Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Not made to be practiced by humans did not mean that those who were able to successfully practice it were not humans. It could only be said that the great Emperor of the Qing Kingdom had honed a determined and supernatural heart for the sake of his desires. Fan Xian sat by Sigu Jian’s bed and thought about this matter. He couldn’t help but feel slightly surprised or suppress the feeling that he was looking up to a tall mountain. Although the mountain was not particularly beautiful or approachable, and only seemed tall and distant piercing into the clouds, it was impossible not to be moved by it.
He took a deep breath and rubbed his tired eyes. In a low voice, he quietly said, “When it comes to talent, Haitang is sufficient. In terms of determination, Thirteenth Wang is enough. As for hard work, I don’t think I am inferior to anyone. I still cannot see any opportunity for a latecomer to take that step. Why is this the case?”
“Don’t ask me.” After Sigu Jian’s irritated curse, he slowly closed his tired eyes. In a raspy voice, he continued. “I am just thinking that with all of us dead, there is just your Emperor left in this world. Presumably, he would feel lonely.”
After a moment of silence, Sigu Jian’s suddenly said mockingly, “He probably already began to feel lonely on Dong Mountain.”
It was unclear whether his faint mockery was targeted at the Qing Emperor or himself. Fan Xian suddenly said seriously, “I want to confirm something. Did Ye Liuyun actually leave the mainland?”
Sigu Jian thought for a long time and then slowly moved his chin with great difficulty.
Fan Xian took a deep breath and said, “Then, so be it.”
Sigu Jian closed his eyes. “It seems like you finally learned something, finally decided something on this trip back to the Qing Kingdom.”
Fan Xian was not surprised that this Great Grandmaster was able to deduce the feelings he had hidden in his heart from his speech. After all, he was not a true idiot. Smilingly slightly, he said, “Even if there is no rain, one should raise their umbrella. It is always better to be prepared.”
“Where’s Wu Zhu?” Sigu Jian immediately hit on the essence of the matter.
Fan Xian did not directly reply to his question. Instead, he asked, “What do you know about the Temple?”
With these words, Sigu Jian understood Wu Zhu’s situation. A rare peaceful smile rose to his face. “Temple? It’s nothing more than a dead object. You don’t have to be too worried. Even if the martial method your Emperor practiced is from the Temple, what about it? The Temple will not act personally to help him.”
Fan Xian did not completely believe this. After all, many years ago, it seemed the Temple had listened to the Qing Emperor’s prayers and sent out an emissary to lure Uncle Wu Zhu out of Jingdou. Uncle Wu Zhu was now far from the Temple. No matter what the end result was, it seemed it would have a foundational influence and deep effect on the major powers under heaven.
Sigu Jian had his eyes closed, but it seemed that he was still able to sense the thick worry and fear deep in Fan Xian’s heart. After a moment of silence, he said, “The Temple… is just a temple. It’s not a true god.”
Fan Xian’s heart jumped. “You’ve been to the Temple?”
“I’m not a mutant like Ku He and Xiao En. Why would I go to such a godforsaken place?” Sigu Jian furrowed his brows. It was clear that his thoughts and the tone of his words did not match. “Besides, I also don’t know where the Temple is.”
“However,” he continued, “you have to understand one thing. If someone did come from the Temple and wanted to eliminate any trace your mother left in this world, then the palace treasury would have disappeared long ago and you should also be dead.”
Fan Xian was silent but thought the deduction was correct.
“Of course, we can also deduce that the Temple has indeed sent emissaries into the world.” Sigu Jian suddenly opened his eyes, which were calm. “Don’t forget that Wu Zhu, that twig, is also one of the emissaries of the Temple. Since he could protect your mother and you, this only demonstrates that the emissaries from the Temple are not as powerful as you imagine.”
Fan Xian raised his brows then thought of something Uncle Wu Zhu had once said many years ago.
“There are not many people left in the family.”
Did these words mean that the Temple was already declining and did not have the power to influence the world? Why did Uncle Wu Zhu had to return? If all of this was actually as he guessed, Fan Xian would happily accept this situation. After all, faced with a mountain-like Emperor already put him under a great deal of pressure. If there was an additional unfathomable temple from beyond the heavens, it would bring his confidence to the lowest point.
“Hmm… You once saw Xiao En back to Northern Qi. Your mother and Wu Zhu were both people from the Temple. Do you not want to go back to the Temple, to that haunted place, to see what it’s like?” Sigu Jian opened his eyes wide and stared fixedly at Fan Xian. It was as if he wanted to see his true thoughts but also as if tempting him.
Fan Xian smiled and looked back at him. “If I have the opportunity, I would like to go have a look. That’s on the premise that my life will not be endangered. However, for you to say such things at this time, presumably you are very curious?”
As someone at the peak of human power and familiar with Wu Zhu, Sigu Jian faintly knew the extent of the powers of the Temple. He did not have the same fear and worship deep in his heart toward that illusory Temple as common people did.
He was a Great Grandmaster. He was powerful enough to be an equal to those of the Temple. When he talked about the Temple, his tone was not particularly respectful. On the contrary, it was purposely indifferent and disdainful.
People are curious, and Great Grandmasters are not an exception, particularly one that was near death and had become indifferent to the world. Only, his curiosity toward the Temple had not faded or his desire to have a glimpse of it.
Only Xiao En and Ku He had ever gone to the Temple. Those two old men were both dead. Perhaps Ye Qingmei and Wu Zhu came from the temple, but Ye Qingmei was already dead and Wu Zhu was on the way home.
The secret of the Temple remained the greatest secret in this world. Sigu Jian looked at Fan Xian. There was a strange vigor hidden in his calm gaze. He knew that the only person who knew the location of the Temple should be this young man in front of him.
“I learned it from Xiao En. Uncle Wu Zhu’s memory has never been good, which, presumably, you know,” Fan Xian said in a quiet voice. “The Temple is in the extreme North. After passing through the territory of Northern Qi, one must continue traveling through the frozen wasteland for months until reaching a place of perpetual night. If one is lucky, one will see a black and green building that is grand and calm. That is the Temple.”
Sigu Jian fell silent. Before he died, he finally learned the whereabouts of the Temple. It seemed he had achieved his desire and should be peaceful. However, under the thick blankets, the thin body was clearly emanating a faintly melancholy aura.
“So, it is in the extreme North in a place of perpetual night. Is it in the underworld?” Sigu Jian’s eyes were like an ancient well, slowly surging with ancient lines. With a sigh, he said, “If it does not belong to this world, my heart yearns toward it.”
“Yes…” Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the withered face beneath the blankets. Suddenly, he noticed that some kind of light was gradually emanating from his face. Had learning the location of the Temple caused this nearly dead Great Grandmaster to suddenly explode with some obsession?
Fan Xian didn’t explain about the perpetual night and perpetual day. These concepts did not belong to this world, so there was no need to speak of it to cause headaches. Since Sigu Jian believed the Temple did not belong to this world, perhaps such an understanding would allow this Great Grandmaster to keep his understanding of this world.
“Yearn toward it,” Sigu Jian said with an admiring sigh. “Back then, I had thought that if the Dong Mountain matter could be successfully dealt with, I would go toward the corners of the world to seek the Temple.”
“Each person has a curiosity toward the unknown.” Fan Xian understood this sentiment well.
Sigu Jian’s eyes narrowed slightly, piercing toward the roof like an icy sword. In a raspy voice, he said, “I just wanted to see if I could destroy the stupid temple with the sword in my hand.”
Destroy the temple!
After Fan Xian’s initial shock, countless complicated emotions welled in his heart. He had thought Sigu Jian was like how Ku He and Xiao En had been in the past. They only wanted to go to the Temple to satisfy the curiosity. He had not thought that this Great Grandmaster would want to challenge the Temple.
With a sword behind his pack as he slowly walked through the snowy plains, he wanted to find the mountain and enter through the thick doors. Pointing his sword at the illusory temple, he would have killed all those high in the clouds.
If the Dong Mountain incident had gone as Ku He and Sigu Jian had planned and the three major powers of the world settled, Sigu Jian would have tired of this world. He might actually have taken the path to challenge the way of heaven and the representation of the way of heaven in this world, the Temple.
Thinking of such a scene, even someone as steady as Fan Xian couldn’t help but feel moved. He knew that all of this came to an end with the Emperor’s punch on Dong Mountain. Sigu Jian would probably never have the chance to go to the Temple and raise his sword at it. This was indeed a regret.
“Will you go to the Temple?” Sigu Jian suddenly asked as he stared at Fan Xian.
“I don’t understand much about the Temple, so I don’t have much malice toward it.” In his previous life, Fan Xian had seen countless shameless religions. Comparatively, the Temple in the world of the Qing Kingdom was far away and rarely interfered in worldly affairs. Fan Xian approved of this way of doing things. Since it was mysterious and unfathomable, he truly did not have much desire to come into conflict with it.
“The Temple does not interfere in worldly affairs?” Sigu Jian smiled. “Then, how did your mother get out? How did this world change? Why is the Qing Emperor the man he is now? Perhaps those lofty people who live in the temple are truly watching all of this from the side, but we live on this land. Why should they watch us live?”
“Such a feeling is not good.”
“It makes me think of watching those ants move and fight under the great tree many years ago,” Sigu Jian said coldly. “I am not an ant. I don’t like being watched.”
Fan Xian was silent for a long time. He then said, “If I go to the Temple, I will carry your ashes there.”
Sigu Jian closed his eyes and said, “Very few things you say are true.”
Fan Xian suddenly realized that this Great Grandmaster spoke like a child and couldn’t resist smiling. “I am not someone like you who wants to kill a god. I don’t have the courage and strength to slaughter a god. If I had any other choice, I do not want to go to the Temple to seek my own destruction.”
After a pause, Fan Xian scratched his head, “Of course, who knows what will happen? If there is such a day, I will scatter your ashes on the stone steps of the Temple to press painfully against the toes of the gods. It will have satisfied your desire.”
Sigu Jian said, “Then, when they burn me in a few days, don’t stoke the fire too hot. I don’t have many bones in my body. If they’re all burned to powder, how can they press painfully? You have to leave some big pieces of bone.”
Fan Xian replied, “This is indeed something that needs to be noted”
There was a great fear between life and death. In this fear, Sigu Jian and Fan Xian were cheerfully discussing funeral matters, bones, the strength of the fire, and where he should be returned to. The atmosphere was relaxed, but Fan Xian couldn’t help but feel a mysterious sense of sorrow.
The sun had mostly set. The sea breeze flew through the city, gently brushing across a thousand li. It entered directly into the depths of the grass hut and caused the outside of the silent room in the Sword Hut to be struck by the wind. The countless swords in the pit moved at the same time, making a chiming sound that moved one’s heart.
Sigu Jian turned his head with difficulty. His gaze swept passed Fan Xian’s shoulder to watch the stupid long-legged mosquito on the corner of the wall that could not eat and refused to fly away and was nearing the end of its life. He sank into a long silence.
Fan Xian sat by his side. Suddenly, he leaned forward and spoke of the Ten Family Village matter quietly into his ear. The Ten Family Village was located between Northern Qi and Dongyi. If it were truly to grow, it could not do so without the strong support of the Sword Hut. Furthermore, the existence of the Ten Family Village would certainly bring great benefits to Dongyi.
Unexpectedly, Sigu Jian’s expression remained calm and unchanging after hearing that the Ye family was preparing to open a second battlefield in Dongyi. He only stared at the wall as if he did not care at all what Dongyi would become after his death.
For a moment, Fan Xian thought he misjudged Sigu Jian’s intention before he died—the intention he had once taught him, the most important intention.
Sigu Jian said, “There is a small notebook under my pillow. Ku He sent it to me from Qing Mountain before he died and asked me to give it to you. I can’t understand the things written in the notebook. I hope you can understand.”
Fan Xian had no idea what was written in the notebook for two Great Grandmasters to be so serious about it before they died.
