Chapter 99 His life was so miserable that he wanted to become a monk and leave the world behind. ...

The seventh day of the third lunar month is the Qingming Festival.

Li Chen never expected that when he arrived at Wanshan Gate, it would be during the Qingming Festival.

She and many other guests took their seats in the prepared area, her gaze involuntarily falling on the person sitting in the main seat.

The person sitting in the main seat was none other than Zeng Shujin, the current head of the Wanshan Sect.

He was dressed in a light gray robe, which, though not the attire of the sword cultivator world, accentuated his upright posture and gentle, jade-like appearance.

Although he had a gentle demeanor, he possessed striking features, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. He carried the heroic bearing befitting a sect leader, a blend of strength and gentleness that made him exceptionally eye-catching. This caused the young female cultivators among the visitors to frequently glance at him.

This former sect leader is not much older than the Sword God. He is currently in his early thirties and can be considered a rare young talent in the cultivation world.

Furthermore, it's not difficult for people in the sword cultivation world to maintain their youthful appearance. Therefore, although he was in his early thirties, he looked like he was only in his twenties, which often attracted the hearts of beautiful women.

Li Chenjin was dressed in white and wearing a bamboo hat covered with a white veil.

Through the hazy veil, she looked at the somewhat blurry figure on the high seat, lost in thought for a moment.

When she came to her senses, she saw that the person on the high seat was also turning his head to look in her direction. She was startled for a moment, but quickly recovered and turned her head away as if nothing had happened, instead listening to the conversation of the people around her.

"Speaking of which, today is Qingming Festival. We saw peonies everywhere along the way. Those peonies must have been left behind by the Sword God back then, right? Sect Leader Zeng was truly a man of deep affection and friendship..."

"Sigh... No wonder. Sect Leader Zeng and the Sword God grew up together. I heard that the Sword God was playful and mischievous when he was young. He didn't like practicing martial arts and only liked running around the mountains and fields. As a result, even the originally calm and steady Sect Leader Zeng was influenced to become playful as well."

"Speaking of which, I remember visiting Wanshan Sect a few times when the late sect leader was still alive. At that time, Sect Leader Zeng was still young, merely the late sect leader's eldest disciple, and Sword Goddess was his youngest junior sister. Because Sect Leader Zeng was of a calm and composed nature, the late sect leader assigned him to discipline Sword Goddess. However, unexpectedly, he was instigated by Sword Goddess instead, which nearly made the late sect leader faint with anger, hahaha..."

Besides people from other cultivation worlds, many sect leaders from various sword cultivation factions also attended the banquet.

The sect leaders were all quite old, and many of them had watched Zeng Shujin and the Sword God grow up. Naturally, they had either heard or seen many of the things the two had done when they were young.

Now that one of them had brought up the past, the other elders of the sword cultivator world, who were also getting on in years, couldn't stop talking. The people around them were also very interested, and since it was a rare opportunity to hear about the Sword God's childhood, they all fell silent and listened intently as the elders of the sword cultivator world talked about those past events.

As the leaders of the sword cultivation world spoke, the scenes that had become blurred in my memory gradually became clear and vivid again.

When the Sword God was young, he indeed didn't like practicing martial arts; he only liked playing.

The sect leader was initially strict, but the stricter he was, the more the Sword God resisted. In the end, he had no choice but to let the young Zeng Shujin take over the discipline, thinking that it would be easier to communicate with someone of the same age.

From a young age, Zeng Shujin was exceptionally well-behaved and sensible. To Zeng Shujin, the former sect leader was both a father and a master. Whether as a son or a disciple, Zeng Shujin was always reassuring and exceptionally diligent in his cultivation. He never disobeyed the former sect leader or any of the other elders, until…

We encountered the Sword God...

After Zeng Shujin was sent by the former sect leader to discipline the Sword God, he was led astray by the Sword God in less than a month. Instead of urging the Sword God to cultivate, he was led by the Sword God to run all over the mountains and fields.

During that period, the two of them did quite a few things that nearly angered the former sect leader to death.

One night, they ran to other deserted hilltops to tease wild boars, only to be chased for over ten miles by the enraged boars; the next night, they saw a black bear on another hilltop catch a deer, and while the black bear was napping after its meal, the two of them took off the deer's antlers, intending to take them back to the former sect leader to make wine.

As a result, the two of them were not gentle enough and woke up the black bear, which then caught them red-handed.

The black bear thought they were there to steal its prey and chased them over six or seven hills.

After that, the two offended all the animals in the mountains near Wanshan Gate, causing the animals to run away as soon as they saw them.

The two of them found the nearby hills uninteresting, so they ran around for eight or nine days until they reached a distant valley, where they happened to find a lone gosling.

The Sword God wanted to take the gosling back to the Wanshan Sect to raise it, but as soon as the two of them picked up the gosling, its mother appeared.

The mother goose, who had come out to look for her gosling, thought that the lone gosling had been stolen by them. She immediately started yelling "Ah ah ah!", stretched her neck, opened her mouth, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, flapped her wings, and chased them for more than 20 miles, scaring the two men so much that they were covered in sweat.

But after this incident, the two of them not only did not restrain themselves, but went even further and went to a more distant mountain to tease the wolves. As a result, they were chased by the wolf pack all the way to the top of the mountain. There happened to be a cliff with no way to retreat in front of them. The two of them were no match for the dozens of wild wolves that caught up with them and were bitten until they were covered in blood.

Just as Zeng Shujin suggested that he fight the wolves first so she could find a chance to escape, the Sword God suddenly realized something, grabbed Zeng Shujin, and jumped off the cliff, startling Zeng Shujin into screaming uncontrollably.

Only after landing safely and realizing she wasn't injured did Zeng Shujin cover her face in embarrassment.

These things were discovered by the former sect leader after he returned from his travels. He noticed that the two had made rapid progress in their lightness skills and close combat, and their cultivation had also greatly improved. He assumed that the two had practiced diligently every day during the nine months he was away from the sect. Just as he was about to reward the two, he inadvertently asked them for the "truth".

The former sect leader was furious when he heard this. Not only did he lose the reward, but he also beat both of them up. In the end, it was Zeng Shujin's younger sister, Zeng Shuqing, the Sword God's senior sister, who intervened and pleaded for them, preventing them from being beaten too badly.

However, after that, the former sect leader no longer expected Zeng Shujin to be able to control the Sword God. He chose to stay at Wanshan Sect and personally supervise the two of them to practice every day, watching them closely from morning to night and from night to morning.

But the Sword God's energy was simply too abundant when she was young. She practiced swordsmanship all day long, and by sunset, Zeng Shujin was already too tired to go to bed, but she still had the energy to play.

Unable to take the exhausted Zeng Shujin out at night, she instead began digging tunnels. Under the Wanshan Gate, she dug several tunnels leading to the outside world, and with Zeng Shuqing, who was not very tired during the day, she slipped out through the tunnels in the middle of the night.

The two of them leaped and jumped in the darkness, catching fireflies, looking at the stars and the moon, teasing owls, and sleeping upside down in the tree branches...

She played around all night, and then managed to get back before dawn. She continued practicing her skills during the day, still looking radiant and perfectly fine.

Until one day, the former sect leader heard that strange noises could be heard at night on certain mountains in the sword cultivation world. Fearing that some evil spirits were causing trouble, he led his people to stake out the places where strange noises were rumored. As a result, he saw the Sword God, who had been playing, with Zeng Shuqing, skillfully climbing up the branches and chatting upside down like bats hanging from the branches...

From that day on, the former sect leader discovered that simply keeping an eye on people during the day and at night was not enough; he also had to keep a close watch on people at night.

And so, the former sect leader acted as father, mother, and master all at once, watching over the Sword God for nine years. Then, when the Sword God turned fifteen, he discovered…

He's starting to lose control of people.

The Sword God's talent was terrifying from a young age. After focusing on cultivation, his skills improved by leaps and bounds. Not only was he fast, but he was also ruthless in his attacks. Most importantly, he never knew when to stop when he started fighting.

Not only did the earthquake crack several floor tiles at Wanshan Gate, but it also destroyed several buildings and completely ripped off the roof of the main hall of Wanshan Gate, where the former sect leader lived and where guests were received.

What pained the former sect leader the most was that the roof-ripping incident wasn't done by Sword God alone, but by Sword God, Zeng Shujin, and Zeng Shuqing together!

The three of them even made a bet about it, to see who could lift the most, the most steadily, and the lightest roof without anyone noticing.

So when the former sect leader woke up and opened his eyes, he found that he couldn't see the ceiling, but was staring directly at the heavens. He felt that his life was miserable.

Moreover, he had a good but unfortunate life.

Some even suffered so much misfortune that they wanted to become monks and nuns, abandoning the world.

The former sect leader didn't just keep his misfortune to himself; he also told the other sect leaders in the sword cultivation world about it. He didn't do it for any other reason than to learn from them how they raised sensible, obedient, and filial disciples.

When he realized that none of the sect leaders' suggestions worked, he even tried to ask whose disciple was disobedient, hoping to gain some psychological comfort. But when he discovered that even the most disobedient disciples were not even a tenth as good as the Sword God, the words "miserable fate" escaped his lips.

The other sect leaders initially took it as a joke and let it pass.

Unexpectedly, the next day the sect leader went to the Zen meditation community and talked with Zen Master Mingcun about Buddhism for five days and five nights!

The sect leaders were so frightened that upon hearing the news, they rushed to the Zen cultivation world day and night, carrying and pleading with their former sect leader back to the sword cultivation world, fearing that he might have truly lost his mind and become a monk.

The person sitting on the high seat did not speak, but listened quietly to those past events, with a faint smile on his face, gentle and refined, and no trace of the frivolous person in the rumors could be found.

On the other hand, when Li Chenjin heard those sword cultivators chatting and laughing about these past events, he didn't care whether his body could handle drinking or not, and awkwardly kept drinking one cup after another.

In this kind of situation, it's not appropriate to read storybooks to distract yourself, and if you can't drink alcohol either, it would be so embarrassing it would be unbearable.

The Sword God once...

Have I really done so many foolish things?

Just as the elders of the sword cultivator world were speaking eloquently and the people around them were listening with great interest, someone suddenly spoke up: "Isn't the Sword God always like this? He has never been considerate of others since he was a child. He has always been arrogant and willful, which is why the former sect leader was overworked and eventually passed away."