Mount Xi.

In a cave dwelling at the back mountain of Myriad Heaven Palace.

Yun Jianyue and Zhu Xia sat by the cave dwelling, eating hotpot.

Zhu Xia’s tolerance for spicy food was much stronger than Yun Jianyue’s. After only a few bites, Yun Jianyue was already flushed red from the heat. This great daoist sage was sweating all over his head, and in the end had no choice but to put down his chopsticks, wipe the sweat from his forehead, and sigh, "I was not born with the fate to eat this."

Zhu Xia had just finished a piece of tripe, her cheeks only just settling down when she heard Yun Jianyue speak. She glanced at the duck intestines rolling in the pot, a bit tempted, but after thinking for a moment, she did not immediately pick them up. Instead, she looked at Yun Jianyue and comforted him, "Then next time we can eat non-spicy."

Yun Jianyue glanced at Zhu Xia and said helplessly, "If it’s not spicy, can it even be called hotpot?"

Hearing this, Zhu Xia nodded seriously. "Right, those people in the north like to eat that whatever copper pot lamb, dipping it in sesame paste. It’s not tasty at all."

Yun Jianyue smiled and said, "The world is vast, and people are many. Everyone’s tastes are different; you can’t generalize like that."

Zhu Xia was not someone who liked to reason. By now, the duck intestine was ready, so she quickly picked it up, dipped it in some sesame oil, put it in her mouth, and chewed while shaking her head. "That stuff is just not tasty!"

Yun Jianyue did not argue with her. Zhu Xia still had a childlike temperament; her words were straightforward and naive.

"The temple sent me news. It said that after Chen Chao met the Sword Sect's Sect Master, they had a bout, but it was not a life-and-death fight. After that, he left the Sword Sect, but still did not return to the Divine Capital. No one knows where he went."

Yun Jianyue knew what Zhu Xia cared about most, and what kind of news would interest her.

Zhu Xia said worriedly, "He’s going around looking for fights to break through, right? There’s clearly the simplest method, so why doesn’t he use it?"

Even now, Zhu Xia was still brooding over the fact that Chen Chao had not eaten her.

Yun Jianyue smiled and said, "He won’t eat you. From how he treats you, if he ate you, he would develop an inner demon and might even die. Even if he could eat you without forming an inner demon, he still wouldn’t, because that’s a shortcut. Taking a shortcut may let him reach a higher realm, but he would never become the strongest at that realm. Someone like him would never consider anything short of being the strongest."

Hearing this, Zhu Xia thought for a moment, then asked seriously, "If he becomes the strongest, what about you?"

Yun Jianyue looked at Zhu Xia with a smile and said, "There can only be one strongest. If he becomes the strongest, then let him be. As for me, I was never set on being unrivaled under heaven."

People often said that living in the same era as Chen Chao was a kind of sorrow, but for Yun Jianyue, there was no such concern.

He had never thought of competing for the title of strongest in the world. Since he had no such ambition, when he looked at Chen Chao, there was only admiration.

While Yun Jianyue was speaking, Zhu Xia continued eating. By now, her lips were red from the spice, making her look even more adorable.

She grinned and said, "You said it yourself, okay, you can’t compete with him for strongest."

Yun Jianyue pretended to frown and said, "Zhu Xia, what’s wrong with you? Both he and I are your friends, so why do you only treat him like one!"

Zhu Xia looked completely justified, and even a bit confused as she asked, "A'Yue, you don’t know the reason?"

Yun Jianyue said nothing. Spending so much time with Zhu Xia these days, he even felt that his realm had improved quite a bit.

Being with someone naive required no scheming and no overthinking.

Perhaps this was what the Dao Ancestor of the daoist lineage had once summarized in four words.

"Dao is natural."

After Zhu Xia had eaten her fill, she put down her chopsticks, moved forward a bit, and sat by the cliff, swinging her long legs as she asked with a troubled expression, "When will I be able to leave Mount Xi?"

Yun Jianyue said, "When you reach the end of Nepenthe, that should be it."

Zhu Xia let out an "oh," then suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "A'Yue, you said my master sealed my memories. Can you help me undo it? I also want to know what I experienced before meeting my master."

Yun Jianyue looked at Zhu Xia and asked, "Why do you want to undo it? Aren’t you afraid that after unlocking it, you won’t be the you that you are now?"

Zhu Xia frowned and thought for a while, still not understanding as she asked, "Why wouldn’t I be the me now?"

Yun Jianyue thought for a long time, then shook his head. "I can’t really explain it either, but if you truly want to recover your memories, I can try to help you."

Although Yun Jianyue did not think this was a good idea, he also did not want to refuse Zhu Xia.

A woman like Zhu Xia was always difficult to refuse.

Zhu Xia thought about it seriously and said, "I’m an immortal medicine, so I must have lived for a very, very long time. I must have seen a lot of scenery. It must all be very interesting."

Yun Jianyue simply smiled and asked, "Have you thought it through?"

Zhu Xia nodded.

Yun Jianyue said nothing more. He extended his hand, a speck of light forming at his fingertip, then pressed it against Zhu Xia’s glabella.

His current realm was no lower than that old great daoist sage back then, so undoing that old great daoist sage’s method should not be a problem.

As that speck of light flowed into Zhu Xia’s glabella, Yun Jianyue’s expression grew calm. He guided the light as it traveled through the meridians within Zhu Xia’s body.

Very quickly, he found a certain spot. At that place, there were indeed some restraints. Yun Jianyue applied a slight force, and that spot shattered.

Then Yun Jianyue withdrew his hand.

Zhu Xia’s whole body trembled, and she became somewhat dazed.

It was unknown how long had passed.

Only then did her eyes regain some clarity.

Yun Jianyue asked, "What did you see?"

In truth, he was also a bit nervous. He was afraid that after seeing her past memories, Zhu Xia would become different from before.

But Zhu Xia merely frowned and said, "Not fun. In a herb garden, watching it go from dawn to night, rain to shine, for so many years!"

Yun Jianyue held back a laugh and said nothing.

An immortal medicine, once planted, naturally required many years to grow. And during those years, aside from absorbing the essence of heaven and earth day after day, what else could Zhu Xia do?

Zhu Xia said somewhat disappointedly, "So being an herb is that boring!"

Yun Jianyue laughed. "It was always this boring. Actually, being human is the same. Many cultivators cultivate day after day in their cave dwellings, and it’s just as dull. Truly interesting people have always been rare."

Zhu Xia said nothing, only rubbed her little belly.

......

......

The thunder above Rainfront County grew louder and louder. That pool of lightning had already taken shape, and at its very center, it was aimed directly at that teahouse.

The wrinkles on Lu Ji’s face deepened further and further. This old man, later known by future generations as the Tea Sage, sighed endlessly, thinking that his little teahouse would likely not survive today.

Just as that thought arose, an incomparably terrifying bolt of heavenly lightning had already formed and suddenly descended from the sky!

That terrifying heavenly lightning fell with unmatched might, making everything around it seem extremely strange.

Space itself seemed as though it would be torn apart at this moment. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Lu Ji held a tea bowl, his expression grim. Judging by the power of that heavenly lightning, if it fell, Chen Chao might be able to withstand it, but this entire Rainfront County would likely be completely destroyed.

There were still so many common people here!

After living here for so many years, Lu Ji was truly reluctant to see it go.

But what happened next went beyond his expectations. As that terrifying heavenly lightning descended, within the sea of clouds, at some unknown moment, a snow-white true dragon appeared.

That true dragon moved through the clouds, and before the heavenly lightning, it began to roar!

In the next instant, as the bolt of heavenly lightning fell into the cloud sea and encountered that true dragon.

Tt was actually swallowed whole by that snow-white true dragon in a single gulp!