CHAPTER 28 Ah, Qin Daojun

After Fu Yushu gave Fu Changling a galore of tips about chasing after girls, he finally sent him on the road.

It was half a month’s time away from the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng’s recruitment date. Fu Changling’s wounds had not completely healed, so Fu Yushu prepared a horse carriage for him as well as gave him a ring. He patted Fu Changling’s hand and sighed, “Changling, although you are the son of a wealthy merchant, don’t flaunt your wealth too overtly. Normal people are not as wealthy as us, so on normal days, you’d do well to master hardships.”

“I know.” Watching Fu Yushu’s concerned look, Fu Changling felt a headache coming.

Fu Yushu thought he didn’t know how normal people lived their lives, but in reality, after the Fu Clan fell from grace back in that year, Fu Changling had once spent a very long time living among the mortals in order to avoid being hunted by Qin Yan.

But he couldn’t expose himself too much, so he had no choice but to listen to Fu Yushu’s nagging. “Now that your cultivation levels are low at this moment, I’ve prepared a variety of relics and talismans for you for timely self-defense. There are a number of life-saving pellets as well. They are all stored in this Zhenlong ring. You can give my daughter-in-law anything you want, but you cannot give this away. Otherwise, your identity will surely be exposed.”

“I understand. I understand.” Fu Changling clasped a hand on his head. “Dad, relax, I’m not that silly. It’s getting dark, I should be going now.”

“Go then,” Fu Yushu sighed. “I will think of a solution regarding your golden core. Meanwhile, take refuge in the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng. Don’t be too upset.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Fu Changling patted Fu Yushu’s shoulder. “Take care of yourself first. You worry too much. Take good care of your body. I’m going now.”

After he finished speaking, Fu Changling leapt onto the horse carriage. Upon entering it, he saw a young man wearing cyan robes sitting inside. Fu Changling was momentarily surprised when he saw the other person bow to him in greeting. “Young Master, this inferior one is called Chen Zhu, I am a servant who accompanied the Young Master into adulthood.”

Hearing the other person’s introduction of himself, Fu Changling came back to his senses. Only then was he aware that this man was sent by Fu Yushu to accompany him in faking their identities. He lightly coughed and nodded his head, saying, “Get up, don’t be so formal.”

Speaking, Fu Changling plopped down on one side. Chen Zhu got to his feet and sat on the corner furthest away from the horse carriage. The horse carriage began to roll and Fu Changling turned around, seeing that at the back of the horse carriage, Fu Yushu was still standing where he was, leading a group of people as he watched the horse carriage leaving.

Fu Changling watched, and suddenly, he felt a little touched.

The youth back in those years would not have paid attention to these details, but having seen them now, he knew what feelings were kept in his father as he watched his departure from afar.

He quietly watched, and Chen Zhu finally said, “Young Master, why don’t you bid the Old Master farewell?”

“Bid him farewell?”

Fu Changling curiously turned back and Chen Zhu smiled at him. “Young Master, you are being too dull in maturity. If it were to be us mortals, we would be waving our hands and have said something by now, so that our parents could be at peace.”

Hearing these words, Fu Changling’s lips formed a tight smile.

“You’re right,” he quietly said. “I’m only seventeen. I should behave like my age.”

Speaking, he suddenly turned around and got to his feet, poking half his body out of the window and waved at Fu Yushu.

“Dad,” he loudly called out. Fu Yushu could hear his voice from afar; feeling a little curious, he heard Fu Changling say afterwards, “Take care of yourself. After I’m done with things, I’ll be on my way home to accompany you!”

Hearing these words, for just a brief moment, a shocked expression spread across his face.

He could hear Fu Changling from afar, inside of the horse carriage, waving at him, his smile bright and vibrant.

He had never seen his son behaving so sincere and kind to himself.

When the housekeeper next to him saw this, he couldn’t help smiling. “After having experienced danger once, the Young Master seems to have thought through many things.”

“What has he thought through?” Fu Yushu tried to control his emotions. He flipped his fan open and waved it. Leading some people, he turned around and slowly said, “He’s falling back to where he began. As a seventeen year old cultivator in his core formation stage, how lawless he is behaving.”

Although he was badmouthing his son on the lips, there were quite a few obvious touches of smiles beneath his eyes.

After these words were spoken, Fu Changling felt happiness weighing on his heart. He found himself a place to sit, turned to look at Chen Zhu, who was smiling at the sides. Watching Chen Zhu’s smile, he felt a sudden pang of embarrassment and shrank into himself. “I’ve humiliated myself.”

“How rare it is for you to show your true self. Eldest Young Master is just following his heart, what’s there to be humiliated about?”

Fu Changling found this person quite sensitive upon hearing those words and couldn’t help saying, “Was it my father who let you come help me?”

“Yes,” Chen Zhu gently said. “After that, we will be living together and I will be taking care of the Young Master.”

“You don’t seem like a servant.” Fu Changling propped his chin up. “You seem like a teacher.”

“I’ve had my days of studying.”

Fu Changling nodded his head and asked Chen Zhu about his past.

Fu Changling’s new identity was named Shen Xiufan. This identity was not made up by Fu Yushu; a person with this name truly did exist. He was a distant relative of Fu Yushu’s good friend, Shen Zhuqing. This person had died from illness and after discussing it with Shen Zhuqing, Fu Yushu bought his identity.

The Fledgling Phoenix County was located in the domain of the Daoist Sect. The Daoist Sect always had a good relationship with the Fu Clan. Even if the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng wanted to investigate his identity, it would not be so easy. This person, Chen Zhu, was also a servant of the original Shen Xiufan, and now, he’d followed him here.

He gave Fu Changling a detailed overview of Shen Xiufan’s life and habits. Fu Changling nodded after he was mostly familiar with them and said, “I understand.”

Chen Zhu lifted his eyes at Fu Changling and he must have thought that he’d grown tired, so he said, “Eldest Young Master may take a rest. This inferior one will take his leave first.”

Fu Changling acknowledged it and Chen Zhu took his leave.

After Chen Zhu left, Fu Changling fell onto the small couch. He lifted his hand to take a look at his ring. After he roughly searched through the items inside of it, he began plotting the things that he wanted to do afterwards.

Presently, two things take priority. The first was that he needed to find out the reason Qin Yan fell into the demonic path in his previous life and stop him from going down his old route. The second was to think of a way to strengthen the four seals of the Avici.

These two things were actually the same things. Qin Yan must have joined demonic cultivation because of the Avici. If the Avici never showed up, then nothing would happen to Qin Yan, and everyone would be safe.

As for things between himself and Qin Yan…

He wouldn’t ask for much. He just wanted to take good care of Qin Yan in this life, and it was enough.

With everything Qin Yan had given him in his past life, they were enough for Fu Changling to spend the rest of this life returning it to him.

Fu Changling fumbled the ring on his finger and slowly closed his eyes. He forced himself not to think of Qin Yan and placed all his focus on state affairs.

Information regarding the four seals and the great doors of the Avici were transported around a network of spies among the demonic cultivators before the destruction of the Unsullied Palace. Fu Changling didn’t know where these four seals were located in general, but presently, the only thing he could be certain of was that there was one in the Hidden Realm of Xuanji. So what he could do was to strengthen the seal in the Hidden Realm of Xuanji once again.

But he couldn’t do it.

If he were in his ascension stage like back then, it would have been an easy thing to do. But his present cultivation levels were…

Fu Changling sighed. He took out the Soul-gathering Pagoda from his spiritual pouch and fumbled it, lifting his hand to touch the little bells on it and listened as they clearly rang. A pang of sadness struck his heart.

Thankfully, he had always been an optimistic person. Since his cultivation levels were not high, he needed to think of an alternative.

He had the Soul-gathering Pagoda in his hand. As long as his golden core could take a little more spiritual energy, then he could briefly amplify his powers into an ascension stage cultivator’s. Presently, the most important thing was his golden core.

He felt his golden core spur, and repetitively tested it using his spiritual energy.

This time, the crack on his golden core wasn’t as severe as the last time. It was only a small crack, but if it was poorly taken care of, then it would deepen and even crack open.

If he could once again obtain the Flower of Rebirth, then his golden core wasn’t a problem. However, the Flower of Rebirth from his previous life was obtained by Qin Yan. This time, he wouldn’t do it again, so he needed to think of a way himself.

Would he go get it himself?

He wasn’t that capable.

So he could only nurture it for the time being.

Presently, the only thing that could replace the Flower of Rebirth in nurturing his core was the Moonlight Herb of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng.

To think of it in such a way, Fu Changling immediately thought of an idea. He would go to the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng to collect some Moonlight Herb and after using a brief period of time healing his core, he would return to the Hidden Realm of Xuanji to strengthen the seal once more. Then he’d ask his father to send some people along with him to look for the Flower of Rebirth. After he got it, he could strengthen the other four seals altogether.

It was a perfect plan!

Fu Changling eventually plotted out the rest of his solution and placed the Linglong Pagoda back into the Zhenlong Ring. Then, he took pellets of medicine that could nurture his golden core and fell asleep.

His journey this time was incredibly simple. It was basically taking medicine, sleep, and meditation. His recovery process was also extremely fast.

Ten days later, when he arrived in the Aimless Town at the foot of Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng, his body had almost fully recovered.

He and Chen Zhu stayed in an inn in the Aimless Town. When he was meditating in his room, Chen Zhu headed out to scout for information. When meal time came, Chen Zhu brought some food back. As he spread out the dishes, he told Fu Changling, “This inferior one has managed to gather some information. This time, the invigilator of the recruitment of Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng would be its first disciple, Qin Yan. The recruitment is separated into two types: sword cultivation and daoist cultivation. For the sword cultivation part, it’s separated into four sectors. The first test takes place tomorrow, it is a literacy test. The first half takes place in the morning and it is about the basics. I’ve heard it’s generally about the history of immortals, what concepts it has. In the afternoon would be the second half about charms. I heard that you've been allowed to draw as well as write an essay as long as it reflects your thoughts. However, there’s no need to worry about it.” Chen Zhu hushed his voice into a low whisper, “I heard that sword cultivators generally don’t study much.”

“That can’t be it, surely?” Fu Changling furrowed his brows. “I feel that Qin Yan doesn’t look like he’s never been educated.”

“Qin Daojun is the face of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng.” Chen Zhu smiled. “Some elders among daoist cultivators are watching over him.”

As Fu Changling listened to Chen Zhu praising Qin Yan, he got happy and nodded his head. “What about the second sector?”

“The second sector takes place on the day after,” Chen Zhu continued. “I heard that Qin Daojun and Xie Daojun both would be testing the candidates on the martial stage and see how their skills with the swords are.”

“Xie Daojun?” Fu Changling gave it some thought and then understood who Chen Zhu was referring to.

This ‘Xie Daojun’ that Chen Zhu mentioned should be Xie Yuqing. According to the time, Xie Yuqing joined the sect a few years earlier than Qin Yan. She was the rightful Dashijie[9] of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng, but Qin Yan had gained the title of first disciple due to his shifu being the Palace Lord himself. Additionally, although Xie Yuqing was the direct disciple of an elder, she never meddled in affairs. As time passed, everyone only recognized Qin Yan as the Dashixiong[10].

According to the legends, Xie Yuqing was taught the “Path of Lovelessness” early in life. She felt nothing towards everyone around her and she had dedicated herself to the sword. Due to this, her heart was pure, and she was the Number One Sword Cultivator of the Younger Generation.

A few years ago before Qin Yan joined the discussions of battle techniques at the Stage of Lords, Xie Yuqing was the star of the Stage of Lords, but she had felt disinterested after a single battle and never again participated in the Stage of Lords. But even so, everyone knew who the two most powerful disciples of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng in its new generation were: it was Qin Yan and Xie Yuqing.

As for why Fu Changling had such a deep impression of Xie Yuqing was because, prior to the destruction of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng, it was this Xie Yuqing who cultivated the Path of Lovelessness, who was cold inside out, who felt no emotions even to her own fellow martial siblings, put herself between their enemies and fellow martial siblings as she slaughtered more than a thousand demonic cultivators. After that, she self-destructed her own nascent soul and flattened the entire Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng as well as annihilated all the demonic cultivators that were left. After her self-destruction, the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng burned for three days and three nights, reduced to ash. Afterwards, when Fu Changling restored it, he had to practically rebuild it from the earth.

The battle of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng was one of the earliest and the only one that ended in victory. Back then, Fu Changling rushed to their rescue on orders and hurried from miles away. However, what he saw were the disciples of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng rushing out. When they were rescued, they only cried three words to him, “Xie Shijie…”

“The third sector would be taking place in the Forbidden Lands of the Spiritual Mountain that is under the administration of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng.” Chen Zhu’s words reached him once more, shutting out Fu Changling’s memories. He poured a cup of tea for Fu Changling. “When that time comes, everyone will be allocated into groups of four to complete the tasks they are given in the Forbidden Lands of the Spiritual Mountain. There are many high-level beasts in those lands, so the Young Master must proceed with caution.”

Fu Changling nodded. “What about the last sector?”

“There’s nothing in the last sector; it’s just a test of one’s spiritual roots. However, Young Master owns one of the highest quality, so there shouldn’t be a problem with it.”

“Alright.” Fu Changling resolutely said, “Then let us start preparing.”

“Oh, Young Master,” Chen Zhu said, taking out a dozen books from behind him. “I found these in a small alley outside just now. These are apparently the information tomorrow’s sector would be testing. These are real topics over the years, model questions, and questions predicted to appear. Although I bought them a little late, would the Young Master like to take a look at them?”

Fu Changling looked at the little mount of questions and was stunned. He instinctively wanted to reject it but when Qin Yan’s shadow flashed before his eyes…

He instantly got motivated!

And so, gripping his chopsticks, he rose to his feet and said, “Take your leave first. I want to begin studying now!”

Stunned, Chen Zhu asked, “Don’t you need to dine first?”

Fu Changling waved his hand. “There is no need. Bring those books over!”

It was not difficult to understand the materials. Most of them were questions and the questions weren’t difficult, though they were many in number.

Fu Changling knew most of the answers to these questions. Back in those years, he’d looked over the entire History of Immortals of Yunze in order to find the location of the Avici. The basics of history weren’t difficult. He was also familiar with some of the languages of spells, for this was also extremely easy. For most of the geography, he had also visited them before…

He spent a single night reading through all of these questions. On the second day, by the time the roosters called, he was just in time of finishing the final question.

He didn’t get many of them wrong. He arranged the ones he'd gotten wrong and as he allowed Chen Zhu to prepare him, he rushed through them, memorizing.

Even with another face, Fu Changling still cared about his looks. He allowed Chen Zhu to pick him a blue outer robe with golden embroidery of peacocks and a jade-coloured hair tie with cloud patterns sewn onto it that looked vibrant and beautiful. He stood out from a group of people and looked obviously like a little Young Master from a certain family who came out to take a saunter.

After Fu Changling arranged his attire, he walked to the examination hall as he memorized his books. He thought well of his efforts but he had come out of the horse carriage only to realize that a huge group of people were standing at the entrance of the hall who, too, were memorizing books in their hands.

Fu Changling was shocked stiff. He suddenly felt guilty and quickly blended into the huge group of people, memorizing all he hadn’t at a blinding speed.

When the time came, he heard the sound of drums. Everyone placed their belongings, as well as their reading materials, in a cabinet outside of the hall and walked in with personal documents and the examination permit of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng.

Fu Changling mixed among the group of people. By the time he entered the examination hall, the examinees were still coming in. He lifted his head to look at a young man sitting next to him. That young man was wearing a light blue and green robe and there was a white ribbon tied to his hand. He looked only around thirteen to fourteen, yet he wore a mature gaze. Fu Changling looked at that person and found him familiar. He turned his gaze towards that white ribbon and only then he recalled that this person was the Eldest Young Master of the Shangguan Clan, Shangguan Mingyan.

Knowing the other person’s identity, albeit only a theory, Fu Changling knew the reason Shangguan Mingyan was here.

Back then when Yun Yu brought a group of people out of the Shangguan Manor, the ones left behind were most likely rescued by Jiang Yebai in time. The Shangguan couple both died that night and among the children they left behind, Shangguan Mingyan was the eldest. Naturally, he had the responsibility to sustain the family.

They were rescued by the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng, so it was only natural for Shangguan Mingyan to seek cultivation here. This child had Three Spiritual Roots and his talents were above average. It was natural for him to participate in the examination.

Fu Changling observed him while he looked around. Shangguan Mingyan noticed his gaze and coldly gave him a glare. At this moment, most of the examinees had arrived and after a while, some footsteps came from the outside. A young man leading a group of people walked in with swords in their hands.

That young man looked like a young adult. He was extremely tall and he was wearing white robes with embroidery of cranes.

There were many people following behind him. Everyone then went to their own respective stations after they arrived. Fu Changling followed and stood. His gaze fell upon the face of that person and he couldn’t tear it away.

His heart was beating fast. The other person pretended as though he hadn’t seen him, his gaze passing through him. Leading a group of people, he went to the invigilator’s seat and then he stopped. The disciples who followed him in all spread out, surrounding the entire examination hall.

“This time, I will be the invigilator of the recruitment exam of the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng. My surname is Qin, my monastic name Suiyan. This examination prioritizes results on the spot. I beseech everyone to answer your questions on time and do not hope to pass by sheer luck.”

After he finished speaking, the disciples distributed the examination papers and after all of them had been distributed, Yun Yu stood next to Qin Yan. He loudly said, “Raise your brushes and you may begin the examination.”

Then, he lit the incense sitting in an incense burner, which was sitting next to Qin Yan. Qin Yan watched as smoke began to rise from it and the examinees all began to lift their brushes, beginning to write their answers at blinding speed. Qin Yan surveyed the hall and seeing that nothing was off, he fell into a sitting position and began to meditate with his eyes closed.

Fu Changling stared at the exam papers in front of himself and his heart couldn’t stop beating.

He tried to control his gaze from moving upwards and pay attention to the examination papers.

All he could blame was that the questions were far too simple. Before half the incense was burnt, he had finished his questions. After he’d finished writing, he lifted his head and watched the way Qin Yan was meditating, his gaze couldn’t help stopping.

Qin Yan was closing his eyes. He could not see him.

Realizing this, Fu Changling suddenly felt that he could attempt a little bolder. So he didn’t pass up his papers; instead, he remained in the examination hall with his brush in his mouth, pretending that he was thinking of answers to write when he was actually stealing glances at Qin Yan.

Only when time was up, Fu Changling passed up his papers at the last moment.

All the examinees had begun moving. Yun Yu coldly snorted and said, “The one who sat at the third row, the seventh table today had been day dreaming for an entire day. It’s fine if he doesn’t know how to do his questions, but he was stealing glances at Shixiong. How unnerving. He’s definitely not a good person.”

“Gossips are forbidden.” Qin Yan walked into the distance. “Prepare the next test.”

After Qin Yan walked off, a disciples named Yun Yang nudged Yun Yu and said, “Don’t be so quick to judge him. Look at how full of writing his paper is!”

“He’s just scribbling answers blindly.” Yun Yu twitched his lips. “The questions this year are the toughest. It’s already quite laudable for any student to get half of it correct, and he could answer them all? Isn’t he just putting on an act?”

“Let’s bet.” Yun Yang happily said, “My bet is that he would get number one in the literary exam this year. Are you in?”

“I am!” Yun Yu instantly said, “I bet Mingyan.”

“Shangguan Mingyan?”

Hearing this name, Yun Yang nodded. “He’s a learned person. But ah, I still think that shifty-eyed Shen Xiufan looks more handsome. Five spiritual stones, how about it?”

“Deal.”

Yun Yu immediately nodded. All the other disciples came to join the fun after hearing about their wager.

Qin Yan had walked off to quite a distance but he could still hear the disciples talking. When those words reach into his ears, he couldn’t help but wonder who that person is. Just as he was thinking of that person’s name, he overheard the conversation of someone explaining the question to another, “The so-called One Palace, Three Sects, and Four Clans are referring to the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng, the Daoist Sect, the Spells Sect, the Scholarly Sect[11], the Fu Clan, the Su Clan, the Yue Clan, and the Lin Clan. The Three Sects are distinguished by the different way they cultivate, the Four Clans are distinguished by their blood. For example, members of the Fu Clan can make things come true with their words, the Su Clan are born with the eyes of Heaven’s Mandate, the Yue Clan can weave puppets with their blood, and the Lin Clan are even more prestigious—they are born with a sword bone. What is a sword bone? It’s this: the bones on your backs are a natural sword on its own, so they are all natural born sword cultivators. Back in those years, the mother of the Venerate Sword Ye was a member of the Lin Clan…”

It was rare for someone who newly learned cultivation to have such broad knowledge. Qin Yan couldn’t help lifting his head, and then he saw, under a peach blossom tree outside of the examination hall, there was a young man speaking loudly to another.

The young man who was speaking was wearing a wide-sleeved outer robe with embroidery of peacocks, glowing fleetingly under the rays of the sun. The one listening to him was Shangguan Mingyan, who was obviously impressed with the other person’s rich source of knowledge as he nodded his head repetitively and listened.

Qin Yan observed them quietly and the one speaking seemed to have noticed his gaze. With a smile, he turned to meet Qin Yan.

A pair of eyes that seemed to flutter open at the spring winds, briefly carrying confusion of them. After that, realization hits him and his lips turn up into a smile. He seemed to leisurely turn around and smiled as he spoke, “Ah, Qin Daojun!”