The villagers of Tiehe Village naturally dared not disobey Fan Zisang’s words and went away one after another.
At night, inside the log cabin.
Huang put a basket full of cooked sweet potatoes on the table, and rubbed his hands, apologizing, “Immortal, there is nothing good to eat at home, and your understanding is appreciated.”
He was ashamed, but his eyes were full of surprise. Fan Zisang told the crowd that Su Li enjoyed the appreciation of the Mount Head in the sect and that she was accepted as a disciple, which was a great thing!
Protected by his master, Su Li was able to survive in the cultivation circle, even if she could not make great achievements in the future.
Fan Zisang smiled at Huang’s words. He picked up a sweet potato with the slim hand he used to hold a sword and kill people in the past. It seemed to be discordant.
“Never mind. I have not eaten any food for mortals for many years, and I do miss it.”
Huang nodded, and Fan Zisang seemed to be much kinder than the previous two. According to his experience in the sect, Huang knew that all the courtesy was just for Su Li’s sake.
As he took a bite of the sweet potato, Fan Zisang, who was used to eating the spiritual food, frowned and turned his head to Su Li and Jin Ying, “Both of you, go practicing. Even if there are not enough nimbus in the secular world, you shouldn’t slack off.”
“Yes, Senior Fellow Apprentice.”
Su Li glanced at Huang and went to the back room with Jin Ying.
Huang was considerate and immediately bowed to Fan Zisang after they closed the door, “Li is indebted to the sect. No matter what you want to know, I will tell you the whole truth without reservation.”
“You’re a smart man. So, I will come directly to the topic.”
Fan Zisang changed his sitting position and looked at Huang, who was very nervous. He was still kind and smiled, “No need to be nervous. I just want to know the past of my junior sister apprentice and her real name…”
Huang realized that he could not keep the secret, so he revealed why Han Feng changed Su Li’s name and the life experience he knew about Su Li.
Fan Zisang was enlightened after hearing the stories. The name “Su Li” had been a taboo in the cultivation circle. However, he was not born at the time when the Bloody Accident happened, so he did not experience the horror at that time in person. Apart from adhering to the master’s preach of never mentioning this name, he did not have much feeling.
“Junior Fellow Apprentice Han did a good job. It would be good for the junior sister apprentice to avoid the taboo and concentrate on her practice. But her life experience is really…”
Fan Zisang seemed to understand Su Li. Whoever suffered from his own father’s torture when he was young, his mood would naturally be different from that of ordinary children, not to mention she was hurt extremely deeply.
“So, the lotus mark is just a scar.”
Fan Zisang muttered to himself. Before he entered the cultivation circle, he had no parents and wandered everywhere, but nobody had abused him. Compared to him, although his junior sister apprentice had parents when she was born but she suffered a lot afterward, so, it would be better for her to have no parents.
“Now, the junior sister apprentice would be protected by the master. The hard times are over, and the good times just begin.”
Fan Zisang, who thought he knew Su Li’s past completely, felt a sense of pity in his heart. His gaze at Huang became tender than ever.
“The cultivation circle nowadays in Jiuzhou Region is withering, and the junior sister apprentice is one of the best genii. Since she owes you a debt of gratitude, I shouldn’t be mean and stingy as her senior fellow apprentice.”
Thinking of this, he released his psychic awareness to cover Huang, and he was slightly shocked about Huang’s physical condition.
His pneuma and blood were in the best condition, unlike that of common mortals at all. On the contrary, he was about to reach Yunti Realm and only a practice method was needed.
Since Huang sensed Fan Zisang’s change, he quickly stooped down and said, “I once worked as a handyman disciple in Yuxu Sect for several years, and I was driven out of the sect due to some mistakes I made. My poor life was spared. Sorry for the embarrassment.”
“No wonder.”
Fan Zisang suddenly understood, “It seemed that you had reached the peak of Yunti Realm. When you got kicked out of the sect, your memory and cultivation were deprived. It is not easy to maintain your physical body condition.”
Huang smiled bitterly. The deprivation of his cultivation had caused great damage to his body. When he came to Tiehe Village, he could feel that his physical strength was not as good as before, even worse than those of the same age. However, during the years he had to work day by day for Su Li, his physical condition didn’t get worse, but got better and better.
Huang had wondered all the time, but he knew that it was inappropriate for him to ask Fan Zisang, which could crop up new troubles unexpectedly.
“Well, since you have the luck, I’ll give you a new cultivation method of Yunti Realm. It’s not originated from Huajian Sect but me. If you can make any achievement with this, it’s your destiny. However, you should keep in mind that this method is only for you to practice and never pass it on to others. Otherwise, you know the consequence.”
Fan Zisang was silent for a moment and suddenly said.
Hearing this, Huang got ecstatic after a slight confusion so that he knelt immediately and kowtowed, “Immortal, I, Huang Dashan, will always remember your great kindness. And I swear that I will never give the practice method to others!”
Fan Zisang smiled and nodded softly. A practice method of Yunti Realm was nothing for a person with his cultivation.
In the back room, Su Li’s psychic awareness shrouded the living room. Her eyebrows became slightly loose when she sensed this. She had planned to pass on a practice method to Huang Dashan when she came back. Unexpectedly, Fan Zisang did the work for her, which spared her a lot of trouble of explaining.
After Huang Dashan fell in sleep, Fan Zisang glanced at Su Li and Jin Ying who were sleeping deeply. Then he opened the gate of the courtyard and left the dirt-walled house.
The night was as cold as water, and the whole Tiehe Village was shrouded in silent darkness, with several occasional barks coming in.
He walked all the way straight to Tieshui River, looking at the ink-like water in the night, with a strange glint in his eyes.
“Boy, this river is peculiar as I expected!”
An old voice suddenly came out of the jade token on his neck. Suddenly hearing it, Fan Zisang was not alarmed but delighted. He immediately communicated with that voice with his psychic awareness, “Elder, you are awake.”
Two hundred years ago, he acquired the jade token and woke up the existence in it. Under the guidance of the elder, who was unwilling to tell his name, he had avoided many detours.
Some rare treasures were unknown to his master, but this elder knew them and even told him to use them to improve cultivation. He knew that this mysterious elder must be of extraordinary origin.
His motto was paying back every kindness he ever got. If he were successful in cultivation one day, he would surely find a suitable body for the elder and resurrect him.
However, in recent years, the elder had been sleeping longer and longer. He couldn’t help but worry if the elder could wait until the day when he was successful in his cultivation.
“What are you thinking about, boy? Follow my instruction and go east.”
The old and familiar voice came into his mind. Fan Zisang suddenly came back to his senses and walked towards the place he was instructed by the elder. A few moments later, Fan Zisang walked to the end of Tieshui River and looked at the bare and over-picked yellow slope above. He asked helplessly, “Elder, there is no mystery in this mountain. Are we going up?”
“Stop. The weirdness is right here. Squat down and condense the vital energy according to the spell I gave you.”
Fan Zisang did as the elder instructed. His right hand met his left hand after drawing a half-circle. A shadow in the shape of a full moon appeared on the river in front of him. Fan Zisang was surprised at this vision.
He had learned the spell for a long time, but it never happened like this.
If Su Li were here at this moment when she saw the vision, she would surely recognize that it wasn’t the shadow of the full moon but… Reincarnation Mirror!
“Sure enough, it is here as I expected!”
The old voice suddenly became excited, “Yunjing Lake, the lost Yunjing Lake, is here…”
Fan Zisang was puzzled, but the name “Yunjing Lake” was familiar to him. He seldom paid attention to the past of the cultivation circle. So, it took him quite a while before recalling the name. He was surprised.
“Elder, is this the lake into which the ancient treasure Reincarnation Mirror shattered and fell thousands of years ago? Isn’t it said that Yunjing Lake is rooted in the nothingness, being boundless, and as vast as Jiuzhou Region? How could…”
Fan Zisang looked at the ordinary river in front of him, which could be crossed easily with a hop, and he felt it so strange. No one would ever associate this river with Yunjing Lake.
“Reincarnation Mirror…” The voice of the elder stopped. It took him a long time to sign, “The past has become a mystery. Who knows what happened back then? Even the most precious ancient treasure could be broken, let alone other things. Nothing is impossible.”
Fan Zisang nodded and kept this in his mind. He had never seen the elder show his emotions. Once Reincarnation Mirror was mentioned, the elder got so excited.
In the jade token, the shadow in a grey robe raised his head, and it seemed that his gaze had gone through the jade token and saw the endless nothingness.
The location of Yunjing Lake was not easy to be changed. Right above this place was the nothingness where Reincarnation Mirror was located back in the day. Unexpectedly, an ordinary village appeared here after a thousand years, where no vitality could be found.
After all, here was the place where the most precious ancient treasure fell. Any creature here could benefit from Reincarnation Mirror, even if they just got a hint of luck from the treasure.
“Boy, there should be a lot of talented youths in this village. Take some with you and ask your master to train them. Maybe there will be some outstanding people.”
Said the elder. Fan Zisang chuckled by hearing that, “Elder, your inference is brilliant and right. Some days ago, my junior fellow apprentice had found two children with immortal latency from this village and introduced them to our sect. One of them has a complete spiritual root. The other, whose spiritual root is marked only at seven-tenths, is talented and intelligent, either. She may overcome the hurdle of Zhuji Realm and reach Jindan Realm.”
The man in grey robe laughed involuntarily when he heard the words. The talented youths he talked about were not those with a common spiritual root. But he just blurted it out, and he didn’t want to go further with Fan Zisang.
As their psychic awareness communicated, Fan Zisang went back.
Suddenly, he stopped his steps and found surprisingly a little figure sitting on the riverbank.
“Junior Sister Apprentice Su Li, why are you here?”
When the older man in the jade token heard this, he was so shocked that he could barely maintain his body shape. A roar caused a headache to Fan Zisang.
“What… What did you call her?!”…