CH 19

Chapter 19: Mei Jiejie

Su Tingyun’s ability to play dead had improved once again.

She felt that she shouldn’t be acting in such a stupid manner and, instead, look at the situation more clearly. She was living in a place where people were eaten to the point where not even their bones remained, so why was she still making things worse for herself by shooting her mouth off and saying dumb things? In the future, she wouldn’t talk unless she had to. She would reduce her presence and aim to be a simple and low-key old woman.

“Practice properly by yourself. You’ll have hell to pay if you haven’t broken through to the Spirit Condensation Stage in three day’s time..” Liu Feizhou flung his sleeves back and left after delivering his command. Su Tingyun groaned and pulled herself up, then opened the bottle and smelled it. The faint fragrance of the medicine filled her nose. It seemed to seep into her heart, and the medicine’s aroma made her feel carefree and relaxed, to the point where she felt extremely comfortable.

Eat it?

For the time being let’s not worry about the potential side effects. Rather, would he use poison to control her? ?

Don’t eat it?

Not eating it meant that she definitely wouldn’t be able to reach the Spirit Condensation Stage, and when the time came she’d be done for. The people outside were all afraid of these alchemists and their methods were surely ruthless and vicious. After sniffing the medicine, Su Tingyun gathered up her courage and poured a pill into her mouth. In less than a quarter of a minute, she felt a strong energy pouring into her body that shoved through her meridians.

Great amounts of spirit energy flooded into her body, making it hard for her originally small meridians to bear. However, the Spirit Opening Pill continuously healed her broken meridians as spiritual energy forced them open and damaged them This caused Su Tingyun’s body to toss and turn due to the pain. After suffering for god knows how long, the Spirit Opening Pill’s effect finally disappeared and she achieved the Third Stage of Qi Condensation.

Eating one pill caused her cultivation to increase by two stages and also made her sweat profusely as she tasted the pain of being one step away from death.

This meant that she’d have to suffer at least four more times if she wanted to reach the Spiritual Condensation Stage. This was practically hell’s torment!

During these days when Su Tingyun was using pills to breakthrough, Wuliang sect’s new disciples arrived after undergoing a rigorous examination. At the end, one hundred and eight disciples were accepted. After they passed, next was deciding which hall in Wuliang sect they would enter. It was important, as it affected the progress of their future cultivation.

Xu Wei’s talent wasn’t bad. Young as he was, he had figured out some insights on his own in the way of the sword and he could already exude murderous aura when he drew his sword. He stood in the first row wearing the cyan colored clothing of a disciple. His face showed no emotion as he purposefully tried to look calm, but his slightly raised chin betrayed how he truly felt. He was third out of all the new disciples.

His former companion Zhang Zhizi had also managed to successfully enter Wuliang Shan, but unexpectedly, Li Xinmei didn’t appear. She probably hadn’t been able to scrape together enough to pay for the registration. Xu Wei creased his brows as he thought about Li Xinmei. But at this time, the girl next to him used her elbow and lightly bumped him. “Senior Brother Xu, say, who do you think will choose us? It’d be great if we were under the same master.”

Girls at the age of fourteen and fifteen years start to grow and sprout. Her face was as beautiful as a peach blossom and her skin was as white as a gemstone. Even the cyan disciple’s clothing couldn’t cover her developing curves. The two lumps of flesh around her chest caused his heart to itch and the hot breath that came from her whisper made Xu Wei’s eyes darken, causing the image of the girl in his memories to become vague.

He once liked Li Xinmei. That girl had a sharp mouth but a soft heart. Although she looked to be more indifferent than anyone else, after getting to know her, he realized she was kinder than anyone else. Li Xinmei truly was quite young, but she was tall and her figure was also quite fair. So, it wasn’t much different when compared to him. Of course, he’d definitely grow taller and larger in the future.

Kind people have no way of continuing to walk on this dangerous path of cultivation and now, she had already been weeded out. As things stand, the distance between them would only continue to grow. As such, he should give up on her. Xu Wei still wore a  cold look on his face as his eyes faced forward. The girl wasn’t discouraged, and she once again used her elbow to nudge him twice. Since she was leaning her body to the side, her chest brushed against Xu Wei’s arm.

“Senior Brother Xu, You’re ignoring me again.”

Only then did Xu Wei respond, “Perhaps.”

“If we end up under the same master, Senior Brother Xu has to look after me.”

“En.” (Sound of affirmation)

One didn’t need to worry about a lack of women as long as they had power. Xu Wei raised his head towards at the waterfall above him and coldly smiled.

Not long after, the sect leader and the hall elders appeared, each of them here to pick new disciples for their halls.

“There aren’t any amazing talents this time around.” The first one to speak was the Weapon Hall Elder, Zhu Rong. As soon as he said this, all the disciples feel like a basin of cold water had been poured on them. This also caused many people who couldn’t accept what he said to glower and tighten their fists in frustration, wanting to prove themselves.

“What, you guys can’t accept it?” Zhu Rong laughed. “Previously, there was someone whose body was covered with an unusual flame. The time before that, there was someone with a top quality inborn celestial bones. Are all of you anything at all when compared to them?” A pitch-black rod appeared in his hand. The rod spun around once in his hand and directly swept at the three disciples standing in the front of him.

the body goes through changes as you cultivate, and celestial bones hold more power than the bones of the average person. Some people are born w/ innate talent that some of their bones are already more celestial-like than average

The three disciples couldn’t dodge his strike and fell to a kneel on the ground.

Both of Xu Wei’s legs burned with pain. He clenched his jaw and stood up. Both his legs were still shaking when he stubborn stood up and blood was still seeping out from his pants. The girl next to bit her lip but didn’t dare to help. She could only look on with a pair of watery eyes. She was placed fourth. Originally, she felt wronged because she was unable to obtain the top three positions. Now, she was glad that she didn’t.

“Last time, there was someone who was able to splendidly received this suppressed attack of mine. There’s no one here I’m interested in. Sect Leader, I’ll be leaving first.” The Weapon Hall was the strongest amongst the six halls. Zhu Rong really didn’t accept anyone this time around and left after he finished speaking. This caused the disciples’ hopes to turn cold.

On the stage, a woman wearing red clothes with extremely charming features cast a glance at the person beside her and laughed. “This time there’s no one to fight over disciples with you, your hall will surely be able to add a few extra new disciples.” She was Red Dress Hall’s Hall Master, Hong Luo, and was a Pratyekabuddhayana cultivator*. Her hall only accepted females. Hong Luo casually pointed two girls out. “You two will do.”

Three Main Buddhism Cultivation Approaches

无常修 In the first approach, the Shravakayana, the two major schools of thought are the Vaibashika and the Sautrantika systems. The Vaibashika and the Sautrantika teach that the cause of conditioned existence is the ignorant belief that the individual is a permanent, lasting entity.

In order to overcome this mistaken notion, one studies the teachings which explain that the ‘self’ is, in fact, without essence, insubstantial, and unreal. Having arrived at a definitive understanding, one familiarizes oneself with this new way of regarding reality to the point where it becomes an integral part of one’s being. This realization is called the state of an Arhat of the Shravakayana, and it is the highest point of this approach.

非乐修 The second approach, the Pratyekabuddhayana, goes further. It points out that all other phenomena also, just like the individual, are not truly existent entities, that all things are illusory like the images in a dream. As in the Shravakayana, there are two stages of development: intellectual analysis which is followed by cultivating a new way of perceiving reality, so that full realization of this approach is achieved. Practitioners contemplate the twelve phases of the process of dependent occurrence in their order of arising, that is, basic unawareness, actions and the karma they accrue, habitual patterns that color consciousness, and so on. They also contemplate these phases in the reversed succession, starting with death, going on to aging, birth, and so on. The goal of this approach is the state of an Arhat of the Pratyekabuddhayana. This state involves full realization of the emptiness of the individual as well as a partial realization of the emptiness of external phenomena.

无我修 The third approach, the Mahayana, speaks of compassion for all living beings and the emptiness of both the individual and all other phenomena. It teaches that the practice of the ten paramitas must be based on awareness which fully perceives the essencelessness of phenomena. The inseparability of compassion and emptiness is a main teaching in this tradition. The point is that compassion compels one to work for the welfare of others and that perception of emptiness allows one to do so in an enlightened way. Such perception of emptiness brings one to the realization of mind’s true nature which, according to the Mahayana, is the union of awareness and emptiness free from the limitations of the conceptual mind. (19)

C: Searched up Chinese version and matched to the English version. 80% sure it’s right, but if it turns out I matched it wrong, please let me know!

Red Dress Hall’s strength amongst the six halls wasn’t bad. The girls that she pointed to were unable to contain their joy.

The other elders also began to select people and Xu Wei was selected by the Sword Sect. The nervousness in his heart calmed down. The girl next to him also got into the Sword Sect. The two were extremely happy. At this time, a cultivator from the Array Hall hurriedly rushed over, obviously not very interested in accepting any new disciples this time around.

This person was Ning Xuzi and at his side was a girl in white silk. The girl had bright eyes, white teeth, and fine features. She’d definitely be incomparably beautiful once she lost some of the baby fat on her cheeks. Her hair was currently tied in a simple bun, with a jade hairpin pierced through it. The hairpin had a kind of spiritual light about it. It was definitely a high-level spiritual treasure. While her dress looked plain, it was covered with rows upon rows of silver thread, making it look like there were waves wrapping around her whenever she took a step. It made others feel like they were looking at the dragon princess of the east sea who moved by treading on waves.

The boys underneath stared stupidly and the girls admired her. There were also some who were filled with envy, but all of them were trying to figure out who that girl was. She looked so young. Maybe she was the daughter of one of the Wuliang Sect Elders.

Xu Wei was stunned.

That was clearly Li Xinmei, yet at the same time, she didn’t seem like Li Xinmei.

Was it really her? As he hesitated, he saw the girl in the white silk look his way as her eyes indifferently scanned over him. Xu Wei’s felt delighted in his heart, but it was short lived when he saw her turn to look in a different direction. She looked like she had no knowledge of who he was. Looks like she isn’t Li Xinmei… Xu Wei sighed in his heart, and slowly followed his fellow Sword Sect disciples.

“You, you, you, and also you…” Ning Xuzi didn’t even look and randomly picked people. The Array Hall ranked second of the six halls. Those who were picked by him were all extremely happy. He picked another one and muttered, “There’s one more, once I finish picking, I can finally go do my actual job.” The disciples underneath looked at Ning Xuzi, hoping they would be picked. But at this time, a young and tender child’s voice said, ” Mei jiejie, Mei jiejie, is that really you?”

Xu Wei who was almost out of the plaza abruptly stopped.

“Junior Brother Xu, why did you stop?” The leading Sword Sect disciple asked. Xu Wei’s face turned pale and he said in a low voice, ” Just a moment ago my feet suffered a wound, it hurts a little.” The senior disciple lowered his head and looked before saying, “That’s a small injury, a Boost Recovery Pill can heal it.”

After he finished speaking, he took out a pill and handed it to Xu Wei. Xu Wei gratefully accepted it and said, “Thank you, Senior Brother.”

“You’re welcome. Remember to return two pills to me when the hall gives out its monthly allowance. I’m Wu Qi. If you need to borrow something, you can come find me. I’ll make it a little cheaper for you.”

Xu Wei: “…”

His breath got stuck in his throat, almost choking him.

He had always looked down on those kind people. However, at this time, he recalled her kindness.

“Xiao Mei, you know that brat?” Zhu Xuzi’s voice spread over, ” If you know him, I’ll accept him and he can be your assistant.”

“I don’t know him.” It was still the same familiar voice that he remembered, but it held a never before heard coldness. Xu Wei started slightly. He disregarded the wound on his leg and started striding out with large steps. From the side, he could hear Zhang Zhizi’s broken-hearted weeping. He only felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want to remain here for a single moment longer. Someone he’d previously abandoned was now standing above him. Karma really was mocking him!

__________

Credits: Translated by Voidlight, Translation Checked by Chiyomira, Proofread by Sigil