Chapter 39: The End of Fate
By the time daylight finally broke, even an hour later than when Zeng Yan was supposed to report to the Inner Sect, Lu You still hadn't returned. After sitting in meditation all night, Zeng Yan finally opened her eyes and slowly stood up from the ground. Looking at the big tree in Lu You's courtyard, she suddenly drew her sword and, with a sharp crack, split the tree in two.
Watching the tree crash to the ground with a dull thud, regret rose in Zeng Yan's heart.
"What am I doing? Acting like some petty, sentimental woman." She gave a self-mocking smile and murmured, "On the path to immortality, cultivating the mind is the most important thing. After years of bitter cultivation, I should've long gotten used to loneliness. How could I mistake a junior brother's companionship for real feelings?"
That night, Zeng Yan finally thought it through. Lu You's constant concern for her in the beginning was probably just so she'd accompany him down the mountain to buy talismans—she'd always known that. But later on, when Lu You started living frugally himself, bringing her spiritual rice every few days, urging her not to go to the ancient tombs, and even handing over all his savings so she'd have something to protect herself with—that was what truly moved her.
Thinking of the empty courtyard, thinking of the lone sword stuck in the ground, Zeng Yan looked at the fallen tree with apology in her eyes. "Junior brother already saw things clearly. Even with a treasured artifact, he couldn't win. Entering the Outer Sect was already this hard for him. The gap in our lifespans will only grow wider. That's why he chose to avoid me. I was the one clinging to illusions, why take it out on a tree?"
Seeing that the tree could no longer be restored, Zeng Yan simply drew her sword again, cut the trunk into planks, and carved a line of words into the wood:
The path to longevity is walked step by step in cultivation;
The years temper the heart in every matter.
Junior brother, take care—if fate allows, we'll meet again.
The words "meet again" were carved with bold, sweeping strokes, cut deep into the wood—because those who say goodbye seriously are, more often than not, never destined to meet again.
After Zeng Yan left, it wasn't until nightfall that Lu You finally managed to return. Teleportation Talismans sent you to random places—easy to use when leaving, but you couldn't rely on luck to come back. The return trip could only be done on foot.
With three different talismans active and constantly using spirit stones to restore his spiritual energy along the way, Lu You rushed back nonstop, finally reaching home at night.
The moment he entered the courtyard, he saw the fallen tree and the words carved into the planks.
"Senior Sister has already been here..."
Noticing that the treasured sword artifact was gone, and seeing the message on the wooden boards, Lu You let out a sigh. He'd originally been thinking about entering the Inner Sect, but judging by how things were today, he'd made the right call. If he went in, his identity would probably be exposed right away.
After some thought, Lu You took out a bottle of Foundation Establishment Pills from his storage space—this had been a gift from Senior Brother Han Tian. He swapped it with the original bottle, then hurried toward Zeng Yan's wooden hut.
Zeng Yan had already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining; it probably wouldn't be long before she attempted Foundation Establishment. This would be Lu You's final gift to her—a way to repay the kindness she'd shown him by teaching him sword techniques and helping him pull strings.
When Lu You arrived at Zeng Yan's hut and knocked for a long time, a rough voice finally came from inside. The door opened, but it wasn't Zeng Yan—it was a burly, plain-looking man.
"What do you want? Why are you banging on the door so late?"
"Isn't this Senior Sister Zeng Yan's place?" Lu You asked in surprise.
"She already entered the Inner Sect ages ago. I was just assigned here today. If you'd come earlier, you might've still caught a glimpse of Zeng Yan."
The burly man spoke with a thick accent but had a good-natured temperament. Even though Lu You had woken him up, he still explained things patiently.
"Thanks—and sorry for the disturbance. Looks like we'll be neighbors from now on. Just a small greeting gift, nothing worth mentioning."
With a thought, Lu You swapped out the Foundation Establishment Pill for a box of spiritual rice and placed it into the big man's hands. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Lu You returned to his own wooden hut.
The path to longevity is walked step by step in cultivation;
The years temper the heart in every matter.
Lu You stared at the words for a long while, then activated several Purifying Heart Talismans, suppressing the emotions churning in his mind. Cultivation itself wasn't bitter—cultivating the heart was the hardest part. This was Lu You's first time experiencing parting, but he understood that once you stepped onto the path of longevity, there would be many, many more farewells like this.
After cultivating with Purifying Heart Talismans all night, Lu You also made plans for his future. In the short term, he had no way of getting new talismans, but the Thunder Technique Talismans he had now were already powerful enough. The weak point was his own cultivation. Only by raising his cultivation could he increase his spiritual energy and unleash more Thunder Technique Talismans. If he could control several million Thunder Technique Talismans at once, Lu You reckoned that even a Golden Core cultivator would capsize if he caught them off guard.
Aside from focusing on the Minor Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique, the Blood Shadow Technique also contained Zeng Yan's sword dance. Fully mastering that sword dance would take time as well. Before he knew it, Zeng Yan's departure was gradually washed away by the busy rhythm of cultivation.
Laying low in his wooden hut, Lu You ate five meals a day, each one with spiritual rice. The Purifying Heart Talismans stayed active at all times. During the day, he cultivated the Minor Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique; at night, he entered the Blood Shadow art to study Zeng Yan's sword dance. Occasionally, he even had to feed the Evil Eye. Life felt especially full.
The crisp autumn seemed to pass in a blink, and before long, winter arrived.
Vast spiritual fields were blanketed in heavy snow, turning heaven and earth into a sheet of pure white.
Lu You used a Beginner Wind Talisman to blow the snow from his own courtyard into other people's fields. Only then did he realize that a whole month had already passed.
After a month of high-intensity training, Lu You had already mastered ninety percent of the sword dance. His whole demeanor had become more restrained—when he reached for his sword, there was no trace of killing intent on him at all. At the same time, his angles of attack grew far more cunning, even carrying a hint of elegance. If Lu You claimed to be a sword cultivator now, no one would doubt it. After countless dismantlings and sparring sessions within the Blood Shadow, one month of Lu You's sword practice was worth more than a decade of real combat for others.
The only thing that dissatisfied Lu You was his cultivation. Because of his mixed spiritual roots, his fifth level of Qi Refining realm stubbornly refused to break through. Even with five meals of spiritual rice a day, he had only just barely touched the threshold of the peak of the fifth level. If he wanted to step into the sixth level, he'd still need another month or two.
"Strange, where did that huge gust of wind come from just now?!"
A complaint suddenly sounded from outside the courtyard. Right after that, Lu You's door was shoved open—the visitor didn't bother knocking at all.
"You're Lu You, right?"
The newcomer was a round, chubby cultivator. His body looked like a ball, yet his clothes were quite refined. Unfortunately for him, he had run straight into Lu You while he was clearing snow from the courtyard, and now he was drenched in snow from head to toe, his collar packed with white.
After stepping into the courtyard, the fat man didn't even bother giving Lu You a proper look. While shaking snow all over Lu You's freshly cleaned yard, he barked orders: "You've hit the jackpot. The Deep Literary Pavilion is short-handed right now and needs some disciples to make talismans. Pack your stuff and come with me to the Deep Literary Pavilion. Now."
Elder Huo Chuan of the Deep Literary Pavilion had injured his hand, and the five Foundation Establishment cultivators led by Zhang Xiansheng had gone missing. With the year-end approaching, the sect's supply of talismans couldn't keep up with demand for a while. Back then, the steward whom Zeng Yan had asked to take care of things was precisely the fat man in front of Lu You. He had looked down on Lu You at the time; it was only at this critical juncture that he remembered he could drag Lu You in as cheap labor.
The Deep Literary Pavilion was the place where talismans were drawn. After Zeng Yan entered the Inner Sect, she had joined the Myriad Sword Mountain to study the sword—these two places had nothing to do with each other. The fat man had no intention of telling Zeng Yan that he was about to use the person she'd recommended as free labor.
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