novelraw Chapter 29 : Chapter 29
Chapter 29 : Chapter 29
Chapter 29: It is Up to People to Carry Out Plans
The elder in charge of new disciples' entrance, as well as spiritual herbs, elixirs, and medical arts in the Tai Xuan Sect, was an old man with a white beard and hair.
When Jing Yi brought Xun Qiu and Su Wantian to find him, he was sitting under a pine tree in a certain Daoist palace on the main peak of the Tai Xuan Sect, playing Go against himself, holding white stones in one hand and black stones in the other, having a great time.
After hearing the whole story from Jing Yi, this old man, whom he called "Elder Xu," looked at the idle Xun Qiu, who was teasing the ants at her feet, and the meticulously standing Su Wantian, who did not seem overly serious or nervous, with a hint of admiration:
“Your journey has been quite thrilling. Are these the two new disciples?”
Jing Yi cupped his hands and said:
“Precisely, it was the Sect Master's direct order er, she didn't seem to say much.”
Elder Xu smiled and shook his head:
“That little girl Suyian is just like that, always with a cold expression. She only becomes talkative when she encounters something she cares about. The fact that she had you bring them over means she has tacitly approved their entrance into the sect. The lack of specific arrangements just means she wants me to handle everything, she finds it troublesome.”
“This disciple was dull-witted.”
Jing Yi sighed.
Elder Xu didn't mind and turned his head, saying:
“Xun Qiu, Miss Xun, Xiao Yi said that your talent is peerless, unprecedented in the past and perhaps not to be seen again in the future. The Sect Master's side has probably already confirmed this, but I still have to take a look. I just need to feel your wrist through your clothes.”
Xun Qiu acknowledged, stood up from the ground, and extended her left hand.
Elder Xu's right hand was placed on it virtually, and he closed his eyes to feel.
He seemed to have frozen.
His whole person did not move for a long time, and even his breathing became almost imperceptible.
It was only after a very long time, when Xun Qiu felt that her arm was a little sore from being raised, that he opened his eyes, withdrew his right hand, and his expression became a little more complicated, making it impossible to see what specific emotions he had.
During this period of examining her root bone, he had thought of many, many things.
If he were young, Elder Xu was sure that he would undoubtedly feel jealousy, but he would also undoubtedly be unable to maintain that jealousy for long, because he would soon discover that he didn't even have the right to be jealous.
When the gap was large enough, you would feel that even your own emotions were so pale and powerless.
If he were middle-aged, when he was running around for the Tai Xuan Sect, he would be ecstatic, ecstatic that the Tai Xuan Sect had absorbed another peerless genius disciple.
She would surely dominate an era, lead the Tai Xuan Sect to unprecedented prosperity, and even break the now-certain-death immortal tribulation for all cultivators, bringing blessings for all ages.
If he were a little younger, then he would undoubtedly be full of worries, because such a person was destined not to be content with the ordinary, not to be limited by a single sect.
She would turn the Five Continents and Four Poles upside down pushing the world a step forward, or plunging it into the abyss.
But now, Elder Xu opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but in the end, he could say nothing, only a sigh.
“Truly unparalleled in all of history, a talent bestowed by heaven”
Xun Qiu was not very concerned:
“Mm, I know.”
Elder Xu turned his gaze to Su Wantian, and without speaking, he extended his hand.
Su Wantian hesitated for a moment and said first:
“My talent is ordinary, I may disappoint you.”
“No matter.”
Elder Xu waved his hand.
“Seeing your age, I also know that you definitely don't have much talent, but what our Tai Xuan Sect lacks the least is heavenly materials and earthly treasures. You may not be without a chance to make up for your foundation in the future, don't worry.”
Hearing this, Su Wantian also felt a little more at ease if nothing else, he had, by rounding up, saved Xun Qiu's life and found such a powerful disciple for the Tai Xuan Sect.
It should be right for them to give him some heavenly materials and earthly treasures, right?
Although saying so might seem shameless and like freeloading, but since Xun Qiu was also a shameless person, there was no point in him putting on airs.
What should be his, he had to get his hands on.
What shouldn't be, he wouldn't even have a single thought about.
Su Wantian felt that his thoughts were still quite normal.
He extended his hand and let Elder Xu place his hand on it.
This time, Elder Xu's reaction was much more ordinary, his brows furrowed.
“Hmm?”
He made a strange sound, as if he had seen something strange, then waved his hand at Su Wantian, who had cast a questioning look at him.
“Relax a little. The mind should not be cluttered, for a cluttered mind makes the spirit wander and unable to be gathered; the mind should not be labored, for a labored mind makes the spirit weary and unable to enter.”
Su Wantian was naturally not illiterate like Xun Qiu, who didn't even know a single character.
He immediately recited the classics of the sages in his heart, allowing his mentality to calm down and his thoughts to tighten.
His talent was not as good as Xun Qiu's, and not even close to Jing Yi's, who was above average, but at this moment, he could still feel a warmth slightly higher than his body temperature flowing into his body from his wrist, circulating once through his five viscera, six bowels, and four limbs, one hundred bones.
Another circle.
And another circle.
And another another circle.
It was only when Su Wantian, who was silently counting and reciting the words in his heart, felt that he could no longer recognize the word “again,” that Elder Xu's movements stopped, and the expression on his face was abnormally grave.
Su Wantian's heart skipped a beat, and he only heard Elder Xu ask:
“What did you feel just now?”
He did not hide anything and described his feelings.
Elder Xu nodded slowly, but his brows were still deeply furrowed.
Xun Qiu stared at his skin for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask:
“Is his root bone very bad?”
Elder Xu hesitated for a moment:
“The root bone is fine, just an ordinary person's aptitude. It's definitely enough to enter some small sects and cultivate to the third or fourth realm, but Wantian, your meridians.”
“What's wrong with the meridians?”
Xun Qiu asked again.
“The meridians are a bit… strange.”
Elder Xu stroked his beard. “Rugged and uneven, abnormally narrow, and can accommodate very, very little true qi. If we were to compare your meridians, Xun Qiu, to this vast blue sky, then Wantian, his meridians.”
Elder Xu looked left and right, his gaze sweeping around, and finally picked up a Go stone from the chessboard, turned it over, and revealed the small pit on the back that had appeared due to a bump about the size of a third of a fingernail.
The meaning was self-evident.
Su Wantian was slightly stunned, and Elder Xu patted his shoulder:
“No matter, no matter. I know some medicinal baths and heavenly materials that can improve the condition of the meridians. I'll go to the warehouse to find some disciple uniforms that are suitable for you, and I also need to arrange your accommodation. Wait here for a while, Xiao Yi.”
Jing Yi acknowledged, and his gaze paused on Su Wantian for a moment, as if wanting to come up and comfort him, but in the end, he only gave him a look that said “we're brothers, find me if you have any problems in the future,” then turned around and hurriedly followed Elder Xu.
The two left, and Xun Qiu's gaze never left Su Wantian.
She opened her mouth and then closed it.
After a while, she looked at the distant flowing clouds and mist, and said in a normal tone:
“Hey, Su Wantian, if you call me big brother now, I can still help you out in the future. Isn't it just heavenly materials and earthly treasures? That old man Xu will definitely not be reluctant to give them to me.”
Hearing this, Su Wantian actually laughed.
What's wrong?
Is what I said very funny?
Xun Qiu turned her head.
Su Wantian said in a relaxed tone:
“I just remembered that a few days ago, someone told me, ‘You are a very awkward person. You obviously care a lot, but saying what's on your mind is like it's killing you.’ I don't remember the exact words, but that's roughly what it meant.”
He patted Xun Qiu's shoulder:
“Now I'm returning those words to you, exactly as they were.”
“I'm not worried about you.”
Xun Qiu took a small hop back and dodged his hand.
“Yes, yes, yes, Boss Xun, it was this little brother who was being sentimental.”
Su Wantian's smile did not diminish.
“Hmph”
Xun Qiu turned her head away, reached out, and rubbed her face.
The force was great, and her face was full of red marks.
However, she was very beautiful and cute, so it didn't look too strange, and instead added a bit of innocent and childlike fun.
She really did look like a child now.
“Are you really not disappointed at all?”
Xun Qiu did not look at Su Wantian.
“After so much difficulty joining the Tai Xuan Sect, and even risking your life for it, to have this result in the end. I'm very disappointed. Having a little brother like you is a disgrace to even mention.”
Su Wantian chuckled:
“I risked my life, but not for the sake of joining the Tai Xuan Sect. As for whether I'm disappointed with this result, I'm definitely a little disappointed. But I've failed enough, and been disappointed enough, so it's not that unbearable. Since I was a child, my father taught me many things, but there's only one sentence that I've remembered to this day.”
He looked into the distance.
It was almost evening now.
The blazing sun was setting in the west, dyeing the clouds into a crimson glow, and turning the blue sky into dusk.
The evening sky is long, the autumn water is gray.
The sun sets on the mountainside, the setting sun on the backs of the wild geese.
‘’He remembered himself trembling in the face of the demonic beast, remembered the thrilling experience of fleeing for his life and falling off a cliff into the water, remembered Xun Qiu, who was calm and confident to an extreme degree when facing Jing Yi, remembered the gathering of the hunters, remembered the bloody battle by the pool, to the death, and remembered himself finally saying to the demonic beast that had gained intelligence, “the world is like this, it's fate's doing,” and then adding a "sorry" in a voice as faint as a mosquito's.’’
He never felt that the world should be like this, that fate was ever destined.
Su Wantian opened his mouth, to the evening glow, to Xun Qiu, and also to himself:
“Things are not predestined; it is up to people to carry out plans.”
(End of Volume One: In Youth, Spring Clothes Were Thin)