Chapter 210: Someday
Outside, everything had descended into complete chaos.
Yu Qingtang had barely climbed out of the pill furnace when an Esoteric Sect disciple went flying over his head. At the same time, two more disciples rolled past on the ground, locked in each other’s arms and wrestling furiously.
Yu Qingtang couldn’t help staring.
So when immortal cultivators get mad enough, they resort to methods this primitive too...
The old Pill King had not joined the battle. He had simply remained beside the pill furnace, guarding it in silence. Seeing Yu Qingtang emerge, he smiled faintly.
“Finished?”
“Those two young friends came out a moment ago wearing some very peculiar expressions. You’ve made me rather curious about this Heaven-Questioning artifact as well.”
Yu Qingtang gave two dry laughs.
“Well...”
Feeling guilty, he hurriedly changed the subject.
“Did those two manage to talk to Ye Chenyan? Did they tell him how to break the deadlock?”
The old Pill King nodded slightly and gestured into the distance.
“We have a way to break it now.”
“But no matter what, we first have to overturn this sky in front of us.”
Yu Qingtang looked up.
The disciples below the Integration stage were fighting in every flashy manner imaginable. Farther away, the experts above the Integration stage had opened up an entirely separate battlefield.
The clouds had completely dispersed.
Before the immense, pure-white immortal manifestation, the gathered cultivators displayed every ability at their disposal, and the legendary immortal had finally revealed his full form.
He was not quite the lofty, untouchable figure everyone had imagined.
The entire Esoteric Sect rested upon his knees.
It was impossible to tell whether he was supporting the sect high in the heavens—
or whether the sect itself was pinning him there, leaving him unable to escape.
Even the upper half of his body that remained could not move freely. One hand held up the heavens, leaving him only a single hand with which to attack.
Even so, the pressure of an immortal could not be underestimated.
Despite so many people attacking him at once, several had already been injured.
“Peh!”
Hongni was blasted backward and crashed to the ground. Before the disciples beside her could even help her up, she wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with one hand.
She was clearly getting angry.
Though, to be fair, she was usually pretty angry anyway.
The red silk swirling around her seemed to catch fire. Blue-green smoke rose from her body, and the intense heat left the smell of scorching in the air.
It was no illusion.
Beneath her feet, the Esoteric Sect’s white-jade steps could no longer withstand the terrifying temperature and had begun to melt.
“What a pain in the ass!”
Hongni rolled her neck and breathed out a wave of scorching air.
“This lady’s going all in!”
Cangyan gave her a helpless look.
“Why are you getting impatient already?”
“We still have to deal with the otherworldly evil demons afterward—”
“If we can’t beat him now, what afterward is there to talk about!”
Hongni threw both arms wide, her momentum blazing.
“You coming or not?”
“Ah.”
Cangyan sighed, obviously unable to do anything about her. He looked toward Ye Chenyan instead and warned him,
“We’ll go first. Kid, watch for your opening!”
Ye Chenyan paused.
Then he watched Cangyan shoot into the air and take his place beside Hongni.
Smoke billowed from Hongni’s body.
A gigantic phantom made entirely of flame began taking shape in midair.
Tianji Zi raised his brows in surprise.
“Well, well. She’s only at peak Integration, and she can already produce the embryonic form of an immortal manifestation? Not bad.”
Wen Tianxia watched with considerable interest.
“The Heavenly Fire Cult has always had two cult leaders. Supposedly, that is because they possess a secret art. With the two leaders working together and several first-rank spiritual artifacts as support, they may be capable of fighting an immortal.”
“You know even that?” Tianji Zi shot him a sideways glance and clicked his tongue. “Damn. If you know, then he definitely knows too. Defend!”
The two of them reacted with extraordinary speed.
Bu Yetian had barely extended his hand when they were already flying forward to intercept it.
Fused immortal-demonic energy boiled around Ye Chenyan. The Realm Stone floated beside him, flashing with light as it restrained the majority of Bu Yetian’s attacks.
The two appeared evenly matched, neither able to do anything decisive to the other.
Seeing the sudden movement from the Heavenly Fire Cult, Ye Chenyan spared them a glance and called out,
“Hey, old man. Can they actually do it?”
Wen Tianxia’s expression did not change.
“Who knows?”
Tianji Zi laughed loudly.
“They can certainly try!”
The two cult leaders activated their secret art.
The Heavenly Fire Cult disciples rapidly withdrew and formed a protective perimeter. Chi Yantian and Tu Jiaojiao watched solemnly as the fiery phantom within the rolling smoke gradually solidified.
Hongni’s voice rang out.
“Now!”
Chi Yantian and Tu Jiaojiao exchanged a glance.
Both flew into the air, summoned magical artifacts, and sent them into the fiery phantom.
A pair of red-jade sabers dropped into its hands.
Its arms instantly became solid.
Next, a blazing red embroidered ball sank into the center of its brow. A blue-stone stele and a spiked club embedded themselves into its legs.
Then came the final artifact.
The battered bowl with a chunk missing from its rim wobbled toward the phantom.
Suddenly, it trembled.
As though sensing something, it abruptly changed direction, expanded in an instant, and shielded the fiery phantom’s head.
Bang!
Bu Yetian’s fist came down.
The Heaven-Swallowing Bowl shuddered violently.
Then, astonishingly, it cracked apart on impact.
Several broken pieces tumbled to the ground.
The fiery phantom beneath its protection was affected as well. Its entire body shook, and it staggered down onto one knee.
“Damn it!”
Chi Yantian instinctively tried to rush forward, but Tu Jiaojiao grabbed him.
“We’re still missing one!” Chi Yantian’s fiery red hair practically stood on end. “We need one more first-rank spiritual artifact!”
Tu Jiaojiao spun around and shouted,
“Fellow cultivators! Lend us a spiritual artifact!”
Yu Qingtang instinctively pulled out the Dragon-Crane Zither.
But before he could offer it, someone else moved faster.
At some point, Daoist Idle Crane had appeared behind the fiery phantom.
He grabbed the old Daoist robe on his body—the one with a hole in it—ripped it off, and hurled it straight into the phantom’s heart.
“Huh?”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes went wide.
“No, Master, you—”
Daoist Idle Crane stood calmly behind everyone.
The fiery phantom instantly solidified and charged toward Bu Yetian in enormous strides.
Only then did Daoist Idle Crane look away.
He turned to Yu Qingtang with a smile, looking rather pleased with himself.
“Didn’t expect that, did you? You kept complaining about that hole. See? Still useful!”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
His mouth fell open.
He turned toward Eldest Senior Sister in shock.
“Eldest Senior Sister, don’t tell me you’ve all secretly been hiding your true—”
Then he saw that Eldest Senior Sister’s mouth was hanging open even wider than his.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
Probably not.
At least his senior sister definitely wasn’t.
Yu Qingtang’s gaze grew profound.
“Master.”
“You’re not really just half-step Out-of-Body, are you?”
“Oh, I absolutely am.” Daoist Idle Crane looked completely sincere. “Half-step Out-of-Body. That’s all your master’s got.”
His gaze shifted into the distance.
He gave a low chuckle.
“These are only blessings left behind by those who came before us.”
“Didn’t I tell you? We and Heavenly Music Sect used to be one sect.”
His expression became nostalgic.
“Only it wasn’t five hundred years ago.”
“It was tens of millions of years ago...”
Yu Qingtang suddenly understood.
“Mystic Music Sect?”
Daoist Idle Crane’s gaze grew distant.
“That’s right.”
“My talent is limited. This is as far as I’ll ever go in this lifetime. I’ve always known that.”
“All I’ve done is look after the ancient relics our predecessors left behind, waiting for the day when they might finally prove useful.”
“Long ago, someone told me that someday, this world would need them.”
He chuckled softly.
“For that ‘someday’... I can’t even remember how many years I’ve waited.”
“And now—”
He let out a long breath.
“I suppose that day is today.”
Yu Qingtang looked slightly lost.
“Master...”
So you weren’t just some background extra without a story either.
But you suddenly getting this profound is kind of hard to get used to.
Daoist Idle Crane glanced back at him and smiled.
“What are you panicking for?”
“Your master is still your master.”
“When we get back to Biehe Sect, you’re still responsible for supporting me in my old age.”
Yu Qingtang visibly relaxed.
“Okay. That sounds much more like you.”
On the battlefield, the fiery phantom surged forward with overwhelming momentum.
It truly possessed the power to fight an immortal.
With Ye Chenyan added to the assault, they actually began suppressing Bu Yetian little by little.
“Go down!”
Hongni threw a punch.
Bu Yetian failed to evade in time and swayed slightly.
The entire world trembled with him.
Pure white hair fell loose around him.
For the first time, a faint ripple disturbed Bu Yetian’s eternally flawless expression.
“You—”
He had not even finished speaking when Hongni’s second punch came crashing down.
“LET GO OF THAT HAND!”
Bu Yetian blocked the blow and locked strength against her.
“You know that if I release my hand, calamity will descend upon heaven and earth. The disaster from tens of millions of years ago will come again.”
“Who gives a damn!”
Hongni was already seeing red.
“You break the old before you build the new! We fight until one side is dead!”
“You people from the Esoteric Sect piss me off more than anyone! Not a scrap of guts between you!”
“You’ve been sitting here like a damn turtle with the sky on your back for so long you’ve gotten addicted to it, haven’t you?!”
“LET GO!”
“You spineless turtle bastard!”
Her hands remained locked against his, and her mouth never stopped either.
Physical attack and psychological attack, all at once.
Bu Yetian had evidently not been cursed out very often.
At last, his expression reacted.
His gaze sharpened, and he swung his free fist in retaliation.
Hongni had been waiting for exactly that.
She wrapped both arms around his hand.
Behind her, Wen Tianxia and Tianji Zi struck together.
Their combined attack shot directly toward the center of Bu Yetian’s brow.
Bu Yetian closed his eyes.
Layer upon layer of cloud rose to protect him.
Even a combined strike from two Mahayana-stage cultivators merely knocked his head back slightly.
But Tianji Zi did not look surprised.
Standing in midair, he smiled at Bu Yetian as though to say—
I still outplayed you.
Bu Yetian abruptly turned his gaze toward Ye Chenyan.
Too late.
Ye Chenyan’s spear was already there.
And its target was the hand holding up the sky.
“OPEN!”
A silver line appeared between Ye Chenyan’s brows.
Fused immortal-demonic energy almost flooded the heavens. There was no fear in his eyes, and his momentum was unstoppable.
“They did it!”
Yu Qingtang was busy helping deal with the other Esoteric Sect disciples. He hurriedly swung the Dragon-Crane Zither and knocked a male cultivator aside, delight flashing across his face.
“It’s open!”
Starting from the palm, a thin crack appeared across Bu Yetian’s white-jade immortal manifestation.
Then it spread with terrifying speed.
Boom!
The manifestation shattered apart in midair.
Behind his hand, a fissure slowly opened like an eye from beyond this world peering inside.
With the manifestation broken, Bu Yetian’s true form was revealed within.
He staggered slightly.
Then he lifted his head, stared at the fissure, and let out a quiet sigh.
Ye Chenyan gave a low laugh and met his gaze.
Bu Yetian’s expression was indifferent again, as though nothing had ever moved him.
As though that sigh had merely been an illusion.
Ye Chenyan provocatively raised his brows at him.
Then he turned toward Yu Qingtang with a grin.
“Great General of Finding Time to Slack Off and Enjoy Life! We’re going into a group fight. You coming?”
“Well...”
Yu Qingtang hugged the Dragon-Crane Zither tightly to his chest and put on a solemn expression.
“I doubt I’ll be much use, but I should still go.”
“Heavenly Music Sect has the music covered already, but at least I can...”
“Help with morale.”
Yu Qingtang gave him a thumbs-up.
His eyes were cowardly—
but determined.
Ye Chenyan couldn’t help laughing.
He tightened his grip on the Realm Stone.
“Then come after me with the others. I’ll issue the challenge first!”
Holding the Realm Stone, he punched an otherworldly evil demon that had just poked its head through the fissure and sent it flying backward.
Then he leaped straight through.
“Be careful!” Yu Qingtang called after him, unable to hide his worry.
Daoist Idle Crane stared at him.
“You’re actually going?”
He glanced anxiously upward, then lowered his voice and encouraged him,
“How about we just say we were going to go? The intention counts. Once the fighting really starts, everyone’ll be scrambling around anyway. He probably won’t even notice whether you’re there.”
Yu Qingtang broke into a foolish grin.
“Can you teach me something decent for once?!”
He knew it.
That old cowardice of his master’s was absolutely genuine.
“But I still have to go.”
Hugging the zither, he turned back and smiled.
“I’m already at the Soul Transformation stage. I’m a great expert now.”
“I count as one of the tall ones.”
“So if the sky falls, I’ve got to lend a hand holding it up.”
He muttered,
“Sure, there are taller people holding it up above me. But I can’t just stand around doing nothing.”
“If I can’t hold up the sky, then at least I can help hold up the people who can.”
He looked back.
Behind him stood people he had traveled beside for a time, people he had met only once.
Once, to him, they had been nothing more than characters in a story.
Somewhere along the way, everything had gradually broken free of that original story.
Everything had changed.
His friends.
And the countless millions who had never even been given names in that story.
Now they stood shoulder to shoulder by the tens of thousands, their fates bound together.
Yu Qingtang smiled at his master.
“You’re only half-step Out-of-Body. Stay in the rear and wait for our good news!”
He stepped forward.
Then he too leaped beyond the fissure.
A vast tide of people followed.
One after another, they passed through the opening.
Eldest Senior Sister cracked her knuckles eagerly.
“Little Junior Brother went, so I should represent Biehe Sect and—”
Daoist Idle Crane grabbed her by the collar.
“With your cultivation? Stop adding to the chaos!”
He raised his head.
Tianji Zi stood before Bu Yetian.
At that exact moment, Sword Sovereign Tianyi finally arrived with the people of Guiyi Sect.
“You’re late.” Tianji Zi smiled brightly at him. “What happened? Got delayed having a heartfelt farewell with the sect master’s wife—”
Sword Sovereign Tianyi narrowed his eyes.
Tianji Zi sensibly shut his mouth.
“We agreed on this beforehand.” The fiery phantom dispersed.
Cangyan’s aura plummeted instantly. Half-collapsed on the ground, one hand braced against his knee, he forced himself to speak.
“Guiyi Sect still has to fight the otherworldly evil demons afterward. They weren’t supposed to act here.”
“I know.” Tianji Zi shrugged. “I’m just making fun of him.”
Sword Sovereign Tianyi swept his gaze across Bu Yetian.
He said nothing.
Instead, he threw a sword at Tianji Zi.
Tianji Zi barely caught it.
Then he stared blankly at the weapon in his hands and scratched his head with a strange expression.
“Why’d you bring this thing?”
“I haven’t used a sword in centuries.”
“You once said that after leaving Guiyi Sect, you were no longer worthy to use a sword from Sword Valley.”
Sword Sovereign Tianyi looked deeply into his eyes.
“Are you worthy now?”
Tianji Zi fell silent.
Sword Sovereign Tianyi did not linger.
He rose into the air.
“The battlefield beyond the realm is open. I’ll go on ahead.”
The people of Guiyi Sect flew toward the fissure.
Sword intent pierced the heavens.
Soon, only Bu Yetian and Tianji Zi remained where they were.
Bu Yetian looked upward.
“This scene...”
“Does it not resemble moths flying into a flame?”
Tianji Zi laughed.
“Whether you see us as heroes or moths doesn’t matter anymore.”
“You can’t stop us either way.”
“Is this what you wished for?” Bu Yetian looked at him. “You calculated every possible move.”
“Have you obtained everything you sought?”
Tianji Zi grinned smugly.
“Naturally.”
Bu Yetian stared at him.
Tianji Zi waved one finger.
“Eight or nine things out of ten in life never go the way you want.”
“I’m not greedy.”
“One or two are enough.”
“Fortunately...”
His smile widened.
“I managed to accomplish those one or two.”
Bu Yetian said nothing.
Old memories surfaced.
When Tianji Zi had first arrived at the Esoteric Sect, his talent had been extraordinary.
But his personality was restless and unruly, utterly incompatible with the Esoteric Sect.
None of the elders had known what to do with him.
In the end, he had been handed over to Bu Yetian for personal instruction.
On the very first day Bu Yetian taught him divination, Tianji Zi learned of his own unusual constitution and immediately had the audacity to ask,
“Then can I tell an immortal’s fortune?”
The memory faded.
Bu Yetian looked at Tianji Zi.
After a moment of silence, he said,
“So many years have passed, yet you remain exactly as you were.”
Then, unexpectedly, he asked,
“That divination you once performed for me.”
“Did you ever solve it?”
Tianji Zi’s smile faded.
Bu Yetian understood.
He nodded gently.
“I told you before. I am trapped by heaven and earth. Whether I succeed or fail, this is a dead end.”
“You stubbornly insisted on finding a Gate of Life for me.”
“Presumably even now—”
Tianji Zi gave a low laugh.
“You misunderstand.”
He casually leaned back on his hands and looked up at Bu Yetian.
“Everyone dies.”
“Even immortals.”
“When I said I wanted to solve your predicament, I never meant keeping you alive.”
“I meant setting you free.”
A faint change came over Bu Yetian’s expression.
“Free?”
Tianji Zi shook out his Daoist robes and stood.
His smile was bright and full of spirit.
“The Gate of Life in this situation is right in front of you.”
“Look.”
“You’ve been trapped here for half your life.”
“But your manifestation is shattered now, and the Esoteric Sect still hasn’t fallen from the clouds.”
“The sky hasn’t collapsed either...”
Tianji Zi pointed toward the fissure overhead and smiled.
“Whether you free yourself or not is up to you.”
Bu Yetian froze slightly.
Tianji Zi had already turned away and called to Daoist Idle Crane, who was approaching at a leisurely pace.
“Oh? Half-step Out-of-Body finally made it over?”
Daoist Idle Crane laughed.
Then he cupped his hands toward Bu Yetian.
“Immortal. It’s been a long time.”
A trace of confusion appeared in Bu Yetian’s eyes.
“Have we met?”
“We have.”
Daoist Idle Crane laughed heartily.
“Though back then I wasn’t this wrinkled old thing. You probably don’t remember.”
He beckoned to Tianji Zi.
“The kids have all gone in. You coming or not?”
“Coming.”
Tianji Zi waved a hand.
Then he paused.
He set down the fly whisk in his hand and raised the sword instead.
Holding it horizontally before himself, he seemed slightly unfamiliar with its weight.
But the awkwardness disappeared quickly.
With practiced ease, he spun the blade through an elegant flourish.
Then he smiled at Bu Yetian.
“This sword is called Clear Conscience.”
“When I betrayed my sect all those years ago, guilt weighed on my heart. I no longer dared use this sword.”
“But now...”
His face broke into a grin.
“No matter what anyone else says, I know my conscience is clear.”
“So today, I’ll use it again!”
He grabbed Daoist Idle Crane and soared upward.
The disguise of an old man fell away from Tianji Zi.
For a moment, he seemed exactly as he had centuries ago—
young and high-spirited, refusing to believe in fate.
Daoist Idle Crane called back with a smile,
“Bu Yetian!”
“That ‘someday’ has finally come!”
“Today, the whole world marches together.”
“Are you coming or not?!”
Bu Yetian froze.
A scene from the distant past surfaced in his mind.
He had indeed met him before.
Only back then, Daoist Idle Crane had been entirely different.
He had been nothing more than a child who had not yet formally entered Mystic Music Sect.
At the time, he had defied the sect’s arrangements.
Instead of retreating with the senior disciples whose cultivation was still shallow, he had stayed behind with nothing but hot-blooded determination, insisting that he would live and die with his sect.
Bu Yetian had already divined that Mystic Music Sect would be unable to stop the otherworldly evil demons.
He had gone there to warn Immortal Lan Yin so that she could make other arrangements.
And by chance, he had encountered that suicidal child.
Immortal Lan Yin had probably already made her decision.
She knew that nothing external could alter the course of the battle anymore.
She entrusted the Dragon-Crane Zither to the child.
Along with the damaged ceremonial robe taken from the body of the deceased sect master.
Dead cultivators of Mystic Music Sect lay everywhere around them.
Holding the child’s hand, Immortal Lan Yin stuffed their relics into his arms—keepsakes, artifacts, all manner of miscellaneous things.
Finally, she entrusted the child himself to Bu Yetian and asked him to take him away.
The heavens had been on the verge of collapse.
Bu Yetian should not have concerned himself with such an insignificant matter.
And yet, in the end, a trace of compassion had stirred within him.
He agreed to Immortal Lan Yin’s request and carried the child out.
The child had sobbed until he could barely breathe.
Clutching the relics of everyone in his sect, he cried out that they were all dead, so what possible use could these things still have?
Bu Yetian had always been indifferent.
He had never known how to comfort anyone.
So he had offered only a single sentence.
“They will be useful.”
He was an immortal.
The immortal of the Esoteric Sect who could divine fate itself.
The child believed him.
He asked when.
When, exactly, would these things finally become useful?
“...Someday.”
That was probably what Bu Yetian had said.
And the child had taken him at his word.
He had truly guarded those ancient relics.
Day after day.
Year after year.
All the way until today.
Bu Yetian closed his eyes.
And, unexpectedly, a faint smile appeared on his face.
“Someday.”
He raised his head.
Then suddenly took a step forward—
and crossed the fissure.
Someday was today.