Mythological origin

The silence around the round table continued.

Bai Mo's gaze swept silently across the round table in the silence.

Then, he noticed something was amiss.

It was a figure sitting on the outer side of the round table.

In the perception of the true immortals, every being is a ball of light, whether bright or dim, but the light in that position has a subtle... restraint.

It's not a deliberate attempt to hide, but rather an instinct developed through habit and long-term exposure to a certain environment.

The figure wore a moon-white robe with no superfluous decorations, except for extremely fine silver thread patterns embroidered on the collar and cuffs. These patterns would change slightly under the refraction of light, but never formed any complete pattern—as if deliberately avoiding a certain state of "completion".

Her seat wasn't particularly conspicuous; it wasn't near the front or the back, but rather in the "less noticeable" range.

Bai Mo had no recollection of this face.

Given his photographic memory, this meant two things: either this person was a newly emerging True Immortal who had only risen to prominence in recent decades, or she had deliberately maintained an extremely low profile and had never entered Bai Mo's information network or Terra's aristocratic circles.

That was a female immortal—she might have a different primary gender, but at least in terms of appearance, that was the case.

Her aura was not significantly different from that of the Terra Immortals around her.

But Bai Mo noticed her posture.

It was an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible sense of "distance"—the distance between her and the immortal sitting next to her was about two fingers wider than the average distance between others.

Two fingers may be a tiny gap to mortals, but to a true immortal with keen senses, this minute distance signifies an unconscious, uneasy feeling of not wanting to get too close.

She was deliberately maintaining a certain "safe distance".

Bai Mo's gaze lingered on the moon-white robe for a moment. His observation took less than a breath, but for a true immortal, that moment was enough to dissect the appearance and the essence layer by layer.

In that instant, it seemed she had discovered him.

Her reaction was incredibly fast—no, rather than fast, it was more accurate to say that her alertness never truly relaxed. The instant Bai Mo's gaze settled on her, she slightly turned her head, a tiny movement, yet precisely meeting Bai Mo's eyes.

"And this is...?"

A brief silence fell around the round table. This silence was even quieter than before—the attention of the other True Immortals was more or less drawn to this brief interaction.

She stood up and nodded slightly to Bai Mo.

"Ji Qingxuan greets Senior." He said with a faint smile.

"I have only been an immortal for a few years, making me the latest junior to ascend to immortality in this place." The true immortal who called himself Ji Qingxuan behaved quite humbly.

"From the Divine Ruins?" Bai Mo asked.

His tone was flat, as if he were confirming something trivial.

When Bai Mo first arrived at the Divine Ruins, he encountered a Taoist priest who wanted to exorcise demons.

The aura of the opponent's power seemed to be somewhat similar to that of Ji Qingxuan.

A slight tension rose around the round table.

But Ji Qingxuan's smile remained unchanged.

Her smile was like a mask embedded in her face, but not a stiff, fake one. Rather, it was a mask that she had worn for far too long, so long that it had become one with her true expression.

The curve of the corners of the mouth, the fine lines at the corners of the eyes, the undulations of the eyebrows—every detail is just right, neither overly enthusiastic nor overly indifferent, like the optimal solution derived from precise calculations.

"Yes." She admitted frankly, her voice without the slightest fluctuation, "I was born and raised in the Divine Ruins, and only came to Terra before becoming an immortal."

She paused, her gaze calmly meeting Bai Mo's. "The tribulation to become an immortal was taken in Terra. According to the rules of this realm, I can indeed be considered a true immortal of Terra."

Bai Mo did not respond.

His gaze passed over Ji Qingxuan and landed on the other Terra Immortals around the round table.

No surprise.

No accidents.

They all know.

Bai Mo instantly understood.

Ji Qingxuan's identity has never been a secret.

At least to Terra's core, this woman from the Ruins of Gods was an open secret from the very beginning.

She infiltrated Terra before becoming an immortal.

The true immortals of Terra couldn't possibly be unaware of this process.

For a sixth-level cultivator to completely conceal their origins in a world full of true immortals is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Especially those veteran True Immortals—their influence extends to every corner of the Terra Empire, from the most prosperous capital to the most remote border, from the highest council to the lowest cultivator markets. Every promising talent with the potential to reach the seventh rank will be closely watched.

This attention is not necessarily malicious surveillance, but more of an intelligence gathering: who is worth winning over, who needs to be wary of, who can be cultivated, and who should be left to their own devices.

Ji Qingxuan's ability to reach this point can only prove one thing:

Terra acquiesced to her existence.

It may even have provided some degree of convenience in secret.

If the true immortals of Terra really wanted to prevent a cultivator from the Divine Ruins from achieving immortality on Terra, she would never have gotten to where she is today.

But she made it through. And she "made it through Terra".

There must be a true immortal being behind this providing some kind of endorsement for her, or at least not intervening in her actions.

This is not difficult to understand.

The Holy Terra Empire is a loose alliance without a set of ideologies that everyone is required to follow. The various factions, large and small, each have their own independent mini-kingdoms.

Its internal forces are deeply intertwined, with both cooperation and competition among the True Immortals. Some tend to expand, some prefer to remain in one corner, some are keen to explore the unknown, and some are obsessed with improving their own cultivation.

In this environment, outsiders are not excluded—as long as they are willing to abide by the rules, they can find a place in Terra, whether they come from the Ruins of Gods, the Land of White, or some desolate world without a name.

One's background does not determine one's stance.

Where a person is born, where they grow up, what kind of education they receive, and what kind of beliefs they hold—these are all just the "past." What a true immortal has in abundance is the ability to reconcile with the past.

A true immortal is already a chess player capable of playing at the table. She can choose the Divine Ruins, cooperate with Terra, or even remain neutral and live a carefree life on her own.

Winning over others is the norm.

The true fairies of Terra have been acting all along.

They knew Ji Qingxuan's identity, but they didn't reveal it.

They seated her at the round table, involved her in discussions, and even exposed her to some not-so-core secrets. (End of Chapter)