Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 349 No Immortals Under Heaven

Turn the page, and you'll find yourself in another world.

Lu Kong seemed to have anticipated their intense reaction. He didn't turn around, but merely turned his head slightly. The dim light cast flickering shadows on his handsome profile, making the faint smile on his lips appear somewhat unfathomable.

"Uncles, there's no need to be alarmed." His voice remained calm, even carrying a hint of reassurance, yet it seemed all the more unfathomable. "This disciple is neither a demon nor an alien. It's just... that I've walked this endless road for a few more years than ordinary people."

He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through the stone wall, looking towards an extremely distant past.

"Three thousand years is enough to see the beginning, the peak, and the fall of many things. It is enough to understand that some paths should never have been trodden in the first place." He slowly turned around, facing the four people with different expressions. The complex emotions in his deep eyes had now settled into an almost desolate clarity. "Disciple and Master are both 'veterans' of this path, and also... 'guardians of this path'."

"A veteran... a gravedigger..." Chen Anran finally turned around, his face unusually cold under the light. He stared at Lu Kong and asked, word by word, "So, Senior Sister also..."

"Master has lived through far more years than I have," Lu Kong replied affirmatively. "It was because I personally witnessed what the end of that road looked like and experienced the final catastrophe brought about by the 'immortals' that Master made the vow that 'there should be no immortals under heaven,' exhausting countless years just to suppress the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

Feng Xiaolu gasped, swaying slightly before Wei Qingyi calmly steadied her. She looked at Lu Kong, then at the deep stone steps ahead, feeling a chill run from her feet to the top of her head. The gentle and kind senior sister she remembered, who would comb her hair and remind her to wear warm clothes… was actually an “ancient person” who had lived for at least three thousand years and was famously plotting to sever the path of all cultivators?

This shock was far more disruptive than seeing He Qingyun transform into blood and swallow hundreds of cultivators with mist.

Wei Qingyi's hand tightened and loosened on the sword hilt, then tightened again. She suddenly recalled the composure and world-weariness that Su Wan occasionally revealed, which was incongruous with her age, and the calm and unhurried manner with which she managed the affairs of the sect, as if she had experienced the world... It turned out that it was not precociousness, but the accumulation of years.

Huiming clasped his hands together again and chanted the sutra in a low voice, as if calming the turmoil in his heart, or as if silently praying for this unimaginable truth.

Chen Anran was silent for a moment, his chest heaving. Finally, he took a deep breath, his eyes hardening. "I want to see Senior Sister. I want to ask her in person."

No matter who the senior sister is, no matter how long she has lived, no matter what she is plotting... she is still the senior sister of the Yunyin Sect, someone Chen Anran must ask her directly.

Chen Anran said nothing more, turned around, and continued walking down the stone steps. Wei Qingyi, Feng Xiaolu, and Huiming followed closely behind, while Lu Kong silently followed.

The stone steps finally came to an end.

Suddenly, a spacious stone chamber opened up before them. Unlike the "abandoned ancestral shrine" Lu Kong had described, this place had clearly been carefully maintained and even renovated.

The stone chamber was illuminated by ever-burning lamps embedded in its walls, making it as bright as day. A faint, calming fragrance mingled with the unique scent of old books in the air; it wasn't unpleasant, but rather evoked a sense of tranquility, as if the passage of time had settled in.

The most eye-catching feature is the towering rosewood bookshelves that fill both walls and reach the ceiling. The bookshelves are densely packed with scrolls of books, with varying spine colors and materials. There are brand-new thread-bound books, as well as ancient books with yellowed paper and worn edges, and even bamboo slips and jade scrolls, exuding a vast and ancient aura of knowledge and history.

However, amidst the solemn tranquility of this sea of ​​books, one place stands out as particularly abrupt, even eerie.

Near the entrance to the stone chamber, a separate bookshelf is neatly arranged not with books, but with rows of framed photographs. There are vibrant modern photos, faded black-and-white images, and even a few delicate charcoal sketches. The people in the photos are diverse, the backgrounds varied—some are amidst mountains and rivers, some in courtyards, some in ancient costumes, and some in modern attire. These images, spanning a long period of time, are collected here, silently telling the story of their owner's experiences.

Chen Anran's gaze fell on the separate bookshelf, and on the carefully placed photograph in the very center.

Then, he froze.

Feng Xiaolu saw it too. She let out a suppressed gasp, rushed forward a few steps, and opened her eyes wide in disbelief.

That wasn't some ancient painting, nor was it a portrait of some otherworldly, venerable elder.

It was a color photograph, slightly faded with a faint yellow tinge at the edges, clearly quite old. In the photo, four young people stood together, with the old gate of Yunyin Mountain in the background—not the one that has been renovated now, but the more dilapidated one that hadn't yet been adorned with the "Yunyin Sect" plaque.

Standing on the far left was a girl with cool, aloof features and a high ponytail, about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a faded blue cotton shirt and holding a wooden sword. That was Wei Qingyi in her youth, her face still bearing the innocence of childhood.

Next to Wei Qingyi was a girl with a carefree laugh and crescent-shaped eyes. She affectionately linked her arm with Wei Qingyi's, making an awkward "V" sign with her other hand. She wore a floral dress, and her hair was tied into two small buns with red ribbons. That was Feng Xiaolu, even more rounded and innocent than she was now, as if the whole world was bright and cheerful.

Standing next to Feng Xiaolu was Chen Anran, who was also smiling brightly and looked slightly naive. He was thinner then, wearing an ill-fitting, oversized robe with the sleeves rolled up several times, but his eyes were very bright.

Standing on the far right, gently putting her arm around Chen Anran's shoulder, was Su Wan.

In the photo, Su Wan appears to be in her early twenties, with gentle eyes and a smile on her lips. She wears an elegant light blue dress, and her long hair is loosely tied back. Her smile is warm, and the way she looks at her three junior brothers and sisters is pure, unreserved affection and protection.

Chen Anran remembers this photo.

That was twelve years ago. Back then, the mountain gate was still very poor. My second senior sister brought back a camera from down the mountain, saying it was a thank-you gift from the owner of a general store down there. Later, the four of us took this group photo at the mountain gate.

That was the first photograph in Chen Anran's life.

It is also the only complete group photo of the four senior and junior siblings of the Yunyin Sect.

Later, Su Wan took the photo, saying she wanted to keep it safe. Chen Anran never saw it again and gradually forgot about it.

And now, it appears here, in this stone chamber hidden deep in the mountain, as if time has been frozen, placed in the very center, and preserved perfectly.

"This..." Feng Xiaolu's voice trembled, "This is...this is us..."

Wei Qingyi remained silent, her lips pressed tightly together.

Even Huiming stopped chanting and stared blankly at the photograph that had transcended time.

Chen Anran reached out and gently brushed his fingertips across the cold glass surface of the photo frame. His movements were very light, as if afraid of disturbing something.

"My senior sister..." he murmured, his voice hoarse, "...she's kept it..."

"Master cherishes this photo very much." Lu Kong's voice came from behind. "She said that this is one of the few moments in her long life when she truly 'lived'."

Chen Anran suddenly turned around and stared at Lu Kong: "Where is she?"