Chapter 2373 - A Daoist Title, Xin Yuan

The talisman was from Yi Chen. The message inside simply read, “Help!”

Lu Qingmei’s heart clenched, and the look on her beautiful face shifted dramatically.

Yi Chen was calm and detached by nature. He stayed out of worldly strife, and he wasn’t the type to cause trouble. Furthermore, there was no way he’d ask for help unless he was in life-or-death danger!

Given Chen’er’s cultivation base and the life-saving treasures I gave him, there’s almost no way he could have run into real danger. Unless... a Nine-Tribulation Master God is involved!

Don’t tell me... that a Nine-Tribulation old-timer has set his sights on my son?

Lu Qingmei’s heart shook; she realized that this didn’t bode well.

Chen’er grew up by my side. He’s never once been involved in any sort of grudge. He certainly never offended any Nine-Tribulation Master Gods...

I must be their real target!

Lu Qingmei took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

Just who is it?

She thought it over seriously, replaying what had happened of late. In the end, Lu Qingmei decided on the two most likely suspects.

The first was her nominal Dao Partner, the Severed Heavens Demon Master.

The other was her junior apprentice brother, Yu Xun!

Both of them knew that Yi Chen was her “adopted son”, and they both had reason to target Yi Chen to use him against her!

But then, Lu Qingmei’s brow furrowed.

I sent Chen’er to the Eastern Victory Divine Continent early to avoid others targeting him, and he’s long since adopted a pseudonym and gone into hiding. How could anyone have targeted him?

Something’s fishy here.

Lu Qingmei was certain that no ordinary person could have figured out Yi Chen’s identity, let alone located him.

Yet now, Yi Chen had met with disaster. This unquestionably implied that her opponent had access to some sort of hidden card capable of discerning both Yi Chen’s identity and his whereabouts.

Lu Qingmei’s heart thudded in her chest, and her beautiful face paled. She could already guess the answer.

It’s Master! Master must have used a wisp of my natal divine blood to find Chen’er!

If that’s really the case, it unquestionably implies that she... knows that Chen’er is my son!!

Lu Qingmei’s heart sank. She knew how heartless and brutal her master’s methods were. If Yi Chen’s life wound up in her hands... the consequences would be unimaginable!

Master, oh, Master. In the end, I underestimated you...

Lu Qingmei’s beautiful face was ashen, and the depths of her gaze surged with irrepressible fury and hatred.

You want to use Chen’er to threaten me and Su Yi? Forget about it!

Lu Qingmei could already roughly guess why her master had captured Yi Chen alive, and the thought only made her even angrier.

Master has already touched the threshold of the River of Destiny, and she’s currently deep in seclusion. There’s no way she’ll leave the sect lightly prior to the Dark Days of Legend.

Thus, if I’m not mistaken, the one who actually went after Chen’er... was that bastard Yu Xun!

As Lu Xun’s senior apprentice sister, Lu Qingmei naturally understood how shameless and insidious her junior apprentice brother was.

Who knew how much he’d torture and humiliate Yi Chen if he captured him?

After thinking it all through, Lu Qingmei set off without hesitation.

......

Sunset Perch Island.

“Gather!”

Su Yi stood in midair, hands forming seals.

Wind rose and clouds surged. A tide of spiritual energy flooded toward Sunset Perch Island from all sides.

“Rise!” Su Yi raised his hand and tapped the air.

Kaboom!

Sunset Perch Island had been flattened and reduced to rubble, but now, one towering mountain after another rose out of the ground.

Su Yi was rebuilding the island of his memories!

The River Child helped too. He dove underwater, guiding the underwater spirit veins to direct their energy toward the island.

He and Su Yi had long since possessed enough power to move mountains, fill oceans, and transform a place completely.

They were now just trying to rebuild Sunset Perch Island. It wasn’t anything overly difficult.

A day later.

By evening the island had transformed completely, with a new mountain range covered in peach trees, and winding, flowing currents all over the place. Auspicious clouds gathered overhead, casting dreamlike, ethereal energies of the Grand Dao onto the world below.

“Go!” Su Yi raised and swung his hand.

A streak of chaos lightning descended from the heavens, sinking deep into the heart of Sunset Perch Island.

Its flowers, trees, and grasses instantly erupted with shockingly vibrant vitality.

That streak of chaos lightning was, in fact, the Chaos Lightning Soil that Su Yi had taken from Spirit Vessel Yao Court. It was a wondrous, Undying Treasure, and its effects were enough to transform this once barren landscape into a first-rate blessed ground.

Next, Su Yi took out the Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo and Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace and plated them.

A thousand-foot stalk of bamboo swayed, its leaves seemingly forged out of molten gold. It was bathed in chaos energy, and it scattered a rain of electric light.

The Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace spread its branches from the highest point of the island, flowing with clear, dreamlike radiance that enveloped the entire island.

The Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo had been the sect-protecting treasure of Spirit Vessel Yao Court, but the Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace was even more wondrous. It was a chaos lifeform, and it had been rooted here once a long time ago, transforming the island into a blessed ground for cultivation. It had accompanied Yi Daoxuan for years.

Cultivating in the blessed ground resulting from the Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace was like meditating amidst chaos itself. Here, cultivators could easily sense the auras of the myriad Daos in their surroundings, and that made it easier to enter a state of sudden enlightenment.

That aside, the tree’s branches, trunk, and leaves were all first-rate precious treasures.

“Old Tea Tree, you find a place to live, too,” said Su Yi, inviting the Lord of Sleepless Nights out.

The Lord of Sleepless Nights was the incarnation of a Dao Enlightened Tea Tree. Su Yi had rescued him from the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave.

Since then, Su Yi had gathered an enormous number of trophies. Most, he put toward treating the Lord of Sleepless Nights. The tree had already recovered most of his vitality.

“Many thanks, Brother Fuyou!” The Lord of Sleepless Nights clasped his fist in gratitude.

A moment later, he transformed into a tea tree bathed in chaos mist and rooted himself atop a cliff.

“With the old tea tree, the Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo, and the Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace, Sunset Perch Island will give rise to source energies of the Grand Dao and regain its former splendor!” Su Yi let out a deep sigh.

He walked confidently to the shore covered in fine grains of white sand. The waves churned, glinting with flecks of sunlight and reflecting the red and orange radiance of the setting sun. It was beautiful enough to make one’s heart shake.

Su Yi lay down in the sand, using his head as a pillow, and relaxed in contentment. His deep gaze focused on the setting sun, and his heart and mind felt an unprecedented tranquility.

The God Domain was enormous, seemingly beyond end.

Over the past few years, Su Yi had made himself at home wherever he was. He fought all across the God Domain, but although he had places to rest his legs, he’d never had a place to call his own.

Sunset Perch Island was different.

This was his home!

An island covered in a sea of peach blossoms swaying in the wind. When bathed in the light of dusk, the flowers shone with resplendent, fiery radiance.

The ocean churned, the sound of the waves without end. The Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo swayed, its leaves rustling like a tune.

Further away, the Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace and the old tea tree bathed each other in their respective radiances. The former flowed with moonlight, while the latter emanated lights of the Grand Dao.

It was all just that beautiful, and deeply soothing.

“Your Excellency.”

The River Child approached from afar, walking through the sand and the shallow waters at the edge of the waves. When the water split beneath his feet, the resulting ripples caught the light of the setting sun, and he too seemed to ripple.

“Life is a journey against the current, and I am a traveler. I’ve spent several years in the God Domain, but it’s only now that I’ve finally found a place I can temporarily be at peace,” Su Yi whispered, a look of unprecedented tranquility on his handsome face.

The home is where the heart knows peace.

And Sunset Perch Island had been his old home to begin with.

“I can tell you’re happy, Your Excellency,” laughed the River Child.

“I’m not happy so much as calm, tranquil, and at ease,” said Su Yi. “WHow is the little monkey?”

“Oh! Brother Monkey is working on rebuilding his physical body and mending his soul. Thanks to all of the rare and precious medicines you gave him, it’s all going smoothly,” said the River Child. “If all goes as I expect, Brother Monkey will be up and running about within half a year.”

“Mm,” said Su Yi.

“Your Excellency, why doesn’t Brother Monkey have a name even after all this time?” the River Child asked curiously.

Su Yi was briefly stunned. “I never thought about it. He’s a natural divinity from the Epoch Battlefield, born of the heavens and nourished in the earth, with an unfettered heart and unyielding courage. What... what kind of surname do you think would suit him?”

The River Child scratched his head. “The character ‘surname’ is a combination of the characters for ‘woman’ and ‘birth.’ That means that everyone with a surname was born to a mother and a father. But Brother Monkey was born of the heavens, so... it’s really not easy to choose a surname for him.”

“Then let’s just skip the surname and give him a Daoist Title,” said Su Yi.

The River Child smiled. “Your Excellency, you were the one who brought Brother Monkey on your journeys through countless worlds. It wouldn’t be appropriate for anyone else to choose his Daoist Title.”

Su Yi instantly sank into thought. A long time passed before he spoke.

“When cultivating and seeking the Dao, the state of one’s heart is of paramount importance. A ‘heart like a frisky monkey’ and ‘a mind like a cantering horse’ are taboo. You must tame the monkey of the heart and bridle the horse of the mind. Only then can you know peace.”

“And the Little Monkey is connected to me by fate. Thus, the title ‘Xin Yuan,’ or ‘a connection of the heart’ should do.

The idiom “a heart like a frisky monkey, a mind like a cantering horse” reflected his fundamental nature.

Connecting his heart to the Dao would give rise to wisdom, hence the phrase, “Discipline leads to wisdom.”

“Connection of the heart” and “monkeys of the heart” were synonyms. Both were pronounced “Xin Yuan.” The name represented his encounter with Su Yi, as well as Su Yi’s hopes for the little monkey. He’d pondered for a long time before settling on it.

“Xin Yuan, Xin Yuan... what a wondrous title!” exclaimed the River Child. “Your Excellency, how about you choose a Daoist Title for me, too?”

Su Yi directly ignored him. “I plan to go into seclusion here for a while. Stand guard over this place and look over the island. If enemies come, it’d be best if you could resolve it on your own, but come find me if you can’t.”

WIth that, Su Yi got up, then walked toward the peak where the Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace was planted.

The light of dusk was receding, and night was fast approaching.

“Your Excellency, go ahead and cultivate! Don’t worry about a thing!” shouted the River Child.

On that day, Su Yi went into seclusion on Sunset Perch Island. He paid no heed to worldly affairs.

At first, the atmosphere in the Endless Ocean was incomparably tense. Countless factions’ hearts were on tenterhooks. All were terrified that Su Yi would come looking for them.

But, as Su Yi stayed in seclusion on Sunset Perch Island, the top factions of the Endless Ocean gradually calmed down.

It was just that no one, no matter their faction of origin, dared to approach Sunset Perch Island.

It was now a forbidden ground to the entire Endless Ocean’s world of cultivation!