Su Yueli raised her eyebrows as she looked at the few loose cultivators bowing to her.
She had spent thirty years in closed-door cultivation, and now, the moment she stepped out, she had actually become a “senior.”
However, scanning them with her Delusion Breaker Rank intuition, she sensed that their spiritual energy was incredibly weak, only at the Second Realm mid stage.
With her current Delusion Breaker Rank strength, which surpassed even a Tenth Realm Martial God, she was more than worthy of being addressed as “Senior” by them.
Su Yueli's expression remained indifferent. She gave a barely perceptible nod and lifted her foot to leave.
The loose cultivators exchanged glances before one of them mustered up the courage to ask, “May we ask Senior, what is the current situation inside? Are there still high-grade demon beasts occupying the area?”
Su Yueli paused and flatly replied, “There are still a few high-grade demon beasts in the depths. As long as you don't seek death by wandering too deep, you won't die sticking to the outer perimeter.”
“Thank you for your guidance, Senior!” The loose cultivators were overjoyed and bowed respectfully once more.
Su Yueli's figure flickered, completely vanishing from the entrance like a wisp of green smoke.
After leaving the secret realm, Su Yueli walked across the plains, pondering where to go next.
“I definitely can't go back to Black Wind Mountain,” Su Yueli calculated in her heart.
From the time she was forced to flee the city until now, a full thirty years and six months had passed.
Thirty years was long enough for a mortal to marry, have children, and grow into middle age or even old age.
If she returned to Black Wind Mountain to find Qi Feng now, and he saw that her appearance hadn't aged a single day—looking even younger and more ethereal than before—he would undoubtedly suspect she possessed some supreme treasure that granted eternal youth.
After all, it was no secret that she lacked the Bone Talent to cultivate and had always practiced martial arts.
A mortal martial artist could never achieve agelessness for no reason.
In the greedy cultivation world, such a temptation was far too great.
Although she and Qi Feng had been on good terms back then, thirty years of separation made human nature too unpredictable and filthy. She didn't dare to gamble on it.
“I should head back to Qingzhou City,” Su Yueli exhaled slowly. She planned to return and see her old friends from back then.
Having made up her mind, Su Yueli traveled at full speed.
Along the way, she passed by several cultivation cities she had visited during her escort days.
Peering out from beneath her hood, she saw that the streets and environments of those cities had undergone significant changes. The familiar mortal inns of the past were gone, replaced by new cultivation shops, and the streets were filled with entirely unfamiliar faces.
Thirty years might only be a single ordinary period of closed-door cultivation for a cultivator, but for the mortal world, it was the transition of nearly a generation.
Three days later, traveling in haste, Su Yueli finally returned to Qingzhou City.
The city gates were still packed with people, and carriages flowed like a river. It looked just as bustling as it had in the past, seemingly unchanged.
Yet as Su Yueli stood in the crowd, gazing at the weathered city walls, an indescribable sense of desolation washed over her.
Thirty years had passed just like that.
Following her memories, she walked through two familiar, noisy streets and arrived at a bustling area in the east of the city.
Looking from afar, a massive wine banner fluttered loudly in the wind, bearing four large characters: Tie Family Spirits.
Seeing that the familiar sign was still hanging in its original spot, the tight corners of Su Yueli's mouth curved upward slightly, and a faint, inexplicable warmth rose in her heart.
Thirty years had gone by, and that girl Tie Ling'er's brewery was actually still here. By the looks of it, the business had grown even larger than before.
Su Yueli stepped inside. The shop featured a high counter, and business was booming.
A middle-aged shopkeeper, seemingly in his early thirties and dressed in silk robes, was looking down, clicking his abacus rapidly.
Su Yueli walked up to the counter and spoke in a cool tone, “Excuse me, is Tie Ling'er here?”
Hearing her voice, the shopkeeper instinctively looked up.
When he saw a cold, beautiful woman in a green dress standing before him, looking like a celestial fairy, he was visibly stunned. Then, a trace of sorrow flashed in his eyes.
“Customer... are you here to see my master?”
The middle-aged shopkeeper sighed, his tone heavy. “To tell you the truth, because my master overworked herself in her youth and was only a mortal, she... passed away peacefully ten years ago due to old age.”
Boom.
Su Yueli stood frozen in place, her face turning instantly pale.
She died of old age ten years ago.
In this instant, Su Yueli felt a suffocating tightness in her chest, as if a rusty iron blade had been violently plunged into her heart. There was no blood, but the pain was agonizing.
To live long and watch the ages pass—this was the price that must be paid for longevity.
She had closed her eyes to cultivate, and in what felt like just a few circulations of blood qi, she opened them to a changed world. When she stepped out again with a heart full of joy, her dearest friend had already turned into a handful of yellow dust.
In the end, she hadn't even been able to see her one last time.
Seeing the change in the woman's expression, the middle-aged shopkeeper's mind raced. He mustered up his courage and asked tentatively, “May I ask your esteemed name, customer? What was your relationship with my master?”
Su Yueli snapped back to reality. She took a deep breath, suppressing the suffocating bitterness in her heart, and said hoarsely, “Su Yueli.”
“What?!”
Upon hearing this name, the shopkeeper's eyes widened. He jumped up from behind the counter in shock, completely ignoring the abacus that slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.
“You... you are Miss Su Yueli?!”
The shopkeeper stared at Su Yueli in utter disbelief, his breathing ragged.
Under Su Yueli's slightly puzzled gaze, the shopkeeper hurriedly bowed with cupped hands and explained excitedly, “Before Master passed away, she held my hand and told me that her greatest regret in life was failing to wait for her dearest, closest friend to return.”
“She left a strict order that if a woman named Su Yueli ever came looking for her in the future, I must hand over the things she left behind, completely untouched!”
With that, the shopkeeper dared not delay. He scrambled toward the back room of the brewery.
Moments later, he returned carrying a pristine, dust-free box made of golden silk phoebe wood, presenting it respectfully to Su Yueli.
Su Yueli reached out to take the box and slowly opened it.
Inside, a thick stack of common mortal banknotes was neatly arranged, totaling a massive sum of over a hundred thousand taels.
Resting quietly on top of the banknotes was a letter, its paper slightly yellowed with age, but written in a very elegant hand.
Staring at the familiar handwriting, Su Yueli sighed deeply, her eyes growing slightly warm.
She closed the box, looked at the shopkeeper, and asked softly, “Where is her grave?”
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, the shopkeeper quickly bowed his head and replied, “In the Tie family ancestral graveyard in the western suburbs outside the city. The one on the far west is Master's cenotaph.”
“Thank you.”
Su Yueli placed the wooden box into her storage bag, turned around, and walked out of the brewery with a somewhat lonely silhouette.
Standing behind the counter, the middle-aged shopkeeper stared intently at Su Yueli's departing figure in her green dress. He froze in place, unable to hide the confusion in his eyes.
“How strange... Before Master passed away, she clearly said that this person was a life-and-death friend from her youth, and that they were of similar age.”
“But looking at Miss Su's age, she is clearly only in her early twenties... How could they have been friends?”
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