Chapter 20 - 17: Kneeling and Pleading
As the song ended, the world around Liuqing Lake seemed to turn upside down. Countless waterspouts shot up from the water. A single speck of azure rose from the center, accompanied by waves of immortal music.
It was an Elixir. The mere sight of it was enough to leave one entranced, as if they could already smell its fragrance.
"The Heavenly Repair Pill has appeared!"
A voice rang out.
"This Heavenly Repair Pill shares a karmic bond with me. I’ll be taking it."
A monk appeared out of nowhere, moving with incredible speed. He formed his hand into a claw and lunged for the speck of azure light.
A flash of sword light arrived in an instant. The monk had no choice but to pull back his hand. In that single moment, he lost the initiative, and the azure object darted away like a firefly.
The monk scanned the area with a grim look, trying to find the one who had thwarted him.
"Who dares to ruin my plans? Have you not heard of my Shifo Temple? Don’t let me find you!"
No one answered. With a cold snort, he charged into the crowd.
In an instant, the lantern festival descended into chaos. The peaceful atmosphere from moments before was completely shattered.
Lu Changyuan, seated inside the painted pleasure boat, took in the entire scene.
Xia Lianxue explained softly, "That flash of sword light just now was most likely from the Sword Son of the Qingcao Sword Sect."
Lu Changyuan said, "You can even recognize something like that?"
"Miao Yu Palace once had an exchange on the Dao with the Qingcao Sword Sect. I was there when my Senior Sister sparred with him."
Su Luoqiu stood up and gazed out at the chaotic battle in the center of the lake. "Mr. Lu, aren’t you going?"
Lu Changyuan beckoned to Xia Lianxue. Puzzled, she scooted closer to him.
"I was asking you to pass me the tea."
Xia Lianxue let out a small "oh." "But the tea is cold already. Shall we have some wine instead?"
The pleasure boat Su Luoqiu had arranged was stocked with wine and food, but Lu Changyuan had only drunk from that single pot of tea since coming aboard, and now it was cold.
Lu Changyuan suddenly asked, "Did Miao Yu Palace send the two of you, you and Qiu Yuehan, to seize the Heavenly Repair Pill?"
Xia Lianxue gently shook her head. "The Sect’s mission was just to investigate the Heavenly Repair Pill, not to seize it. To be more precise, we’re meant to determine if it was left by the Chang’an Daoist. If it was, we have to find out what else he may have left."
The Fairy emphasized the name "Chang’an Daoist."
Su Luoqiu asked in confusion, "Doesn’t Miao Yu Palace want the Heavenly Repair Pill? It’s said to be a divine elixir that can cure any illness."
Xia Lianxue looked at Lu Changyuan. Only after he nodded did she speak.
"It is precisely because it’s just an Elixir that the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces won’t fight over it. Miao Yu Palace is the same. If not for the possibility that the Heavenly Repair Pill was left behind by the Chang’an Daoist, the Palace wouldn’t have even sent anyone out to investigate."
This was actually a common misconception.
The Heavenly Repair Pill had two main desirable qualities.
First, it could remedy deficiencies and improve one’s innate talent, turning a person of ordinary aptitude into a one-in-a-hundred genius.
However, the prodigies of the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces were nearly all geniuses of that caliber already; they had no need for this Elixir to improve their aptitude.
Second, it could heal old injuries. But the most precious treasures of the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces included similar medicines. The Sect leadership could naturally obtain those, so there was no need for them to come out and fight for this.
Therefore, the ones who truly needed this Pill were the members of small and medium-sized Sects.
The few representatives from the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces were almost all here to investigate the matter of the Chang’an Daoist, not to seize the Pill.
Oftentimes.
Something you felt you absolutely had to fight for was, in the eyes of others, merely something they could take or leave.
Su Luoqiu said, bewildered, "But that monk..."
Xia Lianxue continued her explanation. "If I’m not mistaken, that’s the Hand-Eating Monk, the junior brother of the Heart-Eating Monk. Shifo Temple’s situation is a bit different. A few years ago, because they committed too many evil deeds, they were uprooted by the Daoist Sect, the Qingcao Sword Sect, and three other allied sects. So they actually do need this Elixir. After all, many of their people suffered lasting internal injuries in that battle."
That would explain why the Sword Son of the Qingcao Sword Sect had struck out with his sword.
They could do without the Elixir.
But Shifo Temple could not be allowed to obtain it.
Lu Changyuan chuckled. "No wonder Qiu Yuehan is hunting the Heart-Eating Monk. It seems Shifo Temple is public enemy number one in the Cultivation Realm."
Xia Lianxue agreed with a soft "mhm." "They went too far. They even devoured the hearts of mortals."
BOOM!!!
A violent explosion erupted in the distance.
The Hand-Eating Monk roared in fury, "Who the hell keeps getting in my way!?"
It seemed the Sword Son of the Qingcao Sword Sect had launched another strike.
Accompanied by this scene, Lu Changyuan picked up his chopsticks and began to eat, chewing slowly and deliberately.
Resigned, Xia Lianxue could only let Lu Changyuan enjoy the show. She refilled his wine when it was empty and brought dishes from farther down the table to place before him.
Su Luoqiu’s face turned pale. "Mr. Lu... how can you possibly eat while watching something like this?"
It wasn’t that Su Luoqiu was being overly sensitive; the sight of flesh and blood flying through the air not far off was genuinely sickening.
Huge waves rolled in from the distance, powerful enough to churn up the mud from the lakebed.
"This is nothing. By the way, do you want the Heavenly Repair Pill?"
Having finished half a pot of wine, Lu Changyuan’s sudden question made the Fairy’s delicate shoulders tremble slightly, even causing a few strands of her beautiful hair to fall out of place.
"I... Me?"
’Of course she wanted it.’
’With the Heavenly Repair Pill, she could recover her former Realm and wouldn’t have to go through the arduous process of recultivating from scratch.’
The Fairy bit her lip, her rosy lips turning pale from the pressure.
’Lu Changyuan actually quite enjoyed seeing the Fairy look so conflicted.’
’She wanted it but was too hesitant to ask, knowing that accepting it would mean owing him another favor. As the favors piled up, she would eventually be unable to repay the debt.’
Lu Changyuan said impassively, "The first lesson of Cultivation is to look your own desires straight in the eye."
This was, in fact, the first lesson for most sects in the Cultivation Realm.
Miao Yu Palace was no different.
Xia Lianxue took a deep breath, then whispered, "I want it."
For a fleeting moment, she had a vision of Lu Changyuan seated high in the Ninth Heaven, while she could only kneel fawningly before his throne, begging him to bestow the Elixir upon her.
But it was only a hallucination.
"Very good. You’ve faced your desire. Only by confronting your desires can you avoid being corrupted by a Desire Demon."
’She had thought Lu Changyuan would tease her; in fact, she had braced herself for it.’
But all Lu Changyuan said was,
"Then go and take it. When we Cultivators want something, we must get our hands on it."
Xia Lianxue lifted her head in a daze, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
’Was Lu Changyuan going to make a move? Was he going to fight that group for it?’
Of course, he wasn’t.
"What are you going to do, Sir?"
"Go home and sleep, of course. Did you want to keep watching them fight?"
"But... but the Pill..."
"That’s not necessarily the Heavenly Repair Pill." Lu Changyuan stood up and stretched lazily into the night air. "And thank you, miss, for keeping the boat steady."
The air rippled.
Xia Lianxue suddenly realized that, at some point, their boat had been trapped within a birdcage.
"Sir!"
"Don’t panic. They mean us no harm. If it weren’t for this cage, the turbulence from that fight would have already capsized our boat."
The birdcage slowly rose, turning translucent. It then shrank, landing in the palm of a young woman.
Someone emerged, walking slowly from a place beyond sight, knowledge, and sound.
She said.
"You’re welcome."