"It's just a little bit of hair, isn't it? It will grow back later. What are you so anxious about, old man? As a tree, you ought to be a little more generous."
Hairless, the Old Tree looked just like an ascetic monk filled with resentment as he carried Li Changsheng, walking through the Duravia Trade Prefecture in broad daylight.
The Duravia Trade Prefecture was truly in great chaos; cultivators could be seen fleeing in panic through the clouds.
When they reached the border of Azure Cloud Prefecture, they were blocked by spiritual formations set up by Azure Cloud cultivators, requiring proof of identity to pass.
Even in the mountains and wilds, the roars of demon beasts could be heard.
However, there was something peculiar.
Hundreds of people from a small sect passed right by the Old Tree carrying Li Changsheng, yet it was as if they didn't see the Old Tree at all.
The Old Tree walked stiffly straight through the center of their group.
By all rights, these refugees were moving with extreme speed and shouldn't have been able to stop in time to avoid crashing into the Old Tree. Yet, there seemed to be an invisible barrier around the Old Tree, causing those people to miraculously step aside.
Even when pushed aside by the invisible Qi, those cultivators seemed unaware, and even the people beside them found nothing strange.
"It's my hair that's gone, not yours! You brat, all you know how to do is sleep. You're still sticking to me even now. When I, Old Tree, was suffering disaster, I didn't see you put in a good word for me!"
Since the Old Tree was furious, Li Changsheng naturally couldn't be bothered to draw fire upon himself.
All that remained was the Old Tree's endless nagging:
"Those seven little brats... next time, they'd better not fall into my hands, or I'll whip them along as they walk!
They went out once and grew the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard...!...%!...￥%@."
He walked the whole way, muttering the whole way.
Li Changsheng's brow furrowed tightly; he simply pulled the leaves stuffed in his ears out and threw them away.
The Old Tree's expression changed.
He grabbed the two crumpled, misshapen leaves and fell to his knees with a look of anguish, the very picture of someone crying out to heaven and earth in vain. "My hair!!!"
"Alright, alright, stop wailing. I'll have Changyao bring you some extra flesh and blood..."
Li Changsheng coaxed him with annoyance.
But right at this moment.
"Boom!"
A thunderous roar from the distance caused Li Changsheng to snap his eyes open.
The Old Tree, kneeling on the ground, froze mid-movement.
The wretched expression on his face gradually stiffened.
Together, the two of them turned their gaze toward Perennis Immortal City, the faces of both the old and the young turning ice-cold.
...
For the mortals of the Duravia Trade Prefecture, Perennis Immortal City was a wondrous spectacle unseen in the past two hundred years.
It was also a miracle in the southern lands of the prefecture, appearing after the great chaos of the Azure Dynasty and more than a century of unceasing heavy snow.
The people from thousands of miles around called Perennis Immortal City the "Land Blessed by the Gods."
The Sea of Red Spider Lilies formed a natural spiritual array. Though it blocked out the sun across a thousand miles, it shielded the land from the biting wind and snow, and the majestic spiritual qi even allowed for the farming of fields.
Originally, the common people dared not approach such an abode of immortals, but having suffered enough from the wind and snow, they plucked up the courage to settle here.
That was precisely when Prince Qian had died, and the Perennis Immortal Palace had few disciples left.
The cultivators of Azure Cloud, who had themselves weathered many hardships, established their homes and careers here and tacitly allowed the common folk to settle down as well.
The development of this place changed day by day, transforming into the majestic city it was today, built brick by brick through the joint efforts of commoners and cultivators.
Though built from ordinary materials with walls only five meters high—a sight that might provoke laughter from cultivators—in their hearts, every single one of them felt this city was magnificent.
The common folk often smiled and said that when the wind and snow passed, they would walk out of Perennis Immortal City and return to their homelands.
For generations to come, they would return to worship at this Land Blessed by the Gods, grateful that it had preserved the roots of their homes submerged by the blizzard.
When Li Changsheng was on the Old Tree's back, he had heard clansmen speak of it; Changyao was even more unceasing in her descriptions.
"Grandpa Old Tree, put me down."
Li Changsheng stood with his back to Perennis Immortal City, hearing only the rumbling sound behind him.
The sky and clouds before him were filled with dust and mist, yet he could feel the Old Tree's body tremble.
Something had aroused the bloodthirsty desire deep within the Old Tree's roots.
The sky was gloomy and dim, much like Li Changsheng's face.
The roots holding the basket seat loosened, and Li Changsheng let out a long exhale.
He didn't know how many years it had been since his feet last touched solid ground. Yet, the moment he landed, he heard a squelch.
Lowering his head, he saw that his boot had stepped onto frozen blood covering a shattered stone slab. For a moment, Li Changsheng's eyes went vacant.
"Grandpa Old Tree, what do you see?"
Li Changsheng and the Old Tree stood back-to-back.
What Li Changsheng saw ahead was a pure white world covered in ice and snow, visible through the dust and mist; the frozen blood beneath his feet could not flow out to reach it.
Li Changsheng, who had once presided over the Hall of Heavenly Principle and carried out the extermination of entire clans many times, discovered for the first time that there was actually a place he didn't quite dare to turn back and look at.
The cold wind beat against his face. Li Changsheng lowered his head, strands of hair obscuring his eyes again and again.
"The cultivators here have almost all departed. Even demonic cultivators know that if you're going to eat people, you don't finish them all at once.
When Tian Xing, who is now inside my belly, came to my Merit City all those years ago, even he didn't kill the common folk.
He drained the vital essence of ten million people, yet he only took less than twenty percent."
"When the Wu Clan came to Azure Cloud, they killed as well. But even they would find their hands growing soft upon hearing the weeping of too many innocent commoners."
"When the people of this world kill, it is mostly with a purpose. But here..."
The Old Tree's voice trembled.
It had encountered disasters of the greatest magnitude, even clinging to life with a single breath for over a hundred years, yet its voice had always been sonorous and forceful.
Today...
Li Changsheng's mind went blank.
He didn't even know why such sudden sorrow and pity rose within him today.
Perhaps it was because the family's great war had caused others to suffer such a man-made calamity for no reason.
Or perhaps it was because no one in the clan had ever imagined the common people would suffer.
Or maybe it was because... he had heard stories of this Immortal City built by his family's elders, and those commoners, filled with hope for the future, had met with such a catastrophic fate.
"Are the people still there?"
"They are."
Amidst the wind and snow, Li Changsheng hunched his body. Veins bulged on his neck as he abruptly raised his head.
When he opened his eyes again, they were that pair of mysterious eyes from the Great Dream Human Emperor Scripture, the ones that stared at him at all times!