Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Xuan Lingzi’s voice was quite calm, yet what he said reminded Luo Jianqing of something else.
For ten days, almost half of the cultivators in Tai Hua mountain went to the Fiend Realm in search of Luo Jianqing, but his master was trapped in the mountain and wasn’t able to search for him. In Ling Yun Hall, his master stood in front of Luo Jianqing’s life lantern for ten days. Finally, when the lantern was about to extinguish, Xuan Lingzi couldn’t contain himself and left the mountain, which violated the agreement.
Other people didn’t know Xuan Lingzi’s extraordinary self-discipline and selflessness, yet Luo Jianqing knew it. There wouldn’t be another Xuan Lingzi in this world who was willing to stay in Tai Hua mountain for a hundred years just to protect the people he had never met. A hundred years ago, Sir Xuan Lingzi impressed the whole world with his talent and brilliance, venerated by everyone.
Now, a hundred years later, people merely knew Sir Xuan Lingzi as the only Deity Transformation Period cultivator in the world, instead of respecting him as a powerful and unconventional man.
Xuan Lingzi was just over three hundred years old, but he gave up everything, and just stayed in Tai Hua mountain as an old man. Even Sir Hao Xingzi would go down the hill now and then, but Xuan Lingzi never made a step out of Tai Hua Mountain.
Xuan Lingzi sacrificed his youth for human, and also reduced ninety percent of his chance to completely reach deity.
But how did those shameless cultivators treat him?
They took Xuan Lingzi’s sacrifice for granted, like that was something he should do-since he was so powerful, he should give up his hope to transform as deity. They believed that Xuan Lingzi should follow the agreement, stay in Tai Hua mountain forever and never seek for a chance to finish Deity Transformation Period.
Xuan Lingzi had reached the realm of Deity Transformation Period a hundred years ago. Now, he was still at the early stage of Deity Transformation Period.
It could demonstrate everything.
The mere thought of that had touched a very raw nerve of Luo Jianqing. He hugged his master. Xuan Lingzi didn’t know what happened but also hugged Luo Jianqing. He heard Luo Jianqing saying, “You have to transform as deity. You are capable of that. You reached the Deity Transformation Period a hundred years ago, so you still have chance to finish it.”
Xuan Lingzi didn’t know why his disciple suddenly mentioned that, but he replied hopelessly, “That’s not easy.”
Luo Jianqing asked, “Why? You have over four thousand years to live. You can make it.”
However, Xuan Lingzi shook his head, “For tens of thousands of years, transforming as deity is just an illusion. No one has ever made it.”
That sounded familiar to Luo Jianqing. After a thought, Luo Jianqing suddenly recall something, “Master, I have heard from the spirit in Ninth Level Godlike Pill that no one in Buddha Cultivation has ever transformed as Buddha. So, maybe it’s real that no one has ever transformed as deity?” After a pause, Luo Jianqing continued, “No, no, I heard that two thousand years ago someone made it. A grand master of Bai Family as I remember?”
Xuan Lingzi said, “It’s just an unfounded rumor.”
Luo Jianqing didn’t know how to reply. After a deliberation, he recalled something else, “Mater, do you know Sir Jiu Lian?”
Xuan Lingzi was staring blankly with his arms around his disciple’s waist. However, when he suddenly heard “Jiu Lian”, his body stiffened and his face turned grave. He immediately turned around, afraid to show any expressions to Luo Jianqing.
Xuan Lingzi asked with a calm face, “Why do you ask about him?”
Luo Jianqing told him everything that Sir Yu Qingzi had said to him.”
After a thought, Xuan Lingzi said, “The grand founder of Tai Hua mountain did transform as deity. At that time, Yu Xiao Peak was just an ordinary place among all seven peaks, until the third chief master of Yu Xiao Peak, grand master Jiu Lian, took the chair. He created a new cultivating method for Yu Xiao Peak, but anyone practiced it must possess stringent spiritual bones. About this method, he left a book, True Nine-Petaled Lotus Record.”
Hearing that, Luo Jianqing was a little bit confused and baffled.
In his memory, Yu Xiao Peak was always unique and superior to other six peaks.
Xuan Lingzi continued, “True Nine-Petaled Lotus Record contains boundless power, which cannot be managed by common spiritual bones, so it requires cultivators to possess Supreme Spiritual Bones to practice it. Besides that, Extraordinary Spiritual Bones may sometimes scrape the requirement, like my master.”
Luo Jianqing knew that and nodded, “The grand master Jiu Lian is really that awesome? He put an end to a passive state of Yu Xiao Peak and made it prosperous.”
Xuan Lingzi beamed and looked at the curious face of Lou Jianqing, saying softly, “No… he is even more awesome than that. Jianqing, for tens of thousands of years, we can get talents all the time. I have reached Deity Transformation Period for two hundred years, so people call me the best of the best in ten thousand years, but you are faster than me. Jiu Lian, on the other hand, is still the most powerful talent since the founding of Tai Hua mountain. He was good at making pills, forging instruments, arraying and even understood incantations. Do you know how long it took him to reach Deity Transformation Period?”
Luo Jianqing frowned, “Two hundred years?”
Xuan Lingzi beamed, “One hundred and eighty-nine years.”
Hearing that, Luo Jianqing hugged his master more tightly and said with dissatisfaction, “So what? You are far better than him in my heart.”
Xuan Lingzi ears went red. He changed the subject hurriedly, “What do you really want to know?”
After a hesitation, Luo Jianqing hold Xuan Lingzi what he knew about Qing Jun and Jiu Lian. When he heard that Qing Jun once said “The rule of Heaven has changed”, Xuan Lingzi was baffled, with alert and confusion flashing through his eyes. However, he shook his head, “Yun Qingzi likes reading ancient works, so she is much more knowledgeable than me. What I know must have already rested in her mind.”
Luo Jianqing asked, “So you don’t know what happened during these hundreds of years either?”
Xuan Lingzi shook his head, “I only know that Jiu Lian and the grand master of Mo Family were not the only cultivators that were missing in those years. There were nine Da Sheng Period cultivators in the direct line of descents in Mo Family, all of whom went missing at that time. In Tai Hua mountain, besides Jiu Lian, the chief masters of Qing Lan Peak, Lie Huo Peak and Yu Shou Peak also disappeared subsequently. And the best cultivators of some major sects that didn’t exist anymore had all lost trace or died.”
After a pause, Xuan Lingzi asked, “Jianqing, do you know that human cultivators are no longer as prosperous as before?”
Luo Jianqing nodded, “Yes, due to the wars demons for tens of thousands of years, both sides have suffered from great loss. Especially in the war thousands of years ago, a lot of great masters of human cultivation were killed, and many talents also died, so did the demons, who lost all their Deity Transformation Period exalts.”
Xuan Lingzi nodded, “That’s right. A hundred years ago, when I reached Deity Transformation Period, demons dared not to promote a war easily, as wars had greatly sapped both sides’ strength. However, thirty thousand years ago, when Jiu Lian was still alive, Nascent Soul cultivators were everywhere, and the number of Deity Transformation Period cultivators had nearly reached a hundred.”
Luo Jianqing was baffled and said with disbelief, “A hundred?!”
Xuan Lingzi said, “Yes, that’s the number recorded by each chief master of Yu Xiao Peak, ninety-six. However, hundreds of years later, only thirteen Deity Transformation Period cultivators left, while the most powerful seventy-two Demon Beasts were also reduced to nine. Those mysterious hundreds of years were a taboo for demons, for Mo Family and most importantly… for Tai Hua mountain.