Chapter 28
Yan Ling had already fled down Green Pine Peak. Xie Qingzheng didn’t know how her master was going to intercept and question her.
She wanted to go along, but her master said it was inconvenient with too many people and told her to return to Ethereal Peak first.
She obediently returned to Ethereal Peak alone, sat cross-legged in the bamboo pavilion, and circulated her qi to heal.
The third match had consumed a great deal of her spiritual energy, and she had also suffered some internal injuries. In the chaotic battle that followed, with her master protecting her, she hadn’t been hurt much.
The spirit fox was playing in the snow under the plum tree, using its spiritual energy to make snowballs.
When Xie Qingzheng opened her eyes, the spirit fox immediately ran over and brought a snowball to her hand.
She stroked the fox’s head. “I can’t play with you today. I need to go read for a while.”
There was a bamboo hut on the summit filled with bookshelves, on which were placed all sorts of books: Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, astronomy, geography…
Xie Qingzheng picked a book related to cultivation and opened it:
“The Great Dao is subtle, profound, and deep. It divides into two qis, clear and turbid. The clear qi rises to become the heavens, and the turbid qi condenses below to become the earth.” (Note)
The spiritual cultivators of the orthodox Xuanmen absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which was the so-called “clear qi,” while the evil cultivators absorbed the “turbid qi.”
The yin qi, ghostly qi, resentful qi, and malevolent qi from piles of dead bodies all belonged to the turbid qi. The evil cultivators who absorbed and cultivated this turbid qi would inevitably have their state of mind change. Over time, they would either become violent and irascible, or cold-blooded and ruthless, and then cruel, bloodthirsty, and harmful to the innocent.
Therefore, the spiritual cultivators of the orthodox Xuanmen regarded the evil cultivators as the cancer of the cultivation world, the demonic path, and wished to eliminate them as soon as possible.
The spirit fox walked into the library, lay down beside Xie Qingzheng, and whimpered.
Xie Qingzheng reached out and stroked the fox. “You are also a spiritual cultivator.”
Besides absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, spirit beasts also had to absorb the essence of the sun and moon to help them take shape.
There were also beasts that absorbed turbid qi to cultivate and harmed the innocent. Those were demonic beasts, and they also had to be eliminated.
Xie Qingzheng thought of the poison corpses in Qingjia Town, and the demons who had attacked the Xuanji Sect today. She also remembered that her mother had once consorted with the demonic evils of the demonic cult, and had thus been expelled from her sect.
And Sect Master Xiao’s vague words, Elder Jin’s rebukes and curses…
For a moment, a feeling of bewilderment and helplessness welled up in her heart.
Her mother had once saved the villagers of Wen Family Village. She didn’t believe that her mother would be a bad person who couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong. But if the evil cultivators of the Ten Directions Domain were all so harmful to the common people and so evil, why would her mother have consorted with them?
She had once suspected that her mother had been harmed by the demonic cult, but now, another thought had arisen in her heart—
Could it be that she had been annihilated by the righteous path?
Like Li Chongdou, who had betrayed his master and his sect, becoming a scoundrel and a public enemy of the cultivation world, and had had his skull shattered by Elder Mu in the chaotic battle.
No, no, Elder Jin had only said that her mother had been expelled from her sect, not that she had colluded with the demonic cult to harm the righteous path. If she had, she would have been cursed to high heaven long ago…
But the act of consorting with evil demons was enough to have her mother be surrounded and annihilated by the righteous path.
The major righteous sects of the cultivation world had all established a rule: any righteous spiritual cultivator who consorted with the demonic evils of the Ten Directions Domain would have their cultivation crippled, be expelled from their sect, and be jointly executed by the righteous path.
If her mother had really been annihilated by the righteous path, then should she seek revenge for her mother’s death or not?
The righteous path, the evil path, it was all so complicated. She couldn’t figure it out…
Xie Qingzheng was troubled by her thoughts. She stood up and gazed at the fine snow and red plum blossoms outside the bamboo hut, clearing her mind and calming her qi.
The fragrance of the plum blossoms wafted over, and she thought of her master.
If she were to tell her master these questions, her master would surely say: The grievances and affections of the secular world are all worldly ties. If you cannot sever them, cannot let them go, you will surely face a tribulation in the future.
Let go? How to let go, not think about these things, and devote herself to cultivating the Dao?
And what was the Dao? The righteous path was the “Dao,” but was the evil path also the “Dao”?
“What are you thinking about?” Mo Jiangxue suddenly floated down and landed under a plum tree in front of the window. She brushed the snow from her shoulder and looked up at Xie Qingzheng. “Why is your brow so furrowed?”
Xie Qingzheng’s eyes lit up. She immediately smoothed her brow, flashed outside, and asked, “Master, you’re back so soon?”
Mo Jiangxue: “I just went to ask a few questions.”
Xie Qingzheng: “What questions?”
Mo Jiangxue: “About the words on the back of the Buddha statue in Qingjia Town.”
Xie Qingzheng was puzzled. “Master, why ask about that? The Buddha statue was tainted with the turbid, malevolent qi of an evil cultivator. Wasn’t it left by an evil cultivator from the demonic cult?”
Mo Jiangxue shook her head. “The Red Sleeve Army slaughtered the monks of the temple. The people of the Ten Directions Domain spread the corpse poison, both to take revenge on the Red Sleeve Army and to divert the Xuanji Sect’s attention. But Yan Ling did not know about the words on the Buddha statue. Her people left after poisoning the monks’ bodies.”
Xie Qingzheng’s first reaction was: “Could that demoness be lying?”
Mo Jiangxue said, “She has no need to lie.”
Xie Qingzheng thought for a moment and said, “That’s true. That little demoness is sharp-tongued. She always has to say a few words whether she wins or loses, and she’ll even make up things, like the servant who empties the chamber pots, and ethics and etiquette…”
If she really wanted to slander Xiao Wangqing, she would probably have made a big deal of it in the fierce battle and debate just now.
Xie Qingzheng: “But if it wasn’t the demonic cult, who else could have left it? And for what purpose?”
If it had been left by an evil cultivator from the demonic cult, it could be said to be a slander and a provocation to anger the Xuanji Sect. If not, then someone had deliberately wanted them to know this information, so that they would suspect Sect Master Xiao.
Who could it be?
Mo Jiangxue said, “I can’t guess that either.”
Xie Qingzheng subconsciously felt: “Could it be that the Sect Master has offended someone?”
She still felt that the sentence “The one who refined the corpse poison is Xiao Wangqing” was too absurd, like someone was trying to sling mud at the Sect Master.
The Sect Master was the head of a sect, a grandmaster of a generation, with thousands of disciples under her. Why would she need to refine poison corpses? It was both harmful to heaven and reason, and also time-consuming and laborious.
Besides, she was busy with sect affairs every day, so busy she was overwhelmed. Where would she find the time to refine poison corpses? And where would she refine them?
Mo Jiangxue said, “In her position, she has offended countless people, both openly and secretly.”
Where there are people, there is conflict. No matter how good one’s reputation, when one is in a high position, it is inevitable to be caught in conflicts of interest and position. Even the most sophisticated person will offend people at times.
Xie Qingzheng asked, “Then… should we tell the Sect Master about this?”
Mo Jiangxue said, “I will talk to her about it another day.”
Xie Qingzheng said, “Then did you capture Yan Ling, Master?”
Mo Jiangxue shook her head. “It’s easy to capture her, but hard to keep her. She is the daughter of the Lord of the Ten Directions Domain. With the Xuanji Sect’s current strength, we cannot contend with the entire Ten Directions Domain.”
Otherwise, she and Mu Qingdai could have joined forces and captured Yan Ling on Green Pine Peak.
Xie Qingzheng nodded, half-understanding.
The night was already deep. Too many things had happened these past few days. Xie Qingzheng had no desire to sleep. She closed her eyes, and her mind tossed and turned, thinking about the distinction between the righteous and the evil, the deaths of her mother and the people of Wen Family Village, and the injured senior sisters from the day.
Unable to figure anything out, she simply got up, sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and focused on cultivating her internal breath.
Outside the hut, the wind whistled, and the snow rustled.
She faintly heard the sound of a qin. Xie Qingzheng opened her eyes, released her spiritual sense, and detected the figure in the bamboo pavilion outside. A thought moved her.
With a flash, she was in the bamboo pavilion, standing to the side, quietly listening to Mo Jiangxue play the qin.
Mo Jiangxue glanced at her, said nothing, and continued to play.
The sound of the qin was faint and lingering, intertwined with the soft sound of falling snow. In the dead of night, it seemed a bit cold and lonely.
Xie Qingzheng couldn’t help but raise her xiao and play in harmony with her.
They were playing A Pleasant Night, and in the music, one could hear the clear breeze of a moonlit night, the elegant mood of a pleasant evening.
When the piece ended, Xie Qingzheng’s bewildered mood had calmed down a lot. She saluted and asked, “Master, what has put you in the mood to play the qin in the middle of the night? Can’t you sleep either?”
Mo Jiangxue shook her head slightly. “I don’t sleep at night.”
With her level of cultivation, she could go without sleep for years without feeling tired.
Xie Qingzheng asked, “Then what do you do every night, Master?”
Mo Jiangxue said, “Meditate, read, and practice the qin.”
But ever since Xie Qingzheng had entered Ethereal Peak, she had rarely practiced the qin at night.
Xie Qingzheng was used to sleeping every day.
“Then don’t you get bored?” Xie Qingzheng asked.
Mo Jiangxue said, “No, I’m used to it.” She then looked at Xie Qingzheng and said, “There is a sense of bewilderment in your music. What are you bewildered about?”
Xie Qingzheng played with her jade xiao.
Her master could hear her thoughts from the sound of her xiao, but she couldn’t understand what was hidden in her master’s qin music.
After a moment’s hesitation, she said honestly, “I was thinking, what is righteous, and what is evil? Are the righteous and evil paths going to keep fighting like this, either we destroy the people of the Ten Directions Domain, or the people of the Ten Directions Domain destroy us?”
Mo Jiangxue pondered for a long while, plucked a string, and with a zheng, a black and white yin-yang diagram appeared before Xie Qingzheng’s eyes.
Mo Jiangxue said, “‘The righteous becomes the strange, the good becomes the demonic.’ The righteous and the evil coexist and counteract each other, just like this black and white yin-yang diagram. The righteous can transform into the evil, and the evil can also transform into the righteous.”
Xie Qingzheng looked at the yin-yang diagram and said, “Master, what you are teaching is different from what the senior sisters taught.”
Mo Jiangxue asked, “Then do you want to listen to me, or do you want to listen to the senior sisters?”
Xie Qingzheng smiled. “Master, I will naturally listen to you.”
On Weiming Peak, the senior sisters always said that the righteous and the evil could not coexist. The righteous was the righteous, the evil was the evil, demons were demons, and devils were devils. The righteous and the evil had to be clearly distinguished. The Xuanji Sect was a righteous sect and had to protect all living things, taking it as its duty to eliminate demons and defend the Dao.
The Ten Directions Domain was a demonic cult, a demonic evil, the cancer of the cultivation world, and had to be completely eradicated.
After experiencing the events in Qingjia Town and today, she did indeed feel that the people of the demonic cult were very detestable.
But…
“You can’t figure out why your mother, who came from an orthodox Xuanmen sect, would consort with the people of the Ten Directions Domain, can you?” Mo Jiangxue had guessed her thoughts.
Xie Qingzheng nodded and looked at Mo Jiangxue with a somewhat cautious gaze, as if she were afraid that Mo Jiangxue would, like when she had first become her disciple three years ago, tell her with a serious face to sever her worldly ties and let go of her past attachments.
But Mo Jiangxue just looked at her calmly and said patiently, “Although the Xuanji Sect is an orthodox Xuanmen sect, as a cultivator of the Dao, you should not be bound by the secular view of righteous and evil. Righteous and evil are not determined by one’s background. If a spiritual cultivator of the righteous path has a crooked mind and does many evil deeds, then they are a demonic evil. If an evil cultivator of the Ten Directions Domain acts with integrity, has good intentions, and does good deeds, they can also be respected.”
She wanted her to look at the righteous and the evil beyond the confines of sects.
Xie Qingzheng was suddenly enlightened. She bowed and said, “Disciple has been taught. Thank you, Master.”
Her master was open-minded, transparent, and magnanimous. She really wanted to stay by her master’s side for a lifetime.
As she thought this in her heart, she couldn’t help but say it out loud, “Master, I wish I could stay by your side for a lifetime. As long as you are with me, I am not afraid of anything. It seems that all difficulties and dangers can be easily solved.”
Her tone was full of admiration and reliance.
Mo Jiangxue lowered her head, plucked a string again, and said coolly, “There is a sequence in hearing the Dao. I just knew these things a little earlier than you. It’s nothing remarkable. And…” She looked up at Xie Qingzheng. “A teacher imparts the Dao, teaches skills, and resolves doubts. You will eventually grow up, and there will be a day when I can no longer teach you. When I have taught you everything I know, that will be the day you graduate.”
Her tone was casual, but Xie Qingzheng’s heart ached. She quickly shook her head. “No, Master. I still have many things to learn from you. I won’t graduate.”
Mo Jiangxue: “Within ten years, you are to surpass me.”
Xie Qingzheng: “That’s in terms of cultivation. I have to surpass you to transfer that curse. But, in terms of Daoist arts, music, and how to conduct myself, I will have to learn from you for my entire life, unless… unless you don’t want me anymore…”
Mo Jiangxue smiled faintly and teased, “Then I wouldn’t want a disciple who can never compare to me for a lifetime.”
Xie Qingzheng was taken aback and said, “Master, what you said seems to have a point. It’s not that I don’t have ambition… But, I just don’t want to graduate.”
Mo Jiangxue said, “People’s ideas change with time.”
Xie Qingzheng said sincerely, “My wish to be with you for a lifetime will not change.”
Mo Jiangxue said coolly, “We are master and disciple, not Daoist companions. How can we be together for a lifetime?”
Author’s Note:
Mo Jiangxue: We are master and disciple, not Daoist companions (subtext: Don’t rely on me too much.)
Xie Qingzheng (enlightened): So we have to be Daoist companions to be together for a lifetime?!
