IS Chapter 108

Yun Xiangxi: “Who?”

“Mother.”

Yun Xiangxi listened but didn’t reply. He raised his hand to remove Yun Xiangzhuo’s hair crown and tidied his hair with a comb, as meditation should be done in a relaxed state.

He didn’t say anything.

Yun Xiangzhuo: “I’ve finished learning the *The Spiritual Sutra* (*Yùn Líng Jué* – Spirit Nurturing Manual).”

“Mm.”

Yun Xiangxi felt that Yun Xiangzhuo’s condition wasn’t very good tonight. His voice was low. He probed Yun Xiangzhuo’s meridians and only relaxed after confirming there were no problems.

Yun Xiangzhuo closed his eyes and began his meditation for the night. Like every night before, Yun Xiangxi sat beside the bed, guarding him. The father would sense the flow of spiritual energy and Daoist rhythm in his body, making sure he had completely entered a state of selflessness before starting his own cultivation.

The room was quiet. Yun Xiangxi looked at Yun Xiangzhuo.

The circulation of spiritual energy within Yun Xiangzhuo’s body wasn’t as smooth as usual. After several cycles, it gradually became intermittent and sluggish.

What went wrong? Yun Xiangzhuo was quietly closing his eyes, showing no abnormality. Yun Xiangxi reached out, wanting to probe his meridians again. He grasped Yun Xiangzhuo’s wrist, but the child’s body gently leaned towards him.

“Xiangzhuo?”

Yun Xiangzhuo fell into his arms, his forehead against his chest.

Yun Xiangxi frowned slightly, contemplating the current situation. Much later, he thought that perhaps Xiangzhuo had fallen asleep.

People fall asleep when they feel tired. A cultivator doesn’t need to. What did he do today? He just went to Lingye’s place.

He’s asleep. Just leaning in his arms like this.

Actually, they didn’t often have such close contact, even though Yun Xiangzhuo had been in his life for nearly five years.

Yun Xiangxi discovered that he didn’t feel much resistance in his heart. Perhaps because Xiangzhuo was his own flesh and blood, or perhaps he had gotten used to being with him day and night.

Yun Xiangxi lowered his eyes. He saw Yun Xiangzhuo’s quiet sleeping face. A blurry memory surfaced in his mind.

It was something that happened more than ten years ago.

For a period of time, Lian Lingye from the West Sea always appeared by his side, saying she wanted to travel the world with him.

In fact, traveling the world was just another form of sword Dao cultivation. He cultivated his own Dao, and Lingye cultivated hers. When there was nothing to do, he would comprehend the sword Dao at night, and Lingye would cultivate not far from him.

“The last chapter of the *The Spiritual Sutra* (*Yùn Líng Jué* – Spirit Nurturing Manual) is too difficult to learn.” For several days, Lingye always looked sleepy. She complained, “It’s not only difficult to learn, but it also drains your energy. I get so sleepy every day practicing this.”

Yun Xiangxi didn’t know what she wanted to express with these words. Only those with a spiritual body like Han Hua could learn the *The Spiritual Sutra* (*Yùn Líng Jué* – Spirit Nurturing Manual). It tempered spiritual energy and was a superior cultivation method.

“You can practice your sword if you’re sleepy,” he replied to Lingye.

Then what happened? Upon hearing this, Lingye seemed to take a few deep breaths, turned around, broke off a tree branch to use as a sword, and really started practicing basic sword forms.

But the sword contained resentment and anger, making the practice meaningless. Besides, a tree branch wasn’t suitable for learning the sword.

Later, someone asked what to use as a betrothal gift to the West Sea.

He remembered the unsightly sword forms practiced with a tree branch he saw during his travels.

Then use a sword, he said.

That sword was called “Huai Xiu” (Husband – Cherished Sleeve), which was also many years ago. Yun Xiangxi recalled Yun Xiangzhuo saying earlier that she was leaving.

A slight movement in his arms. Yun Xiangzhuo had unconsciously grabbed his collar. The last chapter of the *The Spiritual Sutra* (*Yùn Líng Jué* – Spirit Nurturing Manual) did indeed make people feel sleepy.

Perhaps he should wake Xiangzhuo up and have him practice his sword. But in the end, Yun Xiangxi didn’t.

Yun Xiangzhuo didn’t wake up the entire night, so he stayed there without moving. The morning sunlight shone through the window lattices. He lowered his head and saw Yun Xiangzhuo’s eyelashes flutter slightly.

Finally, Yun Xiangzhuo opened his eyes, looking at him in confusion.

“Father,” he murmured.

Yun Xiangxi also looked at him. Yun Xiangzhuo’s eyes were blank, as if he hadn’t fully woken up yet.

They looked at each other.

An unfamiliar, hazy atmosphere spread.

Yun Xiangzhuo had never seen himself in his father’s arms upon waking up like this.

Yun Xiangxi had also never stayed awake all night like this.

The wind blew between them. Only then did Yun Xiangxi realize that the place where Yun Xiangzhuo had been leaning was warm due to the contact, but as Yun Xiangzhuo got up, that warmth was fading.

Finally, Yun Xiangzhuo’s eyes drooped, and his fingers grabbed Yun Xiangxi’s sleeve. It was a very light movement, just like when he grabbed his father’s collar after falling asleep, revealing a bit of subconscious attachment.

He hadn’t figured out what exactly had happened this night, but he didn’t cultivate at all.

“I was wrong,” Yun Xiangzhuo said, “Father.”

“You are not wrong,” Yun Xiangxi said.

A shallow red mark was pressed onto Yun Xiangzhuo’s cheek, the wrinkles from his collar. Yun Xiangxi’s fingers slowly stroked the icy-cold blade of the Xiangxi Sword.

He said, “I was wrong.”

Yun Xiangzhuo looked at his father’s calm eyes, not understanding what he meant.

“Get up and practice your sword,” Yun Xiangxi said, picking up his sword and leaving the quiet room. Yun Xiangzhuo raised his head, seeing the sunlight falling, a blurry figure in the clear light.

Today he would practice the twenty-fourth volume of the sword technique. After practicing the sword, he should study the Dao.

In the study, Yun Xiangxi sat opposite him.

Reading the obscure ancient classics, continuing from what he had learned the day before.

Yun Xiangzhuo naturally had the ability to memorize everything he saw, but the mysteries of the Dao couldn’t be lightly passed on. Seeing it didn’t necessarily mean understanding it. Moreover, no matter how profound the classics, their essence was only one person’s opinion.

Yun Xiangxi noticed Yun Xiangzhuo’s gaze lingering on this page for a long time. He looked over and realized Yun Xiangzhuo was reading the chapter on proving the Dao.

“What don’t you understand?”

Yun Xiangzhuo: “To whom does one prove the Dao?”

“One proves the Dao to oneself.”

“The Dao is inherently cultivated by oneself. Why does one still need to prove it to oneself?”

Yun Xiangxi: “The Dao inherently doesn’t need proof. It’s because the human heart has flaws that proof is needed.”

Yun Xiangzhuo seemed to have an understanding.

“The Daoist school has immortals who slay the three corpses to prove the Dao and become sages. The Buddhist school has eminent monks who break the three attachments to prove the Dao and become Buddhas. Is it all because there are flaws in their hearts?”

“Yes,” Yun Xiangxi said, “One needs to slay the three corpses only if they exist within the body. One needs to break the three attachments only if they exist within the heart. If there’s originally nothing, then there’s no need to slay or break. The Dao will naturally be achieved.”

“I understand,” Yun Xiangzhuo said.

He raised his head and looked into Yun Xiangxi’s eyes: “The highest realm is having no three corpses in the body and no three attachments in the heart. So Father, you cultivate the path of emotional detachment because you originally have nothing.”

“Then do you want to cultivate it?” Yun Xiangxi asked.

Yun Xiangzhuo’s voice was soft: “Did Father choose the path of emotional detachment because you originally had nothing, or did you choose the path of emotional detachment, so you must have nothing in your heart?”

“The former.”

“The Dao inherently doesn’t need proof, so the former is the superior path, and the latter is the inferior path,” Yun Xiangzhuo said.

“Yes,” Yun Xiangxi said.

“And cultivation should pursue the superior path,” Yun Xiangzhuo said.

“Can you do it?” Yun Xiangxi quietly stared at him. Many years later, Ye Zhuo would still remember that look.

Yun Xiangzhuo didn’t understand that look. He just stared back blankly. The setting sun shone between him and Yun Xiangxi, and he saw the other person’s entire outline, just like on the morning of this day, he woke up and saw his father’s eyes. Two similar gazes, yet they seemed like two completely different emotions.

On this day, not long ago, he had said something to the swordsmith.

He said, if I had a heart, Yun Xiangxi would be there.

And today someone asked him if he could cultivate the most superior path of emotional detachment, if he originally had nothing in his heart. That person was Yun Xiangxi.

He looked at Yun Xiangxi for a long time.

He really wanted to say he could do it, just like he could learn every sword move.

But he couldn’t say it.

Yun Xiangxi was still looking at him. He knew what kind of answer his father wanted, but if he had to give an answer, Yun Xiangzhuo didn’t know what that answer would be. He felt a dull pain rising in his heart.

In the end, Yun Xiangzhuo looked away first. He saw the blood-red setting sun descending on the entire snow-white courtyard outside the study.

“Xiangzhuo.” He heard his father’s voice, “You have the roots of wisdom. That’s very good.”

Then what’s not good? Yun Xiangzhuo wanted to ask, but a gentle knock came from the door. The old manor lord sent a disciple to ask if Xiangzhuo would attend the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. If so, the old manor lord would come to pick him up.

“Do you want to go?” Yun Xiangxi asked him.

Such a question, asked at such a time. Yun Xiangzhuo raised his head blankly.

“I promised Mother yesterday,” he said.

“Okay,” Yun Xiangxi said.

“He will go,” Yun Xiangxi said to the disciple, “Tell the old manor lord that there’s no need to come and pick him up.”