Chapter 394: The Ancient and Modern Recorder (5)

The elder responsible for such a devastating loss to the Heavenly Origin Sect was named Hua Yuansi.

Hua Yuansi, elder of Qingyuan Peak, was deeply respected and loved by the disciples of Qingyuan Peak. For more than two hundred years, he had worked diligently. Leading forty-four disciples of the peak, including Guang Hongyi and Gan Jin, he went to Hundred Tribulations Mountain to slay demons and train. They encountered an attack by a great demon. Every disciple and elder of Qingyuan Peak, including Hua Yuansi himself, perished.

He lived to the age of two hundred and thirteen years.

Watching Su Chen put brush to paper, Li Li's eyes grew dark, and he did not look up for a long time.

"Are you thinking that this incident was no accident?"

Su Chen spoke mildly as he observed Li Li lost in thought.

Li Li nodded instinctively, then said in surprise, "How do you know what I am thinking?"

Su Chen smiled. "Have you forgotten that I was once a teacher? Besides... schemes among mortals are not few, and sometimes they even surpass those of you martial cultivators."

Li Li recalled Su Chen's identity before he arrived at the Heavenly Origin Sect.

So he was a man of learning after all. That settled it.

Li Li said, "Elder Hua encountered a great demon of the Spirit Soul Realm and was killed by it... Even the sect master could do nothing against that demon. Elder Hua had cultivated for many years and was always cautious. He should not have been so reckless."

Su Chen looked thoughtful.

Li Li voiced the thoughts in his heart and then left.

Su Chen was indeed a man of learning.

Li Li did not believe Su Chen would give him any answers.

After Li Li departed, Su Chen looked at the piled jade slips. Among them were those of Elder Hua Yuansi of Qingyuan Peak, as well as the briefly recorded lives of the forty-four disciples, such as Guang Hongyi and Gan Jin.

The Heavenly Origin Sect had expanded. There were more benefits now. Benefits stirred the hearts of men, and so struggles began.

Su Chen carefully arranged each of the slips. These matters had nothing to do with him. He was only a spectator!

Just as Su Chen had expected. From that time onward, the number of deaths within the Heavenly Origin Sect clearly increased.

People came to Su Chen sometimes after half a month, sometimes after one or two months, but never longer than half a year.

Most of them, however, were ordinary disciples. They had no magnificent lives, only plain and ordinary stories that could not be more ordinary. Most had died while completing missions, or failed in cultivation breakthroughs, or been killed in the struggle for treasures...

Su Chen's brush recorded one brief life after another. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed since he arrived at the Heavenly Origin Sect. One day, a young girl pushed open the door and entered.

The girl was exceptionally beautiful, her face still carrying a trace of lingering innocence... yet at this moment, her eyes were brimming with tears. They say a girl changes greatly as she grows up.

The young woman before him bore little resemblance to the child of the past. Even across the entire Wooden Scenery Dynasty, she could be counted among the top beauties.

Su Chen still recognized that the girl before him was the same child who, ten years earlier, had given him a fourth-grade pill that allowed him to survive.

Ruan Hongyao, however, did not recognize Su Chen. She had come to record someone... no matter how grief-stricken she felt, she still had to come.

"Grandpa Wei is dead... it is all my fault..."

Ruan Hongyao choked on her words.

Grandpa Wei...

Su Chen recalled the deep, resonant voice he had heard on that snowy night long ago. It was probably the Grandpa Wei of whom Ruan Hongyao spoke.

From Ruan Hongyao's fragmented description, Su Chen learned that the old man's name was Wei Qiong... a close friend of the current sect master Ruan Jingtian, and one of the people dearest to Ruan Hongyao.

From childhood to adulthood, the person Ruan Hongyao relied on most was not her father but her Grandpa Wei. Whether she did right or wrong, Wei Qiong always stood by her side... even when Ruan Hongyao had given the fourth-grade pill to Su Chen, enraging the current sect master Ruan Jingtian and resulting in her being confined, Wei Qiong had dared to confront Ruan Jingtian directly. He had even risked entering the Weeping Blood Forest to seize a fourth-grade precious herb, gathering the remaining materials for another fourth-grade pill, and only then had Ruan Hongyao's confinement been lifted.

One must know that the Weeping Blood Forest was guarded by a true demon king! Even the current sect master of the Heavenly Origin Sect, Ruan Jingtian, would face nine deaths and one life if he entered it, let alone Wei Qiong, who was still far from the Spirit Soul Realm.

Wei Qiong, guest elder of the Heavenly Origin Sect, had once been a genius among the independent cultivators of his generation. Later, he was won over by Sect Master Ruan Jingtian and chose to join the Heavenly Origin Sect as a guest elder. He made many contributions to the sect and thereafter protected the path of the sect master's daughter, Ruan Hongyao.

In order to protect the hundreds of thousands of common people of Ancient River City and Ruan Hongyao, he died fighting against the demon tide. He lived to the age of two hundred and sixty-four years.

"I was the one who killed Grandpa Wei..."

Ruan Hongyao's eyes were bloodshot, and her voice was extremely hoarse.

The truth of the matter was not like that.

For an independent cultivator like Wei Qiong, not to mention hundreds of thousands of common people, even millions or tens of millions would not have been worth risking his life. The only possibility was that Ruan Hongyao could not bear to watch the hundreds of thousands of people of Ancient River City be completely devoured by the demon tide. She abandoned the chance to escape alone and chose to live or die together with Ancient River City.

How could Wei Qiong bear to watch Ruan Hongyao throw her life away for nothing? He too chose to stay and resist the demon tide in order to protect her.

In the end, Wei Qiong died fighting the demon tide.

Under Wei Qiong's protection, Ruan Hongyao held on until reinforcements arrived and saved the hundreds of thousands of people of Ancient River City from becoming food for the demonic beasts.

"Miss Ruan, if Elder Wei could see you like this, he would perhaps feel even more sorrow than you do. Elder Wei hoped that you would live in peace and happiness, not remain trapped in guilt like this forever."

Su Chen rarely spoke to comfort the young woman before him.

People who were too kind... often had to pay an enormous price. This world was simply like that. Whether evil received its due retribution was unknown... yet most kind-hearted people did not meet a good end.

Ruan Hongyao stopped crying. She looked at Su Chen and forced a smile. "Thank you, Nameless Grandpa. I will live well."

Wei Qiong's death made Ruan Hongyao understand one thing. Kindness also required paying an enormous price.

Watching Ruan Hongyao leave, Su Chen did not know whether she would ultimately be able to hold on to that kindness. Or whether she would change completely from this point onward.

Su Chen placed Wei Qiong's bamboo slip in a high position. He only hoped that Ruan Hongyao would come to understand the cruelty of the cultivation world as soon as possible.

...

Five years had passed since Wei Qiong's death.

There had been changes during these five years. The Heavenly Origin Sect gained another martial artist of the Spirit Soul Realm. Something worth celebrating. Moreover, another genius appeared, even more talented than Sun Ao, ranking second on the Wooden Scenery Dynasty's prodigy ranking!

The Heavenly Origin Sect flourished. Its ranking among the sects rose directly to eighth place, becoming the greatest dark horse.

Besides these pieces of good news, an even greater piece of news was that the sect master of the Heavenly Origin Sect had broken through to the peak of the Spirit Soul Realm. Alone with a single sword, he charged into the Ancient River Mountain Range. Over the course of a month, he successively slew four great demons and completely wiped out every demonic tribe in the Ancient River Mountain Range, dyeing the mountains and forests with blood!

This battle shocked everyone in the Wooden Scenery Dynasty.

The always extremely low-key Sect Master Ruan Jingtian of the Heavenly Origin Sect, who had even been thought incapable of shouldering the banner of one of the ten great sects of the Wooden Scenery Dynasty, turned out to be this terrifying. The peak of the Spirit Soul Realm!

There were only a handful of such experts in the entire Wooden Scenery Dynasty.

One of the top five experts under the heavens!