Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was also startled by the laughter outside the room. He walked out of the meditation room and asked, “Why did the Immortal laugh?”
Ying San said while waving his hand, “It’s nothing, really. Though this temple is not the same as the other temples, we still have to rely on them to solve our problems in the end after many trial and errors. I find it very interesting.”
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect didn’t understand what he was talking about, and as he was about to ask him again, the bell in the temple suddenly rang. He felt hunger in his stomach, and forgot about this matter.
It was the rule of the Fruit Formation Temple that breakfast be served every day only after the morning session.
Yin San declined the invitation of the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect to have breakfast. He walked into the meditation room with the script in his hand, focused on pondering his problem.
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect walked past the pine forest, pagoda forest, the Precious Hall, and walkway, and arrived in front of the common kitchen of the front of the temple, ready to eat his breakfast.
The Justice Hall had its own kitchen, but the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect was used to coming here to eat the breakfast; it was probably because he had cooked in this common kitchen for a while.
The reason he wanted to eat the meals every day and eat people once in a while was that it was fun to do so, according to his explanation to Yin San.
He had been forced by the Green Mountain Formation to stay underground for a couple of hundred years, and his Cultivation state was damaged, his demon embryo being strengthened instead. As such, he had no hope of ascending during this life; all he thought about right now was how to live the last part of his life as happily as possible.
A few people were quarreling in the kitchen of the front temple.
A fat monk holding a steamed bun in his hand said angrily to the monk who was in charge of the kitchen that day, “All I’m eating is the steamed bun, why can’t I eat it with a bit vegetable leaves?! I didn’t put meat in it.”
The quarrel was fairly vehement, and lasted a long time.
The Great Grandmaster went up to fetch the porridge, and then sat by the long table, listening to their quarrels with a faint smile. Then he left after having drunk three bowls of millet congee.
When he returned to the White Mountain meditation room, Yin San stood before the Buddha statue, staring while looking at the scripts spreading on the ground.
Though the expression on the Great Grandmaster’s face remained the same, he felt a bit uneasy inside, asking, “What happened?”
Yin San said, “I thought that I had already remembered these scripts very well, so I didn’t need to bring them with me, but as I was about to throw them away, I suddenly realized that I might have missed something.”
Though the Great Grandmaster didn’t pay close attention to the main part of his remark, he somehow sensed something. “Bringing them? Where to?” he asked in surprise.
“There is one thing I have wanted to do for many years,” Ying San said, “but I have never found an opportunity to do it. It seems that I find the opportunity now.”
The Great Grandmaster said, “The thing that the Immortal wanted to do but failed to do must be a significant one. In comparison, these scripts are nothing. Just leave them here.”
Looking at the Buddhist scripts on the ground, Yin San remained silent for a long time before saying, “These Buddhist scripts are talking to me.”
The Great Grandmaster didn’t call him a “crazy man”, but asked instead with a serious tone, “What are they saying?”
Yin San said, “These Buddhist scripts are saying: one can’t be liberated after seeing life and death.”
The Great Grandmaster asked, “As the Immortal knows, I’m a bit slow; what does it mean then?”
Yin San said, “It means ‘don’t go’…I think it’s actually right. It’s useless for me to go there in my current Cultivation state. Maybe I should watch from a distance, or maybe it’s better not to go there at all.”
After some thought, the Great Grandmaster let out a humble smile, suggesting, “Maybe, I could take the trip for the Immortal?”
Yin San lifted his head and said seriously while looking at him, “You will die if you go there.”
The Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect had a profound state of the deviant style, comparable even to the figures in the Heavenly Arrival State; that was why Yin San dared travel around the world and stay in the Fruit Formation Temple when the grandmaster was with Yin San.
What place could be so dangerous?
Even the Great Grandmaster would die there.
Yet, the Great Grandmaster of the Mysterious Dark Sect understood the meaning of the statement. Even though what the Immortal said sounded like a concern for his safety, it was actually a warning.
To act like a dog was not enough; he should act more like a guard dog. He could bark once in a while, but couldn’t think of straying too far from the home.
…
…
The red moss had already been sold out at the Baotong Zen Temple, and all sorts of vegetables had mostly been picked up. What remained in the vegetable garden were those small sized green vegetables, which grew all year long.
Without the spicy preserved bean curd, He Zhan lived a life more pitiful than Liu Shisui’s. His face had turned somewhat greenish due to the foods he ate here. He would often miss his friend, Su Ziye, whose face had a green vegetable color.
He Zhan still hadn’t heard the instruction from his aunt that he could leave the place; but he heard the news that Tong Yan was to leave.
The reason Tong Yan was to leave the Baotong Zen Temple was because he had already finished making the plan requested by Guo Dong.
It was the plan to kill the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean.
He Zhan demanded discourteously to have a look at the plan.
Tong Yan glared coarsely at him.
This kind of plan could only be kept in one’s mind; how could he write it out in the paper?
Yet, He Zhan grabbed Tong Yan’s collar and wouldn’t let him leave unless Tong Yan told him what the plan was.
He Zhan swore to Tong Yan that he would not tell another soul about the plan, including that girl of the Hanging-Bell Sect, and he even made a pinky promise that he would keep his words for one hundred years.
Tong Yan was bugged and annoyed too much by He Zhan. Though he didn’t want to make a pinky promise with He Zhan, he had no choice but to tell him briefly about the plan.
Having heard the plan, He Zhan felt disappointed; it was because the plan was very ordinary, devoid of tactful arrangements. It failed to make the listener slam the table while yelling “Great plan!”
“That was such a tactful plan when you people plotted the scheme to kill Luo Huainan. Yet, Jian Xilai has a much higher Cultivation state than Luo Huainan; why is the plan so simplistic?” He Zhan asked.
“The reason the plan to kill my Big Brother was so complicated was that we had to defeat an enemy who was much stronger than us, and that we had no choice but to succeed on our first strike. So we had to take every aspect into consideration, and couldn’t afford to let him have second chance.”
Tong Yan continued, “Jian Xilai is different. He is a figure in the Heavenly Arrival State; so by and large all the schemes or sneak attacks are useless against him.”
He Zhan snapped, “What have you achieved then?! You have spent half a year here thinking about the plan.”
“I have been choosing the battle ground for Mister Pei,” Tong Yan said.
To kill someone in the Heavenly Arrival State, a swordsman in the Heavenly Arrival State had to be employed first; this role was to be played by Pei Baifa. Secondly, a place that was favorable to oneself and unfavorable to the opponent had to be chosen. The West Ocean was the home territory of the Godly Swordsman, and it was evidently unfavorable for Pei Baifa to fight there, far from his own territory, which was the Longevity Mountain. What Tong Yan had been thinking during the last half a year was finding a favorable battle ground near the West Ocean, and in the meantime find a way to bring both the Godly Swordsman of West Ocean and Pei Baifa to the battle ground.
Having listened to Tong Yan’s explanation and reflecting on the plan, He Zhan understood better now; but he still felt something not quite right. “Is the battle ground very useful?” he asked.
Tong Yan said, “Because of my low Cultivation state, I couldn’t deduce the outcome of this battle; all I could do was judge it based on my own insight. I estimate that the chosen battle ground can improve the success rate from forty percent to fifty percent.”
He Zhan thought that if he could improve the success rate by a mere ten percent after thinking hard about it for half a year, it was really…
“You are indeed none other than Tong Yan of the Center Sect.”
Guo Dong walked in from outside and said while looking at Tong Yan appreciatively, “It’s a great achievement to have made a plan that will affect the outcome of the battle between two Heavenly Arrival State swordsmen at such a young age.”
He Zhan swallowed the words he was to speak. “Auntie, can you not appear so suddenly all the time?” he complained with a red face.
Guo Dong shot him a glance, feeling incredulous. “Tong Yan is leaving. I must come here to see him off. Why did you say I came so suddenly?” she snapped.
He Zhan found he couldn’t find any words to talk back with.
She was right. They were asked by Guo Dong to stay at the Baotong Zen Temple for half a year, and whether they could leave here depended on how she would evaluate the final plan.
The process of checking the plan went smoothly; it was because Guo Dong was not good at it. So she didn’t raise any question about the plan.
In the end, it was Tong Yan who addressed a question of invitation to her.
“I don’t know who you really are yet; but if you are the one I think you are, the success rate would be able to improve to eighty or even ninety percent if you could participate in the attack.”
Guo Dong said after a moment of silence, “I need twenty years to recover.”
“Let’s wait twenty years to carry out the plan then,” He Zhan said.
The Godly Swordsman of West Ocean was undoubtedly one of the most powerful swordsmen in all of Chaotian; and the Immortal Sect Master of Green Mountain could merely end up in a draw when fighting against him.
To kill such a powerful swordsman, it would be a sensible thing to do to just wait for twenty years.
Yet, Guo Dong said while looking at him, “But Mister Pei has only three years left.”
