Chapter 72: Flowers Bright, Willows Dark

  It's been some time since Liang Ze followed the wind, and although he wasn't proficient in Feng Shui and geomancy, he had a general understanding of it through osmosis. The Feng Shui of this courtyard where the tombstone is located can be described as having become a sacred site of yin-yang harmony and reincarnation.

  He was shocked and couldn't pull himself out. Originally, there was no consensus on whether there were immortals in the world, but suddenly a fairy cave appeared in front of him, how could he not be surprised? According to the theory of Feng Shui, such a sacred place can only be produced on the immortal peak where ten thousand dragons gather, and it is said that there is such a fairy land on Mount Kunlun, every 500 years, the fairy light will descend to guide the practitioners in the world to ascend to immortality.

  However, Fusang is just a small country, and it's hard to find even one dragon vein, let alone the magnificent sight of ten thousand dragons gathering. And going to the nearby sea in Dongmuwa, no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like a place that can nurture this kind of earth vein. The most mysterious thing is that this immortal cave, although mysterious, is limited to just a small area of about one square meter beside the tombstone.

  No matter how you look at it, this can't be a natural formation. But if it's not naturally formed... Suddenly, with the wind blowing fiercely, I thought of the words "cultivate immortality and leave behind an earthly immortal cave" from ancient books. Could it be that cultivating to the extreme really allows one to ascend to immortality? And is Xu Fu just such an example?

  Standing in front of the tomb, he closed his eyes slightly, as if mourning in silence. In reality, however, he was quietly sensing this world. Upon closer inspection, he was shocked to find that the surrounding fields seemed to be separated from the rest of the world, even if it wasn't entirely detached from the three realms. At the very least, it didn't belong to the five elements. Could it be true that there were immortals in this world? Had Xu Fu not died, but rather ascended to become a celestial being? Although he had reached such a conclusion, Zhenfeng still couldn't quite bring himself to believe it.

  Taking advantage of Zhu Zhi's inattention, Su Feng stretched out his right hand and quietly calculated with the method of Da Yuan to transform the innate. "This..." Su Feng had just started calculating when he felt a shock in his heart - there was no corpse inside the tomb!

  As the wind grew up, for the first time he felt that the legendary fairy and demon were so close to him. When Wang Changming told him about the drought demon and other things before, he was still full of disbelief. To say nothing of others, he had always thought that the pre-heavenly realm was already an absolute existence. It wasn't until Liang Tou'er told him about the story of Wú Cān (a Buddhist monk) that Suī Fēng realized that the pre-heavenly realm was actually nothing special. Now that even immortals have appeared, surpassing the pre-heavenly realm is probably not a big deal either.

  So, it seems that the power of Qingxuan, the high-ranking Taoist that Changming Shu mentioned earlier, wasn't exaggerated after all? Being able to summon lightning and wield a sword are definitely not ordinary skills. As I pondered in the wind, many past events came to mind. But now that I think about it, my perspective has changed a lot.

  My heart was racing wildly, and it took a long time to calm down. I simply chatted with the abbot for a few more sentences, bid farewell, and then returned to the back hall, following the same path as when I came in.

  Today's experience has had a profound impact on him, and what remains after the shock is a deep sense of insignificance. Compared to the legendary immortals who can fly through the sky and live forever, what does the mighty king of the mortal world amount to, with his deep-seated hatred and blood feuds? No wonder that in the past, so many emperors who ruled the world were desperately seeking the way to eternal life.

  It's just that I don't know if Xu Fu was sent by the First Emperor to leave the island, but why did he become an immortal in the end, while the First Emperor had long since died and turned into white bones? The answers to these questions, I'm afraid only Xu Fu, who has already become a fairy, will know.

  After entering the main hall, I didn't walk a few steps, and unconsciously turned my head to take another look at that Xu Fu statue. This glance was not trivial, and my heart suddenly shook violently again.

  The statue of Xu Fu here is also wearing a Qin-style robe, which immediately reminded him of the god statue enshrined in the wooden shrine at that old lady's house. Now that he thinks about it, these two statues seem to have similar postures as well. According to the abbot, the statue in the temple was carved by the sculptor at that time according to Xu Fu's true face. Could it be that the one enshrined at the old lady's house is also Xu Fu himself?

  But grandma said that statue is... Emperor Jinmu?!

  As the wind blew, his whole body was invigorated. The sheepskin scroll he held in his hand had two characters that caught his eye: "Shen Wu". Connecting the dots of these events, Xu Fu's identity became crystal clear. Who would have thought that the legendary Shen Wu Emperor of Fusang was actually a native of China?

  What does the divine artifact mentioned in the sheepskin mean? Since he can already ascend to immortality without any worries, and it seems that even the people of Fusang are unaware of his true identity, I'm afraid he doesn't care about this so-called foundation in Fusang. If he really indulges in power, not to mention that he wouldn't be able to cultivate to such a realm, with his immortal's strength, what difficulty would it be for him to dominate the entire world?

  So, does this mean that the divine artifact in the scroll actually refers to the three divine artifacts of Fusang?

  As he walked towards the gate in the main hall, he thought about all this. The more he thought, the stranger Grandma seemed. Since they worshiped Xu Fu's statue at home and still remembered Xu Fu's birthday so clearly, yet told Su Feng that it was Emperor Jinmu, it didn't seem like she didn't know what was going on.

  Additionally, with her exceptionally robust vital energy, she was able to keep up with his swift movements. Perhaps she knew something. As they walked out of the grand hall's main entrance, looking at the sea of people in front of them, her expression turned solemn, and she had already made a decision: no matter what, she would first find Ah Po and ask her some questions, perhaps there would be some gain.

  Fortunately, although there were many people in front of the temple, there were few stalls. As I strolled with the wind, I soon saw Du A'niu eating big mouthfuls at a cold stall, but I didn't see Grandma's figure anywhere.

  He walked a few steps behind Ah Niu with the wind, gently patted his shoulder and said: "Hey, Ah Niu, where is Ah Po? Where did she go?"

  Ah Niu was startled by Sui Feng's sudden appearance, and almost dropped the cold noodles in his hand. He cursed under his breath, but stopped when he saw it was Sui Feng. He quickly swallowed a big mouthful of noodles and said in a muffled voice: "Auntie just said she saw an acquaintance over there and went to say hello, she'll be right back."

  She furrowed her brow as if sensing something was off, "How long has she been gone?"

  Being asked by the wind, Ah Niu seemed to have realized something was wrong too, and muttered: "Now that you mention it, I just realized she's been gone for a pretty long time, why hasn't she come back yet?"

  A sudden thud in my heart, the uneasy guess had become a reality. "Stop eating, let's go." He said and headed towards the direction that Ah Niu had pointed earlier. "Go? Where?" Ah Niu muttered to himself as he followed behind.

  "Find Ah Po."

  After finishing, the two of them started searching stall by stall along the road. The open space in front of the temple was not big to begin with, and there were not many stalls either. They spent a good half an hour searching this area back and forth several times, but they didn't see Ah Po or even a few older people around their age.

  "As expected." His face turned pale and calm, his voice as plain as a cup of white water.

  "What's going on? Maybe Grandma didn't find us and went back first? Or should we go back and take a look?" Du A Niu panted heavily, not noticing what Sui Feng said.

  She nodded slightly with the wind, "Then let's go back and take a look." Although she already knew the result in her heart, there was still a hint of luck.

  The two of them then returned along the same road they had taken to get there, and because they had spent too much time dawdling inside and outside the temple, they finally hurried back to the county before sunset. Grandma's inn was located in the central area of the county, and Dongmou was a small county, not very big. After entering the county, it only took a few steps to arrive at the location of the inn.

  "...". Ah Niu didn't say a word, and even Sui Feng was stunned into silence.

  The place was empty and quiet, as if there had never been any old woman or Wangtang Inn. It was like a dream, without even a hint of a trace. They circled around the area several times before finally confirming that they hadn't gone wrong, the inn had really disappeared, and so had the old woman.

  "What's going on? Even if they were moving, it wouldn't be this clean and tidy, without leaving a single trace?" Ah Niu walked onto the flat ground, carefully examining the floor, not even a speck of dust, nor any marks from hammering.

  He shook his head vaguely, indicating that he didn't know either. Unconsciously, he had a feeling that he might have inadvertently fallen into some earth-shattering secret again. Today was just one day, and what he saw and heard was really too strange, unbelievable, and difficult to believe.

  "Let's go and ask others." Ah Niu was not stupid either, he quickly came up with an idea.

  Nodding slightly with the wind, without saying a word, he turned his head and left directly.

  "Old man by the river, have you seen the old lady from the Wangtang Inn next door? How did she and her inn suddenly disappear?" Xiangfeng first looked for the grocery store next to the inn. By reason, being closest should also be most aware of any wind blowing or grass moving.

  "Huh?" The old man by the river was taken aback, "Auntie? What auntie? My neighbor's place has always been empty, this land has never been sold, what inn? Young man, you must be mistaken."

  As soon as he reacted, Sui Feng's heart suddenly trembled, and Ah Niu was even more unbearable, with a cold sweat almost causing him to collapse. When he lived in the inn for a long time before, he often saw Ah Po and this old man by the river chatting together. Sui Feng had also gone to buy things several times, so how could he be so sure that there was no such person as Ah Po, and even Sui Feng didn't recognize him?

  At first, they thought it was just the old man by the river who had grown older and couldn't remember things clearly, or that he had intentionally played a trick on them because of some conflict with his wife.

  But they asked dozens of people in a row and found that no one remembered that there was an inn here, and the owner was an old lady who was over 80 years old.

  What is going on here? Is everyone else wrong or are these two wrong?

  Is it that memory distorted their lives or is it that life distorted their memories? Both of them already knew that continuing to stay here was also futile, so both wanted to leave.

  "Big Brother Feng, have you thought about where to go next?" Ah Niu asked somewhat uncertainly.

  "Let's go, we're going to Pingchengjing." Feng was still as calm as before.