Free Web NovelChapter 505: Chapter 4: Today is an Auspicious Day
Crimson Ridge Celestial Venerable was completely stunned. A moment ago, he had been seated high in the Celestial Vault, looking down on the world below. A single thought from him could turn heaven and earth upside down, leaving the entire colossal mountain teetering on the brink of collapse.
The next instant, he saw a vast, majestic, and boundless withered hand. In a daze, he found himself on the ground, his entire body wracked with excruciating pain. Every bone was shattered!
He wasn’t the only one who was stunned. The middle-aged man who had accompanied him, now standing isolated on a cloud, was equally dumbfounded.
So were Zhou Xiaotong, Lin Yiyi, and Chen Lide.
They stared blankly at the Immortal Court Celestial Venerable in the courtyard, sprawled in the mud like a dead dog. The hair on their arms stood on end, and their minds were reeling in a daze.
A second later, the three of them turned their heads with mechanical stiffness. Their gazes fell upon the withered, hunched-over old man who was coughing violently.
The old man seemed exhausted. He stroked his scruffy, unshaven chin and looked at Chong Shanhu with a faint smile, his voice gentle.
"Shan Hu, are you willing to become my disciple?"
Chong Shanhu shuddered, his eyes rimmed with red. He immediately dragged his battered body forward and prostrated on the ground. His voice was hoarse and dry as he spoke.
"This student, Chong Shanhu, pays his respects, Teacher!"
"Excellent."
Lu Xuan smiled and nodded. Beside them, Zhou Xiaotong felt as if her world had been turned upside down. She had heard Chong Shanhu ramble on about this ’teacher’ for more than a decade.
’And now... this teacher has actually appeared?’
’And just by such a coincidence?’
’And what’s more...’
Zhou Xiaotong couldn’t stop herself from glancing again at the blood-soaked Crimson Ridge Celestial Venerable. Her mind was buzzing!
Lin Yiyi and Chen Lide were in a similar state. They gazed at the old man with a mixture of reverence and fear, their hearts pounding with excitement.
’To capture a Celestial Venerable with a single hand...’
’He must be an incredibly magnificent figure!’
’Is he one of the most powerful Immortal Celestial Venerables or Buddhas? Or perhaps a supreme figure comparable to the masters of the Holy Lands, a titan of legend?’
Amid the dead silence, the middle-aged man in the sky finally came to his senses. He tried to flee on his cloud, only to instantly explode into a brilliant firework.
The old man glanced impassively at the bloody firework on the horizon and yawned.
"Some people would rather be lapdogs for the Immortals and Buddhas than live as proper humans..."
He paused, then slowly turned his head and smiled at Chong Shanhu, who was still prostrated on the ground.
"Since you’re willing to enter my tutelage, we’ll do it today. If we delay, I might just forget all about it."
Lin Yiyi hesitated for a moment before mustering her courage and speaking softly.
"Senior, when one takes a disciple, isn’t it customary to choose an auspicious day and time?"
Lu Xuan’s eyelids drooped. He first bade Chong Shanhu to rise, then gave a dry chuckle.
"An auspicious day and time, you say..."
He was reminded of when his own master took him in as a disciple. With a single pronouncement, his master had decreed the entire world to be auspicious for the occasion. A wave of nostalgia washed over him, but he said no more on the matter, simply stating:
"Shan Hu, follow me to the East to complete the ceremony."
Pausing, Lu Xuan turned to the three youngsters and asked with another smile.
"Would you care to witness the ceremony?"
The three of them—Zhou Xiaotong, Lin Yiyi, and Chen Lide—exchanged glances. ’He’s really going to complete the ceremony in the Immortal Court’s territory?’
’This is...’
Gritting their teeth, all three bowed and accepted the invitation in unison, though a hint of apprehension still lingered in their eyes.
Displaying a courage that belied her youth, Lin Yiyi cautiously asked:
"Senior, the Immortal Court’s domain on the Eastern Continent... they say many Immortals reside there, and even several legendary titans have taken up roost.
The Lord of the Dragon Tiger Holy Land once ventured deep into their territory and was hunted down. He nearly met his end!"
Lu Xuan offered a gentle smile and replied at a leisurely pace.
"Oh, that does sound quite dangerous... But doesn’t the Immortal Court revere the Immortal Mother? The Immortal Mother and I go way back. I’m sure the Immortal Court will show me some courtesy."
Huh???
The moment he said this, everyone—from Chong Shanhu, Zhou Xiaotong, and the two teenagers, to even the Crimson Ridge Celestial Venerable gasping on the ground—raised their heads in stunned bewilderment.
’The Immortal Mother... an old acquaintance?’
Chong Shanhu was the first to recover. He knew his teacher’s identity was unparalleled even in the Ancient Times, when he was revered as Lu Zi.
Zhou Xiaotong and the other two were simply filled with even greater reverence, not fully grasping the significance of the name ’Immortal Mother’.
The Crimson Ridge Celestial Venerable, however, was utterly stupefied. He felt as though the words Lu Xuan had spoken were a heavy sledgehammer, relentlessly pounding against his skull, leaving his mind dizzy and confused.
The Crimson Ridge Celestial Venerable couldn’t see through the withered old man before him, but he knew such a being would never make idle boasts. Which meant...
Lu Xuan nodded. He casually seized the Crimson Ridge Celestial Venerable, whose mind was in a state of Chaos and confusion, and lifted him as one would a dead dog. "Let’s be on our way..."
He led the dumbfounded group out of the collapsed Daoist Temple, his steps slow and deliberate. As he crossed the threshold of the main gate,
Lu Xuan glanced back at the dilapidated, illegible plaque above the doorway.
He raised the Cyan Lamp to illuminate the plaque and sighed wistfully.
"Restore."
As that single, light word fell, the Path of Great Balance revealed itself to be one and the same as the path of Time.
Before their astonished eyes, the entire collapsed Daoist Temple began to tremble. Specks of dust swirled backward, retreating and dispersing.
The web of cracks on the Daoist School’s walls mended themselves, bit by bit. Time itself was rewinding for the entire Daoist Temple complex,
until it was restored to the tranquil Daoist Temple it had been years ago.
Lin Yiyi stared blankly as the Daoist Temple was made anew. She watched as a torrent of Immortal Spiritual Qi erupted from the soil in the courtyard.
She saw the dried-up pond suddenly fill with liquefied Divine Essence and Immortal Spiritual Qi. She watched as the shattered Corpse Puppet became whole again...
’Is this... a miracle?’
She couldn’t comprehend the scene before her. It was as if Time and the Years themselves had reversed direction. All traces of ruin and the passage of ages vanished.
Subconsciously, they all lifted their gazes to the temple’s main gate, to the plaque that was now perfectly whole once more.
On the plaque, three large characters were deeply engraved, as if by knife and chisel. The strokes of the characters overflowed with a vibrant Dao Rhyme. A single glance was enough to feel as though one were gazing upon the profound truths of the universe, an intoxicating and mesmerizing experience.
