Longevity, starting from traveling and telling stories

Chapter 218 The Sky is Broken

"Miss Qin is in trouble!" Chen Qianru was extremely anxious. If something happened to Qin Ruoxi, she really didn't know how to explain it.

She acted decisively, quickly conjuring a rope of spiritual energy to bind Qin Ruoxi's feet and pull her back.

Before long, people from other immortal abodes rushed over to help.

However, the spiritual energy ropes that everyone worked together to unleash were as insignificant as a drop in the ocean compared to the imposing Conferred God Platform.

The spiritual rope snapped instantly, but Qin Ruoxi's figure still floated towards the Conferred God Platform, her posture like a fairy ascending to heaven.

"It's over!" Jin Tian stamped his foot in frustration, knowing in his heart that there was no way to turn the tide.

"Amitabha." Master Huikong clasped his hands together, his face showing a compassionate expression.

On the Conferred God Platform, Qin Ruoxi stood on the edge, a golden mark of the platform appearing on her forehead.

In an instant, the violent aura went out of control, and lightning and thunder roared on the Conferred God Platform.

With a clear sword cry, the Immortal-Slaying Sword was drawn, and everyone was astonished to see that the violent aura on the platform was gradually forced back by the girl.

Soon, the girl stood in the center of the Conferred God Platform, and with a wave of her sword, she conjured up the illusory images of the Four Symbols.

The four directions—east, west, south, and north—correspond to the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, respectively. The phantom images of the four divine beasts simultaneously raise their heads and roar, as if to suppress the heavens and earth.

"So the legends are true after all. The four divine beasts suppress all directions, and she is actually the master of this Conferred God Platform." Chen Qianru's cloudy eyes were full of regret.

Although her vision was already blurred, she could still clearly see that Qin Ruoxi's fair face was covered with fine cracks like a spider web.

The girl gazed up at the gaping hole in the sky, her last look towards the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty—a final glance at the human world. Her moving lips clearly conveyed—don't forget me.

Looking at Qin Ruoxi's body on the verge of collapse, Jin Tian shook his head helplessly and sighed, "So, this is what the Heavenly Secret Divination means. I thought it was an auspicious omen, but I never expected..."

Three days ago, everyone worked together to calculate the secrets of heaven and concluded that the path to immortality had been opened and all paths had returned to their places. At the time, everyone thought this was an auspicious sign.

Only then did they realize that the so-called return to their rightful place was actually a deadly predicament where they would die and be sent to heaven.

No, perhaps it should be described as a situation of being put in a life-or-death situation, where one must first endure the hardships of life in order to attain the joy of death.

"Hold on, he'll be back soon." Li Xianglian's eyes were filled with tears as she and Ao Qin looked at Qin Ruoxi with sorrow.

Master Huikong's prayer beads broke again. The old monk finally understood the true meaning of Buddhism: cause and effect are cyclical, and everything had been foreshadowed long ago. All causes and effects are predetermined.

But this destiny turned out to be a sorrowful farewell.

Boom! The girl's body finally gave way, transforming into the most dazzling starlight in the world, a pillar of light shooting straight into the sky.

The four illusory figures quickly returned to their positions, suppressing the four directions.

A sharp crack, like glass shattering, echoed across the heavens and earth from the sky.

The hole in the sky finally opened completely, and the waters of the Milky Way poured down.

This is the only passage to Heaven, but the karmic debts incurred by Heaven must be repaid by people on Earth.

On the Investiture of the Gods platform, only that phoenix hairpin remained.

In the fierce wind, the silver beads on the phoenix hairpin rolled back and forth forlornly with the force of the wind.

the other side.

Ye Beixuan, who was carefully tending to the Empress, suddenly felt dizzy and staggered. Something was wrong; he had already broken through the Golden Core limit, so why was he dizzy?

"Report!" came the urgent report from a soldier outside the door.

"Come in." The Empress rose with difficulty and, with Hanmei's help, dressed herself and came to the outer hall, where she sat down to await the report.

"Your Majesty, a sudden downpour has begun, and the water level in Lost Town is critically low. I fear it won't be long before..." The soldier stopped mid-sentence, then continued, "The report says that Lost Town will soon be completely submerged."

"What?" The Empress took the report and looked at the shocking contents of the booklet. She was extremely anxious, but she quickly calmed down and said decisively, "Immediately notify the relevant officials to do a good job in disaster relief."

"Yes."

Another urgent report came through.

"Report"

Immediately afterwards, a series of reports arrived, all reporting that torrential rains were falling and water levels were rising in various places, with the possibility of flooding at any time.

The following day, torrential rain poured down continuously.

The empress sat on the dragon throne, her graying hair giving her a particularly weathered look. She flipped through the memorials, her eyes filled with reports of flood warnings and inundations.

As Ye Beixuan gazed at the curtain of water cascading down the roof tiles opposite him, he seemed to see a similar flood scene from his previous life on Earth.

Just then, a violent coughing sound came, and the memorials on the table in front of the Empress were suddenly splattered with bright red blood.

"Your Majesty!" Hanmei rushed over to support the Empress in a panic, and hurriedly called out, "Summon the imperial physician!"

Ye Beixuan was startled and rushed forward. His pupils constricted sharply as he stared at the Empress in disbelief. Why? Why was her life fading so quickly? No, this unusual flood must be dealt with as soon as possible.

"No need," the Empress said calmly, putting down the memorial. "Issue an edict to all prefectures and counties, instructing them to do a good job in flood prevention and control, open granaries to distribute grain, and at the same time conscript laborers to strengthen flood control measures."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a clap of thunder suddenly boomed in her ears, making the Empress's ears sting.

The raindrops pounded harder against the roof tiles, the sound as dense as a hail of bullets.

Ye Beixuan walked to the door, looked up to the north, and suddenly remembered the scene when he and Qin Ruoxi obtained the ten-thousand-year-old stalactite.

“The Black Tortoise belongs to the water element,” he murmured to himself. “Yu the Great once used the Black Tortoise and the Breath of Earth to control the floods.”

His eyes lit up instantly. Yes! It was Xuanwu. With that thought, he immediately had a plan and hurriedly prepared to explain the situation to the Empress.

"No!" the Empress said firmly. No one knew what the Xuanwu was, and besides, the Lost Sea was now a vast expanse of water; even with Ye Beixuan's profound cultivation, he couldn't guarantee his absolute safety.

Ye Beixuan gently rubbed the Empress's cold hands and tenderly kissed her graying temples.

"Not for the sake of the people, not for the sake of my country, but only for you, I must go."

At this moment, the sound of raindrops on the roof suddenly subsided, and the curtain of water on the roof tiles and eaves outside gradually shrank until it became a long string of water droplets. "You see, it is the will of Heaven." He comforted himself softly, "I accidentally discovered Xuanwu in Longtan Cave. Perhaps, this is the cause and effect of destiny."

The Empress grasped his warm hand in return, her voice choked with emotion: "If you return safely this time, I will tell you some incredibly good news."

A streak of light, trailing a tail, streaked across the sky, standing out starkly against the dark, stormy night.

As the saying goes, clear water is shallow, green water is deep, and black water is abyss.

At this moment, the Lost Sea is as black as a giant inkwell.

Dark clouds loomed overhead, a heavy, oppressive sight that instilled a sense of unease.

Where the sea meets the sky, everything is black, as if the seawater might surge and erupt at any moment.

On the sea, a streak of seven colors streaked across the sky, like a shooting star in the darkness, illuminating the entire world.

The seven-colored light suddenly stopped in mid-air, and a figure appeared inside, which was Ye Beixuan.

He stared blankly at a whirlpool on the sea surface, muttering to himself, "Are the reefs of Longtan Cave all submerged? Let's go in and take a look. This whirlpool must be seawater pouring in."

Without the slightest hesitation, he took out the water-repelling pearl and leaped into the water. The moment his body touched the seawater, the water-repelling pearl emitted a ghostly blue light.

Deep inside the winding Longtan Cave, a giant tortoise was listlessly shaking its head and occasionally sighing as it touched the spot where its testicles used to grow.

Suddenly, it spotted a figure and was overjoyed. This fellow villager was indeed extraordinary; he could actually transform into human form in the water without being affected.

"Fellow villager, you've finally arrived! I was just about to come looking for you!" The giant tortoise shouted excitedly to Ye Beixuan, "This place is all flooded. I was thinking if you hadn't come, I would have come looking for you."

"Ahem!" Ye Beixuan coughed a few times to ease the awkwardness. Looking for me? It's all because of your second brother. Why would you have time to look for me? Looks like if I want your help, I'll have to start with your second brother.

"How's your cultivation going these days?" Ye Beixuan asked tentatively after easing the awkwardness. "Why has it been raining so heavily lately?"

The giant tortoise shook its head, its eyes darting around, and its tone suddenly became somewhat dejected: "Hey! Don't even mention it, it's no use at all, my second brother isn't showing any improvement. You promised me you'd make my second brother grow back."

Ye Beixuan's eyes darted around, and a plan immediately came to mind. He said deceptively, "Of course, otherwise why would I come here this time? It's for your second brother, and for the happiness of all the little female turtles in the world!"

"Really?" The giant tortoise looked at Ye Beixuan with suspicion, thinking to itself, "I don't believe you! If you can't give me a straight answer today, I'll take your brother and put him on my own body."

"Is that even a lie?" Ye Beixuan's expression was confident, and his tone was certain, but he immediately changed the subject, slowing his pace as he said, "However..."

"But what?" The giant tortoise suddenly lost control and couldn't help but ask urgently. Realizing its loss of composure, it immediately slowed its speech and said, "Just say what you want to say."

Seeing that it had taken the bait, Ye Beixuan immediately replied, "However, you need to recall one thing: is there a large stone tablet or a special type of soil in the Xuanwu inheritance?"

"Oh, isn't this just the Heavenly Stele and the Breath of Earth? I thought it was something else!" the giant tortoise said nonchalantly. "The Breath of Earth is fine, but the Heavenly Stele is a bit troublesome!"

Ye Beixuan was so excited he almost jumped up, but he quickly calmed down and said in a calm tone, "Take these two things and do something with me, and your second brother will grow back immediately, and it will be several times bigger than before."

The giant tortoise hesitated. The Breath Soil was manageable; it could simply sneak back into the Xuanwu Cave to retrieve it. But it knew very well that the Heavenly Stele was the very thing that had transformed into the Dragon Beach Cave.

"Have you thought this through? Your little brother is several times bigger, and you can control him freely." Seeing its hesitation, Ye Beixuan continued to tempt it.

The giant tortoise gritted its teeth; no male could resist such tempting terms, so it managed to squeeze out a single word: "Okay."

The inky black sea suddenly churned violently, and the seabed trembled violently, with countless bubbles rising upwards as if the seawater had been boiled.

On the churning sea, a head suddenly emerged, followed by the neck and body gradually rising to the surface, until a huge turtle shell appeared, and Ye Beixuan was standing on the turtle shell.

Just then, Longtan Cave collapsed with a roar, and an ancient, weathered, black stone tablet emerged from the waves.

The stele is covered with ancient seal script, which describes the method of controlling water with the soil.

Once the entire stone tablet was fully revealed, golden soil appeared at its base. Ye Beixuan's pupils contracted, and he reached out to grasp the soil, examining it closely.

"Such a small thing, can it control floods?" He muttered to himself in confusion as he played with the Breath of Earth.

Did Yu the Great use this to control the floods?
"Don't underestimate it. Just scatter a single grain, and it can create a sturdy dam," the giant tortoise explained, his tone tinged with disdain for the country bumpkins.

Just as the man and the turtle were talking, an earthquake suddenly occurred on the seabed, and the sea surface began to shake violently.

The giant tortoise beneath Ye Beixuan's feet began to sway, and the runes covering the Tongtian Stele emitted a dazzling white light before slowly rising into the air.

As it rose completely from the ground, revealing its full form, the white light became increasingly dazzling. The Heaven-Reaching Stele transformed into a stream of light and shot towards the horizon.

the other side.

As many people in the immortal palaces were discussing the Conferred God Platform, a terrifying pillar of light suddenly tore through the sky and shot straight into the crack in the firmament.

"what is that?"

"It is the Tongtian Stele."

The massive stone tablet gradually grew larger, its top perfectly sealing the crack in the sky, preventing the inverted Milky Way from pouring out. The tablet continued to expand until it stood atop the Investiture Platform, at which point it stopped.

The copper coins in Chen Qianru's hand suddenly scattered to the ground with a clatter, seemingly out of nowhere. This unconscious action revealed a hexagram on the ground, a hexagram signifying that one must be placed in a desperate situation to survive.

Jin Tian was so excited that tears streamed down his face. He said excitedly, "So that's how it is. No wonder it's called the Heavenly Stele. No! It should be called the Heavenly Ladder."

On the Investiture of the Gods platform, the silver beads on the phoenix hairpin shone brightly. Master Huikong, with a compassionate expression, looked at the blocked sky and murmured, "He used his body to guide others, Amitabha, but we are afraid we can never repay this debt of karma."

Li Xianglian suddenly chuckled softly, but as she laughed, tears streamed down her cheeks. Why was she so sad?

All the cultivators bowed deeply towards the Heavenly Stele without prior arrangement. No, they were not bowing to the Heavenly Stele that suppressed heaven and earth, but to the hairpin lying on the Conferred God Platform, its silver beads gently swaying in the wind.

at the same time.

On the surface of the Lost Sea, a young man sat on a tortoise shell and complained, "Hey buddy, hurry up! The rain's almost stopped, and you're still dawdling. Don't you want your second brother back with you?"

"Fellow villager, others may not know how fast our tortoises are, but you do, right?" the big tortoise explained, sounding somewhat aggrieved.

“Xuanwu, it’s Xuanwu.” Ye Beixuan began to use “PUA” tactics. “How many times have I told you? You have to believe that you are Xuanwu, not an ordinary turtle.”

The giant tortoise really didn't want to pay attention to this guy who was just making empty promises, so it asked, "Where should we put the Breath Soil next?"

(End of this chapter)