Near the Stranger's Grave, several flashes of sword light intertwined. The drunken old man wielded only a broken twig as a sword, yet he defeated the three without giving them any chance to retaliate. Three strikes of sword energy swept from his twig, knocking the three—Nan Wan and his companions—to the ground.
Chong Zhao barely managed to support Er Yun, both feeling their energy and blood surging within them, though Nan Wan wasn’t as lucky. He lay on the ground, coughing up blood, clearly injured far worse than the others.
The drunken old man slowly approached the three.
Bai Shuo, hidden in the bushes without anyone noticing, saw Chong Zhao in danger and was about to leap out when a pair of hands covered her mouth and dragged her back into the grass.
Turning her head, she found herself face-to-face with a heavily powdered face and another pair of eyes, both indignant and aggrieved.
“Hua Da Tie and Fan Yue?!”
“What on earth!” She had used a flying incantation to arrive just now, so when had these two gotten here?
Her little disciple’s accusing gaze made Bai Shuo feel guilty. Before she could speak, Hua Da Tie’s deep voice sounded.
“Shh, don’t move! Let me tell you, not just you sorry lot, but even all the young immortals and demons in Strange City together wouldn’t be a match for that gravekeeper!”
Bai Shuo was alarmed and pulled Hua Da Tie’s hand away. “Who is this old man? Isn’t Strange City supposed to suppress spiritual energy? Why doesn’t it affect him?”
Hua Da Tie glanced into the distance. “Do you know of Rong Xian and Chang Ling Long?”
Bai Shuo froze; she had indeed heard of those two.
Rong Xian, a Kunlun sword cultivator from a thousand years ago, and Chang Ling Long, the fox tribe's leader from the same period. These two were the first couple in tens of thousands of years to defy the norms and fall in love despite being from the immortal and demon realms.
[Explanation: The conflict between immortals and demons had spanned tens of thousands of years, and it was almost unthinkable for members of these two realms to be romantically involved, let alone be together without facing serious repercussions.]
Six thousand years ago, the Divine Realm was sealed, and the demon god destroyed the world. The demon race was despised, and both races fought for tens of thousands of years, unable to say for certain who had killed more. The war left the two races bitterly opposed, making even casual interactions between them unacceptable, let alone romantic relationships. Yet, despite this hostility, Rong Xian, the foremost disciple of Kunlun—the leader of the three sacred mountains among immortals—fell in love with Chang Ling Long, the fox tribe leader. The two had no intention of joining the immortal-demon conflict; they even willingly gave up their inheritance from Kunlun and the fox tribe to live in seclusion. This immortal-demon romance even became a legend across the three realms.
However, their happiness was short-lived. A few years later, Rong Xian suddenly returned to Kunlun to inherit the sect, and heartlessly led Kunlun disciples into the demon world, leaving Chang Ling Long pierced through and bloodied on the battlefield. Yet evil is repaid with evil; the traitorous Rong Xian, during his training in Kunlun, fell into madness and almost slaughtered the entire Kunlun sect. Fortunately, Emperor Twilight arrived in time, saving a sliver of Kunlun's legacy and slaying Rong Xian under the Sun-Moon Wheel.
Shortly afterward, the Heavenly Emperor founded Strange City in the wilderness.
“You've heard of this, but now’s not the time to talk about old, trivial matters like these!”
“I’m afraid you don’t know the full story. Rong Xian and Chang Ling Long were the first immortal-demon couple, but what the world doesn’t know is that they had a child,” Hua Da Tie sighed softly.
“A child?”
Bai Shuo looked at the three unmarked graves, then suddenly turned around. “Are you saying those three graves are…?”
But if this was where Rong Xian’s family was buried, then who was the old man guarding the grave?
Hua Da Tie had no time to respond, as by the graveside, the drunken old man had already made his move.
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