Huang Jiu had run off to work as someone's bodyguard, all for the grand undertaking of repairing his flying sword.
The two Martial Warriors spent their days eating and drinking their fill, idling away their time. Master Ming could not be bothered with them. He simply brought out books of classics, history, philosophy, and literature every afternoon and explained them to Lü Bufan...
Mute went wandering every day, though he never strayed far.
Granny Yu spent every day bustling about the herb garden with the little girl, Meng Lian'er...
In all of Two Realms Village, Lü Bufan was the only poor bastard suffering... Every morning, he got up and ran laps around the village with a huge stone ball in his arms. Even when he collapsed from exhaustion, he had to scramble straight back up and perform the rudimentary boxing routine Han Wu had taught him, following a set of breath-regulation exercises.
Every few days, Mute also pounded him all over, and those fists were getting heavier and heavier!
Every day, he was worked like a dog...
No, his life was nowhere near as comfortable as that of the village's only dog!
That evening, Big Black once again ate until grease coated his muzzle, then waddled out of Master Ming's courtyard and back to the village entrance to flop down like a corpse.
Old Skeleton finally could not stand it anymore. He shuffled over to Big Black and crouched beside him with a fawning expression. "Master Black... heh heh... there's something I'd like to ask your venerable self!"
The big black dog rolled his eyes and ignored him.
"That little brat-I watch him every day. He really is just an ordinary mortal! As mortal as mortals get... What on earth is so extraordinary about him? That little bastard Mingxin won't say, but I've lived long enough to become a crafty old devil myself...
"How come I can't see anything about him worth treasuring? With your discerning eye... even the Eighth Realm and Ninth Realm are barely enough to fill the gaps between your teeth!
"What exactly is strange about that boy?"
The big black dog rolled over, pointing his chin at the sky... then yawned...
Old Skeleton muttered a few words through gritted teeth. Just as he was about to climb onto the great rock, he suddenly froze and glanced back at the big black dog lying faceup...
"Upside down? You're looking down... below... below..."
Old Skeleton walked back doubtfully, crouched down, and asked in a low voice, "Below... how far down? Surely it can't have anything to do with what's below... below...?"
The big black dog opened his mouth and belched... A blast of icy breath sprayed straight onto Old Skeleton's head...
"Ow... cold, cold, cold... If you don't want to tell me, don't! Why spit on me? What a waste of our friendship of over ten thousand years!"
The big black dog closed his eyes and began to snore.
Big Black began dreaming again.
In his dream, his master still ruled over boundless lands...
In his dream, he still stood in imposing splendor before his master's Netherworld Throne, atop that lofty Soul-Calming Spiritual Platform...
And there were those savage battles, one after another, in his dreams...
Heaven and earth overturned, and the Great Dao shattered. Cities amid shadowy forests were destroyed, one after another; Law Platforms were smashed to pieces! Corrosion... endless corrosion... His master merged with the laws and became the Great Dao Origin, trying to move part of that world elsewhere. Yet it was still corroded... dismantled...
That severed world actually fell into unknown depths beneath the earth... What it held within was, in truth, the Origin Spirits from those endless cycles of reincarnation!
The most delicious Origin Spirits!
Big Black licked the corner of his mouth again in his sleep... He still remembered the first time he had secretly eaten an Origin Spirit returning to that world. His master had discovered it immediately!
That was the first and only time he had enraged his master... That cold, severe gaze, those furious curses, and the Soul-Shattering Whip lashing his body!
He had nearly had his soul scattered to nothing, hadn't he?
Big Black shuddered all over, as though he still feared that punishment from who knew how many years ago...
Immortal Roots and spiritual energy... he had never cared for them. What he loved... or rather, what he missed, had always been those warm, pure spirits his master had cleansed and nurtured with such hope!
That pitiful boy actually carried a trace of an Origin Spirit's aura within his body! It was very faint... but since the upheaval of the Three Realms, how many years had it been since he had smelled such a nostalgic scent?
Thirty thousand years ago... Thirty thousand years ago, he had guarded a shattered corner of a world... When he arrived here with that fragment his master had pierced the World Barrier to send into the mortal realm at the cost of his life and Dao, he had never imagined... that the attack would come from above!
He had lost, utterly and completely... That corner of a world was shattered and divided up, and countless Origin Spirits were refined and secretly hoarded! Only bands of wandering ghosts and defeated soldiers escaped into the Wasteland behind him.
What could he do? Nothing but remain here, continuing to serve as a watchdog...
Two-World Mountain, Two-World Mountain... His master's final sliver of will had become the barrier of Two-World Mountain! How was it protecting the mortal world? The Wild Spirit Land... the Wild Spirit Land...
He was still guarding the gate... but beyond that gate, his master was gone... and so were the Origin Spirits his master had treasured most...
Big Black growled in his sleep, and a gigantic phantom beast instantly manifested! The vital energy between heaven and earth was immediately steeped in an utterly frigid aura and thrown into turmoil... The Wordless Stele in Two Realms Village erupted with white radiance!
Old Skeleton was shaken off the great rock in an instant, landing in a miserable heap...
"Big Black! Stop dreaming! Wake up, quick!"
Old Skeleton was just about to approach when he saw the gigantic phantom beast open its blood-red eyes... Its icy, savage gaze locked firmly onto him!
"I'm done for..."
Old Skeleton nimbly darted behind the great rock. The phantom beast raised an enormous claw and slammed it down on the boulder...
Boom... ...whoosh...
"Aah... aah... aah..." Behind the boulder, Old Skeleton was hurled upward, his limbs splayed wide, as the house-sized rock shot away like an arrow!
Amid billowing dust, the boulder carried the screaming Old Skeleton straight into a distant valley... Only a long while later did a thunderous crash ring out!
An eerie, elusive ringing of bells suddenly sounded within the village. Unseen, strands of the will of heaven and earth seemed to become ropes, suppressive iron shackles, and all manner of mighty, earth-anchoring mountains, descending from the sky!
Then they all pressed down upon the phantom beast Big Black had manifested...
The Land God Temple beside Big Black shook incessantly, dust and dirt pattering down.
A beam of golden light shot out of the tiny Land God Temple and shone upon Big Black's physical body...
The phantom beast howled furiously at the sky, releasing ripples without color, form, sound, or trace...
Across a thousand miles of sky, every cloud and wisp of mist was driven away. Faint, mysterious silver runes appeared in the heavens...
After several dozen breaths, Big Black's phantom beast slowly faded away, and all the strange phenomena vanished with it!
Thousands of miles away, a ray of radiance shot skyward from each of Great Jin's eleventh and twelfth Guardian Cities... Within a few breaths, every Immortal Sect and Guardian Office was in a panic, hearing enemies in every gust of wind and crane's cry!
Countless wary, terrified gazes turned toward the depths of Two-World Mountain...
What was that being, dormant for countless years... about to do?
Lü Bufan had been granted a rare day off today. First, Mute pinned him to the ground and kneaded him for ages. Then he staggered out of the village carrying a battered wooden bucket, heading to the little lakeside to wash up...
Of course, the bucket held mostly Master Ming's clothes.
Looking at his swollen, torn skin, Lü Bufan wanted to cry but had no tears. This was far too much suffering...
Martial Warrior, Martial Warrior—this was only the stage of knocking on the door to the First Realm! He had yet to nurture even a thread of acquired gang qi, and he was already nearly half dead...
If he succeeded in knocking that door open and crossed the threshold to become a First Realm Martial Warrior, wouldn't those two undying old bastards work him to death?
"Ah... why don't I have even the slightest Immortal Root? If I could cultivate immortality and become a cultivator, surely I wouldn't suffer like this..."
Dejected, Lü Bufan threw the dirty clothes from the bucket into the water, then gritted his teeth and picked up two absurdly heavy laundry beaters, preparing to wash them.
"Is your name Lü Bufan?"
A light, lovely voice sounded behind Lü Bufan.
Lü Bufan shuddered, nearly dropping the beaters into the little lake. He turned and saw the little girl staying at Granny Yu's house...
Lü Bufan had grown up frequenting brothels. Though his heart was pure and clear, he was no ignorant country bumpkin.
This girl was so beautiful that she hardly seemed a mortal of this world...
Hers was a flawless beauty, dreamlike and illusory, seemingly unreal yet true... Yet she had none of that cold arrogance or aloof reserve. Instead, she carried a hint of the warmth of mortal life. Especially when she smiled, her curved eyes shone as brightly as crescent moons in the sky!
Even many years later, Lü Bufan still remembered it clearly...
Beside that little lake, a beautiful girl sat atop a great rock, her smiling eyes curving like crescent moons as she said to him in a clear, sweet voice, "My name is Lian'er... Meng Lian'er..."
The mountain breeze blew, chilling Lü Bufan's bare back and sweeping through the ragged crotch of his trousers... His face slowly reddened.
Why had he looked so indecent both times he had come close to this little fairy?
In the village, Master Ming crouched at the entrance, coughing incessantly...
Old Skeleton lay sprawled in the pit where the great rock had once stood, his face waxen yellow... He did not even have the strength left to curse.
Master Ming glanced at Big Black, who lay equally listless beside the stele... "What do we do? If this happens again, we won't be able to suppress him..."
Old Skeleton spat. "There's nothing we can do. That stele is both the Suppressing Stele that restrains Big Black and a spiritual treasure that nurtures his true soul. When something goes wrong with it, something goes wrong with Big Black..."
Master Ming sighed. "Who would have thought that the Immortal Talisman that bastard Meng Laojiu placed at the village entrance was actually aimed at the Suppressing Stele... Son of a bitch. We should have let Big Black eat him that day!"
From the large vat nearby, Du Yuan asked in puzzlement, "Even if that son-of-a-bitch immortal from the Jinhu Immortal Abode wants revenge on Two Realms Village, he shouldn't recklessly scheme against Big Black, should he? Once Big Black loses control... he'll have more than he can swallow, too!"
Master Ming nodded. "Even if they can tear up the agreement and flatten Two Realms Village then... creatures like them still can't do anything to Big Black. Even if Big Black smashes this whole region to pieces and slaughters a few cities... once he turns and fights his way into the Wild Spirit Land, what can they do? Use Opening the Heaven Gate to call upon the power above?"
Du Yuan nodded. "They must have something else up their sleeves..."
Master Ming narrowed his eyes... "We need to think of something and hold out as long as we can! We can't lightly upset the balance... Over these years, up above... I fear things may have changed there, too!"
Old Skeleton patted the ground beside him... "They've changed below, too... Stop staring up all the time! What's below is the root of every upheaval... Every last one of you sees no farther than a rat! Useless, all of you!"
In the distance... the muscles bulged along the four arms of Mute the monk and Han Wu the deaf man. The two terrifying Eighth Realm Martial Warriors were jointly lifting the great rock Old Skeleton lay on every day, carrying it back one step at a time.