Being knocked down by the Heavenly Dao while ascending

Fang Qing walked towards the door carrying the child on his back.
Pei Mingyan said that there were too many people in the room, and Shang Nanyi's risk of being exposed would increase. Although she thought that it didn't seem to make much difference whether he was exposed or not, since he had given her a reason, she probably had something to say, so there was no need for her to stay.

Anyway, Pei Mingyan also gave an explanation for Zhier's matter.

The cultivators silently absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth while breathing, and the jade flute man is a fire cultivator, and the child is a wood cultivator, so the child cannot control the power in his body. When the two come into contact, the power will be absorbed by the jade flute man involuntarily. Because among the five elements, wood produces fire.

Fang Qing also had doubts at that time: "According to what you said, there is a lot of wood spirit energy in the world, but I don't see Yu Xiaonan taking more wood spirit energy. Isn't it all fire spirit energy that he is taking in?"

"So, this is one of the reasons that caught my attention. Normal cultivators absorb spiritual energy of the same nature as their spiritual roots, but they are the exception."

Fang Qing then asked the woman what she meant by "I am destined to have three children. One son drowned in water, one daughter died in the earth, and one son died in wood."

Pei Mingyan did not answer, but asked her a question - the child's parents are ordinary people, how could they give birth to an extraordinary person with the physique of a cultivator?

When the heaven and earth lack energy, the heaven will use the lives of cultivators to fill it. The Mei family has been doing good deeds for thousands of years in exchange for the birth of Mei Shanxue. What did the two ordinary people put into giving birth to a cultivator?
Perhaps she understood the so-called correct answer, but Fang Qing looked back at the half-grown child on her back and shook her head.
After all, some things are better understood than revealed, and it will be better for everyone as long as they are not spoken out and exposed.

As for the solution given by Mei Xucheng as relayed by the woman - if one day my family can get the gold openly, then look to the north of where the gold was found, and the highest place you can see when you raise your head - that is the place where my son was saved.

The key is gold and the north.
The north belongs to Kan, and the five elements belong to water. Among the five elements, gold produces water, and water produces wood.
Therefore, the vitality of the young child of the wood element is to go north after getting the gold, which just conforms to the way of life.

As for her biggest worry, that her child might not live past the age of ten, it was understandably groundless. If the evil energy was not resolved and the world was destroyed, of course the child would not live past the age of ten.

Therefore, Pei Mingyan finally concluded that if the old woman was not a pawn of someone with ulterior motives, then what she said should be true. However, the most meaningful content of this passage is not here, but the information hidden behind it - what were Mei Xucheng and Jiang Yuansheng doing decades ago?

Fang Qing shook her head, kicked out all the things that she shouldn't be thinking about, walked out of the house, and was about to close the door.
Then Mei Shuyu's words came from inside the room, "Brother, you have seen father."

Pei Mingyan's smiling voice came through the door, "As expected, I can't hide anything from you. I really didn't go to pick up Xue Qingyu. I rushed over after receiving a message from my father..."

Fang Qing walked further and further away and could not hear the rest of the words, but she was also wondering why the head of the Mei family would come here in person?
Judging from the situation, it must be very important, otherwise why would he make the trip in person? Could it be that the Mei family is short of someone to run errands?
Furthermore, he came and left in a hurry. If he had something urgent to do, what could it be? If he didn't have something important to deal with, it meant that he didn't want more people to know about his coming.

Realizing that she was thinking more and more, Fang Qing shook her head and kicked all these thoughts out of her head. She didn't need to think about these things. She just needed to be a mascot and not do anything unnecessary. If she accidentally made things worse, it would be a waste of time and effort.

In short, she just had to be obedient.

Inside the house, Pei Mingyan placed his fingertips on Mei Shuyu's pulse.
After confirming that it was nothing serious, Pei Mingyan put down his hand and pulled Mei Shuyu's sleeve to cover the wrist that was exposed when he took her pulse. "Fortunately, it is indeed nothing serious. But we know very little about this power after all. Don't use it recklessly in the future. I will be worried."
"I understand, brother." Mei Shuyu glanced at Yu Xiaonan and couldn't help asking, "Will Shang Nanyi really come?"

Pei Mingyan looked out the window and shook his head, "It doesn't matter whether he comes or not when it comes to finding the mastermind behind this."
"But……"
Pei Mingyan didn't give him a chance to respond, but handed him the white jade porcelain bottle that appeared in his hand at some point, "Here, take good care of your wounds, and I'll take care of the rest."

Mei Shuyu took it hesitantly, and the bottle lay in his palm for a long time. He finally moved his knuckles and held the porcelain bottle tightly. When his upper and lower eyelids touched, he could see the emotion of being touched flashing in his pupils, "I won't hold you back, big brother."

Pei Mingyan patted his shoulder and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? If the elder brother doesn't take care of the younger brother, how can the younger brother take care of the elder brother?"
Mei Shuyu nodded and said "hmm", but no one knew what he meant.

Pei Mingyan didn't want to waste more words on this matter, so he just said: "The man with the jade flute will take it to your place. The solution is not clear at the moment, but maybe staying in the same room for a long time will be helpful."
Mei Shuyu glanced out the window and saw that the man carrying the jade flute had also left. At this point, Pei Mingyan was the only one left in the room.

Suddenly, Pei Mingyan slammed the table, and the teacup on the table bounced up suddenly, but the water in the cup did not move at all.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the cup was not still, but was rotating constantly, but the speed was too fast and the water seemed to have no reaction, making it seem that the cup was merely hanging on the table.

Pei Mingyan took out the folding fan that he had hidden somewhere, and waved it, his eyes fixed on the wide-open window. "I thought I would never get to see Young Master Shang's true appearance in this lifetime."

As soon as the words fell, the cup flew to the window.

A hand just happened to appear there and hold up the cup.

Thin cracks suddenly appeared on the cup, and the tea seemed to be about to seep out, but in that instant, the cracks on the cup disappeared like pictures on a sand table at the unintentional touch.

The man was wearing a black mask that covered his entire face and a black robe. He looked more like a villain than a villain.
He stood there, holding the teacup in one hand, but his eyes swept across the room, as if confirming something.
Then she lowered her head, glanced at the tea in the cup, covered her face with her wide sleeves, and when she revealed her face again, the water in the cup was gone.

"Tsk tsk, ah, I didn't expect it, I really don't have the chance to see it." Pei Mingyan covered his mouth exaggeratedly, "I didn't expect that my mouth would be blessed one day, it's rare, rare."

Shang Nanyi came with his back to the light, his masked face sunk into the shadows, it was all pitch black, only his eyes seemed to be shining.
He walked a few steps and stopped in front of the table, where he placed the teacup.
He said, “I am here to say three things.”

This means that he doesn't want to get involved and just be a hands-off boss. Is it possible?
Pei Mingyan bent his left index finger and placed it on his chin, and asked in a leisurely tone, "Which three?"

"First, I will find the people needed to deal with the black energy in Mei Shuyu's body as soon as possible."

Pei Mingyan smiled, looked into those eyes, and said, "What about the second one?"

Shang Nanyi's gaze paused on Pei Mingyan, "The purpose of the mastermind behind this is to find someone."

Pei Mingyan snapped the folding fan in his right hand, tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table, and asked, "What about the third?"

"Third..." Shang Nanyi suddenly stopped, looked around, lowered his head and thought for a while, then asked: "Where is Fang Qing?"

"She?" Pei Mingyan moved his chair back, stood up, stretched slowly, yawned as if tired, and said nonchalantly, "She's gone."

"Gone?" Shang Nanyiyi's expressionless mask seemed to be torn apart along with the surprised tone.

Pei Mingyan was shocked. "She has nothing to do with these things... Oh, do you think she is with us? No, that's not the case at all."

Shang Nanyi sat down, put one hand on the forehead of the mask, and looked very distressed, "You don't know...she, she is very important."
Pei Mingyan nodded, "Fang Qing is indeed very lucky."

Shang Nanyi quickly raised his head and continued, "To defeat the mastermind and...Tian Dao, Fang Qing is indispensable."
"Hmm? Heaven's Way?" Pei Mingyan pretended to be stupid, but alarm bells were ringing in his mind. Shang Nanyi no longer hid and came clean. But it seemed... he didn't know that he was also a "problematic" person.

So, was Shang Nanyi reborn or did he travel through time and space in a book?

The possibility of traveling through a book is not high, as the book never mentions any mastermind. In this case, the possibility of rebirth... is not high either, unless Shang Nanyi's rebirth point is not the time written in the book, but a certain moment after his ascension.
However, if this is true, Shang Nanyi's attitude towards Fang Qing is not what long-term friends should have.

It was neither reincarnation nor transmigration. When he was still young, he knew the mastermind behind the scenes and took action. He even knew that there was something wrong with the way of heaven...
Reflecting on the Mei Shuyu incident, the other party was very sure that he must be a good person.

Who could this be?
Considering this, Pei Mingyan continued, "What is Heaven's Way? Why don't I understand what you are talking about?"

"Alas." Shang Nanyi sighed heavily, stared at Pei Mingyan for a long time, and finally took out an identical black mask and handed it to him, "This is an unexpected acquisition for me. Wearing it can block all prying eyes, and only the two of us can hear our conversation."

Pei Mingyan took the mask and found that the mask looked like some kind of iron product, but in fact it was not made of any metal, but a piece of wood.
The strange thing was that the wooden lump seemed to suddenly come alive after it touched his hand. He could feel the mask pulsating faintly, over and over again, stretching and curling.

Pei Mingyan thought of the boiling hot spring. At that moment, he seemed to be suddenly soaked in the hot spring. His breathing became increasingly difficult, and then water poured into his nasal cavity.

hallucinations.

Pei Mingyan immediately came to his senses, the uncomfortable feeling disappeared, but the rotten egg smell of the hot spring water still lingered at the tip of his nose.

At the same time, the mask began to tear and deform. The good-looking face became even more hideous, the inner corners of the eyes stretched directly to the corners of the mouth, and the eyes were as thin as a line, drawing a line on the cheek.
To be honest, it's pretty ugly.

The moment Shang Nanyi took the mask from Mei Shanxue, he stared at him without blinking.
He originally thought that it would take some time for the other party to put on the mask. After all, it took him a quarter of an hour to take his eyes off the mask. However, Mei Shanxue was stunned for a moment before putting the mask on his face. The mask immediately blended with his pleasing face.
The strength of Young Master Mei should not be underestimated.

Shang Nanyi looked at him and said shockingly, "I know our future."

Pei Mingyan was just touching the mask, which he found quite comfortable to wear, when he was startled by the broken sentence.
The punctuation was so strange that Shang Nanyi not only paused after "we", he even put emphasis on the word "we".
Obviously, this "we" does not refer to the camp, but to the two of us.
Their future?

This is too scary?!
He’s not wearing some bloody triangle BL novel where the heroine loves the hero, the hero loves the second male lead, and the second male lead loves the hero...right?

Pei Mingyan swallowed his saliva, "Um... our future?"

Shang Nanyi gave an affirmative reply, "Our future." Pei Mingyan exhaled and inhaled several times, consciously preparing himself mentally. He sat up straight and stared at Shang Nanyi, "Okay, don't keep me in suspense. Tell me what's going on. What's our future?"

Shang Nanyi returned his gaze and paused for a moment, "You are also hiding something. How about exchanging information?"

Pei Mingyan nodded without commenting.

Shang Nanyi stroked the outer wall of the teacup, "I won't take advantage of you. I say one thing, and you say another."

“……”This is too good of a loss.
Pei Mingyan replied dryly, "Okay."

"Fang Qing is not Fang Qing." Shang Nanyi dropped the first bomb as soon as he opened his mouth.

Pei Mingyan's fingertips gripping the teacup tightened, but he said calmly: "I see. Unfortunately, I already knew the news." He glanced at Shang Nanyiyi, and his eyes clearly said - this doesn't count as information.
"But I have always been a down-to-earth person." Pei Mingyan knocked on the table, "So my exchange message is that I have obtained the wood spirit energy."

"Thank you for your sincerity, Mr. Mei." Shang Nanyi chuckled, "If Mei Shuyu's problem can be resolved, we will have fewer worries."

Who and you are we. Tsk.
Pei Mingyan rolled his eyes at him, picked up the teacup and turned to Shang Nanyi, and put the cup to his mouth and was about to drink the tea, but -
“……”How do I drink this?
Anyone who wears a mask is sick.
He then put the teacup on the table and turned back.

Shang Nanyi cleared his throat and said, "We who wear masks usually drink water directly and never through our mouths."

For some unknown reason, Pei Mingyan suddenly said something very rude: "Excuse me, do you take a bath every time you drink tea? Otherwise, where did the tea stains go?"

“……”Is Young Master Mei such a boring person?
Shang Nanyi lowered his head and doubted his life for a second, then decided to put the issue aside.
He threw out another piece of news, "The person the mastermind is looking for is called Jiang Yuansheng."

"This……"
This time it was Pei Mingyan's turn to bow his head.
He lowered his eyes, his heart shocked. Does this mean that the mastermind behind this is not Jiang Yuansheng, but someone who is looking for Jiang Yuansheng?
what!
Pei Mingyan clenched his right hand for a moment, then he quickly relaxed his body, pressed his left hand on the forehead of the mask, and said sullenly, "I have no doubt that Young Master Shang can do this, but I still have some doubts and hope Young Master Shang can give me some advice."

"Mr. Mei, please speak."

Pei Mingyan cleared his throat and said, "As far as I know, Jiang Yuansheng has a clean background and there is nothing strange about him."

"Heh." Shang Nanyi was amused. "If there was nothing strange, why did he suddenly disappear without a trace more than 20 years ago? He is a casual cultivator without a sect or school, and he has the support of the Mei family. Who would be so blind as to want him to die? Young Master Mei's test is too shallow."

Pei Mingyan pursed his lips, then raised his index finger to the sky and said, "What kind of temptation? God will kill him."

Shang Nanyi: “…”

Pei Mingyan seemed not to notice his speechlessness. "The Mei family got news that he and Mei Xucheng died in a natural disaster. Isn't it God's fault?"

How could Shang Nanyi not understand what Pei Mingyan was doing? He was pretending to be confused and hoped to get more information from him.
"If Young Master Mei really thinks so, where has Dean Xue Qingyu of Yongshan Academy gone?"

"He is different from the second generation like us. He is a person in power and has a lot of things to do. He came over to hold a meeting with us and then went back to work." Pei Mingyan paused, "Oh, let's not talk about it anymore. Let's continue talking about Jiang Yuansheng."

Shang Nanyi looked at the snow on Meishan Mountain.

The other person seemed to be unaware of his gaze, and was excitedly sticking his index finger, which had just been pointed to the sky, into the half-full teacup. He then suddenly pulled his finger back, rubbed it a few times with his thumb, and put his finger back into the teacup. The tea disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.
And the other party was looking at his white jade-like index finger with interest.
I saw that the first knuckle of the index finger was obviously discolored from the lower knuckles and had a yellow tint.
Then he nodded, and although his face could not be seen, one could tell from his posture that he looked thoughtful.

Shang Nanyi felt that this Young Master Mei was a little different from the legend, and he must be pretending to make him angry.
"Huh..." Shang Nanyi took a deep breath, "Young Master Mei, let's show our sincerity and talk frankly."

"Oh?" Pei Mingyan wiped his index finger with a handkerchief and poured a cup of tea for Shang Nanyi. "So Young Master Shang has never been sincere? I have always been sincere. It's just that I have ADHD. Well, I just can't sit still. Don't get me wrong."

Shang Nanyi closed his eyes and threw out his first sincerity, "The mastermind behind this is Jiang Yuanse, Jiang Yuansheng's younger brother."

"Oh, it seems I'm behind on the news. I've been thinking about it, and you know everything that happened to us, and I don't think I have any extra information to exchange." Pei Mingyan rested his left hand on the table with his forehead, his eyes downcast, as if he was distressed and worried about something. After a while, his eyes suddenly widened, "Oh, right! I finally remembered a piece of information that you may not know!"

"Ok?"

Pei Mingyan sat up straight and pretended to whisper, "Elder Niu Su Niu's letter has been sent to me."

Shang Nanyi paused for a moment and asked, "Elder Niu?"

"Oh, you may not know who Elder Niu is." Pei Mingyan slapped his forehead, "Let me tell you. It's like this, I'm not talking about the current Elder Niu, but the previous one. The Mei family has always had 28 elders, passed down from generation to generation. You know, the Mei family is very disciplined, and everyone has the surname Mei, so it's not very convenient to call them, so the 28 elders are named after the 28 constellations, and we also call them by the constellations."

"I see." Shang Nanyi said, "What about Elder Niu's letter?"

"Don't worry." Pei Mingyan said, "This Elder Niu is one of the former Xingxiu elders, but he has passed away for many years. But in the Mei family, Elder Niu was the person closest to Mei Xucheng. After Mei Xucheng and Jiang Yuansheng left the Mei family, Elder Niu corresponded with Mei Xucheng for thirty years."

"The possibility of the letter being intercepted is too high." Shang Nanyi said.

This focus...
"That's true, but what can be delivered by letter is not something that can change the world, so there is no point in intercepting it."
Pei Mingyan brought out a mahogany box. The box was gleaming with layers of magic. It was obvious that the things in the box were very precious and well protected. "Here, these are it. After Mei Xucheng passed away, Elder Niu felt that something was fishy. He flipped through these letters again and again, and visited all the places mentioned in the letters. In the end, he found no useful clues. He could only return to the Mei family in depression and use his lifelong skills to protect the mark that Jiang Yuansheng left in the Mei family, hoping that one day he could find clues from this mark."

Shang Nanyi glanced at the mahogany box, then quickly looked away, "It seems we should indeed thank Elder Niu."

"I don't know whether you should be grateful or not, but the Mei family is grateful." Pei Mingyan carefully put away the box. "Before Elder Niu died, he entrusted a letter to my father, asking him to find out the truth. But as I just said, Jiang Yuansheng's family is innocent, there is nothing strange about it. The function of the mark is to protect the people of the Mei family from being killed by their partners, but although Mei Xucheng died, Jiang Yuansheng also died. After checking, it was all a natural disaster. So, this matter was not investigated further."

"Natural disasters are inevitable. It is indeed a little strange that two cultivators were killed by natural disasters. The Mei family has not pursued the matter for many years, so I think this is indeed the truth." Shang Nanyi paused, "Now I understand why Young Master Mei said it was a joke of God."

"Yes. Originally, this was indeed the case. Unfortunately, there was a fake Mei Xucheng waiting for my Banshan Juwu. Although I didn't show it on my face or say anything, I was very nervous inside. After all, I didn't know who sent this person, nor did I know the other party's purpose. This was really a very dangerous thing." Pei Mingyan smiled, "It just so happened that I was bored, so I did something very boring and rude. I flipped through the letter that Mei Xucheng sent back."

"This……"

"Forget the moral condemnation. I have despised myself in my heart many times." Pei Mingyan said, "Fortunately, I lived up to Elder Niu's trust. I finally found something very interesting in these letters."

Shang Nanyi said calmly, "It should be a shocking thing that Young Master Mei finds it interesting."

"Hmm..." Pei Mingyan held his chin with his right hand, but his eyes were fixed on Shang Nanyi who was wearing a mask tightly. "Indeed, I really find it unbelievable. I even spent a long time sorting out all the information. Perhaps due to my limited brain, I can only come up with this explanation after thinking about it. I'd like to trouble Young Master Shang to discuss this with me. Am I right?"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Shang Nanyi was silent for a while, then responded, "We are partners who are about to cooperate. It is my duty to help Young Master Mei."

"Young Master Shang has been secretly operating for many years, and he knows more information than me. If what I said is wrong, please let me know. If I am lucky enough to be right, please... show mercy."
Pei Mingyan did not give Shang Nanyi time to answer. He stood up and took a few steps. "More than fifty years ago, Jiang Yuansheng and Mei Xucheng went to the Mei family and wanted to enter the Mei family's book collection to look up information about the Fuling Clan. Oh, yes, I don't need to explain the Fuling Clan anymore, right?"

"Of course not."

Pei Mingyan nodded and took another step forward. "Twenty years later, the Fuyuan Natural Moat was destroyed, the Fuling Clan was exterminated, and Xue Qingyu and Fang Qing became the only two survivors of the Fuling Clan. Xue Qingyu was controlled by Jiang Yuanse, the mastermind behind the scenes as you said, and became a puppet. Fang Qing hid his identity and successfully disappeared. After that, the fishing village incident occurred, Mei Xucheng died, Jiang Yuansheng disappeared, and Xiaokong became the only survivor of the entire fishing village, right?"

Shang Nanyi paused to think for a moment, "Indeed."

"Ha." Pei Mingyan laughed, and took another step forward, stopping just behind Shang Nanyi. "Then I would like to ask boldly, where was Young Master Shang at that time?"

As he finished speaking, Pei Mingyan's hand gently and steadily fell on Shang Nanyi's left shoulder. He leaned over and his voice just fell into Shang Nanyi's ear, "What does this have to do with the fishing village?"

(End of this chapter)