"Oh, what a lovely poem, what a lovely poem!" Fairy Tianlu laughed sweetly. "Especially the last line—'where flowers dream of a beauty beneath the moon'—it's truly beautiful. I'm sure it must be about me, hee hee."
Her deliberate teasing immediately eased the atmosphere in the pavilion.
Lun Fei smiled bitterly and sat back down. "You mock me too kindly. It's just a humble piece—not fit for refined company."
"Lun Fei, you're too modest. I, too, have a poem to share," said Luo Muzi.
"Oh? We're all ears," Qiao Silü said with a smile, her expectant gaze turning to Luo Muzi.
Luo Muzi paused for a moment, then began to recite:
*Climbing mountains, seeking where immortals dwell,* *Every step, new heights and dangers.* *Dust motes flow like rivers of light,* *Dark Gu hide in the channels of the heart.* *Gold and jade are but a single dream,* *Ten thousand years of regret and loneliness.* *The glories of Five Regions and Nine Heavens,* *All contained within a single breath.*
The moment this five-character poem was uttered, its grandeur and artistic depth moved every Gu Immortal present.
They savored it carefully.
*"Climbing mountains, seeking where immortals dwell"* — a metaphor for the path of Gu Immortal cultivation.
*"Every step, new heights and dangers"* — cultivation is a grueling ascent. Gu Immortals must endure tribulations and exhaust themselves managing their Immortal Apertures. Like climbing a mountain, every step higher brings fresh difficulties.
*"Dust motes flow like rivers of light"* — the River of Time rolls on ceaselessly. One is immersed in the mundane world, dust clinging to the body, one's very self as ephemeral as dust.
*"Dark Gu hide in the channels of the heart"* — on the surface, this refers to Gu Immortals storing their Immortal Gu and Mortal Gu within their own Immortal Apertures. But every Gu Immortal present had literary depth, and they had already caught the deeper meaning.
"Dark Gu" was a metaphor for the gloom, setbacks, failure, compromise, and disappointment that fester within.
Ordinary people say immortals have it good, but only immortals know their suffering. Look at all living things in the world—who among them truly finds freedom?
Gu Immortals bear immense pressure during cultivation. Negative emotions arise inevitably. Even an Immortal Venerable or a Demon Venerable was no different.
*"Climbing mountains, seeking where immortals dwell, every step, new heights and dangers. Dust motes flow like rivers of light, dark Gu hide in the channels of the heart."* These lines were concise, yet their meaning ran deep. Savoring them stirred powerful resonance in every Gu Immortal present.
After that, *"Gold and jade are but a single dream, ten thousand years of regret and loneliness"* expressed how gold and jade were nothing but illusion, all wealth a fleeting dream. As time passed, love and hate alike dissolved and scattered. It revealed the poet's transcendent state of mind—watching the winds and clouds of the world with detachment, unburdened by the dust of mortal life.
The final line, *"The glories of Five Regions and Nine Heavens, all contained within a single breath,"* was magnificent in scope, sweeping away the melancholy and heaviness of the preceding lines with its grand and imposing vision. It carried further layers of meaning: people live in this world on a single breath. When that breath is severed, they die. And people also live to fight for that breath. If a Gu Immortal's cultivation could mirror heaven and earth, becoming a peerless figure of the Five Regions and Nine Heavens, it all lay in one's own effort and striving.
The entire poem first suppressed and then soared, its grandeur awe-inspiring, leaving all who heard it profoundly moved.
For a time, every immortal in the pavilion fell silent, savoring the verse in quiet contemplation.
Qiao Silü marveled inwardly: *That's odd. Based on what I know of Luo Muzi, how could his temperament produce such a poem? It's most likely someone else's masterpiece, which he's borrowed. Well, he never claimed he wrote it himself.*
She studied Luo Muzi.
On the surface, he sat still as a pine, posture straight, sipping his tea with composure. But the faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips betrayed his inner satisfaction.
Qiao Silü chuckled to herself but said nothing to expose him.
Her luminous gaze shifted once more to the person beside her.
Fang Yuan's expression was oddly strange.
*"This is a five-character Qi Severing poem! How is that possible? The Qi Severing Demon Immortal's Grotto-Heaven isn't supposed to appear until the Chaotic War of the Five Regions, when dreams rise everywhere!"*
*"Strange, strange, strange..."*
The Qi Severing Demon Immortal was a mighty figure from the ancient era—an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal with formidable combat power who had fought three great battles against the Limitless Demon Venerable, winning one, drawing one, and losing one.
Of course, in the first two battles, the Limitless Demon Venerable had not yet achieved the Ninth Transformation.
But in the final battle, wielding the full might of the Ninth Transformation, the Limitless Demon Venerable had surpassed the Qi Severing Demon Immortal. Even so, they had fought for nine days and nine nights before the latter finally fell. Yet the Limitless Demon Venerable did not strike the killing blow, instead allowing him to leave.
The Limitless Demon Venerable had said: "You are the greatest rival I have ever faced. But without you, I would never have pushed myself so hard. My current level of cultivation owes much to your role in driving me forward."
To earn such acknowledgment from a Demon Venerable—the Qi Severing Demon Immortal had earned his place in history.
After his death, he left behind a Grotto-Heaven that had persisted to the present day.
In Fang Yuan's previous life, across those five hundred years, the Chaotic War of the Five Regions had erupted, dreams had risen everywhere, the realm walls had dissolved, and the Five Regions had merged into one. This cataclysmic upheaval caused violent tremors in the Heaven and Earth Qi, revealing countless Blessed Lands and Grotto-Heavens that had been hidden throughout the world.
The Qi Severing Demon Immortal's Grotto-Heaven had been among them, its existence laid bare before the world.
Its appearance had, without question, sent shockwaves through all Five Regions.
*"That shouldn't be right."*
*"In theory, this five-character Qi Severing poem should be carved upon the Stele of Deadly Breath inside the Qi Severing Grotto-Heaven. How does this Luo Muzi already know it?"*
*"Could it be... he's already entered the Qi Severing Grotto-Heaven?"*
For a moment, even Fang Yuan's thoughts grew tangled.
The Qi Severing Grotto-Heaven contained the Demon Immortal's True Inheritance. And what caliber of figure was this Demon Immortal? Evidently, he belonged to the same rank as Sword Immortal Bo Qing—a figure even Hei Fan couldn't quite match.
*"If I could obtain that True Inheritance..."*
*"Kill this Luo Muzi, take the Qi Severing True Inheritance..."*
A surge of dense killing intent rose once more in Fang Yuan's heart.
Luo Muzi, unaware of Fang Yuan's thoughts, cast a provocative glance his way. "I wonder if Friend Wu Yihai has any fine works to share? We're all looking forward to it."
"Of course he does," Lun Fei added immediately. "Lord Wu Yihai comes from a distinguished background with a wealth of experience. The Eastern Sea is rich with resources as well—his literary talents are far beyond anything I can compare to."
The two of them elevated Fang Yuan with honeyed words, their flattery polished and smooth, yet brimming with ill intent.