Chapter 62: Golden Light of Merit
Yue Wuhuan put in a lot of thought and created a very beautiful Phoenix kite. It was as tall as a person and as wide as two with its wings spread out. It was outlined in gold and painted brilliantly. It was very lifelike and was also equipped with a bamboo whistle. If the wind blew through it, it would ring out with a clear and drawn out sound similar to the call of birds.
Song Qingshi was so delighted, he wanted to fly it already. Scratching his cheek in embarrassment, he didn’t know how to praise him. Doing his best, he said, “Wuhuan, you’re amazing. This kite is hundreds of times better than the one I bought.”
He smiled and said, “Master, the one you bought, without a bamboo flute, should be called a Paper Kite. With a bamboo whistle, it's called a Wind Zither.”
Song Qingshi took out the beautiful Paper Kite he bought. He looked it over, and was surprised. “It really is.”
Although he liked colorful things, compared with the kite he bought, Wuhuan’s kite was like a phoenix to a sparrow. One belonged in the sky and the other, on the ground. Even a blind man would know which one looked better. The more Song Qingshi looked at the paper kite he bought, the more of an eyesore he thought it was. When he was about to throw it away, he saw Rong Ye come in to deliver the students’ pill homework. He was very earnest and responsible. He casually gave the kite to him. Rong Ye seemed very happy.
Children shouldn’t care whether they were playing with paper kites or wind zithers, right?
He was a majestic Immortal, a grown-up who was almost a thousand years old. Of course, he wanted to play with the most beautiful big wind zither!
In high spirits, Song Qingshi dragged Yue Wuhuan to the top of Xinyi Mountain. He liked watching the clouds change, but what he liked even more was watching beautiful things fly among the clouds, like birds and kites. When he had been a child, he had once secretly watched some children fly a kite. The swallow kite flew so high that it almost entered the clouds. The children yelled and made a fuss. The laughter came nonstop. It all seemed fascinating.
Flying a kite was best done with two people. One person to hold the kite, waiting for the wind to send the signal and the other to tug on the string and run.
For fun, Song Qingshi didn’t let Yue Wuhuan attach any auxiliary formations on the kite. He also banned all wind-management and float-control techniques. He wanted to use mortal methods and rely on natural wind to fly the kite. For this, he even analyzed the prevailing speed and direction of the winds on Xinyi Mountain during this season, scientifically determining the most suitable location for flying the kite. Then, rolling up his sleeves for battle, he was ready to send this kite high, high up.
The two arrived at Xinyi Mountain and placed the kite on the gentle slope that had been prepared early on.
Song Qingshi took out a notebook from the mustard seed bag, and carefully re-read the kite-flying tips. He recalculated his formula based on the current wind power, and estimated the proper height and position of the kite, so as not to cause the string to be entangled in any of the trees.
Yue Wuhuan peeked at the contents of his notebook and couldn’t help laughing.
Song Qingshi was confused as to why he was being laughed at by the learning-god. He quickly checked the formula a couple more times to confirm whether he had written in the wrong numbers or had done the calculations wrong.
After confirming that the formula was correct, he found the correct position and had Yue Wuhuan hold the kite for him. He then took off. The first time, he ran too fast, and the kite rolled on the ground. The second time he successfully managed to get the kite up in the air. Yue Wuhuan stood behind him, personally teaching him how to let the string out, patiently having the kite ascend bit by bit.
The beautiful phoenix slowly rose, its long red-golden tail feathers trailing behind it. Using the power of the wind, it broke through the clouds, letting out a crisp and melodious bird call.
The color of life appeared amidst the white clouds, and it was no longer dull and dreary.
Song Qingshi looked at the white clouds and the phoenix kite in the sky. He suddenly felt his mind go a little fuzzy. He felt that this scene was very familiar, as if he had seen it countless of times but couldn’t quite remember the details of the scene. Something carved deep in his bones was starting to grow restless, trying to break free from its shackles and run out…
In his mind, strange feelings were constantly being suppressed, and also constantly gushing forth, struggling over and over.
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.
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Yue Wuhuan looked at the snapped string in his hand and was a little stupefied. He couldn’t believe he could have made such a mistake.
Song Qingshi cast aside the coil of string and controlled his fire to soar up into the sky. He watched the kite fall, rocking and swaying. Seeing it about to fall into the swamp, he felt anxious and lunged at it. He caught the kite just before it fell into the mud. However, the kite was much too big and the Phoenix’s tail feathers fell and was still dragged into the swamp, dirtying a great portion of it.
Carrying the kite, he flew back dejectedly. He handed it to Yue Wuhuan, and asked sadly, “Was it because I didn’t let it out properly? And so it failed?”
“No,” Yue Wuhuan carefully checked the point where the string had snapped. “I was afraid of the string snapping, so I deliberately used a strong silver string. I also checked it when I was winding it. There should be no problem with the quality of this string.” He suddenly paused. Smiling, he showed Song Qingshi the kite string, “Look, it’s this little guy’s fault.”
There was a small Golden Ant crawling on the silver string. The kite’s string had been slightly damaged by the Golden Ant and could not bear the weight.
Golden Ants are common creatures on Xinyi Mountain. It climbed up the kite by coincidence, and broke the string, by coincidence. The kite fell because of this. The entire matter was fair and reasonable…
Song Qingshi was dumbfounded. “So, this was a coincidence?”
“En, let’s go back first,” Yue Wuhuan said comfortingly, “This dye can’t be washed clean. I will replace later the parts that got dirty and put in a stronger string.”
Just what was the probability of an ant bite snapping a kite string?
One in a billion?
Song Qingshi suddenly remembered the inconceivable Lightning Tribulation that Yue Wuhuan had when he reached Foundation Building. He remembered that Yue Wuhuan had once said that repeated coincidental misses had kept him from uncovering Xie Que’s true colors. He even remembered his first encounter with An Long. A strange gust of wind had blown the precious herbs he worked hard to collect into the dirty and foul swamp. And so, pinching his nose, he approached the swamp and found the half-demon child buried in it.
Why did the system pick his soul fragment for the mission? Why did it send him back here?
Were all these coincidences?
Song Qingshi stopped and glanced suspiciously at the sky. He kept feeling that he had forgotten something very important.
…
Yue Wuhuan went back to repair the kite.
Song Qingshi was feeling ill at ease, his mind filled with phoenix kites flying in the sky. He wasn’t even in the mood to do any toxicology experiments. After feeding the mice, he simply left the laboratory to go for a walk. He first wandered over to the school, earnestly inspecting the students’ research for a while. He then went to the library and riffled through a few books. Finally, and inexplicably, he found himself at the ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall had been refurbished, given a facelift. It was clean and tidy. The picture scroll was unfurled and hung on the wall. Fruits and flowers were placed as offerings on the incense table.
Although the First Teacher had accepted a lousy disciple, this disciple had in turn, accepted for him a good disciple who was well-behaved and sensible. He could be considered as being indirectly filial.
Song Qingshi remembered that he hadn’t come to pay his respects to the Grand Master for ten years. He felt a little embarrassed. And so, he ran in and offered three joss sticks. Looking at the offering, he felt a little greedy. After saying a few words to the Grand Master, he took a big red peach and ate it while admiring the picture scroll left by the Grand Master.
The peaches Yue Wuhuan picked were juicy, sweet and delicious.
The Grand Master was a terrible painter. His skill level was about the same as his. You simply couldn’t see what he had intended to draw.
This painting was placed in the ancestral hall, but no thief would want it.
Song Qingshi pondered for a while. In the end, he still felt that this painting should be put away. Later, the Medicine King’s Valley would have more disciples and everyone, being filled with filial devotion, would come to pay homage to the written works of the Grand Master every few days. They would come only to see such an ugly and nonsensical painting… Does the Grand Master even still want some face? Does he still want to Medicine King’s Valley to have some dignity?
He should find a few medical books passed on by the Grand Master and have those accept the disciples’ respects instead of this painting.
Song Qingshi took the painting down and brought it back to Fuling Palace, ready to put it in the treasure house.
The sky was gradually getting darker, and his heart too, was getting darker and darker.
He was no longer very hopeful about the System’s mission. There seemed to be no signs of recovery for Yue Wuhuan’s condition. The only thing he was doing now was not giving up. He will stay with him, and see if time can bring any new opportunities. If it doesn’t work, he will do his utmost to prevent it from getting worse. If worst comes to worst, in the future, he would stay in the Medicine King’s Valley, and spend his life with Yue Wuhuan; every day, he would coax him to have fun, and make him happy.
However, he felt that doing this was far from enough…
Song Qingshi lay on the bed and opened the picture scroll. He looked it up and down, left and right, imagining that the Grand Master could give him some inspiration. Maybe he could communicate through his dream and tell him of a way to eliminate painful memories without harming the brain. Or he could tell him how to travel through time and space, allowing him to directly hammer Xie Que to death, and take Yue Wuhuan back, placing him in the Medicine King’s Valley, coaxing him and praising him every day, letting him live happily. If Yue Wuhuan didn’t have any psychological obstructions, he might let him eat sweet, soft things every day.
It was a pity that the Grand Master of the Medicine King’s Valley knew nothing aside from curing diseases and alchemy. He hadn’t even left any medical books related to psychotherapy…
What a truly useless Shifu!
Taking advantage of the fact that his Shifu couldn’t hear his thoughts, Song Qingshi grumbled boldly. He casually threw the picture scroll on the bedside table, turned on the luminous beads, and continued to organize the medical materials. He grew engrossed in writing, and when he turned around, he found that he had accidentally dropped a large blob of ink on the picture scroll.
He instinctively went to wipe it. As a result, the scroll, which was already very old and fragile, had a big hole rubbed into it with minimal effort. His heart seized and his hand shook, and he completely tore it in half…
Song Qingshi was dumbfounded…
He tremblingly held the broken halves of the picture scroll, not knowing what to do.
Can his almighty darling disciple fix the painting?
Can he secretly repaint a picture and pretend that nothing happened?
Song Qingshi was so panicked that he wanted to dig a hole and hide his evil deed. If Yue Wuhuan didn’t pursue the matter, then he’ll just play dead. But he felt this was being dishonest.
Suddenly, the broken scroll gave off a golden light, like a golden firefly…
Song Qingshi looked closely and found that it was the Golden Light of Merit, a rare good thing. Because of his medical studies, the pills that he developed has saved many people, and this has gained him some virtues and merits. Song Qingshi was no stranger to this concept. It is said that there was once a cultivator who directly ascended to the ranks of the gods because of his accumulated merit.
But why was a mere painting hiding a Golden Light of Merit?
Puzzled, Song Qingshi picked up the painting and studied it. Unexpectedly, the painting’s Golden Light of Merit rushed at him, frantically blending into his body.
His eyes went dark and his consciousness blurred…
An endless sea of clouds appeared in the sea of knowledge. In the depths of the sea of clouds, there was a house like a snow cave, deserted and desolate, with nothing but a mountain of scrolls. Inside the house, Song Qingshi saw a young man who looked a lot like him. He seemed expressionless, like a porcelain doll, quietly sitting in the house, reading books, reading book after book after book…
In the evening, the young man suddenly moved. A somewhat expectant light appeared in his eyes. It was as if the porcelain doll had come to life.
He slowly walked to the window and leaned on the window sill. He furtively looking at the farthest point in the sky, as though waiting for something.
At the far end of the sky, golden red rays of light gradually rose. It was a Phoenix made from the most dazzling flame in the world, dragging nine golden-red tail feathers of flame. He slowly flew closer, and then passed by his window sill. The beautiful light illuminated his ignorant eyes and shone into his cold and cheerless room.
The monotonous sea of clouds came to life with this magnificent scenery.
This was his only pleasure in his dry and dull life.
The young man waited every day. He watched every day, waited day after day, watched year after year…
…
Song Qingshi was awakened by Yue Wuhuan. When he woke up, he found himself lying on the table, his entire consciousness was muddled.
“Master, what’s the matter?” Yue Wuhuan reached out and wiped his eyes.
“Wuhuan, I had a dream.” Song Qingshi found that his eyes were filled with tears that he just couldn’t stop. He murmured, “It was a good dream at first, and then it turned into a nightmare, a terrible nightmare…”
“The nightmare isn’t real,” Yue Wuhuan felt panicked at his inexplicable sadness. He spent a long while, comforting. Finally, he asked, “What did you dream of?”
Song Qingshi raised his head and looked closely at the most beautiful pair of phoenix eyes in the world. He couldn’t get enough of looking at them. He tried his best to stop his sadness. He clutched Yue Wuhuan’s sleeve tightly, and sobbed,
“Wuhuan, I dreamt that the Phoenix was gone.”
“Wuhuan, I want to get him back.”
“Wuhuan, I will never give up.”
Every time I think, this novel can’t get any better and more complex and more mind blowing and then IT DOES
Song Qingshi is being a cutie as always, a 1000 years old serious cultivator running after a kite
I have read the whole novel and this only the half of how complex it has become.
Thanks for the warning (prepares mind for more space, shoves the memories related to education to a far end)
Thats for the best. The one thing I know from this novel is that everything is related. Everything that you may feel makes no sense or thinks why he does/feels that way – All gets explained.
The kite part was kinda cute but that bad ant had to destroy their fun so fast.
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
I don’t understand the dream.. is it the same as wuhuan’s dream from the fantasy gu? Can’t wait for the next chapter! Thank you for the chapter!
I think it is different. Qingshi might be seeing their first ever encounter, prior to Mo Yuan Mortal Sword Cultivator. It seems Wuhuan truly is a Phoenix before. Maybe something happened and Qingshi lost the phoenix. The fallen phoenix reincarnated as a mere mortal Mo Yuan. It is weird how it seems the world didn’t like this Phoenix. I mean even their kite, soaring phoenix fall due to ant bite, ANT bite! How ridiculous can the heaven be??
Ahhhhh what’s the important thing Qingshi forgot? maybe when the ‘real’ Qingshi died his soul went to other world or something and then when he died there, the system brought his soul back to his original world. Holy cow the plot is getting🔥🔥
Thanks for the chapter 💞💞
Song Qingshi running to fly the kite is literally the cutest thing ever HSHSHHSH
The golden light of merit though… I thought SQS would meet his master XD
Can anyone explain the dream?
Exhibit 2, the sword cultivator from a couple of millenia ago, whose legacy was left behind at the cave of the water beast. It’s said he went crazy at one point, yet his spouse never gave up on him, before he was eventually subdued by ancient array formations at the cave.
Presumably, the sword cultivator had a Qi deviation of sorts, and Qingshi’s master – The medical valley grandmaster, was the sword cultivator’s Dao companion. Qingshi was reborn 500 years ago, took the path of the Heartless and cultivated, stumbled across the abandoned medical valley (His previous reincarnation’s work), and spent his time there. Heartless dao requires his soul to not feel any emotions – This part of his soul, responsible for emotions, was either, (a) Made to be reborn in the modern world by the original medical valley owner, or (b) Sent to the modern world by Qinshi himself during those 500 years. The Qingshi of the cultivation world had a strong constitition, but weak emotions- The Qingshi of the modern world had a weak constitition, but strong emotions. Finally, after An Wang ‘killed’ the cultivation world’s Qingshi, and the modern world’s Qingshi also passed, the split parts of his soul joined as one. There’s memory loss only of the period when An Wang killed him. The system is probably a 3rd party entity, not related to the cultivation world at all, tasked with saving the original white lotus protagonist – But upon landing here, Qinshi, with his impeccable EQ (HAHAHAH) took in Wuhuan. Perhaps, this was karma and heaven’s will bringing them together – Or, is it?
Wuhuan’s previous incarnation murdered thousands, so this life’s suffering are probably retribution for his Qi-deviation led actiona of his past life as a sword cultivator. The previous medical valley grandmaster probably risked his soul being split for the sword cultivator (Wuhuan’s prev incarnation) to have a chance at rebirth.
So his current life’s shitty karma and heavenly tribulations is probably retribution for his previous life’ actions. The OG medical valley grandmaster probably risked his soul shattering to pieces for the OG sword cultivator to have another chance at reincarnation, this the split?
Anyhow, with regards to the current chapter’s dream – Wuhuan is lonely and surrounded by books, with no color to his life, till a bright phoenix (Wuhuan) made his way to Qingshi’ abode. His loneliness (Qingshi’s heart demon is lonliness, if you may) was alleviated by having the phoenix’s company. The Phoenix suddenly disappears one day (collapsing from Wuhuan’s mental issues) – and Qingshi’s world is bleak again. He has tasted the warmth, and doesn’t want to return back to being lonely.
Note that thos was similar to what happened on Wuhuan’s dream. The medical valley cultivator and sword cultivator were lonely till they chanced upon each other, and couldn’t bear it when one of them disappeared for a short while.
Exhibit C, the shitty aesthetic sense the previous medical valley grandmaster has (ahem, painting, bleak furnishing, etc) match Qinshi’s tendencies.
Then again, this is just a theory, an MSVIL theory.
No, no it’s not long . Thank you for explaining the dream❤
Npnp <3
Oh, new piece of puzzle
thanks for the chapter~
Why do I feel that the shifu was himself ahhhhhhhh bites handkerchief
+1
then Qingshi and Wuhuan knew each other from before? and something happened and the Heavens are trying to mess with them with all these “coincidences “?
Thanks for the chapter! can’t wait to see how this continues…😢
He was a majestic Immortal, a grown-up who was almost a thousand years old. Of course, he wanted to play with the most beautiful big wind zither!
Song Qingshi is but a big child 😆😆💖💖
Man, this novel has even MORE to offer? I’m so glad I decided to start reading it!
Aah, the plot thickens 🧐
Thanks for the chapter 💕
Ahh their past life!!!
Thanks for the chapter! Hope you have a nice day! ♥️
Go get him back.
I hope he wake up from this “dream” soon, everything feels like it was planned by heaven.
Hmm so he may have been the master. I may be stretching though, just his line about the painting skills being the same and the no pictures of the master.🧐
damn so SQ basically was a split soul that came together once the cultivation soul was “killed”
It was so funny how he badmouthed his master 😂..
The dream is perhaps their first encounter.. Hope they’ll find happiness in the end..
while I’ll say that QS is indeed a cutie, he’s somewhat mentally undeveloped? prob due to his social anxiety and how he only focused on research.
idk why, but j just felt like typing this out. I think I’m reaching a point where I can only take so much, hopefully more growth comes! I don’t want him to keep being dense and not knowing how interpersonal relationship works cos it’ll be frustrating. 😭
aaaahhhhhh…. im so excited to read what happens next.