For three straight days after, Meng Chao Ran put all his efforts into training Chu Yang. The two were essentially living in the same room for those three days. During this period, anything that Meng Chao Ran could think of, he immediately taught it to Chu Yang. Without any rest, he jammed into Chu Yang’s head all of his experience in Jiang Hu, as well as all his tricks and tactics.
Even though Chu Yang already knew most of these things, he enjoyed his teacher’s attention and care. He listened to Meng Chao Ran’s words earnestly… taking in all of the warmth in this short time period.
Chu Yang never had the chance to enjoy such warm feelings from his teacher in his previous life. Therefore he did not want to miss anything. He knew that if he brushed off Meng Chao Ran’s words, then he would not say anything, but on the inside, Meng Chao Ran would be annoyed.
Chu Yang did not want to make his teacher unhappy.
Three days passed by in an instant.
On the last day, Chu Yang stepped out of his door, quietly watching the early morning mist lingering. He took in a deep breath, feeling full of nostalgia. Today was the day he must leave this place!
With this journey, I don’t know when I will be back… I don’t even know if I can come back.
There was a heavy rain last night and the entirety of Purple Bamboo Garden had been washed. The whole atmosphere was crisp and clean.
Since early in the morning, Meng Chao Ran had left to pick some herbs in the mountain. Chu Yang knew his teacher was using it as an excuse to avoid the inevitable goodbye.
Suddenly, there was a terrified scream from the toilet, followed by Tan Tan running out… He was covered with a strong stench, and his whole body was filthy beyond words.
Chu Yang could not help but be surprised. Why was Tan Tan holding the Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish in his hand?
Tan Tan’s face was sad and shameful as he ran pass Chu Yang. He did not even look at Chu Yang as he ran into his room and plopped the Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish into the bucket.
In the blink of an eye, a naked Tan Tan ran out. With a wooden bucket, he continually poured water all over his body. It took a few buckets before the stench started to wear off a little.
Just now, Chu Yang was feeling sentimental about leaving, but this junior martial brother had made him utterly confused. This crazy guy, what is he doing? Did he just fall into the latrine so early in the morning?
Tan Tan finally cleaned up, and in a flash, ran into his room. At the speed of light, he rolled up the dirty clothes and tossed it out.
Afterward, Tan Tan came out with a funny looking smile on his face. His face was wrinkled like a bitter gourd, as he let out a long sigh (TLN: Bitter gourds are a common ingredient in Asian cuisine).
“What happened?” Chu Yang squinted his eyes.
“Ah, don’t ask.” Tan Tan cried as he answered.
Since he got the Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish, Tan Tan treated it like a treasure. He put it in a corner of his room and carefully took care of it. Every now and then, he would feed it some food such as water plants and so on… However, yesterday, the fish floated with its white belly up in the bucket.
Tan Tan kept touching it but the fish did not react at all… It continued to float belly-up in the bucket without any signs of life.
When Tan Tan picked it up this morning, he discovered that the Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish has become stiff. With a sad sigh, he held the fish and cried. Unexpectedly, he had the urge to go to the bathroom, so he ran with the fish still in hand. He thought since the fish was dead, he might as well just toss it into the latrine.
However, after he tossed it in, an unbelievable thing happened. That fiendish fish suddenly came to life and tried to escape with full vigor.
Inevitably, Tan Tan had to jump in to catch the fish. Even worse… last night’s heavy rain has made the latrine more full so Tan Tan had to take a swim in the toilet…
“Hahahaha…” After hearing his story, Chu Yang was clutching his stomach, laughing.
Even in his dreams, he could never imagine his junior martial brother could do such an amusing thing.
Tan Tan sighed. With a tragic countenance, he said bitterly, “How would I know that fiendish fish could act dead like that? It was living nicely in the bucket and then it just turned stiff. When I tossed it in the latrine, it became lively again. Does it have to live in stinky places?
Chu Yang rubbed his stomach. With tears all over his face, he said, “You are such a fool. Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish absorbs the energy from heaven and earth. Once it is done, it become immobilized as it digest that energy. It does this before absorbing more. During this time of digestion, martial artists will also make use of some of the energy it absorbed for their cultivation! And you… you threw it in the latrine!”
“Ah!” Tan Tan’s mouth opened wide, “Why didn’t you say it earlier?”
“You’re a fool.” Chu Yang said, “The Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish can still live if it was buried underground. Why would it die if it was living in a bucket of water? Use your thick head and think! Plus… it lives on the energy of heaven and earth, feeding it will do nothing! You tossed it in the latrines… You are really something. If others hear about you tossing a precious Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish into the latrines, all the martial artists would probably come and fight to the death with you!”
Tan Tan sighed and said, “I am already paying for it… My clothes is gone, and my hands…”
He raised his hands up to his nose and sniffed. The he immediately looked like he was going to retch, “I need my hands to eat… What to do now?”
“You deserve it!” Chu Yang teased. He could not help but laughed.
Chu Yang went into the room and looked at the fish. The poor Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish was madly swimming back and forth, and every now and then, it jumped up. At the same time, it was spitting a lot of waste material. It seemed that the fish has suffered greatly…
“Hurry up and change the water!” Chu Yang yelled.
Tan Tan quickly did so. After seven or eight times, the Heavenly Chi Gathering Fish calmed down once again. It laid at the bottom with its belly puffing, clearly full of anguish…
It seemed that it needed a little more rest.
Chu Yang could not believe that he would be laughing to tears upon his departure. It was not until he was a long distance off when he heard the scratchy voice of Tan Tan yelling after him, “Chu Yang, take care! I will come and find you! I will help you!”
In that voice, the final sentences were also choked with sadness.
Chu Yang paused for a second. Without turning around he waved his arm. He turned a corner and disappeared from Tan Tan’s sight.
“You must not die!” Tan Tan yelled loudly. Along with that came a torrential downpour of tears. He fell to ground sobbing like a child who just lost his family.
He did not know what Chu Yang was doing, but he was aware of the danger involved! Otherwise, their master would not have acted the way he did.
Tan Tan was very worried and sad at the same time.
Chu Yang heart was suffering a little as well, but he forced himself not to turn around. And just like that, he went further and further, step by step.
In a distance on a mountain peak, Meng Chao Ran’s whole body was bathed in morning’s light. His eyes squinted as concentrated on his disciple’s departing steps. He did not even noticed that his hands had formed into tight fists.
In his right hand, there was a piece of paper. On it were words written by Chu Yang, “With Fleeting Snow Cloud Movement Technique, you need to bend your body down to reverse your internal flow. Then cultivate from the last step… You can only be successful if you cultivate in reverse.”
Chu Yang’s figure fluttered along the mountain path. On his back, there was only a small travel bag.
Leaving Beyond the Heavens Sect all by himself, he was alone on a journey to face an uncertain fate. Chu Yang suddenly became a little melancholy.
At that moment, his heart remembered these verses, “On this road, there is no fear of mountains of blades and oceans of fire… On this road, Jiang Hu has nine chance of death and one chance of life… On this road, we laugh at all under the heavens… On this road, straight to the Nine Heavens without turning back.”
These words were from a very popular song from the previous life, called “The Road of Jiang Hu”… Mo Qing Wu used to play music and sing this song; that was why Chu Yang had a deep impression of it.
Thinking about it again, Chu Yang could not help but smiled. He muttered, “On this road, don’t mind the heavens but fight it… On this road, let life escape fate… On this road, I will hold Qing Wu’s hand and laugh at life… On this road, I will certainly overturn the Nine Heavens!”
And like that he softly sung the lyrics he just created in addition to the song as walked out of the territory of Beyond the Heavens Sect, leaving the Nine Peaks, One Garden.
He did not even look back.
This youth with unruly hair covering half of his face. Hidden beneath this hair was an alert pair of eyes that was watching the whole world. His gaze was sharp like a knife; it looked as if it wanted to split the world in half.
The rays of early morning light shined on him, stretching his shadow really far… in the middle of the foggy wilderness, his silhouette appeared like out of thin air, upon him there was an aura of shining crimson blood-red light…
As if it was a manifestation of something…