Chapter 390: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (1)

The cold wind howled as heavy snow blanketed the ground. An elderly man in tattered clothes lay in the snow, his body covered by the falling flakes.

Su Chen felt completely drained of strength. He was starving, having gone so long without food that he could no longer remember the last time he had eaten. Along the way, he had survived on dirt and tree bark until even the bark ran out. His fingers and toes had gone numb. The bone-chilling cold had robbed his body of all sensation.

Icy winds cut into him like sharp blades. In the dead silence, only his intermittent gasps and faint heartbeat told him he was still alive.

Alive, yes. But how much longer could he last? He would either freeze to death completely or simply die at any moment. Either way, death was inevitable. Only the manner of it differed.

Su Chen figured he would most likely freeze to death. At this point, he could not even move, let alone cultivate.

"Grandpa Wei, there's still someone alive here."

Su Chen sensed people approaching.

The voice belonged to a young girl, clear and bright, full of innocence and liveliness, completely unaffected by the blizzard.

Unfortunately, he could not even open his eyes.

"What a pitiful state," he thought with self-mockery.

"Miss, he is still alive, but he is on the verge of death."

A deep, resonant voice reached his ears. This was a trained martial artist of no small cultivation.

Su Chen no longer had the strength to gauge the cultivation level of the man called Grandpa Wei.

His life force was fading rapidly.

"He's about to die, Grandpa Wei! Hurry and save him!"

Wei Qiong looked at his young mistress with a doting yet helpless expression. His mistress was good in every way, except that she was far too kindhearted.

"Miss, to save his life, we would need at least a third-grade spirit medicine. But we brought none of that rank on this outing."

Third-grade pills and spirit medicines. Such precious items were not something they would carry casually. Even if they had them, who would waste a third-grade medicine on a ragged old man about to freeze to death?

"Grandpa Wei, he looks so pitiful. This is what Father gave me. Can we use it to save him?"

The girl's voice carried pity and reluctance as she rustled about and took something out.

"Miss, this is a fourth-grade pill that the Sect Master spent a great fortune to obtain for you. It is meant to nourish your meridians. He is not worth such a sacrifice from you."

Wei Qiong moved to stop her. He knew full well the price the Sect Master had paid for that fourth-grade pill.

"Grandpa Wei, if it were me lying here, would you use this pill to save me?"

Wei Qiong fell silent.

"Of course I would. Then it's settled. You would save me, so I will save him. Mother always said that saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."

Wei Qiong muttered inwardly that it could not possibly be the same. But he did not say it aloud.

"Miss, the Sect Master will be angry when he finds out."

Su Chen felt something round slide down his throat. In an instant, the cold that gripped his body began to fade.

"I know Father loves me most. He will not blame me!"

The girl's reply was pure and innocent.

Wei Qiong's expression grew complicated.

"He's opening his eyes."

In a daze, Su Chen opened his eyes and saw a little girl wrapped so tightly in red silk that she looked like a plump dumpling. The red cloak embroidered with golden plum blossoms stood out against the snow like a bright flame.

The next moment, he lost consciousness again.

"Grandpa Wei, what happened to him?"

The girl sounded deeply worried.

Wei Qiong glanced at Su Chen. "Miss, after you fed him the fourth-grade pill, his body was too weak to withstand the sudden surge of power, and he fainted. Even with the pill's nourishment, in this freezing wilderness, his life is only barely preserved. If he stays here, he will still die. If you want to save him, we must take him back to the sect to recover slowly and wait for the pill's effects to fully take hold. Only then might he survive."

The girl beamed. "Grandpa Wei is the best!"

Wei Qiong shook his head, his eyes full of affection. Yet when he looked at Su Chen, that affection turned to heartache. That had been a fourth-grade pill!

...

Su Chen woke up. He discovered that fate seemed to have played a tremendous joke on him. He had not died. He had not returned to the Reverse Fate Space. He had actually broken the curse and lived again.

As if sensing that Su Chen had awakened, a young man soon entered.

"You were lucky to run into Junior Sister Ruan. Junior Sister Ruan used a fourth-grade pill to save you!"

A trace of barely noticeable envy flickered in the young man's eyes. Yet when he saw the expressionless old man who had been rescued, his interest quickly faded.

Perhaps the old man had no idea what a fourth-grade pill truly meant. Talking to such a mortal was no different from playing a lute to a cow. He did not know that Su Chen was already pondering that the little girl who had saved him must be the Junior Sister Ruan the young man mentioned.

From the looks of it, this sect was not particularly powerful.

Su Chen rose with a hunched back and said, "Please thank Miss Ruan on this old man's behalf, young brother. One day I will repay the favor many times over."

The young man burst out laughing. "Old man, Junior Sister Ruan has always had a heart of kindness. You were fortunate to meet her. As for repayment..."

He dismissed the idea with contempt. He did not believe an ordinary old man could offer anything of value in return.

Still, the old man's desire to repay the kindness softened his expression somewhat, and he looked at Su Chen a little more kindly.

"Old man, Junior Sister Ruan wasted a fourth-grade pill to save you. If you go down the mountain and die, that pill will have been wasted for nothing. Because of this, the Sect Master flew into a rage and ordered Junior Sister Ruan into seclusion. She is forbidden to leave the mountain. Your life is precious now."

The young man chuckled, then continued, "There are some jobs available here. You can live out the rest of your days peacefully on this mountain. That way, Junior Sister Ruan's fourth-grade pill will not have been completely wasted."

Su Chen murmured inwardly that this was another person who was hard on the outside but soft on the inside.

Everyone in this sect seemed far too kindhearted.

Whether it was the little girl surnamed Ruan, the old man surnamed Wei, or the young man before him, they were all kind people. Although the young man's tone carried dissatisfaction and a certain aggressiveness, he had never intended to make things difficult for Su Chen. He had even cared for Su Chen while he was unconscious.

As for the work...Sweeping the floors? Becoming an obscure sweeping monk? Tending to the spirit herbs? Becoming a low-key alchemy master who quietly built up his strength?

Su Chen considered each option in turn. At this moment, he did not dare cultivate at all. In the end, his gaze settled on one particular role.

"Recorder."

As the name suggested, the duty was to record the life stories of the sect's elders and disciples after they died.

The recorders themselves remained nameless, yet the names they wrote down all belonged to people of note. Whether those people were remembered as good or bad, revered or despised, was left for later generations to judge.

They only recorded.

Seeing the work Su Chen had chosen, the young man looked somewhat surprised.

"Old man, this job requires knowing a great many characters."

Su Chen replied calmly, "In my hometown, this old man was a teacher." The young man looked him over, and a hint of respect actually appeared in his eyes. So he was a man of learning after all!