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Chapter 78
“This world is full of injustice and dark, crooked paths. It’s not something a 14-year-old like you can shoulder alone. You should trust others within the sect more,” Yan Ye paused. He wasn’t good at educating kids. “I know you’ve spent your first ten years relying only on yourself, doing everything on your own. You’re probably used to handling things personally. When I told you to always be cautious, I didn’t mean to make you offend people by speaking carelessly.”
For the first time, someone who could handle everything with ease found themselves struggling—this time with teaching.
Lin Du understood cultivation with ease, but her personality was as stubborn as they come.
Seeing her remain silent, Yan Ye sighed in frustration. “Did you hear me? There are some things beyond your control, and they have nothing to do with you. You’re…”
“Aside from your master, you’re a once-in-a-millennium genius. Even at your age, there were many things your master couldn’t accomplish alone.”
Lin Du thought to herself: How did this lecture turn into self-praise?
She knew her faults better than anyone else. She found it difficult to trust others with important tasks. Some might call it heroism, but others would say it made her a lone wolf, standing out unnecessarily.
She had told herself that everyone had their own fate, yet her strong empathy made her unable to turn a blind eye to the world’s suffering, even when her own life was in chaos.
Lin Du was aware that she never truly let go of certain things, though she had gotten used to pretending otherwise.
If she had shared her plans with others earlier, the outcome would have been different. But she was used to keeping the most important tasks to herself. If she had revealed her plans, they probably wouldn’t have agreed with them.
Molin being poisoned wasn’t her fault, but she couldn’t help but run endless mental calculations, going over how things could’ve been different.
But what was done was done, leaving only regrets.
Lin Du knew all of this—she understood the reasoning, but she was still trapped in it, unable to escape.
Yan Ye never thought that raising a kid would be so troublesome. After thinking it over, he suggested, “Why don’t you go chat with the sect leader?”
He had spent the first half of his life consumed by formations and swordsmanship, and the latter half consumed by the complexities of fate. Yan Ye had never planned to take on a disciple, but it seemed he was destined to form this bond.
He once thought having a smart, independent disciple was a blessing. Now, he felt overwhelmed. A disciple who understood too much was difficult to trick or placate.
Lin Du glanced at him. “Which sect leader? The current one or the previous?”
“Either.” Yan Ye propped his head up with his hand, not at all bothered by his attempt to shirk responsibility. “Don’t practice the spiritual technique I gave you before. Go find your senior brother Cang Li to purify your soul.”
Lin Du raised an eyebrow. “Purify?”
“Yes, go quickly. Soul masters are good at dealing with small issues in the spirit. We don’t want rumors spreading that a 14-year-old got possessed by resentment and developed a heart demon. I’d never live it down.”
Yan Ye sat up straight, urging her. “Not only that, but even after you ascend, people will still laugh, saying ‘That Yan Ye Immortal might be great at everything, but he sure can’t raise a disciple.’”
Lin Du quickly jumped up from the ice, running off before Yan Ye could react, leaving her master half-amused, half-resigned, still sitting on the frozen surface.
The sun was rising, casting light over the frosty territory of Luoze. Even the ice on the lake reflected dazzling beams onto Yan Ye’s figure.
He blinked slowly, a wild and untamed look of surprise flickering across his face. He raised his hand to touch his eyelashes lightly.
It seemed like… he could see some light. But why?
It took him a moment to realize that he had left a trace of his spiritual consciousness inside Lin Du’s mind as a safeguard in case anything happened to her. Just now, he had instinctively tried to check on her direction through that connection, which made him “see” the flash of light.
It felt strange. When spiritual senses extend, they can perceive many details of the material world, but they don’t produce that kind of bright gleam.
Yan Ye sat quietly on the ice, aware that his long-stagnant insight into his fate had finally begun to stir again, as a barrier trembled ever so slightly.
The Supreme Sect had nine major peaks, and Cang Li resided on one of them, located in the northwest, known as Tianxin Peak.
When Lin Du arrived at the peak, two mischievous juniors still hadn’t returned. The palace at the top was clean and orderly, and beneath a barren tree, someone had set up a stove, brewing tea and roasting oranges. Beside it, a black-lacquered, red-painted ancient zither lay.
“Senior Brother.”
“Already here? My tea isn’t ready yet. Want to wait a bit?” Cang Li gestured naturally toward the cushion opposite him, indicating for her to sit.
Lin Du complied. She didn’t have much interaction with this senior brother. He was elegant, though different from Hegui’s gentleness. Cang Li carried a scholarly, noble aura, somewhat aloof and refined, like the leafless tree beneath which he sat—proud yet austere.
Cang Li glanced up at Lin Du, the little junior sister whom their sect elder had specifically written to remind him to look after.
In just one year since joining the sect, she had improved considerably. The once scruffy girl with yellowish hair now sat properly before him, her hair tied neatly into a traditional style, with a jade ornament fastening her forehead net…
He couldn’t help but reach out and, under Lin Du’s puzzled gaze, adjust her hairnet, making sure the jade clasps on both sides were perfectly symmetrical.
“All done.”
Much better.
Lin Du: …So this Second Senior Brother has OCD?
“Uncle Yan Ye already told me that when you searched souls, you were tainted by the resentment of a thousand-year-old ghost,” Cang Li said as he seriously began preparing tea. “Soul-searching isn’t something upright people do often. First, it’s not exactly aboveboard, and second, it easily exposes you to the influence of others’ souls. If there’s any demonic resentment, it can greatly harm one’s cultivation.”
“It seems Uncle Yan Ye doesn’t care about these small details, so he probably didn’t tell you.”
Lin Du nodded. “My master doesn’t really talk about those things.”
“Actually, I haven’t mentioned it to my two disciples either. Mainly because most young disciples of the righteous path wouldn’t even think about soul-searching.”
Lin Du: …I’ve just read too many novels and random books about demons and monsters, haven’t I?
“After all, it drains a tremendous amount of spiritual consciousness to sift through every insignificant memory of someone else’s life,” Cang Li paused. “Even for a cultivator at my level, a single soul search would be exhausting and would require a long period of recovery.”
The longer the life of the person being searched, the more spiritual energy it consumes. It’s like reading a boring record of someone’s mundane, chaotic life, and then having to extract important information from the monotony. It’s basically a form of torture for the practitioner.
But Lin Du didn’t seem to show any negative effects. Yan Ye hadn’t mentioned this in his transmission either, and from his earlier nervousness, it was clear that Lin Du’s soul was merely tainted with resentment, without significant depletion of spiritual energy.
That’s pretty impressive.
Cang Li looked at the child before him. Could this be the level of spiritual energy a child her age should have?
The tea was ready, and Cang Li elegantly poured it. “Drink this tea, and then we’ll begin.”
Lin Du’s hand trembled as she took the teacup. Why did that sound like drinking Meng Po’s soup before heading off to the afterlife?
Cang Li’s long fingers reached out, passed over the guqin, and landed on a nearby rosewood suona, which he picked up.
Just as Lin Du looked up, she saw that her Second Senior Brother had already placed the suona against his chest and was starting to gather his breath.
“Wait…wait, Senior Brother, why are you picking up a suona?”
Cang Li exhaled, and the suona let out a deflated sound. Then he explained, “Didn’t you get tainted by resentment in your soul? The suona is the best for expelling yin energy, sending off spirits, and invigorating yang energy. Even military bugles in the mundane world have used suonas.”
Lin Du muttered under her breath, “I’m just worried it might send me off as well.”
The suona’s sound is worth its weight in gold, but instead of ascending…she might really ascend.
Cang Li freed one hand to reposition the teacup she had put down, aligning the patterns precisely. Then, he raised the suona again. “This is the fastest method, Junior Sister. Your soul might shake a bit, but bear with it.”
Lin Du looked up, and her once refined and elegant Senior Brother’s facial muscles tightened. His mouth formed a rigid line, making him look like an elegant version of a puffed-up pufferfish.
Suddenly, she felt she might have misunderstood music cultivators. Deeply misunderstood them.
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