The appearance of this old man and youth on the deck drew the attention of quite a few people.
The reason was simple: the existence of this old man and youth was rather special; they were extraordinary beings. To be precise, they were not humans at all, nor were they Immortals. They were Demons—genuine, bona fide Demons.
Since ancient times, the Monster Dao and the Immortal Dao had always been relatively close. Throughout history, they had formed alliances multiple times and had even intermarried. For instance, the famous descendants of the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, the Azure Dragon, and the Black Tortoise that shook the Great Wasteland were all offspring of unions between the Monster Dao and the Human Dao.
Moreover, when spiritual beasts gained sentience and achieved success in cultivation, they became Monster Immortals.
Even some demonic beasts, if they took refuge under an Immortal realm, could be called Monster Immortals.
In the Great Wasteland, there were many, many Monster Immortals. Quite a few had even received commissions from the Nine Heavens.
Therefore,
in the Great Wasteland, it wasn't strange to encounter Demons, even aboard the Xuantian Great Vessel.
Nor would any Immortal be afraid of them.
Not only were they not afraid, in the eyes of many Immortals in the Present-Ancient Era, the Monster Dao was merely a lowly, inferior Great Dao, far less noble than the Immortal Dao.
After all, in the Present-Ancient Era, the Immortal Dao dominated the Great Wasteland. And as everyone knew, over the past ten thousand years of the Present-Ancient Era, many Great Daos had submitted to the Immortal Dao, the Monster Dao among them.
However,
no one dared to look down upon these two Demons, the old man and the youth.
Everyone could sense the vast and boundless demonic aura emanating from the old man.
As for that elegant, handsome youth, the demonic aura on him was very faint.
Even so, no one dared to underestimate him, because that old monster with profound cultivation was serving the elegant youth like a servant.
"Immortal Yunyan, you're really not being considerate. I, your little brother, am still your friend, aren't I? I invited you for a drink, and you refused. I didn't say anything, since you said you wanted to be alone. I didn't want to disturb you. But...
Has the sun risen from the west today?
Or is it that Immortal Yunyan no longer wishes to be alone?
If you want someone to drink and chat with, why not look for me, your little brother?
My capacity for liquor is still passable, isn't it?"
The elegant youth walked over, a smile like sunlight playing at the corners of his mouth. Immortal Yunyan glanced at him and said softly and plainly, "You talk too much..." Immortal Yunyan was always this aloof; that refined face of hers never revealed any joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.
"Do I talk too much?
Not really, do I?"
The handsome youth laughed. "I heard Immortal Yunyan accepted an invitation from a certain young master. I presume it's this young master here?"
As he spoke, the youth looked at Gu Qingfeng. "I am surnamed Yi, given name Shangxing. A pleasure to meet you for the first time. May I ask for your esteemed name, young master..."
"My surname is Da," Gu Qingfeng said lazily from his chair, looking at the handsome youth with an amused smile. "Given name Laoye."
"Da Laoye?"
The handsome youth chuckled in surprise. "A good name! Truly a good name! Da Laoye lives up to his name—not only is his face big enough, but his name is also big enough! I, your little brother, admire you!
I admire you greatly! I wonder if I, your little brother, have the honor of sharing a few small cups with Da Laoye?"
"Sure," Gu Qingfeng shrugged. "Sit wherever."
"Many thanks, Da Laoye." The handsome youth who called himself Yi Shangxing cupped his hands in thanks. "Da Laoye is giving me, your little brother, such face. I am truly endlessly grateful."
As he raised his hand, an exquisite wine pot appeared in it. He smiled and said, "This is a pot of fine wine I've been saving. Though it's nothing exceptional, it's still passable. I hope Da Laoye will accept it."
Just as Yi Shangxing was about to hand over the wine pot in his hand, suddenly, a figure flashed by. The fine wine in his hand vanished inexplicably, and a person appeared in mid-air out of nowhere.
It was an old man.
An old man who looked unkempt, wearing a tattered gray robe, with a gourd hanging at his waist and a peachwood sword slung across his back.
This old man appeared out of thin air, holding the exquisite wine pot—the very one Yi Shangxing had just produced. It seemed the old man had snatched it. Without a word, the old man lifted the pot and poured the wine into his mouth.
"It's you again, you shameless old Daoist! Give me back my wine!" Yi Shangxing shouted angrily. Unfortunately, by the time he shouted, the old man had already finished the entire pot of fine wine. After drinking it, he let out a satisfied burp and tossed the empty pot back to Yi Shangxing, saying, "Little fellow, your wine is really good. Do you have any more? Give this old Daoist another couple of pots to drink."
"Old Daoist! All my fine wine has been snatched away! What more fine wine could I have? The last pot was originally meant as a gift for Da Laoye, and now you've snatched that too! You're too shameless!"
"Da Laoye? What Da Laoye? On this great vessel, aside from this old Daoist, could there be another Da Laoye? Who is it?
Step forward and let this old Daoist have a look. See if I don't slap him a few big earfuls!"
The Old Daoist's eyes swept across the deck like beams of light, glancing over the crowd before finally landing on Gu Qingfeng. "Are you the Da Laoye this little fellow is talking about?"
Gu Qingfeng nodded. "That's right. I am Da Laoye."
"Well, well! You, kid, aren't modest at all."
The Old Daoist looked Gu Qingfeng up and down. The more he looked, the deeper his frown became. The more he looked, the more confused his eyes grew. The more confused he became, the more curious he got. The more curious he got, the more shocked he became. And the more shocked he became, the more he couldn't believe it.
"Kid, you're not simple."
The Old Daoist descended from mid-air onto the deck. "This old Daoist has been mixing on this great vessel for months. How come I've never seen you before?"
"I just boarded not long ago. It's normal you haven't seen me."
"Is that so..." The Old Daoist stared intently at Gu Qingfeng, as if pondering something.
Within the scene,
many people felt very strange when they saw the Old Daoist. Especially hearing him say he had been on this vessel for several months made it even more incomprehensible to everyone, because no one on this great vessel had ever seen this Old Daoist before, not even once.
Could it be that this Old Daoist had been in seclusion since the day he boarded?
Perhaps.
Such people weren't unheard of.
Only...
what kind of existence was this Old Daoist?
Unclear.
Everyone also couldn't discern anything from the spiritual aura on the Old Daoist.
Because the spiritual aura on the Old Daoist was far too chaotic.
Based on spiritual aura alone, it was impossible to determine his exact cultivation level. Not only could his cultivation not be determined, but no one was even sure if the Old Daoist was an Immortal at all.
If you said he wasn't an Immortal,
he did possess Immortal aura, and a very powerful one at that—more powerful than anyone present.
But if you said he was an Immortal,
the Immortal aura on an Immortal was supposed to be extremely pure, and the higher the cultivation, the purer it became. This Old Daoist was the opposite. The Immortal aura on him, while powerful, was not pure. Not only was it not pure, it was incredibly turbid.
This was the first time anyone had encountered such a situation.
No one knew what was going on, nor did they know from whence this Old Daoist hailed.