Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 80

The next day, Yun Qing shared her new discovery with everyone.

Fu Xue found it incredible. “Master was actually the child of an immortal?”

Cheng Suiyan said, “Shouldn’t the child of an immortal also be an immortal?”

Yun Qing shook her head. “It’s not that easy. Before Master disappeared, he was still only a half-immortal.”

Ci Li was lost in thought for a while, then said to Fu Xue, “Hey, let me see that bell of yours.”

Fu Xue complained. “Stinky little cat, when you’re asking someone for a favor, you should at least be polite.” While saying this, she took out the bell and handed it to him.

Ci Li examined the bell, trying to make his tone as gentle as possible, raising his voice to ask, “Excuse me, was this bell refined by your master?”

Fu Xue immediately got goosebumps and drew out her voice with an “Eww,” saying, “Never mind, never mind, just be normal.”

“Fool, answer me—was it refined by your master or not?”

“Obviously.”

“Does it contain his blood essence?”

“It should, right?”

Many magic treasures incorporated the refiner’s blood essence during the refining process.

Ci Li nodded and handed the bell back to her, saying, “Then it makes sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“I signed a blood contract with Yixin Zi. This bell contains her descendant’s blood essence, so naturally it could attract me. That’s why your bell was able to summon me twice in a row.”

Yun Qing had a moment of realization upon hearing this—so that was it! This further proved that Master was indeed Yixin Zi’s descendant. She asked Ci Li, “Why did you sign a blood contract with Yixin Zi? Tell us about it.”

Ci Li’s expression became somewhat gloomy. “Over two hundred years ago, when I had just taken human form, I was playing by Liuxia Lake and accidentally fell in…”

Liuxia Lake had a giant turtle that had cultivated for over a thousand years, creating a massive whirlpool to absorb all passing creatures. At that time, he wasn’t yet called Ci Li—his fellow demons all called him Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu was caught in the whirlpool and couldn’t break free. He had only just transformed, his cultivation was shallow, and he was in unfamiliar waters. Seeing his body being pulled deeper and deeper by the whirlpool, he closed his eyes in despair.

Unexpectedly, suddenly a large carp used its head to push against his body, lifting him away from the whirlpool and sending him back to the lake shore.

This fish was barely a hundred years old and had only just cultivated some spiritual intelligence—it hadn’t yet transformed.

Xiao Jiu became friends with this fish. He called it Little Fish, and it called him Little Cat.

Since Little Fish had just developed spiritual intelligence, it wasn’t very smart. It often spoke incoherently and would go off on tangents. But it was also quite talkative, and whenever it was with Xiao Jiu, the fish would talk while the cat listened.

It often carried Xiao Jiu, swimming across Liuxia Lake. People by the lake would frequently see a small black cat standing on the back of a large silver fish—it became a famous sight at Liuxia Lake.

Once, Xiao Jiu found an empty boat and had Little Fish jump into it. He marked the boat’s waterline, then later replaced the fish with stones of equal weight, using this method to determine that Little Fish actually weighed five hundred pounds.

After another hundred years, Little Cat finally waited for Little Fish to also transform into human form. The two promised to be friends forever, for all their lives and reincarnations.

Cultivation was difficult, and the two good friends heard there were immortal herbs on Changzi Mountain, so they boldly went to pick them. Who knew this was actually an immortal’s sanctuary, and they were caught red-handed while picking the herbs.

The immortal was called Yixin Zi. She didn’t kill them, but detained Little Fish and signed a blood contract with Little Cat—as long as Little Cat behaved as a good demon for a hundred years, she would release his friend.

When the two good friends reluctantly parted, Yixin Zi gave them names: Little Cat was called Ci Li, and Little Fish was called Bie Li.

Fifty years after signing the blood contract, Ci Li came to Changzi Mountain to visit Bie Li once. Yixin Zi allowed him to spend three days with Bie Li, during which he listened to Bie Li chatter nonstop for three days until his head was spinning.

It was also during this period that he accidentally discovered the relationship between Yixin Zi and Huayang Zi. He naturally knew Huayang Zi—after all, he was famous in the cultivation world as a genius.

Yun Qing pressed, “What happened next?”

“Later, just recently, my contract with Yixin Zi expired, and I went to Changzi Mountain to find her. The sanctuary there was in ruins, overgrown with weeds. Neither Yixin Zi nor Bie Li were there anymore.

I thought Yixin Zi might have abandoned that sanctuary for some reason, but I never imagined she had actually died.

Such a powerful immortal died so quietly—I can’t imagine how strong the person who killed her must be. I’m afraid Bie Li might also be…”

Seeing him dejected, his usual aggressive demeanor completely gone, Fu Xue couldn’t help but comfort him. “But it’s a fish! Fish can survive in water—maybe it escaped somewhere! It’s probably looking for you right now!”

Ci Li lowered his head and hummed in acknowledgment.

Yun Qing asked, “Did you discover any other immortals on Changzi Mountain?”

Ci Li shook his head.

“Think again. Did Bie Li ever mention any?”

Ci Li closed his eyes and carefully recalled the three days of conversation with Bie Li.

This process was somewhat painful because Bie Li’s speech was always erratic, lacking logic, and voluminous—sometimes even contradictory. Ci Li seemed to enter a meditative state, and the others didn’t dare disturb him, even breathing more quietly.

After recalling for a long time, Ci Li opened his eyes and said, “There is one thing.”

“What?”

“Bie Li said an immortal called Big Brother Yin wanted to kill it, but was stopped by Yixin Zi and Huayang Zi.”

Fu Xue was stunned. “What Big Brother Gold or Big Brother Silver?” (TL: Yin=Silver)

Ci Li shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Jiang Baiyu said, “Could it be that Yixin Zi or Huayang Zi addressed him as Big Brother Yin?”

Yun Qing’s eyes lit up. “Very likely! This suggests the immortal might have the surname Yin, or his title begins with Yin. Let’s check the Immortal Register.”

Now the scope was much narrower. Everyone went to the Scripture Pavilion to find the Immortal Register and examined it together.

The celestial phenomena of ascension were witnessed by all and couldn’t be faked.

The Immortal Register recorded the time of each ascension phenomenon. If the identity of the ascending immortal could be confirmed, it would record their name, title, magical arts, sect affiliation, and sometimes include a brief biography.

If the ascending person’s identity couldn’t be confirmed, only the time was recorded, with the identity section either blank or listing several suspected identities marked as “suspected.”

Long ago, ascensions were frequent, but the records became fewer over time, indicating that cultivation became increasingly difficult as time passed.

With five people searching together, they were fast. Finally, excluding those with blank identities, they found six suspicious individuals:

Yin Wenshi, titled Xi Yuan Zi, practiced the Way of Hundred Performances;

Murong Qiu, titled Yin Tong Zi, practiced the Way of Mystical Insight;

Chen Daonan, titled Yin Shan Zi, practiced the Way of Yin Mountain;

Yin Fanhui, titled Qi Guang Zi, practiced the Way of Butterfly Dreams;

Zhou Dunfu, titled Yin Tian Zi, practiced the Way of Infinite Measure;

Xu Junyan, titled Yin Song Zi, practiced the Way of Nature.

….

Cheng Suiyan copied all the names onto a sheet of paper for easy reference. Yun Qing looked up and down, then pointed to one name. “It’s him.”

Yin Fanhui, Qi Guang Zi, the Way of Butterfly Dreams.

The Way of Butterfly Dreams was an ancient Daoist art, now lost. This art could make reality and dreams interconnected—reality could become dreams, and dreams could become reality, truly achieving a state where truth seemed false and dreams seemed real.

The Living Puppet Art required hypnosis during sleep.

That immortal had also interrogated and tortured her in dreams.

Both important clues were inseparable from dreams. If the mysterious immortal was among these six, then this practitioner of the Way of Butterfly Dreams was most likely the one.

Jiang Baiyu nodded—he agreed with Yun Qing’s assessment and also found Qi Guang Zi most suspicious.

Fu Xue said: “Qi Guang Zi? Why does that sound familiar?”

Jiang Baiyu: “Linglong Mountain, Golden-Haired Hound.”

Fu Xue’s eyes lit up. “Ah! Right, right, right! The Golden-Haired Hound’s former master was called Yin Mei Zi, and the one who killed Yin Mei Zi was Qi Guang Zi! This immortal is too cruel—always killing people until their souls scatter. Could Huayang Zi and Yixin Zi also have…”

Everyone’s expressions became heavy. Soul scattering meant not even having a chance for reincarnation—being completely erased from this world.

Although soul reconstitution wasn’t entirely impossible, given the weak attraction between soul fragments, the possibility was extremely small, almost nonexistent, and the process was extremely long.

Cheng Suiyan looked down at the Immortal Register and said, “This Qi Guang Zi, Yin Fanhui, ascended over twelve hundred years ago. Yixin Zi only ascended four hundred years ago.”

Ci Li asked, “How do we find him?”

Cheng Suiyan continued reading the Immortal Register and answered, “He ascended at Liuyun Mountain. Could his sanctuary be there?”

Yun Qing said, “Then let’s go to Liuyun Mountain first. We don’t have any better options.”

Cheng Suiyan looked at her probingly. “What if we actually find him? Yun Qing, you need to think this through—he’s an immortal, and a tremendously powerful one at that.”

Yun Qing knew this all too well. But she had been thinking about these things for too long, and now she felt calm instead.

She smiled and pointed to her heart. “Me? Standing tall between heaven and earth, yet just a worthless life.”

****

The day after Yun Qing decided to go to Liuyun Mountain, Jiang Baiyu quietly succeeded as the head of the Huayang Sect.

It was called quiet because he didn’t invite people from other sects to attend—he only sent hero invitations to the major sects, informing them of the whole story.

But the succession ceremony itself couldn’t be kept low-key, since this was currently the top sect in the martial world.

Jiang Baiyu wore purple ceremonial robes embroidered with stars all over, kneeling in the Changsheng Hall with his head slightly bowed. Hanlu Zi placed a white jade lotus crown on his head.

Then she carried a precious sword and walked before him.

This sword had been Tuishan Zi’s sword in life, named “Xiangsi.”

Jiang Baiyu raised both hands high and solemnly received the Xiangsi sword.

Next, Hanlu Zi read the imperial decree.

When Hanlu Zi finished reading the decree, Jiang Baiyu stood up with a disciple’s help, fastened the Xiangsi sword at his waist, then took three lit incense sticks and inserted them into the incense burner.

Having completed all this, he turned around and looked out.

The bell rang, and inside and outside the hall, a sea of people knelt down. Voices rose like a mountain. “We pay respects to the Sect Master!”

Jiang Baiyu looked down at them from his elevated position, remembering yesterday’s conversation with Hanlu Zi.

“Grand Martial Aunt, I give you the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror. How about you succeed as sect master?”

“Child, our Huayang Sect is established in the martial world through the Way of Longevity, but I practice the Way of the Sword. How could I be sect master?”

“Why couldn’t you?”

“Baiyu, I know what you’re thinking. But everyone born in this world has their own responsibilities—we can’t truly do whatever we want.

Yu Wanzhi saved your life and passed the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus to you. Both emotionally and rationally, you should shoulder the responsibility of revitalizing the Huayang Sect. This responsibility has fallen on your shoulders—you can’t escape it.”

“I understand, Grand Martial Aunt. But our sect’s founder was murdered—don’t I also have the responsibility to investigate thoroughly?”

“Well said. You indeed have this responsibility, but not now. Currently, your strengths are vastly different. If you’re hasty, you’ll only be throwing an egg against a rock, ruining your future and your life. I want you to cultivate diligently. Only when you achieve immortality will it be time for revenge.”

Jiang Baiyu supported the Xiangsi sword, looking expressionlessly at the kneeling crowd, his heart like a pool of stagnant water, without any ripples.

The woman he loved was about to seek immortals, to court death.

And he had to stay here, guarding this century of glory, living this lonely life.