Chapter 531: Must Bear Heavy Karma
On the inner walls of the corridor, every thirty meters, a massive portrait hung.
The pigments on those paintings had already become somewhat mottled, yet the gazes of the figures within were astonishingly lifelike. There were elders with wide, furious eyes, and middle-aged figures with closed eyes lost in contemplation; each portrait exuded a unique spiritual charm.
"Those are portraits of successive Pavilion Masters of the Tianji Pavilion." Lin Yu explained softly from within the ring.
Master Xuanming walked past these portraits as if they didn't exist, striding along at a brisk pace.
Until he reached the middle of the corridor.
Master Xuanming's footsteps came to an almost imperceptibly brief pause before a single portrait.
That pause lasted absolutely no longer than half a breath. If Su Ming hadn't been maintaining extreme vigilance, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.
Su Ming's gaze naturally fell upon that portrait.
It was a painting with a style completely different from those around it. The subject wasn't some rosy-cheeked elder with snow-white hair, but an extremely young female cultivator.
She wore a simple white Daoist robe, unadorned by any flashy magical implements. Her features were elegantly refined, and between her brows, there was none of that sharp, all-calculating intensity that marked the other Pavilion Masters.
Her eyes were quietly fixed on the person outside the painting.
In that instant, Su Ming noticed that Master Xuanming, who was walking ahead, suddenly clenched his right hand—which was resting behind his back—into a tight fist.
But only for a brief moment.
Then, that hand slowly relaxed, reverting to its usual lifeless, withered state.
Master Xuanming didn't look back, nor did he linger in front of that portrait for even half a moment longer. He continued forward.
Qingfeng walked beside Su Ming, and he too had noticed the unusually different portrait of the female cultivator. His youthful curiosity drove him to lean closer to the wall, trying to make out what was written in that tiny, ant-sized script in the corner of the painting.
A hand firmly grabbed the back of Qingfeng's collar.
Su Ming's wrist exerted a bit of force, pulling Qingfeng back to the center of the path.
"Don't touch things recklessly." Su Ming's voice was extremely low, but carried an undeniable, stern authority.
What he didn't say was that the karma behind this painting was likely more deadly than any prohibitive rune.
Qingfeng was startled, quickly shrinking his neck back and obediently sticking close to Su Ming as he walked.
At the end of the corridor lay a side hall half-suspended over the edge of a cliff.
The hall's doors were wide open, with no guards or any lavish furnishings.
Only gusts of cold wind passed straight through the hall.
Master Xuanming stopped at the hall's entrance. Without announcing himself, he strode directly inside.
Su Ming followed closely behind. The moment he stepped through the doorway, his heartbeat involuntarily slowed, and the spiritual energy in his Dantian fell into complete stillness.
The hall was completely empty.
At the deepest part of the side hall, pressed against the cliff side, was an ancient jade table.
Seated before the table was an elder with a ruddy complexion and snow-white hair.
He wore an extremely loose Daoist robe, his silvery hair cascading like a waterfall over his shoulders. His complexion was as rosy as a baby's, but his eyes seemed to contain the endless birth and death of stars and galaxies.
The elder was alone, looking down at several scrolls spread out on the jade table.
Master Xuanming walked straight to the table. Without bowing or saying a word, he sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion directly across from the elder.
The Pavilion Master of the Tianji Pavilion.
One of the most unfathomable figures in the Central Continent, now sitting just thirty feet away from Su Ming.
The Pavilion Master carefully rolled up the scrolls, slowly raised his head, and his gaze didn't fall on Master Xuanming sitting opposite him.
Instead, it passed over the jade table and landed on Su Ming, who was standing off to the side.
He paused for a full three breaths.
The elder's lips curled slightly into a gentle smile.
"So this is the disciple that Xuanheng boy took on?"
The Pavilion Master's voice wasn't loud, as if he were making casual conversation, but it carried an authority that made it impossible to even think of disobeying.
Su Ming took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the eerie feeling of being completely seen through.
He stepped forward, folded his hands in front of his chest, and bowed deeply.
"This junior, Su Ming, a disciple of the Formation Peak at Cloud Hidden Sect, greets the Pavilion Master."
"Rise."
The Tianji Pavilion Master raised his hand casually.
Su Ming straightened up, naturally tucking his hands into his sleeves, and took half a step back, standing to the side and slightly behind Master Xuanming. With his eyes fixed on his nose, and his nose focused on his heart, he didn't spare another glance at this rosy-cheeked, white-haired Pavilion Master.
Master Xuanming sat on the meditation cushion, his withered hands resting on his knees. His tone was as calm as if he were discussing the most trivial of matters. "This kid ran into a snag during his cultivation. His Dao foundation is damaged." Master Xuanming cut straight to the point, his hoarse voice echoing through the hall. "Xuanheng begged me to come here. I've come to ask the Tianji Pavilion for a single drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Sky-Blue Stone Marrow."
The Tianji Pavilion Master didn't answer immediately. He raised his right hand and tapped his index finger lightly on the edge of the white jade table.
"Tap... tap... tap..."
Qingfeng and Mingyue, standing off to the side, were already drenched in cold sweat from the oppressive atmosphere in the hall, their breathing becoming ragged and uneven.
Shadow shifted her claws on Su Ming's shoulder, but Su Ming silently pressed her down with a strand of gentle spiritual energy.
"Ten-Thousand-Year Sky-Blue Stone Marrow." The Tianji Pavilion Master finally stopped his tapping, his voice taking on a distant quality. "In the last thousand years, my Tianji Pavilion has only managed to condense three drops."
He raised his eyes to look at Master Xuanming.
"You're here, for a junior from another sect, asking for my Pavilion's most treasured heritage." The Pavilion Master's tone was unreadable, betraying neither anger nor pleasure. "Xuanming, how do you plan to settle this debt?"
Master Xuanming's withered face twitched slightly.
"Karma." Master Xuanming coldly spat out two words. "He owes me a favor. I'll use my last trace of karmic ties within the Tianji Pavilion to exchange for this drop of Stone Marrow. From this day forward, I will have no further connection with the Tianji Pavilion."
Su Ming keenly caught the phrase "last trace of karmic ties."
The Tianji Pavilion Master gave Master Xuanming a long, deep look.
In those eyes that seemed to contain galaxies, an extremely complex emotion flickered. There was regret, helplessness, and even a deep sense of guilt.
"Fine."
The Tianji Pavilion Master slowly nodded. "The Ten-Thousand-Year Sky-Blue Stone Marrow can be given."
Hearing those words, Su Ming's breath unconsciously paused for half a breath.
No matter how steady his temperament, upon hearing that this miraculous medicine, which concerned his path to eternal longevity and could repair the hidden damage to his Dao foundation, was about to be his, a wave of emotion still surged within his heart.
However, the Tianji Pavilion Master's tone took a sharp turn in the next moment.
"But, the rules of the Tianji Pavilion cannot be broken. Taking a great treasure must bear heavy karma."
The Pavilion Master tilted his head slightly and gave an order toward the empty doorway.
"Bring the tortoise shell."