Immortal Travel of Longevity

Returning to the Mortal World, Xuanji felt like a true stranger.

Dynasties had changed, faces had shifted, trees had grown, and the sun and moon had cycled on.

Everything seemed to tell her this was somewhere else entirely, not the place where she had grown up.

Everything had changed.

The silent passage of time had reshaped the world, leaving it nothing like her memories.

All the people and things she once knew were fading away.

Her heart a complex swirl of emotions, she set out to find the people she used to know. She went to Quanshan and sought out the Daoist priests in the mountains.

"May I ask who you are looking for, lay devotee?"

"I'm looking for Priest Sanyuan."

They invited Xuanji into the temple. Only from her own words did they learn she was an ancient cultivator who had lived to the present day, and that she even had ties to Priest Sanyuan.

"Lay devotee, our grandmaster... passed away long ago..."

Hearing those words, Xuanji froze.

"Passed away..."

She stood in a daze for a long time. Pursing her lips, she finally asked, "Passed away? What happened? Wasn't he..."

"Everyone dies eventually, lay devotee."

That day, Xuanji walked down the mountain in an utter daze.

Glancing back at this mortal Daoist mountain behind her, she realized she had always believed Daoist Sanyuan would never die.

So what was this terrible news?

Xuanji felt even more lost.

She had returned to this place, yet being here only left her more restless and conflicted.

Because of this, she made a trip to the Imperial Observatory.

But when she quietly slipped into the palace, she found the gates to the Imperial Observatory firmly shut.

Seal Strips were plastered across the doors, and the buildings were choked with dust and cobwebs, looking as though no one had tended to the place for many years.

"Where is Sister Tong..."

She stood there in a trance, until a sudden voice rang out from behind her.

"Who are you?"

Startled, she turned around.

A young boy was staring at her. He was dressed in luxurious clothes, and one glance was enough to tell he was no ordinary child—any kid allowed to roam freely through the Imperial Palace wouldn't be simple.

Xuanji said, "I am..."

"A former commandery princess."

"A commandery princess?"

The boy blinked. "Never seen one."

Xuanji didn't elaborate. Instead, she asked, "Why was this place sealed up?"

The boy walked over, showing no fear. He glanced at it and said, "Here? I used to come play here a lot. It was still open back then."

"Why did it close?"

"I don't know. Imperial Grandfather said the people inside only spouted lies to deceive the world, so he had it shut down."

Xuanji blanked for a moment before pressing, "Then, what about the people inside?"

The boy shook his head. He wasn't too clear on that.

Xuanji pursed her lips, overcome by another wave of disorientation.

Even here, the halls were empty and the people were gone.

Xuanji thanked him, but the boy hadn't had enough playing yet. He asked, "Big sister, which commandery princess are you? Are you coming to play tomorrow?"

Xuanji waved her hand without answering. She vanished right before the boy's eyes; in the time it took him to rub them, she was gone.

After leaving the Imperial City, Xuanji continued south.

She made her way to Qingshan City.

It was only there that she finally found some solace.

That little tavern was still open.

And that little girl who never grew up was still there, too.

"Hong Jin."

The dozing Yu Hongjin jolted awake.

"Who is it?"

Yu Hongjin looked over, let out a yawn, and said, "Hey, Xuanji! Aiya, you wretched girl, where did you run off to? How long has it been since you came to see me?"

Xuanji gave a helpless smile. "Auntie Hong Jin, hearing you talk like that still feels a little weird to me."

Yu Hongjin laughed. "I'm way older than you! Come, come, come, I'll treat you to a drink. I've brewed plenty of good wine over the years."

With a mouthful of wine in her stomach, Xuanji finally felt a faint sense of belonging.

Finding that small sliver of comfort put her heart at ease.

"Is it fun outside?" Yu Hongjin asked.

Xuanji shook her head. "Not really. It's shattered and broken. Nowhere near as peaceful as the Mortal World."

Confused, Yu Hongjin asked, "What's wrong?"

"I heard a great tribulation is coming. Now everyone in the Cultivation World is trying to figure out how to flee. Plenty of other cultivators came down to the Mortal World with me. They're probably scattered all over by now."

"Huh?"

Yu Hongjin blinked in surprise. "Isn't the Mortal World completely devoid of Spiritual Energy? What are they doing here?"

"The Cultivation World is running out of it, too."

"The difference is that the Cultivation World has no order, whereas the Mortal World does. Down here, they can still survive after losing their only crutch. But in the Cultivation World, it would be difficult."

"I see..."

Xuanji exhaled, tipping her head back for another swig of wine.

"It really is better here..."

Yu Hongjin nodded in agreement. "There's no place like home."

"Mhm..."

And so, Xuanji settled down there.

With Yu Hongjin by her side, she could trick herself into believing she was still living in the past.

In her daze, she felt as though she finally understood her granduncle's pain. Over the long years, people like them, whose hearts were tethered to the mundane world, could only end up neither free nor happy.

This was fate, and even more so, due to their own powerlessness. All their helplessness was left to the passage of time.

Xuanji thought she could stay there, deceiving herself for the rest of her life.

Until winter came.

Yu Hongjin fell ill.

It wasn't a major illness; she had just caught a chill. Coughing and dizzy, she was bedridden.

This discovery jolted Xuanji slightly awake.

"How could you get sick?"

Looking weak, Yu Hongjin coughed and said, "Cough... what's so strange about it? The Mortal World has no Spiritual Energy anymore. Isn't it perfectly normal to get sick?"

Xuanji's worry only deepened.

She asked, "But you're a demon. How could a demon get sick?"

"Demons die, too."

Yu Hongjin exhaled, waving her hand. "Alright, alright, just let me sleep for a bit. My head is spinning terribly."

Xuanji sat by the edge of the bed, staring blankly out the window.

That year, a massive blizzard fell upon Qingshan City. The heavy snow looked as if it might crush the little house entirely.

Over these past few days, many beggars had appeared in the city—people who had lost their homes to the blizzard and were simply trying to stay alive.

But in such a bitterly cold winter, how many people went outside? In the end, they could only freeze to death in the streets or in some ruined temple.

Everything felt as though it had reverted to the simplest of times.

Everyone would die. There were no exceptions.

And on this day, a crack fractured the dream Xuanji had clung to for so long. This crack would gradually widen, until the entire dream shattered into nothingness.

"Whoosh..."

The wind howling outside the window was bone-chilling.

As the cold wind blew in through the window, Xuanji shuddered involuntarily.

She didn't know when it had started.

But she, too, had begun to feel the cold of the wind.

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