novelraw Chapter 282
Chapter 282
He made it clear he was speaking for his own sake, and the frankness actually worked in his favor.
The Palace Attendant was silent for a moment. “There’s no real right or wrong to speak of in the Heart Garden,” she finally replied. “What I think Master Li truly wants to know is the story between the Sect Master and Master Jade, and Lady Qixia, isn’t it?”
Having his thoughts laid bare so neatly did not embarrass Li Xun in the slightest. He had just broken through to a new realm, his mind loose and carefree. He smiled and cupped his hands. “Please enlighten me.”
The palace attendant took no offense at his brazen pushiness, staying perfectly calm. She said evenly, “Matters between our masters are not really for us attendants to gossip about. However, before we came here, the Sect Master did say that if Master Li were interested in this matter, there was no need for us to keep it hidden...”
Hearing Gu Yin be so open about it, Li Xun was genuinely surprised. He couldn’t help wondering what angle the Sect Master was playing. The palace maid jabbered on beside him. “... The Sect Master has arranged to meet you at the Swallows’ Return Pavilion around the hour of the Dog (9 PM). It’s getting late, so we hope you won’t mind making your way there now. If it’s all right, this maid can walk and talk as we go, how does that sound?”
When she referred to herself as “this maid,” Li Xun quickly replied, “Please don’t,” and rose to his feet.
The Palace Attendant lightly clapped her hands. Beyond the waterside pavilion on the shore, a pair of beautiful maids appeared, each holding a lantern. They stood by the path, lighting the way ahead.
Truth be told, even in the Tongxuan Realm, Li Xun had never seen such lavish, aristocratic splendor. For a moment, he was genuinely astonished.
Noticing his reaction, the Palace Attendant led him off the water terrace. “Although the Miaohua Sect is a cultivation sect, ever since the time of Master Jade, all the good-looking disciples in the sect have been treated much like his singers and concubines. In their daily conduct, there’s hardly any air of cultivation at all. Even after the current sect master took charge, none of this was changed.”
Whatever his personal opinion of Jade Wanderer might be, hearing this made Li Xun feel a twinge of envy. But again, he wondered whether this indulgence was exactly what had led him to his downfall.
Led by the Palace Attendant, he stepped onto a narrow path. Up ahead, the maids carried lanterns, their light and shadows swaying together, half-revealing graceful figures that were easy on the eyes. Li Xun glanced at them a couple of times, then pulled his gaze away, waiting for the attendant to reveal those secrets that had been sealed away for nearly two hundred years.
The Attendant lowered her eyes slightly, as if carefully choosing her words. After a long pause, she said, “I know you’re not like those fake moralists, Master Li. But I wonder, what is your view on acts that defy natural bonds, like killing one’s own kin?”
“Well…” Li Xun paused for a moment, then shook his head. “This world does have its codes of conduct and moral order. But cultivators live for centuries, even millennia. Those rules aren’t like the rigid Confucian hierarchies of the mortal realm. IHere, only two things truly matter across the ages. Cultivation and the passing on of the Dao through master and disciple. Everything else is just loose convention and not worth treating as law.”
He was borrowing the line of reasoning he had once heard from the Netherfire Yama. And it clearly took the Attendant by surprise.
The beauty’s attitude shifted at once. She looked him up and down, studying him for a long moment. “That’s a sharp and penetrating view. You’ve cultivated for less than a hundred years, yet you already understand this much. No wonder the sect master regards you so highly. Still, saying it is one thing. Actually doing it is another. Their disagreement began right there.”
“Disagreement?” Li Xun asked. “Between them, did someone hold a different view?”
“No, that’s still what they all agree on. It’s just that Master Jade actually lives by it and understands it, while the sect leader only talks a good game.”
Li Xun felt a flicker of guilt at that; he was pretty much one of those “all talk” types himself. But why was she lumping Gu Yin in with them too?
“Nobody’s born knowing everything. How could anyone skip the part where they grow and figure things out? Back then, the Sect Master had only just started making a name for herself in this world. Her cultivation was nowhere near perfected. Of course she couldn’t compare to what she is now.”
The Palace Attendant lowered her eyes and continued evenly.
“Back then, Master Jade was already famous across the land. He was notorious for acting without restraint and even openly declared that he'd use the beauties of this world to temper his mind and spirit. He made countless powerful enemies that way. Yemo Heaven was almost under constant attack. Master Jade understood that the sect’s legacy mattered more than anything else, so he made a snap decision. He cut all ties with the sect and left to live in the Land of No Return, never to come back.
“During that time, the Sect Master was angry at Master Jade for his reckless behavior, but their uncle and niece relationship was still fairly close. After all, he had raised her himself since she was little. Even after Master Jade went his own way and founded his own path, he often returned in secret to live at Heart Garden and guide the Sect Master in her cultivation. The Sect Master, for her part, always treated Master Jade as an elder and held him in the highest respect…
“And then, in a single night, all of it vanished like smoke.”
The Palace Attendant paused there, then suddenly fixed her gaze on Li Xun’s face. The look in her eyes was a tangled mess. Hard to pin down exactly what she was feeling.
Li Xun paused for a moment, then suddenly understood. “The sword that shattered the Land of No Return…”
“That’s right.”
She looked away, her eyes drifting up toward the deep night sky. “I didn’t see Zhong Yin break into the Land of No Return with my own eyes....” Her voice turned distant and cold, as if it were floating in from far away. By now, she was completely lost in her memories. “But the sight of Master Jade, barely alive, crashing into Heart Garden is still vivid in my head…
“Only half a day later, Zhong Yin came knocking. Yemo Heaven activated every formation and restriction it had, and with the natural advantage of Thousand Bends Pass, they barely managed to hold off his advance. Yet in just two days, fifteen elder figures of the sect who were maintaining the protective formations were either killed or gravely injured. The sect was on the verge of being crushed by Zhong Yin alone, its lineage wiped out.”
Li Xun listened, completely absorbed. The Palace Attendant’s words were plain and unadorned, yet even so, they conveyed the overwhelming, irresistible power Zhong Yin had displayed back then. And yet... as a disciple of the Mingxin Sword Sect, Li Xun felt none of the awe or longing one might expect.
If anything, all he felt was a faint chill creeping into his heart.
“With the situation growing dire, the Sect Master finally swallowed her pride and sent flying swords bearing letters to the other sects. Playing on their fear of Zhong Yin’s strength, she joined forces with them to apply pressure on the Mingxin Sword Sect. Only then was Zhong Yin forced to withdraw. Inside the sect, however, everything lay in ruins.”
At this point, there was a subtle shift in the Palace Attendant’s tone.
“Even now, I don’t understand what Master Jade was feeling at the time. Someone so proud and arrogant, driven back like a dog, and in the end saved only by the intervention of outsiders. Such a crushing humiliation, and on top of that, not even the slightest chance for revenge…
“From that day on, the sect’s power took a nosedive. Most of the elite were gone, wiped out. The Sect Master threw herself into running everything, wracking her brains day after day to hold it all together. But Master Jade? He went right back to indulging in wine, women, and song, not giving a damn about any of it. That’s when the chill started creeping into their relationship.”
“After that, Master Jade exhausted every possible means and finally managed to recover from his injuries within a hundred years. But for nearly two centuries after that, his cultivation did not advance by so much as a step. Only then did it become clear that the sword strike Zhong Yin had driven through his chest had, in truth, destroyed his path of cultivation...”
Li Xun sneered inwardly. Zhong Yin’s methods never failed to broaden his understanding, in the worst possible way.
The Palace Attendant went on, “Master Jade tried again and again to break through, only to fail each time. On several occasions he even suffered qi deviation, his cultivation not only stagnating but actually regressing. Meanwhile, the Sect Master advanced steadily into the True Person realm. Seeing this, Master Jade began to entertain a certain idea.”
Here, the Palace Attendant hesitated again, her gaze flicking across Li Xun’s face. Li Xun met her eyes, his look one of pure, unguarded curiosity.
Under that waiting look, she finally decided to reveal the crucial part.
“In fact, this method is recorded many times in the classics of the unorthodox sects. It goes by the name ‘Profound Infant Crossing the Tribulation.' Different texts call it by different names, but the meaning is always the same.”
“Passing a tribulation through a Profound Infant means using a forbidden, secret method to give birth to a child. Ideally, the child should be a blood relative of the host. Through many different techniques, the child is then nurtured and refined, forging exceptional potential, something like the ‘Primordial Embryo Dao Body’ you possess. This creates a ‘womb cauldron.’ In the final step, the cultivator abandons their original physical body and seizes the new one, achieving rebirth.”
Li Xun swallowed hard. A chill crept up his back, sending goosebumps rising all over his skin.
It was not the “Mystic Infant tribulation” itself that frightened him. As a matter of fact, methods like this were recorded in the Netherworld Record. Though extremely complex and deeply immoral, they were hardly unheard of or earthshaking techniques.
But when the Palace Attendant said the words “like you,” Li Xun’s thoughts spiraled out of control, one idea crashing into the next.
He nearly blurted it out. “Did it succeed?”
The Palace attendant looked at him, puzzled, as if trying to figure him out... and failing. Still, she shook her head. “The child was never even born,” she said. “How could it be called a success?”
Li Xun’s heart gave a heavy thump, like a boulder finally hitting the ground. A huge weight lifted from him, and his whole body relaxed in a way he could hardly describe. But the relief lasted only a moment before confusion set in.
“Is this Profound Infant method really that hard?” he asked.
“It is complex and demanding,” the Palace Attendant replied. “But for Master Jade, it would not have been difficult.” The light in her beautiful eyes dimmed a little, and she kept her voice deliberately flat. “Master Jade understood that although the Profound Infant method could help him break Zhong Yin’s seal, it came at a cost. First, it would mean starting almost completely over. Everything he had achieved before would be wiped away. And no one could say how long it would take to regain his former level of cultivation.
“Second, even if he succeeded in passing the tribulation through a Profound Infant... what then? Zhong Yin’s talent is astonishing, far beyond anyone else of this age. If Master Jade simply started from scratch, Zhong Yin would not wait for him. He would never have the time. So…”
Li Xun raised his eyebrows and leaned forward without realizing it. “So?”
“So from the very beginning, he had to aim for perfection. An ordinary Profound Infant would never be good enough. That is why Master Jade chose a different path. He used the ‘blood fusion’ technique to elevate the Profound Infant’s constitution to an even higher level. And stripped of all pretense, that blood fusion technique means one thing... sex between close blood relatives.”