At Chen Yixin’s words, Wenren Li did not open his eyes, but his hands reached backward and supported Chen Yixin beneath the thighs. Then his eyes opened, and the two of them flew away from the immortal crane. Wenren Li carried Chen Yixin on his back as he continued forward, covering an enormous distance with each leap.
Still lying against Wenren Li’s shoulders, Chen Yixin flicked a talisman seal backward from his fingertips. After traveling some distance, it vanished. When it appeared again, it entered directly between the immortal crane’s brows, erasing every memory it had of Chen Yixin and Wenren Li.
It was true that Chen Yixin could command all birds, but the two of them had come to the Upper Realm alone. Caution was still necessary.
“Where is A-Li taking me?” Having dealt with the immortal crane, Chen Yixin stopped paying attention to it. His hand slipped inside Wenren Li’s robes and moved across his chest. Could it be that his A-Li was feeling exactly what he was feeling?
After all, a thousand years ought to have been more than enough for Chen Yixin to corrupt even a tree that had once been the ascetic type into the indulgent type. Chen Yixin felt his reasoning was extremely sound.
A helpless smile appeared on Wenren Li’s face, but he still did not tell Chen Yixin where he was taking him.
Since Wenren Li said nothing, Chen Yixin naturally took that as confirmation. The hand beneath Wenren Li’s robes grew even bolder. With flushed cheeks, Chen Yixin touched him again and again—only to discover that Wenren Li had carried him into an immortal town.
There were far too many people here, and the buildings were rather simple besides. Wenren Li had clearly not brought him here to find a place to “sleep” and “fight.”
Realizing this, Chen Yixin became somewhat annoyed. Yet he merely pulled his left sleeve over his right hand and made absolutely no attempt to remove that hand from inside Wenren Li’s clothes.
He was angry, but that did not mean he had to stop touching him.
Most of the immortals gathered in this town were first- and second-rank Earth Immortals who had ascended from the Lower Realms less than one hundred thousand years earlier. The town was normally busy enough, but lately it had become even livelier because of an immortal guard recruitment station set up in the town center.
These immortal guards were all being sent to the Void-Heaven Battlefield, and the compensation offered was even better than what some Immortal Lords and Immortal Kings provided when recruiting subordinates.
Wenren Li carried Chen Yixin directly to the recruitment station. They registered as a third-rank and fourth-rank Earth Immortal respectively. Once enough people had registered at this location, a teleportation formation would activate and send all of them to the imperial capital, where they would be transferred together to the Void-Heaven Battlefield.
After completing their registration and receiving two scepters, Wenren Li and Chen Yixin stepped away. An immortal running a stall nearby quietly sent them a voice transmission.
“I’ve heard some unusual rumors lately. Would you two young brothers perhaps reconsider?”
He was advising Chen Yixin and Wenren Li to withdraw from the recruitment.
“What rumors?”
Chen Yixin leaned his head away from Wenren Li’s shoulder and looked toward the immortal. He appeared to possess only third-rank Earth Immortal cultivation, but his true strength had already reached the level of a second-rank Heavenly Immortal. In this immortal town, that made him a hidden expert. Naturally, he would have access to far more information than the ordinary Earth Immortals here.
“These recruitment orders have existed ever since a thousand years ago, but they used to appear only in imperial capitals and major immortal cities. Xiao’er Town never had one. Ten years ago, however, recruitment orders began spreading throughout the immortal towns of this entire region. The requirements have been lowered again and again. Now even first- and second-rank Earth Immortals who have only just ascended are being accepted. Whatever opportunities may exist on the Void-Heaven Battlefield, the danger there must be far greater.”
“Thank you for warning us, Fellow Daoist. Unfortunately, my elder brother and I have reasons we must go.” As Chen Yixin spoke, he loosened his arms around Wenren Li’s neck slightly, making their closeness look at least somewhat more normal.
Unfortunately, the attempt only made things look more suspicious. If Chen Yixin genuinely wanted to avoid misunderstanding, he should probably have climbed down from Wenren Li’s back entirely.
The Heavenly Immortal shook his head and laughed. From his first glance at them, he had sensed that Chen Yixin and Wenren Li were unusual. After exchanging a few words, he became even more convinced. “Matters of the heart depend only on fate. People like us have clung to cultivation and life for so many years. How could we still fail to understand something like that?”
Chen Yixin smiled too and nodded. “That’s right. He isn’t my elder brother. He’s my beloved partner. But we’re going to the Void-Heaven Battlefield because we’re looking for my Elder Brother… and my Elder Brother’s beloved partner.”
This Heavenly Immortal clearly had a story of his own. His expression froze slightly, then he nodded again. If they were going there to search for family, ordinary warnings about danger would never persuade them to stop.
He beckoned Chen Yixin and Wenren Li closer and gave them a defensive immortal talisman he had made himself. “If you encounter a Sword Immortal named Gu on the Void-Heaven Battlefield, please tell him that I’ll be waiting for him in Xiao’er Town… waiting for him to come back and drink with me.”
Chen Yixin accepted it and gave the man a small brocade pouch in return. Inside was a relatively common immortal herb. “Use this to steep wine. If fate allows, we’ll come back and drink with you too.”
Wenren Li also nodded to the Heavenly Immortal. Then the two turned away, their figures rapidly disappearing beyond Xiao’er Town.
“So the Upper Realm isn’t entirely filled with fools.”
Chen Yixin played with the immortal talisman for a while before storing it away. Still sprawled comfortably across Wenren Li’s back, he let himself be carried onward. After quite some time, he suddenly patted Wenren Li’s shoulder.
“We forgot to ask his name…”
“Why does A-Rong want his name?” To pass along the message, they only needed to remember the name Gu. Chen Yixin’s curiosity about the immortal talisman and the way he had repeatedly looked back made Wenren Li rather concerned.
Wenren Li stopped walking and turned his head slightly. Chen Yixin was still looking regretfully behind them.
A moment later, Chen Yixin found himself in Wenren Li’s arms, his head pressed firmly back against Wenren Li’s chest.
“I don’t object to A-Rong making friends, but… in any case, A-Rong cannot care too much about anyone other than me. Man or woman—no. Regardless of species.”
Even paying too much attention to flowers, grasses, birds, or beasts would not do.
After saying this, Wenren Li frowned slightly again, pressed his lips together, and fell silent.
If he truly thought about it, Chen Yixin had done nothing inappropriate aside from wanting to know the man’s name. Yet Wenren Li still could not suppress the discomfort inside him. It was not that he distrusted Chen Yixin. This sort of possessiveness simply refused to obey reason.
Chen Yixin blinked. His cheeks puffed slightly as he began muttering under his breath. Even Wenren Li could not make out exactly what Chen Yixin was saying, but there was no question that he was angry.
A trace of helplessness appeared on Wenren Li’s face. Still, he carried Chen Yixin away from the region as quickly as possible. Chen Yixin certainly would not be given the opportunity to go back and investigate that Heavenly Immortal any further.
Once they reached a broad, open area, Wenren Li swept one hand forward. An elegant pavilion appeared. The moment he entered, formations and barriers activated rapidly. The pavilion, along with Chen Yixin and Wenren Li, appeared only for an instant before vanishing completely from sight.
“A-Rong is still angry?” Wenren Li placed Chen Yixin onto the bed. He had not expected that after spending a thousand years practically glued together, he would manage to anger Chen Yixin only a few days after reaching the Upper Realm.
Chen Yixin’s cheeks were still puffed up. He truly was angry this time. He launched himself forward. Wenren Li paused, then obediently allowed Chen Yixin to knock him onto his back.
“Why are you so stupid? Who is he, and who is A-Li? How can the two of you even be compared?”
In this entire world, aside from Qingruo, no one else was even worth placing on the same scale as Wenren Li in Chen Yixin’s heart.
“A-Rong is angry because of that?” Wenren Li gently wrapped his arms around Chen Yixin and pressed the still-puffed-up man against his chest. Then he turned, reversing their positions again. “I was overthinking it.”
Chen Yixin was the only living being in existence Wenren Li had never been able to fully comprehend. That had been true in the past, and it remained true now. Faced with Chen Yixin, every law and divine art Wenren Li understood became useless.
Chen Yixin nodded emphatically. Then a bright smile spread across his face. He lifted both hands and cupped Wenren Li’s cheeks. His eyes shone, overflowing with tenderness.
“I like A-Li best. Past, present, and future, I’ll always like A-Li best. I only like A-Li.”
“A-Li really has been acting more and more like a demonic cultivator lately. But I like it.”
As soon as Chen Yixin finished speaking, he planted a loud smooch on Wenren Li’s mouth, then covered his entire face with kiss, kiss, kiss after kiss.
Wenren Li himself had noticed the change Chen Yixin was talking about.
As he continued absorbing the broken-wood remnants, the hostility born from his past betrayal had also been growing. Naturally, his temperament and behavior differed somewhat from before. But he had always been a demonic cultivator to begin with. His methods had never exactly belonged to the righteous path. Now they had simply become more extreme.
His treatment of Chen Yixin had changed as well. In the past, there had been more caution and tenderness. Now, there was a much stronger streak of possessiveness mixed in.
“Does A-Rong truly like it?” Wenren Li allowed Chen Yixin to continue taking liberties with him, but his expression was faintly uncertain. He was afraid that if this possessiveness continued growing, Chen Yixin might eventually be unable to endure it. Perhaps Chen Yixin would not leave him, but Wenren Li feared he might begin to dislike him.
If there was one thing Chen Yixin found most irritating about Wenren Li, it was how Wenren Li always chose the moments when Chen Yixin was overflowing with desire to say things that completely ruined the mood.
Chen Yixin bared his pointed teeth and bit down directly on the tip of Wenren Li’s nose. His gaze became two degrees fiercer.
“If I didn’t like it, would A-Li let me leave?”
“Impossible!”
Wenren Li’s body stiffened instantly. A faint trace of killing intent seeped from between his furrowed brows.
“Exactly. A-Li won’t let me leave, and I can’t bear to leave. We’re destined to stay together. Whether we’re happy or angry, we’ll be together.” After finishing, Chen Yixin licked the spot he had bitten.
They were already this deeply bound together. Even if they occasionally became annoyed or angry with one another, it amounted to little more than another kind of intimacy. Wenren Li, this blockhead of a tree, simply had a tendency to take everything seriously, while Chen Yixin could never resist coming up with mischievous ideas…
True peace might be difficult for the two of them to achieve. But this noisy chaos of jealousy, temper, and affection was itself a rare kind of happiness—a life that felt vivid and real.
Wenren Li seemed to have been persuaded, or perhaps he was still processing Chen Yixin’s words. Either way, he said no more.
First, he needed to demonstrate through action and properly “feed” this troublesome little phoenix.
They spent a wildly indulgent night together in that nameless wilderness before continuing their journey the next day.
They had received two scepters from the recruitment station in Xiao’er Town. Once the teleportation formation activated, the scepters would automatically transport them to the imperial capital. Before that happened, however, they still needed to search for the surviving forces of the Fengming Realm. Ideally, they would find them before Chen Yixin and Wenren Li were transported to the Void-Heaven Battlefield.
When Chen Yixin and Wenren Li first returned to the Upper Realm, they had gone directly to the Fengming Realm. But the place Qingruo had told Chen Yixin about no longer possessed even an entrance. The two entered through the Void instead and found very few traces of battle. It looked less like the people of that minor realm had been exterminated and more as though everyone had evacuated, destroying the entrance point behind them.
The mark inside the red phoenix feather remained, but that mark would only matter if they actually found someone from the Fengming Realm to show it to. And so they had continued searching without any real direction.
As for going to the Void-Heaven Battlefield, Chen Yixin and Wenren Li had already discussed that while still in the Lower Realm. They had no intention of joining the fighting immediately, but learning more about the battlefield itself was necessary.
Yinzi had been left behind in Taixuan. Even if something unexpected happened there, the Yinzi of today was powerful enough to carry the entire floating island into the Void, conceal it there, and wait for their return.
Although everyone still called it the floating island, the island containing the imperial palace was now surrounded by ten even larger floating islands. Looking upward from Yanzhou, one could no longer see any trace of them. Over the past thousand years, nearly every truly capable person in Taixuan had been drawn to the floating islands.
Nothing could be allowed to happen to them. Before Chen Yixin and Wenren Li came to the Upper Realm, they had made every preparation they could. Even so, neither of them could say how much time those preparations would ultimately buy.
“Do you think they left because they heard something and went into hiding, or were they already eliminated?”
Chen Yixin asked the question, although he knew perfectly well that searching this way through an Upper Realm vast beyond imagination was almost hopeless.
Still, it counted as a form of cultivation.
They traveled through many places along the way and gained a much clearer understanding of what life was like for the lower-level immortals of the Upper Realm.
Very few people truly believed the narrative spread by the Ten Emperors and Nine Clans. These people were immortals, and many had ascended from Lower Realms. The things they had endured and the trials they had survived were enough for them to form judgments of their own. Immortals who blindly repeated whatever others told them and allowed their thinking to be manipulated so easily were actually quite rare.
“Either is possible, but their situation definitely isn’t good.” Otherwise, there would have been no reason to evacuate the entire realm and destroy the entrance behind them.
Wenren Li answered while turning slightly toward Chen Yixin and pulling the hat on his head a little farther forward.
“Let’s go to the Myriad Immortals Tower and see what we can learn. If there’s no useful information, we’ll stay somewhere nearby for now. After we return from the Void-Heaven Battlefield, we can continue searching.”
Fortunately, both Wenren Li and Chen Yixin had lived in the Upper Realm for more than two hundred thousand years, so they were relatively familiar with the way things worked here.
The Myriad Immortals Tower belonged to an Immortal Lord. Unlike ordinary businesses that sold immortal artifacts or pills, the Tower also dealt in information. Perhaps it would know exactly why the Fengming Realm had disappeared.
Chen Yixin followed beside Wenren Li, still somewhat hesitant. He had met the Immortal Lord behind the Myriad Immortals Tower before.
More accurately, they had fought.
Back then, that Immortal Lord had been among the people following the pursuit of Chen Yixin. Unlike the others, however, he had not actually come to kill Chen Yixin. He had personally followed the chase to record Chen Yixin’s victories and defeats.
Chen Yixin had eventually grown annoyed by seeing him around all the time and once laid a trap for him. They barely exchanged two moves before the Immortal Lord turned and fled.
“That bastard might be questionable in every other respect, but his ability to run away is first-rate.”
Even Chen Yixin’s extreme speed had failed to catch him. His escape arts were probably enough to evade pursuit from an Immortal Emperor.
Of course, it was not the Immortal Lord’s escape ability that made Chen Yixin hesitate. What worried him was the mysterious Immortal Emperor behind the man. If that unknown emperor happened to be one of those targeting Chen Yixin and Wenren Li, then going there to ask questions would practically amount to announcing their presence.
“We’ll look first and decide afterward. I’ve already laid a formation around this immortal city. No message can leave.”
Wenren Li tightened his hold on Chen Yixin’s hand. At the same time, their displayed auras strengthened. Instead of Earth Immortals, they now appeared to possess Immortal King cultivation. At that level, entering this immortal city would attract far less suspicion.
Chen Yixin had simply become overly worried because the matter involved Wenren Li.
“Fine. If they come, we’ll kill however many arrive.”
Even if they were exposed, that was ultimately all it would come down to. Unless Nangong or Dongfang personally appeared, there was no one else in the Upper Realm capable of doing much to either Chen Yixin or Wenren Li.
Still, they needed to guard against underhanded schemes. Nangong and Dongfang were probably even more vicious and treacherous than they had been before.
Better to overestimate them than underestimate them.
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