Abandoning All Hope

"Dao Child, you've finally come."

A man's voice sounded behind him, and Su Yao turned to look.

A gray figure stood behind him, holding a spear.

It was the True Lord's envoy who had saved them before they entered the Cang Water Secret Realm.

Su Yao cupped his fists.

"Greetings, senior."

When the other man did not answer, he ventured a question:

"May I ask whether the True Lord has made some arrangement for you to come here, senior?"

The man shook his head.

"Just call me Nuoli."

The newcomer was indeed Nuoli. He looked at Su Yao.

"I've come to collect the Gui Water Heaven-Overturning Old-Remaking Scripture and the Heaven-Tilting Profound Dew Marrow."

Su Yao said no more upon hearing this and simply handed the two things over.

"Senior Nuoli, everything is here."

Nuoli took them, put them away, and looked at Su Yao again.

"The True Lord asked me to pass a message to you, Dao Child."

Su Yao nodded, and Nuoli continued:

"The True Lord said, 'I have done everything I can to help. I intervened here and spared you a great deal of trouble. As for how much Qizhenzi can help you in the future, I do not know, but I can no longer intervene.'"

Nuoli paused.

"Whether you succeed in seeking the Dao or perish in the attempt, he has done everything he can for the Founding Patriarch's Dao lineage. From now on, no matter what happens, neither you, Dao Child, nor Qizhenzi may set foot on Mount Zhongnan. Once the True Lord leaves, the treasures the Founding Patriarch left behind will naturally be returned to Qixia Mountain. As for Mount Zhongnan, there is no need to return."

When Nuoli finished, Su Yao's extraordinarily bright eyes filled with disbelief. He stared blankly at Nuoli.

"How could the True Lord do this?"

Nuoli sighed and was about to explain, but Su Yao interrupted him.

"Mount Zhongnan is where the Founding Patriarch cultivated the Dao and where Qixia Temple's ancestral seat stands. Qixia Temple must return to its ancestral seat someday, to repay the Founding Patriarch."

Nuoli was taken aback. He looked at Su Yao and recalled what the True Lord had said before finally speaking.

"The True Lord said that he knew you could not possibly accept it. But if you attain the Dao someday, Dao Child, you will understand. If you do not, you will not be qualified to know."

With that, he turned to leave without waiting for Su Yao's reply.

But Su Yao called him back.

"Does Daozheng know?"

Nuoli wanted to fob him off with a lie, but looking at Su Yao, he could not bring himself to do it. In the end, he nodded.

Seeing Nuoli nod, Su Yao felt as though needles were piercing his heart. He asked again, his voice trembling:

"What about Cloud-Watching Heaven?"

Nuoli did not answer. He merely sighed and headed toward the Great Void.

But the next moment, clouds of multicolored light rose behind him and flew toward him.

He turned to see Su Yao casting one spell after another.

Seeing this, he sighed softly and gave a gentle wave of his hand, dispersing the light.

He looked at Su Yao.

"The True Lord moved everything of value in the grotto-heaven to Qixia Mountain back then. As for the grotto-heaven itself, although the Founding Patriarch established it, Qixia Temple is no longer worthy of it."

"On Mount Zhongnan now, aside from the lotus pond, there is only the grotto-heaven. The lotus pond will naturally be moved to Qixia Mountain in the future. As for the secret realms, all those that could be moved to Qixia Mountain were moved there back then, and the rest were merged into the grotto-heaven."

With that, he paid no attention to Su Yao's spells. With a wave of his sleeve, every spell Su Yao cast vanished.

Su Yao watched Nuoli's departing figure disappear, tears streaming down his face. At last, he fell to his knees, powerless!

They could never return to Mount Zhongnan?

Then would the efforts of Qixia Mountain's generations of patriarchs over the past several thousand years not be a joke?

Would his ambition to restore Qixia Temple not be a joke?

Two streams of clear tears ran down his face as he laughed in fury!

Nuoli, who had concealed himself in the air, could not bear it. He spoke again to comfort him.

"The True Lord spent a long time negotiating on your behalf, Dao Child, so that you could cultivate in peace on this mountain without having to take part in the affairs of the mortal world. Please do not let his efforts go to waste."

He paused.

"If the True Lord had not intervened, you would have had to go down the mountain by now. As things stand, you need only wait for the right time."

With that, he paid no further attention and headed into the Great Void. He still had many affairs to attend to.

Below, Su Yao could scarcely bear the bitterness in his heart.

Little Red and Little Orange landed on his left and right shoulders, gently fluttering their wings as though stroking him.

Liu Yunhe and Li Siyi were kneeling behind him.

In truth, for the two of them, and even for their Lineages, the mortal world of Guanzhong was full of turmoil. Great Qing was also exceedingly harsh. On the shores of the South Sea, Great Qing's hold could not compare with its control over Guanzhong, so immortal Lineages could enjoy a little more freedom. In Guanzhong, let alone living freely, they would likely have to go down the mountain to perform immortal corvée labor.

On the shores of the South Sea, they could still pay to avert trouble.

As for Qixia Temple, it had a True Lord and its own ordination certificates, so it was exempt from corvée labor.

Although the True Lord had spent the past eight thousand years secluded on Mount Zhongnan, cultivating in peace,

Qixia Mountain still had Daozheng!

But now the two of them had to rely on Su Yao, so naturally they could only follow him. And seeing the Dao Child like this made them feel more at ease.

After a long while, Liu Yunhe finally spoke:

"Dao Child, Daozheng is surely still waiting for you to return to the mountain and reopen Qixia Temple's gates!"

Li Siyi also tried to persuade him:

"Surely Daozheng will support you, Dao Child. If you attain the Dao, why would you not be able to return to the mountain?"

She paused, but in the end she spoke.

"To say something terribly disrespectful, the True Lord is still Daozheng's junior. Surely, if Daozheng speaks, the True Lord will not refuse to listen."

Su Yao shook his head, the bitterness in his mouth growing stronger.

"Yes. There's still Daozheng!"

With that, he thought of how Daozheng was not the only one on Qixia Mountain. He thought of Qingyang, Nannuo, Jueming, Daoist Zheng, and the many Qixia disciples and spirits on the mountain who treated him so well.

Even if the True Lord no longer concerned himself with Qixia Temple's affairs, he still had to live on. At least... at least he could put these people's minds at ease!

In the Great Void, Changlu watched Nuoli return. He had seen everything that happened earlier, so he ventured:

"May I ask who Daozheng is..."

Nuoli had already been distressed at having to pass those words on to the Dao Child. Hearing this, he warned him:

"He was enlightened by the Founding Patriarch Yun Zhongzi when he attained the Dao. He is a Heavenly Immortal!"

Hearing that Daozheng had been enlightened by the Heavenly Venerable Yun Zhongzi, Changlu was already shocked.

But hearing the words "Heavenly Immortal" only left him more confused.

"What is a Heavenly Immortal?"

Nuoli sneered.

"Fellow Daoist, you had best give up any hope of that. Now that the myriad Daos are out of balance, without an immortal to guard your path, you cannot seek the Heavenly Immortal Dao."

He paused.

"Fellow Daoist, you would do better to focus on seeking the Gui Water Attainment. Do not lose the greater for the sake of the lesser."

Changlu felt no anger at this. He merely lamented how little he knew and how shallow his understanding of the Dao was!

Then he looked at Nuoli.

"Fellow Daoist, what about the Gui Water Heaven-Overturning Old-Remaking Scripture and the Heaven-Tilting Profound Dew Marrow?"

Nuoli first took out the Heaven-Tilting Profound Dew Marrow and handed it over.

"I'll give you the spiritual material first, fellow Daoist. As for the scripture, once the immortal descendants of the Zhu Household and that mixed-feathered crane arrive, you may leave. When you return to the East Sea, I will naturally have someone bring it to you."

Changlu nodded and put away the Heaven-Tilting Profound Dew Marrow, then said nothing. He had dared to act arrogantly before, but now he felt that Qixia Temple was truly unfathomable. First there was a True Lord, and now there was also Daozheng. Who knew how long Daozheng had lived? The Heavenly Venerable Yun Zhongzi, after all, was a figure from before the Zhou.