IS Chapter 148

Chapter 148

Tonight, the stars fill the sky.

On the chessboard at Quiet Grass Cliff, black and white pieces clash and kill each other, with no victory in sight. Wei Sheng Xian looks at the chessboard.

“Are those who play chess well always deep in thought? Li Yuan is usually calm. Tonight, however, his chess is restless. Still, at this point, it’s hard to play. The one who loves to overturn the board is late in coming. What’s the point of us deciding the victor?”

“The night the Illusory Sword Manor was destroyed, I was at Illusion Cloud Cliff,” Wei Sheng Xian said. “That was the first time I saw him.”

Li Yuan’s fingers paused. He pinched a chess piece between two fingers and placed it on the board. The sound echoed, and he didn’t move again.

“My sect has rules, only cultivating the Heavenly Dao, not interfering in worldly affairs. That day, the old Daoist suddenly took me to Shu – he said there would be a great calamity in the world, and the chaos of the next few decades would stem from it, so he brought me to witness it.”

As Wei Sheng Xian spoke, he placed a piece down.

“I saw everything, but the old Daoist held me back tightly,” Wei Sheng Xian said. “Only cultivate the Heavenly Dao, don’t meddle in worldly affairs. I never managed to help him. Even now, thinking about it, I still feel deeply indebted.”

“Do you think he knew about this?”

“It’s all the same,” Li Yuan said softly. “He would say, ‘What’s it to you?'”

“…Sounds like something he would say.”

“Because he is Ye Zhuo,” Li Yuan said. “He doesn’t need anyone to save him, nor does he need anyone to teach him.”

“Perhaps. But those who saw it care. Is a lifetime of cultivation just to watch the game without speaking, watching such things happen in the world? How many more such things are there?” Wei Sheng Xian said. “You know what happened after. I knelt in front of the old Daoist’s door for three days, saying I wanted to go down the mountain. Seclusion is not my wish, fate cannot be predicted, I want to go down the mountain and act on behalf of Heaven. The old Daoist refused, wanting me to learn a lineage before I left. Those years were truly spent burning the midnight oil, unwilling to waste a single moment. Soon, I was expelled from the sect and rolled down the mountain.”

“I went to Sword Casting Valley to find him, asking if he wanted to travel the world together. At that time, he had just removed the sword meridian from his heart and said he was going to the Spirit Mountain. Fine, then I’ll accompany him and wait for him at the foot of Spirit Mountain. By chance, Ah Xuan was passing by Spirit Mountain at that time, and we had a brief encounter. You know what happened after, Li Yuan.”

Yes, he knew.

Things understood without being spoken.

“You like him,” Li Yuan said.

Wei Sheng Xian said, “Yes.”

“And now?”

“Now? Naturally, I still like him.” The one being asked smiled slightly, “So, Li Yuan, every time I see you, I find you unpleasant.”

Li Yuan didn’t say a word to that. How could he find Wei Sheng Xian pleasing to the eye?

Li Yuan: “If you like him, why don’t you pursue him, why don’t you beg for it?”

Right here, with the face of a close friend, watching him?

“You only said it once,” Li Yuan looked at him, “After that, you never made it clear again.”

“Because I am not one with extreme emotions,” Wei Sheng Xian said.

“One with extreme emotions can live for death, and die for life. I let go because I never wanted to obtain him.”

“The great Dao of Heaven and Earth, all living beings. Caring about them is indeed a virtue,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “However, those things are just distractions when it comes to love. Moreover, he only wants the best of everything.”

Hearing such words, Li Yuan found himself smiling softly. He thought of that person.

That was someone who knew everything. He had seen everything in this world. In fact, he had lost it all a long time ago.

Ye Zhuo only wanted the best. His sword had to be the best, even if he had to seize it. He had to cultivate the best Dao, even if the road to Spirit Mountain was filled with ten deaths and no life, and no one had ever succeeded. Did he also want the best people to stand with him? If he were to want a heart, would he only want the best?

“If he were to want a kind of love, it would surely be the purest, truest, most passionate. And I am not.” Under the starry sky, the young Daoist’s voice was gentle and smiling, yet also like a soft sigh: “Offering such a heart to him, I don’t think it’s good, and he wouldn’t want it even more. So, Li Yuan, the word ‘love’, for some, it is love, for others, it can only be a calamity.”

“When love and hatred arise together, you either pick it up or put it down. There are only these two paths to take. Just like when a calamity arrives, you either avoid it or face it. There is no other choice.”

“Then what about him?” Li Yuan heard himself ask, “Will he pick it up or put it down? Will he avoid the calamity or face it?”

“Then what about you, Li Yuan?” Wei Sheng Xian asked in return, “Why didn’t you pursue him, why didn’t you try to keep him?”

Li Yuan wanted to say, he had pursued him, and he had tried to keep him.

His scale was the best, and perhaps his heart was not bad either. But when that person didn’t want it, he still didn’t want it. Did he really not want it? What should he do when he felt sad?

But that was Ye Zhuo.

Ye Zhuo didn’t believe in fate, so he didn’t either. But he wanted to believe in Ye Zhuo.

The final piece was placed, and the game ended there. He regretted none of his moves, leaving it to that person to overturn the board if he wished.

“Wei Sheng, I’m leaving,” Li Yuan said, “Farewell.”

“Where are you going?”

“West Sea.”

West Sea, Heavenly Pool.

The cold winds of the far north had not yet crossed the towering mountains to reach this place. The shores of the West Sea were still green with vegetation. Li Yuan stood before the mountain gate of the Lian Clan’s Heavenly Pool.

The mountain gate was tightly closed, and the protective array exuded a stern aura. Li Yuan knocked on the bell according to the rules, and after a long time, a Daoist child came to greet him.

“Our sect is closed to outsiders and does not receive guests. Any further visits will be considered an intrusion. Please return, esteemed guest.” The child bowed, reciting the words in a measured tone. After bowing, he raised his eyes to look at the visitor. What a handsome guest, with a quiet and profound aura, exceptionally extraordinary.

The child’s gaze finally rested on the sword that the visitor quietly held diagonally.

It was a slender three-foot spiritual sword. Judging by its aura, it was like a gentle breeze carrying the scent of lotuses, and seemed to have a connection with their Heavenly Pool.

“This sword is named ‘Cherished Sleeve’. My name is Li Yuan. I come from Green Mountains. Please trouble you, little Daoist, to inform them again.”

The current head of the West Sea Lian Clan was a young man dressed in azure robes, his aura as clear and solemn as plants and trees. Cultivation knew no years, and sometimes appearance did not match age. Judging by his steady temperament, he should be of the same generation as Sect Leader Lin and Headmaster Shen.

Li Yuan quietly looked at the familiar eyes of the visitor, while the Lian Clan Head stared blankly at the sword in Li Yuan’s arms. For a long time, they both remained silent.

Perhaps, Li Yuan thought.

If Lian Clan’s Ling Ye was still alive, she would still be timeless and still be the image of the Luoshen in the illusion.

After closing the clan for many years, the sect members were scattered. In the past, perhaps immortal music fluttered, but today there were only sporadic bird calls. The pavilions and towers on the shore of the Heavenly Pool were all light and airy in shape, but the swaying curtains only seemed lonely.

“Ling Ye called me brother,” the Lian Clan Head said.

The Heavenly Pool water was still filled with spiritual energy.

“In the past, my sister liked to boat on this pool,” the Lian Clan Head said. “Yun Xiang Xi was the pride of heaven. It seemed that everyone should give way to him. But my sister was also the Holy Maiden of the West Sea, the Bright Pearl of Yao Pool. If that thing didn’t happen, she would be the head of the Lian Clan.”

Li Yuan: “Is the old Clan Head well?”

“My parents are still well. It’s just… their lifespans are high, and their hearts are injured. You bring the Cherished Sleeve Sword, I am afraid it will arouse the pain in their hearts, so only I will meet you.”

“I understand. I have come to visit rashly, disturbing your clan’s peace. I have brought gifts for the two old Clan Heads, and the Clan Head can just say that they were given by a friend.” Li Yuan said, “I am here just to find out some old things, it is not important. If it is inconvenient to tell, the Clan Head can tell me directly, I will not pester you.”

The Lian Clan Head shook his head slightly: “I have also heard about the recent events in the Immortal Dao. We are not outsiders, you can ask anything.”

The ripples of the Heavenly Pool were gentle, a vast expanse of green. Li Yuan looked at the surface of the water and thought for a long time.

He didn’t speak, but it was the Lian Clan Head who suddenly said: “For twenty years, my parents have been thinking, were they wrong?”

Li Yuan looked at him.

“They thought, should they not have taught by words and deeds, so that my sister and I both thought that as long as we managed it sincerely, there would be deep love and affection in the world. Were they also blinded by the name of the world’s number one at that time, thinking that such a person was worthy of their precious pearl?”

“But is the mistake really with them? My sister wanted to marry, and Yun Xiang Xi was willing to marry. Since it was mutual affection, what reason did parents have not to agree?”

“Does my sister also have a mistake? The grace of saving her life, falling in love with someone, wanting to join hands with him, where is the mistake? Did she tie up Yun Xiang Xi to marry him? Who sent this Cherished Sleeve Sword as a betrothal gift? Could she alone burn incense and swear to the heavens to form a Daoist companion alliance?”

“So, I don’t know who to blame. Even the huge Illusory Sword Manor was wiped out.” The Lian Clan Head’s voice was like a sad rain, “Once a person dies, everything is gone.”

Silence continued for a long time, and Li Yuan waited for the Lian Clan Head to hide the sorrow in his heart.

“Later,” Li Yuan said, “Have you seen him?”

“I’ve seen him,” the Lian Clan Head said, “I’ve seen him once.”

“The children of the Immortal Sect have too good bones and tendons. Some people will be jealous of the heavens, so it’s not good to publicize it. Some simply take a Daoist name and don’t even show their real name to others. So in those years, only a few of us closest people knew that there was a child.”

“He used a sword and was of that age. Outsiders didn’t know, but our Lian Clan could think of it. What’s more, his surname was Ye, and he was called that name.” The Lian Clan Head said.

“His name is Xiang Zhuo.”

“Yes, Xiang Zhuo. You also think it’s against etiquette, right? How can a child have the same character as his father? But this is what Yun Xiang Xi took, saying that it was like him.”

Like him.

Li Yuan took a deep breath. The Life-Bound Sword was faintly struggling in its scabbard.

“The world’s number one sword, Ye Zhuo. Hearing such rumors, my parents asked me to leave the sect to see that child. I went out and had a brief encounter with him in a secret realm. Seventeen or eighteen years old, he looked nothing like my sister. I saw him, and he saw me. We passed each other without recognizing each other, just that one time.”

“Actually, I knew in my heart that it was him. Later, I thought about it again, and he may not have known who I was.”

Li Yuan: “But there can only be one time, right?”

“If he had contact with the West Sea, he might be associated with the Illusory Sword Manor. And we…”

The Lian Clan Head paused for a long time and finally said: “He is also Yun Xiang Xi’s bloodline.”

So they could only pass each other by, and only be speechless to each other.

So flesh and blood relatives, they didn’t recognize each other face to face.

Li Yuan looked away. He saw a green lotus boat stirring up ripples on the water surface, the world was like flowing water, twenty years.

Finally, he suppressed all the waves in his heart and asked the next question.

“But back then, why did Yun Xiang Xi agree?”

Yun Xiang Xi cut off his love threads twenty years ago. So when he married Ling Ye, Yun Xiang Xi had not yet fallen in love at all. So why did he agree, and why did he become Daoist companions?

The Lian Clan Head looked at him fixedly, for a long time.

“You asked the right person.” The Lian Clan Head said slowly, “Perhaps only I in this world know why my sister was able to marry Yun Xiang Xi as she wished. Although this is just my own thought.”

Li Yuan waited for the Lian Clan Head’s answer.

“I think it was because of a sentence.” The Lian Clan Head said, “My sister – you haven’t seen her, but such a person, even if she really can’t please some people, it is difficult to make people dislike her. At that time, she chased after Yun Xiang Xi and traveled the world with him for several years. She often wrote letters to me telling me what they had encountered and what they had done. So, only I know that sentence.”

In the Lian Clan Head’s eyes, there seemed to be a cluster of pale flames, staring straight ahead at the lotus bushes that were taller than a person, as if through those intertwined shadows, he saw the situation back then——

That time, Ling Ye was poisoned by fire in a secret realm. It didn’t really matter, but maybe she just saw Yun Xiang Xi’s plain appearance and felt upset, so she stretched out her wrist, asking him to use Frost Cold Spiritual Power to look at her injury.

In fact, her physique and Yun Xiang Xi’s were quite complementary. She blurted out a sentence.

“Yun Immortal Ruler, you have the best sword heart and sword bones for using a sword,” she said with a smile, “I have the most refined Han Hua Spiritual Body. Why don’t you be my Daoist companion, how about we have a child? He must be the best in the world.”

The following year, Yun Xiang Xi married Ling Ye.

Li Yuan’s eyes were blankly looking at the ripples on the pool. A vast expanse of emptiness.

So, it was for this. It was for the supreme sword Dao.

It was for the best in the world.

It was for forging a sword.

It was for this that he came into the world.

He had no choice from the very beginning, and then he had to go through all that, everything was already destined. Finally, he left the Illusory Sword Manor, which was a sea of blood, holding the blood-stained Cherished Sleeve Sword.

The flowers bloomed, and when the autumn wind rose, they withered. Did the flower grower just want to see it wither?

Even the piercing pain in his heart meridian was so distant and blurred. Li Yuan remembered that day when Ye Zhuo told him that he also had a name, Yun Xiang Zhuo.

It was for this.

Li Yuan suddenly turned his head away. He didn’t want others to see his undignified appearance in front of others.

The Lian Clan Head looked at him quietly, without speaking. Everyone knew what piercing, bone-scraping pain was like.

“We’re here.” The Lian Clan Head said.

Li Yuan looked over. This was the depths of the Heavenly Pool, a dreamlike lotus pond. Five-colored flowing clouds-like spiritual mists drifted, and the lotus flowers and lotus leaves were all translucent, like the legendary Yao Pool fairyland.

“The ‘Lian’ in Lian Clan is actually the ‘Lian’ in lotus flower. For every additional member of the Lian Clan’s bloodline, a Lotus of Life will bloom in the Life-Bound Lotus Pond.”

The lotus boat went deep, and the Lian Clan Head pushed aside the overgrown lotus leaves. A gorgeous, half-open glass red lotus suddenly crashed into Li Yuan’s eyes.

“This is——”

The Lian Clan Head nodded, acknowledging the words he had not finished.

It was also because of this that only the Lian Clan knew for sure that the child was still alive in the world.

Through the misty spiritual mist, Li Yuan saw the dreamlike color. How could it be so delicate? If the wind blew, would it break? No, such a lonely and fiery lotus would not allow itself to be broken.

“It’s red,” Li Yuan murmured. Only after saying it did he realize how meaningless the words were.

But the Lian Clan Head said: “It’s not all red.”

The Lian Clan Head looked back and forth at the lush red lotus and finally said, “These petals.”

Li Yuan saw it. In the extremely intense, half-bloomed red lotus, the edges of a few petals were snow-white. Like a line of winding snow, so beautiful.

He reached out and gently touched one of the lotus petals. The lightest touch in his life was like this.

The wind blew, and a lotus petal fell.

In Li Yuan’s hand.

Li Yuan subconsciously looked at the Lian Clan Head.

He had really been careful, how could a lotus petal fall with just one touch——or rather, the few petals with snow-colored edges.

“I gave it to you, so take it.” The Lian Clan Head said, “He is here, the Lotus of Life will not wither.”

The lotus boat reached the end, at the edge of the Heavenly Pool. The long wind was mighty. Li Yuan bid farewell to the Lian Clan Head, looking at the distant eastern horizon.

The Lian Clan Head asked: “Where are you going this time?”

“East Sea,” Li Yuan said, “The Dragon Realm.”

“Will you come back?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“When the calamity comes.”

[Covering Lamp Fire]