Chapter 1559: Dominating the Inner Realm; Home is at the Foot of Hengyue Mountain

A single "You dare!" — the words were not loud, yet they shook the heavens and earth!

The youth holding the Flying Sword saw his expression change drastically at Wang Lin's low roar. He was merely a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivator. At this moment, in his eyes, Wang Lin's figure appeared incomparably tall, and that low roar caused the very heavens and earth to change color.

That vast Aura invisibly transformed into pressure, causing the youth's face to turn pale instantly, and he actually spat out a mouthful of blood. His sword light dimmed instantly, as if it dared not advance. With a clang, his hand trembled, the Flying Sword fell to the ground, and his body hurriedly retreated.

"Impossible, impossible!! You are just a Mortal, you are just an ant, you cannot make me afraid!!" The youth seemed to have gone mad; his mind roared as he trembled uncontrollably. As he retreated, his voice distorted, leaving the scholars kneeling below in disbelief.

Since ancient times, such a scene had never occurred. A Mortal daring to berate a Cultivator? That "You dare" was like a thunderous roar, echoing in everyone's ears, lingering eternally.

As that youth retreated, another youth stepped out from the restaurant. His cultivation far exceeded the other's; he was already a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivator.

As he stepped forward, he pressed a hand against his fellow disciple's back and looked up at the crowd kneeling before the only two people standing: Wang Lin and Dafu!

With that one glance, he vaguely seemed to see an Aura permeating above Wang Lin that made him tremble. This Aura was so strong that just by looking, his mind roared, and countless chaotic thoughts surged in his heart, seemingly about to break through his mind, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Wang Mou understands the Dao and the Earth; why should I not view you Cultivators as ants? Let alone the two of you, even if it were all the Immortals on this Vermilion Bird Star, what of it!" Wang Lin looked up, his eyes shining with a brilliant light, his long hair flowing. He flicked his large sleeve and took a sip of wine.

In shock, the youth's scalp went numb. This matter exceeded his imagination. He had a vague, extremely strong feeling that although the other party was incredibly fragile, the vast righteous Qi on his body, that Aura that feared neither heaven nor earth, was enough to compare to any Divine Ability, injuring the two of them invisibly. It made his mind tremble, giving rise to a horror and reverence that left his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

"How can this be? He is just a Mortal, just a Mortal!! How could he possess such an Aura? This person… this person… must not be offended!!!"

He did not dare to leave just like that. Instead, in mid-air, with an extremely respectful expression, as if paying respects to a Senior, he cupped his fists and bowed to Wang Lin.

"We have offended you; we hope the Great Scholar does not mind. We shall leave now and never step foot in Su City again." After saying this, the youth supported his fellow disciple and transformed into a long rainbow, leaving in a hurry.

The surroundings instantly fell into silence.

Wang Lin stood there and took a sip of wine. At this moment, a breeze blew, causing his clothes to flutter. In the eyes of the crowd, that white garment danced gracefully.

"Why not!" Wang Lin lowered the wine flask from his lips, his gaze falling upon Su Yi, who was in the crowd—the one who had asked the question earlier and was now pale and trembling, slumped there.

Su Yi lowered his head, his body trembling continuously. After a long while, he struggled to stand up and bowed to Wang Lin.

"Su Yi pays respects to the Great Scholar of our State of Zhao."

"We pay respects to the Great Scholar of our State of Zhao." At this moment, all the scholars cupped their fists, their eyes filled with indescribable reverence as they trembled. They would never forget today's scene in their entire lives.

Even the many elders on the carriages outside bowed their heads in respect, completely convinced!

In their entire lives, they had never imagined that a Mortal could shock an Immortal, but now, they had seen it with their own eyes. An indescribable feeling of complexity and pride surged into their hearts.

"If one's thoughts are infinitely vast, and if one has comprehended the truths of heaven and earth, then looking at Immortals can also be like looking at ants!" After today, this sentence spread throughout the entire State of Zhao.

"I am tired." Wang Lin held the wine flask and finally glanced at the middle-aged man inside the restaurant outside the residence. The man was dazed, drenched in sweat, and did not dare meet Wang Lin's gaze. Instead, he lowered his head and bowed to Wang Lin. Wang Lin then turned, walked down the steps, and entered the inner residence with Dafu.

The countless scholars in the courtyard bowed for a long time before leaving one by one. Until the entire street outside, where people with various motives had gathered, had cleared out, Su City slowly became quiet.

No one dared to voice any doubts anymore. The previous storm had completely vanished within a very short time.

Because of this incident, Wang Lin's reputation surged throughout the State of Zhao, completely replacing his Master, Su Dao, and becoming the new Great Scholar of the State of Zhao—an unprecedented Great Scholar who could shock Immortals!

Time passed. Wang Lin's ten-year promise still stood, yet no one was qualified to come and inquire. Even if they did come, they were like students, listening respectfully to his teachings.

Spring passed and autumn came; in the blink of an eye, eight years had gone by.

In these eight years, Wang Lin slowly went from a middle-aged man in his forties to a man of fifty, and a small portion of his hair had turned white.

During these eight years, for a few days almost every month, Wang Lin would take the elderly Dafu, sit on a painted pleasure boat, and drift along the river, drinking sweet-scented osmanthus wine. He was always waiting, waiting for the person who seemed not to have come according to their agreement.

In fact, it was not just these eight years; for the twenty years before that, Wang Lin had done the same.

A full twenty-eight years, twenty-eight alternations of spring and autumn. Yet in the end, as the painted boat passed through stone bridge after stone bridge, he still had not waited for that person.

"Master, what exactly are you waiting for…" On the painted boat, Dafu's body was still quite sturdy, but his stingy habits had become even worse. He often stared at his right wrist in a daze, always trying to recall something during quiet moments, but in the end, he could never remember anything.

"I am waiting for myself… waiting for a date with myself." Wang Lin's face looked slightly aged, his voice hoarse as he looked at the sky and spoke slowly.

In the sky, there was always a white bird circling. It had accompanied Wang Lin for twenty-eight years without any change.

Watching it, Wang Lin grew a bit tired. He leaned against the bow of the boat and fell into a drowsy sleep. The sound of a zither echoed in his ears; the zither music seemed to merge with his dream, and in that dream, there was also zither music accompanying him.

Dafu sighed, looked at his right wrist, and fell into a daze.

The midday sun was soft and warm as it fell upon him, allowing Wang Lin to sleep very well. However, it was the season for willow catkins to fly again. A few clusters of willow catkins moved with the wind and landed on Wang Lin's face, brushing softly across it, causing Wang Lin to open his eyes.

The painted boat was still sailing.

Looking at the willow catkins fluttering before him, Wang Lin suddenly smiled.

"Dafu, do you remember when we first arrived in Su City more than twenty years ago? At that time, there were also so many willow catkins, and we were also on this painted boat."

Just as he was smiling, a painted boat suddenly crossed paths with them from afar. At the moment it passed, two soft, pleasant voices came from within that boat.

"Senior Sister, these willow catkins are so annoying; they feel uncomfortable when they land on you."

"If you don't think about them, you won't feel their existence. Junior Sister, your heart is not calm."

Hearing this voice, Wang Lin was stunned. He felt vaguely familiar with it, as if he had heard it before. He stood up and looked up, only to see two female figures on that painted boat.

The two women were very young and beautiful. Standing there amidst the endless willow catkins, they looked like Fairies. In the wind, their clothes fluttered, making them look even more beautiful.

"It is… them…" Wang Lin stared blankly as the painted boat drifted away. Before his eyes, the black-awning boat from that rainy night more than twenty years ago seemed to appear.

As he watched, a gentle smile appeared on Wang Lin's face. He could never forget how he stood under the trees in the rain, watching the dark clouds over Mo Mountain, watching the vastness of the heavens and earth he had never seen before, and reciting poetry there—he still remembered that happy, self-satisfied look.

The coquettish scolding from that woman named Xu Fei back then still seemed to ring in his ears.

Inside that black-awning boat on that rainy night, his blushing and heartbeat, as well as the beauty of those two women, all remained in his memory, unfaded. And that thick coat had also been placed by Wang Lin inside that bamboo raft from back then, kept preserved, and never taken out.

Wang Lin sighed softly. He touched his white hair, did not call out to greet them, but sat there drinking wine.

In his life, he had not met a woman who moved his heart. Accompanying him, besides wine and Dafu, was only that white bird circling in the sky.

He had no wife. This life seemed to have passed in that solitude for twenty-eight years.

If there was one woman who had moved his heart, it was she whom he met first—that woman named Zhou Rui, the one who had given him the coat.

Leaning against the bow, drinking wine, and looking at his reflection in the water beneath the boat, Wang Lin saw an aged face, his hair having turned much whiter.

The painted boat where the two women were gradually crossed paths with Wang Lin's boat until they completely separated, as if the trajectories of life, after touching at a certain point, continued to drift away in different directions.

"Eh, Senior Sister, look at that old man; he seemed to be looking at us just now." Xu Fei looked at Wang Lin's retreating back on the painted boat.

As the painted boat drifted, it sailed under a stone bridge.

Zhou Rui turned her head and scanned with her eyes, but from her direction, as the boats separated, her view was blocked by that stone bridge. She did not see him, and she would not use her Divine Sense to scan just because someone had looked at her. Thus, she did not look carefully and turned her head back.

Until they were further and further apart.

Wang Lin sat on the boat and, in a calm voice, spoke softly to Dafu.

"Dafu, let us leave Su City. We have waited here for twenty-eight years; we will wait no longer. Let us go home."

"Home? Where is home?" Dafu was stunned.

"At the foot of Hengyue Mountain." The boat docked. Wang Lin and Dafu stepped off the boat. He looked back at the river and at Su City, where he had lived for twenty-eight years, and said softly.

When they arrived, it was during the season of flying willow catkins, with a few flasks of wine, a carriage, and the Master and servant.

When they left, it was still the same.