# 1035
Chapter 1036: Can Look But Can't Eat
The forms of the three Heavenly Sovereigns were not recorded…
Lin Qiye pondered this.
Yang Jian stared at the rippling water in his cup. After a long silence, he still asked, "So, you say you're my brother… did that actually happen in the future?"
"Yes."
"Did I die?"
Lin Qiye froze.
"Other than my soul falling into the cycle of reincarnation after death and being reborn, I can't think of any other possibility for becoming a mere mortal's younger brother." Yang Jian said calmly.
Lin Qiye studied him for a moment, then nodded. "You were indeed reincarnated. In this life, you're called Yang Jin, my cousin."
"Yang Jin…"
Upon hearing this name, a strange light flickered in Yang Jian's eyes. He helplessly closed his eyes, lifted his cup, and drained the Celestial Brew within in one gulp.
He took a deep breath and continued, "In the next life, was my family happy?"
"Yes."
"In the next life, was I an upright person?"
"Yes."
"In the next life, did I protect the people I cherished?"
Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment. "…Yes."
An imperceptible smile appeared on Yang Jian's icy face. "That is good enough."
"Aren't you going to ask why you entered the cycle of reincarnation?"
"If the future is already set in stone, what's the point of knowing? It would only disturb my peace of mind." Yang Jian set down his cup and spoke lightly.
Lin Qiye gazed into Yang Jian's eyes. After a long while, he helplessly smiled.
Meeting his cousin again in this way… it was strange and dreamlike. Who could have imagined that the aloof and powerful Prince of the Clear Origin would be reincarnated as that younger brother who always followed him around, calling him "Brother" with each step, so sensible and obedient?
While Lin Qiye was lost in thought, the immortal guests in the hall had basically taken their seats.
The Queen Mother of the West rose from the main seat. Her beautiful eyes swept slowly across the crowd. Her demeanor was dignified and noble; every glance and smile contained boundless grace, truly exemplifying what it meant to be the mother of all under heaven.
She briefly thanked everyone for coming to the Peach Banquet, then raised her hand and waved it gently.
"Let the peaches be presented to the honored immortals."
As her voice fell, cheerful celestial music played once more. Maidservants in flowing palace attire emerged silently from the rear of the hall, carrying peaches of varying sizes.
A thick, fragrant aroma rolled outward, flooding into everyone's nostrils.
"Gulp."
A crisp sound of someone swallowing saliva came from beside Lin Qiye. He turned to look and saw that two seats away, Nezha was staring intently at the peaches, his face written with longing.
Seemingly sensing Lin Qiye's gaze, Nezha glanced at him and said irritably, "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen someone swallow?"
Lin Qiye was taken aback. Just as he was about to say something, a voice came from behind him.
"Enough, Nezha." Yang Jian squinted, fixing Nezha with a stern look. "Eat your peach and mind your own business."
Nezha hadn't expected Yang Jian to speak up for Lin Qiye. He snorted, shrugged his shoulders, and turned his attention back to the arriving peaches.
The maidservants divided into three groups. One carried only a few plates holding large peaches, respectfully approaching the Queen Mother of the West and her group. Another group carried slightly smaller peaches, heading to the middle immortal section.
By the time they reached the lower immortal section, the peaches had shrunk another size.
Even so, the differences between these peaches were still quite apparent. For instance, the peach placed before Yang Jian at the first seat of the lower immortal section was the size of three fists, while those at the very end of the section were only as large as eggs, looking quite meager.
Originally, based on Lin Qiye's rank, he would only have been able to eat those egg-sized peaches at the end. But Yang Jian had forcibly seated him as the Second Seat right by his side, so a peach was placed before Lin Qiye that was only slightly smaller than Yang Jian's.
Even Nezha's peach was noticeably smaller than Lin Qiye's.
Such a large peach, placed before a junior like Lin Qiye, quickly drew complaints from others in the lower immortal section.
Before they could cause trouble, Yang Jian coldly set the cup in his hand down on the stone table. The dull thud carried an overwhelming aura that instantly swept across the entire lower immortal section.
Those who had been preparing to give Lin Qiye a hard time immediately wilted, lowering their heads老老实实地啃起自己身前的蟠桃。
"Eat it." Yang Jian said calmly. "It's yours."
Lin Qiye smiled bitterly. He reached out to grasp the peach before him, but his fingers could only lightly pass through its surface, unable to truly touch it.
"I can't eat these peaches."
Yang Jian raised an eyebrow, deep in thought. "I nearly forgot—these peaches are part of the temporal silhouette as well… What a pity. Although these are merely the small peaches that ripen every three thousand years, for someone mortal like you, they would still be an extraordinary treasure."
Lin Qiye stared at the peach before him, sitting quietly there, and sighed deeply.
The legendary Peach of Immortality was right before his eyes. He could even see the fine fuzz on its surface, smell its intoxicating fragrance… yet he simply couldn't eat it!
This was simply too torturous.
"Hey, why aren't you eating?" Nezha had finished his peach quickly, wiped his mouth, and looked at Lin Qiye's untouched peach with bewilderment. "If you're not going to eat it, you can give it to me."
"Sure, take it."
Seeing Lin Qiye agree so readily, Nezha was反倒愣在原地。
"真的……给我了？"
"Yeah, take it."
Nezha looked at Lin Qiye suspiciously. He tentatively grabbed the peach before Lin Qiye. When Lin Qiye really didn't stop him, he quickly stuffed it into his mouth and devoured it completely.
He rubbed his belly contentedly.
"Thanks. I apologize for my rudeness just now. You're a good person…
By the way, if you ever run into trouble in the future, you can use my name—Nezha. My master is Taiyi Zhenren, and my father is Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King. In the Heavenly Court, I still have some pull."
Nezha raised his hand, wanting to clap Lin Qiye on the shoulder. But the moment his hand touched Lin Qiye's body, it passed right through him.
Nezha suddenly froze in place.
"Nezha, can't you just behave yourself?" Yang Jian saw this, his expression somewhat helpless.
"Y-Y-Yang Jian!" Nezha's eyes went wide. He stared at Lin Qiye in disbelief. "What's going on?"
Before Yang Jian could respond, his expression suddenly hardened. He sharply turned his head, and the vertical eye between his brows, previously shut, instantly opened. He gazed toward a corner of the hall not far from where they sat.
There, a black-furred, red-eyed Earth-Gazing Eye had appeared out of nowhere, quietly staring at everything happening here.
"Which lowlife is skulking about?"
Yang Jian frowned. With a flick of his wrist, the cup in his hand transformed into a streak of rainbow light, directly smashing toward the Earth-Gazing Eye.
However, the moment the cup touched that eye, it was as if it had struck empty air, passing through silently.