August 5th, 2023
The sentence shocked Zong Ci stupid for a second.
He never would have thought that the reason this junior came all the way here was to make him his disciple.
After being stupefied for a moment, Zong Ci didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He had long since accomplished his Sword Dao. It could be said that to this day, one wouldn’t find another existence that has a higher level of mastery in swordsmanship than him in the entire world of cultivation.
It is precisely because Zong Ci had once stood at the peak did he know that after accomplishing his Sword Dao and reaching enlightenment, his sword intent would return to a state of purity and simplicity, gaining an edge that was beyond mortal conflict after having washed itself off of worldly matters. His sword intent no longer had the sharpness and coldness of someone who was caught up in pursuing worldly matters, which made it seem mediocre and undistinguished in appearance.
Of course, it is only when one accomplished their Dao would they be able to tell. In the eyes of others, Zong Ci’s sword Qi may be shocking, but was nowhere near how they’d envision a cultivator at the destination of the Sword Dao should be like.
Currently, Zong Ci was held back by his cultivation base. He also didn’t use his full force in that sword move that day. Perhaps that was why the bystanders couldn’t perceive what was really behind it. However, if he were to discuss the ways of the sword with Xuan Ji, the difference in level would be evident.
Just like how a person at the foot of the mountain staring at the peak is unable to see the scenery at the very top, or describing winter ice to a worm that lived only in summer, it is impossible to mention them in the same breath1—they weren’t on equal terms.
Therefore——
He’s rejecting the offer. Are you kidding? Of course he’s going to reject the offer.
Setting aside Zong Ci’s prior achievements, in terms of the way of the sword and how Xuan Ji was his junior, there was no way he would let Xuan Ji be his teacher.
Zong Ci was an authentic cultivator who had once ascended to become an immortal. If anything, he was the one who should become Xuan Ji’s teacher, not the other way around! Did you really think he was that shameless? 2
And so the black haired youth cupped his hands together, and rejected the offer in a roundabout manner: “My apologies. I have no intentions of having a master at the moment.”
The disciples that had gathered around secretly became even more restless than before in an instant, bursting into an uproar.
Who was Sword Immortal Xuan Ji? He was the most talented cultivator in the world of cultivation today, a legendary existence that entered the Hua Shen stage (6/10) within 900 years. In time to come, there is the possibility that he would overcome an adversity3 and ascend to become an immortal, a blatant golden thigh (finding a powerful protector)!
Moreover, when Sword Immortal Xuan Ji reached the Hua Shen stage and entered closed door cultivation for a couple decades, he inherited the position of Sabre Peak’s Peak Master immediately after he exited. He had lived in seclusion ever since and had never accepted even a single disciple.
If Zong Ci agreed, he would instantly become one of the Sword Peak’s direct disciples as the First Senior Martial Brother. He would become one of the Tai Yan Sect’s core disciples, with a status that was higher than what he had now, the difference between cloud and dirt.
Everyone couldn’t be any more envious, and yet he rejected the offer without a second thought? Is this something a human would do?
Everyone stared at this black-clothed youth in disbelief, their eyes filled with deep aggrieve.
Even Sword Immortal Xuan Ji furrowed his eyebrows, “Reason.”
He still needed a reason?
Zong Ci felt helpless in his heart and could only say: “My body and bone structure are too terrible. It is unlikely that I will benefit any more from cultivation.”
His bone structure was too terrible?
In the next moment, Zong Ci could feel an icy fingertip lightly tap his own wrist from across space. Like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water, it was retracted in the next moment.
At the same time, the Sword Immortal that stood opposite Zong Ci furrowed his eyebrows even more.
Every cultivator had at least some medical expertise. From Xuan Ji’s cursory examination, he realised then that the body of the black-clothed youth before him was indeed terrible to the point of it being unbelievable.
Even saying that it was ‘terrible’ was putting it nicely. If a person with this sort of constitution was placed in the common realm, he was probably a bedridden invalid that would have difficulty taking in Qi.
If he hadn’t examined it in person, he never would have thought that someone with such a constitution could tread the path of cultivation.
Moreover, this dreadful condition was rooted in his bone structure and not an external ailment. If he wanted to reverse it, the recovery process would not only take a very long time, it would also require many precious heavenly medicines and earthly treasures.
But it wasn’t in Xuan Ji’s personality to give up the moment he encountered a problem. On the contrary, he is the type to not lose heart until he reached the Yellow River,4 to not turn back until he collided into the northern wall. The classic stubborn type.
“You just have to become my disciple. Naturally, I will think of a way to heal your body.”
The Sword Immortal muttered to himself for a bit before raising his head, not a trace of unseriousness in his dark eyes.
Zong Ci was stunned speechless.
He was very much aware of the state of his own body.
This body of his was encumbered by his tattered soul—Exquisite in appearance but utterly rotten within.
Within three years, should Zong Ci fail to find a way to mend his soul in time, this body of his will collapse.
If his body collapsed when his soul had yet to be mended, then Zong Ci could not even become a lone ghost. His incomplete soul cannot enter the samsara cycle and so he could only disappear, truly dying in all its meanings.
Even though it isn’t wrong to say his life was salvaged, who wouldn’t want to live?
In the half a year he was in the outer sect, Zong Ci had been keeping a look out for materials that can mend souls.
Herbs with soul mending properties are hard to come by, much less pills that are refined using these herbs. They were all at least Earth grade in terms of ranking and one can only come across them serendipitously.
If it was in the previous life, Zong Ci would be able to obtain them effortlessly.
If there was something Sword Saint Ling Yun wanted, all he had to do was say he wanted it and there would be someone rushing to send it to him. However in this life, Zong Ci was a nameless cultivator in the Qi Refining stage (1/10). How was he going to find these heavenly grade herbs and earthly treasures?
But now someone had rushed over to take him in as a disciple and even said with determination that he would help him recuperate. Zong Ci didn’t know what he should do.
When times change, so do social conditions. When social conditions change, so does a person’s way of doing things.5 An easy death is better than a hard life. If pride wasn’t carved into Zong Ci’s bones, for the sake of survival, he might have turned a blind eye, kneeled and offered a cup of tea6 to become Xuan Ji’s disciple.
It’s a shame that he was Sword Saint Ling Yun. The same Sword Saint Ling Yun that would rather break than bend, that would rather end his own life than capitulate; The same Sword Saint Ling Yun that had an unbending backbone, a proud and unyielding character, and an unrestrained nature that couldn’t be contained. He resolutely refused to unscrupulously become another’s disciple.7
After a long while, Zong Ci raised one fist to the corner of his lips, lightly coughing twice, his voice hoarse: “To be accorded with such kindness, I’m afraid I would be unable to live up to your expectations. I hope your distinguished self would find someone more qualified than me.”
To reject someone twice in a row, it must not be for an objective reason. He must really not want to become Xuan Ji’s disciple.
Even the Sword Immortal couldn’t help but feel bewildered at the moment.
In his eyes, the reason Zong Ci brought wasn’t a valid one in the slightest. If he knew his body was terrible, then why did he tread the path of cultivation?
To cultivate is to go against the heavens. If his excuse was valid, then it would contradict the point of the cultivation he was trying to pursue.
Xuan Ji’s thin lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to insist on getting to the bottom of things, but seeing the black-clothed youth’s sickly look, he furrowed his brows briefly enough to leave no trace and decided to not further pursue this topic of conversation.
“Take care of yourself.”
Having said that, the Sword Immortal left no time for Zong Ci to reply at all. Under everyone’s reverent gaze, he transformed into a shower of light, departing with a flick of his sleeves. A crowd of bystanders were left behind, looking at each other in blank dismay.
After he left, Xuan Ji didn’t directly head back to the Sword Peak. Instead, he went to Tai Yan Sect’s Logistics Hall. He ordered the First Senior Disciple, who was trembling with fear and trepidation, to send some rare and precious herbs residing in the Sword Peak’s storage to the outer sect. He even specifically reminded them to send the medication administration instructions over as well.
“Yes, Peak Master.”
The First Senior Disciple immediately ordered the disciples under his administration to retrieve the herbs from the ice storage. Xuan Ji Sword Immortal’s arrival was akin to the press of a mute button, the originally noisy hall became quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
After the white clothed immortal that rarely stepped outside of the Sword Peak left, did the disciples inside the hall let out the breath they held, gradually returning to their usual lively, bustling atmosphere.
Even though Xuan Ji had been rejected twice, he wasn’t displeased at Zong Ci. Instead, he felt some admiration.
He’s a sword cultivator after all. If one isn’t even a little stubborn, they should be ashamed to call themselves a sword cultivator.
To not bow down or be arrogant in the face of such a heaven-defying, lucky chance, his boldness had Xuan Ji see him in a new light.
If the problems with his health could be resolved, then he would definitely become an extraordinary person.
On top of that, after he returned to the Brilliant Light Grand Hall, he had expressed his intentions to take Zong Ci as his closed door disciple to the sect leader, placing a reservation to prevent other peak masters from snatching him away.
Xuan Ji is obsessed with and completely focused on the Sword Dao, having high standards. This was also the reason why he had yet to accept any disciples. And now, he was finally willing to unseal a closed mountain and accept disciples. Even though the first disciple would be a closed door disciple, it is still a happy occasion.
Daoist Qing Yun happily agreed, declaring to the other peak masters to not keep thinking about this good sapling that has already been reserved.
The path of the sword was all about one word: ‘Fate’ —if one’s sword intent could resonate with the other’s or not.
When Xuan Ji saw the black haired youth unleash his sword intent at the public square, he didn’t know why, but his silhouette overlapped with the vague one in his memories.
But in his memories, that silhouette had died a thousand years ago, his body dead and his cultivation dissipated.
The Sword Immortal lowered his head, gently caressing the hilt of the Flowing Cloud Sword. His slender fingertips glided over the sword tassel made of coiled silver threads. From his gaze that tended to be as deep as an ice lake, ripples emerged.
This sword was an extremely ordinary spiritual weapon. Even if Xuan Ji reforged it constantly, pouring countless of valuable smelting materials into it, it was still an unbearably ordinary spiritual weapon.
For someone of Sword Immortal Xuan Ji’s status to carry around a spiritual weapon of the lowest grade, it really was quite unsightly.
It wasn’t that no one gifted him swords in recent years. His shizun, the previous Sword Peak peak master for example, was someone who gave him a sword. When Xuan Ji graduated, the former Sword Peak peak master gifted him a good sword that was only one step away from becoming a heavenly grade weapon. If nourished well with spiritual energy, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for that sword to become a heavenly grade weapon.
But Xuan Ji never used those so-called good swords. In his eyes, there is only one good sword.
It was the Flowing Cloud Sword that person had placed in front of him while petting his head.
Even for a cultivator that tended to close-door cultivate for decades at a time, a thousand years was still a really long time.
Xuan Ji doesn’t quite remember the things he suffered in the mortal realm, but he still vividly remembered the resplendent firelight in that dark night a thousand years ago, and that person who smiled with his eyes, his head lowered towards Xuan Ji.
Above his head, the stars sparkled with splendour. His ink black haired swayed despite there being no wind, the white robes with flowing clouds embroidered onto them he wore gave him a fresh and refined bearing, his figure tall and straight.
From beneath lidded eyes, he wore a smile that was hard to detect. He was so good-looking, he seemed to be an immortal from above the Ninth Heavens depicted in stories.
The waning candlelight around them lost colour, paling in comparison to the light in his eyes.
“Child, I see that your bone structure is not bad. Do you want to come to my Tai Yan Sect to learn swordsmanship?”
The young beggar in tattered clothes received the immortal’s sword in a trance. From then on, he scaled mountains and crossed rivers. He walked halfway across The Mainland8 to get to Tai Yan Sect that was located in the north. He climbed up the Stairway To Heaven9, all in the hopes of becoming the disciple of that immortal one day.
It was only later did he find out that immortal was Sword Saint Ling Yun, the same one who was famous in the entire cultivation world.
And half a year before he became a disciple, Sword Saint Ling Yun had qi deviated when overcoming adversity, dying in the Dragon Bone Abyss located behind Tai Yan Sect Mountain.
His soul scattered, his body dead, his cultivation dissipated, eternally damned with no chance of reincarnation.10
Footnotes
(1) Impossible to mention them in the same breath (同日而语): Literally translates to mentioning two things in the same day. It denotes a difference in status. The English equivalent idiom is to mention (someone or something) in the same breath; to compare two people or things, especially when one is considered to be superior to the other. So I used that instead of the literal translation.
(2) Shameless (不要面子): Literally translates to not wanting face. ‘Face’ is not a literal face/physical feature. It means a person’s reputation in society and amongst their peers. If someone “has face” (有面子), they have a good reputation. If they “have no face” (没面子), then they have a bad reputation. “Giving face” (给面子) to someone means to defer to or pay homage to them. “Losing face” (丢脸) means that a person has hurt their reputation. “Not wanting face” (不要脸) means that a person is acting shamelessly, in a way that suggests they don’t care about hurting their reputation.
Credit: https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/wuxia-xianxia-xuanhuan-terms/#cultivation
(3) Overcome an adversity (渡劫): Translated literally. You might have seen it as ‘heavenly tribulations’, which are ‘trials’ a cultivator has to overcome in order to break into the next stage. I translated literally because the Adversity Overcoming stage has these exact same characters and I thought ‘adversity’ is a somewhat important phrase to mirror throughout the whole novel.
(4) To not lose heart until he reached the Yellow River, to not turn back until he collided into the northern wall (不到黄河心不死，不撞南墙不回头): Literal translation. To describe someone who will never rest until they reach their goal, extremely stubborn.
(5) When times change, so do social conditions. When social conditions change, so does a person’s way of doing things (世异则事异，事异则备变): A Chinese school of thought and philosophy that means one should adjust their approaches accordingly to keep up with new developments instead of just following past practices.
(Credit + Read more: https://www.chinesethought.cn/EN/shuyu_show.aspx?shuyu_id=4140)
(6) Kneeled and offered a cup of tea (奉杯茶): It is a ceremonial practice done in order to officially become someone’s disciple.
(7) On why Zong Cu refused to become another’s disciple- He resolutely refused to unscrupulously become another’s disciple (让他为了活下去而不择手段地再拜一师，那他绝对是断然不愿的): If the disciple takes on another master, the disciple is seen as unfilial because it is essentially a betrayal. One’s master/shizun/shifu is usually a father and teacher figure, sometimes even more important depending on how close they are and how much they teach the younger one. One’s master essentially gives their disciple a means of living.
Having another master implies that the first one wasn’t good enough, which is dishonourable for the master. And to knowingly smear the good name of someone who painstakingly brought you up, someone you ‘owe your life to’, the disciple is a betrayer, or as the ancient Chinese people like to put it, a white-eyed wolf.
(8) The Mainland (大陆): Literally translated. It is the same ‘mainland’ of Mainland China.
(9) Stairway To Heaven (登天梯): The name of a physical flight of stairs that lead up to Tai Yan Sect’s main peak. Not metaphorically.
(10) Eternally damned with no chance of reincarnation (永世不得超生): In ancient china, people believed that all souls would reincarnate into newly born bodies. It’s a continuous cycle of life.
Not reincarnating is the worst thing that can happen to someone because that means their soul ceases to exist. It’s the equivalent of being sent to the ninth circle of hell with no chance of redemption or to Tartarus in Greek mythology and never being able to leave.
Sponsored Content
