Chapter Ninety: Three Promises

Liang Yan choked for a moment, then his face darkened with indignation.

“Disciple has a clear conscience. I never once thought of committing such filthy acts, and Zhuo Bufan was not slain by my hand!”

After hearing this, Xiu Musheng remained unmoved, his expression as cold as ever. “Hmph. You keep claiming you have a clear conscience. Do you have any proof?”

Liang Yan looked up at him and said calmly, “There are many suspicious points in this matter. Any clear-eyed person can see them at a glance. Why did Zhuo Bufan happen to appear in the ancestral forbidden ground? How could I, a mere servant disciple, possibly know the habits of the array-guarding disciple, much less the weakness of that spirit beast? The inner hall elder Zhuo Yuntian you mentioned must surely be Zhuo Bufan’s own uncle. For him to condemn me so hastily, is that not favoritism and corruption, an attempt to cover up the truth? What else could it be?”

“Oh? By your logic, a venerable elder of the Yi Xing Pavilion would slander a junior Qi Refiner like you, and not a single person in the vast Yi Xing Pavilion would uphold justice?” Xiu Musheng’s white brows shot upward as he barked at him.

Liang Yan gave a bitter smile. “Right and wrong, justice and injustice, lie in people’s hearts. I am only a lowly Qi Refiner; my words carry little weight. How could I influence the Pavilion Master’s verdict? I do not blame others. I only blame myself for being too quick to trust people, so that I was used by Zhuo Bufan without even realizing it. To end up as I have now is only my own fault.”

“A fine ‘right and wrong, justice and injustice, lie in people’s hearts’!”

Xiu Musheng sneered. “You are on the brink of death and still refuse to repent. For the sake of our acquaintance, I will send you on your way now, so that tomorrow, when you are brought to Punishment Peak, you will not have to endure suffering from which there is no reincarnation.”

As he spoke, he formed a sword with his right hand and pointed a finger toward Liang Yan’s brow.

A pressure like mountains and seas burst forth from Xiu Musheng’s fingertip, and surging blue spiritual power roared toward Liang Yan.

Caught within it, Liang Yan felt as though a towering mountain loomed above him, pinning him beneath its weight, leaving him utterly unable to move, waiting only to be crushed to death.

“So this is how I die?” Liang Yan closed his eyes. “My path of cultivation really was far too short...”

In an instant, from the moment he first met the old monk and stepped onto the road of cultivation, every moment of the past seven years flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern, until finally a white, graceful figure swept across his mind.

A faint smile suddenly curved Liang Yan’s lips. He murmured, “Perhaps in this world, there are still one or two people who do not want me dead.”

At that thought, Liang Yan abruptly opened his eyes and stared directly at the towering mountain above him. Golden light blazed over his body, while his eyes emitted a faint blue glow. He had actually activated both the aura-seeing technique from the Chaotic Art and the aura-observing method from the Mind-Unfixed Method at the same time.

The mountain that had seemed utterly invincible to him a moment ago was now revealed in countless faint blue threads, densely spread across its surface.

“So you are not impregnable after all!”

With a cold laugh, Liang Yan clenched his fist and struck out with a Single-Punch Form, hammering straight at the blue threads on the mountain.

Boom!

That seemingly unbeatable heavenly peak was actually shattered piece by piece from its base by a figure no larger than an ant, until at last it collapsed into a skyful of dust.

Liang Yan smashed the mountain to pieces, and all around him blue streams of light whirled without end. At once, he felt a wave of dizziness.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself once more inside the Yi Xing Pavilion prison, where the surroundings were still pitch-black.

He looked up and saw Xiu Musheng standing opposite him, stroking his beard with a smile on his face.

“A pupil worth teaching!”

Liang Yan was full of questions, yet did not know where to begin. Then Xiu Musheng said again, “Once one enters the path of immortality, one is separated from the mortal world forever, never knowing life from death. The road of cultivation is full of countless trials and perils; being falsely accused is nothing more than a small stumbling block, hardly worth mentioning.”

He fixed Liang Yan with a bright, penetrating gaze and continued, “If your dao heart is so weak that you would give up over such a trivial matter and resign yourself to death, then there would be no need for me to save you at all!”

Liang Yan froze after hearing this. It took him a long while to react, and he said with a strange expression, “Senior means to save me? Aren’t you afraid that I am some utterly vile wretch who betrays master and destroys kin, who has harmed my fellow disciples, and that your kindness would be wasted on me?”

“Hmph!”

Xiu Musheng clasped his hands behind his back and said coolly, “I am not such a muddleheaded fool who cannot tell right from wrong. I have some confidence in my judgment of people. Besides, there are many suspicious points in this matter. Any clear-eyed person can see them at a glance, yet the Council Hall has sentenced you so hastily. Just as you said, if that is not favoritism and corruption, an attempt to cover up the truth, then what is it?”

As he spoke, his expression darkened, and he let out a low sigh. “The Yi Xing Pavilion is now filled with rot and smoke. The various factions are openly at each other’s throats, forming cliques and vying for power. It has long since ceased to be the great sect of the Five Kingdoms it once was, and even the Council Hall has become the one-man domain of a few.”

“In the beginning, when Ancestor Yi Xing was at the height of his spirit and founded the Yi Xing Pavilion, what glory it had! Who would have thought it would now sink to the bottom among the Five Kingdoms? This is probably the cycle of Heaven, the rise of prosperity followed by decline....”

Seeing the utter disappointment on his face, Liang Yan did not know how to comfort him, and could only say softly, “Though the Way of Heaven moves of itself, and a sect that prospers long must eventually decline, man-made resolve may not necessarily be weaker than Heaven’s will. So long as one does one’s utmost, perhaps there may yet be a turn for the better in the future?”

After all, he was still young and hot-blooded, and he firmly believed that man could prevail over Heaven. Even his words of comfort were filled with encouragement.

“Haha! A fine ‘man can prevail over Heaven’!” Xiu Musheng laughed heartily upon hearing this. After laughing for a while, his expression suddenly turned solemn again, and he said to Liang Yan, “Today I will rescue you from this plight, but you must promise me three things!”

“This....”

After a moment of thought, Liang Yan replied, “May senior first state clearly what these three promises are, and then I will make my decision.”

Xiu Musheng glanced at him, satisfaction showing in his eyes. Stroking his beard, he slowly said, “First, once you are out, you must not bear hatred toward the Yi Xing Pavilion over what happened today, nor seek revenge when the opportunity arises!”

Liang Yan nodded without the slightest hesitation. “Of course!”

“Good!”

Seeing his agreement, Xiu Musheng went on, “Second, if you should achieve success in cultivation in the future, I want your promise that if the Yi Xing Pavilion ever faces calamity, you will help it once, to the best of your ability!”

Liang Yan was taken aback, and hesitation appeared on his face. But after considering it for a long while, he finally said slowly, “Very well! I, Liang Yan, swear this: if the Yi Xing Pavilion should ever face disaster in the future, and I have by then achieved success in cultivation, I will do my utmost to help the Yi Xing Pavilion once, within the limits of my ability!”

By now, a smile had already appeared on Xiu Musheng’s face, and he said twice, “Good! Good!”

He looked at Liang Yan and slowly continued, “As for this third promise, it concerns a private matter of mine. I hope that you will help me find a disciple with decent aptitude and pass on the Mind-Unfixed Method to him. This technique was created by me in my later years. Most of the disciples I accepted before had little talent for it. My end is near, and I have little time left. I can only place my hopes on you.”

After hearing this, Liang Yan looked at Xiu Musheng. Although his complexion was rosy like that of a young man, a trace of death could faintly be seen between his brows and eyes. It seemed that his nearing end was by no means false.

Liang Yan felt his eyes sting, and tears almost welled up.

Since entering the world of cultivation, he had seldom shown his true feelings. Yet Xiu Musheng was to him both teacher and friend. Hearing that this man’s death was near, his emotions surged uncontrollably, and he could not help feeling sad for him.

Taking a deep breath, Liang Yan steadied his turbulent heart and said firmly, “Senior, rest assured. So long as I still draw breath, I will surely find a suitable person and pass on your legacy!”

Seeing that Liang Yan had agreed to all three promises, Xiu Musheng no longer had any concerns and actually laughed out loud in that dark prison.

“Hahaha! Good lad. Heaven has made me meet you, so that we may become sworn friends despite our age difference!”

As he spoke, he swept his wide sleeve. A faint blue whirlwind sprang up from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, the two figures were gone from the prison.