Chapter 230: One Night

As soon as Li Piaoqing turned off this street, she immediately let out a heavy breath, her eyebrows twisted into a peak, and she stared straight ahead without saying a word.

Those who had been with her for a long time could tell at a glance that the Young Sect Master was in a very bad mood.

Just now in the prefecture office, the Cuiyu Sect, which had arrived in a hurry, was extremely passive. By the time they arrived, the conversation between the Seven Serpents and Lord Sui was already nearing its end, leaving no time for them to speak at all. The presence of the Zhang family head blocked a large space for rebuttal.

Most importantly, by the time they figured out what had happened, the Seven Serpents had just right exhausted Lord Sui's patience for this matter.

Before learning that Sui Zaihua was arriving tonight, she had been thinking about what the Zhang family could do. She kept an eye on all the Zhang family's power in the city and even sent people to Xu Gu, but she didn't expect that the one doing things wasn't the Zhang family, but just the Zhang family head alone. This family head wasn't doing anything to the Cuiyu Sect, but helping the Seven Serpents clear their name.

The young girl had just watched them turn black into white with anger.

The key to this matter was that they had no way of grasping the fact that Lord Sui was arriving tonight, and this was clearly information the Seven Serpents had grasped from their last conversation.

Therefore, even though she had kept an eye on this matter and had precautions, she was still suddenly achieved by the Seven Serpents.

The young girl thought silently about the consequences of this matter, her face pulled very tight.

Li Weiru laughed on the side, "I just said, it's better to go back and eat a bowl of fish, saving yourself from getting angry."

The young girl turned her head to look at him and let out a heavy breath. "If Qijiao Shang Huaitong really enters the Sword Academy, let's see if you can still laugh."

"How could I not laugh? Going back to cold fish and hard meat is what's truly a pity," the old man laughed heartily. "Don't think about it. Go back, chat, and rest. You still have to fight well tomorrow."

Li Piaoqing still kept a straight face, the heaviness of frustration and irritability intertwined on her eyebrows.

Li Weiru sighed silently, turned his head, and watched her quietly for a while. Under the moonlight, the two walked with a rustling sound, like the sound of shadows rubbing against the ground.

The old man said softly, "Piaoqing, from a child to a sect master, you have already walked very fast."

This was the old man's usual warm and gentle opening. Although she had heard it many times, it still had the power to soothe people—regardless of the content, this voice was quite reassuring.

Li Piaoqing nodded and relaxed her eyebrows a little.

But the old man didn't stop there. "I know, you have never slacked off, and you have even walked more diligently. You have considered every matter carefully and thoroughly—for a small four-person stronghold of the Seven Serpents, you could even make two sets of backup plans."

Li Weiru sighed lightly. "This is of course very useful, because almost every thing you want to do can succeed, and I am very relieved to hand things over to you... but have you felt powerless recently?"

"... A bit tired."

"It's very simple, because there are more things," the old man laughed. "You still use your sharp eyes and excellent courage to try your best to do every thing well, but the affairs I have handed over to you don't even reach one-third... What about after I hand them all over to you? What about after the Cuiyu Sect becomes even stronger?"

"This is not the road to being a 'sect master'; you've walked crookedly."

Li Piaoqing came back to her senses and turned her head. The old man was looking at her broadly and kindly.

"... Are you saying my way of doing things is problematic?" Li Piaoqing thought. "This... I also felt it. I was thinking, I should grasp the big and let go of the small, and do things according to their importance."

Li Weiru nodded with a laugh. "You have been clever since you were small. I know that even if I don't say it, you will realize it yourself very soon... but what I want to say is more thorough—it's not a question of size or importance, but that you should detach from the concept of 'doing things'."

"..." Li Piaoqing stood still in a daze.

"You can link the Tianshan Mountains, eliminate the backbone of the Seven Serpents in one night, and bring the Cuiyu Sect back from the dead. This is something I couldn't do in my whole life. You still want to do more and better, which is of course not bad. As a sect master, you are already excessively excellent." The old man also stopped his steps and looked at her warmly.

"But what if you fail?"

"..."

"It will be just like today," Li Weiru answered for himself, "because one fails to accomplish a task and lets the other party gain the upper hand, one becomes irritable and agitated, thinking oneself insulted, and focuses entirely on how to win back a crushing victory somewhere else."

The old man looked directly at the young girl with serious eyes. "Piaoqing, this is not what a sect master looks like."

"..."

"The Cuiyu Sect wants to become strong. There are a hundred aspects to manage and a thousand things to do. Pressing the Seven Serpents to death is just one side of it. You must broaden your sharp, invincible eyes. It doesn't matter if they become dull; raise them to a high place to look at these things." Li Weiru turned around and moved his steps forward again. "Piaoqing, I know you already possess the divine courage to charge into the formation and cut down the general, so when can you sit steadily in the middle tent and plan for all directions?"

"... I know, Master."

Li Weiru nodded. "Then do you know where to start?"

"... Put down the fine details of things."

"No, you must first change your mindset," Li Weiru looked at her with a smile. "Otherwise, you are just 'playing the role of sect master' again—you are used to playing the role of sect master, aren't you?"

Li Piaoqing's apricot eyes widened.

"Just now in front of Zhang Wenqian, you were slightly angry but not chaotic, dignified but not arrogant, only showing cold anger, not showing urgent injury..." Li Weiru walked slowly with his hands behind his back, his tone also slow, looking at her and laughing. "But you were already furious inside, weren't you?"

"..."

The old man turned his head and said softly, "You are smart, very good at acting, and react quickly. You know what expression to show in front of what kind of person, and you also understand the principle of not showing joy or anger in your face... but you acting means you are not, right?"

"..."

"That's why I said it's a mindset problem. You are now like a fierce general leading the whole army, trying hard to make the demeanor of a marshal—but you should be the marshal."

"But... mindset..." Li Piaoqing looked at this old man who had brought her up since she was small. Since she had memories, she had rarely seen him angry. The young girl pouted and said, "Are you saying, be as broad-minded as you?"

"Haha, it's not teaching you the skill of self-cultivation," Li Weiru laughed. "And in fact, this isn't cultivated either; I've had a good temper since I was small."

Then the old man was silent for a moment and sighed lightly. "Therefore, the Cuiyu Sect has made no progress in my hands, but is instead setting like the sun."

"..."

"However, this is exactly what I want to tell you. I am like this, so the Cuiyu Sect is like this. Can you understand?" The old man looked at her earnestly. "This just shows the influence of a true sect master on the sect. A sect master is not a manager who helps the sect do chores. Doing things and then making a calm and dignified demeanor in front of outsiders is far from enough. For a sect with origins and a future, the sect master is its heart and soul. Therefore, the sect master's own mindset determines the temperament and character of the entire sect—don't imitate its appearance, but be its soul. You are only one step away from this."

"... This step seems much harder than doing a hundred things in detail."

Li Weiru stood still. "Look at me, Piaoqing."

Li Piaoqing turned her head.

The old man's deep gaze was gentle and firm. He looked at the young girl, as if wanting to pass on his spirit. "Piaoqing, you are indeed not depressed because you didn't win a game for the Seven Serpents, because on this day, the Cuiyu Sect did a hundred things, and it's normal for one or two to go wrong; you also have no desire to win back a game, because they are just seeking to live, and you just want to continue to press it to death, that's all; you are even less likely to be furious and retaliate because of Zhang Wenqian's move behind your back, because the Cuiyu Sect is a famous and upright sect, always generous and upright. You grew up in the mountains and fields, treating the jade cicadas as clean souls; you will also never be anyone's appendage, just like a kingfisher will starve to death if caught, and will never leave the green mountains and clear waters... You think this way, and you will act this way. Don't go and disguise yourself to play anything. You are the essence of the Cuiyu Sect's current generation."

Li Piaoqing looked at the old man in a daze and nodded slowly, suddenly frowning again. "I might lose this feeling tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter," Li Weiru smiled and hugged her shoulder. "For the next two years, I will always remind you."

——————————————

When returning from the prefecture office, the bright moon was already in the middle of the sky. In fact, it wouldn't be long before dawn.

For several people, tonight was not a plain night. Qijiao Shang Huaitong pushed open the bedroom door, leaned his sword against the side, and the dampness of moss came from under his feet.

The water pavilion was always like this, always difficult to suppress the dampness, especially in the rainy season. The thresholds and window lattices always had places where white velvet would grow.

For a considerable period of time when he was a boy, Qijiao Shang Huaitong liked to watch them in a daze, thinking about whether they counted as so-called ghost life.

Later he thought they certainly didn't.

Born on dead wood, unable to stretch, living when meeting rain, dying when seeing the sun—such short-lived things are not worth a smile.

True ghost life must be stretched in the earth, light silk and brittle threads, but incarnated into billions, living endlessly, never ending, never exhausting.

Since reading this sword scripture as a child, that ghostly and strange scene often appeared in his dreams. He had always tried to capture that strange and wonderful realm, reading, thinking hard, understanding, experiencing... He worked hard in it and was also obsessed with it.

And the inspiration appeared in an instant.

That night, he suddenly dreamed of entering the underworld, seeing thousands of threads glowing with fluorescence growing on his body, and in the distant place, there were countless other selves tightly connected to him. They shared everything, including disasters and benefits.

In that strange realm, wherever "they" permeated, everything was under control.

That kind of clear control could never be explained in words, and that kind of perception that penetrated everything could never be reached by humans. Having held this book for eight years, he understood for the first time why it was called the "immortal" of the earth.

And only after reaching this kind of realm and grasping this feeling did that style of sword appear so clearly before his eyes, within reach.

He even suspected that he had already stabbed it out in his dream.

But after waking up, the immortal dream had no traces.

But from then on, he knew the realm he should reach and the feeling he should grasp—understanding the meaning of "all is me," he could master the sword of ghost life.

In the days that followed, he sat in meditation, practiced sword, read books, and even planted and felt, bitterly pursuing that feeling. And it wasn't until he was truly about to reach it that he realized how important the missing pages were to this road.

There is not only it underground, and there is not only him in the human world. All things compete to live; why should "all be me"?

These two pages should have been written with the road, but now they had disappeared.

Qijiao Shang Huaitong was stuck here for two years, until one day he completely realized the inferiority and ridiculousness of the people around him.

The sense of superiority that had always been hidden in his heart, looking down on everything around him, was truly placed in front of him that day—bearing the immortal sword, he would eventually be a guest of the high blue clouds. He was originally, naturally, high above.

Why can't all be me?

But there are obstacles; just pull them out.

Relying on this violence and arrogance, he spent a long time writing the "Grass Pulling Chapter," filling in these two missing pages.

Up to this point, everything was ready.

He would pass the preparation for all this, under the attention of ten thousand people tomorrow, in front of Sui Zaihua, and penetrate this sword.

Whatever conspiracies, dirty water, or crimes, everything was a ridiculous obstacle that could be stepped on. Ignoring anyone's obstruction, he would enter the Sword Academy with an invincible posture.

With the cultivation of the Sixth Life and the age of twenty-three, repairing and learning a sword of intent, he considered himself enough to look down on Lianzhou. And just by looking at Sui Zaihua's expression after hearing about this, he knew that he also agreed with this point.

Qijiao Shang Huaitong took off his cloak. In the wooden box, five small grasses were still growing.

He walked over, pulled out two more, and threw them on the ground. The wooden box looked empty.

This time he didn't light a candle. The moonlight shone through the door and window, falling on the soil that had lost the cover of the grass, emitting a bright frost-like silver light.

Qijiao Shang Huaitong picked up the Ghost Immortal Scroll and, as usual, conducted his study for the umpteenth time.

And after reading this familiar half-volume this time, he looked at the second half, couldn't help but flip a few pages, and the corners of his mouth hooked into an expectant smile.

Outside the window, the cold color turned into a warm color, and the sun rose.

—

When the first ray of morning sun shone on the city tower, the west gate of Bowang City had long been opened.

The city gate opened half an hour earlier than usual today. The city defense soldiers stood in two rows, leaving the middle path spacious.

They didn't wait long before the sound of hooves like crisp thunder came from far to near. Soon, six riders carrying swords galloped in. The white horse in the lead was as graceful as a startled dragon, pulling a full five or six zhang away from the companions behind.

The second touch of white was among the four people behind, even more pure than this white horse; it was a graceful figure wearing a pure white cloak.

The curious waiting soldiers knew at the first sight of these people that they were definitely not locals.

If it were just one, it would be fine, but six coming together—Bowang Prefecture couldn't see such figures of temperament.

In fact, just by looking at the people waiting at the gate, one knew that these visitors were definitely not simple—an old man who looked hunched and weak, but those who had gone to watch the martial trial yesterday knew that he was the Cuiyu Sect Master, Li Weiru.

And standing next to him was a man who was also over fifty but looked much healthier, in brocade clothes and soft boots, with an extraordinary temperament. The soldiers didn't recognize this face, but the talisman hanging on his waist was one that their superiors had required them to memorize to the death when they took office—it had long been branded in their brains—the Immortal Platform of the World.

Seeing the visitors, these two big figures, who could be counted on one hand in Bowang, actually stepped forward to greet them at the same time, and these six sword guests immediately reined in their horses and dismounted. The tall man in the lead stood steadily on the ground, raised his head, and cupped his fists. "Tianshan Weifengchi disciple Gu Yunfu, greets the two seniors."

Li Weiru smiled. "Lucky to meet you, truly extraordinary demeanor. We have corresponded by letter. I am Li Weiru of the Cuiyu Sect, and this adult is the Platform Master of the Bowang Immortal Platform, Cheng Lin, Cheng Yanjian."

"Long admired," Gu Yunfu saluted again, stretched his arm backward, and said, "The four junior brothers are all disciples of our sect's East Pool. This one—"

The person wearing the white cloak was just dismounting. Her movements were like clear snow and flowing clouds. She lifted her hood, revealing a face of indescribable beauty, with jade hairpins and phoenix pendants, as if a celestial being had descended to the world.

"—is the Jade Maiden of our sect's Mulan Pool, 【An Xiang】 Shi Zanxue."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 231 =====