Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 65

Mount Huayang, Guizhen Cave.

Guizhen Cave was located in the southwest of Mount Huayang, beneath Guizhen Peak. It had once been a place where disciples of the Huayang Sect faced the wall in reflection for their transgressions, and sometimes it also housed disciples who had gone astray in their cultivation.

Ever since Hanlu Zi had been imprisoned here eighteen years ago, it had become the most mysterious forbidden ground of the entire sect. Apart from the sect master himself, no one else had set foot there.

The area around Guizhen Cave was surrounded by dense formations. Even those who wandered in by mistake could never enter. Several disciples who had once received favors from Hanlu Zi had tried to secretly rescue her, but later, these people had all disappeared.

Jiang Binghe wore pine crane robes and a Five Sacred Mountains crown, his hand resting on the precious sword at his waist, truly displaying the bearing of an immortal sage. He stood before the enormous cave entrance, gazing inward.

The interior of the cave was thirty zhang in circumference and over ten zhang in height. Pits had been carved into the cave walls, with seventeen pairs of bronze lamps burning within them. These bronze lamps burned mermaid oil and were also called eternal lamps.

The cave walls were covered with densely packed red runes that extended all the way to the vaulted ceiling.

In the very center of Guizhen Cave stood an enormous black iron cage.

This iron cage was one zhang square, forged from iron bars, each bar as thick as an inch. The entire cage remarkably had neither door nor lock. If an ordinary person had seen it, they would certainly have wondered how the person inside had gotten in.

Yes, there was indeed someone in the cage.

This person was an old woman with silver hair and a face covered in wrinkles, her complexion ashen gray like a lamp that could be extinguished at any moment. Iron chains pierced through the old woman’s shoulder blades, and she was currently sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed in meditation.

Sensing someone at the cave entrance, she opened her eyes and glanced over. Seeing Jiang Binghe at the cave mouth, she seemed not at all surprised and merely let out a cold snort.

This cold snort echoed in the spacious mountain cave, yet it was full of vigor.

Jiang Binghe leaned on his sword with a leisurely expression. He did not enter the mountain cave but simply called out across the distance of more than ten zhang. “Martial Aunt.”

So this was the protagonist of the Cold Heron Rebellion from nineteen years ago—Hanlu Zi.

Hanlu Zi closed her eyes again and paid him no attention.

Jiang Binghe took a bottle of pills from his sleeve and tossed it lightly. The pill bottle flew into the iron cage.

Hanlu Zi, judging by the sound of the wind, reached out and caught the pill bottle steadily. Only then did she open her eyes again, remove the stopper from the bottle, pour out two pills from inside, and tilt her head back to swallow them.

These were fasting pills.

As she moved, the iron chains on her shoulder blades clanked.

Seeing her take the fasting pills, Jiang Binghe said, “Martial Aunt, have you been well lately?”

“I’m doing very well. If I didn’t have to see you, I’d be doing even better.”

Jiang Binghe clasped one hand behind his back, smiling with complete composure. “But I enjoy visiting Martial Aunt frequently.”

Hanlu Zi opened her somewhat cloudy eyes and looked at him once, then suddenly laughed coldly, the wrinkles on her face deepening with the expression.

The inside and outside of the cave had vastly different lighting, but Jiang Binghe still clearly saw this smile. He asked curiously, “Martial Aunt, what do you mean by this?”

“Soon.”

Jiang Binghe raised an eyebrow. “What’s coming soon? You don’t think Master will still come to rescue you, do you?”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” Hanlu Zi suddenly burst into laughter, shaking all over and making the iron chains clatter loudly.

After laughing, she said, “Jiang Binghe, oh Jiang Binghe, let me ask you—how long have you kept me imprisoned here?”

“No more, no less—exactly eighteen years.”

“Eighteen years, yet you haven’t killed me. Why is that?”

A flash of shrewd light passed through Jiang Binghe’s narrow eyes as he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Naturally, it’s to let Martial Aunt live to see with her own eyes how the person you all once looked down upon achieves the great Dao and ascends to immortal realms.”

Hanlu Zi’s fingers, aged like withered branches, idly rubbed the pill bottle in her hands as she chuckled.

“Is that so? It seems you, this beast, and I have arrived at the same destination by different paths. I also don’t consider myself someone who fears death. The reason I’ve clung to life until today is simply to see with my own eyes how you, this beast, brings about his own destruction.

I’m not afraid to tell you: do you think that having the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus makes everything perfect? The Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus can indeed help someone improve their cultivation extremely quickly, but it cannot help you achieve enlightenment.

Every moment of enlightenment is a threshold, and each threshold can only be crossed by oneself. Throughout heaven and earth, from ancient times to the present, there have been no exceptions.

The only thing in this world that can provide some small assistance with enlightenment is the long-lost Way of One Mind, but the Way of One Mind can only pull you back when you go astray in cultivation—it cannot help you break through your own inherent limitations.

Do you understand? Enlightenment requires innate comprehension. This innate comprehension is something you’re born with—you either have it or you don’t, and however much you have is all you get.

Jiang Binghe, your natural talent is insufficient, yet you think too highly of yourself. Being this way, when you reach the crucial moments of cultivation, you will inevitably seek quick success and instant benefits. Under such eagerness for quick results, you will inevitably fall into qi deviation. When that time comes, you’ll just be a mad old fool.

Having lost your sanity, how would you differ from pigs and dogs? Ah no, you’d be worse than pigs and dogs—pigs and dogs can at least die and reenter the cycle of reincarnation, but with your immortal body, you can be a madman for a very, very long time, as long-lived as heaven and earth themselves! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

Jiang Binghe watched her expressionlessly, his hand gripping his sword so tightly that his knuckles had turned white from the force. He said, “Do you think a few words can shake my state of mind? I think you’re already a mad old woman.”

Hanlu Zi didn’t know that Jiang Binghe not only lacked the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus but had actually fallen into qi deviation once already. If she had known, she probably would have laughed even more wildly.

She continued, “I’m not afraid to tell you these things because, given your personality, even knowing all this, you’ll still do the same things.

If you were to turn back from your misguided path and simply be content as an immortal ordinary person without thoughts of ascending to immortality, you could live peacefully. But you won’t.

You’ve always had ambitions higher than the heavens and won’t turn back until you hit the wall. Jiang Binghe, this is your fate.”

Jiang Binghe narrowed his eyes and retorted, “If I can’t do it, could Yu Wanzhi? I was clearly more naturally gifted than him, yet you all chose him instead. You gave him the position of sect master, gave him the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror, and gave him the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus too!

What happened in the end? He died! His death was also caused by all of you. If you hadn’t favored him so much, how would he have brought trouble upon himself?”

Thinking of Yu Wanzhi, Hanlu Zi let out a long sigh. “His natural talent was indeed somewhat inferior to yours. However, he had one thing that you lack.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“A human heart.”

“Well said,” Jiang Binghe suddenly smiled. “If he hadn’t had a human heart, he wouldn’t have met such an end. So it’s better for people to be cold-blooded.”

****

After Yun Qing’s group left Linglong City, they had been walking continuously toward Mount Huayang. Ci Li felt that since the mysterious book was with Yun Qing, she must have some connection to Yixin Zi, so he continued following them.

Because Yun Qing had exhausted her strength again before fully recovering, she was severely injured and even affected their traveling pace. The wounds on her face only scabbed over after three days.

On this day, the group camped outdoors as usual.

Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan were catching fish by the river. Jiang Baiyu had boiled some hot water and poured a cup into a bamboo tube for Yun Qing. Seeing him caring for her like a patient, Yun Qing said with mixed laughter and tears, “I’m not that frail.”

Fu Xue had good luck today and caught four fat fish in a row, all thrown onto the grass by the shore. The fish flipped their white bellies and flopped about on the grass.

Ci Li watched from the side. Seeing one carp that was particularly fat and flopping the most vigorously, his eyebrows drooped and a trace of sympathy flashed in his round eyes.

Then he grabbed the fish by its tail and threw it back into the river.

Splash—the fat carp created a large splash on the river’s surface.

Fu Xue, who got splashed in the face: “???”

She turned around, her face covered in water droplets, and looked at him silently like she was looking at a thief.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Ci Li thought for a moment and said, “I know a fish that weighs over five hundred pounds.”

Fu Xue’s attention was drawn to this fish, and she couldn’t help saying, “Wow, how big a pot would you need to stew that!”

“It’s my good friend.”

Fu Xue: “……” She scratched her head and looked awkwardly at the sky.

Yun Qing then asked, “So, Ci Lili, you never eat fish because your good friend is a fish?”

“Mm.”

Yun Qing glanced at the carp embroidered on his clothes that looked like a little pig. “The one embroidered on your clothes?”

“Mm.”

Yun Qing could sense that this great demon was feeling very dejected at the moment. She asked, “Where is it now?”

“It’s with Yixin Zi.”

Yun Qing then understood. So this was Ci Li’s purpose in seeking Yixin Zi.

Hearing him say this, Fu Xue felt that this fat carp was in danger. According to Cheng Suiyan’s book “Old Man Nan’s Dream Recollections,” this Yixin Zi also ate food.

Anyone with an appetite—who could refuse a five-hundred-pound carp? Such a big one could probably provide eight hundred different ways to prepare fish!

She swallowed and asked tactfully, “Does Yixin Zi like eating fish?”

Upon hearing this, Ci Li exploded and scolded, “Do you think everyone is a glutton like you?!”

Fu Xue retorted angrily, “If she doesn’t eat it, she doesn’t eat it—can’t you speak like a human?!”

“I’m not human, so why should I speak like a human?”

“You, you, you dog!”

Fu Xue was so angry she jumped up. In a fit of spite, she kicked all the flopping fish in the grass back into the water, one by one, while kicking and cursing, “I’m going to eat steamed cat head, charcoal-grilled cat legs, and braised cat tail!”

Cheng Suiyan watched helplessly as their dinner completely disappeared. He pointed at the grass, then at himself. “I, this…” Come on, have some mercy—you’ve all mastered fasting and think you’re so great, but there’s still someone here who could actually starve to death without food!

Fu Xue huffily walked over to sit beside Yun Qing. Ci Li darkened his face and disappeared into the mountains. Before long, the young man returned with two mountain chickens in his hands and a pile of fruits bundled in his clothes.

Fu Xue directly took two fasting pills to make her position clear, but after Cheng Suiyan cleaned the chickens and Jiang Baiyu roasted them, she was completely captivated by the aroma and couldn’t help eating half a chicken.

Cheng Suiyan said, “Little cat, impressive! From now on, we’ll rely on you for all our wild game.”

These words were pleasant to hear. Ci Li proudly lifted his chin. “I have other good things too. I don’t know if you’d like them, so I didn’t bring them out.”

Cheng Suiyan asked curiously, “What things?”

Ci Li extended his arm toward him.

From under his sleeve cuff, a red and black striped snake slithered around the young man’s wrist, poking its head out toward Cheng Suiyan and staring directly at him.

Cheng Suiyan’s screams echoed throughout the entire valley.