The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 277

Gu Yin glanced at the thick white mist on both sides. Out of nowhere, she gave a little laugh, like she’d just thought of something funny.

After a moment, she said, “I’d split this guess of mine into three pieces: lust for women, craving for power, and hatred. Say you like women. In that case, all those playthings Wuyou sent you might not really satisfy you. Your desires could easily reach farther. Maybe toward Qixia, Qing Luan… or even me. Any of us could be the next target.”

Paying no mind to the look on Li Xun's face, she went on. “Next is ambition. The position of Sect Master of the Mingxin Sword Sect is a pretty big temptation. With your strength, a few hundred years from now you’d have a real chance of inheriting it. It would be the natural course of things. But the truth is, we’re still holding quite a few things over your head. I’m sure you have some feelings about that.

“And last, hatred. You’ve never been the forgiving type, so I find it hard to believe that after the way Qixia humiliated you back on Tiandu Peak, you would just laugh it off... and if your heart were even a bit smaller, you might easily throw us into that resentment too. No one could blame you.

“Of course, reality is usually messier. These three get tangled together until all kinds of thoughts mix and blur. I doubt even you can tell them apart. Isn’t that right?”

Li Xun really wasn’t used to the way Gu Yin talked about such sensitive topics as if they were small talk. Maybe it showed confidence and style, but the meaning underneath was basically:

Everything is under my control.

And that was not a pleasant feeling.

Li Xun let out a long breath, and to his own surprise the corners of his mouth even lifted a little. “Sect Master Gu, all this you’re saying… are you analyzing me, warning me, or planning to get rid of me?”

Watching the changes in his expression, Gu Yin clapped softly and smiled. “There’s one more thing. It’s that deeply buried, stubborn arrogance of yours. Qixia always calls you spineless. Haha. Being pragmatic and being spineless are separated by the thinnest line, but the difference between them is like heaven and earth. How ridiculous that Qixia still hasn’t figured that out.”

Li Xun lowered his head a little, looking humble enough, but inside a fire was raging.

He had to admit that in some ways Gu Yin saw straight through him, and that was dangerous. But at that moment, what surged up inside him was a powerful sense of satisfaction.

It was an odd sort of recognition. Better than any praise from family, or elders. And all the more intoxicating for it.

Of course, that rush only sharpened his mind even more. In no time, he realized he'd missed a small detail just moments ago. A flicker stirred in his heart, but on his face, he let a slight, self-mocking smile show.

“Sect Master Gu, you give me too much credit. The truth is, I’m still no match for any of you. As for those thoughts you mentioned, to be honest, anyone would have them to some degree. The difference is whether a person can tell what’s a reasonable wish and what’s pure fantasy. I like to think I'm a bit more level-headed than most.”

Gu Yin gave a slight smile. It was clear she appreciated his honesty. “Fantasy?” she asked. “And what exactly counts as fantasy?”

“Well, fantasy is…”

She cut him off and went on, “Fantasy is an idea with no footing in reality. Like some mortals in the lower world, daydreaming that a gold ingot will fall from the sky. That’s fantasy. But compared to that, you… are you really sure you couldn’t achieve any of those things?”

In that moment, every trace of casual ease and lazy indifference vanished from Gu Yin's face. Her presence sharpened, cold and focused, like a sword drawn from its sheath and aimed at the heart.

Li Xun had thought he was prepared, but that sudden thrust still caught him off-guard. He paused, breath caught, before managing to answer, “Maybe… if I ever get the chance.”

It wasn’t a firm answer, but tied together with everything that had been said before, it was already provocative enough to count as a serious challenge... maybe even an insult.

Yet Gu Yin’s smile only grew warmer. “Exactly. Time itself is full of possibilities. A long enough stretch of time can wash away anything that once seemed impossible. You and I… neither of us knows what will happen a hundred years from now. Maybe you’ll be dead. Maybe you’ll have achieved every one of your desires. All right, let’s stop here for now.”

Her voice came to rest at the same moment the cloud carriage did.

At some point, it had passed beyond the Thousand-Turn Pass and arrived in a place Li Xun had never entered before.

Li Xun suddenly realized the sky had brightened. Morning had come.

Normally, a place like Yemo Heaven in the North Pole would never see daylight. For millions of years, the polar ice fields had been locked in endless night, never touched by the sun. Even so, there was one exception: the very heart of Yemo Heaven...

the Heart Garden.

Maybe it was because the primordial qi around it shifted in some subtle way, but inside the Heart Garden, day and night came and went just like anywhere outside the North Pole.

Right now, it was noon out beyond the ice, so the Heart Garden was warm with sunlight, trees casting soft shade. In the middle of a world of endless snow and ice, a scene like this felt nothing short of miraculous.

Unfortunately, Li Xun had no mind to appreciate any of it. Gu Yin’s words, half real and half riddle, weighed on him too heavily. The fact that he could still keep himself clear-headed at all was its own kind of miracle.

It wasn’t until Gu Yin rose to his feet beside him that Li Xun finally looked up.

She gracefully stepped off the cloud carriage, then glanced back over her shoulder. “What, planning to stay up there forever?”

Li Xun went down from the other side. The moment his feet touched the ground, the cloud carriage drifted off on its own and circled to the back. Out of nowhere, the missing Kitty suddenly leaped out from who-knows-where, meowing as it bounded onto Gu Yin’s shoulder, rubbing its round face against her cheek without a care.

Gu Yin’s smile held a hint of affection, though she kept it well in check. After letting Kitty nuzzle her twice, she tapped its nose with a light flick.

Kitty seemed to get the message. It shot a glance at Li Xun, then sprang away, disappearing into the garden ahead within a heartbeat.

That little moment eased the tight knot in Li Xun’s chest, and he finally had the mind to look around.

This had to be the Heart Garden. He remembered Lin Wuyou mentioning it once. A place where it felt like spring all year, flowers never faded, and because it was the seat of the Miaohua Sect, music from pipes and strings drifted through its pavilions day and night.

A breeze passed just then, and Li Xun really did catch a faint trace of music riding on the wind.

“You...”

Gu Yin had barely begun when Li Xun snapped his head toward her, completely focused.

She broke into a grin, then swiftly hid her mouth behind her sleeve. In that moment, her eyes and brows carried a teasing, flirtatious charm that Li Xun had never seen on her before.

Li Xun's uncertain expression made her shake her head. “Forget it. If I keep talking, it feels like I’m leading you on. But seriously, how do you feel now? A little more at ease than before?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but she pressed a finger to her lips, signaling him to stay quiet. He did, and then...

A song rang out, piercing through the drifting clouds:

“With the gulls as my companions.

On the green fields, I leave behind my wandering clogs.

Two rows of willows droop their shade—

Those were planted, back in the day, by the old immortal himself. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The lone pavilion stands quiet and forgotten.

Beyond the haze, sorrow stretches across the view;

lotus leaves trail softly, unfurling cool clouds,

as a thousand-foot rainbow lies stretched across the water...”

The voice came so strangely. It was like it welled up straight from the depths of your heart, then surged through your whole body, leaving you cool and clear all over. It spilled out through your ears and eyes, and suddenly everything around you, in front and behind, felt sharper, more alive than ever.

But linger on the words, on the song, and it stirred a loneliness so sharp it had nowhere to go.

Li Xun glanced at Gu Yin. He could tell right away that whoever was singing had to be a true master. And anyone who could sing so freely in the Heart Garden was certainly no ordinary person.

Gu Yin acted as if she hadn’t noticed his unspoken question. She made a small inviting gesture and walked with him along a winding path. When the singing paused, she picked up where she’d left off before. “So tell me. Are you more at ease now?”

Li Xun had been ready to answer earlier, but being asked again made the words catch in his throat. He didn't want to force them out.

Gu Yin sighed and shook her head. “As I thought. I still haven’t hit the real point.”

Her gaze settled on his face, focused and clear in a way he had never seen from her. “All the guesses I made earlier were different from each other, but they still shared one thing. In every guess, the target you set for yourself was always me, or Qixia, or Qing Luan.

“Now it seems like yeah, maybe there's a little progress, but we're still not scratching the real itch. So how about we switch targets for a bit... Any idea who that was singing just now?”

For some reason, the moment Li Xun's heart started pounding like it was trying to break out of his chest. It was this weird, gut-level hunch... he had a nagging feeling that whatever she was about to say would hit him so hard his heart might not even be able to take it.

And this was exactly what he’d been obsessing over, guessing at and searching for.

There was no real reason for it. He just felt it.

“Seems like you are ready.”

This time, Gu Yin saw straight through his thoughts.

And she was choosing a strangely delicate way to show how she felt at that moment.

Her slender, flawless hand brushed lightly over her chest, then she drew in a long, slow breath. Only after that did she smile and say, “Ever since it happened, this is the first time I have said any of it out loud to anyone. To be honest, I am nervous too.”

The two of them had already reached the end of the narrow path, and the view opened up.

Pavilions and towers peeked through the trees and brush. Li Xun didn’t give a damn about the garden layout or any of that crap. His eyes immediately locked onto a man leaning against the railing of a small pavilion.

A gentle breeze stirred the sleeves of their robes. The whole thing felt hazy and unreal, as if it were floating in some Immortal Realm. And that man in the pavilion... was the very heart of it all.

In a flash, Li Xun understood. “That must be the one who was singing just now. So who is he?”

It seemed like an easy deduction, yet Li Xun’s mind went stiff. He could not take the next step, could not think any further.

Gu Yin turned to look at him, taking in every detail of his expression.

There must have been something genuinely amusing about it. Because the curve of her smile deepened. “Come on. Let’s go meet him.”

“Who is he?” Li Xun asked on instinct. But his voice came out like a needle dropped into a deep ravine, thin and distant. Even he could barely hear his own voice.