Close by, the source of the violent wave-like winds was in fact a spiritual boat slowly landing. The spiritual boat was splendorous and magnificent, its body cast entirely from the priceless energy supply of spiritual stones. Currently, at the crack of Nanwu Mountain’s seal, stood dozens of cultivators. The cultivators were in different attire, and the ones leading were from the Lihuo Sect, which had set up Nanwu Mountain’s boundary pillar.
At the mountain pass, the cultivators stood amid the thick yin qi filled mist with awe-inspiring spiritual energies. When they noticed the stormy winds, they looked towards the area high above.
The cultivators in the distance each had an extraordinary bearing and were neatly dressed. Even just them standing there was out of tune with Nanwu Mountain, which brimmed with yin qi and mist. Zhang Fugui had heard of a similar rumor; that the momentum cultivators exuded was that of immortals who slay demons and eliminate devils.
Just then, a cultivator in blue stepped out the spiritual boat gently touching down. He was dressed in wide-sleeved Daoist robes. A sharpness lay between his eyebrows and his every gesture exuded an imposing manner.
As soon as he got out of the spiritual boat, the attention of the surrounding cultivators was practically trained on him.
“Who’s that—”
“You don’t know him!? He’s the Su family’s young master. Who in the whole of the southern world doesn’t know him?”
The eastern realm’s cultivation world was respected as one mountain, four sects and eight great families. The sole mountain was the legendary gathering place of geniuses—Tianlu Mountain. Tianlu Mountain has produced successive talents, and every hundred years emerges an outstanding talent that outclasses all human cultivators. Right below Tianlu Mountain are the four major sects; Cangxue Sect, Luoshan Sect, Xuanyu Sect and Divine Doctor Valley. After them come the Eight Great Families, equally as famous as the four sects.
The blue-clad cultivator was the young master of the Su family, sixth of the Eight Great Families, Su Yi.
Su Yi had advanced to Golden Core at just twenty-five and became the final disciple of the Cangxue Sect’s head. As a youth, he was famous for his talismans and Daoist spells, he was also one of the few geniuses among today’s young cultivators.
The other cultivators, intentionally or unintentionally, observed him. Their gazes followed the blue-clad cultivator’s figure at the forefront of the group. After the elder of the Su family spoke with the cultivators of the Lihuo Sect, the blue-clad cultivator turned around and led several cultivators of the Lihuo Sect deep into Nanwu Mountain’s fissure.
The blue-clad cultivator said nothing, but just from him passing by, one could feel his distinctive momentum that stood out from the crowd.
“Do you think the talk that made a lot of noise a while back is true? Does Tianyuan City’s Su family truly have a marriage contract with the young master of Xize’s Gu Family?” Seeing that everyone around was looking at the Su family’s cultivators, a sect disciple asked in a hushed voice: “That marriage contract, could it be between Young Master Su and that personnage?”
When the cultivator next to him heard this, he glanced at the nearby blue-clad cultivator out the corner of his eye, and replied in a low voice: “You can’t talk about this casually, but I heard that the Su family’s spiritual boat had originally set out west of Tianyuan City, and isn’t the Gu family somewhere in Xize?”1Xize (西澤) literally translates to ‘west lake’
This matter was strange to speak of. Not long ago, the secret of a noble family suddenly broke out on Tianyuan City’s streets. It was rumored that the Su family had a marriage contract with the far away Xize’s Younger Master Gu. The Su family was the sixth of the Eight Great Families, while Xize’s Gu family had always been the leaders of the Eight Great Families.
Among them, the young master of Xize’s Gu family, Gu Zizhou, was the unparalleled Tianlu Mountain’s head disciple. If you say the Su family’s young master is outstanding among the younger generation, then the Gu family’s young master, Gu Zizhou, is an unmatched genius in the world.
At the age of fifteen he advanced to Golden Core, and by the age of twenty-five he had cultivated to Nascent Soul. Throughout the reaches of the eastern realm’s cultivation world, he was clearly number one. With his qualifications, within a century, he would inevitably reach Deity Transformation and overcome a Heavenly Tribulation. His future was unreckonable.
If the Su family had this marriage contract with the Gu family’s young master, it would definitely disturb the current balance between the one mountain, four sects and eight great families. In the past, rumors like this would have been clarified in half a day at most. But this rumor had been out for quite some time, and neither the Su family nor the Gu family had provided any explanations for this rumor that’s been making an uproar.
With no explanation, it was very likely to be true.
From beyond the withered forest, it was Zhang Fugui’s first time seeing so many cultivators. He had been on Nanwu Mountain for so many years, and he could count the number of cultivators he’d met on his fingers. Either those who had died and turned into fierce evil spirits, or those who had been eaten clean by the other ghosts on Nanwu Mountain. Now, with the large array formation a distance away and the spiritual boat that had just arrived, they seemed much more powerful compared to the cultivators he’d seen before.
The person on his back was silent for a while, Zhang Fugui trembled and piped up: “So many cultivators…”
The youth coldly ordered: “Quiet.”
Zhang Fugui covered his mouth.
The youth was covered in blood and seriously injured. His voice was particularly hoarse, but when Zhang Fugui was ordered to be silent, he did not dare move again.
Zhang Fugui unstoppably shivered. He almost couldn’t tell anymore, is this person blind or not?
The voices became more crisp to Su Yu’s ears. He felt like his hearing shouldn’t have been so sensitive, but the approaching footsteps seemed to be getting closer.
A mix of colors hovered where the voices came from, entangled with the white yin qi. The strange and bright strands of light were like an uncanny divine work, their hues splashing wantonly across his vision’s black screen. Su Yu couldn’t help but be mesmerized by them. The light spots were scattered, moving around each object, with several especially around the huge behemoth. Those light spots were particularly dense, adding the finishing details to the image, like a glittering and vivid art piece.2流光溢彩 (lit. flowing light and overflowing color) describes bright flickering lights and vibrant colors, think of a night festival or neo-noir, but with a wider range of brighter hues and more light.
Su Yu had never seen such a spectacle before. “What is that?”
Zhang Fugui, who’d just got scolded, turned to where the other was pointing. He was stunned for a moment, “What a large ship…I just heard them call it something like a ‘spiritual boat’.”
Su Yu mulled over the strange yet familiar term. A spiritual boat, so that behemoth is a spiritual boat.
Then, this flowing and colorful mist-like qi…is being emitted by the spiritual boat?
“What is the Su family?” Su Yu abruptly asked.
Zhang Fugui paused when he heard this. Even though he had died on Nanwu Mountain in his early years, he had heard the name of the famous Su family.
In the eastern realm’s south, who doesn’t know of Tianyuan City’s Su family? It’s a renowned family in the cultivation world. The Lihuo Sect cultivators guarding the outside of the Nanwu Mountain Pass are nowhere near the level of the Su family’s side branches.3The name Nanwu (南塢) literally means ‘southern col’ where ‘col’ can also be referred to as a ‘pass’ Even in a small and remote place like Nanwu Mountain, everyone knows the great name of the famed Su family. The Daoist Master truly doesn’t know of them…?
He immediately replied and hurriedly told him what he knew.
When he finished talking, seeing that he didn’t speak, Zhang Fugui carefully asked: “I only know this much, is there anything else you want to know?”
“There’s nothing.” Su Yu lowered his eyes. In the distance, the white converged with the radiant splendors.
It just sounds…really nauseating.
Since the Daoist Master spoke no further, Zhang Fugui didn’t dare ask more, but he couldn’t hold back and carefully observed the youth.
Isn’t the Daoist Master from the south? How come he isn’t familiar with the southern world whatsoever?
Zhang Fugui glanced to the side a bit and saw the Daoist Master leaning on his back, his eyes slightly lowered. The other’s condition seemed to have improved from his about-to-die-but-not-dead state from before, and his body temperature was a little higher. “There are many cultivators over there now, and they seem to be entering the mountain…They must be here to slay the demons and exorcise the ghosts around. When they enter, we’ll have a chance to run out.”
Su Yu didn’t say anything, calmly listening to Zhang Fugui’s plan.
Peering into the distance, although in his dusky vision were various colorful balls of light, akin to wafting smoke trails, there was more white smoke, similar to that of Zhang Fugui. Su Yu bowed his head a bit and could see that the mist-like qi was emitted by the soil below, floating high into the sky, as though something was drawing it towards a deeper area.
It was consistent with the cultivators’ path as per Zhang Fugui’s words.
He wasn’t interested in those cultivators. On the contrary, when he heard the word ‘cultivator’ he felt an indescribable detest and irritation, like when he heard of the ‘Su family’. He didn’t know where these emotions came from, there was nothing related to them in his mind.
In that instant, a few strands of yin qi suddenly broke away from the rest, and instead of drifting east, where the evil spirits had gathered, it drifted southeast. In the darkness, those strands of yin qi were strikingly obvious, their movements differing from the majority of yin qi which drifted with the flow. Su Yu raised his eyes slightly, near the vibrant shades and sparkling lights of the spiritual boat, he glimpsed a few wayward lights rising and floating gently through the air.
The wayward lights had come from the cultivators. Su Yu was just trying to take a closer look when he saw the wayward lights get swept up by the white yin qi. Watching it made a nausea rise up his throat.
Zhang Fugui noticed the hands of the person on his back gripping his shoulders, “Daoist Master…what’s wrong? Does your leg hurt?”
Su Yu: “Something’s coming.”
What’s coming…? Zhang Fugui looked up after hearing his words, only to see nothing else save for cultivators. He was about to voice his doubts, but suddenly felt a chill along his arms.
Instantly, the rustling sounds in the forest intensified, and a tremendous wind hit them head on.
At once, it drew the attention of the many cultivators. Yet before they could familiarize themselves with the situation, the withered trees in the forest started breaking off one after another. The fairly gentle chill winds from earlier suddenly intensified and turned a biting cold. There was a cry. A cultivator walking at the front, yet to notice the change, was scraped by a blade of wind, immediately drawing blood.
“What’s going on?”
“Defend! There’s something off with the yin winds!”
“The spirit-finding compass—”4羅盤 is a luopan, also known as a geomagnetic compass or feng shui compass. Unlike a traditional compass, it has feng shui formulas embedded on it and 24 directions. Also, its needle does not point to the Earth’s northern magnetic pole but the southern magnetic pole (not the South Pole).
The surrounding cultivators collectively fell into panic. A senior cultivator took a few steps back and seized the spirit-finding compass from a cultivator next to him. The compass needle spun rapidly as the unprecedentedly rich yin qi swiftly rose in volume. In a mere couple of breaths, the compass needle abruptly broke off.
The cultivators were in a great mess, and the winds in the Nanwu Mountain Pass inexplicably raged.
“Quickly withdraw from Nanwu Mountain Pass!”
The brisk and violent winds blew through the withered forest. As the howling sounds in Su Yu’s ears grew more and more ear-piercing, the white smoke-like qi in his sight fled faster through the air. The drifting shades of smoke-like qi wrapped and scattered around themselves, like a tornado rolling up from the ground, forming an unusual airflow in the sky.
Zhang Fugui barely stood strong in the violent winds. Even as a ghost that had dwelled in Nanwu Mountain for a long time, he had never seen such a terrible windstorm.
He had just begun to run a few steps with the one on his back, but the cultivators amidst the violent winds withdrew quicker than he did. The cultivators with majestic and awe-inspiring manners held spiritual weapons in their hands. Of them, an old man who’s hair and beard had grayed threw out a huge spiritual weapon. As soon as the powerful spiritual weapon was sacrificed, the chaotic airflow fiercened.
Within a near instant, Su Yu saw the white ball of qi burst forth, “Don’t go over there!”
Zhang Fugui stopped running out, and the next moment, the Su family’s spiritual boat turned into a golden curtain wall and landed at Nanwu Mountain’s only exit with a bang.5幕牆 (lit. curtain wall) is an exterior covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, instead serving to protect the interior of the building from the elements.
The only way out of Nanwu Mountain, one step away, was firmly sealed off.
“It’s over.” Zhang Fugui’s face was ashen.
The curtain wall took shape. The white-haired old man managing the spiritual boat had sealed Nanwu Mountain’s exit to prevent the yin qi from gushing out. His murky eyes swept over the cultivators gasping for breath down below, confirmed that most of the cultivators had already escaped, and was about to close off the final gap.
Then suddenly, he saw a figure through the curtain wall.
At the edge of the withered forest, extremely close to the entrance, a middle aged man in a coarse cloth changshan was gazing at the seal with panic.6Also known as a changpao, it’s a long one-piece shirt. His skin was pale, a glance showed he’d been dead for some time, already having a soul body.
But, what the old man cared about was the ‘person’ on the soul’s back. Though a person, the old man couldn’t sense a shred of spiritual energy belonging to a cultivator from him. The youth’s bloodstained body was muddy. The only thing that shocked him was his face, which bore an almost exquisite beauty, and was extremely familiar.
Just then, the violent winds on Nanwu Mountain hit again. The black mist, rolled up by the winds, struck the curtain wall transformed from the spiritual boat. The cultivators who had not yet evacuated were swallowed by the winds and disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
“What’s going on? Didn’t they just say the yin qi was too abundant?”
“How can this be a minor issue? There’s something wrong with Nanwu Mountain, and the Lihuo Sect’s information is wrong!”
The cultivators of other sects present turned to the cultivators of the Lihuo sect. Several rogue cultivators also didn’t expect such a sudden change to happen on Nanwu Mountain.
Before this, they had wandered Nanwu Mountain’s outskirts for several days. The most they saw was the howling chill winds at its periphery.
“Only low-level cultivators like you would think this to be a place for gaining experience and fame. Would an ordinary place attract the Su family?” A rogue cultivator stood up and looked at the Su family and Lihuo Sect in the distance. “I fear, this may be the place where a mighty figure has passed in meditation.”7坐化之地 (lit. to pass seated upon the earth) refers to a person who has cultivated well and died seated upright while kneeling (in meditation), a peaceful death. In Daoism, it’s also referred to as ‘ascending to heaven’
As soon as these words fell, the other cultivators stared at the Su family.
A secret realm, left behind by a mighty figure passing in meditation!?
Any mighty figure’s legacy, whether a secret realm or immortal abode, was a great opportunity for furthering one’s cultivation.
At this moment, the elder of the Su family stepped forward. He raised his hand to stop the cultivators outside.
The rogue cultivators looked at the Su family members warily: “What is the meaning of this?”
“The yin qi here differs, and we suspect there are fierce evil spirits above the Nascent Soul stage making mischief.” The elder of the Su family stepped forward and bowed at the cultivators in a fist-and-palm gesture.8拱手 also known as gongshou, is a greeting where both hands are clasped together in front of the chest, with the right on the inside and the left on the outside. It’s used to show respect and sincerity. With a spurious smile, he said: “All, please retreat to the outside of the curtain wall.”
“This area will temporarily be taken over by the Su family.”
Author’s Postscript:
Yu-ge’s Observation Guide:9哥 (ge) refers to an older male (not necessarily blood related).
– White Humanoids = Ghosts
– Colorful Behemoth = Spiritual Boat
– Balls of Light at Sixes and Sevens = Cultivators
