Heavy rain was pouring down at a Daoist temple.
Yun Hai was standing in front of this Daoist temple, looking at the person kneeling in front of the gates.
That person had the same face as Yun Hai, but it wasn’t him.
Yun Hai had only just broken from the illusion with that powerful minister and the young Son of Heaven, and arrived at this new place in the blink of an eye.
But this illusion seemed a bit different.
That boy couldn’t see him, and neither could the young man who came out from the Daoist temple.
Yun Hai was calmly watching them, waiting for the further development of the situation.
“Young Master Yun, stop kneeling. You’ve already kneeled for so long, but since our Temple Master said we aren’t accepting you, then we won’t!”
The young Daoist was standing in front of the boy, holding an umbrella. Although the rain was bucketing down heavily, his voice sounded clearly, reaching the other’s ears despite the rain.
The boy who was kneeling said nothing, and continued standing with his back straight.
The young Daoist didn’t manage to persuade him. He stood there for a while, sighed, told the boy that he was on his own, turned round and entered the temple.
The large gates of the Daoist temple were closed once again, leaving no gaps.
Yun Hai came closer to the boy and leaned closer to see his expression.
In order to escape the rain drops falling on his face, the boy lowered his head slightly. He was numb after kneeling for a long time, and he had obviously lost all hope, driven into an impasse.
Why bother?
If there is no place for you here, you can find another one.
It was just a Daoist temple. Even though the first master of the world is residing here, what of it?
But the boy couldn’t hear his words.
Yun Hai didn’t waste his energy, and continued watching the show while leaning on a tree nearby.
The sky darkened and brightened again.
A whole night passed, but the rain didn’t stop.
However, the boy standing on his knees didn’t melt the stone hearts of the Daoists from the temple, but instead waited long enough for his enemies to appear.
More than ten people carrying weapons hurriedly came closer one by one, and many of them were powerful cultivators.
To have that many people deal with an unarmed and defenseless boy with no cultivation was truly making a big fuss over a minor issue.
Yun Hai was looking from the sidelines coldly, waiting for the people to hack the boy into pieces in front of the temple gates.
But they didn’t rush to kill him right away. It seemed like they wanted something from the boy, as they kept interrogating him.
Their weapons left all imaginable wounds on the boy’s body. But what actually made it hard for him to endure were not the tortures, but the uncertainty of his future.
Still, the boy didn’t open his mouth, keeping it tightly shut. Not a single word or groan escaped his lips.
His blood painted the limestone path red, but the rain swiftly washed it away.
Yun Hai was suddenly anxious.
This boy’s face resembled his so closely that it was hard for Yun Hai not to put himself in the boy’s position.
But Yun Hai wasn’t able to lend him his hand, otherwise these cultivators would have long since all been dead. He could only watch the scene from the side.
If the master of this Daoist temple actually allows people to be killed this way right in front of his gates, he is a useless man indeed!
He thought with a sneer.
And at this moment, the gate was actually opened unhurriedly.
Two young Daoists opened the doors, but this time they didn’t say any pointless words. Another person stepped across the threshold and stopped on the stairs.
Yun Hai looked at that person.
It was Changming.
Ever since Yun Hai met him on the seashore, he had the feeling that they had already seen each other before.
“You have stained my limestone path, how are you going to pay for it?”
Changming was standing on the stairs, and the long out-of-this-world sleeves of his robes were fluttering on the wind.
This Changming was obviously different from the one he knew.
The Changming he met in the Nine Layers of the Abyss usually had a tired and indifferent expression on his face, as if he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for a long time. He was light-hearted and treated life as merely playing games, not taking worldly matters to his heart, and regarded life and death as unimportant. He had nothing in common with the other cultivators who entered the Nine Layers of the Abyss.
But the expression of the Changming in front of his eyes was strict and sharp like a knife; he was discreet in speech and manner, and his attitude was unclear; he bore hardships with ease, and always furrowed his brows, which made him look even more fierce.
He was indeed a strong person, and one of those standing at the top of the world at that.
Yun Hai’s heart was racing, and he stood up excitedly.
He looked at Changming carefully, trying not to miss the smallest detail.
The people who chased the boy here to kill him were also quite intimidated by Changming. They cupped their hands politely, saying that the boy was their master’s enemy, and had something on him that could damage a whole country and cause suffering to its people, and if they didn’t forcibly take it from him right there, many would get hurt, and so on.
No matter how much the others said while interrupting each other, the boy was as silent as the grave. He was lying on the ground, beaten heavily, and only his eyes were shining brightly in the rain.
Changming didn’t interrupt them either. He went down the stairs.
When the raindrops fell on him, it was as if they encountered an invisible barrier: his clothes were not getting wet, remaining dry like a new set of robes.
“You want me to be your master?”
He towered above the boy who was looking up at him with expectation.
“Yes!”
It was the first time Yun Hai heard the boy speak. His eyes were shining in the rain, glued to Changming.
A bright light glowed in front of Yun Hai, as if a burst of flames.
In a flash, the scene in front of his eyes was overlapped with the fragments of his memories.
This boy was him, and he was the boy.
He was Yun Hai, but also Yun Weisi.
Yun Weisi was Yun Hai during the day.
And Yun Hai was Yun Weisi at night.
Originally, they were the same person.
“What can you do for me?” he heard Changming questioning the boy.
Young Yun Weisi was stunned for a while, and couldn’t say a word.
The enemy behind him took this opportunity to make a sneak attack, and a sword light dashed towards Yun Weisi’s heart from his back, as fast as a lightning.
Changming didn’t move, only raising his hand slightly, but the shining sword stopped right next to Yun Weisi’s skin, unable to move further.
The enemy was dumbstruck.
In an instant, the sword light flew back the same way, and hit its owner right in his forehead. This man only cried and fell to the ground.
The rest of the enemies were frightened and retreated one by one, not daring to make any careless moves.
But Changming had no intention to spare them.
“You wanted to settle your old scores, arrived at my gates to resolve them, and now you even attack in my presence, hm?”
His voice fell like a massive boulder, burdening the hearts of everyone around him.
Yun Weisi coughed up a mouthful of blood on the limestone. He was previously sitting straight like an arrow, but now he leaned a bit, and it seemed that he could fall any moment.
Yun Hai was also affected, and his mind was shaken a little. He had to hold on to the tree to take a firm stand.
The head of the group forced a smile: “We didn’t mean to disturb you, Temple Master Jiufang, I am sorry for the troubles. In that case, we will visit you some other day, excuse us!”
“Young Master?” Someone next to him was unwilling to go back empty-handed, but the leader only stared at him in reply.
They thought everything would end there, and the Yuhuang Temple wouldn’t interfere anymore. But Changming opened his mouth again.
“Did I give you the permission to leave?”
The leader of the group had always been arrogant, and relied on his powerful connections. Although he knew that his opponent was a high-level master, he wasn’t too frightened.
“Temple Master Jiufang, since this person came here seeking your protection, we won’t take any actions against him. As long as the Yuhuang Temple has him, we are not a threat to him. Count this as our present given to you at our first meeting.”
Changming said coldly: “You stained my territory, only dropped a couple of words, and now simply wish to go away?”
The leader: “Then what do you want?”
Changming: “I will take your life, but spare the others.”
The leader laughed angrily and raised his hand, ordering his subordinates to attack.
He didn’t believe that so many high-level cultivators wouldn’t be able to take down one Jiufang Changming.
Jiufang Changming only uttered two words.
“Swords, come.”
He raised his hand.
This movement was nothing out of the ordinary.
But everyone heard a long buzzing sound at that moment.
The scabbards in their hands started to quiver violently.
In a split second, countless swords came out simultaneously!
As if all the swords had suddenly gained consciousness, they left their sheaths and flew towards the leader of the group!
More than ten swords were shining above his head. The leader’s face turned pale with fright, but he had no place to retreat.
After the swords flashed, everything calmed down.
The leader fell to the ground. The blood trickled unceasingly from his ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth, and his whole body was covered with wounds.
Twelve swords had penetrated him.
Everyone turned pale from shock.
But the boy’s eyes were shining bright, and he was looking at Jiufang Changming, as if the latter was the only light in his life.
Yun Hai was also looking at Jiufang Changming.
This person was very powerful, so powerful that it was hard to put his charisma into words, and the whole world was looking up to him.
But how could a master of this level become a waste?
And his personality was now entirely different.
Yun Weisi’s enemies swiftly picked up the remains of their leader and retreated, not even daring to utter a single word. And the boy followed Changming, stepping into this Daoist temple for the first time.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, he tilted to the side and fell to the ground.
Changming bent down, caught the other and fed him a pill.
The boy had been standing on his knees for too long, and he was tired physically; moreover, he was drenched standing out in the rain, so he needed some time to come to his senses.
He squinted his eyes, looking at Changming against the light, and couldn’t help but grab his sleeve.
“Don’t go,” Yun Weisi muttered.
He is really a good-for-nothing!
Yun Hai sneered internally, forgetting the fact that this person was him.
“We will talk again when you wake up.”
Changming’s sleeves brushed by the other’s forehead, and Yun Weisi softly fell to the ground.
He asked a young Daoist to bring the person to a side room, and went to give a morning lesson to the temple’s disciples.
Before the blood stains in front of the gates could dry out, the cold rain washed them away.
For some reason, although Yun Hai knew that this was just an illusion from the Mirror Lake, he still was reluctant to leave this place.
He wanted to see how this powerful Jiufang Changming lost everything, falling that low.
He also wanted to see himself, to know whether he was taken as a disciple by the Yuhuang Temple, and what he learned there.
Changming didn’t drive Yun Weisi away. From that day on, he was allowed to stay in the Yuhuang Temple, but Changming didn’t agree to accept him as a disciple either.
But Yun Weisi was persistent, and finally his efforts made Jiufang Changming notice him. Thus, he became the first direct disciple of the temple master.
And the only disciple Changming accepted while he was following Daoism.
Time passed quickly in the illusion world.
Yun Hai watched Yun Weisi cultivate and grow little by little, turning from a stubborn and reserved boy into a dignified and experienced young man.
He would also smile occasionally. Although he was usually happy only with his shizun, he was at least a bit more lively, not like that apathetic Yun Weisi who kneeled in front of the temple gates, only relying on his hatred to keep on living.
He would clean the house carefully for his shizun, and learn how to weave the cattail mats with other young Daoists just to weave one for his teacher as a birthday gift.
He would copy Jiufang Changming’s handwriting in the light of lanterns, write down all his words from a long book and smile afterwards.
Once, he heard that there was a spring next to the mountain with the best snow water to brew tea, which could only be gathered during a certain period of the year. He passed over mountain ridges in the middle of the night, and waited for three days for the first snow and gathered a pot of it—everything in order to make a cup of hot tea for Jiufang Changming who loved tea.
Yun Hai was watching him from the side silently.
Watching Yun Weisi’s grief and joy, and the sincere warmth he felt towards his shizun.
Watching how diligent he was in cultivation, and how Jiufang Changming instructed him without reservation.
He pressed his hand against his chest.
His warm heart was beating fast, as if he was deeply moved.
Why did he forget everything?
Why did he have no impression of this man, Jiufang Changming, until they met on the seashore?
Yun Hai closed his eyes, suppressing the surging waves in his heart.
These days were like a gentle flowing stream.
And these seven years of Yun Weisi’s life were now seen by Yun Hai again.
But he felt that these days wouldn’t last.
Because Jiufang Changming had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation, he was frowning more and more, as if he was lost in thoughts.
Until finally one day, the Yuhuang Temple had to embrace its destiny.
Jiufang Changming left the sect to pick up new disciples.
Yun Weisi’s old enemies appeared uninvited, this time bringing together with them even more formidable supporters. But, while Jiufang Changming wasn’t in his Daoist temple, it was just a mediocre sect. Yun Weisi’s enemies didn’t find their target in the temple, so they attacked the sect’s disciples in a rage. The accident in the Yuhuang Temple took a heavy toll of lives.
After returning and hearing the news, Yun Weisi pursued and killed all the enemies who had come to the temple that year.
He had gained the power to take revenge, but was too busy cultivating in the Yuhuang Temple, so he had no time to be distracted.
When he returned to the Yuhuang Temple, Jiufang Changming stated that he was going to leave the sect, and moreover, leave the Dao cultivation itself. He was going to establish a separate sect.
“My cultivation has reached a bottleneck, and I can’t move further without destroying the old to create the new. Only this way will I have a chance.”
Jiufang Changming said to Yun Weisi, standing under blooming trees.
“Solving mysteries and finding the right way doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the old. Dao is profound, so it is very possible that shizun can find an alternate route, why must you leave the sect?”
Yun Weisi’s expression was unprecedentedly impatient.
He didn’t want his teacher to leave. But Yun Hai was sure Changming would.
Dao cultivation is like a towering tree. Perhaps the small branches of this tree hadn’t been touched by Jiufang Changming, but he had already seen through the shape of the tree and the height it can reach. He wanted to explore other trees, instead of wasting his whole life in this one.
But at that time, Yun Weisi couldn’t understand the other. He only wished these days in the Yuhuang Temple would last longer.
As expected, Jiufang Changming said: “I don’t advise you to take over the Yuhuang Temple. Routine matters and assemblings will only make you waste your energy, slowing down your cultivation. Just follow the formulas I gave you and cultivate them until they are useful, and then find a new path. I will first enter a Buddhist sect to study Dharma, then become well versed in hundreds of teachings one day and regain the natural state.”
Yun Weisi blurted out: “If you enter Buddhism, I will enter Buddhism; if you enter Demonic cultivation, I can enter it as well!”
Jiufang Changming shook his head: “You don’t have to follow me. You have a deep comprehension ability, and quickly achieved results in Dao cultivation. If you continue treading this path, you may have great accomplishments. You shouldn’t tug at shoots to help them grow, as it may have the opposite effect. Moreover, you are cold-hearted and have little desires, so you are suitable for cultivating the Heartless Dao, while I am too distracted by all sorts of thoughts, and want to pick up the best from hundreds of schools. This is a desire, so we are destined to follow different paths.”
Heartless Dao: there are many ways to follow Dao, this one suggests the cultivator to relinquish all their feelings.
After he finished speaking, he looked at Yun Weisi and added: “Originally, you were free of all constraints and attachments. My departure will cut off the last thread that binds you to this world. You have already avenged the disciples of the Yuhuang Temple, settling karma, so you can cultivate without diverting your attention.”
Yun Weisi, after standing in a daze for half a day, asked: “Have you already decided?”
Jiufang Changming: “I have.”
Yun Weisi: “Then when will I meet you again?”
Jiufang Changming: “The day when you become a great master.”
Yun Weisi watched Jiufang Changming slowly disappear into the distance under the setting sun.
And Yun Weisi continued to stand there, from dusk till sunset, from long night till dawn.
His posture didn’t change. It seemed like he was waiting for his shizun to return and tell him that all of this was just a joke, a trial.
Yun Weisi was standing under the tree, watching the days and nights replace each other, and stars going in circles.
Some years had passed. The tree grew higher, but the Daoist Temple didn’t change. Yun Weisi walked out from the temple. He was a lot more calm compared to those years, but had no expression on his face. In fact, he was rigidly aloof. When he looked at a person, it was as if he was looking at a dead thing.
Free from things of the world, sealed off from the mundane.
Yun Weisi didn’t heed Jiufang Changming’s advice and took over the Daoist Temple. After Jiufang Changming’s shidis perished, he became the new temple master. When he received an invitation from the Qianlin Assembly, he heard some news about Jiufang Changming, so he left his seclusion ahead of time and left his sect.
Yun Hai also wanted to follow him as he felt that Yun Weisi’s journey would affect him greatly.
But he suddenly felt dizzy, and couldn’t even stand straight. A whirlpool appeared under his feet, and he was swallowed by it.
…
The turbulent waves of a restless sea made him sink and float, back and forth.
Changming struggled to survive in the sea waves, while holding Yun Hai.
He didn’t know how he fell there, and only knew that he had this unworthy and cumbersome burden with him.
“Get up already, stop playing dead!” he ruthlessly slapped Yun Hai a couple of times.
And the other opened his eyes indeed.
Changming: …
Yun Hai grabbed his hand. Changming thought he would hit him, but Yun Hai only pulled them out of the water on a boat.
The shabby boat was bobbing up and down on the waves, but it didn’t sink.
“Where are we?” Changming only felt that his mouth was full of sea salt, and even his face was soaked in it.
“The Weak Water, the Seventh Layer of the Abyss.”
“Just as I thought, the Mirror Lake is the passage between the layers of the Abyss,” Changming wringed out the sleeves of his robes.
Yun Hai passed him a flask with fresh water.
“Thanks.”
Changming was actually thirsty, so he opened the flask and drank a mouthful of water. But he realized immediately that it was a bit suspicious.
He didn’t worry that Yun Hai would poison him at all, since the latter wouldn’t use such strenuous methods to kill him. But Yun Hai really wanted him dead at the beginning, and started treating him as a plaything later; it was the first time he did something so normal and kind.
“Daoyou Yun Hai, are you alright?”
Yun Hai wanted to answer, but saw the rays of the rising sun in the corner of his eyes. His expression changed a bit.
“It’s almost dawn.”
It’s almost dawn?
So what?
Yun Hai interrupted his train of thought, and Changming looked at him, not understanding his words.
Weird creaks came from a dark ship’s hold behind them.
The two of them turned around!
Tn:
Since Changming calls him “my unworthy disciple” so often: he actually uses the word “不肖”, which means something “unlike his [teacher], unfilial, unworthy, underachieving”.
Heavy rain was pouring down at a Daoist temple.
Yun Hai was standing in front of this Daoist temple, looking at the person kneeling in front of the gates.
That person had the same face as Yun Hai, but it wasn’t him.
Yun Hai had only just broken from the illusion with that powerful minister and the young Son of Heaven, and arrived at this new place in the blink of an eye.
But this illusion seemed a bit different.
That boy couldn’t see him, and neither could the young man who came out from the Daoist temple.
Yun Hai was calmly watching them, waiting for the further development of the situation.
“Young Master Yun, stop kneeling. You’ve already kneeled for so long, but since our Temple Master said we aren’t accepting you, then we won’t!”
The young Daoist was standing in front of the boy, holding an umbrella. Although the rain was bucketing down heavily, his voice sounded clearly, reaching the other’s ears despite the rain.
The boy who was kneeling said nothing, and continued standing with his back straight.
The young Daoist didn’t manage to persuade him. He stood there for a while, sighed, told the boy that he was on his own, turned round and entered the temple.
The large gates of the Daoist temple were closed once again, leaving no gaps.
Yun Hai came closer to the boy and leaned closer to see his expression.
In order to escape the rain drops falling on his face, the boy lowered his head slightly. He was numb after kneeling for a long time, and he had obviously lost all hope, driven into an impasse.
Why bother?
If there is no place for you here, you can find another one.
It was just a Daoist temple. Even though the first master of the world is residing here, what of it?
But the boy couldn’t hear his words.
Yun Hai didn’t waste his energy, and continued watching the show while leaning on a tree nearby.
The sky darkened and brightened again.
A whole night passed, but the rain didn’t stop.
However, the boy standing on his knees didn’t melt the stone hearts of the Daoists from the temple, but instead waited long enough for his enemies to appear.
More than ten people carrying weapons hurriedly came closer one by one, and many of them were powerful cultivators.
To have that many people deal with an unarmed and defenseless boy with no cultivation was truly making a big fuss over a minor issue.
Yun Hai was looking from the sidelines coldly, waiting for the people to hack the boy into pieces in front of the temple gates.
But they didn’t rush to kill him right away. It seemed like they wanted something from the boy, as they kept interrogating him.
Their weapons left all imaginable wounds on the boy’s body. But what actually made it hard for him to endure were not the tortures, but the uncertainty of his future.
Still, the boy didn’t open his mouth, keeping it tightly shut. Not a single word or groan escaped his lips.
His blood painted the limestone path red, but the rain swiftly washed it away.
Yun Hai was suddenly anxious.
This boy’s face resembled his so closely that it was hard for Yun Hai not to put himself in the boy’s position.
But Yun Hai wasn’t able to lend him his hand, otherwise these cultivators would have long since all been dead. He could only watch the scene from the side.
If the master of this Daoist temple actually allows people to be killed this way right in front of his gates, he is a useless man indeed!
He thought with a sneer.
And at this moment, the gate was actually opened unhurriedly.
Two young Daoists opened the doors, but this time they didn’t say any pointless words. Another person stepped across the threshold and stopped on the stairs.
Yun Hai looked at that person.
It was Changming.
Ever since Yun Hai met him on the seashore, he had the feeling that they had already seen each other before.
“You have stained my limestone path, how are you going to pay for it?”
Changming was standing on the stairs, and the long out-of-this-world sleeves of his robes were fluttering on the wind.
This Changming was obviously different from the one he knew.
The Changming he met in the Nine Layers of the Abyss usually had a tired and indifferent expression on his face, as if he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for a long time. He was light-hearted and treated life as merely playing games, not taking worldly matters to his heart, and regarded life and death as unimportant. He had nothing in common with the other cultivators who entered the Nine Layers of the Abyss.
But the expression of the Changming in front of his eyes was strict and sharp like a knife; he was discreet in speech and manner, and his attitude was unclear; he bore hardships with ease, and always furrowed his brows, which made him look even more fierce.
He was indeed a strong person, and one of those standing at the top of the world at that.
Yun Hai’s heart was racing, and he stood up excitedly.
He looked at Changming carefully, trying not to miss the smallest detail.
The people who chased the boy here to kill him were also quite intimidated by Changming. They cupped their hands politely, saying that the boy was their master’s enemy, and had something on him that could damage a whole country and cause suffering to its people, and if they didn’t forcibly take it from him right there, many would get hurt, and so on.
No matter how much the others said while interrupting each other, the boy was as silent as the grave. He was lying on the ground, beaten heavily, and only his eyes were shining brightly in the rain.
Changming didn’t interrupt them either. He went down the stairs.
When the raindrops fell on him, it was as if they encountered an invisible barrier: his clothes were not getting wet, remaining dry like a new set of robes.
“You want me to be your master?”
He towered above the boy who was looking up at him with expectation.
“Yes!”
It was the first time Yun Hai heard the boy speak. His eyes were shining in the rain, glued to Changming.
A bright light glowed in front of Yun Hai, as if a burst of flames.
In a flash, the scene in front of his eyes was overlapped with the fragments of his memories.
This boy was him, and he was the boy.
He was Yun Hai, but also Yun Weisi.
Yun Weisi was Yun Hai during the day.
And Yun Hai was Yun Weisi at night.
Originally, they were the same person.
“What can you do for me?” he heard Changming questioning the boy.
Young Yun Weisi was stunned for a while, and couldn’t say a word.
The enemy behind him took this opportunity to make a sneak attack, and a sword light dashed towards Yun Weisi’s heart from his back, as fast as a lightning.
Changming didn’t move, only raising his hand slightly, but the shining sword stopped right next to Yun Weisi’s skin, unable to move further.
The enemy was dumbstruck.
In an instant, the sword light flew back the same way, and hit its owner right in his forehead. This man only cried and fell to the ground.
The rest of the enemies were frightened and retreated one by one, not daring to make any careless moves.
But Changming had no intention to spare them.
“You wanted to settle your old scores, arrived at my gates to resolve them, and now you even attack in my presence, hm?”
His voice fell like a massive boulder, burdening the hearts of everyone around him.
Yun Weisi coughed up a mouthful of blood on the limestone. He was previously sitting straight like an arrow, but now he leaned a bit, and it seemed that he could fall any moment.
Yun Hai was also affected, and his mind was shaken a little. He had to hold on to the tree to take a firm stand.
The head of the group forced a smile: “We didn’t mean to disturb you, Temple Master Jiufang, I am sorry for the troubles. In that case, we will visit you some other day, excuse us!”
“Young Master?” Someone next to him was unwilling to go back empty-handed, but the leader only stared at him in reply.
They thought everything would end there, and the Yuhuang Temple wouldn’t interfere anymore. But Changming opened his mouth again.
“Did I give you the permission to leave?”
The leader of the group had always been arrogant, and relied on his powerful connections. Although he knew that his opponent was a high-level master, he wasn’t too frightened.
“Temple Master Jiufang, since this person came here seeking your protection, we won’t take any actions against him. As long as the Yuhuang Temple has him, we are not a threat to him. Count this as our present given to you at our first meeting.”
Changming said coldly: “You stained my territory, only dropped a couple of words, and now simply wish to go away?”
The leader: “Then what do you want?”
Changming: “I will take your life, but spare the others.”
The leader laughed angrily and raised his hand, ordering his subordinates to attack.
He didn’t believe that so many high-level cultivators wouldn’t be able to take down one Jiufang Changming.
Jiufang Changming only uttered two words.
“Swords, come.”
He raised his hand.
This movement was nothing out of the ordinary.
But everyone heard a long buzzing sound at that moment.
The scabbards in their hands started to quiver violently.
In a split second, countless swords came out simultaneously!
As if all the swords had suddenly gained consciousness, they left their sheaths and flew towards the leader of the group!
More than ten swords were shining above his head. The leader’s face turned pale with fright, but he had no place to retreat.
After the swords flashed, everything calmed down.
The leader fell to the ground. The blood trickled unceasingly from his ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth, and his whole body was covered with wounds.
Twelve swords had penetrated him.
Everyone turned pale from shock.
But the boy’s eyes were shining bright, and he was looking at Jiufang Changming, as if the latter was the only light in his life.
Yun Hai was also looking at Jiufang Changming.
This person was very powerful, so powerful that it was hard to put his charisma into words, and the whole world was looking up to him.
But how could a master of this level become a waste?
And his personality was now entirely different.
Yun Weisi’s enemies swiftly picked up the remains of their leader and retreated, not even daring to utter a single word. And the boy followed Changming, stepping into this Daoist temple for the first time.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, he tilted to the side and fell to the ground.
Changming bent down, caught the other and fed him a pill.
The boy had been standing on his knees for too long, and he was tired physically; moreover, he was drenched standing out in the rain, so he needed some time to come to his senses.
He squinted his eyes, looking at Changming against the light, and couldn’t help but grab his sleeve.
“Don’t go,” Yun Weisi muttered.
He is really a good-for-nothing!
Yun Hai sneered internally, forgetting the fact that this person was him.
“We will talk again when you wake up.”
Changming’s sleeves brushed by the other’s forehead, and Yun Weisi softly fell to the ground.
He asked a young Daoist to bring the person to a side room, and went to give a morning lesson to the temple’s disciples.
Before the blood stains in front of the gates could dry out, the cold rain washed them away.
For some reason, although Yun Hai knew that this was just an illusion from the Mirror Lake, he still was reluctant to leave this place.
He wanted to see how this powerful Jiufang Changming lost everything, falling that low.
He also wanted to see himself, to know whether he was taken as a disciple by the Yuhuang Temple, and what he learned there.
Changming didn’t drive Yun Weisi away. From that day on, he was allowed to stay in the Yuhuang Temple, but Changming didn’t agree to accept him as a disciple either.
But Yun Weisi was persistent, and finally his efforts made Jiufang Changming notice him. Thus, he became the first direct disciple of the temple master.
And the only disciple Changming accepted while he was following Daoism.
Time passed quickly in the illusion world.
Yun Hai watched Yun Weisi cultivate and grow little by little, turning from a stubborn and reserved boy into a dignified and experienced young man.
He would also smile occasionally. Although he was usually happy only with his shizun, he was at least a bit more lively, not like that apathetic Yun Weisi who kneeled in front of the temple gates, only relying on his hatred to keep on living.
He would clean the house carefully for his shizun, and learn how to weave the cattail mats with other young Daoists just to weave one for his teacher as a birthday gift.
He would copy Jiufang Changming’s handwriting in the light of lanterns, write down all his words from a long book and smile afterwards.
Once, he heard that there was a spring next to the mountain with the best snow water to brew tea, which could only be gathered during a certain period of the year. He passed over mountain ridges in the middle of the night, and waited for three days for the first snow and gathered a pot of it—everything in order to make a cup of hot tea for Jiufang Changming who loved tea.
Yun Hai was watching him from the side silently.
Watching Yun Weisi’s grief and joy, and the sincere warmth he felt towards his shizun.
Watching how diligent he was in cultivation, and how Jiufang Changming instructed him without reservation.
He pressed his hand against his chest.
His warm heart was beating fast, as if he was deeply moved.
Why did he forget everything?
Why did he have no impression of this man, Jiufang Changming, until they met on the seashore?
Yun Hai closed his eyes, suppressing the surging waves in his heart.
These days were like a gentle flowing stream.
And these seven years of Yun Weisi’s life were now seen by Yun Hai again.
But he felt that these days wouldn’t last.
Because Jiufang Changming had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation, he was frowning more and more, as if he was lost in thoughts.
Until finally one day, the Yuhuang Temple had to embrace its destiny.
Jiufang Changming left the sect to pick up new disciples.
Yun Weisi’s old enemies appeared uninvited, this time bringing together with them even more formidable supporters. But, while Jiufang Changming wasn’t in his Daoist temple, it was just a mediocre sect. Yun Weisi’s enemies didn’t find their target in the temple, so they attacked the sect’s disciples in a rage. The accident in the Yuhuang Temple took a heavy toll of lives.
After returning and hearing the news, Yun Weisi pursued and killed all the enemies who had come to the temple that year.
He had gained the power to take revenge, but was too busy cultivating in the Yuhuang Temple, so he had no time to be distracted.
When he returned to the Yuhuang Temple, Jiufang Changming stated that he was going to leave the sect, and moreover, leave the Dao cultivation itself. He was going to establish a separate sect.
“My cultivation has reached a bottleneck, and I can’t move further without destroying the old to create the new. Only this way will I have a chance.”
Jiufang Changming said to Yun Weisi, standing under blooming trees.
“Solving mysteries and finding the right way doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the old. Dao is profound, so it is very possible that shizun can find an alternate route, why must you leave the sect?”
Yun Weisi’s expression was unprecedentedly impatient.
He didn’t want his teacher to leave. But Yun Hai was sure Changming would.
Dao cultivation is like a towering tree. Perhaps the small branches of this tree hadn’t been touched by Jiufang Changming, but he had already seen through the shape of the tree and the height it can reach. He wanted to explore other trees, instead of wasting his whole life in this one.
But at that time, Yun Weisi couldn’t understand the other. He only wished these days in the Yuhuang Temple would last longer.
As expected, Jiufang Changming said: “I don’t advise you to take over the Yuhuang Temple. Routine matters and assemblings will only make you waste your energy, slowing down your cultivation. Just follow the formulas I gave you and cultivate them until they are useful, and then find a new path. I will first enter a Buddhist sect to study Dharma, then become well versed in hundreds of teachings one day and regain the natural state.”
Yun Weisi blurted out: “If you enter Buddhism, I will enter Buddhism; if you enter Demonic cultivation, I can enter it as well!”
Jiufang Changming shook his head: “You don’t have to follow me. You have a deep comprehension ability, and quickly achieved results in Dao cultivation. If you continue treading this path, you may have great accomplishments. You shouldn’t tug at shoots to help them grow, as it may have the opposite effect. Moreover, you are cold-hearted and have little desires, so you are suitable for cultivating the Heartless Dao, while I am too distracted by all sorts of thoughts, and want to pick up the best from hundreds of schools. This is a desire, so we are destined to follow different paths.”
Heartless Dao: there are many ways to follow Dao, this one suggests the cultivator to relinquish all their feelings.
After he finished speaking, he looked at Yun Weisi and added: “Originally, you were free of all constraints and attachments. My departure will cut off the last thread that binds you to this world. You have already avenged the disciples of the Yuhuang Temple, settling karma, so you can cultivate without diverting your attention.”
Yun Weisi, after standing in a daze for half a day, asked: “Have you already decided?”
Jiufang Changming: “I have.”
Yun Weisi: “Then when will I meet you again?”
Jiufang Changming: “The day when you become a great master.”
Yun Weisi watched Jiufang Changming slowly disappear into the distance under the setting sun.
And Yun Weisi continued to stand there, from dusk till sunset, from long night till dawn.
His posture didn’t change. It seemed like he was waiting for his shizun to return and tell him that all of this was just a joke, a trial.
Yun Weisi was standing under the tree, watching the days and nights replace each other, and stars going in circles.
Some years had passed. The tree grew higher, but the Daoist Temple didn’t change. Yun Weisi walked out from the temple. He was a lot more calm compared to those years, but had no expression on his face. In fact, he was rigidly aloof. When he looked at a person, it was as if he was looking at a dead thing.
Free from things of the world, sealed off from the mundane.
Yun Weisi didn’t heed Jiufang Changming’s advice and took over the Daoist Temple. After Jiufang Changming’s shidis perished, he became the new temple master. When he received an invitation from the Qianlin Assembly, he heard some news about Jiufang Changming, so he left his seclusion ahead of time and left his sect.
Yun Hai also wanted to follow him as he felt that Yun Weisi’s journey would affect him greatly.
But he suddenly felt dizzy, and couldn’t even stand straight. A whirlpool appeared under his feet, and he was swallowed by it.
…
The turbulent waves of a restless sea made him sink and float, back and forth.
Changming struggled to survive in the sea waves, while holding Yun Hai.
He didn’t know how he fell there, and only knew that he had this unworthy and cumbersome burden with him.
“Get up already, stop playing dead!” he ruthlessly slapped Yun Hai a couple of times.
And the other opened his eyes indeed.
Changming: …
Yun Hai grabbed his hand. Changming thought he would hit him, but Yun Hai only pulled them out of the water on a boat.
The shabby boat was bobbing up and down on the waves, but it didn’t sink.
“Where are we?” Changming only felt that his mouth was full of sea salt, and even his face was soaked in it.
“The Weak Water, the Seventh Layer of the Abyss.”
“Just as I thought, the Mirror Lake is the passage between the layers of the Abyss,” Changming wringed out the sleeves of his robes.
Yun Hai passed him a flask with fresh water.
“Thanks.”
Changming was actually thirsty, so he opened the flask and drank a mouthful of water. But he realized immediately that it was a bit suspicious.
He didn’t worry that Yun Hai would poison him at all, since the latter wouldn’t use such strenuous methods to kill him. But Yun Hai really wanted him dead at the beginning, and started treating him as a plaything later; it was the first time he did something so normal and kind.
“Daoyou Yun Hai, are you alright?”
Yun Hai wanted to answer, but saw the rays of the rising sun in the corner of his eyes. His expression changed a bit.
“It’s almost dawn.”
It’s almost dawn?
So what?
Yun Hai interrupted his train of thought, and Changming looked at him, not understanding his words.
Weird creaks came from a dark ship’s hold behind them.
The two of them turned around!
Tn:
Since Changming calls him “my unworthy disciple” so often: he actually uses the word “不肖”, which means something “unlike his [teacher], unfilial, unworthy, underachieving”.
