I have a panel that reduces proficiency.

Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Chaolu held Wanxia's hand and said, "We won't be stuck at the first level of Qi Refining forever. When we're twenty, we'll be able to reach the second level. When we're thirty, we'll have our own children. Once that happens, we'll stop cultivating and leave every single spirit stone we've saved to our children."

"If the child is successful and reaches the middle stage of Qi Refining, he can support us in return, and we can also advance to the third level of Qi Refining."

If our child is more ambitious and reaches the later stages of Qi Refining, then we might be able to reach the middle stages of Qi Refining before we turn sixty, and live a few more years.

"However, if the child's husband's or in-laws are difficult to deal with and refuse to let resources flow out, then we will have to stop at the second level of Qi Refining. But that would still be better than now."

The sunset did not interrupt her.

Chaolu continued, talking about her plans for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

The evening glow asked, "What about Foundation Establishment?"

Chao Lu's eyes widened. "Foundation Establishment?" she exclaimed.

Chao Lu shook her head and said, "Foundation Establishment is too difficult. We would have to have all our children reach the late stage of Qi Refining, and then work together to support our grandchildren so that they can also reach the late stage of Qi Refining. It would take five generations, each generation without any mistakes, to cultivate a Heavenly Spiritual Root in our bloodline. Only with a Heavenly Spiritual Root is there even a slight possibility of Foundation Establishment."

The evening glow said, "No! It was I who established my foundation, it was my elder sister who established hers."

Snowflakes landed on the morning dew on the eyelashes, like migratory birds finally finding a branch to perch on.

Chao Lu said, "Wanxia, ​​that's impossible. It's impossible for us to reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

The evening glow suddenly pointed towards the depths of Mount Luofu and said, "In the center of the Mount Luofu range stands an old banyan tree, a branch of the legendary ancestral tree. Inside the tree lives a three-legged golden toad, which spits out a golden pearl every full moon. Whoever finds that pearl can make a wish. That wish can grant one the foundation for spiritual cultivation! Sister, you've heard this legend!"

Chao Lu said, "That's just a legend. That golden toad is a powerful demon. How could we possibly obtain the golden pearls it spits out?"

The sunset glow said, "If it were truly false, how could this legend have been passed down from generation to generation?"

Chao Lu said, "Legends aren't necessarily true. Maybe it's just bait released by the golden toad to lure people who want to rise to the top in one step into the mountain, so it can swallow them whole."

As the sunset lowered its head, its gaze fell on the bluish-purple hand of the morning dew, and it suddenly asked, "What about next month's rent?"

Chaolu said, "I'll make some more herbs. My hand is injured, so I'll work a little longer; I'll make them eventually—"

"So, you mean, sister doesn't have confidence?" Wanxia asked.

Suddenly, Wanxia bent over and coughed violently a few times, her whole face turning red.

Chaolu quickly stepped forward to support her, one hand supporting her back and the other gently pressing on her chest, trying to ease her pain.

"Sister, there's no need to say anything more. My mind is made up."

Wanxia finally stopped coughing, straightened up, and a trace of blood foam still clung to the corner of her mouth.

"Sister, please don't try to persuade me anymore."

The morning dew wiped the blood from the evening glow's lips, moved its lips slightly, but ultimately said nothing more.

She turned around, looked at Fang Shi, and said, "Brother, let's go home together."

Fang Shi did not respond.

Xuanzhu tilted her head and looked at him, saying, "They invited you home, why didn't you answer?"

Fang Shi didn't answer, but instead asked, "Can you kill that landlord who's at the third level of Qi Refining?"

Xuanzhu blinked and said, "What do you want to do? This Heavenly Venerable's body is made of tofu; I can't kill anyone."

Fang Shi said, "I know, but your talisman can guide the morning dew and the evening glow."

Xuanzhu remained silent.

Fang Shi then continued, "Could you point out a further, more enticing path?"

"Do you want that landlord to be blinded by the treasures deep in Mount Luofu and walk into a trap himself?"

"Yes."

Xuanzhu said, "Are you so eager for them to have a better life?"

Fang Shi said, "Don't you want to? If they live well, you can also benefit from it. You said yourself that this is a blessed land for those who achieve the Golden Core stage."

Xuanzhu was silent for a moment, then said, "What you say is true, but it may not be their deepest obsession."

"Obsessions are like threads, buried among countless causes and effects. If they are not sorted out one by one, and their roots are not sought out and resolved, even with good intentions, one will ultimately go astray."

"Long ago, the Taichu Dao encountered an old incident in the Xuanzhen Blessed Land. The Blessed Land's master, a manifestation of his obsession, was a young boy with his hair in locks, who guarded the ferry crossing day and night, waiting for his elder brother to return. The Taichu Dao members, seeing his plight, felt compassion and used a valuable treasure to acquire a cloud boat. They also sent a disciple to impersonate his brother, intending to take him away from the ferry crossing. As the boy boarded the boat, the Blessed Land suddenly collapsed, and the spiritual tide surged backward. Of the thirty-odd people in the Taichu Dao group, only half survived. It was later discovered that the Blessed Land's master's obsession was not to leave—he was simply afraid that when his brother returned, there would be no one waiting for him at the ferry crossing."

"From then on, the Mysterious Blessed Land vanished into the Spirit Sea, and the Primordial Dao suffered a great loss of vitality, never to recover in a hundred years. How is your action today any different from that of the Primordial Dao?"

Fang swore, "I am not the beginning. Do you know the saying, 'You are not a fish, how can you know the joy of a fish?'"

Xuanzhu's brow twitched slightly, and she asked, "What do you mean?"

Fang Shi said, "Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou and Hui Shi were strolling on the bridge over the Hao River. Zhuang Zhou saw fish swimming in the water and said, 'The fish are swimming leisurely; this is the joy of the fish.'"

Xuanzhu asked, "What did Huishi say next?"

Fang Shi said, "Hui Shi didn't believe me, saying, 'You are not a fish, how do you know the joy of fish?' Zhuang Zhou replied, 'You are not me, how do you know I don't know the joy of fish?'"

Xuanzhu paused for a moment, then said, "This Zhuang Zhou is clearly cheating. Hui Shi asked him how he knew about fish, but he changed the subject and asked Hui Shi how she knew he didn't know. He asked nothing and answered nothing, only muddying the waters."

Fang Shi said, "Hui Shi thought the same thing, so he added: 'I am not you, therefore I do not know you; you are not a fish, therefore you do not know the joy of fish, which is perfectly understandable.'"

Xuanzhu said, "That's right, that's the correct logic. Humans and fish are different species, their minds are not connected, what the fish perceives, we cannot know."

Fang Shi said, "Zhuang Zhou said: 'Please follow the root. Confucius said, "How do you know the joy of fish?' This means that he already knew I knew it, yet he asked me. I know it from the Hao River."

After listening, Xuanzhu blinked twice and said, "This is a substitution of pretext. Huishi asked, 'By what right?' Zhuangzi changed the question, answering, 'From where?' Then he confidently replied, 'From the bridge.' This is sophistry, not reason."

Fang Shi asked, "What is the reasoning behind that?"

Xuanzhu said, "There is only one truth—humans and fish are separated by a different realm. Fish do not know humans, and humans do not know fish."

Fang Shi said, "If a fish is injured and sinks to the bottom, its fin scraped off by a rock, blood spreading in the ripples, and other fish swim past it without it moving, and you stand on a bridge and see this, do you know if it's happy or not?"

Xuanzhu said, "Then naturally, it's not a happy time."

Fang Shidao said, "If a fish is snatched from the water by an eagle, but manages to break free and falls back into the river, while other fish scatter and flee for their lives, it swims upstream against the current, towards the sky where the eagle flew away. If you stand on the bridge and see this, do you know if it is happy or not?"

Xuanzhu said, "So what? Do you perhaps think you can appreciate the joy of the sunset?"

Fang Shi said, "I don't know. Hui Shi is right: I am not you, so I certainly don't know you." I am not the evening glow, and I don't know what the deepest obsession in the evening glow's heart is.

"After Ke Huizi finished speaking, she didn't stop Zhuang Zhou from going to the bridge over the Hao River to see the fish. She just said, 'I don't know,' and then probably followed Zhuangzi onto the bridge anyway."

"You are not a fish, and I am not a fish. You are not Zhuangzi, and I am not Taichu."

"All I have to do is chase the eagle away from the fish when it keeps circling around this dilapidated house. As for whether the fish wants to swim upstream, swim downstream, or stay in place after the eagle is driven away—that's up to the fish itself."

Xuanzhu laughed.

She reached into her chest and pulled out the purple talisman, holding it between her fingers, and said, "You are not the beginning, and I am not a fish. This is very good."

Fang Shi looked at the talisman in her hand and asked in surprise, "I thought you were going to argue with me for three days and three nights, and you just agreed like that?"

Xuanzhu said, "There is another old story I'll tell you."

"Long ago, the Xuan Shui Dao sect encountered a persistent obsession in the Blessed Land of Destiny. The obsession of the land's master manifested as an old woman who sat daily on the well platform at the village entrance, throwing stones into the well, asking with each stone: 'Is the water full?'" After entering the Blessed Land, the Xuan Shui Dao members observed this scene and discussed it endlessly. Some said it was an obsession to fill the well, others said it was an obsession to ask the water, some said the old woman's son had drowned in the well, and she was throwing stones to avenge him, while others said the old woman had lost her husband, and she was asking Heaven and Water for answers.

"The people of Xuan Shui Dao are all learned scholars, citing scriptures and each holding their own opinion. Today one faction has the upper hand, tomorrow another faction will have a more convincing explanation. They visited all the people around the old woman who were manifestations of her obsessions, and sorted out the cause and effect of the old woman's story countless times."

From spring to summer, from summer to autumn, and from autumn to winter, they were still discussing it.

"Until one day, the old woman's wrists withered, and she could no longer hold even a stone. She sat on the well platform, looked down into the well one last time, and then turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared. The blessed land collapsed, the spiritual tide surged backward, and of the more than forty people in the Xuan Shui Dao group, only seven escaped to safety."

"It was only later that we learned that the old woman's obsession was simply that she had been sitting on the well platform for a long time and wanted someone to come to her side and hand her a pebble. Xuan Shuidao stayed in the blessed land for a whole year, doing everything he could—research, debate, and deduction. But no one came to the well platform and bent down to hand her that pebble."

"Dawdling is worse than making a mistake, so I, the Celestial Venerable, never dawdle."

Fang Shi said, "Then who was that first story meant to fool?"

Xuanzhu said, "The former was to warn you of your foolishness, and the latter is to clarify my will. The words are not contradictory, and the way is inherently interconnected."

Fang Shi said, "You've gone around in circles, but haven't you just resorted to sophistry?"

Xuanzhu slightly raised her chin, the jade bead on the sandalwood hairpin swaying gently behind her head, and said, "The Great Dao is formless, yet words cannot express its depths. Every word and action of this Heavenly Venerable is in accordance with the Heavenly Dao. There is no room for sophistry."

After saying that, she flicked the purple talisman between her fingers into the air.

The talisman slipped from his hand, turning into a wisp of purple smoke that rose into the sky and exploded amidst the swirling snow.

Purple energy surges and gathers without dispersing, condensing into a hexagram—Kun above and Gen below, with a mountain within the earth, which is the Qian hexagram.

The shape of the hexagram resembles a solitary peak rising from the earth, with a point of purple light flowing around the peak, its brightness flickering.

Fang Shi looked up at the divination diagram and suddenly said, "So you didn't need to calculate the divination step by step."

Xuanzhu reached out and summoned the talisman back into his hand, saying, "Of course it's needed. However, in this blessed land, every time this talisman is used, it depletes one more part of my immortal foundation."

Fang Shi nodded and said seriously, "That makes sense. Then next time, we won't need to use our fingers to calculate."

Xuanzhu said, "What do you mean? Do you intend to waste my immortal foundation for nothing?"

"You just broke my toes with your fingers, and your fingertips still smelled bad. Then you came back and grabbed my collar—do you think I'm disgusted?"

Xuanzhu paused for a moment.

Those clear eyes suddenly widened, and the soft flesh on her cheeks, still bearing traces of childishness, flushed slightly. She said, "Nonsense! My celestial body is complete, immaculate. How could it be smelly? Not only is it not smelly, it even has a unique fragrance! If you don't believe me, just come and smell it!"

"If you don't smell it, it's still smelly; whether you smell it or not, it won't increase or decrease."

"That's your mortal, impure body, expelling filth and rotting with your sweat! I, the Celestial Venerable, have immortal skin and jade bones, untouched by dust and grime, how could I possibly smell bad?"

Fang Shi said, "I don't understand the immortal body. I only know that immortals and mortals are originally one. Zhuangzi said that heaven and earth and I were born together, and all things and I are one. Immortals are also things of heaven and earth, and mortals are also things of heaven and earth. If you say that mortals have smelly feet, then you are saying that things of heaven and earth have smelly feet. If you say that immortals don't smell, then since immortals are in heaven and earth, they are also things of heaven and earth, and naturally they should also have smelly feet. So your feet must smell too."

Looking at Xuanzhu's flushed face, Fang Shi suddenly felt much better about the anger he felt from listening to her rambling on and on about two stories and being evaded by her sophistry.

Especially seeing her big, wide eyes staring at him, and the jade beads on her sandalwood hairpin dangling behind her head, he felt even more certain that he had won this verbal battle.

Xuanzhu took a deep breath, gripping the talisman in her hand tightly. Purple light flickered between her fingers as she said, "Heaven and earth are heaven and earth, and feet are feet. How can they be treated the same? You try to fool me with 'you are not a fish,' and I, the Heavenly Venerable, will accept that. But you try to deceive me with 'feet,' and I, the Heavenly Venerable, will not accept that!"

With that, a flash of purple light appeared, and the bare foot flew out from under the hem of the Taoist robe, the ink on the toenail drawing a faint light in the air, aiming straight for Fang Shi's face.

Fang Shi sneered, and instead of retreating, he advanced, his right hand swiftly reaching out with his five fingers spread, aiming for the bare foot that flew towards him.

Xuanzhu remained calm. She pulled her bare foot back from where he had grabbed it, and kicked his wrist with her other foot.

Fang Shi dodged to the side, released his grip, and her foot slipped from his grasp like an eel. She used the momentum to leap backward and land steadily on the snow.

"Didn't you just say you wouldn't listen? You touched my feet twice, and while you complained, your hands did the deed."

"You're wrong. I stopped you to uphold morality, while your barefoot behavior is disrespectful. Those who uphold morality are righteous, while those who disrespect morality are shameful. So the more you kick, the more I will grab you. It has nothing to do with whether I hear it or not; it's about acting on behalf of Heaven."

"I, the Celestial Venerable, am Heaven itself!"

The two exchanged blows a few more times in the snow, going back and forth, neither willing to stop first.

"Brother, senior, are you a couple?"

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