Chapter 53: Meeting Qingjun Again

Meeting Qingjun Again

"The Heart Restriction and the Fallen Leaf Restriction are both commonly used by the Profound Heaven Sect. Not only can they temper a disciple's spirit, but if a True Person were to fall, or even if the Profound Heaven Sect were to be destroyed, these restrictions would never fail and could still serve to pass on the Daoist lineage. It is just like those inner-scene worlds scattered throughout the Zhou Tian today. You have already seen the inner-scene world of a Nascent Soul cultivator. At that time, you were a mortal, and Liu Yin had just fallen, so you only saw a glimpse of the scenery and walked out without knowing or feeling anything. Now, more than twenty years later, that cliffside should have been encompassed within it. For low-tier cultivators, that is a semi-independent restriction array. Once inside, it is difficult to get out; you must find the exact node where the array operates."

"But if a Grotto-Heaven cultivator falls, it is different. When a Grotto-Heaven cultivator falls, the Grotto-Heaven they opened may not necessarily collapse. Take the Purple Void Heaven... no, no, take the Sect Master... no, no, take True Person Xu of the Pure Yang Yan Zheng Heaven."

Wang Panpan scratched itself lightly and grumbled inwardly, "How did I get so bad at speaking after hanging around that dull deer from Tianlu for so long?"

Ruan Ci could not help but smile slightly. Wang Panpan glared at her, and after the human and cat bickered for a while, it continued, "Take True Person Xu for example. He has achieved Grotto-Heaven for thousands of years, and the laws within his Grotto-Heaven have evolved to be extremely perfect. If he were to perish now, the Pure Yang Yan Zheng Heaven would still exist for many, many years. Even if the Profound Heaven Sect were to be destroyed one day, or if someone were to shatter the Grotto-Heaven, if this treasure vault were lucky, it would not be annihilated just like that. After several more great eons, when no one in the world remembers the Profound Heaven Sect, if someone were to obtain a fragment of the Pure Yang Yan Zheng Heaven, this treasure vault would provide them with what they want most and need most at that moment as they search. As they cultivate step by step and grow stronger step by step, they are also tempered in heart and character by this Heart Restriction, and tempered in magic power and patience by this Fallen Leaf Restriction. Even if they were just a small cultivator when they first obtained the treasure, this treasure vault could cultivate them step by step to the Nascent Soul realm. Only then would they be able to fully control the treasure vault and understand that they are inheriting the lineage of True Person Xu of the Profound Heaven Sect."

It turned out there was so much to these seemingly ordinary restrictions. Ruan Ci was listening intently, but after reflecting on it, she chuckled, "Oh my, when one dies, the Dao dissipates, and cultivators cannot be reincarnated. If I were to become a great power, I would never set such restrictions. If I die, I die. After I die, let it be whatever it may be; it has nothing to do with me anyway."

Wang Panpan's eyes were round, and it tilted its head to look at Ruan Ci, laughing, "These are all silly words from before your cultivation base went up. Later, you will know how ridiculous you sound saying that."

Ruan Ci was about to retort when Wang Panpan meowed, "Think about it first, what did we encounter in Liu Yin's inner-scene world?"

Indeed, the inner-scene world had not yet evolved at that time, and they had already seen Liu Yin's cloud-Qi incarnation. Ruan Ci recalled what Wang Panpan had said that day and could not help but feel dazed. Wang Panpan laughed, "See? I said so much to tell you that in the future, after you reach Foundation Establishment, you will inevitably have to train in the various dangerous places and dead ends of the Zhou Tian. Many of the dangerous places in our Langhuan Zhou Tian are transformed from the inner-scene worlds of cultivators, and there are also Grotto-Heaven fragments. When you get there, don't treat everything you see as a treasure."

"For example, this kind of treasure vault—you get one, take it back, and hide it yourself, thinking this treasure vault is truly good, sensing your moods, having everything. Just the process of seeking treasure is an excellent tempering. Hehe, you search for everything in the treasure vault. When you reach Nascent Soul and open the vault to look, you'll be dumbfounded—you took someone's treasure, but didn't do things for them; how can there be such a good thing? Whether there are inscriptions or records hidden in the treasure vault detailing the secrets of the treasure owner's sect's destruction, or even if it simply hides an incarnation like Liu Yin's, you have received so much help during your cultivation that you will inevitably have to bear the karma, avenge the treasure owner, or help their incarnation be reborn. Going a step further, you will inevitably have to offer up your physical body and be possessed by a great power; it's all unclear."

Although Tianlu was also very knowledgeable, he was ultimately True Person Wang's spirit pet, and there were many things he didn't think to say to Ruan Ci. Ruan Ci was also used to listening to both sides; listening to Tianlu and Wang Panpan talk about one thing often yielded two different flavors. However, although Wang Panpan was outside the Profound Heaven Sect, its speech was broader, but it was also a bit more difficult to deal with than Tianlu. While chatting aimlessly with Ruan Ci, it did not forget the main point, "However, you haven't reached Foundation Establishment yet. What kind of thing do you need to specifically seek from a True Person and go to the Western Wasteland treasure vault to get? Only very valuable treasures need to be 'swept from the courtyard.' The things you need now, Tianlu can just grab for you."

Ruan Ci said, "Maybe the True Person is just stingy."

Now that she had left the Purple Void Heaven, she could speak ill of True Person Wang without restraint. However, Wang Panpan did not dare to follow up. It was usually unbridled in its speech, not caring about sensing or not, calling people by their full names, but it was very careful about True Person Wang. It spat, "Don't talk nonsense. The True Person must have given you something very precious; it's just that you lack the experience and don't know how rare it is."

Ruan Ci had no psychological burden about lying to it, but she had to consider whether Wang Panpan would see through it at a glance. The various people around her all came with their own agendas. Wang Panpan's demand seemed the clearest: to ensure she could live until the day Xie Xie Yan Huan returned and successfully returned the sword. But it was hard to say whether Xie Xie Yan Huan had given her some instructions in private. She thought for a moment and said, "It's that I ate that Dream-Returning Immortal Fruit. The first one was delicious, but the second one had no taste. When I talked to Tianlu about it, Tianlu said that time-based spiritual objects are most effective the first time. He wanted to get me some more to eat, but the True Person said I had to go to the treasure vault to get it myself."

Tianlu was always sending good things from the Purple Void Heaven to Catch-Moon Cliff, so Wang Panpan did not doubt it. It meowed and laughed, "What kind of treasure gourd did you get?"

Ruan Ci showed it, "It's a treasure gourd. The True Person said this is an external medicine useful when advancing to Nascent Soul."

"Yo, this treasure gourd is truly rare. It's a good thing the Purple Void Heaven doesn't have many disciples, and the few here now don't really have much use for it..."

Wang Panpan knew the old stories of the Profound Heaven Sect very clearly. As the two talked, Ruan Ci learned a lot of common knowledge about the cultivation world, as well as some unwritten rules of the Profound Heaven Sect. The Profound Heaven Sect would not provide disciples with external medicines for advancement; this was to leave room for favors from various forces. Many times, the contacts between various peaks relied on these external medicines that were essential for cultivation but always rare and hard to find. However, where Grotto-Heaven True Persons went to search for these external medicines was not something Ruan Ci's current cultivation base could know.

A Qi Condensation disciple should just focus on cultivating. When Wang Panpan heard that True Person Wang had told Ruan Ci to reach Foundation Establishment in one year, it called it harsh, but it didn't think it was absurd. It said, "My cultivation base is not high enough to see clearly, but the True Person must have seen that you were slacking off. If he said you can reach Foundation Establishment in a year, then you have that ability. Starting today, don't delay even for a day; hurry up and work hard."

Saying this, it stopped delaying Ruan Ci's cultivation and jumped out of the quiet room itself. Ruan Ci could still hear it shouting at a few servants, telling them to prepare to serve Ruan Ci during her closed-door cultivation and not to disturb the main room at will.

Saying not to disturb at will, but wasn't the one making the most noise this cat? Ruan Ci smiled helplessly, but also with a trace of affection. She lay on the bed to rest for a few hours, feeling that the spirit she had consumed in the Western Wasteland treasure vault courtyard had gradually recovered. Only then did she get up to activate the array, sit cross-legged in the room, and silently recite the "Yin Jun Dan Ge Zhu" in her heart, focusing her spirit on the mysterious scripture that seemed to contain the ultimate principles of the Dao.

"The moon is full in the sky, the human spirit permeates the body, the sun and moon have their times, reverse the operation of yin and yang, the Great One has a lord, in the heart-scene, who can see it, it cannot be measured..."

In a trance, that Great One Lord flew out from the jade pool again. Last time it was faint and ethereal, like condensed clouds and mist, but this time it was draped in jade pool golden dew and hair wreathed in dantian purple Qi. Its eyes opened slightly. Ruan Ci looked up and met its gaze, a sense of awe appearing instinctively, but it was dispelled by her in the next instant. She just waited calmly for the moment when her eyes would sting and her consciousness would be swallowed by the Donghua Sword.

Her way of dealing with this might be rare among many intent-cultivators. The Great One Lord stared for a moment, and there was a subtle change at the corners of its lips. Ruan Ci's eyes followed, but before she could see clearly, she felt a pain in her eyes, as if she had stepped into empty air. When she looked up again, the scene around her had changed. She was standing in a corner of a Great Heaven, looking up at the sky, seeing cranes crying everywhere, countless white cranes passing through rainbows, and the sound of bamboo rustling like rain. The spiritual energy around her was thick, as if it had substance, rushing into Ruan Ci's body, even giving her the illusion that her cultivation base was growing with every breath. She didn't know when she had returned to some era thousands or millions of years ago.

The first time she saw Qingjun, Ruan Ci was still a mortal, had not opened her meridians, and at that time had no heart to perceive spiritual energy. But this time, everything was very different from the last. The first experience was like a dream, unable to be controlled, as if only her consciousness was peeking from outside the sky, her field of vision following her will, and there was no sense of her own body. But this time, Ruan Ci's consciousness was much clearer. Looking down, she could see her plain white hands, as if she were actually here. Even the feeling of absorbing spiritual energy freely was extremely real. She had experienced this feeling of unobstructed absorption of spiritual energy in the identities of Chang Chunfeng and Qu Pingting, but until now, she didn't know that with her aptitude, in a Great Heaven without Dao Ancestor spiritual charm, the speed of absorbing spiritual energy would be so astonishing.

"But maybe it's because the spiritual energy here is extremely pure... it's not that my aptitude is superior." She quickly thought again, "Last time I fell into this scene, I saw Qingjun. This time, alone in the deep mountains, is something going to happen? Or is it not as I thought, that every time I practice intent-cultivation, I backtrack to an arbitrary time, and it's not necessarily related to Qingjun every time?"

Just as she was thinking this, she suddenly felt someone laughing beside her. Ruan Ci turned her head to look and saw a woman with a tall figure and long, trailing sleeves. It was exactly the Qingjun Dao Ancestor she had seen in her dream last time. She didn't know how long she had been watching Ruan Ci from the side, but only now, when her heart moved and her Qi was drawn, did she appear.

"It's you again."

Qingjun's appearance was indescribable to Ruan Ci. She was clearly staring at her, but as soon as she looked away, she forgot everything, leaving only a faint sense of intimacy. She smiled and said, "Thirty-eight thousand six hundred and thirty-two years later, I will see you for the first time. What is your name?"

At this moment, everything around her was becoming less and less like a dream to Ruan Ci. She had experienced the dreams of Chang Chunfeng and Qu Pingting. Although she knew all their secrets, she could not interfere with their actions, and the feeling of being a bystander was still strong. At this moment, she was absolutely in this heaven, without a trace of confusion or muddle. Even the true name and speech-spirit that Tianlu had mentioned, and all the taboos and considerations, were still fresh in her mind. And the power of a Dao Ancestor could be seen from this one sentence of Qingjun. Thinking about it, her existence might have already transcended time, knowing the first meeting thirty thousand years later. If she gave her true name, her connection with this universe might all be in Qingjun's field of vision.

However, for Ruan Ci, this question was not difficult to answer. She did not hesitate and said frankly, "My name is Ruan Ci, but this is not my true name."

The Donghua Sword could suppress the thoughts of the sword envoy, but this move was only for others. Qingjun was a sword spirit, and the Donghua Sword naturally did not guard against her. Ruan Ci was already unfamiliar with the Heart-Cleansing Mantra, and before a Dao Ancestor, it was even less worth mentioning. Qingjun only needed one glance to see through her thoughts, but for some reason, Ruan Ci had a feeling that Qingjun didn't seem to do so. She didn't care about Ruan Ci's answer either, just nodded and smiled, "You are a very interesting child."

Ruan Ci asked, "Am I the first one to come see you?"

Qingjun nodded, "Until this moment, yes."

She said this with great mystery. Ruan Ci felt something in her heart and couldn't help but ask, "What is special about this moment that can attract me to come?"

Qingjun laughed, "This should be asked of you. What is special about me that allows you to find me again and again in the long river of time?"

Ruan Ci was also stumped by the question and muttered to herself, "Hmm, what am I doing when I come back..."

Is it that every time someone who practices the "Yin Jun Dan Ge Zhu" operates the method, they see their past self and can explain some things that only they know? And although I also practice this formula, I am just taking a shortcut. What I want to retrieve is not my previous cultivation base, and plus I have no past life, so I have no way to anchor myself, so I followed the sword spirit's sensing and returned to Qingjun's side?

The soul memory she sensed when taking time-based spiritual objects was also hidden in the Donghua Sword, and plus the soul was also stained with Qingjun's true spirit, so it was normal to have this sensing. However, Ruan Ci thought that if she practiced the "Dan Ge Zhu" again in the future, she would inevitably break into Qingjun's Daoist field again and again. She couldn't help but blush, feeling that she was very rude, and didn't know how to explain it. This matter was really a long story, and besides...

She was actually very curious about this point. Thinking that she would probably not be able to help herself one day, she gave up resisting, looked up, and asked, "Then, then... do you know that when I come, you are already dead?"

In Qingjun's eyes, sword Qi rose like mist. Ruan Ci couldn't help but feel a sense of intimacy toward this sword Qi. This was the Donghua sword Qi that had once almost killed her and was nurtured in her visualization diagram every day. It turned out that from ancient times to the present, after so many trials, it had not changed a bit.

"I know now."

She seemed to be attracted by this sword Qi, unable to help herself, and threw herself into Qingjun's eyes. Before her consciousness became hazy, she only heard Qingjun's laughing sigh, and in the dark, the three thousand Great Dao laws seemed to be dripped by water, rippling with changes. It seemed that another Great Dao incarnation had manifested in the Qinghua Myriad Things Heaven, but Ruan Ci could not recognize it yet, and her consciousness drifted away, falling into a leisurely sleep.

When she woke up again, she was already back in the quiet room. She only felt the fluctuation of magic power in her dantian, and her meridians were also bloated and about to burst. In her inner vision, the small lake was full and about to overflow. With a slight ripple, the magic power spilled into her meridians, causing bursts of impact. If it weren't for her body being tempered by sword intent, I'm afraid the fluctuation of magic power alone would have left small hidden injuries in her meridians.

"No wonder Qu Pingting didn't want to wait for that Young Master Sheng. Just for a short while, I felt uncomfortable. Forcing the timing of Foundation Establishment back by three years is definitely not a good thing for her own cultivation."

Ruan Ci experienced her own situation carefully and thought, "Although I felt in the dream that I had as much control over Qu Pingting and the others' situation as my own, it feels different when the cultivation base is truly reflected on oneself."

"It's like when I was in the dream, although I could feel Qu Pingting's liking for that Senior Brother Liang, as soon as I woke up from the dream, I felt that the affairs of men and women, love and affection were very ridiculous... Dreams and reality are different after all."

"Hmm, also, when I returned to Qingjun's side, although it was also a spirit journey outside the sky, the feeling was very different..."

After carefully pondering the differences between several types of illusionary realms—Ruan Ci even felt that this shouldn't be called an illusionary realm, but a strange realm—Ruan Ci felt her spirit gradually recover, and also felt that this situation of overfull magic power was really uncomfortable. She simply hardened her heart, took out the treasure gourd, examined it, held it under her tongue, and thought secretly, "I can't care about the awkwardness anymore, let's just visit repeatedly for days! I hope Qingjun won't find me, this unwelcome guest, annoying!"

Having cultivated the Flawless Golden Body, her control over her body became stronger and stronger. Even a martial arts master could control sleep at will, and Ruan Ci was naturally no exception. She fell onto the pillow and fell asleep in an instant, also very familiar with the process. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping. When she woke up leisurely, she saw water ripples beside her, and she was sitting cross-legged on a lotus flower, drifting with the waves in a thousand acres of blue waves. In the distance, someone called, "Senior Brother, Fifth Senior Brother, the Ancestor has summoned you. Hurry up, don't miss the time."

Ruan Ci was already very capable of self-control at this time. Although she was still immersed in the dream, she had the energy to think about the information obtained in the dream. She digested the many memories that flooded into her brain one by one, and couldn't help but feel a jolt in her heart.

—The matter of intent-cultivation, the reason why she carefully hid it even from Wang Panpan and never meant to tell anyone, was because she was worried about this situation. And now her worries had come true. This time, what she sensed was the soul of a sword seed selected and raised in the Qingling Sect, one of the three pillars of the Sheng Sect in the Central Continent.

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Updated, sorry for the wait, everyone. This chapter is a bit mysterious, I'll send red envelopes to everyone in the comments for this chapter!

Going out to eat at noon today, having iron pot stew, updated before leaving~~~~

Watched "North and South Groceries" yesterday, it's so good! This is the infrastructure novel I wanted to read!!!!!! Good, good, good! Except for the romance part (which I personally don't care about in infrastructure novels), everything else is very much to my taste!

. Thanks to the little angels who cast overlord votes or irrigated nutrient solution for me between 2020-08-08 12:00:03~2020-08-09 11:06:00~

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Dao Dao, Li Li He Ping (3); 19452101, Yu Yu Wan Yao, Wo Yu Linu Bu Chumen, Shijian De Wangyu, Renjian Bianjing, Shuangxu (1);

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: Lou Shang De A Piao (40 bottles); Su Dahuan (15 bottles); Pang Xie (10 bottles); Quanshui Dingdong, Xun Xi, Shen Bu Ke Ce De Xia Xian, Ginaaaaaa (5 bottles); Qingyun Zhi Shang, Jiugao Heming (2 bottles); baby Leyao (1 bottle);

Thank you all very much for your support, I will continue to work hard! ===== CHAPTER 54 =====