Carrying Wine and Singing Long Songs

Chapter Three: Every Year, His End Was Near

The two had fallen out like this, and for more than two thousand years, whenever Bai Qiuran's allotted years were nearly up, Xue Ling would come looking for trouble. Their clashes had once drawn intense attention from both the Ghost Realm and the Immortal Realm. Only after the Ghost Realm dispatched a large contingent of Soul Reaping Emissaries and judges to assist Xue Ling, yet still failed to capture Bai Qiuran, did it slowly abandon the idea of using force to seize his soul.

The young man known as Xue Ling stared at him with a blank expression.

Having gotten what he wanted from the Sect Master, Bai Qiuran left the Azure Nether Sect's Main Peak in high spirits and returned to Seven Star Peak, where he lived.

Throughout the Azure Nether Sword Sect, no one could sense Xue Ling's presence except Bai Qiuran, a man on the verge of death, and Grand Elder Daoist Zhufeng, who was in closed-door cultivation, preparing to face the Heavenly Tribulation and already bore traces of immortal aura. Even Jueyunzi couldn't detect him.

Bai Qiuran insisted, "Those who cultivate the Dao should persevere and press forward with courage! You may be a Soul Reaping Impermanence from the Ghost Realm, but why are you always trying to persuade the living to give up on life?"

Xue Ling shot him a sidelong glance.

Bai Qiuran refused outright. "I'm going to establish my foundation, no matter what!"

Irritably scratching his waist, Bai Qiuran sprawled on the bed and muttered, "Looks like I'll have to search for the ingredients for a Longevity Pill when I go down the mountain this time."

Three thousand years of Qi Refining, all for the sake of successfully establishing his foundation.

Xue Ling said coldly, "Give it up. There's no Foundation Establishment Pill in this world with medicinal power like that. Just come back to the Ghost Realm with me obediently. The Immortal Emperor himself said that once you die, he'll make you the king of the Ghost Realm and put you in charge of the Ten Halls of the Underworld."

"What brings you here?"

By now, Xue Ling had practically become Bai Qiuran's lifespan alarm clock. Whenever Bai Qiuran's end drew near, this Soul Reaping Emissary would come to remind him that it was time to make another Longevity Pill.

But while Bai Qiuran was away, it seemed an unwelcome guest had arrived in his courtyard. As he approached the residence, Bai Qiuran sensed the discomforting, icy aura wafting from within.

Qi Refining cultivators, no matter how invincible their strength, always faced a few hurdles they couldn't avoid. Lifespan was one of the most important.

Bai Qiuran, however, was free of that limitation. He relied on Longevity Pills to extend his life by a thousand years at a time.

He paused for a moment at the courtyard entrance, then pushed open the gate without a hint of fear and entered his bedroom. There, he saw the uninvited guest standing by his bed.

That's right, Xue Ling was one of the impermanence emissaries responsible for seizing souls under Yanluo, king of the Underworld.

"Are you so bored that you have to squat around my place?"

"Ah, what a nuisance."

Without a cultivation partner or a great reputation, he had watched the senior and junior sisters he'd felt a glimmer of affection for when he first came of age become Immortal Couples with other men. Meanwhile, he had spent three thousand years alone, unable even to ride a sword through the wind.

As a Soul Reaping Emissary, Xue Ling was also an old acquaintance of Bai Qiuran's. Though Bai Qiuran's power was unmatched—even Immortal Beasts in the heavens could be felled by his sword—he was still only a Qi Refining cultivator.

Their first meeting had taken place more than two thousand years ago, when Bai Qiuran's lifespan was first about to run out. Bai Qiuran had been traveling abroad and became trapped in a True Immortal's ruins, unable to make the Longevity Pill he needed to prolong his life. So Xue Ling, then a newly appointed Soul Reaping Emissary, had come to seize his soul.

At the time, Bai Qiuran had also thought he was about to break through. Clinging to his dream of establishing his foundation, he fought with all his might. Not only did he break free of the Soul Reaping Chain formed from the laws of the Underworld, he also turned around and beat Xue Ling to a pulp.

"Figures it was you, Xue Ling."

Looking at the young man before him, dressed in a white robe and wearing a bluish complexion, Bai Qiuran sighed.

A Qi Refining cultivator, no matter how tenaciously he clung to life, could live only three or four hundred years at most. At that age, if he still couldn't refine Qi into essence and successfully establish his foundation, his body would wither, and a Soul Reaping Emissary would seize his soul and take it to the Underworld to await reincarnation—and another chance.

Xue Ling was just as stubborn. He pursued Bai Qiuran relentlessly for several months, until the man finally swallowed a fresh batch of Longevity Pills. Only then did he return to the Ghost Realm, unwillingly.

"Give up what?"

"Bai Qiuran."

"You're nearing the end of your allotted years."

He took off his red robe as a direct disciple, turned down the positions of Sect Master and Grand Elder of the Azure Nether Sword Sect, and came alone to the remote Seven Star Peak, where he lived in seclusion.

That way of life had also kept him from enjoying the pleasures that a cultivator could savor over a long life.

As a Qi Refining cultivator, he had spent three thousand years fighting against the bottleneck to foundation establishment.

A moment later, he scratched his head of white hair in irritation and replied, "Fine, why has this day come around again? All right, all right, I know. You can go back now."

Bai Qiuran's expression turned cold, and the two stared at each other in silence.

Ever since his master, Daoist Qingming, ascended, this life had gone on unchanged.

But Xue Ling didn't leave. He stayed where he was and continued, "It's been more than three thousand years. Isn't it about time you gave up?"

Bai Qiuran waved him off impatiently.

Back then, those who had placed their hopes in him had either ascended, failed at Tribulation Crossing, or fallen in battles with others. Those who had tried to harm him or the Azure Nether Sword Sect, meanwhile, had all died by his hand. Not one had survived.

"If your time comes and you haven't found a way to extend your life, I'll come seize your soul."

"Hmph. You know the usual rules."

But as a Qi Refining cultivator, Bai Qiuran was unlike any other.

First, the endless True Qi in his body kept his flesh tougher than that of ordinary Immortals; it would never decay. And he had a Wood Attribute Spirit Root of the Heavenly Spirit Root grade. This kind of root had one advantage: besides making cultivation of wood techniques twice as effective with half the effort, it also let his body absorb the full medicinal potency of pills, allowing him to use without limit pills that were normally restricted to a certain number of doses.

Every year, his end drew near; every year, he had to keep scraping by with Longevity Pills.

"Think about it. Your Qi Sea is countless times larger than an ordinary person's, and your True Qi is just as vast. Foundation establishment requires compressing True Qi and turning it into True Essence. With that much True Qi, do you really expect to refine an entire sea of True Essence inside your body?"

"No!"

Cultivators could also make an immortal medicine called a Longevity Pill. It was extremely easy to brew, and each pill added five years to one's lifespan. But because of its medicinal properties, there was a limit to how many times it could be used. It was generally a last resort for cultivators whose time was nearly up.

Seeing Bai Qiuran's expression, Xue Ling had no intention of wasting more words on him. He turned and walked toward one side of the room. His figure gradually faded and disappeared into the corner.

As one who brought death to the mortal world and upheld the Order of Heaven and Earth, Xue Ling could not be seen by mortals unless he wished it. Even cultivators who had embarked on the path to immortality were no exception.