"Not only is the water in this river so clear, but the surrounding scenery is also beautiful! I can even see clearly the bottom of this river, and it seems quite deep." Ling Yunâs clone knelt by the riverside, scooped the water with both hands, and drank it. "Oh? The quality and quantity of the Qi content in this water is really good and abundant! No wonder your race liked to live in this river in the past."
"Yeah." Yue Lian walked beside him. "Unfortunately, there are no more aquatic beasts living in this river, especially after what happened that day. They were afraid that the beasts would return, so those who could turn into humans decided to move to other domains, bringing members of their race."
Ling Yunâs clone turned to her. "How many aquatic beast races lived in this river back then?
"Around a hundred races." Yue Lian then pointed in two different directions. "If we follow the left path, we will arrive at the Mirror Lake of the Forgotten, and the right path will take us to the Staircase of Heaven."
"Hmm?" Ling Yunâs clone immediately looked to the left and used his void eyes to examine the location, where he found the lake Yue Lian had mentioned. The water is clear like a mirror, but there are no aquatic beasts living there. "Why is the lake named like that?"
Yue Lian shook her head at him. "This domain is known as the Heaven Descending Domain. According to past stories, the people who lived above the Staircase of Heaven experienced a massive disaster, and half of their members died for no apparent reason. They were extremely sad and miserable because of their deaths, as were those who died at that time. The dead ones would rather not be forgotten, and they wanted to accompany those who were still alive. However, those who are still alive forget them, and their memories are trapped in the Mirror Lake of The Forgotten. However, a story remains just a story if there is no evidence to support its truth, and I have never seen any memories of those people there either."
"I see." Ling Yunâs clone then looked to the right, where he found many staircases floating by themselves, reaching into the clouds. "Are there still people living there?"
"Master, there are so many cultivators living there, and they only come down here once a year to look for supplies." Ling Yunâs clone looked at Long Shuiya directly. "Those people are similar to the people of the Tianyi Immortal Sect in the Sky Cloud Realm, and they have always believed that severing ties with the mundane world is the best choice to achieve immortality."
"Hahaha." Ling Yunâs clone laughed as soon as he remembered Shen Tianxi and Shen Yangzhu. "Those people are truly foolish! No matter how hard they try, they will never be able to achieve immortality, so their years of effort are just in vain."
"Can we really not achieve immortality?" Yue Lian asked in confusion, especially since the goal everyone cultivates is to achieve immortality.
Ling Yunâs clone shook his head at her. "In this universe, only a few immortals exist, and they became immortals not because of their cultivation, but because they were born immortals. Even if we reach the pinnacle of cultivation, we will never become immortals. To become immortal, a mortal must sacrifice another immortal. However, itâs impossible for a mortal to do so, and the immortal will kill that person first."
"Then, what is the purpose of our cultivation? Havenât we cultivated it hard since ancient times to achieve immortality?" Yue Lian asked in a gloomy tone.
"Are you that eager to become immortal?" Yue Lian didnât hide it and nodded to Ling Yun, making him laugh. "Unlike you, I never thought about becoming immortal, and I would prefer to be a mortal for the rest of my life. This way, I will age alongside all of my wives, and when our lifespan comes to an end, we will all be gone together. As for my descendants, I will give them the best as long as I am alive, and they will decide for themselves what their future will be like. Unfortunately, my wish is unlikely to come true, and I will probably witness the death of all my wives and descendants in the future."
Yue Lian looked at Ling Yun in confusion. "Does that mean youâll become an immortal in the future? How can you do that if you say immortality is impossible for mortals like us?"
"I canât explain the details to you, but it has something to do with the disaster that continues to move toward us." Ling Yunâs clone stood up. "That beast doesnât seem to be in this domain, but I donât want our visit to be in vain. Therefore, we will go to the place beyond the Staircase of Heaven, and I want to see their activities up there."
Yue Lian hurriedly stood up and stopped them. "Hey! I donât think thatâs a good idea! Those people dislike meeting strangers, and they will undoubtedly attack us if we go there without an invitation."
"Letâs just climb the staircase first, and weâll come back if they donât like our presence." Ling Yunâs clone then put his arm around Long Shuiyaâs shoulder. "Moreover, we have Shuiya by our side, so Iâm sure they wonât dare attack us just because they donât like strangers."
"Hehe." Long Shuiya giggled. "Master, you have too much confidence in me, eh?"
Ling Yunâs clone smiled at her. "You are my woman, and I am always confident in all my women. Moreover, those people are just human cultivators, right? Even if they are strong, they wouldnât possibly dare to fight a true dragon like you."
"Youâre wrong, Master. Some human cultivators in the Supreme Realm have high guts, and they might dare to fight me, even though Iâm a true dragon." Long Shuiya suddenly had an idea. "Since all your wives and children are safe in our domain, you can bring Jiao Jin and a few others here. This way, Iâm sure those people behind the clouds wonât dare to oppose us, and you can explore the place to your heartâs content."
Ling Yunâs clone thought for a while before sending another clone into the Chaos Dragon Palace, after which he opened the Yin-Yang Chamber. Soon, Po Tianyuan, Jiao Jin, and Yan Hu came out of it.
"Master! I miss you!" Yan Hu immediately jumped onto his back and hugged his neck tightly. "Why did you bring the three of us to this domain? Did you get into trouble here?"
"Do you want to fight with the cultivators in this domain, Master? If thatâs true, Iâll help you beat them up." Po Tianyuan spoke as she cracked her fists.
Jiao Jin was also curious about Ling Yunâs cloneâs intentions, but she remained silent as usual, waiting for his order.
Ling Yunâs clone shook her head and pointed towards the Staircase of Heaven. "I want to go there, but the people there dislike strangers, and they might attack us. Therefore, I brought you three here so you guys can help us beat them up if that happens."
"Letâs go there now, Master!" Yan Hu pointed her index finger forward.
"Letâs go!"
Yue Lian released a heavy sigh once Ling Yunâs clone carried Yan Hu away, followed by Jiao Jin and Po Tianyuan. Long Shui chuckled at her response. "Why are you sighing so heavily? Are you afraid of those people?"
"You donât know anything about them, and weâll definitely run into trouble there," Yue Lian replied with a heavy sigh.
"Haha." Long Shuiya immediately grabbed Yue Lianâs shoulder, carrying her to catch up with Ling Yunâs clone and the others.
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A while later, they arrived at the location, but Yue Lian immediately stopped Ling Yunâs clone as he was about to climb the stairs. "Try sensing it first! Each step of these stairs exerts a powerful pressure, and the pressure will get stronger the higher we go."
"I see." Ling Yunâs clone nodded slightly, but he went straight up the steps. "See? Nothing happened, right? Letâs climb now."
"Hmm?" Yue Lian raised an eyebrow, watching Ling Yunâs clone climb the steps without the slightest pressure. "How can he do it without feeling pressured?"
"Hahaha." Po Tianyuan laughed at her expression. "Our master is not just a dual cultivator, okay? He is also a body cultivator, and his body cultivation level is already high now. Moreover, he is used to carrying incredibly heavy loads, so the pressure on these staircases is not an obstacle for him. By the way, you have to think about yourself, especially since you are not a body cultivator like us."
After saying that, Po Tianyuan immediately ran up the staircases, followed by Jiao Jin, leaving Yue Lian dumbfounded.
Long Shuiya simply smiled, hugged Yue Lianâs waist, and carried her up the staircases.
Yue Lian immediately felt the pressure on the staircases, but she was fortunate to have Long Shuiyaâs support; otherwise, she wouldnât have been able to climb them.
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Sometime later, they arrived behind the clouds, and they saw a vast floating platform with many buildings on it. "How could they create such a floating platform? As I recall, the old dragon said that the materials didnât exist in this era, so they shouldnât have been able to build it."
Long Shuiya and the others shook their heads at Ling Yunâs clone, including Yue Lian, especially since none of them had any information about the platform.
Ling Yunâs clone let out a soft sigh and walked onto the platform, but an old man suddenly appeared in front of them and stopped them. "I donât know who the six of you are, but my place doesnât accept guests, so I hope you can all go back down.
- To Be Continued -