Transcending the Nine Heavens

“Silly girl,” Feng Yurou said in a soft voice, before adding, thoughtfully, “If this is the case… It’s good as well. To have something on your mind, and that it’s such a devoted, regretless love… Having such an obsession might rather be a good thing for practicing martial arts… This obsession will guide you, step by step, into the path of sentiment.”

“The path of sentiment?” Wu Qianqian’s beautiful eyes brightened.

Feng Yurou looked fondly at Wu Qianqian, and said, “People often say that nature is ruthless! This might not be entirely untrue, as the vicissitudes of change, life, death, aging and sickness, all seem so ordinary. Even if billions should suffer at the same time, nature would not open its eyes to interfere. The laws of nature will only run indifferently and mercilessly… Even if you are filial to the extreme, even if you are heroic than others in this world… In the eyes of nature, you are but a grain of dust.”

“That’s why nature is called ruthless! Even though such a saying makes some sense, those who say so have a common character of selfishness! They value their own self and their lives too highly. They always think that, if heaven has eyes, why does it not help me after all that I have suffered? If nature is sentient, why does it not kill all the bad guys? What this means is that such people take themselves too seriously. You must understand that what happens to one person does not receive any more attention from another person than what happens to a pig or a dog. How can you then expect your own experiences to be seen, cared for, and helped by nature?”

“Nature is sentient because it cares for the future of all living beings and the changes to the entire world… Not for a single person or object but for the balance of the universe…”

“Do you understand now?” asked Feng Yurou.

Wu Qianqian shook her head with some confusion, and said, “I am slow-witted and only understood half of what you said.”

“It’s best to be half-understood,” answered Feng Yurou, “What do you understand then?”

Wu Qianqian said, “I only understand that nature, just like me, has sentiments and concerns.”

“Ah!” Feng Yurou was a bit stunned.

What Wu Qianqian said might sound childish, as if it was said without thinking, but to Feng Yurou, it was great enlightenment.

Such a sentence by Wu Qianqian seemed to flash out a way in front of her which connected directly to heaven and earth. It brought a faraway light to her path of martial arts which she had previously considered finished. Although it was unreachable, it clearly existed!

Nature is just like me!

Nature is just like me!

I am nature!

And nature is me!

Feng Yurou’s heart shuddered. She forcibly suppressed the astonishment within her, took a breath and said, “You’re very good! You must remember what you said today.”

Wu Qianqian was oblivious of what had happened, and merely answered, “Yes.”

Feng Yurou continued to move forward, and she said calmly, “Qianqian, if there’s a day when you’ve reached the higher levels of martial arts, but you found out that the person in your heart had become old or even a ghost in the wild… What will you do then?”

Wu Qianqian’s face was filled with sweet confidence, as she said, “That won’t happen, teacher. He will only go even further and higher than me! He will never be pulled down by me. Only by putting in hundreds or thousands times of hard work would I barely be able to prevent myself from being too far away from him to see his figure, and not let our distances pull further apart.”

Feng Yurou smiled slightly and said neutrally, “You’re quite confident in him.”

Wu Qianqian looked down and smiled. “He… There’s no way one cannot be confident in him!”

Feng Yurou smiled.

In her opinion, this disciple, taught by both Yue Lingxue, herself and aided by countless treasures of heaven and earth, would not come second to anyone!

Perhaps, in the whole Nine Heavens, she could only be compared to that disciple of those two old monsters. Yet… given that Wu Qianqian was an astonishing genius, the disciples of the two monsters wouldn’t be that much better…

Within mere several months, Yue Lingxue had already used secret methods to raise both Wu Qianqian’s cultivation and spiritual energy from the peak of the ninth grade of Revered Martial Artist to the seventh stage of Martial Monarch.

This was an outcome that’s unbelievable to anyone! Such an improvement was simply a defiance of the natural order!

Besides, the couple had come to the South-East region this time around to find an elixir, with which both would be able to combine their power and advance Wu Qianqian’s cultivation drastically to the Saint level in the shortest time!

With some more experience, she would then be able to traverse the martial world on her own.

Yet Wu Qianqian’s lover not only wasn’t taught by famous teachers, but he also didn’t have any strong support, not to mention heavenly treasures. How would he go far beyond Wu Qianqian?

Feng Yurou took this merely as a joke.

But what she would never imagine was that what Wu Qianqian said was an absolute truth!

The teacher and the disciple walked out of the Black Pine Forest and moved forward along the ridge. At the sight of mountains and waters under the moonlight, Feng Yurou said to herself silently in her heart, “The master of the Nine Tribulations Sword hasn’t appeared. How can the nine great clans lose their order first?”

Suddenly she heard Wu Qianqian ask, “Teacher, what is the highest realm in the world?”

Feng Yurou was startled. “The highest realm?”

“Yes, ” replied Wu Qianqian.

Feng Yurou said, “There is no such thing as the highest realm.”

Wu Qianqian said, “In the past, I’ve once heard someone say… he said that beyond the Supreme Martial Artist might not be invincible. Nobody knows how many unknown realms there are beyond the Supreme Martial Artist…”

Feng Yurou was really shocked right now. She turned to look at Wu Qianqian and asked seriously, “Who said that?”

…

Wei Wuyan and the others were already at Baisha Ferry when Chu Yang met them.

They had been waiting there for a long time.

They were all overjoyed to see Chu Yang approaching.

Everybody found it unbelievable that Chu Yang was able to fool Ye Wangran. They found this little brother filled with mystery.

But wisely, nobody asked anything.

Wan Renjie was excited. “Now this is getting more and more exciting… Last night we rushed into Yie family’s…”

“Stop!” Chu Yang raised a hand and stopped him. “Don’t mention this again anytime, anywhere, and to anyone. This thing… we don’t know about it at all… Do you understand?”

Wan Renjie got it suddenly and said, “Yes, yes, we must be careful about this.”

Wei Wuyan sneered at one side. He looked at Wan Renjie and his brothers and said scornfully, “Not only you can’t do anything good…”

Bao Buhuan said angrily, “Are you going to say that we fail things as well?”

Wei Wuyan smiled and turned his head.

Wan Renjie, Cheng Duying and Bao Buhuan stared at Wei Wuyan’s back angrily.

Resentment filled the air.

Chu Yang felt a severe headache.

After the fight last night, the sword spirit’s divine spirit had been injured severely and he had to rest for a while. Chu Yang had a stronger force in his divine spirit. Now that he had nothing to do with it, he allowed the sword spirit to use it to mend his own.

Now that he had escaped from danger and came here, he actually found himself to have no way at all to deal with these four men.

These four seemed to be born to be uncomfortable with one another. They could start to argue once being together for less than a quarter of an hour, and if Chu Yang himself wasn’t around, they could have started fighting.

This wasn’t sustainable in the long run.

After walking along Baisha Ferry for several days, such a situation had become more severe.

Chu Yang’s frown was getting ever tighter.

Within these few days, Chu Yang finally realized this: Wei Wuyan isn’t the source of the trouble. This first blood-payer has always been low-key.

However, the brothers Wan Renjie, Cheng Duying and Bao Buhuan are lawless fugitives who fear nothing.

As early as the first afternoon, when they encountered a small cavalry, those three rushed up to it without any worries and robbed the horses back. After everyone had gotten a horse, there were actually two more left.

Before Chu Yang was able to stop it, the business had ended.

The men who had been kicked off their horses begged for mercy on their knees, before they fled in panic.

On the second day, another cavalry which was escorting a carriage came. It appeared to be a blood-payers’ group which had received the task of escorting someone. Wan Renjie took pity of Chu Le’er, who looked very tired from riding the horse. At the sight of the carriage, he immediately rode forward to it, stood in the middle of the road and shouted, “When one sees the Yinyang Bridge, he’ll be stabbed by it…”

Before he finished, the group of blood-payers came down from the horses and started pleading for mercy on their knees.

Yinyang Bridge… for heaven’s sake!

And when they heard that Wan Renjie wanted a carriage, they even invited down the person inside the carriage themselves, cleaned the carriage carefully and changed the bedding and mattresses into new ones, before they sent forward the carriage with respect.

Wan Renjie did not find anything wrong with it at all. He waved and told them to go away before he kindly sent Chu Le’er into the carriage.

Chu Yang and Wei Wuyan were speechless as they witnessed such a robbery.

Yet Wan Renjie and the other two were long used to such things, and they argued with confidence, “How is this worth a care? Robbing them without killing them is already quite merciful… If the positions were exchanged, with us on the weaker side, we would probably have long been killed and dissected…”

Cheng Duying nodded sincerely in agreement. “This world has always been one in which the strong devours the weak…”

Bao Buhuan even agreed to that strongly. “Fourth brother, Big brother and second brother are right…”

Wei Wuyan rolled his eyes and said nothing.

Chu Yang was totally uncomfortable, so he got into the carriage to accompany Chu Le’er instead…

This made the situation even more out of hand.

Wan Renjie and others robbed all the way as they walked. When they reached the port of Baisha Ferry, the team had actually expanded to more than ten carriages and more than a hundred horses…

They formed a mighty team along the way.

At such a sight, Chu Yang was forced to admit that robbery, while having some risks, was indeed the fastest path to prosperity if one was strong…

Looking at this mighty team of horses that gathered within three days, it seemed to be more wealthy than an ordinary person could gather in his whole life…

Baisha Ferry, the ferry.

There was finally some trace of life.

Directly opposite was the site of the Huang family, and here was the site of Xiao family. Boats went rapidly back and forth to ferry travelers, with dozens still waiting at the side…

Looking at such a situation, Wan Renjie actually mused like a poet, “Over there are blood and fire, and down here there are songs and dances… Life is rather like a game…”

This immediately made Wei Wuyan laugh hysterically…

There were only a few boats and a couple of people down here; there were neither music nor dance at all. In any case… even if there were indeed songs and dances, life being a game… how could it be described in this way here?