"When my husband and the others saw that they couldn't revive Elder Sister just by calling out her name, they sought other methods.
"After some discussion, they consulted Qing He's advice and decided to attempt reviving Elder Sister using the power of faith, which led to the founding of the Xinhuo Dynasty."
"The power of faith is that useful?" Lu Yang was surprised. He really didn't know much about this topic.
Still, considering that the Great Qian Dynasty practiced "divine faith" and an entire dynasty was built upon it as a foundation, the power of faith clearly had its merits.
The Immortal Fairy shook her head. To her, having people worship her as an object of faith was purely for fun, so she hadn't paid much attention to it.
Ao Ling continued reminiscing, "On the foundation of the Xinhuo Dynasty, my husband and the others established two major faith systems: the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld."
Lu Yang: "..."
*Did I just suffer from auditory hallucinations? Why did some very familiar terms just pop up?*
"The Heavenly Court system of faith was meant to govern the mortal realm.
"The Netherworld system was meant to govern life and death.
"The general principle was to use the Heavenly Court to gather faith for you, Elder Sister, and forge an immortal body. So in the Xinhuo Dynasty, the statues of the Lord of the Heavenly Court were modeled after you, Elder Sister—you were the Lord of the Heavenly Court!"
Lu Yang and the Immortal Fairy looked at each other. Lu Yang saw excitement in the Immortal Fairy's eyes, while the Immortal Fairy saw the excited reflection of herself in Lu Yang's eyes.
"Second-in-Command, you truly have the ability to foresee the future—oh no, foresee the past!"
Lu Yang didn't really feel like talking.
"Meanwhile, the authority of the Lord of the Netherworld to govern life and death resonated with your authority of immortality, Elder Sister. Since the Immortal Dao fruit is imperishable, this method could be used to call the Immortal Dao fruit back.
"And if that failed, the Netherworld system's feature of governing life and death could still be used to revive you, Elder Sister.
"Of course, all of the above was purely theoretical. None of it had ever been put into practice, and no one knew what the outcome would be, but judging from the attitudes of my husband and the others, they felt the chance of success was quite high."
Lu Yang suspected the real reason Immortal Ying Tian and the other three were so confident was simply that they knew the Immortal Fairy was revived in the future.
"At the same time, my husband and the others tried everything they could to analyze the culprit's identity and abilities.
"Immortal Suiyue attempted to observe the past to see how the culprit carried out the crime, but found that entire period of time was blanketed in gray mist, and nothing could be seen clearly.
"Some suspected the Karma Dao fruit, some suspected the Words as Law Dao fruit, and some even suspected the Replacement Dao fruit... There were guesses of every kind. All of those Dao fruits existed only in theory, and without truly encountering them in person, there was no way to assert what kind of Dao fruit the culprit possessed.
"The only thing certain was that the culprit possessed overwhelming might, towering above my husband and the other three.
"Ten thousand years after the founding of the Xinhuo Dynasty, a prodigy happened to emerge in later generations. He was a member of the Shi Huang clan who attained the Dao and became an immortal, obtaining the Insight Dao fruit.
"The Insight Dao fruit grants the power of thorough perception and penetration, allowing one to sit and see all ten directions—above the heavens and below the earth, unobstructed, taking in everything at a glance."
"Sitting and seeing all ten directions? That's quite impressive. That's way more useful for observing the future than the Suiyue Dao fruit. Who would've thought a place like the Shi Huang clan could produce such a genius?" the Immortal Fairy praised.
Sitting and seeing all ten directions meant being able to see all of past, present, and future.
Although Immortal Suiyue could observe the future, he couldn't observe it accurately; he could only catch glimpses of a certain possibility.
Ao Ling shook her head. "Elder Sister, you think too highly of him. He barely scraped his way into immortality; his strength was at the absolute bottom."
The corners of Lu Yang's eyes twitched. Only a half-immortal like Ao Ling, who could sense Dao fruit suppression, was qualified to say something like that. Not to mention Senior Lianyi, Eldest Senior Sister, the Immortal Fairy, Immortal Ying Tian, Immortal Jiuchong, Immortal Suiyue, Immortal Kirin... Come to think of it, quite a lot of people were qualified to say such a thing.
"My husband and the others invited this 'Immortal Zuo Shi' to observe how the crime was committed. He exerted his Dao fruit until he was drenched in sweat, yet failed to see any useful results.
"When he was asked to observe the future, he could only see an isolated fragment of the future. As for which era that fragment belonged to, he couldn't control it himself. For instance, once he observed that three hundred and ninety thousand years later, there would be a struggle of the Golden Age, and an immortal would fall.
"Only when observing the present world could he see everything down to the smallest detail."
Hearing Immortal Zuo Shi's observation result, Lu Yang's heart skipped a beat. *Isn't that right now?*
The fall of an immortal—did that refer to the founding Emperor Yu? Or some other immortal?
"Later, after another ten thousand years had passed, my husband wasn't sure when Elder Sister could finally be revived. So he suggested that I go into slumber, saying that once Elder Sister was revived, he would invite Elder Sister to wake me up. And so I went to sleep in the immortal's cave."
Ao Ling's lifespan was finite; she couldn't wait forever.
"So it isn't the Xinhuo Dynasty anymore?" Ao Ling was still hung up on this question.
Lu Yang said, "Four hundred thousand years have passed since the Fairy's demise, and the Xinhuo Dynasty collapsed three hundred thousand years ago.
"Furthermore, the Fairy and I discovered the ruins of a battle fought by Immortal Kirin. It was a battle between Immortal Kirin and an immortal possessing the Extinction Dao fruit. The site of that battle was very likely the immortal's cave where you were sleeping, Senior Ao Ling!
"The energy within the dragon-pattern bracelet Immortal Ying Tian forged for you has also been completely exhausted." Lu Yang took out the dragon-pattern bracelet and returned it to its owner.
Taking the bracelet, Ao Ling froze. She knew very well what the exhaustion of the bracelet's energy meant.
Lu Yang continued, "Moreover, when Immortal Kirin relocated you, you were attacked again, such that before the Fairy released your Art of Playing Dead, your soul was completely shattered.
"In addition, no one in the outside world knows of the Xinhuo Dynasty's existence anymore. It was very likely the doing of that immortal possessing the Extinction Dao fruit, who deliberately erased all traces of information regarding the Xinhuo Dynasty, stopping at nothing even if it meant antagonizing Immortal Ying Tian and the other three immortals."
Ao Ling never imagined so many things had happened after she went to sleep.
Seeing the heavy mood, the Immortal Fairy kindly offered comfort and took everything upon herself. "All right, all right, don't dwell on all these random things! Thinking about them now won't lead to any answers anyway, and with this fairy here, nothing bad will happen!"
Ao Ling nodded heavily and gave an emphatic "Mm!" "I believe in you, Elder Sister Immortal."
*Senior Ao Ling, could you please not choose to believe in her on things like this?* Lu Yang thought to himself.
"And you—your name is Lu Yang, right?" Ao Ling got up from the couch, her dragon tail swishing gently. She bowed deeply to Lu Yang and said solemnly, "Thank you for reviving Elder Sister Immortal. My husband and the others, as well as myself, Lianyi, and Qing He, all owe you an enormous favor!"
Flustered, Lu Yang waved his hands in panic, not daring to accept such a great gesture of courtesy. Of course, whether he dared to accept it wasn't his call anyway—he couldn't even budge a single strand of Ao Ling's hair.
Seeing this, the Immortal Fairy quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "Aiya, Second-in-Command, don't decline! As the Second-in-Command of our Immortal Lineage, your status is far higher than informal disciples like Xiao Ling and Lianyi. Going by generational seniority, it wouldn't even be out of line for Xiao Ling to call you Senior Brother!"
"Fairy, don't talk nonsense; that's not how seniority is arranged!" Lu Yang warned the Immortal Fairy with his eyes, but unfortunately, the Immortal Fairy might as well have lacked eyes.
Chapter 862