“Really, there are many good candidates this time!” Sang Lingxi described in graphic detail the young master of the Chen family’s mutant spirit root, and the young lady of the Xu family’s heavenly spirit root, but Qiu Yutong was still bewildered as he looked at his lips that were opening and closing, his whole body in a daze.
Gradually, Sang Lingxi stopped speaking and sighed. He helped Qiu Yutong up gently, “All right, let’s not talk about that. Anyway, it’s a good thing that you’re up. How are you? Can you walk?”
“… En, I’m fine,” Qiu Yutong’s mind was in turmoil, but with Sang Lingxi’s help, he could just barely stand up.
However just as he stood up, he felt both legs go weak and couldn’t help but kneel down again.
Sang Lingxi held him hurriedly, “Hey, slow down!”
“I, why can’t I stand?”
“This is normal. It’s because your body hasn’t moved for so many years, don’t be anxious.”
The two of them tossed and turned before they were finally able to get out of the Spirit Pond. Seeing the clothes on the shelf next to them, Sang Lingxi pulled a white robe off and threw it to Qiu Yutong, “Wear this.”
Struggling to move his stiff arms, Qiu Yutong put his clothes on clumsily and tied his belt while Sang Lingxi took out a transmission talisman from his Qiankun bag and released it with a ‘whoosh’ sound.
A light green firework bloomed in the sky, and as Sang Lingxi looked at it, he sighed and shook his head: “Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother will be ecstatic now. Sigh, it’s been so long… I didn’t think there was much hope after I started infusing you with spiritual energy these days and you didn’t respond at all.”
Grateful, Qiu Yutong nodded his head, “Third Senior Brother, thank you.”
Sang Lingxi casually waved his hand, “You and I have been brothers for a hundred years, why are you saying thanks?”
As they talked, they returned to Qiu Yutong’s Feilai Pavilion. Feilai Pavilion was located at the top of the Feilai Peak, on extremely precipitous terrain, and was very quiet inside, with only an eleven- or twelve-year-old child sweeper, who stared at them in awe, as if he hadn’t yet understood what was going on.
Sang Lingxi helped Qiu Yutong sit down on the edge of the bed and gave him a bronze mirror, “Take a look.”
Qiu Yutong picked up the bronze mirror, but hesitated for a moment before looking up at it.
The smooth mirror reflected a very familiar face, with snow-white complexion, dark eyes and pale lips, exactly the same as he was then. Qiu Yutong stared blankly at the mirror, and after a long time, he smiled reluctantly, and a small pear swirl appeared at the left corner of his mouth, which hadn’t been on the body he had been reborn in.
The smooth mirror reflected a very familiar face, with snow-white skin, dark eyes, and pale lips, exactly as he was back then. Qiu Yutong stared blankly at the mirror for a long time before reluctantly smiling, and a small dimple appeared at the left corner of his mouth, which hadn’t been present on the body he had been reborn in. He had disliked this dimple back then, thinking it was childish and undermined his majesty as a Shizun, hence he had tried not to smile.
“Hmm, it’s exactly the same.” Qiu Yutong put the mirror down and thought for a while longer before looking up at Sang Lingxi, “Third Senior Brother, my little disciple…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a delighted, warm voice, “Yutong, you’re awake.”
“Eldest Senior Brother ?” Qiu Yutong froze for a minute, then looked up hurriedly, only to see Xu Dongqing pushing Xie Wanting’s ebony wheelchair in slowly through the doorway.
Xie Wanting, with a steady personality, who wasn’t as loud as Sang Lingxi, was smiling, a far cry from his usual calm demeanor, “Ai, you’re finally awake, you’re finally awake.”
Bai Hanyuan, clutching his longsword, followed the two of them in, looked Qiu Yutong up and down then nodded, “Not bad.”
Qiu Yutong said with gratitude, ” Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, all these years… I have really made you guys work hard. I, I really don’t know what to say.”
Xie Wanting looked at him with emotion then shook his head gently, “Sigh, it’s alright. What’s the point of saying this? You’re still very weak, so you need to take good care of yourself. Dongqing, bring over the snow ginseng I picked last time and boil it.”
Xu Dongqing nodded, “Yes, Sect Leader.”
Bai Hanyuan also said, “Drink your medicine well.”
“En, this time I will drink my medicine properly.” Qiu Yutong nodded his head in an extremely serious manner. He had been afraid of suffering since he was a child, and hated drinking medicine, often pouring it out secretly, but at this time, he couldn’t act capricious anymore.
Sang Lingxi joked, “Yo, little brother is willing to drink medicine? Did the sun come out from the west?”
They chatted about many different things for a while before Qiu Yutong asked hesitantly, ” Eldest Senior Brother, I heard from Third Brother that it was you who found me… but I can’t remember anything except that I jumped off the cliff. What exactly is going on?”
“You talk too much.” Xie Wanting glared at Sang Lingxi then sighed, “Ai, Yutong, when I found you, your body…… was very damaged and your soul was very unstable. I was afraid that your soul would scatter, so I used the ‘Inner Spirit Cleansing Song’ to calm you down. This song can cleanse the mind and make people forget the pain they have suffered, so maybe that’s why you forgot about it. But it’s okay, sometimes it’s good to forget.”
” Eldest Senior Brother, did I, did I really dig up Xiao-er’s demon core?” Qiu Yutong asked in a hoarse voice.
“Xie Wanting’s brows furrowed, then he glared at Sang Lingxi sternly, “He just woke up, why did you talk to him about this nonsense?”
Sang Lingxi rubbed his nose guiltily, not daring to say a word.
“Yutong, here’s the thing, at that time…” Xie Wanting retold the story of what had happened at Cuiwei Cold Pool, and finally said in a soft and comforting voice, “Your disciple was a devil, and you had your own difficulties. No one blames you for this.”
Qiu Yutong listened in a frozen manner, his mind in turmoil as his heart sank completely, the emotions in his heart bitter and astringent, cold and heavy.
Even his Eldest Senior Brother was saying the same thing. Had he really… really dug up Lu Xiao’s devil core?
How could he have done such a thing?
That was his little disciple. This, how was this possible?
But, it had clearly happened.
Sang Lingxi took one look at him then hurriedly changed the topic, “Right, the Chen dynasty……”
Coming back to his senses, Qiu Yutong couldn’t help but stand up, “Yes, yes, and the mortal realm too…”
Xie Wanting said comfortingly, ” Yutong, don’t worry, Hanyuan has already taken care of the matter of the Chen dynasty. He re-instated one of the Lu family’s sons, and made Lord Chen Xu and his men assist. Everything went very smoothly. The Chen dynasty is already full of money, the four directions are stable and we have been watching over them these years, there is no problem.”
Bai Han Yuan said succinctly, “The foundation is good, so there is no problem.”
“Oh, so it’s like this, so it’s like this,” Qiu Yutong muttered.
In theory, he should have been relieved, but his heart was inexplicably empty. After so many years, everything had settled, and it seemed that everyone was doing well, however his little apprentice, had just… had just sunk to the bottom of the Cuiwei Cold Pool like this?
Xie Wanting said softly, “You have just woken up, so your body is still very weak, don’t think about it. What you need to do now is to practice well every day, drink your medicine on time, and build up the foundation of your body, that’s the most important thing. Do you understand?”
Qiu Yutong nodded silently. Looking at him, Xie Wanting sighed softly, then left the two children he had brought with him, Su Chen and Ning Yu, to look after him, before leaving.
……
The rising and the setting of the sun and the moon in the mountain are long, but I dream of the white clouds.*
[T/N: Line from a poem.]
Unknowingly, it had been some time since Qiu Yutong woke up.
On this day, after two hours of meditation, he finally opened his eyes slowly.
During this period of time, he had been meditating, cultivating and practicing his sword every day, and had persisted in drinking a bowl of bitter medicine in the morning and evening. He thought to himself, in a while, he would be able to go up to Wenjian Cliff, feel the sword intent and form his spiritual core.
He had already made up his mind to do as Eldest Senior Brother had said, and that was to practice well, drink his medicine well, and try to form his spiritual core
However, Qiu Yutong had made a big decision, which he didn’t tell Xie Wanting. He didn’t want to ascend for the time being, he wanted to stay in this place to help Lu Xiao watch over the Great Chen Dynasty, and then when the Blood Prison Secret Realm opened again in a thousand years, he wanted to go to the bottom of the cold pool… to see his little disciple, even if he was just a pile of white bones.
He knew, that as a cultivator this obsession was actually very wrong, but, but he really couldn’t help it… he had dug up his little disciple’s devil core and had abandoned him in that kind of place… how could he, how could he just ascend without taking care of this issue?
Qiu Yutong never mentioned these thoughts, which were against the Dao, to Xie Wanting, who was very pleased to see him practicing seriously day after day and making rapid progress.
It was just that his Eldest Senior Brother was very attentive and seemed to have noticed his depression, so he would often advise him to take on a new disciple to relieve his worries, and Sang Lingxi would often came to Feilai Peak to tell him with great enthusiasm how many good candidates there were for the selection.
Feeling uncomfortable denying his senior brothers’ kindness, Qiu Yutong promised to visit his Eldest Senior Brother’s Yunxia Peak at the time of the selection ceremony, when actually, he had no intention of taking on a disciple.
He felt that he couldn’t teach another disciple. He had already spent all his efforts on Lu Xiao in those ten years.
But, having promised his Eldest Senior Brother, he had to go and see.
And today, was the day of the selection meeting.
“Ai,” Qiu Yutong sighed softly, put on a white robe and rode Tianzhao Yunhai to the main peak of Canglong Snow Mountain, his Eldest Senior Brother’s Yunxia Peak.
There were four peaks in Canglong Snow Mountain, also known as the ‘Four Sacred Mountains’, of which, Feilai Peak was the highest and most precipitous, Aoxue Peak was the most remote and cold, Cuibing Peak was the most verdant and beautiful, and Yunxia Peak, the main peak, was the most majestic and sat in the middle of Canglong Snow Mountain.
At this moment, the stone square in the front hall of Yunxia Peak was bustling with hundreds of young boys and girls, all children of various clans who had come to formally become disciples to a master, whispering from time to time.
“I don’t know if I’ll be chosen, I’m so nervous.”
“I want to worship Master Xie as my Master, or perhaps Peak Master Bai!”
“Yo, you’re still picky, why don’t you go home and dream?”
“Hey, do you know? I heard that this time, Peak Master Qiu will also accept disciples!”
“Peak Master Qiu is going to accept disciples? Don’t lie over here! After he pulled out Tianzhao Yunhai, he came back and went into seclusion. It is said that he is comprehending the sword intent in Tianzhao Yunhai and hasn’t shown up all these years.”
“Maybe he’s already made a breakthrough, that’s why he wants to come out and take on disciples…”
Qiu Yutong, not wanting to alert others, quietly rode Tianzhao Yunhai and stopped at a secluded place. The front hall and the square were noisy and he really couldn’t muster any excitement to get involved, so he found a small viewing platform outside the back hall, sat cross-legged, and holding Tianzhao Yunhai, watched the clouds rising and falling quietly.
For thousands of years, the sea of clouds at Canglong Snow Mountain had been changing every day, yet it never seemed to change. At this moment, Aoxue Peak, Cuibing Peak and Feilai Peak in the distance were hidden in the thick clouds, as if they were a goddess in a white veil, hazy, mysterious and unreachable.
When Qiu Yutong was a child, he used to watch the clouds from this observation platform. At that time, he could always tell some interesting stories from the unpredictable clouds, but at this moment, although the clouds were still the same, his state of mind was completely different.
He felt very tired.
“You, is that… Tianzhao Yunhai you’re holding?!” A surprised voice interrupted Qiu Yutong’s thoughts.
He was slightly startled, then turned around to see a handsome young man in an ink blue brocade coat, staring blankly at Tianzhao Yunhai in his arms.
The boy’s face was so unfamiliar that Qiu Yutong couldn’t help but wonder, “Do you know Tianzhao Yunhai?”
“On the Sword List it is clearly written, Tianzhao Yunhai; the sword is 3 feet 5 inches long, the body is sky blue and foggy, the scabbard is pale blue and dark, and the hilt has auspicious cloud patterns…” As the young man in brocade spoke about Tianzhao Yunhai, he started gushing, full of admiration, “It is well known that the Peak Master Qiu pulled out this superb Spiritual Sword from the bottom of the Cuiwei Cold Pool in the Blood Prison Secret Realm, which caused a sensation throughout the cultivation world.”
He spoke a lot, then suddenly paused and asked hesitantly, “Right, I haven’t asked yet, why do you have Tianzhao Yunhai? Who are you?”
As he spoke, he looked Qiu Yutong up and down, obviously not associating this pale, thin and extremely beautiful person in front of him with the legendary ‘Peak Master Qiu’ who had pulled Tianzhao Yunhai out.
Qiu Yutong didn’t want to say much to him, so he turned his eyes away from him and looked back at the undulating clouds.
The young man stared at him involuntarily for a while then suddenly came to a conclusion, “You are so good-looking, could it be you are Peak Master Qiu’s… ahem, that.”
He said the last two words ambiguously, making it so that Qiu Yutong didn’t understand. He only heard the words ‘Peak Master Qiu’ and thought the young man had recognized him, so he nodded gently.
“It’s really true?” The young man’s eyes widened, his expression was a little complicated for a moment, and then he pursed his lips with great disdain, “Cough, that, furnaces… are allowed to serve the sword, that follows the rules.”
He muttered so quietly that Qiu Yutong didn’t hear him clearly. He only felt annoyed and not wanting to talk to him, said, “You’re here for the disciple selection meeting, right? The selection meeting is taking place in the square of the front hall, it will start soon, you’d better go there, don’t miss it.”
The young man said proudly, “The Shizun I want to worship isn’t over there.”
Qiu Yutong was a bit confused. His three senior brothers were all in the front hall.
The young man stared at him, his eyes suddenly shining slightly, “Right, since he asked you to keep Tianzhao Yunhai, it means you are… you are very favored right?”
Qiu Yutong was a bit puzzled. What did he mean by keeping Tianzhao Yunhai? What did he mean favored? Was he talking about his senior brothers care for him? Then yes.
So blinking, he nodded, “En”
“I also guessed the same thing…” The young man muttered as he rummaged through the Qiankun bag at his waist and pulled out a thick wad of silver notes and shoved them into Qiu Yutong’s hand, “My mother asked me to bring these. They are all for you. Can you introduce me to Peak Master Qiu?”
Qiu Yutong was puzzled, “Introduce you to…. who?”
“What, you don’t want to? If it’s too little, I still have spirit stones.” The young man seemed a bit upset, but looking at Qiu Yutong’s face, he couldn’t help but soften his tone, almost as if he was saying his sincere and earnest wishes, “Although you are very beautiful and favored now, you should also know that serving others with s*x isn’t sustainable, and you will be abandoned sooner or later. If you are wise, you should plan for yourself and save more silver before it is too late.”
Qiu Yutong couldn’t help but frown, “What the hell are you talking about?”
The young man looked a little impatient, but looking at his snow-white face, he couldn’t really get angry, “Stop pretending, didn’t you just admit it? I said, as long as you are willing to help me to introduce Peak Master Qiu, all this silver is yours.”
Looking at Qiu Yutong’s confused expression, he pursed his lips, and suddenly added, “Moreover, if you help me this time, in the future when I have cultivation, even if he doesn’t want you anymore, I will… treat you well.”
