Tianye's Goal

"Twenty Thousand Years"

Hearing Tianye's seemingly threatening words, Wen Xinyun murmured, staring at the smile blooming across the other woman's face as she spoke calmly, "You hardly seem like someone who has lived for twenty thousand years."

Tianye was slightly taken aback for a moment, but then she smiled faintly and said, "You mean I'm lying to you?"

"No. I believe you are the Tianyan from twenty thousand years ago."

"Then you think I slept through those twenty thousand years?"

"..."

Wen Xinyun did not answer, but her gaze had already given Tianye an affirmative reply.

Tianye pondered for a moment, then let out a languid sigh.

"To escape the great terror between life and death, living beings always seek immortality. But how immense is the suffering of immortality? Time can grind away everything a person has—memories, emotions, even one's own existence fading away with the turning of the years. Yet it is precisely because I forgot everything from the past that I can possess my current disposition."

Wen Xinyun frowned, not understanding the latter half of her words. Tianye did not keep her in suspense, however, and simply smiled.

"Put simply, it was a dream of the past—a dream of Zhuang Zhou dreaming he was a butterfly."

At those words, Wen Xinyun understood. She nodded and thanked her.

"I see. Thank you for clearing up my confusion."

Tianye shrugged her delicate shoulders noncommittally.

"So, Miss Wen, do you wish to try my Tianyan Dao techniques now?"

Wen Xinyun looked at the world around them, frozen in stillness, and said, "I have no intention of becoming enemies with the Heavenly Oversight Pavilion."

Tianye chuckled and teased, "What a drastic change in attitude. Still, being able to bend and stretch is the mark of a true great man."

Wen Xinyun shook