Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 35 Remembering the Past

Liang Yu opened his mouth and said, "One month from now, I will preach at Lingguan Cave Heaven. Those who are destined can listen."

Lingguan Cave Heaven was the first power Liang Yu joined. At that time, the most powerful sect leader was a cultivator at the Four Extremes Realm. This person was Liang Yu's first and only recognized master, Qing Lingzi.

The Four Extreme Realm is actually quite prestigious, after all, our later Four Extreme Realm cultivators even dared to rob Extreme Dao Emperor Weapons.

Moreover, in the current Ziwei Ancient Star, the highest cultivation level is only at the Immortal Platform, and the Four Extremes are already quite good.

Of course, Liang Yu was the first to enter Lingguan Cave Heaven because they possessed the Daoist scripture, Lunhai Scroll.

Even with the creation of numerous ancient scriptures by later enlightened beings, this scroll is still hailed as the strongest foundation-building scripture, which speaks volumes about its value.

Since there are no complete ancient scriptures on the entire Ziwei Star, then just like Ye Fan, cultivate the strongest version of each volume.

With this in mind, Liang Yu entered the Lingguan Cave Heaven and was accepted as a disciple by the sect leader Qing Lingzi because of some of his divine blood.

Before leaving, Liang Yu personally set up a Saint-level protective array for this sect and left behind some of his own created spells and supernatural abilities. I wonder what became of him now.

The Daoist voice emanating from Liang Yu rolled in, resounding throughout the entire ancient star, and all the cultivators heard it.

In an instant, they were all in an uproar. The Celestial Venerable of this world was preaching and transmitting the Dharma—this was simply an immense blessing!
However, where is this Lingguan Cave Heaven? It's neither one of the Twelve Sacred Lands nor one of the Thirty-Six Sects; it's probably just a small sect.

It's already quite unusual that this Wuji Celestial Venerable came all the way to Ziwei Star to preach, so why did he choose such a small power?
Could it be because this small sect has some historical background?
Those who knew of this sect's existence were even more astonished, as it was a newly established force founded only a few thousand years ago. It couldn't possibly have any branches in distant lands, and therefore wouldn't have any connection to the Boundless Celestial Venerable.

Could it be because of Liang Yu?

After all these years, only Liang Yu has managed to traverse the void and travel to distant lands on his own.

Although more than a thousand years have passed, the legendary figure who became the first saint in tens of thousands of years is still very famous. Many of those who met Liang Yu back then, or even fought against him, are still alive, and some have even become the leaders of various forces.

After all, as long as one's lifespan isn't nearing its end, it's quite easy for someone who has reached the Dragon Transformation Realm or the Sendai Secret Realm to live for over a thousand years.

But none of them ever imagined that the current Celestial Venerable outside the ancient star would be Liang Yu.

The answer to the question of at what age one attains enlightenment is not fixed. Some enlightened beings attain enlightenment at three or four thousand years old, while others at five or six thousand years old, and a very few even attain enlightenment at one or two thousand years old. This is all normal and not entirely related to the final achievement.

Moral Celestial Venerable, standing at the pinnacle of the mythological era, was over five thousand years old when he attained enlightenment; Lingbao Celestial Venerable, another pinnacle of the mythological era, was only over fifteen hundred years old when he attained enlightenment, roughly the same age as Liang Yu. However, this does not prevent the two from shining brightly and standing shoulder to shoulder.

Liang Yu's attainment of enlightenment at the age of 1,500 was considered extremely fast in the mythological era, and even in later generations. This speed was so rapid that the people of Ziwei Star completely failed to connect him with the Wuji Tianzun.

Their biggest thought at this moment was whether Liang Yu had become the disciple of this Wuji Tianzun and thus gained a powerful patron.

Given Liang Yu's talent, this is entirely possible.

That makes sense; Wuji Tianzun is taking care of this place out of respect for his disciple.

However, that's not the main point; the most urgent task is to get to this spiritual grotto.

At this moment, Lingguan Cave Heaven was in a state of chaos. With such a small operation, they couldn't even entertain the Heavenly Venerable.

The current head of Lingguan Cave Heaven is named Liu Jingming, a cultivator at the Dragon Transformation Realm, nearing the Immortal Platform. He was currently at his wit's end. After all, he didn't know what format or setup was appropriate for the Celestial Venerable's sermon.

He was really undecided, so he said, "You all take a break and go do what you need to do. Let me go and look through some ancient books and do some research."

After sending his disciple away, he fell into deep thought.

At this moment, Liang Yu silently appeared behind him, looked at his gray hair and beard, and said slowly, "Senior Brother Liu, it's been a long time. You've grown old."

Hearing that familiar yet unfamiliar voice, Liu Jingming turned around: "It really is you! Liang Yu, no, now I should call you Wuji Tianzun."

Liang Yu was somewhat curious, as the other party seemed to have guessed that it was him who had attained enlightenment, so he asked, "It's only been a little over a thousand years, why are you so confident in me?" Liu Jingming also sighed, "It might be intuition, or it might be because I know you too well. Since I started cultivating until now, I have never seen a cultivator who can compare to even a tenth of your level, nor have I even heard of one."

Liang Yu said, "So that's how it is. This is truly an unexpected reason. Has my master already passed away? Please take me to pay my respects."

The two swaggered out of the sect's main hall, but the disciples around them, busy with preparations, ignored them.

Liu Jingming knew this was Liang Yu's tactic and wasn't surprised. Liang Yu, who had achieved sainthood years ago, had already done this once before.

Liu Jingming sighed, “Our master passed away in the mountains a thousand years ago, and our other fellow disciples have also passed away one after another in recent years. In our generation, only you and I are left.”

As Liang Yu walked, he sighed at how things and people had changed. The once simple buildings were now much more luxurious, and the various resource industries in the sect mountains had grown many times larger than before.

But just as quickly, everything he used to know had also disappeared.

People revisit familiar places partly because these places hold memories for them. The joy of reuniting with old friends stems from the shared fondness they evoke.

But if all of that disappears, then only a faint sadness remains.

In the more than a thousand years since he left, Lingguan Cave Heaven has become far more prosperous than before. If he hadn't deliberately concealed his origins, Lingguan Cave Heaven might have been even more prosperous, but it might also have suffered a great calamity.

Therefore, he did not reveal his background before leaving Ziwei. He simply bid farewell to a few acquaintances and left some things behind.

Although the major powers of Ziwei Star knew most of his life story, he had kept his origins and background hidden.

Now that he has become a Celestial Venerable, he naturally no longer needs to hide.

The two followed the overgrown path to the depths of the back mountain, where there were several new graves and one old grave.

While offering prayers, Liang Yu said, "Senior Brother Liu, do you know that when I first became Master's disciple, I always thought he was a wicked person with ulterior motives who was always trying to ruin people?"

Liu Jingming was quite surprised, because in his memory, Liang Yu had always been very respectful to his master, Qing Lingzi, and apart from not being very close to him at first, he showed no hostility whatsoever. After all, at that time, Liang Yu wasn't close to anyone except him.

Liang Yu sighed, "Back then, after I learned the Daoist scripture 'The Sea of ​​Wheels,' I flipped through it in advance, wanting to verify it with what my master had taught. But who would have thought that he would make so many mistakes right from the start? I thought he was deliberately teaching us wrong things; he was simply morally corrupt."

Liu Jingming was somewhat speechless. Because now he could find errors and omissions in what his master Qing Lingzi had taught him back then, but he absolutely could not have done so when he was a teenager.

But Liang Yu achieved this right from the very beginning of his cultivation.

Liang Yu continued, "From then on, I was always wary of my master and deliberately hid my cultivation progress. Apart from you and me, I didn't get close to anyone else. But I was too young at the time and couldn't get rid of my habit of being a teacher. I gave some pointers to the newly joined junior brother Li."

“After my master found out about this, he secretly came to find me. Seeing that I couldn’t get away, I told him all my thoughts and questioned him about why he had misled the students. Perhaps this is the most regrettable thing I have ever done in my life.”

“Master wasn’t angry, but he was a little sad. I know he was sad because he was incompetent and had unintentionally taught his disciple the wrong things; at the same time, he was also sad because his most valued disciple had such malicious speculation about him. Sincerity can’t be reciprocated, which may be the norm in the world, but it is enough to break anyone’s heart. I think Master must have been very sad at that time.”

Liu Jingming remained silent. He knew that Liang Yu was not speaking to him, but rather using the opportunity of their conversation to address his deceased master, Qing Lingzi.

However, even though he thought he had overestimated Liang Yu enough, he would always find himself underestimating him.

Liang Yu was somewhat downcast. He sighed, "In my life, I have nominally had many masters, but only Qing Lingzi is the one I truly acknowledge as my mentor. Not because he was the first, nor because he led me into the path. But because even after I hurt him so badly, he still cared for me and taught me the way to survive, which is acting and hiding."

My master said that others achieve limited things in life, and as long as they act normally and don't go against their conscience, that's enough. But I'm different. I will definitely leave this small pond and stir up a storm. Therefore, I will definitely attract more disasters and challenges. And he and Lingguan Cave Heaven are too weak to protect me. So he told me that I must learn these two things to protect myself.

By learning to act, I can blend in with the crowd and avoid the situation where the tallest tree in the forest is inevitably felled by the wind; by learning to conceal myself, I can be prepared for everything, counterattack my opponents at crucial moments, and remain invincible.

"If he hadn't taught me these things, I might not have gotten to where I am today."

(End of this chapter)