Chapter Ninety: Li Yi of Azure Emperor City

The man was rescued from the lake and lay unconscious, utterly disheveled.

More than thirty figures descended from the sky. The man at their head ignored the surrounding stares and came straight before Shen Yu. Bending slightly, he saluted. “Yuan Chengzai of the Summit of No Return, greetings, Senior Brother.”

Within the Dao Sect, Shen Yu had long become a figure of renown, no less famous than Yu Wenwen. Only because the sect had deliberately concealed his deeds from the outside world did the lands beyond the Central Continent remain less familiar with his name.

“The Summit of No Return?”

Shen Yu recalled that in years past he had once cultivated on a secluded mountain slope of that peak, and had spent some time there.

Thinking of this, Shen Yu found the disciple before him even more agreeable.

Then Shen Yu suddenly studied the disciples behind him.

“The order for the suppression of Guiyun Immortal Sect was discovered by chance by a sect disciple traveling in Eastern Ancestor Province, who then sent word back to the Dao Sect,” Yuan Chengzai explained. “After hearing of it, the master of the Hall of Derivation said that you are my Dao Sect’s Second Senior Brother and cannot be humiliated, so he instructed us to come here.”

Yuan Chengzai did not say what they were here to do, but everyone understood. With so many people arriving, it certainly was not merely to take a look.

Yet what Shen Yu cared about was not that. Instead, he asked, “What happened on the way?”

With Shen Yu’s level and insight, he could naturally see the problems with the Dao Sect disciples before him.

Their auras were unstable, and many had suffered varying degrees of internal injury.

More than that, their hearts were somewhat damaged. Had they not first overawed the crowd with sheer momentum, this group would have looked even more miserable.

Yuan Chengzai hesitated, then turned and barked, “Get lost.”

At that, the Guiyun Immortal Sect disciples, who had been unable to leave or stay, scattered and fled in all directions.

When the crowd had fully dispersed, the two of them went to a waterside pavilion by the lake.

After a moment of composing himself, Yuan Chengzai said, “Originally, we would have arrived in time for the grand ceremony of Guiyun Immortal Sect a few days ago, but... we ran into some trouble on the way.”

Shen Yu remained calm. The only people or matters that could be considered trouble by Dao Sect disciples were naturally few in number.

He asked, “Who was it?”

“Azure Emperor City,” Yuan Chengzai replied.

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow.

Among the sacred lands, Dao Sect and Azure Emperor City had always been a special pair of existences. One believed in the return of all methods to their source; the other revered proving the Dao through strength. Both stood among the world’s foremost sacred lands, and because of some words carved on a ruined stone tablet, the two sect leaders had even set down a Great Dao pact centuries ago.

By now, the two sects were already as fire and water.

Yuan Chengzai continued, “This eastward journey of the Dao Sect was originally led by Senior Brother Chen Jianzhi of the Hall of Pure Law. But just as we reached the seaport of Eastern Ancestor Province, we happened to meet a party from Azure Emperor City. They took the initiative to provoke us, and their words were unbearable to hear. Senior Brother Chen has always had a proud temper, so after a few exchanges, we agreed on a place to fight.”

Shen Yu looked as usual. “And then?”

Among cultivators, especially when disciples of two factions could not stand one another, such matters were naturally settled by the methods of the cultivation world.

Contests of victory and defeat, contests of life and death—these had always been the two usual means.

Hearing this, Yuan Chengzai suddenly showed a look of indignation. Clenching both fists, he said bitterly, “We originally agreed to a contest of victory and defeat, ten rounds of one-on-one combat. At first, the Azure Emperor City side was at a disadvantage, but in the end one of their people arrived. That person was formidable in cultivation. Not only did he injure many of our Dao Sect disciples with his strikes, he also hurled every kind of insult. Senior Brother Chen Jianzhi could not stomach it, and in the end he was struck down with a single punch and severely injured.”

Shen Yu noticed the detail in his words. His expression turned slightly surprised, then eased into understanding. “Chen Jianzhi’s cultivation ranks among the best of his generation. Among the younger generation, who could punch him into serious injury?”

“His name is Li Yi,” Yuan Chengzai said. “He is also the first direct disciple of Azure Emperor Song Nu.”

Shen Yu’s expression turned thoughtful.

Li Yi of Azure Emperor City cultivated within the city year-round and rarely came out.

Yet everyone knew he was exceedingly powerful, certainly worthy of a place among the top three of the Soaring Cloud Rankings.

But the question was, with the opening of the Academy’s third level drawing near, everyone on the Soaring Cloud Rankings should have been in seclusion, bitterly cultivating. Why had he come out now?

Shen Yu seemed to think of something. “This was all because of me.”

Back then, in South River City, he had crippled one of Li Chan’s arms, and that man’s elder brother was Li Yi.

Yuwen Wen had told him of this, and Hui Ke had also mentioned it.

Yuan Chengzai remained silent. Perhaps that was indeed the case.

He looked around, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Li Yi also asked me to bring you a message.”

Shen Yu suddenly smiled. “What is it?”

Yuan Chengzai frowned. “He said that if you do not return to the Dao Sect soon, then once he has settled certain matters, he will come find you and have you... prepare yourself.”

...

On a ruin far from the two of them stood a stooped old man in coarse cloth robes.

He looked utterly ordinary and was called Mu Changqing.

Yet his身份 was by no means ordinary: he was the Supreme Elder of Guiyun Immortal Sect.

After a while, the scholar in Confucian robes came out from the pavilion and stood beside him, followed by a pure and delicate woman in a green dress.

“The sect may decline, but these young disciples whom our Guiyun Immortal Sect has placed such hope in—I never expected them to have lost even their backbone. How can one break and then stand anew?”

The plain old man sighed helplessly.

The scene by the lakeside had been fully witnessed by him, and what chilled him was not that they were inferior to others, but that faced with Dao Sect disciples, they did not even have the courage to strike.

In the path of cultivation, when one meets a strong enemy, one may be courteous, one may even be humble, but one must never be without courage.

The disgraceful sight of the disciples from earlier only deepened the wrinkles on the old man’s face.

“Since Guiyun Immortal Sect has chosen to rebuild, these disciples will, after experiencing some things, eventually grow slowly,” Jiang Zhouyao said, wearing a thick cotton robe. “It only needs time.”

The old man said, “With that body of yours, how many days can you live? Can you wait?”

Jiang Zhouyao smiled. “I cannot wait, but someone can.”

Supreme Elder Mu Changqing sighed. “Yunqing is still young. Can a woman truly shoulder such a heavy burden?”

The green-dressed woman behind him remained as though she had not heard, only lowering her eyes slightly.

The middle-aged scholar’s smile remained unchanged. “You should trust me. You can only trust me.”

The old man’s mouth twitched, and he gave a cold snort.

In this battle, enough to shake the very foundations of Guiyun Immortal Sect, the reason he had not appeared was because he trusted the scholar before him.

Not only because the man held in his hand the sect master’s immortal command token, unseen in Guiyun Immortal Sect for a hundred years.

Not only because this man had once promised to restore Guiyun Immortal Sect to the ranks of the world’s foremost sects.

But also because, back then, he had played over a hundred scattered games of chess with him and never won a single one.

The middle-aged scholar comforted him, saying, “Rest assured.”

“Jiang Zhouyao, I hope it truly goes as you say. I hope I can see the day when Guiyun Immortal Sect rises again. Only then will I not regret my choice, nor fail the successive founders of Guiyun Immortal Sect.”

Weariness appeared in the old man’s eyes, and then he shook his head slightly and turned away.

At some unknown point, snow had begun to fall again from the sky.

It drifted everywhere.

The man extended his hand and watched the snow settle on his palm, then slowly melt. Because his cultivation had been entirely lost, a bone-deep cold spread through his body.

Jiang Zhouyao seemed not to feel it at all. He smiled and said, “When I had only just begun to read in my youth, there was a time when I thought my prose was unrivaled under heaven. Not when I broke through a realm, nor when I passed the imperial examination, but from the moment I wrote my first character onward I believed so. Wasn’t that rather arrogant?”

Yunqing shook her head desperately.

“Whether it was or not no longer matters, because later I met Su Mo and understood a truth.”

Whether because the snow was falling ever heavier or for some other reason, the man’s hair had already turned completely white, yet he seemed utterly unaware as he said, “For all the many lives contained in books, in the end they are nothing more than a fleeting illusion.”

The scholar paused for a moment, then murmured, “Nothing more.”

Yunqing lifted her head slightly, her eyes red, and said, “Senior Uncle Jiang’s prose and poetry were always unrivaled under heaven.”

Jiang Zhouyao merely smiled and let it pass. He pointed toward the direction the old man had left and said, “Elder Mu is devoted to the Dao and values Guiyun Immortal Sect deeply. As long as you can steadily improve your cultivation and realm in the future, he will naturally help you resolve many troubles. He is worth trusting.”

The scholar considered it for a moment, then continued, “As for the other unworthy rabble, deal with them as you see fit.”

Yunqing hesitated. “Then Elder Xu?”

“Xu Yanmo is unstable in temperament and utterly devoid of bearing. If you stay here in the future, you will surely be used by others.”

Jiang Zhouyao thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “Still, you need not mind. When I die, it will naturally also be the day he dies.”

Yunqing heard this, and her eyes instantly blurred again.