Chapter 171: Chapter 167: Zhongxuan Sect, Shen Miao of Qi Cultivation Perfection
Shen Miao paced beneath the parasol tree outside the Pill Furnace Hall.
His elongated shadow was embraced by the gentle breeze.
The leaves rustled, whispering words of comfort. ’It’s okay. I’ll definitely make it.’
’Even if it doesn’t work out this time, there’s always next time.’
The sound of footsteps approached from a distance.
They were just ordinary footsteps, yet Shen Miao detected a hint of exhaustion in them.
After listening for a moment, he realized why. The scraping sound of soles dragging against the ground revealed just how heavy the steps were.
It was as if the person no longer had the strength to lift their feet completely off the ground with each step, letting them fall heavily instead.
Shen Miao looked up. His grandmaster, Ma Chongyu, wore a blank expression.
But the gloom that seemed to be cast by the tree’s shadow was enough for him to understand.
"Grandmaster, it’s alright!" he said, taking the initiative to comfort the older man and preempt his disappointment.
Ma Chongyu, clad in a tattered Crane Robe, shook his head. He was too exhausted to say a word and walked dejectedly into the Pill Furnace Hall.
Shen Miao followed him.
Back in the room, Ma Chongyu plopped down onto a meditation cushion with a heavy, weary groan.
"The Demon Blood Sect’s Guardian Envoy stationed in the Han Kingdom will be visiting our Sect tomorrow. All of our Foundation Establishment Elders and True Inheritors who aren’t in seclusion must be there to receive him. Although you are not a True Inheritor... you will come with me to greet him as well."
Shen Miao asked, confused, "The Demon Blood Sect... What would someone from a Demon Sect be doing at our Sect?"
Ma Chongyu shot him a glare. "If you’re so curious, why don’t you go ask that Demon Child yourself tomorrow?"
Shen Miao could tell his grandmaster was in a foul mood, so he clamped his mouth shut to avoid annoying him further.
Ma Chongyu didn’t have the energy for more sarcasm. He lowered his head and said sullenly, "The Sect Leader said this year’s quota of Foundation Establishment Pills has already been spoken for. It was promised to that disciple of Elder Tong’s."
"That kid... It’s not that he’s bad, or that he doesn’t deserve it," Ma Chongyu said, his fists clenching unconsciously. "But he only reached Qi Cultivation Perfection last year! On what grounds is it his turn? The allocation rules we agreed on... was that all just bullshit?"
Shen Miao’s spirits sank, but he couldn’t bear to see his grandmaster so angry and distraught. He offered quietly, "Grandmaster, it’s okay. I... I can spend another year conditioning myself. I need to get my body and mind into peak condition for Foundation Establishment anyway."
Ma Chongyu’s eyes widened like saucers, and the beard on his chin quivered. "You’re already forty-six years old! Nine years ago, you reached Qi Cultivation Perfection and were ready to attempt Foundation Establishment. On what grounds? On what grounds have they made you wait year after year!"
"The year before last, it was because Chen Luoyan had rendered a service to the Sect and needed to be rewarded."
"The year before that, they said Zhou Fu’an had been waiting for a long time, so it was his turn."
"And the year before that..."
"Year after year, after year! Your future is being ruined! It’s all your master’s fault!"
Shen Miao looked up and said firmly, "It’s not Master’s fault!"
Ma Chongyu glanced at his grand-disciple. His agitation lessened, but he was still fuming. "How is it not his fault? If he hadn’t gone off to help some Demon Sect Demoness and gotten himself killed, causing the Sect’s massive investment in him to be a total loss, would the Sect have had to endure so many lean years?"
"And if it weren’t for those lean years, would those people be so hostile toward you, trying every trick in the book to suppress you?"
Shen Miao lowered his head again, his voice pleading. "Master guided me onto the path of the Dao. He transformed me from a simple boatman into an Immortal who can soar through the skies. I will never blame my master!"
Ma Chongyu was amused. "An Immortal? You’ve got a long way to go. Let’s see you reach Foundation Establishment first."
At this, he couldn’t help but sigh again. "I really don’t know what the Sect Leader and the Supreme Elders are thinking. A fine seedling like you... are they really going to let your talent go to waste?"
"It’s alright, Grandmaster. If worst comes to worst, I can try for Celestial Dao Foundation Establishment without a Foundation Establishment Pill."
Ma Chongyu’s beard bristled and his eyes widened. "Celestial Dao Foundation Establishment? What nonsense are you spouting? You only have Middle Grade Fire and Wood Dual Spirit Roots. What makes you think you can attempt Celestial Dao Foundation Establishment? Do you think you’re some peerless genius with a Celestial Spirit Root or an Earth Spirit Root?!"
Shen Miao tried to say more, but Ma Chongyu waved his hand, cutting him off gruffly. "Get out. I don’t want to talk to you right now."
Helpless, Shen Miao turned to leave.
Ma Chongyu called after him again. "Remember to be up early tomorrow. Don’t you dare be late!"
"I know, Grandmaster!"
Returning to his own cave residence, Shen Miao habitually lit three sticks of incense for his master, Qiu Yuanqing, and bowed before his Spiritual Tablet.
Staring at the smoke curling up from before the Spiritual Tablet, his mind drifted as memories flooded back.
Thirty-seven years ago, when he was nine, he made a living fishing on the lake with his father.
A handsome, elegant young master with an otherworldly air had rented their boat.
To borrow a phrase from folk tales, "that was the turning point of Shen Miao’s life."
The young master was a bit lazy and seemed to have no particular destination. He would just have the boat pull ashore each day so he could go drink a pot of wine and sample the local cuisine.
Occasionally, the young master would give him a few pointers. With just a few casual words of guidance, he taught Shen Miao several profound Martial Techniques.
Shen Miao had been clever since childhood. Though he wasn’t worldly, he knew to seize an opportunity when it presented itself.
So, when the young master was about to depart, he kowtowed and asked for his name.
’At the time, I thought that once I was a little older and could travel far, I would go and follow that young master.’
He never imagined that the young master would reveal his identity as a True Cultivator of the Dao, a True Disciple of the Immortal Sect, the Zhongxuan Sect.
Later, after Shen Miao turned fifteen, his heart was set on pursuing the Immortal Dao. He made up his mind and, braving countless mountains, rivers, and hardships, ventured deep into Yu Kun Mountain.
After several near-death experiences, he finally found the gates of the Zhongxuan Sect and was accepted as a disciple.
It was also then that he learned of his master’s death.
He had finally managed to join the Sect, only to find he had no master to teach him.
Fortunately, his grandmaster, Ma Chongyu—then the Vice Hall Master of the Pill Furnace Hall, now the Hall Master—took pity on him and taught him Immortal Techniques, skipping a generation.
Shen Miao’s aptitude wasn’t bad; his Cultivation speed was close to that of someone with an Upper Grade Spirit Root.
But his path of Cultivation was fraught with hardship, and he faced cold shoulders everywhere he went.
The reason was just as Ma Chongyu had said.
As a True Inheritor, Qiu Yuanqing had consumed a vast amount of the Sect’s resources and carried its hopes on his shoulders.
But Qiu Yuanqing didn’t know how to cherish his life. He went to aid a Demon Sect Demoness, died in a foreign land, and sent all the resources the Sect had invested in him down the drain.
Among his martial brothers of the same generation, who didn’t secretly resent him?
In the twenty years since he joined the sect, only a handful of people had shown Shen Miao any kindness.
From all the rest, he only received scornful looks.
*Sigh!*
A long sigh escaped him.
Naturally, Shen Miao wouldn’t blame his master.
If not for his master, he would probably have inherited his father’s small boat, living a transient life without a fixed home.
Sunburnt and rain-soaked, with chapped skin, a mouth full of rotten teeth, sometimes starving and sometimes full.
Who knows, his little boat could have been capsized by the wind and waves at any time, sending him to the bottom of the water to feed the turtles.
Or he might have fallen sick from the rain and been unable to recover from a serious illness.
His master had changed his fate.
He was grateful.
’But... gratitude can’t be exchanged for a Foundation Establishment Pill.’
With another sigh, Shen Miao spoke to his master’s Spiritual Tablet. "Master, if your spirit is watching from the heavens, please grant me a Foundation Establishment Pill."
***
"Guardian Envoy, you are young and promising. You will surely reach Core Formation smoothly and achieve Longevity and Vision. When that time comes, I hope you will look after our Sect!"
The Sect Leader of the Zhongxuan Sect was no longer the same person from all those years ago.
Instead, it was a True Disciple with whom Du Youqian had rarely interacted and was not very familiar.
If he remembered correctly, this man should be in his seventies this year.
His Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivation was considered astonishingly fast progress in a Fourth-class Sect like Zhongxuan Sect, making him quite extraordinary.
And yet, before Du Youqian, such a Sect Leader could only offer fawning smiles, unable to even stand up straight.
This was the sorrow of a minor sect.
’If I had stayed in the Zhongxuan Sect back then, this would be the best I could have hoped for now.’
"Sect Leader Jin, you’re too kind," Du Youqian said with a smile. "On this assignment, I don’t plan to reside permanently at the Guardian Envoy’s Mansion in the Five Gods Sect. I’ve heard that your esteemed Sect was once a Second-class Sect. Although it was demoted many years ago, your Blessed Land is said to have beautiful scenery and abundant Spiritual Qi. I wonder if I might impose upon your Sect and find a place to live and work within your Blessed Land?"
"This...?" Sect Leader Jin of the Zhongxuan Sect was dumbfounded.
’This is against the rules!’
’Uh, on second thought, it seems there are no established rules about this.’
If this Guardian Envoy insisted on settling in the Zhongxuan Sect, it would merely be unconventional.
For thousands of years, the Guardian Envoys from the Taihe Sect had always resided in the Blessed Lands of the Profound Sects, while the Guardian Envoys from the Holy Blood Sect had always stayed in the Blessed Lands of the Demon Sect Camp.
It had long since become customary.
Who knew why this Yu Guardian Envoy wanted to be so unconventional!
After a long hesitation, Sect Leader Jin was unwilling to agree but didn’t dare to refuse. He could only stammer and beat around the bush.
Du Youqian didn’t press him for now. He just smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over the group of high-ranking members of the Zhongxuan Sect who had come to welcome him, standing behind Sect Leader Jin.
There was his master, Ma Chongyu, in his old Crane Robe; the valiant and heroic Lei Jalin; the frail Xia Shouzheng, who looked as if a gust of wind could blow him away...
Then his eyes fell on a spirited young man standing beside Ma Chongyu.
Through this young man, his gaze seemed to travel back through time, seeing the clever child on the fishing boat all those years ago.
’Shen Miao... Qi Cultivation Perfection. His talent is actually quite good.’
Du Youqian showed no sign of anything unusual, simply continuing to exchange pleasantries with the senior members of the Zhongxuan Sect with a smile.
At the banquet held to welcome Du Youqian, alluring Spirit Fruits were placed before each person.
Female disciples in the standard uniform of the Sect’s Inner Disciples moved with smiles between the tables, pouring wine for everyone.
After a few rounds of drinks, Sect Leader Jin of the Zhongxuan Sect began to cautiously probe why Du Youqian had chosen to settle in the Zhongxuan Sect.
Du Youqian pretended not to understand the underlying meaning of his words and didn’t answer.
In truth, it wasn’t just the higher-ups of the Zhongxuan Sect who didn’t understand.
His companions, Fang Hua, Luo Jinyu, and Gu Xiaofang, didn’t understand Du Youqian’s decision either.
It was just that they didn’t require an explanation from him. He gave the orders, and they carried them out. It had always been this way.
The reason Du Youqian chose to settle here was simple. On one hand, he wanted to repay his debt of gratitude to the Zhongxuan Sect.
On the other hand, the Zhongxuan Sect was the Immortal Sect behind the Han Kingdom.
He wanted to subtly inquire whether the Zhongxuan Sect knew anything about that mysterious power.
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