Chapter Ninety-Two: Senior Sage

Spiritual energy surged in from every direction, swirling in the sky before gradually falling silent once more, like divine radiance drawn inward, all of it sinking into Shen Yu’s body.

The whole process was very brief, as though it had taken only an instant.

Yet upon seeing this, cries of amazement and admiration rose all around from the disciples of the Dao sect.

If the union realm was a watershed that marked the strength of Daoist cultivators, then the true-mystery realm, hailed as the boundary between immortals and mortals, was a level that could greatly extend one’s lifespan.

And a breakthrough that defied heaven and changed one’s fate was no less difficult than any other realm.

Ordinary cultivators, when attempting to break through, would inevitably need the aid of spiritual elixirs and precious medicines, as well as a quiet secluded grotto dwelling in which to cultivate with utmost care before they dared to try. Otherwise, at the slightest mishap, not only would the breakthrough fail, but their own vital energy would be badly damaged as well.

No matter how astonishing one’s talent might be, no one would be as casual as Brother Shen.

And yet, had he really broken through after saying only a few words?

Many people, thinking of this, showed genuine expressions of admiration.

Shen Yu seemed to be shrouded in a layer of radiance, his already refined features becoming even more otherworldly. His robes fluttered softly, making him seem like an immortal descended from above.

Half an hour later.

Shen Yu opened his eyes, exhaled, and felt his entire body grow light.

His dantian and spiritual sea were several times larger than those of an ordinary person, so transforming the spiritual power within his dantian into surging vitality was actually not very difficult.

“It is often said that below the third realm, all are but ants,” Jiang Zhouyao said. “Even after a breakthrough, your cultivation is still far too low.”

“For many people, being unable to win and being vastly outmatched are no different,” Shen Yu said faintly. “But to me, they are two entirely different things.”

Jiang Zhouyao understood Shen Yu’s meaning, then shook his head with a bitter smile, unable to help feeling a surge of emotion.

If one were to speak of the proudest person on the Dragon Soaring Ranking, it would surely be Kunlun’s Wan Jianyi.

But after meeting Shen Yu, it seemed that this first place truly belonged to him.

...

The Returning Cloud Immortal Sect had been reduced to ruins. The disciples, who in ordinary times possessed respectable status, had all become common laborers. The crowd came and went, constantly transporting broken remnants of various kinds, and from time to time one could see a disciple in the distance using Dao arts to bring in one precious mountain rock after another.

During these days, Shen Yu was quite leisurely. Each day he did not live together with the Dao sect disciples, but stayed beside the great lake of the Returning Cloud Immortal Sect.

Then he would go fishing again, holding a battered bamboo rod and sitting lazily by the side.

That languid posture stood in stark contrast to the busy figures of the nearby disciples, yet this time no one dared cause him any trouble.

In a ruined waterside pavilion far from the lakeshore.

“I truly cannot make him out,” Yun Qing said, frowning as she looked at that figure in blue. “What is he relying on to be so utterly unrestrained?”

Yuan Chengzai sat on a stone stool nearby and said, “Brother Shen Yu has always been like this in the Dao sect, though he has always been full of surprises.”

Yun Qing curled her lips and said, “Li Yi is not like the petty fools of your Dao sect. I only hope that whatever happens later, it will not drag down my Returning Cloud Immortal Sect.”

Yuan Chengzai’s expression remained impassive as he said淡淡, “My Dao sect has always relied only on itself and disdains borrowing strength from outsiders. You need not worry.”

The two of them were at loggerheads.

Yuan Chengzai was naturally protecting the honor of the Dao sect.

As for Yun Qing, she had already held Shen Yu at arm’s length because of what had happened to her junior brother Yang Yiqing, who had been crippled. And after Shen Yu arrived, Jiang Zhouyao had fallen into his present state, as if his days were numbered, which only deepened that estrangement.

Although Shen Yu had, in a certain sense, helped her immensely, she still found him impossible to like.

In this world, some people meet and feel they have known each other too late; naturally, there are also those who meet and immediately grow to loathe each other.

The former is a blessed bond; the latter is probably a fated calamity.

A faint cough came from behind them.

Yun Qing hurriedly turned around and said with concern, “Uncle Jiang, it’s cold outside. Shall we go back?”

The middle-aged scholar, with his gentle face, shook his head and smiled. “I have spent my whole life in a tower, and now I rather want to go outside and have a look.”

Jiang Zhouyao seemed to be in a very talkative mood, and continued, “Do you know where the name of the Five Continents of the Spirit Wasteland comes from?”

Yuan Chengzai was the first to shake his head. “I devote myself wholeheartedly to the Dao and know nothing of worldly affairs. Please enlighten me, sir.”

Yun Qing thought for a moment and said, “The land of the Eastern Ancestral Continent is the smallest among the five continents, shaped like a gourd. It is said to be the origin of our Spirit Wasteland human race. As for the other four continents, I do not know.”

“The Eastern Ancestral Continent, the Central Continent, and the Western He Continent each represent one of the three great cultivators from antiquity: the Dao ancestor of the Central Continent, the Confucian sage of the Eastern Continent, and the Buddha of the Western lands. As for the other two continents in the south and north, they are occupied by demons and monsters.”

Jiang Zhouyao raised three fingers and smiled. “These three represent the doctrinal foundations of the Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian traditions for the past tens of thousands of years, and they are also the supreme great paths of today’s cultivation world.”

Yuan Chengzai frowned. “Yet now the Eastern Ancestral Continent is ruled by the Daoists, and although our Dao sect has spread its teachings in the Central Continent, it is still the great academy of the Tang Empire that holds supremacy there, while the Confucian school flourishes throughout the world.”

Yun Qing’s expression remained cool. These matters were still too far removed from her.

What she was thinking now was to take good care of the man beside her, and then, when the third floor of the academy opened, to obtain the baptism of the sages.

Jiang Zhouyao pondered for a moment and said, “I do not know the specifics either. For tens of thousands of years, the twists and turns within the three traditions have long been cast into the river of history. If one truly wished to know the truth, perhaps it could only be asked of the people from three thousand years ago.”

When Yuan Chengzai heard this, he fell silent at once.

Three thousand years of time—apart from the true immortals who had ascended beyond the immortal realm, who could resist the erosion of time?

He no longer dwelled on the matter, and instead looked up, sighing with sincere admiration. “The patriarchs of the three traditions enlightened all living beings and educated the people of the world. What kind of heaven-reaching cultivation and immeasurable fortune would that require?”

Yun Qing said, “So up to now, there are only those three?”

“No,” Jiang Zhouyao’s voice sounded again.

“There should be one more.”

“And he also inherited the lineages of all three traditions.”

Yuan Chengzai asked in astonishment, “Who?”

Yun Qing was intrigued as well and turned to look.

Jiang Zhouyao lightly tapped the tabletop with his finger joints as if recalling something, and said, “Three thousand years ago, many things vanished into that era. But the only thing we can know is the important age when heroes blazed like stars.”

“At that time, the human, demon, and monster races stood in a tripartite balance. Because of innate disadvantages, the human race was at a relative disadvantage, and at one point the demon race even sought to seize the ancestral continent of our humans. Thus there inevitably erupted an unmatched great war that shook the Spirit Wasteland. Countless lives perished in that battle, and the entire Spirit Wasteland continent was battered into a land of scars and wounds.”

“Later, the demon race knew full well that even if they won that war, the whole Spirit Wasteland would be destroyed. So they made with us a grand Dao vow spanning three hundred years. Every hundred years, the five strongest cultivators from each of the two races would be selected for a peak battle. In each century, three contests out of five would decide the outcome.”

“In the end, the human race barely held on until the three-hundredth year. Each side had won once, and the struggle of that final hundred years would determine the wager. But in that battle, the human race fell into despair, because the demon race produced the most gifted demon emperor in history. That man arrived at the Ascension Platform of our human ancestral continent in an invincible pose, and successively slew four peak experts of our human race.”

Jiang Zhouyao spoke softly, but the information hidden in his words nevertheless caused the two listeners to tighten their hearts.

“And there was still one last person,” Yuan Chengzai could not help saying.

Jiang Zhouyao raised his head and looked into the distance, saying softly, “Later... the fifth expert of the human race never had a chance to make a move.”

Yun Qing asked in confusion, “Why? Was he afraid of death?”

“Of course not. How could an expert of my human race be so worthless!”

Jiang Zhouyao said solemnly, “Because before he could even strike, it was already over.”

“Because a sword appeared in the sky.”

“That sword revealed itself directly above the Ascension Platform in the Central Continent.”

“That sword’s qi stretched across the five continents and overturned yin and yang.”

The middle-aged scholar, who had always seemed weak and pale, suddenly burst into hearty laughter. “Exactly. Because someone struck from thousands of miles away, and that sword instantly turned the young demon emperor, hailed as the eternal sovereign by the demon race, into dust on the spot, his spirit utterly extinguished! And that person... was a sword cultivator.”

Yuan Chengzai clenched his fists abruptly, his heart surging with emotion, as though he had returned to that distant age and witnessed the peerless grace of that single sword.

Yun Qing was also left staring wide-eyed, dazzled and shaken.

“After that, that person went alone to the demon race. In the end, the demon army that had already pressed into ancestral-continent territory retreated all the way back to the demon lands.”

Jiang Zhouyao sighed. “No one knows who she was. Only that she often wore white, and was a woman. The later Sword Immortal City, it is said, was the legacy left behind by a great cultivator who abandoned the Dao for the sword after seeing that strike.”

“Later still, that female sword immortal broke through into the immortal realm and became the first sword immortal in the Spirit Wasteland.”

Yuan Chengzai said gravely, “I have heard the name of the White-Robed Sword Immortal since childhood. I only knew that the line of sword cultivators flourished because of her. I never expected she had such a world-saving deed as well. She is truly a model for us all.”

Jiang Zhouyao smiled. “These things were all said by an old man whose name I do not know. I do not know whether they are true or false. But he also said that if one wishes to pursue the path of such a figure, one must first possess a state of mind that makes the whole world one’s enemy.”

Yuan Chengzai sighed. “That is easy to say, but who could truly possess such Dao heart?”

Unconsciously, Yun Qing glanced toward that figure in the distance and gave a cold laugh, saying with faint mockery, “Isn’t there one right here?”

...

A breeze moved softly along the lakeshore.

Lying in the grass, Shen Yu opened his eyes in a daze and looked toward the waterside pavilion in the distance.

Then he rolled over, pulled the bamboo hat back over his head, and went back to sleep.