novelA Hundred Thousand Whys
| ← Ch.1309 | Ch.1311 → |
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
There were disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders' younger generation scurrying about inside Mount Yujing's Medicine Valley. Yang Qing and the Nirvana World were supposed to be in charge of this place, but Yang Qing left the mountain frequently after the Anti-Celestial Sect War and his disciple, Zhou Yuncong, wasn't that good with herbs and medicine and the art of forging pills. When Yang Qing wasn't on the mountain, the Medicine Valley normally fell under Zhu Yi's command and the Heavenly Temple's younger disciples who were old enough were the ones taking care of the place most of the time.
The Heavenly Temple's disciples would report to Yang Qing anything regarding the Medicine Valley when he returned, and it would still be Yang Qing's responsibility.
There was a towering tree beside the Medicine Valley. Its branches and trunk were incredibly thick, and it was more than ten thousand feet tall. The tree trunk was straight and shiny, but the giant tree crowns and leaves that extended from the top of it expanded in all directions. The treetop was also unbelievably large.
The Medicine Valley's space had undergone special treatment before. This colossal tree was located inside but was contained within, and it wasn't high enough to protrude out of the mountain ranges surrounding the Medicine Valley, as if it was a spiritual herb planted within it.
The tree's size, as if it was piercing right into the clouds, could only be appreciated if one was inside the Medicine Valley and if one was looking from inside.
This was the Cloud Forest Tree that Lin Feng had brought back from the Cloud Forest World all those years ago. It was being taken care of and nurtured inside the Medicine Valley, and the slow but steady process produced Cloud Forest Fruits that were given to the disciples. They could also be used to forge herbs and medicine, and they were extremely versatile.
Lin Feng had reactivated this tree's spiritual intelligence. This tree, who had been uprooted from the middle world and into Mount Yujing, quickly experienced the Void Lightning Tribulations, and the dense spiritual energy that had accumulated in its body were all converted into demonic power. It formed a demon soul, and it broke through the demonic lord intermediate stage and to the demonic lord advanced stage as if it was treading through flat ground. It reached the pinnacle of the demonic lord advanced stage in the blink of an eye.
It only began to experience some hindrances and obstacles when this Cloud Forest Tree was attempting to break through the demonic lord stage and into the undying demonic soul stage. Even though it was rich with spiritual energy and demonic powers, it still lacked a proper understanding of heaven and earth and of the great Dao. Still, it was only a single step away from forming the undying demonic soul.
It was the most powerful tree being inside the Medicine Valley, and it was even charged with some protective responsibilities. It was warm and amicable, and when it grew familiar with the disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders, it even gave them pointers on how to take care of the other spiritual herbs and plants.
There was a youth standing below the Cloud Forest Tree. His eyebrows and his hair were like frost, and he was from the Heavenly Temple's third generation of disciples - Yang Tie's disciple, Ye Xinhui. He was born with the Jade Tree Body, and he was kind to flora and fauna by nature. He also liked taking care of the spiritual herbs and plants.
The Heavenly Temple's third generation of disciples were slowly growing up, and they took over many of the daily administrative jobs within the sect. Many things inside the Medicine Valley became his responsibility.
At this moment, he was watching a young girl before him with doting eyes. The young girl's looks were like a painting, and her eyebrows and hair were also like frost. She was Ye Xinhui's younger sister, Ye Xinxuan, and she also possessed the Jade Tree Body. She formed the aurous core not too long ago, and she was now at the aurous core stage and could be called a priestess.
She joined Zhuge Wanqiu of the Wasteland Valley, and Yuan Shuang was given to her as her Daoist name after she reached the aurous core stage. She was gentle and peaceful by nature and she didn't like to fight, while her reputation outside the Celestial Sect of Wonders was highly limited.
The Ye family's siblings were almost legendary. They were blood siblings, but they were seven years apart and they weren't twins. Their parents were normal and passed away very early, yet they managed to give birth to two special and identical physiques. This probability was even lower than Luo Qingwu's innate Heavenly Yin Spiritual Pearl or the Great Void Sect's Ding Runfeng's innate Pure Yang Being, and everybody who knew about them could only marvel at this miraculous occurrence.
Ye Xinxuan was carefully savoring a small spiritual fruit while Ye Xinhui smiled at her from the side.
"This taste's really good." Ye Xinxuan finished half of the fruit before she laid it out on her palms, and two spheres of faint shadows landed into the center of her palms from the air around her.
These shadows were almost transparent. However, the half-eaten spiritual fruit in the center of her palms quickly vanished as if it was just swallowed by something.
Ye Xinhui chuckled and said, "Your Fantasy Moonphoenix Butterflies will show their brilliance at night."
"They're alright in daytime." Ye Xinxuan giggled and watched the two faint shadows on her palms with tender eyes.
The Fantasy Moonphoenix Butterflies belonged was a butterfly-type demon that was almost extinct. When Ye Xinxuan was training with Zhuge Wanqiu inside the Barren Expanses, she had coincidentally discovered ten butterfly cocoons.
She had liked butterflies ever since she was a kid and took these cocoons back into the mountain, and she intended to keep them as pets. However, the rate of successful incubation was low and only two Fantasy Moonphoenix Butterflies were born in the end - one was male, and the other was female.
These butterflies were like the moon in the sky. When day descended into night and everything was black, these butterflies would glow with brilliant colors. They loved to waltz about in the bushes under a full moon, and they were lustrous and radiant like the moon itself.
However, they were hardly visible during daytime and under a clear sky. They became almost transparent and it was quite a peculiar sight.
The Fantasy Moonphoenix Butterflies released spiritual dust that were beneficial for the growth of spiritual herbs. Their spiritual dust was also good for people that cultivated wood-type or wind-type mantras, and their battle prowess could also become relatively formidable if they were nurtured properly.
Ye Xinxuan's two Fantasy Moonphoenix Butterflies were newborn and their level of mastery was low. They also had weak spiritual intelligences, but they would begin to experience drastic physical changes as they gradually grew up.
She turned towards her elder brother and laughed, "Uncle Zhou has finally taken a disciple. That's a little surprising."
"Uncle Zhou's foundations are probably starting to stabilize, so he can finally open his doors to accept disciples." Ye Xinhui's expression became a little bitter as he spoke, and he finally laughed with exasperation."I just hope that this junior sister won't be so inquisitive anymore the next time she comes back to the Medicine Valley. If not, my Azure Yin Redmoon Flower would never grow up."
Ye Xinxuan stuck out her tongue and said, "Uncle Zhou has always been cold. I hope that junior sister of yours won't make him angry."
"That's not a problem, " Ye Xinhui shook his head and said, "Uncle Zhou may be cold, and he may be brutal and cruel to his opponents, and he's also known to murder his enemies in cold blood, but he's not a cruel or warmongering person by nature and his personality isn't explosive or violent either. He's not scary at all to the other people of his own sect."
The people they were talking about was naturally referring to Yang Qing's first disciple, Zhou Yuncong, and was the sharpest blade of the Celestial Sect of Wonders' second generation of disciples to the outside world. He was known as the butcher of his generation, after Wang Lin that came before him.
Zhou Yuncong was similar to Wang Lin as both of them hardly left any of their opponents alive after combat. The Yang-Incinerating Vital Spirit was also extremely overbearing and terrified people to the core.
Amongst the other second-generation disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders, he shared these murderous tendencies with Ying Luozha and their methods were the most brutal and violent - far greater than Tang Jun, Han Yang, Dao Yuting and the others.
However, after a long period of association, the younger generation of disciples from the Celestial Sect of Wonders gradually realized that Zhou Yuncong was only barbarous and savage towards his enemies. He just seemed a little frigid and distant in typical days and he hardly said anything to anyone. One could say he was cold and emotionless, but one would rather say that he just wasn't good at interacting with others and he only had the heart for cultivation.
His personality wasn't suitable for having disciples, and he possessed the Yang-Incinerating Entity from birth and his path in cultivation was filled with danger and peril. He had to focus his energy and his motivation for that, so even though he was one of the most outstanding and powerful individuals in the Celestial Sect of Wonders' second generation of disciples, Zhou Yuncong had never taken a disciple.
"However, Uncle Zhou won't have a good time after the arrival of this new junior sister into the Nirvana World." Ye Xinhui smiled with his teeth.
Ye Xinxuan tried to console him and said, "This junior sister might feel a little more secure with a person as strict as senior uncle Zhou... no?"
The person they were talking about, Zhou Yuncong, was sitting inside the Nirvana World. Just as Ye Xinhui and Ye Xinxuan had expected, he was truly going through a difficult time.
"Master, master - does seventh senior granduncle actually venture into the demon world to eat demons like they're meals?"
"Master, master - why does the Founder always sit on the tree branch?"
"Master, master - is it true that first senior granduncle's lover, the Qing Ye Master, grew up with him together since they were children?"
"Master, master - have you been to the second senior granduncle's Mirror Lake Knowledge Palace? What do they teach inside there?"
"Master, master..."
The incessant questions made Zhou Yuncong feel as if his head had grown three times in size, as he usually enjoyed peace and quiet. The days after she had joined under him as his disciple were truly the hardest and most unbearable times of his life.
The constant disturbance in every possible way made the dangers and hazards that he had faced with his Yang-Incinerating Entity, and the fact that he could immolate himself at any time, seem so trivial.
He was captured by the Golden Cicada Master and brought back into the Barren Expanses and was unconscious the whole time. He didn't know what went on the outside world and he wasn't aware of the passage of time. Even though he felt humiliated, it wasn't too long before he recovered his consciousness and was saved by Lin Feng and his disciples.
But now, Zhou Yuncong felt a little dizzy and as if stars bombed his eyes as he watched the little girl that was prancing around him in circles.
This little girl was Zhou Yuncong's new disciple, and her name was Lu Yilin. Just like Duan Muhong before her, Yang Qing met her on one of his travels when he was roaming the world as a doctor, and he brought her back to the mountain.
Following the passage of time and after guidance from Lin Feng, Yang Qing and the other seniors as well as his own hard work, Zhou Yuncong's danger in cultivating with the Yang-Incinerating Entity was still there but he had become much more comfortable and also much better at controlling it.
Therefore, Yang Qing's Nirvana World opened its doors once again to take in a new disciple. Yang Qing knew that he spent most of this time outside, so he didn't take another disciple. Anybody that could pass his test would join under Zhou Yuncong.
Yang Qing was also thinking about Zhou Yuncong. Zhou Yuncong would have to refer to his own foundations and his mantras in the process of teaching his disciples, and he would become more fluent and comfortable with them.
Because of his strict and reluctant nature, the test hosted by Zhou Yuncong was extremely difficult to pass. The younger students that passed the sect's original test and became a disciple of the sect, and who eventually chose the Nirvana World were all turned away.
There was only one exception - and that was Lu Yilin.
This outcome took everyone by surprise. Even though she was a little blur and she was a chatterbox, Lu Yilin was the only one who managed to pass Zhou Yuncong's test, and she was the only one that managed to joint the Nirvana World as a third-generation disciple.
It was fair to say that luck played a big part in Lu Yilin's success. However, Zhou Yuncong would take her under his wing since she passed the test, even though he was still clueless about guiding this disciple considering he had no prior experience at all.
Still, he very quickly regretted his decision.
Lu Yilin was a lot more excited. There many things that she had heard rumors about when she was still a foundational disciple. Some were false, and some were exaggerated, so it was a little hard to tell them apart.
She had finally become a successive disciple, and her master was one of the most outstanding individuals in the Celestial Sect of Wonder's second generation of successive disciples - Zhou Yuncong. She was already overflowing with curiosity and inquisitiveness, and she couldn't hold herself back anymore. All she wanted to do was pour out the questions and suspicions she had in that little mind of hers, hoping that her own master would answer them.
"Master, master - why don't you ever smile or laugh? The senior and junior sisters inside the great hall of Yun Peak all say that you are quite handsome, but you'll be even more handsome if you smile..." Before she could finish her sentence, Zhou Yuncong stood up and exited the room with an expressionless face.
Lu Yilin was confused."Have I said something wrong..."
| ← Ch. 1309 | Ch. 1311 → |