I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 189 Cause and Effect (Bonus Chapter for 2500 Monthly Tickets in April)

Faced with a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Xiao Wujiu, a mere mortal, had only two choices: to live or to die.

He had thought it through, so he invited Jiang Yi to the tea room on the second floor, poured her tea, and sat down to talk slowly.

"If I were to say that I dreamt about the pendant at your waist last night, and that's why I followed the guidance in my dream to climb the mountain, would you believe me?"

"I believe you, of course I believe you." Jiang Yi tapped the edge of the table lightly with her fingertips.

The world of cultivation is full of wonders; nothing is too outrageous to be considered outrageous.

Xiao Wujiu's gaze fell on the setting sun outside the window. "My ancestors were once a prominent cultivation family, skilled in both the zither and the sword, daring to compete with immortal sects. Unfortunately... in my generation, only I am left as a mortal, and I will not live past thirty."

"How old are you this year?" Jiang Yi asked.

"The 29th, the day of Cold Dew this year, will be my death day." He spoke calmly, as if he were talking about someone else's affairs.

Jiang Yi's eyes flickered slightly. "Hand."

Xiao Wujiu hesitated for a moment before placing his wrist on the table.

Jiang Yi used his fingers to probe the pulse, the spiritual energy as fine as silk, to examine it carefully.

A moment later, Jiang Yi frowned. His meridians were blocked by a strange force, leaving only a trace of life, which was about to be cut off.

This strange power is like the Heavenly Curse mentioned in the book. Their ancestors must have done something 'big'!
"Bear it."

Before he finished speaking, a wisp of spiritual energy rushed into Xiao Wujiu's eight extraordinary meridians.

He was overwhelmed with pain; his face turned deathly pale, and his fingernails dug deeply into the corner of the table.

After the spiritual energy subsided, he was drenched in cold sweat. Seeing that Jiang Yi looked unwell, he forced a smile and said, "People are like autumn leaves, always returning to their roots. Senior, there's no need to be sad."

Jiang Yi stared at him for a moment. "I'm not so heartbroken, after all, I'm not familiar with you. But considering the connection between your ancestors and me, if you want to live, I can find a way. I can't say I can completely cure you, but I can help you live for another 10 or 20 years."

She received the benefits of the Yin-Yang Pendant, which was the cause; meeting Xiao Wujiu here was the effect she had to repay.

The power of cause and effect in the cultivation world is mysterious and unpredictable, inexplicable and inexplicable. It should not be underestimated, but only revered.

Xiao Wujiu remained silent for a long time, then suddenly chuckled, "I also tried for several years, but it was useless. Whether I live one or two decades longer or one or two decades shorter, I will die in the end. I can't achieve immortality like you, so I might as well give up. I've already carved my own tombstone. It would be a waste if I didn't die."

Jiang Yi didn't force him. "It's up to you. You can contact me anytime before I leave this place."

If Xiao Wujiu is willing to let her find a solution, then she can resolve this karmic conflict. If he is not willing, then he will sever this karmic conflict himself, and this matter will end here without any future troubles.

Jiang Yi was too lazy to delve into his affairs, lest she become entangled in even heavier karma.

"Alright, then I won't bother you any longer, senior."

Xiao Wujiu took the zither from the table, leaving the tea room on the second floor to Jiang Yi, and went downstairs to attend to his own business.

……

As the sun set, warm golden rays streamed through the second-floor platform and fell upon Jiang Yi. The tea room floor was covered with bamboo mats, allowing people to sit on the floor. Jiang Yi leaned against a table, propped his head up with his hand, and recalled his understanding of the Heavenly Gang Heart Sutra, planning to cultivate it again when the starlight was abundant at night.

Xiao Wujiu moved a low table and placed it under the peach tree in the courtyard. Seven or eight children sat around it, ranging from five or six-year-old toddlers to twelve or thirteen-year-old teenagers.

They had a sand table in front of them, and they held tree branches in their hands, following Xiao Wujiu's lead and copying the model stroke by stroke.

Bai Yu strutted behind the children with his head held high, like a strict supervisor, occasionally poking a daydreaming child with his goose beak, which elicited laughter.

Today we will learn the character '生' (shēng).

Xiao Wujiu used a twig to write neat regular script on the sand table.

"Plants sprout from the soil to live, and people are born to be born. Look, doesn't this character look like a seedling pushing its head out of the soil?"

Xiao Wujiu spoke for a while, and the eldest boy suddenly asked, "Sir, since everyone will die eventually, what's the point of us studying and farming now?"

Xiao Wujiu picked up a fallen peach blossom. "Look at this flower. Knowing it will wither, it still blooms so brightly. Why?"

The children tilted their heads in thought, while Jiang Yi, who was by the second-floor window, cast a glance down their eyes.

“Living isn’t about the ending, but rather…” Xiao Wujiu suddenly lifted Bai Yu above his head, “so that I can hold up this silly goose and watch the sunset right now!”

quack!

Bai Yu angrily flapped his wings, and the children's laughter startled the sparrows from the tree. Jiang Yi looked up at the sunset spreading across the rice paddies, the golden afterglow turning the terraced fields into flowing amber.

She suddenly wondered, what is the purpose of cultivators who seek immortality by eating the clouds and drinking the dew?
Or rather, what is Jiang Yi's purpose in cultivating immortality?
In my past life, I struggled to survive; in this life, the first forty-nine years were spent striving to repay my mother's nurturing grace.

So what about now? And what about in the future? What is the purpose of cultivating immortality? Simply to survive? And what is the purpose of living?
Holding a silly goose while watching the sunset?
Jiang Yi knew what she should be doing right now: cultivating, finding cultivation techniques, learning swordsmanship, and the like.

But suddenly, she felt as if she was being pushed along by these things, and there was no long-term goal that she was eager to achieve.

When faced with the pursuit of a Golden Core cultivator, she resolutely pushed Xin Wushuang aside and stepped in to block him herself. Besides knowing that she would not die because of her Blood Escape Puppet, she also had the mentality of 'If I die, I die, it's no big deal'.

Just like when he self-destructed his golden core in front of the Xuan Ying Sword Sect's mountain gate that day.

She never seemed to have much of a will to live; she just drifted along, believing that it was better to live a miserable life than to die.

So why would someone like her want to achieve immortality?
At that moment, Jiang Yi suddenly understood why she couldn't overcome the tribulation of falling in love this time.

"Please play the piano, sir. We would like to hear you play."

The children's shouts brought Jiang Yi back to her senses; the class in the courtyard had already ended.

"Alright, alright, I'll play it for you."

Xiao Wujiu put away the sand tray, carefully washed his hands, and then took out the paulownia wood zither from inside the house, placed it on the stone table, sat upright, and adjusted his breathing.

Jiang Yi's eyes lit up when the first sound rang out.

The down-on-his-luck farmer, who had been laughing and joking just moments before, now held a dignified posture as if wielding a sword while playing the zither. The way he lowered his eyes and plucked the strings made her vaguely see the white-robed cultivator playing the zither under the corridor in the Snow Demon's memory.

The music began like a gentle babbling brook, gradually transforming into crashing waves, and finally returning to the tranquility of a moonlit lake.

At a certain moment, the core of Jiang Yi's dantian trembled faintly with the melody, as if she heard a sense of "never regretting after experiencing countless trials" in the music.

When Xiao Wujiu returned after seeing off all the children, he looked up and saw Jiang Yi leaning against the second-floor door frame, staring blankly at the zither on the stone table.

"Senior, would you like to learn?" Xiao Wujiu asked with a loud laugh.

Jiang Yi instinctively started to nod, but then suddenly covered her mouth and yawned, "Too much trouble, too lazy..."

Before she could finish speaking, Jiang Yi was stunned. The excuse she used to give felt like a stone stuck in her heart.

"Even if one's eyes are bright, if one is too lazy to do anything that moves the heart, what difference is there between one and a mountain rock? Cold and lifeless, exposed to wind and sun for thousands of years, one is nothing more than a stubborn rock."

"You cultivators have long lifespans. Do you really only meditate and cultivate every day and do nothing else that interests you? If you suppress your interests like this, longevity is not as good as spring flowers, at least they bloom for a while."

Jiang Yi remained silent, and in an instant, she felt relieved and let go of the matter.

"If I want to learn the piano from you, what price should I pay?"

The tribulations of the heart seek change; we should no longer cling to old ways, but rather, like a stream choosing the most natural path, not resist the flow of our true selves.

Xiao Wujiu brushed the fallen petals off the strings of his zither and said with a smile, "Senior, please give me whatever you like. It's all from the heart."

In this mortal world, Jiang Yi was penniless. She lowered her eyes and scanned the small courtyard, her gaze lingering for a moment on the pile of wood in the corner.

"Borrow a plank of wood."

Before she finished speaking, she had already gracefully jumped down from the second floor, casually picked up a carving knife from the windowsill, and selected a piece of finely textured cypress wood from the pile of wood.

The blade moved swiftly, sending wood chips flying.

Xiao Wujiu curiously leaned closer, only to see that as Jiang Yi turned his wrist, the four ancient and vigorous characters "Miraculous Healing" had already appeared on the board.

"Hang it on the door for me." Jiang Yi blew away the sawdust and handed the plank to Xiao Wujiu. "Tomorrow, go to the village entrance and tell those old ladies that it's your cousin."

She paused, a sly smile curving her lips.

"He is a Taoist doctor who specializes in treating difficult and complicated diseases. He will not treat anything that is not difficult, and he will not charge money if it is not effective."

　I'm almost at 2500 monthly votes, so I'll add an extra chapter ahead of time.

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(End of this chapter)