As Vast as a Sea of Mist

Yu Tunzhou led the way, and the others carried the Dragon Fish meat up the mountain steps.

Even this was only part of it. With all of them working together, it would probably take three or four trips to carry everything up.

When they reached the courtyard before the Daoist temple, Yu Tunzhou looked up and saw a young man in Daoist robes reclining at an angle in a lounge chair. He gazed up at a lone moon on the horizon, tapping his fingertips lightly against the edge of the chair, utterly at ease.

"Junior Brother Li, still admiring the moon? Come give us a hand. Our meals are taken care of from now on!"

Yu Tunzhou called out, his voice full of genuine excitement, without a trace of reserve.

The people behind him stopped short, nearly dropping the Dragon Fish from their shoulders.

Some held their breath in alarm, some had fear in their eyes, and others were curious to the extreme. Every face turned toward the figure in the lounge chair.

This was Li Jingxuan, the immortal seed of the Supreme Purity Lineage?!

Brother Yu was far too rash...

"Senior Brother Yu, did you catch a big fish today?"

Li Jingxuan rose to his feet and said with considerable interest,

"A fish this big? Looks like we can finally improve our meals here."

Hearing that, Yu Tunzhou felt a little guilty. Although Li Jingxuan himself had asked for that standard of fare and it was no fault of his, they had been eating rice and vegetables every day of late, and he felt Junior Brother Li had grown thinner. In the end, he had failed in his duties as a senior brother!

"Sorry for the trouble, everyone. Just put it down here. I'll take care of the rest."

The young man who had risen from the lounge chair was clean and neat, with a gentle smile.

A thought sprang unbidden into everyone's minds-

Could he really be so courteous?

But they quickly gave themselves a sharp warning.

Yu Tunzhou might dispense with formalities, but they did not dare do the same!

The town.

Zhang Buyu and Yue Hongyi divided the fish meat equally and returned to their respective residences.

Entering his residence, he saw that his martial uncle had not returned to his room that night. Instead, he stood in the residence with his hands behind his back, most likely waiting for him to return.

Zhang Buyu hurried forward and bowed. "Martial Uncle, I've fulfilled my mission."

The man took a long look at the Dragon Fish in Zhang Buyu's hands but said nothing.

Seeing that his martial uncle remained silent, Zhang Buyu continued, "Martial Uncle, have Chang Jian and the other man been sent back to their residences?"

"Both have been sent back," the man said with a nod. "Just now, the town's guardian notified every household that the two households behind Chang Jian would lose their places at the 'communal feast' at the end of the month."

Zhang Buyu's pupils contracted sharply, and he could hardly conceal his shock.

The first dispersal of fortune at the end of the month did not count as the main contest for fortune. To the households, it was more like a prize for an opening victory. But just as he had said-

One step ahead, every step ahead!

That was also why, in his cooperation with Yue Hongyi, he had deliberately excluded Chang Jian at the end, when Chang Jian could do nothing alone.

Even when he had told Chang Jian that "one fewer person was better than one more," he had not meant that an extra person sharing the Dragon Fish would leave them with less meat.

What mattered was not whether they could get a larger share of the Dragon Fish, but that the number of people consuming its meat had to be reduced at the source!

Otherwise, there might be one more person who broke through to the Eighth Layer of Qi Ingestion before the end of the month.

Take the communal feast at the end of the month: whoever broke through to the eighth layer could seize the initiative and expand their advantage further in the next great contest.

One step ahead, every step ahead.

That was the very heart of the Luofu Dao Contention!

And now, Chang Jian and the other man had actually been stripped of their places at the end-of-month communal feast outright!

"Why?" Zhang Buyu asked in shock. "Just because the two of them were defeated?"

The man said calmly, "The Qingluo Sect's stationed guardian broke the rules and revealed Ao Xiyu's group's whereabouts to Chang Jian, who brought Ji Pan along. This time, it was a heavy punishment for a minor offense, a warning to all the households to abide by the rules."

Zhang Buyu was speechless. So that was what happened...

The reason he had discovered Xie Linchuan's group's whereabouts was that Yue Hongyi had told him. She seemed especially interested in Xie Linchuan and had been keeping an eye on him.

After taking his leave of his martial uncle, Zhang Buyu carried the fish meat to the kitchen by himself.

From childhood, he had followed his master in living in a thatched hut on the mountain. Handling such things was an everyday affair, nothing worth mentioning.

Come to think of it, he and Yu Tunzhou on the mountain were rather alike.

Zhang Buyu shook his head. Their future Dao Paths were destined to be as different as heaven and earth.

After simply cooking a plate of fish, Zhang Buyu raised his chopsticks and took a bite. His brows instantly knitted together.

Only after he had eaten the whole plate did he leap to his feet and rush over to the entire slab of fish meat, weighing more than two hundred jin, brushing his fingertips over its flesh.

There was no mistake. This was indeed Dragon Fish meat.

Had Ao Xiyu tampered with it somehow?

His brows were tightly furrowed, but when he recalled the way she had cut the fish and stripped off its scales, there had been nothing out of the ordinary.

He suddenly turned and saw his martial uncle still standing in the courtyard. At last, he realized something.

He went into the courtyard and stood behind his martial uncle, taking a deep breath before saying:

"Martial Uncle, the most important part of that Dragon Fish wasn't its meat?"

With his back to Zhang Buyu, the man said calmly, "For a creature that has embarked on the path of dragon transformation, the most precious essence lies in its draconic features. In this Dragon Fish's case, those false dragon scales were the most valuable part."

"The scales..."

A thunderclap went off in Zhang Buyu's mind. He remembered Ao Xiyu apparently offering to remove the scales for them out of kindness, and his face burned. A jumble of feelings churned in his heart, impossible to describe.

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand?" he asked in confusion, looking at his martial uncle's back.

"Because you didn't ask."

The man finally turned around, his tone cold and hard, his gaze like a blade stabbing straight into Zhang Buyu's heart.

"By the town's rules, once the Dao Contention begins, I will only answer your questions about difficulties in cultivation. The question of which part of a Dragon Fish on the path of dragon transformation is most precious can just barely be counted as one."

"But did you, Zhang Buyu, ask me?"

"You think it's so impressive that you've read the Fuqiu Daoist Canon from cover to cover? You think you've got everything under heaven in the palm of your hand?"

"What the Fuqiu Daoist Canon records is no more than one corner of the world. The principles it does not record and the matters you have never heard of are as vast as a sea of mist!"

"It seems the empty fame you've gained these past few years has clouded your eyes after all, leaving you unable to see yourself clearly."

"You'll stand here tonight until you've thought it through."

Under the night sky, the courtyard lay deep and still.

Zhang Buyu stood in the shadows, his face slightly pale, and did not move for a long time.

That night, the battle by the river fell entirely under the eyes of the stationed guardians of the town's thirty-nine households.

Some were concerned with what Ao Xiyu and the others had gained.

The water-fortune Dragon Qi extracted from that Dragon Fish was enough for Ao Xiyu and the others to stand firmly at the Eighth Layer of Qi Ingestion before the end of the month.

They already held every advantage in the end-of-month communal feast of fortune.

Others were more concerned with whether the battle would bring about the birth of the first alliance.

The Northern Plains Xie Household and the South Sea were already distant allies.

Evergreen Mountain and the Nanhua Sect were both ancestral seats of the Daoist School. The former was situated in the Central Plains, while the latter held the Southern Victorious Continent. The two shared the same roots, like branches joined to the same tree, and had always been on good terms.

If the disciples of those three chose to join forces, their combined influence would surely sway quite a few of the town's thirty-nine households, and the number would be considerable.

This might become the first "alliance" of the Dao Contention.

At the same time, Floating Hill Mountain, represented by Zhang Buyu, also seemed to have a basis for an alliance with Moon-Worshipping Mountain...

But whatever they were watching, the many gazes concealed the same question-

Yu Tunzhou, what gives you the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with those people?!

"Talent!"

"We won that battle so cleanly and decisively thanks entirely to your senior brother's gifted talent!"

The fire crackled, and the pot on the stove boiled furiously. A handful of green and red chilies had been scattered into the milky-white broth made from fish bones, its savory aroma and spiciness rushing straight into their noses. Evenly sliced Dragon Fish meat soaked in the boiling broth, its edges curling slightly...

Yu Tunzhou coughed lightly as he described the battle that had erupted not long ago to Dingguang: how he, Yu, had laid an ambush and defeated the enemy, settling everything with a single strike!

"Senior Brother, you're amazing!"

Dingguang was not the least bit annoyed at being woken in the middle of the night and called up to tend the fire. Holding a large coarse-porcelain bowl, he stood by the stove, happily snatching fish slices from the pot, his eyes curved into crescents.

Senior Brother had said that from today on, they would never have to worry about going without meat again.

The little monk did not care what kind of meat he ate. As long as he had meat, he was content.

All the more so when there was a story to listen to.

Li Jingxuan sat smiling to one side, also fishing meat from the pot.

Those who cultivated the Dao valued purity of heart and few desires.

But for Daoists who had entered a place of purity, it was precisely the opposite.

"Senior Brother!" Halfway through eating, Dingguang suddenly scrunched up his little face and said indignantly, "That Zhang Buyu didn't do anything. What right did he have to take five hundred jin of our fish meat?"

Steam from the pot washed over Yu Tunzhou's face. He narrowed his eyes and said slowly:

"He's a clever fellow. He found our weak point, and that weak point is... your senior brother still isn't strong enough!"

Li Jingxuan's fingers paused around his chopsticks.

He looked up through the roiling steam and seemed to see something churning in the depths of Senior Brother Yu's eyes.

In the temple next door.

The old monk woke from his spirit wandering, looking disgruntled. Well, his belly was full again. Another day of being turned away at a closed door.

All these years, he had labored without pause, sending his spirit wandering each day to knock on that person's "door," yet he had never received a response.

That person had never wished to see him.

He glanced at the kitchen beside him, his expression gradually warming with gratification.

Since taking up martial arts, the youth seemed to have shed some of his former gloom and precocious solemnity and gained a little more youthful vigor instead.

It was as though he had walked too long through a long night and finally glimpsed a sliver of daylight, striding forward beneath it.

It was a good thing.

Suffering did indeed forge resolve.

But given a choice, who in the world would choose suffering?

The Buddha was compassionate and wished least of all to see the people of the world fall into the sea of suffering.

The old monk sighed, his expression gradually turning dazed.

He had spent countless years seeking an answer, intent on meeting that person just once, all to untie one knot in his heart:

The scriptures of my Buddhist School are as vast as a sea of mist: the Tripitaka and twelve divisions, all manner of Divine Abilities and wondrous methods, some for cultivating the heart and nature, some for realizing bodhi, and some for delivering all living beings...

But why did the Buddha choose the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic, the one most widely circulated among the common folk and with the most varied versions, as the sole vessel to carry us through the Great Dharma-Ending Tribulation?

Why... why was it?