Chapter 343: Night Talk Over Wine

Chapter 343: Night Talk Over Wine

Zhao Changhe smiled, letting the matter rest, and drained his bowl in accompaniment. With a sharp intake of breath, he said in surprise, "Splendid wine! I have never tasted such fine fruit wine."

Yuxu was delighted and laughed heartily. "Splendid indeed! I gathered the mountain fruits myself and brewed it with my own hands using the finest waters of the Clear Brook Spring. I might not claim to be the world's best in anything else, but when it comes to wine, none of them can match me."

Zhao Changhe said, "Could you spare some for me to take along? I have recently acquired a gourd, and it remains empty."

Yuxu waved his hand and smiled. "Go fill it yourself... and while you are at it, carry another flask out for me to deliver to someone."

"Who?"

"Li Shentong. Ask him how he likes the taste, and whether he admits defeat."

Zhao Changhe said, "...Very well. First, a toast to you, Elder."

Yuxu drained his bowl quite readily. It was clear he truly relished the feeling of having company in this snow-swept wooden hut, sharing a few bowls of warm wine.

Zhao Changhe liked it too.

Every powerhouse had their own story, and their own deeds to pursue.

Zhao Changhe felt that Yuxu's seclusion here must be fraught with hidden depths; surely he was not staying here solely to entrap villains. His leisurely and detached attitude of living among the clouds and mist, finding long days within a wine flask, did not seem like that of someone who deeply cared about the good and evil of the mortal world.

His posture seemed to say, "It has nothing to do with me."

Let the puppets bustle on the stage, while I gaze upon the peaks of Kunlun.

Furthermore, villains were no fools. When people vanished into thin air, why would they not suspect they had been slaughtered, instead of remaining so naive as to believe they were being protected? There had to be a reason behind this.

But the elder's opening words had completely blocked off further conversation: do not ask, just drink, and return to where you ought to go once you are done.

Zhao Changhe truly refrained from asking. Why pry too much into another's business? It was none of his concern. It was better to ask about his own matters: "Senior can tell that I am searching for the path to the Grandmaster realm..."

"How could I not tell..." Yuxu sipped his wine and smiled leisurely. "As you climbed the mountain, you listened to the wind and admired the scenery, as if you had not come to visit a senior, but merely to experience Kunlun. Was this intentional?"

Zhao Changhe said, "To my shame, I was indeed being a bit deliberate when I began the ascent, but as I climbed higher and higher, I gradually forgot everything else."

"That is normal... to seek it deliberately at first, and then gradually let it become nature. Every matter follows such a process."

"Yes, this junior has already felt a sense of it."

"Yet, with the foundation of your blood-fiend cultivation, no one could possibly foresee you taking this direction. You are truly an anomaly." Yuxu stroked his beard and remarked, "It is said you have no master. Who taught you to slow down? Zh... Previously, that woman from Kungang practiced a cultivation as fierce as fire; she does not seem like the type to guide you toward this path."

Just as Ye Wuzong had judged, those who could guess that she was a certain Vermilion Bird were unwilling to expose it.

Thankfully, Yuxu had quick reflexes.

Zhao Changhe did not catch the slip of the tongue and replied, "It was First Chief Tang."

Yuxu nodded slightly. "If not for her, your temperament would certainly not be as it is now."

Zhao Changhe knew his own temperament had changed drastically, and the turning point was indeed his encounter with Tang Wanzhuang in Gusu. From then on, he slowed down and began to emphasize poise, no longer maintaining the loudly reckless demeanor of his early days as a mountain bandit.

In essence, Tang Wanzhuang did it to shape the Crown Prince of her ideals, but she had truly performed the duties of a master.

In truth, though he claimed to have no master, whether it was Yue Hongling, Tang Wanzhuang, or the guidance from Huangfu Qing a few days ago, each was immensely important to him. It could be said that every one of them was his master.

Even this Daoist Master Yuxu might not be a bad person to consult about a few things...

After some thought, Zhao Changhe asked, "Senior mentioned that the woman from Kungang is as fierce as fire, yet one could also walk her path. Does that mean seeking the Gate of the Hidden Treasury does not necessarily require one to slow down?"

"Of course not. Everyone's path is different. Who says one must become serene and indifferent? Li Shentong is even more tempestuous, and I do not see him dead yet. Cui Wenjing and Wang Daoning are thoroughly entangled in mortal schemes and affairs, yet it has not stopped their cultivation. If you walked the path of blood-fiend cultivation proper to the Blood God Sect, it would be equally viable, and perhaps even easier to break through—after all, your current state of mind runs completely counter to the blood-fiend methods, which might instead cause you some confusion."

Zhao Changhe poured wine for him and asked with humility, "But I do feel it is beneficial, with no signs of it holding me back..."

"Beneficial it certainly is." Yuxu took a comfortable sip of his wine and said unhurriedly, "If you had dashed headlong down the cultivation path of the blood-fiend arts, you might have found your Gate of the Hidden Treasury more easily, but in the end, you would very likely have become a violent, mad, and bloodthirsty killer, or at the very least a crude and irascible fellow. Tang Wanzhuang must hold great expectations for you and did not wish to see such an outcome. By the same token, if you were like that, you would not be qualified to sit here drinking today."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

Yuxu continued, "That woman, or to be more precise, her superior the Vermilion Bird, is a more typical example. Since she walks the path of flame, she rushes toward the raging fire. She has no need to slow down, nor can she. Instead, she must forge ahead with even greater valor and ferocity. However, if she encounters the trials of her inner demons, it could be far more dangerous for her than for ordinary folk. If things go awry, the inner fire might consume her body, reducing her to ashes. That is why it belongs to the demonic path. As for the demonic path, you understand it more deeply than others; you train faster, but the lingering consequences are many."

Zhao Changhe indeed understood it deeply, whether from his own circumstances or those of Huangfu Qing. Hearing this, he ventured to ask, "When she encountered the heart-flame previously, Senior's guidance..."

Yuxu said calmly, "I have always known where the heart-flame resided. The legend of the fires burning Kungang has drawn people from thousands of miles away to peer into it. Being so close, how could I not have sought it out? Naturally, I knew of it. Of course, I do not practice fire-attribute cultivation; I could neither subdue that thing nor move it. It was not out of generosity that I left it for others to take."

Zhao Changhe nodded. It matched. Huangfu Qing had said that the object had no anchor and could not be moved, so it seemed Yuxu could not do it either. Later, it must have been because she subdued it that it could become the spiritual platform heart-flame attached within her body.

"Since I could not move it, my choices were either to completely seal off that space to prevent it from harming people, or to leave it there to stir up the inner fire and entice villains to slaughter one another." Yuxu smiled slightly. "This is actually the origin of the earliest legend that Kunlun attracts villains. This Miss Huangfu was merely one of the villains drawn to Kunlun..."

"..."

The heart-flame burns with blazing fire, manifesting its form outwardly—such is a demon. The evil of Kunlun is nothing more than this.

It turned out that during their very first meeting, Yuxu had already made things clear.

In the eyes of others, the Four Symbols Sect was naturally a demonic cult of sorceresses, but Zhao Changhe had never felt there was anything monstrous about Huangfu Qing or Xia Chichi. Being a little wicked only made them more endearing, and Sanniang was also very cute. The only one who made him feel like a true arch-demon was the one named Vermilion Bird—she was truly someone not to be trifled with.

Naturally, he would not say any of this. He simply continued to top up Yuxu's wine and asked, "If so, why did Senior guide me to save her?"

Yuxu picked up his wine bowl and took a comfortable gulp. "Originally, I wanted to see how she would burn herself to death... When you were rapidly approaching, I sang a song to draw your attention. I thought the matter over there had nothing to do with you, so I was warning an innocent person not to go and lose his life."

Zhao Changhe's expression began to grow awkward.

Sure enough, Yuxu's next words were, "Only when we met did I realize you were hardly an innocent party... The spring of the Azure Dragon's flora, the gentle soaking of the Black Tortoise's water—both are prominently manifested in your body, and there is even a secret technique that faintly resonates with the stellar acupoints. It seems to me that even the core disciples and guardian elders of the Four Symbols Sect might not resemble the sect as much as you do."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

Was it not said that one could not discern cultivation from outward appearances? How do you see absolutely everything? To even see through that kind of secret technique is a bit absurd.

As if seeing what he wanted to say, Yuxu clicked his tongue twice. "Never mind how I can see through that bizarre, mismatched hodgepodge of yours... In short, I originally thought you could just go off and die together, but to my surprise, you rascal actually draped a cloak over my shoulders."

He smiled slightly. "Whether one is an arch-demon does not really matter. There are some things that can make even an arch-demon as soft as silk wrapped around a finger."

It was nothing but deep affection.

"How wonderful!" Yuxu did not care at all that a demon in his eyes had broken through to a realm equal to his own, nor did he care that the precious heart-flame had been taken by someone else. He drank contentedly, slapping the table in delight. "In this wretched place, such a sight is rare to behold, rare indeed."

Zhao Changhe truly grew quite fond of this senior's state of mind. To him, this was what a true senior ought to be, so he raised his bowl once more in respect. "Another toast to Senior."

"No more, no more." Yuxu waved his hand. "One must not be greedy."

Zhao Changhe took a large gulp himself. "Then... may this junior be greedy for a few more words?"

Yuxu laughed heartily. "You child are quite interesting as well."

Zhao Changhe said, "When meeting an expert senior, wouldn't it be foolish not to ask thoroughly about one's doubts... Senior mentioned just now that my current state of mind runs completely counter to the blood-fiend methods, and might instead cause some confusion. I am now standing before the Gate of the Hidden Treasury, unable to enter. Could it be precisely because of this conflict?"

Yuxu was greatly surprised. "You have strayed ten thousand miles off course, yet you still remember the original question."

Zhao Changhe sighed helplessly. "I must remember it. My mind is entirely occupied by the Hidden Treasury right now, thinking about everything that could possibly hinder a breakthrough."

"Although this cultivation state of mind of yours conflicts with the blood-fiend method, making a breakthrough potentially more difficult, it is more stable. The likelihood of suffering from qi deviation due to a backlash of fiendish energy is greatly reduced. You should know how long it has been since you were troubled by your fiendish energy acting up."

"Yes."

"When you cultivate demonic arts and enjoy the convenience of its initial efficiency, you must be prepared for certain bottlenecks to be particularly lethal. Even the Vermilion Bird faced risks when breaking through, let alone you... Xue Canghai has never dared to break through to the Hidden Treasury realm. Why do you think that is?"

Zhao Changhe took a deep breath. "Understood. It seems it is not a problem with myself. Since Senior has put it this way, I am actually relieved. As long as nothing has gone wrong, it is fine."

"Since you have your current fortune and such a state of mind, you should continue to maintain it. If it is slow, let it be slow. When the time comes, let nature take its course." As Yuxu spoke, he also found it quite unbelievable. "You are already fast enough, so why are you in such a hurry? Is there something chasing close behind your heels, forcing you to be fast? The Three-Year Promise?"

Zhao Changhe's heart stirred. It seemed he could seize this opportunity to probe into something else.

Thus, he extended a finger and pointed toward the sky. "There is."

The kindly, smiling old grandpa demeanor that Yuxu had maintained while drinking vanished almost instantly, replaced by an expression of extreme gravity.