Chapter 137: The Hall of Ancestral Sorcerers

Nanluo followed the Master of Wuzhuang Abbey into the Heaven and Earth Hall, while Liuli hesitated, wanting to go in as well. The two child attendants, Clearwind and Brightmoon, had already made their way toward a towering ancient tree.

Clearwind carried something long and thick, shaped like an enormous golden hairpin, while Brightmoon held a wooden tray covered by a red silk cloth. Liuli had naturally heard the Master of Wuzhuang Abbey say that he would pick several Ginseng Fruits to entertain Nanluo. Nanluo himself had little understanding of how precious the fruits were. Born with innate divine powers, he could hear their conversation unless someone of immense cultivation deliberately concealed it, so he had long known of the Ginseng Fruit's fame.

The moment Liuli first heard of the fruit, he began dreaming of tasting one. Even if he could not eat it, merely catching its fragrance would have been enough. He had heard that eating a single fruit could grant immortality and instantly elevate one to the realm of a Celestial Immortal. Whether true or false, the rumor alone filled him with endless temptation.

Watching Clearwind and Brightmoon circle beneath the great tree, Liuli also lifted his head to look. The branches and leaves were lush and dense, hiding everything from sight. He narrowed his eyes and stared for several moments, then suddenly turned and ran toward the Heaven and Earth Hall.

He moved without a sound, not stirring even a speck of dust, as though afraid of disturbing Nanluo and the abbey master, who were speaking inside.

Upon entering the hall and seeing the two men seated as host and guest, he paused only briefly before walking behind Nanluo. There he crouched down quietly and remained still, perfectly at ease, though his eyes kept shifting between Nanluo and the Master of Wuzhuang Abbey.

A short while later, Clearwind and Brightmoon entered as well. Clearwind still held the enormous golden hairpin, while Brightmoon carried the wooden tray covered by the red silk cloth. As soon as they drew near, a faint, sweet fragrance drifted through the air, and merely breathing it in made one feel refreshed in both body and spirit.

Brightmoon walked straight toward the Master of Wuzhuang Abbey, but the master gestured toward Nanluo. Brightmoon stopped beside him and set down the purple wooden tray. Gently lifting the red silk cloth, he revealed eight neatly arranged fruits, white as jade and shaped like infants sitting upright.

Nanluo glanced at them and thought to himself, No wonder they are called Ginseng Fruits.

He smiled and said, “When I happened to enter the abbey that year, I was fortunate enough to receive a piece of Ginseng Fruit, though I never saw the fruit itself. Now that I have seen one with my own eyes, I finally understand where its name came from. I once heard that these fruits are extraordinarily precious: the tree blooms only once after many years, bears fruit only after many more, and requires yet more years before the fruit ripens. Yet today, Abbey Master, you have picked eight at once. If word of this got out, would that not bring trouble upon me, Nanluo?”

“Haha... What are you saying, Daoist friend?” the master replied with a laugh. “The Ginseng Fruit is ultimately nothing more than an external object. No matter how wondrous it may be, it cannot replace one’s own efforts in cultivation. Just regard it as a fruit slightly more delicious than the ordinary fruits of the mountains. In our eyes, any elixir or spiritual fruit is merely a mass of spiritual energy. External objects may be borrowed, but they can never be relied upon. Please...”

Having spoken, he suddenly turned toward Liuli, who was crouching beside Nanluo.

“You have surely heard of the Ginseng Fruit as well. Since fate has brought us together, you may taste one too. A single fruit will even enable you to speak. When you formally take a master in the future, you will be able to perform the rites of discipleship.”

At his gesture, Brightmoon picked up a fruit and brought it before Liuli.

Liuli scratched his ears and cheeks, his eyes darting repeatedly between the Ginseng Fruit and Nanluo. Nanluo remained seated without moving, yet his back seemed to possess eyes. Suddenly, he said, “If you want to eat it, then eat it. Though this fruit cannot make you an immortal in an instant, it will be of immense benefit to you. But you must understand that you and I have no relationship. The abbey master is bestowing this fruit upon you because he intends to accept you as his disciple. If you accept it, you are agreeing to his offer.”

Nanluo spoke indifferently. The Master of Wuzhuang Abbey merely laughed and said nothing, watching Liuli with keen interest.

Hearing Nanluo's words, Liuli's eyes shimmered with clear light. He glanced once more at the abbey master. In the end, however, he did not take the Ginseng Fruit from Brightmoon's hands. Instead, he sat down in silence, assuming the posture of an old monk entering deep meditation.

Nanluo and the abbey master paid him no further attention and began discussing matters ranging from heaven to earth.

The Master of Wuzhuang Abbey could see at a glance everything that had happened in Nanluo's past, yet he could not discern what Nanluo intended to do next. At last, he asked, “You have only just escaped from confinement and are still seriously wounded, yet you have hurried onward once more. Why?”

Nanluo smiled faintly and did not conceal the truth. He explained that a close friend had once entered Kunlun Mountain to save him, only to offend the disciples of the Jade Void Palace. That friend had been captured and imprisoned beneath the steps before the Jade Void Palace. Nanluo was traveling there now simply to see whether he could rescue him.

“Do you know who the master of the Jade Void Palace is?” the abbey master asked.

His question reminded Nanluo that, when the Celestial Master Tongxuan had once sent him to the Jade Void Palace, he had referred to its master as a fellow Daoist. Nanluo himself, however, had never met the man.

“I have heard that his name is Primordial,” he replied.

“That is correct. The master of the Jade Void Palace calls himself Primordial. I have discussed the Dao with him several times, and he may be considered a fellow Daoist of mine. Yet he has never spoken of his origins or background, and his attainments in the Dao are so profound that no one can investigate them. Since establishing the Jade Void Palace on Kunlun Mountain, he has accepted twelve disciples of pure nature and wholehearted devotion to the Dao, but he rarely moves about beneath the heavens. In my estimation, he will one day become one of the foremost figures of the Primordial World.”

Hearing the abbey master's praise, Nanluo thought of the Jade Cauldron Daoist and mused inwardly, The Jade Cauldron Daoist may indeed be pure of nature, but nothing could make me abandon my plan to go to Kunlun Mountain.

He smiled faintly and said, “I have naturally heard of the Jade Void Palace. But my friend has fallen into danger because of me. How could I simply stand by and do nothing? I must make the journey, whatever happens. I will plead with them courteously; I would even be willing to share in my friend's punishment. If they still refuse, then I can only withdraw for the time being. After a hundred years or so, I will go again.”

He spoke with a smile, as though discussing something entirely unrelated to himself. Yet to the ears of the Master of Wuzhuang Abbey, his final words were like a hidden blade glinting within the void.

After a hundred years or so, I will go again.

The abbey master naturally understood what Nanluo meant. If his request was refused, he would withdraw for now—but why return after a hundred years? He would certainly not be going back to plead again. When he returned then, he would be going with blades drawn.

The realization made the abbey master look at Nanluo in surprise. Though he had always held Nanluo in the highest regard, in that moment he found the man difficult to see clearly. He knew Nanluo's deeds well enough, but he had never expected him to possess such a keen and dangerous edge.

That sharpness was contained rather than revealed, hidden deep within his heart.

Surprised though he was, the abbey master continued to converse with the same refined smile.

Nanluo suddenly remembered the Dijiang City he had encountered on the road and asked about it.

The Master of Wuzhuang Abbey immediately asked him what it had looked like. The elegant expression he habitually wore turned solemn.

Nanluo described the Dijiang City he had seen. The more the abbey master listened, the graver his expression became. When Nanluo finished, he frowned in silence for a long while before finally recovering and sighing.

“That was the Ancestral Witch Hall of Dijiang, ancestor of the Witch Clan.”

“The Ancestral Witch Hall? How is that possible? I once visited the Hou Tu tribe of the Witch Clan and saw their Ancestral Witch Hall from a distance. Compared with that Dijiang City, it was vastly inferior. If both are Ancestral Witch Halls, how could the difference be so great? Could there be some hidden reason?”

Nanluo was astonished. In the past, he had visited the Hou Tu tribe while searching for Kong Xuan and inquiring into Zhurong's whereabouts. Later, he had even led the first contingent of Heavenly Court soldiers in a campaign against the Hou Tu tribe. He had seen the Hou Tu Hall clearly, and compared with the Dijiang City before him, it was inferior by far more than a mere fraction.

The Master of Wuzhuang Abbey suddenly rose and walked outside the Heaven and Earth Hall, staring into the void.

“The Ancestral Witch Hall is already a magical treasure in its own right, and in a certain sense, it surpasses even innate spiritual treasures. The Ancestral Witches are living beings who evolved alongside the heavens and the earth, yet they are far more powerful than many beings born in the same era. That is because they were born fundamentally different from other creatures. Other living beings exist apart from the heavens and the earth, but even after the world had taken shape for countless years, the Ancestral Witches remained inseparably connected to it.”

“As for the Ancestral Witch Halls, no one has ever entered them. More precisely, apart from the great witches of the Witch Clan, no outsider has ever set foot inside. Countless beings beneath the heavens have tried to infiltrate those halls and uncover their mysteries, but everyone who went there vanished from the world. No matter how penetrating one’s methods of divination may be, nothing at all can be deduced about them.”

P.S.

What a tragedy. I was three minutes late, and just like that, my five-hundred-yuan perfect-attendance bonus for March is gone.

So miserable... Please comfort me. Please sponsor me...

Please give me everything you've got...