The New Neighbors

Earth.

Danan City.

A family had moved in next door.

They knocked on his door.

"Hello, I'm your new neighbor. My name is Ye Hai."

"Luo Yan. I only moved here recently myself. We'll be neighbors from now on, so I hope we'll get along. Is this your child? He's adorable!"

"Ye Fan, say hello to Uncle." Ye Hai tugged at the six- or seven-year-old boy hiding behind his legs.

Little Ye Fan was a little scared, but he still mustered his courage and called out, "Hello, Uncle!"

Luo Yan smiled faintly. After a moment's thought, he took out a piece of jade and handed it to Ye Fan. "Since this is our first meeting, this stone is my gift to you! A master blessed it, so it can ward off evil and keep misfortune away. Make sure you don't lose it!"

Ye Hai had a discerning eye and immediately recognized that the thumb-sized piece of jade was worth a considerable sum. He promptly refused. "Brother Luo, this is too valuable. We can't accept it! Ye Fan, give it back to Uncle Luo!"

Ye Fan obediently held out the jade he had just received.

"This is worth very little to me, and I'm quite fond of the boy," Luo Yan said. "Let him keep it. He's still young, and this can bring him blessings."

Ye Hai had already heard that a wealthy resident had lived in this neighborhood. Twenty years ago, he had spent a fortune buying the entire neighborhood for development. He had passed away a few years ago, leaving the family fortune to a good-for-nothing son.

The man before him was probably that rich heir.

This little bit of money really meant nothing to him!

"Then we'll accept it!" Seeing that Luo Yan refused to take it back, Ye Hai could only accept the piece of jade rather than spoil his good mood.

"Keep it safe. This is Uncle Luo's gift to you for your first meeting. Don't lose it!"

Ye Fan nodded solemnly. His father's attitude had also shown him just how precious this piece of jade was.

"Woof!" A skinny black dog darted out of the room, circled Ye Fan twice, and sniffed him.

"Uncle Luo, is this your dog?" Ye Fan was a little frightened, afraid the little black dog might bite him.

Luo Yan smiled kindly. "Don't be scared. It doesn't bite!"

Ye Fan was still a little scared. He clutched Ye Hai's trouser leg, his body tense, and stood motionless as he watched the black dog circle him.

Ye Hai and Luo Yan exchanged a smile, thoroughly amused.

"I still have some shopping to do, so I won't keep you!" Ye Hai had only just moved in and still needed to buy many household necessities.

Luo Yan nodded understandingly. "Go take care of it. Come over when you have time!"

"Say goodbye to Uncle Luo!"

"Goodbye, Uncle Luo!" Ye Fan waved, but he was still holding on to the little black dog.

Father and son soon went downstairs and left.

Only then did the black dog speak in a human voice. "Master, is this the person you've been waiting for all these twenty-odd years? There's nothing special about him!"

The black dog was, of course, the form Donkey had taken.

"You'll understand in the future! Where did you go yesterday?" Luo Yan suddenly asked.

Donkey hung its head and answered guiltily, "N-nowhere."

Luo Yan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Did you go bully that Dragon Horse in Kunlun again?"

Donkey hemmed and hawed, a little frightened, but at the thought of that oddball, it could not help saying, "That Dragon Horse keeps cursing at me for no reason! I couldn't swallow my anger."

Luo Yan did not blame it. Instead, he patiently explained, "This place was once Emperor Zun's cultivation grounds, and it contains many dangerous areas. Even I wouldn't dare set foot in them lightly. Besides, Kunlun has a Peerless Killing Array that even I regard with considerable wariness. What if something happens while you're running wild?"

Donkey could hardly believe what it heard.

"This is Emperor Zun's cultivation grounds?"

"Why else do you think I left the Immortal Medicine in Kunlun alone and set my sights on that Half-Divine Medicine, He Shou Wu, on Changbai Mountain instead, taking some of its divine liquid?"

Donkey's eyes widened like bronze bells. It sucked in a breath of cold air, a chill shooting from its hooves straight to its donkey head.

Emperor Zun was the man who had founded the Heavenly Court in the Mythological Era, whose might had shaken the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands. He was a supreme existence of legend, and countless people longed to obtain his legacy!

This place was actually his cultivation grounds! Donkey wilted instantly.

"Spend less time with that Dragon Horse from now on. That fellow is no good!" Luo Yan warned it again.

From what he knew of this donkey, it also had the potential to become a real piece of work. If it spent too long with that Dragon Horse, it probably wouldn't amount to anything good either.

As one of the three biggest pieces of work in Shrouding the Heavens, Dragon Horse was absolutely no good, and Luo Yan knew it well.

"Understood, Master." That was what it said, but what it actually thought was another matter entirely.

Despite having been on Earth for so long, Luo Yan had never ventured into Kunlun. Instead, he had been searching for people.

Amitabha Great Emperor, Heavenly Venerable Virtuous, Void Emperor, and Emperor Hengyu had all buried themselves on this planet, reviving through another means. However, those who returned no longer possessed their original personalities.

As for Void Emperor's coffin out in the universe and the corpse exiled into the void, Luo Yan suspected that it was an external incarnation of Void Emperor, meant to deceive the supreme beings in the Life Forbidden Zones.

For twenty years, Luo Yan had searched without pause, yet he still had no leads.

Could they be hiding from me? A suspicion gradually formed in Luo Yan's mind. Or are they still asleep?

The possibility that they were asleep was slim. After all, over two thousand years ago, Laozi and Shakyamuni Tathagata had already traveled deep into the starry sky, leaving traces of themselves in many places.

It could only be the former!

Forget it. If they won't meet me, then the time must not have come yet! Luo Yan gave up his search and began considering how to travel ten thousand years into the past through the river of time.

Luo Yan weighed it in his mind. The farther upstream he went, the greater the resistance would surely be.

This time, he wanted to go back to before Azure Emperor attained the Dao, which would certainly be more than ten thousand years ago! More precisely, it would be around twelve thousand years ago, when Azure Emperor had emerged into the world.

The last time he had visited the Tianxuan Holy Land six thousand years in the past, Luo Yan had already felt the strain. This time, the distance would double, and he did not know whether he could endure it.

Standing in the river of time, the slightest lapse could reduce him to ash and smoke. Luo Yan was not even at the Great Emperor level. He could not possibly withstand the time law of an entire river head-on; within an hour at most, the time law would devour him.

His only support was the Time Mirror, an immortal artifact of mysterious origins.

"I'll wait a little longer. I haven't yet used up the origin of time I extracted from the river of time on my second attempt. At the very least, I should wait until the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin arrives and Ye Fan sets foot on the Starry Sky Ancient Road," Luo Yan murmured to himself.

A third of the Green Cauldron lay in Kunlun, and Luo Yan was determined to obtain it!

This object had some connection to Azure Emperor, and Qing Emperor's Tomb would open within three years of Ye Fan's arrival on Big Dipper. Inside was another Bronze Fragment, one of the Green Cauldron's fragments. In the original story, Azure Emperor's true body was trapped in the Desolate Pagoda. Later, a drop of his blood took root and sprouted on the Bronze Fragment in Ye Fan's bitter sea, forming an external incarnation that went to rescue his trapped self.

Luo Yan was very cautious. He had sent Donkey to explore Kunlun rather than venture there himself.

Who knew whether a Quasi-Emperor entering Kunlun might trigger some unfavorable reaction?

Others might not know, but he knew perfectly well.

Emperor Zun was still alive!

A careful hand could sail a ship for ten thousand years. Powerful as he was, he still had to be cautious where caution was due. If one careless mistake capsized his boat, it would be too late for regret.