Chapter 240

Chapter 240: Heaven and Earth, All Things

Su Mu widened his eyes, watching the scenes inside the Memory Stone again and again.

The one hundredth name: Li?

He whispered, his voice shaking a little: “Li…”

Li Shuang reminded him with a small smile: “Senior Su, did you forget? That was the alias I used in Myriad Arts City. You watched me pick it.”

Su Mu’s lips trembled. [Do I need Li Shuang to remind me? My memory is not that bad.] He just could not figure it out.

In only two years, Li Shuang had not only entered the Soul Prison, but also earned more than eighty thousand Merit Points, and now she had jumped straight into the top one hundred on the Golden Ranking.

[How did she pull this off?]

Back then, he had accompanied the Sect Founder to the Central Continent. The Central Continent overflowed with geniuses and endless experts. Even someone as gifted as the Founder started as a nobody. The Founder’s true rise came later, after he trained in the Supreme Emotionless Art. Sadly, when he switched to the Passion-Severing Mantra, he was already over a hundred years old and had no chance to take part in the Golden Soul Altar.

In the Central Continent, after the Founder settled old grudges, he returned to the Nanlan Continent and devoted himself to opening a sect, building what was now the Sword Sect.

On the Nanlan Continent, it was not like no one had ever gotten the chance to awaken the Wanfa Eye. Someone might have barely squeezed onto the Golden Ranking before. But the top one hundred? Could this be the first time?

Also, how old was Li Shuang now? She had gotten the Wanfa Eye only two years ago, and she already had such an achievement. Then what would happen if she had ten or twenty years?

The Nanlan Continent might be about to produce a true peerless genius.

Many thoughts turned in Su Mu’s heart. He looked at Li Shuang’s puzzled face and hesitated. His impression of her had always been mature and steady. Was she here on purpose to show off?

[This kid…] He felt both annoyed and amused.

So much for the Emotionless Path. The two disciples he was dealing with were each stranger than the other.

He cleared his throat and made his tone calm: “You actually made the top one hundred. That is a good result. Every cultivator on the Golden Ranking can take part in this Golden Soul Altar. But your foundation is still shallow. The first time you go, you will likely be there just to gain experience. Do not carry heavy expectations. It is enough to go see and learn.”

He kept a straight face, as if none of that shock existed. He told himself he was doing this to keep Li Shuang from getting proud. [This is for her own good.]

Li Shuang nodded seriously: “Senior, rest easy. I am not that arrogant. Getting to experience it is already very good.”

Su Mu nodded: “Since you have this chance, do not waste it. At the Golden Soul Altar, if you do not break through to the third… no, the fifth layer, it is not much fun.”

He had planned to say the third layer to motivate her, but he worried this little monster might really reach the third layer, so he simply pushed it higher.

Right now, among the young talents, the only one who had ever passed five layers was You Lan. No matter how unbelievable Li Shuang was, she should not be that unbelievable. He was also giving her a target so she would not grow proud. [This is heartfelt care.]

Li Shuang answered at once: “I understand. Then my goal this time is the fifth layer.”

Su Mu coughed lightly: “Good to have a goal. You have been in seclusion for two full years. If you plan to prepare for the Golden Soul Altar, I suggest you come out for a bit and ask Elder Ling for guidance. Her Dao should give you some insight.”

Elder Ling…

Li Shuang had already learned from Lin Qing Ling that the Elder Ling who guarded the gate of the Library Pavilion was one of the three Tribulation Crossing Stage elders of the Sword Sect. And, because of the Breathing Method, the three Supreme Elders had promised to each teach her for three months.

Before this, everything had gone smoothly for Li Shuang. She had never met a bottleneck, so she had not used that chance. But now, her soul cultivation was stuck at Peak Divine Transformation. She had no experience about where to go next.

With Su Mu’s reminder, she understood.

If she could break through again before the Golden Soul Altar began, she could gain even more from that grand event.

She bowed: “Thank you for the guidance, Senior. I will go ask Elder Ling for advice.” Then she left the Sword Dao Space.

Li Shuang dispelled her Barrier Formation and stepped out of the secret room. Dawn was just breaking, and a thin mist wrapped the whole of Emotionless Peak.

Since her recent breakthrough, this was her first time back in the real world. She looked at every blade of grass and every tree on Emotionless Peak, and for some reason, she felt they were especially lovely.

Wrapped in the pale light of morning, she walked up to the mountaintop and looked into the distance. A round sun was slowly rising.

Heaven and earth and all things were quiet and still, but the instant the sun came up, everything was covered in a layer of golden light.

It was truly beautiful.

Watching the scene before her, Li Shuang’s brows softened. Only now did the taut string in her mind, stretched tight for two entire years, finally relax.

A quiet understanding rose in her mind.

This world holds not only humans, demons, and fiends.

It also holds heaven and earth and all living things.

In fact, heaven and earth and all things might be the real main characters of this world.

Year after year, so many living beings come into this world, and so many leave.

How much had this mountain and this round sun witnessed?

A thin thread of insight took shape in Li Shuang’s mind.

But when she tried to think deeper, the insight slipped away like running water.

She did not hurry.

Right now it was only a spark. As she kept adding to her understanding, some truths would appear on their own.

She suddenly remembered Su Mu’s suggestion.

Now she knew why he told her to see Elder Ling.

Elder Ling was the warden of the Treasure Pavilion, but it usually did not need her to appear in person. What Elder Ling did most often was embroidery.

She embroidered many, many things.

Sometimes flowers.

Sometimes grass.

Sometimes an eagle.

Sometimes a tiger.

With each stitch, she brought out the things of this world. Was Elder Ling’s Dao found among the living things of the world?

She truly started to look forward to this guidance.

A curious voice sounded behind her: “Is it pretty?”

Li Shuang had just come out of seclusion, and Lin Qing Ling had sensed it at once. She only chose to speak now.

Li Shuang bowed: “Master.”

Lin Qing Ling looked at her with a strange light in her eyes. For cultivators, closing up for years or even decades was normal. But after these two years, she felt there was a change in this disciple that even she could not see through.