Chapter 1582: I Know, I’ve Been Waiting for You

Chapter 1582: Chapter 1582: I Know, I’ve Been Waiting for You

He abolished his own cultivation?

Yang Yan couldn’t quite make sense of it.

He hadn’t yet opened his mouth to ask when he heard Jian Wuming continue, "He only said that the path he’d taken was wrong. Back then, everyone was baffled by this."

"In fact, even now no one really understands why, after already cultivating to the peak of True Immortal, he would say his path was wrong."

"What surprised everyone was that when he cultivated to the peak of True Immortal a second time, his battle strength was countless times more terrifying than that of an ordinary True Immortal. Even the Immortal Monarchs of that era didn’t dare fight him."

"But for some unknown reason, just when everyone thought he would definitely break through the True Immortal realm, his life force dried up and he died."

"When he was dying, he said, ’My path is the right one. They’re the ones who walked the wrong path. But I no longer have the strength to glimpse the scenery at a higher place.’"

Hearing this, Yang Yan was extremely puzzled. "Isn’t a True Immortal’s lifespan said to be endless? How could his life force wither away?"

Jian Wuming glanced at Yang Yan and gave a bitter smile. "True Immortal? True Immortals vanished long before the Ancient Times."

"The ’True Immortals’, ’Immortal Monarchs’, ’Immortal Emperors’ of today are just titles people came up with later. The Immortal Emperors now are probably equivalent to the True Immortals of back then."

"Back in the Ancient Times, there were only three thousand True Immortals, corresponding to the Three Thousand Great Dao Rules. But for reasons unknown, the cultivation system changed. Now, only a few Immortal Emperors have reached the original True Immortal realm."

Yang Yan was about to keep asking when Jian Wuming gently waved his hand and said calmly, "We’re about to reach the place where Jian Mingyin is. I’ll tell you all of it then. You’re qualified to know these things now."

Yang Yan and Jian Wuming stopped in a stretch of Void. Jian Wuming lightly traced with his right hand, and a passage shimmering with light took shape.

Jian Wuming gave Yang Yan a slight nod, then stepped straight into the passage.

Yang Yan’s heart was surging uncontrollably at this moment.

His family, whom he dreamed of day and night, were just beyond this passage, yet a faint guilt rose in his heart.

But after only a moment, Yang Yan still walked into the Space Passage with firm steps.

What met Yang Yan’s eyes was Jian Mingyin and Jian Wuming sitting before a Jade Pendant.

Right now Jian Mingyin wore a smile, tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes as she looked at Yang Yan.

Jian Mingyin said softly, "Yang Yan, you finally came to find me?"

As soon as she said this, Jian Mingyin could no longer suppress the longing in her heart.

Tears that had been clinging to the corners of her eyes spilled in an instant, and in the blink of an eye she threw herself into Yang Yan’s arms, sobbing.

In that single call of his name was so much bitterness, a hundred years of yearning, all of it erupting the moment Yang Yan stood before her.

Yang Yan was filled with guilt.

He already had a family, yet he had still taken this young girl’s heart with him.

Jian Mingyin sobbed as she said, "Yang Yan, do you know, when you turned into a stone statue back then, I kept secretly telling myself that you would definitely come back."

"But I waited ten years and tried all kinds of methods, yet you still didn’t wake up."

"Later, I went back to my clan. I begged my Ancestor, hoping to find a way to heal you. But even Ancestor had no way."

At this point, Jian Wuming, who was sitting to the side, said in a deep voice, "Even an Immortal Monarch would’ve been helpless before your condition back then. And the Immortal Emperors had long since fallen into slumber. Even if they could wake, why would they help you?"

"I told her back then that once she became a True Immortal, I had a Pill Formula that could save you, then kept her here. I also kept her from joining the later wars."

Speaking up to here, guilt showed on Jian Wuming’s face.

Yet Yang Yan was deeply grateful for this.

You have to understand, back in that war far too many people died; even the Void-Devouring Tiger almost lost its life several times.

If Jian Mingyin had gone to the battlefield, her life or death would have been impossible to predict.

Yang Yan didn’t dare think any further along those lines.

Jian Mingyin went on, "You know, in my first year here, I learned from Ancestor about a way to save you. I cultivated without stopping, kept telling myself, ’I can do this. I, Jian Mingyin, can do this. I will definitely save you.’"

"Every day I looked at the lotus you gave me back then. It was as if I could see your figure inside it. Do you know how happy that made me?"

"Every day I would talk to it, say so, so many things, telling it everything I went through, as if you were right by my side, keeping me company."

"But fifty years after you turned into a stone statue, I could no longer find your silhouette within that lotus. I was lost, helpless. I begged Ancestor, just to keep a trace of your presence."

Yang Yan’s heart trembled; it felt as if a giant hand had grabbed his heart, leaving him unable to breathe.

Back then the lotus he’d given Jian Mingyin contained a strand of his Spiritual Sense, but in the end it had still been worn away by time and scattered.

In his mind appeared the scenes of Jian Mingyin pouring her heart out to the lotus for decades, and then the utter despair on Jian Mingyin’s face when that strand of Spiritual Sense finally dissipated.

His heart hurt more and more.

Yet Yang Yan realized there was nothing he could do.

He held Jian Mingyin tightly, whispering into her ear, "Mingyin, I’m back. This time I won’t leave again."

Tear-streaked as she was, a faint smile still appeared on Jian Mingyin’s face.

"Yang Yan, do you know, in the end, when I heard you had resurrected and emerged from that stone statue, I was so happy."

"My heart, which had been withered and dead, seemed to revive at that moment. I was desperate to rush back to your side. But..."

Jian Mingyin sobbed lightly, then choked out, "But then I heard that you and your wife were like a divine couple, and after the war you both went into seclusion, living a pastoral life, untouched by worldly affairs."

"You know, in that instant it felt like my heart was being torn apart. I understood that it was only because I met you later than they did."

"The life I yearned for slipped away from me. Do you know how unwilling I was?"

Jian Mingyin’s hands clenched tightly around Yang Yan’s sleeves, as if venting all the grievances in her heart.

Yang Yan could only gently stroke Jian Mingyin’s hair to comfort her.

"But later, when I heard you had children, I realized I still loved you, hopelessly so!"

"I yearned, yearned for the day you might remember that on the other side of the starry sky there was still a girl who liked you, waiting quietly for you."

Hearing this, Yang Yan could no longer bear it. His voice shook as he said, "Mingyin, I didn’t forget you. I’ve always loved you. I’m here to take you home."

Jian Mingyin gently released her arms from around Yang Yan, wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes, and said to him, "I know. I’ve been waiting for you all this time."

Yang Yan was deeply moved, and he pulled Jian Mingyin fiercely back into his embrace.

After a long while, Jian Wuming couldn’t watch any longer and coughed lightly on the side. "You two little brats, can you pay a bit of attention to your surroundings? There’s still a lonely old man here, you know."

"Ay, ay! The girl I raised for so many years is being snatched away by some snot-nosed kid just like that."