Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years - Chap 71
Chapter 71
Yi Wusheng was taken aback and said, “Yes.”
He instinctively wanted to ask what the regret was, but quickly realized that anything involving a “lifetime” was not something that could be explained in just a few words. Even if he did say it, it would be something only he could truly understand.
It would be like revealing a scar and getting a sigh in return. Yi Wusheng truly couldn’t bring himself to ask. He wasn’t that kind of person.
He quickly waved his hand and said, “I was really abrupt this time. Today, I…”
He paused for a moment, sighed and smiled, “I have felt a lot today, feeling a bit confused, and may have spoken out of turn. I apologize for any offense, young master, please forgive me.”
The person next to him remained silent, lost in thought. It was only after hearing his words that he came back to his senses and replied in a deep voice, “It’s okay.”
As they were talking, someone approached and bowed to Yi Wusheng, asking, “Are you here to burn incense?”
This person was a incense burner in the temple, dressed in a plain robe of practice, with a simple bun typical of disciples of the Immortal Sect. They would spread incense to visitors who came to burn incense. These incense burners were common in the temples of the major cities but less so in the mountains and wilderness.
Ever since the sealing of the Great Sorrow Valley in the present world, it had been deserted and desolate, with no incense burners. Unexpectedly, on this line hundreds of years ago, such a lively scene was seen again.
The incense burner handed Yi Wusheng three long incense sticks, held together, and offered them to him.
Of course, Yi Wusheng was not here to burn incense and worship gods; he only had a karmic relationship with the Great Sorrow Valley. However, seeing the incense burner’s smiling and enthusiastic face, he did not refuse.
He took the three long incense sticks and looked at them with complex eyes for a while before suddenly speaking, “Junior Apprentice Brother.”
“May I ask what brings you here?” The incense burner was hesitating whether to offer incense to Xiao Fuxuan. In his eyes, this man in soap clothes seemed cold and aloof, not like someone who would pray to the gods.
Yi Wusheng twirled the incense and asked gently, “May I ask, young master, what year is this?”
The incense burner, who was at the age of just entering the Immortal Sect, probably rarely encountered visitors like Yi Wusheng and Xiao Fuxuan. He was puzzled by the question and blinked, asking, “Ah?”
Yi Wusheng smiled, tapped his forehead, and said, “To be honest, I had a serious illness before, and I tend to be confused, often unable to tell the days apart. Please forgive me.”
Those who came to the temple to burn incense usually had some troubles, and illness was the most common one. The incense burner immediately nodded in understanding.
He politely replied, “This is the 29th year of Suining.”
Yi Wusheng nodded, “Suining.”
The reign of Suining was too distant for him, so it was actually quite unfamiliar.
According to the records, this reign did not last long.
In the year when Luohua Mountain City was burned, the earthly reign changed from “Suining” to “Qinghe,” hoping to calm the heavenly fire with the water in the reign name.
After that, the reign of “Qinghe” lasted for 275 years, during which Yi Wusheng was born.
It was not until Wu Xingxue was imprisoned in the northern domain of Canglang that the earthly reign changed back to “Tianshu.”
Yi Wusheng thanked the incense burner, “Thank you for letting me know, the 29th year of Suining, I will remember.”
The incense burner waved his hand, “Oh, there’s no need to thank me.”
He turned to offer incense to other visitors, took a few steps, and couldn’t help but glance back at Yi Wusheng, muttering under his breath, “Such a strange incense burner.”
It was just a year, yet he seemed remarkably serious when noting it down, as if this date was extremely important and special to him.
While the incense burner was muttering to himself, Yi Wusheng had already stepped into the temple with the incense in hand.
Xiao Fuxuan paused at the entrance of the temple.
Back in Xian Du, he rarely paid attention to the changes in earthly years. He could see the seasons change, and he would remember some special days, such as the opening of the Luohua Market on the third day of the third month.
But to suddenly ask him what year it was would be a challenge.
However, he had a rough idea.
If he remembered correctly, Yun Hai should have died in the 29th year of Suining.
This messy thread was created by the head of the Feng family for the sake of his…
The early death of his children affected mostly those associated with him, while those with little connection to the Immortal City were less affected.
If no one interferes further, Yunhai, who is part of this chaotic situation, will probably not exist anymore, and there should already be a divine tomb underground, with Yunhai residing in it.
But the lively scene at the temple now also carries a hint of unusualness.
Xiao Fuxuan thought for a moment, then raised his hand and lightly tapped the incense bearer. “Excuse me.”
The incense bearer was startled and turned around. “Um, do you have a question?”
Xiao Fuxuan pointed to the temple with the hilt of his sword. “Who is this temple dedicated to?”
The incense bearer blinked, feeling that this incense-wielding visitor was even stranger than the previous one, but he still answered honestly, “The Mountain God of the Great Sorrow Valley.”
“The Mountain God of the Great Sorrow Valley?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Fuxuan asked, “Does this Mountain God have a personal name?”
The incense bearer replied, “Of course, it does.”
Xiao Fuxuan asked, “Who?”
The incense bearer looked at Xiao Fuxuan’s eyes, which seemed increasingly strange. After all, no incense bearer would expect a visitor to ask such a question. “You’ve come to the temple to burn incense, yet you don’t even know the name of the deity?”
The incense bearer raised his hand to the sky and bowed, showing respect. “The divine official’s name is Yunhai.”
Xiao Fuxuan was stunned for a moment. “Who?”
The incense bearer repeated, “Yunhai,” with extraordinary clarity, impossible to mishear.
It was indeed correct, truly Yunhai.
Yunhai, a part of this chaotic situation, was actually still here.
He was in charge of the Great Sorrow Valley, not the original human sorrow and joy, which meant he had violated the heavenly rules, knelt for punishment at the Lingtai, and received orders from the heavens.
He just hadn’t reincarnated back to the mortal world yet.
From this, it can be seen that his fate had not changed much, but it had indeed changed.
Xiao Fuxuan pondered for a moment, feeling somewhat strange. The commotion in the Feng family could actually affect the Immortal City, even influencing Yunhai’s fate.
What’s even stranger is that there were no statues inside the temple.
In front of him, the niche in the temple was clearly empty, without any statues. There was only a long altar with an incense burner on top.
This was exactly the same as the temples in the mortal world’s Great Sorrow Valley.
However, the reason why there were no statues in the mortal world’s temples was because Yunhai had died, and no one remembered anymore. The former statues were later placed in the immortal tomb underground.
When the people from the mortal world’s temples burned incense, they never said, “I am worshiping the Mountain God,” but rather, “I am worshiping this Great Sorrow Valley.”
Now, in this chaotic situation, the incense bearer repeatedly said, “The Mountain God of the Great Sorrow Valley, named Yunhai,” indicating that Yunhai was alive and not forgotten by the world. So why was there no statue on the altar?
Xiao Fuxuan asked, “Where is the statue?”
The incense bearer seemed perplexed by such a question. “What statue?”
“The statue on the altar.”
The incense bearer was puzzled for a moment. “I don’t know. When I came here to offer incense, this altar was already empty.”
Xiao Fuxuan frowned.
The incense bearer continued, “It’s said that there used to be one, but one night the statue disappeared.”
“No one investigated?”
“They did, but they found nothing. It was as if it had vanished into thin air. The regular visitors here are just common folk. They wouldn’t steal or destroy the statue quietly.”
In such cases, people often attribute it to the will of heaven. Since they couldn’t understand or find any answers, they concluded it was fate.
The incense bearer said, “Later, they tried to replace it, but the new statue didn’t last. It would be there one day and gone the next, just like the original. They searched everywhere but found nothing.”
He continued, “So, people started saying that it must be fate, and they stopped trying. Since then, the altar has remained empty, and the worshippers have gotten used to it.”
“To be honest,” the incense bearer scratched his head, “if you hadn’t asked, I would have thought that not having a statue was normal. I almost forgot that other temples have statues.”
“It’s just as it should be, naturally so.”
As he was speaking, he suddenly heard a burst of exclamations coming from the temple, not knowing what had happened.
Vaguely, he could hear the pilgrims discussing in a hubbub:
“Where did the person go? How could they disappear like that?”
“They were here just a moment ago.”
“It seems like they fell off from these stone bricks here.”
Before the incense burner could understand what was happening, he felt a gust of wind sweep past him.
He blinked, and the gentleman who had asked him several strange questions was nowhere to be seen, as if he had flown into the temple.
Being a practitioner himself, he felt a hint of celestial aura and a restrained pressure when the gust of wind swept over him, but he only realized it afterwards.
Startled, the incense burner took a big step back, taking a while to collect himself.
He hurried into the temple and asked, “What happened?”
Several commoners who were offering incense pointed to a large square white stone, saying, “The incense buyer, the one who covered his nose with a cloth, walked over here and suddenly disappeared.”
“I saw this white stone move slightly, but it was too fast for me to be sure if I was seeing things.”
“I think I saw it too.”
“How could a perfectly fine stone move like that?”
“Yes, it was like a trap door flipping over.”
“Could there be something under this stone?”
The crowd was horrified, knocking and banging on the stone, but they couldn’t find any evidence that it had moved.
As the pilgrims in the temple looked at each other, Xiao Fuxuan had already traced the tracks of Yi Wusheng and arrived at the underground of this temple.
When he landed, the strangeness in his heart increased.
As he stood still and looked up at a very tall statue, his expression finally cooled down.
The statue was handsome, with a tall figure, holding a white flag in one hand and a green branch in the other. At the top of the green branch bloomed a beautiful flower, covering one eye of the statue.
It was none other than Yunhai.
Both the entrance to this underground chamber and the scenery inside were exactly the same as the cemetery they had passed through before.
So much so that at that moment, Xiao Fuxuan doubted whether, if he continued along the winding path, he would see Yunhai being suppressed there.
But the incense burner had just said that Yunhai on this messy line was clearly still alive, and he was still in control of the Great Sorrow Valley.
He hadn’t fallen into the human world, turned into a demon, or been forgotten, so there was naturally no need for someone to build an underground tomb for him.
Then why were these things still here in the underground of this temple?
