CH 28

Chapter 28 – Unshakable Melancholy, Unsolvable Quandary 

Xu Disheng lowered his gaze and shut his eyes.

That girl… She was actually able to make him awaken from his cultivation state and watch the whole sword dance from beginning to end.

He revolved his Soul Force to calm his throbbing heart, then went back to absorbing the essence of the sun and moon and the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy.

Suddenly, the voice of a Zhenhai Army soldier could be heard in announcement from outside the hall. “Urgent report! An Imperial Courier of the Dynasty wishes to see the Regional Lord.”

Xu Qinying was astonished. The Grand Chu Dynasty’s Imperial Couriers were the direct liaisons between the Central Imperial Province and the capital of each Province. Why would one come to such a small place?

Xu Disheng opened his eyes and responded. “Let him enter.”

“Understood.”

The Imperial Courier jumped down from his horse and walked into the palace hall. When he saw that everyone’s eyes were on him, he spoke in a neither servile nor overbearing manner. “Upon orders from the Dao Palace of the Eastern Qin Province, I, Xingye, have made utmost haste to deliver this item to the Xu Disheng in the Ruyang Region of the You Province.”

When the Imperial Courier finished speaking, he took a small, exquisite wooden box. A servant received it and carried it to Xu Disheng.

The Imperial Courier was a bit surprised, clearly not expecting that the Regional Lord would be someone so young. However, he didn’t say anything unnecessary. He was a messenger from the Grand Chu Dynasty who was entrusted with delivering important items or passing down the imperial orders. Each of these Couriers were elites who had undergone constant training, and only took orders from the Dynasty’s general headquarters.

Xu Disheng gently opened the wooden box. Placed within it was an ordinary-looking jade slip, faintly emitting Shangqing Profound Qi.

Seeing what was within, he understood. “You must have gone through a lot of trouble, Imperial Courier. Bring his compensation!”

Immediately after he gave the order, a servant came forth, carrying a tray of silver taels.

The Imperial Courier cupped his hands in gratitude. He didn’t argue, and simply accepted the proffered reward. “Thank you, Regional Lord. I will now withdraw.”

Xu Disheng nodded. When he passed a stream of profound qi through his hand to probe the jade slip, Daoist Lord Qingxin’s cold voice was transmitted to his ears.

After a long while, Xu Disheng put down the jade slip, his thoughts in disarray. There was a huge amount of information contained within this jade slip!

Daoist Lord Qingxin had gone to the Eastern Qin Province some time ago, but he had previously informed Xu Disheng of some extremely secret matters.

Xu Disheng had already guessed that this world was just one small Mortal Secret Area belonging to the Shangqing Sacred Sect. At the time that Xu Disheng was taken as Daoist Lord Qingxin’s disciple and he used the sect jade slip, Daoist Lord Qingxin didn’t deliberately try to keep this fact from him.

The Shangqing Sacred Sect was located in the immensely vast Human Realm.

The Human Realm could truly be considered to have a size befitting a ‘world’. Up at the top of the sky, there were 3 suns and 3 moons that continuously rose and fell in turn, illuminating the immensity of the world in a never-ending cycle.

The Human Realm was boundless. There were countless sects within, but there were even more mortal beings, to the point that they were like the innumerable grains of sand in a riverbed. The profound law cultivators were like the fish swimming in this river, simply uncountable.

Just as there were great demons swallowing up the heaven and earth, dominating over their domains, and splitting mountains and the sea, there were gods deriving power from faith, bestowing divinity, and blessing and protecting their domains. Countless spirit treasures and exotic plants and fruits existed between heaven and earth. From time to time there were ancient inheritances being uncovered, witnessing the light of day once more.

The world was filled with spiritual qi. Everything from a stalk of grass to a flower petal could develop a spirit and cultivate towards enlightenment if it possessed the right destiny for it.

TL: This part is probably referring to something like the concept of yokai in Japanese folklore.

There was even a legend that there was a heavenly realm above the endlessly high sky. However, this legend was far too vague and long since become an unverifiable tale.

Why was the hierarchical order in this world so strict, with little to no fighting? Why was the Grand Chu Dynasty gathering all of the resources of the 11 Provinces to provide for the hundred or so people of the Dao Palaces? Why did this world possess such a still, lifeless atmosphere, where no spiritual beings gained enlightenment, nor evil demons raised havoc? That was because the rules of this world weren’t even complete! This world was just a small secret realm belonging to the Shangqing Sacred Sect, known as the Seventh Mortal Secret Area’s Chu Realm!

Those like Daoist Lord Qingxin were outer disciples of the Eight Mountain Ranges of the Shangqing Sacred Sect. Outer disciples possessed a meager cultivation level, and were all at the Sea of Qi stage.

If one violated the rules of the sect, the Disciplinary Hall would punish them by exiling them to the Secret Area and giving them the mission of seeking out disciples for the sect. As long as they never reached the Dao Foundation realm, they would never be allowed to return to the sect.

The rules of the Shangqing Sacred Sect were extremely strict. There were 8 mountain ranges in total, and each mountain range had hundreds of peaks and several tens of thousands of disciples.

The Disciplinary Hall in the Fourth Mountain, known as the Mountain of Law, was in charge of everything with regards to the trials and punishments meted out to the Sea of Qi stage disciples.

Some were sent to the Spirit Ore mines, and once they reached the sufficient age, they could return; others were sent to gather resources, and once they obtained a sufficient amount, they could also return. There were even some who were sent to the sect prison, where they would have to refine pills and medicines for the sect, without a shred of freedom.

The remaining ones were like Daoist Lord Qingxin, who were sent to the Secret Areas, unable to reach the Dao Foundation realm nor return to the sect. They were trapped in the Mortal Secret Areas, without much freedom to speak of.

But just like everything in the world, there were exceptions. There would inevitably be Sea of Qi stage cultivators who did not wish to remain in the cruel reality of the Human Realm, aware of the fact that their aptitude wasn’t sufficient to allow them to break through. Nor did they want to participate in any elaborate schemes to get stronger, living from hand to mouth. Instead, they voluntarily chose to enter the Mortal Secret Areas to seek out disciples on behalf of the sect. These kinds of people would lead a lost, befuddled existence, exhaust the length of their lifespan, and eventually die within the Secret Areas.

The real names of the cultivation stages for profound cultivators weren’t Houtian and Xiantian. The first stage was called the Cleansed Meridians stage, which involved filling the entire body with profound qi, establishing a linked circuit in the meridians. Those at this level could already be considered profound cultivators, and the gap between them and martial cultivators was evident by this point.

Therefore, the Martial Technique Xiantians in this place couldn’t put up the slightest resistance against someone from the Dao Palace at the Cleansed Meridians stage or Sea of Qi realm.

The second stage was called the Sea of Qi stage, which was the cultivation level that Daoist Lord Qingxin and the others were at. The profound qi would turn into an entire sea of qi and start to cycle endlessly within the body, providing endless magic power.

Above that was the third stage, known as the Dao Foundation realm. Those that could reach this level of cultivation all possessed extraordinary levels of aptitude, and were all incredibly rare geniuses. Once one reached this level of cultivation, they could become a master of a mountain peak in the sect or a deacon.

If these exiled disciples of the Shangqing Sacred Sect discovered a disciple in the Secret Areas who could cultivate Profound Laws and had an aptitude on the Spiritual Root Sequence, they could use the sect jade slip and report it to Directory Hall on Wenyuan Mountain.

However, the disciples handling the matters in the Directory Hall on Wenyuan Mountain were usually occupied with processing the disciples taken in from the Human Realm. These jade slip reports from the Mortal Secret Areas usually piled up for decades before being inputted all at once.

Each of the disciples that came from the Secret Areas had to meet 3 requirements involving temperament, comprehension, and aptitude in order to be brought out to the sect. They could then be assigned to each of the Mountain Ranges depending on their aptitude. From then on, they would become a disciple of the Shangqing Sacred Sect and be officially inputted into the records at the Directory Hall.

Also, while the sect jade slips were not considered officially inputted, they were set aside for observation so the sect could avoid missing out on the appearance of an exceptional talent.

The Spiritual Root Sequence was a measure of cultivation aptitude. Grade 3 and Grade 2 Profound Meridians were considered to be the most ordinary of aptitudes, while Grade 1 Profound Meridians could just barely be considered a talent. Above that were six ranks of Spiritual Roots.

Rank 6 Spiritual Roots were only slightly better than Grade 1 Profound Meridians. But Rank 5 and Rank 4 Spiritual Roots could be considered as a proud talent. Even in the monstrous enormity that was the Shangqing Sacred Sect, they were regarded as important.

The reason why Daoist Lord Qingxin sent Xu Disheng information via jade slip when he was all the way in the Eastern Qin Province was to inform him that next year, the Shangqing Sacred Sect was going to input the disciples from the Seventh Mortal Secret Area, and that the disciples belonging to the Dao Palaces of each Province had already set out towards the Central Imperial Province.

This time, he was ordering Xu Disheng and Zhang Keyu to go to the Eastern Qin Province to meet up with the two Daoist Lords so they could all head to the Central Imperial Province together.

Profound qi was roiling around Xu Disheng’s body as he muttered, “The Human Realm, three suns… the Three Realms of the Golden Crow…?”

A memory suddenly appeared in his mind. In the Human Realm, above the endless skies on high, those three suns that were there since time immemorial were actually not real suns; they were the “Three Realms of the Golden Crow”!

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But what were the Three Realms of the Golden Crow?

Xu Disheng pondered deeply, but to no avail. The cyan jade flute in his sea of consciousness let out a mysterious light that obstructed the searching of his memories.

When he stood up and looked around at all the people drinking, engaging in festivities while singing and dancing, he felt sorrowful for them. For their entire lives, these people would never know that they were living inside of a cage.

Just as he was about to walk out of the gate of the palace hall, he felt a gaze following him. Turning his head to the side, he found the beautiful eyes of the girl in the red dress staring fixedly at him.

He felt his heartbeat quicken, and he unexpectedly smiled at her as he thought of that sword dance beneath the moonlit frost.

Jin Yu’er felt that his bright eyes, which seemed to conceal the moonlight within, were even brighter than the beautiful lanterns in the palace hall. The moment his smile showed through his usual calm countenance, it was as if he became the center of the universe. Within that one smile, the whole world seemed to blossom.

When he left the palace hall, the sky was full of lanterns that were lightly floating and dancing on the wind. Each one eventually winked out and came to its end.

Xu Disheng took a sealed scroll out from his sleeve and handed it to a guard along with a few sentences of instructions. Then, he walked off into the boundless night, never looking back.

There was a certain poem that went like this.

Life begins with the sunrise and ends with death in the sunset;

A hazy gray mist descends as the spent fireworks sputter out and lose their heat.

Moonlight adorns the land; neither yearning nor daring to forget

The white dew between the pines, the ancient dried-up well, the mulberry tree far by the street.

One wearing a plain white cloth skirt, steeped in the ties to the world;

An unshakable melancholy abetted by an unsolvable quandary.

TL Note: Some explanations for the poem: in Chinese culture, the mulberry tree often symbolizes loss, mourning, and death, since the word 桑 sāng (mulberry tree) sounds like 丧 sàng which means ‘loss, mourning and death’. The last line is “难绘虚妄，难解惆怅”, which is a phrase usually found in some song lyrics that means something along the lines of a problem that can’t be solved, where it is difficult to make false things into a reality, and usually involves incessant worrying over this difficult problem. This line is the title of this chapter, but it was really difficult to capture the meaning of this phrase while also translating it into a short and sweet phrase.