Peering into the Ancient Past, Traveling Back Against the River of Time?
Peering into the Ancient Past, Traveling Back Against the River of Time?
Devil Mountain was not a single specific region, but was composed of many broken, ancient universes and worlds, filled with miasma and demonic fog.
Over these years, many great demons and ancient demons from all realms had gathered at Devil Mountain.
Some of the demon lords who had once run rampant with world-shaking demonic might had also submitted to Devil Mountain, coming under the rule of the demoness in red.
In the current Beyond, aside from the Divine Empire, Devil Mountain could be considered one of the greatest powers.
There were even rumors that Devil Mountain actually shared a deep connection with Gu Changge, the current Lord of the Divine Empire, because he had once been Mo, the Lord of all Demons.
And the master of Devil Mountain, Chan Hongyi, was furthermore Gu Changge’s disciple. For unknown reasons, the two had fallen into conflict and were at odds.
However, this did not affect Devil Mountain’s standing in the slightest. It could be considered a power in the Beyond comparable to the Gu Family and the Unrivaled Celestial Dynasty.
Now, as Tao Tian’s figure strode into Devil Mountain, tremendous waves surged through the place, demonic clouds billowing. Among the many mountain ridges wreathed in chaotic mist, figures emerged one after another.
However, these figures had clearly already received their instructions. They merely glanced at Tao Tian before silently fading away.
Tao Tian, with a composed expression, walked toward the depths of Devil Mountain. Her pace was not fast, and the vast, surging demonic clouds parted before her, revealing a great road leading to the heavens.
Deep within Devil Mountain stood a somewhat desolate-looking mountain peak, not very tall.
Upon it was a simple thatched hut and a clear stone pool. Demonic qi surged from all directions of heaven and earth, yet the surroundings were utterly tranquil and peaceful.
At the top of the peak sat a figure in red, cross-legged. Her countenance was exceedingly beautiful, her features as exquisite as the most flawless porcelain. Her palm-sized face had brows like distant hills and eyes like lacquered dots, and beneath the corner of her eye was a tear mole.
She watched Tao Tian approach and suddenly broke into a smile.
That smile seemed capable of throwing the world into chaos, of toppling all living beings—impossible to describe in words. Even the light of the sky grew resplendent because of it.
“Long time no see, old friend.”
Chan Hongyi looked at Tao Tian, her smile bewitching. At this moment, she seemed to be the true demon, while it was Tao Tian, walking toward her, who radiated a peaceful and sacred air.
“It has indeed been a long time. I never expected that, in the end, it would be me who came to see you,” Tao Tian said softly, her figure descending onto the mountain peak.
Looking at the extremely familiar scenery all around her, she fell silent for a moment, her expression complicated.
Although Chan Hongyi hated Gu Changge to the bone, that hatred could not conceal her obsession.
Otherwise, the arrangement of this place would not be exactly identical to that mountain peak of the past.
“I never expected you would come to see me.”
Chan Hongyi spoke with a smile, appearing very serene at this moment, her eyes free of their usual viciousness.
She sat cross-legged at the summit, beside her a simple stone table and stone stools, and a small peach tree that had yet to grow up.
“Are you... imitating him?”
Watching Chan Hongyi’s mannerisms, her current expression, and even the spot where she sat cross-legged, Tao Tian could not help but sigh inwardly.
She felt that Chan Hongyi had truly fallen into demonic obsession, and deeply so.
“Perhaps. Only like this can I feel his existence, as if I once possessed him.”
Chan Hongyi was still smiling, her smile growing ever more bewitching, and she did not deny her own actions.
Of course, before an old friend like Tao Tian, there was nothing she needed to hide. The two of them had once known each other inside and out.
“You really have fallen into demonic obsession.”
Tao Tian stared at her blankly. At this moment, Chan Hongyi’s expression, in her eyes, even bore a few traces of resemblance to Gu Changge.
“Am I not the demoness in red now? What does falling into demonic obsession matter?” Chan Hongyi still shook her head with a smile.
Tao Tian did not know what to say. The Chan Hongyi of today was already difficult for her to reconcile with her memories.
“How long has this problem of yours lasted?”
After a moment of silence, she asked again.
Hearing this question, Chan Hongyi did not answer, a trace of absent-mindedness crossing her expression.
How long had it lasted?
Did she mean the demonic obsession? Or did she mean sitting like this, forgetting the flowing waters, withering away in meditation atop the mountain peak?
She could no longer remember clearly either. These days, her memory was sometimes hazy, sometimes very clear, and sometimes she felt as if she had returned to her childhood.
Lucid yet muddled.
Countless scenes overlapped one after another. Sometimes even she could barely distinguish how much time had passed.
“Perhaps it’s lasted several hundred years.”
Chan Hongyi spoke softly. The smile had already faded from her face, and her features appeared even thinner, like a lotus flower when a sudden rain first falls, carrying a kind of desolate chill.
Several hundred years...
That was the day he married.
Tao Tian fell silent, feeling no surprise at this whatsoever.
Chan Hongyi said no more. She shifted into a more comfortable sitting posture, no longer sitting cross-legged as before. With a gentle wave of her hand, the fragrance of tea immediately curled up from the stone table beside her, and a pot of hot tea appeared.
“Old friends meeting again, and I have no good tea to offer you. Help yourself.”
After saying this, she hugged her knees, resting her chin on them, as if gazing at something.
Tao Tian sat down on a stone stool and poured herself a cup of tea, saying, “Stop watching. Rather than gazing from afar like this, why not go ask him in person?”
Chan Hongyi withdrew her gaze. With a wave of her hand, she drew the poured cup of tea over to herself. “Ask what?” Her eyes were deep and distant, falling upon the tea in the cup, where faint ripples spread and a few dried peach blossom petals floated.
“Ask for a reason. And ask for the answer you want to know,” Tao Tian said, lowering her eyes and blowing on her tea.
Chan Hongyi suddenly laughed, though the smile carried a hint of mockery.
“And what if I ask?”
“A reason or an answer—do they still matter now?” she asked in return.
Tao Tian gave her a faint glance and said, “Whether they matter or not, only you know in your own heart.”
“I didn’t come to find you to reminisce about old times or talk about these things. These past days, I think you too can feel it—the changes in the environment of heaven and earth.”
“With our current strength, we should be able to withstand those tremendous karmic consequences, to travel back against the River of Time for one trip. Some things, perhaps, could then be witnessed with our own eyes.”
“This could also be considered settling the obsession of both you and me.”
“If along the way the karmic backlash proves too much for us to bear and we perish, body and Dao extinguished, that would still be better than muddling along in a daze as we are now.”
This was the choice she had already made before leaving Peach Village.
Now that the environment of heaven and earth had changed, she had recovered much of her former strength. Though she could not speak of truly reversing the years and returning to ancient times,
as a mere passerby, going to witness certain things with her own eyes was still barely within her ability.
It was just that some matters involved karmic consequences so immense that even Tao Tian was uncertain whether she could withstand them.
To peer into the ancient past, one would inevitably have to pay the due price.
“Travel back against the River of Time?”
Chan Hongyi had not expected this to be the reason Tao Tian had come to find her. Her eyes remained deep and distant as she murmured the words, repeating them under her breath.
“The High Priestess of Destiny of the Immortal Palace is currently at the Sanctum of Destiny. She possesses the Celestial Boat of Creation. With that vessel, one can cross the River of Time and offset much of the tremendous karmic backlash.”
“Go find her. She should be willing to lend it.”
Tao Tian’s tone remained as calm and unruffled as ever.