After The Rebirth Of The White Moonlight Of The Immortal Venerable Chapter 0

The Cangwang Realm, Myriad Forest Domain.

This domain was almost entirely composed of continuous mountain ranges and dense tree seas. Legend had it that this was where the Fiend Emperor and the Demon Lord battled a thousand years ago. Countless powerful cultivators had perished within that endless tree sea. Here, dangers and opportunities coexisted, and every year, when the Myriad Forest Domain’s external passage opened, countless cultivators would sneak into the tree sea to seek their fortunes. This period was also when the Myriad Forest Domain was at its liveliest.

On the easternmost side of the Myriad Forest Domain was the sole human town. When the external passage opened, it was also a good time for local cultivators to do business. Various stalls lined both sides of the street, selling items—some real, some fake—obtained from the endless tree sea.

Walking straight out of this human town, one would see the boundless tree sea.

Within the human town was a teahouse where cultivators from all corners of the world would stop to drink tea and gather information. Hence, this place was always bustling.

On the first floor of the teahouse, the storyteller took a sip of tea to moisten his throat. Then, he rapped his block on the table, preparing to tell today’s story.

“Sir!” a young cultivator on the first floor called out. “I’ve been in this teahouse for three days, and your stories are always the same. I’m tired of hearing them! If you don’t tell something new today, I won’t give a tip!”

“Exactly! The same stories are so boring!”

“Ahem…” The storyteller stroked his beard. “Since that is the case, then today, how about I tell the story of Immortal Venerable Yun Heng from Cloud Mist Mountain?”

By the window on the second floor of the teahouse sat a woman in a long cyan dress. Her slender fingers, sculpted like fine mutton-fat jade, held a teacup. Mist curled upwards from the cup, and the aroma of tea permeated the air. In the noisy teahouse, only her corner felt quiet and peaceful, as if she were in a timeless sanctuary.

It wasn’t until she heard the name Yun Heng that her calm heart rippled like a serene lake into which a stone had been dropped. She suddenly looked up at the bustling first floor of the teahouse.

How long had it been since she last heard that name?

Wen Qiwu immediately turned to look at the noisy market outside, trying to use the worldly clamor to mask the chaotic emotions within her.

“Qiwu? Qiwu!” Her friend, who had just returned from buying things, called out several times before Wen Qiwu snapped back to attention.

“Ah… my apologies, I was lost in thought just now.”

Her friend lowered her voice and asked with concern, “Qiwu, did you encounter some difficulty?”

“It’s nothing. I just… remembered something from a very, very long time ago. It’s all in the past, no need to worry.” Wen Qiwu smiled.

But her friend felt that Wen Qiwu didn’t seem fine, yet since she wasn’t willing to talk, it wasn’t good to pry.

“My home is in the Azure Sea Domain. In another month, they’ll hold a ‘Leap over the Dragon Gate’ ceremony there, which happens only once every ten years. It’ll be very lively. Qiwu, would you like to visit my home? It could be a change of scenery for you.”

A change of scenery? That wouldn’t be bad. Wen Qiwu nodded, agreeing.

“As everyone knows, Immortal Venerable Yun Heng was gravely wounded in the Immortal-Demon War a hundred years ago…” The storyteller’s voice drifted up to the second floor.

“Clang!”

Wen Qiwu accidentally knocked over the scalding teacup beside her. Hot tea splashed onto her fair, jade-like hand.

“Qiwu!” Her friend was startled.

The woman’s slightly bloodless lips moved, as if she wanted to ask something.

“Immortal Venerable Yun Heng went to the Demonic Realm alone again ten years ago and killed the Myriad Soul Demon Lord… her injury should have healed by now.” A discussion from not far away reached Wen Qiwu’s ears.

Had she truly recovered?

“Are you alright? Why do you look so pale?” Her friend asked worriedly.

Though the tea in the cup was hot, it wasn’t enough to scald a high-level cultivator.

“I’m fine…” Wen Qiwu lowered her gaze and poured herself another cup of tea. Ripples spread across the surface of the tea, mirroring the turmoil in her heart.

“If you’re not feeling well, let’s go back now. This market will be open for more than ten days, no need to rush today.” Her friend, seeing Wen Qiwu’s truly pale expression, suggested.

“Let’s sit a bit longer.” Wen Qiwu’s voice seemed to carry a slight tremble. Her gaze uncontrollably drifted towards the first floor. She hadn’t left seclusion for a century; she wondered what had happened over there in these past years.

The storyteller took another sip of tea to moisten his throat before continuing, “After several decades of recuperation, that Immortal Venerable entered the Demonic Realm alone and killed the Myriad Soul Demon Lord, who had invaded the Wen Shen Sect back then. She flayed him, slicing him a thousand times. I heard all the torturous methods she had researched over the years were used on him, and his soul howled day and night, begging the Immortal Venerable for a quick end.”

“Hmph, what a ruthless method.”

“That’s incorrect! The Myriad Soul Demon Lord almost destroyed the Wen Shen Sect back then. If any of us encountered such a thing, even those methods wouldn’t be enough to satisfy our hatred!”

“Indeed, killing the Myriad Soul Demon Lord is a good thing after all. As long as Immortal Venerable Yun Heng is around, the other two Demon Lords will surely not dare to act recklessly in the future. The Cangwang Realm can finally enjoy some peace for a while.”

Others chimed in agreement. A few individuals, however, found the storyteller’s tale today uncharacteristic of his usual style and were muttering about its oddness when they heard him sigh.

“What you all say is true. Now only two Demon Lords remain. If that Immortal Venerable is well, the Demonic Realm certainly wouldn’t dare to cause trouble. It’s just a pity that physical wounds are easy to heal, but the tribulation in that Immortal Venerable’s heart is hard to overcome.”

Wen Qiwu frowned slightly. She remembered this storyteller often liked to spin unrealistic rumors. She looked towards the first floor but suddenly spotted several young people wearing the Wen Shen Sect’s uniforms among the crowd.

She instinctively wanted to conceal her presence, but then remembered that her appearance had changed significantly. Even if she stood directly in front of them, these younger generation disciples wouldn’t recognize her.

“What you all don’t know is that Immortal Venerable Yun Heng’s decades of secluded cultivation were not due to severe injuries, but because she had developed an inner demon.”

“An inner demon? How could that be!” Most people didn’t believe it. That was Immortal Venerable Yun Heng, who was closest to the divine realm; how could she suddenly have an inner demon?

The storyteller smiled and shook his head, meaningfully pointing his finger towards the sky. Amidst everyone’s puzzled gazes, he fanned himself and said, “Because Immortal Venerable Yun Heng has a ‘bright moonlight’ in her heart that she can gaze upon but never touch. Unrequited longing gives rise to wild thoughts, and thus, an inner demon naturally forms.”

He spoke tactfully, but everyone understood. In other words…

“Immortal Venerable Yun Heng fell in love with someone and couldn’t have them, resulting in an inner demon?”

“Don’t tell me that’s just baseless talk? Is Immortal Venerable Yun Heng also going to fall into the mortal dust?”

The people downstairs were either incredulous, or merely joking about it, or even mixing in a bit of envious malice.

“Bang!”

Wen Qiwu on the second floor suddenly stood up and walked to the aisle, looking down at the first floor. Her friend, not understanding, followed her. The discussion around them was fervent, but Wen Qiwu remained remarkably silent. Her friend secretly observed her expression and was surprised to see a usually gentle person display a rare, icy demeanor.

Her friend found it somewhat unbelievable. Though they had only recently met, Wen Qiwu, in her memory, had never argued with anyone, nor had she ever given anyone a cold shoulder. Even when encountering cultivators who wanted to kill and seize treasures in the endless tree sea, Wen Qiwu would say “apologies” after retaliating… Cough, this analogy might not be entirely appropriate, but her friend had always believed she would never show her temper.

This current appearance was truly rare—no, unprecedented.

“…Nonsense!” After a long silence, her friend heard Wen Qiwu’s icy voice.

Based on what she had learned about Wen Qiwu during this time, her friend suspected that Wen Qiwu had been silent all that while trying to come up with words to curse those people, but her upbringing prevented her from thinking of anything nasty, so she only managed those two words.

Her friend then tried to curse them on Wen Qiwu’s behalf. As expected, with every sentence she spoke, the person beside her would nod solemnly in response, inexplicably giving off a particularly well-behaved impression.

Her friend slightly turned her head away to prevent her smile from being too obvious and being discovered.

“By the way, Qiwu, are you very familiar with that Immortal Venerable from the Wen Shen Sect?”

Wen Qiwu’s hand on the railing tightened abruptly, complex emotions churning in her eyes. “Not familiar…”

“Not familiar? Then…” Her friend saw several Wen Shen Sect disciples on the first floor quietly drinking tea. “Aren’t those a few from the Wen Shen Sect? They’re not refuting it either. I really don’t know whether this is true or false, though it’s probably not as exaggerated as the storyteller says. That Immortal Venerable doesn’t cultivate the emotionless path anyway, so it’s normal for her to have someone she likes…”

Her friend’s rambling fell into Wen Qiwu’s ears, causing the words she was about to speak to be swallowed back.

Was she and Immortal Venerable Yun Heng not familiar?

Wen Qiwu’s eyes glazed over slightly. She had wanted to distance herself just now, but upon hearing her friend’s words, she suddenly remembered that she had indeed once been the person who understood Yun Heng the most. But that “once” was a century ago. For her, it was like a single long sleep, but the world had changed drastically. Perhaps they truly had become strangers.

That’s fine…

Yun Heng wouldn’t have to be troubled by the scandalous love for her junior sister, and she could also let go of the past. Though Wen Qiwu smiled, her eyes were filled with bitterness.

“Qiwu, do you… have anyone familiar in the Wen Shen Sect?” Her friend suddenly noticed that among the Wen Shen Sect group, a woman looked up at them, her gaze appearing vacant and lost.

Wen Qiwu followed her gaze and met the eyes of the unfamiliar woman who was staring blankly. Wen Qiwu didn’t know her, but the woman’s eyebrows and eyes had a strangely familiar quality.

Wen Qiwu subconsciously curved her brows slightly. To her surprise, the other party abruptly lowered her head, intently staring at the teacup in front of her.

“Elder? Did you see something?” Her sudden movement attracted questioning glances from the disciples beside her.

“Nothing.” Dong Shiyue shook her head. She didn’t look up; otherwise, her disciples would have noticed that this usually stern elder’s eyes were red, even shimmering with tears.

She had only, only seen the shadow of Elder Wen on that cultivator. The way she smiled was even more alike, but in the end, it wasn’t her.

“I shouldn’t have met her,” Wen Qiwu said. Perhaps she joined the sect after her “death.”

“Sounds like you’ve been to the Wen Shen Sect before?”

“…Yes.” More than just been; to be precise, when she first opened her eyes from her swaddling clothes, what she saw was the scenery of the Wen Shen Sect and her senior sister—Yun Heng.

The people and things there had occupied almost all of the first half of her life. She could close her eyes and vividly recall every blade of grass and tree on Cloud Mist Mountain, and… that Immortal Venerable Yun Heng, who could make the mountain moon pale in comparison.

Perhaps that was why, when trying to sever her heart, it felt so bloody and raw.