CH 30

Yun Weisi remembered Xu Fenglin well.

Many years ago, he visited the Donghai Sect. Xu Fenglin was standing next to his sect master, and had already revealed an outstanding talent; his reputation of a promising youth corresponded to reality. It was just that his behaviour and expressions were a bit childish.

Before Yun Weisi left, Xu Fenglin stopped him to ask him for advice.

Yun Weisi didn’t answer him, and only said one thing: “The Great Dao comes in many forms, every person has their own understanding of it. The Donghai Sect’s techniques are deep and profound, enough for you to cultivate. You don’t need to seek a separate way.”

But Xu Fenglin persisted: “Daozun’s cultivation is so high. Surely, there are some things you could teach me. Please, Daozun, enlighten me with your instructions.”

Yun Weisi: “Nothing else. Just be concentrated.”

Xu Fenglin: “I heard that Daozun Yun’s shizun, Immortal Jiufang, left Dao and entered Buddhism, then turned to Confucianism, and finally became a demonic cultivator. What does Daozun Yun think about it?”

Yun Weisi: “He has his Dao, I have my Dao.”

Xu Fenglin: “Then I want to follow Daozun Yun’s Dao.”

Yun Weisi nodded, said nothing more and left the mountain.

They met once, and exchanged a few words. Obviously, this was merely a heart-to-heart conversation with a slight acquaintance, but still, they were fated to meet.

That was why Yun Weisi came to see him as soon as he heard that Xu Fenglin had become an elder of Heavenly City.

Yun Weisi thought he would need to come up with useless eloquence, but, unexpectedly, Xu Fenglin reacted very initiatively and delightedly.

Yun Weisi didn’t like to owe favors, so he said: “If you kill him, I can do one thing for you in return.”

Xu Fenglin: “Why do you want to kill him?”

Yun Weisi: “Jiufang Changming. He was my shifu.”

This line sidestepped the question slightly.

Probably, even Yun Weisi himself couldn’t answer that question.

It was engraved in his soul and his memories.

He had no other choice, and no reason.

While he was answering Xu Fenglin’s question, Yun Weisi was thinking about it as well. Why on earth must he kill Jiufang Changming?

Was it the regret that the master and his disciple had different opinions and took separate ways, or did he feel that Jiufang Changming had smeared Daoist sects’ reputation, and had no right to be his master?

Yun Weisi was asking his own conscience. He neither loved nor hated Jiufang Changming, so deep animosity and bitter resentment were out of the question.

Thinking of it, he frowned slightly. He always felt emptiness, as if he had lost something, and was lacking it; but he didn’t know where to search for it.

Xu Fenglin was astounded. He had finally realized the reason why this name sounded so familiar.

“Jiufang Changming? He is actually alive?!”

Yun Weisi asked in reply: “He died?”

Xu Fenglin: “He colluded with demons, and the Liuhe Zhutian Formation fell. He is also the reason why you have to guard the Nine Layers of the Abyss, the main cause of the disaster. Have you forgotten it?”

Yun Weisi said nothing.

Xu Fenglin regarded this person as his lifelong pursuit. Now that he saw him for real, it didn’t matter why Yun Weisi wanted to kill Jiufang Changming. As long as Yun Weisi wanted it, naturally, Xu Fenglin would help him.

“This man, Jiufang, has long since lost all his standing and reputation in the Human World. Anybody has the right to eliminate him. Even though we are in the Nine Layers of the Abyss now, he cannot escape the punishment of the Heavens. As long as he is in Heavenly City, my men will be able to find him.”

Yun Weisi: “After the sky turns dark, I will isolate myself in seclusion, and won’t be able to help you.”

Xu Fenglin: “I will do this myself, and bring you his chopped-off head. Daozun Yun, don’t be concerned about this matter any longer.”

Yun Weisi nodded and asked: “What do you want?”

Xu Fenglin pondered for a while: “There is a rumor that Jiufang Changming lost his Sifei Sword, does Daozun Yun have it?”

Yun Weisi rejected without thinking: “This sword recognizes its owner, and even I didn’t manage to tame and suppress it completely. I can’t give it to you.”

Xu Fenglin didn’t mind it. What he really wanted, was not the Sifei Sword anyway—

“I’ve heard that Daozun Yun used to have the Chunzhao Sword. I wonder if I have a fate with this sword?”

The Chunzhao Sword.

Yun Weisi took a long sword from his back, and unsheathed it.

The sword’s name wasn’t engraved on its blade, but the sword itself was slender and elegant, just like springtime water and blooming flowers, flourishing under the spring sun and turning towards it every morning.

Again, Chuzhao’s ‘chun’ is spring, and ‘zhao’ is morning.

The spiritual powers of this sword were far worse than that of the Sifiei Sword, and Yun Weisi’s cultivation was so high that he could as well use a withered tree branch or a long leaf as a weapon, so this corporeal sword was no use for him. But still, he was taking it wherever he went. From the Yuhuang Temple till the Nine Layers of the Abyss, this sword never left him.

He was looking at the sword, and Xu Fenglin was looking at him.

“The Chunzhao Sword won’t do either.”

Xu Fenglin: “This sword is probably useless for Daozun Yun.”

It was of no use indeed.

But still, it had always been with him.

“Let’s trade something else.”

Xu Fenglin wasn’t forcing him to do what the other didn’t want.

“Since that’s the case, I can’t come up with another wish right now. Wait till I think of one, and let’s talk again then.”

Yun Weisi hummed in agreement.

“It’s better to start before the sunset, lest something unexpected happens.”

Xu Fenglin said: “Not many new people arrive in Heavenly City every day, we will find him easily. Tomorrow morning, Daozun Yun will receive the good news. I have many rooms suitable for your meditation, why don’t you stay here tonight?”

Yun Weisi: “There is no need. I will find a mountain somewhere nearby.”

He didn’t wait for Xu Fenglin to urge him to stay further, just turned around and left.

Xu Fenglin was a bit anxious. He asked hurriedly: “Then where can I find you tomorrow?”

Yun Weisi didn’t turn his head.

“I will come to you again tomorrow.”

Xu Fenglin still wanted to say something, but Yun Weisi had already disappeared without a trace.

When the latter left Xu Fenglin’s line of sight, another person walked out from behind the curtains.

“Since the elder wanted this person to stay, why didn’t you ask me to help?”

Xu Fenglin said coldly: “The head of a Daoist temple is not someone you will be able to hold back.”

“Why would the head of a Daoist temple fall so low as to come to the Nine Layers of the Abyss?” His advisor didn’t take his words seriously and laughed, his intonation fawning to three points, “I’ve heard that he has already been in the Nine Layers of the Abyss for many years, staying in the Void Shore without leaving it. If he actually could move as he wishes, why hasn’t he gone away? As this subordinate thinks, he only enjoys unwarranted fame. However, if you use this chance to become his friend, you can get much information out of him. If one day you leave this place, who knows, maybe you will even get a couple of exceptional spiritual tools, your cultivation will rise, and you will be standing at the peak of the world.”

Xu Fenglin: “The Nine Layers of the Abyss is the only barrier that fends off the rampaging demons. If he hadn’t volunteered to guard this place, today he wouldn’t only have been the head of a Daoist temple, but would have become the most revered cultivator.”

But he entered this place, giving up on everything.

Giving up on his honorable position, giving up on his famous name. After thousands or hundreds of years, his body and his name would be devoured by the Nine Layers of the Abyss, and no one in the Human World would remember his name.

Xu Fenglin thought about it, and felt that Yun Weisi didn’t deserve it.

If only Yun Weisi didn’t have that shifu who had colluded with demons, his situation would not have reached this point.

In the end, the main culprit is still Jiufang Changming.

Who would have thought that he was still alive.

“Search through the town at once, find those who have entered the city today, and bring him here.”

…

The men in black were quite polite towards Changming.

But no matter what he asked, they never answered his questions. They went one after another, Changming in the centre. They passed through a bustling marketplace, and came up to the highest building in the city, the Yunding Tower.

“Isn’t this place your Elder Lu Jianmu’s territory?” Changming said.

The two men in black were still silent.

The tower was dark inside, and few lights illuminated it. Both men in black were holding candles.

The flickering light was dancing, and the shadows from the flames were fluttering.

He saw the sunset through a window. Evening clouds had enveloped the sky.

Changming recalled Xu Jingxian’s words.

After the sky turns dark, vultures take control over the whole city, and this place becomes their paradise.

And this time was hell on earth for people.

Six by six—the tower had thirty six floors, and each floor—two by six—had twelve stairs. Finally, they arrived at the last, thirty sixth floor.

There were windows on each wall, and the field of vision from the tower was fabulous. Looking from the windows, one could see half of the town, and the lake beneath the tower.

There was also a long flat table on this floor, and a lonely person was drinking wine by the table, as if waiting for Changming.

“Jiufang Changming,” he raised his head, “I’m Xu Fenglin.”

Changming said: “At the Qianlin Assembly that year, your shifu was still a disciple from the Donghai Sect. He enjoyed great popularity there, and obtained your shizu’s favour. At that time, you were not even accepted in the Donghai Sect. I also saw him in a competition with Celestial Abode Shenxiao. Although it is said that the participants couldn’t resort to tricks, he poisoned his opponent, and that disciple from the Celestial Abode Shexiao lost for this reason. Still, your shizu thought that remarkable people shouldn’t bother about trifles, and liked your shifu’s trick. In the end, the latter was chosen as his direct disciple.”

Xu Fenglin’s expression was cold: “Disasters last for thousands of years. I would have never thought that after all these years, you wouldn’t die, but would even leisurely tell my stories of the past of the Donghai Sect.”

Disasters last for thousands of years: full version: A good person doesn’t live for too long, while wicked ones live for a thousand years.

Jiufang Changming laughed: “My young friend Xu, why are you so indignant? Since you’re still alive, live life to the fullest. You are in charge of the city now, yet you bother with a half-dead unlucky person like myself, this is truly beneath your dignity. Let me guess: since as soon as I stepped into the city, you learned about my arrival, there was someone who told you about that, right?”

Xu Fenglin: “You colluded with demons, lost your standing and reputation, and now look neither like a person nor like a ghost. You made Yun Weisi wander around the Nine Layers of the Abyss, and he is unable to return to the Human World. Do you have the slightest remorse?”

Jiufang Changming: “I don’t.”

Xu Fenglin: …

He was unable to understand how the world carried such a shameless person.

Xu Fenglin was never strong in arguing with people. He gathered his strength, said nothing more, and suddenly reached his hand to catch Changming!