Into the Rivers and Lakes, Out of the Rivers and Lakes, Then Back into the Rivers and Lakes

This new book had been out for a year by now.

Over that year, no matter what delayed me each day, I had always released at least one chapter.

It was nearing 1.4 million words. Calculated out, I had to write more than four or five thousand words a day. Since I needed to work during the day, that writing speed was practically already my limit.

To be honest, this year's results had not been very good either. The average subscriptions had only barely reached a few thousand.

The new book's performance had been disappointing, and for a long while, I had considered abandoning it. But there were always some people who kept following the chapter updates.

So I persisted in the end. After work each day, I would seize whatever time I could to write for a while, then hurriedly upload the newest chapter.

Perhaps because time had been too tight, some plot points were not very coherent before and after, and some chapters even had many typos. I had always noticed those things and kept records of them.

The first major arc would be ending soon.

After that, I would make unified revisions, refine all the main threads and hidden threads, and make the world structure of the entire book feel more real.

This side story should have been released long ago, but recently, so many things had been holding me up that I never got around to posting it. Today, I finally had the time to release this content.

Although this was a side story, I thought it was more fitting to call it the cause of the events—the cause behind the story's beginning, and also a "singularity" of the novel itself.

All right, enough said. Let us begin.

Nantian Yijian probably could have become the overlord of a region, but he had been too arrogant—so arrogant that he wanted to establish a flourishing age where all races coexisted through his own strength alone.

But such a flourishing age had always been built by sages.

Was he a sage?

He was not. At best, he had only been an ordinary man.

He had thought he was Jun Wudi, capable of sweeping with a long spear and suppressing twelve continents alone. He had also thought the girl he met would be a good girl, Chen Tingting.

Yet in the end, he became Blind Lu. Stumbling and faltering, he learned from Blind Lu how to enter the rivers and lakes and leave them. But not only did he fail to live as Blind Lu had, he lost both arms, had his physical body destroyed, became the crippled Wang Jiesheng, and barely survived by fighting wild dogs for food.

Yes, how could Nantian Yijian possibly learn from Blind Lu? After all, Blind Lu had once been the White-Clad God of Slaughter, the Palace Front Ceremony Official. That was supreme glory. With the name "Palace Front Ceremony Official" alone, Blind Lu could already enter the rivers and lakes and leave them.

But Nantian Yijian was merely an ordinary man. He had neither the terrifying strength of a sage nor such a terrifying family background. Even the name Nantian Yijian had been stolen by him.

He watched the child beneath the great tree, young and reckless, who had only heard a few storytelling novels yet wanted to become a sage for a lifetime, and he could not help sighing deeply. Back then, he too had been young and reckless, believing himself to be a sage for a lifetime.

But what use was there in reading more novels and storybooks? He had entered the rivers and lakes with nothing but hot blood in his chest, only to have his zither strings snap and his flying sword break. In the end, he had failed to leave the rivers and lakes safely and steadily.

Commoners were still commoners, as cheap as grass. Aristocratic Clans were still Aristocratic Clans, higher than mountains. Taking advantage of the setting sun and the broken remnants of its glow, he suddenly recalled all sorts of past events—memories he had not revisited for many years, yet today, for no reason at all, he was in the mood to remember them.

Back then, they had only heard a few storytelling novels. Then, driven by youthful recklessness and hot blood, they entered the rivers and lakes.

But entering the rivers and lakes was easy; leaving them was hard.

In the end, they lacked a little luck. They had no protagonist's halo, yet they had dreamed of becoming kings from birth.

Nantian Yijian had ultimately only deceived the world and stolen fame. He survived by relying on the Nantian Sect's prestige, learned how to cling to life in disgrace, and transformed from a little beggar into the young master of an Aristocratic Clan. He learned the zither, controlled a sword, and seemed utterly carefree.

But even if a little beggar changed his name and surname, he was still a little beggar in the end. He always emphasized that he was a young master of the Nantian Sect, but would a true young master keep emphasizing that he was a young master?

As for Young Master Jun, he had always only been the second young master of a fallen Aristocratic Clan. He constantly claimed that he had nothing to rely on, yet everywhere he went, he relied on the glory of his ancestors and flaunted the prestige of his Aristocratic Clan with desolate pride.

But that Aristocratic Clan had long since been strong on the outside and hollow within. It held high the banners of benevolence, righteousness, morality, clan law, and ritual systems, yet it was forever doing things as grubby as flies and dogs.

Did they really think the world did not understand? That everyone was a fool? Or were they deliberately ignoring everything?

Perhaps he was only forcing himself to maintain the identity of a second young master, wanting to leave himself a hollow shred of dignity.

The last remnants of the setting sun faded away, and the hot-blooded youth was called home for dinner by the old blind man. He had heard that tomorrow would be the child's tenth time participating in the baptism.

The tenth baptism meant that today he should be nineteen years old. Nineteen—he had long passed the age for entering the rivers and lakes.

Just then, the nearby gate suddenly opened. The child carried over half a bowl of leftovers and placed it before him. The child smiled. He should have been a kind person.

Half a bowl of leftovers.

This half bowl of leftovers was probably all the food this child and his grandfather had for the day. He wanted to eat it, yet could not bear to do so. Such a kind child—without this meal, tomorrow would probably not be easy for him either.

He had just been about to return the half bowl of leftovers.

But as he looked at the half bowl of leftovers that had been brought to him, he suddenly thought of his boss.

After all these years, that was the person he could never forget most. After all, that person had been the one to bring him into the rivers and lakes.

But he also hated him in his heart. He had clearly been his boss, so why had he only brought him into the rivers and lakes, but not brought him out?

Watching the child's movements, that figure he had struggled to forget grew clearer and clearer in his memories.

Lu Chen had been nothing but trash from the beginning, with no talent for cultivation. Every day, he lingered around the storyteller, listening to novels over and over, wanting to imitate those great figures and enter the rivers and lakes, then leave them. Yet even after ten years of baptisms, he had failed to step onto the path of cultivation.

In the end, it was only with an expert's help that he finally completed the baptism. Then he took the little beggar and the fallen young master, entering the rivers and lakes with nothing but hot blood in their chests.

The three traveled together, relying all the way on the expert's assistance to stumble through Jianghai Region. They passed trial after trial, met girls they loved, and gained titles like Heavenly King's Heir and Young Sage. How high-spirited they had been.

But in the end, Lu Chen discovered that this was not the rivers and lakes he wanted. Leaving behind the words, "These rivers and lakes are utterly unreasonable," he discarded his sword and left the rivers and lakes alone.

And so, their little team broke apart.

The fallen young master shouldered his spear, raised his head once more, and returned to being the second young master of the Jun family.

Whether he left the rivers and lakes or entered them, everyone understood that he was the Jun family's second young master. Even if he was the second young master of a fallen Aristocratic Clan, he was still a young master of an Aristocratic Clan in the end. Anyone who saw him would immediately bow and salute, respectfully calling out, "Good health to the Second Young Master."

Young Master Jun himself understood as well. Everyone yielded to him only because he was the second young master. Only this time, he merely wanted to be that second young master and no longer think about those overbearing rivers and lakes.

That left the little beggar, Nantian Yijian. Watching everything, he smiled in lonely helplessness. He was only a little beggar. He was neither some second young master, nor did he have some expert aiding him. Someone had brought him into the rivers and lakes, but no one had brought him out.

In the end, the little beggar lost both arms and broke his flying sword. He was kicked off Kite Cliff like a beggar, then dragged more than ten miles by wild dogs. He luckily survived, and only then could it be said that he had left the rivers and lakes. From then on, he never mentioned the four words Nantian Yijian again.

The most miserable person should still have been the little girl who followed them all the way—the Nantian Sect's most beloved little princess, someone born to inherit the identity of Nantian Sword Master. With such a proud status, everyone who saw her would lower themselves and fawn over her.

But in the end,

not only did she abandon the pride of the Nantian Sect, she even wanted to use her own life to awaken Lu Chen's fighting spirit and make him reenter the rivers and lakes.

Unfortunately, her life was gone, and he never reentered the rivers and lakes.

But had anyone been wrong?

No. They had merely made different choices.

They had originally been at an age when youth was full of recklessness. They should have had hot blood in their chests.

At seventeen or eighteen, they should have done the things seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds did. Could one expect those young men to enter and leave the rivers and lakes like old men, timid and shrinking, hesitant at every step?

That was impossible, and it would absolutely never happen.

But their choices had also been too casual. They had indeed possessed the vigor of youth, yet they had never considered the consequences.

He looked at the youth who had not yet left, at the youth filled with excitement for tomorrow's baptism. He was exactly like the boss who had brought him into the rivers and lakes back then, yet had not brought him out.

He thought that if they could do it all over again, they should be able to make everything right.

If it were possible, it should be so.

That was what he thought as he watched the youth.

And so, he had a dream.

In that dream,

Nantian Yijian risked his life for a peaceful world, asking only to reopen the path of cultivation for commoners. So in the end, he gave up clinging to life in disgrace, picked up the thirty-six broken flying swords again, and even if he had to "deceive the world and steal fame," he would still step onto the path of cultivation and open Nantian.

Young Master Jun put aside the pride of being the second young master and held his long spear before him. He wanted to use the most fundamental spear path to restore the glory of his ancestors and rebuild benevolence, righteousness, morality, clan law, and ritual systems.

So he walked the road his second uncle, Jun Wudi, had once walked. With one spear, he swept across twelve continents, and benevolence, righteousness, morality, clan law, and ritual systems reappeared in the human world.

Lu Chen thought it over and over. He had, after all, struggled so hard to step onto the path of cultivation, and he still wanted to find the meaning of his existence. So he picked up his sword again, charged forward without looking back, chose to reenter the rivers and lakes, and made the choice from back then once more.

Even if this was only a scam, even if it was a vast chess game opened specifically against him, even if this time he no longer had the right to choose, he still wanted to rely on himself and pursue the truth once.

The little girl came back to life in the end. She smiled gently. Though she no longer had the identity of the Nantian Sect, she became a good girl, Chen Tingting.

I had an art to sever Jianghai, I had a sword to open Nantian, I had a spear to suppress Xishan, I had a heart to leave the North Region.

Each of them set out from Jianghai Region with their own convictions and traveled once more through Jianghai Region, Nantian Region, Xishan Luling, and Soul Town North Region.

From that day onward, a rumor appeared in those overbearing rivers and lakes: a Young Sage had emerged, killing his way out from Jianghai Region.

Later, these rumors also appeared in Nantian Region, and they also spread through Xishan Luling.

Later still, such rumors spread even through the sparsely populated Soul Town North Region.

Some said they had originally been sages, only cutting down their own cultivation to live another life. Some said they were descendants of prestigious Aristocratic Clans. Others said they had seen them before, claiming that these people had come for revenge—revenge against the overbearing, unreasonable rivers and lakes.

But these people had merely left the rivers and lakes and then entered them again. No one knew that they had once only been trash, only a little beggar, only the second young master of a fallen Aristocratic Clan.

The entire dream had truly become better. It had truly resolved everything. Yet though it looked like the rivers and lakes of four people, it was in fact one person reentering the rivers and lakes.

Nantian Yijian became the will to reenter the rivers and lakes. Young Master Jun became the goal of reentering the rivers and lakes. The little girl became the condition for reentering the rivers and lakes, and also the final tenderness.