Chapter 285 To forget the means by which the end is attained (2/2)

Three Doyens of Taisu and five celestials of Guangqing; when the two combined, there would be eight immortal Zhenrens and the force would be so terrifying, even enough to challenge the prestige of the Xuantian Sect.

Shen Lian sighed, ”The blame is on me.”

He recounted the incident of him rescuing Ruoxi to Gu Caiwei via telepathy, and Gu Caiwei finally understood the full story.

However, she was not mad, instead, she said, ”If I were you, I would do the same without any hesitation. Back then when Grandmaster Qingshui and the founding master were still young, they've messed up more than you. I recalled the founding master telling me that Grandmaster Qingshui pissed a lot of people off when she was younger. Ten or more immortal Zhenrens, some good and some evil, came knocking on her door but our Qing Xuan endured it and survived.”

Shen Lian had heard about Grandmaster Qingshui's staggering history but he had never come across records stating about the ten or more immortal Zhenrens who came looking for her. He said, ”This is my first time hearing about this.”

Gu Caiwei smiled, ”Some things are passed on orally and not recorded in words. There were also records of secrets that were destroyed in the incident that involved Uncle-Master Yanxu. Although you've inherited the position of the chief and probably have heard of more secrets than me but not all secrets should be recorded down. Actually, after achieving immortality, you can use the Tiandi Jian to find out about the past and future. By then, nothing will be able to hide from you.”

Shen Lian knew that better than anyone else. The Tiandi Jian was one of the most precious treasures of Qing Xuan. It had not unleashed to its full potential when Zhang Ruoxu possessed it. Plus, the Tiandi Jian was actually incomplete.

Shen Lian said, ”I need to focus on cultivation. I can't change much even if I knew many things.”

Gu Caiwei responded, ”That is true. Actually, the Grand Ancestor Master predicted that you'll be back today. He told me to tell you to go and see him if you're back.”

Shen Lian nodded and asked, ”Now?”

The Grand Ancestor Master was the Old Daoist at the Taiwei Pavilion. He existed for a long long time, so long that he has forgotten of his name. According to the Zero Star Records of Qing Xuan, the old Daoist was known as 'Lord Deity Tianyan', however, he banned Shen Lian from addressing him as that. It seemed that the name represented the bad memories of his life.

Zifu Peak, Taiwei Pavillion.

”Little Shen, you have indeed stepped into Powang. So how does it feel?” The old Daoist opened his usually semi-sleepy eyes.

Shen Lian was surprised to see the old Daoist. He had lost a great amount of grey hair, his eyebrows faded and it seemed that he lost a huge chunk of flesh. He looked terrifying, almost like the evil spirits from hell.

Shen Lian courteously bowed down and asked, ”Grand Ancestor Master, what happened to you?”

The old Daoist was not bothered by his state, he calmly replied, ”The Trial of Dao that I have been delaying has finally caught up. On the bright side, many immortals couldn't even think about matching my level.”

Shen Lian replied, ”Immortal Zhenrens too have to face catastrophe?”

The old Daoist laughed out loud, ”I neither can age nor die, and I can't leave heaven and earth. This catastrophe is the karma for countless years of encroaching the essence of heaven and earth.”

Shen Lian couldn't help but fall into silence. What the old Daoist said was the truth. If a cultivator obeyed, that would make him a human. If he rebelled, that would make him a celestial. A human would go through birth, aging, sickness, and death. No matter how much they've gained from heaven and earth, they would all end up as dust. But cultivators would absorb the Qi vitality of heaven and earth to prolong their life. To heaven and earth, this was bad karma.

Immortal Zhenrena would neither age nor die and their mana was boundless. Their invasion towards heaven and earth were like notorious bandits and the damaged cost was far worse than any demon. There was a verse in the Nanhua Scripture that said, ”The thievery would not stop if Saints do not die.”

The old Daoist continued, ”There will be three trials of Dao after breaking through Xuwang and being a Primordial Spirit. Of course, you should never expect to be stronger after each trial. If you have anything that you don't understand after achieving that level, feel free to come and consult me. If I am no longer around, you can ask Ziling. Speaking of cultivation accomplishments, she might outdo me in the future. There's no point for the current you to hear about this. I'm sure you've bumped into Yanxu in your outing this time around.”

The old Daoist swiftly switched the topic to Yanxu.

Shen Lian replied, ”His depth of understanding about Qing Xuan was really deep. I couldn't turn the table over and failed to take him down.”

”If you are capable of taking him down, then Ziling should just kill herself. But you didn't lose too much and that's a good thing. When he was your age, he was far behind you.” The usually untalkative old Daoist seemed to be very chatty this time.

And that made Shen Lian really sad because a person's character would change when they were about to die. Celestials were too humans. It was just that they were so high up and could conceal their humanity to the extent that they too, forgotten that they were in fact human.

It seemed that the old Daoist could read Shen Lian's mind as he said, ”By any chance, are you thinking that I'm so talkative because I'm about to die?”

Shen Lian replied, ”I don't even dare.”

The old Daoist laughed. His face had lost a significant amount of flesh and his bones were somewhat visible. He had a terrifying smile but Shen Lian was not intimidated by it. He said, ”To forget the means of success when success is attained. You think death is fearful because you don't understand the laws of death. I didn't understand too and that's why I've hurt Ruoxu and Yanxu. Thankfully, the present me would not be able to harm you.”

Shen Lian felt that there was hidden meaning behind the old Daoist's words and wanted to ask further but the old Daoist pointed at him and the heaven and earth started spinning. In a split second, he was in a fragrant plum forest.