novelraw Chapter 38 : Resurrection
Chapter 38 : Resurrection
Chapter 38: Resurrection
“She was naturally a prodigy in cultivation. She blinded her own eyes, imprisoned her own desires, and used this to cultivate the Dao—if not a prodigy, then what? Although it is unknown what Dao she cultivated, most likely she reached out to the Heavenly Dao’s authority, and that is why she became like this.”
The Bodhisattva was Supreme, and thus without emotions.
Xia Lianxue murmured: “So that was the price she paid? To bind her seven emotions and six desires for the sake of cultivation—was it worth it?”
Lu Changyuan gazed at the clouds rolling and unrolling at the horizon and said leisurely: “The most important thing in cultivation is perseverance. But perseverance can ultimately be summed up into a single word.”
Xia Lianxue truly liked listening to Lu Changyuan speak of the Dao.
She always felt that even though much of what Lu Changyuan said sounded like twisted logic, it nonetheless pointed directly to the source.
“Obsession.” Lu Changyuan said, “The most important thing in cultivation is obsession. Without obsession, there is no Dao. That is why Su Wu Xiang, even though plagued by demonic thoughts, could still catch a glimpse of Jade Radiance.”
But the stronger the obsession, the easier it was to be tainted by the Desire Demon. Cultivation was the repeated reflection upon one’s obsession—it was also the repeated process of looking at mountains and rivers three times.
At first, mountains and rivers were mountains and rivers.
Then, mountains and rivers were not mountains and rivers.
Finally, mountains and rivers were once again mountains and rivers.
Only by constantly seeing through, and constantly holding on, could one in the end not fall into desire, and ascend the Great Dao.
Lu Changyuan suddenly sneered: “So, among those who make it to the very end of cultivation, the vast majority are all fanatics. There is no question of whether it is worth it, only of whether one is willing.”
“And what about you, Young Master?”
Xia Lianxue suddenly asked, catching Lu Changyuan off guard.
Daoist Chang’an cultivated the Dao of Ruthlessness, and also the Dao of Killing.
So, what sort of temperament did Daoist Chang’an truly have?
The world only knew that Daoist Chang’an had emerged suddenly, then tyrannically beat up the experts of the White Domain, suppressing the cultivation world for a thousand years. But in truth, no one knew what kind of person Daoist Chang’an was—except for his one and only disciple.
“Me?”
“Yes, Young Master—you clearly aren’t ordinary. At the very least, even though I have now stepped into the Fifth Realm, I still cannot see through you. It feels as if you are merely an ordinary mortal without any cultivation.”
Lu Changyuan was momentarily at a loss for words.
Because right now, he truly was a mortal without cultivation.
Xia Lianxue softly said: “I really want to know what kind of person Young Master is. Could it be that you, too, are one who cultivates to the point of obsession?”
“Do I look like one?”
The fairy shook her head: “Young Master instead looks more like a wealthy young master of the mortal world—spending the whole day thinking only of good food, or of listening to pretty girls sing—not someone who cultivates with a clear heart, indifferent to desires.”
Lu Changyuan couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“But I really have never been a wealthy young master for even a day. What I have done the most was sit on the rocking chair beneath the old tree outside a small courtyard, counting stars.”
From a youth who bore the proud Soaring Sword, to now, when spring blossoms had already fallen, his heart was full of desolation.
Xia Lianxue didn’t quite understand Lu Changyuan’s words, yet for some reason she faintly felt an emotion called ease.
This was rare.
But when she was with Young Master, many times she did feel at ease, as if there were no more difficulties in this world, as if everything was simply beautiful.
Lu Changyuan closed his eyes, feeling the breeze: “Fairy, in this world, aside from life and death, there are no great matters.”
“Young Master always speaks as if he were an old man.”
In the past, Xia Lianxue would have come up with many dire and difficult situations to refute Lu Changyuan. But this time, having broken and rebuilt her Dao, she realized: as long as one lived, there was hope.
Lu Changyuan shamelessly said: “This year, I am eighteen.”
Xia Lianxue was also amused by him: “In that case, I am actually a few years older than Young Master. You should call me elder sister. Little brother, buy elder sister some candied haws, won’t you?”
She still remembered how, in her dream, Lu Changyuan had eaten candied haws right in front of her.
Even now, she did not know whether the Lu Changyuan in the dream was truly him. If she asked, he would definitely say no.
But that didn’t matter.
She would just take it as real.
After all, Young Master had tasted them.
Lu Changyuan smiled and shook his head: “Candy is for children. If an adult wants to eat, she should buy it herself.”
The drifting clouds passed by, bringing a light and relaxed atmosphere.
“In two days, I’ll teach you the Autumn Sword.”
Autumn was approaching, and so he could now teach her the second sword.
Xia Lianxue pointed her delicate chin cutely: “Thank you, Young Master.”
Anyway, she already owed him so much—what was one more debt? When debts were many, one ceased to worry.
Lu Changyuan suddenly froze for a moment.
Red words rose again before his eyes.
【Drunken Red Luan is about to ripen】
With Xia Lianxue entering enlightenment and stepping into the Fifth Realm, the Drunken Red Luan was now ripening.
This little fairy was truly interesting.
Before Lu Changyuan could think further, the flying boat Xia Lianxue was piloting suddenly shuddered violently.
A Buddha hand wreathed in black qi surged up from below, nearly striking the boat.
Xia Lianxue instantly drew her sword and slashed a streak of sword light toward its source.
The flying boat was forced to a halt.
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes, staring at the Buddha hand.
Xia Lianxue said coldly: “Young Master, that is the Great Mercy Hand of the Food-Buddha Temple.”
Her delicate face now carried killing intent.
She had still been immersed in the light atmosphere just now—who dared intrude at such a time?
“Come out!”
The power of the Fifth Realm’s Jade Balance stirred a great gale through the forest.
From within the wind emerged a monk with black hair, reeking of evil, who wielded the Great Mercy Palm.
Lu Changyuan frowned: “Heart-Eating Monk.”
It was precisely the Heart-Eating Monk whose head Lu Changyuan had chopped off earlier.
He remembered clearly—the monk’s head had been severed, rolling on the ground like a ball.
Why had this man now been resurrected?
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes at the monk’s neck, and sure enough, he saw dense stitches of thread there.
Someone had picked up the Heart-Eating Monk’s corpse—and had even thoughtfully sewn his head back on.
“Young Master, he isn’t alive. Most likely a corpse puppet.”
Xia Lianxue quickly noticed the abnormality: the pale skin, the lifeless eyes, the twisted, lurching gait.
The pungent stench of corpse rot spread, corroding nearby plants into revolting, sticky sludge.
Poison?
Xia Lianxue’s lovely face tensed, full of disdain.
Lu Changyuan handed Severed Thought to Xia Lianxue: “Use my sword.”
Compared to her own sword, Severed Thought, which had suppressed demons for a thousand years, was undoubtedly more effective against the dead and demonic.
When Xia Lianxue took Lu Changyuan’s sword, she found it even lighter than her own. She turned back to glance at him in surprise.
Lu Changyuan merely said: “The lighter the sword, the fiercer the swordsmanship. The heavier the sword, the more forceful the swordsmanship.”
Qiu Yuehan’s sword was lighter than Xia Lianxue’s—and thus, her sword edge was fiercer than Xia Lianxue’s.
Xia Lianxue gave a muffled hum of acknowledgement, then suddenly struck.
Not the Thirteen Swords of the Jade Temple, but Zhu Ming Sword.
Thunder exploded, shattering the Heart-Eating Monk’s body with unstoppable force.
The difference between a sword of the Fifth Realm and one of the Fourth was like night and day.
The Heart-Eating Monk had only been Fourth Realm before, and now, reduced to a corpse puppet, had less than the power of even Third Realm.
Xia Lianxue’s sword blasted his body into pieces, never to rise again.
Suddenly, a streak of sword light tore through the sky from the distance.
“Young Master?”
Lu Changyuan nodded: “Let’s take a look.”
The fairy carried her sword, flashing with Lu Changyuan like flowing light, until they stopped before a temple.
Overgrown with weeds and withered ruins, it evoked a strange sense of familiarity.
Lu Changyuan patted the dust from his clothes and said: “Just who had nothing better to do, refining the Heart-Eating Monk into a corpse puppet?”