Book 4: Chapter 14: Hopeless, Incurable, Farewell
“How is it possible?”
In the dark s.p.a.ce, the black-robed man who was constantly watching Bai Qiuran had fallen into deep confusion.
“A person has lived for thousands of years without a lover. Why doesn’t he even have an enemy? What did he do in these thousands of years?”
This time, after Bai Qiuran entered the “a.s.sociation with the unbeloved” trial, there was still nothing to do. Even Li Jinyao, who followed him, walked in after a stroll.
A person who has lived for more than three thousand years had neither a lover nor an enemy. According to common sense, it’s indeed impossible. But what the black-robed people didn’t know was that for a person who had become invincible in the cultivation world since two thousand years ago, it’s logical to not have any enemy.
Leaving aside the sad topic of love, Bai Qiuran did have a lot of enemies in his early years, whether it’s people who had a hatred for the Qingming Taoist thus also hated his disciples, or wanted to seize the property of Qingming Sword Sect, but these people died with the pa.s.sage of time.
The ones that followed were far from Bai Qiuran’s opponents. If there was a conflict, he usually took revenge on the spot, so how could any of his enemies be alive till now?
The same goes for Li Jinyao. Firstly, she has a good temper and was a socialite. Secondly, her talent was superb, so her master Ji Lingyun has protected her very well. Thirdly, she was not weak herself. Following the motto of the Sky Demon Sect, if there was an enemy she could think of, she wouldn’t let them live until the next day.
The black robe man himself was neither the Wise Immortal nor the designer of this mansion, he’s just a cuckoo which occupied the magpie’s nest, thus did not understand the mechanism and design concept of the trial.
When the Wise Immortal created this mansion, he wanted to leave as much as possible the knowledge and property of his era to future generations. The so-called eight bitter trials were only to test the mental of later generations, so his knowledge would not be entrusted to unworthy people.
Of course, such a trial was inevitably dangerous, but the trial itself was not set up to kill people, so people like Bai Qiuran and Li Jinyao who had no [a.s.sociation with the unbeloved] problems would encounter nothing.
“I don’t believe it.”
After a moment of contemplation, the black-robed man stood up and looked at Bai Qiuran on the screen and muttered:
“You have lived in the world for so long, I don’t believe that you don’t have anything you wish for. The next trial [not getting what is wanted] will be your downfall.”
Hand in hand again through the mist, Li Jinyao returned to the cliff and said to Bai Qiuran with some regret:
“I guess we will not be able to continue to conduct trials with Sword Patriarch. Among the remaining trials, [five clinging-aggregates] should be the most special, so I guess everyone will meet it only at the end. As for [not getting what is wanted], Ruowei and I have already pa.s.sed it.”
“Then separate.”
Bai Qiuran replied:
“Originally, the reason why I hid my partic.i.p.ation was to let you have your own experience. But I didn’t expect to run into the two of you here. I can only say it was a coincidence.”
“Sword Patriarch has a point.”
Li Jinyao looked a little bit sad, but still said:
“After all, this is our journey. We can’t always rely on Sword Patriarch… It’s a pity, I want to stay with you for a while and learn more about you.”
Bai Qiuran felt strange when he heard Li Jinyao’s words, so he asked:
“Do you have an addiction to human biography researching? It’s really strange. I’ve only seen this symptom on ancient records of Mystery Academy before…”
Tang Ruowei sighed helplessly and said:
“Sister Li, look, he is such a person, you should give up.”
“No, no, Ruowei.”
A subtle smile appeared on Li Jinyao’s face.
“For me, this is a plus.”
The two girls began to speak profound words that Bai Qiuran could not understand. Bai Qiuran just wanted to ask a few questions, but Li Jinyao took Tang Ruowei’s palm and took a step back, saying goodbye to Bai Qiuran.
“Ah, wait.”
Bai Qiuran could only give up, and instead began to tell them:
“Some places in this cave are traps set by the Land Immortals. If you accidentally fall into it, with your mental strength, you’re in danger of being possessed. On the way here, I have already met several other cultivators who fell to that fate. Ruowei, Miss Li, you two must also be careful. If you are in danger, don’t hesitate to use the jade slips I gave you to protect you, do you know?”
Tang Ruowei and Li Jinyao nodded, and then the two girls held hands and stepped into the lower level of mist with Bai Qiuran.
After the sense of spatial dislocation came, the fog dissipated, and Bai Qiuran realized that he was separated from Li Jinyao and Tang Ruowei.
He came to an octagonal pavilion, which was suspended in a night sky. Many stars in the night sky exuded dim light, and he didn’t know if it was real or not.
There was a stele in the center of the octagonal pavilion. After Bai Qiuran approached, the stele showed two words as usual.
[People have seven emotions and six desires. The most intense ones are greed, hatred, and unfulfilled wishes. 】
[The seventh suffering: the suffering of not getting what is wanted. 】
“Not getting what is wanted?”
Bai Qiuran mumbled the verse on the tablet, then muttered to himself.
He certainly knew what he wanted. Love, fame, status, wealth, these were all secondary or even unimportant wishes for him.
After living for more than three thousand years, his greatest pursuit was naturally to build a foundation.
“Xue Ling said I might find a way to build a foundation here, maybe…”
Even if he knew that it’s likely not in this trial, Bai Qiuran still inevitably had a glimmer of expectation in his heart.
In the depths of the night sky, a long bridge suddenly appeared, and at the same time, the octagonal pavilion began to tremble unsteadily. Bai Qiuran understood that this was a sign that the cave mansion was urging him to move.
He stepped on the bridge, went all the way, and up the stairs, finally came to the top of a high platform which was tens of feet high.
The moment he stepped onto the high platform, the four corners of the square high platform lit up a fire in the four braziers, and the light brought by the fire also illuminated the things in the center of the high platform.
Bai Qiuran held his breath.
In the center of the high platform was a small stone platform on which a bookshelf is carved out of stone. On this bookshelf, there was a thick book with a gold wire skin and four large characters on the book.
“Secret Method of Foundation Building”.
Seeing this book, Bai Qiuran even slowed down a lot. He came to the bookshelf lightly and opened the book.
This secret book was densely covered with words, but it seems to be pasted with a layer of sandpaper. It’s vague and hard to see what was written. Bai Qiuran has carefully looked at it for a long time before seeing the gaps in these words. After sorting the words, the whole content of the book was written in three words: “Hopeless! Incurable! Farewell!”