Borrowing a sword

Chapter 231 That Madman of the Ninth Realm
The only thing Chu Huaixu could recall about the three characters "Nan Liu Jing" was a line of poetry by Cao Zhi.

—I wish to be the flowing light of the south, so that I may see my lord.

Later, some people began to regard these three characters as one of the elegant names for the sun.

However, many disciples of the Gentleman's Temple, because they were bestowed with a two-character Dao Seal, can use it as their Daoist name, and it is not awkward or strange to pronounce.

But the Taoist priest Nan Liujing is a bit strange.

"And Nan Ryu-kyō refers to the sun."

"In other words, doesn't that mean I've become a 'Sun Taoist' now?"

He chuckled to himself, looking at the three golden characters in his palm, feeling quite satisfied.

As for why the Dao Ancestor gave Nan Liujing and Han Shuang the True Essence, perhaps there was a deeper meaning behind it.

— One who can distinguish right from wrong can uphold justice; one who has a kind heart can wield power.

"So, the final challenge of this Dao Ancestor's Inheritance Secret Realm is actually a psychological test?" Chu Huaixu was somewhat uncertain.

He glanced back, recalling each of the previous challenges.

The first hurdle seems to test one's character, and it will torment one's will and consciousness.

In the second challenge, there were so many mechanical puppets, and Han Shuangjiang was injured. The torment was on her body and bones, and the medicinal bath also tormented her meridians.

The third challenge involves comprehending swordsmanship, but it's not just about testing talent. It also involves hunger, thirst, a sense of urgency, and the threat of death.

In the fourth trial, after entering the illusionary realm, he became an ordinary Taoist disciple, losing all his magical treasures, power, and supernatural abilities. He was then tasked with subduing demons to test his character and conduct.

Connecting all these elements, Chu Huaixu suddenly paused for a moment.

"A coincidence?" he wondered.

The combination of these four challenges reminded him of a certain passage.

"[First, one must afflict their mind, exhaust their body, starve their flesh, leave them destitute, and thwart their endeavors!]"

Han Shuangjiang is the protagonist of the world, and her identity perfectly matches the preceding sentence of this passage.

—[Therefore, Heaven is about to entrust a great task to this person!]
Chu Huaixu's gaze sharpened slightly, his thoughts racing.

To be precise, the subsequent Dao Seal rewards are actually somewhat complementary.

It's not about playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses, but rather about bestowing upon one the Dao seal to make up for one's shortcomings.

This inexplicably matches the following sentence of this passage.

—【Therefore, by being moved to patience and perseverance, one can increase what one is incapable of.】

"What are you thinking about?" Big Ice Cube asked when he saw that he seemed to be thinking about something.

"It's nothing, maybe I'm just overthinking it," Chu Huaixu waved his hand and said.

Qingming Mountain is thousands of miles away from the Taoist temple.

Cheng Yuyan, still dressed as a scholar, was sitting opposite someone, drinking tea.

As the leader of the "Wrong Path," a great cultivator of the ninth realm, he always took the initiative to make tea for the person next to him.

He was an old man, very thin, even somewhat gaunt.

This made his skin look somewhat wrinkled.

Moreover, he also appears to be blind.

In the Xuanhuang Realm, once one's cultivation reaches a certain level, eye ailments are not a particularly troublesome issue.

Even some rare and precious natural materials can replace the function of the eyes, so losing eyeballs is not a big problem.

But this old man happened to be blind.

A blind man whose cultivation level is at the Great Perfection of the Eighth Realm.

After taking a sip of the tea that Cheng Yuyan poured for him, the old man said, "Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang should be coming out of the Dao Ancestor's Secret Realm soon."

The scholar, nicknamed Cheng Xiucai, was slightly taken aback upon hearing this: "Chu Huaixu?"

"Elder Ming, do you mean that Chu Huaixu has also entered the Dao Ancestor's Secret Realm?"

"But didn't you say before that Han Shuangjiang entered the secret realm alone?"

The old man named Ming Xuanji waved his hand, then calculated again with his fingers and said, "I just calculated that there is one more person in the secret realm, and his fate has changed again."

"I don't know how Chu Huaixu got in, but the calculation shows this is the result. Fate has changed again because of him."

Cheng Yuyan looked at him and said, "Ming Lao, it's already like this, yet you still insist on your view that everything is predetermined, that everyone has their own destiny, and that it's all preordained?"

Ming Xuanji nodded and replied, "Although variables continue to appear, changing the destined trajectories of many people, the path has changed but they will still lead to the destined end. It's just that the end now is different from the end in the past."

"Then what is this so-called destiny?" Cheng Yuyan asked.

My fate has changed, how can you call this destiny?
Ming Xuanji shook his head and said, "If I can calculate it, then it means there is a predetermined ending."

"Only when I can't calculate it does the variable truly change the constant."

Cheng Yuyan pondered these words for a while and roughly understood what the old man meant.

He felt there was some truth to it.

The old man continued to calculate with his fingers, then let out a surprised exclamation.

"This Chu Huaixu actually received a seal from the Dao Ancestor?"

"Hmm? What character did the Dao Ancestor bestow?" Cheng Yuyan immediately became interested.

With a wave of his hand, Ming Xuanji conjured a piece of paper and a pen on the table.

He picked up the brush, paused for a moment, calculated with his left hand, and first wrote down the words "Return to True Essence".

"These are the characters that Han Shuangjiang will receive; these three characters have never changed." "Regardless of whether Chu Huaixu enters the secret realm or not, she will ultimately receive these three characters."

“Since she inherited Yan Shen’s legacy and comprehended the sword intent of reincarnation, then perhaps these three words were originally left for her by the Dao Ancestor a thousand years ago,” Ming Xuanji said.

Cheng Yuyan clicked her tongue in amazement: "【Return to True Essence】and 【Reincarnation Sword Intent】? They do match quite well."

"But as far as I know, the Three-Character Dao Seal is a seal that can only be bestowed upon the abbot of the Gentleman's Temple in each generation."

"As the second-generation abbot and the founder of the path of reincarnation, Yan Shen's bestowal of the seal was not a return to true essence."

"It is said to be the [Water Cloud Body]."

The old man's empty eyes stared ahead as he said indifferently, "Yan Shen doesn't need a seal like the [Return to True Essence]."

“In fact, isn’t the Dao Ancestor’s bestowal of the seal also leading others toward their destined end?” Ming Xuanji suddenly said.

Cheng Yuyan opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, she ultimately gave up.

At this moment, the old man picked up the brush again, then frowned slightly and began to marvel.

"They actually gave him those three words?"

He began to write "Nan Liujing" on the paper.

Cheng Yuyan was well-read from a young age and was a true scholar with official titles, but he only embarked on the path of cultivation later.

Therefore, he naturally knew that "Nan Liujing" referred to the sun in the sky.

He was also slightly taken aback, not expecting the Dao Ancestor to have such a high opinion of Chu Huaixu.

just
Cheng Yuyan looked at Ming Xuanji and said, "Elder Ming, you have always talked about the overall situation of the world. The Dao Ancestor calculated everything a thousand years ago, and you have also calculated half of it."

"But if Chu Huaixu is the variable you mentioned, how could the Dao Ancestor have left a message for him in advance?"

Ming Xuanji waved his hand: "No, no. The Dao Ancestor seized the power of heaven and earth and left behind three thousand Dao Seals."

No one knows which three thousand powers there are in total.

"He just happened to fit those three words, which is why he got those three words."

"The only people the Dao Ancestor divined were Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing, as well as those related to them. As for the others, that's just a matter of fate, after all, the Dao follows the natural way," the old man said.

Cheng Yuyan understood.

Nanliujing is within the Three Thousand Seals, but it was not specifically left for the Chu Huai Xu a thousand years later.

Because he is a variable.

Ming Xuanji had never foreseen him, and he believed that the Dao Ancestor naturally had not either.

Otherwise, why would this person always destroy so many of the Dao Ancestor's contingency plans and arrangements?
The old man picked up the teacup and took a small sip of the hot tea.

His empty eyes stared ahead as he said, "If given the chance, I would still choose to set things right."

The chaos he referred to was naturally the Chu Huai Preface.

The ending was already good, so why change it?
Since it is already a good ending, the variables seem somewhat superfluous, or even unnecessary.

His existence will continuously change the course of the story.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yuyan brewed tea for herself and said with a smile, "If I don't run into him, that's fine. But if I happen to run into him, I will protect Chu Huaixu."

"Elder Ming, you should know that I, Cheng Yuyan, owe the Daoist sect a favor."

Ming Xuanji turned his head, his empty eyes staring at him. Hearing those familiar words, a half-smile appeared on his face.

The Taoist gate, Medicine Mountain, outside the Cold Pool.

Xiang Yan and the others flew to this place, waiting for Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang to come out of the secret realm.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the man and woman emerged from the secret realm.

The two of them gained tremendous benefits from this trip, experiencing significant improvements both internally and externally.

The rewards for each level are very generous, and the combination of these four levels can be said to have greatly improved the overall strength of the two.

A group of high-ranking members of the Daoist sect immediately surrounded them, scrutinizing the young couple from head to toe.

The naturally lively Chu Yinyin immediately said, "Chu Huaixu, Han Shuangjiang, quickly show me the seals bestowed by your Dao Ancestor!"

She was extremely curious about what kind of power those two three-character seals contained.

Han Shuangjiang's [Return to True Essence] was not surprising at all.

On the contrary, Chu Huaixu's [Nan Liujing] surprised everyone slightly.

Listening to his description, everyone felt that this seal was quite remarkable.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Zhi's hands, which were behind her back, began to tremble slightly and would twitch suddenly from time to time.

Everyone looked at each other, and their gazes eventually settled on Jiang Zhi.

"Chu Huaixu, I wonder how much power this seal can display now, given your cultivation level," Jiang Zhi said, her voice trembling slightly.

"In a little while, come with me to a place where I'll take you to meet someone."

Dao Yin [Nan Liu Jing]: It can ward off evil and dispel calamities, remove karmic obstacles, and transform inner demons. Its light nourishes all beings, and can bring the dead back to life and heal the wounded.

No one knew what extent Chu Huaixu was capable of achieving.

They were also unsure whether the three-character Dao seal left by the Dao Ancestor also had its own upper limit.

But, if... if
Everyone felt they should give it a try.

Everyone thought that the Daoist sect only had Jiang Zhi, a great cultivator at the ninth level, left. After he fell from his level, the Daoist sect didn't even have a cultivator at the ninth level anymore.

But in fact?
Inside the Gentleman's Temple, there is also a madman of the Ninth Realm locked up!
(P.S.: I have a fever and a severe cough. I cough incessantly every night until midnight, making it impossible to sleep. I haven't been able to fall asleep until 6 AM for three consecutive days. I don't know what new strain it is. It's so uncomfortable.)
I originally wanted to ask for leave, but considering I haven't taken a single leave since starting this book, I didn't want to break that rule, so I'll just post a single update for one day.
(End of this chapter)