Chapter Forty-One: The Lost World (Part One)

It felt as if, in the blink of an eye, he had crossed from one world into another. The sky was a deep azure, the earth an endless expanse of prairie, where the wind swept through the grass, revealing glimpses of animals leaping and galloping in the distance. There was no sign of that lake; Wu Yue had almost expected to find himself in some underwater realm.

Frankly speaking, the environment here was quite pleasant. The air was exceptionally pure, the natural surroundings pristine—if only a horseman with a lasso were to appear, it would be the very image of the great grasslands of his previous life.

Yet in his past life, those grasslands had never harbored tigers, let alone ones of such formidable size. From afar, Wu Yue watched as a massive tiger sprang several meters into the air to snatch a low-flying bird from the sky.

Everything, it seemed, was just fine. And then, as fate would have it, he ran into his old rival.

Wu Yue and Li Suizhu stared at each other for a minute, their mutual dislike plain to see. Still, propriety demanded at least a greeting—what were the odds that even a random assignment would bring the two of them together?

“What a coincidence,” Wu Yue said. But then his expression shifted, turning grave. He remembered that Li Suizhu had entered the Longevity Garden before him, leaping into the lake first, and yet he himself had already spent a good while here—at least half a cup of tea’s time.

“What’s wrong? Cooking up another wicked plan? Or are you upset you haven’t seen your little Ren Dao?” Li Suizhu’s tone was cool and detached.

“Did you just arrive here?”

“Obviously. Didn’t you just come in as well?” Li Suizhu retorted, still in a foul mood.

“I mean, you only just arrived? You opened your eyes here and immediately saw me? No time wasted, nothing in between?”

“Exactly. The moment I arrived, I saw you—unlucky as that is.”

“The Longevity Garden is truly extraordinary,” Wu Yue thought to himself. If only he’d brought a watch, he might have been able to study these space-time oddities.

“The First Emperor must be quite confident in you. You’ve only just built your foundation, haven’t you? And yet you dare to come to the Longevity Garden?” Wu Yue clicked his tongue.

“It’s not like I wanted to. My father forced me—hmph! What of it? Even if a Transcendent came, I could still keep myself alive.”

Wu Yue sighed. Here was a vivid example of the vast gulf between the rich and the poor. Others would fight tooth and nail for a place in the Longevity Garden, while she treated it as an annoyance.

“Well, let’s go,” Wu Yue said, picking a direction at random and preparing to set out.

“Why aren’t we flying?” Li Suizhu frowned.

“Safety first.” Wu Yue condensed all his knowledge of survival handbooks for unfamiliar environments into those two words.

“Someone’s coming!” Li Suizhu suddenly cried out.

Wu Yue, too, sensed a powerful surge of spiritual energy, though something still felt off. Within a few breaths, he understood why. A figure in white was spiraling through the air toward them, barely keeping aloft.

“It’s Ren Ruyi!” Li Suizhu exclaimed in astonishment.

As she drew nearer, Ren Ruyi tumbled from the sky, landing right before Wu Yue, who caught her with ease.

Ren Ruyi had already lost consciousness by now, her once-fine clothes in tatters, patches of pale skin showing through. Whatever had frightened her, it lingered even in sleep, her brows knit tightly together—a pitiable sight.

“Hey, have you stared enough yet?” Li Suizhu said sourly.

Wu Yue turned to look at her. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me.”

Li Suizhu’s face flushed red, and she shouted, “Who’d ever like you? With your rotten heart and rotten origins, who would ever look twice at you?”

Wu Yue let out a long, deliberate sigh and smiled. “Good, that’s a relief. Otherwise I’d have to turn you down, and that would be such a pity.”

“You—!” Li Suizhu’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“I’d never like someone like you!” she cried, glaring fiercely at him before running off into the distance.

Wu Yue didn’t move, watching her go until she almost vanished from sight. Only then did he follow at a leisurely pace—losing track of her was not a concern. With Ren Ruyi in his right hand, he reached into his left sleeve and produced a compass.

The compass showed only two dots: a red one for himself, a green one for Li Suizhu. No trace of anyone else, which meant they were all tens of thousands of miles away. The Longevity Garden was truly vast.

An hour passed. Wu Yue drew a deep breath, his gaze resolute, and suddenly veered off in the opposite direction, running nearly a hundred miles before stopping. He laid the still-unconscious Ren Ruyi at his side and sat cross-legged, lost in thought.

Everything along the way had been bizarre, from the initial time discrepancy, to the moment they found Ren Ruyi—how had Li Suizhu spotted her first? What gave her that advantage?

Now was the time to test things. Wu Yue looked at the unconscious and alluring Ren Ruyi with a gaze as pure as a scientist eyeing a white mouse in the lab.

Night fell, silent and still. Not a single insect or bird could be heard.

Li Suizhu was frightened. After all, she was only a sixteen-year-old girl, alone and unprotected in a completely unfamiliar world. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her face.

“Wu Yue, you big bully… Father, I want to go home. I want to go back to Luoyang…” she sobbed, wandering aimlessly.

A chorus of howls echoed around her.

Wild beasts. Li Suizhu panicked, trying to flee, only to realize she was surrounded.

Wolves the size of calves had encircled her. Li Suizhu trembled as she fumbled for a scroll, but before she could throw it, one of the wolves lunged.

She couldn’t withstand the force, stumbling back several paces as a red barrier flickered into being around her. More wolves pounced, but the instant they struck the shield, they fell without a sound. This only stirred the rest into a frenzy.

Howls rang out as they threw themselves at her, heedless of death.

“Wu Yue, save me! Please!” she cried.

“Alright, alright. Here I am,” came Wu Yue’s voice, arriving from the opposite direction.

With a wave of his hand, a surge of spiritual power swept out, reducing nearly a hundred wolves to blood and flesh.

“There, there, don’t cry. You’re safe now,” Wu Yue said softly.

But Li Suizhu only wept harder. Wu Yue tried to help her up, but she turned away, sobbing still. So he sat down in front of her.

Before he could say a word, Li Suizhu threw her arms around him, leaning on his shoulder as she cried loudly. Wu Yue stiffened, then relaxed. Well, he told himself, just pretend she’s a boy—it felt no different than hugging a tablet.

Far away, no one knew just how distant, a tiny figure stood atop a blade of grass, muttering to itself, “Who would have thought the World Tree’s seed would develop sentience and try to choose its own master…”