That day Shi Wuduan arranged the Jiu Xing Ceng Di, drawing the fury of the thunder G.o.ds on the nine layers of heavens, Cangyun valley got struck with a huge gaping hole stretching from the middle of the valley to where the spirits build their hiding s.p.a.ce. While the main culprit can just shake it off and just leave with his luggage, the smaller spirits all over Cangyun valley all got frightened to death, living every day in anxiety.

No one noticed, in that gap that was struck open by thunder, every day at from eleven at night to one in the morning there would be some faint dark smoke arising from it.

Shi Wuduan, having just descended from the mountain, sees everything as new, everything as intriguing. He stands in the middle of a market, having long thrown away "Jianghua" " Hehua" Sangren to the back of the mind, and feels he has never been able to see so many people crowding together, male, female, young, and old, they come in all shapes and sizes, even the stones that laid their path, everything seems so magical.

When he was young shifu always talked about "the big wide world" "the common ma.s.s" whatever, he used to just understand the sound of these phrases but not the meaning. Now, he is able to soak them in.

Shi Wuduan shoulders his luggage and lets the jade sparrow rest on his shoulder, his round eyes flicker in all directions like they are not enough for him to see all. His cheeks are puffed up, holding a still smoking bun between his teeth - even though this bun was only bought from a small shop near the side street, it is still proof of the warmth of the world, he feels like it smells so many times nicer than the bland, white porridge from the old geezer"s place.

Shi Wuduan only takes two to three bites to finish one bun, yet he still feels it is not enough. He pats his stomach, still thinking silently: how good would it be if Xiao Li Zi follows me.

Then his attention is immediately drawn to something else. He feels like finding Jianghua Sanren is not that urgent a matter, so he throws away everything and indulges himself to the maximum.

Shi Wuduan does not know that the Jianghua Sanren he wants to find is currently on Jiulu mountain. No one knows when he climbed the mountain, how he climbed the mountain, it was like he truly came with the blowing wind under the bright moonlight that even layers upon layers under Jiulu mountain cannot detect.

The Taoist master is sitting cross-legged beside the giant constellation tablet in the courtyard. He was not calculating anything, merely hovering a hand over the constellation tablet, letting the star threads hang on his fingers playfully. Next to him is a small stove, on it is a pot of wine.

When Jianghua Sanren appears behind him, the Taoist master does not lift up his head, just points to a place beside him and says: "You came. Sit down.:

Jianghua is no stickler for formalities, he pushes away his clothes" helms before sitting down on the ground by his side. He picks up a cup, takes the jar of wine on the stove to pour himself one full cup, swallows half of it with just one sip and asks: "Where"s your little monkey, sent him on some errand out?"

The Taoist master lowers his eyes, twirling the star threads on his fingers. He has cultivated for a century but does not look over middle-aged. Yet in these few days, his features have considerably become more worn out, if you look carefully at his side profile, at the tip of the eyebrows near his hairline there is already some grey.

The Taoist master says: "That child Wuduan, I entrust to you for a few years."

Jianghua Sanren looks like he wants to say something, but in the end only sighs, finishing the other half of his wine cup. The two of them stay silent for a while before he asks: "I came from the valley behind the mountain and saw a heaven-made hole from afar, what is that?"

The Taoist master laughs sadly but does not say anything.

Jianghua shakes his head and says: "Three years old is large enough, seven years old is old enough, your little disciple, as a seven-year-old he already dared use magical fire to burn down the ancestor hall, right now as a barely ten-year-old he can already cause lightning to strike, how will his future be? With this temperament, when he finally matures, will he even puncture a hole in our sky?"

The Taoist master can only offer a forced laugh: "The future, I will have to depend on you, fellow cultivator, to discipline him more."

Jianghua says: "You"ve spent ten years nurturing him into this current state, what talents do I have that can care for him holistically? To ensure he has a roof over his head and grows to be decent are already not bad, let"s not even speak of discipline."

He stretched his shoulder and smiled: "If you give a child for me to discipline, wouldn"t the more I discipline the worse they get?"

The Taoist master does not say anything. He suddenly stands up, a few star threads quickly wrapped around his outstretched hand. The constellation tablet brightens up immediately, a tiny cyclone seemingly forming between the slow-moving little stars, billowing the green sleeve of the Taoist master.

Jianghua follows his line of sight is stunned. He cannot help but blurt out: "This is ..."

The Taoist master"s entire body is engulfed in the starry light from the constellation tablet. He turns his head upon hearing, his face against the light showing neither happiness nor sadness, yet his eyes are incredibly deep.

Jianghua widens his eyes, his laziness from earlier lost. He cannot resist standing up as well, staring down at the chaotic constellation tablet from above, and cannot resist glancing at the Taoist master again. He hesitates a long while before asking carefully: "If I didn"t read wrongly, this is ... Taixing is about to collapse, am I right?"

(*) Taixing: a mountain often referred to in fantasy text, located near Henan in reality. In-text, the collapse of Taixing is taken as a sign of disasters.

"The stars growing disordered, Taixing collapsing, demons roaming rampant ..." The Taoist master suddenly closes his eyes, lowering his raised arm. The star threads originally wrapping around his hand suddenly all wither, falling down one by one. The sea of stars on the constellation tablet reverts to its state of stillness, its lights dimming, countless stars resembling true pebbles. A little chill slowly engulfs the small cottage at the top of Jiulu mountain like a sheen of water in the night: "My cultivation friend, I did not predict that we are fortunate enough to witness chaos large enough to break open our entire world in this lifetime."

Jianghua Sanren is stunned for a long while, his gaze on the withering constellation tablet suddenly shifts onto the Taoist master: "You ..."

The Taoist master lifts his hand to stop the latter half of that sentence, his fingers, which are seemingly even thinner than earlier, wriggling slightly. He stays silent for a long time before saying: "There is no need for so many words, this is fate."

He turns to Jianghua Sanren, staring at him for a long time before saying: "Cultivation friend, you are already removed from these worldly matters, it is only right for you to look at all this with cool eyes and an unmoving heart. But us, we cannot control our fates."

Jianghua forces a smile, asks: "What? You want to gift me your precious student? This time you are willing to let go?"

The Taoist master says: "To follow you and be detached from this world is not necessarily a bad thing. I just feel that that child, if we are speaking about his wiliness, within the past centuries on Jiulu mountain no one could compete with him. Yet he does not possess enough insights, he is not a big intellect, I am merely afraid of his little clever tricks. Haizz, if it really could not be changed ... in the future if you can still give me some face, you can care for him a bit more."