12dz Chapter 31 The Impermanence of Cause and Effect
Chapter 31 The Impermanence of Cause and Effect
"Brother Lu..."
Li Erniu climbed the mountain step by step. In the twilight, his shadow was lonely and desolate. When he came up, Lu Qingyun noticed his dark, listless face.
Lu Qingyun hurriedly asked, "Erniu, has something happened?"
Tears streamed down Li Erniu's face, but he didn't say why.
Instead, she cried and said, "Brother Lu, can you drink with me to my heart's content today?"
He clearly broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining.
But Li Erniu was unwilling to say why, he only said that he drank with him.
Lu Qingyun remained silent, looking at his sorrowful face, with a hint of suspicion in her mind.
The two sat down.
They drank all night until the moon was about to set the next day.
"Brother Lu, I've never asked you for anything in my life..."
Li Erniu wiped away his tears, his face lowered, his eyes revealing overwhelming grief, and his lips trembled slightly as he pleaded:
"I'm afraid I won't be able to come back this time. Could you... please take care of the people in our village for me?"
Li Erniu's parents died early, and he grew up eating food from many families in Xiaoli Village.
If it weren't for those simple and honest villagers, he wouldn't have lived to see the arrival of the immortals.
The Liang Kingdom has been suffering from famine in recent years.
On his deathbed, Li Erniu's first thought was of the villagers who were still suffering.
He should at least try to become an immortal. Even if he doesn't achieve immortality, he shouldn't let his fellow villagers and him continue to suffer.
What's up with this?
How could things have come to this?!
Lu Qingyun remained silent, looking at Li Erniu, whose eyes were empty and filled with despair.
A few days ago, he congratulated himself in the jade talisman, saying that he had broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refining and would continue his seclusion.
I will definitely give my master and him a surprise, and break through to the sixth level of Qi Refining as soon as possible.
Life is truly unpredictable, and fortune and misfortune are hard to foresee.
"Erniu, I know you're doing this for my own good and don't want to tell me what happened."
Lu Qingyun closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice:
"But I promise you, I will find a way to take care of the villagers in Xiaoli Village for you."
"Although my elder brother hasn't left Lingzhi Peak these past few years, he has still sent silver to them through intermediaries. If possible, please inform the young marquis as well."
"Brother Lu, those words are enough."
Li Erniu said bitterly.
"But I'm out of time. My jade talisman... is lost. I need to go find my master right away..."
"I'm afraid I won't have time to inform the young marquis..."
exactly,
He immediately sought out Lu Qingyun, whom he trusted most.
Li Erniu turned around and went down the mountain.
As he was leaving, his face was filled with grief, his fists clenched so tightly they bled, and he said in a trembling voice:
"Brother Lu, tell me, if he was only trying to use me from the beginning, why was he so good to me?"
He said he treated me like his own son!
"But why did he do that?"
In fact, for cultivators, genuine affection that seems readily available is actually rare.
How could Li Erniu's jade talisman have been lost?
Why was he in such a hurry to go back?
Lu Qingyun looked at Li Erniu with a complicated expression, sighed, and seemed to want to say something.
He wanted to tell Li Erniu that this is how the world is.
Some people, for the sake of profit, will even betray their own relatives and close friends.
Moreover, it concerns the path to immortality.
But in the end, he couldn't bear to say it.
"Maybe I met the wrong person."
"Brother Lu, actually I didn't tell you."
Tears streamed down Li Erniu's face.
"The person who saved me from the jaws of death that day is my current Master Niu."
"So, I don't hate him. This is what I owed him. I've repaid him with my life!"
Lu Qingyun saw Li Erniu's figure disappear into the distance clearly.
At the foot of the mountain, Master Niu, with a kind face and a gentle smile, took Li Erniu's hand and walked step by step into the distance.
His kind gaze met Lu Qingyun's in the air, as if he was quite satisfied that Lu Qingyun hadn't interfered.
"Junior brother, there's nothing I can do to stop this."
"The Sword Peak needs a new Foundation Establishment, and so does the sect."
"Master Niu will use Li Erniu's body to carry part of his sword intent. Once the matter is accomplished, he can possess Li Erniu's body, using his youthful body to carry the intent of the aged, forging the Withered and Flourishing Sword Body, and breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage in one fell swoop."
Zhao Qingxuan appeared beside Lu Qingyun at some point. Her expression was complicated, and she shook her head helplessly, her light blue dress fluttering in the wind.
She knew that Li Erniu and Lu Qingyun were on good terms, and she knew that Lu Qingyun was feeling down at this moment.
"The Yunxia Sect has only two Golden Core inheritances: one is the Dao of Array Formation, and the other is the Dao of Sword."
"Master Niu persuaded the Peak Master of Sword Peak. If the Azure Pool Demonic Sect had not caused trouble, there might still be a chance, but at this moment, even my family is powerless."
"understood."
Lu Qingyun nodded, his face showing neither joy nor sorrow.
In fact, even if the Zhao family had the ability to help, why would they offend Master Niu for the sake of the worthless Li Erniu?
Lu Qingyun watched Li Erniu walk away along the path, remaining silent for a long time.
This was the first friend he had made since joining the sect, and the person who trusted him the most, but now he was going to become someone else's sustenance.
"On the path of cultivation, weakness is a kind of original sin. It's not that Master Niu did anything wrong, it's just that we are not worthy of living."
"Supplies? Not bad."
Zhao Qingxuan stood there, stunned, as if she had thought of something.
In fact, for the Zhao family, she was a kind of resource.
Looking at Lu Qingyun beside her, Zhao Qingxuan felt a pang of envy. She envied that he could cultivate freely in the spiritual field without having to join the Zhang or Zhao family.
She said bitterly, "It's a pity that Qingxuan has no way to struggle anymore. I just hope that my junior brother will live a long and prosperous life on the path of immortality."
Zhao Qingxuan sighed softly and left Lu Qingyun's side.
At this moment, she finally understood a little about Lu Qingyun's decision back then.
He never said anything more about trying to win over Lu Qingyun.
……
After Zhao Qingxuan left, Lu Qingyun took out the spirit wine.
Pour a glass and drink it all in one gulp.
He knew this was the last time he would see Li Erniu.
But he was powerless to do anything about it.
Lu Qingyun opened the jade talisman, and a message from Mu Chuan from several months ago appeared on it.
"Thank you for the spirit stones, Senior Brother Lu. I have broken through to the third level of Qi Refining."
"Senior Brother Lu... I have news about what you asked me to investigate."
……
Lu Qingyun swiped the jade talisman, and saw the last line on it:
"Senior Brother Lu, through my brother's connections, I learned from an older senior brother that Hall Master Niu once kept a white-browed tiger as a mount, but it disappeared a year ago..."
Looking quietly in the direction of the Hall of Punishments, Lu Qingyun recalled the time when he first joined the sect, when Li Erniu told him with great anticipation.
An immortal from a sect rescued him from a white-browed tiger and brought him to Yunxia.
He wanted to be like that immortal.
Become a powerful swordsman, and one day you will be able to slay a tiger with a single sword and protect all living beings.
Unfortunately, his talent is meager, and it's uncertain whether he can become a sword cultivator.
Lu Qingyun still remembered that it was he who told Li Erniu to persevere, even if it took a hundred or a thousand times more effort, he would eventually be rewarded.
Now, the rewards have truly come.
Lu Qingyun remained silent and swallowed the bitter spirit wine.
Perhaps, if he hadn't told Li Erniu what kind of swordsmanship he was going to practice, things would have been different.
After a long while, Lu Qingyun sighed:
"The cause and effect in this world are truly capricious and unpredictable."