Uncanny Immortal 34

Chapter 34

The female cultivators, however, thought to themselves: Countless children of noble families have tried to become her disciple and failed. How could a mere water ghost like you so easily become one?

As expected, Mo Jiangxue still shook her head and said in a cold voice, “I do not accept those who prove the Dao through killing.”

Jiang Ran hurriedly explained, “Immortal, please see clearly. Jiang Ran did not kill the innocent! Those who died were the ones who led the evil in the past!”

“That is not the reason I am unwilling to accept you.” Mo Jiangxue enlightened her, “Proving the Dao through killing is merely a formal severing of worldly ties. It does not prove that one has truly let go in their heart. Moreover, what is proven is the demonic and evil path, not the Great Dao. Today you enter the Dao through killing, and in the future, when the demonic barrier arises, you will also easily die for the Dao because of killing.”

The female cultivators’ hearts chilled.

In the mortal world, there were indeed people who took extreme measures, killing their relatives and their entire families to prove their Dao heart. But their major sects took it as their duty to slay demons, eliminate evil, and protect all living things. The first rule of the sect was: Anyone who kills the innocent and harms their relatives to prove their Dao heart shall not be allowed to enter the sect.

Mo Jiangxue continued, “Severing worldly ties does not need to be proven through killing. A cultivator of the Dao is, in fact, a cultivator of the mind. When my heart is at ease, indestructible, and not bound by external things, the Great Dao can be achieved.”

Xie Qingzheng’s heart was moved.

If the death of one’s worldly relatives was considered severing worldly ties, then with her weak familial ties, without a mother or a father, wouldn’t she be considered to have severed them completely?

Only by letting go in one’s heart could one be considered to have truly severed their worldly ties.

Mo Jiangxue said, “The way of ghosts is perilous. You should follow them back to Tianquan Manor. After you have purified your baleful energy, you can be reincarnated as a human and then it will not be too late to cultivate the way of immortals.”

This was Tianquan Manor’s sphere of influence. Exorcising evil spirits, suppressing, and delivering souls were all the responsibility of the people of Tianquan Manor.

The aftermath was all handed over to Tianquan Manor. Mo Jiangxue and Xie Qingzheng said their goodbyes to the group of female cultivators and escorted the abducted girl home.

The girl was given some true qi and woke up. She said she was from Hulu Village, outside Jinyang City. Before she could say more, she saw the bodies and the river of blood around her, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted again.

Xie Qingzheng had no choice but to carry her, ask the people of Tianquan Manor for the location of Hulu Village, and fly towards Hulu Village with Mo Jiangxue.

On the way, she asked Mo Jiangxue, “Master, can one attain the Dao and become an immortal by cultivating the way of ghosts?”

Mo Jiangxue said, “One can. As a ghost, to transcend from within the yin is to become a ghost immortal. It’s just that cultivating the way of ghosts is too perilous. Many have their forms and spirits destroyed, and very few transcend to become immortals.”

Xie Qingzheng sighed. “It’s just as the scriptures say, ‘The way of immortals is always auspicious, the way of ghosts is always perilous.’ It’s better to be reincarnated as a human and cultivate the way of immortals…”

The master and disciple sent the girl back to Hulu Village.

This girl had gone to the market with her parents today and had not expected to encounter such a disaster. Her parents had searched for her for a long time at the market and, not finding her, had thought she had been abducted by kidnappers and had cried their hearts out.

Upon seeing her return, the old couple were so happy they cried tears of joy. They thanked the master and disciple profusely, and seeing that it was late, they warmly invited the two to stay and wanted to kill a chicken to treat them, calling them “immortals” and “benefactors.”

Xie Qingzheng felt a little proud. She smiled and declined, even throwing in a few literary phrases, “We, master and disciple, are cultivators. We dine on the wind and drink the dew, and do not eat grains.”

The family of three did not know many characters. Hearing her speak so awkwardly, they stood there in a daze, looking at each other.

Mo Jiangxue let out a chuckle.

Xie Qingzheng’s cheeks flushed red. She didn’t dare to put on airs any longer and quickly said, “No need, no need. We don’t eat. Just a night’s lodging will be fine.”

The family of three were still grateful and went to the courtyard to pick some fruits, wash them, and serve them.

The group of villagers she had just seen were ferocious and unreasonable, but the family she met now were simple, kind, and grateful.

Xie Qingzheng’s feelings were complicated, and for a moment, she was filled with emotion.

The family of three cleared out a small room for them.

The master and disciple shared a room.

The candlelight in the room was dim. Mo Jiangxue looked down at her disciple, who was sitting at the table in a daze, and asked her, “The world is complicated, and the human heart is unpredictable. Have you seen it all clearly today?”

Xie Qingzheng let out a dazed “ah” and looked at Mo Jiangxue’s beautiful face.

Brows like ink, skin whiter than snow, as bright as the moon, as white as frost.

After looking for a moment, Xie Qingzheng turned her gaze away and said, “Disciple has seen it clearly… so beautiful… oh no… not that, it’s, the world is so complicated…”

She couldn’t remember her past and had lived with the ghosts of Wen Family Village for many years. Those ghosts were all good ghosts, and most of the people she had met in the Xuanji Sect were also good people. Therefore, she had always felt that most people in this world were good, and that if she treated people with sincerity, others would also treat her with sincerity.

She never would have thought that there was such an ignorant place as Dutou Village in this world, with so many inexplicable prejudices and malice, with those cruel, selfish, and hypocritical people.

Coming here and experiencing this, she had truly stepped into the mortal world.

She rested her chin on her hand and sighed heavily. “Master, people are so complicated.”

Mo Jiangxue raised her hand and lightly tapped the cinnabar mark between her brows. “You think this is complicated?”

Xie Qingzheng: “Isn’t it?”

Mo Jiangxue shook her head.

Xie Qingzheng asked her, “Then Master, what do you think the mortal world is like?”

Mo Jiangxue said, “There is warmth everywhere, and there is danger everywhere.”

Xie Qingzheng didn’t wait for her to elaborate and understood her meaning. “Master, you mean it’s like the black and white yin-yang diagram, right? There is good and evil, good and bad, true feelings and false feelings, and they can all transform into each other.”

Mo Jiangxue hummed in acknowledgment and tapped the mark between her brows again. “It is easy to deliver ghosts, but difficult to deliver people.”

In this world, the most difficult to deal with are not ghosts, not demons, but the human heart.

Xie Qingzheng thought of Jiang Ran and that fickle scholar and sighed heavily again. “The human heart is indeed changeable. I will slowly see it for myself in the future… Anyway, with you by my side, Master, I will always be safe.”

Mo Jiangxue’s faint smile faded, but she didn’t say anything like “don’t rely on me too much.” She just said seriously, “When you were ‘getting married,’ I made some inquiries in the city. The Wen clan of Jinyang suffered a great fire in the chaos of war four years ago. The Wen family either died or scattered, and their whereabouts are long unknown.”

The words “getting married” made Xie Qingzheng’s mouth twitch.

But then she thought of the words in the Wen Family Village household registration booklet and sighed, “Aunty also had a daughter. If she’s still alive, she should be about my age…”

Mo Jiangxue said, “Let’s look for other clues.”

Xie Qingzheng hummed in acknowledgment and suddenly remembered the Seven Star Soul-Gathering Lamp that Pei Shuxue had mentioned. She said, “Master, looking for people in this vast, chaotic world is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Master, you already have the Tianxuan Sword. I heard that the Tianquan Saber is in the hands of the Manor Lord of Tianquan Manor. If we can borrow the Tianquan Saber and then find the remaining spirit weapons and combine them into the Soul-Gathering Lamp, then the curse on you…”

Mo Jiangxue shook her head. “Finding all the other spirit weapons is also like looking for a needle in a haystack. I have already inquired about the whereabouts of the remaining spirit weapons.”

The Tianji Jade was with Pei Shuxue. Pei Shuxue was from the Tianji sect and was the only daughter of the Tianji sect’s master. The Yaoguang Bell had disappeared with the disappearance of the Yaoguang sect. The Kaiyang Brush was sealed in the Kaiyang sect. The Yuheng Ding had been lost in the wildlands and might be with the Ten Directions Domain. And the Tianshu Umbrella of the Tianshu Sect was also of unknown whereabouts.

Xie Qingzheng said, “Then the only ones we really need to find are the Yaoguang Bell, the Yuheng Ding, and the Tianshu Umbrella.”

That sounded easier than finding the person who had cast the curse.

Mo Jiangxue hummed in acknowledgment and changed the subject. “But even if we find them all, combining the seven is not an easy matter.”

Xie Qingzheng thought for a while and asked, “You mean the major sects will disagree? If it’s to save you, I think the Sect Master will come forward to help mediate. Everyone is a righteous person. They can’t just stand by and watch you die, can they?”

Mo Jiangxue said, “If the seven spirit weapons are combined into the Soul-Gathering Lamp and can save a life, and then can be divided back into seven and returned to the various sects, then the various sects might agree to save a life. If not, then…”

Xie Qingzheng was taken aback. “Master, you mean, after they are combined into the Soul-Gathering Lamp, the seven spirit weapons might disappear forever?”

Mo Jiangxue nodded.

Xie Qingzheng recalled the conversation between her master and the two sect masters on Ethereal Peak and suddenly realized, “No wonder the Sect Master said that only when the seven sects merge will the seven treasures have a chance to be combined…”

If the various sects were all acting on their own, how could they just watch as their own sect’s treasured artifact disappeared?

She hit her head. “How is it that from the same sentence, you, Master, can hear a different meaning, while I have to be enlightened by you to understand someone else’s hidden meaning?”

Mo Jiangxue said leisurely, “That is why I am the master, and you are the disciple.”

This explanation was reasonable. Xie Qingzheng immediately stopped dwelling on it and smiled sweetly. “Mm, Master, your words are always very reasonable.”

Mo Jiangxue looked at Xie Qingzheng and inexplicably thought of the white fox on Ethereal Peak, which was always wagging its tail at her, sometimes so fawning that it was hard to tell if it was a fox or a dog.

In an instant, Xie Qingzheng became gloomy again. “It’s hard to find people, and it’s hard to gather the spirit weapons. Sigh… it’s so hard to be a person…”

A series of blows had directly turned her from a naive and sentimental person to a sentimental one.

Mo Jiangxue was as light as a cloud and as gentle as the wind. “What’s the use of worrying? When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally go straight. Rest.”

She flicked her sleeve, extinguishing the candlelight, untied the long qin from her body, and turned to walk towards the bed.

There was only one bed, one table, and two chairs in the room. Xie Qingzheng very consciously sat at the table without moving, leaving the only bed for Mo Jiangxue to rest.

Mo Jiangxue looked back at the person at the table and asked, “You’ve been through a lot today. Aren’t you going to rest?”

Xie Qingzheng picked at the table. “Master, if I lie down… where will you sleep?”

She had originally wanted to stand guard outside the door, but she had released her spiritual sense to probe and had seen a small yellow dog wagging its tail at the entrance of the opposite room.

If she went out, she would have to stare at that dog. She didn’t want to.

Mo Jiangxue said, “This bed is big enough for two.”

Xie Qingzheng murmured, “Master, don’t you not sleep?”

Mo Jiangxue said nothing, lay down on the innermost side with her clothes on, and closed her eyes to sleep.

She was a little tired.

She had met someone outside Jinyang City today. She had fought with that person, and the pastry in her sleeve had been crushed to powder in the exchange of blows.

Seeing that Mo Jiangxue was ignoring her, Xie Qingzheng hesitated for a moment, walked over, and carefully lay down on the outermost side.

The master and disciple lay side by side with their clothes on.

The night was deep and the dew was heavy. The village was quiet, with only the sound of insects and frogs.

The bed was made of an earthen platform, covered with a simple straw mat. It faintly emitted a light scent of grass and trees, which was intertwined with the cool scent of plum blossoms from the person beside her.

Xie Qingzheng lay with her eyes open, looking at the roof beams above her. The sound of even breathing was in her ears.

She rarely shared a bed with others and was very unaccustomed to it.

She thought back to that night when they had slept together in Wen Family Village. She had been pressed against the other’s warm arm and had been surprised that a person’s body could be so warm and soft.

Now, sleeping in the same bed, there was at least a two-palm-width distance between them, like the clearly demarcated Chu River and Han Border on a chessboard.

Without a trace of sleepiness, Xie Qingzheng just stared at the roof beams in a daze.

After a long time, she secretly glanced over and saw that her master was lying on her back, her clear, cold eyes tightly closed, the curve of her profile exquisite, her sleeping face serene, her dark hair spread out on the pillow. As she looked, a line of poetry suddenly appeared in her mind:

Awaken a day of bright moon, to shine on my heart full of ice and snow.

She couldn’t help but turn over, her gaze tracing every inch of Mo Jiangxue’s face.

Just looking at her like that, her thoughts became incredibly soft, and in that softness was a lingering itch.

It was not a physical itch, but a vague, ethereal itch floating in her heart. She wanted to scratch it but couldn’t, and there was no way to get rid of it. It was very uncomfortable.

She couldn’t help but move a little closer. The cool breath of the person beside her instantly enveloped her.

It was clearly a cold breath, but it felt as if it had burned her, so hot that her heart suddenly contracted.

The itch in her heart subsided a little, but another layer of heat arose.

She suddenly really wanted to reach out and touch her brow, her eyes, her lips…

She really wanted to be close to her. She longed to touch her.

Her actions followed her heart. She slowly reached out, hooked a strand of Mo Jiangxue’s dark hair, and wrapped it around her fingertip, circle by circle.

The touch was as cool as silk.

Although she was just touching her hair, Xie Qingzheng held her breath, so nervous she didn’t dare to breathe.

Good thing Master is asleep…

Playing with someone’s hair while they were asleep, how childish… Xie Qingzheng felt a little contempt for herself.

Suddenly, she felt a cold gaze on her. Xie Qingzheng looked up and met a pair of clear, cold eyes.

She quickly let go of her hand and subconsciously moved back, but with a thud, she fell off the bed.

Mo Jiangxue sat up and looked at the person on the floor, her expression cool.

So embarrassing…

A mix of embarrassment and shame welled up in her heart. Xie Qingzheng covered her burning cheeks and explained, “I-I-I was sleepwalking…”

Mo Jiangxue pondered for a moment, let out a cool “oh,” and said to her, “Then you sleep on the inside.”

Xie Qingzheng climbed back onto the bed, lay down on the inside, and turned to face the wall.

She didn’t dare to turn around and look at her master’s expression, but she could feel the other’s gaze on her back, as if she were sizing her up, probing, curious.

After a long time, she finally couldn’t hold back her curiosity, turned around, and stammered, “Master… w-why are you staring at me?”

As she turned, the tip of her nose brushed against the other’s. The momentary cool touch, the warm breath on her cheek, their breaths seemed to mingle. They both retreated a little.

Lying face to face, they looked at each other for a moment, then Mo Jiangx-ue turned away, her back to Xie Qingzheng, and said softly, “Giving you a taste of your own medicine.”

She had been secretly looking at her for a long time, so she would also take a look at her.

Xie Qingzheng also turned away, her back to Mo Jiangxue.

She continued to face the wall, saying nothing, her heart in a turmoil, her cheeks burning even hotter, and a little sweat even breaking out on her nose.

Why was she so nervous? She didn’t understand.

A cultivator’s senses were acute. In her panic, she vaguely heard another slightly chaotic breathing sound. When she tried to listen closely, she only heard the sound of the person beside her getting up.

Xie Qingzheng turned around again and saw Mo Jiangxue get up and walk outside. She quickly asked, “Master, where are you going?”

Author’s Note:

Mo: To contemplate life~