Desert Sea, Black Mountain Town on the frontier of Black Pine Oasis.
The dim yellow sunset dyed all of Black Mountain red.
Four rattan chairs, one pavilion—only two of the rattan chairs were already empty.
Two old men sat on the rattan chairs, both watching the sunset that had already sunk halfway beyond the horizon. Only, one of them had especially drooping eyelids, as if in the very next moment he would ride a crane westward.
As for the other old man, though he was also lying there, aside from his face, his eyes remained extraordinarily bright and spirited.
"Old man, let's play one more game of chess." The even more aged elder struggled to prop himself up from the rattan chair, and his hand also pointed toward a well-polished chess set in the pavilion beside him.
But it seemed he had already exhausted his last ounce of strength. He struggled for a long while, yet still failed to stand. In the end, he merely shifted his head and looked to the side.
"Old Chen, you're an immortal master, aren't you?"
Though these words were faint, they suddenly startled the old man beside him. He seemed to think of something, and then a wave of memories surged over him like the tide.
Only after a long while did he ask, his face full of curiosity, "Old Chess, why do you think that?"
This person was naturally Ye Jingcheng, who had been cultivating in seclusion here, tempering his heart and refining his mind.
Over these seventy-plus years, during the first twenty-odd years, he had taken up various posts in the Ye Family, just like the many elders in his memories: guarding the Treasure Pavilion, planting medicinal herbs, teaching spells.
Then, for the next fifty years, he entered the mortal world of