Chapter 483: Was It Worth It?

Nine Lives.

Detached Immortal Venerable's gentle, refined voice spoke.

"What brings you here, Immortal Venerable?" Lu Ye's voice was equally calm.

"There is indeed something I wish to inquire about. Did you owe me a favor in your past life?" Detached Immortal Venerable went straight to the point.

Lu Ye hesitated briefly.

"What if I said I forgot?"

Hearing this, Detached Immortal Venerable's interest sharpened.

"You've forgotten?"

Lu Ye nodded calmly. "That's right."

"You forgot even Yin Qingcheng?"

"Yes."

A heavy silence hung before Detached Immortal Venerable spoke again.

"Even if you've forgotten, you still owe me a favor, correct?"

Lu Ye hesitated... "Doesn’t the favor only count if I remember?"

"Fair enough. However, the reason I came today was to ask you—how did you... reverse time?"

When Detached Immortal Venerable asked this, his voice strained, as if forcing out the words.

"You can’t do it, Immortal Venerable, so it's better not to ask." Lu Ye's tone held absolute certainty.

"You’re sure?"

"Absolutely."

Detached Immortal Venerable fell silent.

After a long pause, he spoke again.

"Very well. Then get stronger fast. When the time comes, I can protect you!"

He spoke bluntly.

Lu Ye’s face darkened with conflict, as if weighing his thoughts.

"Immortal Venerable... is this really worth it?"

Detached Immortal Venerable burst into laughter.

"Hah! What do *you* think?"

Lu Ye had no answer.

Worth it?

The Detached Immortal Venerable didn’t wait for Lu Ye’s reply—his presence faded from the stone statue.

Qingxuan was completely lost trying to follow their exchange.

Huh?

What were they even talking about—‘worth it’ or not?

Qingxuan didn’t understand, but Lu Ye grasped it clearly.

The Detached Immortal Venerable had mastered the *Path of Detachment* to the Celestial Lord realm—yet, absurdly, he still longed for his wife.

When he asked Lu Ye how to reverse time, it was because he wanted to return to the past to find her.

In short, he was fighting his own damn cultivation path.

Those few words from the Detached Immortal Venerable? A thousand years of cultivation down the drain.

No kidding.

Even after Lu Ye flat-out said time reversal was impossible, the guy wouldn’t quit—now he planned to guard Lu Ye’s path.

His bet? Wait till Lu Ye became the baddest cultivator ever, then hitch a ride back to his wife.

Every move he made now defied the crushing weight of his own *Path of Detachment*.

This was the Detached Immortal Venerable—supposedly detached!

What’s love, if not making fools swear life and death?

Not even a Celestial Lord could shake it off.

To be honest, Lu Ye was green with envy—hell, his eyes were practically bloodshot.

It was unimaginable—what kind of woman could’ve hooked the Detached Immortal Venerable? After centuries, she still haunted him?

Lu Ye racked his brain!

Bai Qiulan, Shangguan Huanling, Yue Hongling, *Vermilion Bird*...

Damn it, no matter how he twisted it, he couldn’t wrap his head around it!

He itched to punch the Detached Immortal Venerable in the face!

The guy had descended from the Ninth Heaven to the Sixth just to force-feed him relationship goals.

Lu Ye and Qingxuan returned to the Heavenly Gate. Without delay, Lu Ye immediately went into seclusion.

Time flew like a shooting star.

Cultivation defies time.

Eighty years vanished in a blink.

Lu Ye opened his eyes.

Now, his aura alone could freeze souls.

Pure terror.

Especially his right hand, constantly shrouded in the most terrifying power, like it was forged from the coils of ten thousand dragons.

The challenge kept mounting.

Just one final extreme remained!

To be honest, Lu Ye had cultivated through many realms, each honed to perfection—pushed beyond limits—with some realms even reaching thirteen layers.

Even the weakest realm had to be pushed to at least ten layers before he'd call it quits.

But in the Nine Extremes Realm, Lu Ye finally understood what it meant for nine to be the extreme!

Just one more extreme, and he could feel himself reaching the absolute breaking point.

Yet now, he still had fight left in him!

Charge!

But this time, it required painstaking precision, a longer period of tempering.

Lu Ye didn’t even know what devastation a single strike of his Celestial Lord Fist in his current state could wreak.

In the Nine Extremes Realm, most cultivators—hell, everyone—aimed for balanced development, including Lu Ye in his past life.

On one hand, focusing solely on strengthening a single aspect drained resources exponentially.

On the other hand, even if one aspect was strengthened to its utmost, weak spots could get you killed before that advantage could even be utilized.

In his past life, Lu Ye had strengthened his five limbs, doubling down on one.

Then came vital energy, physical essence, and spiritual power.

So, in his past life within the Nine Extremes Realm, aside from certain aspects seeing dramatic increases in power, the rest were just so-so.

But after his rebirth, Lu Ye understood.

For him now, without a single chink in his armor, there was no need to waste effort on his baseline traits—because even those were already at the pinnacle.

He only needed to strengthen his strengths.

To make his power even more overwhelming, to insane levels, to the point of crushing his foes—that would be his success!

As for the rest?

Those? Please—Lu Ye would rather ditch them, so why bother reinforcing them?

Lu Ye glanced at the remaining resources—plenty to spare!

Time for the next power surge!

Back to the grind!

Before he knew it, five decades had flown by!

The Fifth Heavenly Realm!

A new power had emerged in the Fifth Heavenly Realm, known as the Pavilion of the Untamed Ear!

Yes, the Listening Wild Pavilion!

At this moment, the Listening Wild Pavilion was buzzing with excitement, and tickets were like gold dust.

Soon, it was completely packed. Yue Hongling and the Vermilion Bird turned away the latecomers, asking them to wait for the next batch.

Those who entered the Listening Wild Pavilion were all buzzing with anticipation.

Why?

Simple—because they could learn about the future!

Inside the pavilion, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and tea had sky-high prices, but that didn’t stop the crowd.

"Finally managed to snag a ticket—it was near impossible to score!"

"Same here! I had to call in favors just to get one, and even paid double the price!"

"No idea what they'll talk about later, but everyone says it's next-level and absolutely worth the price."

"The Celestial Lord, the future—who wouldn’t be interested in such things?"

Exactly!

Ever since Shangguan Huanling lost her source of income, she scrambled to find ways to make money. After multiple business failures, she was flat broke.

It was at this moment that the Vermilion Bird hatched a genius plan.

That is—to sell the future!

In short, they would spin tales of the future.

Everyone who entered to listen had to swear to keep it under wraps.

Who could resist the temptation of foreseeing the future?

Yue Hongling was dead set against it at first, but after one payday, she clammed up.

This… actually *works*?