When Chen Weichen left, the sun was just rising over the sea, the clouds and mist glowing.

He walked on the mountain path where the fog had just dispersed, together with Ye Jiuya. Xie Lang and Wen Hui followed behind. These two had developed a delightful friendship, probably because they both loved to talk.

From behind, whispers could be heard from time to time.

"I say, Marquis Langran, why are you following us?"

"That is Swordmaster Ye - no matter what he was doing before, if you encounter him and don't stick to him all the way, wouldn't that be a huge loss!"

"You are just like my young master, a dog skin plaster - is he really that great?"

"Swordmaster Ye is an extraordinary person. I'll just quietly watch from the side. Even if I gain nothing, it will be a feast for the eyes. If I could see Swordmaster draw his sword, that would be great fortune. If I could witness his Heartless Sword Intent and gain some insight from it - that would be more valuable than reciting the Nanhua Sutra for a hundred years!"

"Swordmaster Ye," Chen Weichen couldn't help but tease, "You are truly adorable in the immortal dao world."

That person's expression didn't change in the slightest, as if he hadn't heard.

Then Wen Hui was heard saying from behind: "Sword intent - what's the use?"

Xie Lang lowered his voice even more: "Swordmaster Ye became famous at a young age. People in our dao world praise him as 'the culmination of sword techniques, the founder of the Sword Intent school'. But this Sword Intent is different from other schools. The Heartless Dao severs all entanglements and can break through heart demons! Heart demons are the biggest obstacles on the path of cultivation. Originally one could only endure them alone, but when the Heartless Sword Intent appears..."

"Swordmaster Ye is so powerful, how does he compare to the One Emperor, Three Lords and Fourteen Marquises?"

"Compared to the Fourteen Marquises - there's no need to even mention that. With my shallow cultivation, I couldn't withstand a single sword. According to immortal dao rumors, when Swordmaster Ye is compared with Lord Lanshan, they are either evenly matched or Swordmaster Ye is slightly superior. He is much stronger than Lord Canlong. As for Lord Wansi, his whereabouts are unknown as he loves to roam the four seas. I'm young and haven't seen him, and most people also don't know his true depth."

"Then how old is Swordmaster Ye now?"

Chen Weichen's eyes lit up. He glanced at Ye Jiuya's expression while perking up his ears.

"Well..." Xie Lang said shyly, "He's probably only a few years older than me."

Seeing Wen Hui's disdainful look, Xie Lang quickly added: "On the path of cultivation, innate talent and comprehension are truly valued. Swordmaster Ye was able to single-handedly revive the Sword Pavilion when he was young. And our emperor, who knows if he's dead or alive now - he was also a natural genius. When he first entered the immortal dao, he drew back the Milky Way with a single sword, his name known throughout the world. Later, he successively defeated the Three Lords and Fourteen Marquises, ascended the Huandang Mountain on the heavenly road, reaching the pinnacle of the immortal dao..."

"Then how does your emperor compare to Swordmaster Ye?"

"That is unknown. The two are not from the same era. When that person was conferred the title of emperor at the Fuyun Palace on Huandang Mountain, Swordmaster Ye was still young and had not left the Sword Pavilion Mountain. There are no records of the two ever meeting after that." Xie Lang sighed, seemingly not done expressing himself, and returned to the earlier topic: "This shows that in cultivation, fate is key, not human effort. Someone like your young master..."

Chen Weichen was inexplicably mocked again, really not knowing how to react.

Just then, the mountain path was still damp. He could trip on flat ground, let alone now when he was nervous and found it hard to walk. Beside him, Ye Jiuya seemed oblivious, showing no intention of helping. He coldly glanced back at Wen Hui.

The servant had no choice but to stop his chatter with the daoist and went forward to watch over his young master, lest his luck be too bad and he accidentally fall off the cliff to his doom.

Chen Weichen asked Ye Jiuya: "Swordmaster, where are you going after descending the mountain?"

"The mortal world."

Upon hearing this, Wen Hui swiftly snatched the folding fan from Chen Weichen's hand, lest he start fanning himself and forget to watch the road.

But even without this pretentious prop, it did not diminish Young Master Chen's local tyrant aura: "Where in the mortal world? I'm very familiar with the Central Continent."

"The old capital of the Central Continent."

"The Jinxiu Ghost City?"

Ye Jiuya lightly "mm-hmm"ed.

Xie Lang waved his duster: "How fitting - This humble daoist can practice catching ghosts there."

Wen Hui shivered.

The world here was divided into fourteen continents - which was also the origin of the titles of the Fourteen Marquises.

The Central Continent was the largest, the other thirteen all subordinate to it, separated by seas.

If a mortal emperor could take the Central Continent into his grasp and rule the world, being conferred the title of emperor by the Dragon Court would be just around the corner.

But just as Storyteller Zhou said, the mortal world had long been split, each claiming their own emperor. There was no longer anyone who could command the world with a single call. The flames of war raged everywhere, especially in the Central Continent - apart from the Southern Dynasty's territory retreating to the periphery being the last place of willow-like prosperity, there was no peaceful land to be found.

"My father and mother kept a close eye on me. Other than the Southern Dynasty's territory, I wasn't allowed to go anywhere," Chen Weichen said. "Now that Swordmaster Ye is by my side, I'm sure they'll readily agree to let me go."

The four descended the mountain. Since Chen Weichen had only brought a servant to secretly slip out, there were no carriages to receive them. They returned to the city in cold silence.

So after bidding farewell to his parents and siblings, they headed north.

Before leaving, he was still scolded by Madam Chen, who repeatedly urged him to "not cause trouble for the immortal" and "not miss home". Finally, she pulled Wen Hui's hand: "Keep an eye on this little brat."

A young girl in maid attire leaned under a tree by the door. Her clear eyes kept looking at Wen Hui. When they approached, she snorted coldly and left.

Wen Hui grinned and called out: "Xiao Dao - wait for me to come back and marry you!"

The girl spat from behind the wall. After a while, a pink handkerchief embroidered with peach blossoms, wrapped around a stone, was thrown out from inside the wall.

Wen Hui picked it up. Judging from his expression, he was so happy he seemed about to fly to the sky.

Chen Weichen stood to the side, watching sourly while fanning himself. He had changed his fan after returning home. It depicted a prosperous landscape with splendid buildings, but the back was inscribed with a mournful poem. Covering half his face with the fan, he said in a fake voice: "Even though you have a beauty in your arms, pity me, I have no one to love. This lowly one shall take his leave, do not implicate me..."

Ye Jiuya gave him a calm look. He obediently shut his mouth and followed.

Passing through the city gate, they saw an old cripple telling fortunes, leaning against the corner of the wall, nodding his head and basking in the sun.

He took a glance at Ye Jiuya and felt that this person didn't seem impatient, so he approached: "Old cripple, old cripple!"

The old cripple opened his eyes a crack: "It's Young Master Chen."

"Come to my house for good food and drink, won't you?"

"No way," the old cripple said slowly. "I've more freedom outside."

"I guessed you wouldn't agree either," Chen Weichen said, "I'm leaving now, but before I go, draw me a divination lot."

The old lame man picked up the broken bamboo tube, shook it casually, and handed it to him: "Too lazy to interpret, just take it with you."

Chen Weichen then really drew a lot with a smile, without looking at it, and tucked it into the bundle on the servant boy's shoulder. Without saying goodbye, he turned around and left leisurely.

"I say," Xie Lang nudged Wen Hui's arm, "He didn't ask how to cultivate immortality, nor what Swordmaster Ye was going to do, and just followed along - no sadness at parting, and not even looking at the divination lot, what kind of temperament does your young master have?"

"A crazy one," Wen Hui said, "We were born on the same year, month, and day, and have never been apart for a single day - he's been like this since he was a kid, can't change it."

"Same year, month, and day, huh," Xie Lang pondered.

Chen Weichen looked back, raising his eyebrows: "Fortune-telling Daoist, now you can't play tricks with the birth date - on that day, my family's yellow dog also gave birth to six pups, you calculate them one by one and see if they'll die next year?"

Seeing his skills belittled, the Daoist angrily retorted: "Fate! Fate is not just about the birth date!"

Chen Weichen found this person so fun to tease and laughed very happily, accidentally triggering his old ailment again, his spirit instantly deflating by more than half as he obediently walked on.

Ye Jiuya was a man of his word, and truly began teaching Chen Weichen immortal cultivation.

The frigid qi rushed and collided inside his bones, and Chen Weichen was in so much pain he almost howled out loud. Looking up, he saw two heads peeking out from the inn window to watch the excitement, and felt the world was truly infuriating.

"Ye- Swordmaster Ye," he stammered, "That's about enough - although I want to cultivate immortality, there's no rush at this moment."

"This is just the beginning," Ye Jiuya said expressionlessly, "Replacing all the bones in your body with immortal bones is the foundation for your future enlightenment."

"What kind of dao am I supposed to realize?"

"Forget," that person's voice was like his countenance, clear and cold like frost and snow, even the content of his words was the same: "Forget your wisdom roots and fate, forget the past and future days, only by relying on emptiness can you be unrestrained by the laws of nature."

"In the end, you still want me to forget my feelings," Chen Weichen's forehead broke out in fine beads of sweat, his voice trembling, yet still stubbornly resisting with clarity, "You say, there are precedents for this matter, but I really don't want to follow those precedents. Xie Lang says my three hearts are of equal depth, then I'll cultivate the ways of immortals, Buddhas and demons alike - so what?"

An intense pain a hundred times more severe arose from deep within his bones, his vision went completely dark and empty, his heavy clothes soaked with sweat.

Only when Ye Jiuya finally let go did he seem to come back to life.

Chen Weichen opened his eyes, meeting Ye Jiuya's gaze directly.

"The dao comes from the heart, it's up to you." That person said indifferently: "I only helped you undergo the seven-day bone changing process, after this the journey will be difficult and perilous, each to their own."

Chen Weichen forced out a smile: "Truly heartless."

After a pause, as if mocking himself: "That's right, originally the only connection between you and I was that Annihilation Incense stick anyway."

After this bout of pain passed, he still looked half-dead.

Wen Hui held his shoulders: "Young master, just now I had Xie Lang assess my wisdom roots for me, and he actually said I have some kind of 'heart of spiritual accord' and can become a disciple of the Dao sect. He even gave me a copy of the Nanhua Sutra!"

Chen Weichen was very envious: "Get out."

Having said that, he changed his mind: "Forget it, don't go out, let me see that sutra."

"You also want to cultivate the Dao?"

"Mm," Chen Weichen responded, "That Ye Jiuya probably has some demon hindering him, always obsessing over that 'Heartless' stuff."

"I'll do the opposite of what he wants."