Chapter 697 – Passage of time
Northern part of planet Ran Yun, the capital of the Di Shan Empire. A person was sitting inside an extremely luxurious palace. This person was almost forty years old with a slight bit of white hair. Under his sword-like eyebrows was a pair of eyes that were like the stars.
This person was very handsome, and his green robe made him look very luxurious and gave him an aura of majesty.
There was a map spread out on the table before him. He pondered as he looked at the map. After a long time, he withdrew his gaze.
It was now late at night and the moonlight was covering the ground. As the person silently pondered, he stood up and walked out of the palace. He stared at the earth covered in moonlight and gently sighed.
“I wonder if Father is also watching this world right now…”
A cotton velvet cloak was put on the man from behind him. He raised his hands to hold it over his shoulder and smiled. “Still haven’t gone to sleep?”
A woman appeared behind the man. This woman was very beautiful, and although she had aged, she didn’t look old. Instead, she gave off a mature aura.
The woman’s eyes revealed tenderness as she looked at the man and softly said, “The night wind is cold, rest early.”
The man grabbed the woman’s hand as he looked up at the moon in the sky and slowly said, “Qing Yi, what do you think our Dad is doing right now…”
Qing Yi’s face turned red. She had accompanied this man for many years and even told him about her agreement with his father. The time they spent together had caused their feelings to grow, but at this moment, her face still turned red like a little girl’s.
Qing Yi softly said, “It should be your dad…”
The man held onto Qing Yi’s hand and laughed. “My father is your father.”
Qing Yi’s heart felt sweet. She followed the man’s gaze toward the moon and softly said, “Dad should be resting…”
The man’s eyes revealed a strange light and he shook his head. “I can feel that Father is watching me right now…”
In the Wang mansion in Vast Water City, Wang Lin withdrew his gaze from the distance. He was sitting in the courtyard under a tree accompanied by the autumn wind and listening to the leaves rustling. Sometimes one or two leaves would fall and drift before his eyes.
Falling leaves will all eventually return to the roots of the tree. They were like children who would leave when tired but would always return to their love ones.
Time seemed to silently flow by as the leaves fell. Time began moving, and in the blink of an eye, another five years passed.
The School of Heaven was extremely large and had enveloped the three empires, and it was still spreading all over planet Ran Yun. If the peace remained, it would have been fine, but three years ago, there was a sudden change in the Di Shan Empire. They began to crack down on the School of Heaven and even sent out large amount of troops to wipe them out.
This sudden change was like adding water into hot oil. This change caused the mortal world to go into chaos and caused a great uproar.
The School of Heaven’s reaction was extremely fierce. In just half a month, they were able to gain control of the military in the Di Shan Empire without any bloodshed. Six or seven out of every ten people in the Di Shan Empire were followers of the School of Heaven.
Taking less than a month to beat an empire was like a spring thunder that exploded in everyone’s hearts. No one was prepared for it, and they were shaken to their souls.
The Da Qin Empire and the Chen Yun Empire didn’t recklessly move. They sent out messengers to the School of Heaven to sign an agreement to not invade each other.
The Di Shan Empire no longer existed and was replaced by a giant empire called the Heaven Empire.
In the Heaven Empire’s capital, Wang Ping was wearing the dragon robe while standing high above, looking down at the world. Beside him, Qing Yi silently accompanied him.
The officials of the Heaven Empire looked up at their new emperor. They could never see through this person. It was as if nothing in this world had any value to him. It was as if even him standing here today was just him trying to prove something to someone.
Wang Ping’s eyes swept past the world beneath him and looked into the distance.
The matter with the Di Shan Empire attracted the attention of the cultivators on planet Ran Yun, and they showed signs of interfering.
Wang Lin’s life was still as calm as water without any ripples, and his face was growing even older. This year was the fifth year since the Heaven Empire was established.
The Da Qin Empire and the Chen Yun Empire broke their agreement and launched their attack on the Heaven Empire.
Wang Lin didn’t pay any attention to any of these. He sat in the inn all day, listening to people talking about the rumors of the three empires. He just silently drank and never said a word.
The waiter from back then had borrowed some money from his relatives and bought this inn, so he was now the shopkeeper. The new waiter was also very familiar with Wang Lin. Upon seeing Wang Lin arrive, he quickly brought the wine and food that he brought every time.
The waiter was very kind. After putting down the food and wine, he caringly said, “You are getting old. It is best to drink less.”
Wang Lin smiled and nodded. “Today I’ll drink only one jug!”
The waiter smiled and went to greet other customers. When he had spare time, he leaned against the counter by the door, looking at Wang Lin, and sighed. “This elder Wang is a man with a bitter life. He’s this old and has no children to accompany him.”
The cashier behind the counter lifted his hand off the abacus and shook his head. “I heard from a servant girl from their mansion that he had a son. However, the son left home many years ago and never came back.”
Wang Lin held the wine jug and took a drink. His gaze fell outside the window and he sat there for a whole day.
At dusk, the old servants came to the inn. They thought that their master was getting old. When he didn’t drink, it was fine, but after drinking, there should be someone with him. Otherwise, they feared he would fall and hurt himself.
Wang Lin and the old servants walked under the gradually rising moonlight as they returned home. The empty large house was dim without any light.
After telling the old servants to leave, Wang Lin sat down in the courtyard and looked up at the sky as he muttered, “Time passed very quickly. Ping Er is already 47 years old… Perhaps he has found some clues himself…”
The battle between the three empires slowly unfolded, but with the interference of cultivators, there were many unexpected turns of events. However, this all changed when the emperor of the Heaven Empire personally took charge.
No matter what cultivation level the cultivators were at, they would all retreat before him. Slowly, all of the interfering cultivators withdrew from the mortal world.
Aside from Wang Ping showing up, another big reason was that the Sun, Ran, and Zhao families had given their orders.
Wang Ping was sitting in the head position inside a golden tent in the army’s camp. After waving away a few courtiers, he walked out of the tent. His eyes passed several of the passing soldiers before looking at Quilian mountain in the distance.
Wang Ping’s face looked slightly older, and the hair around his temples was completely white. After becoming a supreme ruler among mortals, there wasn’t much happiness in his life. All of the things he had to worry about made his heart feel fatigue.
He suddenly missed the 19 years of his childhood and everything he experienced in the village when he was a boy.
While he was looking at the Quilian mountain, pondering, Qing Yi walked out from the tent. She stood next to Wang Ping and softly said, “You said that that was where you grew up. Do you want to go see it?”
Qing Yi’s appearance also revealed trace of time as she gently looked at Wang Pin.
Wang Ping sighed and said, “Let’s go see…”
A par of sergeants followed as Wang Ping and Qing Yi walked toward Quilian mountain. Wang Ping looked at the surroundings. The unfamiliar surroundings gave him a sense of familiarity.
The smoke in the distance gradually became clearer, then the Fallen Moon Village appeared in his sight.
As soon as they got near, maybe because of the soldiers, fierce barking came from the village. During these chaotic times, the villagers of Fallen Moon Village were all vigilant. Now that they heard the dogs barking, they immediately got up and took their farming tools and torches outside. They saw that not far away were soldiers in full armor and a man and a woman wearing civilian clothes.
Facing the hostile gazes of the villagers, Wang Ping didn’t say a word. He stared at the villagers, but in the end wasn’t able to recognize a single one of them.
His face revealed bitterness. Time was like song, and in a flash many years had passed. He wasn’t able to recognize the people he was familiar with back then, because their changes were too great.
Moreover, nearly thirty years had passed. He didn’t know how many had stepped into the reincarnation cycle and were no longer here.
“Let’s go to the back mountain. Grandpa Sun is buried there.”
Qing Yi let out a sigh and walked forward with Wang Pin. The villagers before them hesitated before slowly spreading out and making a path.
Just at this moment, a weak voice filled with uncertainty came.
“Wang Ping…”
Wang Ping stopped, then he turned around and his gaze fell on a villager. It was woman who looked about forty years old. The woman appeared to be slightly old, but in Wang Ping’s eyes, he seemed to see the girl who said “I hate you.”
At this very moment near the distant planet Yun Xia, Greed was moving like a meteor. He looked at planet Yun Xia as he sniffed and his eyes revealed a strange light.
“Just as I entered the northern domain, I had a hunch that there was treasure here and followed its aura. The smell led me here. There is no mistake, the dense fog is clearly covering up the treasure’s light.
“However, this planet looks a bit strange!”
Greed stared at planet Yun Xia for a bit. After hesitating for a moment, he flew toward it. In his whole life, he had never been to any place without treasure. He had a terrifying intuition about where treasures lied.
As he closed in, his heart beat wildly and his eyes glowed even brighter.
“I only had this feeling when I got that giant furnace. Could this place have a treasure comparable to that giant furnace?” Greed’s eyes were filled with excitement. At this moment, he completely forgot about Wang Lin and the restrictions placed on him.
He clenched his teeth as he slapped his bag of holding and the giant furnace appeared before him. While using it to clear a path, Greed followed and slowly disappeared inside the fog.
“This old man has to see what kind of treasure this is!” Greed licked his lips.