Chapter 1609: Tedious Times
Although 1000 years had passed, Wu Yu was frustrated but not despairing yet.
He continued to try ways and means of getting out. Day after day, year after year, and still nothing was working.
Full Moon of Nanshan and Ye Xixi joined in the thinking process, and also used their own techniques to try opening the chamber.
In a flash, 10,000 years had passed. Wu Yu had already examined every inch of the great void immortal designs, of which there were millions in even an area the size of a pinhead. Wu Yu had looked through every single one of them, and had gotten nowhere with it.
These great void immortal designs were all used to strengthen the brick walls, and revealed no way to break open a path. They were a true prison.
He had lost count of how many times he had re-looked at those immortal designs. He still had no clue of how to leave the chamber.
He had tried everything that he could think of. As for the eight candles, he had tried tens of thousands of ways to deal with them, before finally giving up.
Sometimes, he would vent his pent up feelings by attacking the walls violently.
He still held out a hope, no matter how small, that the walls could only take so much damage before they would open a path.
If Wu Jun was right that this was all a test, then perhaps it was a test of perseverance and endurance.
But as more time passed, his despair started to grow.
10,000 years, 20,000 years......
Time continued to march relentlessly on. Being cooped up for so long was affecting their mental state, Full Moon of Nanshan and Ye Xixi included.
Wu Yu yearned for Luo Pin on the outside. The thought that he would never see her again brought another violent rage to him, which he transferred to the walls, to no effect.
Tedium begot desperation.
Wu Yu did not know how many times he had fallen into despair. After each angry outburst, he sank into despair. He would sit woodenly, mind blank, almost like a stone statue.
Before he knew it, 50,000 years had passed.
Wu Yu had forgotten how he had come to be here. He only knew fear and misery. If only he had not come into the Graveguarding Palace.
But there was no point crying over spilled milk. It would only exacerbate his mental darkness.
Wu Yu felt like he was close to his limit, and his despair was about to engineer his total collapse. He could not imagine the rest of his life being spent here in the chamber, until he expired. A tragic end.
Previously, Full Moon of Nanshan and Ye Xixi would still talk and chat with Wu Yu, and discuss possible solutions. Verbal consolation was available for whoever was in a slump.
But now, the three of them were all in abject states. A few loud quarrels, and they now kept their distance from each other.
In such a state, they could not even focus on cultivation.
Jiu Ying was also in the Floating Dreams Pagoda. He had been silent during this time as well. At first, he had been diligently trying to catch up to their cultivation realm, but now he simply sat quietly in the Floating Dreams Pagoda.
He harbored no resentment towards Wu Yu. After all, he would have died to the Apocalyptic Chaos Demon without Wu Yu, or at the hands of the Diabolical Dragon King.
However, he too was feeling discouraged. Wu Yu was in a berserk state, and there was nothing he could do to improve the situation.
Everyone, Wu Yu included, was forcefully repressing the fevered frustration festering within themselves.
In 50,000 years, many things should have changed. And being cooped up like this was not conducive to a good state of mind.
They occasionally tried to cultivate, but there was not much by way of immortal qi in the chamber, and cultivating was not very effective. They could only reinforce their current cultivation realm, Mystiques, and heavenly rules.
Day after day, Wu Yu vented his frustration against the walls, until finally he collapsed to the floor, staring up at the ceiling in a daze.
He lay in a stupor for 1000 years, not talking to anyone, contemplating his life.
He had been born a mortal, a starting point that was far, far too low. Even after cultivating, he could only reach the most basic martial realm.
Until he met the old man Sun Wudao, who had changed his life and put him on a completely different path. And then the people of Heavenly Sword Sect, who had also changed him fundamentally. His new life had begun then.
While in the Heavenly Sword Sect, Wu Yu had been at the lowest level in the world of cultivation, but those had been some of his most fulfilled days. He had friends and family, and was not always cultivating alone.
The stark contrast to his current isolation only made it even more painful to think about.
In the Heavenly Sword Sect, a mere few years had passed, but they had been colorful years. And now, 50,000 years had passed, and nothing had happened.
He continued to drift through his memories, recalling details at Shushan such as his time with Nangong Wei. From the beginning, they had shared a special bond, but that young Nangong Wei no longer existed.
After Shushan, he had slain Beishan Mo, one of the most bittersweet fights of his life. He had conquered his own heart devil, and paid the price by becoming Nangong Wei's enemy.
Or perhaps, the Nangong Wei in Primordial Immortal Empire had merely been getting her own abck at him? Until now, Wu Yu still did not know if it had been Nangong Wei or Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord.
After leaving Shushan, he recalled his journeys to Yan Huang Imperial City. It was here that he had obtained his second body, the Heaven Devouring Avatar, which had now fused into his single body.
Without the Heaven Devouring Avatar, he would not have come this far. Perhaps he would have gone down a different path of dao.
Without the Heaven Devouring Avatar, he would already have been killed and devoured by the Yan Huang Ancient Emperor, everything that he had taken away. The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal's legacy would have been stolen, and he would be a sorry patch in the ground.
Thinking back to his struggles against Yan Huang Ancient Emperor, Wu Yu recalled Luo Pin in those days.
He had laid eyes on her for the first time in Yan Huang Imperial City, and their feelings had taken root. By the time they had reunited after a long separation, she was already the Lord of the Four Seas.
Their difficult times in Heaven Devouring Evil Residence had established a firm bond, and later on Luo Pin had maintained her feelings for him despite ascending to the sky palaces, believing that he was the one for her.
As the memories came back to him, Wu Yu could not help but sigh. Caught up in the present, he had forgotten how many years he had already lived.
A mere few centuries in the mortal domain had been so exciting. They had played a formative role in his life that the millennia that came after did not change.
The fight with the Yan Huang Ancient Emperor had been a push for him to enter the sky palaces.
Back then, he must have been a mere infant in the eyes of the Yan Huang Ancient Emperor. An infant with a great treasure.
The ordinary folk of the Jambu Realm must have seemed like ants to the Yan Huang Ancient Emperor back then. As long as they could not reach immortalhood, they were doomed to die in a few hundred years.
Those who could ascend from the mortal domain were few and far between, especially from a humble realm like Jambu Realm.
It was luck that allowed Wu Yu to obtain the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal legacy, to arise from the sea of mediocrity.
When he reached the sky palaces, the way ahead had seemed endless, and he had come so far since. And still, the memories were not as deep as his time in the mortal realm.
"Such a thrilling life I have led so far. Could I really be spending the rest of it here?"
Wu Yu dwelled on this for 1000 years. Within this time, he continued to reset his mind and spirit, envisioning all of his experiences as understandings of the passage of time.
Although the few centuries in the mortal domain had been extremely short, but they composed an exciting chapter of his life.
Although he had since cultivated for tens of thousands of years, but in terms of his lifespan now, they were but akin to a mere few years in a mortal's lifespan.
Although the scale of time had expanded greatly, but nothing had changed, fundamentally.
"These 50,000 years are but 5 years in a mortal's life! No wonder it's said that 'A day in heaven is a thousand years on earth!' To those at the Great Void Immortal Realm, 1000 years is but a day in a mortal's life!
Wu Yu had never thought much about time so far, despite using the marvelous properties of the Floating Dreams Pagoda.
But now, he began to think profoundly about time!