ITOTIABSAM | The Immortal on Liuyun Mountain | 148
Xie Ye said they could go anywhere, but Gu Cong couldn't really go anywhere freely.
Having put in so much effort to escape, he was determined not to let Xie Ye get captured again. Embracing a vague sense of luck, he ignored the system, and the system ignored him. He just pretended he was an ordinary puppet who hadn't received any so-called tasks.
Quietly circulating his cultivation method to sense the density of spiritual energy around him, Gu Cong decisively headed towards the weakest direction. Although in the original work, few cultivators had seen Xie Ye's true appearance, worldly towns were generally safer.
He was like a tireless piece of wood, while Xie Ye had already ascended, having long since stopped eating. Even though he couldn't fly on a sword, with Gu Cong's pace, they reached the nearest village by the evening of the next day.
After two days of rest, Xie Ye's complexion was still pale, but he could move normally. Since they had nowhere else to go at the moment and happened to pass by, Gu Cong thought of staying overnight and exploring the situation outside Liuyun Mountain.
"Gu Cong," like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, the voice of 0028 resounded in his mind after a long absence, "Have you forgotten who he is?"
Even if his appearance seemed weak and harmless, the other was still the most powerful creature in Liuyun Mountain. Just a few glances from cultivators could drive them crazy, let alone ordinary people?
Gu Cong's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
He brought his hand to his lips, and Xie Ye coughed lightly twice, tilting his head. "What's wrong?"
At this moment, his appearance indeed resembled that of a delicate young master lying on a sickbed in a novel. The aloof temperament and the elegance between his eyebrows seemed to be slightly weakened, but instead, he appeared even gentler than before.
"It's nothing." Although the system only timely reminded him of an objective fact, without any intention to deliberately target Xie Ye, Gu Cong didn't want to express it in such a straightforward manner.
Shaking his head, he smiled. "I just feel like this village is too small. For our first outing, we should settle down in a livelier town."
The young man's expression seemed natural, as if he truly felt that way. However, in front of Xie Ye, regardless of which lifetime, Gu Cong's acting skills always seemed insufficient.
"You should worry about yourself," Xie Ye said, lowering his gaze and pointing to Gu Cong's right hand, which looked like a withered tree. "Old trees become spirits, hmm?"
Originally, such an injury could be restored to its original state by re-engraving the formation with blood. However, someone was stubborn and insisted on waiting for him to recover first before discussing it.
"If you want to go in, just go in," calmly straightening Gu Cong's sleeve, Xie Ye assured him, "The thing you're worried about won't happen."
If it were someone else, 0028 would definitely think the other was just talking big. However, considering that this villain had just shattered a piece of world consciousness, it wisely kept its mouth shut.
As for Gu Cong, he didn't even have a hint of doubt. He obediently followed Xie Ye, stepping past the stone stele inscribed with the character "horse" and entering the village.
Their attire immediately caught the eyes of many curious onlookers, mostly children who were timid yet filled with excitement.
Before Gu Cong could understand what was happening, the leading child jumped down from the stone and ran while shouting at the top of his lungs, "The immortal is here! The immortal is here!"
This shout, as loud as the crowing of a rooster in the early morning, directly woke up the whole village. The plump bird nestled in Gu Cong's chest was startled and timidly pushed aside his clothes, poking out its round little head.
Instantly, the children's eyes sparkled even more.
"Perhaps there's a sect nearby that regularly comes to select disciples," Gu Cong murmured softly, having read a few novels of the same genre. "Should we...?"
Before he could finish his sentence, a vigorous old man approached from a distance. "Are you two immortals from the Qingfeng Sect? My apologies for not welcoming you from afar. Please forgive me."
His hair was white as snow, but his spirit was still vigorous, and his eyes were clear and sharp, lacking the usual haziness of elderly people. With exceptional memory, Gu Cong quickly recalled the original work and confirmed that he had never read any passages about the Qingfeng Sect.
Glancing discreetly at Xie Ye's expression, it was evident that he, like Gu Cong, hadn't heard of this sect either and showed no intention of claiming any identity.
"Qingfeng Sect?" As expected, the young man, just as Gu Cong had anticipated, shook his head and truthfully denied, "I've never heard of it."
"We're just passing through and would like to stay overnight," Gu Cong added.
Upon hearing this, disappointment immediately filled the faces of the surrounding children, their expressions dimming. However, the old man remained much calmer, stroking his beard as he said, "No wonder the days seem to have come earlier than usual this year."
"May I ask where you two are from?"
In the previous life when Xie Ye was searching for Shen Qingshu, he deliberately spread out his divine sense and searched through worldly towns. He casually mentioned a nearby place, claiming that he and Gu Cong had gotten lost while traveling and ended up outside the village by mistake.
With just the two of them and a bird, although Gu Cong was tall, he was clearly a young man, while Xie Ye, with his ailing appearance, showed signs of fatigue from their journey. The old man, who identified himself as the village chief, hesitated for only a few moments before nodding in agreement.
"Is it okay?" Gu Cong asked as they were led to an empty house on the western side of the village, watching the old man leave from a distance. "About that Qingfeng Sect?"
According to the timeline in the original work, by this point, news of the disappearance of the Song family's heir and the intention of the Wuliang Sword Sect to lead the charge to rescue him on Liuyun Mountain should have spread throughout the cultivation world.
"It's alright," Xie Ye replied calmly as he poured a bowl of water. "Many people want to kill me, but not everyone has the ability to do so."
The white bird standing on the table shivered quietly.
Animal instincts were at play. With Gu Cong no longer possessing it, the bird felt somewhat afraid of Xie Ye. Despite being very thirsty, it only dared to cautiously approach with its round eyes, lacking the courage to come forward.
Unexpectedly, just two seconds later, the bowl of water was voluntarily pushed in front of it by the young man.
After waiting cautiously for a while, the white bird tentatively lifted its claw and approached, curling its tail as it cautiously approached, lowered its head, and lightly pecked at the water.
Gu Cong instantly understood, and Xie Ye seemed to be in a good mood.
So he asked, "Why aren't they affected?" Surely not everyone in the entire village was as unenlightened as this white bird.
But Xie Ye didn't answer directly. Instead, he posed another question, "Have you ever seen Liuyun Mountain? The one outside the barrier?"
In a moment of realization, Gu Cong understood the key point.
—Whether it was described in the original work or witnessed firsthand by Song He, the image of Liuyun Mountain was always depicted as vast and boundless, with rolling thunderclouds and phenomena that could cover an area of hundreds of miles.
Despite the fact that their location after breaking through the barrier was near Liuyun Mountain, he hadn't seen anything unusual along the way.
"Because you're not afraid," Xie Ye whispered softly, "The Liuyun Mountain is just a mountain."
Just like all the other ordinary mountains in the world.
And those villagers, old or young, probably hadn't even heard of the legends of immortals, let alone the name of Xie Ye.
"Practicing cultivation is like rowing against the current, and tribulations are the most concrete manifestation," Xie Ye continued. "Sometimes I wonder if those cultivators who avoid Liuyun Mountain are actually hiding from their own fear of ascension."
And he, Xie Ye, was the demon born from this boundless fear.
In a novel, it's easy to create a stereotypical villain as a target for the protagonist to fight and level up. However, when words transform into a three-dimensional reality, the small world will naturally fill in the gaps of the setting.
Therefore, it was only after Shen Qingshu and Qin Ji joined forces to "slay the strange immortal and prove the Dao" that they were able to break through on the spot and ascend decades later.
Similarly, other cultivators who attacked Liuyun Mountain also experienced breakthroughs in their realms.
In a sense, they were not facing the immortal Xie Ye, but rather the deep-seated fear that had been passed down and accumulated in the cultivation world for thousands of years.
"This is just my speculation," Xie Ye said, not intending to delve too deeply into serious topics. "Perhaps there will be a more reasonable explanation in the future."
"But it's indeed because of you that I feel I might walk freely in this world."
Entering the village earlier was merely a test.
If any mishap were to occur, he could easily lull the entire village into slumber in an instant.
Due to his personality, Xie Ye seldom opened up about his inner thoughts, let alone spoke such soft words. Gu Cong knew that when Xie Ye said "because of you," it should refer to "your reaction when you left the Liuyun Mountain."
Yet he couldn't help but feel uncontrollably excited, like drinking a can of chilled soda on a scorching day, bubbles popping cheerfully.
"I can accompany you in your search," Gu Cong said without hesitation, "until you find the answer that satisfies you."
Xie Ye raised an eyebrow. "It might take a long time."
Gu Cong replied, "Then so be it."
"I will strive in my cultivation."
"You still have tasks to fulfill, don't make promises you can't keep," reminded 0028 dutifully. "The world of cultivation is one of the closest small worlds to the main world. Making promises lightly might incur karma."
"No easy way out," unconsciously fiddling with the puppet strings tied to his little finger, Gu Cong replied, "I remember you telling me about the consequences of failing a mission."
【I think I can handle it.】
Handle it?
Handle what?
This is a beginner's world starting from scratch. Once failed, where are there points to deduct? he'll definitely be thrown into a punishment world.
Punishment worlds are often the toughest tasks in every department. How could it be like now, where the plot automatically paves the way, and all you have to do is follow along and stab the villain with a sword?
The Quick Transmigration Bureau is not a charity organization. The other side of fairness is that there's no room for sentimentality. 0028 has seen too many hosts caught in a vicious cycle in punishment worlds.
In the end, they all give up eternal life, give up their obsessions, give up the opportunity to fulfill their wishes with points, and choose to forget everything and move on to reincarnation.
But 0028 also knows that its new host, despite being young, has a heart far firmer than most of the old hands in the bureau. It's too lazy to waste words on a piece of wood, so it simply breaks the jar and sinks deep into the sea of consciousness:
There were so many things it shouldn't have done. It shouldn't have let Gu Cong get close to the villain in the first place.
Now, things have taken a turn for the worse. The mission isn't completed, yet the host is dragged into it. The supporting character who admires the protagonist has turned traitor at the critical moment, and the plot has collapsed to the point where even the protagonist's mother wouldn't recognize it. 0028 can hardly imagine how chaotic the new ending will be.
But Gu Cong feels that not blindly believing in the one-sided description of the original work, not betraying or killing people because Xie Ye is just data, an NPC, or a necessary sacrifice to stabilize the small world, is the right thing he has ever done.
Of course, he wants to return to his original world.
But he also has his own principles.
In the uninhabited house where doors and windows are left open for ventilation, just as Gu Cong and the system were starting to reach a consensus, Xie Ye suddenly glanced outside coldly and asked, "Who's there?"
Author's note:
0028: Consensus? Who did you reach a consensus with?
0028: Destroy it all, I'm tired of this.
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