Chapter 115: An Old Scholar in the Human World, Part One
The first chapter of today. There are still two more chapters today.
Atop Qidun Mountain, the rough man with wine gourds hanging from his waist lay dying in a pool of blood.
When that rainbow light shot north from Red Candle Town, among the secret masters participating in this hunt, the Great Li cultivator closest to it was the woman drinking wine at the tavern near Pillow Post. She was a supreme elder of the Spring and Autumn Palace. Unfortunately, she never even had a chance to act—or rather, the moment the thought arose, it dissipated like smoke. She couldn't act in time, couldn't stop it, and didn't dare to stop it. It was as simple as that.
The woman's Dao heart, clear as crystal, became covered in dust. Truly, she was left to drink alone in melancholy.
The first person to step forward and block Ah Liang was the very man who had threatened the Earth God Wei Bo on Qidun Mountain. He resolutely crashed into that rainbow light, only to be slapped back to where he started with a casual backhand.
Wei Bo sighed, crouched down, and pressed his hand over the man's heart, helping to protect his vital energy channels, ensuring that this fearless but pitiable man wouldn't be shaken to death by his own chaotic internal energy.
Soon, an unremarkable young man appeared beside Wei Bo. He crouched down, fed a crimson pill to his blood-soaked colleague and subordinate, grabbed the man's burning-hot wrist, and felt his pulse. After a moment, the pulse finally stabilized. He let out a light breath, turned to Wei Bo, and said, "Wei Bo, Old Liu's life was saved by you. I acknowledge this life-saving grace. As for how the Great Li court will deal with you afterward, I can't change that. Regarding your divine position, it's even less appropriate for me to plead on your behalf. If I speak up, it might only incur the Great Li Emperor's displeasure. Regardless, I personally owe you and Qidun Mountain a favor."
Wei Bo said expressionlessly, "Just happened to be convenient."
Wei Bo slowly stood up and realized that this young man, whose aura was restrained, was a top-tier swordsman regarded by Great Li as the gatekeeper of the capital. Yet instead of a waist-mounted blade, he carried the longsword that was his life companion, casually slung horizontally behind his waist.
Wei Bo hesitated but couldn't help asking, "Since you were in Red Candle Town, why didn't you stop that blademaster Ah Liang?"
The young swordsman carefully hoisted the wounded man onto his back, stood up, and laughed. "Blademaster? He's a swordsman, the most dashing swordsman in my eyes under heaven. When I was young, the reason I chose the path of the sword cultivator was because I admired this man."
Wei Bo was momentarily stunned.
In truth, this swordsman master only looked young in appearance. He had intended to leave with his subordinate, but suddenly a rare smile of reminiscence flickered across his face. For no particular reason, he felt like chatting for a while. He stood still, gazing at the blazing lights of Red Candle Town, and said softly, "Well, for the continents I once lived on, your Bottle Gourd Continent is a small, isolated place. Some taboo but interesting stories are fine to tell here. Let me tell you something. You know the Confucian School has three great academies? Back then, that man was indignant over the matter of Mr. Qi Jingchun, so he single-handedly charged into two of those academies with his sword, causing an absolute uproar. You see, when Ah Liang roams the martial world of various continents, he always abides by his famous catchphrase: 'Is there anyone here who can fight? Ah Liang only fights the big and the old, not the small and the weak.' But those two times, Ah Liang showed no mercy at all. Whoever tried to reason with him, whoever blocked his path, he would immediately shatter their Longevity Bridge on the spot without hesitation. Do you know? How many lofty, arrogant gentlemen and worthies were reduced to mere mortals, completely powerless? It's just that these two tragedies were seen as the Confucian School's absolute taboo, something no one dared to mention carelessly."
Wei Bo swallowed nervously and asked fearfully, "Does Senior Ah Liang act so outrageously? What about the true sages?"
The swordsman's face lit up with a proud expression. He chuckled. "So in the end, it alarmed one of the three central divine statues in the Confucian Temple. That one descended silently from the sky and stood before Ah Liang. After that battle, Ah Liang finally stopped. The outcome is unknown. Anyway, that great sage isolated a realm of heaven and earth—some say it was a chessboard, others say it was a book—used as a battlefield for their duel. Outsiders never learned what happened. All that's known is that after that, Ah Liang left the academy, crossed two continents, passed through Hanging Mountain, and went to another world's Sword Qi Great Wall. Hanging Mountain is a flying enclave personally arranged by a Daoist sage in this world, and also a forbidden ground for Confucian disciples. So many earth-shattering pieces of news were completely sealed off."
Wei Bo listened as if hearing a heavenly scripture, his gaze distant.
In the martial world where warriors roamed, there was a saying: "Not a cultivator, know not matters of the mountains."
But on the path of cultivation, there was another saying: "Already a man of the mountains, know not matters beyond the heavens."
Although the swordsman had more to say, a bellyful of legendary tales he wanted to tell, he decided to stop there. Finally, he said, "Your matter, I won't meddle in. But as for that girl, I'll have her and the Spring and Autumn Palace devote all their efforts to nurturing her—provided you, Wei Bo, don't find it offensive."
Wei Bo laughed. "Do I look like an ungrateful fool? Thank you."
The swordsman breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at this thorny deity on the Great Li Ministry of Rites' blacklist, he smiled. "Then I'll return to the town and tell her. When they return to the Great Li capital, have them walk over Qidun Mountain before flying north."
Wei Bo's expression was complex. He sighed, lowered his head slightly, and said, "I have nothing to repay. I can only thank you once more."
The swordsman from another continent asked quietly, "I never believed the records in the Ministry of Rites' files before. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I have to believe it. Wei Bo, for her sake, you've already delayed your quest to attain the indestructible golden body for so many years. Are you still unwilling to let go?"
Wei Bo shook his head. "Since I could pick it up, there's no reason to put it down."
The swordsman shook his head. "I don't understand."
Wei Bo remembered something and hesitated. "Speaking of which, I made an agreement with Senior Ah Liang. I plan to go to Fallen Mountain in Dragon Spring County soon and bring the black snake there. I'll follow the established procedures of your Great Li Ministry of Rites, reporting through every level. But even if they ultimately refuse, I still need to make a quick trip to Fallen Mountain and back. I hope I can trouble you to greet the Dragon Spring County magistrate. Is that possible?"
The swordsman laughed heartily. "A small matter, not worth mentioning. Besides, this is your initiative to ease relations with Great Li—a good thing. Rest assured. The successive rulers of the Great Li Song Clan, though ambitious and always giving an impression of aggressiveness, are actually quite reasonable once you get along with them. Otherwise, Uncle Luan and I wouldn't have stayed in Great Li for so many years."
Wei Bo suddenly asked, "Is Senior Ah Liang heading north with such momentum to cause trouble for Great Li?"
The swordsman nodded, his smile bitter. "Trouble indeed."
Wei Bo was shocked. "According to what you said, before Ah Liang went to Hanging Mountain, he could already make one of the top three Confucian sages intervene. Now if he truly takes action, will the Great Li capital simply disappear from the map of Bottle Gourd Continent?"
The swordsman thought for a moment and said bluntly, "If it were me, then the Great Li dynasty, which was poised to become the master of this continent, might very well be destroyed."
Wei Bo's face twisted in a strange expression, as if to say, "So that's the real reason you didn't act. After this battle, Great Li's flourishing national power will be knocked back decades or even a century. Are you considering changing allegiance?"
But the swordsman was truly open-minded. He didn't mind being judged by the Earth God with a petty heart. He shook his head. "It's not what you think. You need to understand, I'm not Ah Liang. I could never become a swordsman like Ah Liang in this lifetime. Ah Liang's principles are always different from others'. It's strange: those immortal clans that ordinary cultivators see as powerful houses—when they come into conflict with Ah Liang, after learning his identity, they often panic, thinking disaster is coming. But Ah Liang almost never goes all out. He gives a lesson and leaves. Of course, legend also says he likes to tease young and beautiful celestial maidens. I never had the chance to ask Senior Ah Liang about that in person. Pity, I probably won't have another chance."
The swordsman used his cultivation to enhance his vision, staring into the distance. Amidst a series of loud explosions and brilliant bursts of light, as one of Great Li's dragon-supporting figures, he sighed. As a fellow swordsman, his heart yearned.
He had never told anyone one thing.
Ah Liang had found him in Red Candle Town and asked him some questions.
What kind of Great Li was it, really? What kind of ruler was the Great Li Emperor?
And what exactly had Qi Jingchun done all these years at Cliff Academy and within Pearly Bead Cave Heaven?
Big matters and small—Ah Liang wanted to know everything.
The two of them sat in the most ordinary tavern in Red Candle Town, drinking and chatting.
In the end, the excited swordsman was so busy answering questions that by the time Ah Liang patted his backside and left, he realized he hadn't had a chance to ask any of the countless small questions he'd bottled up for years. For instance: How high is your swordsmanship now? On that wall that holds back the onslaught of a whole world's demon tribe, did you carve a character belonging to you? Among the demons, is there truly some stunning beauty that could make even you, Ah Liang, swoon?
In the end, the man could only console himself: How many people in this world have bought Ah Liang a drink?
Thinking of that, the man—already a famous sword cultivator—felt quite happy.
Just as the man was about to leave, Wei Bo suddenly laughed heartily. "Then I, Wei Bo, got hit by Senior Ah Liang's bamboo sword and didn't die—isn't that a great feat? I don't care if Ah Liang held back. No, no, next time we have a chance, we must drink together. I'll tell you the whole story. That battle was truly soul-stirring—hundreds of rounds and more!"
The man snorted coldly, and his figure shot up into the sky with a boom.
Wei Bo raised his hand to disperse the cloud of dust stirred up. His smile faded. He looked toward Red Candle Town, like a single lamp in the night, his gaze tender, wordless.
The former Northern March God of the Divine Water Kingdom stared like this for a hundred, a thousand years.
Watching her, again and again, by that bend on the banks of the Chongdan River—born with a cry, in the prime of life, white-haired with age.
He never wanted to admit it: she was no longer the same person after all.
---
In the Great Li capital, the White Jade Capital, stripped of its array concealment on the high platform, had survived the calamity and still stood firm.
But as the white rainbow tore through the barrier between heaven and earth, the capital's defensive array, which had briefly opened its seals, returned to normal. At almost the same time, Luan Juzi and the old man named Lu shrouded the White Jade Capital from view, leaving only a fleeting, stunning impression for the enemy spies lurking in the capital.
Luan Juzi plopped down on the steps of the high platform, full of helplessness.
The old man surnamed Lu wanted to stamp and curse but didn't dare. All his lifelong cultivation of temperament vanished. He paced in circles, grumbling angrily, "Calamity falls from heaven—could it really be that the Great Dao is unpredictable? No reason! Great Li's fortune is unique on Bottle Gourd Continent! My Lu family's learning alone occupies half of the Yin-Yang School. Though I dare not claim to have mastered ninety percent of its arts, how could such a great upheaval be so uncalculated, unanticipated?!"
Luan Juzi sighed wearily. "Because that Ah Liang comes from the Sword Qi Great Wall, which is least affected by the workings of Heaven's Dao. He intentionally concealed his aura with external objects. Not just you—even if your Lu family's ancestor had exerted himself to the utmost beforehand, he might only have had a slim chance to detect something. So today's affair is not a failure of our efforts. You and I need not blame ourselves too much."
Song Changjing knelt on one knee, head bowed, staring at the split remains of the Daoist talisman puppet. This iron-hearted man, for the first time, showed a trace of sorrow. He thrust the narrow blade Xiangfu into the ground by his feet, carefully cupped a "handful of water," and stored it inside the flowing robe's large sleeve.
Two warrior puppets outside the palace had been gifts from a great Daoist sect when the Song Clan of Great Li founded their dynasty. Their intellect had long been no different from ordinary humans.
The two greatest "gate gods" of East Bottle Gourd Continent's mortal world had guarded the palace generation after generation. If any Song clan member won their favor, a gate god would be willing to protect them for life. In Song Changjing's generation, he and his elder brother Song Zhengchun had this fortune. This was seen at the time as an auspicious sign that Great Li would flourish, because the two green-armored warriors had not chosen anyone in two hundred years.
Song Jixin suddenly turned pale as death, roaring, "Where is my sword?! Weren't there six flying swords left? Why can't I sense them at all?!"
The Great Li Emperor's face remained calm, but the pain in his eyes was visible, thick as ink. He said in a low voice, "At the very least, twenty years of Great Li's national fortune has been destroyed in a single stroke. 'Walking a hundred miles, half is done at ninety'—the ancients truly spoke well. All that's left is an empty White Jade Capital, with no twelve flying swords to guard it. What use is it in the short term? And what's left for me..."
The man in the ceremonial robe, who had ambitions to swallow the whole continent, stopped himself. He slowly raised his head to look at the sky, which had returned to normal, no longer strange. "You might as well have just cut off my head."
He took a deep breath, turned, and ordered, "Changjing, go personally take charge at the city walls. See if any rats try to stir up trouble. If any are found, kill without mercy. From this moment on, you have the authority to oversee the state."
Song Changjing asked, "What if it's someone from the Song clan?"
The Great Li Emperor laughed bitterly. "In the past, I could support useless people. I, Song Zhengchun, as the ruler of Great Li, still had that wealth and tolerance. But now it's different. If they seek their own death, let them die."
Song Changjing asked again, "And her?"
The Great Li Emperor said flatly, "I'll handle it personally."
Song Changjing nodded and strode away, murderous intent boiling.
Within the Great Li capital, cultivators were forbidden to fly. Within the palace, everyone had to walk.
Although Song Changjing was allowed to break the rule, like the state teacher Cui Chan, this prince had grown up here and was unwilling to break what few rules remained.
The Great Li Emperor turned and walked to the steps, sitting beside Luan Changye, the nominal Mohist leader. The high-crowned old man also slumped down.
Both old men almost simultaneously wore expressions of wanting to speak but hesitating.
The man in the ceremonial robe smiled. "I know, prolonging my life is already a luxury. After all, this is Ah Liang's doing. Unless a twelfth-realm agricultural cultivator heals me, I could extend my life. Otherwise, I'm just counting the days I have left on my fingers."
The two old men nodded in unison.
The man said self-deprecatingly, "Only ten years left. Fifteen at most. The fortune of nations always waxes and wanes. So it seems I'll only be able to barely conquer a rising Great Sui. What then? It all seems irrelevant to me. Great Li's southward advance—the sound of our horses' hooves trampling the lands south of Guanhu Academy, our Ascending Dragon banners flapping on the southern coast of Old Dragon City—I won't get to see any of it."
He closed his eyes, clenched his fists, pounded his knees, and laughed through gritted teeth. "The problem is that the one who decided my lifespan has ascended somewhere else. He might still be watching our human world. He might even come back. He's not dead—he's not dead!"
Therefore, Great Li didn't even have the courage to seek revenge.
That was the most frustrating part for this Great Li emperor.
That was why he said, "Why not just cut off my head now? End it all. No need to suffer this humiliation."
---
Atop the Great Li capital's city wall, a thin old man in a green robe kept his head tilted upward, staring at the spot in the sky where that man had disappeared.
At some point, a short, plump palace woman in court attire appeared beside him. She asked directly, "State Teacher Cui, what should I do about this unwarranted disaster?"
The old man didn't even bother to look at her, answering casually, "Wait to die."
The woman shuddered inwardly, her face fierce. "State Teacher! What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Another Cui Chan, different from the youth in the small town, twitched the corner of his mouth. "If you're lucky, wait until you're half dead."
The woman dropped all pretense, pointing at this meritorious Great Li state teacher, her face full of anger. "Then where will you, Cui Chan, end up?!"
The old man finally turned to face this honorable Great Li consort, smiling. "Sorry, I'm already half dead."
---
Except for a very few, no one knew that a fellow was sitting cross-legged up in the sky, watching the human world.
For this man, the two worlds were separated by only a thin line.
Looking down, countless points of light clustered densely, like a slowly flowing, magnificent Milky Way beneath his feet. Some of those stars exploded in a flash and vanished. Others grew even more dazzling. Some gradually dimmed. Some were lifeless. Some were full of vigor. And there were some particularly conspicuous large clusters of light that chose to shrink back and remain motionless, like a bunch of old turtle bastards.
The man stood up, truly ready to leave. He chuckled. "Old man, you were right. This is the human world. It's beautiful to watch!"
His last words to this human world, tossed down in his heart, were very interesting.
"Kid, you better practice your sword well. In the future, be as fierce as me, Ah Liang. Even fiercer... haha, forget it. That would be very hard!"
End of chapter