Chapter 69 The Strange Junior Brother This was definitely an excuse, but the junior brother insisted…
"So this is where I am."
Fu Ming, who was transmitted through the secret array, couldn't help but sigh.
A sea of clouds rolls on, and beyond the dense fir forest, snow lotus blossoms grow among the dark blue pebbles, while above that, only the eternally white frost and snow remain.
These are the Twelve Snow Mountains located atop Kunlun Mountain.
Accidentally trespassing into forbidden territory is a classic trope in male-oriented fantasy novels, and even Fu Ming was no exception.
The Tianyan Sect is situated at the foot of Kunlun Mountain, the ancestral mountain of all mountains. In addition to a dozen main and secondary peaks, there are hundreds of other peaks rarely visited by humans. These peaks are either used by elders as secluded retreats or opened to disciples for hunting spirit beasts and gathering spirit herbs, allowing for free movement.
There is one place that must never be visited, and that is the forbidden area that is passed down among the disciples of the Tianyan Sect.
A hundred years ago, Fu Ming came here by chance, but after being caught, he lost all his memories, which were probably wiped away by the Calabash Taoist.
Seeing you now feels like reuniting with an old friend, and a strange emotion wells up in my heart.
What exactly did he see inside back then?
But he only lingered for a short while before he saw two long rows of footprints left in the snow.
The Calabash Taoist and Xiao Huaiyuan had already gone ahead.
Well, this Xiao Huaiyuan, who turns his back on everyone as soon as he gets out of bed, didn't even wait for him!
Fu Ming strode forward in three quick steps, mischievously climbed onto Xiao Huaiyuan's shoulder, and whispered something in Xiao Huaiyuan's ear as he returned to seriousness.
"Junior brother, how come you know this place so well? Have you come here secretly before?"
He chuckled smugly, having finally caught the good student Xiao Huaiyuan in a bad way.
Xiao Huaiyuan turned his head to the side, his usually pursed thin lips immediately drawing close to Fu Ming's. He glanced at Fu Ming helplessly and said, "Senior Brother."
"Hmm?" Fu Ming, being a bit cheeky, casually pinched his junior brother's lips into a duck's beak.
So Xiao Huaiyuan continued in this flat tone: "All the previous leaders of the Tianyan Sect know the location of the forbidden area."
Fu Ming, who had forcibly inserted himself between Xiao Huaiyuan and the Calabash Taoist, fell silent.
Now, he has the sect leader of Tianyan Sect on his left and the sect leader of Tianyan Sect on his right.
Isolate him, shall we?
"Ahem." Seeing his two rebellious disciples flirting and joking around as if no one else was around, the Calabash Taoist couldn't help but cough twice, his old face turning red. "You brats, this old man is right here, can't you two behave yourselves?"
The gourd-shaped Taoist thought to himself, "At least don't do it in front of him, okay?"
Despite his formidable reputation as the most powerful figure in the Three Realms, revered by both immortals and demons, the Calabash Daoist, though seemingly tough, was utterly helpless against his two disciples. Even he himself might not be able to defeat Fu Ming now, let alone both of them.
Fu Ming shifted his gaze from Xiao Huaiyuan's face, his provocative words still sharp: "Anyway, Master, you'll get used to it sooner or later, so there's no harm in looking at it more now."
Their master-disciple relationship wasn't exactly that of a proper master and disciple. They didn't attend the recruitment ceremony, nor did they even perform the formal apprenticeship ritual. It was simply that the Calabash Taoist had picked up a wild child from an abandoned secret realm on a whim one day, which led to Fu Ming's current status. The Calabash Taoist never lectured on grand principles, and Fu Ming believed that with some time to adjust, he should be able to accept it.
However, what's wrong with my junior brother? He's been so quiet lately.
He turned his head, but only saw the back of a head with neatly combed black hair. Xiao Huaiyuan was looking elsewhere, his posture reserved and indifferent.
A logical guess suddenly popped into my head.
Could it be that he finally realized he had gone too far in disregarding human ethics and moral principles, and wanted to back out?
Frankly speaking, Xiao Huaiyuan's personality changed so much from his youth to his adulthood, from becoming the head of the Tianyan Sect to returning to the Tianyan Sect under the alias Ming Zhong, that it was impossible for him to understand his junior brother's thoughts.
With his limited knowledge, even he still couldn't understand why Xiao Huaiyuan had suddenly fallen deeply in love with him.
"Won't we have to hold a covenant ceremony later? If we're not used to it now, how will Master be the master of ceremonies for us, right, junior brother?"
The silver hairpin inlaid with white jade turned to the front, and Xiao Huaiyuan's dark eyes slowly moved.
Before he could utter a single word, he was interrupted by the Calabash Taoist's actions. As a result, Fu Ming failed to catch the fleeting shadow in his eyes.
Even if a few more mouths were to argue with Fu Ming, the gourd-shaped Taoist would still be unable to win. He stretched out his arm to signal them to stop: "Alright, alright, we've arrived."
A seemingly unremarkable, broken, rusty sword drew a circle on the white, snow-covered rocks. The gourd-wielding Taoist's eyes gleamed with gold, and he suddenly channeled a torrent of spiritual power into the arc.
Fu Ming squinted, sensing the oppressive aura. The Calabash Daoist, who was infinitely close to the Mahayana stage, was indeed much stronger than the old Demon Lord who had tried to force a breakthrough that day.
Strangely, his master's spiritual energy was perfectly contained, yet there was no sign of him breaking through to the Mahayana stage.
Is it a lack of merit, a lack of spiritual resolve, or something else?
The force of his energy lifted the wrinkled outer robe of the Heavenly Evolution Sect and the long white eyebrows that reached his temples of the Calabash Daoist. Amidst the clanging sound of snow tumbling down, he carved out an ice cave with a diameter of five zhang. The interior of the cave was glowing with a green light, just big enough for two people to enter.
Immediately afterwards, the Calabash Taoist used his sword as a brush to draw two golden characters in mid-air. As he drew, his hand trembled more and more violently, and many brown spots and wrinkles appeared on his face, and his back became more hunched.
The Calabash Taoist used his own life essence to guide them.
However, even if an ordinary cultivator were to have their soul cut off and blood drained, they wouldn't be this weak. Fu Ming frowned and asked, "The Five Signs of Decay of Heaven and Man? Master, how much of your lifespan do you have left?"
The old man with the gourd snorted like a playful child: "It's not up to the younger generation to worry about this. You take this Soul Gathering Talisman, retrieve the Mirror Soul, and you'll have a better chance of winning."
Above the azure sky, the haunting phantom of the divine palace reappeared, as if it were watching over them, these audacious ants.
Looking up at the illusory figure, the Calabash Taoist pointed upwards and said, "Now that things have come to this, I no longer need to hide it from you. This figure is the Qingdu Imperial Palace. Once it descends into this world, it will bring those who are destined to ascend to the Mahayana stage or even become immortal."
Fu Ming kneaded the thin, paper-like talisman as if he were rekindling a long-lost bond between master and disciple: "It sounds like a good thing."
The Calabash Taoist's expression was solemn: "Wrong. The spiritual energy in the world is predetermined. When a great opportunity arrives, it is also the day of a great calamity. If a true immortal cannot emerge, the Three Realms will be destroyed in an instant."
[Ding-dong]
The main quest to save the Three Realms and attain immortality has begun. Quest reward: 1 chance to return to Earth.
The fewer the words, the bigger the matter.
The long-awaited announcement sounded in Fu Ming's consciousness. If he had only bound to the system after traveling a hundred years, then he had only unlocked the main quest after reaching the maximum level.
The task prompt was too vague. To be on the safe side, Fu Ming wanted to know more information: "System, send me a task summary."
"System, are you still there?"
He had a bad feeling.
"system?"
"The cutest, most useful, and most lively adorable little system in the world?"
After a while, the notification finally arrived: "Dear host, system employee number 030 has gone into hibernation and is now running an emergency automatic program."
"Hello, the task summary you searched for has not been published. Please search again later."
He used to see the tattered book swimming in his sea of consciousness in various ways, sometimes splashing around, sometimes flapping its wings. But now, the tattered book floats quietly in his sea of consciousness, its mechanical voice stiff and cold.
The snow in Kunlun remains cold and hard for thousands of years, and the cold wind howls across the mountain peak, making their clothes flutter.
Although Fu Ming was unwilling to say it outright, he still secretly cared about the people around him. Perhaps it was because he had lived too lonely a life in these two lifetimes, or perhaps it was because he had received too little affection, but he remembered them all after counting them.
He stuffed a bunch of talismans, pills, and magical treasures into the hands of the gourd-wielding Taoist, and even a handful of silver leaves torn from the pearl, while still speaking in an unpleasant tone.
"Master, please hold on a little longer, don't suddenly die. We'll be right back."
The Calabash Taoist didn't mince words: "What kind of broken copper and scrap iron is this? You brat, how did you end up like this?"
Fu Ming, who had gone through countless hardships to finally become the king of the demon realm: "..."
Okay, if you don't want it, give it back to me.
Xiao Huaiyuan grabbed the furious Fu Ming by the collar and dragged him away, his fur standing on end: "Master, please take care of yourself."
"It's alright, Huaiyuan. I've always trusted you. Just remember to keep an eye on your senior brother." The gourd-shaped Taoist stroked his beard and smiled like a kind, short farmer.
After speaking, Xiao Huaiyuan grasped Fu Ming's warm, jade-like hand and jumped into the abyss together.
The deep blue ice, like solidified water, makes you feel as if you are in the deep sea at first glance. It is quiet but hides evil, and brings a chilling feeling when it touches your skin.
The ice was incredibly slippery, causing Fu Ming to lose his balance slightly during landing, and quite coincidentally, he landed right in Xiao Huaiyuan's arms.
This embrace was especially tight, and the faint scent of sandalwood pressed down on him with his arms, making Fu Ming's old back feel like it was going to break. He had been tossed and turned over and over a few days ago, and he really couldn't take the pinching.
Fu Ming gently pushed for a while, but couldn't budge it. To avoid being misunderstood as throwing himself into someone's arms, he smiled and said with a smile, "Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?"
The pale blue light reflected on Fu Ming's eyebrows and eyes, and her long, butterfly-like eyelashes cast shadows, making her once beautiful and lively face look somewhat lifeless, as if she were not alive.
Fu Ming had a rather peculiar scent. He didn't burn incense, nor did he like to sprinkle flowers and fruits when bathing. So, he only had the bitter smell of blood and fire. Xiao Huaiyuan took a deep sniff.
His senior's slightly feverish body temperature finally put his mind at ease.
"There is a lot of ice and snow here, and it is easy to slip and fall."
With that, Xiao Huaiyuan picked Fu Ming up horizontally and carried him to the depths of the cave without his feet touching the ground.
That's absolutely an excuse.
Fu Ming was, after all, a Nascent Soul cultivator. He hadn't been careful when he came down. If he fell again, he would rather take Xiao Huaiyuan's surname and become Xiao Huaiyuan's grandson.
However, the Demon Lord was magnanimous and let his junior brother carry him if he insisted.
"You've been here many times?" He lay in his junior brother's arms, swaying with his steps, and still had time to glean suspicious information from Xiao Huaiyuan's words.
No.
Xiao Huaiyuan looked back with his eyes downcast, his entire face shrouded in shadow. He was a man of few words, and those who knew him well knew he was just trying to fool people again.
But Fu Ming did not continue to inquire.
Thump, thump.
Something was calling to him.
Fu Ming's temples throbbed; his intuition was always accurate. This man leaped nimbly from Xiao Huaiyuan's arms like a fox, landing steadily on the ice.
The bottom of the cave was dark, yet it contained a cold light, within which floated a... broken mirror.
The dusty mirror was shattered into several pieces, missing three corners, leaving only a blurry reflection of them. It resembled the Xuanyuan Mirror he had seen in the Grand Competition Secret Realm, but it was larger, even larger than his two heads stacked together. The patterns around the mirror were also more intricate and mysterious, looking like the runes of some ancient formation.
Fu Ming reached out to grab it, but found nothing. He looked up and saw something.
It turned out that Xiao Huaiyuan had beaten him to it.
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