Shen Lian’s purpose of obtaining the Sanguang Holy Water was to heal Chen Jianmei’s injuries. But Chen Jianmei went missing and no one knows if he was dead or alive. Shen Lian may be a prodigy who could easily break Daoist Liuqing’s formation but he cannot turn back time to understand what happened earlier.

　　There was so much more about this world that he did not know off.

　　He looked up to mirror liked moon in the sky and saw Zhang Ruoxu’s face.

　　Zhang Ruoxu was smiling, just like back then when he was still alive.

　　Shen Lian kept a straight face. He waved his hand and the illusion, like a reflection on the surface of the water, rippled and dispersed.

　　He was clear that the secular mortal world was troubled by demonic obstacles.

　　That was also the reason why cultivators who had overcome the nine states of cultivations and attained immortality would choose to reside in a peaceful area and avoid stepping into the secular mortal world. If they were tempted by the demon of temptation, they would not be able to progress on their path to Dao.

　　Overcoming whims did not guarantee that one’s bier would be free from pollutants. It would enter a state of ‘The body is the bodhi tree, the mind is like a bright mirror’s stand’, just like the elegiac couplet Shen Lian gave to Baoyue the Venerable.

　　The following sentence of the couplet was, ‘At all times we must strive to polish it, and must not let dust collect.’

　　At this very moment, Shen Lian could empathize to the saying of ‘easy to obtain Dao but difficult to preserve Dao.’

　　He was not afraid of the hardship of the future but it ignited his passion and he was looking forward to facing each of them. The unpredictable incident of Chen Jianmei’s disappearance has spiced things up for him.

　　The past was the past, it was pointless to remonstrate, but the future may still be to look forward to.

　　Shen Lian looked at the moon again. It has sunk to the west but it was still shining brightly.

　　He thought to himself, “When would I be able to be like this moon? Although it reflects the light of the sun, it was able to shine throughout the infinite vast land. If I can achieve that, I would have no regrets in seeking Dao.”

　　The moonlight came from the sun, just like how Daoist would borrow the means of heaven and earth to gain endless power.

　　Although it was not the level of becoming one with heaven and earth, reaching that state would already be considered as invincible.

　　Fang Yanying woke up feeling groggy and could hardly think. The sunlight outside was glaring and it was her first time waking up so late.

　　She recalled the incident yesterday where she went out to pick some mustard greens for her Uncle-Master.

　　It was a scorching hot day and she decided to take a dip in the cold deep pool after she was done picking the mustard greens. She did not realize how fast time has past and quickly made her way back to Temple of Killing as she was worried that her Uncle-Master might be back soon.

　　The moment she stepped in the temple, she noticed that her apprentice-siblings were all dead. She was concerned for her master and rushed to his cultivation room but all she saw was her Uncle-Master.

　　She then felt a huge blow to her heart and lungs that caused her to cough blood. Shortly after, she passed out.

　　She looked at her clothes and found dried blood stains on it; she then tried to operate her methods internally but as the sword aura gushed through her cardiopulmonary meridians, she felt extremely uncomfortable. Then, a spring water-like breath came through her body to soothe her lungs. The sword aura was like a stream of a long river passing through her meridians and orifices point endlessly.

　　The Shapeless Sword Incantation in her body was operating swiftly but her meridians and orifices point could not take any more of it. She was feeling carefree but at the same time sad and that caused a numb sensation that prompted her to moan.

　　The clear spring water breath then came through to rejuvenate the damaged meridians and orifices points. Through the process of damaging and rejuvenating, the mana of her Shapeless Sword Incantation showed immense growth.

　　Apparently, there was a limit to the number of times a cultivator could operate their methods in a day.

　　Reason being the meridians and orifices points could only withhold a certain amount of pressure. If it was overworked, it would cause destruction and would require a long period of time to rehabilitate.

　　Fang Yanying has been cultivating ever since she was a kid. Although her meridians were more capacious compared to others, it still could not support the operations of the method. With the help of the spring water breath, she was able to enter the fifth level of the Shapeless Sword Incantation. The sword aura too was raging vigorously as the Qi of vitality of the heaven and earth pour into her to fuel the process.

　　She broke through the fifth level and entered the sixth.

　　The sword aura was condensed and rolled around her meridian and orifices points like water droplets. When she reached the peak of the sixth level and was about to join the water droplets-like sword aura into a stream, the bier suddenly cleared off and stopped operating.

　　The spring water breath too faded away as she slowed down.

　　Within her sight, Fang Yanying could see Shen Lian appeared in front of her and pointed at her glabella.

　　As she opened her eyes, he gradually retracted his fingers. Fang Yanying’s face was flustering not out of shyness but because of the vigorous blood activity earlier on. Even without a mirror, she knew that her face was as red as dawn.

　　Her Uncle-Master was elegant and in peacefulness spread throughout the atmosphere while Fang Yanying gradually calmed down as her bier restored its cleanliness. She recollected herself and asked Shen Lian, “Uncle-Master, how did Senior Apprentice-Brother Yuanliang and the rest died? Also, is my master safe?”

　　“I have no idea. By the time I got back, they have been robbed of their vitality. As for your master, I cannot predict his whereabouts. Maybe he is no longer in this world,” Shen Lian calmly replied.

　　Fang Yanying was stunned, but from her Uncle-Master’s words, just because her Master’s whereabouts were unknown, it did not necessarily mean something bad happened to him. She was slightly consoled by that but she then thought of her senior apprentice-brothers who were still alive and kicking during daytime and they were no longer around anymore. The most depressing thing in the world was nonetheless, bereavement, even for cultivators. Otherwise, why would they work so hard to attain immortality?

　　The voices and smiles of her apprentice-siblings were still fresh in her eyes but she would never see it again. There were tears in her eyes but she held them back.

　　Shen Lian did not see the point of consoling her and walked out with his hands crossed behind his back.

　　In life, there were too many depressing matters. As people experience more, they would also suffer more. Witnessing a loved one departing from life was a helpless feeling that most Daoist who picked the path of immortality had to experience.

　　The reason why Daoism preach to let go of emotions was not because of its cruelty but this experience was just too depressingly excruciating.

　　When Zhuangzhou’s wife passed away, he sang happily beating on a basin. But in fact, he was so broken that the pain penetrated his bone marrow.

　　Shen Lian did not think that sadness and despair were useless emotions. The greater the pain, the more people would understand the preciousness of life.

　　If Fang Yanying could walk out of this traumatic experience, she would be the other person Shen Lian could bring along to the Bier Discourse of Dao in the next seven years.

　　He did not think he was overly rational. Just that as the chief, he had to make plans for Qing Xuan with or without Chen Jianmei.