Chapter 150 – Good People Don’t Live Long

“Senior brother, do you think he could be…” asked one deacon hesitantly to the other via telepathy. He sounded a little helpless as to what to do.

“That’s impossible! Do you know what level of cultivation that person is at?” The other deacon immediately shot the idea down and responded in a stern voice, “Someone at Divine Soul has a complete hun and po, and their will lives forever. Losing one’s memory will never happen. Besides, if it was really that person disguising himself, the senior master would have noticed when we took the soul fire from this young man. Don’t forget, that person committed a terrible sin in the Upper World back then, and even the kingdom has issued a search warrant to thousands of worlds. There are countless people who would be familiar with him.”

“You’re right. It’s too bad that our plan failed. I’m sure that fellow isn’t dead yet. Otherwise, thousands of disciples from the major sects wouldn’t have all perished just like that.” The first deacon was relieved at first, but the thought of the disciples who died in the secret realm made him grit his teeth. He lost a nephew in the secret realm too.

“There, there. Don’t take it so hard. It’s hard to discern the will of the heavens, and many things on the path of cultivation are unforeseen. Everything…everything is really a tribulation.” The other deacon sighed inwardly when he saw the pained look on his junior’s face and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

“What’s your name?” The deacon smiled warmly as he cast a heart-purifying spell on Gu Suihan, which greatly relieved him of the splitting headache he was suffering from.

“Gu…Suihan.” Gu Suihan now looked a little frostily at the deacon. He panicked a little when he thought about what these deacons had taken from his brain earlier, and he had a gut feeling that even if he died, he wouldn’t be able to get out of the Youthful Clarity Sect anymore.

That thought made him hate the cultivators in front of him now. The seeds of hatred were quietly sown at this very moment.

“Hold on to your disciple token carefully, okay? Jingjing, take him out to where he can collect his pills and spiritual stones.” The deacon felt guilty and did not dare to look straight at Gu Suihan’s sinister gaze. He avoided Gu Suihan’s gaze and used his qi to quickly carve a disciple token for the young man, then threw it to him.

“Senior sister, why is big brother just sitting in the pavilion in a daze?”

Shuang’er and Jingjing stood far, far away, halfway up the mountain, and looked down at the courtyard that looked like it was part of a painting. It had a quiet pavilion with red pillars that overlooked a pond with carp swimming in the waters.

The two ladies had been observing Gu Suihan for several days now. Ever since he came back with them, he had not said a single word, and if he saw them, he would blatantly give them a hateful stare. His piercing gaze made their hearts turn cold, and they felt a chill run down their spine.

After that, they didn’t dare to face Gu Suihan. They didn’t even dare to enter his little courtyard.

“I don’t know. But we’ve had someone who refused to become a cultivator no matter what, just like him. He was forced to join the sect and tried to escape, but after failing each time, he finally gave up and resigned himself to his fate. And when he did that, he actually advanced much more quickly in his cultivation than before,” said Jingjing with much confidence. But when she thought about that begrudging look that Gu Suihan would give her, the confidence she felt disappeared again.

“How did I end up like this?” wondered Gu Suihan as he stared in a daze at the intricately carved token on the table. This situation hurt him so much.

“Do good people…come to bad ends after all?”

The teachings of his parents slowly surfaced in his mind before the scene suddenly switched to the moment where a surge of refugees killed them cruelly.

His parents were kind folks who would definitely set up a tent to cook porridge for victims of natural disasters. But all they got in return was a tragic end to the family. He had been lucky enough to escape that calamity, and he decided to try and look for his uncle, who lived in the capital, to see if his uncle would take him in. Along the way, he noticed a little girl passed out along the road and decided to rescue her. He didn’t expect himself to end up like this.

Become a cultivator? He didn’t want to do that. He just wanted to have a normal family, to be surrounded by his loved ones, and enjoy bliss with the ones he loved. To him, it was enough for one to live for a few decades. Why insist on cultivating as if your life depended on it? And watch loved one after loved one die in front of you? Why would anyone want that?

“I…will have my revenge.” Gu Suihan glared spitefully at the small token and gripped it tightly, ignoring the terrible pain brought by the sharp corners of the token cutting into his fair skin. It was as if he was determined to do something.

He slowly released his grip and looked at the bloodied token in his hand. He suddenly burst into a smile. His smile was pretty, but it was void of any feeling.

“I’ve…I don’t think I’ve ever learned how to wield a sword. But why does it seem so familiar to me?” As he held a long sword in his hand, a feeling of déjà vu came over him. This really puzzled him.

But he quickly put aside all these thoughts since he couldn’t figure it out anyway and turned his attention to the sword manual lying on the table.

“Swooshing Wind Sword Technique!” He looked at the complex sword moves and the overly complicated technical explanations that he had never seen before and felt even more puzzled now. He realized that he seemed to understand all of it.

He instinctively closed his eyes and began thinking about everything he had just read. The complicated manual was slowly analyzed and put together again in his mind, then reenacted flawlessly in his brain.

“It’s so simple!”

He picked up the sword and started going through each move like he had practiced them a thousand times before. He didn’t look like he was doing this for the first time at all.

“Complete understanding with the sword and a natural formation of a sword will!” Jingjing got excited and watched in amazement at Gu Suihan wielding the sword with ease. There was a gleam in her pretty eyes that was tinged slightly with some jealousy.

“Gu Suihan? Big brother…” Jingjing did not notice that Shuang’er was frowning deeply as though she was having a terrible headache. “Why do I feel this odd familiarity with him? It’s as though he’s more than just my benefactor. I seem…I seem to have forgotten something!”

“Why am I able to do this like it’s not my first time?” Gu Suihan slowly executed each move and only became more puzzled. He felt like he had forgotten something, and this thing he had forgotten was extremely important to him.

“Come along, Shuang’er. It looks like he’s gotten over it,” said Jingjing after she sighed inwardly at how quickly Gu Suihan had learned the moves. She took the girl’s hand in hers and quietly left their spot on the mountain.

“What?! He’s mastered the Whooshing Wind Sword Technique after just reading it once?”

On the peak of the mountain, the sect leader of the Youthful Clarity Sect, Zhou Lingfeng, stared unblinkingly at the elder before him with a shocked but excited look on his face.

The elder’s face was all red as he did his best to hold up against the pressurizing sword will of his sect leader that was able to slice through almost anything. His voice was weak as he replied, “That’s right. Jingjing saw it very clearly. Gu Suihan had only read the manual for less than 15 minutes, and he was able to replicate the moves without any mistakes. There was no presence of qi, but the details were all there.”

“The heavens are looking after the Youthful Clarity Sect!” Zhou Lingfeng quietened down and retracted the powerful sword will he had unleashed earlier. After a few moments of thinking, he said in a low voice, “The world of cultivation is in chaos, and all the sects have suffered a lot of damage. Everyone is pretty much only left with the most powerful and the least powerful people in the sect. Despite these circumstances, we actually stumbled upon a disciple with such incredible talent? I’m worried that…”

“Sect Leader, that shouldn’t be possible. The great Qingming was a formidable cultivator at the Divine Soul Realm. His hun and po are one, so he is no longer bound by the laws of nature that govern this world. Nobody in the Upper World has ever heard of a Divine Soul cultivator losing their memories either, so I think the chances of what you’re worried about are very low.” The elder thought about what Zhou Lingfeng said, then argued against this possibility.

Zhou Lingfeng did not really suspect it was true either. This was just the cautious instinct he had as the leader of a sect. He didn’t think much about it after that.

“Sect Leader, I think this is a time of political chaos. Since we have such a genius on hand, we should spend all our efforts and resources in grooming him now, then…perhaps two years later, we can kill off the best from other sects during the inter-sect exchange,” said the elder excitedly, his eyes glinting as if he had thought of something.

Zhou Lingfeng was not stupid. The elder had not explained much, but he could guess what the elder was talking about. His face became flush with excitement, and his gaze was electrifying as he declared in a deep voice, “We might even be able to squeeze the Seven Kill Sect out of their position among the top three and replace them!”

“That’s right!”

“This sounds like a plausible plan. Send out my instructions to the rest to make sure everyone puts in every effort to train and groom that young man from today onwards. It must be done at any cost.” Zhou Lingfeng’s eyes were bloodshot as he spoke decisively.

“According to what these fellows are planning, they’re after something really big, but I’ve lost a lot of my strength. At the same time, the world of cultivation seems to think that Qingming is actually still alive. For Gu Suihan to display such aptitude during such dire times is really quite a crazy thing to do.” The Huangquan Evil Ghost had been hiding inside the courtyard where Gu Suihan lived and had seized the chance to gobble up the soul and memories of an elder, so it found out what was going on and couldn’t help but worry for Gu Suihan.

But a few seconds later, it had a hardened look in its eyes as it muttered, “Never mind! Never mind! All cultivators have to always keep their eyes on the things ahead but also watch their backs. Since I was the one who insisted on following him so that I could gain something along the way, it’s time I contributed in some way.”

Once it had decided, it looked intently at Gu Suihan, who was seated cross-legged on the floor and cultivating. It silently prayed for the young man, then transformed itself into a black shadow and floated silently out of the sect.