143: Chapter 143 First Hearing of the Outer Heavens

[Where did this savage come from?]

[You and Lin Bufan exchange glances, both of you reading the astonishment in each other's eyes.]

["Who are you people? How dare you commit such a shameful act before the Sacred Lake!"]

[Seeing that you do not answer, the middle-aged man raises the spear in his hand and sternly demands an answer once more.]

[Sacred Lake?]

[You look doubtfully at the lake before you, which lacks any spiritual aura whatsoever, and then, upon hearing the four words "shameful act", the veins on your temples twitch uncontrollably.]

[Clearly it was a romantic kiss under the moonlight, how on earth could it be a shameful act?]

[You can no longer hold it in, your gaze carrying a silent inquiry as you look at Lin Bufan.]

[Lin Bufan nods slightly.]

["You...y]

[Just as the middle-aged man is about to stand on the moral high ground and continue his tirade, a powerful pressure suddenly descends upon his shoulders.]

["Thud~y]

[Before he can even react, his knees go weak, and he drops heavily to the ground.]

[So he is not some expert in disguise, he is truly a mortal!]

[Your slender eyes narrow slightly, your gaze inadvertently sweeping past Lin Bufan by your side.]

[In the depths of such a perilous primeval forest, how could mortals possibly survive? Yet all this unordinary phenomenon appears entirely reasonable when a son of luck is standing right beside you.]

[Because you know very well, a dungeon has arrived!]

["Speak, who are you, and what is the deal with this so-called Sacred Lake?"]

[You look at the silent middle-aged man, just as you are about to utter a few more threats, the next moment, he begins to kowtow frantically toward you.]

["Immortals! Save us, there is a monster in this evil lake!"]

[What the heck, bro? It was just the Sacred Lake a moment ago!]

[You + Lin Bufan: ...]

[A long while later, you and Lin Bufan take your seats in front of a crude stone house, surrounded by a small village formed by identical dwellings.]

[Sitting upright across the table is an old woman with a head of white hair and a face lined with deep gullies. According to what you learned, she just turned eighteen this year...]

[No matter which world it is, there is always a group of zealous believers who worship bizarre things, and the cultivation world is no exception.]

[And in the Jiuhuan Continent, there are two extremely famous organizations known as the Eternal Night Court and the Everlasting Radiant Temple.]

[Upon hearing these two names, you immediately associate them with two even more resounding faction titles:]

[The Dark Church and the Holy Church.]

[However, what these two organizations worship is noticeably much more "pure"—they worship the moon and the sun.]

[After a difficult communication process of piecing things together through wild guesses, you finally manage to piece together the rough truth of the matter.]

[Simply put, these mortals, who cannot even be considered peripheral members of the Eternal Night Court, are confined to this isolated and unfamiliar territory. Every full moon night, they must offer sacrifices to the lake, allowing the "Sacred Lake" to devour a massive amount of their lifespans.]

[Hearing this makes your teeth ache. Why is it so similar to that "Gu God"? Could this be the local customs and practices of Chanming Prefecture?]

["This old man does happen to know some secrets regarding these two factions."]

[Just as you and Lin Bufan are fervently discussing through secret voice transmissions, the Ring Old Man, who has been silent for a long time, suddenly breaks into your conversation.]

["The Eternal Night Court and the Everlasting Radiant Temple have existed for an extremely long time, even tracing back to the ancient era, and furthermore..."]

[Hearing this, a gleam flashes across both of your eyes, and you immediately prick up your ears together, waiting eagerly for him to continue.]

[You are quite anxious, feeling that there must be some earth-shattering secret hidden within.]

[Therefore, your gaze shifts, and you deliberately soften your voice, adopting a hint of your usual admiring tone:]

["Teacher~ Stop keeping us in suspense, hurry up and tell us!"]

["Ahem!"]

[The old man almost chokes, but judging by the slight upturn of his lips, one can still tell he is in a good mood.]

[Thus, the old man stops stringing you along. He glances disdainfully at his silly disciple who has no idea how to provide emotional value, clears his throat, and slowly begins to speak:]

["Furthermore, this old man once heard that these two factions are not native forces of the Jiuhuan Continent, but come from beyond the heavens."]

[Beyond the Heavens!]

[These three words explode in your heart, instantly stirring up countless chaotic thoughts.]

[In a sense, you also hail from beyond the heavens, doesn't that mean you still have a chance to...]

[Yet in a flash, you suppress the myriad thoughts in your mind. Thinking too much right now is completely useless.]

[From the Ring Old Man's words, it can be deduced that given his status of being revered as a "Saint", he has merely heard of it. This shows that the matter is no small trifle; at least with your current strength, you are far from qualified to touch upon such secrets.]

["Qingyu?"]

[Hearing the call, you tilt your head to look, finding Lin Bufan looking at you with a face full of worry.]

["I'm fine."]

[You smile slightly and grip his hand back.]

["Teacher, I wonder how much you know about Beyond the Heavens?"]

[A flash of surprise crosses the depths of the Ring Old Man's eyes, clearly not expecting you to be interested in such secrets.]

[He frowns slightly, carefully searches his mind for a moment, and then slowly speaks:]

["This matter is truly hard to sum up in a single sentence. When this old man casually mentioned it during a chat with several old friends back then, we discovered that the 'Beyond the Heavens' seen by each person was completely different."]

[Hearing this, while feeling surprised, you also feel somewhat disappointed. But immediately afterwards, you hear him add:]

["However, once you break through the shackles of Deity Transformation in the future and charge toward an even higher realm, perhaps you will have the chance to witness it with your own eyes."]

[Your gaze flickers slightly, and you secretly commit this information to memory. Above Deity Transformation, huh...]

["Teacher, then what exactly is the purpose of this Eternal Night Court?"]

[Seeing that your spirits are low, Lin Bufan smoothly shifts the topic.]

["In the cultivation world, making such a huge commotion is nothing more than for those few things."]

[The Ring Old Man lets out a disdainful scoff, his tone full of mockery:]

["Hmph! A bunch of old immortals whose time is almost up, lacking the talent to break through their realm bottlenecks, yet so greedy for life and afraid of death that they dare not face the heavenly tribulation directly. Naturally, they can only turn their minds to crooked paths like extending their lifespans."]

["You mean...?"]

["They are exploiting loopholes in the rules of heaven and earth to forcibly extract the lifespans of mortals to cultivate ten-thousand-year spiritual herbs."]

[Listening to the two of them, your slightly desolate mood from a moment ago is swept away, leaving only four words in your mind:]

[Ten-thousand-year spiritual herbs!!!]

[(Modifying the outline still affected some of the subsequent plot... Let me reorganize it.)]

[(The two chapters around seven o'clock remain unchanged, calculated that I still owe a lot of chapters... Sorry, I can only update three chapters today~)]