Chapter 184: In White Jade City, Young Master Will Lecture
Every Go piece he put on the board offered him a glimpse into another world.
In the thick fog, Lu Fan was putting pieces down on the Spirit Pressure Chessboard, playing with the piece that the Buddhist Monk’s soul had transformed into.
As he played this game, he could glimpse at the Buddhist Monk’s life.
Every wanderer had a world he belonged to, as well as a civilization. These civilizations served as references from which Lu Fan could draw lessons from.
During the match, as sudden as if he were watching a movie, a blurry image appeared in Lu Fan’s eyes, like a dream.
In this dream, he saw a well-groomed young man with a paper fan in his hand, blessed with both brains and brawn.
The young man walked along Jianghu. He repaid all his debts and acted on his vengeance, killing evildoers and exterminated mountain bandits.
He was in high spirits, and he paid little to no regard to the heroes of the world. Because he was blessed with extraordinary martial arts talents, his cultivation increased rapidly.
He had barely been cultivating for a few years before he reached Peak Qi Condensation and become the strongest warrior in Jianghu.
When he reached Peak Qi Condensation, he grew tired of cultivating, because he could not progress past Qi Condensation to move to Foundation Building.
He deviated at a curious path, choosing to singlehandedly challenge the 36 schools and sects of Jianghu.
The 36 schools and sects that had been challenged by him fell—every single one of them, without exception—and the young man was victorious.
In high spirits, he mocked the heroes.
The 36 schools and sects could not stomach this humiliation. They gathered in a mountain villa to covertly discuss how to deal with this young man.
The owner of this villa personally proposed to let his celibate daughter be bait.
As such, the young man who had been traveling the world had yet another chance encounter.
Every time he had brushed past somebody in all of his past lives, he did not turn but finally, he turned back in this one.
The young man brought the naïve young lady along with him as he traveled the world. They roamed about, they righted wrongs.
When the young man wanted to try breaking through to Foundation Building, so the young lady invited him back to the mountain villa to do so.
The young man agreed gleefully.
The owner of the mountain villa leaked this news to the 36 schools and sects.
Everyone heard about the young man’s plans to break through to Foundation Building, and they all panicked. They joined forces to surround and ambush the villa when the young man was at the point of making his breakthrough.
A great war came to a cruel end.
The young man lost his poise and charisma. His clothes were stained crimson with blood and his hair was in a mess. There was an ennui in his eyes—that was disappointment borne of betrayal.
The young lady knew she was in the wrong.
With the price of her own life, she paid for that of the young man’s.
The young man was consumed with grief. At the sight of the young lady’s death, he flew into a rage, glaring balefully at the 36 schools and sects, his murderous intent clear as day.
That which they called the right path was still nothing more than this.
The young lady had used her life to exchange for a chance at his escape. With the self-righteous 36 schools and sects chasing after him, he went into hiding in Jianghu.
The young man escaped into a temple where he took the tonsure, cutting off his worries as he did his own hair.
He stared at the statue of Buddha all day.
Finally, he stepped into Foundation Building a year later and became the chosen Lord of the Plane.
He was neither gleeful nor devastated. He asked Buddha why he had been saved but she had not.
Tears of blood streamed down the golden Buddha statue.
The Buddhist Monk understood and he took his leave from the temple. He roamed the world with the palms of his hand together.
He visited all of the 36 schools and sects, one by one, and wiped out every single one of them. All that remained of these places were corpses that littered the ground and blood that had formed a river.
With his own methods, he saved the people of this world.
The Buddhist Monk wiped out the 36 schools and sects before he went back into seclusion. All that was left of him was his legend.
And the Buddhist Monk understood the true meaning of Buddhism. He cultivated without rest and finally stepped into Peak Foundation Building.
Eventually, his world had been invaded by other wanderers and he was defeated in battle, transforming into the Evil Buddha and scorching the entire world.
…
Lu Fan opened his eyes. Opposite him, the Go piece that the Buddhist Monk’s soul had transformed into had already disappeared completely.
The dream had come to an end, but the scenes were still vivid and clear in his mind.
“Buddha and evil… A fine line,” muttered Lu Fan as he leaned back in his wheelchair.
Lu Fan made no criticism on the Buddhist Monk’s life; he was more focused on the Buddhist Cultivation the monk had learned.
Buddhist Cultivation had existed in the world the entire time, just that it was not exceptionally powerful. And the Buddhist Monk had questioned Buddha to acquire the true meaning to this cultivation, thereby acquiring great power, only it attracted wanderers to himself. This ultimately brought about the end to his world and the Buddhist Monk was reduced to a wanderer himself.
“The worlds should be connected… Buddhist Cultivation, perhaps there exists a more profound world of Buddhist Cultivation. The world the Buddhist Monk roamed was but a drop in the ocean, and perhaps the Buddha he questioned was an existence of the Mid Level Martial World, perhaps even a High Level Martial World, because Buddhist Cultivation can also disperse into more profound realms and levels.”
Lu Fan fell into deep thought.
A gold Buddhist prayer bead condensed on the Spirit Pressure Chessboard.
This was a Buddhist Cultivation fire seed.
And Lu Fan had no plans to destroy it.
A single cultivation seed was so hard to come by, even a Buddhist prayer bead condensed from low level Buddhist Cultivation was extremely few and far between.
Besides, Lu Fan had in his possession the All Method Furnace which he could use to deduce the Buddhist dharma.
Lu Fan pocketed the prayer bead, but he did not immediately use the All Method Furnace to deduce the Buddhist dharma.
Nor did he continue dealing with the trembling blond man or the soul of the Lord of Xirong standing by the side. Along with the golden light, he sent them both sinking to the bottom of the lake again.
Of course, he was in no hurry.
After all, he had just dealt with the Buddhist Monk’s spirit.
He felt a strange wave coming from the Buddhist prayer beads, and that wave seemed like it was coming from a deeper layer of power and will.
In his wheelchair, Lu Fan’s lips quirked up in a smirk.
“That’s rather sinister, trying to save me.
“But…who in this world could possibly save me?”
Just as he spoke.
Lu Fan lifted his fingers from the arm of his chair.
In an instant, a beam of silver light shot forth from the wheelchair. The fog parted, not unlike the sky opening up.
…
The crowd looked in shock as the silver blade cut the Buddha statue into two.
As the fog dissipated, Lu Fan sat in his wheelchair and slowly wheeled forward.
“Young Master!”
Ning Zhao and the rest hurried to bow. It seemed like the young master was really coming out of his retreat this time.
Lu Fan scanned the crowd, nodding imperceptibly in acknowledgment. Although he knew the situation like the back of his hand, it was still different seeing it for himself.
Hm?
Lu Fan looked over at Jing Yue, only to see that he had undergone some sort of change when he was not paying attention. It was a change on a soul level—not only did he have a soul now, but that soul was also sharp as a sword with an edge.
“He’s actually obtained the sword spirit…”
Lu Fan gripped the arm of his wheelchair gently, somewhat shocked.
The sword spirit could affect souls, and some powerful swordsmen could wield souls as blades to wipe out the world.
Because he had been condensing the origin of the world, the upper limit of sword spirits in Wuhuang Continent had raised exponentially, and their power was one-of-a-kind.
In the past, before the origin of the world had been condensed, the number one sword cultivator of Great Zhou was Sword Saint, Hua Dongliu, who had spent decades before he barely acquired a little of the sword spirit. This was proof of how arduous the journey of sword cultivation was, and how it left people in despair.
After he condensed the origin, elements had been created. Sword spirits and elements were intriguing in that they brought about the same end through different means.
Of course, enlightenment like sword sprits and knife spirits still remained difficult to acquire, but their upper limits have been increased, so their power could reach terrifying heights.
Perhaps when the sword spirit leveled up, the gush of the sword spirit was enough to wipe out the enemy even before one drew their sword.
If they condensed Spiritual Sense, the sword spirit could wound even that.
“Not bad.”
Lu Fan nodded at Jing Yue.
Jing Yue met Lu Fan’s gaze. He had been rather apprehensive right from the start but hearing Lu Fan’s praise felt kind of suffocating for Jing Yue.
He recovered quickly. It must have been because he had acquired the sword spirit that Young Master was so pleasantly surprised.
He had not let Young Master down!
Lu Fan’s praise filled Jing Yue with the same satisfaction he got from eating cold watermelon on a sweltering summer day.
Lu Changkong, Lv Dongxuan, and the rest looked like they had something to say, but they held their tongues. They were curious about the anomaly that had occurred before, and whether it was the result of Lu Fan’s tinkering.
But before they could even speak, it as though Lu Fan knew what they wanted to ask.
He raised his hand gently, stopping them with a smile.
“Anomalies of the world are great immortal encounters designed by immortals, and they change the structure of the world. More accurately, we’re only properly crossing over into the era of cultivators after this incident.
“This incident resulted in the eight dragon gates gus.h.i.+ng with Spirit Qi to open, causing the whole of Great Zhou to be engulfed in it. Some regular people would have become cultivators because of this immortal encounter.
“This is actually a good thing. Immortal encounters from before were all controlled by the powerful imperial courts, like the South Manor Army from South County, the Xiang Family’s Army from West County, and the Black Dragon Guard from the capital city, so on and so forth… These meant there were limitations. Before there were cultivators, there were already spectacular fights in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Now that there are cultivators, as well as thousands of cultivations, won’t it be much grander?” Lu Fan asked as he looked at Lu Changkong and the rest of them.
With the increase of Spiritual Sense, it seemed like his words were ringing in their ears.
Everyone fell into deep thought.
That storm of Spirit Qi pushed the entire Great Zhou into an era of cultivators?
A great fight between cultivators…
Was Young Master serious?
Was Young Master unafraid that this great fight between cultivators could affect White Jade City?
But the crowd also realized that, with White Jade City’s power, they were definitely an ent.i.ty that could afford to sit out of it, and even manipulate the fight.
“I know you don’t really understand the idea of anomalies of the world. Three days later, I will be at the White Jade City Pavilion to explain the changes brought about by the anomaly of the world.
“You should have questions about the realm above Internal Organs Realm, right? When the time comes, I will also mention the realm above Internal Organs Realm.
“These three days are the early stages of this world’s transformation, so you’ll have to seize the opportunity to cultivate. Once you let this period pa.s.s…you’ll have to wait a long time before you come across an opportunity like this again.”
Before anyone noticed, Lu Fan had already wheeled himself to the White Jade City Pavilion, heading slowly towards the second floor.
Only his voice lingered in their ears.
As for the crowd, they barely realized Lu Fan was already on the second floor of the White Jade City Pavilion.
They were all shocked by the information Lu Fan had just given them.
“A realm above Internal Organs Realm? Just what kind of a realm was the realm above Internal Organs Realm?!”
“Early stages of this world’s transformation? An era of cultivators…”
Everyone in the crowd turned to look at one another, their eyes gleaming brilliantly.
People were always curious about the unknown. Even though they were already cultivators, this much had not changed.
Lv Dongxuan gripped the giant gold necklace on his neck. He was so agitated that even the beard at the corner of his mouth was trembling.
He had a feeling that something big was about to happen again.
“Lv Mudui, prepare the Divine Paper!
“Tianji Order!” said Lv Dongxuan with his beard as he looked at Lv Mudui who was holding a bamboo cane.
Lv Mudui’s expression changed. Another order!?
How much blood was he going to cough up this time?
Very quickly, Lv Mudui found some Divine Paper. Lv Dongxuan let Lv Mudui land a blow squarely on his chest, and he coughed up a bowl of blood.
He dipped into the b.l.o.o.d.y ink and started penning the order.
This Tianji Order was simple.
“In three days,
“Young Master will hold a lecture in White Jade City.”
Lv Dongxuan was solemn as he gripped the brush in one hand and his giant gold necklace in the other, a satisfied smile blooming on his face.
Although Lu Fan had only said he would be answering some questions in three days’ time
Answering questions, was that not a lecture?
Switching to another form of expression naturally lent the order some elegance and flair. Tianji Pavilion existed to convey the Young Master’s intentions, so how could they simply send out the information in a dry and bland manner?
It was important to note that the face of White Jade City was Tianji Pavilion!
Lv Dongxuan could imagine how much the world would be affected when they sent out a Tianji Order.
In Beiluo Lake Island, Young Master Lu will deliver a sermon…
The number one cultivator in the world will talk about the psychological processes of cultivation.
All the cultivators would be excited, no?
Of course, once the information got out, Lv Dongxuan would not bother with it anymore.
As for whether the cultivators from all over the world would be able to enter Beiluo’s Lake Island, and whether Young Master would allow them to listen in… That had absolutely nothing to do with him, Lv Dongxuan.
His only duty as part of Tianji Pavilion was simply to convey Young Master’s intentions.
He was not responsible for the business of selling tickets!
Lu Changkong saw the Tianji Order Lv Dongxuan had written up and could not help but become serious. Evidently, he knew the sort of waves this Tianji Order would cause once it was sent out.
White Jade City was the number one cultivator powerhouse now. Back then, when they sent out a Tianji Order ordering the war to stop, the world ceased the war for three months, and that was a good example of White Jade City’s standing.
Now, the Lord of White Jade City was about to talk about the psychological processes of cultivation, there was no way all the people wouldn’t be shocked.
When the time came, Beiluo City would probably attract hordes of cultivators.
But Lu Changkong lifted his head and looked at Lu Fan who was on the second floor of the pavilion.
Lu Fan was leaning against the railing as he gripped a bronze wine cup in his hand, sipping on the good wine. He seemed to have felt Lu Changkong’s gaze.
Lu Fan raised his cup suavely, a smile on his face.
Lu Changkong could not help but smile.
Ah well…
With Lu Fan’s temper, even if all the cultivators in the world gathered in Beiluo, order was not something Lu Changkong needed to worry about.
After all, everyone knew full well the temper of Beiluo’s Lu Ping’an.