My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 556 - Southern Dipper - Part 2

Ying Zhuoyao stood frozen, her smile wiped clean off her face. She stared at him, stunned, unable to process what just happened.

In that moment of disbelief, the two servants grabbed her and dragged her away.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan, now two silver nuggets richer, swaggered into a local tavern, tossed one onto the counter, and shouted, “Waiter! Your finest food and drink!”

The waiter took one look at his shabby appearance and immediately understood the situation. But silver was silver, and money talked. Still, in his heart, he figured he’d just reheat some leftovers for the beggar and call it a day.

Li Yuan didn’t care. He ate. He drank. He was mid-bite when a strange feeling crept over him. He looked toward the entrance.

There she stood, hair wild, clothes torn, and face grim.

In the distance, shouts rang out.

“Stop! Don’t run!”

The blind beauty had lost her smile.

She stared at Li Yuan, then glanced at the food on the table, and swallowed hard.

Li Yuan said, “Come eat.”

Without a word, Ying Zhuoyao plopped down and started shoveling food into her mouth.

She hadn’t gotten far when the servants barged in. One pointed at Li Yuan and roared, “You took my young master’s money, and now you’re stealing her back?”

Li Yuan didn’t waste time. He bolted.

Ying Zhuoyao hadn’t finished eating. Gritting her teeth, she leapt up and followed.

The two ran. The servants chased. Chaos erupted in the streets. Chickens squawked, dogs barked, people scattered.

Soon, Ying Zhuoyao was gasping for air. Her legs gave out and she stumbled to the ground.

Just as the servants were about to seize her again, Li Yuan dashed back, scooped her onto his back, and took off like the wind.

He had sensed the icy pressure radiating from her. If the leader of the Green Lotus Cult was really taken back by force, that entire family, servants, master, dogs, and all...wouldn’t live to see another day.

Carrying Ying Zhuoyao on his back, Li Yuan dashed out of town and into the wilderness. Only when they reached the shade of an old tree did he finally set her down.

Ying Zhuoyao’s smile had long since vanished. She glared at him, seething.

Li Yuan simply said, “This, this is the joy of living.”

Ying Zhuoyao’s breath hitched, her chest rising and falling sharply. She shut her eyes tight, inhaled deeply once, twice, just as she was about to speak, her stomach let out a loud, relentless growl.

She tried to get up, but Li Yuan gently pressed her back down.

“I’ll go,” he said.

Soon, he returned with fresh game and scooped up some clear spring water into a makeshift stone bowl.

Once the meat was roasted, Ying Zhuoyao ate ravenously, not uttering a single word.

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” Li Yuan chuckled.

Ying Zhuoyao replied, “Senior, I’m not someone who needs coaxing. I just don’t understand, why did you do all this?”

Li Yuan answered, “Because this is what makes life fun. Why else would I pretend to be a beggar? After you’ve had enough fine banquets, you crave something simple. After you’ve lived in wealth and splendor, you long to wander the streets. And when that gets old, you find something new. That’s where the joy lies.”

And suddenly, Ying Zhuoyao understood.

This was the mindset of those who lived forever.

Mortals had personalities. But Immortals, those who outlived dynasties and centuries, did not. What ordinary people called a personality was merely a label slapped on those who lived a hundred years, give or take. But how could a label define someone who had lived for millennia?

With that realization, everything about this senior’s behavior made sense. No matter how strange or contradictory he seemed, it was never out of character because he had no fixed character to begin with.

Trying to understand his mind by observing his actions? Laughable.

And that, in truth, was exactly the impression Li Yuan wanted her to take away.

Still, Ying Zhuoyao sighed.

“Then you should live as you please. Why drag me into it?”

Li Yuan blinked with mock confusion. “You didn’t enjoy yourself?”

“I—” Ying Zhuoyao clenched her teeth. “I did.”

Li Yuan leaned back beside her, plucked a blade of spring grass, and stuck it in his mouth. He said lazily, “Tell me something. Anything. Just don’t lie.”

Ying Zhuoyao didn’t speak right away. After a moment of thought, she said, “Both the Arcane Supreme Sect and Five Spirits Institute are willing to accept you. Because in their eyes, you’re someone from the Western Extremes.”

She paused, but Li Yuan didn’t ask for clarification. He just hummed a tuneless melody under his breath.

So she continued, “They think you’re here to grab a share of the spoils. That’s why they’re eager to bring you in. After the Grand Union of Yin and Yang is completed, the outpour from the ancestral land will enrich the spirit energy across the Immortal Domain.

“Spirit energy like that could awaken the Lunar, Solar, and Life Halls, long hidden in the folds of space and time. Within those halls are relics that lead to an even higher path.

“They believe if you’re looking to share in the bounty, then you must also be seeking access to those halls. So rather than let you lurk in the shadows, they’d rather keep you right under their noses. And when the time comes to enter the ancient halls, they’ll join forces, the ten of them, to make you the scout. The canary in the coal mine.”

Li Yuan looked at her with a faint smile. “And what do you think?”

Ying Zhuoyao replied, “So long as this world exists, so long as an Outerborn endures, it cannot die. They are bound to be wrong. But I don’t blame them. After all...they’ve only lived three or four thousand years. Just little children, compared to you.”

As she continued eating the roasted meat, Ying Zhuoyao spoke calmly, “Since the rise of the Xia Dynasty 30,000 years ago, countless so-called prodigies like them have emerged, blazing into existence. But none of them ever found a true opportunity to enter the ancient halls. So all they could do was wait. And when their time ran out, they journeyed west, to sleep in that mysterious graveyard of the Western Extremes.

“During the Xia era, human sacrifice was used to appease the ancestral kings and ancient gods. Graves blanketed the land, because back then, the world was still saturated with spiritual energy. In such conditions, the human soul could easily manifest. And through sacrifice, it could be bound by esoteric arts. Even after death, the soul could be shackled, turned into a servant, like a ghost yoked to a tiger.

“Around 5,000 years ago, they finally realized that the spiritual energy was thinning. Without it, the ancient halls would never open. So they searched everywhere for lost arts and forbidden methods until they discovered the technique of severing Yin and Yang.

“With the shift of balance in Heaven and Earth, sacrifices no longer worked as they once did. Without spiritual energy, the souls of the dead could no longer be hidden or held. The decline of Xia was inevitable. And after that came a change of dynasties.

“Human sacrifice gave way to sacrificing the rivers and mountains themselves. And all of this...was part of my master’s grand design. What exactly my master was aiming for, I do not know. But you, Senior...I imagine you understand.”

As she spoke, Ying Zhuoyao’s tone shifted. She stood, bowed solemnly, and said with great formality:

“Forgive my boldness. But my master once told me you may very well be the Southern Dipper.

At the mention of that name, her voice faltered. A tremor slipped into her words, stiff and strained. It was clear that those two words carried a deep, bone-deep terror.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to steady her tone.

“If the Southern Dipper has awakened in this world, then whatever He seeks...will certainly align with His will. So while it may appear that I’m working with the Eastern Sea, the truth is there is only one person I truly obey.”

Southern Dipper? Li Yuan’s expression didn’t change, but inside, his thoughts churned. His gaze flicked to the Northern Dipper Hammer in his Equipment Box.

The Southern Dipper governed death. The Northern Dipper governed life. Both were tied to fate and lifespan.

A memory surfaced, something the spirit inside the Red Sleeve Blade had said.

That spirit, who called herself Yan Hongxiu, was supposedly a god. Who could say what powers a true god possessed? But her deep-rooted fear of the stars sounded eerily like a reference to the Outerborns.

At the time, he hadn’t revealed the terrifying nature of his lifespan. It was only after he’d shown it that Ying Zhuoyao began speaking openly.

Lifespan, that was his deepest secret. And now, it had become his greatest disguise.

Suddenly, a new thought struck him.

Perhaps the Northern Dipper didn’t symbolize death, but severance.

Only through severance could memories, spirits, and souls be extracted.

Viewed from that angle...maybe the Northern Dipper was the final form of the flower shop.

Then, Li Yuan said abruptly, “I want to speak with Him. In person.”

Ying Zhuoyao gave a helpless smile. “My master is currently in the Underworld. But the path between the living world and that realm seems to be sealed right now, I can’t reach Him either.”

Li Yuan changed the subject. “So how did you find me?”

Ying Zhuoyao, unbothered by the switch, answered smoothly, “Wasn’t it because you let me?”

“...” Li Yuan stared at her, silently.

She continued, “To be honest, it was a memory tracking skill. Memory, no matter whose, has a kind of structural stability. Even if something changes, it tends to build on what was already there. If the change is dramatic, the mind might not catch it right away. But once it settles, clarity returns. This skill...comes from my master. I couldn’t use it before. But now...I can.”

Li Yuan smiled. “This year, on the last day, at midnight, Stellar Sea Province, Moon River Beach. I’ll be bringing quite a few friends.” 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Ying Zhuoyao’s expression shifted ever so slightly, becoming alert and attentive.

Li Yuan continued, “I’ve long admired the cultivation techniques of the Immortal Domain. I’d like to join a sect and study their arts.”

If he had said this earlier, she might’ve taken it at face value, built an entire line of deduction around it, and tried to figure out his real motives.

But now? Now, she simply thought that a long-lived being’s words couldn’t be taken too seriously. Their moods shifted like the wind, one moment solemn, the next playful. There was no need to overthink it.

So she replied directly, “Very well. Both the Arcane Supreme Sect and Five Spirits Institute will accept you and your companions. In the past, spirit towns and abodes were scarce in the Immortal Domain. But now, there’s no shortage of either.”

Li Yuan rummaged through his robes and fished out the last of the two silver nuggets. He pressed it into Ying Zhuoyao’s hand.

“Your sell-off fee,” he said, half-smiling. “Fifty-fifty.”

Ying Zhuoyao accepted it without a word.

Then Li Yuan fixed his eyes on her. “Now watch me.”

And with that, he began to walk away.

Once he had reached a hundred meters or so, Li Yuan glanced at his stats and saw that he 84,395 stat points available.

A thought stirred, and he raised his fist.

In the next instant, a new entry appeared in his skill list.

Basic Iron Ox Fist - Rank 9 (1/10)

This was something he’d conjured purely by intuition, an expression of martial intent, formed on a whim.

But at his current level, even a casual move carried the weight of law and principle. A simple flick of thought, a movement of the fist. And just like that, he had acquired a new skill.

He was about to allocate his stat points. But even before he could act, his muscles twitched on their own.

And the skill leveled itself from (1/10) to (9/10) in a blink.

The reason it stopped there?

Li Yuan had deliberately held back the final point.

Then, with a flicker of thought, he allocated one more stat point into the skill.

In an instant, a flood of memories crashed into him.

They were not his memories, but they felt as real as his own.

He saw himself as a country boy, living next to a small martial arts school. His parents were poor but scraped together enough to send him to learn. The boy trained hard, treasured every opportunity. He sweated daily, dreaming of one day making a name for himself, repaying his parents, rising above the mud.

Li Yuan walked onward, immersed in those memories, memories that felt like another life.

Behind him, Ying Zhuoyao suddenly stood bolt upright, horror flashing in her eyes.

She could still see Li Yuan...but the memory tracking skill no longer worked. She could no longer sense him.

Step by step, as he walked farther away, he vanished, not from sight but from presence. She chased after him, anxious.

But Li Yuan had already concealed himself. With effortless grace, he landed in the leafy crown of an old, sprawling tree.

Ying Zhuoyao searched everywhere, running in frantic circles, completely unaware that the man she was hunting was perched right above her head. And from that moment on, no matter how hard she looked...she could no longer find him.

The leader of the Green Lotus Cult stood frozen, stunned. Even someone as composed and unflappable as her couldn’t help but mutter under her breath, “How...how is that possible? Memory doesn’t change. Master’s power never fails. How could it...”

But then, as if suddenly reminded of who he truly was, she let out a bitter laugh.

After all, that man was someone who stood on equal footing with her master. What sort of tricks he had up his sleeve...was simply beyond her imagination.

Fine, she thought. End of the year it is, then.

The tattered, blind beauty thought back on everything that had happened recently and found herself utterly speechless at the way immortals behaved.

This was, in fact, the first time she had encountered a living Outerborn. And also the first time she had traveled alongside one.

She had now carved a lesson deep into her mind.

Never trust how an Outerborn appears, neither their face nor their temperament.

In the next moment, Ying Zhuoyao bent down. In her pale, pupil-less eyes, black irises began to form, one after another, like stars being lit against a blank white canvas.

Casually, she murmured, “Go.”

As soon as the words left her lips, ghostly blue sparks shot from her eyes, scattering into the air like falling stars, phantom embers drifting silently through the void.

These were souls dispatched to distant places.

The blind beauty then sealed her power again, closed her eyes, and sat cross-legged on the forest floor.

By dusk, the tall grass and dim woods around her began to rustle faintly.

Six figures emerged, dressed in various disguises.

Two looked like farmers, one like a merchant, two like servants, and one...a noble young lady.

But regardless of their appearance, all of them approached her with reverence, eyes lowered.

In perfect unison, they said, “Greetings, Master.”

Their bodies were still the same. But their souls, those had long since been replaced.

These were once ancient warriors from a long-extinct clan, all of them sacrificed in a ritual ages ago to please a god.

Their souls, memories, and powers had been stripped and stored away, severed and preserved by that same god.

Now, under Ying Zhuoyao’s command, the six followed her as she departed the woods. Not long after, she boarded a carriage, changed into fresh clothes, and checked into the top suite of the next town’s finest inn. She even took a proper bath.