When the door slowly opened and Su Yang's figure appeared in front of everyone again, people were already crowding outside the door. They looked up at him with surprise and piety in their eyes.
Thirty-seven years have passed, and his face remains the same as before, with no trace of age. No wrinkles, no gray hair, and even his eyes have not changed.
From the perspective of mortals, only immortals can escape the erosion of time. They cannot understand the time difference between the Heavenly Realm and the human world, let alone know that Su Yang once spent only one Moonlight shadow in chaos.
Earthly Immortal Realm One day, Heavenly Realm is just a fleeting moment. The time flowing on Thirty-three Heavens is completely different from the world.
But ordinary people don't need to know these truths. They only believe in one thing: Su Yang is not a mortal.
Even if another three hundred or three thousand years pass, his appearance will not change. As a Immortal King giant, life and death can no longer touch his body, and aging is even more out of reach.
In the hearts of the people, such existence has long surpassed ordinary cognition. They may not be able to distinguish between the levels of immortals and gods, but in their eyes, apart from Jade Emperor, the only one who can transcend the laws of heaven and earth is the Mister Su in front of them.
"Mister Su, you have been gone for thirty-seven years!"
"We have been looking forward to your return! There are still so many stories we haven't heard yet!"
"Those words are still ringing in my ears, as if I heard them yesterday."
"It's a pity that Lao Wangtou couldn't wait until this day. He passed away a few days ago."
"Isn't that right? Didn't Zhang Laizi and Li Mazi wait for Mister Su to start teaching, only to wait until everyone was gone?"
Those old faces that used to sit in the audience every day are now full of ravines carved by time, and their foreheads are lined with wrinkles, like river beds dried by the wind.
Thirty-seven years ago, the youngest listener who listened to Su Yang's storytelling is now over forty years old.
When Qingshan City people saw that the door of the inn that had been sealed for many years was finally opened, and saw a circle of white-haired old men surrounding the door, they suddenly murmured in their hearts.
This place has been quiet for decades, so why is it so busy when it opens?
Many people in the city came out of the alleys and rushed towards the inn. In a blink of an eye, hundreds of people had gathered in front of the door, stretching their necks to see what Su Yang looked like now.
There is a little hope hidden in their hearts. Even if they don't live to see tomorrow, as long as they can listen to him talk about an old story before closing their eyes, they will have no regrets.
Even if you don't tell the stories from the past, it's okay to tell the strange people and strange things that you have seen in the past thirty years. As long as the words come from his mouth, it is worth pricking up your ears to listen.
Su Yang looked at the faces full of expectation, and felt a little warm in his heart.
Being cared about by others for thirty-seven years was a feeling I had never experienced in my previous life. At that time, even my biological parents had never thought about me for such a long time.
He slowly exhaled and said softly, "Since everyone is here, let's go into the store and sit down."
"Let's talk about the past today."
Before he finished speaking, everyone rushed in to squeeze in.
"Oh, slow down! My old bones can't stand the collision!"
"Who is not an old bone? I am seventy-seven! In order to hear a word from Mister Su, I walked two miles on a crutch. You are young and strong and you can't let me take a step?"
"You're only seventy-seven? I'm already eighty-three! In terms of qualifications, I should go in first!"
"At eighty-three, you should be more considerate of us young people, right? Will you lose some meat later?"
Su Yang stood at the door, dumbfounded for a moment. It turned out that these normally loyal and honest listeners were actually so particular about order at this critical moment.
But he didn't say much, and just let the crowd pour into the store. After everyone calmed down a little, he spoke again, "Everyone, thirty-seven years have passed, has anything happened to Qingshan City?"
Everyone was startled when they heard this and then shook their heads.
"It's not a big deal, everything is business as usual."
"But in the third year after Mister Su left, Dong Yong's wife seemed to have been taken away."
"Yes, yes, I remembered it! It was a young man who flew away on firelight, soaring in the clouds and mist. He was probably an immortal descending to earth!"
"That's natural, but why did Mister Su suddenly mention these things?"
Everyone's eyes fell on Su Yang, full of doubts. It wasn't until they heard their responses that Su Yang suddenly woke up.
It turns out that the omission that has been lingering in my mind is actually about the Dong Yong couple.
The man who once worked quietly in his inn, his wife Ziwei, was actually taken away by Heavenly Court people. She was originally one of Seven Fairies and lived in the Ziwei palace.
Thinking of this, a hint of gloom appeared between Su Yang's brows.
When he accepted the elixir sent by Dong Yong, although he did not say it explicitly, he had already tacitly agreed in his heart that he would keep them safe for the rest of their lives. At least he had to wait until Dong Yong died before talking about anything else.
But now, he has only been away for thirty-seven years, and Heavenly Court has already taken action to forcefully bring Ziwei back.
This caused a burst of suppressed anger in his heart.
Ruthless Great Emperor stood aside quietly, clearly seeing Su Yang's emotions and understanding the reasons.
A cold light flashed across her eyes. If Dong Yong hadn't donated the heaven-defying elixir in times of crisis, she wouldn't have been able to break through the shackles of the emperor and step into the realm of Mortal World Immortal on her own.
It was that pill that paved the way to the Immortal Emperor for her. Later, when she integrated the Quasi-Immortal Emperor Dao Fruit, she was able to reach the top without any hindrance.
Without Dong Yong's helping hand back then, her fate might have been completely different.
After listening to the gushing stories from the people in the inn, Su Yang's expression became increasingly cold.
After chatting with everyone for a while, he asked everyone to leave on the grounds that it was late at night and he needed to rest.
Before leaving, he left a message: "Come back in a few days and I will start a new lecture."
As soon as these words came out, everyone was filled with joy. They had come all the way, but they wanted nothing more than this.
Thirty-seven years ago, the scene when Su Yang started telling stories still reappeared as if it were yesterday. The feeling of being at the center of the story has been something that no one has been able to reproduce over the years.
After that, they also visited storytellers from various places to try to fill the vacancies. At first, there were still people watching, but within a day or two, the audience dispersed.
It's not that those people are not good at their skills, it's that the shock brought by Su Yang was too profound. The stories he told were more like personal experiences than just hearing them.
From then on, ordinary words no longer caused any disturbance. Even listening to them felt noisy and harsh.
Because of this, countless people have been eagerly awaiting the return of Su Yang for many years.
How can we not be happy to finally meet each other today?
For a mortal, thirty-seven years is enough to consume most of a life.
After the crowd dispersed, Su Yang slowly closed the wooden door of the inn, and the sound of the lock falling was particularly clear.
The candlelight in the room flickered slightly, reflecting his stern profile.
Ruthless Great Emperor looked at him with an expression that was clear to his heart.
"Heavenly Court is really unique in his actions. That day Jade Emperor came to the Heavenly River in person to compete with us for Eastern Emperor Bell. Who would have thought that he had already sent someone to Qingshan City secretly and quietly took Ziwei away."
Su Yang said with a slightly cold tone, "With such a layout, I have to admit that the Lord of the Three Realms does have some means."
Ruthless Great Emperor nodded silently, obviously not expecting that Jade Emperor would be so concerned about this matter.
As soon as their front foot left Heavenly River, Heavenly Court's back foot reconnected Ziwei to Ninth Heaven Que.
Su Yang closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again his eyes were already focused. "Get ready and go to Heavenly Court for an explanation."