient times! Even Tribulation Transcendence cultivators trembled with fear upon seeing me! How could my celestial name be missing?!" The Immortal Fairy was utterly incensed upon learning this.
The person who killed her knew the nature of her Dao fruit and had deliberately erased her existence from history.
"Wait, that's not right. Going by the naming style of the four ancient Celestials, shouldn't you be called Immortal Buxiu instead?" Lu Yang said.
"That was all proposed by that fellow Ying Tian! He claimed three characters sounded imposing, so everyone should make their celestial names three characters long, and even suggested I call myself 'Immortal Buxiu.'
"I refused to go by 'Immortal Buxiu.' It sounds awful! Besides, you can't tell whether it's a man or a woman, making it sound like I'm a man! How could it ever sound as nice as Immortal Fairy?"
Lu Yang thought Huang Doudou sounded even better, but he couldn't say that aloud, or the Immortal Fairy would surely bristle.
After ensuring the two prisoners were securely locked away, Eldest Senior Sister bade farewell to the Grandmaster and led Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou away from Prison Peak.
"Eldest Senior Sister, are we going to check out the relic grotto-heaven Perfected Sanli mentioned?" Lu Yang noticed that she still had no intention of returning to Tianmen Peak, flying straight out of the Dao Seeking Sect instead.
The cloud Yun Zhi steered was massive, completely blocking the view below, so Lu Yang didn't feel any fear of heights.
Yun Zhi nodded.
The lifelong wealth of a Body Integration cultivator was well worth investigating.
Chapter 147