Martial Cultivator

”Perhaps that senior is still alive.”

Chen Chao thought for a long time before suddenly speaking, truly unwilling to see the woman before him so sorrowful.

The woman glanced at Chen Chao. The disappointment and grief in her eyes had not dissipated. She shook her head and said sadly, “You don’t understand his pride. If he were still alive, how could he have abandoned his saber?”

“Even if it was broken, he would never have left it behind.”

Her eyes were full of reminiscence. “I know better than anyone how much he loved his saber.”

Chen Chao opened his mouth, but the woman’s words were logical and clear. He truly did not know how to refute her.

“You don’t need to be like this. I’ve long known that he passed away. If it weren’t so, he would never have stayed away for so many years.”

The woman looked at Chen Chao and suddenly smiled. “It seems you even resemble him a little.”

Chen Chao asked, “That senior, where did he go?”

He was now certain that the former owner of the broken saber was an extraordinary person. For such a person to fight until his saber broke, just that alone spoke volumes of what he had experienced.

The woman did not answer that question. Instead, she slowly walked to the lakeside and said, “Do you know how many years I’ve stayed in this place?”

Chen Chao glanced at Autumn. She was still standing in place, seemingly lost in thought. Chen Chao walked up to the lake and said, “Senior...”

“Don’t call me something so old. If you like, you can call me elder sister.”

The woman turned and gave Chen Chao a sidelong glance, with a smile in her eyes.

Chen Chao was somewhat at a loss.

“Do you think I’m unworthy of being your elder sister?”

The woman gave Chen Chao a displeased glance.

Chen Chao opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Elder Sister has likely lived for more than a thousand years.”

The woman nodded. “I haven’t kept count, but it’s long since passed a thousand.”

Chen Chao had long suspected it, but hearing her admit it personally still left him very shocked.

She was different from that girl they once found in the coffin, this woman had not been asleep, had not hidden away, but had truly remained alive all this time.

Her cultivation realm was beyond comprehension.

“It’s just that I can’t leave this place.”

The woman did not hide it. Perhaps she felt that this young man had a connection to her old acquaintance.

Chen Chao opened his mouth. “Why?”

The woman glanced at him but did not answer. Instead, she asked, “How is the world outside now? Tell me about it. The last time I heard anything was several hundred years ago.”

Chen Chao nodded and did not refuse. He slowly began to describe the current state of the world, its powers, its changes, speaking slowly and earnestly.

The woman said in surprise, “That Great Liang Dynasty is that powerful now?”

Chen Chao nodded with a smile. “It’s because there was once a truly remarkable emperor.”

The woman looked at him and spoke with deep meaning: “What the eyes see is not always the truth. Many things must be peeled back layer by layer.”

Chen Chao furrowed his brows.

“Don’t frown. It doesn’t look nice.”

The woman reached out and smoothed his brow, speaking gently. “The last time he came, he also told me many things about the outside world. I longed for it too, after all, I’ve been here for far, far too long. I grew tired of it. It’s a pity that you all can come and leave, but I can’t go out.”

A place like Divine Mountain might seem a paradise to many, but to her, it was just a place that imprisoned her.

Chen Chao had not spoken yet when the woman finally answered the earlier question. She said slowly, “He came and stayed with me for a while. I fell in love with him, but he had to leave. He couldn’t stay here with me. I couldn’t keep him. He said he’d come back for me, but I waited so many years and knew he won’t be coming back. Now that his saber has ended up in your hands, I know all the more that he won’t return.”

She looked at Chen Chao and said, “So if you like someone, don’t let go of her hand. Take her with you wherever you go. Even dying together is better than being separated by mountains and rivers, never to meet again.”

After saying that, the woman looked over at Autumn and raised her brows slightly.

Chen Chao noticed her expression and shook his head. “I don’t like her.”

“I can see that. But it seems you do have someone you like.”

The woman reached out and tapped his glabella with a finger.

The woman’s familiar attitude towards him made Chen Chao feel a bit uncomfortable, but he still quickly asked, “Elder Sister, what is this place exactly?”

The woman nodded and said, “Divine Mountain. Many years ago, before this world even had dynasties, the cultivators you mentioned established many sects. Among the greatest of them were called Divine Mountains, existences akin to the likes of the Infatuation Daoist Temple that you talked about.”

She spoke softly. “Back then, there were four Divine Mountains. This one was called the Northern Realm Divine Mountain.”

She glanced at Chen Chao again and said gently, “I was the Divine Daughter of this Divine Mountain.”

When she said the words ’Divine Daughter,’ her eyes dimmed.

Chen Chao inexplicably thought of the mural he had seen in that long corridor earlier and could not help asking.

The Divine Daughter looked at him and nodded. “That’s right. That is the fate of the Divine Daughters through the ages.”

“It’s just that I was luckier and escaped that destined fate. But the fate I ended up with wasn’t much easier.”

The Divine Daughter shook her head. The past was far too complicated, and some things she no longer wished to speak of.

Chen Chao asked, “The destruction of this Divine Mountain, was it because of a sword immortal?”

Earlier he had seen traces of sword qi, yet here he found no traces of it here.

The Divine Daughter glanced at Chen Chao and said, “You mean that guy. He came here in search of divine medicine.”

“Divine medicine?”

Autumn, who had been silent all this while, suddenly spoke and looked over.

The Divine Daughter said calmly, “Among the four Divine Mountains, each one had a single divine medicine. That guy came with his sword in hand to forcibly seize it.”

“But since the four Divine Mountains were already the most powerful sects of their time, why was that sword immortal able to break in so easily?”

Chen Chao had his doubts and wanted the Divine Daughter to answer them.

She shook her head. “Although that man was strong, for him to destroy the Northern Realm Divine Mountain alone was still impossible. It was only because all our mountain’s powerhouses were away at the time, and none of the powerhouses remained to guard it, that he was able to exploit the opportunity.”

“Did he end up taking the divine medicine?”

Autumn looked urgently at the Divine Daughter.

That sword immortal had slaughtered his way into this Divine Mountain, he must have succeeded.

The Divine Daughter looked at Autumn and shook her head. “He came at the wrong time. The divine medicine had just ripened and was already harvested.”

A divine medicine had to be harvested immediately upon ripening, and then another had to be planted anew.

“A single divine medicine can seize endless good fortune. It’s absolutely impossible to plant two at once. And the seed of a divine medicine is something one can only come across by chance, it cannot be sought.”

The Divine Daughter explained patiently, revealing a few secrets to the two of them.

“What about now?”

Autumn asked, looking at the Divine Daughter. “Is there still divine medicine?”

The Divine Daughter looked at her and asked curiously, “You want it?”

Autumn replied, “I’m willing to trade everything for it.”

The Divine Daughter smiled and said, “Do you think you have anything that could compare to divine medicine?”

Autumn had no words.

This divine medicine was arguably the most precious thing in the world, what could possibly compare?

Chen Chao, on the other hand, was a bit curious as to why Autumn was so obsessed with this so-called divine medicine.

“In any case, I want divine medicine.”

Autumn was very resolute, having a determined attitude towards divine medicine.

The Divine Daughter gave her a glance and shook her head, not taking the girl’s words seriously. She pointed to the cottage nearby and said calmly, “Even if you want it, it’s useless, because it hasn’t matured yet.”

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