Chapter 2024 - I Refuse

Further down the street, all was shrouded in fog.

A delicately handsome figure in Confucian robes sauntered over, a scholarly

fangjin

on his head. He carried a feather fan, and he looked like a handsome scholar of the mundane world.

As soon as he appeared, the lamps hanging from the eaves of the buildings swayed, casting mottled waves of light.

The man’s aura was as calm as stagnant water, and he had no imposing presence to speak of.

However, when he approached from afar, Wu Lingchong and Li Shuang felt inexplicably ill at ease and thoroughly uncomfortable. This was a powerful, instinctual sense of peril!

Su Yi caressed the Sword of Proximity with his fingertip, his gaze profound and inscrutable. He too felt a powerful threat emanating from the delicately handsome scholar in Confucian robes.

Whoever he was, he wasn’t simple. Su Yi didn’t even need to think to know that this was a powerful, dangerous enemy!

“The Fog-Shrouded Street is like a cage, but I haven’t come here to kill you.” The handsome scholar stopped in the distance, smiled, and gently waved his feather fan. He looked unaffected and carefree.

“Then what have you come here to do?” asked Su Yi.

The handsome scholar smiled and clasped his fist in greeting. “Grandmother ordered me to invite the three of you to visit her on Purple Moon Mountain. She’s prepared a banquet in your honor. Now, she’s just waiting for the three of you to arrive.”

The three of them were instantly stunned.

Su Yi said thoughtfully, “And who is this ‘Grandmother’ you speak of?”

The handsome scholar said solemnly, “Grandmother is the master of the City of the Lost. She achieved divinity long, long ago, when the ancient gods still wandered this world!”

His voice was full of reverence, but Su Yi just said, “Oh. And why would she invite us to a banquet?”

The handsome scholar smiled. “I can tell that you have questions. You’ll naturally get your answers once you’ve met with Grandmother.”

“And what if I refuse?” asked Su Yi.

The handsome scholar sighed. “It’s been a long, long time since Grandmother last invited an outsider to a banquet. You’d best cherish her good intentions. If you don’t, you’ll only make things difficult for me.”

He raised his feather fan and gestured to the eaves. “One hundred and thirty-three Soul Lanterns hang from the Fog-Shrouded Street. Each seals the soul of one of the Lost. Thirteen of them are gods.

"The others were all unparalleled elites of the Great Realm. More importantly, Grandmother once thought highly of them all. However, they stubbornly refused her good intentions. In the end, they were suppressed and sealed in the lanterns for all eternity. They’ve lost all sense of self.”

The handsome scholar sighed. “I’d hate for the three of you to follow in their footsteps, so I urge you to reconsider.”

Wu Lingchong and Li Shuang felt chills course down their spines. Only then did they realize the mysteries hidden within the lanterns lining the Fog-Shrouded Street. Even thirteen gods had been confined in them!

Su Yi, however, wasn’t the least bit startled. On the contrary, he asked with great interest, “Does that mean that over the years, everyone who’s accepted Grandmother’s good intentions has become her subordinate, as you have?”

The handsome scholar laughed. “Sure, you could put it like that.”

Su Yi said softly, “No wonder you’d agree to become her dog; refusing would have gotten you locked up.”

The handsome scholar’s smile froze. How could he possibly have missed that Su Yi was insulting him?

But before he could respond, Su Yi said, “How about this? I have two conditions. So long as you agree to them, I’ll go to this banquet of yours.”

“Please go right ahead and ask,” said the scholar, but his smile was much colder than before.

“I came here to see some of my old friends, and based on my understanding of them, I’m certain they didn’t agree to become Grandmother’s dogs.”

The handsome scholar’s expression was as dark as could be, but he resisted the urge to lash out. Su Yi, however, didn’t even seem to notice. He just continued, entirely unperturbed, “Let them go, and I’ll go see Grandmother right now.”

“Can you tell me their names?” said the scholar.

“Ye Chunqiu, Xiao Ruyi, and Xu Fushi,” said Su Yi. “Oh, and Li Yong’an, too.”

Li Shuang’s heart shook, and her expression filled with gratitude. Li Yong’an was her father!

The handsome scholar frowned and sank into thought. A moment later, he suddenly laughed. “Grandmother has heard your request. When you arrive at the banquet on Purple Moon Mountain, they’ll be there waiting for you.”

Su Yi took a deep, hard look at the scholar. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re telling the truth or not. What matters is that I already stated my conditions. Let them go.

Then

I’ll go to your banquet.”

The scholar’s smile vanished completely. Su Yi’s attitude had obviously displeased him.

“I’ve already stated my conditions twice,” said Su Yi. “There won’t be a third time. If you don't have the authority to make this decision, go talk to that Grandmother of yours and let her decide.”

He’d only just said this when an icy, indifferent female voice rang out. “Little fellow, taking an inch and demanding a mile will only lead to your doom. You’ve stated your conditions, so this lofty one shall make her position clear, too.”

Her voice resounded throughout heaven and earth in such a way that no one could tell where it came from. However, it was full of utterly terrifying force and majesty, as well as a heart-palpitating sense of oppression.

“Go ahead,” Su Yi said flatly.

“Submit, and I’ll grant you a chance at divinity while still alive! You won’t be subject to the Curse of the Ancient Gods, nor will you join the Lost.”

When the woman’s voice rang out, the handsome scholar shook from head to toe, and his eyes filled with irrepressible astonishment. It seemed he would never have anticipated that Grandmother, the ruler of the City of the Lost, would offer Su Yi such generous terms!

“Refuse, you and your companions will surely die! But you needn’t rush to answer me. I expect you’ll make the right decision after you’ve met with Ye Chunqiu.”

With that, the woman’s voice disappeared, and so did that heart-palpitating sense of oppression.

It was then that a figure approached from further down the Fog-Shrouded Street. He was a young Daoist with his hair tied into a topknot. He was tall, upright, and dressed in dark Daoist robes.

When Su Yi saw him, he was unwittingly stunned. This was indeed Ye Chunqiu, but he looked as he had in his youth!

Wang Ye remembered Ye Chunqiu as disheveled, slovenly, and unfettered. He looked and acted completely differently than he did as a young man.

More importantly, Ye Chunqiu hadn’t just gotten younger. Even his aura had changed completely, becoming much, much stronger!

“Brother Ye, I’ll leave this to you.” The handsome scholar approached, then clasped his fist and greeted Ye Chunqiu.

Ye Chunqiu waved. “You can leave.”

The handsome scholar nodded, then turned to leave.

Su Yi didn’t stop him. Instead, he gazed at Ye Chunqiu in silence.

It seems... my old friend’s predicament isn’t as dire as I thought!

Ye Chunqiu was staring intently at Su Yi, too. Su Yi looked completely different from Wang Ye, and his bearing had changed, too. Ye Chunqiu already understood what had happened.

“Let’s find a place for a chat.” Ye Chunqiu smiled, straight from the heart. He looked happy, gratified, and full of indescribable excitement at their reunion; it had been a long, long time.

“Here is fine.” Su Yi took out a jug of wine, passed it to Ye Chunqiu, then set up his wicker chair and sat down.

Ye Chunqiu froze, a bit stunned, then sighed. “You really have changed, and I too have been born anew. Had we encountered each other on the street, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have recognized each other.”

With that, he took the jug of wine, threw back his head, and drank before plopping down on a nearby stone staircase and stretching contentedly.

Wu Lingchong and Li Shuang weren’t far away. The two of them exchanged glances; this didn’t feel quite real.

This was the Fog-Shrouded Street, the most perilous part of the already perilous City of the Lost. Who knew how many Ghost Gods were watching them from the shadows?

Ambushes lurked on every corner, and there was danger on all sides, but neither Su Yi nor Ye Chunqiu seemed to care.

One sat in a wicker chair, the other on stone steps as they laughed and drank. This reunion between old friends seemed unquestionably out of place, but both of them were perfectly at ease.

“A few years ago, I returned to the Immortal Realm, and before I set off for the River of Epochs, I ended many of my lingering enmities,” whispered Su Yi. “But none of you were there. I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a pity.”

Ye Chunwiu laughed bitterly. “Far too much happened back then. Three days and three nights wouldn’t be enough to cover it all.”

“Then don’t bother,” laughed Su Yi. “What matters is that you’re still alive, you old charlatan, and that I’m happy to see you.”

“I feel the same way.” Ye Chunqiu laughed and slapped his thigh. “I haven’t been so happy in a long, long time.”

Both of them raised their cups and drank with relish.

“What about Xiao Ruyi and Xu Fushi?” Su Yi asked casually.

Ye Chunqiu abruptly fell silent. Some time passed before he said, “They’re dead.”

Su Yi had only just lifted a jug of wine to his lips when he froze and slowly set it back down. “How did they die?”

A hint of grief appeared in Ye Chunqiu’s expression. “We entered the City of the Lost together in search of opportunities to achieve divinity. It was only after we got here that we realized how dangerous this place really was!”

He let out a long sigh. “Once trapped in the city, there’s no way out. We passed through seemingly endless graves to reach the Fog-Shrouded Street, where we bumped into a Ghost God.

“It was much like what you faced today...”

Here, Su Yi suddenly interrupted him. “Ol’ Ye, there’s no need to go into all that. Just tell me the results.”

Ye Chunqiu nodded. “Xiao Ruyi and Xu Fushi died at the entrance to the Fog-Shrouded Street. The one who killed them was a Ghost God named Yu Ming.”

“And you chose to submit?” asked Su Yi.

Ye Chunqiu had a complicated look on his face as he sighed. “That’s right. Had I died, who’d have avenged them?”

Su Yi took a sip of wine. “And did you avenge them?”

“I did.” Ye Chunqiu nodded. “I dragged that bastard to the entrance of the Fog-Shrouded Street, the place where Xiao Ruyi and Xu Fushi died, with my own two hands. Then, I personally obliterated him!”

He sighed. “It’s just a pity that it was already too late to bring our friends back. It’s been a long, long time, but I still get upset every time I think about it.”

Su Yi fell briefly silent, then whispered, “I can tell that Grandmother thinks quite highly of you.”

Ye Chunqiu froze, then set his jug of wine back down.

The atmosphere silently shifted, growing stifled and tense.