Chapter 836 - 778: Strange (Seeking Yue Tickets)

Chapter 836: Chapter 778: Strange (Seeking Yue Tickets)

Three days later.

"Distant mountains can nourish the heart, clear streams can steady the mind; if your thoughts are like mountains, then your heart finds truth, if your nature is like water, then your spirit becomes refined. Let the mental realm relax with no other distractions, all things as if natural, breathe in stillness and nourish..."

As Immortal Monarch Fatian’s somewhat weary voice echoed, a bone-piercing wind swept across the top of the Observatory. Jiang Yuebai shivered out of nowhere and snapped awake from the haze.

Her mind went blank for an instant; she felt as if a chunk of her memory had broken off, like she had forgotten something.

But at the same time she inexplicably felt excited and satisfied, as if she were soaking in warm water, every pore loose and comfortable.

Jiang Yuebai swept her gaze around in confusion. Lu Nanzhi, Xie Jingshan, and Shen Huaxi were just like her, still in meditation posture, dazed and groggy.

"...Let your thoughts be like the relaxed blue-green mountains, your nature like the clear bright waters. Enter the True Mirror, enter the Meditation Mirror, your whole body suffused with Immortal aura, clouds drifting and ethereal. All right, my enlightenment for you over these three days ends here. How much you can remember, how much you can learn, depends on your own comprehension."

Jiang Yuebai: ???

Wait, three days? How did three days just go by?

What enlightenment?

How come she didn’t remember anything? Hadn’t they just come in?

Jiang Yuebai’s mind was a mess. Lu Nanzhi also frowned in puzzlement, Shen Huaxi lowered his brows to look around, concentrating as he thought.

Only Xie Jingshan nodded along, totally baffled, then suddenly put on an expression of sudden realization.

"So that’s how it is. The Immortal Monarch’s enlightenment truly is wondrous. This junior has learned much!"

Jiang Yuebai: ......

Lu Nanzhi: ......

Shen Huaxi: ......

The three turned to look at Xie Jingshan in unison. Xie Jingshan’s expression froze; he hurriedly straightened his back. "What? You lot can’t comprehend anything so you stare at me for? I’m smart—can’t I be?"

Jiang Yuebai wanted to open her mouth and curse him out, but her throat was dry and torn, as if she’d been screaming insults at someone nonstop for three days without drinking a drop of water, to the point she couldn’t even make a sound.

Shen Huaxi’s head throbbed like it would split, giving him the feeling of having overused his brain.

Lu Nanzhi, for some reason, felt a heavy weight in his heart, yet when he looked at Jiang Yuebai, he felt an incomparable sense of peace.

Immortal Monarch Fatian didn’t give them any chance to ask further and said directly, "Enough. What I taught you in these three days is too profound; with your current Cultivation and mental realms you can’t fully grasp it, so it’s normal you can’t remember. When your Cultivation and mental realm gradually rise, you will naturally recall the contents of my enlightenment."

"You’ve already lingered here too long. There are envoys waiting outside—go receive your rewards and return. The front lines are tense right now; I hope that, when you have spare strength, you can contribute a share of power to the Human Clan."

"Wait, Immortal Monarch Fatian..."

Jiang Yuebai rasped hoarsely, wanting to speak, but Immortal Monarch Fatian flicked his sleeve, and the four of them were ’swept out the door’, landing at the foot of the stairs on the Eighth Layer of the Observatory.

As soon as the four left, the breath Immortal Monarch Fatian had been forcefully maintaining immediately wilted. He turned to see Chongmin still sitting there pretending to be circulating his internal energy, and anger flared up.

"Act! Just keep acting! You’ve watched me making a fool of myself for three days—surely you’ve had your fill by now!"

"Cough~"

Immortal Monarch Chongmin slowly opened his eyes, rose to his feet and straightened his sleeves. Looking at Immortal Monarch Fatian, face full of fatigue and with much more white in his hair, the corners of his lips lifted in a faint smile.

"These three days have been hard on you."

Hearing this, especially since he’d said the same thing to Chongmin before, Fatian suddenly really wanted to copy Jiang Yuebai and snap, "Hard my ass!"

"What happened today—aside from you and me, not a third person may know. As for the undercover plan, we’ll shelve it for now; tell everyone else it’s canceled. I’ll go persuade Yan Hua. For the moment, we must first properly handle the matter of the Taiwei Star Alliance’s front line collapse."

Chongmin nodded. "Immortal Monarch Wu Wei is stationed in the Taiwei Star Alliance, and Fairy Yuxiao in the Ziwei Star Alliance. Even if the Demon Clan breaches all lines right now, they won’t be able to hold all sixty-seven Realms of the Taiwei Star Alliance at once. We still have a chance to take back the lost territory."

Fatian nodded gravely. "You must hurry back to the Nine Rivers Realm and keep a close eye on the Heavenly Interence Sect. Also guard against the Demon Clan continuing to infiltrate the Tianshi Star Alliance. Taiwei, Ziwei, and Tianshi are the three most crucial defensive lines the Upper Realm has against the Demon Realm."

"Now that one and a half lines are broken, your Tianshi Star Alliance must hold no matter what, or the heartland of the Upper Realm will be exposed. At that point, I fear the Heavenly Calamity Cangqingzi spoke of will truly return in force. As for what happened in the Observatory, I’ll investigate personally."

Chongmin nodded, cupped his hands in farewell, and took a single step to vanish, leaving only a ripple of water hanging in the air.

Fatian sat down alone in meditation. Above his head the starry sky glittered. He formed a strange seal with one hand, and light and shadows immediately surged around him—scenes from inside and outside the Observatory.

Those lights would sometimes speed up, sometimes halt. Immortal Monarch Fatian focused completely, carefully tracing back everything that had happened in the Observatory during this period.

Rumble, rumble!

Under the night sky, thunder roared.

Jiang Yuebai and the others followed behind an envoy of the Observatory, heading to the Third Layer to select their Qingyun Conference rewards.

Before coming down, she had caught sight of Wuwei Mountain Man Lin Jingyue, who had signaled for her to be patient.

The envoy of the Observatory walked ahead. Jiang Yuebai fell back a few steps to come alongside Shen Huaxi, sending a voice transmission to ask:

"These three days, were we really receiving Immortal Monarch Fatian’s enlightenment? Why do I feel like something is off?"

Shen Huaxi’s eyes were dark. "I feel the same."

Jiang Yuebai looked to Lu Nanzhi; Nanzhi’s expression was just as grave, while only Xie Jingshan was foolishly turning his head to look all around.

"There are really a lot of treasures here. But I don’t lack anything—I honestly don’t know what to pick."

Jiang Yuebai really wanted to plant a kick squarely in Xie Jingshan’s back. Someone like him wouldn’t even know it if he got sold off.

Shen Huaxi pondered for a moment. "Regardless, recently we all..."

Before he finished, Shen Huaxi suddenly pressed a hand to his Storage Ring, stopped in his tracks, and his eyes flashed in shock.

"That piece of Memory Jade is gone!"

As soon as Shen Huaxi spoke, Jiang Yuebai immediately understood. He meant the Memory Jade that recorded the Iron Palm Master. He had once made a copy of it for the people of the Star Alliance; the one missing now was the original.

In a flash of realization, Jiang Yuebai and Shen Huaxi exchanged a look, and both grasped the same thing.

Immortal Monarch Fatian had erased their memories!

Something definitely happened during those three days!

"Could it be..."

With Immortal Monarch Fatian right above them, Jiang Yuebai didn’t dare say it outright, but Shen Huaxi and Lu Nanzhi understood her meaning from her eyes and the way she brushed at her temple.

What Jiang Yuebai meant was: could Immortal Monarch Fatian be in league with the Fang Family? Shen Huaxi had reported the Fang Family’s deeds to Immortal Monarch Fatian, and Fatian had wanted to protect them, so he erased their memories and took the Memory Jade?

Shen Huaxi’s thoughts went deeper and further; he kept feeling that something didn’t add up. He shook his head slightly.

"Let’s set that aside for now. My head hurts; once we get back to the Heavenly Interence Sect, I’ll carefully review everything. But for now, we’d best all be cautious."

Jiang Yuebai and Lu Nanzhi nodded solemnly. They both had a sense that something big was about to happen, yet strangely, Jiang Yuebai still felt excited, even happy, as if she were really looking forward to that major event.

Something was off, very off!

When they reached the Third Layer of the Observatory, the envoy leading them pointed to both sides of the staircase.

"Everyone, this side is all books—various Cultivation Techniques, Cultivation and Miscellaneous Studies, secret techniques, and so on. This side is Spiritual Artifacts and various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Fellow Daoist Jiang may choose three items, Mr. Xie two items, and Fellow Daoist Lu and Fellow Daoist Shen one item each."

Hearing this, Xie Jingshan asked, "Can I take only one item and give an extra one to Lu Nanzhi?"

Xie Jingshan had always felt that his match with Lu Nanzhi couldn’t really count as his win, so he didn’t want to take advantage. Plus, he truly didn’t lack anything.

The envoy smiled. "If you’re willing to yield of your own accord, that’s fine."

Seeing this, Lu Nanzhi didn’t stand on ceremony with Xie Jingshan. He pulled Jiang Yuebai along and went to the bookshelves first to browse and choose, while Shen Huaxi went with Xie Jingshan to look over the other side.