V2C100

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That night, she slept in the Temple’s Guest House, turning in circles unable to sleep. She pushed open the window several times during the night and peeked into her Master’s room, only to find that the light in his chamber was constantly lit, and through the window paper, she could see the silhouette of him writing in front of his cabinet, calm and lonely; she wondered what he was writing and to whom, and also noticed that he had also remained awake the entire night.

She stared at him in silence, with a heavy heart and thousand thoughts in her mind, and in the end was overwhelmed by tears.

The next day, at dawn, before she woke up, the window suddenly opened, and a gust of wind swept in, revealing the Divine Bird. Chongming prodded in and picked her up in one bite, swinging her around and shaking the covers off of her body.

“Be quiet.” Zhu Yan grunted, reluctantly waking up from her dream, with the mass of red hair in a mess.

Chongming dumped her heavily back onto the bed with a gurgle and looked in the direction of the Mountain Gate. It was early dawn outside, but there was already noise of people gathering; the Divine Servants who had been summoned back to Jiuyi where there, waiting for the ceremony to take place – she couldn’t stay in Jiuyi any longer as everyone from outside was about to arrive.

Zhu Yan didn’t dare to delay any further, and hurriedly scrambled up and freshened herself haphazardly, “Where is Master?”

Without an answer, Chongming glanced down the mountain with its four eyes.

“He’s already down the mountain?” Zhu Yan understood and muttered softly, with an unconcealed disappointment, “What, he actually doesn’t even want to see me one last time, huh…”

Chongming grunted and threw an object into her arms; it was a small bundle.

“What is this?” She opened it and inside she found a small booklet.

The booklet was written in a familiar handwriting, almost exactly the same as the first one he gave her last time, with the ink still smelling fragrant from the first drying of the brush – her heart pounded: could it be that Master stayed up all night in order to write this volume of handwritten notes especially for her?

When she opened it, she found that instead of new spells, it was a summary of what Master taught her last night about the sophisticated use of incantations: new spells resulting from the superimposition of various magic methods, and the resolution of backfires and crosswinds, and so on and so forth… It was a culmination of Master’s lifelong experience. The insightful and far-reaching thoughts, with some unique and innovative points that she had never seen before, were something that she might not be able to achieve even after a lifetime.

Zhu Yan’s eyes flushed for a moment, knowing that it was the last gift he was giving her. Putting the handwritten note away, she wiped the corners of her eyes before pushing open the window and jumping onto the God-Bird’s back, “Let’s go!”

With a soft shriek, Chongming lifted its wings and soared up, carrying her swiftly down the Jiuyi Mountain.

The trees and hills were all receding rapidly beneath her feet, and as she gazed down from the back of the sacred bird, she saw that a crowd was swarming beneath her; indeed all the priests were already rushing back from outside, and crowds had gathered at every single shrine – outside the Mountain Gate, there was a grand array of attendants who appeared to be welcoming the arrival of an important person.

What, has the Grand Master already arrived in Jiuyi?

The wind atop the clouds was so strong that Zhu Yan subconsciously touched her hair and suddenly bumped into a cold hairpin. She immediately felt startled and remembered something: yes …… the Grand Master had instructed her to return the Jade Bone to her Master after the ceremony and never to see each other again – but she had left in such a hurry that she actually forgot about it.

Should I… go back and return it? And use this opportunity to see him one last time, perhaps?

Momentarily bewildered, she stared at the white dress in the crowd in the distance with mixed feelings.

On Jiuyi Mountain, surrounded by white clouds, Shi Ying stood amidst a crowd of thousands of people and welcomed the Grand Master who had returned from a long journey. After bowing, they both turned around and walked towards the Jiuyi Temple – although not having seen him for more than a month, the Grand Master appeared to have aged significantly, and his bearing was almost like that of a grandfather, which contrasted sharply with the beautiful and graceful figure of Shi Ying.

She stared at him with such rapture that she was unable to take her eyes away from him.

Although separated by a great distance, as if sensing something, Shi Ying abruptly turned around on the steps and gazed towards the sky. In that moment, Zhu Yan’s heart fluttered and he hastily turned away, her eyes welling up and almost falling into tears again – maybe this was the last time they were facing each other in this lifetime. Twenty-seven years later, they will be separated from each other across the heavens and will die, never to see each other again.

For a moment, she felt a piercing pain in her heart and could no longer resist, burying her head in the white, soft feathers of Chongming, crying out uncontrollably up in the nine heavens, her cries echoing in the clouds.

“Shi Ying, what are you looking at?” The Grand Master halted on the steps and joined the Great Priest in gazing up at the sky – the crystal blue vault was clean and cloudless, with only a trace of pale white darting across like a shooting star.

“Is that Chongming?” The old man asked.

“Mhm.” Without any further remarks, Shi Ying turned around and continued to climb the stairs without looking back, “I told him to send Ah-Yan back to the Red King’s Mansion.”

“Oh.” The Grand Master echoed, knowing in his heart the reason and the consequence of her departure, but only added, “That little girl, she really had the guts to act in such a way! How dare she cause such a big trouble, almost overturning the Heaven and Earth in Yunhuang.”

Shi Ying nodded profoundly: “It was only thanks to the Grand Master’s intervention that I escaped this calamity.”

“Is that so?” The old man trailed off, his sharp gaze glancing over his face, “Shi Ying, that’s not what you had in mind, isn’t it? You’re complaining that my old bones took the liberty of disrupting your careful planning, aren’t you?”

Shi Ying didn’t reply, his face was indifferent, but he didn’t deny it either.

“You were so determined to die that you never revealed a single word to me.” The Grand Master sank and spoke in a stern tone, “Shi Ying, you are a man of great importance, how dare you put your life at risk just for the sake of a woman? All the years of effort I have put into you have narrowly been squandered!”

The elder’s tone was harsh, and Shi Ying glared at him, but remained unperturbed: “I will naturally never forget the nurturing of the Grand Master. It’s just that everyone has their own personal feelings, and only they can tell whether it is worth it or not.”

“…” Seldom had he witnessed such a sharp retort from his disciple, the old man remained silent for a moment, only shaking his head in dismay, “Alas… you and your mother, really share the exact same temperament.”

Shi Ying’s expression twitched slightly, as if he had been stabbed somewhere in the heart.

His mother. As an orphan sent to the Deep Valley as a child, his mother, who died young, will always be a hidden pain in his heart. And in this world, the only person who still has the slightest connection to her today is the Grand Master. For as long as he could remember, this old man, who was known as the Supreme Sage of the Yunhuang Wilderness, had guided him, brought him up and taught him everything, without ever asking for anything in return.

Sometimes, he wondered: why did he do it?

But the Grand Master’s cultivation was still above his own, and in Yunhuang, even though he could read the thoughts of any person, he could never know the secrets buried in this old man’s heart.

While speaking, the two men walked forward, apparently at an extremely slow pace, but with their footing scrambling a thousand feet, they arrived at the entrance of Jiuyi Temple’s Grand Hall in a flash.

Over there, the ceremony was about to begin and everything was ready and waiting.

“The Jiuyi Temple has existed for seven thousand years and has had tens of thousands of divine officials at various ranks. According to the records, there have been a total of nine hundred and eighty-seven divine officials who attempted to leave the priesthood,” the Grand Master turned around under the huge statue of the Twin Gods and gazed deeply at the young Great Cleric, “but only eleven have managed to pass through the Hell of Ten Thousand Tribulations alive. The others, all of them, have gone into ashes and no bones remained – this is the path of Refinement, are you aware of it?”

Shi Ying’s voice held still: “I am aware of it.”

“Since you know that, you still have no intention of retreating?” The Grand Master shook his head, as if he had no alternative, ” Shi Ying, only you would know if your earthly heart has been moved or not – you could have simply chosen to remain the Great Priest, why did you have to go through that ocean of swords and flames?”

“No,” Shi Ying shook his head, ” The Gods already know.”

He raised his head and gazed at the deity, with gloomy eyes, “Since I have broken my vows and cannot serve with all my heart, why should I deceive myself and others when I am already a corpse?”

The old man finally nodded and sighed, “So be it. I know you are such a strict person, especially towards yourself – Shi Ying, you have been a devoted scholar since you were young, you should be pure and free from any distraction, yet why is your earthy heart so burning and passionate?”

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