Chapter 152: The Eastern and Western Immortal Realms

Liu Ruo had already walked up to the two burly men, bowed slightly, and said, "Senior Brother Jiang Chun and Senior Brother Jiang Hui, how are your bodies feeling now?"

The two burly men rumbled in deep voices, "No major impediment!" With that, they looked at Ye Hua and nodded, saying, "Junior Brother Ye is indeed a man of exceptional talent! We have also heard our junior brothers discuss your cultivation technique—truly extraordinary! Hehe! Good... good!"

Liu Ruoming smiled gently at Ye Hua and said, "These two senior brothers are the descendants of the ancient true-spirit lineage I mentioned a short while ago, Senior Brother Jiang Chun and Senior Brother Jiang Hui!"

Ye Hua thought to himself, "So these two burly men are scions of a true-spirit lineage. Judging by their physiques, they are indeed immensely robust; their body-tempering arts must certainly be extraordinary! Being descendants of the ancient true-spirit divine sheep, they possess naturally exceptional physiques. Coupled with the unique, secret body-tempering arts of these true-spirit lineages, if they unleash them in combat, the power would undoubtedly be earth-shattering! Ordinary people cannot face their sharp edge head-on!"

"However, they suffered severe injuries during the fierce battle at Wanghai Tower. I wonder who possesses such capability to wound them! Could it be those cultivators of the Three True Realms? Yet, in such a public setting, who would lower their status and dignity to spar with a cultivator of a lower realm?"

Shaking his head slightly to clear these thoughts, he bowed respectfully to the two burly men and said, "I am Ye Hua, paying my respects to Senior Brothers Jiang!"

Jiang Chun and Jiang Hui spoke in unison, "Junior Brother Ye, there is no need for such formalities! Please rise quickly!"

Liu Ruoming walked over to the plump, big man, smiled, and said, "Senior Brother Qian, how is it that your belly seems even larger than the last time we met? I wonder if the stash inside has grown larger as well!?"

Qian Jinxiao laughed heartily and said, "This Maitreya belly of mine is cultivated daily and practiced constantly, so naturally it should show some progress, right!?"

Liu Ruoming smiled and asked, "I wonder how it is cultivated daily and practiced constantly? This junior sister would like to ask for some guidance to see what wonders it holds!"

Qian Jinxiao brightened up instantly, shook his head, and laughed with amusement, "To cultivate this Maitreya belly, one must swallow ten catties of meat and a hundred catties of wine at the four daily hours of Zi, Mao, Wu, and You. By drinking when thirsty and eating when hungry to unleash its innate nature, one practices for eighty-one days to achieve minor success. To bring this Maitreya belly to perfection, it requires the accumulation of day after day and the consumption of countless time before it is considered successfully mastered! Truly, 'a great belly can accommodate all things in the world that are hard to tolerate'."

Jiang Chun smiled and said, "Could it be 'Wine and meat pass through the intestines, sun and moon remain in the heart!'?"

Liu Ruoming nodded and smiled, "I think it is more like 'Wine and meat pass through the intestines, the flesh remains on the body!' instead!"

Hearing this, everyone burst into hearty laughter. Qian Jinxiao shook his head with a sigh of amusement and said, "Stop making fun of me, and quickly let me get acquainted with Junior Brother Ye!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Hua hurried forward, bowed slightly with a smile, and said, "Ye Hua pays respects to Senior Brother Qian!"

The plump, big man Qian Jinxiao reached out, gently helped Ye Hua up, and laughed heartily, "From this moment on, Junior Brother Ye is one of us! Haha! You don't need to stand on ceremony with me!"

Liu Ruoming's face flushed red. Knowing the hidden implication in the plump man's words, she felt both shy and annoyed, scolding, "Who is one of you!?"

Qian Jinxiao laughed heartily and said, "Junior Sister Liu, you have misunderstood! What I meant was that Junior Brother Ye and all the junior brothers of Awakening Hall share a bond as close as family, inseparable and as one! What, could it be that you want Junior Brother Ye to become family with you instead!? Haha, keep dreaming!"

Liu Ruoming's face flushed a deeper red, resembling the brilliant evening glow illuminating half the sky at the horizon, strikingly vivid and dazzling. Everyone could not help staring in a daze for a moment. After feeling embarrassed for quite a while, Liu Ruoming gave an indignant huff and said, "I won't pay attention to you anymore!"

With that, she walked up to the young man clad in cyan garments, bowed, and asked, "Senior Brother Li, how have you been recently?"

This person dressed in cyan robes was none other than Li Mubai, who had disguised himself as the man in black the previous night. He had arrived at Awakening Hall yesterday along with Qian Jinxiao. While Liu Ruoming had been left completely in the dark, everyone else was fully aware of the truth!

The moment Li Mubai arrived at Awakening Hall yesterday, Zhang Shaohua's face had lit up with joy. He had been worrying that there was no one suitable to play the assassin in the "beauty saves the hero" scenario. The person playing the disguised assassin not only needed high cultivation and martial prowess but also had to lack any distinctive physical traits—none of the junior brothers around Zhang Shaohua were quite suitable. Now that Li Mubai had appeared at just this moment, it could not have been more perfect!

When Zhang Shaohua discussed the matter with him, Li Mubai had initially just laughed it off, thinking it was merely a child's game. However, upon hearing of it, Qian Jinxiao had been overjoyed beyond measure, finding it immensely entertaining—as if he had stumbled upon the world's most amusing game, or rather, as if a lavish banquet had been laid out right before his eyes, making his mouth water and leaving him utterly unable to resist. If anyone tried to take away this feast now, it would be an absolute impossibility!

Left with no choice, Li Mubai had changed into the attire, carefully inquired about the situation, and played along with their prank. Although Liu Ruoming and Ye Hua were unaware of this, seeing them now, Li Mubai felt a faint sense of guilt and was somewhat at a loss for a moment. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind: "I am not the mastermind behind this! If the scheme is exposed and the truth comes out, and Senior Uncle Liu blames someone, it will be the fault of Qian Jinxiao and Junior Brother Zhang! Haha! If that truly happens, I suppose they will have to endure some of Junior Sister Liu's wrath...!"

Li Mubai glanced at Liu Ruoming and quickly averted his gaze, speaking up promptly, "I have not been doing very well recently! I am so stifled in the capital; it is not nearly as fun or interesting as Jiujin City! I heard that Junior Sister Liu encountered an assassin last night, is that true!?"

Zhang Shaohua's heart skipped a beat, and he almost cried out in alarm, thinking to himself, "He really brings up whichever pot has no water!" He hurriedly said to Li Mubai, "Senior Brother Li, although I gave you a detailed account of yesterday's situation, Junior Sister Liu and Junior Brother Ye experienced it firsthand! You had better hear their detailed narrative instead!"

Liu Ruoming nodded and said, "Indeed. If Senior Brother Li had been present last night, that man in black certainly would not have been able to escape."

Li Mubai nodded and asked, "I heard your speculation that the man in black is a Western Region cultivator, specifically a scion of the Duan family of the Six Tribes of Beixi?"

Liu Ruoming smiled slightly and said, "That is correct. The dark man in black used a string of 'human skull bone prayer beads', and the fiend he conjured through illusion was extremely eerie!"

Li Mubai could not help cursing his bad luck inwardly: "How vexing! When have I ever used such an evil artifact as a 'human skull bone prayer bead'? Although I do have a string of prayer beads, they are white jade spirit beads! This must be the work of those loose-lipped fellows like Zhang Shaohua!" Finding it inconvenient to show his feelings outwardly, he forced a smile and said, "A string of human skull bone prayer beads? I have never heard of such a thing! It must be tremendously powerful."

Zhang Shaohua, however, was sweating profusely down his back, terrified that Li Mubai might accidentally slip up and reveal the truth. He hastily changed the subject, saying, "Senior Brother Zhou is coming out of seclusion today! You senior brothers must wait a little longer."

Li Mubai glanced at Zhang Shaohua with a trace of a smug smile on his face, then turned to Ye Hua and said, "I am Li Mubai, a disciple of the 'Twelve Interlocking Docks of Red-Tail Islet in the East Sea', and concurrently serving as the young master of the Qianzhou branch of the Sun-Moon Divine Alliance. Junior Brother Ye, you can simply consider us old acquaintances! No need to stand on ceremony!"

Ye Hua thought to himself, "Senior Brother Li's gaze is so familiar. Could it be that I have seen him somewhere before?!" Stepping forward, he bowed slightly and said, "Ye Hua pays respects to Senior Brother Li. What Senior Brother Li says is very true! I also feel a strange sense of familiarity with Senior Brother Li, as if we have met somewhere before!"

Li Mubai laughed heartily and said, "Junior Brother Ye, it seems we share a great affinity!"

Ye Hua smiled and said, "Indeed." Zhang Shaohua, on the other hand, grew inwardly anxious: "You two are naturally familiar! You already fought a fierce battle yesterday! Senior Brother Li, you really know how to find amusement now! Affinity? The affinity between the two of you is truly wondrous to the extreme!"

Meanwhile, Li Mubai thought to himself: "During the fierce battle last night, Junior Brother Ye's final strike was formidable indeed! I could barely withstand it and ended up at a disadvantage! It seems his cultivation technique is exceptionally brilliant. I wonder who would win if we were to have a genuine, all-out duel? I must find an opportunity in the future to spar with him once more!"

Tang Wen suddenly spoke up, "Senior Brother Gong, Senior Brother Jiang Chun, Senior Brother Jiang Hui, and I all suffered internal injuries! I wonder if Senior Brother Zhou has invited other cultivators to make up the number of three?"

Gong Yu breathed slightly and said, "Senior Brother Zhou's Dao arts are profound. If he enters the arena to compete, would that not also suffice? It is just that casting the 'Seven Origins Tianji Dream-Transferring Technique' and the 'Ground-Spanning Golden Light Formation' several times in succession must have damaged his inner vitality and mental energy."

Zhang Shaohua nodded and said, "That is indeed true. The 'Seven Origins Tianji Dream-Transferring Technique' consumes the most mental energy. Currently, however, there is a dao friend whom you senior brothers have not yet met! He has already promised to come and assist."

Jiang Chun and Jiang Hui hurriedly asked, "I wonder who this dao friend might be!?"

Liu Ruoming smiled gently and said, "We are not very familiar with that senior brother either; we have only met him once. He is an old friend of Junior Brother Ye who happens to be staying temporarily at Haiguang Temple! When he came to visit Junior Brother Ye the day before yesterday, he made a promise to lend a hand."

Li Mubai turned to Ye Hua and asked, "Junior Brother Ye, so he is an old friend of yours! I wonder what kind of mighty cultivator this is? Might Junior Brother Ye find it convenient to reveal his identity and background?"

Qian Jinxiao also laughed heartily and said, "Junior Brother Ye's own cultivation is already extraordinary. Since this old friend of yours has volunteered himself, he must surely be a brilliantly talented individual who surpasses his contemporaries! Junior Brother Ye, is that not so?"

Ye Hua smiled faintly and said, "This friend of mine goes by the Daoist title of Companion Cloud Guest, and he hails from the Eastern Immortal Source."

Everyone was struck with shock, simultaneously asking in astonishment, "The Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands! The Eastern Immortal Source? Is it truly the Eastern Immortal Source!?"

Zhang Shaohua was also so startled that his mouth hung open for a moment, and he murmured, "Does the Eastern Immortal Source truly exist in this world?! I thought it was merely an ancient legend! Junior Brother Ye, why did you not tell me sooner?! You only mentioned that he and his fellow senior brothers formed the Eight Friends of Taoyuan."

Liu Ruoming also kept repeating, "The Eastern Immortal Source, the Eight Friends of Taoyuan! So that is how it is. No wonder, no wonder—the two characters 'Taoyuan' carry such profound meaning!"

Li Mubai nodded and sighed, "The Eastern Immortal Source and the Western Immortal Source are like two gorgeous, ethereal dreams, utterly out of reach. These two immortal abodes are truly like utopian peach-blossom lands, leaving behind countless beautiful legends. If I were fortunate enough to visit them, even if my body were to perish there, I would have no regrets in my heart!"

Qian Jinxiao was also stunned for a long moment before saying, "The Eastern Immortal Source has always been shrouded in supreme mystery! For millions of years, its disciples have rarely ventured out into the mortal world. I never imagined... never imagined we would actually encounter one!"

Jiang Chun and Jiang Hui exchanged a glance and said, "Although each of the Thirty-Six Grotto-Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands remains aloof from the world and ignores worldly affairs, quite a few disciples from these grottoes and lands still temper themselves in the mortal dust. Only those two immortal sources are no longer things of the mortal realm!"

Tang Wen and Gong Yu blurted out in dismay, "Immortal Source... Immortal Source. In ancient legends, the Eastern Immortal Source and Western Immortal Source emerge and vanish together, transforming infinitely within this boundless world without a trace to be found. If they do not choose to manifest, you could search all mountains and rivers, across the vast heavens and seas, and still find not the slightest clue!"

Qian Jinxiao's gaze flickered as he said, "Since this Eastern Immortal Source has now manifested in the world, the Western Immortal Source should likewise make its appearance!"

Hearing this remark from Qian Jinxiao, everyone felt another shock ripple through their bodies. Although all of them had already thought of this, hearing it spoken aloud still caused their hearts to heave with shock, elation, and anticipation as a surging tide of emotions flooded over them.