Chapter 97: The Return to the Secular Mortal World

　　By the time Shen Lian stood up, Gu Caiwei had turned her head away. The moment he was on the shore, he was clothed with the feather coat. This was a spell that was akin to having an ace up one’s sleeve, and it was not a particularly special or unique spell.

　　After straightening his clothes out, there were wisps of black smoke surrounding him, and they went away along with the wind. The phenomenon was caused by the evaporation of the water from the River of Spirits, it was also known as spirit smoke.

　　According to the actual age of his physical body, he would be around thirty years old now. However, he still looked the almost same as when he first entered Qing Xuan, and there were not many differences. His features were similar to that of a young person in the mortal realm.

　　The days in the mountains were not calendared, and the passing of season was irrelevant. Shen Lian almost never changed.

　　Gu Caiwei too did not change. However, Shen Lian could pick up a hint of decaying aura. One could have an unrivaled Dao formula, and yet if one could not find a breakthrough in one’s cultivation, at the end of the day one would be no more than a set of skeleton at the end of one’s life.

　　It was just that Shen Lian had not even mastered the entry level of Taixu Strategy, and there was nothing that he can do to help Gu Caiwei.

　　If mastering the entry level was already that hard, he could only imagine how hard it would be to Baodan.

　　However, it was a path that he chose for himself, and he could not blame anyone for it.

　　Moreover, he was only faced with fifteen years of dullness; it was not as though he did not have any improvement in other areas.

　　Chen Jianmei had spent forty years dwelling at the door of Huandan, and that kind of torture was something that even Shen Lian would not be able to understand. Shen Lian still could cultivate the Mastery of Senses. He was convicted that if he were to cultivate the Mastery of Senses to its highest level, even if his physical body was dying, he could still exist as another life form in this world, although he might lose something because of this.

　　However, whenever he was visualizing deeply, he would find himself void of sadness and happiness, and all that was left were unspeakable loneliness and isolation.

　　By the time he pulled himself out from it, the rejection to the status would return. However, this handicap of the instillation of eight Qi into the body needed to be overcome with the help of the Art of Spiritual Enhancement.

　　He found himself caught in a state of dilemma. It was something that could only be solved after he had a breakthrough with the Taixu Strategy.

　　However, what kind of joke would it be if he were to change now and to cultivate another martial exercise?

　　These would not be all the obstacles and difficulties one would face on the path of Dao. If he were to take a step back now out of fear, he would be giving up tomorrow because of some other obstacles. Then, he would have attained nothing and ended up dying of old age.

　　Shen Lian recognized the dilemma he was in, but he did not give up easily. From the day he decided to pursue Dao, he knew that the process of cultivation was not going to be easy.

　　His current predicament was a lot better than the worst case scenario that he had imagined.

　　Gu Caiwei was facing Shen Lian. To be honest, she only said yes to formally acknowledging Shen Lian as her disciple on behalf of her master because it was a request from Zhang Ruoxu, and she held him in high regards and respect.

　　However, Shen Lian did have his own strengths. It was not just because of his talent or potential, but it was because of the difference between him and most of the cultivators in this world.

　　Generally, most cultivators thought of life as a race against time and the heavens, and they strived to make good use of every moment and refused to waste time on other people.

　　Moreover, as a cultivator who had not attained the state of Huandan yet, most people would be busy trying to break through the bottleneck that they were caught in. Unless absolutely necessary, they would not waste their time to offer guidance to others.

　　Even if they were to offer guidance, most of them did so with an ulterior motive. They would also gauge the other party’s potential and talent before helping them out.

　　If he was not cultivating in solitary retreat and did not have anything important to do, Shen Lian would always entertain those who asked for his help in cultivation. He would adduce his points patiently without being overly subjective, and only offered a rational analysis of things.

　　Regardless of their cultivation experience, Shen Lian kept a polite distance from everyone. He was only close with the few people whom he actually knew, but that was about it.

　　When offering guidance, Shen Lian would not take someone lightly even if they had a low level of cultivation experience.

　　With regards to this, Gu Caiwei saw Zhang Ruoxu’s shadow in him.

　　Zhang Ruoxu was not the strongest chief that Qing Xuan had, and he was not the most talented chief either. However, he was definitely the best chief there ever was.

　　If it was not due to his irreversible serious injuries, he would have broken through the Absurd State, because there was definitely nothing wrong with his state of mind.

　　“Senior Apprentice-Sister, what are you thinking about?” Shen Lian asked softly.

　　“Nothing, I’m here to pass on a message from the chief,” Gu Caiwei replied after a momentary silence.

　　“Chief has not been paying me any attention for a long time now, what is this about?” Shen Lian nodded as he replied.

　　“I was only able to master the entry level of Taixu Strategy due to the foundation that the founding master and master had built for me. Despite having a greater potential than I do, you did not have such treatment. It is unfortunate that my knowledge of the Taixu Strategy was insufficient and I could not be clearer about a lot of things. Although the chief had never cultivated the Taixu Strategy, he could offer a word of advice or two. I told him about the gist of the Taixu Strategy and my personal understanding of the cultivation. Even though he was not able to offer you direct guidance in terms of breaking through the bottleneck, but he told me to tell you, “Leave the mountains; do not return until you have attained the state of Huandan”.”

　　Gu Caiwei found it strange that the chief told Shen Lian to not return to the mountains unless he had attained the state of Huandan.

　　Back when Chen Jianmei was facing a bottleneck, he was stopped by Zhang Ruoxu when he wanted to leave the mountains to gain some experience.

　　After a dull waiting period of forty years, he was finally met with success.

　　Similarly, Shen Lian was stuck in a bottleneck, and he wanted to overcome his irritability by being static. However, the chief told him to do the exact opposite and return to the secular mortal world.

　　Similar predicaments, yet they were faced with different responses.

　　“How does the chief know that he made the right choice when he has not even seen me yet? Does he even understand the situation that I’m in?” Shen Lian spoke after contemplating.

　　“The chief knew that you were going to ask, which is why he told me to let you know that the difficulty that you are facing came from within, and not from outside. He also said that if you refuse to leave, I should get physical with you and chase you out of here,” Gu Caiwei replied.

　　Gu Caiwei smiled after saying the last sentence. If Shen Lian had Ruhua before she managed to attain the state of Huandan, it would be difficult for her to lay a finger on her little Junior Apprentice-Brother. She would love to see him resist so that she can let him have an unforgettable experience.

　　Of course, Shen Lian was aware of Gu Caiwei’s true colors underneath her gentle appearance, and he was not about to let her have her way.

　　“I will follow the chief’s instruction then,” replied Shen Lian.

　　Shen Lian did not have much with him. The sandalwood sword was carried by him with the spell of having an ace up one’s sleeve. He did not have to pack.

　　He bid his goodbyes to Gu Caiwei, and did not go to see the chief, Zhang Ruoxu.

　　This was the second time that he left the mountains. Unlike the first time, he was not sure when he would be coming back this time around. Perhaps he might not even be able to return in this lifetime.

　　Such was life; one came with nothing and left with nothing.

　　Shen Lian was not particularly attached, but after leaving Qing Xuan, he realized that in this vast world, Qing Xuan would still be the best. There was no conflict, what a blessed land!

　　Shen Lian dismissed the distracting thoughts and remembered about the Shen family. He thought it was time that he pay them a visit. After all, he shared a blood-tie with them.

　　Sixteen years had passed, and even though the seas had not changed into mulberry fields, it was long enough for great changes to take place in the secular mortal world.

　　The greatest change would be the change of dynasty from Dawei Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty.

　　The world was wide and had no end to it. Back in Qing Xuan, Shen Lian read that there was a Qi cultivator who chose a random direction and flew on his instrument. After flying for a hundred years, he died of old age. Even till then, he did not get to see the end of the world.

　　Dawei Dynasty was located on a continent that spanned across tens of thousands of miles, but it only took up a small portion of it.

　　According to the records in Qing Xuan, the continent was called the Yuan Continent. Most of the people who lived on it had never been to any other continents in their entire life.

　　Only the likes of Celestials had the means and supernatural powers to cross the distance.