Chapter Nineteenth: A Day After Several Years

  In the northwest, there is a mountain called Kunlun. The Kunlun Mountains are majestic and towering, with peaks rising and falling, stretching across the vast desert, forming a natural barrier between the Western Regions and the Central Plains. Its length stretches for three thousand miles, known as the ancestor of all mountains, its summit is covered with snow all year round, only leaving a desolate expanse, numerous peaks stand in the midst of swirling white mist, dressed in silver and wrapped in white, adding to the strange scenery.

  Since the dawn of time, Mount Kunlun has been the dwelling place of various gods and immortals. After Fuxi led the multitude of gods to ascend to heaven, legend has it that they built the Heavenly Palace on top of the nine-layered heavens of Mount Kunlun, thereby establishing the realm of the gods. Thus, although Mount Kunlun is far removed from the Central Plains and rarely visited by humans, it is still considered a sacred place in the eyes of many people. Deep within the white clouds, numerous schools of spiritual cultivation are hidden. Among them, the eight most renowned sects are Kunlun, Qionghua, Biyu, Zicui, Xuangu, Yu'eing, Langfeng and Tiandu, collectively known as the "Eight Sects of Mount Kunlun".

  Qionghua Sect worships the Nine Heavens Xuan Nü, and its founding ancestor calculated that this place is exactly under the Tian Gong in the nine-layered heaven. Therefore, it was established here. Under the Tian Gong, there is a place where the heavenly light shines down, and it is said that those who bathe in the heavenly light can become immortals with their physical bodies. The Qionghua Sect was built here, and it indeed has a unique advantage. Since its establishment, all members of the sect have yearned to reach the place under the heavenly light to achieve enlightenment. Therefore, from the leader down, they attach great importance to the art of sword control, and from this, they derived the principle of cultivating with qi to control the sword and uniting man and sword as one. However, the Kunlun Heavenly Light is located in the nine-layered heaven, making it difficult to reach with sword control. Gradually, becoming an immortal with one's physical body became a distant and unattainable dream.

  Suddenly, over a thousand years have passed, the Qionghua Sect has been inherited for more than 20 generations. Now, the old sect master has passed away in the sect, and the position of sect master has been passed on to his first disciple, Taiching. Taiching Zhenren is now the 24th generation sect master of the Qionghua Sect, residing in the Qionghua Palace. After taking office, Taiching Zhenren appointed his three junior fellow disciples, Qingyang, Chongguang, and Zonglian, as elders of the sect. Qingyang specializes in alchemy, known as Longya Elder; Chongguang supervises the cultivation of the disciples, known as Wuling Elder; and Zonglian has been cultivating swords at Jiange for many years, known as Chengtian Elder.

  The three personally taught disciples under Taicheng's seat are also rising with the tide. The first disciple, Xuanzhen, entered the door twelve years ago and is now considered the leader among the twenty-five generations of disciples. There are two other female disciples, one named Suoyao and the other Suoshan, whose talent, ability, and skills are not as good as Xuanzhen's, but they are still considered exceptional compared to other disciples.

  Although Kunlun Mountain is a severely cold place, the mountain peak where Qionghua Sect is located is evergreen in all seasons, warm and peaceful like spring.

  The Taiyi Palace is located at the back of the mountain, where the elderly members of the sect reside. Although Qingyang and Zonglian, two elderly members, are very kind and amiable, Chongguang, another elderly member, has a fiery temper and dislikes young disciples wandering around instead of focusing on their cultivation. As a result, many young disciples rarely visit this place. However, there is a beautiful scenic spot in the sect, with blooming flowers and trees, located at the back of the Taiyi Palace. The young female disciples love to use the fragrant flowers to make perfumes and cosmetics, while the male disciples consider it an ideal place for romantic trysts. Unfortunately, to get to this place, one has to pass by the front of the Taiyi Palace, where Chongguang often catches them before they can even smell the fragrance of the flowers. Forget about romance or perfume-making; just going to the Sifan Valley to meditate and cultivate is already a difficult task that may result in being denied food for a day.

  The disciples of the sect are deeply grieved. This old master, at his age, is still indulging in cultivation, and doesn't even consider that these many disciples are in their prime and have desires that cannot be satisfied. Is this reasonable? Yet, until now, no one dares to speak out about it.

  On this day, the intoxicating flowers were in full bloom again, and among them, the phoenix flower trees were the most numerous. The branches were filled with a lively spring atmosphere, and all around were vibrant purple and red hues, with buzzing bees and dancing butterflies.

  A gentle breeze swept through the fragrant clusters of flowers, petals fluttering and swirling like red snow, drifting aimlessly and falling onto the clothes of a person standing under the tree. The man wore a blue and white Taoist robe, with a jade crown on his head, and two long jade ribbons floating gently in the wind behind him. The soft, delicate phoenix flower petals seemed to adore this tall, slender, and elegant man, lingering on his shoulders and sleeves until a thin, pale hand lightly brushed them away.

  That person looked like he was only in his early twenties, with eyes as black as ink and eyebrows that flew into his temples. His facial features were beautiful but slightly narrow and long, set against a face as white as jade or ice. He was indeed a rare beauty among men. He sat under the flower tree on a green stone, with his sleeves rolled up and his hand gently covering the petals he had brushed over. His thin eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and his willow-leaf-shaped eyes stared blankly at his knees.

  On his knee was his other hand, also with delicate joints and slender fingers, but what drew him to look at it wasn't the hand itself, but the object in it. It was a somewhat old-fashioned purse that had lost its original luster and color, but on the silk surface, you could still make out the embroidered pattern of two water birds playing among lotus flowers. The stitching was crude, and there were many torn places on the fabric, as if it had been ripped apart and then mended, but in any case, this purse looked extremely ugly, whether it was in the past or present, and even being held in this person's hand made it look particularly awkward and out of place.

  This young man is the first disciple of Qingchen Zhenren, the leader of the Qionghua Sect, and the most outstanding Dashi among the 25th generation of disciples, Xuán Zhèn.

  Xuan Zhen sat stupidly on the stone, staring at the lotus bag in his hand as if he was thinking of something. This lotus bag wasn't anything special, it's just that when he entered the mountain gate, he had been carrying it with him all along. He was born to be nostalgic, so even though it was old and worn out, he still carried it with him. Similarly, there was also a small wooden knife hanging from his waist, which had been with him for a long time, but he couldn't bear to replace it.

  In the bundle, there was still something hidden that only Xuan Zhen himself knew. He untied the red cord on the bundle and poured out a small stone, which was no larger than a thumb, but it was crystal clear and emitted a soft purple light from within, yet apart from this, there was nothing special about it. Xuan Zhen pinched it for a long time, shook his head, and muttered to himself: "Still nothing...can't remember..." After saying that, he lightly sighed and put the crystal stone back into the bundle, tying it back around his neck.

  In the midst of sighs, another bout of flower rain came, with fragrant winds blowing against his face. However, Xuán Zhèn was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice. He was still thinking about last night's dream, which was strange because since he became a disciple of Qióng Huá and started practicing with Tài Qīng True Man, he never had dreams at night due to having no distracting thoughts in his mind. But for some reason, over the past few months, whenever he closed his eyes, many images would flood into his brain, sometimes making him feel suffocated when he woke up, and occasionally remembering bits and pieces of his dream. Last night, he dreamed that he went to a place with water and trees, seemed to have met someone, and said many things, but when he woke up, his mind was restless, so he came to this Drunken Flower Pavilion to clear his head.

  He clutched the bundle and tried to recall last night, but his eyes kept flashing with a pair of emerald green shoes that swayed back and forth, and the two fluffy flowers on the shoes also swayed. Xuan Zhen knew that his master, Tai Qing Zhenren, had high expectations for himself, so he usually focused on cultivating himself and rarely chatted with female disciples. The closest to him were only his two fellow sisters, but Su Yao and Su Ying wore a set of Qiong Hua Sect attire every day, and their shoes were also white embroidered shoes. There was no other woman in the sect who wore red and green clothes, so why did he keep thinking of a pair of green shoes that he had never seen before?

  Xuan Zhen thought anxiously, could it be that he had become the idle son described in books? Or perhaps, as his junior Xuan Ting said while practicing sword with their uncle Zong Lian, when men reach a certain age they will... think about spring.

  He racked his brains, digging in his mind for the owner of those green shoes. A smiling face did flash by, but it was like a fleeting cloud on Mount Kunlun, and before he could grasp it, it was gone, obscured once again by those detestable green shoes.

  “……green shoes……I haven't even been to Mount Kunlun, how could I have seen a woman wearing green shoes and laughing so much?” Xuan Zhen thought for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed tighter and tighter. Just then, the sound of rustling leaves came from afar, as if someone was walking through the flowers and leaves. A clear voice echoed: "Big Brother Master, you're here! It's hard to find you!"

  Xuan Zhen raised his head, and saw a blue-clothed girl standing behind a cluster of jasmine flowers, beckoning to him. The girl had a pendant hanging from her neck, two buns on her head, and a long, jade-colored hairband hanging down to her shoulders. Her apricot kernel-like eyes shone with a full measure of spirit and strangeness - it was none other than his own junior sister, Su Xiang.

  "Big Brother, you're so fond of hiding away to avoid trouble, but instead you come to Zuihuayin! I searched the entire front mountain and Sword Dance Platform for you, my legs are about to break off! And before coming here, I had the bad luck to run into Heavy Light Elder, ah, he scolded me with a face that looks younger than mine, I couldn't even lift my head!"

  Xuan Zhen had by now walked up to her and, hearing what she said, smiled and said: "Chong Guang Shifu's abilities are profound, his hair is white but his face is youthful, many people in the sect envy him, yet you speak of him like this behind his back. If he were to hear it, he would punish you by making you shut yourself up for good and cultivate!"

  "Alright, alright, I'm no match for the great Master Xuan Zhen, the 25th generation disciple of the Qionghua Sect and a role model for all! This Drunken Flower Pavilion is a place where people can only look up to but not reach, and it's precisely because of you, Elder Chong Guang, that I was able to pass through without being stopped - something that many people would envy!"

  Xuan Zhen shook his head and smiled wryly, reaching out to gently tap her forehead, saying: "No more joking around, what do you want from me?"

  It wasn't until now that Su Xian suddenly remembered he had something important on his mind. He quickly composed himself, putting away his smile and speaking seriously: "It's not me looking for you, it's Master!"

  "Master is looking for me?" Xuan Zhen was taken aback. After Tai Qing Zhen Ren claimed to be the leader of Qiong Hua Sect, he was busy with all sorts of things. Even when teaching the sect's Taoist methods, he would first teach Xuan Zhen and then have Xuan Zhen pass them on to Su Xiaoyao and Su Xiayun. He no longer supervised his disciples as diligently as before. It had been several days since Xuan Zhen last saw him. Xuan Zhen was puzzled by this, as Tai Qing had just explained the seventh layer of the boundary's mental method to him in detail a few days ago. How could he be looking for him again after less than three days?

  "Right, it was actually Master Xuántīng who went to your room and couldn't find you, so he came looking for me and Master Xuánxiǎo. He said that the master and Elder Qīngyáng are both at Qiōnghuá Palace and want you to hurry over."

  Although Qionghua Sect was busy with many things, there were no affairs that could be handled by the master and the elders of the sect together. Xuan Zhen was even more suspicious in his heart, where did he have the mood to appreciate flowers? He hurriedly followed Su Xiang to go outside the flower shade.

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