Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 705 (Patreon)

Chapter 705: When Fellow Townsmen Meet Fellow Townsmen

At this moment, Yuan lay in Yin Ling’s arms with his eyes tightly shut. His face was deathly pale, and there wasn’t the slightest trace of aura to be sensed from him—like a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

In fact, if his current state appeared on an ordinary person, it would be no different from real “death.”

Xu’s power had driven his consciousness into eternal silence. Even his very essence had been worn away in part by Taiyi Realm’s “Seizing Disorder, Refining the Origin, Seeking Truth” ritual.

A deadened heart, a ruined body.

It was only because they were inside the Sword Ancestor Hall.

If this were the outside world, his consciousness being eternally silent would mean he couldn’t control his shattered Soul Transformation body at all, causing his essence to leak away without stop.

And once it got to that point, recovering would be anything but easy.

“Me?” Huo looked at Yuan. “Should I do it?”

Xu Xing shook his head slightly.

“I’ll do it.”

He raised his right hand, and a blazing red glow lit at his fingertip—dazzling and brilliant.

Where that red glow shone, sound, light, scent—everything, everything—seemed to be sliced apart into countless tiny pieces.

“Y-you… what are you going to do?!” Yin Ling stared at that pinpoint of red light on Xu Xing’s fingertip, only to feel the world in front of her suddenly splinter into innumerable fragments.

The Realm-Deriving Device that had only recently merged back into her body buzzed and trembled, as if it were about to be separated and severed—torn free and forced out.

The sheer wrongness of it made her scalp prickle.

“Obviously, I’m waking Yuan up.”

Buzz—!

A clear, ringing sword hum seemed to resound through the air!

Just like that time he had snatched Yuan and Yin Ling straight out of the Chaos Sea, a thread of scarlet edge-light swept out from Xu Xing’s fingertip and slashed directly toward the gravely wounded, silent Yuan!

Yin Ling’s heart jolted and she moved to stop it.

But that thin scarlet edge was far faster than her reaction. By the time it landed on Yuan, she had only just bent down to shield him with her body.

“M-my lord…!”

In an instant, a ember-like red radiance flared on Yuan’s body, blazing fiercely and leaping without cease.

Erasing everything, severing everything!

Yuan’s mind had already fallen into eternal silence, but as the red light danced, that negative state was cut away on the spot—annihilated.

Under Yin Ling’s stunned gaze, Yuan’s pallor gradually returned to a healthy flush, and the aura that had been impossible to sense began to rise little by little.

Like ashes that had long gone cold, suddenly sparking again.

At last, a translucent, illusory figure identical to Yuan slowly stood up. He swept his eyes over the surroundings, confusion flashing in them.

This place is…

But the moment his gaze touched Huo, his whole being seized up.

The confusion snapped away as he jolted awake, stumbling back two steps as if frightened out of his wits. Even his translucent, illusory divine soul wavered violently.

“Holy crap!”

Huo: “…”

I put in all that effort to write you a script, even hauled you back from Taiyi Realm, and this is your reaction when you wake up and see me?

“A reunion after a long separation doesn’t have to be that intense.” Huo smiled.

“I…!”

Like hell I wouldn’t be “intense”!

Opening my eyes and seeing you is basically the same as seeing a ghost.

No—wait!

What’s a ghost, compared to you?!

In half a second, Yuan finally steadied himself. His eyes caught Yin Ling and the “him” still lying in her arms, and then…

“Meet again.” Xu Xing paused. “No, that’s not right. For the current you, this should be your first time meeting me.”

That wisp of divine soul didn’t have those memories.

“Where is this? And you are…?”

Yuan already had a strong suspicion of the answer, but he still wanted to confirm it.

“Welcome back to the Tai Xuan Realm, fellow townsman.”

So it really is…

Yuan glanced at Yin Ling and gave her a reassuring look. Then he drew a deep breath and faced Xu Xing.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

His memories were still stuck back in Taiyi Realm.

All he remembered was that a sliver of his lucid will had been seized by Taiyi Realm’s Dongming Sacred Lord. Just as he was about to sink into silence, he vaguely sensed some disturbance coming from outside Taiyi Realm.

“That’s… a bit complicated to explain.” After a beat, Xu Xing smiled. “But nothing’s pressing right now. We can take it slow.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Huo again.

“Before that, Fellow Daoist Huo probably has some questions he wants to ask you.”

Now that the person had been brought back, and after Fellow Daoist Huo had spent so much effort arranging his script—only to have Xu Xing “cut in” at the end…

It was best to let him and Yuan talk first.

“This time, being able to get out of Taiyi Realm is largely thanks to Fellow Daoist Huo.”

With that, Xu Xing waved his hand.

In an instant, everyone except Yuan’s body was shifted into a reception hall within the Sword Sect inner sect.

Xu Xing walked to the seat of honor and sat down, then gestured for the others to sit as well.

Yuan: “…”

Can we skip this part?

What happened back then still left a shadow in his heart.

But with things said this far…

He could only soothe Yin Ling into taking a seat, then look toward Huo sitting opposite him.

“May I ask what guidance Senior Huo has for me?”

“You and I don’t need to be so formal.” Huo spoke casually.

“…”

Don’t say it like that. It sounds way too… intimate. It’d be better if we stayed a little distant and polite.

Seeing Yuan keep quiet, Huo didn’t dwell on the topic.

“At the final moment, did you regret the choice you made in Taiyi Realm?”

“…” Yuan fell silent for a while.

Huo didn’t urge him, only watched quietly.

After a long time, Yuan took a deep breath.

“Yes. At the last moment, I truly regretted it.”

Because of a single moment of carelessness on his part, Wanzhu and Mingyu—who had come to find him—had fallen.

How could he not regret it?!

Even now, with Yin Ling, he could already guess that everything that happened in Taiyi Realm was very likely fake, yet the lingering fear still wouldn’t leave him.

“Wanzhu and Mingyu are fine, right? And those things that happened in Taiyi Realm…” Yuan couldn’t help asking.

“They were all a ‘script’ I designed for you. Everything was fake. They’re both fine.” Huo answered frankly.

He had been through it. He understood what that kind of feeling was like, so he wouldn’t hide it.

From beginning to end, he had never meant to harm Yuan.

If anything, in a certain sense, he admired Yuan.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths.

“The naive ideas you had… I once had them too.”

“…”

Yuan, who had only just relaxed, instantly wore a subtle expression.

Maybe his experience was shallow, but… that really wasn’t something he could imagine.

“Back then, I also believed my personal choices had nothing to do with others. Even if I was wrong, I’d bear the consequences myself and never run away.”

“But later I finally understood. Some things aren’t solved just because you don’t run.”

“I don’t want you to end up like I did back then—only regretting it when it’s already too late.”

At that, Huo couldn’t help a self-mocking chuckle.

“Oh, right. I remember you once said that what matters most for a person is making peace with themselves.”

“I don’t think I can do that.”

He drew in a breath and spoke seriously.

“This time was only a script I designed for you, but I still hope you remember everything that happened in Taiyi Realm. Before making a decision, think more about the people around you.”

Yuan’s expression grew even more complicated.

Everything Huo was saying completely overturned Yuan’s previous understanding of “Huo” as a person.

“I’ve learned a great deal.” Yuan said solemnly.

“Mmm.” Huo clearly had no intention of staying. “For now, recuperate in the Sword Sect. Once you’ve mostly recovered, I’ll come see you again.”

The moment those words fell, Yuan nearly failed to keep his face straight.

Honestly…

You really don’t have to!

A senior expert like you doesn’t need to waste so much time on me.

But before he could say anything, Huo had already risen and vanished.

“…”

Yuan sighed, then turned his attention to Xu Xing.

His fellow townsman—one of the absolute pinnacles of the Tai Xuan Realm. The shadows of his influence lay across every corner of this world.

If Xu Xing wanted to return home, it would be a thousand times easier than for Yuan.

Yet for some reason, he had chosen to remain in the Tai Xuan Realm.

“Before I explain the full sequence of events, let me first explain why you crossed into the Tai Xuan Realm.”

Yuan froze.

The reason he crossed into the Tai Xuan Realm?

…

…

The next morning.

Morning light pierced through sparse clouds and streamed in through the window, falling on a spirit herb.

The verdant leaves, suffused with spiritual glow, held a few drops of spirit dew that refracted threads of rainbow light.

Yin Ling carried a pot of spirit liquid to the potted spirit plant.

As the liquid pattered down, the entire herb’s glow grew brighter and brighter.

After a while, she set the watering pot aside and turned to look at Yuan sitting motionless at the table, worry flashing in her eyes.

My lord has been sitting like that all night…

“My lord?”

Yin Ling, who hadn’t dared to disturb him once the whole night, finally couldn’t hold back and called out anxiously.

Yuan paused.

He let out a quiet breath, rubbed between his brows, then turned and smiled at her.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine. I was just thinking about some things.”

“That’s good.” Yin Ling relaxed.

That Sword Ancestor didn’t seem like a bad person…

Not only was he gentle, he saved my lord, and he’s even my lord’s fellow townsman.

How could someone like that be bad?

“But you—now that the Realm-Deriving Device has merged again, are you adapting well?”

“It feels really, really good!”

Over these past decades, she had nearly grown used to the feeling of her spirituality constantly leaking away.

Now that she possessed a “tangible foundation” again, not only was her spirituality far more stable, even the portion she had lost was slowly being nourished back. Of course it felt good!

“That’s good. If anything feels off, tell me.”

After being separated from the Realm-Deriving Device for so long, who knew what “aftereffects” might show up. Better to stay vigilant.

“Mhm!”

Seeing Yin Ling show no sign of anything wrong, Yuan turned back, leaning into the chair.

With his eyes closed, he recalled everything Xu Xing had told him the previous night.

As for the part about the Human Clan and the Cang race, his fellow townsman had directly returned to him the memories contained in that wisp of divine soul.

Then came the part about this entire incident.

According to his fellow townsman, Wanzhu and Mingyu, in order to find him, had voluntarily taken on the work of building Ascension Web connection nodes in the Chaos Sea.

It was during that process that they discovered the existence of Taiyi Realm.

After that, they borrowed a wisp of Light of Doubt from Huo, condensed it into a Light of Doubt avatar, and rushed to Taiyi Realm.

And Huo himself followed in secret.

Whether it was Yuan’s sliver of lucid will escaping, or everything he experienced inside Taiyi Realm, it had all been arranged by Huo.

During it, Huo had even captured the Xu who once tried to refine Taiyi Realm.

That person was now locked inside the Disciplinary Hall’s Gloom Prison within the Sword Sect…

Thank goodness, Yuan thought with quiet relief.

After Huo’s confession yesterday, Yuan had even suspected that the Wanzhu and Mingyu in Taiyi Realm were Huo in disguise!

Not that it would have changed much…

But it would still have felt a little bit gross.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case!

And lastly was the truth behind why he had crossed into the Tai Xuan Realm.

To be honest, when he built the Homeward Laboratory to search for a road back home, he had also investigated the truth of his own crossing, yet found nothing at all.

Back then he even thought his “crossing” hid some grand conspiracy.

But it turned out to be nothing more than a single thought from his fellow townsman during seclusion…

Still, a thought from the Sword Ancestor is probably an absurdly impressive reason to cross worlds, isn’t it?

Tapping his brow lightly, Yuan stood up.

Yin Ling noticed and looked over.

“Go take a walk around the Sword Sect yourself. I’ll be back later.”

That’s right—he planned to go see Xu Xing again.

Last night, Xu Xing had only explained the full sequence of this incident and the truth of his crossing, then told him to think carefully for himself and comfort Yin Ling in the meantime.

One night…

He had thought about many things.

Many questions now had answers, and he had made decisions about certain matters. It was time to meet again.

Yin Ling blinked.

“I understand.”

Yuan walked to the door, about to head out toward the Sword Ancestor Hall.

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang before he could.

Yuan paused, a guess forming in his mind.

He opened the door—and sure enough, it was Xu Xing.

And with him was a girl who looked lively and mischievous.

Chi Jiuyu.

In that wisp of divine soul’s memories, she existed—kind of absurd, honestly…

Why was she coming along too?

“She happened to come to me to ask about some cultivation questions. When she found out I was coming to see you, she insisted on coming along.” Xu Xing explained casually.

Chi Jiuyu had accepted a task and would be departing in three days.

Before leaving, she decided to shore up her talisman path.

And because Bie Xuening’s path was peerless slaughter-sword—yet also only slaughter-sword—Chi Jiuyu ran to the Sword Ancestor Hall.

Xu Xing figured she could keep Yin Ling company, so he brought her along.

In any case, she wouldn’t be able to hear what she wasn’t supposed to hear.

“Hi. I’m Chi Jiuyu—Sword Sovereign’s personal eldest disciple, my shishu’s shizhi. We met last time at Lingyin Pavilion. Not sure if you still remember.”

The number one prodigy across the heavens and myriad worlds…

In front of Yuan, the so-called millennium’s number one, she oddly didn’t have much confidence to say that title out loud.

The pressure was real…

Yuan paused, then nodded. “Of course I remember, Jiuyu.”

“Yep yep, that’s right!”

Soon, the two entered the room.

“So—how’s your thinking gone? What are your plans next?” Xu Xing asked directly.

Behind him, Chi Jiuyu quietly perked up her ears to eavesdrop, only to find she couldn’t hear a single thing.

Seriously?

So it’s like this again!

Yuan’s expression remained calm.

Plans next…

After a night of thought, he already had his answer.

“Once Wanzhu and Mingyu return and I’ve recovered a bit, I’ll go back to the Alliance of Righteousness.”

“And what about going home?” Xu Xing glanced out the window. “Personally, out of selfishness, I hope you can go back.”

Huh?

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