Chapter 35
Xi Guxing put down his cup and walked over to Shen Guorong, who was standing there dumbfounded like a wooden chicken. He mimicked the earlier motion of grabbing him by the back collar, then exaggeratedly moved his arm without budging: “Tsk, he really is heavy. Can’t lift him at all.”
Shen Guorong: “…”
He didn’t know if there was a beast called “dog” in the cultivation world, but Shen Guorong privately felt that Sect Leader Xi was very suited to that word.
Lou Bugui took it seriously though. He hurriedly picked up Shen Guorong and bounced him a few times, eyes wide, saying: “I can carry him.”
Shen Guorong: “…”
Mu Zhe nearly burst out laughing on the side.
Shen Guorong was on the verge of collapse: “Second Senior Sister!”
Su Xiyan was laughing so hard he could barely contain himself. He cleared his throat and rescued Shen Guorong from Lou Bugui’s hands, saying: “Your disciple’s cultivation is too low, his spiritual power can’t support your transformation. Let’s try some other methods.”
Mu Zhe lowered his head to the side.
Shen Guorong glanced over, stood on his tiptoes to pat Mu Zhe’s head, and said softly: “My disciple is still young. He’s already very impressive now.”
Mu Zhe’s fingers trembled.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but his master seemed completely defenseless against children’s fragile feelings when they were hurt. As long as he showed even a hint of grievance, Shen Guorong would seem afraid he’d been wounded and would try every way to gently comfort him.
Mu Zhe pressed his lips together. Having experienced so much at such a young age, his mind had matured early, and a few words couldn’t easily hurt him. But the feeling of being coaxed by Shen Guorong was too wonderful – he greedily wanted more of it.
Even more.
If he could monopolize all of Shen Guorong’s attention and tenderness, have it all to himself alone…
Shen Guorong didn’t notice the turbulent emotions in his little disciple’s heart. Seeing that Mu Zhe’s expression had improved, and that there was nothing more for him to do, he sent Mu Zhe back first and continued pestering Su Xiyan to think of solutions for him.
Su Xiyan tried several more methods in succession, thoroughly tormenting Shen Guorong, but still without much success.
Shen Guorong lay sprawled on the table, gasping for breath and saying listlessly: “Senior Sister, shall we call it a day?”
Su Xiyan had been considering using silver needles to pierce Shen Guorong’s spiritual meridians. Hearing this, he asked puzzledly: “Don’t you want to change back soon?”
Seeing that palm-length silver needle, Shen Guorong’s face went pale, and he stammered: “Let’s… let’s forget about it.”
Su Xiyan said gently: “Let’s try one last method.”
Shen Guorong shuddered, but for the sake of returning to his original form, he steeled his heart and extended his lotus root-like little arm.
Then he took a solid needle prick.
Su Xiyan finally concluded: “Oh, it’s useless.”
Shen Guorong covered the bright red needle mark on his arm, desperately holding back the tears in his eyes, nearly crying.
Lou Bugui crouched beside him bandaging the wound, frowning and hesitantly glancing at Xi Guxing before saying quietly: “Maybe we should still go find Fifth Senior Brother.”
Xi Guxing had been leisurely drinking tea and watching the show from the side. Hearing this, he put down his cup and once again refused: “I already said no.”
Lou Bugui spoke without much confidence, timidly saying: “But now only Fifth Senior Brother can help him refine the phoenix spiritual power.”
Xi Guxing still said: “No.”
The two began arguing again.
Su Xiyan suddenly said: “I think it’s possible.”
Xi Guxing immediately stood up, frowning: “Senior Sister!”
Su Xiyan pinched Shen Guorong’s chubby little cheek, smiled, and said: “Fifth Junior Brother isn’t so unreasonable, and I went to look at Wind and Rain Pool yesterday – he’s already awakened.”
Shen Guorong was still afraid of that dragon, but aside from Xi Guxing and Lou Bugui, these two unreliable ones, with Su Xiyan presiding, he felt perhaps they could give it a try.
He tugged at Su Xiyan’s sleeve and asked: “Senior Sister, does Fifth Senior Brother listen to you?”
Su Xiyan laughed: “In this world, he only listens to Master.”
Shen Guorong looked as if his parents had died.
“But Master loves you most.” Su Xiyan consoled him. “Master’s affection for Shiyi exceeds even all of us senior brothers combined. Jiu Xiao has long known this, so no matter how unwilling he is, he won’t make a move against you.”
Shen Guorong was still somewhat hesitant.
Xi Guxing added fuel to the fire from the side: “Right, he won’t make a move – he’ll just treat you like a toy to play with.”
Shen Guorong: “…”
Shen Guorong began shaking his head desperately.
Su Xiyan glanced at Xi Guxing: “Don’t scare him. Jiu Xiao isn’t that unreasonable.”
Xi Guxing snorted disdainfully.
In the end, Shen Guorong still didn’t dare, and Su Xiyan didn’t force him. He took his hand and escorted him back to Fanjiang Residence.
Wen Liubing, who had been down the mountain for two days, had been waiting at Fanjiang Residence for quite some time. Seeing him return, he immediately came forward, his expression somewhat solemn.
“Master.”
Shen Guorong saw Su Xiyan off, then turned around and said: “What did you go down the mountain to do?”
“I’ve had someone decipher the characters on that water ghost’s boat pole bamboo slip from a few days ago.”
“Oh?” Shen Guorong walked into the room on his short little legs, raising an eyebrow: “What did it say?”
Wen Liubing said seriously: “It has the name ‘Yu Xinghe’ on it.”
Shen Guorong stopped in his tracks.
Year twenty-three of Yongping, Yu Xinghe entered the Burial Ground.
Shen Guorong’s pupils contracted sharply as he snapped back to attention: “Are you certain there’s no mistake?”
Wen Liubing nodded. He never made any errors on important matters – if he said these were the characters, then these were the characters.
Shen Guorong took the bamboo slip, his fingertip gently tracing over those mottled characters, finally stopping on the three characters “Yu Xinghe” as he read aloud: “Yu Xinghe…”
Wen Liubing crouched down, grasping Shen Guorong’s finger and gently moving it to the three characters above, saying: “Master, ‘Yu Xinghe’ are these three characters. Demon clan characters are read in reverse order from ours.”
Shen Guorong: “…”
Having his pretense at profundity mercilessly exposed, Shen Guorong flew into an embarrassed rage and kicked Wen Liubing away: “Go crouch over there.”
What an obtuse blockhead.
He propped himself up with his arms and struggled to climb onto the chair to sit, lowering his gaze to stare at the bamboo slip, lost in thought.
Because his thoughts were too chaotic, he tried to look at the parts he didn’t understand separately.
First, what made him most suspicious was why the water ghost would be guided by demon cultivators from the Burial Ground to travel thousands of miles from Dongting to Li Ren Peak.
Next was why this bamboo slip, transformed from a boat pole, would clearly record events from ten years in the future.
In the book, Yu Xinghe would indeed, ten years later in the twenty-third year of Yongping, break into the Burial Ground without permission, release the demon cultivators imprisoned there, betray Li Ren Peak, and fall into the demonic path.
And all the people, time, and events on this bamboo slip matched perfectly.
After connecting everything, Shen Guorong suddenly felt chilled to the bone.
Did this mean that bamboo slip was actually the fourth divine artifact that all three realms had been searching for?
But did this divine artifact exist originally, or was it brought in by Shen Guorong from outside the book? After all, this bamboo slip never appeared in the book.
Shen Guorong’s previously unshakeable conviction began to waver again: did Huitang City actually exist? And did Shen Fengxue have any relation to him at all?
Xi Guxing’s Nine Provinces Map wouldn’t lie, and that elder didn’t seem to be deceiving him either. During that battle with the water ghost, Shen Fengxue’s soul was genuinely present.
Shen Guorong’s head ached terribly. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t find a completely reasonable explanation.
Wen Liubing had originally been punished to crouch on the side, but seeing Shen Guorong’s frown growing deeper and deeper, he took the initiative to share his master’s worries by standing up: “Master, you…”
Shen Guorong, suddenly interrupted from his thoughts, glared at him: “Did I tell you to get up?”
Wen Liubing had to crouch back down.
Shen Guorong said: “Speak.”
Wen Liubing said: “You look very troubled. Is there anything this disciple can do to share your worries?”
Shen Guorong looked at this disciple, whose mind seemed to contain nothing but killing, with puzzlement: “What worries could you share for me?”
“Kill Yu Xinghe for you.” Wen Liubing said matter-of-factly: “This disciple is very good at killing people.”
Shen Guorong: “…”
Don’t say such terrifying things with such a serious expression!
Shen Guorong stared at the utterly earnest Wen Liubing for a long while before saying airily: “Does Li Ren Peak have any disciple rules?”
Wen Liubing shook his head: “No, there’s only one rule: ‘Harmony above all.’”
Shen Guorong said: “Very good. Go back and copy ‘Harmony above all’ a thousand times. Hand it to me first thing tomorrow morning.”
Wen Liubing: “…”
Having satisfied his craving for punishing someone with copying, Shen Guorong pondered for a while longer before beginning to probe Wen Liubing for information.
“Do you know when Master came to Li Ren Peak?”
Wen Liubing never questioned any of his master’s words, no matter how strange the question. He thought seriously and said: “About one hundred and nineteen years ago.”
“One hundred and nineteen?”
“Yes.” Wen Liubing said: “I once overheard the senior uncles and elders saying that Master was rescued from the jaws of fire spirit beasts in Youzhou when he was five years old. At that time, the Sect Leader was traveling with Grandmaster and brought you back to Li Ren Peak.”
Most of Shen Guorong’s doubts dissipated, but he still pressed: “Which city in Youzhou?”
Wen Liubing: “Youzhou is a vast wasteland with countless uncivilized spirit beasts. The entire province has only one city, called Youzhou City.”
Only then did Shen Guorong completely relax, feeling that he had indeed been overly suspicious.
Having resolved this issue, he began considering the most important current matter.
This bamboo slip recorded Yu Xinghe’s fall to demonism ten years later. Did this mean he would have to stay in this book for ten years, ensuring that Yu Xinghe wouldn’t turn demonic and Mu Zhe wouldn’t be severely injured, before he could leave?
Ten years.
Shen Guorong nearly collapsed, and his desire to return home grew even stronger.
Seeing Shen Guorong almost pulling at his hair, Wen Liubing hesitantly asked: “Is Master troubled by the characters on that bamboo slip?”
Shen Guorong was afraid his eldest disciple might again have thoughts of killing Yu Xinghe, so he casually waved his hand without answering.
“There’s a sandalwood scent.” Wen Liubing held the bamboo slip to his nose and sniffed: “Buddhist cultivators in the three realms can understand past and present and calculate heavenly fate. That bamboo slip was probably concocted by a Buddhist cultivator.”
Shen Guorong was startled: “Buddhist cultivators… have such great abilities?”
Wen Liubing said: “It’s actually not that remarkable. This kind of advance knowledge of heavenly fate goes against the Heavenly Way. If disclosed without authorization, it would bring divine punishment, so very few Buddhist cultivators would voluntarily take on such matters.”
“Then why do they cultivate Buddhism?”
“They can calculate cause and effect.”
Only then did Shen Guorong realize the issue had gone off track, but the tangled threads in his mind finally began to straighten out.
The bamboo slip was not a divine artifact;
And Shen Fengxue had no relation to him either – he was just a poor soul randomly pulled into the book.
With this thought, he reached out gratefully to pat Wen Liubing’s forehead.
Wen Liubing felt no shame and even deliberately leaned forward to let his master pat him.
Shen Guorong said lovingly: “Thanks to San Shui, that thousand times of copying…”
San Shui looked expectant.
Shen Guorong: “Let’s reduce it to nine hundred times.”
Wen Liubing: “…”
Wen Liubing dejectedly went back.
After leaving Fanjiang Residence, Wen Liubing happened to see Mu Zhe outside, hesitating about whether to bring candy to his master. He raised an eyebrow slightly: “Hey, you.”
That “you” Mu respectfully bowed upon seeing Wen Liubing: “Eldest Senior Brother.”
Wen Liubing ordered him: “Go back and copy ‘Harmony above all’ four hundred and fifty times and give it to me.”
Mu Zhe: “…”
Mu Zhe looked completely bewildered.
Wen Liubing said: “Master’s orders.”
Only then did Mu Zhe nod: “Yes.”
Wen Liubing strode away to find Yu Xinghe.