Chapter 214 – Melancholy
w.a.n.g Lin’s eyes became serious. Elder Li, disciple of the Luo He Sect from the country of Huo Fen… These two sentences floated in his head as a name suddenly came to mind.
“Not possible…” w.a.n.g Lin secretly thought. How could there be such coincidence in this world? Could the girl from back then have become an elder of the Cloud Sky Sect?
w.a.n.g Lin let out a fake smile and thought that he was overthinking it.
In a voice filled with regret, Cheng Xian said, “Elder Li is a genius of her generation. Back in the country of Hou Fen, she was already famous. The country of Hou Fen was invaded, causing the Luo He sect to collapse and all of the disciples to scatter. If not for that, Elder Li wouldn’t have come here.”
w.a.n.g Lin nodded, but didn’t speak as he kept walking forward.
Cheng Xian blinked a few times and quickly followed w.a.n.g Lin. He asked, “Elder martial brother, when are we going to the western courtyard?”
w.a.n.g Lin looked at the sky and said, “After I see the master, I’ll take you to the western courtyard. But, like I told you before, I don’t know that girl. I don’t even know her name. If it doesn’t work, then oh well.”
Cheng Xian was stunned. Then, he looked away and said, “No problem, I know her name. All you have to do is ask to see her. Brother, I believe in my intuition. That girl will definitely come out to see you.”
w.a.n.g Lin didn’t say anymore as he continued to walk toward the southern courtyard.
During the entire trip, Cheng Xian almost never stopped talking. It was clear that he was someone who was good at talking. He shared all of the news, gossip, and rumors about the Cloud Sky Sect.
The way he talked was almost too lively, so w.a.n.g Lin didn’t get irritated listening to him. Just like that, the two of them arrived at the southern courtyard.
“It has to be said that Elder Li hasn’t been in the sect for long. She has only been here for about 100 years, but her alchemy skill is beyond amazing. I heard that back then, Elder Li competed with the two rank 5 alchemists in the Cloud Sky Sect. She didn’t fall behind them at all and succeeded in refining a rank 5 Demon Cultivation pill, which is one of the three treasures of our sect.” When he was talking about the pill, Cheng Xian revealed a look of admiration.
“Demon Cultivation pill?” w.a.n.g Lin was stunned. The name of this pill was too strange. Could it that be if you consume the pill, you could turn into a demon?
Cheng Xian saw w.a.n.g Lin’s expression. He quickly let out a proud smile and said, “Hehe, that pill does have a weird name. When the pill was created, the ancestor asked Elder Li to think of a name. After Elder Li thought for a while, she came up with that name. Although the pill’s name is Demon Cultivation, it has nothing to do with cultivating into a demon.”
“What effect does this pill have?” w.a.n.g Lin thought it was very strange. This pilled was call Demon Cultivation and this Elder Li was from the country of Hou Fen and from the Li Hui sect. There must be some connection there.
“The effects of this pill are great, but I don’t really know what the exact effects are.” Cheng Xian shrugged his shoulders and said, “With my position, how could I know the effect of the pill? That pill is considered one of the three great treasures of our sect.”
w.a.n.g Lin didn’t mind. He nodded his head. After a while, the two arrived outside of the southern courtyard. What appeared before w.a.n.g Lin was an arched bridge with water flowing under it. were The water emitted waves of spiritual energy
Inside the water were countless 7 color carps, leisurely swimming inside.
Cheng Xian stopped before the bridge and smiled. “There is another rumor regarding the Demon Cultivation pill. Does brother want to hear it?”
“I’m all ears.” w.a.n.g Lin’s eyes followed the bridge into the courtyard, however, there was a restriction blocking him from looking in too deep. He could vaguely see the elegant environment inside. It was like the garden of eden.
Cheng Xian proudly said, “The rumor is that Elder Li lived in the Sea of Devils for a while. The name of the pill is related to an event that she experienced there. Of course, this is only a rumor. In fact, there are a lot of rumors about Elder Li in the Cloud Sky Sect. We’ll have a good talk about them later.”
After w.a.n.g Lin heard this, his expression remained calm. He clasped his hands toward Cheng Xian and walked toward the bridge.
Cheng Xian quickly shouted, “Brother w.a.n.g Lin, I’ll wait for you here. Don’t forget that we have something to do after this!”
w.a.n.g Lin didn’t respond. He walked across the bridge.
After entering the southern courtyard, the fog became even thicker. He couldn’t see anything more than 3 feet in front of him. If w.a.n.g Lin’s main body was here, it wouldn’t bother him at all. All he would have to do was spread out his divine sense and he would be able to see everything.
But, right now, w.a.n.g Lin’s avatar was only at the 8th layer, so he could only slowly walk forward.
The deeper he went, the thicker the fog got. His vision gradually reduced from 3 feet to 1 foot.
A voice floated out from the fog.
“The southern courtyard is a restricted area. If outer disciple doesn’t have a token, you may not enter.”
w.a.n.g Lin stopped. He replied, “Disciple w.a.n.g Lin is here to greet teacher’s teacher, Elder Li.”
The voice pondered for a while, then the fog before w.a.n.g Lin opened up as if there was a giant pair of hands spreading it open. A path that lead deep into the southern courtyard appeared.
“Follow this path and you will arrive at Elder Li’s residence. Go now.” The voice appeared again and w.a.n.g Lin could hear a hint of envy in the voice.
w.a.n.g Lin followed the path without a word. The sound of an instrument could be heard in the distance. Shortly after, w.a.n.g Lin arrived at the end of the path, where a building awaited him.
Looking into the window, there was the figure of a woman. Before her was a zither. However, due to a thin layer of curtain, w.a.n.g Lin couldn’t see what she looked like.
The moment w.a.n.g Lin appeared, a song came out of the building and entered w.a.n.g Lin’s heart like a flowing river.
w.a.n.g Lin didn’t say a word, but stood there and listened to the song. After the song was over, an elegant voice came out of the building. “You are w.a.n.g Lin?”
The moment the voice entered w.a.n.g Lin’s ears, he was stunned. His face revealed a look of disbelief, but he quickly recovered. After pondering for a long time, he responded. “Yes I am.”
The moment his voice came out, a sudden pop sound came from the room as the woman broke a string on her zither. Then, the window suddenly opened. Her appearance could make anyone’s heart beat faster.
Her face was as beautiful as a flower and her skin was as smooth as jade. It could be said that her appearance was like a flower, her voice was like a songbird’s, her soul was like the moon, and her skin was like jade.
The woman’s gaze fell on w.a.n.g Lin. After looking at w.a.n.g Lin for a while, she revealed a hint of melancholy. She put down the curtain and regained her elegant composure.
w.a.n.g Lin’s expression was still as calm as still water. The moment the woman spoke, he had already figured out her ident.i.ty. He didn’t expect that, after all these years, that girl would become an elder in the Cloud Sky Sect.
Although w.a.n.g Lin’s avatar’s cultivation wasn’t high, he still had his keen instinct. He could tell that this woman’s cultivation was at the early stage of Core Formation. In any other sect, it would be strange for the teacher and disciple to have the same cultivation level, but it was not strange in the Cloud Sky Sect.
The inner yard measured someone’s worth by their alchemy skill, not their cultivation.
As a result, in the inner yard of the Cloud Sky Sect, there were a lot of cases of the teacher having lower a cultivation level than the disciple. This was because the Cloud Sky Sect had a different type of scale compared to everyone else.
Of course, some pills would require a certain level of cultivation to be refined. So, for certain pills, the person would need to increase their cultivation.
In this world, there were few people like Li Muwan, who could make rank 5 pills that would normally require someone to be as high the Nascent Soul stage to refine.
w.a.n.g Lin secretly sighed. The so called time changes a person was like this. 200 years wasn’t exactly long, but not short either.
She was several times more beautiful than before. 200 years ago felt like just yesterday. However, there was still a big gap between the two, a gap that w.a.n.g Lin wouldn’t so easily cross.
w.a.n.g Lin didn’t have any plans to reveal himself. His appearance was also different from when he first met Li Muwan, so she wouldn’t figure out that it was him from his looks.
“What is it?” Li Muwan’s voice was still filled with a hint of sadness.
w.a.n.g Lin took a deep breath and bitterly smiled in his heart. He said, “Dis…disciple…” Facing an old friend, w.a.n.g Lin was almost unable to say the word “disciple”.
When Li Muwan heard w.a.n.g Lin’s voice again, her body s.h.i.+vered. She waved her hand and a purple veil appeared on her head. She walked out of the building and looked at w.a.n.g Lin.
w.a.n.g Lin’s expression was calm. He slowly said, “Disciple’s pill furnace shattered.”
Li Muwan looked at w.a.n.g Lin for a while. She revealed a complicated expression and asked, “Are you from the country of Chu?”
w.a.n.g Lin pondered for a bit and nodded.
Li Muwan let out a sigh. Her mood returned to normal. She said, “The pill furnace shattering must be because your cultivation has increased too quickly and you can’t control the spiritual energy in your body well enough to guide the fire. This is very common. All you have to do is keep practicing and it should solve itself.”
“Since you are Zhou Lin’s disciple, I’ll gift you this pill furnace. This pill furnace will prevent 100 shatters. If after 100 times you still can’t control the fire, then that means you have no talent in alchemy and you should give up and go to the outer sect.”
After Li Muwan finished speaking, she sent out the pill furnace and it floated before w.a.n.g Lin.
w.a.n.g Lin immediately put the pill furnace into his bag of holding. Although his expression was calm, he had very complex emotions floating around in his heart. Every second that he spent here, he felt like he was suffocating. He clasped his hands and turned to leave.
Li Muwan suddenly said, “Ma Liang…”
w.a.n.g Lin revealed a startled expression. He turned around and looked at Li Muwan with a confused look.
Li Muwan secretly sighed and said, “You can go. If you have any questions, you may come and ask me.” After that, she returned to her residence and the sound of a zither started coming out of the building again.
This time, there was an hint of melancholy and loneliness in the song.
w.a.n.g Lin revealed a complicated expression. He directed a thoughtful look at the person inside the building. He secretly sighed and turned around to leave.
In the building, Li Muwan put down the instrument. She pondered for a while, then looked through the window into the distance. After a long time, she frowned and said, “Something is not right. How could two people sound so alike? Even if that were true, there’s no way their expressions could be exactly the same. Also, that w.a.n.g Lin’s expression was too calm. A normal person wouldn’t be able to pull that off.”
A light flashed across her eyes and she pointed at her brow. A drop of blood came out of her forehead. The blood was red and released a destructive aura.
This was the gift w.a.n.g Lin gave her when he left. This drop of blood contained a sliver of Ji Realm. w.a.n.g Lin gave it to her to protect her for the rest of her life. If it wasn’t for this drop of blood, Li Muwan wouldn’t have escaped the destruction of the country of Hou Fen.
“If it really was him, then why didn’t this blood react to him?” Li Muwan bit her lip and let out a sigh.
At that moment, a voice suddenly came in from outside the building. “Junior martial sister, could you come out for a bit?”
Li Muwan slightly frowned and opened the door. She saw a handsome middle aged cultivator walking towards her with a warm smile on his face.
When he saw Li Muwan, he revealed an unreserved look of love and gently said, “Junior sister, a few months ago, I heard that you needed a Long Yan Zhi. I searched the entire country of Chu and finally found one.” With that, he took out a jade box. Inside the jade box was a complete purple zhi that was the size of an arm.
Li Muwan’s expression was dull. She didn’t even look at the jade box and said, “Many thanks for senior bother Sun’s kindness, but I have already found an replacement and made the pill. Brother Sun should just keep it.”
The middle aged man let out a warm smile. He put the jade box to the side and gently said, “Junior sister, the ancestors mean well. After all, you aren’t a direct disciple of the Cloud Sky Sect. If you wish to obtain better alchemy techniques, then you must choose a direct disciple to form a cultivating couple with. You and I have known each other for a long time. I’m sure junior sister understands how I feel about you.”
A flash of coldness flashed across Li Muwan’s eyes. She stared at the middle aged man and said, word for word, “Don’t ever bring up this matter again!”
The middle aged man quietly looked at Li Muwan. After a long time, he calmly said, “Junior sister, if it wasn’t for me saving you when the country of Fen Hou was attacked, you would be dead. How have I been to you for these past few years? I want to know why you’re so against this.”
Li Muwan pondered for a while. The figure of a person unconsciously floated into her mind. She stopped that thought and said, “No reason…”
The middle aged man sighed. His voice was still gentle. “Junior sister, ancestor has already personally ordered it. Everything is already set, so please consider it again.” With that, he gave Li Muwan a deep look, then turned around with a bitter smile and left.
Li Muwan quietly stood outside of her house for a while, then turned around to go back in. Her back looked so sad and lonely.
w.a.n.g Lin left the southern courtyard with a complicated feeling in his heart. Just as he walked across the bridge, he saw Cheng Xian waiting for him. Cheng Xian quickly went up and asked, “Brother, how did things go?”
w.a.n.g Lin looked at him and said, “Let’s go.”
Cheng Xian was waiting for this sentence. He let out a smile and quickly said, “Senior, the day is almost over, so we should move quickly. Wait a bit and I’ll call for 2 mounts.” With that, he put two fingers in his mouth and a sharp whistling sound spread into the distance.
Shorly after, a few beast roars came in from the distance. w.a.n.g Lin looked up and saw a large and a small shadow rus.h.i.+ng to their location.
Not long after, the shadows got close. When they arrived 10 feet from Cheng Xian, w.a.n.g Lin could clearly see that they were two apes. The large one was one and a half meters tall while the small one was one meter tall. Both apes’ eyes were red. They made screeching sounds at Cheng Xian.
Cheng Xian coughed a bit and said, “I only borrowed something from you guys. We‘ve known each other for a dozen years. Fine, carry us to the western courtyard and I’ll return that thing to you guys.”
The two apes breathed heavily as they screamed at each other for a while. Then, one of them grabbed toward Cheng Xian.
Cheng Xian didn’t dodge and allowed the hand to grab him. The larger ape grabbed Cheng Xian’s clothes and pulled him onto its back. They quickly ran and leaped into the distance.
The smaller ape looked at w.a.n.g Lin, revealing anger in its eyes. It grabbed toward w.a.n.g Lin, but w.a.n.g Lin dodged the claw and jumped onto its back. The ape didn’t seem to mind and quickly chased after the larger ape.
The apes were very quick. Riding on them was like sitting on clouds. Cheng Xian seemed to be very used to this. After yelling a few times, he took out a gourd of wine and drank a gulp. He then let out a laugh and said, “Riding a spirit ape to the western courtyard. In the entire Cloud Sky Sect, only I can do this! Haha!”
w.a.n.g Lin wrily smiled. Although this Cheng Xian was very mischievous, he wasn’t annoying. Although he was wasting w.a.n.g Lin’s time, w.a.n.g Lin didn’t care too much. In fact, because of Cheng Xian, w.a.n.g Lin’s dislike of interacting with people lessened a bit.
Cheng Xian threw the gourd back to w.a.n.g Lin. w.a.n.g Lin caught the gourd and looked at it for a while. He thought of Li Muwan’s expression and took a big gulp.