We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 485: His Life Had Long Since Ceased to Be His Own

When Xiao Mo woke on his bed, he found himself already back in his room.

Thinking back on the previous night, it had been the influence of the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet that had overcome him.

In all likelihood, it had been Jingci who had brought him back.

Xiao Mo shook his head to clear it and sat up.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he turned his divine sense inward and examined his own body.

As he had expected, the spiritual energy within him was in a state of quiet, self-sustaining cultivation.

His spiritual roots in particular seemed to be undergoing a kind of transformation, much like a silkworm forming its cocoon before becoming a butterfly, or a serpent preparing to shed its skin.

This came as a genuine surprise to Xiao Mo.

He had never anticipated that the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet, cultivated far enough, would also carry the effect of refining and improving one's spiritual roots.

On that point alone, the value of the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet was beyond any measure.

Xiao Mo could not even begin to imagine what manner of extraordinary genius could have created such a cultivation method.

"There is no waiting any longer. It is time to enter seclusion."

Xiao Mo murmured to himself.

His cultivation of the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet had reached a ceiling. His current spiritual energy, spiritual veins, and spiritual roots could no longer support further advancement. Unless he entered seclusion and used the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet to nurture himself from within, pushing his body and spiritual veins to break through to a higher level, the cultivation ahead of him would not merely stagnate. It could very well cause damage to his body that would be difficult to undo.

What concerned him, however, was that he had no way of knowing how long this seclusion would take.

And seclusion was at once an opportunity and a risk.

After all, not every silkworm completed its transformation into a butterfly, and not every serpent shed its skin without difficulty.

So before entering seclusion, Xiao Mo felt he needed to make some preparations. At the very least, he ought to let Jingci and the others know.

Beyond that, he also needed to find a suitable place for seclusion, somewhere sufficiently concealed. If someone came to kill him again while he was in the middle of it, he might not even be aware of how he had died.

After settling his thoughts, Xiao Mo went to Hanshan City and bought two jugs of fine daughter's red wine, along with some braised beef, peanuts, spicy tofu skin, and other things to accompany the wine. Then he flew toward Fuyue Peak.

He arrived before a courtyard.

Inside, a scholar was playing a game of chess against himself.

He was so absorbed in the game that he had not noticed Xiao Mo's arrival at all.

"Xiao Mo pays his respects to Teacher Xian. I have come uninvited and ask for the teacher's forgiveness." Standing at the courtyard gate, Xiao Mo gave a bow and spoke in a clear, carrying voice.

At the sound of Xiao Mo's voice, Xian Xichun's hand paused slightly as he was about to place a piece.

He turned his head, and seeing the young man at his gate, composed and carrying himself with an easy elegance, his expression showed a measure of surprise.

"This is the first time Young Brother Xiao has come to find me. Please come in."

Xian Xichun opened the bamboo gate with a warm welcome and ushered Xiao Mo inside.

"Many thanks, teacher."

Xiao Mo entered the courtyard and set the gifts he had brought down on the table.

"I have heard that the teacher is fond of the daughter's red wine from the Immortal Sound House in Hanshan City, so I have brought two jugs along with a few small things to go with it. I hope the teacher will not think them too meager."

"Ha ha ha, you thoughtful young man. Had you brought something costly, I would not have accepted it."

Xian Xichun swept his blue robe aside and sat down in his easy, unaffected manner, extending an invitation to Xiao Mo at the same time. "Drinking alone is the most tedious thing in the world. Come, drink with me."

"Yes." With the host himself saying as much, Xiao Mo as the guest could hardly stand on ceremony. He took a seat beside Xian Xichun.

"Whenever I lecture, whether inside the study hall or outside it, you are the most attentive of everyone, and no matter what I teach, you grasp it in an instant. Several years ago I already thought you were an outstanding candidate for the cultivation of the Confucian path."

Xian Xichun poured a cup for Xiao Mo.

"And yet you, Xiao Mo, chose to cultivate the Daoist arts instead. It is genuinely a shame."

"Though I suppose your talent for the Daoist arts does appear to be the higher of the two. In comparison, having you pursue the Confucian path might actually be the greater waste."

"The teacher flatters me. Someone like me could hardly claim any talent for the Confucian path." Faced with Xian Xichun's praise, Xiao Mo simply smiled and shook his head.

"Ha ha ha, there is no need for modesty in front of me. If you have no talent for the Confucian path, then what does that make me? I have merely read a few hundred more years of books than you, that is all." Xian Xichun raised his cup and lightly touched it to Xiao Mo's. "And Xiao Mo, do you know what I admire most about you?"

"What is that?" Xiao Mo asked.

"Your name." Xian Xichun drank his cup with a playful air. "Well? You did not expect that, did you?"

"I truly did not." Xiao Mo shook his head. "But is there something particular about my name?"

"Nothing especially particular, I suppose. Only that there is a teacher I greatly admire. I have never met him, only heard accounts of what he did, yet I have long looked up to his conduct and his deeds. And your name bears a resemblance to his." Xian Xichun explained.

"To be admired by Teacher Xian, that teacher's learning must have been very great indeed." Xiao Mo followed the thread of the conversation.

"Very great!" Xian Xichun gave a sincere and deliberate nod, then raised his hand and pointed at the vast sky above them. "Whatever the world may think! Whatever those false scholars may say, in my heart, that teacher's learning stands higher than the very sky!"

"What a pity," Xian Xichun poured himself another cup and drank it in one go, a trace of melancholy moving across his face, "what a pity that before that teacher passed from this world, I never had the chance to meet him even once."

Seeing the look of quiet regret on Xian Xichun's face, Xiao Mo did not know what to say, and could only silently refill his cup for him.

"Well, enough of that." Xian Xichun waved a hand and looked at Xiao Mo with a smile. "You would not have come without a reason. Go on then, what has brought you here today?"

"I do have one matter to ask the teacher's help with." Xiao Mo offered Xian Xichun a respectful cup. "As of tomorrow, I expect to enter seclusion. I do not know how long this seclusion will last, and I was hoping the teacher might know of somewhere isolated and out of the way, yet with sufficient spiritual energy, where I would be unlikely to be discovered."

"Oh? Is the Hanshan Academy not safe enough for you? Are you afraid of being assassinated?" Xian Xichun said with a teasing smile.

Faced with the teasing, Xiao Mo only smiled quietly and said nothing.

Seeing Xiao Mo's silence, Xian Xichun understood his meaning, and his brow drew together. "There has truly been someone who attempted violence against you?"

"I will not conceal it from the teacher. The night before last, a figure dressed in black came to my lodgings with the intent to kill me. Their swordsmanship was sharp and every strike aimed to be lethal."

Xiao Mo held nothing back, and in clear and deliberate words he laid out everything that had occurred that night, including every technique the figure in black had employed, without omitting a single detail.

When Xiao Mo finished, Xian Xichun fell into a silence, and without quite noticing it he drank several more cups of wine.

After a long pause, Xian Xichun set down his cup. "I understand now. You have my word. Though I am a man of modest ability, I will do what I can to look into this matter for you."

"As for the place of seclusion you mentioned, the bamboo courtyard where you are living is already an excellent choice. Those bamboo trees are no ordinary plants. They are Water Spirit Bamboo, and they have the property of gathering and concentrating spiritual energy. You may cultivate there without concern. I will personally stand guard for you."

"This is far too much trouble for the teacher," Xiao Mo said quickly. He had not expected this from Teacher Xian.

"Think nothing of it. You brought me wine today. Standing guard for you once is the least I can do." Xian Xichun said with a frank and generous air, carrying something of the manner of a wandering hero. "It is decided. If you refuse again, Xiao Mo, you will be giving me no face, and I shall be displeased."

"I..." Seeing the sincerity in Teacher Xian's expression, Xiao Mo hesitated a moment, then rose to his feet and gave a deep bow. "The teacher's kindness today, I will remember it always, and I will repay it in the future without fail."

"Ha ha ha, standing guard during seclusion is a small thing. How does that count as any kind of kindness?" Xian Xichun smoothed his sleeves and looked at Xiao Mo. "If you truly wish to repay me, invite me for another drink after you come out of seclusion. But that said, have you told your Young Miss about any of this?"

Xiao Mo shook his head. "I have not told the Young Miss. I did not wish to cause her worry. And beyond that, this matter, I somehow feel..."

Xiao Mo stopped himself mid-sentence and closed his mouth, leaving the thought unfinished.

"I understand." Xian Xichun gave a nod, grasping Xiao Mo's meaning, and feeling a quiet admiration for the young man's vigilance. "Come dawn tomorrow, I will come to you. Rest easy. You have nothing to worry about but your cultivation."

"Yes, teacher." With Teacher Xian standing guard, a genuine sense of relief settled over Xiao Mo's heart.

After speaking for a while longer with Xian Xichun on matters of cultivation, Xiao Mo rose, took his leave, and departed.

Back in his courtyard, Xian Xichun continued drinking the wine Xiao Mo had brought.

Only his pace grew faster and faster, and the expression on his face grew heavier with a mounting unease.

At last, Xian Xichun set down his cup and flew off toward the main peak of the Hanshan Academy.

"Teacher."

Arriving before the courtyard of the Dean Cun Caiguang, Xian Xichun gave a bow.

"Mm."

The Dean, who had been sitting in still meditation with his eyes closed, slowly opened them.

Looking at the barely concealed anger in his student's expression, Cun Caiguang smiled. "What is it that has made you this upset?"

"The night before last, the book attendant named Xiao Mo who serves Tushan Jingci was the target of an assassination attempt. Does the teacher know of this?"

Xian Xichun looked directly into the Dean's eyes.

"I know." Cun Caiguang gave a nod. "A cultivator of the Dragon Gate realm 'infiltrating' my Hanshan Academy, if I did not know, I would not deserve to be Dean."

"The person behind it?" Xian Xichun asked.

"The Tushan clan. Or more precisely, the Tushan fox clan." Cun Caiguang said slowly, without the slightest attempt to conceal it.

"So it is as I suspected."

With the suspicion in his heart now confirmed, Xian Xichun let out a quiet inward sigh.

The Hanshan Academy was a world unto itself, and the Dean was the sage who stood at the center of it. Any cultivator of the Middle Three Realms who entered the Hanshan Academy would without exception be perceived by the Dean, to say nothing of someone who had committed murder within the academy grounds.

The number of clans in all the world whose actions the Dean would turn a blind eye to were few indeed. Even the Heavenly Demon Kingdom would not qualify and Xiao Mo had no grievance with any other clan. There was neither reason nor nerve for any other party to move against him.

That being the case, only one clan remained, and that was the Tushan clan.

After all, the Tushan clan was not made up of the Lady of Mount Tu's line from Immortal Fox City alone. Not every branch of the clan could be expected to accept Xiao Mo.

"Tushan Xinhua gave Xiao Mo the Great Dream of the Yellow Millet. For the Tushan clan, that means their most outstanding daughter would be bound to him. How could the Tushan clan possibly accept that?"

Cun Caiguang let out a sigh, knowing full well what thoughts were passing through his student's mind.

"That young man called Xiao Mo, his life had long since ceased to be his own."

…

Leaving Xian Xichun's courtyard, Xiao Mo made his way to the young girl's courtyard, where he found Yueshi in the yard hanging out laundry to dry.

"Elder Sister Yueshi." Xiao Mo called in greeting.

"Xiao Mo?" Yueshi blinked, a faint surprise in her expression. "What brings you here?"

"I am going into seclusion tomorrow, and I wanted to let the Young Miss and Elder Sister Yueshi know in advance." Xiao Mo said with a smile. "Is the Young Miss in the courtyard?"

"The Young Miss is..."

"Xiao Mo!"

Before Yueshi had finished speaking, Tushan Jingci, hearing Xiao Mo's voice, came bounding out of her room like a butterfly catching the scent of flowers.

"Xiao Mo, what brings you here? Is something the matter? Did you miss me?"

Tushan Jingci ran up before him, bright and full of color as the spring itself.

"Young Miss." Xiao Mo gave a bow. "I have come today to tell the Young Miss something."

"What is it?" Tushan Jingci blinked her pretty eyes.

"I am going into seclusion tomorrow." Xiao Mo said simply.

"Oh?" Hearing his words, Tushan Jingci's eyes blinked once and then twice, and very quickly filled with dejection. "Seclusion? Does that mean I will not be able to see you for a very long time?"

"That is how it is." Xiao Mo gave a nod. "Starting tomorrow, I may not be able to accompany the Young Miss to her studies."

"But Xiao Mo, if you are in seclusion, who will play with me..." Tushan Jingci pushed out her lips.

"The Young Miss has no shortage of friends. She does not need me." Xiao Mo said with a smile.

Though the young girl had come of age, she still seemed in many ways like a small child, as though she simply refused to grow up, caring for nothing but play.

"How can you say she does not need you... you are different from all of them." Tushan Jingci lowered her head and murmured under her breath.

Watching Tushan Jingci's crestfallen expression, just as Xiao Mo was thinking of how to console her, in the very next moment Tushan Jingci seemed to arrive at something on her own. She lifted her head and looked at Xiao Mo with a steady, earnest gaze.

"Never mind, Xiao Mo. You... you go into seclusion. Do not worry. Even without you here, I will study properly, I promise. Who knows, perhaps by the time you come out, I will already be a Worthy."

"Mm." Xiao Mo gave a nod, a little surprised that the Young Miss had found her own footing so quickly. "I believe the Young Miss can do it."

With that, Xiao Mo closed his eyes, formed a hand seal, and attempted to calculate the length of his seclusion.

The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet contained within it the art of divination, though the most difficult thing to divine by that art was always oneself.

"Young Miss, I do not know when I will come out of seclusion."

After a long while, Xiao Mo slowly opened his eyes. He looked at the young girl's beautiful face and smiled, saying, "But on the day I do, I will fill the mountain with peach blossoms for the Young Miss. Would that be all right?"