Carrying Wine and Singing Long Songs

Volume 1: Carrying Wine and Singing Long Songs, Chapter 3: The Approaching Deadline Every Year

The two of them had formed a grudge this way. For over two thousand years, whenever Bai Qiuran's lifespan neared its end, Xue Ling would appear to cause him trouble. Their conflicts once drew intense attention from the Ghost Realm and even the Immortal Realm, until several hundred years ago, when the Ghost Realm dispatched a large number of Soul Reaping Emissaries and Judges to assist Xue Ling, only to fail in capturing Bai Qiuran. Only then did the Ghost Realm slowly abandon the idea of using forceful measures to seize his soul. The youth known as Xue Ling looked at him with a blank expression. Having obtained what he wanted from the Sect Master, Bai Qiuran left the Azure Nether Main Peak in high spirits and returned to Seven Star Peak, where he resided. Throughout the entire Azure Nether Sword Sect, apart from Bai Qiuran, a man on the verge of death, and the Grand Elder Daoist Zhufeng, who was in deep seclusion preparing to face the Heavenly Tribulation and already possessed a trace of immortal spirit energy, not even Jueyunzi could perceive the presence of Xue Ling. Bai Qiuran insisted, "A practitioner of the Dao should be persistent and forge ahead with courage! Even though you are a Soul Reaping Impermanence of the Ghost Realm, why are you always trying to persuade the living to give up their lives?" Xue Ling looked at him askance. Bai Qiuran decisively refused, "I am going to reach Foundation Establishment!" Scratching his waist impatiently, Bai Qiuran lay on the bed and muttered, "It seems that on this trip down the mountain, I will have to search for ingredients for the Longevity Pill." He had spent three thousand years in the Qi Refining Stage, all for the sake of successfully reaching Foundation Establishment. Xue Ling said coldly, "Give up. There is no such Foundation Establishment Pill in this world with that kind of medicinal power. You had better obediently return to the Ghost Realm with me. The Immortal Emperor has already said that as long as you die, he will appoint you as the King of the Ghost Realm to rule over the Ten Halls of the Underworld." "What brings you here?" The current Xue Ling had basically become Bai Qiuran's lifespan alarm clock; whenever his deadline approached, this Soul Reaping Emissary would come to remind him that it was time to refine a Longevity Pill. But during the time Bai Qiuran had been away, there seemed to be an uninvited guest in the courtyard. Upon arriving outside the villa, Bai Qiuran felt that uncomfortable, chilling aura emanating from within. For a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage, even if their strength is invincible, there are always a few hurdles they cannot bypass, and lifespan is one of the most important among them. But Bai Qiuran did not have this limitation, so he relied on the Longevity Pill to extend his life by a thousand years. He stopped at the courtyard gate for a moment, then pushed open the gate without fear, walked into his bedroom, and saw that uninvited guest standing before his bed. That's right, Xue Ling was one of the Impermanence Emissaries under the command of King Yanluo of the Underworld Ghost Realm, responsible for reaping souls. "Hanging around my place, are you that free?" "Ah, what a pain." Without a dao companion or fame, he watched as the senior and junior sisters he had once felt a spark of affection for during his youth became an Immortal Couple with others, while he remained alone for three thousand years, unable to even ride a sword on the wind. As a Soul Reaping Emissary, Xue Ling and Bai Qiuran could be considered old acquaintances. Although Bai Qiuran possessed peerless strength and could slay even an Immortal Beast from the heavens with a single sword strike, he remained a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage. At that time, Bai Qiuran happened to feel he was about to break through, so, clinging to his dream of Foundation Establishment, he resisted fiercely. He not only broke free from the Soul Reaping Chain formed by the rules of the Underworld but also gave Xue Ling a sound beating in return. "It really is you, Xue Ling." Looking at the youth in front of him, dressed in a white robe with a pale, greenish complexion, Bai Qiuran sighed. The first meeting between Bai Qiuran and Xue Ling was over two thousand years ago, when Bai Qiuran's lifespan was nearing its end for the first time. Back then, Bai Qiuran was traveling and became trapped in ruins left behind by a True Immortal, unable to refine the Longevity Pill to extend his life, so Xue Ling, as a young ghost who had just become a Soul Reaping Emissary, came to reap his soul. A cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage, no matter how long they can survive, can live at most three to four hundred years. By that age, if they still cannot refine Qi into Essence and succeed in Foundation Establishment, their physical body will wither, and their soul will be taken by a Soul Reaping Emissary to the Underworld for reincarnation, waiting for the next opportunity. "Give up what?" Xue Ling was also a stubborn one, persistently chasing Bai Qiuran for several months until this fellow consumed a new batch of Longevity Pills, at which point he returned to the Ghost Realm in frustration. "Your deadline is approaching." "Bai Qiuran." He took off his red robe as a direct disciple, refused to succeed as the Sect Master or Grand Elder of the Azure Nether Sword Sect, and came alone to this most remote Seven Star Peak to live in seclusion. This lifestyle also meant he could not properly enjoy the pleasures available during the long life of an immortal cultivator. As a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage, he had been struggling with the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment every year for three thousand years. A moment later, he scratched his white hair in some irritation and replied, "Damn, how is it this day again... Alright, alright, 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 continued. But Xue Ling did not leave; instead, he stayed where he was and continued, "It's been over three thousand years; you should just about give up by now, right?" Bai Qiuran waved his hand impatiently. Bai Qiuran collapsed onto his bed, pillowing his head with his arms, and stared blankly at the top of his bed canopy. "Hmph, you know the old rules anyway." Those who once held high hopes for him had either ascended, failed their tribulation, or fallen in conflicts with others, while those who wanted to harm him or the Azure Nether Sword Sect had all died by his hand, with none surviving. "If the time comes and you haven't found a way to extend your life, I will come to reap your soul." But as a Qi Refining cultivator, Bai Qiuran was the most unique of them all. First, the endless True Qi in his body ensured his physical body was tougher than that of ordinary Immortals and would never decay. Furthermore, he possessed a Wood Attribute Spirit Root of the Heavenly Spirit level. This type of spirit root had one advantage: besides making the practice of wood-attribute techniques twice as effective, it also ensured the body could fully absorb the medicinal properties of pills, allowing for the unlimited use of pills that usually had a limit on how many times they could be consumed. Every year the deadline approached, and every year he had to rely on the Longevity Pill to continue surviving. "Go away, go away." "You should think about it. Your Qi Sea is countless times larger than an ordinary person's, and your True Qi is the same. Foundation Establishment requires condensing True Qi to transform it into Essence. With so much True Qi, do you really want to refine a sea of True Essence inside your body?" "No!" Immortal cultivators could refine an immortal medicine called the Longevity Pill. The method to refine this pill was extremely simple, and each consumption increased one's lifespan by five years. However, due to its medicinal nature, the number of times it could be used was limited, so it was generally used by cultivators nearing their end as a final gamble. Seeing Bai Qiuran's attitude, Xue Ling had no intention of wasting more words. He turned and walked toward one side of the room, then his figure gradually faded and disappeared into the corner of the room. As a member of those who bring death to the human world and maintain the order of heaven and earth, unless Xue Ling willed it, humans could not see a Soul Reaping Emissary, even those who had embarked on the path of immortality.