Journey to the End of the Night
Chapter 43 - 43 43 Old Times

43: Chapter 43: Old Times 43: Chapter 43: Old Times Lin Yuan also realized that something was amiss.

The smile in her eyes instantly dissipated, and she gently furrowed her brows, asking, “Open the Barrier?

Why would Father Mountain suddenly entertain such a thought?”

Lin Guiyuan stood amidst the water, his head lowered as he gazed at his reflection in the lake.

The damp strands of his hair dripped with water droplets.

He murmured, “Mountain…

Father Mountain said, the duty of the Mountain God is to protect, not to evade.”

“I will go and see Father Mountain.”

Lin Yuan’s complexion shifted slightly, and with a gentle flick of her blue fishtail, she dove back into the depths of the lake, swimming towards the deep bottom.

Baili An watched the disappearing flicker of blue that submerged into the water and thought to himself in mild surprise, “The Mountain God of this place does not reside within the Divine Mansion but beneath this lake?”

Lin Guiyuan replied, “The…

The Divine Mansion is not where Father Mountain lives; it is…

it is a place of sealing.”

The deity of Kongcang Mountain resided not within the Divine Mansion but at the lake bottom.

Baili An vaguely sensed that this mountain might hide many secrets.

However, unlike Wen Yu, he didn’t possess a morbid curiosity to delve deeply into secrets that others had guarded for years.

Instead, he even kindly advised Lin Guiyuan, “You absolutely must not share with others that the Divine Mansion is a place of sealing, nor about your Father Mountain residing at the lake bottom.”

Lin Guiyuan’s eyes sparkled, “I…

I thought you would be like the others, curious…

curious about the secrets within the mountain.”

Baili An chuckled and said, “I am not interested in the secrets of others, just as you clearly know that my heart does not beat and yet never inquire about it.

However, there is one thing that greatly interests me.”

“What…

what is it?”

Baili An said, “That woman named Wen Zhendong mentioned that you had saved her twice.

What’s the story there?”

Upon hearing the name Wen Zhendong, Lin Guiyuan’s expression visibly softened.

He explained, “At that…

that time, Miss Wen and…

and her master were returning from the Demon Cave after expelling demons.

On their…

their way back controlling their swords, they were attacked by Yin Crow.

The Spirit Sword was pecked and damaged and they fell into the Endless Sea where sea demons…

reign supreme.

I happened to pass by…

and saved them.

I also…

also helped them…

repair…

repair the Spirit Sword.”

“You know how to repair Spirit Swords?” Baili An was somewhat surprised and surveyed him from head to toe.

For some reason, Lin Guiyuan exuded a very strange aura: not quite human, not quite divine.

His body was clearly mortal, yet the purity of the Spiritual Power that occasionally leaked from his body was not something ordinary Cultivators could possess.

“Um…

Father Mountain…

taught me Artifact Refining.”

After a conversation, Lin Guiyuan’s earlier awkwardness and nervousness from dealing with strangers had somewhat faded.

He sat down on the lakeshore where Lin Yuan had been previously, watching the mermaids and fawns playing in the water.

A faint smile appeared on his face, and suddenly he said, “I have never…

seen Sister Lin Yuan be so close to…

anyone before.”

“Why do you all have the surname Lin?”

Although Lin Guiyuan’s aura was indeed strange, to anyone observing him, he was unmistakably human.

But Lin Yuan was different; she carried the scent of the ocean.

It was unnatural for different species to be blood relations.

At this moment, still with a soft smile on his face, Lin Guiyuan unconsciously rubbed his right wrist with the fingers of his left hand.

His gaze extended over the forest as if he were looking through endless years and across vast distances.

This time, he didn’t stammer; his voice was slow and steady:

“I was born in Xiangling; my father was a military officer who offended a powerful figure in the capital, causing our family to be demoted and to relocate.

I was five years old then, with an older brother.

While passing Kongcang Mountain, we encountered a locust disaster…

Those locusts were not ordinary; they were half a person tall, with bodies hard as iron and resistant to swords and axes.

They craved blood and feasted on the internal organs of humans.

Lost within the mountain and besieged by the locusts, my father made a quick decision.

He cut a wound on my wrist and threw me far away.

The locusts, drawn by the scent of blood, swarmed towards me…

My parents hurried down the mountain with my brother without looking back at me once.

That was the last time I saw them; I thought I would die on that mountain, but somehow I’ve lived up to this age.”

Lin Guiyuan gave a gentle smile, one devoid of hatred or resentment, but the fingers rubbing his wrist turned faintly pale.

He continued, “I often think, if my parents and brother had looked back at me then, even just once, maybe I wouldn’t have forgotten their faces, their voices, my childhood memories, or even my own name.

Father Mountain named me…

Lin Guiyuan, with the courtesy name Xuanzhi.”

“Father Mountain said Sister Lin Yuan and I both were reborn from the wilderness, so we were given the surname Lin.”

Baili An looked up at the tranquil and beautiful night sky, softly saying, “Father Mountain has been good to you.

Since you’ve been reborn, take good care of this place.”

“Yes.” Lin Guiyuan nodded vigorously, his simple affirmation sounding like a solemn vow as it left his lips.

The forest was quiet, solemn, and serene.

Dawn broke with the first light of morning from the east, its rays gradually revealing the contours of the mountains hidden in darkness.

The barrier around Eastern Seaside Mountain was unlocked by Lin Guiyuan, welcoming a new batch of humans.

This group was different from the mortals of Kongcang Mountain.

They wore the distinctive attire of various Sects from the Four Seas, with Longswords on their backs or hanging at their waists.

The faint Spiritual Power that radiated from them revealed they were all Cultivators.

But they were all more or less injured, the entire group’s aura seemed wilted, and they appeared immensely weary.

Upon setting eyes on the vista of a world within the mountain, they marveled and sincerely expressed their gratitude to Lin Guiyuan.

The fawn, still damp, found a rock not covered by the ancient trees of the forest and laid upon it lazily, basking in the sun.

As for Baili An, holding an umbrella, his clothes moist, he squatted beside the fawn, watching the people coming and going.

Among the noisy conversations, he gleaned an overview of the situation.

These people did not belong to one single force, but various Immortal Sect powers from within the boundaries of the Four Seas.

The Demon Cave was known as the burial place of the Corpse Ancestor, Jiang Chen.

Two months prior, a Loose Cultivator had observed a supernatural occurrence above the Demon Cave—a Demon Eye anomaly depicting a blackish-purple aura emitting from the east, resembling a frenzied dragon in shape.

It appeared to be clutching a giant sword within its maw, coiling around the entire Demon Cave without dispersing.

The Dragon Manifestation over the Demon Cave was unprecedented.

This shocking scene spread across the Four Seas and Nine Provinces at an alarming rate.

Within a single day, on Nanze Mountain, an Immortal of a thousand years derived a prognostication: the awakening of the Corpse Ancestor spelled chaos for the world, with the Four Seas boiling over and calamity following like a chain reaction—portending a disaster of considerable magnitude.