Immortal Sword Master

Chapter 491: Chapter 487: Three Thousand Great Provinces, Eternal Stele

”Li Wenchuan, what about your promise?!”

Her words, filled with longing and sorrow, echoed endlessly in Golden Cicada’s mind.

The Five-Stars King, the esteemed Master of White Dragon Hall, Bai Yuyun, was now a picture of sorrow. Tears streamed down her face, and her delicate frame trembled, revealing the overwhelming turmoil within.

”Do you know how much I’ve missed you over this past millennium? Do you know that in this millennium, the Undying Celestial King risked his life multiple times, entering the Ancient Forbidden Land, just to find you? The last time, just ten years ago, the Undying Celestial King returned from the Ancient Forbidden Land gravely injured...”

Every word from Bai Yuyun was laden with weight, and her last sentence, in particular, revealed a great secret.

The Undying Celestial King had been gravely injured in the Ancient Forbidden Land!

A Celestial King suffering a grave injury was no small matter. The more powerful one was, the harder it was to recover, especially for someone like the Undying Celestial King, whose life was approaching its end.

’The experts from the Other Shore said this attack targeting Bai Yuyun was to draw out the Undying Celestial King. Could it be...?’

Ning Jiang grasped the key to the situation.

’Perhaps the people from the Other Shore already knew the Undying Celestial King was injured. That’s why they targeted Bai Yuyun—to test him.’

And the fact that the Undying Celestial King entered the Ancient Forbidden Land ten years ago showed that his life truly was nearing its end.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so desperate to enter the Ancient Forbidden Land to find Golden Cicada.

”I was the one who broke my promise.”

Golden Cicada gave a bitter smile. Faced with the woman’s string of accusations, he couldn’t refute a single one.

His eyes were filled with guilt.

The feeling in his heart soured, especially upon hearing that the Undying Celestial King had entered the Ancient Forbidden Land multiple times to find him, even returning gravely injured on one occasion.

He was a man of flesh and blood, deeply loyal to his friends. If the Undying Celestial King’s demise was because of him, he would never be able to rest in peace.

To him, the Undying Celestial King was both a mentor and a friend...

Bai Yuyun could no longer contain her emotions. She threw herself into Golden Cicada’s arms, a thousand feelings coalescing into a single sentence: ”Brother Li, I missed you so much!”

”Xiaoyun, I’ve made you all suffer.”

Golden Cicada sighed, gently embracing the woman in his arms.

It was a reunion after a thousand years.

Ning Jiang didn’t disturb them, though his own heart was stirred by the scene.

’One hundred thousand years have passed. Could any of my old acquaintances still be in this world?’ At this thought, Ning Jiang gave a helpless smile. ’A hundred thousand years... Even a Venerable would have died by now. What am I even thinking...?’

A hundred thousand years. The world had changed beyond recognition.

This Great Thousand Realms had become utterly unfamiliar. The Six Eastern Provinces, the East Sea—none of these existed in the past.

Back then, the Great Thousand Realms only had the Three Thousand Great Provinces...

As for places like the Ancient Forbidden Land and the Land of the Ruins, he had never heard of them either.

’It seems that during the hundred thousand years of my absence, the Great Thousand Realms has undergone earth-shattering changes.’ Ning Jiang’s gaze turned to the vast void as he murmured, ’The Celestial Road... I wonder if it was held...’

...

”I never imagined the situation in the East Sea could change so much in a mere thousand years. This Other Shore organization is rather mysterious.”

After listening to Bai Yuyun’s account, Golden Cicada was quite surprised.

A thousand years ago, the East Sea belonged to the Undying Celestial King alone. Who would have dared to disobey his command? Throughout the Eight Great Seas, who didn’t know of his might?

”Hmph. A thousand years ago, the Undying Celestial King was Nine Thousand Years Old and dominated the East Sea. Who would have dared provoke him? But things are different now. With the Celestial King’s life approaching its end, these vermin think their time is coming and have started stirring up trouble.”

Bai Yuyun said coldly, her voice laced with killing intent for the Other Shore.

At the same time, however, a bitter feeling welled up inside her. She said softly, ”Even heroes grow old, and beautiful women see their hair turn gray. The Undying Celestial King swept across the lands for ten thousand years, utterly unrivaled, yet in the end, he will be defeated by Time itself.”

”Alas, who in this world can truly achieve Immortality? Even the Legendary Venerables of old eventually fell,” Golden Cicada sighed.

”Brother Li, what has happened to the Great Thousand Realms? If the Undying Celestial King could break through the Celestial Martial Realm and enter the Saint Martial Realm, his lifespan would be extended, wouldn’t it?” Bai Yuyun asked, confused.

”In a past era, with the aptitude of a Celestial King, ascending to the Saint Martial Realm wouldn’t have been difficult. But now...”

As Golden Cicada spoke, his eyes slowly narrowed, becoming incredibly sharp. ”The heavens and the earth have changed. The Saint Martial Realm has become an uncrossable chasm!”

”Brother Li, not even you can do it?” Bai Yuyun’s heart trembled.

”I can’t. The moment one tries to cross that chasm, it will...”

Golden Cicada paused, not finishing his sentence, as if it involved some monumental secret. He changed the subject. ”Perhaps only a living legend of this age, one who has achieved the fabled Ten-Stars Combat Power, could possibly lead us in breaking through. At that time, the Great Thousand Realms will surely usher in a new era, and the Saints who vanished will reappear one by one, won’t they?”

Hearing his words, Bai Yuyun was deeply shaken. She could almost see a brand-new era on the horizon, an era where Celestial Martial Realm Kings would no longer be supreme...

’Ten-Stars Combat Power... a living legend... can anyone truly achieve that?’

Bai Yuyun was skeptical. Ten-Stars Combat Power had always seemed more like a myth. After all, the Undying Celestial King hadn’t achieved it even after ten thousand years of cultivation. She seriously doubted whether Ten-Stars Combat Power even existed.

”There will be,” Golden Cicada said with conviction.

’There will!’ Nearby, Ning Jiang silently echoed the sentiment in his heart.

He didn’t disturb their reunion, his mind completely preoccupied with the black stone stele.

’Immortal?’

Ning Jiang pondered, deeply intrigued by the word that had emerged from the stele.

He remembered the eyeball from beneath the ancient well in Cyan Cloud Country. It had also called this object the Eternal Stele and said it was an ominous thing. But the eyeball had been unwilling to say anything more.

’Based on my deductions, the Eternal Stele should contain a Cultivation Technique, but... it’s incomplete!’

Ning Jiang remembered clearly that the tadpole-like script had only formed a single arm. ’If I’m not mistaken, there might be other steles that record the remaining parts. This Eternal Stele is likely just one piece of a whole.’

’But even I don’t recognize the script on it...’

Ning Jiang frowned. As a Legendary Venerable from a hundred thousand years ago, he was versed in the languages and scripts of countless races and was practically omniscient.

And yet, he didn’t recognize this tadpole-like script!

’And what connection does this stele have to my origins?’

He had obtained this stele in the very place where he had discovered the secret of his birth. Ning Jiang understood that his own origins must hold a monumental secret.

After a moment, Ning Jiang reined in his thoughts.

It was too early to be thinking about such things. He believed that one day, he would decipher the script on the Eternal Stele and learn the truth.

”We’ve arrived at White Dragon Hall.”

Two days later, they officially arrived at White Dragon Hall.