Chapter 75 The Man Who Prefers to Reason

The fight between two cultivators at the same stage by the river finally ended with the gifted Dao cultivator, Ye Shengge’s killing the man holding an umbrella there.

It took Ye Shengge most of her treasures to handle the Ghostly Talisman left by Sage Chen. After using the painting, Ye Shengge also wielded several moderate-class magic tools to stop the Ghostly Talisman. In the end, before the man was seriously beaten to vomiting blood, he even had felt pretty certain about his victory today. After being defeated, he appeared delirious. He even went mad when he was stabbed through his heart by Ye Shengge with the talisman sword.

His corpse was thrown into the river and became the food of fishes and shrimps. He didn’t come to a good end but it was better than having no remains. Ye Shengge who scraped a narrow victory looked pale and even had a hole in her heart, which was caused by the last blow of the Ghostly Talisman before it disappeared. As a result, all the Qi she had accumulated over these years flew out of the hole nonstop. It was like a big hole suddenly appearing in a normal rice field, for which all the water of the field flowed away along the hole. If nothing was done to fix the hole and the water ran out, the crops in the field would wither. However, she had a lot of magic tools with her. Shortly after that, she took out a stamp which was not big and put it into her heart to plug the hole temporarily. Then she would be fine as long as she restored it bit by bit later. Her foundation of Dao was much more stable than others’ and her heart for Daoism was almost perfect. Under the circumstance, a fight couldn’t destroy it completely. However, after the assassination happened today, this gifted Dao cultivator, who had never gone down the mountain or experienced any hardships, did benefit a lot.

By the river, Ye Shengge put away her treasures, picked up the oil-paper umbrella and opened it. Holding it in her hand, she felt a chill deep in her heart. Ye Shengge tilted her head and thought about the name of the umbrella. She had looked through quite some Daoist scrolls in the Sky Building, some of which were about the unusual magic tools of prestigious mountains and Daoist temples in this human world. The umbrella should be the leverage that could ensure that the man’s assassination wouldn’t be found out. It was a valuable treasure of Yuwu Mountain, which should be recorded in the Daoist scroll, but she couldn’t think of it now. Neither could she be bothered to ponder over it. Then she just got rid of the constraint on the umbrella in a special way of Chenxie Mountain and said with a smile, “I’ll call you Peach Blossom from now on.”

Fine, God knew why this girl in a white dress took such a liking for peach blossoms!

Her talisman sword was called Peach Blossom. And she came to the Cangyun River to fish for peach blossom fish. Now that she gained a new magic tool, she named it as Peach Blossom too.

If the gentle temple owner was here, he would make fun of Ye Shengge and asked her why she didn’t rename herself as Peach Blossom Ye?

However, it remained unknown whether Ye Shengge would listen to him.

After putting away her own treasures, Ye Shengge took a glance at the straw rain cape and the bamboo hat and then left them there. Now that she had an oil-paper umbrella and didn’t feel like continuing fishing, she didn’t want those things then.

However, she had just walked a few steps forward in the heavy snow when a man suddenly arrived at the place where she fished. The man picked up the green bamboo fishing rod and put on the straw rain cape left by Ye Shengge. After putting on the cape, he threw the fishing line into the river and turned around to look at the junket next to him, saying with a grin, “Shengge, you didn’t harvest any fish?”

Ye Shengge turned around to look at the man who should be reading books in the Sky Building, asking, “Why did you get out of the Sky Building?”

The man touched his forehead and sighed in an exaggerating way, “How come I have such a silly disciple as you? Don’t you know about out-of-body wandering? Your master is a rarely-seen cultivator in the human world. Why can’t I have an out-of-body trip of thousands of miles? Isn’t it a piece of cake?”

Ye Shengge didn’t want to respond to her master’s questions, so she just said, “What good timing! It turned out that you hid in the dark and watched the whole assassination?”

It went without saying that this man was the temple owner of Chenxie Mountain. He looked at the river. “Since I let you go down the mountain and travel around, you shouldn’t expect me to protect you like I do on the mountain. Whether it is about life-and-matter juncture or bewilderment of the heart for Daoism, you must deal with it yourself. I’m in serious trouble myself. How can I have the time to help you?”

Ye Shengge frowned. “You are in trouble?”

Somehow, Ye Shengge thought of what that man said about becoming a sage before.

The temple owner twitched the corner of his mouth. “Don’t think too much. Now that I finally have a chance to go down the mountain for some fresh air, I will walk around and not mind your business. You must be careful. After going to Yuwu Mountain, I also want to go to Sword Mountain and see how the swordsmen look like now. If you have seen the scenery, go back as soon as possible. The old chaps are worried about you as you are off the mountain wandering around.”

Ye Shengge said in surprise, “Tell me, who is older than you on the mountain?”

The temper owner was speechless.

He had been cultivating for too long. Actually, none of the Taoists on the mountain lived longer than the temple owner, but even if he was gentle, no one dared to say that to his very face but this gifted Dao cultivator.

Otherwise, why would that kind of rumor be spread?

The temple owner pointed at the Cangyun River and said calmly, “Shengge, what the cultivators of the human world pursue is at least a widespread reputation throughout the world. For those who are more ambitious, they want to take one step forward to make everyone kneel before them and proclaim themselves sages. Your heart for Daoism is pure so you have a gift for cultivation. At least you will enter the Ascending Stage as you grow older. If you are hardworking enough, even I can’t be certain about your future. You may be able to become another sage of Daoism in the human world. But is that what you wish for?”

Ye Shengge answered evasively, “Cultivating is like walking. As one walks on and on, he will arrive at the destination. If he feels tired on the way, he will stop and take a rest. If he doesn’t feel like walking forward, he will go back then. Too many constraints will tire him out.”

The temple owner turned around and stared at her for a long time before saying with a sigh, “If my master were still alive and heard what you just said, you would be made to copy books in the Sky Building for one month.”

Ye Shengge looked at the temple owner. “I don’t copy books.”

The temple owner waved his hand to show that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He stood up, took off the straw rain cape and the bamboo hat, and put the fishing rod on Ye Shengge’s hand, saying in a profound voice, “You can act at will as long as I stay on the mountain. After all, I’m the decision-maker, so no one dares to refute. However, if I leave the mountain, you can only go back to the mountain and shoulder the responsibility of Chenxie Mountain. It can’t be light.”

Ye Shengge shook her head. “The mountain is too heavy for me.”

The temple owner nodded his head and said with a grin, “So I’m still the one who shoulders it now.”

While saying that, the temple owner smiled so gently that no one could see that he was the owner of Chenxie Mountain, the strongest one only second to the sages of Daoism.

Others would only think that he was an ordinary middle-aged man who was preaching his worrying niece.

And he didn’t turn crimson with anger.

After saying that, the temple owner drifted into the distance with a smile and disappeared before Ye Shengge said anything.

Ye Shengge lifted the fishing rod. A fish as pink as peach blossom was hung on the hook, whose tail was slightly waving. It looked much like the falling peach blossoms from the peach tree in spring.

Ye Shengge said with a soft smile, “If I must guard the mountain one day, I will have no other choice but to plant peach trees on the mountain and put this kind of Peach Blossom fish in the pond. After all, I will be the person-in-charge by then. No one can object.”