Read Novel Full Chapter 344 - Sage Yushan (1)
As they climbed upward, Tian Fangfang said, “I’ve heard it said that Laojun
1 taught someone to use a wooden drill and a diamond disc, drilling for forty-seven years until they drilled through the stone and finally attained the Dao, ascending to become an immortal. If we keep climbing like this, will we eventually become immortals too?”
Zanxing smiled, “That’s a lovely thought. But what about the flood in Douzhou if we become immortals? Let’s not forget that we didn’t come here to become immortals.”
Tian Fangfang thought for a moment and tentatively asked, “Then why don’t you all take the immortal formula back, and I’ll stay here and become an immortal? Maybe when I get to the upper realm, I can request to stay here as a immortal official and look after our own people on a daily basis.”
Zanxing almost burst out laughing, “Why don’t you just say you want to return home in glory?”
“If that’s the case, the statue of the Sage at the entrance of the Taiyan Sect will need to be replaced,” Tian Fangfang said with bold imagination, regardless of what expression Shaoyang Zhenren might have.
While they were joking, their pace slowed slightly.
As they climbed higher on Jianmu, the branches and leaves became denser, making the ascent more difficult. Looking up, the vast sky seemed endless, as if climbing for a thousand years would still not reach the end. At first, they chatted as they climbed, but eventually, to conserve their energy, they spoke less and less.
Some disciples with insufficient cultivation gradually fell behind. The dense canopy of Jianmu obscured everything around them.
After an unknown amount of time, Mimi at the front roared.
The branches shook with the roar, and Zanxing pushed aside the green foliage in front of her to see a sky full of grayish-white clouds.
Countless clouds flowed, misty and ever-changing, gathering and dispersing beneath their feet, swirling endlessly. Amidst the clouds, a gray-white stone bridge connected to the crown of Jianmu.
The stone bridge stretched long, hidden within the sea of clouds, giving the surrounding area the appearance of a floating immortal realm. At the far end of the bridge, the faint outline of a palace could be seen.
“This is…” Zanxing gazed at the barely visible palace through the mist. “Is this truly the Golden Gate Ruins?”
“This is the Golden Gate Ruins?” Men Dong’s eyes lit up. Though he had received help from Shaoyang Zhenren, his cultivation was not as high as the others, and he was panting heavily. He glanced ahead and hesitated, asking, “Are we supposed to cross the bridge?”
Just as he finished speaking, a silver figure had already darted onto the stone bridge. Mimi had rushed to the front and, seemingly displeased that the group hadn’t followed quickly enough, stood on the bridge, turning back to look at them with a low, urging growl.
“Let’s cross the bridge,” Shaoyang Zhenren said.
The group began walking onto the bridge.
The stone bridge was peculiar, with no apparent support around it, as though it floated above the sea of clouds. Walking on it felt as if they were ascending the heavens themselves, giving them a surreal, weightless sensation.
Zanxing, walking at the back, kept her gaze on the direction of the distant palace.
It wasn’t her imagination—the aura similar to that of the Xiao Yuan Pearl was growing increasingly intense. It felt like a drop of stream water encountering a vast ocean, eager to merge with it.
Bu Jiang paused in her steps, casting a confused glance at Zanxing. She asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”
Gu Baiying also looked over at her.
Zanxing shook her head. “No. Maybe I’m just tired from the earlier fight with Gui Yansheng.”
Bu Jiang nodded, then reminded her, “When we enter the palace later, don’t make any reckless moves. Let those old folks go ahead and scout the way.” She snorted. “A bunch of freeloading bastards who always follow behind others to pick up scraps—it’s about time they did some real work.”
Zanxing replied, “…Alright.”
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they reached the end of the stone bridge. Mu Cengxiao, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped. Zanxing heard his voice call out, “There’s something here!”
“Something?” Zanxing moved forward and saw Mu Cengxiao staring at the end of the stone bridge.
At the bridge’s end stood a large black stone block. It looked like an ordinary, ugly stone, as if it had been casually moved from the entrance of some village, completely out of place in the ethereal sea of clouds surrounding them.
On the surface of the stone, there was a bold inscription, carved with a sword:
“Here was the most handsome and invincible sword cultivator of Douzhou, Yushan, the great hero and Sect Master of Taiyan Sect.”
Next to the inscription was a comical drawing of an old man’s face.
The person who carved these words clearly tried to make the characters grand and flamboyant, but the result was a clumsy, crooked mess. Zanxing stared at the poorly drawn old man’s face and froze.
This… isn’t this the same face from Peerless Heart Sutra?
Zanxing wasn’t the only one stunned. The others around her were also shocked. Rong Shuang frowned and murmured, “The Sage…”
The inscription clearly revealed the carver’s identity—“Yushan, the great hero, Sect Master of Taiyan Sect.” And in Taiyan Sect, there was only one Sage Yushan.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Fu Ronghua instinctively looked at Shaoyang Zhenren. “Master, is this the relic of your sect’s Sage?”
Shaoyang Zhenren remained silent, a tacit confirmation.
Men Dong rubbed his chin and said, “I remember Master once said that the Sage, when he was young and impulsive, loved leaving his writings and paintings everywhere. Turns out it’s true.”
“And you call this calligraphy?” Daoist Lingxin blurted out. “A chicken dipping its claws in ink could do better!”
Shaoyang Zhenren gave him a cold glance.
Bu Jiang asked in confusion, “Shaoyang, didn’t Sage Yushan ascend to immortality over a hundred years ago? Why is there a relic of his here as well? Could it be that he visited the Golden Gate Ruins before his ascension? And if he had, how is it that no one in your Taiyan Sect knew of the Ruins’ location?”
If Taiyan Sect had even the slightest clue about the Golden Gate Ruins, they wouldn’t have traveled far to Heishi City, lowering themselves in such a manner.
Shaoyang Zhenren replied, “I don’t know about the Sage’s affairs.”
“How can you not know?” Rong Shuang pressed, staring into his eyes. “You were the only one there when Sage Yushan ascended.”
No one else witnessed Sage Yushan’s ascension, but there were indeed strange phenomena in the sky over Gufeng Mountain at the time, and Shaoyang Zhenren was the sole witness.
Zanxing also looked at Shaoyang Zhenren. She had never expected that the Peerless Heart Sutra she had stumbled upon in the treasure trove was written by Sage Yushan. To be fair, Sage Yushan was undoubtedly a remarkable figure. For an ordinary person to create their own cultivation technique was an achievement of a once-in-a-millenium-genius in the cultivation world. That Peerless Heart Sutra had pulled her out in the Abyss of Extreme Ice, awakened her Celestial Demon bloodline, and allowed her to embark on an unprecedented path. In some ways, it was indeed groundbreaking.
It was possible that Douzhou would never see another like him, nor another work as extraordinary as the Peerless Heart Sutra.
At the time, Zanxing had believed that, as a ‘destined one’, it was a stroke of great fortune to have obtained the technique with Mimi’s help, a rare moment of luck amidst the danger—a life-saving coincidence.
But now, upon learning that this technique was written by Sage Yushan, Zanxing suddenly wasn’t so sure.
Was this truly just a coincidence?
Footnotes
A Taoist diety often associated with alchemy and immortality.