Chapter 155 Over four thousand years, everything seems to have been edged with gold...
Since leaving Luofan City two days ago, the spirit boats have encountered several other spirit boats and teams from other exiled immortal organizations on the road.
But just as Bitao had predicted, after seeing their massive formation and scale, those people not only feared being "swallowed up" by clashing with them and avoided them, but were even afraid of being ambushed, so they would offer them some "tribute".
The offerings were mostly magical artifacts and celestial beads, not many in number, but enough to make up for their losses along the way.
On July 29th, they stopped in the mountains near a small town that was only a day's journey away from the Nine Heavens Palace, and decided not to go any further.
With only three days left until the Ascension Ceremony, there must be a large number of exiled immortals who have already moved into the Nine Heavens Palace.
Bitao and the others had just killed Yaori, the immortal lord who had been cooperating with Jiuxiao Palace for many years. They had not yet made formal contact with Jiuxiao Palace, and had not received a reply to the letter they sent to inquire about Xu Xingshen's attitude. It was not advisable for them to appear in Jiuxiao Palace's territory rashly.
Bitao ordered everyone to land and set up camp to rest. She would send someone to inquire about the Immortal Alliance and its forces in the Nine Heavens Palace, and then on the day of the Ascension Ceremony on the second day of the eighth lunar month, she would go to the Nine Heavens Palace to officially appear as the new leader of the Immortal Alliance.
The men set up camp in the mountains, while Bitao and the others went into the villages and towns to buy food and supplies.
The streets were full of young people.
They had passed through countless towns along the way, and Bitao was no longer surprised by them. The mortals in this star realm, except for those in Luofan City, all only lived to around forty years old.
Living past forty is considered a long life.
In a time of war, in a star realm where celestial bodies are distorted and demons roam freely, such a short lifespan for mortals is not entirely unexpected.
However, apart from these banished immortals who are considered "heretics," there isn't even a wandering evil spirit in the human world.
All the towns they passed through along the way were bustling with activity, the people lived in peace and contentment, the vegetation was lush, and everywhere was thriving.
As Bitao and her entourage finished shopping and were about to leave, a woman walking on the road with her child suddenly collapsed.
The child's cries briefly shattered the peaceful tranquility of the entire street.
"Sister-in-law Lü!" Passersby gathered around the woman, and some vendors temporarily stopped selling their goods to check on the situation.
Bitao and the others did not stop walking. She thought the woman would be sent to the town's medical clinic.
But soon, these people dispersed.
Only one strong man remained. He carried the woman on his back and, as if it were commonplace, said to the wailing child beside him, "Don't cry, your mother isn't sick, she's just dying."
"Quickly run to tell your father to go to Zhang Liang's shop and order a set of funeral clothes and a coffin."
The burly man carried the woman, who had been walking peacefully on the road but suddenly became barely alive. He weighed her in his arms, wiped the sweat from his brow, and said, "It's hot, we need to bury her soon or she'll start to stink..."
The stall owners returned to their respective posts, none of them showing any sadness or regret.
For these people, dying after reaching old age seems to be something more common than getting sick.
Bitao stood at the street corner and watched as the woman was carried a few steps. She was holding a piece of malt candy she had bought for her child. The candy rolled twice down the back of the man's clothes and fell to the ground.
Her drooping fingers were wrinkle-free, yet her life was about to end.
She had been teasing her child with this malt candy, only letting him lick it twice.
Now, the maltose candy that was still intact, wrapped around a stick, has rolled to the ground and is covered in dirt.
Like a woman, she was perfectly fine, yet she could only return to dust.
Bitao has witnessed too many such things these days, and seeing it now still makes her feel sad.
The little boy who ran crying to his father to order funeral clothes for his mother looked about the same age as Tai Chi back then...
Without his mother, who will love him?
His mother is dying at such a young age, so his father probably won't live for many more years.
Even if the townspeople are kind and honest, how can such a young child walk alone in this vast world?
Bitao took a step toward the woman.
The person following her grabbed her arm.
"Immortal Lord, it's time to go back." Ji Chunjun's voice was gentle, yet it also carried the indifferent coldness that belonged to her mutated water spirit.
She looked at Bitao and said, "We've almost finished giving away all our pills to mortals along the way. We should keep some for when our own people get injured."
"These mortals all die young; this is the norm in this world, and it has been so for thousands of years. Immortal Lord, no matter how kind-hearted you are, can you possibly save everyone?"
Bitao also knew that she could no longer interfere.
But when she heard what Ji Chunjun said, she turned to look at her in surprise: "You mean... the short lifespan of the people in this star realm started thousands of years ago?"
After Bitao descended to the mortal realm, based on the accounts of the banished immortals she encountered and their past experiences, she deduced that the flow of time in this star realm was originally the same as that in the celestial realm.
In other words, one day in the heavens is also one day here.
This is quite common, as time flows at different speeds across all realms. In the Shangqing Realm, there are even some star realms where time flows faster than in the celestial realm.
The Dharma Protector Master Han Shang was one of the first to be sentenced, yet he only lived in this realm for a few hundred years.
According to him, the Jiuxiao Palace was only built in the last few hundred years.
After the Celestial Realm selected this star realm as the competition arena, in order to shorten the competition time and select generals for each division to rule the Nine Heavens as soon as possible, the immortals participating in the competition will descend to the mortal realm. The rotation of the yin and yang sundials in the Milky Way will adjust the flow of time in this star realm to one day in heaven and ten years on earth.
There are still many things that Bitao can't understand regarding her speculations and conjectures about this world.
However, all the timelines point to several hundred years ago, when the banished immortals of this world began to be continuously thrown into the sinful realm by the "problematic" Star River Rotation Yin-Yang Sundial.
It's worth noting that there are hundreds of thousands of celestial positions in the Nine Heavens, not even counting the star gods on duty. The number of celestial positions that have been judged is countless. Over hundreds of years, this accumulation of the celestial realm of banished immortals in the star realm is quite reasonable.
With so many banished immortals, a great barrier was built, which plundered the life force of mortals, causing them to have short lifespans. This is perfectly reasonable.
But Ji Chunjun actually said that the star realm here has been like this for thousands of years?
When Bitao asked this question, Jichun Jun was also taken aback.
She had asked Bitao not to inquire about her past, partly because she didn't want to tell anyone about her own experiences.
Another reason is that Kiharu-kun doesn't remember his past at all.
She seems to have forgotten many things, yet she continues to live among humans.
She also suffered harm and moved to many places, but she has never aged or died.
She has been navigating the mortal world for thousands of years, and although her body remains young and beautiful, her heart has aged like the changing sea, no longer capable of stirring up any magnificent waves.
She followed Bitao only because she wanted to regain her power and try to recover her memories.
A person with no past and no origin is like a walking corpse.
Ji Chunjun's immortal veins were successfully restored. After her power returned, she only revealed a fraction of it, yet she was already an unparalleled existence in this realm.
However, she did not regain her memories.
Her own strength only deepened the doubts surrounding her.
Even though she doesn't remember anything, she does remember how many years she has wandered in the human world.
Silently and alone, they have steadfastly held on for countless years.
She was unwilling to mention herself to anyone, but along the way, she watched as this Fairy Bitao ruled over so many immortal positions, binding them together with interests, yet not for the purpose of plundering or harming others, but only for self-preservation.
She seemed to have a grand plan in mind, yet she still felt pity for the people in the towns she passed through, who were like weeds, ignored by everyone.
She even distributed all the elixirs in the team, but it only extended the lives of these people by a few years.
Ji Chunjun has seen far too many banished immortals who have fallen into this realm; most of them are preoccupied with their own affairs and merely trying to survive.
Many have even abandoned their verbal benevolence and morality, becoming utter parasites in this world. Yet, not one of them, even when standing at the "pinnacle of power" and able to control the life and death of others at will, still retains the magnanimity of "having seen the vastness of the universe, yet still cherishing the green of grass and trees."
Bitao looked at Jichunjun and asked again, "Have you really been here for thousands of years?"
Ji Chunjun looked into Bi Tao's beautiful and affectionate peach blossom eyes, and finally nodded.
"yes."
"There are many things I can't remember. But I have been trapped in this world for more than four thousand years."
She witnessed the rise and fall of humankind, the rise and fall of dynasties, the changing of mountains and rivers, and how mortals, whose lives are shorter than ants, are ultimately just ordinary people trapped within it, unable to even remember who they are.
Bitao received confirmation, and the shock within her was like a roaring storm, threatening to burst forth from her body—
More than four thousand years ago... then this Lord Jichun must have been an ancient immortal in the celestial realm.
If everything here started four thousand years ago, then all of Bitao's previous calculations about this world have been overturned.
No one would plan four thousand years in advance just to kill a wild immortal spirit.
However, Bitao didn't ask any further questions. Whether Jichunjun's words were true or whether she was also sent to deceive Bitao remained to be confirmed.
To conceal the shock and tremor in her eyes, Bitao quickly lowered her head, pretending to look at the stall selling goods not far away.
Ji Chunjun also turned his head away, clearly no longer wanting to say anything.
Just then, Ji Chunjun turned his head and looked in the direction where their own people had come to buy things.
Someone gave Ji Chun a loud whistle, which served as a signal to end the shopping trip.
For a short time, Bitao suppressed the overwhelming rage in her heart and looked in the direction of the sound.
Mingguang was carrying several wine jars in one hand and a package of braised food wrapped in oil paper in the other, his arm almost stretched out, clearly showing his disdain.
He looked at Bitao across the street and smiled.
His solemn expression, which had been carefully crafted over the years, now melted away amidst the bustling fireworks of the ten-mile-long street. His snow-white immortal robe fluttered up, lifting his long, dark hair in the wind. Beneath the flowing robe, however, hung not a sword to ride the wind and pierce the clouds, but several packets of pastries of various flavors.
The people protecting Mingguang were carefully selected by the Dharma Protector, and they followed at a distance, each looking relaxed and at ease.
Not far behind Mingguang, Zhankui and Guanghan held hands and shared a piece of maltose wrapped around a wooden stick.
The look in someone's eyes when they love them is impossible to hide. When Guanghan and Zhankui looked at each other, the tenderness in their eyes was sweeter than the candy he was holding in his fingers.
Both Zhan Kui and the other man had a fondness for "colors," and both wore bright red robes, resembling two peonies growing side by side, attracting attention and admiration.
The surrounding vendors were hawking their wares noisily, and the sunlight overhead was warm and bright, as if everything was edged with gold, exuding boundless warmth.
This is simply a perfect painting of peach blossoms, one could yearn for it for a lifetime.
But amidst this endlessly beautiful scene, Bitao felt a chilling dread that sent shivers down her spine.
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