After hearing Ren Xia's words, Tian Yang sighed before responding in a worried voice, "I had to sacrifice several million years of longevity to learn this information. If it weren't for the pills, I would've never been able to learn it."
"A few million years, huh?" Ren Xia muttered in a low voice.
She'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried about losing so many years of her longevity. However, as his partner, she didn't want Tian Yang to endure the burden alone. After pondering for a moment, she spoke, "I am willing to lose a few million years if it means I can finally walk beside you. Although we've been together for so long, it always feels like I am slightly trailing behind you."
"Ren Xia…"
"Please, let me be selfish… really selfish for once…" she glared at him with a pleading gaze. "Also, it'll give me more motivation to break through to the next realm if I suddenly lose a few million years of my lifespan, and I don't know how much longer I have left to live."
Although cultivators who entered the Immortal Realm are called Immortals and are said to have an unlimited lifespan, that was only a speculation. A defeated smile tugged at Tian Yang's lips as he spoke, "Fine, I'll tell you. However, I'll stop the moment I sense anything even slightly wrong. Hell, we don't even know if a cultivator at the True Immortal realm has that much longevity." He proceeded to reach for his spatial ring before retrieving Han Zexian's diary, something he kept even though he had memorized all of its content.
"This is Han Zexian's diary, something I found inside his cavern. Try not to be too shocked about what you read."
He handed the diary to her, his hand uncontrollably trembling slightly.
"Thank you…" Ren Xia accepted the diary and took a moment to mentally prepare herself.
Once she was prepared, she opened the diary and began reading it.
A few seconds later, she lifted her head to look at Tian Yang and asked, "How do I know if my longevity is being consumed? I don't feel any different."
"You don't?" Tian Yang raised his eyebrows, looking puzzled by her statement.
When he first read the diary, he felt fatigued the instant he did, even though he had been perfectly normal before.
He then explained to her about his own experience.
"Nope, I don't feel any different, much less fatigued." Ren Xia said. "Maybe I'll feel it after reading some more."
She immediately went back to the diary.
As she delved deeper into the contents of Han Zexian's diary, her eyes widened with shock and disbelief at the discovery of the Outer Gods' existence, incomprehensible beings with unfathomable strength who lived beyond their world.
While the diary dumbfounded Ren Xia, Tian Yang stared at her with an astonished look of his own. "How much have you read?" he suddenly asked her.
"I'm almost done with it," she calmly replied.
"And you still feel completely fine?"
"Yes," she nodded.
"How?! Is it because you are at the True Immortal realm, and a few million years is nothing but a drop in the bucket, hence why you don't even feel it being consumed?" he wondered out loud. "No… even if that's the case, there's no way you wouldn't feel that much lifespan being forcefully drained!"
"I don't know what to tell you." Ren Xia shrugged as she returned to finishing the last few sentences in the diary.
A few moments later, she closed the diary and placed it down.
"Outer Gods, huh? I am still trying to grasp my head around such an existence actually existing…" "They really exist. I personally spoke with one, after all."
"What?" Ren Xia looked at him with wide eyes.
"What were they like? What did you talk about?"
Tian Yang recalled his meeting with the ten-armed Outer God to her.
"He said he'd grant me a wish. I asked for talent, but he said that I already had it, so he gave me something else. As for what the something is… I have no clue. He also said that we'd meet again, but it's been several thousand years since that meeting."
"Hey… are you sure you're feeling fine?" Tian Yang continued with a worried frown. "If you're trying to act tough so I wouldn't be worried, it's actually having the opposite effect."
Ren Xia chuckled and said, "I swear I am feeling fine. What about you? Are you sure you had to sacrifice your longevity to learn this information?"
Tian Yang nodded, "Of course. I even tested it on some people from the Immortal Clans before. When I gave them the diary to read, they would all scream in pain until they stopped. When I forced them to listen to it, they all died a violent death."
Ren Xia raised an eyebrow and asked, "What were you trying to achieve by doing that?"
"I wanted to test the limit of this information and its restrictions. Unfortunately, I didn't really learn anything."
"Well, I am completely fine even after reading the whole thing, so something might've changed."
"I guess so… but we should remain alert in case the effects are delayed."
"Anyway, let's get back on topic. The Great Mammoth Body Refinement technique had a communication technique hidden within it. While it differs from the one in Han Zexian's tomb, the similarities suggest it reaches out to an Outer God—just not the one I spoke with."
"Does that mean Kulas used this technique and contacted the Outer God?" "That's… possible. However, we won't know for sure until Kulas wakes up and we question him."
"I know this will sound insensitive, but will he even wake up? It's been thousands of years, you know?"
Tian Yang sighed, "I won't give up until his last breath." Suddenly, he thought of an idea.
"Wait a second. If an Outer God is involved with Kulas' situation, perhaps I can ask another Outer God for help? I still remember the communication technique, so it might be possible to call for him again."