Edited by: NZRose
Yin Chongyue’s gaze was full of disdain. “You’re playing hooligan with a child so many years younger than you. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
Lin Xuanzhi glanced at him. “Ah Hen is a little less than ten years younger than me. He’s not much younger; at least we’re in the same generation.”
Yin Chongyue scoffed. “Don’t forget that you have to add the one thousand years of your last life. Have those years been fed to the dogs?”
“Why don’t we measure our age by looking at our bones?”
Yin Chongyue, “…”
Yin Chongyue gave a light Hmph and stared at Lin Xuanzhi. “If you are too hasty, it will only backfire. Moreover, your identity right now is different from before. Since you are already a Hall Master, you are naturally one of the core people in Myriad Dao Academy. Myriad Dao Academy has always had little involvement in the Qianyuan Dynasty. Why should you involve yourself with him again? Furthermore, you once opposed the heavens, and now you’ve already suffered the consequences. Do you still want to obstinately persist in going about things the wrong way?”
“Then what do you think I should do?”
“If I were you, I would honestly and peacefully carry out my duties as a Hall Master, and secretly protect him, supporting him as he skyrockets to the very top — watch over him as he dons the Emperor’s robe and reigns over the world.” Yin Chongyue had lived for longer than Lin Xuanzhi and had also experienced a change of dynasties. He calmly analyzed, “Have you ever thought about this: you were pushed to an absolutely high pedestal by the orthodox Dao, and countless Daoists regard you as their pillar and conviction. The orthodox Dao has always been incompatible with the secular world. If one day you truly get together with Yan Tianhen, their conviction will collapse and their pillar will disappear — when that happens, will the orthodox Dao let you go so easily? Will they let him go so easily? Do not believe the human heart is so simple, and do not underestimate the rules in this world.”
Lin Xuanzhi didn’t speak for a long time.
He understood what Yin Chongyue meant: this was exactly why he stayed in Penglai Island all these years. Even if he entered the secular world as Demonic Spectre Venerable, he never looked for Yan Tianhen, nor was he willing to have any reason to be involved with him.
“Originally, I truly did decide to no longer become involved with him.” Xuanzhi gazed at the waves and clouds in the multicolored sunset, the glow of the celestial sea reflected in his eyes.
He continued, “But when I saw him standing in front of me again after many years, all I wanted was to hold him in my arms, and I didn’t want to think about anything else. Cultivators should follow their heart, to begin with, but why is it that when it comes to me, I have to go against my heart?”
Yin Chongyue had some sympathy, but he knew that Xuanzhi was just venting his pent-up anger in this way.
So Yin Chongyue replied, “There’s nobody who cannot live on anymore after leaving someone. Just like me — even if Xuan Lou is alive and standing in front of me right now, I can still turn a blind eye and my heart can still be as calm as a pool of water. You’ve stayed too long on Penglai Island is all. If you went out to see the red clouds in the West Land, the jade blue sea in the East Land, the mountain ranges in the South Land, and the desert in the North Land, you would understand that no matter how clever or wonderful a person is, they are merely ephemeral in the end, a thing of the past.”
Xuanzhi stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He told Yin Chongyue, “Not even a thousand scenes in the world can compare to my sweetheart.”
Yin Chongyue never tried to persuade him again after this day.
Although Yan Tianhen used secluded cultivation as an excuse to get away, in reality, his words were half-true. He had collected a lot of spiritual plants in his storage bag. Although they wouldn’t necessarily go bad, he nevertheless had to use up everything — only then would he be treating these spiritual herbs with the respect they deserve.
Whenever Yan Tianhen refined pills, he always freely followed his desires and refined whatever pill he thought of. He refined pills like this for half a month.
Yan Tianhen left the alchemy room with around 110 successful medicinal pills.
Myriad Dao Academy’s alchemy room was provided free of charge to a certain extent. Each room was about ten square meters. If the closed-door cultivation took less than half a month, there was no need to pay contribution points.
If it exceeded half a month, they had to pay one additional contribution point every day.
After all, the spiritual Qi in this alchemy room was much richer than that of the outside world.
Yan Tianhen reached a bottleneck in his cultivation, on the verge of advancing. Although his primordial energy became more refined, he did not actually make a breakthrough and advance to the next realm.
After he left secluded cultivation, the first thing he did was to go straight to Qi Feiqing.
Qi Feiqing just happened to not have class. Instead, he was lying on the chair with his leg crossed over the other, leisurely reading folk stories.
Yan Tianhen appeared quietly, and just when Qi Feiqing was immersed in reading, he had already appeared behind Qi Feiqing.
Yan Tianhen poked his head forward and saw the book, which read, “Only to see that pair of mandarin ducks embracing each other. Heat surged up, their faces were flushed with excitement, and their fragrant juices dripped freely. Especially that Cui Ge — her clothes had been stripped away in a flash by her beloved, and her jade-like white flesh was fully displayed on the big red quilt. She looked full of life…”
“Very good!” Yan Tianhen slapped Qi Feiqing on the shoulder. “Fellow, you’re actually hiding here and reading such pornography in broad daylight. Qi Feiqing, I think that you’ve been too far away from your Dage, and no one is disciplining you anymore. Try me and see if I won’t pen a letter to your Dage and have him climb the mountain here to give you a beating!”
Qi Feiqing was reading very enthusiastically when his shoulder was suddenly slapped by Yan Tianhen, and he almost jumped out of his chair. He panted and patted his chest while shouting, “Are you for real? You almost scared me to death. How come you walk just like Gu Ruyu? It’s like you guys are ghosts, not making any sound at all!”
“You still dare to blame me?” Yan Tianhen said coolly, “It’s your own abilities that aren’t up to par. I’ve already walked behind you, yet you still couldn’t sense me. Don’t you need to properly reflect on yourself?”
Before Qi Feiqing opened his mouth, Yan Tianhen went on to say, “Cut the crap; first, give me your book and let me inspect it. If there is anything that shouldn’t be read, I’ll share it with you after reading it.”
Qi Feiqing was about to cough up blood, but stopped when he heard that. He jeered, “Yan Tianhen, were you waiting for me here?”
Qi Feiqing was very happy to share these erotic texts with Yan Tianhen. Not only that, he even showed his library to Yan Tianhen. There were a few shelves full of texts. Most of them were erotica or romantic love stories.
Yan Tianhen was stunned. “Old Qi, where did you get all these texts from? You didn’t buy them from Ethereal City, did you?
If these books were placed outside, some of them could be called banned books. After all, they were pretty explicit, which made it easy to tempt cultivators and make their heart of Dao waver. Rippling amorous feelings could damage cultivation.
Qi Fei wagged a finger in denial. “No, no, after all, this Ethereal City can’t compare to the outside, and the whole city doesn’t even have a single brothel. If honourable me wants to obtain a book, I will have to waste a lot of effort. But I hid these texts in a storage bag and brought them from home. My Dage doesn’t know.”
Yan Tianhen had complete respect. “Well duh. Of course your Dage doesn’t know, otherwise he would have to break your legs — say, are you here to cultivate or to free yourself?“
Qi Feiqing smiled. “It’s both. In fact, you also have to reflect on yourself. Are you here to study and expand your network, or are you here to murmur endearments and chase your sweetheart?”
Yan Tianhen looked at him with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “What have you heard recently?”
Qi Feiqing glanced at him. “I’ve heard too many rumors. Many people are madly saying that you are deliberately approaching Huarong Sword Immortal and want to drag him into the secular world to serve you.”
Yan Tianhen shook his head. “They are wrong. I don’t want to drag him into the secular world. I just want him.”
Qi Feiqing, “…”
Doesn’t that sound even worse?
Yan Tianhen said with a smile, “I’m just joking with you. Huarong Sword Immortal is a good person. When he saw that I had nothing to offer and had a pitiful amount of contribution points, he rented me some unused spiritual fields on Little Penglai.”
“Honorable me also has no contribution points and is desperately poor, but you don’t see him robbing the rich and helping the poor, do you now?”
Yan Tianhen sized him up. “Can you plant spiritual herbs?”
Qi Feiqing said, “No.”
“There’s your answer.”
Qi Feiqing said again, “You are not the only one who knows how to plant spiritual herbs. For example, that Tong Zishu is also pitifully poor, but I don’t see Huarong Sword Immortal giving him a convenient backdoor?”
Yan Tianhen said without hesitation, “That’s because Huarong Sword Immortal is a genius among geniuses, and so am I. Genius always likes to be with genius.”
Qi Feiqing, “…” So shameless.
Every time Qi Feiqing spoke, Yan Tianhen would argue with a counterpoint. The two of them talked with each other for a while, and finally, Qi Feiqing dropped the book. “Forget it, why should honorable me worry so much about you? Even your dad doesn’t worry about you.“
Yan Tianhen couldn’t help laughing, saying, “I am beyond my dad’s reach to be disciplined right now, just like your Dage.”
Qi Feiqing naturally started talking about his books again.
Yan Tianhen thought it was interesting, so under Qi Feiqing’s recommendation, he took a few with him, planning to read them in the dead of night. After their chatter, Qi Feiqing asked, “Did you come to see me right now for some urgent matter?”
Yan Tianhen slapped his head. “Look at my bad memory. If you didn’t mention it, I would’ve almost forgotten.”
Yan Tianhen said, “I have thought of some ways to make money these days. I intend to sell medicinal pills in exchange for contribution points.”
“You’ll refine medicinal pills, and I’ll sell them?”
Yan Tianhen nodded. “The preliminary plan is to rent a shop first, put up a signboard, and then hire a fellow. If you give some contribution points, I think many people will be willing to take this job.”
Qi Feiqing looked at Yan Tianhen. “Ah Hen, do you know why there are so few student-owned shops?”
“I don’t know why. Is it because everyone wants to have more time to cultivate?”
Qi Feiqing shook his head. “You don’t understand. I have inspected the actual situation of the academy these days. I found that students did try to open shops before, but they all ended in failure.”
Yan Tianhen frowned. “Why?”
Qi Feiqing explained, “Because things from the sect are cheap, to begin with — especially medicinal pills and talismans. Those medicinal pills in the sect are refined by the gentlemen in their spare time, and the quality is naturally guaranteed. Basically, students need only pay for the cost of the spiritual herbs. Think about it, how can disciples go out of their way to buy unreliable and expensive medicinal pills refined by students when they can just buy pills refined by the teachers, which are as cheap as white cabbages?”
Yan Tianhen paused, feeling that Qi Feiqing’s words were very reasonable.
It’s just that he never expected for the medicinal pills supplied by the academy to actually come from the teachers’ hands. That was a big deal.
He asked again, “There are no more than ten teachers in the sect’s Pill Limit Hall, yet there are tens of thousands of students in the sect. How can they refine enough for everyone?”
“Have you forgotten that Mr. Li once controlled dozens of pill furnaces by himself and refined hundreds of medicinal pills at the same time? How can we casually estimate the extent of these refining techniques that have reached the apex in alchemy?”
Yan Tianhen suddenly felt that life was bleak, and even the sun was covered by dark clouds.
His medicinal pills naturally couldn’t compare to those refined by the gentlemen, and although the cost was not high, he was not willing to sell them at a low price.
