On the churning sea of fire, the black boat parted the waves as it approached.

The features of the white-clad woman on it finally became distinct. It was a pale but pretty face with eyes like clear springs and brows like distant mountains.

She looked dazed with excitement, and her voice was trembling. It was as though she was finally seeing that dashing figure from back then again after a very, very long time.

She was Jiang Xingque, the poor woman who had been imprisoned here for nearly a hundred thousand years!

Lin Xun knew right away that she had mistaken him for Xuan Kong. Although it was hard to bring himself to correct her, he still did, “Senior, you have the wrong person.”

“How could I be wrong? I would never erroneously recognize the aura of Extreme Absolute!”

Jiang Xingque emotionally came up to Lin Xun, and her eyes were in an excited trance, “Brother Xuan Kong, you’re really good at disguising yourself, those old things in my clan must have all been fooled by you. This time, you must take me with you.”

Her voice was nervous and pleading.

Lin Xun saw for himself for the first time how pitiful and heartbreaking it was to face a woman who had been imprisoned for nearly a hundred thousand years.

She had mistaken him for his senior brother simply because he had practiced Extreme Absolute. One could imagine how much she had missed Xuan Kong during these countless years.

Her demented, trance-like, agitated behaviors were all telling how much she cared for and was attached to him deep inside.

This made Lin Xun’s heart ache.

How great it would be if Senior Brother Xuan Kong was alive to see this?!

After a moment of silence, Lin Xun sighed softly. He didn’t dare to look her in the eyes as he said, “Senior, my name is Lin Xun, and I’m his junior brother. I’ve come because he entrusted me with returning an item to you…”

“Brother Xuan Kong, you’re lying to me, aren’t you?” Jiang Xingque was like a lonely child, pleading with tears swelling up in her eyes.

“I…” Lin Xun was dumbstruck and didn’t know what to say anymore. His heart simply couldn’t bear this.

With a flip of his hand, a pale green hairpin in the shape of a bamboo leaf appeared.

The dazed, teary Jiang Xingque was stunned upon the sight of it. She gazed at the hairpin, mesmerized as countless memories seemed to flood back.

In the distance, the sea of lava fire rolled and roared. Jiang Xingque’s snow-white dress fluttered as she stood alone in this backdrop with tears rolling down from her eyes.

Lin Xun suddenly regretted that he hadn’t taken this item out sooner, or else she wouldn’t be so sad.

After a long time, Jiang Xingque seemed to regain her composure. Her eyes flushed with tenderness as she looked at Lin Xun. “Can you…just pretend to be Xuan Kong for a moment and help me put on this hairpin?”

Lin Xun nodded without hesitation.

Jiang Xingque revealed a heartfelt smile and turned around so that her back faced Lin Xun. She murmured, “Brother Xuan Kong, you said that when I’d see this hairpin again, it would be proof that you’re still alive. Now, it’s finally brought news of you to me…”

Lin Xun gently bunned up Jiang Xingque’s long, ink-black hair before he picked up the hairpin and gently inserted it diagonally into the bun.

“That’s right, Senior. I was able to bring this item and come look for you precisely because I was entrusted by Senior Brother Xuan Kong,” said Lin Xun softly.

When Jiang Xingque turned around, there were no longer tears in her eyes. Her expression resembled still water as it reached an extreme peacefulness.

There was no more the excitement, trance, or insanity from before. It was as if she had completely calmed down.

“Thank you, Junior Brother.” Jiang Xingque bowed. “This is the best news I’ve heard in these countless years.”

Lin Xun hurriedly said, “Senior, please don’t be like that. This is what I should do as his junior brother.”

Jiang Xingque smiled. “You are my husband’s junior brother, so how can I just presume myself as a senior? Call me sister-in-law.”

Her beauty was exquisite, and her bearing was graceful and gentle. However, her face was pale.

“As you wish.” Lin Xun nodded.

Next, Jiang Xingque brought Lin Xun into the cabin of the black boat moored on the sea of fire.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

After they sat down, Jiang Xingque asked Lin Xun many questions, almost all of which concerned Xuan Kong.

Lin Xun answered everything he could but deliberately concealed the fact that Xuan Kong was trapped in Tragic Death City until he had departed from the world of the living.

Jiang Xingque appeared calm all through this. After the topic of Xuan Kong, she also asked about Lin Xun himself.

Lin Xun naturally wouldn’t hide anything. He related to her how he had become a disciple of Fangchun Mountain and how he had been seeking the path of dao all these years.

Perhaps it was because she had been trapped here alone for too long, but Jiang Xingque listened with great interest.

Later on, upon learning that Lin Xun would be going to Central Plain State in half a year to participate in the Dao Debate Assembly organized by the Great Six Courts, she immediately frowned.

When Lin Xun told her that he already had a way to conceal his identity and was not worried about being discovered, Jiang Xingque sighed in relief.

“Back then, among the Great Six Courts, it was the three of Primordial, Heaven and Earth, and Panwu Dao Court that abhorred Fangchun Mountain, so they were the most active in dealing with Fangchun Mountain.”

At this topic, Jiang Xingque mused, “Even though you already have a perfect plan to conceal your identity, you must still be cautious in the Dao Debate Assembly.

“From what I know, there are ancestor-level Emperor fossils in the Great Six Courts presiding over that competition. If they set their sights on you, it will definitely be a disaster.”

Lin Xun grew solemn as he said, “I will be careful.”

Then, he couldn’t help but ask, “Sister-in-law, in the matter of targeting Fangchun Mountain, what are the attitudes of the other three great courts?”

Jiang Xingque said, “Mythical Huang Dao Court is neutral; they help neither side.

“Meanwhile, All-Demon Dao Court enjoys watching from the sidelines. Although the fall of Fangchun Mountain Lineage had little to do with them, they still made a move afterward in order to seize some of its treasures and inheritances.

“As for Absolute Origin Dao Court…” She shook her head. “It’s the most mysterious among the six, and it has never appeared at all before, during, or after the Dao War of Emperors.”

Lin Xun had actually heard something similar. Absolute Origin Dao Court was supposed to be the most aloof among the Great Six Courts as it was as good as hidden and isolated from the world.

This court had very few members, but every single one of them was at the Emperor Stage.

‘Every disciple being an Emperor is only ever possible in Absolute Origin!’

Such was the Absolute Origin Dao Court.

“In fact, Primordial, Panwu, and Heaven and Earth Dao Courts weren’t the only ones targeting Fangchun Mountain back then. Some of the forces among the Primeval Seven Demon-Beast Emperors’ clans and the Great Ten Battle Clans were also involved.

“Such as the Imperial Kong Clan, Imperial Xu Clan, Imperial Kun Clan… And then we also have Blood Qilin, Heavenly Ghost, Taowu Battle Clans…

“When a wall topples, everyone joins in to push it down. The heritage of Fangchun Mountain was too deep and powerful. When Fangchun Mountain suffered such a calamity, who wouldn’t want a piece of that delicious pie?”

Mentioning this, Jiang Xingque couldn’t help but sigh in frustration. “It’s a pity that the Fangchun Mountain Lineage was destroyed in the end…”

Lin Xun’s heart was in turmoil.

Only after a long silence did he say, “The gates of Fangchun Mountain have collapsed, and its influence has gone up in smoke, but all I know is that as long as we, the disciples of Fangchun Mountain, are alive, our lineage lives on!”

His voice was definite!

They were merely scattered souls in the starry sky who would be subjected to endless vendettas once their identities were revealed.

Even so, as long as they lived, they could pass on the fire of Fangchun Mountain from generation to generation!

Jiang Xingque gazed deeply at Lin Xun and said, “Your Senior Brother Xuan Kong, too, had once said the most powerful thing about Fangchun Mountain was not how much power or how many heritages it possessed, but rather the fact that it had all of you, the disciples!

“When its members are alive, it is the same as the Fangchun Mountain Lineage still being alive!”

Lin Xun nodded as he deeply agreed with this statement.

“There’s not much I can do to help you with the Dao Debate Assembly, but I can tell you the secret as to why Xuan Kong was hailed as ‘absolutely invincible in the Saint Stage’ back then,” said Jiang Xingque proudly.

That was the man she loved and adored, the greatest pride in her heart.

Lin Xun was startled to know this, and a strong curiosity was piqued. “Please enlighten me, Sister-in-law.”

Jiang Xingque’s eyes softened as she walked down the memory lane. “After Xuan Kong stepped into the Saint Stage, it only took him less than a hundred years before he successively claimed the crowns of the True Saint, Big Saint, and Saint-King Stages, unmatchable and unreachable by all peers!

“At the time, he alone overshadowed everyone in the same generation in every world we knew of.

“He alarmed Mythical Huang Dao Court far too many times into revising the rankings on those three categories of the Saint Stage.

“Once Xuan Kong claimed the first rank anywhere, no one would ever be able to shake his position, not even supreme heaven prides of the Six Great Courts or the geniuses of the Great Ten Battle Clans!

“At the time, there was a popular saying in the Ancient Nebula Road that ‘In the Saint Stage, who can be called invincible, who dares to say they are undefeated? Only Xuan Kong of Fangchun Mountain! That’s why he is absolutely invincible in the Saint Stage’!”

Listening to this, Lin Xun couldn’t hold back his gasp, awed and inspired. He had never known that Senior Brother Xuan Kong, who had been trapped in Tragic Death City, had had such a radiant and glorious past!

Her voice full of sentiment, Jiang Xingque continued, “Unfortunately, the Dao War of Emperors erupted before he could break out of the Saint Stage, otherwise, he would have been destined to keep shining so brightly with his talent and strength.

“Do you know that before your Senior Brother Xuan Kong became a Saint, he had been the most inconspicuous disciple in Fangchun Mountain? So shy and bashful that his face would become beet-red whenever he talked to a girl, and the words wouldn’t even come out of his mouth.

“He had always said that he was a herder. Because his family was poor, in order to help, his whole childhood had revolved around herding sheep. Because of his poverty and malnourished body, he was often ridiculed by children around his age. It was to the point that he developed low self-esteem and a withdrawn personality.

“Even until later when he entered Fangchun Mountain by chance to cultivate, Xuan Kong had also helped take care of the spirit birds and beasts in the sect.

“His whole transformation only started from the moment he became a Saint!”

Editor note:

Readers may recall that back in 1270, Xuan Kong said he was a pinnacle Big Saint. The author actually left a note acknowledging that and that it was an unfortunate ‘bug’ in the story. Basically, Xuan Kong’s true cultivation was Saint-King and according to the author, this shouldn’t have big consequences to the plot line of the story.