Chapter 119: Great Elder

Chapter 125: The Grand Elder

Lu Yang was startled, his heart pounding. The coffin in the main chamber was a stone sarcophagus, intricately carved with ancient patterns of the sun, moon, and stars. Its origin was unknown, but its grandeur suggested it entombed a truly important figure! And the Grand Elder of Dao Seeking Sect certainly fit the description of an important figure.

"Could the Grand Elder of Dao Seeking Sect truly be buried inside?!" Lu Yang felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy. Had he triggered some mechanism that resurrected the elder? Or did the Immortal Fairy's Dao Fruit revive the corpse? Or was there some other unknown reason?

The coffin lid slowly lifted, and a long-bearded old man sat up from within. Lu Yang's pupils contracted; it really was the Grand Elder of Dao Seeking Sect! Lu Yang had seen the Grand Elder before when the elder occasionally visited Tianmen Peak to inquire about things from the Senior Disciple Sister.

Lu Yang considered whether to perform a set of Senior Disciple Sister's Pictographic Fist to summon her, or use "A Short Distance to the End of the World" to teleport himself back above the cliff.

The Grand Elder's voice was ancient and his eyes were full of confusion as he looked at Lu Yang. "Lu Yang? What are you doing here?"

Lu Yang was surprised. According to his theory, there was an imposter Grand Elder in the Dao Seeking Sect, and the one in the coffin was the real one. He had only ever met the fake Grand Elder, so how could this one recognize him? "Grand Elder, do you know me?" Lu Yang asked cautiously.

In the mental space, the Immortal Fairy pouted. Lu Yang had never been so respectful towards her. She was an immortal, yet this boy, Lu Yang, showed no reverence for her!

Lu Yang's question made the Grand Elder even more puzzled. "Of course I know you. Aren't you Old Ninth's disciple, Lu Yang, the Sword Spirit Root? I even saw you through a water mirror when you took the Dao Seeking Sect's entrance examination." He continued, "Rather, I should be asking you, what are you doing running around here for no reason, disturbing my sleep?"

"Sle... sleeping?" Lu Yang's mind couldn't process it. Who would sleep in a coffin for no reason? The Grand Elder yawned widely, tears even forming in the corners of his eyes. He indeed looked like he had just woken up. "I was too tired from building the tomb earlier, so I just dozed off for a bit. I'm old, truly old. The old me wouldn't have felt this tired at all. You can't fight old age, you know. Speaking of which, I'm already three thousand years old."

"Building a tomb?" Lu Yang's eyes widened. He had heard that cultivators could sense when their time was coming, so they would make a will, arrange their affairs, and build their tomb in advance. Lu Yang felt a pang of sadness, thinking of the Grand Elder's contributions to the Dao Seeking Sect. "Are you about to... about to..." Lu Yang couldn't bring himself to say the rest.

The Grand Elder nodded. "Yes, I need to figure out what to do after retirement. Dai Bufan said I could live another five thousand years after retiring, so I should find some hobbies. I thought about it and decided building a tomb is a pretty good option; I'll use it eventually anyway." Lu Yang was speechless.

Having been swayed by the atmosphere just now, his mind had temporarily gone blank. Only now did he remember that cultivators in the Integration Stage could live for at least eight thousand years, and someone as highly cultivated as the Grand Elder would certainly live even longer. Give me back my sympathy!

"You're building your tomb this early?" Lu Yang thought to himself, "Your hobby is certainly unique." The Grand Elder replied, "Why not? I hear that in some places, mortals borrow a large sum from banks to buy houses, spending their entire lives laboring to repay the debt. If mortals can toil their entire lives for a house, then there's certainly no problem with me toiling the latter half of my life for a tomb."

Lu Yang was left speechless by the Grand Elder's reasoning.

"I haven't just built this one tomb, you know. There are others already completed elsewhere. This one is merely a prototype; I haven't even prepared the zombies yet. I just temporarily threw in some white-haired zombies to maintain the atmosphere." He then asked, "Oh, by the way, I specifically chose a cliff face within our Dao Seeking Sect to build this tomb. How did you manage to find your way here?"

Lu Yang remained silent; he didn't particularly want to recall the process. So this was still Dao Seeking Sect. It seemed his teleportation distance wasn't very far.

The Immortal Fairy said lazily, "You definitely couldn't have teleported far. Teleportation distance is closely related to cultivation realm. You're only in the Foundation Establishment stage; how far could you possibly go? Do you really think you can ascend to the heavens?" The Grand Elder was unaware of the Immortal Fairy's presence.

"So the reason you're often not in the Mission Hall is because..." Lu Yang began."I handed things over to Little Dai and started my retirement early," the Grand Elder finished.Very reasonable.

Seeing that Lu Yang was reluctant to elaborate on how he came to the tomb, the Grand Elder asked, "Do you need me to send you back?" Lu Yang nodded eagerly. This was exactly what he wanted.

The Grand Elder emerged from the coffin, tapped Lu Yang, who was then enveloped in a large bubble. The Grand Elder flew out of the tomb with his hands behind his back, with Lu Yang following behind in the bubble.

The Grand Elder moved as fast as a streak of lightning, leaving the cliff in the blink of an eye. Only then did Lu Yang understand why he had been enveloped in a bubble; his body couldn't withstand the Grand Elder's speed.

Leaving the cliff, an endless grassland appeared before his eyes. Lush green grass stretched out, with sheep grazing on tender shoots and various wild demonic beasts whose terrifying auras made Lu Yang's heart pound. This must be what the Senior Disciple Sister mentioned when she joined the sect: "There are also some dangerous places where cultivators with insufficient cultivation will perish." With his cultivation, it would be absolutely impossible to fall safely from the cliff... Why did that sound so awkward?

The Grand Elder flew with Lu Yang. Due to the extreme speed, it was impossible to see the scenery below, so there was no issue of acrophobia. During the flight, Lu Yang was somewhat alarmed. Given the Grand Elder's flying speed, they had been flying for so long and still hadn't reached Tianmen Peak. How far had he been teleported?

Just as Lu Yang was lost in thought, the Grand Elder stopped, and Lu Yang realized they had already arrived at Tianmen Peak. The Grand Elder set Lu Yang down and then departed.

While sleeping in his coffin, the Grand Elder encountered a difficult problem in his cultivation and wanted to ask his junior brothers for their opinions. He went to the Medicinal Garden, but the Second Elder wasn't there. He went to the Body Tempering Peak, but the Third Elder wasn't there. He went to Junzi Peak, but the Fourth Elder wasn't there either. "Where is everyone?" The Grand Elder was very puzzled. He didn't remember Old Second, Old Third, or Old Fourth being people who liked to wander around; usually, he could find them easily. Why couldn't he find anyone today?

Ji Hongwen, the Fourth Elder's senior disciple, saw the Grand Elder looking for his master and said, "It seems Master found the Sect Master's whereabouts and went to Tianmen Peak with the Second Elder." "Old Ninth's whereabouts? Tianmen Peak?" The Grand Elder couldn't believe he had to go back to Tianmen Peak again.

He arrived at Tianmen Peak and asked Lu Yang if he knew the whereabouts of Taoist Buyu. Lu Yang pointed him in the right direction, and he successfully reached the pine forest, where he found six junior brothers, one junior sister, and Taoist Buyu, all eating hotpot.

Taoist Buyu saw the Grand Elder standing outside the cave dwelling and enthusiastically waved. "It's been a long time since we, your fellow disciples, gathered together. We were just about to eat hotpot, and here you are, Senior Brother! Senior Brother, come in quickly, you're the only one missing!"

The Grand Elder looked at the enthusiastic Taoist Buyu with suspicion.