Chapter 393: Let's Meet Again in a Few Thousand Years
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
After the death of Yunyue, the story has finally come to an end. At the closing stage, the plot was divided into several lines. Among which, he finished the most serious line… Now, it finally could be talked about.
First of all was Yunkongjun.
This peak Yuanying cultivator that personally established Cloud Country more than one thousand years ago, after a millennium of twists and turns, finally came to an end.
Under the suppression of Yunyue, or all living things in Cloud Country, Yunkongjun finally flew away and scattered, his entire body and soul extinguished.
Wang Lu originally thought that, in accordance with the usual script, perhaps there would be a farewell ceremony. For example, the good side of Yunkongjun was finally awakened, and would then express remorse for his own action, also leaving behind some things for the later generations and so on.
However, the later stage development was not that dramatic. After sinking to the ground along with the stele, Yunkongjun completely dissipated. He didn't even leave behind a complete last sentence, nothing at all. What happened to him was actually quite similar to many other cultivators of Nine Regions.
From the moment cultivators set foot on the path of immortal cultivation, their path was no longer the same as that of mortals. In the eyes of ordinary mortals, even a cultivator of Foundation Establishment Stage was as miraculous as the celestial beings from the heaven, even to the point of being omnipotent. However, in fact, the immortal path was just the beginning. Before reaching the other side, cultivators were just more powerful and lived longer than ordinary mortals, but there was no real qualitative difference.
Only when they arrived on the other side could cultivators truly achieve immortality and not end up like Yunkongjun who still inevitably fell into a miserable fate even though his cultivation base was peak Yuanying Stage.
Of course, if ordinary people were to advance to this point, at most, they would just sigh at the verse 'things in the world are fickle', recall with emotion the heavy load and long road of a cultivator, and then turn around and leave. However, Wang Lu was unwilling for it to end just like this.
This was the biggest enemy so far that he has seen in the entire immortal dream lands! In order to deal with him, a mere Peak Xudan Stage, the immortal dream land manufactured a peak Yuanying Stage as his opponent, which was simply outrageous. Later, although Wang Lu could not personally defeat his opponent, for Yunyue to have the three good words—good timing, good location, and good situation—and be raised into the realm of gods, every step of it was arranged by Wang Lu. Thus, half of this exploit could be attributed to Yunyue, and the other half to Wang Lu. After overthrowing the powerful enemy with great trouble, should he just recall with emotions several verses?
Or to put it bluntly, should he just drop it?
In Peach Garden Village, when Wang Lu overthrew the demon kings, he had indeed collected some loot. Although they were mostly just items of no value, but after all, they did exist. However, where was the loot from Yunkongjun?
And since Yunkongjun himself didn't leave anything behind, Wang Lu simply took the matter to his own hand, beginning in the place where the stele submerged.
In simple terms, he entered the tomb of the king of Cloud Country.
Tomb raiding, in itself, was not worth to be advocated. However, there were too many secrets hidden within this royal tomb. In the tomb of the founding monarch, which was the tomb of Yunkongjun, Wang Lu finally found his loot.
"Nine Revolutions Undead Method…"
In the empty coffin of Yunkongjun, Wang Lu found a purple book with four words title written in bad handwriting.
Upon opening this ancient book, Wang Lu speed read through the content. In the later half of the book, there was a prohibitive spell that blocked him from reading it. If he wanted to read it, he needed to satisfy all kinds of requirements. The first half of the book, however, was enough for Wang Lu to make a judgment: this was a valuable… evil method.
The reason why Yunkongjun, at the end of his life, managed to live on for another millennium was that he cultivated this Nine Revolutions Undead Method. According to the text in the book, after experiencing each revolution, that person could shed his mortal body and exchange his bone. After a millennium of non-stop hard work, Yunkongjun managed to cultivate the method into the first four revolutions, and the vitality gained from his training was offset by his normal consumption. This allowed him to live for more than two thousand years.
For ordinary Yuanying Stage cultivators, their lifespan was at most six hundred to seven hundred years. Thus, by having a millennium of lifespan, Yunkongjun could be considered as having half a step into the rank of Deity Stage, in addition to its own longevity. Usually, it was also normal for a Deity Stage to become a Supreme of Unity Stage in two thousand years. Presently, the longest-lived cultivator in Nine Regions, the South Pole Immortal, had around four thousand years of life span, which was loudly called out as inconceivable by many people, and also being strongly requested to be classified as a research object. However, Yunkongjun's aptitude was by no means excellent. With a not so qualified cultivation method, relying on the Nine Revolutions Undead Method, he could prolong his life by one time! And this was just the fourth revolution!
However, what if it were Wang Lu?
According to Wang Lu's own planning, in the most conservative circumstances, in a hundred years, he should be able to advance to Deity Stage or even Unity Stage. Although compared to the success of Great Ancestor Desheng and Immortal Qin this was too slow, but after the end of the age of chaos, this was already very fast. According to his calculation, without considering extreme circumstances—such as using such a large amount of innate vitality without disregarding the price—he should be able to have more than three thousand and five hundred years of normal life. Although Non-Phase Method wasn't a method that was specialized in extending lifespan, because too many of its content demanded the usage of innate vitality, Wang Wu also made revisions to improve the method.
In this case, if he cultivated this Nine Revolutions Undead Method, he could at least finish the first seven revolutions, and when the time came, his lifespan could reach more than seven thousand years! And if Wang Lu reached Mahayana Stage and completed the entire revolutions, he would become one of the veritable big shots of history! And this big shots of history, within the historical data, also have their own individual name: Land of True Immortal!
It was just that there was no perfect thing in this world. Just as behind the invincible defense power of Non-Phase Method, the price was the great damage to the offensive power. The Nine Revolutions Undead Method could make the cultivators be reborn and increase their lifespan, but the price was that, along with being reborn, the cultivator's personality would also be renewed.
In other words, a millennium after he died, Yunkongjun's temperament suffered a huge change. Not only because when advancing to Deity Stage, evil thoughts could not be removed, the real reason for this change was the cultivation of Nine Revolutions Undead Method. By setting up the stele before he died, Yunkongjun was, in fact, afraid that he would completely lose control after cultivating the Nine Revolutions Undead Method. Otherwise, for a peak Yuanying Stage Cultivator, there were too many ways to make himself vanish in a puff of smoke, why would he need to design a stele?
Yunkongjun was merely longing for immortality, thus knowing the risk, he still wanted to try it. Unfortunately, although he had made many arrangements, eventually, it all led to a tragedy. A great cultivator of the generation eventually ended up as an evil demon and died.
Wang Lu was, of course, interested in this method, but he did not intend to practice it immediately. The side effect was too strong. The lesson from what happened to Yunkongjun could not be ignored. Thus, rather than voluntarily taking this risk, he would rather hand this book to the Elders of Heavenly Sword Hall to be studied and experimented. It would be more cost effective if he just enjoyed the finished product.
Moreover, for Wang Lu, lifespan was actually not that important. Because in his opinion, aptitude alone was not sufficient to let someone ascend to immortality in a short period of time. He was very much afraid that during his journey in the immortal cultivation, he would become someone who exhausted his lifespan and thus would do everything possible to prolong life. For Wang Lu, the so-called life span was nothing more than innate vitality that could be freely spent.
Of course, this method was valuable to him. He believed that most of the people would scramble for it. If he dedicated this method to Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, or sold it to Mysterious Sky Mansion, he would obtain considerable profit. This immortal dream land was really hard, but this Nine Revolutions Undead Method alone made it worth it. Not to mention that, for Wang Lu, the real harvest in this immortal dream land was another thing entirely.
—
"Grand Cloud Fairy, I really didn't think it would be you."
By the clear lake, Wang Lu muttered.
For Wang Lu, Grand Cloud Fairy has an extraordinary significance.
Not only because of her peerless appearance, which caused Wang Lu to have an unprecedented shock, the greater reason was that, it was the first time Wang Lu realized his own weakness.
By using the millennium ripple to pass on her accomplishment, Grand Cloud Fairy was able to help Wang Lu leap into Xudan, which was several times level increase. However, the price for this was the death of the fairy herself.
For the situation that Wang Lu faced at the time, Xudan Stage was necessary. However, if he could choose, he really wanted to bring the fairy back, and then he would try some other way to solve the danger in Grand Cloud Mountain.
However, now it seemed that everything was predestined. He was the one who personally led Yunyue on the road of sacrifice, and then, during the next ten cycles of reincarnation, whenever necessary, Yunyue would sacrifice herself.
Until finally… Wang Lu witnessed the death of Grand Cloud Fairy.
How ironic was that?
However, after realizing this, Wang Lu did several things.
"This is the lake where we met and departed."
Wang Lu said and then self-deprecatingly smiled. "Actually, I should've guessed it. Cloud Country… is actually the past of Grand Cloud Mountain. The terrain is quite similar."
"There is no eternal dynasty in this world. After your death, it seems like Cloud Country didn't last long. But, you continued to protect this piece of land, as well as the living beings on it, until we finally met."
"At that time, after you dissipated, I picked up a piece of white pebble at the lake to keep as a souvenir, which I always carry with me all these years…"
Wang Lu said, and then from a special position in his mustard seed bag, took out the stone that he has treasured for many years.
"It's funny that when I first collected it, there was a glimmer of unrealistic hope in my heart… I hope that one day, when my strength is strong enough, through this piece of stone, I can go back to you and bring you back. I was thinking that, with our predestined affinity, perhaps this amongst the countless stones at the lake, I would be able to get the special one.
"But everything is just my wishful thinking. Just as I left Ground Cloud Mountain, for several years, I put things about you to the back of my head. In this world, there are not so much of uniques that belong to you… but, fate is fate."
Wang Lu said, then he stepped on the lake like graceful waves, floating towards the center of the lake where there was a flickering light. And then, he used his Non-Phase magical power to wrap the stone and floated it mid-air on the center of the lake.
The breeze blew by the lakeside, blowing the blossoming flower petals. Wang Lu gently inhaled. His Jade Mansion and Void Core were agitated, triggering the tide of spiritual force.
The surrounding spiritual energy was almost substance-less, so most of the petals were unaffected, pushed by the wind on the lake, like a floating boat. However, some flew along with the spiritual energy towards Wang Lu.
Wang Lu stuck the petals to the white pebble. When he felt the indistinct familiar aura, submerged it into the bottom of the lake.
"Grand Cloud Fairy, let's meet again in a few thousand years."
With that, Wang Lu took a step and flew ashore.
"Finally, there's only one thing left to do."
At the shore, Wang Lu released his Non-Phase Sword Qi and dug out many huge holes. And then, from his mustard seed bag, he took out a pile of things to fill those holes.
There were various types of valuable works of art and jewelry. Their value would multiply over time. There were also precious spirit seeds that would periodically mature each millennium.
"My artifacts and my spirit seeds, let's also meet again in a few thousand years."