Chapter Eighty-Seven: One Hundred Years of Solitude

  A gentle village in a cup, a heroic tomb in another, yet there's a pillow sent by the gods, with such wondrous uses, that can let people spend an entire lifetime in their dreams.

  His cultivation hadn't improved and his strength remained the same, but Chu Cheng had gained something enormous - a complete life.

  All life experiences in his dreams, sweet and bitter, will be his precious wealth.

  "What is the Warm Jade Building after all? It's said that the owner of the building is extremely mysterious, and no one knows who it actually is. To be able to possess such a wonderful wine, they must have an extraordinary background." Chu Cheng muttered to himself.

  "Bang! Bang!"

  Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

  "Who is it?" Chu Cheng asked faintly.

  "Xiao Ke is a small shopkeeper, just now someone sent a message, asking Xiao Ke to pass on an invitation card, please ask the guest to come in." Someone outside the door said.

  "Alright then, come on in."

  The shopkeeper walked into the room, handed a white name card to Chu Cheng, and then slowly retreated, closing the door behind him.

  Chu Cheng fixed his eyes and took a closer look. This was an ordinary name card with nothing else on it, only decorated with a few stars.

  As soon as he opened it, Chu Cheng jumped up on his horse.

  "Twenty miles westward, a small forest in the mist, unseen and scattered."

  This sentence is nothing special, but the signature is a name that Chu Cheng is all too familiar with.

  Although they hadn't seen each other for five years, Chu Cheng could tell at a glance that the handwriting was his.

  This person, upon arriving at the capital of Chu, had thought of him first. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to get in touch and couldn't meet up. Just today, he heard people mention his name multiple times.

  Now, he actually took the initiative to contact Chucheng, how could Chucheng not put everything down and go see him?

  "Twenty miles westward, a small forest in the mist, unseen and scattered. Good, good! Unseen and scattered, I've arrived!"

  Chu City flew towards the west like a gust of wind. In an instant, he had traveled twenty miles to the west and arrived at a small forest.

  This is really a small grove, with an area of no more than five mu, and you can see the edge at a glance.

  Inside were redwood trees, a kind of tree that can grow very well and straight, just like the man. Today, Chucheng also received a piece of heartwood from a thousand-year-old redwood tree.

  As he walked into the forest, Chu Cheng slowed down his pace, not willing to release his spiritual sense or use the Blood Pupil Technique, but instead took one step at a time and looked around with one glance at a time.

  Then he saw that strange yet familiar figure.

  "Have you arrived?"

  That person had his back to Chucheng and did not turn around, but seemed to know of Chucheng's arrival, saying indifferently.

  "I'm here!" Chu Cheng bit his lip, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

  "Chu City!" The man turned around, with a smile on his face, still the same appearance as before, but much more mature.

  "Chu Yan!" Chu City took a deep breath and finally called out that person's name.

  That person was actually Chu Yan, the big brother of Chucheng!

  However, Chu Cheng would never call him "big brother". From childhood to adulthood, from the moment he was born until Chu Yan left, for a full seven years, he had never called Chu Yan "big brother".

  Because Chu Cheng's mental age is much older than Chu Yan's. How could he be willing to call Chu Yan "big brother"?

  But this did not hinder their relationship.

  When he was very young, Chu Yan began teaching Chu Cheng to read and write, teaching him about everything in this world.

  When he was a bit older, Chu Cheng began to influence Chu Yan with his own life experience and knowledge.

  They are not only brothers but also each other's teachers and students, passing on knowledge and experience, almost nothing is hidden from each other.

  Of course, Chu Cheng didn't mention his transmigration to anyone. He also knew that Chu Yan wasn't as simple as he seemed and had secrets of his own. Chu Cheng even suspected that Chu Yan was like many legendary figures in this world who had awakened memories from their past lives.

  One day when Chu Cheng was three years old, Chu Yan suddenly changed his personality and behaved somewhat abnormally. Although he quickly returned to normal, even Chu Tian Ge didn't notice, but Chu Cheng knew.

  Because at that time Chu Cheng was only three years old, in Chu Yan's heart, Chu Cheng was still young and ignorant, so he didn't deliberately hide anything from him.

  Chu Cheng knew it, but he didn't mind either. Who doesn't have some secrets?

  This does not affect their relationship with each other.

  Finally, today, after five years, they finally met again.

  Still with the same title, but the two are no longer in their original form.

  Sit on the ground and sit at will.

  "Good kid, you've finally mastered the Seven Drops of Blood Essence? Not bad, but it's still not enough! I remember you saying that you wanted to surpass me, surpass Old Man, and possess abilities beyond the Divine Realm. You're still far from it." Chu Yan patted Chu Cheng's shoulder with a smile.

  "Who can compare to you? Since childhood, the old man has been fond of you, giving you whatever you want. I'm just a pick-up, thrown on the ground and raised, as long as I don't starve to death, it's fine! Being able to rise above the ordinary is already not bad!" Chu Cheng said with a sour tone.

  "Haha, you little brat, from the age of five, the old man has opened his study to you, while I haven't even been in three times until now! The old man is clearly preparing to hand over his career to you, while I'm being driven out to the capital, how pitiful!" Chu Yan scolded with a smile.

  "Pitiful? I'd rather switch with you! To be apprenticed to Old Man Xuan, to enter the Xuantian Pavilion, how glorious! I heard you've also become the chief judge of the Young Heroes' Ranking? I'm going to die from envy, a shortcut to heaven!" Chu Cheng's eyes shone brightly.

  "Can't get through! Ah, right, about your Dongfang Xiner thing, the old man still hasn't given in, huh?" Chu Yan had a curious look on his face.

  "Which pot doesn't open, take which pot! Alas, I don't know what the old man is thinking, everything else is fine, but this won't do! And who knows if he and Old Master Dong often pick up soap, they actually sold me out like this, shamelessly wanting to send me over as a son-in-law! Damn it!" Chu Cheng's face was gloomy.

  "Old man's mother is your grandmother, my mom is your mom, can't you keep some decency in your mouth?" Chu Yan pretended to be angry.

  "As long as the old man changes his mind, everything will be easy to say... Alright, let's talk about something else... I'll tell you... " Chu Cheng sighed and began to recount his life over the past five years.

  When it came to Chu Tiangong entering the Transverse Mountain Range for closed cultivation, Chu Yan let out a deep sigh:

  "Alas, the death of his mother, the old man couldn't let go for a long time! He has been planning for twelve years now and is going to shut himself in again. He's pushing himself too hard!"

  As soon as this was mentioned, Chu Cheng also let out a sigh.

  These years, Chu Tian Ge indeed pushed himself too hard. Not only did his cultivation not fall behind, but it even surpassed the other few people by a big margin. Moreover, he secretly developed a large number of forces, which was truly astonishing.

  Suddenly thinking of Du Gu Han, he asked again: "Chu Yan, you have been in the capital of Chu for five years. How much do you know about the Dugu family?"

  Dugu Xian's sword light was stuck in his heart, like a thorn.

  "Dugu family? This family is a bit mysterious." Chu Yan furrowed his brow: "The Dugu family has been single-handedly passed down through generations, with only one person in each generation. A thousand years ago, the Dugu family suddenly appeared out of nowhere, with Dugu Long Tian wielding a solitary sword, conquering a vast territory and occupying an entire mountain peak, known as 'Dugu Peak', second only to the Huo family's Living Fire Mountain."

  It is said that Dugu Long's wife and child never appeared, but his son became famous in the capital at the age of twenty and was the first name on the Young Heroes List. When his son turned one hundred years old, he also married and had children, but again, his wife and child never appeared.

  "From then on, the Dugu family was solitary for a hundred years, and this solitude has continued to the present day, spanning ten generations. This generation's Dugu is called Dugu Han."

  "This person is also a rare genius, currently nineteen years old, with nine drops of blood essence... it's not that he doesn't have the ability to condense and refine, but for some reason, people from the Dugu family must wait until their twentieth birthday to condense and refine... it's really strange."

  "Chu Yan asked curiously: "Chu Cheng, why are you asking this?""

  Chu Cheng shook his head: "Nothing."

  What Chu Yan said doesn't reveal anything. In fact, most of this information is already known to the people of Chucheng. The legend of Dugu's family has long been spread throughout the entire city of Chuwang.

  "By the way, those ten people from the Dugu family... what's their actual strength like? You're in the Xuantian Sect, you should know, right?" Chu Cheng suddenly asked.

  "It's unclear......" Chu Yan sighed and said: "The Dugu family is too mysterious. Every generation of the Dugu family, once their grandson is born, will mysteriously disappear... Now there are only two people left in the Dugu family, Dugu Yan and Dugu Han. That Dugu Yan is the third strongest among the top ten powers of the Mountain and Sea Realm, extremely powerful."

  Mysterious disappearance...

  Chu Cheng rubbed his temples, feeling that things were getting more and more confusing.

  The two people who had a fierce battle in the sky above the mountain city that year, was the man in white clothes really from the Dugu family?

  "Chu Yan, help me check the information about the Dugu family. I really want to understand this family." Chu Cheng sighed.

  "Alright." Chu Yan agreed in one breath, without asking for a reason.

  "What's the situation with this time's young hero conference?" Chu Cheng changed the subject.

  Chu Yan said: "Every session of the Youth Hero Conference is more or less the same... However, I heard that Second Young Master Chu Tianjun has a different view on this Hero Conference. I once asked Teacher about it, and Teacher has agreed to Chu Tianjun's proposal."

  "What proposal?" Chu Cheng hastily asked.

  "Any genius within the borders of Chu State, as long as they are below the Transcendent Realm, regardless of age, can all enter the Qingming Ruins!" said Chu Yan.

  "What?" Chu Cheng suddenly stood up.

  This is not good news.

  As usual, only the top 100 of this session of the Youth Hero Conference can enter the Qingming Ruins to seek opportunities. Before that, there will be three rounds of elimination matches.

  However, now, regardless of age, as long as it is below the Extraordinary Realm, you can enter the Qingming Ruins!

  You know, in the entire Chu state, there are many people who are very old but still extraordinary.

  What's more important is that those past geniuses still have a lot of unyielding determination, refusing to advance to the Seventh Treasure Realm and wanting to climb even higher!

  Maybe five years ago they were still a drop of pure blood, but now they have already condensed into a diamond!

  Maybe five years ago, they only condensed one Blood Jade, but now, they have already condensed two or three Blood Jades!

  What a terrifying figure!