“Young Master Shen, please don’t be sad!” Li Xingyu put himself in Shen Budu’s place for a moment and felt unbearably upset. He no longer cared about being shy, and looked firmly into Shen Budu’s eyes as he said loudly, “Not being able to cultivate immortality is nothing! I think someone like Young Master Shen will surely achieve great things in other fields!”
“That’s right! The Shen family is simply too despicable. They actually didn’t want even their own flesh and blood!” Song Yifan ground his teeth, reached out and patted Shen Budu’s shoulder. “It’s fine. If you have nowhere to go, you can absolutely stay here with us!”
Ruan Ruan nodded his little head hard from the side. “Don’t worry, we’re all good people! We definitely won’t bully you!”
Shen Budu: “…”
Thank you. Although I don’t know what happened, you are all truly so warm.
Seeing that the tender pity in these few people’s eyes was about to turn into something solid and pour out, Shen Budu calmly shifted the topic. “Forgive my presumption for asking. Where is this…?”
“This is the Yeyun Mountain area,” Song Yifan answered him. “We are disciples of the Zhenshan Sect. You are in our sect right now.”
The Zhenshan Sect?
Shen Budu’s expression did not change, but he was somewhat puzzled inside.
How strange. He had never heard the name of this sect before. Could it have been newly founded?
But Yeyun Mountain… there was no such area in the Upper Spirit Realm either.
And that “famous Shen Family of Pingyuan.” Why did he not know of them?
Shen Budu realized that something was wrong and asked, “This isn’t the Upper Spirit Realm?”
As soon as these words were spoken, the three of them were stunned and looked at him with eyes that said, “Are you muddled from your illness?” “How is that possible? This is the Northern Wastes!”
Shen Budu was startled, and for the first time a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.
Everyone under heaven knew that the current cultivation world was divided into three territories. The southernmost was the “Upper Spirit Realm,” where spiritual energy was abundant, the waters were graceful and the mountains bright, and there were countless heavenly treasures and earthly resources. The Tianya Canghai Sect, Wuliang Villa, Wanyan Sect, Huangji Palace and other top sect powers had all been founded there. It was a prosperous land and center of power that all cultivators yearned for. Farther north was the “Jingping Realm.” It covered the largest area and had the most inhabitants. Although it was not as flourishing as the Upper Spirit Realm, it was also peaceful and stable, with abundant supplies, and everyone had enough food and clothing and was reluctant to leave their homeland. The northernmost position was the “Northern Wastes Realm.”
The Northern Wastes Realm was also called the “Land of Exile.” Just from the name, one could tell it was not a good place, and in fact that was exactly the case. The Northern Wastes Realm was vast and sparsely populated, and most of those active within it were not good people. Some were criminals guilty of terrible crimes who had been expelled from the Upper Spirit Realm or the Jingping Realm. Some had come on their own to hide from enemies or assassins. Others could not make a living elsewhere and had run here to seize land, build a stronghold and call themselves kings… It was a mixed bag with all sorts of characters, but in general most of them were not easy people to deal with.
Shen Budu had never expected that after dying and coming back to life, he would end up in the Northern Wastes, tens of thousands of li away, a place he had never set foot in!
Song Yifan did not take it to heart and only thought he was muddled from illness. “You have been lying down for two days. Why don’t you get up and eat something? You haven’t eaten for so long, you must be hungry.”
As he spoke, he pushed open the door and asked, “Xiaoyu, is the chicken soup I put on just now ready?”
“It’s ready!” a crisp voice replied. “Come out and eat!”
Shen Budu followed the group out through the door and came to the outer room. In the middle of the room was a wooden table with several small side dishes on it, and in the very center sat a big pot of steaming hot chicken soup that gave off waves of rich fragrance. A young girl of about sixteen, wearing a red dress, was stirring the chicken soup with a wooden ladle. When she looked up and saw Shen Budu, a smile appeared on her pretty, radiant face. “Oh, Sickly Beauty, you’re awake!”
Song Yifan sucked in a breath. “You child, always calling people nonsense names!”
“What nonsense? I’m just telling the truth.” The girl in red put down the wooden ladle and walked over. She looked Shen Budu up and down carefully, then said with a beaming smile, “Tsk tsk, with your eyes open you look even more handsome than when you were asleep! It’s just that you’re too thin. Look at your waist and your wrists. Heavens, they look even thinner than mine…”
Song Yifan looked as if he had a toothache. He hurriedly pushed the girl back as she kept leaning forward, and said to Shen Budu helplessly, “This child has been like this since she was little. She’s nothing like a proper young lady. Please don’t mind her.”
Just then another girl in a green dress came into the room. Song Yifan hurriedly waved her over and introduced her to Shen Budu. “These two girls are also disciples of our sect. The one in red is called Nie Weiyu, and the one in green is called Gu Yanyu.” Then he introduced Shen Budu to the two girls. “This is Shen Du, Young Master Shen.”
After the two girls learned that the person in front of them was Shen Du of the Shen Family of Pingyuan, they were also very surprised, especially Nie Weiyu, who immediately raised her eyebrows and said bluntly, “If you ask me, a cold-blooded, ruthless, power-hungry family like that is better left behind! You should simply stay here. Our sect isn’t big, but there is no problem making room for one more person.”
Shen Budu noticed that the people of the Zhenshan Sect, young or old, all seemed to share the same kind of warmth, and he couldn’t help smiling as he asked, “You take me in so readily. Aren’t you afraid that I might be someone with ill intentions?”
The Northern Wastes were a chaotic land full of wolves, tigers and leopards at every turn. Sects that took in strangers as easily as the Zhenshan Sect did were surely few.
Nie Weiyu, upon hearing this, looked at him with great astonishment and said, “You? Just you?”
Shen Budu: “…”
A small arrow whooshed through the air and struck the heart of the former Number One Under Heaven.
He had almost forgotten. The young girl was telling the truth. The shell he occupied now was extremely weak. Not only did he have no cultivation, he did not even have much strength. He truly deserved the title of a frail “Sickly Beauty,” like a willow swaying in the wind.
Gu Yanyu, standing to the side, immediately gave Nie Weiyu a reproachful look, then smiled apologetically at Shen Budu and said gently, “My younger sister is used to being rude. Please, Young Master Shen, don’t take it to heart. The Zhenshan Sect is indeed warm-hearted, but we are not people who cannot tell good from evil. If all villains had a noble and unblemished bearing like yours, then the Northern Wastes would not be what it is today.”
Compared with the bold and radiant Nie Weiyu, the girl called Gu Yanyu did not seem to have a strong presence. But her features were gentle, and her whole person had a calm, tranquil air. When she spoke, it was like spring breeze brushing willows, steady and measured, with a cleverness and refinement beyond her years.
Shen Budu could not help showing a hint of admiration in his eyes. With the aptitude of these two young girls, even in the Upper Spirit Realm, a land of outstanding talent, they would be rare and excellent seedlings. He just did not know how they had ended up in a place like the Northern Wastes.
While they were talking, Li Xingyu had already run off to notify the sect leader of the Zhenshan Sect. The sect leader was a thin old man of around sixty, known as “Zhongbo.” His hair and beard were all white, his face was so shriveled that it held barely any flesh, and only his eyes still looked lively. He had already learned the situation from Li Xingyu. He nodded at Shen Budu and said kindly, “Young Master Shen, if you have no other plans, please stay with us for now. Our small sect may be a bit humble, but it can shield you from wind and rain, and you will not lack for food or clothing. That is surely better than sleeping in the open and eating by the roadside.”
In the world today, the strong were revered, let alone in the Northern Wastes, where the law of the jungle was widely followed. Sects recruited disciples in order to expand their strength, and few were willing to take in a completely useless “waste.”
Everything the Zhenshan Sect said and did seemed to follow their four-character sect rule, “Preserve Truth, Strive for Good.”
Shen Budu had failed to die before, and now that he had survived, he would not go out of his way to seek death again. But where to go and what to do next, he had not thought about at all, and he truly needed a temporary place to stay.
So he bowed slightly and made a proper salute to Zhongbo. “Then I will trouble your sect.”
****
Shen Budu settled in at the Zhenshan Sect, and only then did he learn that the entire Zhenshan Sect, counting him, had only… eight people.
“Big Brother Qiu is about your age, but he went on a long journey and will probably not be back for a while,” Li Xingyu said as he showed Shen Budu around the Zhenshan Sect, scratching his head in embarrassment. “Our sect seems to have a few too few people… I heard that big sects have dozens of people, or even hundreds. I grew up in the Zhenshan Sect and have never been to any other sect, so I don’t know if that’s true.”
It is true, Shen Budu thought.
In the Upper Spirit Realm, even the smallest sects had hundreds of members, and the disciples of large sects numbered in the thousands. The Tianya Canghai Sect, for example, had more than seven thousand six hundred disciples, and that was already the number after Shen Budu had raised the difficulty of the entrance assessment and limited the number of new disciples.
There were simply too many young people who longed for the number one sect under heaven.
“The sect is built on the mountain, a bit of a distance from the town, so we usually raise some chickens and ducks and grow some vegetables and fruit ourselves. It is more convenient to eat that way.”
Yeyun Mountain’s natural environment was extremely beautiful, with green mountains lush and trees casting deep shade. The Zhenshan Sect was built on one of the mountain peaks. Although there were few people, the area it occupied was not small. Several simple wooden houses were scattered among the patches of green. Fields had been opened up in front of and behind the houses and fenced in, where lush green vegetables and crisp, tasty melons and fruits were grown, and big fat chickens, ducks and geese were raised. Behind the mountain there was also a large lake filled with all kinds of fish. They had everything they needed and could be completely self-sufficient.
“This is Meteor Waterfall. I like to practice my spear here usually.” After passing the houses and fields and walking a distance along a quiet, secluded path, they arrived at another world. The mountain wall was steep, and a waterfall hung upside down like white silk, pouring down from the ninth heaven with a thundering roar. Below the waterfall was a clear pool, and as soon as one drew near, a cool freshness rushed to meet the face.
Shen Budu thought back and felt that neither of the two adults he had seen in the sect looked like they knew martial arts, so he asked, “Who is your master?”
“I don’t have a master.” Li Xingyu rubbed his nose. “Uncle Song and Big Brother Qiu don’t know martial arts, and Zhongbo is old and his health isn’t good. Sister Weiyu and I both learned our skills by reading books and practicing on our own.”
When it came to martial arts and cultivation, the reserved youth clearly became more talkative, and his eyes sparkled. “There is someone I admire especially. Although it is impossible for me to become as powerful as him, I still want to take him as my goal…”
As the youth spoke, he showed Shen Budu every corner of the Zhenshan Sect. Finally he scratched the back of his head, looked at Shen Budu, and asked somewhat anxiously, “Young Master Shen, what… what do you think?”
They were taking someone in to live with them unconditionally and did not even ask for payment, yet he was actually worried about whether the person staying would like it or be satisfied. Shen Budu sighed inwardly. The juniors who used to surround him had all been shrewd to the core. Such honest, almost foolish children were something he had not seen in a very long time.
“It’s very beautiful, very pretty,” Shen Budu said with a smile. “I like it very much.”
This was his sincere opinion. Compared with the luxurious, ostentatious style of the Upper Spirit Realm sects, where wealth was flaunted and they would pave even the floor tiles with spirit stones if they could, the Zhenshan Sect’s simple, natural pastoral scenery was truly fresh and bright, a delight to the eyes and a joy to the heart.
Hearing the praise, Li Xingyu felt proud as if it were his own honor and could not help smiling happily.
“It’s getting late, let’s go back,” Li Xingyu said as noon approached. “There’s a market in the town at the foot of the mountain today. Uncle Song took Sister Weiyu and Sister Yanyu to the market early this morning. Maybe they’ll bring back some good things.”
When they returned to the courtyard, sure enough, Song Yifan and the others had already come back, carrying bags big and small, looking as if they had gathered quite a haul.
Li Xingyu hurried forward to help carry things, but froze when he saw the expression on Nie Weiyu’s face. He asked carefully, “Sister Weiyu, what’s wrong?”
Nie Weiyu had been very happy when she went down the mountain, but now a faint gloom hung between her brows, and her whole manner was completely different from usual, silent and withdrawn.
Nie Weiyu lowered her eyes and did not say a word.
Li Xingyu was at a loss and could not help turning his gaze to Gu Yanyu. Gu Yanyu glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, “When we went to the market today, we heard some news while listening to a storyteller at the teahouse…”
“Sect Leader Shen of the Tianya Canghai Sect passed away more than three months ago.”