Longevity Begins From Raising Disciples

Golden sword light flashed out from her sleeve, weaving through the battlefield like a roaming dragon.

Amid a few miserable screams, the other Demon Cultivators who had just been about to rush at Zhiwei and the others were forced back by this single sword strike.

”Nice! Beautifully done!”

Bai Liuyue, who had just been leaning against the wall barely clinging to life, saw Bai Li and Bai Susu standing safe and sound before him, displaying great might; he instantly felt his waist stop aching, his legs stop hurting, and even the severe injuries in his body seemed half healed.

”Good grandchild! Today we grandparents and grandkids are going to properly teach this bunch of blind little Demon Path brats a lesson!”

Though Bai Liuyue was severely injured, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

His Sword Qi twisted, and he directly met that crazed Fake Pill old man head-on. With one move, ”Taixu Split Light,” he shredded that sky-filling sea of blood into pieces.

From the moment Chen Ye and the others appeared, the battle instantly turned into a completely one-sided crush!

One peerless Sword Cultivator Bai Li in his prime, one Patriarch Liuyue gravely wounded but with his foundation still intact, plus Bai Susu, whose combat power was enough to kill across realms.

The Demon Cultivators of the Emotion Crossing Sect were beaten back again and again, utterly routed.

Meanwhile, Chen Ye was not idle... of course, not fighting, but teaching his disciples.

”Master, did you see how amazing Qing Jun was!”

After the three sisters joined forces to kill a Demon Cultivator, Qing Jun turned back in excitement, seeking praise from Chen Ye.

”Amazing, Qing Jun is the most amazing. But you need to steady your lower stance more, don’t just focus on exerting force.”

Chen Ye stood at the edge of the battlefield, occasionally offering a few pointers.

He felt very gratified.

Without noticing it, his three disciples had grown more and more formidable.

With the three of them working together, they might even be able to spar with him now.

...

Half a two-hour later.

The stench of blood mingled with lingering Sword Qi; the battle had already ended.

The Fake Pill assassin was nailed to a piece of floating black stone by Bai Li’s ”Celestial River Blade,” staring wide-eyed even in death, unable to accept that he had died at the hands of a ”dead man.”

As for that crazed old man, under the joint slaughter of Bai Liuyue and Bai Susu, he and his venomous blood banner alike were reduced to a charred mess on the ground.

The remaining Foundation Establishment Stage Demon Cultivators were even less suspenseful; they were completely wiped out by Zhiwei and her two sisters working together.

”Hu...”

Bai Liuyue leaned on his broken sword and let out a long, turbid breath.

”Refreshing! This old man has been stifled in this lightless hell for so long, I finally got to vent a good long breath!”

The old fellow turned, his gaze blazing as he looked at Bai Li, then at Bai Susu, unable to stop his old tears from streaming down.

”Good! Good! Every son of our Bai Family is a fine lad!”

Bai Li sheathed his sword, his expression complicated, and cupped his hands slightly:

”Patriarch, you have suffered.”

”Not suffering, not suffering! As long as you’re all safe and sound, even if this old man has to account for himself here today, it’s worth it!”

Bai Liuyue wiped away his tears.

Though at this moment, his head was still full of fog.

He didn’t understand why Bai Li was standing there safe and sound in front of him, but since he was alive, that was naturally a heaven-sent blessing... wait, why was his Cultivation only at Perfection of Foundation Establishment?!

But before Bai Liuyue could ask,

Qin Jiaming, who hadn’t shown herself earlier, finally arrived late, giving a sweet smile:

”This isn’t the time for reminiscing. The commotion just now was too big; this 3rd Layer of the Fragmented Realm has more than just these fellows from the Emotion Crossing Sect. Let’s get out of here quickly.”

”Miss Qin is right.”

Bai Li’s expression grew solemn. He took a deep breath and looked at Chen Ye and Bai Liuyue,

”We can’t stay here. We must quickly find the core node of the time–space overlap and detonate the Celestial Abyss again.”

”Hm?”

Bai Liuyue was baffled.

Wasn’t the Celestial Abyss already detonated? Why detonate it again?

But this was not the time to speak; faint roars from the aberrant offspring were already drifting in from afar.

”This place is not suitable for a long stay; the smell of blood will soon attract the big ones of the Third-Layer.”

Chen Ye made a decisive call, grabbing Tuoba You from the ground once more.

”Follow me, I know a safe foothold.”

Qin Jiaming, clearly familiar with the path, waved her hand and took the lead toward the east.

None of them dared to delay; they turned into several streaks of Flowing Light and followed close behind.

The Fragmented Realm of the Third-Layer was bizarre and surreal.

There was no clear distinction of up, down, left, or right here, and even gravity was chaotic.

Following Qin Jiaming, they shuttled for about the time of one incense stick through the shattered floating mountains, finally arriving inside a semi-transparent floating Crystal Stone.

The interior of this Crystal Stone had actually been hollowed out, with power of Laws circulating all around, blocking external probing and the roars of the aberrant offspring.

”Hu—safe now!”

Qin Jiaming clapped her hands, found a flat stone to sit on, and lazily swung her two fair little legs.

Bai Liuyue took a glance at this girl.

Vaguely, he felt a sense of familiarity.

This girl... seemed somewhat like the previous generation’s Divine Son of the Emotion Crossing Sect.

But the previous generation Divine Son had fallen over a decade ago, and this generation’s Divine Son was about the same age as Zhiwei.

Chen Ye casually tossed Tuoba You into a corner, while Zhiwei and Jin’er naturally stood to his left and right.

Qing Jun was even more unceremonious, directly laying claim to Chen Ye’s back, hanging on him like a little koala, and still didn’t forget to cast a smug look at Bai Susu standing not far away.

Bai Susu felt uncomfortable under that stare. She snorted, turned her head away, and pretended to be examining the surroundings.

Only then, once he had a moment to breathe, did Bai Liuyue shift his gaze back to Bai Li.

The old man leaned against the Crystal Stone wall; though he was in utter disarray from head to toe, his eyes shone astonishingly bright.

He sized up Bai Li from head to toe, his frown deepening the more he looked.

”Something’s off... far too off.”

Bai Liuyue stroked the beard on his chin, his eyes full of doubt:

”You little brat, back in the sect you were a fully acknowledged Golden Core True Man! How is it that now, standing here, the aura on you is only Perfection of Foundation Establishment?”

Bai Li gave a bitter smile: ”This matter, I’ll have to trouble Brother Chen to explain for me.”

After all, when it came to the time–space overlap, Chen Ye saw more clearly than he did.

He was, in the end, a person inside the situation; only Chen Ye and Susu were outsiders who had accidentally stepped into events from over twenty years ago.

Chen Ye patted the little hands of Qing Jun on his back, soothing the little girl, then cupped his hands slightly to Bai Liuyue:

”Senior Liuyue, this matter is a long story. To put it simply... the Bai Li before you is not someone who rose from the dead, but someone from twenty-three years ago.”

”What?!”

Though Bai Liuyue had previously heard Zhiwei mention the time–space overlap, hearing it confirmed by Chen Ye with his own ears still felt utterly unbelievable.

Chen Ye’s expression remained calm as he recounted everything in detail.

”So... you still have to detonate the Celestial Abyss?”

The old man’s brow furrowed tightly as he looked at Chen Ye,

”Why don’t we just go back the way we came? Maybe the lad Bai could also return to reality.”

”No!”

Before Chen Ye could speak, Qin Jiaming, who was sitting on the stone swinging her legs, suddenly cut off Bai Liuyue in a crisp voice,

”Grandpa, what do you take the Laws of time–space for? Your backyard vegetable patch? Go in when you like, come out when you like?”

Bai Liuyue hadn’t expected this girl to be so blunt. His old face flushed, and he gave an awkward chuckle:

”This old man... was thinking a bit too simply...”

Thinking it over carefully, it did indeed seem that way.

Otherwise, if Bai Li just swaggered out like this, wouldn’t there be two Bai Lis under heaven?

Then cause and effect in this world would have collapsed long ago!

Qin Jiaming hopped down from the stone, walked to stand among them, and extended a slender white finger, drawing two intersecting lines in midair:

”The reason we can meet here is because the collapse of the Celestial Abyss caused the ’past’ and the ’present’—these two rivers—to have a brief overlap at this point.”

”Specifically, at this moment Brother Bai is only a projection. And how can a projection on the surface of a river leave the river? Once he leaves this place, he will dissipate and return to his original place.”

”But Big Brother and Bai Susu are different from him. They flowed backward from the present into the riverbed of twenty-three years ago; they are solid objects within the river. If we just pat our butts and leave, once the overlap point disappears, they’ll be completely locked in, and then treated as foreign objects by the Laws of heaven and earth and crushed into dust. Their deaths will not affect cause and effect... once they die, they’ll be truly, utterly dead.”