Chapter 134: Birthday

An unknown number of years had passed; practitioners of the Dao rarely heed the march of time unless their lifespan is nearing its end.

The most significant recent event was the mass recruitment of disciples by the December Sect. People from all over the world gathered there—men and women, young and old—all hoping for a glimpse into the path of immortality, testing their luck with high hopes.

The first layer of testing was a forest established by Turi Qi during her decades as Sect Leader. Transplanted from an obscure secret realm, it circled the outer perimeter of the massive sect. From above, the distance from the forest entrance to the testing site was a straight line of only a few hundred meters, but once a person stepped inside, each faced their own destiny.

Without the need for cultivators to prune them or set arrays, the spiritual trees spontaneously formed a labyrinth. A mortal stepping inside would feel as if they were experiencing an entire lifetime; it was known as the Realm of Aging.

Time waits for no man, driving me toward decay.

Youthful faces bid daily farewell, while white hair frosts the collar.

Compared to the Heavenly Stairs, the greatest advantage of this forest was that few people died. Thus, more people ventured forth, though the majority were blocked at the forest’s edge, ensuring the testing cultivators were not overly burdened.

Days passed, the sun dipped behind the western mountains, and the entrance examinations neared their end. The clamor of voices gradually faded.

A group of newly admitted disciples was heading to the square to test their spiritual roots, excitement ill-concealed on their faces. They spoke in low whispers, and seeing that the senior sister leading them was not overly stern—even joining in their chat quite amiably—their voices grew louder.

Just then, a light as bright as high noon erupted in the distant sky. The twilight suddenly turned to day. Countless people looked south, shielding their eyes from the stinging brilliance.

After a moment, the light vanished.

A plainly dressed new disciple asked curiously, "What happened? Is a great master undergoing a tribulation?"

A disciple from a prominent immortal family, being more knowledgeable, shook his head. "Tribulations aren't like this. Without thunder and lightning, it cannot be considered a tribulation."

The female cultivator leading the group held a middle-rank status and strength within the sect. Relying on her familiarity with the sect’s atmosphere, she keenly sensed that something was wrong. Worried, she sent an inquiry via a communication talisman and received a command to proceed as usual.

Suppressing her unease, the cultivator turned back. "Stop looking. We’re going to test your spiritual roots first."

The new disciples immediately threw the celestial anomaly to the back of their minds and followed her, full of trepidation.

Upon reaching the square, the disciple from the prominent family was stunned by the empty high seats. "Why are the elders not here...?"

How would the inner sect be decided? Would there be no personal disciples recruited this year? The ignorant new disciples didn't care as much, following the instructions of several senior brothers and sisters to begin their tests.

"Look!" someone suddenly shrieked, pointing at the sky.

Everyone looked up, including the seniors. Everyone inside and outside the sect sensed the abnormality in the heavens. On the ground, the mortals returning home—looking like tiny ants—gazed enviously at the broad streaks of rosy light in the sky. "It’s the immortals!"

Rosy light radiated from the heart of the December Sect, streaking toward the horizon. The highest-ranking immortals were all heading south. At the head was Sect Leader Turi; appearing as a middle-aged woman, her majesty was even more pronounced. The elders surrounding her remained equally silent, rushing forward with singular focus.

The perceptive had already tasted the scent of a brewing storm. An atmosphere of anxious unease was spreading.

"The Demon Realm passage has completely collapsed. The cultivation world should arrive to investigate very soon."

In the Demon Realm, a youth cut down a monster that looked like viscous black mud and looked to his side.

He still possessed the appearance of a youth with vigorous vitality, but a sharper, more piercing edge had settled in his features. The gloom in the depths of his eyes was now perfectly concealed; outwardly, he didn't look like a denizen of the Demon Realm, but rather like an elegant, jade-like gentleman.

His narrow waist, visible through his form-fitting clothes, looked incredibly powerful. He slew those terrifying, frequently appearing monsters with a nonchalant expression, but when he turned to the person beside him, though his mouth spoke of other things, his eyes were bright—as if he were showing off, as if he were asking for something. And what he asked for might only be a single sentence or a single glance.

The person he looked at was dressed in a light blue gown, equally youthful. Her round eyes looked back and forth directly, seemingly taking in every detail of the scene. Two long, slender ribbons hung from her hair, one on each side, swaying slightly before settling.

Only after she finished looking did she slowly return his gaze.

In that instant, the comparison of status between the two was clear to see. They had been companions for many years, yet their interaction was just like any other day in the past.

Zora reached out and poked a drop of blood on his face. She didn't wipe it away, instead letting the blood bead smudge.

Vane lowered his eyes, waiting for her to drop her hand before casually wiping the trace of blood clean. It clearly wasn't a word of praise or a reward, yet he smiled as if he had already received exactly what he wanted.

"I know," Zora said, letting out a small sigh. "So fast."

She was referring to the arrival of the plot. Despite decades passing, for those with high cultivation, a few bouts of secluded meditation made the years vanish. She rareley lamented like this. Time suddenly felt quite worthless.

Vane blinked and smiled. "It feels fast when spoken of, but when I think about how we still have thousands and thousands of years of life ahead, it feels quite slow."

That makes a lot of sense.

Zora immediately threw her minor lament to the back of her mind.

"Then Senior Sister and the others will be coming. When they arrive, you can handle things as you see fit. Handing the matters over to Senior Sister Turi should be fine."

Vane did not ask why matters of the Demon Realm should be handed to a cultivator. He only said, "And what about you, Zora?"

Zora: "Same for me. I'll handle things as I see fit. If I run into an evil spirit, I’ll kill it."

She wasn't sure exactly how the evil spirits were born, nor was she sure if the evil spirits in the original story were destroyed because of that joint strike from Turi Qi and Wanghua-jun, or if the place they attacked was a vital point.

...She didn't know; the original book didn't say at all. She had even asked the System today.

The System, which had been silent for years, was particularly triumphant today. It had been nervously counting down since early morning. Upon hearing her, it immediately retorted:

[Of course! This is just a romance novel! Why describe the villain in such detail!]

Mhm... that actually made sense. And hadn't it said those exact words a long time ago?

Zora finished exorcising a few evil spirits around the Immortal-Slaying Pavilion and had nothing left to do. She had always been idle; the Demon Realm didn't actually need a leader with a clear sense of order. To this day, the Demon Realm remained as free as the wind; only the major troublemakers had been removed. Besides cultivating, she spent her time wandering everywhere with Vane. He could always find something fun—for example, decades ago, he had celebrated his birthday in the Demon Realm for the first time.

Just as he had promised before, he treated his birthday purely as a festival for Zora’s amusement. They released river lanterns in a small, green, poisonous-gas-bubbling river somewhere in the Demon Realm.

The weather that day wasn't great, but it was exceptionally dark. You couldn't see your own hand before your face, save for the green, ghostly glow of the lantern wicks.

It looked like a winding river of the underworld. The lanterns were forged from various rare and precious materials; a few even used white bones contaminated by demonic Qi. The surroundings were pitch black—true darkness—and the river looked like a polluted Milky Way fallen into the mortal dust. It was stunningly beautiful. Looking at the ghostly green light reflected in her eyes, she didn't find it eerie; instead, she grew quiet and watched.

Unlike the river lanterns in the human realm, set amidst noisy crowds or silent sleep, the lanterns of the Demon Realm were more exquisite and bizarre, quiet yet decadent. As they drifted past her feet, they felt as if they were slowly gnawing at one’s soul.

There were also strange species born from the thousands of years of demonic mist in the Demon Realm. They lived on the river surface, their tails trailing light, leaving flight paths in the darkness that took a while to dissipate. They neither ate nor drank, living for only seven days. Even if their ancestors were common insects, they were now a completely new race, called Shadowstream Bugs.

Vane did not disturb those Shadowstream Bugs, allowing them to fly freely. Initially, the ghost-lights were a chaotic mess, darting without order, colliding, and rising dizzily.

Zora didn't move them either. She ignored the overall chaos and picked a Shadowstream Bug that was neither too bright nor too dim, her gaze following it steadily.

She remembered learning yesterday that he had invited her to his birthday feast—even though it was only the two of them, in the middle of the night, and there was no food—but Zora had prepared a gift seriously.

Since coming to this world, she had learned quite a lot of "common sense." For instance, if someone invites you to dinner and it’s their birthday, you need to bring a gift. Zora considered herself very polite; she thanked people seriously, apologized seriously, and her questions were always sincere. So she wasn't worried about the gift-giving, especially since she had carefully recalled what Vane did when he gave gifts over the years.

Zora pointed at the Shadowstream Bug she had chosen. "Will it pass over that peach blossom lantern?"

A cultivator could easily leave a small mark of divine sense on an inconspicuous flying insect. She asked suddenly, and without a shred of concealment, her tone stiff. The youth immediately realized she was imitating him.

Since they had been together, Vane always said a few words before giving a gift—those unique, sticky, ambiguous sentences between young Dao partners with a rising lilt at the end. They weren't direct, and Zora usually took them as ordinary talk, just a bit convoluted. So she would politely say "mhm" a few times as an answer. Vane never expected much of a response from Zora; he just wanted to say it himself.

But since he said it every time, Zora had actually listened to a few lines. Since she was the one giving a gift today, and the recipient was Vane, she had a sudden whim to use his mode of operation. Though there was a discrepancy—a rather large one.

Vane, hearing this, was very supportive. "Oh? Are you making me guess?"

That Shadowstream Bug was very old and flew slowly. The river was poisonous, but these bugs weren't afraid; generations had lived here. They flew only at low altitudes over the water, never landing on the surface nor approaching the lanterns, flying tirelessly. Only when they grew too old to fly would they fall into the river and drown or be poisoned to death.

The river lanterns were distributed in a line. The peach blossom lantern was the fifth one.

Zora: "Mhm, you guess."

Guess and then give the gift; that should be fine. This is enough buildup.

Zora thought.

Vane glanced at her and suddenly asked back, "Then do you guess it will? Shall we make a bet?"

It seemed he was even more proactive than Zora.

"?" Zora paused, observing the insect. "I guess it won't."

Vane smoothly chose the remaining option. "Then I guess it

will

pass over." He immediately continued, "Then what counts as 'passing over'? Does this count?"

As his voice fell, the youth’s spiritual power gathered into a point at his fingertip, like a tiny raindrop. He flicked it gently. The peach blossom lantern was immediately pushed by an invisible force in the opposite direction of the bug. It instantly moved further away, completely deviating from the bug's flight path, and then stopped silently. The water surface rippled with tiny, tiny waves that stopped in an instant. His control was staggering.

Barring an accident, it was impossible for the bug to turn and pass over that lantern.

Zora shot him a strange look.

Isn't this just letting me win the bet directly?

Vane paused and smiled at her. "Sorry, force of habit."

A habit of immediately striving for whatever she wants.

The youth flicked another invisible "raindrop." The lantern was immediately repositioned beneath the bug. According to its trajectory, it looked as if it would pass over in the next second; it was perfectly timed.

But before that second arrived, another lotus lantern sped close, lightly bumping the peach blossom lantern. Before the lantern could fulfill its destiny of being passed over, it was pushed off the bug’s path again.

Vane looked at Zora. Zora withdrew her hand and looked at him.

Vane: "This counts as a wager."

Zora thought about it. "This indeed counts as a wager."

A wager with no time limit and no strict requirements. They didn't touch the bug, only the lanterns. Their exquisite control ensured the movement of the lanterns didn't even affect the low-flying creatures. The bugs had no idea that two humans were using the river as a chessboard, moving the lanterns like chess pieces.

When day broke, the bug continued flying along the river, and the two followed it. Zora completely forgot her original intent, her mind focused solely on how to win this game. Yes, she could endure boredom, but this had clearly become an interesting game. Winning and losing were important, yet not

that

important. Right now, what was more important was how to move the peach blossom lantern away again, otherwise the bug would pass over it.

Since it was chess, they took turns, very orderly. Chess needs pieces, so as high-level cultivators, they only used a playful amount of force. The lanterns remained sturdy, and the bug remained carefree, vibrating its wings.

Because there was a "board," the lanterns couldn't be moved onto the shore. All of this required no verbal rules; the tone was set by Vane’s initial movements. He understood her so well, making Zora feel it was more and more fun the more serious she became.

It wasn't just about using another lantern to bump it; you could use anything around you. Wind, leaves, soil, even a bone-fish in the river. The methods of using the same object could be manifold; each time was new, requiring careful thought.

The bug had two days of life left, and they played for two days. Time had no meaning for them, but playing a game still felt fresh to Zora. While playing, the two would chat about other things, like chess players making small talk.

Zora: "What kind of poison is in this river?"

Vane: "A poison that melts the organs. But the people of the Demon Realm feel that if they're truly dying of thirst, they can give it a try."

"How many more days can it live?"

"About one day left."

"What will happen?"

"It will die of old age, but before that, it will choose to fall. It won't die of age; it will drown or be poisoned. The corpse becomes a new egg, and a new shell will protect it so it can fly again—but why are you sitting in the tree?"

"Mhm... it’s been circling in place for a long time. I don't want to stand. And the angle of attack is better from here."

So he looked up at her, and was urged by her that it was his turn.

The solar wheel rose and set, darkness descended and retreated. The bug finally completed its life. It was very satisfied because its swarm hadn't encountered danger for two whole days. It peacefully passed through its final, exhausted stage. It was the most dangerous phase of life, yet it had been incredibly easy; it was unbelievable.

The bug had no idea two humans were watching it, deterring its natural enemies in a unique way. As long as they wished it, no one could find them—like the bug. As long as they wished it, no one could ignore them—like certain small wild beasts.

As it prepared to fall into the water to wait for rebirth, the wager ended, just as Zora withdrew her hand. She had played happily, and she was happy when she won. Her expression didn't change much, but her amber eyes were bright.

"I won."

"You won."

Only after she finished being happy did she remember the gift. Though two days had passed, Zora didn't feel it was late at all, taking out the gift with a normal expression.

Vane, even less likely to feel the lapse of time, took it naturally. He looked down; a black hair ribbon lay in his palm. The ends of the ribbon had gold patterns, and the entire ribbon faintly radiated the aura of an immortal tool.

Zora gave a sincere introduction: "I forged this while I was in seclusion some time ago. I changed the color."

Vane suddenly asked, "What color was it before?"

Zora was incredibly honest: "Blue. Because I just wanted to try when I was forging it, and I’m used to using my own color. But after it was finished, I never had the chance to use it, so it was set aside for a long time. It’s very useful."

She hadn't forged it specifically for him; back then she hadn't thought of anything else, it was just practice. The function of the immortal tool was entirely random, but as a gift, it was chosen seriously because it was truly useful. Combined with Vane’s techniques, its effectiveness would be palpably good.

Anyone else would have misunderstood, though she had no such intent. But the youth had a smile on his lips, his eyes curving with a "hook." His dark pupils framed her, and the corners of his eyes suddenly flushed a deep crimson—a strange look.

"So this is Zora’s hair ribbon, dyed."

"..."

She hadn't used it, she hadn't even thought of using it. Blue was purely habit. But it seemed it could be understood that way... After all, an immortal tool kept at the bottom of her chest was still her thing.

So even though his tone was strange, she still gave an "mhm" and corrected two of his words: "It is my

immortal tool

."

Not a simple hair ribbon.

Vane smiled, though it was unclear if he understood her rigorous correction. He replaced the old ribbon on his high ponytail with the new one. Gold patterns flowed through his hair like liquid light for a moment.

Vane looked down at her with a smile. The birthday boy asked the one who wasn't the birthday girl: "Did you have fun?"

Zora thought for a moment. "Fun."

She hugged him, but he was faster, pressing his entire body against hers, sticking together. Zora was used to his intimate way of hugging, as if they were melting into one.

Vane lowered his lashes and smiled.

This was the meaning of celebrating his birthday.