Chapter 99
“Alas!”
the old man in the jade coffin sighed deeply.
If Qingning were here, and she heard this sigh, it would strike her like a bolt of lightning.
She had fallen into the nine cycles of reincarnation, and when Jiang Chen was stripped of his cultivation and expelled from the sect, she desperately wanted to follow him.
In the end, she succeeded, but she faintly heard a sigh that still echoed in her ears before leaving the Jiuyan Sect.
That sigh was exactly the same as this one! And this old man was none other than the Jiuyan Sect old Ancestor!
With his divine consciousness enveloping the entire Jiuyan Sect, he instantly understood what had happened.
“This is too sudden…” he murmured to himself with a bitter voice.
To preserve his life, he had always been in a state of suspended animation. But ever since Jiang Chen’s Core Formation was destroyed, he would occasionally be awakened by some force, falling into the nine cycles of reincarnation of others.
The first time was Jiang Lianyue.Having witnessed Jiang Chen’s past nine lives, the ancestor, although somewhat sentimental, remained calm overall.
He had lived for countless years, and his heart was as firm as a rock.
Naturally, he wouldn’t go mad like others.
Moreover, the two had never even met in Jiang Chen’s past nine lives, so it had nothing to do with him.
The second time was Lin Mubai.
Viewing Jiang Chen’s past nine lives from Lin Mubai’s perspective, the ancestor felt sorrowful, but his state of mind remained stable.
Besides, he was also becoming somewhat irritable.
After all, he was “sleeping” properly each time, only to be awakened to watch the nine cycles of reincarnation, which consumed his lifespan!
The key point was that he had no power to resist the force that awakened him!
This force began to instill fear in him!
After some thought, he felt it necessary to pay attention to Jiang Chen.
That’s why, when Jiang Chen defeated the true disciple of Sword Peak and was discussed by people like Gu Qingqing, he chose to wait and see.
The third time was Qingning.
And this time, the ancestor was not calm.
Qingning’s feelings for Jiang Chen were far deeper than Jiang Lianyue’s and Lin Mubai’s, so the changes she underwent after learning everything were extremely heartbreaking.
That day, he sighed deeply for the first time after seeing Qingning wanting to follow Jiang Chen at all costs and getting injured.
The ancestor felt like a spectator.
Watching Jiang Chen’s past nine lives over and over again, from different perspectives.
Nine lives over a thousand years.
Each time, he could clearly feel the passage of time.
In other words, adding up the three times he had watched it for three thousand years!
If not for his resilient nature, such a long time would have driven him mad!
Afterward, the ancestor began to think carefully.
He noticed a pattern, those who could see the nine cycles of reincarnation and went mad because of it were all people close to Jiang Chen, and they all felt disappointed in him.
To be safe, he had thought about informing Xiao Hongyi, but the force was too strong, making him afraid to act rashly, so he could only warn Xiao Hongyi not to punish Jiang Chen and not to regret it.
The ancestor had thought about defying fate.
He knew that Lin Feng’s appearance would greatly reduce his lifespan and that the Jiuyan Sect would eventually be destroyed.
For this, he had even thought about personally killing Lin Feng.
But fate is hard to defy.
Compared to others, he had a deeper understanding of Jiang Chen’s past nine lives and knew just how strong the “Son of Destiny” halo above Lin Feng’s head was.
He was certain that if he directly acted against Lin Feng, not only would he fail to kill Lin Feng, but it would also bring disaster to him and the Jiuyan Sect.
Rejecting Lin Feng at the door was a good move, and it almost succeeded.
But for some reason, Jiang Chen was very dissatisfied with this!
He even spoke of ‘leaving the sect on his own’!
Helplessly, the ancestor had to act again, taking Lin Feng’s essence blood and enrolling him.
Although he knew that his lifespan would be sharply reduced after Lin Feng became a disciple of the Jiuyan Sect.
Although he also knew that as a result, whether it was him, the Jiuyan Sect, or people like Xiao Hongyi, they would likely not escape the outcome of the past nine lives.
But he still did it.
The reason was simple.
Although he didn’t know what Jiang Chen ultimately wanted to do, since this was Jiang Chen’s choice, he, as the ancestor, could only fulfill it.
After all, with the nine cycles of reincarnation repeating, whether it was the Jiuyan Sect or others, they all owed Jiang Chen too much.
Moreover, the ancestor had his own considerations.
In this life, although Jiang Chen wanted to be the villain, Jiang Chen probably wouldn’t make it easy for Lin Feng from various indications.
In addition to the mysterious force aiding Jiang Chen, he always felt that the outcome of this life might bring unexpected changes.
And after Lin Feng became a disciple, Xiao Hongyi went into seclusion.
The ancestor had little lifespan left and couldn’t stay conscious for long. Seeing that things were not worsening, he once again fell into a suspended animation state.
But who could have expected…
It was too sudden!
Without any warning, Jiang Chen was captured for the crime of ‘harming fellow disciples’ and taken to the summit.
The elders and disciples of the Ninth Peak had great faith in Xiao Hongyi, their Peak Master, and although the Great Elder of the Ninth Peak was extremely dissatisfied with Jiang Chen, he still informed Xiao Hongyi!
At this point, the ancestor could no longer stop it, because as Xiao Hongyi fell into the nine cycles of reincarnation, his own vision also began to distort.
“I’m a person close to death, yet the more I look, the less I like the ways of heaven. I’m about to go mad too,” the ancestor said with a self-deprecating smile.
As Jiang Chen said, he was someone who had seen big scenes.
But to defy the heavens nine times—this spectacle is something he has never witnessed!
With that being said, the old ancestor closed his eyes once more.
This time he did not enter a suspended animation state but fell into a void of darkness.
When the light appeared and the darkness faded, he merged with heaven and earth, unable to act but able to see everything.
……
It was sunset, the afterglow of the setting sun.
In front of him was not the Jiuyan Sect, but the southernmost part of the Central Domain, thousands of li away from the Jiuyan Sect.
At the top of the perilous peak that reaches the clouds, there is a two-story Red Jade Pavilion with a spiritual pond in front, shimmering with spiritual light.
Behind the pavilion was a half-acre spiritual field frequented by white cranes and other spiritual beasts.
By the pond, a boy was fishing with a rod, and a woman in red stood behind him.
When the boy looked back at her, the woman’s expression was stern, and she lightly flicked the boy’s forehead with her finger.
When the boy turned his head back to the pond, the woman’s stern expression faded, and she smiled radiantly like a blooming flower.
“Master, why have we come here?” the boy dared not turn back but asked.
“Because this is my home,” the woman replied instantly.
“Home?”
The boy fell silent for a while, then pretending confusion, “Isn’t Master from the Xiao family? How could you settle down in this place?”
Hearing this, the light dimmed in the woman’s beautiful eyes.
This made the heart of the Jiuyan old Ancestor sour.
Xiao Hongyi was indeed from the Xiao family, but later, she merged with phoenix blood.
The phoenix is a divine beast, and its essence blood can completely transform a cultivator’s physique, but how easy is it to obtain such divine beast essence blood?
Therefore, the blood Xiao Hongyi merged with was just the ordinary blood of a female phoenix.
This was a reward from the former emperor after the Jiuyan old Ancestor was gravely injured in battle for the Imperial Dynasty.
Phoenix blood is greatly beneficial to cultivators, but because it was acquired later in life and was ordinary phoenix blood, it could cause rejection.
When Xiao Hongyi first merged with the phoenix blood, it often devoured her heart, making her cold, numb, as if devoid of emotion, and rejecting everyone.
Out of necessity, the Xiao family built this red pavilion on the perilous peak where Xiao Hongyi lived for a long time until she became a cultivator of the Upper Four Realms and could barely resist the devouring effect of the phoenix blood.
Only then was she able to leave and enter the Jiuyan Sect.
Jiuyan old Ancestor shifted his gaze, beginning to search around.
Sure enough, he quickly found that figure in red suspended in the sky, staring blankly at the golden characters 【First Life】 above.
“Coming up here just to expose old wounds… Hongyi, you have to hold on!” the Jiuyan old Ancestor silently cheered her on.
After speaking, he added, “I have to hold on too…”
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