In the west wing, Su Yun lit a bonfire, stripped off his clothes, and washed himself with snow, cleansing away the bloodstains on his body. He treated the wounds on his back before finally putting his clothes back on.
"My clothes are stained with blood again."
The youth frowned as he examined the bloodstains on his clothes in the firelight. "I'll have to buy new clothes again. If I enter the city wearing bloody clothes, the people there will probably take me for a monster, right?"
He had always tried hard to make himself look like an ordinary youth, unlike someone born in the No-Man's Land of Tianshiyuan.
After Su Yun had dressed properly, he went to clear the ape demons' corpses out of the temple hall before returning to the bonfire. I can't search for Hua Erge and the others at night. I can only wait until dawn.
He was truly exhausted, and without realizing it, he fell asleep beside the bonfire.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Yun woke to find that the bonfire was nearly extinguished. Just as he was about to add more firewood, voices drifted in from outside. "...As a Scholar of Tiandao Academy, at such a critical moment, you actually want to leave? You want to study abroad! What is so good about the Westerners' learning? The Westerners invaded, carved away our Yuanshuo territory, abducted our people, and demanded indemnities from the Imperial Court—yet you still want to go to the Western Ocean! You are a Scholar of Tiandao Academy—"
Another voice rang out. "Brother, can't you see it? The age of the Old Sages has already passed! Across the ocean, those barbarians we once looked down upon have surpassed our Yuanshuo in national strength! I must study abroad and learn their capabilities!"
Su Yun was slightly startled. "That voice..."
"Study abroad and learn from them? Learn the Westerners' knowledge? You study Confucianism. Are you going to betray Confucian teachings and betray our ancestors?"
"I will use Western learning while retaining Chinese foundations; at its core, it is still Confucianism. Senior Student, come study abroad with me. Let Chinese learning be the foundation and Western learning the application. Save this country and hold up the mansion before it collapses!"
"Only staying behind can save this country! Only preserving the Ancient Sage's Ultimate Skill can save the nation from ruin and ensure its survival! Only by preserving Yuanshuo's spirit and backbone can we save this country! Otherwise, even the spine of our people will be gone! Qiu Shuijing! Stop right there!"
Su Yun rose to his feet and looked outside. In the temple courtyard beneath the moonlight stood two vigorous youths, their bodies formed from gathered points of moonlight.
One of them was likely the young Qiu Shuijing. The other had thick brows and large eyes, and looked taller and sturdier than Qiu Shuijing.
Both of them carried themselves with imposing grandeur.
Su Yun was slightly taken aback. "A spiritual nature's obsession?"
This scene, these voices, and the two spirited youths in the courtyard should all have been the obsession of the spiritual nature enshrined in this temple.
Under tonight's moonlight, that spiritual nature's obsession had erupted, taking the form of its younger self.
And the other person conversing with it was Qiu Shuijing in his youth.
"Mister Shuijing was a Scholar of Tiandao Academy when he was young?"
Su Yun watched the two youths in the courtyard. They were still arguing over whether to study abroad. The temple's owner was also from Tiandao Academy. Mister Shuijing wanted to study abroad and learn the knowledge of other nations, while the temple's owner believed they should preserve the Ancient Sage's Ultimate Skill. Did they fall out over this?
The spiritual nature's obsession slowly began to crumble.
"Senior Student, I will cross the ocean to study. In a few decades, I will come back and see which of us was right and which was wrong." Mister Shuijing's voice drifted over.
The spiritual nature's obsession dispersed, and the figures of the two youths vanished along with the scattered flecks of moonlight in the courtyard.
Su Yun pushed open the door and stepped into the courtyard, standing there in a daze. "Was this conversation, one that the temple's owner still clung to even after death, really so important?"
Though he had read the Old Sage Classics thoroughly, at this moment he could not tell who was right and who was wrong—Mister Shuijing or the temple's owner.
"The temple's owner must have been someone worthy of respect as well, right? Like Mister Shuijing, he wanted to save this country."
Su Yun moved his body a little, brought over some snow, and washed the floor of the main hall clean, scrubbing away the bloodstains.
Last night, he had fought a bloody battle here against the ape demons from Yuanjia Ridge and dirtied the floor. He felt that leaving stains behind would be disrespectful to the temple's owner.
After finishing everything, Su Yun was sweating, so he sat outside the temple gate to rest.
"Little Blind Person, do you know the ghosts and gods in this temple?" a voice called out.
Su Yun followed the sound and saw a grand residence beside the temple, with a pair of stone lions before it. A lean old man sat on the stone steps, smiling as he beckoned to Su Yun.
Su Yun was greatly surprised. When he had arrived at this temple, he had not seen such a large residence anywhere nearby!
"Senior, you know me?" Su Yun asked curiously.
The lean old man smiled. "We set up stalls together in the Heavenly Market. I was on the ninety-seventh lane on the right side of the street, while you were on the ninety-second lane on the left. Of course I know you. We were fellow stallholders, neighbors for years!"
The lanes he referred to were the lanes of the Ghost Market. Su Yun's stall was at the entrance of the ninety-second lane from the Heaven Gate.
Su Yun immediately perked up and hurried over.
"This neighbor moved in only two months ago."
The lean old man chuckled. "A friend of mine built this residence for him. That friend was named Qiu Shuijing. He had been to the Heavenly Market and once followed you. When he came here that day, he chatted with me for a while. He said the person in this residence was a great figure from the Eastern Capital, and also an old friend of his. This time, he came back to pay his respects to that great figure. Oh, right. My name is Lou Ban."
Su Yun said in surprise, "Mister Shuijing built this temple?"
Lou Ban nodded. "He hired some monsters to build it and paid for it himself. Your teacher is quite remarkable, a man of immense talent whose abilities are unfathomable. You haven't been to the Heavenly Market in several months. What happened?"
Su Yun said, "My eye condition was cured, so I stopped going."
Lou Ban studied him and asked, "Are you planning to enter the city?"
Su Yun nodded. "I'm going to Shuofang City to study. Mister Shuijing said that the learning of the Old Sages has fallen behind the times, and that I must enter the city to seek new learning."
Lou Ban said leisurely, "Some of the Old Sages' learning has indeed become outdated, but some has remained fresh through the ages, unbreakable no matter how it is tested. Do you know why?"
Su Yun shook his head.
He had learned a bellyful of Old Sage Classics from Mister Wild Fox. So far, apart from being able to comprehend cultivation arts such as the Great Furnace Transformation: Qi Cultivation Chapter and the Immortal Ape Qi Cultivation Chapter more quickly, he had found nothing particularly special about them.
"I studied abroad too."
Lou Ban smiled. "The Westerners are indeed superior to us in their methods of learning and in putting knowledge to use. But there is one area in which they are inferior to us, and that is precisely where the Old Sages excelled."
Su Yun's heart stirred, and he bowed. "Please enlighten me, Senior."
Lou Ban rose and stretched lazily. "The Westerners ask of God; the Old Sages ask of Man."
Su Yun immediately understood what he meant.
To Ask of God meant asking the gods about all matters. Whenever one could not decide something, one would consult the gods and invite them to guide worldly affairs.
To Ask of Man meant asking people about all matters. People guided worldly affairs, with no so-called gods intervening in the human world.
This was precisely what the Old Sages advocated: ask the common people, not ghosts and gods; respect ghosts and gods, but keep them at a distance.
"The learning of the Old Sages lacks practical application; it is more for guiding your cultivation and tempering your mind. The Westerners filled in that practical aspect, which is why they grew strong."
Lou Ban said, "Yuanshuo is currently weak after long decline, but as long as we learn the Westerners' methods, put learning into practice, reform the flaws of the Old Sages' teachings, and turn Old Sage learning into new learning, I believe we can defeat the Westerners. Like Qiu Shuijing, I am one of the new learning school."
Su Yun grew excited at once. "Senior, are you a sage of the new learning?"
"To this day, the new learning has no sage."
Lou Ban shook his head. "At the very least, there was none when I died. Little Blind Person, if you are entering the city to study, I want to entrust something to you."
He turned and entered his residence, returning with a small Wooden Box. It was square and neat, and he placed it in Su Yun's hands. "When I died, the Scholars under me were muddleheaded and buried this key with me as a funerary object. Take this key and complete something for me."
Su Yun weighed the Wooden Box in his hand. It felt heavy and dragged at his hand, as though it were solid. "What does Senior want me to do?"
Lou Ban smiled. "It is simple. Go to Shuofang City. If you have time, take this key beneath the city and help me see whether the thing I hid there while alive is still there. Once you complete this, the key will be yours."
Su Yun understood. This was the rule of the Tianmen Ghost Market. Of course, in his mind, it was not a Ghost Market, but the Heaven Gate Night Market, also known as the Heavenly Market.
The Heavenly Market's rule was simple: take someone's item, and fulfill that person's wish!
If one could not fulfill the wish within the allotted time, then the "owner of the treasure" would reclaim the treasure!
Back then, Su Yun had also been one of the treasure sellers in the Heavenly Market. Of course, his treasures were not real treasures, merely his own funerary objects. But Lou Ban and the other ghosts and gods had brought out genuine Spirit Divine Weapons—without question, the finest Spirit Divine Weapons!
Su Yun accepted the Wooden Box and bowed. "Senior, rest assured. Yun will not fail your trust!"
Lou Ban smiled. "It is not much of a trust. I only saw that Qiu Shuijing admired you, so I followed his lead and admired you too. I simply believe you can do it. All right, all right. Dawn is nearly here, and your work is about to arrive. You should go."
"My work is about to arrive?" Su Yun did not understand.
Lou Ban pursed his lips. Su Yun turned back and saw the trees in the mountain forest swaying as snow flew wildly, tree after tree crashing down with sharp cracks.
"Ancestor Yuan San!"
Su Yun's heart jolted. He hurriedly grabbed his bundle, bowed to Lou Ban, then flicked the end of the Immortal Rope. The Immortal Rope shot straight upward into the high sky!
The moment he grabbed the Immortal Rope and was lifted into the air, he heard Lou Ban's voice. "Little Blind Person, you are also a Spirit Scholar. You may not be weaker than him, so why fear him?"
"I'm a Spirit Scholar?"
Su Yun was stunned. He had clearly only just cultivated to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment. Since when had he become a Spirit Scholar?
He had no time to think further. In the forest below, Ancestor Yuan San was covered in blood, carrying an arm-thick iron staff slung across his back. With a furious roar, he charged out of the forest and reached for the Immortal Rope!
Su Yun climbed swiftly upward and suddenly jerked the rope. Ancestor Yuan San leaped up and grabbed at empty air, forced to land again!
The white-furred violent ape rose from the snow. His body was covered in horrifying wounds, clearly showing that he too had been severely injured in his battle with that giant ghostly monster.
Ancestor Yuan San's face darkened as he raised his head to look up. Su Yun clung to the rope, climbing hand over hand and foot over foot into the night sky.
"After killing so many disciples of my Yuanjia Ridge, you will never leave Tianshiyuan alive!"
Ancestor Yuan San beat his chest with both hands and roared toward the heavens. On the snow beside him, before the newly built temple, lay more than a dozen ape demon corpses—the Yuanjia Ridge experts Su Yun had killed in the temple!
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