Chapter Twenty-Four: Who Says the Spirit Terrace Holds a Second Heart

Shen Lian pondered for a moment and asked, “When should I set out?”

Zhang Ruoxu extended his forefinger. A stream of gray energy flowed invisibly forward until it reached Shen Lian, where ripples spread, separating the clear from the turbid. The clear rose and fell like the sea, while a mass of murky heaviness remained unmoved; in form, it resembled a sword-flying immortal.

This was Zhang Ruoxu’s Daoist art, illustrating the geography of Flying Immortal Island. It was far more direct than any spoken description or map.

He then gave Shen Lian the location of Flying Immortal Island, which Shen Lian memorized at once.

Judging by his meaning, the sooner he departed the better. Shen Lian had been inactive for a long while, but he was willing to set out immediately.

The dusk smoke drifted in wisps over his face as Shen Lian had already left the gates of Azure Profound Mountain and arrived at the coast. At that moment, the wind stirred behind him, and someone called out, “Senior Brother, wait. The sect master has another instruction.”

The speaker was none other than the Child Jingqing. Shen Lian already knew that once a demon attained a human form, it must at least possess the level of a Core Formation cultivator. Though the child looked harmless enough, in the outside world he would count as a demon lord in his own right.

Being addressed as senior brother by him, Shen Lian found it rather amusing.

He turned back. Jingqing had already descended from the air, taken human form, and come before him, saying, “The sect master says the journey is too far. Since the matter is unusual, you may choose a flying magical artifact to serve as travel aid. Return it when you come back.”

Shen Lian smiled inwardly. What manner of person was the sect master? How could he possibly overlook such a detail? In truth, he was still testing him, seeing what progress he had made after leaving seclusion.

Looking at Shen Lian, Jingqing only felt that he was entirely different from when he had first entered the mountain. Standing quietly there, he gave off an air that was impossible to fathom. It was not that Shen Lian’s cultivation had reached some immeasurable realm, but that the drifting dusk mist and the omnipresent spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed faintly indistinguishable from him.

In truth, Shen Lian had not yet reached such a state of unity with heaven and man. He had only just begun to take shape and was steadily moving toward it.

His brows relaxed and his expression remained calm as he said, “Please thank the sect master for his kindness on my behalf. A mere stretch of sea is not enough to trouble me.”

Then, all at once, a gentle breeze came drifting by. Shen Lian drew his sword and rose into the air, tracing out lines of runes. In an instant, he condensed a field of spiritual energy. His body seemed to become a paper kite lifted by the wind. Spiritual energy gathered slowly like evening mist, and within it Shen Lian descended upon a cresting wave. His figure was as if he had vanished entirely.

These were runes from the Cloud Seal and Thunder Script. Shen Lian arranged them at will. Though their power was not great, it was sufficient to bear his body, allowing him to ride the waves and pursue the wind without consuming much of his own power.

This method could be called a talisman art, or a Daoist art. It drew upon the wind-spirit energy between heaven and earth, letting one ride the wind and tread the sea.

Shen Lian had never tried it before, yet the first time he did so, he succeeded.

He was not surprised, for he had a clear understanding of his own abilities.

Thus Jingqing watched as Shen Lian’s solitary silhouette vanished into the depths of the sunset glow, while the sea kept striking the shore and the sound of the waves drifted pleasantly into his ears.

He sighed inwardly. “To think that in my lifetime I would actually meet two such monsters.”

Jingqing was preparing to return to the mountain and report, when he saw a young woman standing upon a reef, graceful as an immortal. The sunset touched her purple gauze robe, making her seem dreamlike and unreal. Now and then, the sea wind swept past, stirring the bells at her waist, their clear and distant notes making her appear all the more ethereal.

Jingqing was so startled that he nearly jumped. By nature, serpents were cold and not easily moved by outside things, yet at that moment he still felt sweat breaking out all over his body. He no longer dared to take human form and ride the mist, and instead quietly began to retreat.

“Little snake, what are you afraid of? I won’t hold it against you today.” Her voice was more pleasing than the chime of the bells, floating toward him like mist and water, faintly threaded with a sigh that could break one’s heart.

Jingqing stopped. The purple-robed maiden who had just been gazing at the sea from the reef was already standing before him.

The Child Jingqing forced a flattering smile. “I only saw that you were admiring the view, elder lady. How could I bear to disturb you?”

The purple-robed maiden said, “You need not fear me either. After I fell into delusion, I did indeed act out of the ordinary, but I was not so far gone as to lose my true nature entirely. Otherwise, on that day you would already have become snake soup.”

Jingqing仔细 studied the purple-robed maiden and indeed found no trace of killing intent. He knew that after cultivating a certain Daoist formula, she would split into two personalities whenever she fell into delusion.

At times she was cold and detached, regarding nothing in the world as worthy of her concern, like the Immortal Maiden of Guye. She was just like this now.

At other times she was temperamental and unpredictable; if something displeased her, she might rashly give rise to murderous intent. It was only because Azure Profound Mountain retained the lingering influence of its Daoist master, and because she possessed a treasure that restrained her dark nature, that no calamity had arisen.

Even so, she had still made him miserable last time.

In truth, both personalities were the purple-robed maiden. She understood everything in her heart, yet could not control it. This was one of the traits of falling into delusion.

The purple-robed maiden went on, “Staying within the sect, I have no chance of once again severing illusion. I must enter the mortal world for a time. Originally I planned to leave directly and spare myself the trouble of farewell. Since you happened upon me, though I do not know whether the sect master’s nephew calculated that I would depart and so borrowed your escort to send off that boy Shen here, or whether it was merely an unintentional arrangement—

“Go back and tell him this: I hope he will not be dead by the time I return to the mountain, because when I come back, I will certainly have entered the rank of Earth Immortal again, and I will also bring back that man’s corpse.”

Her tone was icy, yet carried a murderous edge.

Jingqing only felt that the entire world seemed to have been draped in a layer of frost.

Then a purple rainbow slashed across the sky. Just as it was about to vanish, it unexpectedly shifted into a band of azure light. The cold was piercing, and even the evening glow was frozen in place.

******

The ancestor of Flying Immortal Island was a cultivator surnamed Xiao. In those days, when he found no hope of longevity within Azure Profound, he traveled through the mortal realm and encountered this sea island shaped like a sword soaring as an immortal. He settled here and established his line.

Though that Xiao ancestor also accepted a few disciples, Flying Immortal Island throughout the generations remained chiefly under the Xiao family. Later, Cloud Return Mountain Manor branched off as a collateral line.

One was on land, the other at sea. They watched over one another, while also obtaining boundless wealth and many rare resources.

Flying Immortal Island also knew that by enjoying so many benefits, it might one day be unable to defend its foundation if it encountered a vicious demon or an evil cultivator. Thus it regularly offered tribute to Azure Profound.

Although Azure Profound did not care much for such things, it did not refuse them out of old ties and incense offerings.

From Flying Immortal Island, people would occasionally enter Azure Profound as well. After all, those bonds of worship had not yet been severed. Yet this time, when the mountain gates opened, not a single person entered Azure Profound. Counting the previous opening of the gates, it had already been a hundred years since anyone had entered Azure Profound at all. If this continued, even the last trace of goodwill might be extinguished.

After all, to enter Azure Profound from the upper branch, one had to be at least an elder of Core Formation level. Back then, by chance, a descendant of the Xiao family had obtained an external core and stepped into Core Formation. Unfortunately, more than a hundred years ago, a great calamity struck Azure Profound, grievously wounding the great immortal sect that had once produced heroes in great number, and causing many cultivators to perish. That descendant of the Xiao family was among them.

Thanks to Xiao N, Qian Xuzi, book friend 160311112915499, A Page of Rivers and Mountains, and Arar for their tips.