“Don’t forget…” The white-haired man, who had been mostly silent, suddenly opened his mouth, “This is the third time in tens of thousands of years that the Seven Emotions Array has appeared.”
He paused, then slowly continued, “The first two times were in ancient times. After the ancient legacies were severed, this is the first instance the Seven Emotions Array has reopened.”
The black-robed sword cultivator seemed ready to argue back—he turned sharply to look at the white-haired man, a strange light flashing in his eyes as he opened his mouth again. But no words came out, and after a while, he closed his mouth in resignation.
Seeing this, the white-haired medical cultivator slowly raised the corners of his lips, revealing a slightly smug smile.
“Alright, alright!” The black-robed sword cultivator waved his hand, a bit impatiently, “So what if the Seven Emotions Array has reopened? They still have to actually make it through to prove their worth.”
“I think they can,” the white-haired medical cultivator said with conviction. His smile had faded, but his gaze had grown deeper and brighter. “I even think…” he murmured, “Perhaps we were wrong in the past…”
“Wrong?!” The black-robed sword cultivator suddenly leaped to his feet. He was actually quite tall, and once stood up, he towered over the white-haired man by a few inches. “What do you mean, we were wrong? Are you saying that they are right?” He snorted with clear annoyance.
“I don’t know…” The white-haired medical cultivator slowly shook his head, murmuring, “Back then…” He seemed to be recalling events from long ago, his expression becoming somewhat dazed as his gaze drifted to a distant past, “Do you still remember what happened back then?”
The black-robed sword cultivator’s face darkened, and his expression became extremely unpleasant.…”
The woman in red looked at the white-haired medical cultivator, then at the black-robed sword cultivator, and said, “What do you mean…”
“Do you remember why the three of us willingly retreated to this place back then?” the white-haired medical cultivator asked.
“Of course I remember,” the black-robed sword cultivator reluctantly turned his head away, “But what does that have to do with today’s situation?”
“Sword cultivation, spell cultivation, medical cultivation…” The white-haired medical cultivator spoke slowly, “The three of us retreated to the Ten Absolute Mountains, and thus the legacies of the three major paths were preserved. But as for array cultivation…”
He paused before continuing, “It was split in two. The Ji Clan, following the re-establishment of the boundaries of the Three Realms, entered the Devil Realm and disappeared from the world, preserving the last remnants of array cultivation. The remaining array cultivators sacrificed all their legacies and cultivation to prevent the collapse of the Three Realms.”
The black-robed sword cultivator remained silent. His head, usually held high, slowly lowered, and a trace of sadness appeared in his eyes.
“Among them were our close friends and acquaintances, and also…” He looked at the black-robed sword cultivator but didn’t continue.
“Why don’t you finish?!” the black-robed sword cultivator interrupted, “Qingmei also perished that day.”
He spoke angrily, “It was because so many cultivators, on the verge of ascending and achieving immortality, willingly sacrificed themselves for the Three Realms, for the cultivation world! It’s because of that… because of…”
The black-robed sword cultivator lowered his head further. In a moment, several crystal-clear tears slid down his bronzed skin and disappeared into the wind. His voice became hoarse. Even though this had happened more than ten thousand years ago, and the ‘Qingmei’ he spoke of had long since vanished without a trace, leaving not even a fragment of her soul in this world, the memory still felt like a powerful hand gripping his heart, suffocating him.
The white-haired medical cultivator sighed softly, raising his hand to rest it on his friend’s shoulder.
“What are you doing?!” The black-robed sword cultivator took a deep breath, lifted his head, and roughly slapped the medical cultivator’s hand away, “I don’t need your comfort!”
He took another deep breath and continued, “It’s exactly because of that that I’m so angry when I look at these current worthless brats. Array cultivation is one thing—its legacy was cut off, and the Ji Clan is stuck in the darkest, most dangerous part of the Devil Realm, in that godforsaken place. It’s hard enough for them not to be corrupted by devil aura, let alone…”
He stopped abruptly, and when he spoke again after a pause, he awkwardly changed the subject, “But look at what the three others—spell, sword, and medical—have produced over the past ten thousand years!”
“They’re not all…”
The black-robed sword cultivator cut off the white-haired medical cultivator without hesitation, shouting with all his might, “They’re all worthless, each generation worse than the last!”
“I’m so angry, so angry, so angry!” Looking angry enough that he could jump in fury at any time, the black-robed sword cultivator grew more and more agitated as he spoke, his hands clasped behind his back as he paced around the mountain peak. It was as if, if he didn’t keep moving, he would lose control and rush out to pummel the cultivators still fighting below, just to vent his anger.
The white-haired medical cultivator and the female cultivator in red exchanged a glance and shook their heads in resignation. They believed that if any young cultivators over there were present here, they would undoubtedly be beaten black and blue by this person.
The black-robed sword cultivator, after pacing many times, finally stopped in front of the other two, his face stern. “Hmph, let me check on those two brats now. If they’re still such a mess, I’ll…”
He left his sentence mid-hanging and returned to sit at the edge of the cliff. With one leg bent and the other dangling over the edge, he resumed his lazy posture, with that familiar, slightly disdainful smile creeping back onto his face. The white-haired medical cultivator’s earlier words seemed to be nothing more than a passing breeze in the monotonous routine of endless passing of time, something he no longer cared about.
But could he really be indifferent?
The white-haired medical cultivator slowly walked up behind the black-robed sword cultivator, gazing at the hands resting by his side. They were the typical hands of a sword cultivator—long, dry fingers, nails neatly trimmed. He had once witnessed these hands wield a sword with such brilliance that it left countless cultivators across the Three Realms in awe. Now, these hands were clenched into fists, a stark contrast to the seemingly lazy demeanor on his face.
The white-haired medical cultivator raised his hand as if intending to place it on his friend’s shoulder. After a moment, he sighed softly, retracting his hands. He lifted his gaze, letting it drift to the distance.
…
While Meng Qi was focused on drawing the array, Li Che sat cross-legged not far from her. He didn’t understand arrays and knew he couldn’t be of much help, so he simply took the idle time to cultivate on his own. Although he was aware that any progress he made in his cultivation at this moment would be minimal, it was still better than doing nothing.
When he saw Meng Qi stop, Li Che quickly walked over and asked, “How’s it going?”
Meng Qi, squatting on the ground and intently studying the array she had drawn, replied with some difficulty, “There’s another problem.”
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