Elder Ma

The grounds of the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven were vast. After crossing several mountains, Zhang Wenchang led Lu Chen into the Hundred-Flower Forest. Surprisingly, this cultivation sect had quite a few wine shops, which blended with the forest to form an enchanting natural tableau.

"Your sect seems pretty good. You even have a place like this," Lu Chen said with a smile as he admired the picturesque scenery.

"Cultivation doesn't really mean cutting off all affection and desire like the immortals in legends!" Zhang Wenchang explained with a smile. "Of course, we can't live like people in modern cities either, spending every day amid dazzling lights and flowing wine, fighting for power and profit. But enjoying a little fine wine and good food now and then is still allowed."

"Yes, this is how cultivators should live!" Lu Chen nodded in agreement.

They found a spot near the edge and sat down at an antique-style table carved from rosewood.

These wine shops stood right in the Hundred-Flower Forest. A gentle breeze passed through, scattering a few petals and spreading a faint floral fragrance. The scene had a poetic charm.

They ordered several delicate dishes and a pot of aged wine, then began drinking together.

One had arrived at the Other Shore of the Starry Sky, while the other was a visitor from another time and space. After more than two years in the unfamiliar world of the Big Dipper, meeting someone else from an urban Earth life stirred a sense of wistfulness even in Lu Chen.

Although their Earths belonged to different worlds, they were both modern people. Without a woman like Yiyi present, the two men also found much more to talk about.

"Since coming to this world on the other side of the starry sky, I've often lain awake all night, dreaming of going back, worrying about my parents, missing my wife and child..."

Naturally reserved and inarticulate, Zhang Wenchang seemed to have finally found someone he could pour his heart out to. His true feelings showed on his face, as though he had met a close friend. He had kept them bottled up for far too long.

"It's not as though there's no way to return," Lu Chen said softly after a long while.

"Return..." Zhang Wenchang shook his head and said bitterly, "I've occasionally heard rumors from the elders. Only ancient sages could travel to the Outer Domain. There are no such legendary figures alive today. That shows just how distant the hope of reaching the other shore of the starry sky really is."

"Have you forgotten how we got here?" Lu Chen did know of two routes back to Earth, but both required formidable strength. Otherwise, setting foot on either would mean death.

"You mean a Five-Colored Altar like the one on Mars?" Zhang Wenchang immediately understood what he meant. "But we didn't see an altar capable of transporting us in the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land!"

Lu Chen filled both their cups and tilted his gaze toward the sky, as though he could see into the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land. "There's a Five-Colored Altar beneath the abyss in the forbidden zone. It can send us back, but how many people in this world could enter that place alive?"

"Even if there's a road there, it's still... a road to death!" The faint hope that had just risen in Zhang Wenchang's heart was immediately extinguished.

He had spent more than two years in the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven and now understood just how terrifying a Life Forbidden Zone was-and how fortunate they had been to emerge alive back then.

Zhang Wenchang was not Ye Fan. He lacked both exceptional talent and the immense confidence to brave even the Desolate Forbidden Zone.

He understood his own abilities very well. Never mind the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land-even the Primeval Forest around its outskirts could kill him hundreds or thousands of times over.

"In this world of gods and demons, only with great power can you have everything, including the ability to cross the starry sky."

Lu Chen continued, "You haven't been doing well in the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven, and you've struggled to make progress in cultivation. Your talent is part of the reason, but more importantly, you haven't found a path that suits you."

Zhang Wenchang froze at those words, then shook his head with a bitter smile. "Someone like me, with poor innate aptitude and poor comprehension, is destined to be ordinary, whether in the modern world or the cultivation world."

"Heaven never closes every road. The great Dao of heaven and earth always leaves a thread of hope!" Lu Chen set down his cup and looked straight at him. "I know a place suited to someone like you. Would you be willing to venture out and give it a try?"

"Venture out!" Zhang Wenchang looked down at the jade cup in his hand. His reflection in the wine looked so forlorn and dejected.

Lu Chen understood that someone like Zhang Wenchang was not merely reserved and poor with words. Even his inner world was far less lively than other people's. He lacked the drive to take risks and explore the road ahead.

"Is there really a place suited to me?" Zhang Wenchang asked after a long silence.

"One of the great sects in this region has a hundred and eight immortal art legacies. One of them suits someone like you." Lu Chen nodded. "As long as you persevere and never give up, that path can take you very far."

"All right. I'm willing to try." In truth, Zhang Wenchang had long wanted to leave the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven. In this small sect, if Liu Yiyi, an Immortal Seedling, had not protected him at every turn, he had no idea how he would have endured these past two years.

The next day, Zhang Wenchang informed an elder of the sect that he wished to leave.

"Ah! Leaving the Immortal Gate to live in the Mortal World would be fine too. With aptitude like yours, you really aren't very suited to cultivation," said an old man with white hair and a youthful face, his bearing that of an immortal sage. He was Elder Ma Yun, the very man who had brought Liu Yiyi and Zhang Wenchang into the sect.

In the original course of events, Elder Ma had paid little attention to Zhang Wenchang either. Later, Ye Fan had displayed his tremendous might and killed several gifted disciples of the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven.

Only then had Ma Yun realized how terrifying a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body capable of cultivation could be. Because of Ye Fan's relationship with Zhang Wenchang, he had reluctantly accepted Zhang Wenchang as his disciple.

Unfortunately, Elder Ma had passed away only a few years later, leaving Zhang Wenchang without protection once more. In the end, he had failed to advance beyond the Bitter Sea realm and could only drift into the Mortal World to live.

He had opened a small tavern to scrape by, yet disciples of the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven still came to humiliate him frequently. Only when he encountered Ye Fan again had he gained a chance to turn his life around.

Now that Lu Chen had arrived several years earlier, he could spare him several years of humiliation.

"The great Dao has countless paths. Nothing in this world is absolute." Lu Chen glanced over the elderly Ma Yun and said evenly, "As long as he finds the Dao that suits him, he will one day spread his wings and soar. Clearly, the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven has no path for him."

"Young man, are you Zhang Wenchang's friend?" A sharp gleam flashed in Elder Ma Yun's eyes. He studied Lu Chen intently before realizing that he could not fathom the cultivation of this young man, who looked only eighteen or nineteen.

He could not help frowning. "Wenchang's decision to leave is clearly because of you?"

Zhang Wenchang had not left earlier or later, but had chosen this very moment to leave. The reason went without saying. This friend of his must have told him something.

"Heh!" Lu Chen chuckled softly without saying anything more, then turned around. "Let's go."

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Ma Yun flashed forward in a streak of rainbow light and appeared in front of Lu Chen. His gaze was piercing. "Young man, why don't you tell me what sort of Dao would suit someone with his middling-to-poor aptitude?"

Although Ma Yun did not care in the slightest whether Zhang Wenchang stayed or left, Lu Chen's behavior made him deeply uncomfortable. It was as though the Jade Cauldron Grotto-Heaven were so incapable that it could not even teach a disciple.

"Elder Ma Yun, what is the meaning of this?" Lu Chen remained completely unmoved and said evenly, "If you cannot teach someone, must you also prevent him from following a path that suits him?"

Seeing this, Zhang Wenchang hurried forward and bowed, saying cautiously, "Elder Ma, this has nothing to do with my friend. I'm the one who wants to leave."

At that moment, some nearby disciples who had noticed the situation gathered around, wanting to see what trouble that useless old man had gotten into this time.