The air fell silent for a moment.
Li Xingyu looked as though he had not understood, and he stood dumbfounded for quite a while before asking blankly, “…What?”
Song Yifan sighed and patted his shoulder. “The Upper Spirit Realm and the Jingping Realm learned of the news long ago. It’s only because the Northern Wastes are far away, and our area around Yeyun Mountain is even more remote, that the news has only reached us now… Sect Leader Shen, more than three months ago, passed away because of some incident.”
In truth, none of the people present had any connection to Shen Budu. They had never even met him.
But anyone in the entire world who cultivated immortality could not possibly have never heard the name Shen Budu.
Shen Budu first rose to fame at the age of sixteen. It was said that his parents had died early, and when Shen Budu was thirteen, he was taken in and raised by his father’s good brother, Li Yong, who was then the leader of the Tianya Canghai Sect. Although the Tianya Canghai Sect had not yet reached the top among the many sects at that time, it was nonetheless a great immortal sect, brimming with talent. Shen Budu had been extremely low-key within it and had never drawn anyone’s attention.
Then one day, the Tianya Canghai Sect accepted an escort mission: to escort a precious artifact, the Demon-Subduing Sword, to Buddha’s Light Temple. Although the precious artifact was good, it was not rare, and true masters had no interest in it, so Li Yong wanted to use this not-so-dangerous mission to train the disciples under him. To confuse any bandits who might come to rob the escort, Li Yong divided thirty disciples into three teams. Shen Budu carried the real Demon-Subduing Sword, while Li Yong’s eldest son, Li Hongjun, and youngest son, Li Xinning, carried fake ones, and each took a different one of three routes to Buddha’s Light Temple.
However, Li Yong had not expected that the information he had received earlier was wrong. The Demon-Subduing Sword was not a precious artifact at all, but an extremely valuable sacred artifact!
At the same moment that Li Yong received the news, the other powers of the cultivation world naturally caught wind of it as well. Among them, the Blood Crow Pavilion was a notoriously vicious force that often committed murder and plunder. They quickly determined where the real Demon-Subduing Sword was, and dispatched more than twenty masters of the pavilion, who rushed at top speed to the Guan Mountain area, intending to ambush and kill the escorting disciples and seize the Demon-Subduing Sword.
Facing the ruthless assassins of the Blood Crow Pavilion, no matter how outstanding the Tianya Canghai Sect’s disciples were, they could hardly resist. The ten disciples were all killed or wounded, until only sixteen-year-old Shen Budu remained.
The Blood Crow assassins were smug, thinking their great task accomplished, but they never expected what happened next—
Shen Budu, alone with a single spear, stood at the mouth of Guan Mountain and cut down twenty-three Blood Crow assassins beneath his spear. He stubbornly guarded the Demon-Subduing Sword in the treasure case behind him, and guarded the dignity and prestige of the Tianya Canghai Sect.
When Li Yong personally led people in desperate haste to Guan Mountain, what he saw was the figure of an exhausted youth kneeling on one knee, leaning on his spear. Blood covered the mountain, red as maple leaves, with mangled corpses strewn across the ground and the smoke of battle not yet cleared. The youth’s black hair, tied high, fluttered in the wind thick with the smell of blood. His right cheek bore a streak of blood, and although the arm holding the spear trembled ceaselessly, his eyes were as hard as iron, carrying a ferocity unique to the young. His thin back was straight, like the towering mountain behind him.
The artifact refiners of the cultivation world had once forged a highly popular high-grade treasure called the “Image-Retaining Stone.” It was palm-sized and crystal clear like a water mirror, and it could preserve and record images within a certain period of time for people to pass around and view. When the Blood Crow assassins came, they had sinister intentions and deliberately wore Image-Retaining Stones on their bodies, planning to record images of themselves slaughtering the Tianya Canghai Sect’s disciples and then spread them around, to thoroughly humble the Tianya Canghai Sect’s prestige and make them lose face in the cultivation world. But they ended up losing more than they gained, because the stones recorded, from beginning to end, the images of Shen Budu single-handedly fighting twenty-three masters of the Blood Crow Pavilion!
The Blood Crow Pavilion Master flew into a rage, and his blood pressure spiked that very night. In reality, however, not many people paid attention to them—
Everyone’s gaze had been seized by that sixteen-year-old youth.
No one had imagined that the Tianya Canghai Sect had been hiding such a once-in-a-generation genius. No one had believed that anyone in the cultivation world could, at such an age, achieve a feat that many famous masters could not.
But the facts were right before their eyes. Shen Budu had done it.
For the first time, the youth revealed to the world the sharpness he had long concealed. From then on his reputation soared, and he became the new generation’s foremost genius and legend of the cultivation world.
“He… how could he…” Li Xingyu could not even bring himself to say that word. His expression still held disbelief, and his voice rose without his realizing it. “He is Shen Budu!”
The world’s number one master, Shen Budu. The world’s number one sect leader, Shen Budu. Who in the world could possibly kill him?!
“I didn’t believe it at first either. But those people spoke with such convincing detail,” Nie Weiyu said, biting her lip. “They said Sect Leader Shen suffered a qi deviation while cultivating, and that was how he unfortunately passed away.”
Shen Budu himself, who had been silent beside them all along, finally lightly tugged at the corner of his lips upon hearing this.
Qi deviation? Is this how the Tianya Canghai Sect announced the cause of his death to the outside world?
Li Xingyu seemed to finally accept the reality. He stood frozen in place for a long while, his eyes slowly turning red, and he murmured, “How could this happen…”
“The reason I first decided to practice the spear was because of Senior Shen…”
Although he had never had the chance to meet Shen Budu in person, he had seen the widely circulated battle of Guan Mountain on an Image-Retaining Stone. Every boy has a hero’s dream in his heart, and the image of the young hero in silver armor with a red spear in that recording had been deeply branded into the heart of the then-small Li Xingyu, becoming the goal he vowed to chase for the rest of his life.
“I know I can never be as formidable as Senior Shen, but I have always wanted to become someone like him, to eliminate evil and defend the Way, to uphold justice, and to use my own strength to protect what I want to protect.” Li Xingyu could no longer control himself, and his voice gradually choked with sobs. “But I never expected that he would actually… He was only twenty-eight years old…”
Twenty-eight was precisely the age when a person was young and capable with a boundless future. He had not yet fully shone in his glory, and yet he had unfortunately fallen.
How could this not be grievous and regrettable, and make one sigh that Heaven envies genius?
Although Nie Weiyu did not worship Shen Budu the way Li Xingyu did, she was outgoing by nature and loved wielding swords and spears more than anything, so naturally she had also greatly admired this legendary top master. Now, hearing the news, her spirits were low, and she was much quieter than usual.
Ruan Ruan had been happily gnawing on a honey-glazed chicken drumstick bought from the tavern at the foot of the mountain. Now, looking at this person and then that one, he finally sensed that the atmosphere was off, and quietly put the drumstick down.
He was young and did not understand who the “Shen Budu” everyone was talking about was, but the name made him think of Shen Du beside him. So he rolled his eyes, tugged on Shen Du’s sleeve with his greasy little hand, and comforted him in a way he considered very understanding. “Look, this Shen Budu seems to have been a very impressive big shot, and he was even the leader of a sect, yet didn’t he also die just like that? As for you, although you’ve lost your home and have no cultivation, at least you’re still alive and well! Compared like this, that Shen Budu had it much worse than you!”
Shen Budu: “…”
“Good child,” he said, calmly pulling his sleeve out of the other’s greasy claws, “you’re really good at comforting people.”
Song Yifan had bought a lot of delicious food, but apart from Ruan Ruan, everyone else ate the meal without tasting it, and they spoke much less. After eating, they each went back to their rooms to rest. Shen Budu also returned to his own little wooden hut and lay down on the small bed by the window, his arms pillowing his head.
The afternoon sunlight was warm and made one very comfortable, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
It was only that his dream was not peaceful.
Perhaps because he had heard some old matters from years ago from the mouths of others, those old matters now shimmered faintly into his dream. On that escort mission for the Demon-Subduing Sword, Li Yong’s original arrangement had in fact been for Li Hongjun to carry the real Demon-Subduing Sword along Guan Mountain Road, while he would carry the fake sword along the Wuhua Ridge route.
“Uncle Li, why don’t you let me take Guan Mountain Road?” Hearing the arrangement back then, he had stepped forward and requested.
Before Li Yong could answer, Li Hongjun spoke first, in a bad temper. “What do you mean by that? Do you think I can’t bear this important task?”
Shen Budu had always been familiar with his temperament and did not argue with him. He only said with a smile, “Silly little brother, Wuhua Ridge is right next to the market towns, with many people and many eyes, so there will surely be no end of trouble on the road. Guan Mountain Road is remote, and ordinary people won’t find their way there. I stayed up late last night reading storybooks and I’m exhausted today, and I don’t want to fight. So be dutiful to your big brother and give me the easy job.”
Only after hearing the explanation did Li Hongjun’s face turn from cloudy to clear. He did not mind the trouble; on the contrary, he hoped some fearless bandits really would come, so he could show off the skills of a son of the Li family. So he agreed readily.
Li Yong, however, was not as easy to fool as his eldest son.
Guan Mountain Road was indeed sparsely populated, but the real Demon-Subduing Sword was a living target giving off a tempting glow. True masters had many ways to tell real weapons from fake ones, and the person carrying the real sword was the one in the most danger.
Li Yong looked at his son, then at the eyes of Shen Budu, a smile in them yet earnest, and after a long silence, he finally nodded and agreed.
Later, Shen Budu was carried back covered in blood. The best physicians, using the best medicinal herbs, worked for three days before snatching his life back from the gates of hell. Li Yong was filled with extreme guilt. He sat by the sickbed gazing at him, his eyes red, but Shen Budu merely lifted the corners of his lips, and while sucking in cold breaths from the pain, said with a laugh, “Uncle Li should be happy. Luckily it was me who went. If it had been Hongjun, perhaps it would have taken seven days of treatment before his soul returned.”
No one spoke, but everyone present knew in their hearts that if it had been Li Hongjun, he could not have come back alive at all.
For the first time, Li Hongjun did not quibble over the fact that he could not compare to Shen Budu. His eyes were red, clearly from having cried too, and he stepped forward, gripped Shen Budu’s hand, and said resolutely, “Brother, I owe you a life. As long as you remain in the Tianya Canghai Sect, I will never fail you.”
Li Yong’s youngest son, Li Xinning, said nothing. Ever since Shen Budu had woken, he had simply been hugging his waist and curling up beside him, crying the whole time, and no matter how others tried to persuade him, he refused to let go with both hands.
Shen Budu had thought at the time that even if he truly died this time, there would be nothing to regret.
And later…
Many years passed, and many things happened.
When Li Yong was dying, he personally passed the position of leader of the Tianya Canghai Sect to him. Watching Li Hongjun turn and leave without a word, Shen Budu had known that some things could no longer be undone.
But he still had not expected that it would end up reaching that point.
That night, on Lone Shadow Peak behind the sect, in the instant he was pushed off the cliff by a snarling Li Hongjun, he was even somewhat dazed.
Was the person before him, eyes full of hatred, his expression twisted to the point that his original face was almost unrecognizable, truly the brother who had lived with him for fifteen years?
The bottom of the cliff gave off a terrifying crimson glow, and dense killing intent surged out in torrents. Although Shen Budu had never seen it with his own eyes, he had read about it in ancient texts. This was the ancient killing formation, the “Heavenly Dipper Soul-Seizing Formation.”
The Heavenly Dipper Soul-Seizing Formation was immensely powerful, and at the same time extremely intricate and complex, and it also demanded a high level of spiritual power from the one who set it up. Li Hongjun’s cultivation was decent, but he was completely ignorant of the way of formations. Li Xinning’s constitution was unsuited to cultivation, yet he had an astonishing talent in the path of formations.
So this Heavenly Dipper Soul-Seizing Formation had most likely been laid out jointly by the two Li brothers.
—All just to finish him off with their own hands.
Shen Budu’s cultivation at that time was already peerless in the world. Although this killing formation was formidable, it was not enough to take his life, and under normal circumstances, Li Hongjun would never even have had the chance to get near him.
But too many things had happened that day.
More than one pair of hands had brought about this outcome, and in the end, on the Yuanxi Festival, with its dazzling lanterns and falling snow, Shen Budu, just as everyone wished, met his death in the Yellow Springs.