HSSB1067: The dead are departed
‘Embracing Grand Ultimate’ He Xixing was an expert of the late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint realm.
He was a prided disciple of the Brocade Emperor’s and the peak descendant of Red Lotus Cliff.
He had always been acclaimed alongside the likes of Nie Jingshen and Qing Shuzi in the World beyond Worlds.
While not as famous as Nie Jingshen, he was still a peak expert of the World beyond Worlds’ younger generation.
He was one of those who stood at the peak of the ninth level of the Martial Saint realm and merely a step away from the Human Exalt stage, having a chance of becoming a new Exalt in the near future.
When talking about her fellow disciples to Yan Zhaoge, Fu Ting had been full of praise towards this He Xixing.
Yan Zhaoge had also met him once at Ingenious Flying Peak before.
Afterwards, due to Yan Zhaoge’s reminder, He Xixing had come south in an attempt to locate the Brocade Emperor.
Now, while he had finally managed to find him, He Xixing could not feel happy at all.
“Why exactly has Master come here?” After greeting Yan Zhaoge, He Xixing gazed again towards that hemisphere of black and white above the great earth with a troubled expression on his face.
Yan Zhaoge glanced and him and hesitated, not telling him about his guess that he had told Wang Pu and Qiu Jiahai about in the end.
Through sound transmission, he conveyed a bit of this to Fang Zhun. A strange light instantly glowed in Fang Zhun’s eyes upon having heard this.
While shocking waves surged within his heart, his expression remained unchanged and as per usual.
After a while, he took his leave of He Xixing before departing in a nonchalant manner like nothing was the case.
He had left to contact others of Broad Creed Mountain and make some preparations beforehand.
Yan Zhaoge remained where he was, gazing at that hemisphere of black and white along with He Xixing. There was no use in being anxious now as they could only await patiently.
Soon after, yet another person arrived from the north.
Gazing over, Yan Zhaoge and He Xixing saw the newcomer who was garbed in brownish-yellow clothing and had a solemn expression on his face.
“Li Junxin…” After seeing that person’s features, a name appeared within Yan Zhaoge’s mind.
This was a disciple of the Earth Exalt and a descendant of the Earthly Sovereign, ‘Earth Spirit Lord’ Li Junxin.
He was also a late Immortal Bridge Martial Saint who was acclaimed alongside He Xixing and Qing Shuzi’s lot.
His fame surpassed even that of He Xixing and Qing Shuzi somewhat, being inferior only to Nie Jingshen’s.
The Heaven Emperor had said that besides his disciple Qing Shuzi, there were three others who had an extremely high possibility of attaining the Human Exalt stage within a short period of time.
This referred to none other than Nie Jingshen, Li Junxin and He Xixing.
The Earth Exalt Wang Zhengcheng had an extremely high age and seniority within the World beyond Worlds. As a result, Li Junxin’s seniority was remarkably high as well.
Still, Li Junxin was not putting up any arrogant act as he was simply looking with a grave expression on his face over at that massive hemisphere of black and white that enveloped Star Reflecting Lake.
As he saw Yan Zhaoge, his gaze flickered slightly before he took the initiative to walk towards them.
“Long time no see, Fellow Daoist He,” Li Junxin greeted, “This is our first meeting, Fellow Daoist Yan. This Li greets you here.”
Yan Zhaoge and He Xixing returned proper greetings to him, “You are polite, Fellow Daoist Li.”
The trio stood together. As more people arrived in their surroundings to take a look at the situation, their attentions momentarily shifted away from that white and black hemisphere, instead falling on them.
One was a personal disciple of the Brocade Emperor, another a descendant of the Earthly Sovereign.
There was another who was the junior apprentice-nephew of the Sword Sovereign. Not even looking at his background, this person had also stirred up incomparable waves in recent years, being a figure of the younger generation of the World beyond Worlds who had most been in the limelight recently.
As the three stood together, while Yan Zhaoge’s cultivation base was the lowest amongst them, he drew the most gazes.
In Broad Creed Mountain’s opening ceremony, Yan Di had slain the Southern Exalt Zhuang Shen and shocked the world.
Still, prior to that, Yan Zhaoge had also majorly grasped the upper hand while battling Zhuang Shen.
As an Immortal Bridge Martial Saint, he had left a Human Exalt hard pressed to parry his blows. He would naturally be the subject of all eyes with that.
It need not even be mentioned how Yan Zhaoge had mightily resisted the Heaven Emperor.
While Li Junxin and He Xixing had yet to attain the Human Exalt stage, even if they had, they still might not be able to defeat Yan Zhaoge.
Still, Yan Zhaoge felt somewhat alert.
He vaguely felt as though there seemed to be someone who could truly threaten him present.
It was just that this feeling was extremely indistinct as it was as if he was just imagining it.
“How long has the Brocade Emperor been like this?” Li Junxin now asked in a low tone.
He Xixing took a deep breath before answering, “It has almost been a full day already.”
Yan Zhaoge and Li Junxin both frowned upon hearing this, neither of them speaking.
Everyone remained silent as they simply focused their gazes on that black and white hemisphere.
After who knew how long, Yan Zhaoge’s heart suddenly jolted slightly.
Then, that black and white hemisphere visibly began to collapse as it flattened, finally transforming into a Taiji diagram.
The Taiji diagram rotated, shrinking towards its centre.
As the black and white receded, Star Reflecting Lake which had previously been enveloped by it now finally saw the light of day once more.
Everyone’s eyes lit up at once. The scenery at the lake was indeed intoxicating.
The bright starlight was reflected on the lake’s surface as it was beautiful and majestic, profound and abstruse, causing those who saw it to forget about wanting to leave.
“Could here be where the Brocade Emperor met with Liu Xianting that year?” Yan Zhaoge wondered, “It is indeed a good place for picking up chicks.”
Although the black and white Taiji diagram was receding, everyone dared not approach immediately as they continued to observe it from a distance away.
There was only the Brocade Emperor’s disciple, He Xixing, who strode forward, slowly heading for the centre of the Taiji diagram which was also the centre of Star Reflecting Lake.
Yan Zhaoge looked towards Li Junxin beside him and saw that he too was looking at him.
The two retracted their gazes, heading towards the centre of the lake as well.
The scenery of Star Reflecting Lake was beautiful as it vaguely appeared intricate and graceful somewhat. Still, this entire lake actually occupied a very big region.
At the centre of the lake, there were a few small isles which were all very tiny, resembling some stars which were scattered amidst the starry sky of the universe.
Yan Zhaoge, He Xixing and Li Junxin jointly ascended one of these isles based on their intuition.
The isle was dense with greenery and beautiful too.
Still, the trio was not in the mood to admire this.
Their gazes traversed the countless trees and finally came to rest on a clear spring of the forest.
There were two people seated there.
Beside them was a grave. From the difference between the soil and the surrounding environment, one could tell that it was an old grave which had been newly shifted over from elsewhere.
Controlled by an expert of the martial dao who had the power to move mountains and fill seas, the grave did not have to be dug up at all for this to be done.
The entire surrounding area could be unearthed and moved over to a new area before being settled down again.
For example, the graves of the ancestors of Phoenix Ritual Mountain’s Wutong Slope had also been moved away by Mao Yuansheng and the others as they had abandoned their original headquarters.
Looking at the words inscribed on the stone tablet before the grave, Yan Zhaoge raised his head slightly, “So Liu Xianting was already dead…”
The Brocade Emperor had indeed been looking for Liu Xianting in seeking a person’s whereabouts from the martial practitioners of Phoenix Ritual Mountain’s Wutong Slope.
From the looks of it now, Liu Xianting had already died and been buried long ago. When the martial practitioners of Phoenix Ritual Mountain had left, they had moved her grave along with the others.
Mao Yuansheng had handed it over to the Brocade Emperor afterwards.
The Brocade Emperor had moved Liu Xianting’s grave over to the Star Reflecting Lake.
Yan Zhaoge gazed at the two who were seated before the grave.
One of them was a handsome middle-aged man who appeared around forty on the outside.
He was garbed in snow white clothes and a red robe as his hair streamed untied behind his back.
This was none other than one of the World beyond Worlds’ Five Emperors, the Brocade Emperor Fu Yunchi.