Chapter 118 Familiar Place

There were eight of them going to the Widespread Wintriness Sect. The reason why the sects were all gathered there wasn't that the sect was comparatively larger but that its location in the middle of the East Divine Continent made it a convenient place to convene.

After the Flying-cloud Stone left the Jade Qing Sect, Yu Yifeng looked in the direction of the mountain gate and sighed. "I'm really an irresponsible Master. I'm always away nearly all year round..."

Xiao Chen patted him on the shoulder with a chuckle. "It's okay. When they're older, they'll understand that their Master is the one who cherishes them the most in the world."

Yu Yifeng turned his head around and smiled. "It's been so long but I still don't know what sect and master you are under. From what Unfettered Martial Uncle said, your cultivation techniques don't belong to the Three Pure Sect."

Xiao Chen smiled with a rather bitter expression. He didn't reply.

The East Divine Continent was so large that its size was equivalent to that of several plains in the Human World. Even though the Flying-cloud Stone that they were riding was speedy, it still took them half a day to get from Qing Province to Wu Province.

Watching the mountains, rivers, and creeks below, Xiao Chen gradually sank into a daze. Wasn't this the same kind of scenery that he saw when he traveled on flying swords with his Master back then? Was the land below truly his native land, the Great Divine Continent?

When Mu Chengxue noticed how he stood by his lonesome at the edge of the Flying-cloud Stone, staring dazedly at the ground below, she laughed. "Hey! Be careful over there! If you fall, you won't be able to climb up, you know?"

"Ah! Is it that dangerous?" Xiao Chen replied, having recovered his senses. He was currently unable to use a flying sword in the Violet Manor. If he fell down, there wouldn't even be a skeleton left of him. Yu Yifeng laughed. "She's kidding. There's a protective Barrier around the Flying-cloud Stone. You won't be able to fall."

"Oh?"

Xiao Chen didn't know how long they had flown for he was immersed in staring at the terrain below. He kept hoping that he could find any places that resembled those from millenniums ago. However, what he saw disappointed him again and again. After the passage of thousands of years, the topography of the land had long changed. The mountains and lakes had been flattened; the vast seas had turned into mulberry fields.

However, in a moment of carelessness, he saw a certain mountain ridge. From this angle, the mountain ridge looked like a fairy that was dancing lightly and gracefully. The rims of his eyes gradually reddened as he yelled, "Stop!"

His words startled everyone. Yu Yifeng walked over to him and saw Xiao Chen's reddened eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Get down now! Stop flying! I want to go down!"

"Keep calm. We'll go down now." Yu Yifeng couldn't understand Xiao Chen's sudden strangeness but ordered his two Junior Brothers to stop the stone from moving forward and maneuver it downward.

Their current location wasn't considered a part of Qing State. It was desolate for several hundred miles around them. Seeing that Xiao Chen's emotions were gradually calming, Yu Yifeng asked, "Chen, what did you see?"

Xiao Chen didn't reply. He was certain that the ground under them was the Beautiful Immortal Mountains, the place where he met Hua Weiyang back then. There wasn't much change in the terrain here even after the passage of thousands of years. So the Violet Manor was truly the Divine Continent from all those years ago.

The Flying-cloud Stone slowly moved toward a bamboo forest. They saw that there were no less than one hundred species of birds here of all colors imaginable. The cry of the birds made for a beautiful choir of sounds. They weren't startled even after facing humans. There was even a stream of clear spring passing through the forest. Flowers of all kinds bloomed in abundance on the riverbank, all of them unnameable.

One of the female disciples gasped. She couldn't help herself uttering, "What a beautiful place! No wonder Junior Brother Xiao is badgering us to come down! Hehe. Let's all go down and take a look." While talking, she didn't notice that the rim of Xiao Chen's eyes was completely red.

"Why, why has this place not changed at all... It's been several thousand years! Weiyang! Is it you?! Have you been guarding this place all this while?"

Back then, that beautiful woman had breached the Mystic Cyan Sect alone for his sake and shouldered all the baseless charges against him. She had used a forbidden technique to block a life-threatening palm attack for him and ended up jumping down a cliff. He remembered how she had spoken to him in a gentle voice at that moment, saying, "Three requests. You still owe me one more... I want you to live well..."

The roaring sound was so violent that the beasts beneath them fled everywhere and the Flying-cloud Stone shook fiercely. This shocked everyone. Yu Yifeng immediately caught hold of him. "What's wrong with you?!"

Xiao Chen shook his head. When the Flying-cloud Stone was 20 meters away from the ground, the Barrier dissipated, and he shocked everyone by jumping down just like that. The two female disciples were so surprised that they cried out. Yu Yifeng instantly unsheathed his Immortal's Sword and transformed into a sword radiance that charged toward Xiao Chen. He managed to catch Xiao Chen in midair.

"Xiao Chen! What are you doing?!" Yu Yifeng didn't expect Xiao Chen to be this agitated. Even if the latter was now at the 7th level of Foundation Building Realm, an injury was still possible after falling at this height.

After landing on the ground, Xiao Chen remained silent and walked forward by himself. Every stalk of flower and blade of grass here were the same as back then. He could even find the spot where he and Hua Weiyang had their zither competition. He slowly took out the Nine-heaven Jade Pendant and started playing. It was still the same piece of music from back then; the only difference was that there would no longer be anyone coming here to hear him play the zither.

It was as if the voice from back then was ringing next to his ears. "Hey! The one in front! Your zither skill is mediocre. I dare you to compete zither skills with me. The one who loses will do three things for the winner!"

Finally, tears slid down his cheeks without a sound, falling drop by drop on the strings of the zither. The sound of the zither gradually became quieter and melancholic.

The rest dared not to stay too far away lest he made even more shocking actions. Neither did they stayed too close to him. One of the female disciples said quietly, "What's wrong with him? He was fine this morning. Why don't you go over and check on him, Senior Brother Yu?"

Yu Yifeng shook his head. "Let him be. We'll wait for him outside the forest." He led the rest out of the forest.

It took a long time before Xiao Chen returned to the group. He smiled at them. "Hehe! I'm sorry. This place is so beautiful that I couldn't control myself. I made you guys wait."

The two female disciples exchanged glances, wondering what exactly was wrong with him. Yu Yifeng gave him a small nod. "Let's go then. Since you like this place, we'll stop by again on our way back."

Xiao Chen didn't follow after them. He shook his head and said, "Go on without me, Brother Yifeng. I'm not going anymore."

Luo Shangyan and the rest instantly looked solemn. Frowning, Yu Yifeng replied, "It's desolate for hundreds of miles around. I won't feel at ease leaving you here. We'll accompany you to wherever you want to go. It'll be fast with the Flying-cloud Stone."

Xiao Chen turned around and walked in the southeast direction. "300 miles ahead. I want to go there and take a look." Based on his memory, 300 miles southeast of the Beautiful Immortal Mountains was the location of the Mystic Cyan Mountain.

"300 miles? We'll get there in no time at all. Let's go," Yu Yifeng said.

Xiao Chen became even more somber after returning to the Flying-cloud Stone. He understood very well that it was impossible that the Mystic Cyan Sect would still exist. Otherwise, no one would be ignorant of such a large sect. He must put on a mask of happiness right now because he couldn't explain anything to anyone.

Luo Shangyan stood next to him without saying a word.

This time, Yu Yifeng maximized the speed of the Flying-cloud Stone. This allowed them to cover a distance of 300 miles within an hour. The only thing was that the clouds were thick under them, preventing them from seeing anything. Xiao Chen asked that Yu Yifeng lower the stone until their line of sight gradually cleared up and then gradually fogged up again.

Right now, he was crying in his heart, "Mystic Cyan Sect! I'm back! I'm back once again!" He gnashed his teeth and tried his best to control his emotions. Mystic Cyan Sect, Mystic Cyan Sect. He finally returned to the Mystic Cyan Sect that had occupied his thoughts for days and nights. Even though he was framed here and his Nascent Soul was destroyed, he still considered himself a disciple of the Mystic Cyan Sect.

However, the Mystic Cyan Sect had long ceased to exist. The only thing around was a land of ruins. The seven peaks of the mountain range had sunken significantly. The halls built on top of them had long fallen and buried under the rubbles. He could faintly see edges of buildings peeking out but even those were covered in thistles and thorns. The islands hovering thousands of feet above had long crashed down.

The rest experienced great changes in expression. Yu Yifeng said, "Could those be vestiges of an Ancient Immortal Clan? My God! It's so vast! How unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!"

Xiao Chen could no longer suppress his emotions. He screamed, "Why?! Why?! Why is it like this?! Ahhhh!"

His roars thundered over the densely forested ridge that the wild beasts could be seen fleeing, frightened and afraid of Xiao Chen's deafening rumbles that even shook the hovering Flying-cloud Stone. Everyone was terrified as the flying stone conveyance rocked and shuddered. Yu Yifeng clambered over and held him down. "What is it with you!" He screamed over the tumult.

Xiao Chen shook his head. "I want to go down." Before this, he had alway harbored a trace of hope that the Mystic Cyan Sect might still exist, hidden somewhere in silence and secrecy. However, the sight of the ruins below had dealt him so great a blow, as if they were heralding a woeful tiding that he would never dare imagine: the Mystic Cyan Sect had long ceased to exist.

"Alright!" This time, Yu Yifeng held firmly onto him to prevent him from abruptly jumping off the stone.

The seven peaks of the Mystic Cyan Mountain were originally individual peaks but due to the fact that the mountain had sunken, the peaks seemed to have conjoined. The ruins on them made it hard for Xiao Chen to distinguish which hall was which.

Everyone was dumbstruck. Never had they imagined that the land under them would be this vast. However, the rocks and rubbles were scattered everywhere. The original path had been destroyed. There was no way for them to go down and travel on foot.

Xiao Chen found the Violet-night Peak by tracing his memory. However, the Yaoguang Temple atop the peak had long crumbled. A large part of the building was buried in the mountain and even its plaque was crushed. The two lotus ponds flanking the temple were destroyed a long time ago.

This was where he and his Master lived back then. He never imagined that it would one day become like this. It was as if all of his memories had been destroyed along with this ruined hall.

"Brother Yifeng, I want to go down and take a look. Please lower the Flying-cloud Stone a little."

Yu Yifeng hesitated for a moment. "This place is full of towering rubbles that makes it hard to walk. It won't be easy for the Flying-cloud Stone to move down either."

To be frank, it wasn't that the Flying-cloud Stone couldn't land. Earlier, he detected the briefest burst of Devil Qi coming from the foot of the mountain. Even though it was only for a moment, the Devil Qi seemed very powerful. How could a Devil Qi surge from the vestiges of an Ancient Immortal Clan? This made him feel ill at ease.

Silence lingered for a moment. Seeing the indescribably miserable expression on Xiao Chen's face, Yu Yifeng sighed and ordered the others behind him, "Stay here. I'll go down with Junior Brother Xiao to take a look." He took out his Immortal's Sword and traveled downward with Xiao Chen.

When they reached the ground, Xiao Chen burst into tears. He took every step incredibly slowly as he gently caressed the outer wall of the destroyed hall. He recalled the first time he came to the Yaoguang Temple all those years ago and how he had been dumbfounded for a long time after seeing the magnificent sight here. He also remembered the terrible hunger he felt when his Master sent him to pick lotus seeds. He ended up digging up lotus roots and ate them all. Then, his Master punished him by banning him from leaving the mountain for a month.

Yu Yifeng quietly watched him a short distance away while staying vigilant. When they landed earlier, he didn't seem to detect that burst of Devil Qi coming from the foot of the mountain anymore.