Entry: I Secretly Cultivate Immortality in the Martial Arts World

190: Chapter 190 Knowing it’s a dream, yet forced to believe itGhost Soul returned to the pavilion behind the mountain.

The pavilion was not large, consisting of two floors in total; the upper floor was living quarters, while the lower floor held a zither table and a tea station.

He pushed the door open and sat down by the window.

The two figures at the foot of the mountain were still kowtowing.

The dull thuds carried over on the mountain breeze, intermittent yet never ceasing.

Ghost Soul held a teacup and watched for a moment, then closed his eyes, his mind sinking into his Sea of Consciousness to establish contact with True Body Gu Yan.

Supreme Creation Small Luo Grotto-Heaven, Hall of Longevity.

Gu Yan sat cross-legged on a prayer mat. Sensing the thoughts transmitted by Ghost Soul, he slowly opened his eyes.

”The two are kneeling at the foot of the mountain, seeking a glimmer of survival?”

Ghost Soul clearly reported the intentions of Nine Nether Ice Phoenix and Snow Abyss.

Gu Yan pondered for a moment.

Nine Nether Ice Phoenix, former master of the Northern Plains, peeking heaven mark.

He knew a little about this demon’s background.

Since Nine Nether Ice Phoenix had awakened in the past, although she acted domineeringly, she had a bottom line: she did not consume humans to increase her cultivation.

Among the Yao Race, this could be considered rare.

In the Spirit Realm, the Yao Race were as numerous as ox hairs, and those who devoured Human Race Cultivators to increase their cultivation were everywhere.

That Nine Nether Ice Phoenix could hold to this line, regardless of the reason, showed that there were rules in her heart.

And there was Snow Abyss; back when Ye Chen was in the Spirit Realm, this demon had provided some protection.

Gu Yan thought for a moment, then transmitted his thoughts: ”Just let those two kneel at the foot of the mountain.”

”If they do not leave after five years, then in consideration of the favor Snow Abyss showed Ye Chen back then, I will take them into the Supreme Creation Small Luo Grotto-Heaven.”

Ghost Soul responded, and the mental connection was severed.

Inside the pavilion, Ghost Soul opened his eyes and pondered the True Body’s intention.

Night fell, and the galaxy hung low.

Ghost Soul carried a wine jar up to the roof of the pavilion, found a comfortable spot to lie down, and drank while watching the stars.

He watched for a long while, feeling that just looking at the stars without reciting something made him seem uncultured.

So he cleared his throat and recited: ”The stars hang over the vast plains...”

After reciting half a line, he forgot the words.

He took a sip of wine and switched to another poem: ”Raising my head, I gaze at the bright moon; lowering my head, I think of my hometown.”

After reciting it, he felt it wasn’t quite appropriate for the scene, as there was no moon tonight.

Forget it, he wouldn’t recite anymore.

Ghost Soul set the wine jar aside, pulled a flute from behind him, and played a chaotic tune on the night breeze.

He wasn’t particular about the music, playing whatever came to mind.

At one moment, it was a sad little tune about the ’Desolate Heaven Emperor’.

At another, it was a stirring war song.

When he played to his heart’s content, he switched to the zither.

The dull thuds of the kowtowing at the foot of the mountain were intermittent, mixing with the zither music, and surprisingly, it didn’t feel out of place.

When the song ended, Ghost Soul yawned.

The True Body was bitterly meditating and breathing in the Grotto-Heaven, while he was here drinking, watching the stars, and playing the flute and zither; if he still had to Cultivate, then what was the point of being a Clone?

Ghost Soul pushed the zither aside, turned over, and fell asleep right on the roof tiles.

The night breeze brushed past, and the galaxy was silent.

The next day, when the sky was bright, Ghost Soul finally woke up leisurely.

He stretched, summoned his Flying Sword, stepped onto it, and headed towards the nearest Cultivator market.

He was gone for the entire day.

When he returned to the Azure Wave Sect, twilight had already descended.

At the foot of the mountain, Nine Nether Ice Phoenix and Snow Abyss were still kneeling in the same spot.

He had been gone all day, and these two figures had kowtowed in the direction he had left for the entire day.

Seeing him return, Nine Nether Ice Phoenix’s figure paused slightly, but she didn’t say anything, only kowtowed heavily again.

Snow Abyss did the same.

Ghost Soul walked past them, his footsteps never stopping, his gaze never wavering.

Thus, day after day, year after year.

When Ghost Soul went out, the two... the two demons kowtowed in the direction he had left.

When Ghost Soul returned, the two demons kowtowed in the direction of his residence.

They did not stop because he left, nor did they say a single word because he returned.

The sun rose and the moon set, through wind and rain, without fail.

Under the torment of the peeking heaven mark, Nine Nether Ice Phoenix’s face was as pale as paper, yet she did not make a sound.

Her cultivation had now fallen to the Integration Stage Middle Stage, and her magic power was silently dissipating every day.

Kneeling and kowtowing like this, for her, was not just a gesture, but genuine agony.

But she dared not stop.

She thought of that dream.

That dream began after she had fallen into a deep slumber.

At first, it was just fragmented pieces, as blurry as if separated by a veil.

She saw a mountain, saw a Sect on the mountain, saw a pavilion behind the Sect, and saw a person sitting inside the pavilion.

She could not see that person’s face clearly, but their aura was unfathomable.

Later, the dream became clearer and clearer.

She saw herself kneeling at the foot of that mountain, kowtowing in the direction of the pavilion.

She kowtowed for a very, very long time, so long that she thought she would kneel there forever.

But years later, the door of the pavilion opened.

The person walked out and said a sentence to her.

But after waking up, Nine Nether Ice Phoenix could not remember what that sentence was.

Yet she still remembered that feeling clearly.

It was the feeling of finding survival in a desperate situation, the feeling of being pulled back from the edge of a cliff.

She didn’t know why she had such a dream.

Perhaps it was because of the peeking heaven mark.

That scar branded onto her Divine Soul by the Heavenly Dao wore away her cultivation day and night, but it also created a subtle connection between her Divine Soul and the Heavenly Dao.

In the gaps of the Heavenly Dao’s operation, she glimpsed that glimmer of survival.

Or perhaps, it was some kind of guidance from the unknown.

She had once used Ice Heart Heaven Peeping to peer into the future, but the backlash of heavenly secrets brought down the peeking heaven mark, yet it had not completely severed her path.

That mark was like a double-edged sword.

On one side, it severed her Foundation; on the other, it pointed toward a path of survival.

Thus, she woke up.

She rose from her place of slumber in the Northern Plains, dragged her broken body, and traveled all the way to the Eastern Continent.

Knowing it was a dream, yet having to believe.