It was raining heavily by the time Shen Lian was done with his training.
The rain was like a musical score, and different people would hear the rhythm differently.
Not only did Shen Lian hear the rain, but he also heard Lu Shouyi’s breathing. His breathing was like the wind that fluttered the curtains. There was no need to guess, Lu entered a state of stillness.
Given that Shen Lian got his bird-eye view, he understood the reason that led to it quickly. As Lu Shouyi was at his worst in terms of mental and physical state, he reached his limit. There was a saying, ‘When your body is weak, Qi will then circulate. When your heart is dead, your psyche is then activated’. The remaining Qi in Lu Shouyi’s body circulated when he went for a rest last night. Rambling thoughts did not arise due to the fact that he was mentally exhausted. Hence, his psyche was activated. That could work as long as Lu Shouyi rid off his obstinate mindset.
The result of cultivation was, in fact, an unpredictable one. One could or could not have simply gotten it by with only wishing, and sometimes, one would have gotten it without intending to.
Shen Lian shook his head and laughed. He got out of the lower house and went in the rain. The sky was grey and there was a bamboo forest nearby. He intended to pay a visit to Taiwei Pavilion but because of the train, he felt like enjoying the sight of Qingliang Hill. Hence, he walked straight into the bamboo forest.
‘Instead of listening to the sound of leaves in the beating rain, why not stroll and silently sigh?’ he thought.
Shen Lian’s melancholic sigh had caused the leaves to fall. There were still raindrops on them.
They all fell a foot away from him and then slid away as if he was covered by an incredibly smooth shield. He did not know how big or deep the bamboo forest was but still went on strolling slowly under the rain.
He wandered aimlessly as he enjoyed the scenery of this hill.
Perhaps, people did not visit often as there was not a structured path – the soil was loose and soaked with water. An average Joe would have been muddied. Shen Lian was not afraid of dirt but he would rather not be dirtied.
If it was possible to grow out of the mud unsullied, why should one blend in with the foul? He had always thought that way and followed that principle.
Out of all acupuncture points on the body, the most difficult to master were the ones at the feet. On the other hand, there was a substantial amount of it at the feet and they were extremely sensitive.
Shen Lian controlled his essential Qi which was expelled through his feet. It was much harder to do it than walking normally but he chose to use a lot of his energy and Qi to do it.
That was, however, not considered as wasteful, as he saw a piece of bare land in the middle of the bamboo forest amidst the rain. The land was clear and there was not even a drop of rain.
There was neither wind nor water on the floor – on a rainy day.
It was as if this place was out of this world, or that it was blessed by the world to not experience rain.
There were a bearded man and a table in the middle of it. He looked impressive, like one of those men who walked right out from the southern countries of Yan and Zhao.
There was wine on the table but there was no cup. The wine formed a stream from the bottle to his mouth. When he was done with a mouthful, he saw Shen Lian and laughed. “Boy, come and drink with me.” It seemed like no one liked to drink alone – unless it was because he could not find anyone. The man seemed as though he was unable to find anyone to drink with. Thus, he invited Shen Lian upon seeing his arrival.
Even if the man was a demon, he would be a demon of Qingxuan. If he was human, then he would be the senior of Shen Lian, or even more senior than that.
Qingxuan did not look like a place that was strictly guarded, but if anybody were to trespass, it was definitely not going to be easy or it was simply impossible at all.
While it was unknown if there could be some hidden restrictions in the hills, Zhang Ruoxu’s Tiandi Jian would be able to scan through the entire Mount Qing Xuan easily, without missing out on even a single bit of information. If any trespassers were detected, there was no way they could escape from the hands of the headmaster.
The land was protected by an invisible shield. Shen Lian could feel the rhythmical flow of Qi. He stepped in and yet he did not feel any resistance and brought with him some raindrops. It was as if he walked into a bubble and that this huge bubble did not pop.
The man laughed. “Good boy, your Qi is rather solid now.”
“Sir, do you know me?” Shen Lian asked.
“For two months you were drinking my wine, how could I not know who you are?” The bearded man smiled. He had really thick facial hair on his chin and cheek. With his thick build, he could scare anyone even without needing a knife.
“Are you Yan Bugui?” Shen Lian did not imagine that the boss from the small tavern in town would be on Qingliang Hill. What was his relationship with Qing Xuan? Or was he a student of Qing Xuan?
“Are you surprised?”
“No, not really. You look just like your name, a true man in Jianghu.” Shen Lian looked at Yan Bugui – his beard and his name, Shen Lian could not help but laughed.
“I am originally from Jianghu and there is nothing weird about that. Someone forced me to pursue cultivation and I couldn’t beat him. As a result, I followed him into the mountain, but who knew how boring life in the mountain could be! So I started a small business in Nanke town. There is one more thing that I want to tell you.” The bearded man looked at the direction of Shen Lian, made a few gestures in the air and pointed at something next to Shen Lian. He smiled.
Shen Lian looked down and he saw a small timber pier next to him, which worked perfectly as a stool. It looked like it grew from the ground out of thin air. He understood that it was the gestures of Yan Bugui that triggered the Qi of the world, which led to the appearance of this timber pier.
The wonders of the Dao technique always impressed Shen Lian.
“What?” Shen Lian sat down.
“The wine you were drinking was just water. I simply planted a talisman in an old well. Since then, the well water entered the mouth of men as wine.” The bearded man laughed.
“Then that is actually better. It has the taste of wine and it doesn’t harm the body. I already knew that it was fake,” Shen Lian looked at the bearded man and explained in a serious tone.
“Perfect. Let’s drink another cup.” The bearded man pointed and a stream of wine flew out and stopped in the sky. The stream formed a swirl and was swallowed by him in a mouthful.
The Qi in the world behaved as if they were his property, all at his will.
Shen Lian could not guess the seniority of the man. He got a gut feeling that he was very senior, but it was not due entirely to his cultivation experience.
“Now this is real wine. My treat,” the man finished his mouthful and spoke to Shen Lian.
Shen Lian did not use any Qi, or any special techniques to suck out the wine. If the bearded man was messing with him, it would be so embarrassing if he failed. He went straight for the bottle and poured the wine into his mouth. It was warm and smooth the moment it entered, but then it turned to flame as if it wanted to use the Qi in his body as fuel.
He activated The Mastery of Senses – the power of his spirit went around his body circulation hungrily to swallow the flame.