The seasons turn, twenty years of withering and flourishing, the increasingly aged Gua Ye gazed at the familiar Jin Gu region, but instead slowed his flight. The courage he once had in leaving his hometown, and the longing for his homeland for two decades, had now all turned into unease and cowardice.
Gua Ye had never felt such fear, not even when facing the unfamiliar lands across the ocean, or the oppressive moment when the pharaoh of the pyramids lifted the coffin lid. Never as much as now.
Recalling the past, just because of a single word from the Sect Leader, a promise to the descendants of the immortal family, it had left its home, hoping to gain a future for its descendants before the candle burned out.
Gua Ye feared to think, what if during this period the Cat Immortal Hall had broken up, or the Sect Leader forgot this old crow, or if the descendants had declined, how would it face it all...
Thousands of miles traveled, twenty years like the blink of an eye.
Yet the Jin Gu region at hand, which should have been a brief moment away, now felt farther than the path of twenty years past.
The crashing waves afar, the bitter salty wind from the Jin Gu harbor blew in, and hearing the faint cawing of distant crows, Gua Ye landed on a protruding reef, not daring to take another step forward.
The distant crow cries seemed like a mirage woven from illusion, everything was extremely unreal.
The crows of Chaotic Stone Mountain, the immortals of the descendants' hall, how could they have come to Jin Gu harbor...
Gua Ye raised its gaze towards the distance, at the end of the sea covered in mist, vaguely visible on a protruding Eagle's Beak cliff, stood a person, behind whom were many unfamiliar figures, with a formation of crows circling incessantly above.
Gua Ye's heartbeat seemed to have halted, a tidal wave of emotions brewing within.
Though it vaguely recognized the silhouette standing on Eagle's Beak cliff, the more it did, the more it felt this was an illusion.
News from beyond the mountains has stopped; winter ends, spring comes again.
Near home, the heart is more timid; don't dare ask the passerby.
No poem could better describe Gua Ye's state of mind at this moment.
The aging crow flapped its wings and flew again. As it neared the Eagle's Beak cliff and finally saw the scene before it clearly, Gua Ye's nostrils flared, turning misty-eyed as the wind blew sand into its eyes!
Oh dear, what's happening? I only went out for a few days, said I'd bring back seeds and grains, and just fulfill our mutual promise, so why such a big ceremony?
This can't be, the Sect Leader overestimates this old crow too much.
Gua Ye, who lived frugally all its life, finally felt willing to use the power of incense to transform into human form.
At this time, the black-clothed old man, appearing like a frail old head, wasn't sure if he was crying or laughing, with mucus and tears mixed together, everything that was prepared to be said in his belly now rendered useless.
"Gua Ye has suffered, please accept Xu Qing's bow."
"Oh no! It wasn't hard! Sect Leader, please don't do this, truly this old man can't handle it."
Seeing Xu Qing really about to bow, Gua Ye quickly returned the gesture, and the other immortals around also stepped forward to greet and salute.
Gua Ye had never witnessed such a scene?
Each of these immortals, whether it was a thousand-year cultivation or a five-hundred-year great demon who survived the thunder tribulations, even the Sun Erzhuang from earlier years had entered the Xuan Sect, acquiring significant skill in shamanism.
The immortals revered strength, and now these great demons wanted to salute it, how could it bear it?
However, Xu Qing felt it was only right. Gua Ye was a senior elder of the Immortal Hall, and at a time when all halls were not yet fully established, it chose to trust him and went to a foreign land.
No one could have predicted the dangers along this journey, and now, after twenty years, Gua Ye upheld its promise, returning to the Immortal Hall with its aging body.
This commitment alone is worthy of everyone's respect.
"Back then, this old man and the Sect Leader agreed I'd return within the year, yet I had never expected to be gone for so many years, it was this old man who let the Sect Leader down..."
Gua Ye, like an elder saving up silver coins for his grandchildren, cautiously retrieved jar after large clay jar from a storage ring.
Every jar had markings engraved on it, signifying the cultivation time and characteristics of each type of seed.
"The Sect Leader spoke of these corn seeds being cultivated by the Feather Crown People over generations, seeds that were more superior, but when the old man reached the Feather Crown People's land, foreign invaders had arrived, attempting to exterminate the native Feather Crown People, proclaiming themselves the rightful owners of the land..."
"The surviving Feather Crown People fled into the deep forests, where there were no fields, even the corn they tamed ceased to yield abundantly..."
Xu Qing's brow furrowed tightly; like rice, corn needed to be tamed through iterations and improvements to be most suitable for planting, and while Europe also had it, cultivation led to extremely low yield. This was why he sent Gua Ye to the land of America.
Yet, unexpected was it that the Americans, born keen on pillage and plunder, had already driven the Feather Crown People out of their homeland...
Gua Ye continued: "Luckily, this old man possessed some magical power, and the Feather Crown People sought salvation from me, then revered me as a Sun Envoy."
"To repay this old man, the tribe's chieftain and shamans reclaimed fields in the mountains and forests, cultivating that corn once more..."
Xu Qing was left speechless. He had initially thought that retrieving the seeds would be straightforward, but hadn't anticipated that Gua Ye would have to become a farmer in a foreign land for over a decade, cultivating seeds suitable for different regions, each with unique characteristics.
"This golden, bean-like one is the proud creation of the tribe's shamans and this old man, resistant to rust and stalk rot, easy to cultivate, and even in poor soil can yield 700 pounds per acre..."
"This white, thin-seeded corn is sweet corn, exceptionally good in taste; there's also glutinous corn, similar in taste to sticky rice..."