Longevity Candle

Chapter 68 The Candlelight Rekindles, a Century Has Passed (Brother, both chapters are here)

The earth was cracked, ravines crisscrossed, boulders were shattered, and the landscape was devastated.

The peach orchard was destroyed and will never bear peaches again.

The houses were razed to the ground, and the corpses of villagers were everywhere.

Fresh blood swirls around, its pungent smell nauseating.

The green lamp fell into the crack, the Seven Star Sword Formation was destroyed, and the Worry-Free Tree was also destroyed, losing all its Worry-Free Power.

"Why? You are all human beings, why don't you even spare children?"

Hu Ling wept, holding the child's body, tears streaming down her face: "I know I was wrong. I didn't go out again. We've already moved to the deep mountains..."

The alligators crawled out, watching the scene with indifference, showing little sadness.

They didn't care whether the people of Taoyuan Village lived or died.

"Cough cough."

A weak cough sounded, and a middle-aged man covered in blood struggled to his feet.

He had lost an arm and was as pale as a sheet.

"Li Yunsheng".

Hu Ling recognized him and rushed forward, using her magic to stop his bleeding. A dragon spat out a blue flower and injected it into his body.

His injuries healed at a visible speed, the bleeding stopped, and his complexion regained a rosy hue.

"Thank you." He looked at the alligators and thanked them.

The alligator brought out five children: "This is the limit of what we can do; we can't protect any more."

Li Yunsheng pointed his sword, and seven swords shot out, lifting up the five children.

He looked at Hu Ling with a complicated expression: "The agreement between Peach Blossom Village and the Nine-Tailed Lady ends here. After I settle them down, I will come back to retrieve the Green Lamp. We will only accept the mission of guarding the Green Lamp."

He left with his five children, heading south.

"It's my fault, it's my fault."

Hu Ling grasped the green lamp again. Although she was still burned, she did not let go and followed Li Yunsheng southward.

The dragons exchanged glances and returned to the cold pool to rest.

Not long after they left, the earth shook violently, the ground cracked open, swallowing all the corpses, leaving only a stone tablet inscribed with the name Peach Blossom Village.

A nine-tailed fairy fox emerged from the deep mountains and entered the icy pool.

The underground river trembled, creating waves.

"Nine-Tailed Fox, what's wrong with you?" the alligator dragon spirit roared.

"What a mess you've made! Hu Ling hasn't left for a long time. They couldn't have been brought here by Hu Ling, nor were they brought here by Taiping Yiye. It's because you bunch of fools can't let go of your former homeland. You're afraid of Taiping Yiye, but you can't destroy it, so you can only send it away!"

The alligator dragon said in a low voice, "That thing is a menace if it stays in the deep mountains. You are also an elf. Do you want peace to happen again? Sending it into the mortal world will exhaust the power of peace on its own. This is a good thing for all elves. I didn't expect Peach Blossom Village to be destroyed. This is not what we wanted to see either. What's the use of making a fuss now?"

The Nine-Tailed Fox was furious, but it was powerless against the Crocodile Dragon. It could only leave in anger: "From now on, I will migrate away. You and I will no longer be allies. In the next era, I will risk all my merits to make sure you have a good time."

Silence fell over the underground river, followed by the sound of someone beating up a small alligator dragon.

“It’s just a village. We can return it to her when the Ning Kingdom is in decline. Why make such a fuss?” said Tuolong.

"She is still too young, and she doesn't have any powerful immortal masters or Taoists under her command. Now that she has returned to the mountains and forests, she is relying on the incense offerings of Peach Garden. Naturally, she is angry."

"Alright, when the end of the year comes, we'll give her back her village. A few grudges and quarrels will amount to nothing in the long run."

For these mountain and sea spirits, immortal masters and Taoist practitioners, a village is really nothing.

They were wrong this time; they'll return the Nine-Tails later.

As for her anger?
There are still many years to come, at most a few hundred years, so this matter won't be a big deal.

The underground river fell silent once more; this time, there was no sound.

The distant capital city of Ningguo.

The old eunuch, with a severed arm, knelt before Emperor Yongning: "We were wrong, Your Majesty, we were wrong."

"What happened? You were carrying the Imperial Decree and the Book of Peace, yet you are so badly injured?" Emperor Yongning's expression changed drastically.

"The Taiping Dao has lost 80% of its experts. What we found may not be the spirits of the chaotic kingdom, but rather the secluded Peach Blossom Village, where martial artists practice the Seven Star Sword Technique. It is suspected to be related to the Taiping Dao Master..."

The old eunuch looked sorrowful.

"Since you recognized them, why did you still take action? Are they unwilling to submit?" Emperor Yongning said angrily.

"At the time, I was only concerned with Taiping Yiye and Baihu, and the battle had already begun, so there was no way to stop it." The old eunuch lowered his head: "Afterwards, this old servant came to a realization and invited them to come out of seclusion, but they still drew their swords against each other."

Li Qingping left no record of Taoyuan Village. At that time, the village was isolated from the world. Jiang Zhu absorbed the fire of the candle and fell into a deep sleep, not wanting outsiders to disturb Taoyuan Village.

"Didn't you tell them that Ningguo inherited the legacy of the Taiping Dao Master?"

“I’ve already told them, but they still stubbornly cling to the White Fox and the Peaceful Page.”

"Why? Why did they betray the will to maintain peace!"

Emperor Yongning roared, seemingly venting his anger, but also seemingly seeking an excuse for the massacre: "Where is the peaceful era?"

"This old servant is incompetent. That white fox gave the 'Peaceful Page' to Zhang Ning, and he has disappeared without a trace," the old eunuch said, bowing his head.

"You lost eighty percent of your elite troops, destroyed the homeland of the Taiping Dao Lord, and gained nothing?" Emperor Yongning roared in fury, "What use are you to me?"

The old eunuch fell silent, kneeling with his head bowed.

Emperor Yongning's face was terribly gloomy: "Go to the Way of Peace and kneel down, repent to the Lord of the Way of Peace for half a year, and see if there are any survivors in Peach Blossom Village?"

"No, no." The old eunuch lowered his head even further.

"They didn't leave any future problems; they weren't completely stupid."

Emperor Yongning coldly said, "Foolish white fox, the country is prosperous, why are you causing trouble!"

……

Li Yunsheng, with five children, left Ningguo and entered Yunmeng.

The white fox, holding the green lantern, followed behind them, never letting go even as its flesh was scalded and burned.

Li Yunsheng built a house in a mountain forest and looked at the white fox: "Put it down. The agreement between Peach Blossom Village and the fairy fox is over. We have nothing to do with each other anymore."

"sorry Sorry."

Hu Ling kowtowed repeatedly, tears streaming down her face: "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have been so attached to worldly things. I shouldn't have acted so recklessly. I shouldn't have learned to live a life of quiet contemplation. I will stay by your side. It's not easy for you to raise a child alone."

“No need.” Li Yunsheng said coldly, “I’ve already said that the agreement between Taoyuan Village and you is over. I will take good care of them.”

Hu Ling opened her mouth, knowing that a thousand words would not change anything. She put down the green lamp, got up and left: "The page of peace has not been lost. Once you are safe, I will find it for you."

Time passed, and Li Yunsheng, with his superb martial arts skills, managed to raise five children without much difficulty.

Hu Ling still watches over them and occasionally brings them some food.

To Li Yunsheng's surprise, he was able to draw upon the essence of the moon to strengthen his true energy while cultivating the Tianxuan Sword in the Yunmeng region.

As the children grew up, without the influence of the Ashoka tree, they began to have ideas about the outside world and were no longer content to live in the mountains.

Since the children were unwilling to stay by the lamplight, he did not force them.

Li Yunsheng checks the lamp every day and finds that its temperature is decreasing.

The high temperature of the green lamp has disappeared, which means the green lamp spirit is about to wake up.

He called his five children together and told them about his aspirations for Peach Blossom Spring: first, to protect the green lamp and keep it safe from pursuing unrealistic and illusory things; second, to enter the secular world and strive for peace and tranquility for the world.

Only two children, a boy and a girl, were willing to stay by the lamp, so Li Yunsheng arranged for them to marry and continue tending the lamp. Although the Seven Star Sword Formation couldn't be completed, his Heavenly Pivot Sword Technique could still draw upon the moonlight and help the lamp.

This was something that hadn't happened before, so he started experimenting to see if he could trigger it in other areas.

After some attempts, he discovered that he could activate the moonlight in the Yunmeng region, but not back in Ningguo. He kept this to himself and did not intend to tell Hu Ling.

The three children grew up and entered the war-torn Yunmeng Kingdom, their future uncertain.

He can't control them anymore. He's too old, so he's content to follow the family traditions. His children and grandchildren have their own lives to live, and he won't interfere with them.

Hu Ling didn't come back, not even to say goodbye. Her departure was so sudden that he didn't think much of it; she probably went back to the deep mountains.

However, Li Yunsheng discovered something fatal: the moonlight he absorbed while cultivating the Tianxuan Sword was actually eroding his internal organs.

At first there were no problems, but the moonlight accumulated more and more, exceeding the limits of his body.

This is not a power that mortals should be able to control!
Time passed and years went by. A new emperor ascended the throne in Yunmeng Kingdom, which still retained the name Yunmeng.

Li Yunsheng has already left. The couple held onto the green lamp and entered into their life in Yunmeng.

After cultivating the Tianxuan Sword and accumulating some moonlight, they stopped practicing it.

However, just as a rope tends to break at its thinnest point, misfortune seems to target the unfortunate. The moonlight within them was passed down to their children, turning into a cold poison.

The candlelight flickered, and the lamp, silent for over a hundred years, once again shone with its unique light...

(End of this chapter)