Chapter 2161.1: Senior Brother

The Severed Meridians Hold… I would be able to break it if I reached the second turn of Seeing Dao and ascended to foundation establishment… Lu Yun mused inwardly. That seemed to be the case, yet also not the case. He seemed to be able to break it even without reaching the second turn, but that ability had been… sealed away?

Lu Yun hesitated, but his instincts hid the thought as soon as the notion rose in his heart. As baffled as he was, he wasn’t willing to pursue the matter further.

Something else must’ve happened beyond the three thousand reincarnations! As for what he’d sealed away, there must be a reason for it since he instinctively didn’t wish to recall it. Therefore, he wouldn’t think more on it.

Lu Xiaochi smiled wryly when he looked at his nephew’s expression and shook his head. He left without saying a word.

“Second uncle… believe me…” Lu Yun said slowly as he watched Lu Xiaochi’s departing back.

The man paused, then nodded gently.

……

The moon was high in the night—it was another night of the full moon.

Lan’er had gone to bed and Lu Yun sat alone in the yard, holding a wine jug made of white jade and filling his cup to the brim.

“A jug of warm wine enjoyed beneath the moonlight, paired with a serving of life as I drink…” Lu Yun murmured to himself. “Were the three thousand worlds and reincarnations a dream or reality? What is the sealed experience beneath the three thousand?”

He raised his cup and toasted the night sky before tossing its contents back with a gulp.

Although he’d gained a great many skills, abilities, and experience throughout the three thousand worlds and reincarnations, he’d also formed too many emotional ties and relationships. Somehow, the deepest of them all was what he wished least to forget, yet had to forget it for now. It was what affected him sleeping and waking.

He exhaled a mouthful of turbid air and continued drinking as he cultivated.

The Nine Chapters of Dao were from the heavenly dao and nature—it was the closest cultivation method there was to the great dao. Lu Yun’s Hongmeng qi circulated at every second, ensuring that he cultivated when he ate, slept, and walked. If he wanted to, he could prevent any energy ripples from arising when he cultivated.

In contrast, cultivators had to sit cross-legged with their eyes closed, clearing their mind of all thought when they cultivated. They had to reach a mentally empty state before entering meditation.

“My cultivation level is at the first turn, the second turn is nowhere in sight. Although the Nine Chapters of Dao are a cultivation method of the heavenly dao, it consumes too much energy to train…”

A piece of upper rank spirit stone crumbled in his hand and drifted to the ground. Upper rank spirit stones could no longer satisfy his needs. If word of that got out, it would shock a large group of cultivators.

One upper rank spirit stone was sufficient to support a golden core cultivator for half a month. How had a weakling of only seven levels qi refinement absorbed all of the energy from a spirit stone in one hour?!

“It looks like I need to take some time to collect a few paramount rank spirit stones.” Another upper rank stone appeared in his hand with a twinkle from his storage ring.

The Lu Clan originally possessed a decent store of paramount rank spirit stones, seeing as it was one of the seven great families of the capital. But Lu Tianling had expended the entire family fortune to save his grandson three months ago because Lu Yun had been too gravely injured. He’d employed countless medicines and spirit herbs to do so—otherwise, his own nascent soul might not have been sufficient.

That matter three months ago had delivered a fatal blow to the family. The Lu Clan was now outwardly strong, but inwardly brittle. It would never be able to lay hands on another paramount rank spirit stone.

“Hmm?” Lu Yun furrowed his brow as he was shocked to discover that the hazy “dao” character in his dantian, the source of the “Seeing Dao” chapter, was shaking violently. Jade-green light exploded from his body.

Humm!

The scene in front of his eyes changed before he had a chance to react; he arrived in a void that was both familiar and unknown. An endless expanse of brilliant stars filled the area. A silver patch of land made from stars could be found in its center. This was where Lu Yun had met the heavenly dao and been accepted as a disciple.

The silver patch that was but thirty meters across held a flawless stone table in its center. Pristinely white, two stone stools were placed next to it. Lu Yun hadn’t seen this table on his first visit. Someone was sitting on one of the stools.

It was a man dressed in simple blue robes and a meter of blue hair reaching waist-length in a casual manner. He looked to be in his twenties and appeared rather ordinary, but a few hints of detachment could be read in his face.

He smiled broadly to see Lu Yun arrive and the young man felt great happiness blossom in his heart as well. Unbidden, he responded with a faint smile.

“Aha, hello junior brother. Sit.” The man in blue robes gestured at the other stool.

“Junior brother?” Lu Yun blinked, but took a seat without hesitation.

“Allow me to introduce myself, I am your eldest senior brother—the sky.” The man looked affably at Lu Yun. [1]

“Eldest senior brother?” Lu Yun blinked. He’d thought that the heavenly dao only had him for a disciple, but here was an eldest senior brother! Did this mean there was a second and third senior brother too?

Sky seemed to see through Lu Yun’s bafflement and smiled. “Don’t be confused, you’re the only living disciple that master has. However, I don’t know why he accepted you as one.”

Lu Yun remained quiet and waited for his senior brother to continue.

“I and your other senior brothers are not living beings. We are the manifestations of rules that possess our own independent thought. We come from the same origins as master.”

Lu Yun blinked again, but it made sense, considering what his senior brother’s name was. The sky wasn’t a deity in the world of cultivation, but it was one in many of the worlds that he’d traveled to and his temples could be found in quite a few of them.

He was in the presence of a literal deity! And the deity was his senior brother!

“Eh… um… senior brother, since you’re a rule, how have you taken physical form? Do rules have their own consciousness as well…?” Lu Yun frowned, feeling that this question was very important.

A smiling Sky shook his head. “The rules are the rules. We are without beginning or end, without desire or emotion. We cannot form a consciousness. The heavenly dao and I are the manifestation of the emotions of life, the thoughts of the living. We are dead beings if we take shape as the rules—we would lack our own mind. If we take physical form, we do so with the will of the living as our basis.”

“The will of the living?” Lu Yun nodded, seeming to grasp something, but not knowing what he grasped. “What instructions might senior brother have for me with this visit? Are you going to give me a greeting gift? I happily welcome all connate treasures or connate supreme treasures!”

The young man fully relaxed. He was the heavenly dao’s disciple too, so his identity was the same as the sky’s. His character had long been tempered into a firm and unyielding state. Thus, he was able to face the deity in front of him with ease.

As he spoke, he smiled bashfully and shyly reached out his hand.

Sky paused, dazed. He was a rule and had taken physical form due to the will of life. He’d never interacted with living beings before, so he didn’t know how to respond to Lu Yun’s rascally attitude.

“You’re a lazy one, kid.” He shook his head with a rueful smile. “Well, a connate treasure is too powerful for you right now. You won’t be able to use it. I have a leaf here that you can use to defend yourself with.”

Sky probed the air with his right hand and gently closed his hand on it, summoning an oval shaped leaf of jade green into his hand.

“A… leaf? That’s so miserly,” Lu Yun grumbled, but quickly took the leaf. Even a piece of leaf from the sky was incredibly precious.

“What do you know? This leaf is from the first spirit root of the three realms—the Builder Tree. With this leaf on you, it will safeguard your life so long as your soul isn’t shattered by the attack.”

Lu Yun closed his hand around the leaf as Sky spoke. Dense vitality flowed out of it and into his body. The leaf then vanished into his body like it was a drop of water.

“I am the disciple of the heavenly dao, is there anyone in existence who can touch me?” he muttered.

“It is true that you are a disciple and favored by the heavenly dao,” Sky chuckled wryly. “But there are plenty of people who do not respect the sky and earth, who seek to defy the heavens. There are many, many of them who hold not the slightest hint of respect toward me or our master. You would just be an ordinary human in their eyes. For them, defying the heavens and slaughtering the heavenly dao is their aim.”

“Defy heaven?” Lu Yun snorted. “Why would they want to do that?”

A strange ripple agitated in his mind. The future of this world of immortal cultivation… would be one of life waging war on the heavens and causing their own destruction. The heavenly dao was the will of life. To defy the heavens… was to defy life.

Sky blinked as Lu Yun stretched. When the young man saw a pot of tea and two teacups on the stone table, he poured a cup for himself and sipped at it leisurely.

“Those so-called defiers are the most idiotic of them all. Their goal is to defy the heavens? Them? Defying the heavens is more like a slogan from those who’ve failed in life.”

When some failed to achieve what they wished despite a forceful effort, they felt that it was the heavens that denied them accomplishment. When some failed to properly grasp what they had, they felt that it was the heavens that stripped it from them. And thus, defying the heavens became a rallying call.

If the heavens dare obstruct me, then I will defy the heavens!

But please, the heavenly dao was very busy and had no time to spare for individual people, whether to obstruct them or strip them of certain things. Failure and loss was just a matter of one’s personal failing. In Lu Yun’s eyes, those who failed were worthy of sympathy, but if one didn’t understand why one had failed and assigned the reason to someone else—or even the heavens…

Then. Well. That was the height of idiocy.

Fate? That was always under one’s control. Destiny? That was just smoke and mirrors. To Sky, even a disciple of the heavenly dao like Lu Yun might die in someone else’s hands. Nothing was guaranteed and it was up to the young man whether or not he would come into his own.

Having experienced three thousand reincarnations and worlds, Lu Yun had long since ceased to fixate on anything. Although heavenly dao was the intangible overlord of all, it was also just a rule. It lacked emotions and desire. It would still exist if life ceased to be.

Everything was equal beneath the heavenly dao and to the heavenly dao, there was no life. Those who fancied themselves abandoned by the heavens were even more ridiculous. They were the ones who’d abandoned themselves.

Lu Yun had never thought much of those who said they would defy the heavens. Why would he think of someone who didn’t believe in themselves as a major enemy?

1. His name literally means the blue sky, that thing up there when we look up. ☜

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