Chapter 28 The Sect Leader, Penglai Cultivator, Shen Cangyu.
Fog blankets the snow-covered mountains, their peaks layered with trees and flowers.
Looking into the distance, Shen Cangyu saw the Kunlun Mountains stretching endlessly, each peak displaying a different scene. Some were draped in silver, snow covering black rocks, while others were covered in lush greenery and springtime scenery, with falling blossoms, flowing water, and rainbows cascading into waterfalls. Different peaks of Kunlun were inhabited by cultivators practicing different Daoist arts, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on each peak was also different. Now, gathered together, they were dazzling and overwhelming.
The last time she came to Kunlun, she couldn't see anything clearly, but now she can finally take in all these sights.
Back in Kunlun, Lu Qianhe seemed to finally come back to life, her half-closed eyes opening wide. The fish-drawn cart landed, and she reached out to Qiu Sheng, saying, "I'll take Xiao Lu to the Forest of All Beings; you take them back to report."
Xu Qiubai hesitated for a long time before finally speaking: "Then I'll go back to Xingxiang Hall first."
Pei Wenjing looked at Shen Cangyu: "Come back to the Cloud Palace on Dragon Ridge Mountain with us." Dragon Ridge Mountain is the mountain where their disciples, who possess all the Daoist arts, live, eat, and cultivate.
Each peak of Kunlun has a Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top, and the Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top of Dragon Ridge Mountain is at the very top, deep in the clouds. Having just arrived by fish cart, Shen Cangyu only saw the thick clouds and did not see the scenery above them.
The wind howled all around her. Despite having a protective spell to ward off the cold and wind, she felt a chill seeping from her very bones, a frightening cold.
Even though everything has changed in this life—she's no longer a lowly disciple of the Kunlun outer sect, but an envoy from Penglai—she still can't help but feel afraid.
Suddenly, the temperature around her rose sharply. Now she didn't feel cold; instead, she felt hot and stuffy.
Pei Wenjing looked at her and asked, "Are you still cold?"
Shen Cangyu shook his head.
"The Heavenly Palace on the Clouds is very high up; we still have a long way to go," Pei Wenjing said, looking at the seemingly endless staircase before him.
They couldn't drive fish carts, so they could only travel by riding the wind. The steps of Dragon Ridge Mountain went deep into the clouds; if they relied solely on their own two feet, it would take forever. It is said that their ancestors built these long steps to test the patience of cultivators.
The higher you go, the more physically exhausted you become, and the more distracting thoughts are cleared from your mind, thus achieving a state of purity in the six senses. Ascetic practice is the best way to attain enlightenment.
"That's why our Taoist practice is called 'All things return to the heart,'" Qiu Sheng explained.
The Kunlun Immortal Masters believed that the body was merely an object, unimportant; the soul was paramount, the very essence of humanity. To them, the body, like terracotta figurines, cups, bowls, and swords, was simply a vessel.
Shen Cangyu was confused, but upon further reflection, it seemed to make sense.
Her body was merely a vessel; her soul was that of her previous life. Her soul hadn't changed; it had simply found a new body. In a way, her experiences resonated with the idea that all things return to the heart.
Shen Cangyu didn't understand Taoist magic before, but when she had the opportunity to step into the world of cultivators, she discovered that Taoist magic is actually everywhere.
No wonder. She had heard before that even ordinary people who hadn't studied could have the opportunity to understand the Dao through their own intuition. It turned out that the Dao had long been integrated into everything around them. It's just that everyone was too busy making a living to think about these things.
Unlike cultivators, they don't have enough time and money to think about anything else; they can simply focus on studying Taoist techniques.
Immortal sects like Kunlun have a unified curriculum and a unified set of teachers to guide children in their early education, allowing them to understand the Dao at a young age.
But what use are Taoist magic to ordinary people? They are no better than steamed buns and rice.
But for cultivators, this is their lifelong pursuit.
"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening," Qiu Sheng asked curiously. "Don't you Penglai teach these things?"
Shen Cangyu shook his head.
After thinking it over, Qiu Sheng realized that each immortal sect probably had its own unique method of learning. However, this was normal, since Kunlun had so many different schools of Daoist cultivation, each with its own style.
The words had barely left his mouth when a person came running from afar, rushing down three steps at a time until they were right beside them. Pei Wenjing was caught off guard and was suddenly picked up: "Senior Brother?"
"Jing'er, you're finally back!" The man exclaimed in shock when he saw the bloodstains on Pei Wenjing's clothes. "You're injured! No, your senior brother will take you to the incense hall to have a doctor take a look!"
"Senior brother, put me down quickly, I need to report back!" Pei Wenjing was being held and rocked back and forth, and the feeling of being treated like a child made him blush.
"Dog, stop bothering him, or he'll get angry again." Qiu Sheng pulled his hand away and freed Pei Wenjing.
"My name is Chu Xun, Xun, not Gou." Chu Xun's words "illiterate" were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them back down as he watched Qiu Sheng's fingers touch the sword at his waist.
“I said it’s a dog, so it’s a dog,” Qiu Sheng kicked him, leaving a footprint on his clothes. “Since you’re here, you can go back and tell the others that I brought Wenjing back. That way, they won’t have to come and see him one by one, saving them the trouble. The kid has been tired for so many days, let him get some rest.”
“Not a child,” Pei Wenjing said.
“I said it’s a child, so it’s a child,” Qiu Sheng said, pointing at him.
Pei Wenjing shut his mouth.
"Alright, stop shouting. I'll take them to see Master. We'll talk about the rest later." With that, Qiu Sheng put his left arm around Shen Cangyu's shoulder and his right arm around Pei Wenjing's shoulder as they walked upstairs.
Hearing her words, Chu Xun ran along a mountain path, intending to return and relay the message to the others. Halfway there, he suddenly stopped and looked back: "Strange, who is that child?"
The clouds and mist enveloped the surrounding scenery like a thin veil. The higher you went, the thicker the clouds became, so much so that they seemed real, as if you could reach out and hug the soft, fluffy clouds.
No wonder this place is called the Heavenly Palace on the Clouds. Shen Cangyu couldn't help but think.
Parting the clouds, the Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top stands atop Dragon Ridge Mountain, tall yet simple, devoid of dragon carvings or colorful paintings and gold paint. The walls are a bluish-gray, and the ground is covered with the simplest blue bricks. A few beams of sunlight stream in through the high windows, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air.
The furnishings in this Heavenly Palace on the Clouds are not even comparable to the Hall of Discipline she saw in her previous life.
The only striking feature was the dazzling array of weapons displayed in the hall. Shelves reaching up to the roof beams were filled with all kinds of weapons, mostly longswords.
The weapon gleamed coldly, and though sheathed, it exuded a chilling aura.
Shen Cangyu guessed that these were probably the weapons of the disciples of the Daoist practice of "Returning to the Heart of All Weapons." The Daoist practice of "Returning to the Heart of All Weapons" had been passed down for hundreds of years. Some people had passed away, and some had died. In the end, all the weapons were left behind and displayed in the Heavenly Palace on the Cloud Top. The green sword in the very center of the shelf should be the sword of the Kunlun Immortal Lord.
Long ago, the Immortal Master of Kunlun merged with his sword and ascended to immortality. The sword remained, and it has been enshrined in Kunlun ever since. It is said that the sword contains endless spiritual energy and has always protected Kunlun.
"You're back?"
A voice sounded behind her. Shen Cangyu's back stiffened instantly. She slowly turned around and saw a person walking towards the mountain gate with their back to the light.
Clouds swirled beneath his feet. He wore Kunlun robes, so neat and without a single crease. He had a serene and aloof appearance, his hair tied up with a white jade hairpin. Though his face bore the marks of time, it could not conceal his ethereal aura.
“Master!” Pei Wenjing saw him and couldn’t hide his smile.
"It's good that you're back safe and sound," he said, a faint smile on his lips. "I've cleaned your room, and I've replaced the dead flower you hid behind the door with a new one."
Upon hearing his words, Pei Wenjing lowered his head.
The sect leader smiled, his gaze falling on Shen Cangyu beside him, his eyes filled with doubt: "And who is this?"
Chou Sheng interjected at the opportune moment: "She is a cultivator from Penglai. She was a great help when Wen Jing and the others were attacked by demonic cultivators during their training trip."
"Penglai?" The sect leader was taken aback.
"I am Shen Cangyu, a cultivator from Penglai." Shen Cangyu bowed to him, showing him great respect.
Penglai...
He watched Shen Cangyu's figure from afar.
Penglai, surnamed Shen...
"Master?"
Seeing that he didn't speak, Qiu Sheng called out again, pulling him back from his wandering thoughts.
The sect leader suddenly awoke and said, "Since she is a friend from Penglai, she is naturally welcome. Ah Chou, are there any vacant courtyards on the Second Peak? Find one for her to stay in first."
"The Second Peak?" Qiu Sheng thought for a moment. "Isn't Wen Jing living on the Second Peak? Wen Jing can go and tidy up."
“Okay,” Pei Wenjing replied.
The sect leader added, "You must be tired from your journey. After you finish packing, get some rest and recharge your energy... Your name is Shen Cangyu, right?" He looked at Shen Cangyu with eyes full of loving kindness.
“It is indeed a good name,” he said.
“Of course it’s a good name,” Shen Cangyu said without any modesty.
Hearing her words, the sect leader smiled and said, "She's a very spirited child."
Looking at his kind face, Shen Cangyu dug her fingernails into her palm.
He looked completely different from the one she saw in her previous life. Which of these two faces was real, and which was fake? Or perhaps, given her completely different identity now, was he only giving her preferential treatment because of her status as a person from Penglai?
Was Shen Qingyan able to impress people back then because of his identity as an envoy from Penglai?
Now, everything he has belongs to her.
She bowed and replied, "Thank you for your praise, Sect Leader."
The sect leader shifted his gaze from her and looked at Pei Wenjing: "Wenjing, the Discipline Hall wants to see you to discuss matters concerning demonic cultivators."
Pei Wenjing's eyes sharpened.
*
“You don’t need to come along. The Discipline Hall only wanted to discuss the training mission with me. We’re not going to discuss the whereabouts of the demonic cultivators anytime soon. I know you know a lot about those demonic cultivators, but it’s not time for that yet. If we need to in the future, we’ll come to you.”
Pei Wenjing was speaking, but Shen Cangyu still stubbornly followed behind him: "Your injuries haven't healed yet, why can't we wait until you've recovered before summoning you?"
Pei Wenjing remained silent. In truth, he knew that besides the demonic cultivators, the Discipline Hall had other matters to discuss with him.
Using the wind to travel, they soon arrived at the Hall of Admonition.
Looking at the familiar building before her, Shen Cangyu's face darkened. The moment she arrived, she was reminded of the unpleasant things that had happened in the past, and she had no intention of giving this place a pleasant look.
In her previous life, she was convicted and subjected to a soul search in this very place, and ultimately died during that soul search.
When she saw the familiar bearded Master Huang in the distance, her face darkened even more. He looked like someone who had come to cause trouble.
The disciples outside the door saw Shen Cangyu and quickly stopped her.
Pei Wenjing blocked her way, saying, "The sect leader sent her." Hearing Pei Wenjing's words, they exchanged a glance, hesitated for a moment, and then let her in.
Shen Cangyu looked at the familiar faces in the hall. They had sat in the same seats and looked at her back then, but this time, they were looking at Pei Wenjing.
Pei Wenjing stood in the hall, his back straight, like a cedar tree.
"I failed to protect them." Before they could even speak, Pei Wenjing confessed his guilt.
As the eldest disciple, his responsibility during this training trip was to take care of the other disciples, keep a close eye on everyone's movements, ensure the training proceeded smoothly, and guarantee that no one was injured.
But he failed to fulfill his mission; this trial resulted in the loss of too many disciples. Even though everyone knew it was an accident, the demonic cultivators arrived suddenly, and no one wanted to see such an ending.
But no matter what the process was, the outcome is set. If it wasn't finished, it wasn't finished; if it was wrong, it was wrong.
"Then accept your punishment," said Hall Master Huang, who was seated. "Ten disciples died this time, so you will receive thirty strokes of the cane, spend three months at the Cliff of Repentance, and copy three hundred copies of the precepts. Any objections?"
"No," Pei Wenjing replied, bowing his head.
Shen Cangyu, her face grim, was about to step forward when she discovered that a ring of golden "fixed" symbols had somehow appeared beneath her feet. She tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. She touched her throat and found a prickly object wrapped around her neck.
Without a doubt, this is also a golden rule of Taoism, Legalism, Literature, and the Carving of Dragons.
"Wenjing asked me to stop you. Just stay here and watch, don't get involved." A voice came from behind her, but she was frozen in place and couldn't turn around.
Pei Wenjing suddenly raised his head and looked at Master Huang: "Fan Ji... was he saved?"
Fan Ji was the disciple he forcibly pulled back from the underworld; his soul and body had been sent back to Kunlun long ago.
Upon hearing his words, Hall Master Huang pursed his lips and remained silent. Elder Hongyu, standing to the side, couldn't bear it and said, "The person has come back to life, but unfortunately, he has become mentally impaired and can no longer recognize people."
Pei Wenjing's fingers, hanging by his side, curled up, his throat dry: "Then where is he now?"
"The incense in Xingxiang Hall burned for seven days and seven nights, but it still couldn't summon him back... We had no choice but to send him away," the person on the seat said softly.
They had watched these children grow up since they were little, and making this decision was a cruel decision. It would have been better not to try to save a mentally challenged child in the first place.
With the three souls and seven spirits lost, is the person saved still the same person from before?
“That child was ambitious. If he had known he would end up like this, he would have asked them to send him away so he could be reincarnated…” Elder Hongyu said. “I know you meant well, but unfortunately things didn’t go as planned.”
Pei Wenjing remained silent for a long time before finally bowing and saying, "I understand."
He wasn't afraid of hardship, nor was he afraid of giving his all. But he feared that even if he tried his best to save the situation, he would find that the outcome was already decided, and he would ultimately be unable to change anything.
Shen Cangyu watched as Pei Wenjing knelt down, his head hitting the glazed bricks. At that moment, his unyielding spine collapsed with a crash.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
