Chapter 41. Did you always love to act coquettishly like this?

This place was Shesheng Peak.

Shesheng: giving up life

The paths of cultivators are beset with obstacles, each more treacherous than the other, and only if one was willing to risk their life and disregard death hazards would they survive being sent to a field of death.

Risk their life and disregard death hazards: the first half of this idiom, ‘risk one’s life’, is the ‘shesheng’ from the peak’s name

Survive being sent to this field of death: make sure smn has no escape route, and they will fight to death, fig. to find a way out of an impasse

With snowstorms throughout the entire year, the sky over Shesheng Peak was rarely clear even for a span of a few days. Common people couldn’t endure this place at all, and even cultivators could hardly bear the sufferings day after day, year after year.

In a thousand mountains, birds no longer flew; on ten thousand paths, footprints had disappeared.

In a thousand mountains, birds no longer flew; on ten thousand paths, footprints had disappeared: from the Tang dynasty poem, “River Snow”, written by Liu Zongyuan

But Changming had brought Yun Weisi here several times.

Perversely, he liked this bitter solitude.

The more bitter it was, the more it tempered the mind and body.

The highest realm that cultivators wanted to obtain was ascension, but this didn’t only mean the soul ascension, but also the body enlightenment. For that reason, the soul and the body should have been cultivated together, at the same time.

Changming used to meditate on the peak for several hours, and oftentimes up to several days.

At first, Yun Weisi had been unable to persevere.

As a child who basked in his parents’ love, Yun Weisi had donned brocade garments and savoured delicacies. Doted on as he was, he would at times half-heartedly practise some rudimentary sword techniques, relying on his talent rather than persistence to get by.  Always fishing for three days and drying nets for two, Yun Weisi was careless and slipshod in his tasks, constantly looking for opportunities to slack off. Only after his family was torn apart and ruined did he come to his senses.

To don brocade garments and savour delicaties: life of luxury

Fishing for three days and drying nets for two: lack perseverance

Fleeing for his life over a thousand li was but an instinctive reaction in a moment of despair. Beneath the surface, Yin Weisi was still that pampered, lively and elegant young man. Rigorous though Yuhuang Temple’s cultivation methods were, Yun Weisi did endure them with gritted teeth, but the violent snowstorm on Shesheng Peak would make him feel a biting cold every time he thought of it.

Nevertheless, after Changming had left the Yuhuang Temple, Yun Weisi would often come to the peak to cultivate of his own accord, in the hopes of chancing upon his shizun.

But encounters with Changming were far and few in between, slowly dwindling into nil. When Yun Weisi realised that Changming might not appear here anymore, and that the tempestuous gale and blizzard at the peak no longer held any fear for him, so too did he lose the only excuse for cultivating at Shesheng Peak. Without the possibility of fulfilling his yearning, there was little point in coming to the peak.

That very year, Yun Weisi went to the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, and challenged their Longxiang Fozuo to a duel.

Longxiang: lit. dragon and elephant, fig. prominent Buddhist monk

Fozuo: a part of his title, I presume, close to ‘fozun’—a polite form of address

The Wanlian Buddhist Temple and the Qingyun School were called the Two Greatest Sacred Places, full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, sects with many capable people.

Hidden dragons and crouching tigers: talented individuals in hiding

Longxiang Fozuo Shengjue was known to be the strongest monk in the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, his status only inferior to the temple master.

With Yun Weisi’s martial skills and cultivation level then, it should have been next to impossible for him to emerge the victor.

When Shengjue heard that a promising young talent had come to their door asking for advice, he could only dismiss them with a laugh. Not deigning to receive Yun Weisi in person, he merely waved a few disciples forward to “greet” the guest.

But those people were utterly defeated by Yun Weisi, including the most favored first disciple of Shengjue!

Curiosity finally piqued, Shengjue made a move.

He battled with Yun Weisi in the yard in front of the Buddhist Temple for three days and three nights, inflicting severe injuries on the younger man. But unexpectedly, Shengjue found himself oppressed by the other’s tenacity, and was unable to gain the upper hand. Realising that he might soon lose any advantage he had and even suffer a humiliating loss, he decided to yield and threw in the towel.

The gruelling battle had revealed Yun Weisi’s boundless prospects, fascinating Shengjue. He knew without a doubt that the youth would inevitably rank the top in Jianghu’s martial arts masters.

After leaving the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, Yun Weisi went to Shesheng Peak instead of returning to the Yuhuang Temple.

He himself couldn’t explain why he had, in his delirium, chosen to return here.

He knew in his heart that Changming would never return to the Yuhuang Temple.

But at this place, slim though his hope was, he might chance upon shizun.

Yin Weisi had traversed the world to the remotest corners, aimlessly searching, assiduously honing himself, yearning to meet a certain someone, the only one he wanted to share his troubles with.

Casting his eyes on Yun Weisi, who lay like the dead on the floor, Changming prodded him a couple of times, and, receiving no reaction, could only accept his fate and drag the unconscious disciple into the room.

There was some firewood in the house, so Changming lit a fire, opened the window to air the room, picked up some thatch grass and put it on him.

Changming began to regret driving the other Yun Weisi away: otherwise, there would have been at least one more person to work. After all, Yun Weisi wouldn’t bear to see himself freeze to death, right?

The Yun Weisi in front of his eyes was a high-spirited youth, a lot more calm than he used to be when he had just entered the temple.

Although his face had not changed much, Changming could easily notice the difference between his and Yun Weisi’s expressions.

It was gradually getting warmer inside the room, and Changming’s throat felt itchy, throwing him into a bout of coughing.

This sound made the comatose Yun Weisi twitch slightly, and he partly regained his perception.

In a daze, he opened his eyes. Before his senses had yet to be overwhelmed by the stabbing pain from his numerous wounds, a man’s silhouette appeared in the line of his sight.

“…”

Yun Weisi opened his mouth and uttered a word.

Or he thought he did.

But the word only sounded in his heart.

Shizun.

As his coughing subsided, Changming raised his eyes and met Yun Weisi’s half-open, dazed ones.

“My beloved disciple?”

Yun Weisi: … 

He thought, it is truly a dream, for Shizun would never have used that endearment on me.

But it felt good as a dream as well.

Master and disciple had not met for three years.

He heard news about his shizun from time to time, but just a word or two.

Yun Weisi only knew that the other had gotten even stronger, and he had felt a sense of crisis, spurring him into intensifying his training in order to catch up with him, lest he be left far behind.

Shizun… 

His throat was still hoarse, and utterance was difficult.

But Changming could read his lips.

He stretched his hand towards Yun Weisi’s head.

Grasping the opportunity, Yun Weisi raised his head to have it rubbed.

At Yuhuang Temple, Changming had rarely displayed affection such as this.

From the very beginning, he had been unsmiling and severe in his discipline.

But Yun Weisi knew that Shizun had always had his best interest at heart.

Perhaps he had been a little unwilling to accept Changming’s aloofness in the beginning, but Yun Weisi gradually came to understand his master’s intentions.

For one living a mundane life, the mention of “cultivation” would bring to mind a vision of an otherworldly immortal in fluttering white robes; but the harsh reality of intense battles between cultivators in Jianghu that were a hundred times more destructive than those among the commoners were something rarely witnessed by the latter.

Those who weren’t powerful enough couldn’t even stick their heads out of their sects.

Those who weren’t powerful enough could be killed for treasures.

Mutual suspicion and deceptions in the royal court were admittedly cruel, however, the defeated would at worst be forced to retire and exiled, but there was no need to be afraid of death.

But, if a cultivator were to fall in battle, even his soul would be sacrificed, and some would even suffer capture to become cultivation furnaces.

The more austere Changming was in his discipline, the higher was Yun Weisi’s chance to succeed in his cultivation.

And it was not that Shizun was unreservedly taciturn.

When he was playing go or brewing tea, Shizun often became more relaxed, and his expression was more gentle as well.

But he had never looked the way he did now. Like grass being freed from the burden of melting snow, and his smile like a breeze dispelling the gloomy night clouds, Changming’s habitual solemnity would disappear like smoke and ashes, leaving his eyes profoundly bright like the trillion of stars in the Milky Way.

His eyes… bright like… the Milky Way: smiling eyes that draw others like a magnet

The man before Yun Weisi may bear the physical appearance of his shizun, but was so different in demeanor that the latter thought he must be hallucinating.

“Did you love to act coquettishly like this at home as well?”

Hearing his shizun’s question,Yun Weisi could not help but smile.

He had been the only child in his family. Having a blind mother did not make the doting and indulgence from both parents any less. Both families, Yun and Cong, were so affluent that he could have squandered their fortune for his entire lifetime and still see no end to their wealth.

It was said that originally the two families had a marriage contract. Because of his mother’s blindness, his paternal grandparents had wanted to cancel the betrothal, leading to bad blood between the elders of both families. Even after his parents had tied the knot, the families remained in a deadlock. It was not until Yun Weisi was born that this situation changed for the better. His mother used to say that when he was a child, he had an endearing, crystal-like purity. People would take to him at sight, and there was none who did not want to give the little tot a smooch. 

Rumors had it that even the emperor had arranged a marriage between Yun Weisi and a princess. What reason would still justify the elders’ call for war? 

Undivided in their love for Yun Weisi, it was inevitable that both families would reconcile.

The apple in the eyes of all, Yun Weisi was truly the pampered son who could do no wrong, whose mere existence filled the hearts of his parents and elders with contentment and complacency.

…

Semi-delirious from the severity of his wounds, Yun Weisi’s heart and mind were unguarded and his actions betrayed his true feelings.

In the past, Changming had been so impassive towards his disciples that none of them, including Yun Weisi had dared to act familiar with him.

Jiufang Changming was like a deity aloof from the masses, and people could only look up to him.

But, since it was an illusion, it mattered not.

The deity was powerful and flawless, and the man in front of him was rarely gentle, which made Yun Weisi show his affection.

Knowing that Yun Weisi had transferred his reverence and high regard for his parents to him, Changming had closed an eye at his occasional look of adulation, pretending ignorance.

Among his four disciples, Yun Weisi had the most talent and the strongest cultivation.

In his heart, Changming had also thought Yun Weisi to possess the softest heart.

But that gentleness was long gone. Yun Weisi had personally uprooted that worthless emotion from his heart with his bare hands.

Mayhaps, Yun Hai was borne of Yun Weisi’s unresolved obsessions.

He used to lead a luxurious life in his childhood, but it came to an end abruptly, which made him feel resentful towards things he couldn’t obtain.

Yun Weisi thought that he had cut it off, but in fact, while the lotus roots may have been broken, its skin remained intact.

The lotus roots may have been broken, its skin remained intact: a relationship that is apparently severed, actually still remains

He fell asleep, using Changming’s hand as a pillow.

When he woke up, so did he wake from his warm dream.

Though his cheek was still warm from the previous contact, Yun Weisi found himself all alone.

The young man, once surrounded by love and indulgence, was destined to spend half of his life alone in a blizzard.

After he had fallen asleep, Changming had not retracted  his hand immediately.

Only when the sky had darkened did Changming remember something and abruptly raise his head.

The present-day Yun Weisi had not returned after he had left, even though half a day had passed.

Even if Yun Weisi had wanted to avoid arousing suspicion and not let his past self see him when he wakened from his unconscious state, there was hardly a need to hide so far away.

The floor slightly trembled, as if something was shaking the peak.

Changming looked at Yun Weisi by his side.

The latter had not returned to his senses. His dream was as deep as his wound was severe.

The sound came from a great distance, but Changming knew intuitively that it was connected with Yun Weisi.

He got up and left silently. Wind and snow greeted him outside, and he closed the doors tightly, rushing towards the noise.

Shesheng Peak was high.

It wasn’t a solitary mountain peak, but a part of the Zhongfa Mountain Range which was long and broad, and lying adjacent to the Sacred Mountain Wan. The peak and the sacred mountain, one located in the west, and the other in the east, were poles apart from each other.

Changming was heading east, crossing more than a hundred li in the direction of a certain peak. The closer he got, the louder the rumbling.

Two people were fighting in the snowstorm.

One was Yun Weisi.

And the other—

Changming concentrated his spiritual senses. Unexpectedly, the other was Chen Ting!

This fellow was truly like a ghost, haunting them from Yuru Town all the way here.

The qi of their swords formed a stormy whirl.

But the quakes were not coming from it.

But from a place not far away.

Chen Ting’s background was indeed suspicious, but he came from the future as well, so his spiritual powers were limited too. For the time being, he shouldn’t be able to defeat Yun Weisi.

Changming cast another glance at them, and went past them, searching for the source of the quakes and jolts.

Boom.

Boom.

Over and over again.

It wasn’t something shaking the mountains and the earth surface, but rather, it was coming from under the ground.

What could be there?

Changming stopped and leaned to the ground to listen.

Shortly after, he ascended the mountain.

These mountains were mostly covered with ice and snow, and the higher he climbed, the thicker the snow got.

Before the old snow could melt, the new would fall onto the ground, layer upon a layer, for months and years. It was hard to even find a place to land one’s feet.

But Changming’s steps were light to the point that he seemed as weightless as a feather, and he could tread on the snow, walking with dainty steps and raising no dust.

Halfway up the mountain, everything he could see was a white flurry.

Changming stopped. Looking at the identical mountain boulders covered with snow, he suddenly swept out a sleeve.

A cutting wind came from his palm, smashing an array of rocks to smithereens and revealing the mouth of a cave.

He bent down and walked inside.

Within, it was so pitch-dark one could not even see their fingers, but Changming discerned a path leading downwards, resembling a crooked staircase carved out by hands.

The lower he descended, the hotter the air became.

Burning hot beams of light were glowing vaguely in the depth.

Changming sensed something being confined there.

Not a human, but a beast.

And, presumably, not an ordinary beast either.

Bending down on a knee, he felt about the ground.

Coming into contact with something, an icy sensation pervaded his hand, and he identified it quickly.

It was an iron chain.

This iron chain was very long, winding down from the place where he found it to the depths of the cave, presumably firmly locking the roaring beast under the ground.

An Eternally Freezing Chain could not be broken by a common cultivator easily.

Boom…

The locked creature was still roaring, but the noise was getting weaker.

It may not die soon, but confined as it was below in the depths of the earth, unable to see the light of the day, the spiritual powers of its cultivation base would slowly be absorbed by this Eternal Frost, leaving it only the strength to breathe.

It was truly a situation where one sought life but could not obtain it, sought death but could not be granted it.

The dragon of the Penglai Lake that was trapped in the Yellow Springs was shackled with an Eternally Freezing Chains as well.

So what was the creature trapped under the ground here?

He silently touched the iron chain in the dark, and felt as if he could make a vague guess.

But these guesses needed time to be checked out.

Until he left the Nine Layers of the Abyss and returned to his world, everything would remain a mystery.

Since undoing the shackles was beyond his ability, there was no point wasting time in this place. Changming lingered for a moment, and then returned to the surface the same way out.

The dim light of night appeared in front of him, and Changming’s heart sank.

He had actually forgotten!

The arrival of night was Yun Weisi’s Archilles’ heel!

Even though Chen Ting had no spiritual power, he could fight to a draw with Yun Weisi relying only on his martial arts and the Guyue Sword. Coupled with his mysterious past and the fact that he was an insider privy to a lot of inside information, who knew what other tricks he had up his sleeves.

Thinking about this, Changming headed swiftly towards the place where the two of them were fighting.

…

Chen Ting was consumed by his desire to kill Yun Weisi.

When Yuru Town’s Gathering Souls Pearl was destroyed, Chen Ting had seemed unperturbed, but in reality he was no less furious than Situ at having been thwarted.

If he could dispose of this person here, though the future would definitely change, at least they would have rooted out one major obstacle!

Otherwise, this person would remain a huge latent danger to their plans.

Chen Ting believed that after Yun Weisi’s death, many things would be solved as easily as a bamboo shoot breaking under a knife’s edge.

With what Changming and Yun Weisi already knew of their devious scheme, there was no way Chen Ting could let them leave this place alive.

Despite going at it a hundred rounds, neither had yet gained the upper hand.

This was a battle not of spiritual powers, but of the sheer pitting of one’s martial arts skills against another’s.

Chen Ting swung his qi-shrouded sword, splitting into three shadows as he advanced in a flash towards his opponent, one coming from the front, and the others surrounded Yun Weisi from the right and left.

All three held the Guyue Sword, and slashed towards the surrounded foe!

Yun Weisi neither advanced nor retreated. Instead of meeting the enemy head-on, his instinct was first to escape the encirclement.

Right at that critical point, his body suddenly stilled, a perplexed look on his face.

That minute pause had left an opening to the enemy!

In a fight between masters, their lives were constantly in peril. Given Yun Weisi’s skills, there was no way he would make a fatal mistake like this unless—

With a grimful joy, Chen Ting swiftly grasped this opening, and his Guyue Sword turned into countless shining rays, swooping towards his enemy’s head!

He was close at hand, just an inch away!

Clang!

A sword had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, blocking his killing blow!

Not only did it stop the Guyue Sword from advancing further, but even pushed it half an inch back!

It was only half an inch, but for them, it was equal to retreating half a battlefield.

The owner of this inconspicuous pitch-black sword caught him off guard, meddling in the battle and pushing Chen Ting’s attack back.

But Changming’s current body could not be compared with his past self, and spiritual powers were inhibited in this layer of the Abyss.

Chen Ting cared not a whit about his current condition and split his sword again at once, determined to kill the meddling pair.

He leaped to the air, like a star falling in the moonlight, graceful and soft. It was one against two, but his silhouette split into three once again.

However this time, the three figures were moving independently, as if they were not of the same person.

The first one brandished his sword towards the enemies.

The second performed a seal and threw over his sword.

The last merged with his sword, becoming one.

In a split second, a myriad of red beams descended, like a curtain of murderous intent, raised a hurricane and a thunder, so powerful it could topple mountains and overturn seas!

Chen Ting was determined to win.

He had to cut Yun Weisi down with his own sword.

If Jiufang Changming overrated his own abilities and tried to stop him, he would only meet the same doom.

“Is it because I’ve been in hiding for such a long time that you’ve all forgotten that  I first became famous for my martial arts, not for my cultivation base?”

Words spoken in a deceptively gentle tone reached Chen Ting’s ear from behind, sending a chill of fear down his spine.

He wanted to turn his head, but he couldn’t.

Because Yun Weisi in front of him stopped the attack of his shadows, and the Chunzhao Sword was aimed right at one of them.

The sword was raised.

Slash!

The sword fell.

One qi creates the three clarities.

One qi creates the three highest manifestations of the Dao: hist. qi creates the three greatest deities of Daoism; as a skill: creating three phantoms

The three clarities merged into one.

A bloody wound appeared on Chen Ting’s neck.

Blood oozed out in a thin thread, the wound seemingly negligible, as if he could still be saved, but in truth, half of his neck had been sliced through.

Chen Ting was rooted where he stood, unable to move.

Another sword pierced his back.

He gasped, as if taking his last breath.

But at this moment, his whole body was suddenly covered in hairline cracks, rapidly spreading out, like spiderwebs.

In a flash, his body disintegrated with a puff, and, like so much dust and ashes, was blown away by the wind.

Leaving only the Guyue Sword to fall onto the ground with a resounding clang.

Changming’s expression froze.

“The Three Flowers Incarnation Art?!”

Daoist sects had a concept of “Three Flowers Join Point”. When a person reached a certain cultivation level, the three techniques, formed of the Human Flower, the Earth Flower and the Sky Flower, gathered in their xuanguan, stimulating a breakthrough.

Three Flowers Join Point: junction point of three qi types; here, three cultivation principles. The ‘flower’ stems from ‘glory, essence’, so it’s better to read it as ‘essence’ (another entertaining Chinese character transformation)

Human Flower: refining qi into energy. The process of refining qigong foundation by circling qi in your body 

Earth Flower: refining vital force into mentality. The process of using the mind to move the qi in your body to become stronger

Sky Flower: refining mentality to return it to the void. Returning to the void. Revealing the nature’s secrets and understanding oneself, etc, the final goal in Taoism

Xuanguan: just like dantian, a vital part of a cultivator’s body

But this Art had little relation with the Three Flowers Join Point, only borrowing the “three flowers” from its title. The Art divided the soul of a person much like separating their primordial spirit from the body; only, it was superior to the primordial spirit, because it could actually sustain a form.

Chen Ting was, contrary to expectation, still alive. It was only his incarnation which had fragmented.

But, since the incarnation had a substantial form, the other party must have spent at least half of his soul to create it.

If an incarnation died, the primordial spirit and the fraction of one’s soul used to create it would have little hope of being recovered.

Changming bent down and picked the Guyue Sword up.

It was really a good sword. There was no doubt that it deserved to be called a great spiritual weapon.

Otherwise, Chen Ting wouldn’t have been able to move about the Nine Layers of the Abyss freely.

Judging from Chen Ting’s actions, his real body was outside, and his cultivation level was considerably high.

Changming was lost in thought.

Yun Weisi said coldly: “How long are you going to stand in the snowstorm?”

Changming coughed a couple of times: “You are still Yun Weisi?”

Yun Weisi hummed in agreement, coldly and indifferently.

Changming frowned: “It is night already, why hasn’t Yun Hai appeared?”

Yun Weisi asked in reply: “You want him to appear that much?”

Changming: “On the contrary, it is fine if he never appears. After all, you are the real Yun Weisi.”

Yun Weisi was speechless.

Changming laughed: “Yun Xin’gan, you should make your expression seem more sinister if you want to impersonate him!”

Yun Hai: …

Changming was laughing so hard that the wind swept into his mouth, starting another fit of racking coughing which bent his body over.

Yun Hai stretched out his arm, pulled Changming into his embrace brusquely and with a flick of his sleeves, turned the other palm, face up.

A blinding light hovered above his hand.

If one looked closely at this seemingly scorching light, they would notice that there were thousands of swirling stars, flowing in constellations, just like a little universe of primordial times.

… 

Xu Jingxian regretted her decision for the hundredth time.

She regretted coming to this Nine Layers of the Abyss plagued by infinite dangers, a place where one could lose their life any moment.

She was originally living a comfortable and easy life at Lingbo Peak, with handsome male companions and countless maids delivering rice to her mouth and clothing to her hands, without her having to lift a finger. Her life had been so good, why the heck had she run to this place to endure all the suffering?

Although Zhou Keyi was a bit hard to please, in the event that she failed to please him, her legs would still be fast enough for her to flee with her life intact.

[On the contrary, in Heavenly City, one’s life would be less than a dog’s, and remaining alive was more difficult than ascending the heavens!]

Xu Jingxian thought woefully that this time she would surely lose her life. 

Chapter 41. Did you always love to act coquettishly like this?

This place was Shesheng Peak.

Shesheng: giving up life

The paths of cultivators are beset with obstacles, each more treacherous than the other, and only if one was willing to risk their life and disregard death hazards would they survive being sent to a field of death.

Risk their life and disregard death hazards: the first half of this idiom, ‘risk one’s life’, is the ‘shesheng’ from the peak’s name

Survive being sent to this field of death: make sure smn has no escape route, and they will fight to death, fig. to find a way out of an impasse

With snowstorms throughout the entire year, the sky over Shesheng Peak was rarely clear even for a span of a few days. Common people couldn’t endure this place at all, and even cultivators could hardly bear the sufferings day after day, year after year.

In a thousand mountains, birds no longer flew; on ten thousand paths, footprints had disappeared.

In a thousand mountains, birds no longer flew; on ten thousand paths, footprints had disappeared: from the Tang dynasty poem, “River Snow”, written by Liu Zongyuan

But Changming had brought Yun Weisi here several times.

Perversely, he liked this bitter solitude.

The more bitter it was, the more it tempered the mind and body.

The highest realm that cultivators wanted to obtain was ascension, but this didn’t only mean the soul ascension, but also the body enlightenment. For that reason, the soul and the body should have been cultivated together, at the same time.

Changming used to meditate on the peak for several hours, and oftentimes up to several days.

At first, Yun Weisi had been unable to persevere.

As a child who basked in his parents’ love, Yun Weisi had donned brocade garments and savoured delicacies. Doted on as he was, he would at times half-heartedly practise some rudimentary sword techniques, relying on his talent rather than persistence to get by.  Always fishing for three days and drying nets for two, Yun Weisi was careless and slipshod in his tasks, constantly looking for opportunities to slack off. Only after his family was torn apart and ruined did he come to his senses.

To don brocade garments and savour delicaties: life of luxury

Fishing for three days and drying nets for two: lack perseverance

Fleeing for his life over a thousand li was but an instinctive reaction in a moment of despair. Beneath the surface, Yin Weisi was still that pampered, lively and elegant young man. Rigorous though Yuhuang Temple’s cultivation methods were, Yun Weisi did endure them with gritted teeth, but the violent snowstorm on Shesheng Peak would make him feel a biting cold every time he thought of it.

Nevertheless, after Changming had left the Yuhuang Temple, Yun Weisi would often come to the peak to cultivate of his own accord, in the hopes of chancing upon his shizun.

But encounters with Changming were far and few in between, slowly dwindling into nil. When Yun Weisi realised that Changming might not appear here anymore, and that the tempestuous gale and blizzard at the peak no longer held any fear for him, so too did he lose the only excuse for cultivating at Shesheng Peak. Without the possibility of fulfilling his yearning, there was little point in coming to the peak.

That very year, Yun Weisi went to the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, and challenged their Longxiang Fozuo to a duel.

Longxiang: lit. dragon and elephant, fig. prominent Buddhist monk

Fozuo: a part of his title, I presume, close to ‘fozun’—a polite form of address

The Wanlian Buddhist Temple and the Qingyun School were called the Two Greatest Sacred Places, full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, sects with many capable people.

Hidden dragons and crouching tigers: talented individuals in hiding

Longxiang Fozuo Shengjue was known to be the strongest monk in the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, his status only inferior to the temple master.

With Yun Weisi’s martial skills and cultivation level then, it should have been next to impossible for him to emerge the victor.

When Shengjue heard that a promising young talent had come to their door asking for advice, he could only dismiss them with a laugh. Not deigning to receive Yun Weisi in person, he merely waved a few disciples forward to “greet” the guest.

But those people were utterly defeated by Yun Weisi, including the most favored first disciple of Shengjue!

Curiosity finally piqued, Shengjue made a move.

He battled with Yun Weisi in the yard in front of the Buddhist Temple for three days and three nights, inflicting severe injuries on the younger man. But unexpectedly, Shengjue found himself oppressed by the other’s tenacity, and was unable to gain the upper hand. Realising that he might soon lose any advantage he had and even suffer a humiliating loss, he decided to yield and threw in the towel.

The gruelling battle had revealed Yun Weisi’s boundless prospects, fascinating Shengjue. He knew without a doubt that the youth would inevitably rank the top in Jianghu’s martial arts masters.

After leaving the Wanlian Buddhist Temple, Yun Weisi went to Shesheng Peak instead of returning to the Yuhuang Temple.

He himself couldn’t explain why he had, in his delirium, chosen to return here.

He knew in his heart that Changming would never return to the Yuhuang Temple.

But at this place, slim though his hope was, he might chance upon shizun.

Yin Weisi had traversed the world to the remotest corners, aimlessly searching, assiduously honing himself, yearning to meet a certain someone, the only one he wanted to share his troubles with.

Casting his eyes on Yun Weisi, who lay like the dead on the floor, Changming prodded him a couple of times, and, receiving no reaction, could only accept his fate and drag the unconscious disciple into the room.

There was some firewood in the house, so Changming lit a fire, opened the window to air the room, picked up some thatch grass and put it on him.

Changming began to regret driving the other Yun Weisi away: otherwise, there would have been at least one more person to work. After all, Yun Weisi wouldn’t bear to see himself freeze to death, right?

The Yun Weisi in front of his eyes was a high-spirited youth, a lot more calm than he used to be when he had just entered the temple.

Although his face had not changed much, Changming could easily notice the difference between his and Yun Weisi’s expressions.

It was gradually getting warmer inside the room, and Changming’s throat felt itchy, throwing him into a bout of coughing.

This sound made the comatose Yun Weisi twitch slightly, and he partly regained his perception.

In a daze, he opened his eyes. Before his senses had yet to be overwhelmed by the stabbing pain from his numerous wounds, a man’s silhouette appeared in the line of his sight.

“…”

Yun Weisi opened his mouth and uttered a word.

Or he thought he did.

But the word only sounded in his heart.

Shizun.

As his coughing subsided, Changming raised his eyes and met Yun Weisi’s half-open, dazed ones.

“My beloved disciple?”

Yun Weisi: … 

He thought, it is truly a dream, for Shizun would never have used that endearment on me.

But it felt good as a dream as well.

Master and disciple had not met for three years.

He heard news about his shizun from time to time, but just a word or two.

Yun Weisi only knew that the other had gotten even stronger, and he had felt a sense of crisis, spurring him into intensifying his training in order to catch up with him, lest he be left far behind.

Shizun… 

His throat was still hoarse, and utterance was difficult.

But Changming could read his lips.

He stretched his hand towards Yun Weisi’s head.

Grasping the opportunity, Yun Weisi raised his head to have it rubbed.

At Yuhuang Temple, Changming had rarely displayed affection such as this.

From the very beginning, he had been unsmiling and severe in his discipline.

But Yun Weisi knew that Shizun had always had his best interest at heart.

Perhaps he had been a little unwilling to accept Changming’s aloofness in the beginning, but Yun Weisi gradually came to understand his master’s intentions.

For one living a mundane life, the mention of “cultivation” would bring to mind a vision of an otherworldly immortal in fluttering white robes; but the harsh reality of intense battles between cultivators in Jianghu that were a hundred times more destructive than those among the commoners were something rarely witnessed by the latter.

Those who weren’t powerful enough couldn’t even stick their heads out of their sects.

Those who weren’t powerful enough could be killed for treasures.

Mutual suspicion and deceptions in the royal court were admittedly cruel, however, the defeated would at worst be forced to retire and exiled, but there was no need to be afraid of death.

But, if a cultivator were to fall in battle, even his soul would be sacrificed, and some would even suffer capture to become cultivation furnaces.

The more austere Changming was in his discipline, the higher was Yun Weisi’s chance to succeed in his cultivation.

And it was not that Shizun was unreservedly taciturn.

When he was playing go or brewing tea, Shizun often became more relaxed, and his expression was more gentle as well.

But he had never looked the way he did now. Like grass being freed from the burden of melting snow, and his smile like a breeze dispelling the gloomy night clouds, Changming’s habitual solemnity would disappear like smoke and ashes, leaving his eyes profoundly bright like the trillion of stars in the Milky Way.

His eyes… bright like… the Milky Way: smiling eyes that draw others like a magnet

The man before Yun Weisi may bear the physical appearance of his shizun, but was so different in demeanor that the latter thought he must be hallucinating.

“Did you love to act coquettishly like this at home as well?”

Hearing his shizun’s question,Yun Weisi could not help but smile.

He had been the only child in his family. Having a blind mother did not make the doting and indulgence from both parents any less. Both families, Yun and Cong, were so affluent that he could have squandered their fortune for his entire lifetime and still see no end to their wealth.

It was said that originally the two families had a marriage contract. Because of his mother’s blindness, his paternal grandparents had wanted to cancel the betrothal, leading to bad blood between the elders of both families. Even after his parents had tied the knot, the families remained in a deadlock. It was not until Yun Weisi was born that this situation changed for the better. His mother used to say that when he was a child, he had an endearing, crystal-like purity. People would take to him at sight, and there was none who did not want to give the little tot a smooch. 

Rumors had it that even the emperor had arranged a marriage between Yun Weisi and a princess. What reason would still justify the elders’ call for war? 

Undivided in their love for Yun Weisi, it was inevitable that both families would reconcile.

The apple in the eyes of all, Yun Weisi was truly the pampered son who could do no wrong, whose mere existence filled the hearts of his parents and elders with contentment and complacency.

…

Semi-delirious from the severity of his wounds, Yun Weisi’s heart and mind were unguarded and his actions betrayed his true feelings.

In the past, Changming had been so impassive towards his disciples that none of them, including Yun Weisi had dared to act familiar with him.

Jiufang Changming was like a deity aloof from the masses, and people could only look up to him.

But, since it was an illusion, it mattered not.

The deity was powerful and flawless, and the man in front of him was rarely gentle, which made Yun Weisi show his affection.

Knowing that Yun Weisi had transferred his reverence and high regard for his parents to him, Changming had closed an eye at his occasional look of adulation, pretending ignorance.

Among his four disciples, Yun Weisi had the most talent and the strongest cultivation.

In his heart, Changming had also thought Yun Weisi to possess the softest heart.

But that gentleness was long gone. Yun Weisi had personally uprooted that worthless emotion from his heart with his bare hands.

Mayhaps, Yun Hai was borne of Yun Weisi’s unresolved obsessions.

He used to lead a luxurious life in his childhood, but it came to an end abruptly, which made him feel resentful towards things he couldn’t obtain.

Yun Weisi thought that he had cut it off, but in fact, while the lotus roots may have been broken, its skin remained intact.

The lotus roots may have been broken, its skin remained intact: a relationship that is apparently severed, actually still remains

He fell asleep, using Changming’s hand as a pillow.

When he woke up, so did he wake from his warm dream.

Though his cheek was still warm from the previous contact, Yun Weisi found himself all alone.

The young man, once surrounded by love and indulgence, was destined to spend half of his life alone in a blizzard.

After he had fallen asleep, Changming had not retracted  his hand immediately.

Only when the sky had darkened did Changming remember something and abruptly raise his head.

The present-day Yun Weisi had not returned after he had left, even though half a day had passed.

Even if Yun Weisi had wanted to avoid arousing suspicion and not let his past self see him when he wakened from his unconscious state, there was hardly a need to hide so far away.

The floor slightly trembled, as if something was shaking the peak.

Changming looked at Yun Weisi by his side.

The latter had not returned to his senses. His dream was as deep as his wound was severe.

The sound came from a great distance, but Changming knew intuitively that it was connected with Yun Weisi.

He got up and left silently. Wind and snow greeted him outside, and he closed the doors tightly, rushing towards the noise.

Shesheng Peak was high.

It wasn’t a solitary mountain peak, but a part of the Zhongfa Mountain Range which was long and broad, and lying adjacent to the Sacred Mountain Wan. The peak and the sacred mountain, one located in the west, and the other in the east, were poles apart from each other.

Changming was heading east, crossing more than a hundred li in the direction of a certain peak. The closer he got, the louder the rumbling.

Two people were fighting in the snowstorm.

One was Yun Weisi.

And the other—

Changming concentrated his spiritual senses. Unexpectedly, the other was Chen Ting!

This fellow was truly like a ghost, haunting them from Yuru Town all the way here.

The qi of their swords formed a stormy whirl.

But the quakes were not coming from it.

But from a place not far away.

Chen Ting’s background was indeed suspicious, but he came from the future as well, so his spiritual powers were limited too. For the time being, he shouldn’t be able to defeat Yun Weisi.

Changming cast another glance at them, and went past them, searching for the source of the quakes and jolts.

Boom.

Boom.

Over and over again.

It wasn’t something shaking the mountains and the earth surface, but rather, it was coming from under the ground.

What could be there?

Changming stopped and leaned to the ground to listen.

Shortly after, he ascended the mountain.

These mountains were mostly covered with ice and snow, and the higher he climbed, the thicker the snow got.

Before the old snow could melt, the new would fall onto the ground, layer upon a layer, for months and years. It was hard to even find a place to land one’s feet.

But Changming’s steps were light to the point that he seemed as weightless as a feather, and he could tread on the snow, walking with dainty steps and raising no dust.

Halfway up the mountain, everything he could see was a white flurry.

Changming stopped. Looking at the identical mountain boulders covered with snow, he suddenly swept out a sleeve.

A cutting wind came from his palm, smashing an array of rocks to smithereens and revealing the mouth of a cave.

He bent down and walked inside.

Within, it was so pitch-dark one could not even see their fingers, but Changming discerned a path leading downwards, resembling a crooked staircase carved out by hands.

The lower he descended, the hotter the air became.

Burning hot beams of light were glowing vaguely in the depth.

Changming sensed something being confined there.

Not a human, but a beast.

And, presumably, not an ordinary beast either.

Bending down on a knee, he felt about the ground.

Coming into contact with something, an icy sensation pervaded his hand, and he identified it quickly.

It was an iron chain.

This iron chain was very long, winding down from the place where he found it to the depths of the cave, presumably firmly locking the roaring beast under the ground.

An Eternally Freezing Chain could not be broken by a common cultivator easily.

Boom…

The locked creature was still roaring, but the noise was getting weaker.

It may not die soon, but confined as it was below in the depths of the earth, unable to see the light of the day, the spiritual powers of its cultivation base would slowly be absorbed by this Eternal Frost, leaving it only the strength to breathe.

It was truly a situation where one sought life but could not obtain it, sought death but could not be granted it.

The dragon of the Penglai Lake that was trapped in the Yellow Springs was shackled with an Eternally Freezing Chains as well.

So what was the creature trapped under the ground here?

He silently touched the iron chain in the dark, and felt as if he could make a vague guess.

But these guesses needed time to be checked out.

Until he left the Nine Layers of the Abyss and returned to his world, everything would remain a mystery.

Since undoing the shackles was beyond his ability, there was no point wasting time in this place. Changming lingered for a moment, and then returned to the surface the same way out.

The dim light of night appeared in front of him, and Changming’s heart sank.

He had actually forgotten!

The arrival of night was Yun Weisi’s Archilles’ heel!

Even though Chen Ting had no spiritual power, he could fight to a draw with Yun Weisi relying only on his martial arts and the Guyue Sword. Coupled with his mysterious past and the fact that he was an insider privy to a lot of inside information, who knew what other tricks he had up his sleeves.

Thinking about this, Changming headed swiftly towards the place where the two of them were fighting.

…

Chen Ting was consumed by his desire to kill Yun Weisi.

When Yuru Town’s Gathering Souls Pearl was destroyed, Chen Ting had seemed unperturbed, but in reality he was no less furious than Situ at having been thwarted.

If he could dispose of this person here, though the future would definitely change, at least they would have rooted out one major obstacle!

Otherwise, this person would remain a huge latent danger to their plans.

Chen Ting believed that after Yun Weisi’s death, many things would be solved as easily as a bamboo shoot breaking under a knife’s edge.

With what Changming and Yun Weisi already knew of their devious scheme, there was no way Chen Ting could let them leave this place alive.

Despite going at it a hundred rounds, neither had yet gained the upper hand.

This was a battle not of spiritual powers, but of the sheer pitting of one’s martial arts skills against another’s.

Chen Ting swung his qi-shrouded sword, splitting into three shadows as he advanced in a flash towards his opponent, one coming from the front, and the others surrounded Yun Weisi from the right and left.

All three held the Guyue Sword, and slashed towards the surrounded foe!

Yun Weisi neither advanced nor retreated. Instead of meeting the enemy head-on, his instinct was first to escape the encirclement.

Right at that critical point, his body suddenly stilled, a perplexed look on his face.

That minute pause had left an opening to the enemy!

In a fight between masters, their lives were constantly in peril. Given Yun Weisi’s skills, there was no way he would make a fatal mistake like this unless—

With a grimful joy, Chen Ting swiftly grasped this opening, and his Guyue Sword turned into countless shining rays, swooping towards his enemy’s head!

He was close at hand, just an inch away!

Clang!

A sword had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, blocking his killing blow!

Not only did it stop the Guyue Sword from advancing further, but even pushed it half an inch back!

It was only half an inch, but for them, it was equal to retreating half a battlefield.

The owner of this inconspicuous pitch-black sword caught him off guard, meddling in the battle and pushing Chen Ting’s attack back.

But Changming’s current body could not be compared with his past self, and spiritual powers were inhibited in this layer of the Abyss.

Chen Ting cared not a whit about his current condition and split his sword again at once, determined to kill the meddling pair.

He leaped to the air, like a star falling in the moonlight, graceful and soft. It was one against two, but his silhouette split into three once again.

However this time, the three figures were moving independently, as if they were not of the same person.

The first one brandished his sword towards the enemies.

The second performed a seal and threw over his sword.

The last merged with his sword, becoming one.

In a split second, a myriad of red beams descended, like a curtain of murderous intent, raised a hurricane and a thunder, so powerful it could topple mountains and overturn seas!

Chen Ting was determined to win.

He had to cut Yun Weisi down with his own sword.

If Jiufang Changming overrated his own abilities and tried to stop him, he would only meet the same doom.

“Is it because I’ve been in hiding for such a long time that you’ve all forgotten that  I first became famous for my martial arts, not for my cultivation base?”

Words spoken in a deceptively gentle tone reached Chen Ting’s ear from behind, sending a chill of fear down his spine.

He wanted to turn his head, but he couldn’t.

Because Yun Weisi in front of him stopped the attack of his shadows, and the Chunzhao Sword was aimed right at one of them.

The sword was raised.

Slash!

The sword fell.

One qi creates the three clarities.

One qi creates the three highest manifestations of the Dao: hist. qi creates the three greatest deities of Daoism; as a skill: creating three phantoms

The three clarities merged into one.

A bloody wound appeared on Chen Ting’s neck.

Blood oozed out in a thin thread, the wound seemingly negligible, as if he could still be saved, but in truth, half of his neck had been sliced through.

Chen Ting was rooted where he stood, unable to move.

Another sword pierced his back.

He gasped, as if taking his last breath.

But at this moment, his whole body was suddenly covered in hairline cracks, rapidly spreading out, like spiderwebs.

In a flash, his body disintegrated with a puff, and, like so much dust and ashes, was blown away by the wind.

Leaving only the Guyue Sword to fall onto the ground with a resounding clang.

Changming’s expression froze.

“The Three Flowers Incarnation Art?!”

Daoist sects had a concept of “Three Flowers Join Point”. When a person reached a certain cultivation level, the three techniques, formed of the Human Flower, the Earth Flower and the Sky Flower, gathered in their xuanguan, stimulating a breakthrough.

Three Flowers Join Point: junction point of three qi types; here, three cultivation principles. The ‘flower’ stems from ‘glory, essence’, so it’s better to read it as ‘essence’ (another entertaining Chinese character transformation)

Human Flower: refining qi into energy. The process of refining qigong foundation by circling qi in your body 

Earth Flower: refining vital force into mentality. The process of using the mind to move the qi in your body to become stronger

Sky Flower: refining mentality to return it to the void. Returning to the void. Revealing the nature’s secrets and understanding oneself, etc, the final goal in Taoism

Xuanguan: just like dantian, a vital part of a cultivator’s body

But this Art had little relation with the Three Flowers Join Point, only borrowing the “three flowers” from its title. The Art divided the soul of a person much like separating their primordial spirit from the body; only, it was superior to the primordial spirit, because it could actually sustain a form.

Chen Ting was, contrary to expectation, still alive. It was only his incarnation which had fragmented.

But, since the incarnation had a substantial form, the other party must have spent at least half of his soul to create it.

If an incarnation died, the primordial spirit and the fraction of one’s soul used to create it would have little hope of being recovered.

Changming bent down and picked the Guyue Sword up.

It was really a good sword. There was no doubt that it deserved to be called a great spiritual weapon.

Otherwise, Chen Ting wouldn’t have been able to move about the Nine Layers of the Abyss freely.

Judging from Chen Ting’s actions, his real body was outside, and his cultivation level was considerably high.

Changming was lost in thought.

Yun Weisi said coldly: “How long are you going to stand in the snowstorm?”

Changming coughed a couple of times: “You are still Yun Weisi?”

Yun Weisi hummed in agreement, coldly and indifferently.

Changming frowned: “It is night already, why hasn’t Yun Hai appeared?”

Yun Weisi asked in reply: “You want him to appear that much?”

Changming: “On the contrary, it is fine if he never appears. After all, you are the real Yun Weisi.”

Yun Weisi was speechless.

Changming laughed: “Yun Xin’gan, you should make your expression seem more sinister if you want to impersonate him!”

Yun Hai: …

Changming was laughing so hard that the wind swept into his mouth, starting another fit of racking coughing which bent his body over.

Yun Hai stretched out his arm, pulled Changming into his embrace brusquely and with a flick of his sleeves, turned the other palm, face up.

A blinding light hovered above his hand.

If one looked closely at this seemingly scorching light, they would notice that there were thousands of swirling stars, flowing in constellations, just like a little universe of primordial times.

… 

Xu Jingxian regretted her decision for the hundredth time.

She regretted coming to this Nine Layers of the Abyss plagued by infinite dangers, a place where one could lose their life any moment.

She was originally living a comfortable and easy life at Lingbo Peak, with handsome male companions and countless maids delivering rice to her mouth and clothing to her hands, without her having to lift a finger. Her life had been so good, why the heck had she run to this place to endure all the suffering?

Although Zhou Keyi was a bit hard to please, in the event that she failed to please him, her legs would still be fast enough for her to flee with her life intact.

[On the contrary, in Heavenly City, one’s life would be less than a dog’s, and remaining alive was more difficult than ascending the heavens!]

Xu Jingxian thought woefully that this time she would surely lose her life.