Chapter 285: To forget the means by which the end is attained

Shen Lian said, “Sure, please go ahead.”

Shoujing and Shouxuan sent Shen Lian out. With a low voice, Shoujing said, “That little girl has a strong, soulful aura and she’s only eleven or twelve years old. Could it be that she’s the Headmaster’s daughter?”

With an expressionless face, Shouxuan responded, “Nonsense! The Headmaster has been cultivating in the mountains for the past ten years. How would he have a daughter out of nowhere?”

Shoujing murmured, “Who knows? The Headmaster is always so unpredictable. Maybe he went down the mountains during his cultivation. Plus, don’t you think they look alike?”

Shouxuan looked at Shoujing with a hint of mercy, he sighed and wrote a message on the table using wine, ‘Do you think the headmaster won’t be able to hear us?’

Shoujing’s face changed immediately as he recalled how different Shen Lian looked when he’s calm and when he’s punishing someone.

He scolded himself for being garrulous but why didn’t his cold-hearted senior fellow apprentice reminded him earlier?

He then secretly decided that after reaching the open waters, he would stay at the Temple of Longevity to serve Uncle-Master Yan.

Not long after, Shen Lian and Ruoxi arrived at the Wenxin intersection outside of gates of Qing Xuan. Ruoxi said, “Uncle, the two brothers said that I’m like your daughter.”

Shen Lian stroked her hair, it’s not appropriate for him to style Ruoxi’s hair and could only leave it unkempt. Unknowingly, Ruoxi has grown so much and it was difficult to see her as a kid. He calmly replied, “You could still hear them from so far away. Looks like you’ve been working hard in the past few years. Once we get back up the mountain, I will officiate your entry to Qing Xuan.”

Ruoxi happily said, “That’s great. Uncle, when can I start flying with the wind? I am now capable of lifting myself using my Qi and with the help of the wind, I can rise up to the sky for a brief moment.”

Shen Lian smiled, “Let’s not rush, take it step by step.”

Ruoxi looked down with a dejected expression and said, “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to wait until then. For the past few days, I’ve been having visions of the Master. I’m afraid that I might turn into someone else one day in the future.

Shen Lian patted Ruoxi’s shoulders and said, “Ruoxi, no matter what, always remember that you are Ruoxi, your mother is my sister and you are my niece.”

Ruoxi lowered her head and said, “Yes.”

The both of them were quiet as they walked on the Wenxin Road. The force of Wenxin Road was strong but it did not affect Ruoxi at all. She did not go through any disturbance and managed to enter Qing Xuan very quickly.

Wenxin Road was personally designed by Grandmaster Yuanqing. Although its main purpose was to test the newly recruited disciples, some deeply cultivated cultivators too could not bypass its effects.

Ruoxi was not affected by the Wenxin Road at all because she possessed special qualities.

Not only that she had to face the Synchronized Heart Mantra of Taisu but her Yuan Jun incarnation was gradually affecting her. Spiritual techniques were not effective on her anymore.

This was very similar to reincarnation as the reincarnated has several spirit levels and were not affected by millions in the human realm.

She effortlessly entered Qing Xuan and as they were about to reach the Taiyi Peak, Gu Caiwei was already waiting for them. Shen Lian and Gu Caiwei both specialized in the Taixu Strategy and could communicate telepathically with each other.

On the clouds’ road, Ruoxi curiously analyzed this gentle elder sister who looked at her with gentle warm like a stream in the mountain, or even the moonlight that shined through the bamboo window in a silent night.

Gu Caiwei smiled and said, “So this is your niece? She does resemble you.”

Shen Lian said to Ruoxi, “This is Aunt Gu Caiwei. She is my Senior Apprentice-Sister.”

Ruoxi was not shy at all, she courteously responded, “Hi Aunt Gu, you look really pretty.”

She added, “As pretty as Sister Xiaoyu.”

Gu Caiwei was flustered and laughed out loud, “Shen Lian, you met Xiaoyu again? Please get her to address me as her aunty next time and that will make her your niece.”

Shen Lian let out a cough and said, “Senior Apprentice-Sister, stop joking around. How is the Grandmaster?”

Gu Caiwei recollected herself and said, “The Grandmaster is not showing any signs of advancing. But don’t worry, the Grandmaster has been through too much. Although she was heavily injured, this is not much of a hurdle for her. It’s just that the news about the joint marriage between Guangqing and the Taisu Sect was spreading like wildfire.”

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Taisu had millions of years of history and the joint marriage with the powerhouse Guangqing would trigger the entire world of cultivation. Even the rise of Zen among Buddha sects that silenced that the eight sects of Buddhism were not as influential as the joint marriage.

Three Doyens of Taisu and five celestials of Guangqing; when the two combined, there would be eight immortal Zhenrens and the force would be so terrifying, even enough to challenge the prestige of the Xuantian Sect.

Shen Lian sighed, “The blame is on me.”

He recounted the incident of him rescuing Ruoxi to Gu Caiwei via telepathy, and Gu Caiwei finally understood the full story.

However, she was not mad, instead, she said, “If I were you, I would do the same without any hesitation. Back then when Grandmaster Qingshui and the founding master were still young, they’ve messed up more than you. I recalled the founding master telling me that Grandmaster Qingshui pissed a lot of people off when she was younger. Ten or more immortal Zhenrens, some good and some evil, came knocking on her door but our Qing Xuan endured it and survived.”

Shen Lian had heard about Grandmaster Qingshui’s staggering history but he had never come across records stating about the ten or more immortal Zhenrens who came looking for her. He said, “This is my first time hearing about this.”

Gu Caiwei smiled, “Some things are passed on orally and not recorded in words. There were also records of secrets that were destroyed in the incident that involved Uncle-Master Yanxu. Although you’ve inherited the position of the chief and probably have heard of more secrets than me but not all secrets should be recorded down. Actually, after achieving immortality, you can use the Tiandi Jian to find out about the past and future. By then, nothing will be able to hide from you.”

Shen Lian knew that better than anyone else. The Tiandi Jian was one of the most precious treasures of Qing Xuan. It had not unleashed to its full potential when Zhang Ruoxu possessed it. Plus, the Tiandi Jian was actually incomplete.

Shen Lian said, “I need to focus on cultivation. I can’t change much even if I knew many things.”

Gu Caiwei responded, “That is true. Actually, the Grand Ancestor Master predicted that you’ll be back today. He told me to tell you to go and see him if you’re back.”

Shen Lian nodded and asked, “Now?”

The Grand Ancestor Master was the Old Daoist at the Taiwei Pavilion. He existed for a long long time, so long that he has forgotten of his name. According to the Zero Star Records of Qing Xuan, the old Daoist was known as ‘Lord Deity Tianyan’, however, he banned Shen Lian from addressing him as that. It seemed that the name represented the bad memories of his life.

Zifu Peak, Taiwei Pavillion.

“Little Shen, you have indeed stepped into Powang. So how does it feel?” The old Daoist opened his usually semi-sleepy eyes.

Shen Lian was surprised to see the old Daoist. He had lost a great amount of grey hair, his eyebrows faded and it seemed that he lost a huge chunk of flesh. He looked terrifying, almost like the evil spirits from hell.

Shen Lian courteously bowed down and asked, “Grand Ancestor Master, what happened to you?”

The old Daoist was not bothered by his state, he calmly replied, “The Trial of Dao that I have been delaying has finally caught up. On the bright side, many immortals couldn’t even think about matching my level.”

Shen Lian replied, “Immortal Zhenrens too have to face catastrophe?”

The old Daoist laughed out loud, “I neither can age nor die, and I can’t leave heaven and earth. This catastrophe is the karma for countless years of encroaching the essence of heaven and earth.”

Shen Lian couldn’t help but fall into silence. What the old Daoist said was the truth. If a cultivator obeyed, that would make him a human. If he rebelled, that would make him a celestial. A human would go through birth, aging, sickness, and death. No matter how much they’ve gained from heaven and earth, they would all end up as dust. But cultivators would absorb the Qi vitality of heaven and earth to prolong their life. To heaven and earth, this was bad karma.

Immortal Zhenrena would neither age nor die and their mana was boundless. Their invasion towards heaven and earth were like notorious bandits and the damaged cost was far worse than any demon. There was a verse in the Nanhua Scripture that said, “The thievery would not stop if Saints do not die.”

The old Daoist continued, “There will be three trials of Dao after breaking through Xuwang and being a Primordial Spirit. Of course, you should never expect to be stronger after each trial. If you have anything that you don’t understand after achieving that level, feel free to come and consult me. If I am no longer around, you can ask Ziling. Speaking of cultivation accomplishments, she might outdo me in the future. There’s no point for the current you to hear about this. I’m sure you’ve bumped into Yanxu in your outing this time around.”

The old Daoist swiftly switched the topic to Yanxu.

Shen Lian replied, “His depth of understanding about Qing Xuan was really deep. I couldn’t turn the table over and failed to take him down.”

“If you are capable of taking him down, then Ziling should just kill herself. But you didn’t lose too much and that’s a good thing. When he was your age, he was far behind you.” The usually untalkative old Daoist seemed to be very chatty this time.

And that made Shen Lian really sad because a person’s character would change when they were about to die. Celestials were too humans. It was just that they were so high up and could conceal their humanity to the extent that they too, forgotten that they were in fact human.

It seemed that the old Daoist could read Shen Lian’s mind as he said, “By any chance, are you thinking that I’m so talkative because I’m about to die?”

Shen Lian replied, “I don’t even dare.”

The old Daoist laughed. His face had lost a significant amount of flesh and his bones were somewhat visible. He had a terrifying smile but Shen Lian was not intimidated by it. He said, “To forget the means of success when success is attained. You think death is fearful because you don’t understand the laws of death. I didn’t understand too and that’s why I’ve hurt Ruoxu and Yanxu. Thankfully, the present me would not be able to harm you.”

Shen Lian felt that there was hidden meaning behind the old Daoist’s words and wanted to ask further but the old Daoist pointed at him and the heaven and earth started spinning. In a split second, he was in a fragrant plum forest.