MJWCATFPITWOC Chapter 14
by VolareChapter 14 Junior Brother Shen Yucheng
Rewards for the champion of the Promotion Examination: “Congratulations to the disciple for winning the top spot in the Promotion Examination. The rewards are as follows:
1. A magical artifact from the sect leader.
2. The right to cultivate in the Imperial Immortal Spring for one week. [The Imperial Immortal Spring contains vast spiritual energy that helps improve cultivation. One day inside is equivalent to one week.]
3. The opportunity to make a request to the Lingfeng Sect [Subject to the sect leader’s approval].”
These three rewards were truly beyond Shen Yucheng’s expectations. He originally thought there was only the first one that Mo Yifeng mentioned.
He clutched the letter and invited Mo Yifeng to go with him to claim the rewards from their master, because the most pressing matter was to dissolve the Dao Companion Contract. If this contract binds them for even a day, they will be unable to separate for life, losing their due freedom.
The two arrived at their master’s secluded cultivation place with lightning speed. Shen Yucheng looked up at the huge, towering cave. In front of him was a massive rock that blocked the cave entrance. Such a shocking scene made him feel inexplicably timid.
He suddenly realized that he didn’t even know his master’s name, temperament, or appearance, yet he had rushed over headlong.
He grabbed Mo Yifeng’s hand, who was about to knock on the stone, and asked with a sheepish smile, “Um, what kind of person is our master?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Shen Yucheng regretted it, feeling that it didn’t fit his image.
He thought Mo Yifeng would laugh at him as usual, but unexpectedly, the other party said gently, “Don’t be nervous. Master is a very good person, amiable and kind. He also likes to hear interesting stories. If you have anything relevant, you might as well share it with him. He will be happy to listen.”
Shen Yucheng breathed a sigh of relief. If that was really the case, he wouldn’t be so afraid.
The reason he was like this was because he had never thought of embarking on the path of immortality when he was young. With his childlike innocence, he had heard storytellers say that cultivators were all serious and rigid, always acting according to their own will and not listening to others’ advice.
He had thought of this just now, which was why he wanted to know what kind of person his master was.
Shen Yucheng watched Mo Yifeng confidently as he began to knock on the boulder, wondering how to make the stone sound like a door. He saw the entire boulder shatter into pieces with a single touch from Mo Yifeng, turning into a mixture of powder and stone that fell to the ground. The dark cave was revealed before Shen Yucheng’s eyes.
He was stunned for a moment before realizing, “Are you sure you didn’t accidentally smash the stone?”
Mo Yifeng smiled, but before he could answer, a hoarse voice came from deep inside the cave, echoing several times, “Mo Yifeng! You brat smashed the stone again?! Do you know how hard it is to find a suitable stone!”
Shen Yucheng was stunned, unsure if he had misunderstood. He pointed vaguely inside, “Is Master in seclusion with someone else?”
Mo Yifeng chuckled, “Those words are from Master.”
Mo Yifeng’s words about his master being amiable and kind echoed in his mind.
Mo Yifeng’s eyes curved into crescents as he whispered, “He’s not usually like this.”
The voice became angrier, “If you stop breaking stones, I wouldn’t be like this!”
Mo Yifeng had been speaking close to Shen Yucheng’s ear, so the person inside could hear him. Shen Yucheng thought about the things he had asked in front of the cave earlier, and his embarrassment reached its peak.
At this moment, the voice seemed to know what he was thinking and comforted him, “Yucheng, it’s okay. Master isn’t usually like this. It’s just that this dog of a disciple, Mo Yifeng, has broken more than thirty stones in a month! The stones in the Futian Sect are going to be shattered by him!”
Shen Yucheng’s face became even more apologetic.
But just now, Master called him Yucheng.
Since childhood, he had never heard an elder call him that way. A indescribable feeling arose in his heart, a warmth slowly melting into his chest.
Fortunately, his master was not the person the storyteller had described.
After the farce, Shen Yucheng told his master that he wanted to use the reward from the Promotion Examination to exchange for the Hundred Question Mirror.
He thought his master would answer immediately, but the other party remained silent for a long time before saying dryly, “Can you take another mirror?”
Shen Yucheng and Mo Yifeng exchanged glances, “”
Mo Yifeng asked, “Didn’t Master once tell disciple that you have a Hundred Question Mirror that can answer all questions in the world? Did Master use the mirror?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Shen Yucheng watched the disciple question his master, finding it quite novel.
A few weak syllables came from the cave, “Lost it.”
Mo Yifeng’s ”good temper” was about to wear out, and he gritted his teeth and said, “What did you say? Where did you lose it?”
Shen Yucheng’s mouth was slightly open, wondering if the masters of genius sects were particularly different.
“A few years ago, Master went to the Northern Region for experience, and it seemed to be gone after I came back.”
Mo Yifeng caught the key point, “Experience?”
Master: “Isn’t traveling around mountains and rivers also considered experience?”
Mo Yifeng smiled, “What do you think?”
Shen Yucheng was also speechless, “Where did Master go in the Northern Region?”
The voice pondered for a moment, “It seems to be a village called Ji something…”
The two immediately thought of the young man they had met on Hanji Mountain last time – Yan Quanye, whose village was called Jitan Village. “What did Master do in that village?” Shen Yucheng asked.
Master did not think, “Exercising my sea of consciousness.”
Mo Yifeng didn’t believe his nonsense, “Tell the truth”
But this time, Master was very serious. His voice was low, “If you go, be careful. Master really didn’t intend to exercise at first, but the atmosphere there is abnormal. Not long after entering, the sea of consciousness in my brain gradually became disordered, and my vision and thinking were slower than usual.”
Mo Yifeng frowned, feeling strange, “So the Thousand Faces Mirror was lost in this situation, and you never went back to look for it?”
Master’s voice was tearful, “Please let Master go.”
……
For some reason, there were crows on Futian Sect, and Shen Yucheng heard them calling them fools.
After discussing, Shen Yucheng and Mo Yifeng decided to go and find the Thousand Faces Mirror.
Master said before they left, “Yucheng, when you return, Master will hold a welcome banquet for you when I come out of seclusion, okay?”
Shen Yucheng paused, a smile rising from his heart, “Okay, disciple thanks Master.”
The two turned and went to Hanji Mountain. After they left, the cave said after a long time, “The premise is that you have the life to come back.”
.
Under the Lingfeng Sect, Shen Yucheng saw an unexpected person: “Li Juemu.”
He rarely interacted with people, and for a moment he didn’t know how to address someone younger than him. Calling him by his full name seemed too distant, calling him Juemu was too familiar, and calling him Amu was too intimate.
It was really difficult to be a person.
He looked at Mo Yifeng, but heard the other party sneer, “When did Lingfeng Sect hire a watchdog?”
Shen Yucheng: “” That’s too mean.
Li Juemu was originally moved that Shen Yucheng remembered his name, but Mo Yifeng’s words made his face as cold as frost, “You guys go on your own, I’m not going.”
Mo Yifeng disdained, “When did we want you? You better not follow us, it will hinder me and Yucheng-ge from being intimate.”
Li Juemu raised his eyebrows, his tone more arrogant than usual, “Then I’ll take the Li family’s Illusion Breaking Powder back.”
Shen Yucheng grabbed the other party’s shoulder when he heard this, “I need you.”
The young man smiled triumphantly, while Mo Yifeng felt like his great plan had been ruined and was dissatisfied.
This time, the destination was Jitan Village. Unlike the last time they flew directly to Hanji Mountain, this time they had to go to the northern border and change to walking.
On the way, Li Juemu praised Shen Yucheng’s heroic demeanor in the Promotion Examination like he was possessed, obviously a fanboy.
“You immediately succeeded in transcending the tribulation after the competition, Shen-xiong. I think you must be the reincarnation of armor, invulnerable to swords and guns! If it were me, I would be crippled even if I wasn’t dead after suffering these things in a row. Moreover, I heard that you were invited into the Deliberation Hall again when I woke up.” Stars flashed in Li Juemu’s eyes, his tone full of amazement.
Shen Yucheng had never thought of this, but after hearing him say this, he really felt like he was quite amazing.
Mo Yifeng walked between the two, responsible for blocking Li Juemu’s saliva attack for Shen Yucheng.
They walked and chatted, and after about an hour, they stood at the fork in the road they had passed three times before. Shen Yucheng pondered for a moment, and said blankly, “Is this being haunted?”
Li Juemu panicked, “No way, an accident happened before we even reached the village entrance?”
Mo Yifeng also did not notice anything unusual, so he walked to the wooden sign stuck in front of the intersection, which said “Jitan Village” and pointed to the right. He left a mark on the sign and said, “This time we’ll go to the left.”
A moment later, the three saw the exact same wooden sign again, the only difference being that the direction of the sign changed from right to left.
Mo Yifeng found that although the direction of the sign had changed, the mark was still there, indicating that they were still going back to the same place.
At this time, Shen Yucheng felt that the soil under his feet was different from before. He squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil, rubbing it in his palm.
He had grown up in a cold environment since he was a child, sometimes even sleeping on the ground, so his sensitivity to changes in the ground was far greater than that of immortals who often flew swords in the air.
“Juemu, use the Illusion Breaking Powder.” Shen Yucheng had a bold guess in his mind.
As for the way he addressed him, it was Li Juemu who asked Shen Yucheng to call him that.
Li Juemu used the Illusion Breaking Powder: “But this powder is only effective against demons, not ghosts…”
Before he finished speaking, the environment they were in was like paper encountering fire, gradually revealing the scenery behind it.
What came into view were wooden houses everywhere, neatly arranged on both sides of the road, and the three of them stood in the middle of the road.
Li Juemu was dumbfounded for a moment before saying, “Are we, in Jitan Village?”
Mo Yifeng asked curiously, “How did Yucheng-ge think of using the Illusion Breaking Powder?”
Shen Yucheng looked around the village and said, “From the Northern Region to here, all the way here, the Northern Region is cold all year round, and the ground should be thin ice or hard muddy ground, but after the first time we turned left at the fork just now, the soil on the ground became wet and soft. I touched it with my hand, and it was still very moist soil. Only places with long-term rain or long-term heavy fog can keep the soil in a wet and soft state.”
He looked at the village, where a light mist lingered, “Therefore, I guessed that perhaps we had already arrived at Jitan Village when we turned left, but the illusion blocked the truth.”
The three searched the village, but surprisingly, they didn’t see a single villager.
Li Juemu wondered, “Could it be that they all went out to work?”
“Doesn’t look like it.” Mo Yifeng stared at the garden of one of the houses.
“I think so too.” Shen Yucheng pushed open the wooden fence and walked to a piece of land covered with weeds, “Not to mention whether they went out to work, how come there isn’t a single animal in the whole village.”
Li Juemu realized that not only were there no people in this village, but there were no domestic animals either. He wondered how a village in the northern region that was not coastal could not raise a single living thing.
Moreover, there wasn’t a single leaf on the big trees by the village road, as if they had lost their vitality.
Shen Yucheng looked into the distance at the end of the village. There were so many houses that could be built here, indicating that it was very prosperous in the past, maybe it was one of the largest villages in the northern region.
But now it was desolate and uninhabited. What exactly happened?
At this moment, Mo Yifeng called out from the house opposite.
“Junior Brother Shen Yucheng, come and take a look.”