Chapter 1026: In Literature There Is First, in Martial Arts There Is No Second
At the summit of Pomo Peak, Cao Tianjun looked up at the sky and asked, "Master, has Yu Xuan achieved Harmonization?"
Lu Chen, without needing to observe the celestial signs, nodded. "He has succeeded."
Another Daoist sect had gained a Fourteenth Realm cultivator—what a blessing.
Cao Rong did not look away for a long time.
Lu Chen muttered softly, "That Old Scholar really loves to teach others, no wonder he dotes on his last disciple. In this matter, Chen Ping'an resembles the Old Scholar the most."
The Literary Saint's lineage was not prosperous. Among his few direct disciples, in terms of scholarly depth, both Cui Chan and Qi Jingchun were extraordinary. Zuo You and Jun Qian were comparatively inferior, and neither liked to expound on principles. Among them, Cui Chan had only a few so-called inner disciples—barely countable, far from the idea that a peach tree need not speak to attract visitors. Although Qi Jingchun had founded Shanya Academy in the Great Li Dynasty and made it one of the Seventy-Two Academies, he soon left for Lizhu Cave Heaven to become a humble tutor. So indeed, when it came to loving to teach others, Chen Ping'an was the most like the Old Scholar.
The mountain is high, the moon appears small; the moon is small, how bright it shines.
Cao Rong could not help but sigh, "No one surpasses the Literary Saint when it comes to protecting his own."
As a direct disciple of Lu Chen, Cao Rong had quite a good relationship with the Literary Saint's lineage. Otherwise, he could not have obtained a personal seal from Cui Chan. In fact, shortly after Shanya Academy was founded, Cao Rong attended Qi Jingchun's lectures and benefited greatly. Once, after emerging from seclusion at Lingfei Temple, restless from stillness, he descended the mountain and sailed the seas to visit Lady Dandan's Lushui Pit. During that journey, he happened to encounter Zuo You, who was traversing the seas in search of immortals, covered in sword qi. The latter merely asked the Daoist Celestial Lord if he knew where Pei Min had gone. Cao Rong replied he did not know. Zuo You nodded in acknowledgment without any further pleasantries. Cao Rong was about to ask why he sought that Pei, one of the Three Uniques of Haoran, but in an instant, Zuo You's figure had already vanished for thousands of miles, his sword qi extremely fierce, like a white rainbow piercing the sun.
An unexpected encounter at sea between two accomplished cultivators, yet their conversation amounted to fewer than ten characters.
At that time, Lady Dandan, whose Dao name was "Green Bell," cowered in the distance, only daring to appear after Zuo You had left. She had clearly suffered at the hands of that sword cultivator.
Indeed, as rumored, the Literary Saint's second disciple had a bad temper even while studying, and after learning swordsmanship, his temper became even more violent.
Lu Chen said, "People, if they do not love their own kin, how can they extend that love to others?"
Cao Rong cautiously asked, "Master, can Zuo You still return to Haoran?"
Lu Chen suddenly raised his voice and declared in a resolute tone, "A great question!"
Cao Rong was taken aback and waited for more. But for some reason, his master, as if struck by a freezing spell, stood like a wooden statue for a long time. Cao Rong understood that his question would never receive a definite answer. He then turned to a more pragmatic doubt: "After Yu Xuan's Harmonization, between him and Wu Shuangjiang of Suichu Palace, whose Dao methods are superior?"
After all, both were newly ascended Fourteenth Realm cultivators.
Among the "younger generation" within the Fourteenth Realm, they had to include the traitor of the Sword Qi Great Wall, the former Hidden Official Xiao Xun. However, according to some top-tier rumors, although Xiao Xun and the Dragon-Slayer were both confirmed Fourteenth Realm sword cultivators, they were not "pure."
Lu Chen shook his sleeves and pointed into the void as if marshaling troops. In an instant, he "summoned" over a dozen types of immortal brews from the hidden wine cellars of various mountains across the continent. Lu Chen let Cao Rong choose a pot, but Cao Rong did not like wine and declined his master's kindness. So Lu Chen casually picked a pot of Spring Slumber Wine from Gengyun Peak of Yunxia Mountain. With another wave of his sleeve, the rest of the wines returned to their original places. Lu Chen removed the clay seal, lowered his head, and sniffed. Truly worthy of being brewed by a good wine friend—he had heard that Huang Zhonghou was now the new mountain lord of Yunxia Mountain. Congratulations were in order; later on, this poor Daoist would have to pay a visit to offer congratulations. He smiled and said, "Dao methods superior or inferior? You're specifically asking about combat ability, aren't you?"
Cao Rong nodded.
Lu Chen rubbed his chin with one hand and shook the wine pot with the other, a troubled expression on his face. "How should I put this?"
Harmonization generally had three aspects: Heavenly Time, Earthly Advantages, and Human Harmony. Talisman master Yu Xuan had taken the path of "Heavenly Time." Wu Shuangjiang's method of Harmonization was still shrouded in mystery, unknown to others. At the White Jade Capital, the Dao officials versed in Yin and Yang had made some deductions. But because Wu Shuangjiang was too erudite and his talent for cultivation too great, the Dao officials of the White Jade Capital could only resort to the clumsiest method—exhaustive calculation. First, they eliminated Earthly Advantages, then gradually eliminated Heavenly Time, yet they still ended up with over a dozen possibilities...
The key during this period was that the Third Patriarch of the White Jade Capital had added quite a bit of "counterproductive help," making the already vast and heavy workload of that group of Dao officials... at least double.
For Qi Refiners below the Fourteenth Realm, determining combat power was relatively straightforward: depth of spiritual energy accumulation, number of opened energy apertures, types of spells and divine powers mastered, number of treasures, compatibility of natal objects, existence of trump cards, hidden skills... these could generally be quantified and analyzed on paper. But once a great cultivator achieved Harmonization and entered the Fourteenth Realm, it became a "messy ledger."
Lu Chen acted strangely, pouring an entire pot of Spring Slumber Wine out of the bottle. The emerald-green liquid hung in the air without falling, coalescing into a slender stream like a miniature canal, illuminated by the moonlight.
Lu Chen said slowly, "Since Old Immortal Yu monopolizes the term 'talisman' in the Haoran Heaven, he is naturally an extremely powerful Ascension Realm cultivator, one of the strongest in a game of Go, not to be compared with ordinary weak players. Most importantly, talismans can transform into countless spells, flying swords, thunder methods, invoking gods and descending truths, etc., achieving similar effects. This is the unique innate advantage of talismans. So Yu Xuan's Ascension Realm, in any heaven, is the kind that can truly fight."
"As for our Palace Master Wu, even below the Fourteenth Realm, he walked a path similar to Yu Xuan's talismans. He quietly learned many techniques and mastered them all—not the kind of jack-of-all-trades but master of none. So if both were at the Ascension Realm and met on a narrow path to determine life or death, I believe the fight would be very entertaining: long-lasting, with a dazzling array of techniques, definitely a splendid spectacle."
Cao Rong nodded at this. There were some enduring sayings in the mountain realm, besides the praise for sword cultivators—"One sword breaks ten thousand spells"—there was also "Talismans are heaven, encompassing everything."
Among the major categories of mountain cultivation, sword cultivators and talisman cultivators were special existences.
Unlike playing chess or calligraphy, which did not have high thresholds, for these two veins of Qi Refiners, if you can do it, you can; if you can't, you can't.
Suddenly, the surrounding scenery changed. They arrived at a mountain foot, in a drizzly dawn. Cao Rong was not particularly surprised, his heart undisturbed. He simply treated it as accompanying his long-lost master to enjoy the view. Master and disciple stood still, seemingly motionless, yet their figures moved as fast as immortals ascending. Cao Rong looked around and guessed this was a famous scenic mountain, full of the essence of heaven and earth and the spiritual energy of immortal mountains. On both sides of the road stood ancient pines. Their Dao robes were dyed emerald green by the mountain colors. In the rain, they faintly heard the calls of orioles and pigeons, rising and falling.
On the mountain path, travelers walked and rode, linked by ropes. Some seemed to be high officials holding imperial edicts, entering the mountain to seek immortals.
Cao Rong, by the cliffside inscriptions carved along the way, recognized this place as Quanjiao Mountain. He saw an ancient-looking Taoist who had built a thatched hut among flowers and books, cultivating there. He seemed oblivious to their presence.
It appeared to be an ancient Earth Immortal lingering in the mortal world. After a few more epochs, he could ascend by accumulating hidden merits, leaving only an immortal husk in the mountain.
Lu Chen continued, "But after Harmonization, the height and breadth of one's Dao can no longer be measured by common sense. For example, at night or when fighting outside the heavens, Yu Xun, who harmonized with the stars, would definitely have the advantage. If it's daytime in the mortal world, once Palace Master Wu takes up his military identity again and gets bloody-eyed, he would be terrifying. Generally speaking, as long as neither party is determined to die, it's very difficult for a Fourteenth Realm cultivator to completely kill another. So for ten thousand years, the mountain pattern has always been that Fourteenth Realms are like iron, while Ascension Realms flow like water."
"The Fourteenth Realm, when calculating accounts, is completely different from all preceding realms."
"In the end, it's impossible to explain the true situation inside the door to you outsiders."
Just as Cao Rong was about to "ascend to the summit in one step," the scenery changed again. They stood on a small boat.
On the shore, there were thousands of peach trees, a patch of red clouds, interspersed with a few white peach trees, their blossoms as lovely as young maidens.
The blue lake was like a newly polished mirror. Spring floods had not yet risen, so the water was gentle. The small boat seemed to be sailing within a landscape hand scroll.
Lu Chen stood at the bow, holding a peach blossom branch. He gently twisted it. "Wait and see. Within a thousand years, battles among Fourteenth Realm cultivators will become more and more frequent. The fall of old Fourteenth Realms and the rise of new ones are all trends of the times."
"Fourteenth Realm cultivators are most wary of Ascension Realm sword cultivators. But wary is just that—not fearful. An Immortal Realm sword cultivator killing an Ascension Realm cultivator is not too rare. But an Ascension Realm sword cultivator wanting to kill a Fourteenth Realm cultivator is as difficult as ascending to heaven. But there are exceptions. For instance, on that night-sailing boat before, when Palace Master Wu faced a group of sword cultivators, including Chen Ping'an, who had harmonized with the Sword Qi Great Wall, and Ning Yao, burdened with the fate of an entire heaven—both were unreasonable moves. If I were on that boat, I wouldn't want to face such a situation either. Just one careless moment, and I might have to face the Old Sword Immortal and take a sword from Chen Qingdu—who wouldn't be afraid?"
This was the first time Cao Rong had heard of such secrets. He wondered what Wu Shuangjiang had sought by secretly infiltrating the Haoran Heaven. Could it be just to test the weight of Chen Hidden Official and Ning Yao?
Or was it that Wu Shuangjiang wanted to ally with Chen Ping'an and Falling Mountain, Ning Yao and the Multicolored Heaven's Ascension City, to secretly conspire against the White Jade Capital?
In the distance, a bridge meandered. The lake surface was like a piece of green glass. The small boat moved slowly, causing ripples, as if the glass would shatter at the touch.
Suddenly, Cao Rong noticed that among the peach groves on the shore, a woman seemed to be gazing at their small boat. Beside her stood a youthful figure with deer horns, full of strangeness. His eyes were desolate, his sleeves hanging down. They clearly saw the boat on the lake. Their eyes met.
In an instant, the scene returned to Pomo Peak. Lu Chen laughed. "But Palace Master Wu was willing to admit defeat at that time, naturally because he was deliberately showing weakness. His trip on the night boat was like waiting for a rabbit by a tree stump—just to determine if Chen Ping'an was qualified to be his ally. Of course, he wouldn't give his full effort."
"Did the first coin in the world appear just to make someone richer?"
"In Buddhism, there are the Six Perfections. Giving is the first. Devout men and women donate money to temples, and temples give wealth to the world. The original intention of this circulation is to ensure that flowing water does not stagnate and door hinges do not get worm-eaten."
Having said this, Lu Chen pinched a "segment" of the suspended wine with two fingers and threw it into his mouth. "Cultivators of the Dao—if the Dao method is solely determined by combat ability, does it have meaning?"
Cao Rong nodded. "That's not right."
Lu Chen, however, laughed. "Wrong. The earliest cultivators among mortals—if not for fighting, what else could it be?"
Climbing the mountain only to ascend to heaven—heaven and earth overturned, all with great passion.
Lu Chen pinched another segment of the wine and turned his head to say with a smile, "Cao Rong, don't always look so worried. Heaven and earth cannot lack harmony for a day; the human heart cannot lack joy for a day."
"Besides, you've built such a good foundation in the Immortal Realm. If not for me deliberately tricking you, with your heart and talent, you would have long been at the peak of the Ascension Realm. If your luck on the path of cultivation had been a bit better, you might even be touching the threshold of Harmonization now. In the end, it's my fault."
In fact, Cao Rong was a pseudonym. The founder of Lingfei Temple, his Dao name was "Tianrui."
Before this incarnation, his real name was Zheng Ze, from Qi Land—a small country that had long been destroyed, a place of lowly rank. Hence, official records were extremely scarce. The only thing later generations might talk about was the idiom "the man of Qi worried that the sky might fall." "Zheng Ze" had once been a poem-collecting official who traveled the world.
The next moment, they arrived on an official road. On the road, some people rode horses or carriages, some rode donkeys, and some walked on foot—woodcutters carrying firewood and charcoal sellers.
When Lu Chen stopped, he stood at the entrance of a post station. Cao Rong looked at its plaque and read the name: Choubi Station.
Lu Chen told an interesting story. "Zhang Fenghai of Yushu City, who was confined for eight hundred years, has already left the Smoke and Cloud Cave of Zhenyue Palace. Your master's master personally promised him that if he could win that Three Teachings Debate, he could be released from the White Jade Capital's Dao registry. Before I came here, he had just gone to Leap Month Peak, planning to convince Wu Fu Xin Ku to establish a sect together. Previously, the scattered immortal Lyu Bixia, who left the forbidden area with Zhang Fenghai, would assist them. There is also a temporarily unknown Shi Xingyuan. If Zhang Fenghai really succeeds in this negotiation and Xin Ku agrees to come out, then this sect of only four members should not be underestimated."
Cao Rong was shocked.
Could it be that the Dao Ancestor personally opened the prohibitions of Zhenyue Palace to let Zhang Fenghai leave the Smoke and Cloud Cave?
Wasn't that like releasing a tiger back to the mountain? Who didn't know the enmity between Zhang Fenghai of Yushu City and Patriarch Yu? It was a universally recognized deadlock. Zhang Fenghai was no ordinary cultivation genius. Allowing him to establish a sect, branch out, and expand his power would be a considerable hidden danger even to the White Jade Capital. Because in Cao Rong's view, if the invasion of the Barbaric Heaven against the nine continents of Haoran was an examination paper for both heaven, with Haoran's question being "external troubles," then the turbulent fourteen prefectures of Qingming would also face an examination paper with the question "internal worries."
Lu Chen laughed. "No need to worry. In the eyes of the master, my Senior Brother Yu has so many debts that he doesn't feel the pressure. He doesn't care about one more Zhang Fenghai, whose flowers bloom outside the wall yet are fragrant inside."
"As for the Barbaric Heaven side, that Zhou Qinggao from the Jia Shen Registry, barring accidents, will replace that female cultivator who was seduced away by Gu Can of White Emperor City, fill the gap in the Heavenly Stem lineage, and become its leader. I believe this was something his master had foreseen long ago. After all these twists and turns, it still comes to this. Should I say that 'fertile water does not flow to another's field,' or rather 'taking off one's pants to fart—a superfluous action'?"
Cao Rong nodded. "Qi Refiners are not martial artists. It is difficult for anyone to monopolize renown."
Lu Chen seemed not to accept this view. "Your Senior Uncle Yu once had a private seal, didn't he? Wasn't it stamped on your painting album?"
Cao Rong said solemnly, "In literature, there is first; in martial arts, there is no second."
Lu Chen smiled. "The 'literature' here, of course, is not about poetry or prose, but about expounding the Dao. 'Martial arts' refers to fighting with people's Dharma and combat skills."
Hence, the content of that seal was Senior Brother Yu Dou's truest sentiment: he wanted to be the foremost in both Dao techniques.
My Dao is supreme. As for combat ability—sorry, you can only fight for second place.
Cao Rong felt inspired. "Such words, only when spoken by Senior Uncle Yu, do not seem arrogant but instead full of heroic spirit."
Lu Chen asked with a grin, "Cao Rong, if you had to be an enemy of that Senior Uncle Yu, how would you feel?"
Cao Rong smiled bitterly. "How dare I? I dare not even think about it."
Lu Chen put on a stern face. "What if you were forced by circumstances beyond your control? For example, just for example, what if one day I fall out with Senior Brother Yu, we fight, and he kills me? As a disciple, wouldn't you have to avenge your master?"
Cao Rong was dumbfounded.
Lu Chen patted Cao Rong's shoulder and scolded him. "If you can't take a joke like this, how are you going to navigate the world? I have so many virtues—what have you learned?"
At that moment, Lu Chen's head tilted, and he quickly adjusted the Daoist crown on his head.
The one who could least take a joke was still Senior Brother Yu Dou.
Yu Dou's method of fighting people was notoriously "one punch per person." Until... he met that damn A Liang.
Cao Rong obviously also thought of that "notorious" swordsman. He asked, "Master, in those two fights beyond the heavens, how much force did Senior Uncle Yu hold back against A Liang?"
Lu Chen hastily performed the "Wine Summoning Technique" again, stealing a pot of wine from Changchun Palace. He took a sip to calm himself, then asked in return, "Shouldn't you first ask if I held back?"
Cao Rong found it bewildering. No matter how high A Liang's sword Dao was, against Senior Uncle Yu, who was called "Truly Invincible," he should have had no chance of victory. Yet in fact, in the first fight, A Liang was indeed punched by Yu Dou from beyond the heavens and fell into Haoran. But in the second fight, Senior Uncle Yu took a punch from A Liang and fell back into the Qingming Heaven.
Lu Chen laughed. "This is the essence of Fourteenth Realm fighting. But the heavenly secrets cannot be revealed, especially when it involves the Dao of Senior Brother Yu and that certain someone. I won't go into detail with you."
Cao Rong was puzzled and looked at his master.
Because the senior disciple had once mentioned a unique hobby of the master: among top cultivators at the summit, one should not directly speak their names, as they would sense it. But the master was different. Whenever he was bored, he would "disturb" the other person over and over until the other started cursing, then he would begin chatting, regardless of whether the other wanted to converse. Yet, it seemed that with A Liang, the master was unwilling to say "A Liang."
Lu Chen said with a chuckle, "Think about it—this guy's punches are treacherous, without any martial virtue. How good could his swordsmanship be? I'm also afraid of him."
Afterward, Lu Chen took Cao Rong to an imperial examination venue in the second year of the Jiayou era. They also went to the ninth day of the fifth month in the thirty-first year of Hongwu. Cao Rong saw a small room with white silk hanging from the beams inside a palace. Women were crying, but there were also women with indifferent expressions. Later, they met a pine guardian at Yishan Mountain. There was an emerald-green mountain stream, sweet and slippery like flowing marrow. Lu Chen stopped here, cupped water to wash his face. At dusk, birds flew onto the eaves of mortal houses, and clouds wrapped around the mountain waist. Lu Chen sat by a cliff. Besides the pine guardian, Cao Rong seemed to see a young Hidden Official in blue robes standing beside his master, watching the sunset together. Lu Chen sat as the red sun sank, the blue robes gazed at the green mountains.
Lu Chen suddenly asked, "Cao Rong, ten thousand years ago, do you know who was the youngest Fourteenth Realm cultivator in the world?"
Cao Rong shook his head. There was no record or any circulating information about this.
Lu Chen smiled and asked, "And within ten thousand years?"
Cao Rong's expression turned strange. "Actually, it's the Literary Saint."
Lu Chen nodded. "Yes, this Old Scholar. Because everyone who sees him likes to call him Old Scholar, it's easy for us to forget that he was a scholar who could ascend from the First Realm to the Fourteenth Realm within a hundred years. To be precise, he started cultivation at forty years old and attained the Dao at about a hundred—just sixty years."
"Only because the Old Scholar's Harmonization was through Earthly Advantages does it seem less astonishing. But few know the inside story. If not for his duties as a sage of the Confucian Temple, the Old Scholar could have fully harmonized with Human Harmony."
Cao Rong sighed deeply. Back then, when the Literary Saint left the Merit Forest and traveled to Vase Continent, he once visited Lingfei Temple and insisted on exchanging a calligraphy scroll for wine. Cao Rong had refused. Now, he rather regretted it.
The mountains and rivers beneath their feet shifted again. They were in an ancient pavilion. A master and two disciples were there, unable to detect Lu Chen and Cao Rong's arrival. Lu Chen chewed on a dry pancake and crouched beside a Go board. Among the two disciples, one was distracted, looking at a swan beyond the sky. Then they arrived at an ancient poem that communicated with the sea tide. The bell tolled melodiously, seeming to touch the heart. Lu Chen crumbled the dry pancake in his hand and threw it on the ground. Little birds came and went to forage, unafraid of people. Afterwards, they came to a Luo River. They rested at a cold inn. The river god here seemed to hate everyone surnamed Sima. Lu Chen lay supine on a canal boat, his spirit roaming the heavens. He asked Cao Rong to loudly claim that his surname was Sima, which indeed provoked the river god to stir up waves. But the swaying boat never capsized. After exhausting his methods, the river god left in frustration. Lu Chen laughed with his disciple and said, "This is called 'careful' sailing for 'ten thousand years'."
Finally, Lu Chen brought Cao Rong to a small pavilion atop a mountain. The pavilion's plaque read "Virtual Heart." Beside it was a stone tablet with inscriptions that were partly illegible, but they could barely make out six characters: "This place has the most clouds and mists." In the distance was a bustling city. In the night, Cao Rong saw hundreds of thousands of mortal households. Amid the mist, the city was like a beauty dressing before a crystal curtain at dawn, flickering in and out of view. He wished he could shine a giant candle on it.
Lu Chen, hands tucked into his sleeves, smiled. "Ask away. Your greatest doubt."
Cao Rong looked up at the sky and nodded. "The Three Teachings' Founders—especially the disciple's patriarch—why did they not stop that person?"
Lu Chen laughed. "Cao Rong, think carefully. Have I not already given you the answer?"
Cao Rong turned sideways and bowed. "Your disciple is dull. I beseech the master to enlighten me."
Lu Chen sighed. "The Three Teachings' Founders, at the Fifteenth Realm, each harmonized with an entire world. They are the three least free people in the world."
As he spoke, Cao Rong found himself and his master again on that small boat on the lake. But this time they stood at the stern. Lu Chen extended his hand from his sleeve, pointed at the ripples on the lake, and said slowly, "The Three Teachings' Founders are like people inside a glass world, in the literal sense—unable to move easily, lest they disturb heaven and earth. If unintentional, it's fine. But if they deliberately act, it's like squeezing a crack between heaven and earth. Besides that, there's a huge problem. For example, my coming to the Haoran Heaven this time is to find a fish that slipped through the net. Only because I, Lu Chen, am now identified as a Dao official of the White Jade Capital in the Qingming Heaven, already an outsider. So there's a suspicion of bad luck at every turn. In the dark, there is the will of heaven. If one acts deliberately, one will miss it; if one does nothing, the willows will become shade."
Cao Rong remained silent in contemplation.
Lu Chen asked again, "The several places I took you earlier—do you think the order they appeared is the real order?"
Without waiting for Cao Rong to answer, Lu Chen laughed. "Just like a line of text on paper; if the order is slightly disrupted, can you still recognize the complete meaning of a sentence?"
Lu Chen smiled. "Let me tell you some inside information about Fourteenth Realm cultivators. For example, I once spent a full two thousand years trying to remember as many people, places, and events in the fourteen prefectures of Qingming as possible."
Having said this, Lu Chen pointed to his head. "In the end, this couldn't handle it anymore."
This was also why Lu Chen had earlier reminded Chen Ping'an to pay attention to Pei Qian's "memory" issue.
"Finding that path unworkable, I switched to another. But the previous road wasn't entirely wasted. On that basis, I once tried to visualize the entire human world as an instrument, where everything was orderly. Then, among tens of millions of 'gears,' I filled countless 'deviations' and 'errors'—various kinds of 'freedom,' both real and illusory. 'Heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me.' 'Since they are already one, only I can communicate with the spirit of heaven and earth.' Unfortunately, that still failed."
"Realm and boundary—realm and boundary—still not enough. So when I debated with the Buddha back then, I still lost. And I lost to a truth I had long known: 'To pursue the infinite with the finite is perilous.' Since even the clumsiest exhaustive method could not succeed, I had to trace back to the source, to find that One. Just like my master: 'My mind roams in the origin of things,' 'Seeing the truth with a glance.' Unfortunately, that One is incredibly hard to find."
Lu Chen had once regarded his senior brother Kou Ming as a future new One.
Hence, that ten-year stall of street vending and protection in Lizhu Cave Heaven.
"Cao Rong, when you have leisure, you might want to delve deeply into the Dao roots of 'mirror flowers, water moon' and 'flying sword messages'."
Lu Chen smiled. "Human affairs have a thousand shortcomings, all with an origin. If a master only teaches the branches, what can a disciple accomplish?"
Cao Rong bowed his head. "Your disciple accepts the order."
Lu Chen asked out of nowhere, "Bai Ye has never admitted to being the most proud person in the world. Do you know why?"
Cao Rong shook his head.
Lu Chen sighed. No wonder the Old Scholar was so partial to Chen Ping'an—quick-witted, eloquent, understanding—a little padded jacket.
Seeing that his disciple did not catch on, Lu Chen had to boast. "Of course, it's because Bai Ye admires my knowledge and breadth of mind, thinking that I am the most carefree figure in the world."
Cao Rong bowed his head and clasped his hands. "Your disciple is in awe."
Lu Chen muttered, "Even hearing you say that, I feel no sense of accomplishment."
He was a bit envious of the atmosphere at Falling Mountain.
Cao Rong blushed.
Lu Chen began to walk down Pomo Mountain, with Cao Rong following closely.
"Some people say, do not force others to do what they dare not refuse. To cut through the thorny thickets in one's own chest and break down the barriers in one's heart to allow communication between oneself and others—that is the happiest world under heaven."
"What do you think those thorny thickets and barriers are? They are the Dao and principles, the rites and laws within ourselves and our hearts."
"When drinking water, do not forget the well diggers. Ten thousand years ago, if the sages had not had a mindset of self-sacrifice and a spirit of death-defying courage, the mortal world would not have had its current ten-thousand-year 'human world.'"
Every year, the spring breeze is gentle, but it also ages beauties and turns young heads white.
The mountain wind blew against his sideburns. Lu Chen smiled and murmured to himself, "Indeed, now we cultivate the Dao—for what?"
"The world cannot be without this lord for a day."
Lu Chen answered his own question. "Who is this lord? Cao Rong, remember. It is you. It is all of you. It is everyone."