The deep-blue sea heaved beneath them, stretching ten thousand miles without an island in sight. Night lay heavy, and silence surrounded them. A small boat drifted on the waves, with Meng Qi and Gao Lan sitting at opposite ends. Jars of "Worry-Forgetting" immortal wine were arranged before them. They had each removed their Ping Tian crown and Fan Cloud Crown, their hair loose and unrestrained.
"Bottoms up!" Gao Lan made no effort to hide his grief. He lifted a jar of immortal wine, his throat working as he gulped down every drop.
Meng Qi felt regret over what had happened in the Sü Nü Immortal Realm, and he was also quite worried that his jokester of an Elder Brother might split into separate personalities again. Before he could communicate with his other selves and make it through the legendary threshold of I am I, such a condition would be almost tantamount to severing his path in the martial way. So Meng Qi, too, lifted a jar of Worry-Forgetting immortal wine and gulped it down.
Ever since the Myriad Realms Universal World had appeared, everything had become so convenient and pleasant. Even in the depths of the Eastern Sea, utterly unprepared, he could buy a small boat and immortal wine through the marketplace. Alas, even if the ends of the earth were as close as neighboring streets, even if communication between the myriad worlds faced no more obstacles, the nature of love remained unchanged since time immemorial. It brought both joy and sorrow: some found love, while others were left alone.
Ten years sitting in meditation, ten years beneath the Green Lamp—compared with Gao Lan's decades of preparation, effort, and anticipation, all brought to naught in a single day, it was nothing. Even so, Meng Qi felt a pang of fellow