Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jing Jiu led Liu Shisui from the cell and headed toward the outside of the Sword Jail; but this was not the passage Jing Jiu took when he came in.
As they arrived at the end of the passage, the stone gate opened slowly. Jing Jiu glanced at Liu Shisui, thinking that he didn’t even know what he had missed.
Jing Jiu had told Liu Shisui that it was not worthy of thinking about it in advance, and that it was better to think about it as it occurred.
Jing Jiu had already thought everything through when he learned that the Peak Meeting of Green Mountain would take place.
He let Liu Shisui be brought to the Sword Jail because he hoped that Liu Shisui would meet Dead Dog there.
The energies inside Liu Shisui’s body were too mixed; as such, one energy would be in conflict with another. It was too dangerous.
Dead Dog had the ability to transform the most murky and complicated demon energy into the purest Daoist energy.
Apart from Old Dragon of the Center Sect, he was the only one who could achieve this.
Unfortunately, Liu Shisui didn’t have such luck, which meant the other choice: to go to the Fruit Formation Temple.
…
…
After they left the Sword Jail, Liu Shisui found himself in the midst of the peaks.
The ocean of clouds was like a carpet, and the starlight was like the snow, with the peaks being in the middle of all these. It was very beautiful.
Liu Shisui looked at the scene in front of him, mesmerized as he asked, “Where are we?”
Back when he learned how to fly by riding the sword, he had flown over the green mountains many times, and believed he had seen all there was to see of the peaks, but he had never seen anything like this.
Jing Jiu said, “These are the Hermit Peaks.”
…
…
In the early morning next day, lying in the roomy carriage and looking through the transparent glass on the roof of the carriage at the flowing clouds, Liu Shisui recalled his experience the night before, still feeling the shock that he had last night. He had found that the Hermit Peaks could only be reached through the Sword Jail, and that would mean…the Hermit Peaks were a bigger Sword Jail!
——
Xiao He pulled away her gaze from the decoration of the carriage and commented admirably, “This is such a luxurious horse-drawn carriage. The Gu Clan must have made tons of money over the last few years. The Green Mountain Sect is indeed the number one sect in the world; any one of its outside clans can display such lavishness.”
Liu Shisui responded offhandedly, “Our Green Mountain Sect is of course outstanding. I heard this carriage was asked by Young Master to wait here.”
Xiao He uttered “Hmm” and propped against Liu Shisui, feeling extremely happy.
Liu Shisui said, “I can’t use the identity of a Green Mountain disciple to travel around before this matter is settled, so I’m not very helpful to you right now.”
Yet, he was well aware of why Xiao He was willing to follow him.
Holding his arm tightly, Xiao He said with a sweet smile, “I can benefit greatly from you as a person, and that is why I have insisted on waiting for you.”
She had basically understood what Gu Qing meant by sincerity just then.
Liu Shisui smiled without saying anything.
The further away from Cloudy Town they were, the thinner the clouds outside the windows became. Gradually, they could see the barren branches on the autumn trees and the grayish sky.
All sorts of scenery appeared before their eyes, one after the other.
This carriage had been waiting in Cloudy Town for a few years, just for Jing Jiu to use it someday in the future…Xiao He mused at this.
She said sentimentally, “I didn’t the Immortal Master Jing Jiu likes comfort so much.”
Liu Shisui said, “As I told you, he is very lazy and doesn’t like riding the sword; and walking is of course not as comfortable as sitting in a carriage.”
…
…
It would only take less than one day to get to the place by sword or by the escape method, but it would take more than ten days to get there by carriage. This was an unbearable thing for the Cultivation practitioners. No matter how comfortable it was to sit in the horse-drawn carriage of the Gu Clan, Liu Shisui and Xiao He were on the brink of losing it after a few days.
One early morning, seeing the crops in the fields by the road, Liu Shisui was surprised to find that the wheat in the fields was so plentiful. As he looked at the fields closely, he found that they were all fertile black lands. By now he realized that they had arrived in Moqiu. After a few more hours of travel, he had finally seen the yellow walls and clean roof in the distance and felt relieved.
Because of that letter, the monk responsible for receiving guests at the Fruit Formation Temple didn’t stop them and led the horse-drawn carriage into the far end of the temple. The monk showed them tremendous courtesy, afterwards telling Liu Shisui that the Young Zen Master was engaged in quiet Cultivation all year long and seldom met guests, and that all he could do was bring the letter to the master and wait for an answer.
In a quiet and isolated meditation room at the far end of the temple, the Young Zen Master was looking at a pile of thin wooden sticks on the table silently in immensely concentrated countenance; he hadn’t moved for a long time, and he didn’t even blink his eyes. Once in a while, his bare feet poking out of his monk robe would wiggle a little, which was an interesting sight.
He took the letter from the receptionist monk and felt somewhat surprised to see the sword seal on the envelope. After opening the letter and seeing the signature, Young Zen Master fell silent for a long time, wondering why Zhao Layue wrote this letter to him since they didn’t know each other at all. Having read the contents of the letter, he couldn’t help shaking his head, finding it ridiculous.
If I help you settle this matter, I will have paid the debt owed to your Shenmo Peak.
What attitude is this…do I owe your Shenmo Peak?
Well, it seems like I owed your peak a bit of personal debt, but I thought I had already paid it.
The Young Zen Master continued reading the letter and his eyes fell on the second paragraph from the end.
“In the Cultivation tournament of that year’s Plum Meeting, the Young Zen Master saved many lives by making a quick decision; however, we had informed you in advance, so in the end…you still acted a bit too slowly.”
This was exactly what Zhao Layue wrote in the letter.
Seeing this paragraph, Young Zen Master became tense, remaining silent for a long time.
Yes, he was a bit slow to act.
If he ordered the Cultivation tournament to end right away after he learned of the suspicion of the Green Mountain Sect instead of pondering over it for a night, more young disciples would still be alive.
Over the last few years, this was the event he had been reflecting on the most.
“This letter has a bit of my old friend’s style…Go invite that young Cultivationist in here.”
Young Zen Master said this to the receptionist monk as he raised his eyebrows.
…
…
Liu Shisui walked into the meditation room, and Xiao He stayed in the carriage. Not all the vixens were as lucky as Royal Concubine Hu in the imperial palace.
The Young Zen Master had an unparalleled and respected status in the Cultivation world, even in the entire human world, so it would be a great fortune to meet him in person once during a lifetime.
A certain person on Shenmo Peak was the only one who treated him so audaciously and knew him so well.
Earlier Young Zen Master was sentimental about the contents of Zhao Layue’s letter having his old friend’s style; but he didn’t know that this letter was dictated by his old friend and Zhao Layue was merely responsible for writing it out word by word.
Liu Shisui didn’t know about the relationship between Jing Jiu and the Young Zen Master, so he felt quite nervous.
He had met the Sect Master of Green Mountain and was close to the important figures like Xiwang Sun, but the Young Zen Master was different in terms of popularity.
The Young Zen Master looked at him briefly and then compared him with the description in the letter, and he soon realized what the problem was, and thought that this was indeed a troublesome issue, as he raised his brows slightly.
He reached out his hand and grabbed a couple of hundred golden amulets from the thin air, and then imprinted them on the cloth prepared beforehand.
Liu Shisui hadn’t come back to his senses from the shock yet, as he took over the cloth.
“You have done the orthodox Cultivation circle a great service in the event of wiping out the Old Ones, so I should help you out.”
The Young Zen Master continued while looking at Liu Shisui with a pretentiously solemn tone, “However, how much you will learn from it is up to your own understanding.”
Looking at the cloth, Liu Shisui found the first few words on it were as follows: “These are all my true experiences.” He felt stunned, thinking that this was the true Script of the Fruit Formation Temple that was usually not allowed to give to an outsider.
He was aware of the half-master and half-friend relationship between Grandmaster Jing Yang and Young Zen Master, but this gift was too valuable…Who exactly was Young Master then?
He forced himself to calm down, and thanked Young Zen Master full-heartedly, and it was then that he was about to leave.
As he was going to step over the doorsill of the meditation room, he suddenly halted his steps, turned around and said to Young Zen Master embarrassedly, “This junior’s affair should be kept…”
“I know it should be kept a secret. I’ll make sure their mouths are shut.”
Young Zen Master said emotionlessly, “Our Fruit Formation Temple is good at the Vow of Silence.”
Liu Shisui left the meditation room.
Young Zen Master’s sight fell on the letter again. This time he read the last paragraph.
“Why would a disciple of Green Mountain need to learn the Vow of Silence?”
This request by Zhao Layue sounded really ridiculous, so he didn’t heed it.
Liu Shisui gradually disappeared behind the pagodas forest, and a horse-drawn carriage could be vaguely seen on that side.
Young Zen Master shook his head in that direction, thinking this young lad indeed had a chaotic energy in his system and the Buddhist methods alone couldn’t help him solve the problem.
According to the saying “You have to accompany the Buddha all the way to the West, and do anything to its full completion”, he thought he probably had to write a letter to the One-Cottage House.
Then, he turned his attention to the letter again.
It was a simple letter.
But why did he read it for such a long time and have such a solemn expression?
