“I assume that you know about Xunzi of the One Hundred Saints?” Shen Lian spoke casually.
“You are knowledgeable indeed, please continue,” the scholar smiled and replied.
“Xunzi was the successor to the founder of Confucianism, Fuzi. In one of his work, he mentioned something like this. Fuzi visited the Tai Temple and saw an apparatus that tilted easily. He asked the guardian of the temple, “What is this?”This is an apparatus used by those who are tardy to warn themselves,” the guardian replied. “I heard that this instrument is tilted when it is empty, and it will straighten itself when it is half full. Though, when it is full, it will overturn and spill,” Fuzi replied. “Fill it up with water,” Fuzi instructed his disciple. His disciple brought water and started filling it. Indeed, the apparatus straightened itself when it was half full, and it overturned and emptied itself when it was full. When it was empty, it returned to its original tilted position. “Sigh, how could something not spill when it is full?” Fuzi sighed.
After saying his last sentence, Shen Lian sighed lightly. How could there be something that did not spill when it was full. It was only natural for something to weaken after getting to its strongest point, and a full moon was always followed by a new moon. Dan Dao searched for completeness, and that was against the natural way of things, which was why it was so difficult to attain.
“Very accurate, the Saints were able to convey great messages in short sentences. There are lessons in every story. The masses are stupid, and they pray to the deities. Little did they know that God resides within one’s heart and within reasons,” the scholar smiled as he replied.
Shen Lian remained silent. He did not agree and did not object.
“If I were amongst the masses, I would pray to the deities too,” Shen Lian spoke after a long time.
The scholar was shocked into silence. The masses were stupid, which was why they chose to rely on religions. In the secular mortal world, there were not a lot of those who had hearts of Dao and chose to pursue Dao.
“You can have the apparatus,” the scholar spoke at last.
After getting the apparatus and having nothing to say, Shen Lian did not have any reason to stay. Moreover, he heard Qianmo calling out to him. It seemed that Qianmo got caught up in something.
Shen Lian was unsure of what had happened to this mysterious demonic bird, as they did not share a telepathic bond. The middle-age scholar did not seem to be equipped with Mana, and Shen Lian did not want to draw attention to him. After exchanging words of courtesies with him, Shen Lian stepped out of the shop. They were strangers, to begin with, and they met because of fate and parted ways for the same reason. He should not bother himself with it.
After Shen Lian was out of sight, the scholar sat at the table at the corner of the bookshop. There was a pot of tea on the table. A greenish ghost fire ignited next to the pot, but it was not burning the wooden table. It enveloped the teapot. After a while, white gas seeped out from the teapot as though it was boiling.
The scholar raised the teapot and poured himself a cup. The tea was cold as if it was boiled with ice and snow. The scholar poured it down his throat and seemed to be satisfied with the tea. “Only the spirit fire could retain the original flavor of the Xueya Tea,” he sighed.
The flame fell onto the floor, and a person appeared in the empty room.
He wore black robes and his eyes were filled with green flames. His face looked green and it was very frightening.
This was the green face man that Shen Lian had met back at the Chui Ping Mountain. This person had tried to hurt Shen Lian with the spirit fire. However, Shen Lian was unaffected by the spirit fire, as he had training from the River of Spirits.
The green face man respectfully asked, “Master, why did you let him go just like that?”
The scholar put down his teacup gently, and he seemed to still be lingering in the satisfaction he felt from tasting the Xueya Tea. “He received recognition from the sword will of Grandmaster Yuan Qing, and the Free Form Incarnation is connected to Grandmaster Yuan Qing. In fact, they could even be considered as the same branch. If I were to do something now, there will definitely be a huge commotion that attracts Ziling Uncle-Master,” he replied slowly.
“Isn’t there any other way to control Shen Lian with your capabilities? If Ziling Zhenren keep trailing behind you so closely and you still cannot find a way to break through the Taixu Strategy, it would be hard for you to manage the last step of your Free Form Incarnation. Ziling Zhenren will destroy everything,” the green face man said.
“Xiao Qinger, you have been with me for two hundred years now. You have never been so chatty. Bear in mind that you are only with me for so long because you always keep to yourself,” the scholar smiled.
His smiley expression was especially terrifying in the eyes of the green face man. He recalled that even though the Master had been nourishing Noble Qi in order to overcome the demonic thoughts created by the Free Form Incarnation, but the Master’s unpredictable mood change would never change.
He knew that he said something wrong and kowtowed profusely.
The Free Form Incarnation cultivated by the scholar was a supreme demonic technique in every sense. The reason why it was considered as demonic was because of its drastic difference from authentic Xuanmen.
The demonic technique sought to cultivate the distracting thoughts in the human heart into sky demon. Through some form of medium, the user could invade into another person’s heart without that person knowing. Eventually, the user could take over the person’s body and turned it into his clone.
The cultivation of Dao focused on the purity of the cultivator’s heart. The more complicated the thoughts were, the more difficult it was to see one’s true nature during the Absurd State. Despite the ingenuity of this technique, it was hard to break through the Absurd State.
All sorts of whims would be magnified by the Free Form Incarnation, and to cut off the whims would be suicide.
Moreover, the more complicated the thoughts were, the harder it was to unveil one’s true nature. Even if one intended to break through the Absurd State, it would be hard to discern the beginning and the end, and one might not even find oneself. This was why it was impossible to see one’s heart and temperament.
Those who cultivated this technique either died of old age or went insane due to their inability to shoulder the exchanges of different temperaments, and ended up killing themselves and others.
As it was hard to predict the user’s temperament, it would not be surprising for the user to do something out of one’s expectation.
When he chose to cultivate the “Free Form Incarnation”, it was destined that Qing Xuan would face a great trial.
He was talented and was able to cultivate the technique up till he was about to break through the Absurd State before he got found out by his fellow sect members. Under the influence of the demonic characteristics, he had cultivated a variety of evil occult techniques. He even made some of his talented fellow sect members and teacher-elder as his clones, and the end result was a massive battle amongst the sect members. Qing Xuan should have been at its pinnacle, and this tragedy changed everything.
There were less than three immortal Zhenren who remained at this side of the world. One of them was out sightseeing, and another was trapped in a treacherous location. The last person was undergoing a Trial of Dao and was unable to get out of it. Ziling Fairy was caught in a death battle with her enemy and was killed in the process. The root of her body was injured and she had no choice but to be reincarnated.
If it was not for Zhang Ruoxu’s impressive decision-making of suppressing the scholar and getting rid of the sect members who were infected, Qing Xuan probably would have met its end back then.
For that, Zhang Ruoxu suffered irreversible damage and had no choice but to remain at Qing Xuan hall. He kept his injuries under control by relying on the Qi dynamic in the mountain.
“Rise now,” the scholar spoke softly to the green face man. His voice was soft and gentle, and there was no hint of anger in it.
The green face man was frightened, but he did not dare to not comply with the Master’s instruction.
Even though the Master had not made many moves in the past few years, but his supernatural power was getting more and more unpredictable. Moreover, he managed to discover the hint of nobleness and had used it to keep the evil thoughts within him under control. The disadvantages of Free Form Incarnation were overcome by him, and the next step would be obtaining the Sky Demon Body. Then, he would truly be immortal.
“In order to avoid troubles, I have not kept many people around me all these years. So, I will not do anything to you. Moreover, you knew about my secrets, and I have never been this trusting with anyone else. I wouldn’t do anything to you,” the scholar spoke.
The green face man heard and almost kneeled down again.
Shen Lian did not know that the scholar who looked so refined was a demon in every sense of the word, and had almost turned Shen Lian into one of his clones.
It started snowing again, and the snowflakes fell into the lake.
The lake was covered with a layer of ice.
The lone dot in the sky was Qianmo. As she flew downwards, she was struck by a green ray. After a few exchanges, Qianmo flew back into the sky. Xiaoxun was lying on the layer of ice. There were some bloodstains around, and a young girl stood there.
The young girl was bald. Without her hair, a girl would be less beautiful. Yet, the young girl was beautiful enough to charm most men.
She was healing patiently and was gesturing Dao formula with her hand. A holy white ray appeared, and it was purer than the white snow.
The one who gave off the green ray was her companion, whom Shen Lian still recognized.
The green ray was a flying sword that moved with the speed of lightning. There was a strong spiritual force of wooden fire on it, and the force was never-ending. Any snow that came near the green ray would turn into mist.
Qianmo’s body appeared in the mist now and then, and yet it could not break through the barricade of the green ray.
The one who controlled the flying sword was a young Daoist dressed in green Daoist robe. His sword gleam was green in color, and his name was Song Qingyi.
Shen Lian roared and shook his surroundings. Qianmo immediately flew over after hearing it. It stood firmly on Shen Lian’s shoulder.
Song Qingyi saw Shen Lian and exclaimed in joy, “Ah, Shen Lian, why are you here!”
Shen Lian consoled Qianmo with his divine thoughts.
Shen Lian came to Song Qingyi and asked in confusion, “Qingyi fellow Daoist, why are you here in Yue Tuo Kingdom? Why were you fighting with my spiritual beast?”
“Ah, so this bird is your spiritual beast. Earlier, this bird and other demonic bird were trying to steal Qixiu Junior Apprentice-Sister’s Qingling Elixir, and they were caught by me. This bird was quick, but the other bird was slower and was hurt by my sword aura. Qixiu Junior Apprentice-Sister is kind and could not bear to see this little demonic bird die. She was healing it when this ungrateful bird came attacking my Qixiu Junior Apprentice-Sister. Of course, I could not just stand and watch and started battling the bird. Even though this bird does not have a lot of spiritual force, but its speed is truly remarkable. After battling me for a few rounds, I still did not manage to touch even its feathers,” Song Qingyi said as he pointed at Qianmo.
As though Qianmo could understand what Song Qingyi was saying, it whined in dissatisfaction.
Song Qingyi glared at it immediately, and both he and the bird were in disagreement still. It was as though they wanted to engage in battle again.
Shen Lian noticed Song Qingyi’s Mana and that he had improved significantly from before. He could not help but to be in awed of Xuantian sect’s Dao techniques, which was ingenious and offered speedy improvements.
