Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Wherever my Senior Brother is, I will be there!” Zi Linglong replied without hesitation.
Jiang Ming secretly exhaled in relief and smiled. “Don’t worry. I will continue protecting you.”
Zi Linglong’s eyes gleamed brightly.
“You? Able to protect Linglong?” Gu Hai smirked.
“Why can’t I protect her? When she was little, whenever she encountered rats and snakes or mischievously climbed trees and fell off, I was always there to protect her!” Jiang Ming rebutted.
“This time, it’s different! Who knows what other dangers lie in the future? We’ve warded off the Bishui Sect, but what if the devil sects come attacking? Don’t you forget, there was once a platoon of the devil sects hidden right outside of our sect! It’s obvious they were targeting us!” Gu Hai replied sternly.
“Relax, Master. Now that the devil sects have been exposed, why would they come here again? Moreover, our sect is now in hot waters. If we were to leave now, wouldn’t people think bad of our characters?” comforted Jiang Ming.
“You are such a smart talker!”
“I’m just stating the facts.”
None of them wanted to back down.
Three days later, the funeral was held. Jiang Ming also attended. The solemn atmosphere looming over thousands of gravestones left him in an even deeper sentiment. He felt that human life seemed to be so fragile in a world where power was dominant.
‘I must train harder for my Junior Sister,’ Jiang Ming thought.
Upon returning to Chuyang Sect, Jiang Ming went to the veranda at the rooftop. As he lay on the rattan chair, it started to sway gently.
He felt very comfortable, so comfortable that he did not want to move at all. Thus, he thought that some witch must have conjured the recliner.
“Senior Brother,” muttered Zi Linglong as she snuggled up to Jiang Ming. “I’m preparing to retreat for cultivation!”
“Trying to comprehend the Lunar Dao?” asked Jiang Ming.
“Yes, I want to improve myself further! I realized that I am still too weak during the last battle. I almost failed to protect you, Senior Brother,” replied Zi Linglong.
“You little girl. Protecting our home should be my responsibility, yet you are bearing it,” said Jiang Ming.
He was hesitating over whether he should tell her he was the person that night. In the end, he still held back.
If it caused too much of an uproar, rumors would spread, which would only mean trouble.
Jiang Ming flipped his palm, revealing two little gray pebbles. He handed them over to Zi Linglong as he said, “Use them during your cultivation. They are helpful.”
“These are Enlightening Stones!?” Zi Linglong was astounded.
“You recognize these?” Jiang Ming was surprised.
“Yes!” Zi Linglong calmed down before continuing. “Can’t you remember I was blessed with the Tomb of Extreme Path? I also found a description about these Enlightening Stones Senior Brother. This is a rare world treasure! How did you get them?”
“Don’t ask. I will just say I don’t know,” said Jiang Ming as he gently stroked her hair.
“Okay, I won’t ask,” answered Zi Linglong like a well-behaved child. “Senior Brother, I think it’s better if you use them for yourself.”
“Don’t be so long-winded and just take them. This is a one-use kind of object. Use it at the right time to get the best out of it.”
“Okay!”
After a while, Zi Linglong returned to her room.
Looking at the Enlightening Stones in her palms, she felt baffled. “Why does Senior Brother own such a thing? Could it be that person that night was in fact Senior Brother? Impossible. My Senior Brother never left my sight! But… Sigh!
“Also, why is it that the Bishui Sect was the first one to attack our sect? Everything is just messed up! It doesn’t matter! If it’s a mess, then it’s a mess! As long as I improve my cultivation base, it’ll be enough to protect my Senior Brother and to overwhelm everything!”
Zi Linglong sat cross-legged on her bed as she took out the Yin spiritual items that she had obtained, absorbing the Dao fluctuations in them and speeding up her comprehension of cultivation.
Time passed by, much like how the river flowed.
Jiang Ming was once again farming behind the mountains.
This time, however, all that he had planted were middle- or top-grade herbs, not knowing what rewards he would get when he reaped his harvests.
In addition, he was finally able to arrange for the Immortal Enlightening Tea Leaf’s seed to be planted in a spiritual fountain located underground. He readjusted the Life and Death Disillusionment Formation Disk, making the formation more discreet and powerful.
Brother Zhang came over once but sat quietly at the side. He was not as carefree as he was in the past. Before leaving, he said that he would be retreating for cultivation as well, trying to ascend into the Purple Mansion Realm.
Chang Yiming came over as well. He sighed a few times before asking for a jar of wine. He chugged down the whole jar with a big gulp and exclaimed, “This feels good!”
“A total waste of provision,” said Jiang Ming, astonished.
“Who asked you to brew them?” Chang Yiming snickered before he suddenly became solemn. He said, “Momo is not doing well. Even though we won in the battle against the Bishui Sect, too many of our brethren fell. Many went to find fault with her. If not for the First Seat Yin Yue feeling nostalgic over the past, she would be in even more trouble.”
Jiang Ming paused in silence for a while before suggesting, “Bring her over to your side. Let her stay and take care of you. You can take care of her as well.”
He still felt a bit remorseful over it. After all, they knew each other.
“There aren’t many people here in Chuyang Peak. It’s better for her to come here. Linglong has a high position here, just a level before the Sect Master. If Momo comes over here, nobody will dare trouble her. She’s all alone now. She will be perfect to accompany you. You can be busy farming, and she can be busy back at the kitchen, such happiness,” replied Chang Yiming.
“Enough! I have my hands full taking care of just one, let alone two,” said Jiang Ming as he rolled his eyes.
Chang Yiming laughed. “Finally, you show your true colors! Such impure thoughts!”
Jiang Ming was rendered speechless.
Chang Yiming did not stay for long before leaving as well.
After Chang Yiming left, Jiang Ming sat there for some time before lifting his head and gazing at the floating clouds.
“I have impure thoughts?” he questioned himself.
Alas, he shook his head. “Where in the world is there anyone that is as pure as I am?”
He stood up and slowly strolled back to the back of his house, humming along as he went. “I have myself a bright pearl, a dusty pearl sealed for ages. Now with the dust gone and the pearl shining bright, it will shine upon mountains and rivers, thousands oh thousands of mountains and rivers. One day I will make sure it gleams, gleaming onto my fields~”
Standing in the courtyard, he looked upon Zi Linglong’s window.
He felt the waves of Dao fluctuations dispersing from her room, leaving a chilling sensation akin to the moonlight, like the fog in the winter.
“Did she succeed?” Jiang Ming’s eyes were gleaming in delight.
He called up the Human Path Records.
Name: Zi Linglong
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Cultivation base: Golden Core Realm (Ninth Extreme)
Background: Disciple of the Jiuyang Sect’s Chuyang Peak
Relationship: 97
Innate Talent: Primary Daoist Body (High-tier Phoenix Bloodline)
Status: After she defeated Holy Daughters and geniuses, her name spread through Eastern Region and Zhong Province. During the Bishui Sect’s assault, she saw a pair of eyes in the dark, almost similar to her Senior Brother’s. There were too many strong enemies. Thus, she telepathically asked the Sect Master to stall the Primal Spirit expert as she went on to kill the Nascent Soul experts. They successfully protected the sect through a night of much bloodshed.
Although she was victorious, her heart was trembling. If not for that unknown expert lending a hand by fending off against four Primal Spirit experts, she had no idea if she could protect her Senior Brother. She was wondering whether she would go crazy if anything happened to her Senior Brother. She eventually thought she would slaughter the world.
‘Senior Brother actually took out Enlightening Stones!’ She thought it was just unimaginable but didn’t care as they were a gift from her Senior Brother.
After absorbing the Yin spiritual items, plus using one Enlightening Stone, she finally was able to invoke the Extreme Yin Dao and comprehend the Extreme Yin Sambodha.
Jiang Ming had a convoluted smile upon reading the Status. Their relationship had actually risen by 2 points, reaching 97 points. He wondered whether their feelings became even stronger because they were in the face of danger.
“If I die, she might slaughter the world? My oh my Junior Sister!” Jiang Ming was smiling delightedly.
He looked at the main building, and its door was shut tight. That old man was probably out somewhere doing whatever he wanted.
Jiang Ming returned to his room and activated the formation. He temporarily shut Chuyang Peak as he also retreated into cultivation.
His heart and mind started to merge into the heavens and earth as he continued to perceive the wonders of karma.
As he started to feel around, he could sense that many illusionary threads were coming out of him, penetrating into the void and connecting to anything and everything. One of the thickest threads was like a chain in order, extending itself into his Junior Sister’s room.
However, most threads were so fine that they felt they would snap off anytime.
“Karma, karma… It is only the relationships between humans, that is all! Directly connected, relating to one another, or simply existing in a specific time and space can all lead to the birth of karma. There was a saying from the past that was so very true: ‘As long as you are correlated, there will be an exchange of matter.’
“Also, being connected indirectly always ends up with some very important ordeals. I killed Mo Lin, hence my relationship with the Yinmo Sect. I fought against Tian Ci, hence my relationship with the Tianyuan School.
“There are both Good Karma and Bad Karma!”
Jiang Ming was immersed in his feeling of Karma. His comprehension of the Karma Sambodha started to rocket. Whenever he hit a dead end, he would just pop another one of those Enlightening Stones. Even if there were not many of them left, he never cared.
Time flew the quickest during cultivation, yet Jiang Ming was still spending some of his time daily checking on the herbs he grew. It was a shame that the middle- and top-grade ones grew very slowly. Even after being watered with spirit waters, they had only just begun budding.
Splitting firewood, getting water from the rivers, and cooking—these were all his daily routines. Sometimes, he would mix it up a bit and go fishing.
He heard from Chang Yiming that the outside world was tense.
The Qingyun Sect surrounded and started to suppress the disciples of the devil sects, who fought back in madness. The whole situation was becoming more severe. Even water demons had started to emerge from various water regions.
Jiang Ming only listened quietly.
In a blink of an eye, the five-year term had finally arrived.
‘It’s been five years! Time passes ever so quickly! I’m sure this time the system will have a great explosion!’ Jiang Ming was very excited about it.
He had a weird feeling that he might be getting his hand on something that he would have never thought of this time.
