Ch43 – Master’s past

Translator: Abo Dammen

Hearing this, the elders all froze. Difficulty showed on their faces, as if countless words were stuck in their throats, yet none of them knew where to begin. In the end, they could only exchange hesitant, restrained looks with one another, wanting to speak but stopping themselves.

Seeing their expressions, Lin Zhao couldn’t help but sigh and said slowly, “Actually, I’ve always been curious as well. Back then, what was the real reason that Second Martial Grandfather and Third Martial Grandfather had to be expelled from the sect? Was there some misunderstanding involved?” 

Bai Qing was equally shocked by Lin Zhao’s words. He widened his eyes and blurted out, “What? Lin Zhao, you’re the sect leader, and you don’t even know the inside story?”

Hearing Bai Qing say this, the elders’ expressions grew even uglier. Some furrowed their brows deeply, some lowered their heads, all of them doing their best to avoid the topic.

Lin Zhao, however, looked resolute. He swept his gaze across the elders and said, “I know the elders all have their concerns. But since things have come to this point, what is there that still can’t be said?”

The elders sighed, once again exchanging helpless looks. 

Finally, it was the Third Elder who cleared his throat. His voice carried both heaviness and a trace of release as he spoke, “Actually, what happened back then wasn’t that complicated.” His gaze gradually drifted away, piercing through time, returning to a certain day many years ago. “It was something from two hundred years ago.”

Bai Qing sat down in his chair and listened quietly.

As a “yao attendant” and a “ghost attendant,” Tao Yaozhi and Jing Liansheng consciously did not take seats, instead standing on Bai Qing’s left and right.

“Two hundred years ago, our sect’s leader was the renowned Wuyou Sheng. Under him were many outstanding disciples, new talents who were beginning to shine in the world of mystic arts,” the Third Elder said softly, his brows slightly knit as he tried to recall distant details. “All except Ying Zhili.” 

“Oh?” Bai Qing raised an eyebrow. If Wuyou Sheng was from two hundred years ago, how could Ying Zhili, who was at least a thousand years old, have been his disciple?

“Ying Zhili… he was different from all the other disciples,” the Third Elder continued.

“Our sect’s cultivation methods emphasize tongzi practice. Usually, disciples enter the sect while still children to lay a proper foundation,” he said slowly. “But when Ying Zhili joined, he was clearly already an adult. This surprised many people.”

The First Elder took over, clearly still puzzled by that past. “No one knew why the Master made an exception to accept him. Ying Zhili’s origins and background were all a mystery. We only knew that after entering the sect, he didn’t practice like the other disciples, attending morning and evening lessons or diligently cultivating mystic arts. His main responsibilities were organizing the library and tending flowers and plants. He lived a leisurely life every day, yet he was extremely favored by Master.” 

Hearing this, Bai Qing understood something. He exchanged a glance with Jing Liansheng. They had both thought of the same possibility.

Bai Qing decided to ask outright. “This so-called ‘tending flowers and plants’… could it be that Ying Zhili was specifically cultivating the Ancient Lotus?”

At Bai Qing’s question, the four elders’ expressions changed slightly. “You know about the Ancient Lotus as well?”

Bai Qing thought to himself, ‘How could I not? It’s an old acquaintance.’ 

Now he also understood why the thousand-year-old Ying Zhili had become the disciple of the barely hundred-year-old Wuyou Sheng.

So it was another case of recruiting people for the Ancient Lotus.

“You said Ying Zhili was different from the other disciples,” Bai Qing continued, now understanding Ying Zhili’s role. “What about my master? Was there anything unusual about him?”

“When Chu Ze entered the sect, he wasn’t already old like Ying Zhili,” the Second Elder recalled. “Back then, Master accepted him as a disciple because he had exceptional physique and extraordinary intelligence. Master was very optimistic about his future. But who would have thought that heaven envies talent. At twenty-five, during a demon-exorcising mission, he was gravely injured, and his foundation was badly damaged. From then on, not to mention cultivation, even his lifespan was unlikely to exceed thirty.” 

Bai Qing was greatly astonished. “Unlikely to live past thirty? But… he’s lived until now?”

Jing Liansheng thought of something and said, “He must have learned some other kind of cultivation technique.”

The First Elder nodded gravely. “Exactly. No one knows where he learned that harvesting-and-supplementing demonic technique, using yang to sustain yang and make up for his losses. But once you open that door, there’s no turning back. It’s like pouring water into a leaking vat. No matter how desperately you pour, the water keeps leaking out and can never be filled. You can only keep pouring, endlessly, until there’s no water left to use.”

Bai Qing thought in shock. No wonder Shifu is always so obsessed with men. I thought it was just his personal hobby… Turns out it was a desperate struggle to survive? 

“Why is dual cultivation considered a demonic technique?” Tao Yaozhi, being a charm demon, had a different view. He spoke up loudly in protest. “This is the way of yin and yang, what’s demonic about it? I think you’re the demonic ones! All of you, thousands of years old and still preserving your virginity! That’s what truly goes against heaven! No wonder all of you have such terrible tempers, short-fused and explosive! I think you’re all like thousand-year-old turtles who are pent-up!”

Being openly roasted by a demon, the elders all looked unhappy. They were just about to scold Tao Yaozhi harshly when Bai Qing hurriedly cut in and continued asking, “So, was it because you discovered Shifu was practicing dual cultivation techniques that you expelled him from the sect?”

The Fourth Elder pondered for a moment before replying. “Indeed, that was the reason. Our sect has always emphasized abstinence and preserving yang, using purity of heart and desirelessness as the foundation of cultivation. Practicing such harvesting techniques and doing so extensively was a grave violation of our sect’s rules. That Master didn’t beat him to death back then was already an act of mercy, considering that he acted out of a will to survive and never harmed others. Expelling him from the sect was the utmost leniency.”

Having understood why Chu Ze was expelled, Bai Qing asked, “Then why was Ying Zhili expelled as well?” 

At this, the four elders looked at one another, all showing awkward expressions, as if the reason was extremely difficult to put into words.

Seeing their faces, a bold guess surfaced in Bai Qing’s mind. “Could it be… they…” Yet even Bai Qing, rare as it was, felt embarrassed, and his words trailed off.

Tao Yaozhi, however, said bluntly, “Chu Ze harvested Ying Zhili?”

These words made all four elders blush and avert their gazes. 

Seeing their reaction, even Tao Yaozhi was deeply shaken. Virgins really are something else. Hundreds of years old and still this pure.

Lin Zhao was also dumbfounded, his worldview shattered. “You’re saying… Second Martial Grandfather and Third Martial Grandfather…”

How could Bai Qing not be equally shaken? “No way… Is it really like that?”

Forget Bai Qing, even Jing Liansheng experienced a full-on blood-red-eyed shock, as if witnessing a phenomenon unseen in a thousand years. 

“Ah… misfortune for the sect,” the Second Elder sighed, stroking his beard. “Although everyone knew it was Chu Ze who seduced first, since both of them violated the rules, we could only expel them equally.”

This time, Bai Qing was unhappy. “How do you know it was Shifu who seduced first? Did you install surveillance cameras on them?”

The Second Elder was choked by Bai Qing’s words and couldn’t respond for a moment, only coughing awkwardly a few times. The First Elder recovered first and said sternly, “Ying Zhili has always been gentle, refined, and courteous. He was just a frail scholar. Chu Ze learned demonic arts and used them on him, how could he possibly resist?”

Bai Qing thought, ‘Gentle, refined, courteous, frail scholar? Are we talking about the same Ying Zhili?’ 

The Second Elder nodded repeatedly. “Although we didn’t witness it with our own eyes, the general course of events can still be inferred.”

“Inferred? So it’s all just imagination?” Bai Qing spoke up for his master. “Then in my view, it was Ying Zhili who was refined on the outside and debauched on the inside! That so-called harvesting secret technique was also given to Shifu by Ying Zhili! He deliberately seduced Shifu onto a crooked path!”

The elders all shook their heads after hearing Bai Qing, clearly disagreeing. Bai Qing ignored their opinions and turned his head to look at Jing Liansheng instead. “Liansheng, what do you think?”

He saw Jing Liansheng also slowly shaking his head. Bai Qing stared in disbelief. “What? You agree with them too?” 

“I think what you said isn’t quite right,” Jing Liansheng said.

“Ah?” Bai Qing couldn’t believe it. “Don’t tell me even you think Ying Zhili is a good person?”

Jing Liansheng continued calmly, “It’s not that Ying Zhili gave Chu Ze the harvesting-and-supplementing technique to deliberately seduce him. It’s that Ying Zhili made Chu Ze beg for the technique and actively seduced Ying Zhili instead.”

That long chain of cause and effect sent Bai Qing spinning in circles. 

After digesting it, Bai Qing was both utterly shaken and found it strangely convincing. Ah, you dead guy! As expected of you!!

The elders were stunned by Jing Liansheng’s words, their faces full of disbelief. Their entire worldview had been hit hard. “What are you saying? How could that be possible?”

Jing Liansheng ignored the elders entirely and spoke as if thinking aloud. “Your sect is located in a remote area. After Chu Ze was gravely injured, it would have been nearly impossible for him to go down the mountain to find someone to harvest yang from. He could only look within the sect. And within the sect, everyone strictly observed the precepts. If he wanted to prolong his life, aside from begging Ying Zhili for intimacy, he had no other choice. This should all have been Ying Zhili’s calculation.”

Bai Qing thought: What kind of absolute freak is Ying Zhili? 

He frowned again. “But by doing this, what benefit did Ying Zhili gain?”

Jing Liansheng frowned as well. “That part, even I can’t figure out.”

Tao Yaozhi, however, had no trouble figuring it out at all. “What’s so hard to understand? It’s just that his itch acted up, and he wanted to get through Chu Ze once, that’s all.”

At that, the five centuries-old, well-aged, pure virgin old men seated there all turned red in the face, so embarrassed they wanted to cover their faces and crawl all over the ground. Both Bai Qing and Jing Liansheng found it hard to believe. 

Probably because they’d known Ying Zhili for too long. After enough time together, stereotypes inevitably formed. In their stereotype, Ying Zhili shouldn’t be the kind of person who itches. Tao Yaozhi didn’t know Ying Zhili at all, so his judgment was based purely on instinct.

He laughed and said, “What’s so strange about that? Besides, didn’t Lin Zhao say Ying Zhili has already arrived? Just find him and ask him directly!”

Lin Zhao nodded as well and said to the elders, “Second Martial Grandfather set off ahead of us. He should have already arrived, right?”

The elders, however, all looked confused. “He hasn’t come.” 

As soon as those words fell, Lin Zhao and Bai Qing both froze.

Jing Liansheng glanced toward the sky outside the hall, his eyes narrowing slightly. He pinched his fingers to calculate and said in a low voice, “He’s arrived.”