Heaven’s Shadow

Yi Xin also saw Su Qingjun walking ahead. She paused slightly, then approached and greeted Su Qingjun with a smile, “Senior Sister Su, are you going to the Herb Garden too?”

The path they were on branched off from the main road and only led to the Herb Garden.

Su Qingjun nodded and said, “I have a spiritual herb planted there, so I’m going to check on it. Are you also going to see your herbs?”

Yi Xin smiled and replied, “No, I’m not. I have a friend working over there, so I’m just dropping by to see him.”

“Oh,” Su Qingjun smiled. The two young and beautiful women naturally walked side by side and started chatting.

Both came from similar backgrounds, daughters of prominent families in Kunwu City, and were close in age. As they chatted, they found a lot in common, such as the scenic spots and human stories of Kunwu City, which made them feel quite close to each other.

In the end, Yi Xin remarked with a smile to Su Qingjun, “I never thought that you would be such an easy-going person, Sister Su.”

Su Qingjun smiled and said, “Why do you say that? Did you hear that I was difficult to get along with before?”

“No, no,” Yi Xin hurriedly denied, smiling, “It’s just that you were always so outstanding since you were young. After I knew about you, I always felt that you were much better than us ordinary people in every way. It felt like you were always above us, and I never dared to think I could be this close to you.”

Su Qingjun smiled gently. Her eyes were warm, but when her gaze swept over Yi Xin’s pretty, youthful face, she saw a scar beside her rosy cheek, looking particularly abrupt and glaring on such a youthful face.

Her heart trembled for no reason. When she looked at Yi Xin again, her eyes carried a faint hint of pity. She wanted to ask about it, but quickly suppressed the thought.

She smiled at Yi Xin, chatting as if she hadn’t seen anything unusual, as if the scar never existed, and seemed even more intimate.

As they neared the Herb Garden, a sudden chirping sound came from above. Both looked up in surprise. They saw a flock of eight or nine small birds flapping their wings frantically, flying over their heads.

“Huh?”

Yi Xin looked in the direction the birds flew, surprised, “Why are these birds flying into the Herb Garden?”

Su Qingjun also frowned, looking puzzled.

The Xiangpu Garden, where medicinal herbs were planted, was filled with various spiritual herbs and materials, all of high value. Since spiritual herbs, rich in spiritual energy, were not only useful to human cultivators but also attracted some birds and beasts, Baicaotang built walls and fences around Xiangpu Garden and assigned guards to patrol and protect it from ground animals. As for flying birds, Baicaotang had also set up talisman arrays around the garden, emitting a repellent aura, so there were usually no birds around.

But today, this flock of birds suddenly flying toward the Herb Garden was quite unusual.

After pondering for a moment, Su Qingjun said uncertainly, “Maybe the array around the Herb Garden is damaged and malfunctioned? But there are usually patrol disciples in the garden, so a few birds shouldn’t be a big deal.”

Yi Xin thought about it and nodded with a smile, “You’re right, Sister. Let’s keep going.”

Su Qingjun agreed, and they continued toward the Herb Garden.

As they walked, Su Qingjun looked ahead and saw the sky was clear. The flock of birds seemed to fly quickly and soon disappeared, probably into the Herb Garden.

From a distance, the Herb Garden seemed quiet and unchanged, but thinking about those birds, Su Qingjun suddenly felt a bit uneasy.

What happened to those birds?

※※※

In the Herb Garden, Lu Chen and He Changsheng stood facing each other. He Changsheng’s face looked unhappy.

“Why?” He Changsheng asked in a low voice, frowning deeply. It was clear he was upset.

Lu Chen looked at him for a while and said, “Do you want to hear the truth?”

“Yes.”

“You are nothing more than a menial disciple, with a family in decline. You’ve sold all your family’s property, and now, you have no support other than yourself. If you think you can rely on your own strength, even for your entire life, you won’t leave much savings for your future children,” Lu Chen said calmly, not caring about the pale look on He Changsheng’s face.

“You hope that one day, your He family descendants will prosper again. But even if your descendants are as persistent as you, have you considered that, with your status, it’s impossible for your children to be accepted into the Kunlun Sect on their own? They also have to pass the Mirror of Immortal Appraisal. So, even if you work diligently your whole life and save something for your children, one event could easily render all your efforts worthless.”

“What event?” He Changsheng couldn’t help but ask.

Lu Chen sighed and said, “What if, decades later, the Kunlun Sect suddenly raises the fee for participating in the Immortal Appraisal?”

He Changsheng was shocked, his eyes wide, “Impossible! The Kunlun Sect is a prestigious sect, they wouldn’t…”

“What if?” Lu Chen interrupted him with a question.

He Changsheng murmured, “What if…”

“Among our batch of menial disciples this year, how many have bribed their way in? You can’t be unaware of that. It’s just a matter of a word. If someone really needs money and shamelessly does it, and it really happens, who are you going to reason with then?”

He Changsheng was speechless, his face turning ashen.

Lu Chen looked at him, extended his hand palm up, and said, “Look, in this world, people are born different. Some people are born standing high, while others, like you… and me…” He slowly, slowly turned his hand over and gently pressed it towards the ground.

Watching that hand movement, He Changsheng’s body seemed to tremble slightly, his eyes wide open but seemingly devoid of their previous brightness.

Lu Chen pressed his hand very low and then said softly, “Think about it yourself, what makes you think you can turn things around?”

He Changsheng looked up at him and said, “Are you saying that people like us will never move up a step in our lives? That our descendants will always be subordinate to others?”

“Becoming an immortal and ascending to the Great Dao, all living beings have a chance at immortality. Aren’t these the golden words passed down by our Daoist ancestors?” He looked somewhat agitated, even a bit angry.

“There is always a chance for immortality,” Lu Chen said. “But how small is that hope? Among the hundreds of thousands in Kunlun Mountain, will it fall on you?”

He Changsheng took a deep breath, his expression seeming to calm a bit, “If that’s the case, why are you telling me all this?”

Lu Chen looked at him and said, “I just think you shouldn’t pin your hopes on your future descendants. If there’s an immortal fate, you can turn things around in this life. If not, struggling your whole life to pass it on to your descendants is also useless.”

He Changsheng was silent for a long time and then said, “You’re right.”

※※※

In the spiritual field, the man turned and picked up a hoe, looking like he was going to work diligently again. Lu Chen stood aside, watching him with interest, “What’s wrong, feeling down?”

He Changsheng didn’t raise his head, “Yes, but no matter how down I am, I still have to work.”

“Not waiting for the immortal fate anymore?”

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I? Maybe one day, a pie will fall from the sky and hit me.”

Lu Chen laughed, “If you have that kind of luck, why not see if you can make thunder strike on a sunny day?”

He Changsheng looked up at the sky, and Lu Chen also looked up. The sky was blue and clear, with no sign of movement.

After a moment, they both looked back at each other, and Lu Chen spread his hands.

He Changsheng shook his head, “Such a thing is too unreliable. It would never… Ah!”

Suddenly, he cried out, clutching his forehead. Something had fallen from the sky and hit him on the head.

Lu Chen was also startled, and after a moment, he instinctively said, “It can’t be that coincidental…”

After a moment, they both looked at the object that had fallen. It was a fluffy thing lying on the ground. Looking closely, it was a small bird.

He Changsheng picked it up, held it in his palm, and looked at it for a moment. He said to Lu Chen, “It’s dead.”

“A dead bird?”

Lu Chen also looked surprised. Just then, they heard a chirping sound again. They looked up and saw a flock of four or five birds flying hurriedly over their heads.

“Why are there birds here?” He Changsheng asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know,” Lu Chen was also puzzled. He looked at the dead bird in He Changsheng’s hand, which seemed to be an ordinary sparrow, only half a palm in size. It was curled up, looking extremely frightened even in death.

At that moment, Lu Chen also felt a hint of unease but couldn’t pinpoint why. He didn’t know that a similar feeling had stirred in Su Qingjun’s heart at the entrance of the Herb Garden not long ago.

He turned to look at the few small birds flying away, flapping their wings frantically as if escaping for their lives, quickly disappearing into the distant forest.

He thought silently for a while, then suddenly looked back. The Kunlun mountain range rose and fell in the distance, silent and towering like a giant, standing between heaven and earth.

The mountains were deep, shrouded in mist.

(I’m glad I kept writing, as my votes are in danger. I need your support! The last three hours of double votes. I’ve done my best this National Day.) (To be continued.)

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