"Would you like to cultivate at the two academies?" The old man took a light sip of tea and suddenly asked.
The two academies were the Immortal Academy and the Sacred Academy. Both had existed since ages beyond counting, and their reserves of power were unimaginable.
Moreover, these two academies were exceptionally strict in selecting disciples and all but hidden from the world. Outside the ancient families and traditions of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, few even knew of them.
Those within the two academies were all disciples or descendants of old monsters. Ordinary people could scarcely gain entry.
The old man's words invited speculation. Was he saying he had the ability to send them there?
That makes sense. Grandfather is a Supreme himself and has lived for who knows how many years. He might well be acquainted with some of those old monsters, Xi Yue thought.
Still, she shook her head. Such a place did not suit her. Even with several old monsters to instruct her, she would also be bound by its constraints.
Knowing something of what lay ahead, she had her own plans and her own path to follow.
Compared with studying at the two academies, she could gain more out in the world.
Yao Yue considered it for a while, then shook her head as well. She was spirited and restless, and likewise had no wish to be restrained.
It was not as though no old monsters had wanted to take her as a disciple before, but Xu Mingxuan had turned them all down. He had shared some of those concerns.
"See? I told you these two children wouldn't want to go." Lan Ling nudged the old man with her elbow and grinned.
Seeing how decisive the two were, Lan Canghai shook his head and sighed. "Very well. Since you're unwilling, I can hardly force you."
Naturally, he had hoped they would agree. As their elder, he wanted his descendants to tower over an entire age and reign supreme throughout the Nine Heavens.
Cultivating at the two academies would undoubtedly have made that wish a little more likely to come true.
"What's so good about those academies? They're full of lunatics. The elders are mad, and their disciples are even worse!" Lan Ling curled her lip in disdain.
She, too, had once been personally instructed by an old monster and had witnessed their madness firsthand. They would batter accomplished disciples until their bodies burst apart, strip away their cultivation, and make them cultivate anew, over and over, to surpass their former selves.
It had shaken her considerably at the time. Though it hardly seemed remarkable to her now, it remained a memory etched into her bones.
Thump!
Lan Canghai rapped her on the head again, his expression darkening. This girl was clearly still complaining about his having sent her to the Immortal Academy back then.
Lan Ling was left speechless, feeling thoroughly out of sorts.
For some reason, the old man particularly loved knocking people on the head. It made her feel she had lost face, leaving her both embarrassed and annoyed.
"Ahem..." The old man also realized that had been a little inappropriate and immediately gave a dry cough to cover his embarrassment.
Putting that subject aside, the old man gathered them around again and began recounting his storied past.
His experiences truly were rich. From youthful vigor to frost-white temples, he had endured too much and witnessed too much along the way.
He had set foot on the frontiers of Great Red Heaven and fought bloody battles against the creatures of that realm; ventured deep into uninhabited regions and battled uncanny horrors in those deathly silent forbidden lands; fought fierce battles at the Imperial Pass in the Border Wasteland and slain royalty of the Foreign Realm...
As the weathered old man recounted these deeds one after another, his listeners could not help marveling.
In his view, these were things Xi Yue and Yao Yue would inevitably experience in the future. There was no harm in letting them learn about them beforehand.
"Ah..." He let out another long sigh.
The ages turned, and vast seas crumbled to dust. Most of those who had once traveled beside him were dead. In the end, he had grown weary and withdrawn from the world.
Without becoming an immortal, it was all an illusion in the end-nothing more than a mound of yellow earth.
Sadly, heaven and earth had undergone a great upheaval, and the road to immortality had been severed. No one could become an immortal in this era anymore.
"Your divine might is unparalleled, Grandfather. It truly inspires admiration." Seeing the mood turn somber, Xi Yue hurried to offer comfort.
"Yes, Grandfather. Your brilliance eclipses an entire age, and you stand beyond the dust of the mortal world. Others cannot even catch the dust left in your wake," Yao Yue chimed in.
Lan Canghai smiled. He knew perfectly well that the two were comforting him, but he smiled nonetheless.
So this was what it felt like to be cared for by his descendants. It was truly warm.
"All right, you needn't comfort me like this. This old man was merely feeling sentimental. It's not as though I can't go on living." He waved his hand, suppressed his smile, and put on a stern expression.
The two smiled sweetly, entirely unbothered.
The days passed one by one. With the old man guiding their cultivation, both progressed swiftly, and their understanding of certain realms grew increasingly clear.
The old man's cultivation was profound, and he possessed unique insights into cultivation. Still, he did not interfere too much. Everyone had their own path to follow, so he merely offered pointers.
One day, Xi Yue opened her eyes, and two beams of divine light abruptly shot forth, dazzling and brilliant, like a river of stars flowing backward, with the sun and moon shining together.
"Incredible! She's about to develop the Martial Dao Heavenly Eye!" Lan Canghai saw everything. Even someone as composed as he was could not help showing astonishment, though he then chuckled, sharing in her glory.
Apart from innate divine eyes, any kind of heavenly eye was extraordinarily difficult to cultivate. Not one in hundreds of millions could achieve it. It required not only peerless talent, but also a tremendous fortuitous encounter.
Yet what was he seeing now?
A young cultivator who had only just entered the Cave Heaven Realm was actually showing signs of forming a heavenly eye. It was utterly inconceivable. If word spread, who knew how great an uproar it would cause?
But then he chuckled again. She was his granddaughter, and her glory was his as well.
Xi Yue was not surprised by this. By comparison, the half-formed rudiments of the physical-body cave heaven and primordial spirit cave heaven she had created were undoubtedly far more earth-shattering.
Counting the days, she had already been with the Lan for over a month. Apart from cultivating, she merely chatted with the old man. It felt more like she had simply changed where she cultivated.
Lan Ling had long since entered seclusion and was attempting to break through to the Supreme Realm. Xi Yue knew very well that she would not see her again anytime soon.
"I can't keep going like this. I need to go out and temper myself," she murmured.
Building a carriage behind closed doors was meaningless. Heaven and earth were boundless; only by setting foot in them herself could she comprehend the true essence of the Great Dao.
Fine, cultivation was simply too dull and tedious, and she wanted to go out and find some amusement.
She glanced next door. Yao Yue was still cultivating and would not awaken anytime soon. It seemed she was destined to miss out on the fun.
When the old man heard her request, he had no objections and immediately offered to accompany her, but she politely declined.
With the old man beside her, she would probably find it hard to let loose.
Arriving at the younger generation's quarters, she knocked on their doors one by one, then personally tested the results of their cultivation.
"Young man, you're not up to it yet. It seems you've been slacking in your cultivation." Xi Yue reached out and pulled a young man up from the ground, her other hand held behind her back, and spoke gravely.
The young man's face was scarlet, and he felt angry, helpless, and a little defeated.
That feeling lingered.
The girl before him was outrageously beautiful, as though she did not belong to the mortal world, yet her methods were exceptionally brutal, like those of an unrivaled demon.
Like an immortal, like a demon-that was his assessment.
The girl was exquisitely lovely, with brows and eyes like a painting and skin as fair and luminous as jade. Every smile and frown carried an almost immortal grace, while her gaze was as intoxicating as autumn waters, lending her a distinctive charm.
"I remember now! She was one of the people following that tall woman that day." A graceful young man slapped his forehead, finally recalling her.
Hearing this, the young men and women were inwardly startled. They had once asked their clan elders who those people were and learned that the tall woman was an extraordinary figure within the clan.
And the girl before them was that great figure's daughter.