Yellow Skinned Taoist Master

Chapter 122: Hung Up and Beaten

Inside the Pure Immortal Temple, everything was as it had always been.

Gone was the oppressive darkness of the Old Temple, vanished was every trace of eerie chill.

The only thing that remained were the shrieks of agony echoing one after another.

"Guanzhu, I was wrong! Stop hitting me! I should've kept my mouth shut!"

"Third Master, it's me who's lost his mind — it's me who's gone senile! Stop hitting me! It hurts so much!"

Beyond the main hall lay an open courtyard.

The flagstone-paved ground was home to a crooked old tree.

At that very moment.

Chen Huangpi and the Brass Oil Lamp hung suspended from its branches.

The cyan-robed old Daoist reclined on a rocking chair, bamboo switch in hand, and brought it down upon them with merciless precision.Swish, swish, swish...

That slender, flexible bamboo switch was clearly just an ordinary, mundane object.

Yet in the cyan-robed old Daoist's hand, it struck with the force of a divine weapon — leaving Chen Huangpi howling in misery and the Brass Oil Lamp retching great puddles of black lamp oil.

"You two wretched little scoundrels!"

The cyan-robed old Daoist seethed. "One of you stared at the sun until you went blind, and the other gorged on lamp oil until his brain rotted! And you still have the audacity to run your mouths? Today, this poor Daoist will beat those bad habits out of you!"

"Third Master."

Chen Huangpi winced. "I'm well-versed in medicine. I'm not blind — I just can't see, that's all. Give it some time and I'll recover."

Third Master's condition seemed different from both First Master's and Second Master's.

One moment raving, the next lucid.

The fact that he was currently thrashing them with a bamboo switch meant he was definitely in one of his manic episodes.

"Guanzhu."

The Brass Oil Lamp shrieked, "I'm lucid now! I'm lucid!"

It really had consumed too much lamp oil.

That was precisely why it had degenerated into an evil spirit. But now, with the Guanzhu's bamboo switch beating the black oil out of its body, clarity returned at once.

The Brass Oil Lamp was in exquisite pain, silently crying foul. 'I'm already lucid and the Guanzhu is still hitting me — he must be getting revenge for my clone suppressing the Old Temple.'

'The Guanzhu is so petty!'

"Indeed — this poor Daoist is petty."

The cyan-robed old Daoist said icily, "Huangpi is only thirteen years old. Where do you get off saying he's over thirty thousand? Who asked for your commentary?"

Chen Huangpi added, "Exactly. I'm only thirteen. I'm not that old."

"But Third Master... can I really not live past eighteen?"

He knew his origins were extraordinary.

He had even drained the Yellow Spring dry and devoured the Yin Lands.

There was no way he couldn't live to eighteen.

Besides, ever since he began cultivating, his body had been growing by the day. In barely half a month, he'd gone from looking eight years old to thirteen.

At this rate, didn't that mean he had very little time left?

The cyan-robed old Daoist said, dazed, "The Heaven and Earth Mutation hasn't ended yet, and you're already growing this fast. That's not good. Not good at all."

Chen Huangpi asked, "What if I stop growing?"

"That's not up to you."

The cyan-robed old Daoist continued, "The moment you started cultivating, you began growing without stop. If your master had known, he should have sealed you inside the Old Temple back then and only hatched you after he'd killed every last one of those things."

"But why didn't this poor Daoist do that, I wonder?"

"I know!"

Chen Huangpi said excitedly, "Third Master, I've been through a lot recently. I've also learned about my origins. This trip to the Underworld Yellow Spring showed me that you took me there to drain the Yellow Spring and devour the Yin Lands. You went to such incredible lengths to bring me into the world — you must have had grand ambitions."

"Maybe you need me to stand against the Heaven and Earth Mutation."

The haze cleared from the cyan-robed old Daoist's eyes. He said in surprise, "Huangpi, why would you think that?"

Chen Huangpi said proudly, "I've read plenty of interesting things from those cultivators' memories. They could only cultivate up to Nascent Soul, but they were always fantasizing about becoming immortals — so some of them made up stories."

"In those stories, it's always the same: heaven and earth undergo a great upheaval, and a young man is born to answer the calamity. He seems unremarkable at first, but his true identity is extraordinary. His Dao heart is firm, he cultivates to True Immortal, and then he props up the collapsing edifice and turns the tide."

"And I — I also have an extraordinary origin. My Dao heart is firm. I'm also young. I must be the protagonist born to answer the calamity."

"Third Master, am I right?"

"There's a crooked sort of logic to that."

The cyan-robed old Daoist answered in an odd tone. "Your master hasn't read any of those stories, but if we're going by the conventions — you probably wouldn't be the protagonist."

"Why not?!"

Chen Huangpi was indignant. "I match every single criterion!"

"You don't."

The cyan-robed old Daoist shook his head slightly and shifted in his rocking chair before explaining, "You're twelve now. Although your cultivation doesn't follow conventional stages, strictly in terms of combat power, you'd fall somewhere between Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation."

Chen Huangpi declared, "Killing Nascent Soul cultivators is like butchering dogs to me. Same goes for gods."

"Your master was referring to cultivators from before the Heaven and Earth Mutation."

The cyan-robed old Daoist's tone was mild. "Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Tribulation Transcendence, Void Return, Union with the Dao, Ascension — and above that, Immortals. Even among immortals, there are distinctions."

"There are those who cultivate as Ghost Immortals, Earth Immortals, Scattered Immortals, and Corpse-Dissolution Immortals."

"Beyond all of those lies True Immortal. Once you reach True Immortal, cultivation stages cease to matter. What counts is each person's Dao. The Dao must be walked ever farther, and Truth must be debated ever clearer."

"Refine the Dao and realize the Truth — only then do you see the self."

This was all news to Chen Huangpi.

Now that the path of cultivation had been broadly explained, his mind cleared in an instant.

Just then, the Fox Mountain God came bouncing over with a pot of tea, fawning obsequiously. "Guanzhu, here's your tea."

"Mm."

The cyan-robed old Daoist took the teapot, then pointed at the crooked tree. "You can go hang yourself up there too."

"Right away!"

The Fox Mountain God didn't dare disobey. It trotted obediently to the tree and strung itself up.

Crack.

The bamboo switch lashed across its body.

That single strike tore a shriek from the Fox Mountain God that sounded like a pig being slaughtered.

"AHHH!!!" The Fox Mountain God cried in agony, "Guanzhu, I wasn't the one who nailed you to the wall! I only gave the idea — I never thought he'd actually go through with it!"

Its body was sculpted from clay.

One lash of the switch and chunks of earth crumbled off.

The cyan-robed old Daoist spared it a sidelong glance and said coolly, "Hang in there a bit longer."

"Yes, Guanzhu!"

The Fox Mountain God was crying inside.

Just one lash had nearly split it apart.

"A bit longer" might as well mean being beaten to powder.

But the cyan-robed old Daoist paid the clueless little fox no further mind and continued, "Huangpi, do you know what cultivation level your master had reached at your age?"

Chen Huangpi thought it over. "With my kind of background, I'm only equivalent to somewhere between pre-Mutation Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation. Third Master, you must have been weaker than me at that age."

Off to the side, the Brass Oil Lamp was dumbfounded.

It desperately wanted to warn him — the current Guanzhu isn't the Third Master persona.

The Guanzhu was lucid right now.

If Chen Huangpi said something like that, who knew how severely the Guanzhu would thrash him.

But the words died on the Brass Oil Lamp's lips. It didn't dare open its mouth again.

The cyan-robed old Daoist gazed at the Brass Oil Lamp with a faint smile, then struck it once more with the switch.

This time, every last drop of black lamp oil was beaten clean out of its body.

Having finished that, the cyan-robed old Daoist shook his head. "At your age, your master was already a True Immortal."

"What?!"

Chen Huangpi was stupefied. "Third Master, you were a True Immortal at twelve? How on earth did you cultivate?"

"Stumbled into it without meaning to. Nothing special, really."

The cyan-robed old Daoist said lightly, "The Great Qian Immortal Dynasty also had people who achieved True Immortal even younger than your master — they led their generation, riding the crest of the era's brilliance. Perhaps those individuals considered themselves the protagonist, too. If you think the same way, sooner or later you'll trip and fall."

Chen Huangpi asked, "Then what was the point of going to such lengths to bring me into the world, Third Master?"

The cyan-robed old Daoist laughed. "In this world, there are parents who give and demand nothing, and parents who demand and give nothing. Your master is Near-Dao — what could he possibly lack? If you truly want a reason..."

"Then perhaps he simply wanted a disciple."

The moment those words were spoken.

Chen Huangpi's eyes brimmed with tears.

He finally realized that the person before him was not the Third Master persona — this was his master in a moment of lucidity.

And yet, those words made his heart ache terribly.

Chen Huangpi said in a hollow voice, "Master, you're that powerful. If you wanted a disciple, countless people in the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty would have thrown themselves at your feet. At my age and with my meager cultivation, any one of them would probably be more suitable than me."

"Not really. None of them are as shameless as you."

"Huh?"

The cyan-robed old Daoist's eyes softened with recollection. "You don't remember, but your master does. When you were still an egg, the moment you saw your master, you kept bouncing — wouldn't stop. Your master tried to shoo you away but couldn't, and so had no choice but to take you as a disciple. Besides, you're no worse than any of them."

"Without the Heaven and Earth Mutation, you would have been born a True Immortal — and a True Immortal born of heaven and earth itself."

"I'm a True Immortal!"

Chen Huangpi's face lit up. He broke into a wide grin. "So that's the kind of connection I have with heaven and earth."

A bond with the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty. A bond with the Underworld Yellow Spring.

And now a bond with heaven and earth itself.

The word "fate" truly worked in wondrous ways.

The cyan-robed old Daoist, amused and exasperated in equal measure, said, "Huangpi, you were never actually born. And with the Heaven and Earth Mutation underway, heaven and earth will only regard you as a thorn in their side — a splinter in their flesh. This is not your domain."

Chen Huangpi pondered this. "So that's why I'm not a True Immortal?"

"Naturally."

The cyan-robed old Daoist spoke with a wistful melancholy. "Chen Huang — your uncle — staked everything on you. He poured countless resources into ensuring your birth. But your master knew that, with the Heaven and Earth Mutation, you would never have the chance to be truly born."

"First, refine the Five Viscera Temple. Then, manifest the Primordial Spirit."

"Shatter the illusion to find the true self."

"Only then will you have truly been born."

The cyan-robed old Daoist's voice seemed to drift between near and far.

To Chen Huangpi, it gave the strange and suffocating sensation that his master might vanish at any moment. He said in a panic, "Master, I'm blind right now. Please heal my eyes — I want to see you."

The cyan-robed old Daoist chuckled. "You're well-versed in medicine — what do you need your master for? Besides, being a little blind man for a few days isn't so bad. At least it'll keep you from running off."

"But you must remember this: you truly will not live to see your eighteenth year."

"The current heaven and earth will not allow it."

"When that time comes, no matter where you are, you must return to the Hundred Thousand Mountains — return to the temple. Your master will give you a fortune beyond measure. What happens to the world outside is your master's concern. Within these Hundred Thousand Mountains, your master can guarantee it."

Chen Huangpi cried out, "Master, I won't leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains! I don't want to be separated from you!"

"Silly disciple — no one's asking you to leave right now."

"Guanzhu."

The Brass Oil Lamp couldn't help but interject, "If Chen Huangpi leaves the Hundred Thousand Mountains, you won't be able to see him anymore. Luckily, you'll have me — Huang Er — to keep you company. Otherwise, you'd be a lonely old man."

"I'll still be able to see him."

The cyan-robed old Daoist regarded the Brass Oil Lamp with a cryptic, half-smiling expression.

That single look sent an eerie thought surfacing in the Brass Oil Lamp's mind.

The Guanzhu couldn't leave the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Because in a certain sense, the Guanzhu was the Heaven Dao of these mountains.

But once Chen Huangpi left, it would be as if he'd gone to another world entirely.

How could the Guanzhu possibly see him then?

Unless there was another Guanzhu out there.

But how could that be?

The cyan-robed old Daoist stretched lazily, then raised the bamboo switch one final time and gave the Fox Mountain God two sharp lashes — knocking it out cold — before picking up the teapot and strolling unhurriedly toward the main hall.

"The Heaven and Earth Mutation is for your master to worry about."

"You're only thirteen. You should be out enjoying yourself and having fun. Otherwise, won't you end up just like your master?"