The imperial court’s emissary was indeed the man who’d been present five years ago at the lighting of the lanterns. He was Yan Zhen, the new Grand Mentor, son of Yan Huaipu, the one who’d died at the peak of Jiulu Mountain. Whenever people spoke of his talents, they’d all concur that his surpassed his father’s.
Right then, Yan Zhen was looking at someone: the person sitting in the last-most seat amongst Jiulu Mountain’s first-generation disciples.
The Grand Mentor himself knew not why this person had drawn his attention. Many years later, when he looked back on the past, Yan Zhen would almost believe that fate itself had been prying his head to turn in that direction, forcing his gaze to land on that person.
The venue was bustling with noise and excitement. Xuan Sect’s distinguished disciples were, of course, a cut above the rest. There were many amongst them possessed of true skill.
Yan Zhen himself was a Dao cultivator, though very few people knew of it since he’d been a disciple of the Mi Sect of Xiji Gorge. The Mi Sect’s cultivation was different from the Xuan Sect’s, but even so, Yan Zhen couldn’t deny that Xiji Gorge couldn’t match up to Jiulu Mountain’s might and prestige. They also didn’t have very many promising young disciples.
To see what the future of a sect looked like, one only had to see who its leader was, and whether their newest generation had potential. Two days ago, Yan Zhen had silently set his sights on a few Xuan Sect disciples. When he’d called them over to interview them, they’d all been confident and sure in their responses. It seemed they cultivated both scholarly and martial skills.
The third day of the conference was the most climactic, the best of the best would enter the field. The competitors would no longer be juniors, but Xuan Sect’s first-generation disciples. Even the twelve masters might get in the ring to fire up the atmosphere.
Shi Wuduan, sitting alone, glued to his seat and unmoving as a mountain, became somewhat conspicuous.
Bitan had ordered that no one was to disturb Shi Wuduan, so of course, no one had defied the sect leader and given him any trouble. He sat there, idly snacking, while his mind drifted a thousand miles away. Even when Jiang Chongwen, esteemed disciple of Banya, and one of the “twelve masters,” shocked the audience with the Lotus Seat Illusion, he only gave it a brief glance.
Illusory arts were unique in that they were amongst Xuan Sect’s secret arts. It was created thousands of years ago by the founder of the sect — each blade of grass in the illusion could be real or false, rain and snow could fall simultaneously, the sky and earth could merge into one. The key was whether the caster had the ability to create a perfectly flawless “order.” If they could, then “illusion” became “reality” and could persist indefinitely.
However, the art of illusion had gradually fallen to the wayside as the years passed.
Though Shi Wuduan didn’t understand the illusory arts, he was an expert at astral calculations; he even had a decent grasp of the great array that his shifu had left behind. His understanding of “order” was therefore extremely deep. In a single glance, he perceived the holes in Jiang Chongwen’s “Lotus Seat” — the ascent of the lotus seat, the falling of petals; for the sake of aesthetics, Jiang Chongwen had suspended the petals in mid air instead of letting them fall, but the dewdrops on the petals had splattered to the ground.
Behind his wooden expression, Shi Wuduan thought: so he’s an idiot who doesn’t even know how gravity works. While everyone was busy being mesmerized by an illusion that he could break with the snap of his fingers, Shi Wuduan’s chopsticks blurred as he swept all his favorite snacks into his own plate — there was no point in not eating it.
Bitan was extremely generous towards him and hadn’t limited his food at all, there wasn’t any delicacy or seasonal vegetable or fruit that he couldn’t have. But no matter how fine or exquisite the food was, Shi Wuduan knew that the stuff Bitan provided was completely ordinary. The precious herbs that grew in the mountains that could help with cultivating, gathering qi, clearing the mind, the herbs that others ate like cabbage, he hadn’t seen even a single stalk of it during his five-years stay.
Ah, his Bitan-shishu really was meticulous, too bad he just wasn’t ruthless enough.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Shi Wuduan chewed on that bitter, hard to come by Shilong Grass and thought, Bitan sure is impressive, it’s only a pity that he’s too soft, always reminiscing about the good old days and worrying about his reputation. Banya is cruel enough, it’s just a pity that he hasn’t got much brains and can’t accomplish anything of note. If these two people could fuse into one, the grass on my grave would probably be several feet tall already.
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Looking at him from afar, Yan Zhen couldn’t help asking the person next to him, “Who is that young man? Is he not participating?”
Bitan hurriedly answered, “That’s my young shizhi, he’s my shixiong’s — the former sect leader’s youngest disciple. He…. is rather frail and unsuited for martial arts, although he is quite well-read.”
Yan Zhen’s interest was piqued, “Oh? This youngster’s appearance is quite decent, why don’t you call him over so I can take a closer look.”
Bitan frowned, glanced at Yan Zhen, and hesitated before answering, “Well…. Grand Mentor, this shizhi of mine’s potential is limited and still young, I’m afraid he might cause offense….”
Yan Zhen smiled, “Would I really sink to the level of a half-grown child? Just call him over.”
On the stage, the Lotus Seat llusion had already collapsed. The flower petals and water droplets quietly rang and shattered like glass. Those with weaker cultivation began to come back to their senses and burst out with cheers and applause.
When Shi Wuduan received Bitan’s notice, he startled and looked towards Yan Zhen. Yan Zhen raised his cup to him as if in invitation.
He thought, “why’s this man randomly soliciting me for?” while he very slowly stood up. Even such a simple action got dragged out into a laborious affair, as if the motion would take him a full year to complete.
Bitan cleared his throat, unable to watch any longer. Shi Wuduan looked at him expressionlessly and said with fake concern, “It’s almost autumn now, you’d better take care of your health, shishu.”
— Except Jiulu Mountain was all clear skies, lush forests, and green grass.
Kuruo frowned, becoming more guarded. Shi Wuduan slowly shuffled over to Yan Zhen. Banya looked from afar at the two, one standing and one sitting, one questioning and one answering; Yan Zhen even seemed to have a smile on his face. Banya casually gestured for Zhao Chengye, who was sitting next to him, to move closer.
Zhao Chengye lowered his head and leaned over, asking “Shishu?”
Banya quietly said, “Your shifu is too benevolent, he doesn’t listen to my advice.”
Zhao Chengye stilled as he followed his gaze and looked over. Upon seeing that he was staring straight at Shi Wuduan, he had an inkling of Banya’s meaning.
Banya continued, “Chengye, you simply must lend your shishu a hand.”
Zhao Chengye’s eyes flashed. After a moment, he quietly replied, “Yes.”
By the time Shi Wuduan was obediently standing in front of Yan Zhen, the disciple who’d cast the Lotus Seat Illusion had already left the stage for quite a while.
With a wine cup in hand, Yan Zhen carefully appraised the youth. He thought he noticed something strange — even though all of Xuan Sect’s elite disciples were neither meek nor arrogant towards him, none of them were quite like Shi Wuduan.
Yan Zhen had the sense that…. this youth wasn’t too happy about having to talk to him, he seemed to be vaguely fed up.
As Yan Zhen asked, out of habit, questions that a senior would ask a junior, questions like “oh, what’s your name?” and “how old are you?” he noticed that this youth almost gave of the impression of having one foot in the grave. Even when he asked him his age, his eyes would glaze over for a day and a half before he hesitatingly droned, “Six…. sixteen? Something like that?”
Heavens above, who are you even asking?
Yan Zhen frowned slightly, and asked patiently, “I heard your shishu mention that you liked to study, which is rather admirable. What books have you been reading?”
“A lot.” Shi Wuduan said, and didn’t elaborate.
Yan Zhen’s eyebrow twitched. Magnanimous as he was, it was the first time in his life he’d been so disrespected. Behind him, Bitan hurriedly tried to signal Shi Wuduan with his eyes. Shi Wuduan noticed, then leisurely added on, “I just don’t really remember anymore.”
Yan Zhen was struck speechless and thought that this youth was rather stupid. He thought he must’ve been possessed to suddenly call this person over to speak. He gestured and said, “You can leave now.”
Shi Wuduan stiffly bowed in salute like a puppet on strings. Just then, Yan Zhen caught sight of his eyes, which he had always kept lowered, never even looking at anyone. With his experience at reading people, he saw in an instant that there was not one bit of “stupid” in this youth’s eyes.
This person was dispassionate, dispassionate like he’d seen through the emptiness of the material world. But because he was young, that dispassion wasn’t like stagnant water, there was something viciously churning under the surface.
Sometimes, one could tell at a glance how deep a person’s heart was. Yan Zhen believed that in the whole of Xuan Sect, only this youth had a pair of eyes that could contain the sky and all the stars. He couldn’t resist asking, “You said you were named ‘Wuduan,’ is it the same meaning as in ‘repeating without end’?”
It’s ‘wu’ as in ‘making something out of nothing,’ ‘duan’ as in ‘unpredictable,’ Shi Wuduan thought while he said uninterestedly, “I don’t dare presume the intent of the deceased.”
But Yan Zhen observed him and asked, “Now that your master has passed already, I may not be much, but I once learned under a sect and do have some meagre knowledge, perhaps you’d be willing to become my disciple?”
Those words stunned everyone within earshot, Bitan’s eyes instantly darkened as he faintly glared in Shi Wuduan’s direction.
Shi Wuduan’s footsteps only stuttered for a second. He looked up somewhat confusedly at Yan Zhen; seeing his face clearly for the first time, he noticed that this man’s age wasn’t very old. He looked to be about thirty but his temples were already greying, and his face seemed tired and haggard, as if there was too much weighing on his heart.
And then he thought incredulously, Is this old man insane?
Then Shi Wuduan bowed and said without hesitation, “I know I’m far too lacking, my shifu had said more than once that I’m… something wall, don’t even need to plaster, bad at both scholarly and martial pursuits, even when I sleep my snores are slower than everyone else’s….”
Then, as if to emphasize how dumb he was, he paused for a long while as if he’d forgotten what he was about to say. Then he looked at Master Bitan and asked, “Isn’t that right, Bitan-shishu?”
Bitan quickly said in relief, “Ah, please excuse him.”
Seeing that Shi Wuduan honestly wanted to avoid him like the plague, Yan Zhen couldn’t help feeling a surge of anger and thinking who knows how many youngsters would give an arm and leg to be my disciple, this youth must be blind.
He felt disappointment as well, and silently waved Shi Wuduan away, not wanting to look at him anymore.
Shi Wuduan turned around as slowly as an old ox dragging a broken wagon, ponderously shuffled back to his seat, and resumed stuffing his face.
No one knew what he was thinking at that moment, all they could see was that his expression was too wooden and still for someone of his age.
As the sect leader of Xuan Sect, Bitan naturally had to accompany their honored guest, but on the third day of the conference, the disciples weren’t as restrained as in the beginning. The atmosphere began to lighten up and propriety began to loosen.
The courtyard that Shi Wuduan lived in was usually very quiet, but as the former sect leader’s residence, there was a guardpost on the small path that led to it. Bitan had never dismantled that guardpost, and though it was lax, they always knew who came and went.
But on that day, the guards had finally been lured away by all the excitement so that when several people approached in the middle of the night, they infiltrated his courtyard without obstruction.
Of course, my son has long been forced out to be grown by you people!
Thanks for the chapter<3
Yan Zhen – friend or foe?
I feel like Yan Zhen can be an ally.
Also wtf they infiltrate what now???!
Stay safe SWD!!!
Where is wifey…..
Thank u for the chapter!!
Yan Zhen was clearly involved with the ritual five years back, so I doubt he’s a safe person for SWD to be around