After such a long session, Yujian was dazed and couldn’t regain her wits for a long time. Before she knew it, Li Qiye had opened a new door for her, an unprecedented one that would reach all the way to the grand dao.
In fact, Xiaoxiao enjoyed this preaching as well. She stood there with one hand on her chin, completely immersed and fascinated by his words. She calmed down at the same time as Yujian and ran over to tap on Li Qiye’s shoulder: “Ego King, were you an assassin in the past?”
Li Qiye laughed at this inquiry: “Who says I’m an assassin? Are you saying that one can’t understand something without experiencing it firsthand?” [1]
“Please, I don’t believe your nonsense at all.” She glared at him: “It looks like you are lying. Hmph, you must have been a big assassin before, maybe even a perverted one.”
She laughed after making this claim. It was not unreasonable for her to think this way. Even Yujian was suspecting that Li Qiye might be from the night corps or a supreme assassin that they secretly groomed.
“Your imagination is too rich.” Li Qiye saw her expression and understood what she was thinking then shook his head: “I am not an assassin secretly groomed by the Godslaying Night Corps and definitely not an assassin. I am me, Li Qiye, that’s all.”
Her face turned slightly red after being read by him, but she assumed her stoic manner again right after. After being an assassin for so long, she had a hard time adapting to these feminine expressions.
He stood up and told Ye Xiaoxiao: “Alright, we’ll go to the Undying Gate.”
“Let’s go!” Xiaoxiao was ecstatic. She had been wanting to enter the Divine Tree Ridge’s inner world. Sima Yujian, on the other hand, was hesitant.
For her, there was no need to follow Li Qiye. Not to mention that he used to be her target, more importantly, the two of them didn’t know each other and he wasn’t part of the night corps. Following him would mean exposing everything about her.
After noticing the girl’s hesitation, Li Qiye turned around and flatly asked: “What now, you still think that I’m plotting against you?”
She couldn’t answer right away.
“Keep up.” Li Qiye didn’t waste time and lowered his tone.
With his serious demeanor, she felt a jolt and couldn’t help but follow him as if star-struck. Her legs wouldn’t listen to her any longer due to Li Qiye’s infinite charisma; she could only follow him.
The three ran to the Undying Gate. However, it looked like only Li Qiye and Xiaoxiao were present. In fact, Yujian was right behind them with her amazing stealth techniques from being the successor of the night corps. The weaker people simply couldn’t detect her.
They arrived at the gate very quickly. The moment it came in sight, Xiaoxiao excitedly said: “We’re here.”
Li Qiye only smiled after seeing it.
The Undying Gate was created by Immortal Emperor Bu Si, once famous and deterring for a generation, especially during his era. Despite its vast size, there were only two lineages at Godhalt — the Spirit Abyss and the Undying Gate.
Today, the gate had fallen and was inferior to the abyss. However, during the emperor’s era, the gate was very prestigious while the abyss was the underdog. It was a time when experts coming to Godhalt would also visit the Undying Gate to show their respect instead of just the abyss. Alas, this was no longer the case.
Anyone would be suppressed at Godhalt. This in addition to old rumors about a slow cultivation speed, no one wanted to stay at this vast continent outside of the Undying Gate and the Spirit Abyss.
Strangely enough, both of their disciples weren’t affected by Godhalt, and their cultivation speed remained the same without slowing down because of the land.
There were certain credible sources for why the abyss was unaffected. Some supremes believed that the abyss had some incredible treasures on top of their bloodline. Because they claimed to have the oldest bloodline of the charming spirits, they were unhindered by Godhalt. However, it was a different story for the Undying Gate. No one knew why this particular sect was fine.
The two powers were different from each other. The abyss had been built on Godhalt during an ancient era. The gate came later from Immortal Emperor Bu Si. This lineage was a miracle of this land. Even the guests who came to stay in this sect were freed from the suppression.
Because of this, the same belief of an amazing treasure being at work applied for the Undying Gate as well. As for why their disciples were untouched in the other locations of Godhalt, this remains a mystery.
The abyss had an ancient bloodline, but it wasn’t the same for the Undying Gate, an all-embracing sect. At its greatest height, they had countless disciples from all the races including humans, sea demons, and charming spirits.
Thus, the answer didn’t lie in their bloodlines. Eventually, there was an even bolder hypothesis. It stated that the reason for their freedom was because of the merit law created by Immortal Emperor Bu Si, the secret for his immortality.
There had been many legends about this particular secret, and the miracle of the Undying Gate only fueled its validity.
Because of this, countless experts and great characters came to the sect in search of this art of immortality after its decline. This resulted in a catastrophe for the Undying Gate, a disaster that nearly drove it to the point of destruction. However, it managed to weather the storm. Nevertheless, it failed later on and became an insignificant sect with few disciples.
While standing at the entrance to look at the entire sect, both Xiaoxiao and Yujian marveled its spectacular appearance. Its location was extremely dangerous and shrouded in fog and clouds so it looked quite surreal.
Its mountain ranges were fairly magical as well. Each of the ranges produced unbelievably steep cliffs as if they were hanging in the air. Some were intertwined in a very intricate and complex manner!
Many would be in awe of this magnificent geography. There were rivers and waterfalls three thousand feet in the air pouring down among the aerial mountain ranges.
“So magnificent, such strange physical features.” Xiaoxiao commented with admiration.
Li Qiye smiled and said: “There’s a reason for this. The Undying Gate is not only located in Godhalt, it is also closest to the Divine Tree Ridge. In fact, the ridge begins here with its source.”
“This is the source of the ridge?” Xiaoxiao was skeptical after hearing this: “But people don’t go here first when they visit the ridge.”
“Not everyone can see it.” Li Qiye smiled and shook his head: “This is indeed the root of the ridge. The emperor back then realized this, that is why he built the Undying Gate here. At Godhalt, there are two supreme places to establish sects, both taken by the abyss and the gate. These locations are supreme treasure lands. This is why the emperor was so great. He struggled for a long time in order to find many secrets of the ridge and established his sect here.”
Of course, there was something Li Qiye didn’t mention. A big reason why the emperor was able to figure out some of these secrets was due to his origin.
While the three were standing outside the entrance, an old man with three disciples came to greet them.
The old man cupped his fist and introduced himself: “This humble old man is the Undying Gate Master. My last name is Huang, given name Nengquan.”
[1] The raw saying for this is a modified version of a common phrase — you can’t say that just because you haven’t eaten pigs means that you have never seen one run. The meaning is that you don’t have to actually do something to understand or comment on it. For example, spectators can comment on sports without being a professional athlete. A more modern yet childish and fitting line would be — just because I’m a virgin doesn’t mean I haven’t seen a girl before. A more formal version would be — I’m not a complete neophyte.