Chapter 527 – Just Let Them Be (2/2)

“If this continues, we’ll probably never find where the moon demon is.”

“The wretched daemon truly is despicable!”

Wen Zhengming’s face was completely sunken. Originally, he had come with complete confidence to purge daemons and avenge his disciple, but he actually ended up with nothing.

After that, the tip of the scholar in white’s ears twitched. He heard the unnatural flow of water near the shore in the south-western direction. He rushed over in a flash while the other three followed closely behind.

The surface of the lake for that region had suddenly become as flat as a mirror. A series of words appeared.

“You four big dumbos, you want to harass the weak and the outnumbered. If you have the balls, come at me one at a time. Watch as your grandfather Northmoon, skins you alive!”

Wen Zhengming conveyed secretly, “Senior brother, can you use this as a lead to find the moon demon?”

The scholar in white shook his head. Having become a water god, the moon demon had virtually merged with Moon Court lake. He could control the water here like it was his limb. With the statement alone, it was far too difficult to find where he was.

He came up with an idea. “Alright. Moon demon, I’ll come alone then. Let’s see what you can do to me! Junior brothers, please leave for now. I’ll try the moon demon alone!”

Wen Zhengming and the other two exchanged glances. If it were their senior brother, then preventing the moon demon from escaping for a moment or two was nothing difficult at all. By then, they could rush back and provide assistance. That way, they would still be able to kill the moon demon.

The scholar in white dove into the water again. An arrow floated before him to indicate the direction. He beamed with joy inside. The moon demon was conceited and battle-hungry. Sure enough, he was unable to help himself, wanting to clash with them. This was his greatest weakness.

He followed the arrow and arrived before a cavern. Another line of words appeared.

“Are you really alone?”

The scholar in white said proudly, “Of course. Just me alone is enough to kill you.”

The words dispersed with a ripple, turning into three words, “This way please.”

Under the guidance of the water arrow, the scholar in white constantly ventured deeper underground. As he advanced through the twisting and turning underground river, he was amazed by the complexity of the underground geography. If the moon demon had not revealed an opening himself, finding him truly would be difficult.

After travelling for a while, he suddenly sensed that something was amiss. He recalled the path he had already travelled.

Aren’t I going in circles?

At this moment, another line of words appeared in the water, “Are you certain you’re alone?”

The scholar in white gritted his teeth. “Feel free to check for yourself. What, are you afraid?”

“Then come!”

The scholar in white continued on his way until he approached the end of an underground river. An extremely spacious cavern appeared before him.

He contacted his three junior brothers, telling them to prepare themselves as he called out loudly, “Moon demon, I’m here!”

As he said that, he barged into the cavern. He blanked out. There was absolutely no one there, only a huge word that stretched several meters across, “Idiot!”

The scholar in white had basically spent two hours only to receive a single-word evaluation like that. No matter how shrewd he was, no matter cultured he was, he still found it rather unbearable. With a palm strike, he shattered the word “idiot”.

“Cowardly daemon!”

The water flowed rapidly and turned into another three words.

“Hahaha!”

Li Qingshan had not placed all of his focus onto Moon Court lake. Instead, he split some of his focus to spy on the four grandmasters, or use his clone to toy around with them.

His original body had already returned to the Chain mountains by now, contemplating how to merge with the power in the phoenix feather.

As the four grandmasters whittled away their time and found absolutely nothing, he was seizing every moment to cultivate in an attempt to become stronger.

He had drained the spiritual qi of the water regions with the Water God Seal recently, so now was perfect for giving them time to recover.

Li Qingshan had already grown accustomed to the ox demon’s resolve and the tiger demon’s endless fighting. Retreating to avoid conflict and hiding away had originally been actions he would take when he had no other choice, but only now did he discover the spirit turtle’s approach; as it turned out, it had quite the wisdom behind it.

Strong like the wind? Just let them be. I will be like the mountain they blow on. Insolent like the moon? Just let them be. I will be like the river they shine on.

TL: This is a poem that comes from the novel Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre by Louis Cha. It is the mantra of the Jiuyang Zhenjing, the martial arts manual that the main character, Zhang Wuji, practises. The raws actually do not include the entire mantra, so I’ve adjusted the poem slightly so it conveys the correct meaning. I personally think this is a fantastic translation of the entire poem, which is also what I’ve worked off of:

You can read more about the novel and the martial arts manual here:

Over the next few days, the four grandmasters used various different methods in an attempt to find Li Qingshan, but it all ended in failure. They even tried using the weakest out of the four, Wen Zhengming, as bait to lure Li Qingshan into fighting.

Li Qingshan obviously ignored them. He placed all of his attention on the phoenix feather.

Three days later, the four grandmasters retreated. Even Wen Zhengming who was eager for revenge did not remain behind.

Golden Core cultivators had lengthy lifespans, but they could not be wasted away like this.