Martial Cultivator

After the young Lord Warden Commander went up the mountain for the second time, the Sublime Bright Sect was declared destroyed. Though not every cultivator on the mountain perished, they were forced to relocate their daoist grounds, which in essence was no different from destruction.

Sublime Bright Mountain was then taken over by Great Liang and several major sects. A few years ago, quite a few cultivators came to explore the ruins of that ancient sect. But as time went on, both the imperial court and the foreign sects had more or less finished their investigations. In recent years, neither side had sent anyone.

The place had grown desolate.

The morning sunlight did not reach the mountains shrouded in white mist.

Two figures arrived at the foot of the mountain, one tall and one short, a man and a woman.

The man was tall and imposing, draped in emperor robes that clearly marked his noble status. The girl beside him looked young, more like a maiden, dressed in pure white garments. She looked like a goddess descended from the heavens.

Standing at the base of the mountain, looking at the words Rongshan Sect, the man was silent for a moment before asking, “Was it here that the boy found you?”

The girl nodded and smiled. “Though I was muddle-headed for some years, in the last few I had begun to show signs of awakening, enough to perceive the things around me. He stumbled into this place by accident, and my heart softened for a moment and saved his life. Otherwise, he would’ve been completely wiped out by the white mist.”

“Chen Che, if I hadn’t saved him back then, the story would’ve gone down a very different path.”

The Great Liang Emperor was silent for a while, then said decisively, “That child owes you his life. We will repay it on his behalf.”

The girl in white scoffed. “You already owe me a life yourself. This is the second time, how many lives do you have to pay back?”

The Great Liang Emperor remained silent.

The girl in white stepped through the mountain pass gates and walked along the mountain path, speaking to herself, “You’ve done everything you can to keep him out of this matter, but you must understand, if we fail to accomplish this, then with the speed at which he’s cultivating now, sooner or later, he’ll reach the end of Nepenthe and see what lies above the end of Nepenthe. By then, whether he’s willing or not, he’ll be swept up in it. Since that’s how it’s bound to be, why bother stopping it? You might as well accept it openly. Who knows, when the time comes, the two of you, uncle and nephew joining forces might become a fine tale in itself.

The Great Liang Emperor walked slowly with his hands behind his back, still unwilling to nod his head. As long as he lived, he wanted to be the mountain behind his nephew, supporting him. Some things had to be handed to Chen Chao to handle, but for more dangerous matters like this one, he would block them if he could.

“Chen Che, you must understand, even if the world you want to change does change, if we fail to accomplish that matter, it’s all meaningless.”

The girl in white sneered, “This world is full of the heartless. They don’t care about the lives of common people. Do you really think everyone is like you?”

The Great Liang Emperor said no more. Perhaps he felt there was no point in saying anything further, or perhaps he thought she was right.

“A thousand years ago, Rongshan Sect’s status wasn’t necessarily higher than that of the Infatuation Daoist Temple now. But the world back then was different. Even so, Rongshan Sect still had two immortal medicines in its possession. As for the Infatuation Daoist Temple, it doesn’t even have one, at least on the surface.”

At this point, the girl in white paused, then smiled and said, “But I’ve figured something out, last time, there must have been others like me who slipped through the net. They hid themselves. So this world is definitely not the way we see it.”

The Great Liang Emperor said, “Something must be done. Everyone has their methods, and everyone wants tricks up their sleeves, and everyone must possess means.”

The girl in white murmured, “Of Rongshan Sect’s two immortal medicines, one ended up in his hands, but I ate it in the end.”

The Great Liang Emperor smiled. “Then he no longer owes you anything.”

The girl in white narrowed her eyes and grinned. “Chen Che, with calculations like that, it’s hard not to hear the abacus in your head.”

The Great Liang Emperor said nothing, only smiled faintly.

“Though that immortal medicine did come from his hands, I passed him the entire secret art of the white mist. And I let you observe it as well. You two, uncle and nephew, owe me far more than just one immortal medicine.”

The girl in white looked at the Great Liang Emperor. Over the past few days, as they spent time together, she had come to see another side of this human world emperor, not just the side he showed to the world.

The Great Liang Emperor smiled and said, “It doesn’t seem like you were a disciple of Rongshan Sect either. That secret art doesn’t belong to you either, right??”

The girl in white let out a cold snort; considered to be an acknowledgment, but not an admission.

The Great Liang Emperor fell into silent thought. The origins and background of the girl before him remained a mystery. At present, aside from knowing she had already crossed the end of Nepenthe and had lived for more than a thousand years, there was little else he truly understood about her. Since she never brought anything up on her own, the Great Liang Emperor would not take the initiative to ask. Some matters were simply like that and not something to be forced.

When they arrived at the former medicinal garden, the girl in white said softly, “Both of the immortal medicines have developed sentience, they’re only one step away from becoming divine medicines. But it’s actually fortunate they didn’t reach that stage. Otherwise, let alone the one that escaped from here, even this one that remained would never have stayed all the way here.”

The Great Liang Emperor suddenly asked, “Can an immortal medicine save a life?”

The girl in white understood what he meant. She replied calmly, “If their heart’s blood is completely dried up, it can’t save them. At most, it can extend their life by a few years. But for you, that should be enough. If you truly want to restore someone entirely, becoming a divine herb is necessary. But something of that rarity, among ten thousand immortal medicine, maybe one has a possibility. It’s nearly impossible to find in this world. And more importantly, the person you want to save is no longer here.”

A trace of sorrow flickered across the Great Liang Emperor’s eyes. He asked, “Then, can it awaken memories of a past life?”

The girl in white raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Do you think she would have a next life?”

After death, unless one had an intense obsession, there was no such thing as reincarnation. Without a resilient enough divine soul, facing the three calamities and six tribulations was nearly impossible to survive.

The notion of reincarnation was a privilege for only a rare few.

The Great Liang Emperor sighed. “It’s hard to say.”

He wished that the woman he had loved might have a next life, that he might meet her again in this one. But thinking about her temperament, it was hard for him to believe she would truly have a next life.

What sort of obsession could she have had?

A woman like her, even when facing death, had always seemed so indifferent.

The girl in white suddenly said, “Legend has it that there’s a type of herb called Soul-Returning Herb. It’s said that if you eat it, you can recall memories from a past life. But it’s just a legend, I’ve never seen it before as well. I only came across a mention of it in an ancient book when I was very young.”

The Great Liang Emperor said, “It seems the world We see is truly just the tip of the iceberg.”

The girl in white did not follow his lead, instead continuing on her own, “That immortal medicine that escaped from here, if it wasn’t eaten by someone, then it must have taken on human form. An immortal medicine that’s hiding somewhere in the world might be the one with the best chance of becoming a divine medicine in this world. If I could find it and consume it, I wouldn’t need to be so cautious anymore.”

That might be so, but once an immortal medicine developed sentience, it was exceedingly difficult to find if it wanted to hide. In the past, sects that cultivated such herbs not only tended them with extreme care but also laid down layer upon layer of formations to trap them within the medicinal garden. After all, the maturity of an immortal medicine was often tied to the birth of intelligence, and if humans knew to seek benefit and avoid harm, how could immortal medicines be any different? At that stage, no immortal medicine would willingly allow itself to be consumed.

If one did not forcibly keep them in place, not a single one would wait around to be harvested.

So in hindsight, the fact that Chen Chao managed to obtain that immortal medicine was already a stroke of incredible fortune. If Rongshan Sect had not prepared in advance and maintained a method that remained effective for a thousand years, Chen Chao would have never stood a chance.

However, the girl in white speculated that the two immortal medicines must have matured one after the other, allowing the latter to escape unscathed. Perhaps Rongshan Sect had never considered the possibility of two immortal herbs growing in that garden, and thus only left behind one method of containment.

But it was all speculation. What was certain was that the second immortal medicine had escaped and was now nowhere to be found.

In the vast world, it would be nearly impossible to track down.

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