Dan Chenzi looked up, expressionless, occasionally showing a smile. This made the girls smile and flattered.
The red tassel was wrapped around his wrist, and the wine pot was hanging under his wrist. Stepping on the mottled bluestone board, passing through hundreds of years old ancient halls and the most peripheral Hall of Immortal Liuren, he stepped down the mountain slowly on the stone steps mottled by years of corrosion.
He was the same, but Dan Chenzi gave people a different feeling when he was on the mountain, and when he was not. On the mountain, he was unrestrained. The warm sunshine shone on his warm jade-like face, and the corners of his mouth occasionally lifted.
In the world of mortals, one is supernatural.
With the cultivation of Taoism comes hundreds of years of carefree life.
It had been two days since the conference ended. He didn’t like the noisy atmosphere, let alone the girls who screamed when they saw him. He was unrestrained and straightforward. This was his life in the past ten years, and also the way he yearned for.
Slowly walking to the hillside, he saw a rickety figure holding a broom, silently sweeping the leaves on the steps.
“Grand-teacher,” Dan Chenzi called out, stepped up, came to the old man, and handed over the wine on his wrist. “I bought it for you on the way back to the mountain. It’s Precious Moutai, $3,000 per bottle. It’s expensive, but Baoze’s people bought it for me.”
The old man took the wine pot, opened the cork, smelled it, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Has the money been returned?”
Dan Chenzi scratched his head and smiled brightly. “Monks will not have money. I got it from alms giving. Anyway, Baoze is a big client.”
Grand-teacher was just a salutation out of respect. The old priest was not actually his teacher. When Dan Chenzi just joined Shangqing Sect, he had been on the mountain for many years. When Dan Chenzi first met him, he was very old. Over the past ten years, he was still the same.
When he was young, Dan Chenzi was curious. He asked all of his teachers. They had the same impression of the old priest. From the time they entered Shangqing Sect, the old priest had been there.
He swept the steps on the mountain, watching the flowers bloom and fall. With each passing day and night, countless years had passed.
When he grew up and his talent was recognized, the sect focused on his cultivation. He could strike conversations with the sect leader, Qing Xuzi. Dan Chenzi asked about the old priest again, realizing that he was from the generation of the sect leader’s grand teachers.
He was not skilled at all. When Qing Xuzi was young, this person was a mediocre disciple of Shangqing, to the point where he was an unknown sweeping the steps.
However, as time went by, people of that generation had already turned into a handful of loess. However, he was still alive, sweeping, and he became a lonely man.
The greatest impression of the disciples of Shangqing Sect on the old man was that he could live! The old priest was very strange. Where was he exactly eccentric? Dan Chenzi couldn’t tell. His great method of schizophrenia… The double Yin God Skill was taught by this old man. The Sword of Will was also taught by him. It was strange that the old man was ordinary in terms of mental state and qi. Hence, he was weird.
“What position did you achieve in the Forum Conference?” the old priest asked.
“I think I can get into the top two.” Dan Chenzi sat on the steps and watched the old man sweep them.
“Should?”
“Well, I didn’t fight with Jie Se, so I’m not sure I can beat him. Grand-teacher, the Forum Conference is over. There is no champion this year.”
“Oh?”
“I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn that there has been a great change in the conference this year.” Dan Chenzi was mysterious. In front of the old man, he was much more childish than before. He was like a child who couldn’t wait to share the news, but wanted to hide it.
“Oh?”
“Taoist Venerable has fallen, and the spirit of Demonic Priest reappeared at the conference.”
The old man’s sweeping hand trembled a little. “He’s back?”
Dan Chenzi told the old man about what happened at the conference. When he finished, he realised that the old man was holding onto his broom, looking towards the sky silently.
“Are you listening, Grand-teacher?”
“Well,” the old man looked down and continued to sweep the floor. “This karma is finally over.”
“What’s the relationship between you and Demonic Priest? Why do you know his Sword of Will?”
Before meeting Li Peiyun, he didn’t know that what he was cultivating was the Sword of Will. Only when Li Peiyun fought with Taoist Venerable and he saw it with his own eyes, did he realize that what he had cultivated for more than ten years was the Sword of Will, one of the components of the Demonic Priest’s Tri-Elements Swordsmanship. “We’re just acquaintances who went our separate ways,” the old man said. “I can only teach you the Sword of Will.”
Was Grand-teacher and Demonic Priest old friends?
After a moment of silence, the old man suddenly asked, “You saw him at the Forum Conference. How is he…?”
Dan Chenzi was stunned and thought before saying, “He’s very strong and youthful.”
The old man smiled. “After many tribulations, his soul returned to where it was. When he woke up, he was still young.”
The breeze blew and rolled up the fallen leaves. However, the leaves suddenly stopped in mid-air. There were birds flying in the air, and they were frozen as well. The treetops still retained the posture of being bent by the wind, but also froze in time.
Dan Chenzi’s smile solidified on his face. His eyelashes were countless in the sun, like a wax figure.
For a moment, time seemed to stop flowing and the world stood still.
The old man felt something and turned back to stare.
Behind him, a figure slowly formed, between the real and the unreal, with a vague face.
“Senior!” He bowed deeply.
“You’re out of the Gokudo Path?” the old man said.
“Halfway.”
“In the near future, there will be a young man who will ascend the mountain and ask for help from Senior. I hope you don’t refuse,” the blurred figure murmured.
The old man’s eyes flashed. “You came to see me. This means the future me refused?”
The vague figure was silent.
“Since I refused in the future, what’s the use of you talking to me now?”
“It’s very important at this time. I hope you will agree.”
“You should know that fate cannot be changed.”
The blurred figure was silent again.
“Idiot!” The old man shook his head, waved his old sleeve, and a gust of wind blew by. The blurred figure broke away and the world returned to normal.
“Grand-teacher, you’re right. It’s zen-like.” Dan Chenzi patted his buttocks and got up. “This time, I have to train in recluse. I always thought that I’m a genius, but after I see Li Xianyu, I finally know what is rapid progress.”
The old man watched his back disappear among the lush trees, bowed his head and swept the floor silently.
…
Spring flower garden, Wanshi, Henan Province.
At 10 A.M. on the weekend, Zhang Lu fell asleep and woke up with back pain as usual. Her first reaction was to open the quilt and check on her own condition. She was normal…
Zhang Lu was relieved and stepped out of bed on cotton. In the corner of the living room, her son curled up in a kennel and looked at her with black button eyes. It was a poodle with curly hair. It was cute.
“Baby, you must be hungry. I fainted. I’ll prepare something for you right away.” Zhang Lu searched for the dog food in the cupboard. There was still a glass of milk and two dog basins, one for dog food and the other for milk.
As a 26-year-old singleton, Zhang Lu’s only companion was a poodle named Khaki who she had raised since she graduated from college.
She was born in the countryside and left to work in the city after graduation. She rented an apartment with a living room and a bedroom. After graduation, she had three boyfriends, but all her relationships ended within six months.
Entering the bathroom, she looked at her haggard self in the mirror and grabbed her head impatiently. For some reason, she had poor sleep quality recently. She frequently woke up at night, her eyes were bloodshot, and she lost her radiant look.
After washing up, she came to the kitchen and cooked eggs skillfully. As a harmonious, self-proclaimed good woman, she had to prepare breakfast for herself everyday (emphasis on her being poor).
Today was her day off. She was going to have breakfast, and she was going to bring her son to spend the rest of the morning in the coffee shop opposite the community. Then, she would ask her friend to go to the mall and watch movies. In the evening, she would stay at home with her son and watch dramas.
A pleasant and fulfilling day.
She was frying eggs as she suddenly felt the impact on her calves. Looking down, her son was holding her calves and sprinting wildly.
“Well, when mom saves some money, she will help you get a wide.” Zhang Lu pushed Teddy away with her foot, and he leapt onto her again, full of sexual energy. After several times, Zhang Lu was too lazy to deal with it. Poodles were like this. There was nothing that they couldn’t hump.
Breakfast was very simple. Two poached eggs, toast with peanut butter, a glass of milk… This kind of breakfast was convenient, cheap, and nutritious. During the meal, Teddy still held onto her calf. Zhang Lu suddenly felt a warm sensation on her calf. Then, she frowned and looked down at the table.
“Damn it. I should have castrated you.” Zhang Lu got up in a huff, rushed to the bathroom to wash the filth on her calf, and when she returned to the living room, Khaki curled up contentedly in its kennel.
Knock! Knock! Just after breakfast, there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” Zhang Lu took a look through her peephole. Outside the door stood a young and handsome man.
When she opened the door, she was stunned again. Besides the handsome young man, there were three girls beside him. One of them had a mole at the corner of her eye, which was beautiful. The other two were tall and had the same beauty.
So pretty… The big stars were not as pretty as them.
Zhang Lu did not know the people standing outside, instinctively marveling at the beauty of the three women in her heart.
“Excuse me, is this Miss Zhang Lu? I’m a police officer from Changwan police station. This is my ID card.” Li Xianyu took out his ID and showed it to Zhang Lu.
Police… Zhang Lu stepped aside. “Please come in.”
Li Xianyu and his harem came into the room and sat on the sofa in the living room. “There’s no need to pour tea. We’re just here to find out some things.”
Seeing the girl preparing to serve them water, Li Xianyu hurriedly gestured for her not to do so.
Zhang Lu nodded and sat down opposite them.
Li Xianyu looked at her as he quietly knocked on his eyebrow, opening his spiritual eye. In an instant, there was a layer of hazy dark air in the room.
Zhang Lu was shrouded by that layer of air.
“Half a month ago, you called the police at Changwan Station and said you had been violated.” Li Xianyu said, “I’ve been sent to pay a return visit. Does this phenomenon still exist?”
Dan Chenzi looked up, expressionless, occasionally showing a smile. This made the girls smile and flattered.
The red tassel was wrapped around his wrist, and the wine pot was hanging under his wrist. Stepping on the mottled bluestone board, passing through hundreds of years old ancient halls and the most peripheral Hall of Immortal Liuren, he stepped down the mountain slowly on the stone steps mottled by years of corrosion.
He was the same, but Dan Chenzi gave people a different feeling when he was on the mountain, and when he was not. On the mountain, he was unrestrained. The warm sunshine shone on his warm jade-like face, and the corners of his mouth occasionally lifted.
In the world of mortals, one is supernatural.
With the cultivation of Taoism comes hundreds of years of carefree life.
It had been two days since the conference ended. He didn’t like the noisy atmosphere, let alone the girls who screamed when they saw him. He was unrestrained and straightforward. This was his life in the past ten years, and also the way he yearned for.
Slowly walking to the hillside, he saw a rickety figure holding a broom, silently sweeping the leaves on the steps.
“Grand-teacher,” Dan Chenzi called out, stepped up, came to the old man, and handed over the wine on his wrist. “I bought it for you on the way back to the mountain. It’s Precious Moutai, $3,000 per bottle. It’s expensive, but Baoze’s people bought it for me.”
The old man took the wine pot, opened the cork, smelled it, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Has the money been returned?”
Dan Chenzi scratched his head and smiled brightly. “Monks will not have money. I got it from alms giving. Anyway, Baoze is a big client.”
Grand-teacher was just a salutation out of respect. The old priest was not actually his teacher. When Dan Chenzi just joined Shangqing Sect, he had been on the mountain for many years. When Dan Chenzi first met him, he was very old. Over the past ten years, he was still the same.
When he was young, Dan Chenzi was curious. He asked all of his teachers. They had the same impression of the old priest. From the time they entered Shangqing Sect, the old priest had been there.
He swept the steps on the mountain, watching the flowers bloom and fall. With each passing day and night, countless years had passed.
When he grew up and his talent was recognized, the sect focused on his cultivation. He could strike conversations with the sect leader, Qing Xuzi. Dan Chenzi asked about the old priest again, realizing that he was from the generation of the sect leader’s grand teachers.
He was not skilled at all. When Qing Xuzi was young, this person was a mediocre disciple of Shangqing, to the point where he was an unknown sweeping the steps.
However, as time went by, people of that generation had already turned into a handful of loess. However, he was still alive, sweeping, and he became a lonely man.
The greatest impression of the disciples of Shangqing Sect on the old man was that he could live! The old priest was very strange. Where was he exactly eccentric? Dan Chenzi couldn’t tell. His great method of schizophrenia… The double Yin God Skill was taught by this old man. The Sword of Will was also taught by him. It was strange that the old man was ordinary in terms of mental state and qi. Hence, he was weird.
“What position did you achieve in the Forum Conference?” the old priest asked.
“I think I can get into the top two.” Dan Chenzi sat on the steps and watched the old man sweep them.
“Should?”
“Well, I didn’t fight with Jie Se, so I’m not sure I can beat him. Grand-teacher, the Forum Conference is over. There is no champion this year.”
“Oh?”
“I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn that there has been a great change in the conference this year.” Dan Chenzi was mysterious. In front of the old man, he was much more childish than before. He was like a child who couldn’t wait to share the news, but wanted to hide it.
“Oh?”
“Taoist Venerable has fallen, and the spirit of Demonic Priest reappeared at the conference.”
The old man’s sweeping hand trembled a little. “He’s back?”
Dan Chenzi told the old man about what happened at the conference. When he finished, he realised that the old man was holding onto his broom, looking towards the sky silently.
“Are you listening, Grand-teacher?”
“Well,” the old man looked down and continued to sweep the floor. “This karma is finally over.”
“What’s the relationship between you and Demonic Priest? Why do you know his Sword of Will?”
Before meeting Li Peiyun, he didn’t know that what he was cultivating was the Sword of Will. Only when Li Peiyun fought with Taoist Venerable and he saw it with his own eyes, did he realize that what he had cultivated for more than ten years was the Sword of Will, one of the components of the Demonic Priest’s Tri-Elements Swordsmanship. “We’re just acquaintances who went our separate ways,” the old man said. “I can only teach you the Sword of Will.”
Was Grand-teacher and Demonic Priest old friends?
After a moment of silence, the old man suddenly asked, “You saw him at the Forum Conference. How is he…?”
Dan Chenzi was stunned and thought before saying, “He’s very strong and youthful.”
The old man smiled. “After many tribulations, his soul returned to where it was. When he woke up, he was still young.”
The breeze blew and rolled up the fallen leaves. However, the leaves suddenly stopped in mid-air. There were birds flying in the air, and they were frozen as well. The treetops still retained the posture of being bent by the wind, but also froze in time.
Dan Chenzi’s smile solidified on his face. His eyelashes were countless in the sun, like a wax figure.
For a moment, time seemed to stop flowing and the world stood still.
The old man felt something and turned back to stare.
Behind him, a figure slowly formed, between the real and the unreal, with a vague face.
“Senior!” He bowed deeply.
“You’re out of the Gokudo Path?” the old man said.
“Halfway.”
“In the near future, there will be a young man who will ascend the mountain and ask for help from Senior. I hope you don’t refuse,” the blurred figure murmured.
The old man’s eyes flashed. “You came to see me. This means the future me refused?”
The vague figure was silent.
“Since I refused in the future, what’s the use of you talking to me now?”
“It’s very important at this time. I hope you will agree.”
“You should know that fate cannot be changed.”
The blurred figure was silent again.
“Idiot!” The old man shook his head, waved his old sleeve, and a gust of wind blew by. The blurred figure broke away and the world returned to normal.
“Grand-teacher, you’re right. It’s zen-like.” Dan Chenzi patted his buttocks and got up. “This time, I have to train in recluse. I always thought that I’m a genius, but after I see Li Xianyu, I finally know what is rapid progress.”
The old man watched his back disappear among the lush trees, bowed his head and swept the floor silently.
…
Spring flower garden, Wanshi, Henan Province.
At 10 A.M. on the weekend, Zhang Lu fell asleep and woke up with back pain as usual. Her first reaction was to open the quilt and check on her own condition. She was normal…
Zhang Lu was relieved and stepped out of bed on cotton. In the corner of the living room, her son curled up in a kennel and looked at her with black button eyes. It was a poodle with curly hair. It was cute.
“Baby, you must be hungry. I fainted. I’ll prepare something for you right away.” Zhang Lu searched for the dog food in the cupboard. There was still a glass of milk and two dog basins, one for dog food and the other for milk.
As a 26-year-old singleton, Zhang Lu’s only companion was a poodle named Khaki who she had raised since she graduated from college.
She was born in the countryside and left to work in the city after graduation. She rented an apartment with a living room and a bedroom. After graduation, she had three boyfriends, but all her relationships ended within six months.
Entering the bathroom, she looked at her haggard self in the mirror and grabbed her head impatiently. For some reason, she had poor sleep quality recently. She frequently woke up at night, her eyes were bloodshot, and she lost her radiant look.
After washing up, she came to the kitchen and cooked eggs skillfully. As a harmonious, self-proclaimed good woman, she had to prepare breakfast for herself everyday (emphasis on her being poor).
Today was her day off. She was going to have breakfast, and she was going to bring her son to spend the rest of the morning in the coffee shop opposite the community. Then, she would ask her friend to go to the mall and watch movies. In the evening, she would stay at home with her son and watch dramas.
A pleasant and fulfilling day.
She was frying eggs as she suddenly felt the impact on her calves. Looking down, her son was holding her calves and sprinting wildly.
“Well, when mom saves some money, she will help you get a wide.” Zhang Lu pushed Teddy away with her foot, and he leapt onto her again, full of sexual energy. After several times, Zhang Lu was too lazy to deal with it. Poodles were like this. There was nothing that they couldn’t hump.
Breakfast was very simple. Two poached eggs, toast with peanut butter, a glass of milk… This kind of breakfast was convenient, cheap, and nutritious. During the meal, Teddy still held onto her calf. Zhang Lu suddenly felt a warm sensation on her calf. Then, she frowned and looked down at the table.
“Damn it. I should have castrated you.” Zhang Lu got up in a huff, rushed to the bathroom to wash the filth on her calf, and when she returned to the living room, Khaki curled up contentedly in its kennel.
Knock! Knock! Just after breakfast, there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” Zhang Lu took a look through her peephole. Outside the door stood a young and handsome man.
When she opened the door, she was stunned again. Besides the handsome young man, there were three girls beside him. One of them had a mole at the corner of her eye, which was beautiful. The other two were tall and had the same beauty.
So pretty… The big stars were not as pretty as them.
Zhang Lu did not know the people standing outside, instinctively marveling at the beauty of the three women in her heart.
“Excuse me, is this Miss Zhang Lu? I’m a police officer from Changwan police station. This is my ID card.” Li Xianyu took out his ID and showed it to Zhang Lu.
Police… Zhang Lu stepped aside. “Please come in.”
Li Xianyu and his harem came into the room and sat on the sofa in the living room. “There’s no need to pour tea. We’re just here to find out some things.”
Seeing the girl preparing to serve them water, Li Xianyu hurriedly gestured for her not to do so.
Zhang Lu nodded and sat down opposite them.
Li Xianyu looked at her as he quietly knocked on his eyebrow, opening his spiritual eye. In an instant, there was a layer of hazy dark air in the room.
Zhang Lu was shrouded by that layer of air.
“Half a month ago, you called the police at Changwan Station and said you had been violated.” Li Xianyu said, “I’ve been sent to pay a return visit. Does this phenomenon still exist?”
