“Foundation body?”
“His foundation lies in his biological father, the leader of the Champa Sect Leader, Tunshe Tianzun, the corpse of whom became a spirit. The Young Saint Lord fell into darkness years ago, actually offering himself to Tunshe Tianzun. Logically, he should have been possessed, and his soul would have been devoured by Tunshe Tianzun. However, perhaps due to his strong obsession and resentment, Tunshe Tianzun couldn’t consume him. Instead, he was controlled by him and became a source of his power.”
I froze for a moment, unable to help but recall the “tree demon” we encountered in the forest after the avalanche. It must have been Tunshe Tianzun, the so-called biological father of Nalin and the source of his power.
“Then, what is Na-Nalin doing now? Is he going to seek his foundation to heal?”
Qing Jue nodded. “That should be the case. But I’m afraid the trouble he has to face is not as simple as just restoring his foundation.”
A chill ran through my heart, and the image of the white-haired female demon flashed before my eyes, she had severely injured Nalin but didn’t chase after him at the time. It was probably to force him to return and seek his own foundation!
Perhaps, they had set up an ambush long ago, waiting for Nalin to appear, just to catch him when the opportunity arose!
“Not good, Nalin is in trouble!” I rushed into the room and quickly started packing my things. Mo Wei followed me into the room, helping me pack. “Brother Ran, we really need to take you and his split body away, but we absolutely cannot go looking for him. I know you’re worried about him, but have you considered that he’s doing this to separate his power in order to protect you and also to leave himself a way out?”
My hand stiffened. “If his source body… is destroyed, what will happen to his split body?”
Mo Wei paused, scratching his head. “I don’t know either. We’d have to ask Master…”
“If we can find a place with a large amount of this soil, perhaps, even if his original body is destroyed, his clone may still be able to survive.” The elderly voice came from the doorway. I looked up to see Qing Jue holding a handful of soil, examining it closely in the light. “This soil contains demonic energy, and it seems to originate from the same source as the Young Saint Lord. I’m not sure if he prepared this in advance, but perhaps he anticipated this day would come.”
“What do you mean?”
He chuckled, “What I mean is, the Young Saint Lord is very clever. He probably already dispersed his power into the land, transferring his true body and hiding it. It won’t be easy for his mother to find him. Just stay at home and be at ease. The Young Saint Lord must have had you find us because he’s worried that his clone won’t be enough to protect you. He wants us to watch over you to make sure you don’t wander off.”
I shook my head. “But last night, the tree figurine still looked like him, and I couldn’t tell the difference. Today, though, he can’t even maintain his human form anymore! Something must have happened to his true body!”
Qing Jue’s expression changed slightly, and he furrowed his brow. “Human form… It seems he’s left most of his power behind to protect you. If that’s the case… he might not have enough strength to confront the enemy. We need to find the place with this soil quickly.”
“What kind of soil is this?”
“The soil contains fine fragments of ice that cannot melt; it is permafrost. I believe it comes from a mountain in the Suwajia Mountain Range, which has a high elevation and is covered with snow all year round. As for the exact location, we would have to ask the Young Saint Lord himself. However, when I asked him earlier, he did not respond.”
How could it be? I was shocked and ran into the bathroom: “Nalin?”
The tree doll was quiet, with its vines hanging on the soil, motionless.
“Nalin, don’t scare me… Tell me, where exactly does this soil come from?”
The tree puppet didn’t respond. My heart sank, as if I was falling into an abyss.
As I stepped outside, it was still raining. I carefully cradled Nalin, who was inside a plant pot, and climbed into the car. The raindrops pelted the windows, their rhythmic tapping only making me feel more uneasy.
Nalin, where are you? What are you going through right now? Will I… never see you again?
No, you’ve waited for so long, searched for so long. You will surely give everything to stay by my side.
I suppressed my restless thoughts, closed my eyes, and pressed my fingers deep into the frozen soil in the pot.
It’s at a high altitude, with snow year-round… Is it on Sunilou Mountain?
Near the ancient Guge Kingdom ruins?
Where exactly could it be?
I grabbed a handful of the cold soil from the pot and carefully examined it in my palm.
As Qing Jue had said, the soil contained tiny white particles, which were unmeltable ice shards. But with just this, it was impossible to determine the exact location.
“Brother Ran, what are you looking at? Besides the ice shards, is there anything special about this soil?” Mo Wei leaned over and turned on the flashlight on his phone, illuminating the soil in my hand.
My gaze instantly froze, and I widened my eyes.
Among the tiny white particles, there were some that emitted faint purple glimmers of light.
—Flamestone.
This soil…
“I know where this soil comes from now, Qingjue Daozhang! Let’s head to Sumilou Mountain. Xiao Qi, please hurry up and go to the mall first to buy outdoor gear!”
Nalin, could you have ever guessed that the promise we made when we were young has become the hope for us to grow old together in this life?
“To be honest, he really is quite fortunate.”
Hearing Mo Wei’s quiet mumble beside my ear, I glanced at him and saw his eyes shifting, his cheeks flushed, as if he didn’t dare to look at me for too long. I smiled slightly. “Come to think of it, with the memories of my past life, I realize that we weren’t strangers meeting for the first time, it seems we’ve known each other for a long time.”
“Ah… En.” Mo Wei nodded. “At first, I couldn’t believe it was you… I thought it was just a coincidence that you looked so similar. But actually, we must have quite a connection, right?”
I didn’t respond to his words and asked, “How old are you this year? How have you lived for so long?”
“I’ve been following my master in cultivation. I ascended at twenty-three but later caused a big mess and was demoted back to the mortal realm.” He chuckled, occasionally glancing up at me, his eyes sparkling.
“Then you, you, you are all immortals ah?!” I exclaimed in surprise.
His face turned even redder. “Not really. As for me, I’m more like a half-immortal now. They are the real ones.”
I asked curiously, “What is the big mess?”
“He? Isn’t it because—”
“Lao Qi!” Mo Wei raised his voice, “If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute!”
…
I saw the towering snow-capped mountains shrouded in mist in the distance. Taking a deep breath, I carefully wrapped the potted tree figure in my clothes and tucked it into the compartment of my backpack. I put on my windproof hat and goggles, then got out of the car. Despite being fully equipped in professional mountaineering gear, I couldn’t help but shiver from the cold wind of the twelfth month. When I saw Qingjue Daozhang getting out of the car, I couldn’t help but feel a bit worried.
“You are old, are you fine with this? Otherwise, let Mo Wei, Xiao Qi, and me go up?”
“There’s no need to worry about me.” Qingjue Daozhang said with a light laugh. He pulled up the zipper of his jacket, tucking a few strands of his white beard into the windproof hood. With a trekking pole in hand, he straightened his back, looking energetic and sharp, completely unlike someone who had lived for hundreds of years. As I thought about his immortal body, I realized I had been overthinking.
“Brother Ran, out of the four of us, you’re the only one who might experience altitude sickness. Here, take this.” Mo Wei handed me an oxygen tank, and I quickly took it, inhaling a large breath. He chuckled and zipped up my collar, saying, “We haven’t even climbed the mountain yet!”
“It’s just a little psychological comfort,” I said as I stuffed the oxygen tank into my bag, only to notice a vine creeping out from the gap and wrapping around my pinky. I was both surprised and delighted. I murmured, “Nalin?”
The vine suddenly shot up my arm and slapped Mo Wei’s face twice with a “pah, pah,” and pointing at his nose. But soon after, it dropped back down and went still.
“……”
“Sor-sorry ah…” I quickly yanked the vine back and stuffed it into my backpack.
“Hiss…” Mo Wei turned around, rubbing the red marks on his face. “Master, maybe we shouldn’t save him anymore. Look, he’s still got the energy to slap people!”
“Who told you to start scheming to steal his lover again? Once his strength returns, do you really think you’ll be able to keep your life?!”
Seeing Mo Wei being pulled by the ear and begging for mercy, I couldn’t help but chuckle and followed along.
“By the way, Qingjue Daozhang, I haven’t asked yet. Why are you willing to help Nalin? And why does he trust you so much? Did you two have any interactions after my death?”
After reaching the mountain path, I walked to the side of Taoist Qingjue and couldn’t help asking him.
He smiled, as if recalling distant memories, and glanced at Mo Wei, who was walking ahead. “After you passed away, it wasn’t just the Young Saint Lord who wanted to summon your soul. It was a coincidence, I suppose. My disciple and I ran into him at your old house when he came to set up a memorial tablet for you.”
I looked at Mo Wei, suddenly realizing what kind of ‘trouble’ he had gotten into.
“Thanks to him, the ancient Guge was no longer under the control of the Demon Sect at that time, and a new dynasty had been established. I respected him, even though he had fallen to darkness, for still doing good deeds. I pitied his unrelenting affection and couldn’t bear to see him suffer endlessly, so I pointed him in a direction and taught him how to reunite your soul. I never expected he would succeed… I guess it was fate, perhaps the heavens were kind to you two young souls to reunite you both after death.”
I stopped in my tracks and bowed deeply to him. “Thank you, Daozhang.”
“No need,” Qing Jue sighed deeply. “When it comes to you and him meeting, it should be considered fate.”
“Daozhang, what do you mean by that?” I knew Qing Jue’s understanding of Nalin was much deeper than I had imagined, so I couldn’t help but ask.
He shook his head and sighed, “Your mother and his mother… both served as the Saintess of the Champa Sect, one after the other. They were both women worthy of pity.”
“Aren’t saintesses revered by all? How could they possibly be pitiful?”
He shook his head. “They are called saintesses, but they are actually temple prostitutes. Girls chosen by Champa to be saintesses are sent to temples when they are in their teens to become the goddess consorts. In fact, they are for the pleasure of monks in the religion and they dual cultivate with them… Many saintesses were tortured to death, and some could not bear the humiliation, some committed suicide, and some escaped. Your mother was one of the few who escaped. Nalin’s mother was an exception. Not only did she win the favor of the Champa Sect Leader and become his consort, but she also gained powerful spiritual power during her dual cultivation with him. She killed the Champa leader when he was not prepared and defected to Guge with half of his body, thus establishing the Tusheng Sect. The Young Saint Lord is the child she conceived when she was the saintess of the Champa Sect.”
A shudder ran through my heart, and for a moment, I was speechless. While I despised that female demon, I never imagined she had such a tragic past. No wonder she treated her own child so cruelly.
In her eyes, both Nalin and Ming Luo were nothing more than proof of her humiliation.
That’s why she could destroy them without hesitation, using them as stepping stones for her ascension to immortality.
She hates them as much as she despises her own past.
“She’s still alive after all these years. Has she already ascended to immortality? With her ability to use the Vajra Pestle to harm Nalin, she shouldn’t be some kind of demon, right?”
“She is now only one step away from ascending to divinity… To achieve this, she must have been born with a natural spiritual vein, with a connection to the immortal realm. I suspect she has been scheming to find Nalin because she wants the relic inside the body of Tunshe Tianzun. She likely intends to use it to break through her final obstacle.”
I broke out in a cold sweat: “If the relic is taken away by her, what will happen to Nalin?”
Qing Jue seemed to see through my thoughts and patted my shoulder: “Don’t let your imagination run wild. The Young Saint Lord had expected this day to come, and he must have been prepared to deal with her.”
I touched the tree puppet in my backpack, feeling uneasy.
By the time night fell, we had only reached halfway up the mountain. The wind and snow were fierce, and we couldn’t continue. We had no choice but to set up camp on a sheltered slope. We used a self-heating pot to cook noodles, and the four of us sat in a circle around it to keep warm.
“Brother Ran, do you remember the exact location of the place we’re going?” Mo Wei asked.
I nodded. “As long as I find the palace at the top of the mountain, I’ll know how to get to the cave.”
The trip with Nalin to gather the flamestones left such a deep impression that I can’t forget it, no matter how hard I try.
“The problem is, this mountain is too vast, and the area at the top is equally extensive. Unless we use a helicopter, finding that palace won’t be easy.” Xiao Qi fiddled with the compass in his hand. “I’m not sure if it’s the mountain’s magnetic field or something else, but since we started climbing, the compass hasn’t been working properly.”
“Hey, helicopter, I—”
Wait, I suddenly remembered that I was no longer a part of the Qin family, so I no longer had access to a helicopter. I pulled out the potted plant containing Nalin and called out to him a few times, but there was no response.
—Lost contact again.
“Why is it like a cell phone with no signal…” I poked the little head of the tree puppet, and Qing Jue patted the back of my hand, “It’s best not to distract him. If he is in danger, it may be bad for him.”
“Oh!” I was startled and quickly stuffed the tree puppet back into my backpack, not daring to fiddle with it anymore.
“Right, Master, you mentioned that when Guge was founded, they originally followed the Yao Sect. Could the location of the royal palace possibly be found using the Qimen Bagua method I taught?”
“That might be worth a try,” Qingjue replied, giving him a side glance. “You, after being banished to the mortal realm, have spent so many years playing around, acting as a photographer, then a paranormal YouTuber. I don’t even want to say anything about you anymore. Now, let’s see if the things you learned before haven’t gone to waste.”
Mo Wei scratched his head, glancing at me with a bit of embarrassment. I raised an eyebrow. “Can you do it?”
He jumped up suddenly and darted out of the tent.
“Hey, why did you go out at this hour? The wind’s so strong!” I quickly followed him, my eyes widening in surprise. Mo Wei stood a few steps away in the snowstorm, one hand forming a seal. On the snow beneath his feet, several golden beams of light spread out from him, forming a circular pattern.
This is…
I stood there, staring at his back in a daze. This kid… he’s really a celestial being incarnate ah!
That time back at my old house… wait, did he fake it?
One after another, none of them show their true colors. I really don’t have a single ordinary person around me!
I walked behind him and saw him looking back and smiling. His eyes were sparkling with the golden light from his fingers: “Brother Ran, look, the moon is in our southwest. The moon is yin, which is the Kun hexagram. Using the moon as a reference, we can determine the position of the Qian hexagram. The Qian hexagram represents the sky, and the sky governs all things. If this royal palace is built according to the Yao Sect’s Fengshui, it should be in the northwest direction corresponding to the Qian hexagram.”
I looked at the Qimen Bagua formation on the ground and understood what he meant a little bit: “Capable ah, you are quite capable, you are quite good.” I patted his shoulder, the hair on his head stood up, his face flushed again, and he scratched the back of his head, “Fortunately I didn’t forget everything…”
“Mo Wei, the trouble you caused back then is related to my reincarnation, right? Although I don’t know what you did specifically, but… thank you.”
He was stunned, looking at me with his bright eyes, wanting to say something but stopping himself. I took a step back and smiled at him.
At dawn, the ancient palace entangled by trees appeared at the end of our sight, looming in the morning mist like a mirage.
Seeing this palace again, my heart started beating fast. Could Nalin be here? I resisted the urge to rush in and look for him. I looked around, trying to find the route he had led me through. Suddenly, my eyes fixed, and I heard Mo Wei beside me shout.
“Is that… a mountain vulture?”
Is it Bai Ha’er? I ran towards the white shadow hovering above the cliff not far away and saw a narrow mountain path sloping down the cliff. It was the path that Nalin took me through.
“Brother Ran, be careful, don’t slip!” Mo Wei chased after me, panting and holding my hand. Because of the altitude sickness and the intense exercise, I felt dizzy and knelt in the snow.
“Found it, right here, right down there.”
Nalin, if we bury you here, will that give you a chance to live?
“The demonic energy here is so thick, it seems we’ve really found the right place.” As soon as we entered the cave, I heard Qingjue Daozhang sigh softly behind me. A fluttering sound of wings rushed toward me, and Bai Ha’er swooped past my shoulder, landing in a spot inside the cave. I recognized it as the spot where I had been so angry I almost marked it with my urine last time. I walked a few steps closer, holding my backpack — on the flamestone, the cracks Nalin had carved last time were still visible.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
I knelt down, gently tracing the cracks with my fingers, before pulling the ice pick out of my backpack.
Nalin, this is the place, right?
Seeing me start digging, Mo Wei and Xiao Qi came over to help. After breaking through the rock layers and digging down a few meters, we uncovered a tangle of twisted tree roots. Wrapped within them, a pulsating object was revealed. I stared at it, frozen in shock, unable to believe what I was seeing.
“Is this… a heart ah?” Mo Wei murmured, “F*ck, are these tree roots blood vessels?”
—In the hottest place in the heart of the mountain, under the flamestone, Nalin’s heart was also buried.
My heart trembles.
Heart, arms… Nalin, are you going to cut yourself into pieces?
“Don’t waste time. The Young Saint Lord must have his own reasons for doing this.”
Qing Jue’s voice was a low reminder. I quickly took out the wooden figurine from my backpack and placed it alongside Nalin’s heart, burying it deeply in the soil. Closing the empty backpack, my heart felt as though it had a vast hole in it, like a hot air balloon leaking air, falling downward, unable to land anywhere solid.
Suddenly, a loud rumble came from outside, and the ground shook violently. The entire cave trembled as if it were about to collapse.
“Oh no, is it an avalanche?” We rushed to the cave entrance. By the time we arrived, the sun had risen high above, allowing me to see that, in the vast forest below the cliff, a section had collapsed, creating a funnel-like pit in the ground. The tremors were so powerful that it felt like the entire mountain was shaking.
