Chapter 40 – Aspirations

“Zhang-xiong, jump quickly. Everyone else is jumping down,” said an independent cultivator to the person beside him.

Although a large number of people had followed Feng Ye’s lead and jumped into the abyss, there were still some who had yet to take action.

This cultivator called Zhang-xiong was one of them. He didn’t even dare approach the edge of the ship, clutching the sail in the center of the ship with all of his limbs, like a koala. He wanted to cry, but had no tears, stammering: “I, I…..I can’t swim!”

Who knew that the entrance to the Floating Island Secret Realm was actually at the center of a whirlpool, in a bottomless abyss? If he’d known this would happen, he wouldn’t have come!

However, money couldn’t buy future knowledge. He had already come here, and was forced to face such a dilemma.

He really didn’t dare to jump. Not to mention the watery abyss, even a two-meter deep pond would be enough to frighten him. If he didn’t jump, wouldn’t the qualification to enter the secret realm he’d worked so hard for be in vain?

Upon hearing this, his companion glared at him and said: “Zhang-xiong! We are cultivators! We can regulate our breath underwater, you won’t drown!” But the raging waves might break his bones, and at that point, he would surely die no matter if he could regulate his breath.

But he knew that if he actually said this, his companion surnamed Zhang would be even more afraid to jump, so he wisely only spoke half his thoughts.

Cultivator Zhang was silent for a moment, then seemed to come to a sudden realization: “Oh, that’s right.”

For this, he received a look of contempt from his companion.

Cultivator Zhang finally released the sail and touched his head in embarrassment. In order to save face, his gaze wandered until it landed on a nearby cultivator who also hadn’t jumped.

He gestured at the man in black robes with a hand on his chest, whose face couldn’t be seen, and pointed out somewhat haughtily: “We’re not the last ones to jump!”

His companion covered his face. This wasn’t something to be proud of at all! How could he have such a friend!

He followed the direction Zhang-xiong was pointing and saw the black-robed man. Then he walked behind the inexplicably proud Zhang-xiong, kicked him off the ship, and jumped in himself.

When these two jumped into the abyss, only one person was left lingering on the ship.

The masked man finally raised his head. He stared with dark eyes into the center of the abyss, looking toward the figures that had long disappeared.

He held his chest with his right hand, slightly to the left of the middle.

Right where the heart was.

Seeing that he was alone at last, he suddenly spoke into the void: “God, are you excited?”

There was nobody in front of him, and no sound other than the whistling of the wind and the sound of waves. He appeared to be talking to himself.

He didn’t continue speaking after asking this question, and just waited in silence.

Waves roared, and after the soaring waves hit the surface of the sea countless times, another voice suddenly appeared beside him. It was different from the man’s hoarse voice, which seemed to have been scoured by fire. This was a deep, charming male voice.

“Excited?” The person referred to as God echoed. He then answered in the negative:  “No, I’m not excited about any human.”

He put a disdainful emphasis on the word ‘human.”

As a god, he despised these humans who were as tiny as ants.

“But your heart just stopped for a moment.” Although the black-robed man used honorifics when he spoke, his tone was still cold. There was no trace of the warmth of a living person, nor was there any respect that one should show to a god.

There was silence again, but it didn’t last long this time. The pleasant voice spoke again: “It wasn’t because of him. It’s just that…..this scene brought back some memories for me.”

The scene he was talking about was that of the dark figure who took the lead to jump into the abyss, courageously paving the way. Although that figure was miniscule in comparison to the hundred-meter wide abyss, no one would be able to ignore it.

The man in black had naturally seen him as well, and at that moment, the thing in his chest that was beating normally suddenly stopped.

The suddenly inert heart brought on a feeling of suffocation, and he clutched his chest for a long time, unable to recover. 

“What memories?” he asked the man.

The man’s voice carried a hint of mocking laughter: “Ling Yun, that is not something you need to know.”

Ling Yun went quiet.

But although he didn’t continue the topic, the man had not completely lost interest in the person who’d taken the lead in jumping into the sea.

“That seemed to be someone from your Lingxiao Sword Sect.” He recalled the person in the black and white robes, his voice filled with regret: “Why didn’t you notice such an interesting person in your sect when you went back a month ago?”

“God, it was midnight when I went back,” Ling Yun reminded him emotionlessly.

Over a month ago, he had infiltrated Lingxiao Sword Sect in the middle of the night. He used to be able to come and go freely through the mountain gate, but when he went back this time, he could only conceal himself and avoid everyone’s notice.

“Haha.” With a chuckle, the man finally abandoned the topic. He then went on: “You’ve already searched your shidi’s place and found no Jianmu fragments.”

At this point, the man’s voice turned mocking again: “It seems your shidi has completely forgotten you. There wasn’t even a hint of him missing you in his rooms.”

Ling Yun’s expression remained unchanged. Whether it was the face hidden behind the mask or the pair of dark eyes exposed, they were like a pool of stagnant water without any ripples, no longer able to be stirred by anything.

This display was truly dull. The man ceased mocking him and continued with the previous topic: “Jianmu must still exist somewhere in the mortal world. You know this very well, Ling Yun.”

Ling Yun didn’t answer. He just continued to cover his chest.

The man didn’t need Ling Yun to reply, and continued on his own: “Ji Chengyue was the only one who could have possibly had the opportunity to obtain a fragment of Jianmu in the fire and secretly keep it. Since he doesn’t have it, there must be another Jianmu seed.”

“Floating Island Secret Realm,” the man murmured softly, then asked: “Ling Yun, when you came to the Floating Island Secret realm a hundred years ago, did you notice another seed there?”

“I didn’t, God. When I obtained the Jianmu seed, I was so full of joy that I didn’t notice if there was another seed there.”

He spoke of joy, but his voice was still as cold as usual.

Although Cao Zirui had an icy personality, he still had emotions. Unlike the present Ling Yun, whose tone was so flat that it didn’t sound like a human being speaking.

“Then go and seek the answer, Ling Yun,” the man said with a long sigh: “For the sake of our joint aspirations.”

His voice was very soft when he said this, but beneath that softness was an undercurrent more turbulent than the surging waters of the abyss.

An undercurrent of terrifying ambition.

As the man finished speaking, Ling Yun paced to the edge of the ship. He looked down at the roaring waves below with an expressionless face, then took the leap.

His fragile human form fluttered in the strong wind like a butterfly with its wings drenched by the rain, plummeting straight down.

With this last figure leaping into the abyss, all of the cultivators who had qualified to enter the Floating Island Secret Realm were now inside it.

The journey through the secret realm, which everyone embarked upon with various intents and purposes, had finally begun.

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Chapter 39 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 41