Martial Cultivator

Leaving the medicinal garden, the girl in white led the Great Liang Emperor to the top of a cliff, then said, “Back then, it was here that he fought with that daoist from the Infatuation Daoist Temple. If I hadn’t lent him something, he’d have been killed.”

The Great Liang Emperor nodded. “But it’s no longer Our place to avenge him. We heard he found two young people, and with the last thing We left him, they’ve already killed Yinli.”

The girl in white glanced at the Great Liang Emperor, a bit displeased. “You uncle and nephew, both full of schemes.”

The Great Liang Emperor laughed heartily and said, “If We were going to be emperor, then naturally We had to study the hearts of men. As for him, before we gave him that burden, the only things he schemed against were only those demons.”

The girl in white still seemed somewhat upset as she said, “Couldn’t you have left that matter to your son instead? Letting him focus properly on cultivation is what truly matters.”

“Since you don’t understand, then why speak so much?”

The Great Liang Emperor did not argue with the girl in white, because there was no need. Even though the girl in white had lived longer, there were many things in which she still could not match the Great Liang Emperor.

Later, the two of them arrived at the foot of the cliff. The ice coffin was still there.

Only now, the densely engraved runes that once covered the surface of the ice coffin had all vanished, leaving behind just a plain coffin of ice that did not appear particularly special.

The Great Liang Emperor stood there, quietly feeling the surrounding aura, sensing the lingering presence of white mist. Ever since he had gained insight into the method of the white mist, he had not followed its path exactly, but he still carried its essence within him. At this point, calling him half a disciple of Rongshan Sect would not be inaccurate.

He extended his hand and a stream of radiant light flowed from his palm. That light quickly turned into white mist, which began to expand and absorb the surrounding mist, drawing it in until the mass gradually grew larger and larger.

After several minutes, the mist slowly formed into a small figure, sitting cross-legged in the Great Liang Emperor’s palm, with golden light streaming continuously from its mouth and nose.

The girl in white was quite stunned by this sight. In the world today, the end of Nepenthe was considered the limit, yet this man had already taken a step beyond it. She had originally thought that after stepping past that boundary, his cultivation would slow down significantly. But to her surprise, not only had his pace not slowed, it actually seemed to be getting faster and faster.

This alone proved one thing: the Great Liang Emperor’s cultivation aptitude was among the very best, even in the entire history of the cultivation world.

If he had not been born in this particular era, his accomplishments could have been far greater.

The girl in white narrowed her eyes, recalling many things. In the end, she smiled smugly. Her choice had been absolutely right in the end.

Pretty good eyes.

The Great Liang Emperor gazed at the tiny figure in his palm for a long time before willing it to dissolve into white mist once more and return into his body.

He took a deep breath and said calmly, “Who do you think will be the next in this world to surpass Nepenthe?”

The girl in white snapped back, “It definitely won’t be that little monk. He’s far too disappointing!”

Among the known cultivators in the world, probably only that old monk from Deercry Monastery had lived the longest.

But the girl in white was completely dissatisfied with that old monk. She had gone to seek him out once, only to find that the longer he had lived, the more timid he had become. These days, he refused to involve himself in anything, only wanting to live quietly and cautiously.

The Great Liang Emperor laughed and said, “Actually, We place more hope in Wuyang. Though the Sword Sect’s Sect Master is close to comprehending that one sword, in comparison, his insight doesn’t measure up to Wuyang’s. But Wuyang was driven deep into the Immortal Sea by Yinli, can he even survive?”

The girl in white said bluntly, “I can tell you very responsibly, beyond Ying Prefecture lies the hiding place of certain individuals.”

“Then it depends on whether he has the fortune to reach it.”

The Great Liang Emperor did not seem particularly worried. Whether Daoist Wuyang lived or died was already predestined. If it could not be changed, then there was no need to fret.

Things were simple and not complicated.

The girl in white glanced at the emperor, then reached out and patted the ice coffin, saying, “I’m not someone from Rongshan Sect. This ice coffin should have originally been built by that generation’s sect master, meant to store something of his. He forged it in secret, told no one in the sect. He was a clever man, saw that the situation was not good and tried to avoid disaster in advance. But sadly, just when everything was ready, he was killed by someone else.”

An ancient and bitter secret, which the girl in white recounted as if it were common knowledge. She added casually, “The one who killed him was his own son. That man once killed his wife and his biological mother in front of him. Hence, his own son bore that hatred for years, cultivated bitterly, and in the end dragged his father down in mutual destruction.”

The Great Liang Emperor said with a touch of self-mockery, “Sounds a bit like Our son.”

Although he had not done anything quite so heartless, the fact remained that he had never paid much attention to his son.

“He didn’t manage to lie in this coffin in the end, so I got to take advantage of it instead.”

The girl in white added, “But that wasn’t my original intention. When disaster strikes, I’m not the kind of person who hides away. But some things truly weren’t up to me to decide. The secret I carry has become the key to this lifetime. Otherwise, Your Mother would have...” [1. Similar to ’Your Father’, she suddenly used an uncouth term.]

At this point, the girl in white became a little agitated. She opened her mouth to speak, but in the end chose to shake her head and did not to continue speaking.

The Great Liang Emperor noticed that she had already mentioned “this lifetime” several times.

Those words clearly carried a special significance.

The girl in white glanced at the emperor, a little dissatisfied with his habit of not asking questions at crucial moments. But on second thought, even if he asked, she would not answer. So she let it go, merely shaking her head in the end.

The Great Liang Emperor asked, “Where exactly is the thing you’re looking for?”

If the girl in white had not mentioned that she was searching for something, he likely would not have returned to the territory of Great Liang at all.

The girl in white raised an eyebrow and said, “As if it would be that easy to find. If it really were that easy, someone else would’ve taken it long before I got here.”

The Great Liang Emperor said nothing more.

The girl in white quickly left the bottom of the cliff.

The two of them roamed around Rongshan Sect, but the Great Liang Emperor still had no idea what exactly the girl in white was searching for.

After a long while, the girl in white spoke with some dejection, “I didn’t sense its presence.”

The Great Liang Emperor tried to console her, “Perhaps it’s not here.”

The girl in white shook her head. “If it’s not here, then where could it be?”

The Great Liang Emperor had no answer for that.

The girl in white looked deeply dejected.

The Great Liang Emperor tried probing, “Is that item very important to what you’re going to do next?”

The girl in white just shook her head and said nothing.

The Great Liang Emperor glanced at the girl in white but did not speak.

At this moment, he could feel that the woman before him was engulfed in an overwhelming sorrow. It was so intense that it radiated outward, able to affect bystanders.

The Great Liang Emperor even noticed that a light frost had begun to form in the surroundings.

He looked at the girl in white, not sure what he was thinking about.

Could it be that someone at her level, when unable to control the outflow of their aura, would begin to influence the world around them?

What kind of realm must it be, to have reached such a level in cultivation?

The Great Liang Emperor felt both admiration and curiosity.

The Great Liang Emperor did not know how much time had passed before he returned to his senses. The girl in white also came back to her senses and said with a touch of disappointment, “Let’s go.”

The Great Liang Emperor nodded.

The girl in white suddenly asked, “Do you still want to see him?”

The Great Liang Emperor glanced at her, then shook his head and said with a smile, “We feel that we’ll meet again, so there’s no need.”

”Will meet again?”

The girl in white lifted her head slightly, gazing at the sky, and fell silent.

——

Beyond Ying Prefecture, on that remote offshore island no one could cross, a middle-aged daoist in tattered robes walked slowly along the beach, leaving a trail of footprints in the sand.

But the strange thing was that even as the tide surged over the shore, it failed to wash away those footprints.

As the middle-aged daoist walked farther and farther, the trail of footprints grew ever longer.

The middle-aged daoists walked at a steady pace, murmuring to himself as he went, snippets of daoist scriptures spilling from his lips.

In truth, he had already walked a very, very long distance on this island. Though it appeared small, it seemed to stretch endlessly, with no boundary in sight.

“Dao gave birth to One, One gave birth to Two, Two gave birth to Three, and Three gave birth to all things...”

The daoist’s voice drifted across the surface of the sea, full of confusion.

If someone were to appear beside him now, they would see clearly that his eyes lacked their former clarity, filled only with bewilderment.

It was difficult to imagine what could cause such uncertainty in this man.

After all, in matters of the Dao, he had been recognized many years ago as the number one figure of the current era.

No one knew how much time passed. Day turned to night, and the sky was studded with stars.

Suddenly, the daoist stopped walking, and looked toward a certain direction. For a brief moment, clarity returned to his eyes. He said calmly, “Junior Brother, do you truly think you can win me?”