ILDV Chapter 53

“I want to know about my origins.”

Lu Li looked up in surprise. Yin Lang sat down casually on the edge of his bed, hand resting idly on the soft bedding. “What I’ve investigated is one thing, but what you tell me is quite another. Fragmentary bits of information gathered here and there can’t compare to hearing the truth directly from someone who experienced it firsthand.”

That was indeed true.

Lu Li pondered for a moment. “So what do you already know? Surely you don’t expect me to recount everything in exhaustive detail from the very beginning—that would truly be a long story.”

“Start with my mother.” Yin Lang spoke faintly, raising his head slightly to gaze at the rustling grass outside the small window, his voice so low it nearly melted into the sound of the wind. “I already… can’t remember what she looked like…”

In those distant memories, only gradually cooling body warmth remained, and the powerless palm that had caressed his face, slowly sliding down to the ground, spattering pungent red droplets of mud on the hem of his clothes.

Lu Li, who seemed to have no connection to this and hadn’t mentioned Yin Lang’s mother even once in the hundreds of years since Yin Lang had followed Feng Jiangcheng into the sect, had actually been the person most familiar with her during her maiden years.

Lu Li was the earliest among the current three Great Elders of the immortal sect to achieve late-stage Tribulation cultivation. He had always maintained neutrality in the struggles between the Sword-Wielding faction and the Enforcement faction, spending his years contentedly in his peaceful Hundred Beasts Garden keeping company with birds and beasts. The Sword-Wielding Elder and Enforcement Elder of that time were happy he wasn’t there to claim a share of the spoils, so neither bothered to disturb him.

The personal disciple of the Enforcement Elder at that time, Li Baisu, was the legitimate princess of the current Li Dynasty—of noble bloodline and exceptional talent, she naturally secured the position of head disciple without question. By contrast, Feng Jiangcheng, who would later shine brilliantly, was a disciple of the Feng cultivation family and favored by the Sword-Wielding Elder, but his own talent was actually nothing special. His cultivation path was arduous and difficult. With Li Baisu’s fame preceding him, no one could even see his name or efforts. 

At that time, Yuan Daozhu suddenly emerged from seclusion, announcing he wanted to take on a personal disciple to raise at his knee and enjoy familial happiness. This caused a sensation throughout the sect, with each peak spontaneously holding layer upon layer of selections. In the end, the victor turned out to be a tender, round little girl Yuan Daozhu had picked up from who knows where outside.

Yuan Daozhu, thinking she was still young, let her play for a few years before beginning cultivation, so he let the female child named Shen Qinghuan run free. At just over a year old, she could barely speak clearly, calling everyone “big brother,” “big sister,” “uncle,” “auntie” with her sweet little mouth. Combined with her lofty status as the Daozhu’s only disciple, she immediately became the beloved pet of everyone in the entire sect. Even the proud Princess Li was captivated—after finishing her daily lessons, the first thing she would do was head to the little girl’s residence to play with her.

In the entire sect, only one person showed no favor toward Shen Qinghuan, and that was the Sword-Wielding Elder’s personal disciple, Feng Jiangcheng. 

As a youth, he was more like a cold stone—silent and withdrawn, spending all day either eating or practicing martial arts and swordsmanship. After learning to subsist without food, he no longer even needed to eat. He moved back and forth between his residence and the training ground in a straight line day after day, as if besides cultivation there was nothing else in the world.

“Does big brother want to come play together?” The female child who had been observing him for several days squatted on his usual path, smiling adorably.

Feng Jiangcheng only gave her a cold glance, walked around this esteemed disciple of the Daozhu, and left. Li Baisu, who had come looking for her, picked up the little girl with a pained expression and loudly lectured her, “Huanhuan, if you want to play, just come find Sister Li. Don’t bother with certain trash who can’t even cultivate a Golden Core by twenty.”

Feng Jiangcheng, who hadn’t walked far, clenched his sword sheath tightly, gritting his teeth as he walked step by step toward the training ground.

At twenty years old and still stuck at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, let alone in the premier immortal sect of the age, Taihua Immortal Sect—even in the mere second-tier Feng family, this would rank near the bottom. Whatever hope those people had placed in him before, the four years after he turned sixteen brought dozens of times more disappointment and disgust.

If not for their established master-disciple relationship, the Sword-Wielding Elder would have long since driven him from the mountain gate or even taken his life with a single sword stroke, to save Feng Jiangcheng from embarrassing him daily.

But that big brother looks so pitiful, with no one willing to play with him…

The female child bit her finger, saying nothing. The next day she still squatted as usual on his path, extending an invitation to the youth, not giving up until he had walked around her until his figure was out of sight.

Day after day, until even Li Baisu was worn down by her pestering, letting her go squat by the roadside, knowing she would come back on her own in a while anyway.

Who would have expected the female child to slowly shuffle in from the doorway, throw herself into Li Baisu’s arms, and start crying with sobs, followed immediately by a faint scent of blood. Li Baisu was greatly alarmed and examined her thoroughly before discovering her sleeve was torn, with a cut clearly made by a sword on her tender lotus-root-like arm, blood slowly seeping out.

Upon learning it was an unintentional mishap when Feng Jiangcheng had pushed her away, the enraged princess grabbed her whip and charged to the training ground, giving the youth staring blankly at the wooden stake a thorough beating, cursing through gritted teeth, “You surnamed Feng bastard, you’re so impressive! If you’ve got temper, come at this princess—what kind of skill is bullying a small child! Huanhuan felt sorry for you and tried to get you to play, do you think the immortal sect’s little princess needs a broken stone like you?”

She beat Feng Jiangcheng bloody that day and had him sent to Qingnang Peak. Throughout it all he didn’t say a word, and when carried away still clutched his sword like a treasure, making Li Baisu sneer, “Trash is trash—a complete and utter waste for life!” 

Who would have thought that three days later, joyous news came that Feng Jiangcheng’s sword body had been unsealed. The personal disciple of the Sword-Wielding faction who had remained at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection for a full five years broke through four realms in one go, surpassing Li Baisu by skipping Core Condensation and directly achieving Nascent Soul!

Li Baisu, who was playing with Shen Qinghuan when she heard the news, stood frozen on the spot. After being called back to awareness, she forced a smile at the female child, hastily made up an excuse, and left.

The next day, Shen Qinghuan didn’t wait at the usual time for Li Baisu to arrive, but instead received a surprise visit from Feng Jiangcheng.

The youth completely changed from his previous cold attitude where he couldn’t even be bothered to spare a glance, patiently playing and frolicking with the female child for an entire afternoon. Instead, Li Baisu, who came daily, was uncharacteristically absent today.

“Later on, Elder Li cultivated diligently and her relationship with your mother gradually grew distant, while your Shizun grew closer and closer to her. As their ages increased, their relationship became increasingly intimate. Between men and women, it’s simply that sort of thing…”

Lu Li leaned lazily against the headboard, catching sight of Yin Lang’s clenched fingers from the corner of his eye. With a light click of his tongue and recalling the events in Sword-Inquiry Valley, he immediately changed his tune.

“Around the time Qinghuan turned sixteen, Yuan Daozhu formally took her as his disciple and began teaching her cultivation. The relationship between the Sword-Wielding faction and Enforcement faction grew increasingly tense, with Elder Li and your Shizun at each other’s throats like needlepoints against wheat awns. Neither had much time to keep her company anymore. When the young girl had free time outside of cultivation, she loved to come to the Hundred Beasts Garden to find me—that’s how your mother and I became close.”

He sighed softly. “Actually, I originally thought that once Qinghuan achieved success in cultivation, those two would become dao companions. I never imagined your mother would disappear without a trace in that secret realm. The next time I heard news of her was when your Shizun brought you back.”

“As for who your father is, you should know better than I do. All these years I’ve remained within Taihua Immortal Sect, so my ears and eyes are inevitably limited. If you ask about matters within the sect, I could answer seven or eight out of ten.”

He shifted his body and leaned closer with his head, his eyes heavy with the desire to gossip. “Do you mind chatting with me about your father? I’m actually quite curious about what kind of person that little girl Qinghuan ultimately chose.”

A ray of evening sun leaking through the cracks stretched their two shadows long, casting them on the wall in strange shapes, rather resembling demons and monsters. Yin Lang’s features were hidden in deep shadow. He asked softly, “Martial Uncle, did the Daozhu dote on my mother very much?”

“Of course!” Lu Li answered decisively. “It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he treasured her like a pearl. To use one of your humans’ common sayings, he cherished her like the apple of his eye, the tip of his heart. Before your mother advanced to Spirit Transformation stage, Yuan Daozhu never allowed her to leave the sect even one step. Anyone who caused her to be injured or bleed would be thrown into the cold prison of Heavenly Punishment Ravine and confined until they were half dead. Over all those years, it seems Feng Jiangcheng was the only exception.”

Yin Lang repeated in a low voice, “Before Spirit Transformation stage, Mother never left the sect even one step?”

“That’s right.” Lu Li sighed with considerable regret, saying wistfully, “That secret realm where she disappeared was her first time leaving the sect after reaching adulthood. At that time, a medium-sized secret realm in Zhongzhou happened to open, with accompanying disciples limited to no higher than Golden Core stage. She acted coquettishly and pestered Yuan Daozhu for many days before being allowed to join the team escorting disciples to participate in the secret realm. Who would have thought that one departure would be an eternal separation between heaven and man.”

“I also don’t know what she encountered during those years she was missing. You were still small then and don’t remember—when your Shizun came back holding you, his appearance was truly frightening. The Tianji Sword’s sword qi soared to the heavens, suppressing every inch of spirit on Tianji Peak until nothing remained. At that time, if someone had told me he was about to rush out and annihilate some sect in the next moment, I wouldn’t have found it strange at all.”

“Did he say anything about my origins?”

“Mm…” Lu Li rubbed his chin, recalling. “He seemed to say he slaughtered a small demonic cultivation sect before rescuing you mother and child, but Qinghuan had already suffered fatal injuries with no hope of recovery, only managing to hand you to him to bring back. However, only we who were present know this. Your Shizun said your background had some issues, so to protect you he claimed you were a farmer’s son he picked up—you know this too.”

Yin Lang let out a meaningless laugh, startling Lu Li into a shudder. He said, “Martial Uncle, you don’t sound very sad.”

Lu Li said honestly, “I’ve lived too long. To be honest, those few decades with your mother were just a blink of an eye to me, and several hundred years have passed since then. If you insist I summon genuine emotion, that’s rather difficult for this demon. If you want to cut me down for this, I have nothing to say.”

Yin Lang laughed again, reached out and patted his injured right leg, then shut the door behind him amidst Lu Li’s cry of pain.

Gu Fuxuan appeared to have been waiting for quite some time. On the table sat a half-finished game of go, black and white pieces interlaced. Between his index and middle fingers he held a white piece, staring at the board in deep thought. Hearing the movement, he didn’t look up.

Yin Lang stood beside him observing for a moment, then walked around to the front and sat down, reaching out to pull the black piece container over and picking up a piece to place directly on the board.

Gu Fuxuan was both amused and exasperated, laughing as he scolded, “Where is the logic in playing like that?”

Yin Lang paid no mind, and was even quick-handed enough to grab two more black pieces before the container could be taken away, placing them quite recklessly one by one on the board. “It’s just a game of go—why so many rules? As long as I’m strong enough, even if I cover this entire board with black pieces, who could do anything about it?”

“Utter nonsense!”

Gu Fuxuan exerted force with his fingers, directly throwing the white piece at his head. Yin Lang tilted his head and easily dodged it.

“All right, I’m done teasing you.”

After the two laughed and played around for a while, Gu Fuxuan put away the board and sat formally at the table with a solemn expression, asking, “Regarding the Hua matter, what are your thoughts?”