Chapter 372

Chapter 373: Elder Senior Uncle

Hearing Immortal Yuan Ling’s information, Yu Sheng didn’t speak right away. He fell into brief memories and thought.

He hadn’t been with the man calling himself Yun Qing Zi for long, but even from that short contact, he hadn’t seen any “gentle and courteous” vibe. Still, calling him truly crazy might be too far.

He thought: [A change in temperament? A split personality? Qi Deviation?]

He thought again: [For an ancient powerhouse who lived from the last era to today, someone who moved freely along the edge of the star systems, what could have happened? After vanishing for a thousand years, why come back with a mind so clearly off? Immortal Yuan Ling said he disappeared after a fierce fight with some strong enemy. What was that thing, and why did they clash at the Border?]

His frown deepened. But his thoughts were cut off when someone rushed into the Grand Hall.

Xuan Che’s junior brother, named Xuan Yun, dashed in from the doors, shouting with delight as he ran: “Master, master, senior uncle is back!”

Yu Sheng froze, then realized:

Xuan Che’s Elder Senior Uncle-the one with a legendary life story and a long list of admirers, who, more than ten years ago, went down the mountain to party and was unfortunately captured by an immortal maiden to be her living-in husband, then only recently escaped-had returned!

Yu Sheng vaguely remembered he had come to the Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain in the first place to meet that remarkable man. He sighed in his heart: [Who knew I’d stumble into a pile of even stranger things before meeting him. Fate really is impossible to grasp.]

As that thought crossed his mind, two streaks of rainbow light swept in from the clouds and immortal peaks outside the Grand Hall. They landed inside and, in a blink, Shapeshifted into two figures.

One looked middle aged, tall and lean, with a long face. He held a Dust Whisk and wore a light purple Daoist robe. He moved with an air of immortal grace. Yu Sheng remembered seeing him on a news feed in a Border communication board. If he recalled right, this was the elder who led Beast Taming Peak of the Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain: Immortal Yuan He.

The other was something else. He looked middle aged too, but he was broad shouldered and upright, sword brows, bright eyes, and carried himself with natural authority. He wore a pale moon-white robe, with white hair and white brows. Though a bit pale-faced, his presence was powerful. Yu Sheng took one look and thought: [Throw him into a drama and fans could write twenty pages of shipping posts from just his face-every age group included.]

He added to himself: [He’s obviously the beautiful, strong, tragic type of handsome dad. In short, his life’s work ends in ruin, none of the romances work out, and in the finale he lies on the ground with an unbelievably handsome face while the camera circles him.]

This was the true master of the Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, the elder who led Divine Armaments Peak: Immortal Yuan Hao.

Yu Sheng was dazed for only a heartbeat before Immortal Yuan Ling stepped forward. But before the old man could speak, the Old Hunk-Immortal Yuan Hao-took half a step back and cupped his hands, saying with a straight face: “Your third junior brother already hit me on the way here.”

Immortal Yuan Ling staggered a little, then lifted his head to look at Immortal Yuan He with clear disapproval.

Immortal Yuan He flicked his Dust Whisk and said: “I couldn’t hold back.”

Immortal Yuan Ling kept a stern face and said, neither to this one nor that one: “When senior brother is in the wrong, how can a junior brother truly raise a hand?” He coughed twice, stepped aside, and added: “We have honored guests today, so let’s not talk about the trouble. This is Yu Sheng from the Borderland, Mr. Yu. I told you about him in my messages the other day. And this is Miss Irene, a Doll from Alice’s Little House.”

Yu Sheng quickly shifted Irene higher on his shoulder and went to say hello. Immortal Yuan Ling continued the introductions: “This is Yuan He of Beast Taming Peak, my junior brother… and this is my eldest senior brother, Yuan Hao, the real master of the Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.”

When he said “master,” his tone sounded like his back molars were bleeding.

Immortal Yuan Hao, though impressive in bearing, spoke in a mild, normal tone. He gave Yu Sheng an unhurried once-over and then smiled: “The Angel Fall incident shook the realms. I remember thinking then: if I had the chance, I’d really like to meet this expert.”

Immortal Yuan Ling frowned and asked with a hint of annoyance: “You ‘back then’ could still receive news from outside?”

Immortal Yuan Hao’s face grew subtly awkward. He gave an embarrassed smile and said: “She… usually let me read the news.”

Yu Sheng nearly lost his composure at that.

Meanwhile, Irene kept turning her tiny head, studying Yuan Hao and Yuan He, then staring at Yuan Ling. She furrowed her brow and thought a bit. Finally, she couldn’t help it, pointed at the white-haired, child-faced Immortal Yuan Ling, and asked: “Why are you so old?”

Immortal Yuan Ling blinked: “Huh?”

Irene said whatever came to mind: “Your two senior and junior brothers both look young, especially your senior brother. Why do you look like an old man instead?”

Immortal Yuan Ling coughed twice, embarrassed, and said: “For people like us, appearances don’t always mean much. I don’t care that much about looks. Also, I often act in the master’s stead and have to keep a bunch of unruly disciples in line, so…”

He hadn’t finished before Irene said “Oh,” and the little Doll nodded solemnly: “I get it. Like how the less hair a programmer has at a job interview, the more senior he is, right?”

Yu Sheng covered his face and muttered: “That’s a stereotype.”

Irene put her hands on her hips and declared: “Stereotypes come from somewhere!”

Immortal Yuan Ling smiled with his eyes narrowed and said: “Irene isn’t entirely wrong. I’ve looked like this for years and I’m used to it. If I changed my face, others’ reactions wouldn’t matter, but I might not adapt.”

Irene nodded, then her eyes slid to Immortal Yuan Hao. She pointed at him and said: “Then he must have a lot of love disasters.”

Yu Sheng couldn’t take it anymore. He clamped a hand over the Doll’s entire face and told the Old Hunk: “Don’t mind her. She just says whatever… hey, don’t bite! Let go!”

Immortal Yuan Hao didn’t get annoyed. He even laughed at himself and said: “Embarrassing, embarrassing.”

After a few more words and a bit of getting used to each other, Immortal Yuan Ling coughed twice and looked to his eldest senior brother.

He said gently: “Senior brother, you’ve had it hard all these years. You just traveled far again. Rest today. Tomorrow we-”

Immortal Yuan Hao waved his hand and cut in: “No rush. I’ve ‘rested’ more than enough these years. I’d rather move around now. And I just heard… some unusual things happened in the Grand Void Spiritual Axis lately?”

Immortal Yuan Ling’s brows lifted, then he sighed with a trace of helplessness: “Knew you wouldn’t sit still, especially after hearing the latest. Yes, some things happened. It started with a strange Otherworld found above Nethermoon…”

He then told his long-lost eldest senior brother everything about that Otherworld, with special focus on the mysterious Sovereign’s Legacy and the many traces in the Otherworld that seemed to point to the ‘old world’. After speaking, he paused to think and added: “We now suspect that Otherworld is much larger than we thought. There are entrances on Nethermoon and in the Grand Void Spiritual Axis itself. There might even be Rifts elsewhere in the Featherwing star region that lead into it.”

Immortal Yuan Hao-[Yu Sheng really wanted to call him Old Hunk outright]-listened with great focus. After frowning in thought for a long time, he looked up at Yu Sheng and asked: “You ran into a group of mysterious black-robed Cultivators wearing strange Masks who were searching for the Sovereign’s Legacy?”

Yu Sheng nodded and said: “Yeah, and they tried to kill us on sight. I don’t think they were lying in wait for us in particular. They probably ran into us while hunting for clues in the Otherworld and attacked to keep things quiet. They just didn’t win.”

Immortal Yuan Hao frowned in thought again, then suddenly raised a hand. He drew something from thin air and showed it to Yu Sheng: “Was it a Mask like this?”

Yu Sheng stared: “What…?!”

He gaped at the Mask in the Old Hunk’s hand. It was dark, the surface pitted and oddly ridged, like dried tree bark or wrinkled stone. It looked exactly like the Masks those black-robed Cultivators wore. He was stunned.

Even Immortal Yuan Ling was taken aback and asked: “Senior brother, where did you get that?”

Immortal Yuan Hao answered casually: “More than ten years ago, at an abandoned Outpost near the Border. My Flying Vessel failed…”

He had barely begun when Irene widened her eyes and snapped: “Was your Flying Vessel ever not failing?”

Yu Sheng poked the Doll at once-he also kind of wanted to ask the same-and said to the Old Hunk: “Ignore her. Please go on.”

Immortal Yuan Hao nodded and said: “My Flying Vessel failed and had to stop in an asteroid belt. I found an Outpost built on an asteroid and planned to use the leftover materials there to repair the Spirit Disk of my Flying Vessel.

“At first, everything went smoothly. The Outpost, though abandoned for years, still had a sound structure. Plenty inside was still useful. But as I went deeper, things got strange.

“In the depths, I found rooms that shouldn’t exist. Some rooms kept repeating. After you passed one, there was another just the same. Some rooms extended beyond the Outpost’s physical limits. Some rooms were empty but lit bright, and there were always weird noises and shadows.

“In one of those strange rooms, I found a Mask like this, and a dead man in black.”