117: Chapter 117: Prison Six Ends

Your dull, dead days came back to life after Su Nian arrived.

At least this large courtyard was no longer just you alone.

However, you felt that you were slowly growing much older.

Time, that Sharp Weapon, had finally carved scars upon your body.

You were also going to die soon.

However, you were not very worried. Your Lifespan was indeed coming to an end, but that was only relative to Mahayana Cultivators; you still had some time to wait for the little girl, Su Nian, to grow up.

The little girl Su Nian was very pretty, and in her, you always felt you could see the shadow of Mu Xue.

Especially when she held Blue Snow and practiced sword techniques under the Snow Forest fruit trees.

The sword light swept across the fallen leaves; she turned, struck, and withdrew her sword, Blue Snow dancing in her hands to form one sword flower after another.

Mu Xue was like this back then, too.

At that time, it wasn't Snow Forest fruit planted here. You often leaned against the branches, Venerable Li Kun stayed respectfully to the side, while True Immortal Qinglan watched the spirit fruit in your hand with resentment, her gaze wishing she could eat you.

"Master, what are you smiling at?" Su Nian asked, looking at you as she sheathed Blue Snow.

You leaned on the rocking chair and rocked back and forth: "I thought of something interesting."

"Hee hee." Su Nian laughed as well.

"Then what are you laughing at?" you asked.

"I don't know?" she replied. "It's just that since Master is smiling, I want to smile too."

"You child." You smiled and patted her head.

She had a lollipop in her mouth, the white stick poking out and swaying from side to side.

Just like Mu Xue.

"Master?" Seeing you dazed, Su Nian couldn't help but ask.

"It's nothing. Go practice your sword. Next time the candy is gone, I won't replenish it." You said, looking at her.

"Master, you can't do that!!!" Su Nian said, looking at you.

She was not Mu Xue, after all.

Three hundred years passed again.

Su Nian was very smart and talented. Furthermore, with you teaching her hand-in-hand, she had now become an Integration Venerable, only one step away from a Breakthrough to Undergoing Tribulation.

"Senior, the people from the Original God Tower have come again. Should we send them away just like before?" the Sect Master of the Sword Sect asked you one day.

You glanced at Su Nian—little girl, oh no, that was wrong, she was now a graceful young woman.

She chattered around you: "Master, Master, what is the Original God Tower?"

"Master, Master, why don't you go?"

"Master, Master, is it fun there?"

"Oh yeah, Master agreed to take me."

The Sword Sect Master looked shocked: "Does this mean, Senior, that you will be attending the Starry Sky Ceremony this time?"

You looked at Su Nian and nodded helplessly: "Yes."

Ever since Ji Yuan opened up the sky, the vast and boundless starry sky had appeared before the eyes of everyone on the Tianheng Continent.

Even after becoming Cultivators, humans still harbored passion for that vast starry sky.

Every year, countless Cultivators left the continent one after another, stepping into the unknown starry sky.

The Original God Tower was established by those Cultivators dedicated to exploring the starry sky.

No one expected that thousands of years later, such a force would actually become a veritable super force on the continent.

The venue for the Starry Sky Ceremony was set on the highest peak of the Tianheng Continent, Star Gazing Peak.

This was the most grand ceremony of the Original God Tower.

One hundred Cultivators at the Body Integration stage or above would leave the continent that raised them, board flying ships heading for the starry sky, and explore the Star Domains that even Mahayana True Immortals had never set foot in. On both sides of the venue, banners fluttered in the wind, and the flying ships of various Sects were already docked at the cloud pier, their bodies shimmering with pale silver spiritual light.

Presiding over the ceremony were two Tribulation Transcendence Great Emperors, Pai Pai and Meng Meng.

The two of them saw you from afar, their eyes lighting up simultaneously. They hurried forward and respectfully cupped their hands in salute: "Greetings, True Immortal of the Four Seasons."

You nodded and brought Su Nian to the back of the venue.

Su Nian stood by your side, but her eyes couldn't stop glancing toward the flying ships: "Master, that flying ship looks very expensive. If we stole it back, could we buy enough candy to never finish it?"

You tapped her: "How old are you, still acting like a little child."

She pouted.

The Starry Sky Ceremony began.

Pai Pai's voice was loud and sounded very moving.

"Sixty thousand years ago, True Immortal Ji Yuan broke the curse of the Tianheng Continent with his own strength. He let us know that the Tianheng Continent where we reside is not everything; above our heads, there is a vast starry sky."

"For tens of thousands of years, countless Seniors have followed one after another. Some died in the starry sky, while others are still drifting among unknown stars. They did not return, but every route they traveled has become the path beneath our feet today."

The one hundred Cultivators on the flying ships all straightened their backs, their eyes filled with irrepressible excitement and longing.

These were all young Cultivators; some had even just achieved a Breakthrough to Body Integration, their faces still carrying the spirit of youth.

Pai Pai's voice grew even louder: "Someone asked the first Tower Master of the Original God Tower, why fly towards the starry sky? That crazy Tower Master said, 'Because I want to.' Of course, he said that when he was drunk."

A burst of good-natured laughter erupted from the audience.

Pai Pai paused, looked up, and scanned every face on the flying ships, scanning those young, nervous, and excited faces, and then his voice deepened.

"Today, I will not speak those high-sounding words to you."

"Are we exploring the starry sky for resources? To pave the way for future generations? Is that it?"

"It is all of that, and it is none of that."

"Sixty thousand years, and we are still flying, still flying outward, from the few stars closest to the continent to now where our routes cover eleven star clusters."

"Why do we keep flying? Because there are places further away we haven't been, because there are things we don't know over there, and because that group of damn stars shines above our heads every night, looking at us, asking us, 'Do you dare to come?'"

"Why must we explore the starry sky?"

"Because the starry sky is right there!!!"

Enthusiastic applause erupted in the venue.

After Pai Pai finished those words, he turned around, his gaze passing over the crowd and landing on you.

The banners on both sides of the venue were whipped by the wind on the mountain peak, and the one hundred Cultivators on the flying ships also followed his gaze, holding their breath.

They all knew that a living legend had come here today, the legend who had witnessed the opening of the sky of the Tianheng Continent back then, recast the starry sky orbit, and founded the Four Seasons.

"We greet the True Immortal of the Four Seasons." Everyone bowed in salute after you appeared.

You looked at those one hundred young faces; to tell the truth, they were not much older than Su Nian.

"Towards the stars and the abyss, travelers, the Tianheng Continent will always wait for your return!" you said.

The one hundred auras on the flying ships rose simultaneously, and the sails rustled in the spiritual light.

Including you, everyone faced the flying ships and raised their arms high.

The flying ships rose slowly, their bows plowing through the clouds and mist, sailing into that sea of stars.

Su Nian stood by your side, looking up at that increasingly small pale silver trail, the little kitten's eyes shining, very bright, very bright.

After returning.

"I want to join the Star Tower." Su Nian said to you.

You did not speak.

"Does Master not agree?" Su Nian said.

You still did not speak.

Su Nian left.

One thousand years later, the spirit ships of the Star Tower sent another one hundred young Cultivators to the sea of stars.

The trails of the spirit ships dragged into an extremely thin and bright silver line, traversing the night sky of the entire Tianheng Continent.

You watched it and slowly raised your hand.

"I'm left alone again." you said.

The leaves of the Snow Forest fruit tree shook, as if saying, there is still him.

You lay on the recliner and smiled.

The recliner rocked and rocked.

Making a creaking sound.

Will Su Nian come back? You did not know.

Then wish her towards the stars and the abyss, you thought.

That was the first hundred years after Su Nian left.

It was another summer.

Your fingernails pinched a lollipop; you didn't know why, but today you just wanted to eat one.

You leaned on the recliner and skillfully peeled the candy wrapper.

You put the candy in your mouth.

The sunlight passed through the leaves of the Snow Forest fruit tree, breaking into pieces of gold foil that fell on your face.

The wind blew gently, and the recliner rocked with a creak.

You slowly closed your eyes.

You didn't know how long you had been rocking.

Warm fingertips gently touched the corners of your lips.

The candy in your mouth was gently pulled away by someone.

You opened your eyes, and a girl stood in front of you.

She was against the light, wearing a white dress, looking just as you remembered her.

She held the lollipop that had just been pulled from your mouth in her hand, tilted her head, and looked at you, saying.

"Mr. Lin Heng, long time no see~"

You grabbed her hand, fingers interlocked.

"Yes, long time no see."

"Miss Zhou Mu Xue."

You died.