IS Chapter 138

The pit was filled, but the mountain couldn’t be pushed back up.

Ye Zhuo surveyed the pile of mountain rocks and timbers that seemed much smaller, and thought that his sword possessed the intent of annihilation, perhaps inadvertently obliterating parts of the mountain.

Wei Sheng Xian gazed at the area with sorrow for a long while, finally saying, “Let’s build a slope then.”

Ye Zhuo felt rather apologetic, using his spiritual power to help build it up a couple of times. However, his Life-Bound Sword wasn’t meant for digging, so after a few tries, he closed his eyes and resumed cultivating.

The Pill Cauldron Sect and the Hongmeng Sect had completely fallen out with the Upper Purity Mountain, and could now only ally with the Micro-Snow Palace. Sect Master Lin hadn’t left yet, and Headmaster Shen had also stayed with his people. A smooth slope quickly took shape. By the time Ye Zhuo finished a few cycles of cultivation and opened his eyes again, the slope was already covered in green grass.

“The shady side of the cliff juts out diagonally. Plant some vines to hang down and cover it, and lead a spirit pool inside, raising some fireflies. It should be a unique cave,” Sect Master Lin suggested.

“That would be excellent,” Wei Sheng Xian said. “The sunny side is flat and open. When spring arrives and flowers bloom, we can pick some wild mountain fruits and gather here to eat.”

Ye Zhuo looked down at the slope, hearing Li Yuan inexplicably say, “In winter, it will be a snow slope.”

“?”

Li Yuan stared at the bottom of the slope. “Make a snow sled, and you can slide straight down from the top.”

Ye Zhuo: “Then would you have to fly back to the top of the slope for another go?”

“That would lack interest,” Li Yuan said. “We can have Feng Jiang’s two nephews pull the snow sled up.”

Ye Zhuo immediately saw those two gray-furred, blue-eyed things chasing each other across the slope.

…He surprisingly felt that they would be quite willing to do what Li Yuan suggested.

Never mind. If Li Yuan really wanted to slide, he could just kick him down now.

A glittering stone was tossed over, and Ye Zhuo caught it, seeing that it was the Heaven-Mending Stone. “For you,” Li Yuan said.

The stone was good. Ye Zhuo: “At my disposal?”

“Of course.”

Ye Zhuo: “Then I’ll ask Grandmaster Xia if he wants it first.”

There seemed to be something hidden. Li Yuan thought for a moment. Actually, he just saw that the thing was shiny and intercepted it casually. The Upper Purity Mountain’s five Immortals used the Heaven-Mending Stone to unleash the Five Elements Domain, which was Grandmaster Xia’s contribution to begin with.

He followed Ye Zhuo to Grandmaster Xia. Grandmaster Xia took the Heaven-Mending Stone, his cloudy gaze falling on the brilliant surface, quietly looking at the sunset light in the sky for a long time.

Finally, his expression slowly eased, still appearing gentle and amiable, and he smiled as he put it down.

“I’ll take it back and make you a sword tassel,” Grandmaster Xia said. “It’s a good stone, worthy enough.”

That meant he didn’t want it himself.

After thanking Grandmaster Xia, they returned to the top of the slope, and Li Yuan asked Ye Zhuo if there was any history to it.

Ye Zhuo remembered there was indeed a story, and he had heard snippets of it when Wei Sheng Xian brought Grandmaster Xia to join them. It happened three or four hundred years ago.

At that time, a Nüwa Secret Realm had appeared, carrying a vein of precious artifact crafting inheritance.

The secret realm wasn’t intended for slaughter, and deaths and injuries were usually rare. Besides, there were restrictions in the realm, only artifact cultivators below the Integration Stage could enter.

In the end, those who entered the Nüwa Secret Realm included artifact cultivators from various sects, as well as some rogue cultivators. One of them, called Xia Caiyi, was a rogue cultivator, an accomplished artifact crafter, especially famous for making dharma robes.

Nüwa was a female emperor, and Xia Caiyi was a female cultivator. The inheritance was placed in a Heaven-Mending Stone that gathered the five elements, and Xia Caiyi’s inner cultivation also used the five elements. In that case, she should have been almost certain to obtain the inheritance, or at least be able to retreat safely. Later, cultivators who came out of the secret realm said that the inheritance had shown favor to Xia Caiyi from the start.

But Xia Caiyi didn’t come out alive. The inheritance was obtained by several Upper Purity artifact cultivators who had gone together. The inheritance was taken, and the secret realm was closed forever. What exactly had happened was all lost. Even Xia Caiyi’s corpse and soul remained there forever.

Over the centuries, some of those artifact cultivators died of various causes, and some died of old age, all turning to dust. The inheritance in the Heaven-Mending Stone was exhausted, flowing into the hands of the Dao Sect.

“Xia Caiyi,” Li Yuan repeated the name. “So, she was…”

“Was Grandmaster Xia’s Dao Companion. He used to be a martial cultivator, but later he became an artifact cultivator, embroidering dharma robes,” Ye Zhuo said.

Li Yuan listened, remaining silent for a long time. He inexplicably thought of Zheng Guanyin. Thinking that when love reached its extreme, life could become death, and death could become life. If death couldn’t become life, then the living would live in place of the dead.

He looked at Feng Jiang.

Feng Jiang had finished dealing with Su Yizhen and was now patrolling the slope for spirit herbs. Feng Huai silently followed behind him, not speaking, his gaze fixed on him, seeming slightly better than a puppet. Feng Jiang said that in time, the effects of the Eight Divisions Reincarnation medicine would slowly release, and there would be further improvement.

Feng Jiang picked a piece of grass and stuffed it into the deer cub’s mouth. The deer cub chewed it and swallowed it all at once.

Then he looked at Sixth Palace Master, Ling Ming, who no longer concealed herself, standing under a newly planted tree, picking a fruit from the tree and examining it. As Li Yuan watched, she bit into the fruit.

Headmaster Shen, Sect Master Lin, and Palace Master Wei Sheng Xian were on the other side. As a Dao cultivator, Shen Jingzhen was well-versed in feng shui, and they were discussing the terrain and vegetation of the slope.

It was like an ordinary day. Planting trees was also a common thing at the Micro-Snow Palace.

In this place, some had severed ties with the Upper Purity Mountain, some had washed away the hatred of their entire family, and some had cleansed some of the filth in the world. Then, they continued to live.

Those who deserved to die had died.

Wu Huan died, Tai Qing died, Yu Ge died, and many others who had been stained with blood and committed sins also died. Those matters began with death, and seemed to end with death as well.

Having avenged a great hatred, it sounded as if they were relieved, reborn, and would live happily ever after.

Li Yuan wondered, if he were them, would he be very happy?

It didn’t seem very happy, but his heart suddenly became quiet, finally able to quietly remember those who had died. A new day had come.

They could use their original names again, and do what they were supposed to do. But their original names might already be very unfamiliar.

He thought again, what about Ye Zhuo?

When the day came that Yun Xiangxi also died. What would Ye Zhuo do afterwards, what would he want to do?

So he asked. Ye Zhuo said, practice the sword.

Not surprising at all.

“Then in the future, I’ll take you back to the Dragon Realm to have a look.”

Ye Zhuo had never agreed to such a proposal. On the top of the slope, the autumn wind brushed against the hem of his clothes. Li Yuan always felt that he would go with the wind.

In fact, that was how it would be. Other people’s grudges would eventually be settled in the human realm, but Ye Zhuo’s grudges were no longer here. He would not stay here, and had never thought about where he would eventually stay.

Wei Sheng Xian suddenly climbed to the top of the slope mysteriously.

“I’ll show you something,” he said, holding out two yin-yang fish tokens.

Ye Zhuo turned the tokens over. The black token had two words engraved on the back: “Qiongtong,” and the white one also had words: “Qiongfu.”

“As expected,” Ye Zhuo said.

“Abbot Yinying entrusted his disciple to hand this over to me, asking me to bring a message to you. He said that he had miscalculated the Heavenly secrets all his life, with too many obscure matters. He didn’t even know whether he had killed or saved people in this life, and his premature death was his own fault. The Qiongtong Temple disciples claimed to understand the Heavenly secrets, swaggering and cheating in the mortal world for many years, opening Qiongfu porridge shops everywhere, helping the poor. Although it was not enough to compensate, it was ultimately a merit.”

“However, merit is merit, fault is fault, kindness is kindness, and resentment is resentment, and they cannot be offset in the slightest. It’s the same between him and you.”

Li Yuan: “?”

Ye Zhuo also asked, “What kindness and resentment do I have with him?”

Yinying killed mortals under the jurisdiction of the Micro-Snow Palace in the Green Mountains. As the Palace Master, he killed Yinying to pay for his life. In the Immortal Dao, it was Heavenly justice, and in the mortal world, it was the law. What kindness and resentment could there be?

“That’s what they say. But Yinying has always been meddling,” Wei Sheng Xian sighed lightly. “Actually, now that he’s dead, I feel a bit of pity for him.”

“This person relied on his own strength to comprehend half a Boundary Dao, and was actually a person who wanted to cleanse the world at heart. He just thought that the person who would end the Upper Purity Mountain was Yun Xiangxi.”

“Perhaps in the past, if Yun Xiangxi’s sword had been swung at the Upper Purity Mountain, it could have changed the world. So Yinying also took action, pushing the Illusion Sword Villa forward.”

“But he ultimately didn’t calculate that the person who would ultimately wield the sword was you. Heavenly secrets are unpredictable. This Daoist deeply believes it.”

Ye Zhuo: “So, what do you want to say?”

“…Oh.” Wei Sheng Xian shook the two tokens again. “These Qiongfu porridge shops have been saving countless people for many years. It’s a great merit, continuously flowing. Now that no one is in charge, Abbot Yinying wants to give it to you.”

——What exactly was in Yinying’s head? Ye Zhuo: “Why not give it to my brother Li Yuan? He has long admired Abbot Yinying.”

Wei Sheng Xian asked curiously, “Brother Li Yuan? What’s the story behind that?”

Li Yuan: “…”

How could Ye Zhuo bring up anything!

Last year, when he saw the Qiongfu porridge shop under the Green Mountains, he said that he wanted to get to know the kind person who opened this porridge shop. Heaven’s will was treacherous, actually letting him leave an opening.

Li Yuan firmly refused: “Brother Wei Sheng is concerned about the common people. This kind of merit should be presided over by you.”

The great merit was like a hot potato that couldn’t be given away. Wei Sheng Xian sighed, “Alright, it seems I have to find someone else.”

While they were passing the buck, Shen Jingzhen and Lin Zhu also came to the top of the slope, arriving in front of Ye Zhuo.

“Second Palace Master Ye, do you have some free time?” Lin Zhu said with a smile.

“I do. What is it?”

“Headmaster Shen has something he wants to say to Second Palace Master,” Lin Zhu said.

Ye Zhuo looked at Shen Jingzhen. Headmaster Shen was still alive and well, and his brain hadn’t gone bad, so he shouldn’t have any industry for him to inherit either.

Shen Jingzhen gave him a formal salute: “Palace Master Ye, I’ve come to thank you.”

“Palace Master Ye, the affairs of the human and ghost realms have been able to turn around, all because of you.”

“Now the Immortal Dao has cleared, this is great righteousness. I thank you on behalf of the Hongmeng Sect.” Shen Jingzhen gave a deep thank you. Shen Xinge skipped to the front of Ye Zhuo, following her master’s example with a well-behaved bow: “Xinge also thanks Daoist Ye.”

Lin Zhu smiled slightly, also stepping forward to join them.

“In the illusory realm, Palace Master Ye saved my disciple. In the human realm, you rejected the Upper Purity,” he said. “In the future, the Micro-Snow and Upper Purity will divide the Immortal Dao, and I must thank the Micro-Snow Palace in advance for protecting my sect.”

In the midst of this demonic chaos, Ling Ming also emerged like a ghost.

“Yu Ge and Tai Qing are both dead, my brother is at peace, I’ve also come to thank you,” she said. “But we’re family, so I won’t say polite things.”

Feng Jiang blinked in the distance, seizing the opportunity to pat the dog’s head, so his two children also went to Ye Zhuo’s side and wagged their tails vigorously.

Ye Zhuo was speechless.

Li Yuan looked at Ye Zhuo. The person Ye Zhuo stood in place, frowning slightly, his ink-glazed beautiful eyes quiet and empty. However, he could already see that this person didn’t really want to be here right now.

“Judge the action, not the intention,” he whispered to the person. “They should thank you.”

Ling Ming handed a fruit to Ye Zhuo: “This is delicious.”

Ye Zhuo quietly looked at the shockingly green fruit, and finally slowly took it.

He said: “I think you should all cultivate more.”

Feng Jiang ran away at the sound of these words.