Dusk Returns to the Ruined Building

Spring flowers and autumn fruits pass in the blink of an eye, and the stars move and things change over the three spring and autumn seasons.

The years in the mountains always pass quietly and ordinary, flowers bloom and fall, grass grows and leaves wither, but also so quickly, in the blink of an eye, three years have passed!

The night wind blew, and inside Lingchen Residence, Ji Yichen felt the last wisp of true qi disappearing in his dantian, and his heart was overjoyed. It took him three years to finally dissolve the true qi in his dantian's qi sea into the world.

Ji Yichen silently practiced the Saint Emperor Art, and a flash of light appeared around him. Countless auras between heaven and earth rushed into Lingchen Residence frantically, forming a powerful momentum with Ji Yichen as the center. However, his dantian was empty at this moment, and his figure was real and unreal. Ji Yichen felt the vast power of heaven and earth. Compared with his Saint Emperor Art three years ago, it was really a world of difference.

"Master, I really did it. I'm going down the mountain!" Ji Yichen was excited, but more than that, he seemed reluctant to leave.

The next morning.

Ji Yichen took Xiao Ling'er for a run along the Stargazing Mountain early in the morning, looking here and there; Xiao Ling'er seemed to sense something, and kept playing and fighting with Ji Yichen all the way. When the man and the monkey returned to the Stargazing Pavilion, it was noon. The old Taoist priest was sitting alone in the Stargazing Pavilion, still holding the whisk in his hand and drinking half a cup of tea in his mouth.

Looking at Ji Yichen who walked into the Observatory, his handsome face was covered with sweat, and his ragged clothes wrapped around his slightly thin body. In thirteen years, Ji Yichen grew from a skinny child to the handsome eighteen-year-old young man.

"Master!" Ji Yichen called out respectfully and stood beside the old Taoist priest. In the past three years, he had grown mature and was no longer the naughty boy. His personality had also become much more restrained and he didn't like to show off.

"Have you decided to go down the mountain?" The old Taoist looked at Ji Yichen with a doting look.

"Well, Master, disciple..." His voice was a little choked.

"Have you thought about why you are coming down the mountain? For love? For revenge? For yourself? For the world? Have you thought about what you are going to do after you come down the mountain? To have fun in the world? To be a hero? Or to do something?" The old Taoist asked a long series of questions.

Ji Yichen shook his head without answering.

"No matter what you do, don't be too obsessed! Just like when you practice the Holy Emperor Technique, success or failure, positive or negative, all depends on your thoughts!"

"The prosperity of the world is different from the quiet cultivation in the mountains. The right and wrong, love and hatred, good and evil in the world cannot be explained in one sentence. You have to experience it with your heart!"

Ji Yichen nodded mechanically.

"Everything in the world is a part of the universe. We practice to prove the way of heaven. Everything in the world goes through various disasters and proves the way of heaven in other ways, from a small speck of dust to a giant beast in the ancient world. We must not judge others by our own benefit!"

"Also, the world is so vast, and all things are so strange. Even as a teacher, I only know a little bit. There are many things you have to find the answers yourself, even if the answers may not satisfy you. The path of cultivation is not easy, and the way of heaven is even harder to find!"

Ji Yichen listened quietly to his master's teachings. Over the past decade, his master seemed to have never talked to him about these things except for passing on his skills.

The old Taoist took a sip of tea and looked up at Ji Yichen, "How much do you remember about what happened thirteen years ago?"

"I only remember that my mother fell into the water. I don't remember anything else!" Ji Yichen looked at his master, expecting his master to tell him something.

The old Taoist priest’s words disappointed him!

"It's okay if you don't remember. Knowing the answer to some things may not be the best outcome. After you go down the mountain, change your surname to "Ji". The word "Ji" has too many legends and, of course, too many stories!"

"Okay!" Although Ji Yichen was confused, he still agreed to his master.

"Master, I remember my mother's last name is Shen, so I'll just be called Shen Yichen! If a farmer who comes up the mountain to chop wood mentions Shen Yichen one day, you'll know it's me!"

Ji Yichen, no, from this moment on the young man should be called Shen Yichen. He told his master the name he had thought of. He hoped that his master could know everything about him, although he did not know what his future destiny would be!

"After you get down the mountain, you must not use your Holy Emperor Art at will. If you need it, remember that either the person who knows it is dead, or no one else knows it!"

"Master, why?" Shen Yichen asked in confusion.

"Everything in the world, practicing all kinds of methods, is seeking to verify the Way of Heaven in their own way. There is no right or wrong, no good or evil in the world. The reason why there is a distinction between the righteous way and the evil way is because the ways of seeking to verify the Way of Heaven conflict. Some ways are even opposite. Once you practice at the same time, it is easy to go astray, become bloodthirsty, and crazy. Therefore, there has been confrontation for thousands of years. Among all the methods in the world, some have been verified by the Way of Heaven. The Holy Emperor Art is one of them. Otherwise, the Ji family would not have been able to stand for thousands of years, but now..."

The old Taoist priest did not say the rest of the words.

"In addition, there is one thing you must remember. There is a kind of thing in the world that is neither human nor material. All things in the world practice by absorbing various different energies between heaven and earth. The things I am talking about are very strange. They have a kind of practice energy themselves, or the energy they practice does not belong to our world. I don’t understand it very well. I only know that thousands of years ago, both good and evil called it "ghost vein!" Be careful when you encounter it. According to rumors thousands of years ago, ghost veins are the nemesis of all energy in the world!"

The old Taoist priest stood up and walked outside the Stargazing Pavilion. "Okay, I won't say any more. I can't remember the last time I talked so much!"

Shen Yichen noticed that when the old Taoist mentioned the ghost vein, his heart was in turmoil, and he didn't know whether it was fear, excitement or regret!

Shen Yichen looked at the old Taoist priest's back. Although he had prepared for the separation, he was still heartbroken. He didn't know when he would see him again. Tears flowed silently.

"By the way, you and I have been master and disciple in the past. Giving you something as a parting gift can be considered as a token of my appreciation for you"!

The old Taoist priest looked back at the tearful Shen Yichen, and swept the whisk in his hand. Thousands of dust strands gathered to one side. There was a dark yellow bead on the tip of the whisk. "This bead is called Xuchen Bead, which means the correspondence between the virtual and the real, and the light and the dust. It also has the word dust in it. It is destined to be with you. Putting this bead in Dantian can hide your cultivation. The tea on the table is a reward for you. You don't have to drink it secretly this time!"

As the sun sets, I walk away from others.

Observatory on the Guanxing Mountain.

Shen Yichen looked at the empty pavilion, picked up the cup of tea and drank it all in one gulp.

He said to Xiao Ling'er with tears in her eyes: "Xiao Ling'er, take good care of my master!" After that, he turned around and walked down the mountain resolutely.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Shen Yichen turned around and shouted, "Master, you haven't told me yet, how can I get back to the mountain!"

"Wherever there is stargazing, there is a mountain for stargazing!" The old Taoist's words came from all directions.

Shen Yichen knelt on the ground, kowtowed three times towards the Stargazing Pavilion, and said silently in his heart: "Master, I am leaving. Take care!"

In the Observatory Pavilion, Xiao Ling'er sat in front of the pavilion, accepted the three bows, and watched Shen Yichen disappear on the Observatory Mountain.

That night, a sinister voice came from the bottom of the Xuanyu Terrace in Lingchenju: "Your useless disciple has gone down the mountain. Do you think he can stop the elite of our clan? Haha."

A wisp of dust wind broke through the air and hit the Xuanyu Platform, as if slapping someone in the face.

"Shut up! I was able to seal you a thousand years ago, and I can do the same a thousand years later!" The old Taoist's voice dissipated in Lingchenju.