Chapter 129
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 129: Return to the Magic World
Stepping into the Forbidden Spell Array for the second time, Wen Yun’s mind was momentarily pulled into a chaotic time flow, almost shattering, until the laws of time and space enveloped her, slowly restoring calm.
She raised her hand and touched the ring on her thumb, the same ring that shielded her from a strike by Supreme Immortal Shangxuan.
Shen Xinghai had discreetly given Wen Yun this ring before, when he was very close to her, and the ring appeared inconspicuous amid the chaos, unnoticed by anyone else but her.
Wen Yun had long suspected that Shen Xinghai’s ring was special, with a story of its own. She never thought of taking advantage of Shen Xinghai’s gesture to give her the ring, but she was surprised by his selfless act.
Holding the ring at this moment, Wen Yun thought back to the encounter with Supreme Immortal Shangxuan, speculating about the ring’s origin.
"Thank you for helping earlier…"
However, the ring did not glow at all, remaining plain and unremarkable, without an old man with a white beard appearing.
Wen Yun lowered her eyes and continued, "…Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan."
"Sigh…" A long, sad sigh came from the ring, and the spirit inside the ring, whose identity had been exposed, smiled bitterly and said, "When I was still in Shen Xinghai’s hands, I already felt that you were incredibly clever. Now that I’m stuck here in front of you, I know I can’t hide anything from you, young lady. Yes, Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan is indeed the title given to me when I was still alive in this world."
Indeed, it is Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan, the powerful figure from the Dongxuan Sect who was known for trying to break through the Tao Realm in seclusion.
After confirming her suspicions, Wen Yun thanked him again and fell into silence, choosing not to inquire about the intentions behind Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan’s imprisonment in the ring.
This reaction puzzled Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan when he saw it.
When Shen Xinghai first found the ring, he was so excited that he recited a poem to the heavens and revered it as a treasure.
In comparison, Wen Yun’s attitude seemed rather cold. She didn’t kneel down crying and begging for help to save Ye Shubai, nor did she eagerly ask for guidance on cultivation techniques.
Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan was surprised, "Little girl, aren’t you curious why I am in this ring, or why I am willing to help you resist Shangxuan?"
Wen Yun slowly rolled her eyes and whispered almost inaudibly, "This isn’t a storybook, and I’m not the main character."
Since Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan was trapped in the ring and unable to escape, how could he possibly help her defeat Shangxuan?
Life is real and tough, not like in fairy tales where a poor young boy can shout to the sky for help and find a magic ring to change his life, leading to a path of endless victories.
Wen Yun is always more awake than anyone else, she never daydreams.
Instead of hoping to change fate with a magic ring, it’s better to quickly find the right moment in time and space.
Wen Yun looked up and saw a strange scene before her eyes.
She felt like she was in an endless tunnel, with flashing images and various scenes and sounds swirling around her, bustling and passing by quickly, before she could even fully see one scene, the next one appeared.
This is called a temporal anomaly.
There are countless moments in time and space here, belonging to the life stories of countless people.
Wen Yun needs to find her own life story in them and go back in time. If she chooses the wrong moment that has nothing to do with her past, she will be like a lost fly and will be mercilessly crushed by the laws of time and space.
But there are too many scenes belonging to others, shining like stars, constantly passing before her eyes, like dense strands of rain, only by putting her whole heart into them can she grab hold of them.
At first, Wen Yun walked very slowly, carefully searching for pieces that belonged to her in these fragments of time and space.
As time went on, her pace began to quicken little by little, almost being able to tell if the fragments around her were the ones she needed.
In the chaotic time and space stream, Wen Yun couldn’t feel the passing of time. She didn’t know how long she had been searching. Whenever she felt tired and confused, wanting to give up, the image of Ye Shubai falling down would appear in front of her like a nightmare, waking her up and pushing her to continue forward.
After searching for a long time, Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan initially remained silent. Later on, perhaps due to being trapped day after day in this chaotic time and space stream, with only him and Wen Yun in this space, he began to talk about the past with Wen Yun out of boredom.
"Since you know my identity, you must also know about my seclusion thousands of years ago. At that time, I indeed wanted to break through the Tao Realm, but I did not perish in the attempt. Rather, I was ambushed by Shangxuan midway, had my life and death rules taken away, and had to hide in seclusion, becoming a spirit in the process."
Through Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan’s storytelling, Wen Yun finally glimpsed into the past of thousands of years ago.
Thousands of years ago, the Dongxuan Sect produced a powerful figure in the Tao Realm, who governed the order of all realms and was revered as the Way of Heaven.
When the Way of Heaven fell, he passed on the methods of achieving the great Dao to his disciple Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan, who had comprehended the rules of life and death, hoping that he would become the next Way of Heaven and rule over all realms.
"However, just as I was about to break through the Tao Realm in seclusion, my fellow disciple Shangxuan, who had risen from obscurity, treacherously attacked me while I was in seclusion, stole my laws of life and death, and even sought to become the next ruler of the Way of Heaven."
"I wandered around for a long time, drifting for thousands of years, and ended up in the hands of that Shen Xinghai kid."
After thousands of years, Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan’s voice sounded with a hint of sigh, but there was not much anger left.
With the situation already decided, he could only be trapped in this ring and could not escape. At this moment, recounting the past seemed like just calmly telling a story.
Wen Yun continued to watch the constantly flashing images beside her, without responding.
Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan changed the subject–
"Young girl, your talent is the best I have ever seen in my life. You have also mastered the laws of time and space. If I tell you the breakthrough method, I believe you can achieve the Tao Realm in the future…"
Wen Yun glanced at the ring and calmly said, "Senior, you don’t have to beat around the bush with conditions. Even if you don’t say it, I will still kill Shangxuan, not for revenge for you, but for myself."
The words "I’ll tell you if you kill Shangxuan for me" that Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan wanted to say got stuck in his throat, and he could only let out a helpless sigh in the end.
He had originally wanted to hint at some conditions, but he never expected Wen Yun to be so cold and unyielding, not listening to any persuasion!
It wasn’t clear how much time had passed, even the ancient Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan couldn’t ignore the endless loneliness and vaguely revealed some secrets to Wen Yun about achieving the Tao Realm.
"Actually, the natural order goes in cycles. When the world is harmonious again and its people believe in it, they can reach the Tao Realm. But if doubts arise among the people, the world will fall apart."
"Following Shangxuan’s plans, if one day he can control all worlds with the laws of life and death, after countless years, the worlds will eventually see him as the absolute truth, just like the ‘perfect world’ he created, and he could become the new natural order."
"I can no longer see clearly ahead, but if you are willing to be my successor, I can help you achieve greatness!"
After Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan said this, Wen Yun, who had been searching endlessly, finally stopped.
Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan thought he had convinced Wen Yun, but when he was about to speak, Wen Yun gestured for silence.
"Shh."
Wen Yun picked up a fragment of time and felt a familiar energy. Despite spending so long here, she remembered that the owner of this fragment was someone very close to her.
As she held the fragment, a vision appeared before Wen Yun.
This is a broken old house, with overgrown weeds, and even the skinny dog tied at the entrance.
In front of this shabby house, there was a group of servants, and the steward at the front was dressed in luxurious clothes and jewels, arrogantly saying, "Your Shen family is in decline, and our Ming family is not a good match. Besides, our young lady has been taken in by a noble person, while your Shen young master couldn’t even pass a local exam. Our paths are different, so it’s best to cancel this engagement!"
Standing opposite the steward was an old man with a hunched back, wiping tears and saying, "But this engagement was arranged by our late master, young master…"
"How could your young master, just a commoner, aspire to marry a future fairy? Here is a token, a hundred pieces of silver given by our young lady, take it!"
The Ming family servants smashed a box at the old servant’s feet, revealing shiny silver coins, then proudly rode away on their horses, not willing to stay any longer.
The old servant didn’t look at the silver, but desperately chased after them, saying, "You can’t leave, you can’t leave! How can I explain this to our late master with the way Ming family behaves!"
Just then, a soft voice came from inside the old house, saying, "Wang, let them go!"
A frail young boy leaned against the doorway, pale and sickly, but with bright eyes.
He stared at the group ahead, his voice hoarse, saying, "So the Ming family are such contemptuous and materialistic people, then I refuse this engagement!"
Upon hearing this, the steward on the other side suddenly grabbed the reins of his horse and turned around, frowning down at the young man, coldly saying, "You must be Shen Xinghai? Hmph, the rumors are true, you are a useless sickly boy. How dare a useless person like you offend the Ming family? Break his legs, teach him a lesson!"
The steward of the Ming family raised his hand and a burly man behind him understood, pulling out a long bow, ready to attack right then and there!
An arrow swiftly flew towards Shen Xinghai’s thigh, the young man awkwardly rolling on the ground to dodge it, and then several more arrows followed, which he dodged one by one.
The steward’s demeanor turned even colder upon seeing this.
Feeling humiliated, the burly man’s face turned dark, he put more strength into drawing another arrow, but this time he didn’t aim for Shen Xinghai’s leg, instead, he aimed straight at his face, a hit to which would surely be fatal!
Shen Xinghai was already exhausted and collapsed on the ground, unable to move, only able to watch helplessly as the sharp arrow grew larger in front of his eyes.
Just as the arrow tip was half an inch away from the young man’s forehead—
"Ding!"
Suddenly, a crisp sound rang in Shen Xinghai’s ears, an ancient ring falling from the sky collided with the arrow, miraculously stopping its momentum. In an instant, both the ring and the arrow fell into his embrace.
When seen by others, it seemed like the arrow didn’t have enough strength and fell to the ground before reaching him.
The strong man felt puzzled, instinctively tried to pull his bow but found his quiver empty.
The steward coldly snorted and said, "Useless! Forget about it, spare that little useless one, let’s go!"
The slim young man slowly got up, viciously threw the arrow out, but his gaze fell on the ancient ring.
He rubbed the ring, looked at the departing figures, and vowed slowly, "For thirty years in the east of the river, for thirty years in the west of the river, do not underestimate the poor youth!"
Hearing these familiar words, Wen Yun was startled, her numb face softened a bit after who knows how long, and finally she smiled silently.
She looked down at her hand, her thumb now empty, the ring bearing Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan was smashed into the fragments of time and saved the young Shen Xinghai in a moment of desperation.
So that’s how Martial Brother Shen’s ring came to be.
So… this is karma.
She put down the time and space fragment that belonged to Shen Xinghai and continued to search for her own past after bidding farewell to her old friend.
Without Supreme Immortal Yang Xuan accompanying her, Wen Yun felt even lonelier on her journey.
As she opened her eyes, she saw countless fragments of memories.
She closed her eyes, recalling the fading past.
The road ahead became particularly long, and Wen Yun walked forward silently and stubbornly without stopping.
This endless road was too long, and she had been walking on it for too long.
The emptiness and loneliness almost consumed her. On a certain day, when she saw a piece of time and space fragment, she was momentarily confused, unable to distinguish if it belonged to her own past. She almost took a step forward, until she touched the image and suddenly woke up, withdrawing her hand.
By this point, Wen Yun had forgotten what she was actually searching for, only remembering that she wanted to find one person.
She was like a ghost drifting in the chaos of time and space, neither alive nor dead.
Until one day, a small fragment of time and space drifted towards Wen Yun and stopped in front of her as if responding to her presence.
Wen Yun stopped walking and looked down at her hand.
A picture appeared there.
A strange-looking black-haired girl stood in a gloomy forest, holding a worn sheepskin book in her left hand and waving a long black stick in her right hand. She murmured incomprehensible words to herself.
Suddenly, the barking of hunting dogs and the sound of horse hooves echoed through the dark forest, as people shouted to each other loudly.
"The evil corruptor is hiding in this deep forest!"
"Capture her and hand her over to the church!"
Amidst the commotion, even the birds fled in all directions. The little girl twisted her eyebrows, swiftly and skillfully put away the sheepskin book and stick, and swiftly lifted her robes to hide deep into the forest.
However, the hounds’ sense of smell was too keen, and the horses’ hooves were much faster than the girl’s slim legs. The group of people was getting closer to her, and she could even smell the foul odor coming from the animals.
"See her and catch her!"
The girl with black hair tightly held onto the magic wand in her hand, desperately trying to remember the Floating Skill spell she had just learned. However, her mind was blank at this moment, unable to recall anything.
At that moment, a small ripple seemed to appear in the world, like a tiny pebble dropped into a calm water surface.
No one noticed anything unusual.
A sudden gust of wind swept in, blinding the pursuers’ eyes.
The black-haired girl with dark eyes pressed down her cloak with her right hand, and tucked her messy hair behind her ear with her left hand. The panicked expression on her face was replaced with a cold and proud look.
She floated delicately up to the treetops, resembling an elegant forest crow.