Longevity Candle

Chapter 39 Meeting Again is the Best of Luck
Jiang Zhu looked at the brilliance of the sun and moon, only half of it had vanished.

“I’ll take half, and you can keep the rest. It’s your means of survival now,” Jiang Zhu said. “You can also use the brilliance of the sun and moon to fight enemies in the future. The world is in chaos, and immortal masters and Taoists will probably be entering the world soon. You will also need a means of self-protection.”

“I can continue to accumulate,” Yao Yao said.

Jiang Zhu smiled and said, "Although I need it, I am not attached to it. However, if I sleep for a longer period of time, I will always be thinking about how to obtain the essence of the sun and moon and how to find immortal items. But my awakening time is too short. I don't want to spend my short time being attached to anything. In other words, I am not qualified to be attached."

"When you have something you're attached to, it's really tiring. It's like my wish that my loved ones could live forever. I could never achieve that even if I spent my whole life trying."

Yao Yao thought for a moment and then withdrew the radiance of the sun and moon.

Jiang Zhu's one period of deep sleep lasted for more than ten years.

If Jiang Zhu were to regularly receive the light of the sun and moon, he would only need to sleep for thirteen years.

She discovered it too late, and sealed Jiang Zhu in a sword box, so that he didn't wake up until fourteen years later.

"I'll save it for you as long as you don't encounter anything you can't handle," Yao Yao said.

Jiang Zhu nodded: "Okay."

He sat down cross-legged, preparing to accumulate magical power.

"Did you always spend your time like this?" Yao Yao asked.

"Only by accumulating enough magical power can one remain awake for a longer period," Jiang Zhu said.

"Then why did you give the merit to me? Why to Ayan?"

Jiang Zhu said, "Because I can't use merits, nor can I bring them into the Green Lamp, after I fall into a deep sleep, I don't know if the merits will end up in the hands of people who are far away from me, so I used you as a vessel for merits. Back then, you were just a little girl who didn't understand anything."

As for Ayan, I felt pity for you back then, and I feel the same pity for you now.

Yao Yao looked at the sword box: "Years from now, will you remember Yao Yao? Just like you remember A Yan?"

"I will remember," Jiang Zhu said. "Don't be like Ayan and abandon me in the mountains."

"I won't. I'll go find someone with the talent for immortality, so that someone can stay by your side."

Yao Yao said.

“There’s no need to be attached to anything. You should have your own life. I’ve never expected anything in return from you,” Jiang Zhu said.

"Then why do you bestow blessings upon us?" Yao Yao asked curiously.

Jiang Zhu said gently, "Meeting each other is already a wonderful thing. Since we have met, it is fate. As long as you are not a bad person, I will bestow some blessings upon you."

“Meeting each other is already the best possible outcome.” Yao Yao murmured, “What is the best possible outcome?”

"Drawing a fortune stick at a temple, especially a very auspicious one, signifies great blessings," Jiang Zhu said.

Yao Yao fell silent, then sat down cross-legged with him: "You continue your cultivation, I won't disturb you."

Jiang Zhu closed his eyes, gathered the power of the sun and moon, and transformed it into magical power.

Although Yaoyao was cultivating, she kept thinking about Ayan and that auspicious fortune slip.

Was Ayan like me back then?

She spent her entire life searching for rare objects, hoping to find the essence of the sun and moon, but Jiang Zhu was not persistent. If she knew this, would she be disappointed?
Did she seek immortality so that she could forever hold onto the green lamp?

Yao Yao's thoughts were in disarray, and she was unable to enter a meditative state for a long time.

When the time came, the heavy rain outside the cave stopped, and Jiang Zhu's figure gradually disappeared, returning to the green lamp.

Yao Yao shouldered the sword case and walked out of the cave.

She went to a nearby city, changed into a white dress, the same white dress as Jiang Zhu, but embroidered with peach blossoms.

This time, she didn't insist on finding her father. Instead, she headed towards Qingjiang, wanting to see Baiyun Mountain and Yigu City.

A year later, Yao Yao arrived in Baiyun Town.

Ayan's home was submerged in that flood years ago, leaving no trace.

She climbed Baiyun Mountain, and at the summit, there was only a lone grave that had been dug up; the bones were nowhere to be seen.

Sitting atop the mountain, watching the clouds drift by endlessly, I suddenly felt my own insignificance.

She opened the sword box, and the Tianxuan Sword flew out. She practiced swordsmanship on the top of Baiyun Mountain. There was no sword energy soaring, nor was it as swift as before. Instead, it was slow and deliberate, with each move being conventional and unremarkable.

A set of Seven Star Sword Techniques, completely different from the previous ones.

Previously, when using the Tian Shu Sword, every move he made carried a sharp killing intent.

The Tianxuan Sword is nothing but ordinary; its moves are ordinary, and so is the swordsman's own understanding of ordinariness.

She sheathed her sword and remained seated atop the mountain, where another year passed. She then summoned her third sword, the Tianji Sword.

This time, the Seven Star Sword Technique is different again, flexible and unpredictable, like white clouds, ever-changing and elusive.

Her Seven Star Steps were graceful and ethereal, echoing the white clouds in the sky.

Tianxuan is an ordinary sword, while Tianji is like ever-changing white clouds, and also like the unpredictable and ever-changing encounters in life.

At that moment, she felt a shackle binding her.

Once she breaks through this barrier, she believes she will step into a new realm, a martial arts realm that even Ayan has never reached!

Late at night, Yao Yao sat alone on the mountaintop, gazing up at the sky and looking at the seven stars.

She let out a shout, as if telling heaven and earth, and also as if telling Ayan from back then.

"You have pushed the Seven Stars to their limit, then I will use my own sword to create the Seven Stars!"

Yao Yao shouldered her sword case and descended Baiyun Mountain. This time, she was going to the martial world.

I want to walk the same path that Ayan took back then.

That year, Yaoyao descended from Baiyun Mountain and entered the Jianghu of Qian Kingdom.

Instead of following Ayan's route entirely, she inquired about various martial arts sects and went directly to them.

The strength of these martial arts sects truly disappointed her; none of them could withstand a single blow from her sword.

Someone spread the story of her on the grasslands to the Qian Kingdom, and in no time, the entire northern part of the Qian Kingdom knew about this Peach Blossom Sword Demon.

Every time Yaoyao visits a sect, she leaves behind a sword mark and a set of sword techniques.

"This is the Tianxuan Sword that I have cultivated, which originated from the sword immortal Ayan. I hope that one day you will be able to comprehend it even more deeply and then draw your swords against me."

The martial arts practitioners never expected that this Peach Blossom Sword Demon would not only refrain from killing, but also leave behind a sword manual.

In the blink of an eye, she turned thirty-seven. Following in the footsteps of Ah Yan back then, she issued a wide call for heroes and convened a martial arts conference.

People from the Northern Martial World flocked to the site, showing even greater awe and joy towards the Peach Blossom Sword Demon compared to Ayan.

Because Ayan didn't know how to teach martial arts, but she did.

Yao Yao sat cross-legged on the city wall of Yi Gu City, with the Seven Star Sword Box beside her. Outside the city were martial arts practitioners participating in the conference.

"Ayan, did you see that?"

She whispered in a voice only she could hear that she was holding this martial arts tournament to tell Ayan that she had a successor.

Rumble

Suddenly, a muffled thunder rumbled in the sky, dark clouds rolled in, and lightning flashed across the sky.

"Leader, it's going to rain. Should we take shelter first?"

A middle-aged woman came to the city wall and asked respectfully.

Yao Yao didn't say anything, but looked up at the sky.

The rolling dark clouds actually condensed into a giant face, overlooking Yigu City.

That enormous face, high above, with indifferent eyes, regarded all living beings as ants.

"What it is?"

The martial artists looked up at the sky in horror. Someone could actually manipulate the celestial phenomena and conjure up human faces.

Yao Yao pressed down on the Seven Star Sword Box, suppressing the golden light of merit within her body, and slowly stood up: "Immortal Masters and Daoists, you've also started to engage in such underhanded tactics. Aren't you afraid of disgracing the spirits behind you?"

"Immortal Master or Daoist?"

"Isn't that something from a storybook, a legendary existence?" The martial artists' expressions changed drastically. This kind of existence, which only existed in legends, was actually real?!
His face stared coldly at her, remaining silent, his divine might like a prison, enveloping all the martial artists in the Jianghu.

puff

The martial artist could not bear it, his knees buckled, and he knelt down.

Yao Yao also felt a terrifying pressure, as if she were carrying a mountain on her back. Her internal energy surged like flames, and she struggled to stand up with her bent legs, gradually straightening them.

She kept her head held high, never lowering it: "If Ayan could unleash that sword strike back then, so can I!"

bang
True energy burst forth from his body, vast and boundless, transforming into a gigantic sword beam that shot straight into the sky.

At that moment, she felt that the shackles were loosening and were about to break.

(End of this chapter)