179 Changsan City Is an Array (1/2)
Chapter 179: Chang'an City Is an Array
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
”Seeing the Vermilion Bird again, do you have any new feelings?”
”No...?”
”Don't you think it is alive?”
”Master, do you think so?”
The master and apprentice had made their way out of the crowd at this time, walking along the Vermilion Bird Avenue towards the south. Listening to the words of Master Yan Se, Ning Que asked in surprise as he could not help turning around to take a look at the Vermilion Bird that was already out of his sight due to the crowds.
Master Yan Se ignored him and kept going forward. ”What kind of existence can be surely regarded as being alive, or animate?”
Ning Que turned around to chase him up, thinking that most of the time he was sleeping while Sixth Brother asked this sort of questions.
”Of course, this's a relatively difficult question, and it hasn't much to do with why I take you here to see the Vermilion Bird today.” Master Yen Se continued, ”I bring you here for I want to tell you that the portrait on the Vermilion Bird Avenue has nothing to do with an art sculpture. Instead, it's a Divine Talisman of Chang'an City.”
Ning Que was slightly stunned. He really did not relate the Vermilion Bird with Talisman Taoism, because somewhere he could feel that the Vermilion Bird had a sense of terrifying power, an awful atmosphere from ancient times, which seemed different from the talisman, a magic with a subtle existence.
”You said before, that we Talisman Masters regard all the cultivation methods in the world as talismans... this is a very narcissistic mentality, but I can tell you with certainty that the Vermilion Bird is a talisman, a Divine Talisman left by ancestral Sages.”
Ning Que tightly wrinkled his brows when words as Sage and Divine Talisman appeared in his mind. He then asked after a long silence, ”Master, according to you, only when Divine Talisman Masters take the step over, can they move the world with talismans. Had the ancestral Sage who left the Vermilion Bird portrait taken the step forward?”
”Thousands of years ago, the Empire's capital was in Chang'an, expanding its realm to the basis of the original cities, but the Divine Talisman of Vermilion Bird was already there. The Sage who painted the Vermilion Bird had inevitably exceeded the Knowing Destiny State, but was just not sure of the Tianqi or No Rules. But last time I told you about moving the world, I guess... it needs a bit more profound.”
”Did he become an immortal? Is there such a great Grand Cultivator in the world?”
”The last state of cultivation on Haotian Taoism is to ascend to heaven and become immortal after going beyond Tianqi, which means immortality. Although I haven't personally seen it before, the number of predecessors who can ascend to heaven and become immortal in Taoist Classics isn't too small.”
”Myths are just myths, after all.”
Master Yan Se raised his brows and asked, ”If an ordinary mortal meets a Divine Talisman Master like me, do you think he may regard me as an immortal?”
Ning Que said with uncertainty, ”...Maybe.”
”Therefore, to ascend to heaven and become immortal in Taoist cultivation is not that difficult as what people imagine. However, I guess these immortals, different from those in mythical novels, should be Grand Cultivators who have really detached themselves.”
”Master, I'm still very curious about mortal life stories. I believe the Divine Talisman of Vermilion Bird must be particularly scary in might, but the problem lies in that Talisman Taoism is always calm and collected by nature. In this case, who can motivate this Divine Talisman?”
Master Yan Se casually added, ”The Vermilion Bird has been lying quietly on the stone avenue since the founding of the Tang Empire, and it has never been touched. However, once it's activated, judging from the observation of someone from the Academy and the last Master of Nation, its power will be probably equivalent to a full-blown attack from a Grand Cultivator who is at the top level of the Knowing Destiny State, or even more formidable in some aspects. ”
”Only the top level of the Knowing Destiny State, ah.”
”Only? What sort of attitude is this?”
”Master, you are at the peak of the Knowing Destiny State, so is Liu Bai. I guess Master of Nation and the eldest Brother are also in the same state but I dare not guess the state of the Headmaster of Academy. Now I know many Grand Cultivators in Knowing Destiny State, such as Second Brother and Chao Xiaoshu. Even my foolish friend is a genius entering the Knowing Destiny State. Is the Knowing Destiny State... really rare?”
”Ning Que.”
”Yes, Master.”
Master Yan Se shook his head as he looked at him, and said, ”You're very lucky, or should I say you're unlucky.”
Ning Que confusedly asked, ”Master, what do you mean by that?”
”It's the West-Hill Divine Palace and the Academy that own the largest number of Grand Cultivators in the world. You're a student from the Second floor of the Academy and my apprentice, a Great Divine Priest of this Divine Hall, so you can come into contact with many powerful people of the Knowing Destiny State, while ordinary cultivators may be unable to meet such strong men in their lives. Hence, I say you're very lucky. However, you've already been in contact with so many powerful men though you're weak in might. I really worry that you'll lose the courage to climb and transcend the mountain in front of which you're standing in awe.”
”Don't worry, master. In fact, I'm also a very narcissistic person.”
”That's good.”
...
...
Unconsciously, Master Yan Se and Ning Que had crossed the whole Southern City along the Vermilion Bird Avenue, arriving near the gate of Southern City in Chang'an City. The towering and majestic city walls shed a shadow which covered a large area of the street nearby.
Master Yan Se and Ning Que were walking up towards the city wall. It was strange that none of the disciplined city guards came to stop them or to check their identities as if the master and apprentice were totally invisible.
Ning Que was surprised and did not know why the master brought him to ascend the city wall, but he was too lazy to ask, staring at the lower hem of the dirty robe swinging up. With regard to the matter about the power of the Vermilion Bird, he was still confused and could not help asking, ”Master, how powerful is the Knowing Destiny State? I invited someone to make a performance once, but I've never seen cultivators of the Knowing Destiny State fighting together.”