Qilin

Yuangeng followed the Qilin Emperor through the starry sky. In moments, they reached its far end, where an ancient star lay in the dark universe, interwoven with azure and emerald and brimming with surging vitality.

"Fellow Daoist Yuangeng, please!"

The old Qilin Emperor led the way, courteously inviting Yuangeng onto this life-bearing source star. This was the world of his birth. After the Qilin Emperor attained the Dao, it had become the Qilin Ancestral Star. Not only the Blue Qilin, but other qilin clans throughout the universe regarded it as a place of pilgrimage.

Yuangeng followed the Qilin Emperor to the foot of a towering waterfall a thousand zhang high. There lay a lake wreathed in spiritual mist, its waters clear as jade from the nine heavens, reflecting the light of the sky and the shadows of clouds. Ripples occasionally stirred its surface as spirit carp leaped through the waves, their scales glittering gold. Rare flowers and wondrous herbs covered the shore. Ten-thousand-year-old spirit mushrooms hid among secluded orchids, while scarlet fruits hung from branches, their fragrance refreshing the heart and soul.

"Please!"

The Qilin Emperor invited Yuangeng to sit on a jade platform fashioned from nine heavens divine jade beside the lake. Then he personally scooped two bowls of Divine Spring water from the depths of the starry sky, brought them to a boil with azure dao fire, placed a tea leaf in each bowl, and pushed one toward Yuangeng.

Yuangeng examined it closely. Within the palm-sized jade bowl, a tender leaf drifted gently up and down in the scalding spring water. Perfectly round and flawless, it shone a soft silvery white, like a full moon spilling moonlight essence into the bowl, serene and gentle.

Naturally, he paid no mind to the tea's scalding heat. He took a light sip and truly felt as though he had swallowed a full moon. The rich fragrance of tea, accompanied by wisps of lunar essence dao resonance, drew Yuangeng naturally into an enlightenment state, even clearing his gaze considerably.

"Excellent tea."

Only after a long while, when that wondrous Dao resonance faded, did he set down the jade bowl in his hand. He smiled faintly at the Qilin Emperor and spoke in the Myriad Races Language of the Primordial Era.

The Sacrificial Spirit back in his homeland was a Six-Eared Immortal Ape, most skilled at listening to the sounds of all things. A divine ability such as Mind-Reading was simply the most basic of basics for him. Just now, Yuangeng had glimpsed the memories of a qilin cultivator on the Qilin Ancestral Star and naturally learned the Primordial Language.

"Oh?"

The Qilin Emperor was clearly surprised to hear Yuangeng speak the Primordial Language, but the old emperor soon accepted it. Taking a sip of the tea before him, he said with a smile,

"A leaf from the Enlightenment Tea Tree. Its parent tree is one of the thirty-odd Immortal Divine Medicines of this era. This Lunar Tea Leaf is beautiful, and I've treasured it for years. I'm glad you like it, Fellow Daoist Yuangeng."

It was indeed that tea tree.

Yuangeng nodded and took another sip of the Dao tea in his bowl, unable to help remarking, "I heard of this tea tree's fame when I was young. I never imagined that by the time I first tasted it, seas would have turned to mulberry fields."

"The Enlightenment Tea Tree existed in your era, too?"

The Qilin Emperor was clearly very interested in the subject Yuangeng had raised. The Immortal Divine Medicines of this realm had extraordinary origins. As far back as the Mythological Era, people had studied their beginnings, and some ancient Heavenly Venerables had even tried to replicate the Immortal Medicines. Sadly, all had failed. Their wondrous effects, which touched upon immortality, simply could not be reproduced.

"Of course, though it didn't belong to our side. As far as I know, the Desolate Heaven Emperor brought the Enlightenment Tea Tree here from another realm," Yuangeng said casually.

Naturally, he knew that the Enlightenment Tea Tree was actually one of the Immortal Spirit Woods of the Foreign Realm. Its effects were extraordinary, and even the Immortal Kings valued it greatly. Since the Foreign Realm and the Primordial Ancient Realm were enemies, Yuangeng had never actually tasted its leaves from its time in the Foreign Realm, despite having lived for five hundred thousand years.

"Another realm? So, as certain ancient Heavenly Venerables suspected, there are other realms beyond this one."

The Qilin Ancient Emperor looked thoughtful, carefully digesting the information Yuangeng had revealed. Anticipation unexpectedly rose in his heart. He had believed that, having taken command of the Heart of Heaven, his might already towered over the universe and he could overturn all the heavens. He had never imagined there were other realms beyond his own. It was as though he had instantly grown several thousand years younger, recovering the drive of his youth.

Yuangeng said nothing. With this universe as sealed off as it currently was, anyone who failed to become an immortal had almost no chance of encountering the outside world. No matter how brilliant they were in the mortal domain, they could only fall beneath the passage of time and become a handful of dust.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan,"

The Qilin Ancient Emperor suddenly spoke again. Watching the Lunar Essence Dao resonance drifting around Yuangeng, he briefly arranged his words before asking the question whose answer he most wanted to know,

"Might I ask which race you come from? From what I saw of your Lunar Essence Venerable Method, you seem to have known an elder of my qilin race?"

He could not help caring so deeply. The Qilin Method Yuangeng had displayed earlier had been far too true to life, every last detail manifested to perfection. So much so that the Qilin Emperor had initially believed Yuangeng to be a prehistoric Ink Qilin, a kinsman of his own race.

"I'm of the Human Race."

Yuangeng did not hesitate in the slightest over this question. Much like Primordial Antiquity, the Immortal Ancient Era had actually been an age in which the Myriad Races coexisted. Compared with Primordial Antiquity, however, its races had been more diverse and harmonious. They lived alongside one another while retaining pride in their own races.

"As for the Qilin Method you mentioned, my master, Heavenly Lord Mo of Qingwei Heaven, taught it to me."

As he spoke, the dao seed within Yuangeng stirred, manifesting the Dharma image of a Four-Horned Black Qilin between him and the Qilin Emperor. The Ink Qilin stood one zhang tall, its body sleek and powerful, its scales an ink-black sheen. Its four Qilin Horns were lustrous and crystalline, reflecting the boundless starry sky.

"Heavenly Lord Mo of Qingwei Heaven... could he truly have been a Qilin Immortal?"

Of course, the Qilin Emperor did not know where Qingwei Heaven was, but that did not keep him from marveling. The emperor rose from the jade platform and studied every detail of the Ink Qilin's Dharma image. He felt as though he were gazing up at a grand monument, one worthy of spending his entire life striving to reach.

"Perhaps."

A mysterious smile appeared on Yuangeng's face. His master had naturally been an immortal. In the Immortal Ancient Era, although the qilin race had not been a mighty race whose weight crushed the ages, and could not compare with the Golden Crow race, it had still produced many True Immortals. In the Primordial Ancient Realm, a Qilin Immortal had earned the regard of a True Dragon and, after countless great battles, won renown among the Ten Fiends. That was proof enough of the qilin race's potential.

"Please tell me more. What exactly does the path beyond the Extreme Dao look like?"

Yet such an ambiguous answer clearly only deepened the mystery in the Qilin Emperor's heart. He grew even more curious about the era Yuangeng had lived in, eager to know what had truly happened during those untraceable years.

Yuangeng fell silent. Instinctively, he still held something back from the Dao Provers of the Shrouding the Heavens era. Their circumstances differed far too greatly from those of his time. Whether Emperor Jun or the Qilin Emperor, they both harbored a streak of mad obsession in their bones.

Yuangeng felt that some truths about the Immortal Ancient Era could wait until the future to be unveiled.

A moment later, he raised his hand and tapped the jade bowl he held against the Qilin Emperor's Eternal Blue Gold Staff. Of his own accord, he shared a sip of Enlightenment Tea with this spiritually awakened weapon, then said softly:

"In my eyes, being born in this era was both your fortune and your misfortune. If you can one day make your way beyond it, you'll discover that this realm has the finest resources, yet also the harshest conditions. Those who succeed are destined to blaze with splendor. Those who fail can only become dry bones in some forgotten corner of history."

"May I ask,

what step must one reach to count as successful?"

As the Qilin Emperor listened to Yuangeng, his feelings grew complicated. He was nearly nineteen thousand years old. Even for an emperor, that meant he had entered his twilight years. He had clearly tasted wonders and splendors that the vast majority of beings in the universe had never experienced, yet by Yuangeng's reckoning, he seemed no different from those dry bones in forgotten corners of history.

At this, Yuangeng also stood. His impression of the Qilin Emperor was not bad. In the original story, although the emperor had severed his own cultivation, he had never unleashed a calamity. He was also a member of Yuangeng's master's race. Yuangeng felt there would be no harm in giving him a helping hand.

But he still needed to make the emperor recognize the gap between them.

And so he drained the tea, swallowing even the full-moon-shaped leaf, and said calmly:

"The step that marks success is, naturally, becoming an immortal."