Immortal-Mortal Divide

"I'm not learning the zither anymore. I want to learn the sword!" the little girl said earnestly.

"Oh? Why do you want to learn the sword?" Su Mo asked curiously.

The little girl bit her finger and thought for a moment. "I want to be like Senior Sister Gu. Learning the sword is so impressive. And I can protect you with it, Young Master!"

Su Mo smiled and rubbed the top of her head, mussing her hair.

The little girl pursed her lips unhappily, putting on an "angry" look.

Su Mo burst out laughing at the sight.

I have to resolve the problem of that strange aura within me... Su Mo's gaze hardened with resolve.

"Young Master, how did today's examination go?" the little girl suddenly remembered and asked, looking anxiously at Su Mo.

She cared about how Su Mo had done in the examination. She knew he wanted to embark on the path of immortal cultivation, and taking first place in the Spring Examination was the Academy's test for him. If he failed, he might never have a chance at the immortal path.

Whether Su Mo could cultivate made no difference to her. But she did not want to see him upset.

"This year's Spring Examination had only one paper!" Su Mo naturally understood her concern.

"Oh?" Luo Yin asked curiously from beside them. "What was the topic?"

Su Mo shook his head. "There was no topic!"

Luo Yin's delicate brows furrowed at his words, and she sighed. "Being emperor hasn't been easy for him..."

Su Mo remained silent. Luo Yin asked again, "How did you answer it?"

"I told him a story!" Su Mo shook his head slightly, unsure what consequences his moment of impulsiveness would bring.

The little girl looked from Su Mo to Luo Yin and back, not understanding what they were talking about.

Su Mo stroked her head and smiled at her. "You're still young. You'll understand little by little as you grow."

The little girl pouted in grievance. "But you're clearly only a few years older than me, Young Master."

"That's because I've read more books. Do you know what you should do now?" Su Mo asked.

"I know..." The little girl lowered her head unhappily. "Read more books!"

"Where's the carriage?"

"The carriage is parked in the back courtyard?"

"Go and get the books I prepared for you from the carriage, then read them!" Su Mo instructed.

The little girl turned away dejectedly and trudged downstairs in misery. Reading was terribly difficult for her.

She seemed to have been born with a poor memory. No matter how carefully she read, the contents of the books flowed through her mind like water, leaving not a trace behind.

Only things related to Su Mo stayed firmly in her memory.

Once the little girl left the room, the smile slowly faded from Su Mo's face.

Luo Yin raised her teacup and took a sip, straightening her alluring figure slightly. "Go on. What do you want to ask me?"

Su Mo sighed. Cultivators really were too perceptive. Nothing escaped their eyes.

He had sent the girl away precisely because he had questions for Luo Yin. Some bloody matters could not be discussed in front of her.

Luo Yin had naturally seen through his intentions.

"What happened in West City... do you know about it, Senior Sister Luo?"

Luo Yin lowered her eyes and nodded silently.

She had gone there to save Su Mo. After taking him to the Academy, she had personally descended into the underground cavern with Gu Yu and witnessed the scene there.

It had been a scene of utter brutality... corpses strewn everywhere, blood flooding the underground river.

"I want to know whether the ordinary people know about this."

"The victims' relatives... their friends... have they found out?" Su Mo asked slowly, his voice trembling slightly.

Luo Yin shook her head faintly. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "They don't know."

"Why?" Su Mo seemed to know the answer, but still wanted confirmation.

Luo Yin looked into his eyes and said earnestly, "Since you already know the answer, why ask me?"

"I'm just not certain!" Su Mo said.

"Because... of the Immortal-Mortal Divide!"

"People's joys and sorrows... do not reach one another!"

"Let alone those of mortals and immortals."

Looking into Su Mo's eyes, Luo Yin asked, "Did you know that the emperor of Great Hua is also a mortal?"

"What?" Su Mo jerked his head up.

So it really was true?

He had noticed it long before, over the course of his journey. There was something deeply strange about Great Hua's political system, as though it had no true master.

That was why he had tentatively written that story on today's examination paper.

The one sharing a couch with a "pack of tigers" really was a "child."

"No wonder... no wonder..." Su Mo shook his head with a bitter smile.

"So..." Luo Yin shook her head and sighed softly. "If no one lifts this curtain, the bloody truth behind it will sleep underground forever, until it rots away."

"Why... doesn't the Academy intervene either?" Su Mo asked.

"Because the Academy can watch over heaven and earth, but cannot interfere with a nation's destiny. All laws follow nature. Mortal affairs of state can only be resolved through state policy."

Su Mo lowered his head and murmured to himself:

"So... if I join the Academy... I won't be able to involve myself in this anymore either?"

Luo Yin looked into his eyes and answered slowly, "Yes!"

Su Mo began to laugh, a bleak edge to his laughter.

"But if even cultivating immortality won't let me do anything about this, what am I cultivating for?"

"Give and take! To gain something, you must let something else go! That is an eternal truth. What do you think you comprehend when entering the Dao? It is merely what you must let go of!"

Su Mo cupped his hands and bowed to Luo Yin. "I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Fairy! Please look after the girl for another two days. I need to think some things over during that time. If you ever ask anything of me in the future, I will agree."

"Very well. Once you enter the Dao, there really is something I'll need your help with." Luo Yin smiled faintly and brushed aside a lock of hair hanging over her forehead, her charm on full display.

Entering the Dao?

Su Mo smiled bitterly, turned, and left alone.

When the girl returned to the upper room with her books and found Su Mo gone, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes. She asked Luo Yin anxiously, "Where's Young Master? Where did he go?"

Luo Yin looked out the window. "Your young master has something very important to take care of. Stay at the Riverboat Pavilion for another two days. He'll come back once he's finished."

The little girl lowered her head in disappointment. Looking at the books in her hands, she silently sat down at the table, opened a book, and began reading earnestly.

"Young Master told me to read, so I'll read..."

Though reading was painful, she tried to memorize the contents word by word, sentence by sentence, as if possessed.

Su Mo returned to his Painted Pleasure Boat, lay down in his rocking chair, and gazed at the night sky.

If I enter the Academy to cultivate, I won't be able to involve myself in the bloody massacre in West City anymore!

But if I can't cultivate, how can I keep the girl and myself alive in this dangerous, hateful world?

Yet whenever Su Mo closed his eyes, he seemed to see the wronged souls of West City looking at him, pitiful and unwilling to accept their fate...

This dogshit world...

"If no one lifts this curtain, the bloody truth behind it will sleep underground forever, until it rots away..."

"Don't they say a gentleman must do what ought to be done?"

"Don't they speak of grievances that cannot be laid to rest?"

"Why am I shrinking back now!"

I'm only a mortal... Su Mo began to laugh.

Su Mo sank his consciousness into his Spirit Sea and saw that profoundly alluring, bewitching, and uncanny figure.

Looking at the strange woman within his Spirit Sea, an utterly absurd feeling flashed through Su Mo's heart, only for him to forcibly suppress it.

At last, Su Mo slowly addressed the woman's back:

"Do you have a way to make those departed souls appear once more?"

"...before the eyes of the world!"