Qiu Feng’s expression changed slightly, and it was difficult for him to conceal it from his sight, so Ji Yuan hurriedly added.

“I naturally understand that the Mountain Imperial Decree is extremely important to Yuhuai Mountain. Were it anyone else who had come today, I would not have made such a presumptuous request. But since it only Mr. Qiu is here, I felt that it was just a private discussion between old friends, so I asked this tentative question!”

Hearing Ji Yuan’s words, Qiu Feng immediately felt much more at ease. The pressure of facing a “True Immortal” was greatly relieved. He did not directly answer his question, but rather asked about something he was currently more concerned about in response.

“Excuse me, but what is the relationship between you, Mr. Ji, and the Dragon Lord of Tongtian River?”

With Qiu Feng’s level of cultivation, he could be regarded as a “truly influential person” in Yuhuai Mountain. He was considered a rare talent. He knew very well that there was a special “anti-dragon formation” engraved in Yuzhu Peak in Yuhuai Mountain, specifically in order to guard against the True Dragon.

Qiu Feng had heard from his master that Yuhuai Mountain and the True Dragon did not have a very good relationship. Back then, Master Zi Yu had offended the Old Dragon, but he hadn’t expected what had then been a young flood dragon to truly successfully transform into a True Dragon. A little over two hundred years ago, the True Dragon sought revenge on Yuhuai Mountain, an event regarded as a great disaster in Yuhuai Mountain’s history.

Although everything had been peaceful for a number of years since then, Yuhuai Mountain didn’t dare to completely let down their guard.

Ji Yuan was happy to smooth out the relationship between the two parties.

“Mr. Ying and I are good friends. We met by chance when I was reading a book out in the wilderness. He came here a few days ago, in fact, and sat right where you are now.”

Qiu Feng subconsciously looked down. For a moment, he even considered changing his seat, but he didn’t let it show.

“However, please rest assured, Mr. Qiu. Back then, the True Dragon caused some trouble for Yuhuai, and the matter was over. Although Mr. Ying is sometimes particular and has always disliked your Yuhuai Mountain, he still has some tolerance. He personally informed me that this matter has long been laid to rest.”

Qiu Feng was a little excited. He leaned forward a little, and cautiously and solemnly asked his question.

“Mr. Ji, is this true?”

Ji Yuan glanced at him and placed the black piece in his hand on the chessboard.

“If Mr. Ying wasn’t so bored as to deliberately deceive me, then it is true.”

These words made Qiu Feng’s expression relax, and he bowed with cupped hands to Ji Yuan.

“Thank you, Mr. Ji!”

In Qiu Feng’s opinion, this knowledge was actually very important to the current Yuhuai Mountain. Considering the effects of the passage of time, the information seemed to be quite credible, and either way, it was difficult to determine whether this Mr. Ji had influenced this situation to support Yuhuai Mountain.

After all, the sentiment of “the matter has long been laid to rest” might only recently have come about.

“As for Mr. Ji’s wish to see the mountain’s Imperial Decree, this is definitely not something I can decide on my own. I don’t have high hopes; after all, there has never been a precedent.”

Ji Yuan had been mentally prepared for this outcome. Originally, this had been just a sudden idea he had thought of after the Old Dragon mentioned the Mountain Imperial Decree, so it was nothing more than a brief attempt.

“Thank you, Mr. Qiu, for inquiring about this matter to the sect. Please have some more tea!”

Ji Yuan picked up the teapot to refill Qiu Feng’s cup, then changed the topic to a more casual chat, discussing the rumors and opinions about Tianji Pavilion with Qiu Feng.

In fact, the real goal of the discussion was what came next; Ji Yuan asked, both directly and indirectly, about the current status of other immortal sects, immortal paths, holy lands and caves.

It seemed as if he were asking whether Yuhuai Mountain knew what various parties in the immortal world thought about the rumors of Tianji Pavilion, but would always curiously inquire about the inside story of each immortal sect. There was a lot of information that even the Old Dragon didn’t know.

Qiu Feng naturally knew everything about these little details, so he treated it as a casual chat to get closer to Mr. Ji. However, he was a little puzzled as to why Mr. Ji was so isolated from recent news.

But seeing how Mr. Ji seemded to be very interested in everything he was saying, Qiu Feng was also in high spirits. He would choose some interesting topics to talk about, and would elaborate on certain details in response to Ji Yuan’s questions.

In fact, although immortal cultivators were better able to control their emotions, they were still similar to mortals in some aspects. For example, some immortal sects quarreled with each other during various gatherings due to their differing view on the inner world and the refining of spiritual energy. Both sides insisted that their own beliefs ere correct, and they almost came to a fight; they still disliked each other up to the current day.

Not only did Ji Yuan find this kind of thing fascinating, but Qiu Feng found himself intrigued as he spoke of it. Even if a cultivator was said to be pure and without desire, it was all still relative; it was just that the type and scale of things that they cared about was different from ordinary people.

This kind of alternative gossip couldn’t be heard from the Old Dragon, so Ji Yuan spent the entire day setting up his chess game and communicating with Qiu Feng, listening to this interesting information. These anecdotes gave him a more intuitive understanding of the various parties in the orthodox world of immortal cultivation.

It appeared as if Ji Yuan had long since diverted the discussion away from the rumors about Tianji Pavilion and on to an entirely different direction in the conversation, but in essence, all the information shared still served the same purpose — assuming that Ji Yuan was still the only one across all walks of life who knew the truth about the suppsed “inner workings of Dazhen’s Qi.”

‘It’s probably about me! ’

This judgement was made without any pressure or overconfidence on Ji Yuan’s part. The truth was just as the Old Dragon had been joking at the beginning.

Having chatted with a kind person like Ji Yuan for a long time, Qiu Feng inevitably got the illusion that he had become very familiar with Mr. Ji.

Qiu Feng steered the conversation somewhat purposefully towards how he sought to become an immortal, and his cultivation journey from childhood to the present. He also expressed his feelings about his hometown and former relatives, before tentatively asking.

“Mr. Ji, might I know which immortal lands you left to come all the way to the southern region of the Eastern Cloud Continent? Or course, I know that you are definitely not here for the ‘Great Destined Fate of Dazhen’s Qi.’ After all, you have been here for many years. However, if the people from the outside world knew of your presence, they would invariably overthink it. Even the rest of us in Yuhuai Mountain would inevitably do so.”

Ji Yuan’s first reaction hearing Qiu Feng’s words was to find it a bit absurd, as in fact, he truly had come here for the ‘Great Destined Fate of Dazhen’s Qi,’ and he himself was the person who had the closest relationship with it in this world.

Ji Yuan thought carefully about Qiu Feng’s question for a while. Although he considered just making up a lie, he felt that this was too absurd, and he might have trouble covering it up. Fortunately, he could simply tell the truth. Whether Qiu Feng believed it or not was of no concern to him.

“Actually, I am no foreigner. The land of Dazhen is my hometown. As for why I am so ignorant about the ways of the world… Haha, maybe I’m lazy, or perhaps I just didn’t have any interest keeping up with events in the past… or maybe I just had a deep dream…”

He had chatted a lot with Qiu Feng today, so Ji Yuan had further perfected the composition of the inner world in his mind. He also felt a little emotional, particularly when he heard Qiu Feng talk about his journey from childhood to adulthood, from mortal to immortal, and his emotions fluctuated accordingly. He spoke casually at the beginning, but he couldn’t help but sigh at the end, subconsciously sighing in his heart at the same time.

“When I woke up, the world was turned upside down…”

At this moment, Ji Yuan held a white chess piece in his hand with a dazed look in his eyes. He seemed to be looking at the chessboard in front of him on the table, but also as if he were looking at the current state of the whole world from which the chessboard had developed. At the same time, some bits and pieces of memory from his previous life mixed in his mind.

This change of mood brought about a peculiar Taoist effect. The visible and invisible manifestation of his inner world and the crisscrossing paths on the chessboard, combined with Ji Yuan’s external Qi energy, made the area around Ju’an Pavilion become hazy, as if it had become an independent dimension from Ning’an County; as if it were truly integrated with heaven and earth.

Qiu Feng was still holding the tea cup in his right hand, while his left grasped the corner of his long robe from under the table. His mind could feel the changing energy between heaven and man at this very moment. It was impossible to describe how unfathomably vast it was.

It was obvious to Qiu Feng that Ji Yuan had not yet finished speaking. He could only determine that the rest was probably expressed through this kind of spiritual, divine will and Taoist manifestation. From the beginning, Qiu Feng seemed to be able to sense all the vicissitudes of life and the turn of the centuries, accompanied by a heavy pressure which not only shook his very heart, but also gave him the urge to break out in a cold sweat for the first time in ages.

There was even a vague fluttering feeling of heartbeats that he did not dare look too deeply into.

“Tak…”

Ji Yuan seemed to realize that his mind was distracted. The crisp sound of the white piece falling on the chessboard interrupted everything. The small pavilion was still the small pavilion, and summer air was still the same summer air.

The pressure of the secrets of heaven and earth had inevitably leaked out a little bit just now. An immortal cultivator like Qiu Feng, whose mind was clear and Qi sense was sharp, might have felt it a little.¹

Fortunately, he had only felt it a little bit. If the immersion had been only ten or twenty times deeper, Ji Yuan might have been considered to have revealed the secrets of heaven and earth, and Qiu Feng’s cultivation would probably have been destroyed.

“Cultivators like you and me are still human beings after all. Sometimes we get sentimental as we grow older. Please forgive me for making light of all this, Mr. Qiu!”

Ji Yuan could only give this far-fetched explanation.

“It’s no problem, it’s no problem!”

Qiu Feng wanted to say something else, but he didn’t dare to be as casual as before. He could only repeatedly say “it’s no problem.” He had been cultivating for nearly two hundred years, but had never experienced this kind of miraculous and terrifying “sentimentality.”

The person in front of him was clearly the same man who had been placing the chess pieces according to the bamboo slips in his hand, and there was no energy or divine light emanating from him. However, this put even more invisible pressure on Qiu Feng than before, so much so that he did not dare to speak out casually, and fell silent.

“Mr. Ji, I’m back!”

“I’m back too!”

Yin Qing and Hu Yun’s voices rang out sequentially from outside the courtyard, then the courtyard gate was pushed open. A boy and a fox rushed into Ju’an Pavilion one after another.

“Uh…there are guests…”

Yin Qing saw Qiu Feng stiffen for a moment, and he subconsciously glanced in the direction of the red fox. The latter had also frozen to the side as if hit by an immobilization spell that Ji Yuan had researched. Didn’t the fox just say that he didn’t smell any other scents?

“Let’s stop here for today. I’m sure Mr. Qiu is in a hurry to go back, so I won’t keep you here for dinner. Thank you for your teachings today, Mr. Qiu.”

Originally, Ji Yuan wanted to stay with Qiu Feng to chat a while more, but looking at him right now, he seemed a bit reluctant.

Qiu Feng stood up as if he had suddenly been given amnesty and bowed to Ji Yuan.

“I dare not, I truly wouldn’t dare. I was just chatting with Mr. Ji. As for the matter of taking a look at the edict, I will inquire about it honestly. “

Ji Yuan also got up, returned the bow, and walked Qiu Feng to the courtyard gate.

“Mr. Qiu, please give my regards to the Wei family father and son. And the same to your martial nephew Yiyi.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Ji. I, Qiu Feng, will definitely relate your words without fail. I will visit you again someday. Farewell!”

“Okay, Mr. Qiu, I wish you a smooth journey!”

After the two bid each other farewell once more, Qiu Feng left the small pavilion.

As the saying went, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.² Qiu Feng couldn’t fly away on the spot. Instead, he walked along the streets like an ordinary person, and only after he hurriedly left the city did he ride the wind back to Yuhuai Mountain.

After chatting for a whole day, he had actually received quite a lot of important information. The fact that the Old Dragon had let go of his grudge was already a lot for Yuhuai Mountain to learn, but Qiu Feng felt that Mr. Ji’s existence itself was no trivial matter.

As the wind blew, his robe overcoat rustled and his hair fluttered in the wind. This time, he did not control himself to be in harmony with the wind, but instead let is blow all around him and on his face. Meanwhile, his thoughts were still on Ju’an Pavilion in Ning’an County.

‘Is this a Taoist True Immortal? What was Mr. Ji sentimental about…’

Qiu Feng subconsciously trembled as he flew through the sky. Even the wind that he was controlling became a little disordered. He didn’t dare let his thoughts wander any more, and used his spiritual energy to fly away.

T/n: This is one of my favorite chapters because I’m a huge sucker for characters acting mysterious to dramatic effect… and because it’s a complete twist to how we’ve been viewing the story thus far. Up until now, it’s been JY pretending to be a wise and and powerful cultivator to hide his weak noodle power and us laughing at how everyone around him is completely blowing his “act” out of proportion. But then we get this lovely scene of JY accidentally twisting the fabric of reality just by reminiscing too hard and all of a sudden we’re left wondering if it was actually JY who was lying in that he actually was powerful, and he was an unreliable narrator this whole time… And we will never know. He might be a god believing he’s an ordinary person from the start. He might be an ordinary person faking it until he makes it. We will never know. 😀

1. T/n: A bit more than a little, buddy! You scared him half to death!
2. 入乡随俗 (rùxiāngsuísú): When you enter a village, follow the local customs – idiom that means “do as the natives do,” translated to English equivalent

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read