Chapter 120: The Undying Spirits Who Contend with Heaven

Qin Haoxuan gently placed Pu Hanzhong’s body in the coffin. He then took a wet towel and carefully wiped his senior brother’s face, straightened his clothes, and closed the lid. Then, he drove the horse-drawn cart and, accompanied by Master Xuanji and the others, proceeded slowly towards the Mountain of Heroic Spirits.

Only then did the onlookers realize that Qin Haoxuan’s Guiding Senior Brother from the Nature Hall had died from the exhaustion of his lifespan. A wave of whispers immediately went through the crowd.

“Aigh, I thought that after you became a cultivator, you wouldn’t die. I didn’t think you could still die…”

“Even if you reach the Dao Fruit Realm, if you can’t break through to the next realm to gain more lifespan, you’ll still die when your time is up. You just live a little longer!”

“Look at the grief on Qin Haoxuan’s face. His state of mind is probably going to be severely affected. It might even impact his trial!”

“It’s been three months since he sprouted his seed and he still hasn’t grown a single leaf. Now, with this, I think it’ll be even harder for him!”

“The Nature Hall is already weak; even their Hall Master hasn’t reached the Spirit Tree Realm. How can they possibly handle the Ancient Cloud Hall’s challenge in six months?”

…

Thirty li west of the Spirit Field Valley stood the Mountain of Heroic Spirits.

The mountain was as tall as Emperor Peak, but not as steep. Its slopes were gentle, the soil was soft, and it was situated on the yin-side of the Great Islet Mountain range, making it the perfect natural cemetery according to the principles of Feng Shui. The founding ancestors of the Taichu Sect had chosen this place as the final resting ground for all disciples who could not achieve immortality.

Not only disciples, but also the sect’s past ancestors were buried here. The higher one’s status in life, the better their resting place. The tombs of past Sect Masters, core elders, and Hall Masters were located on the upper peak, while the founding ancestor himself was buried at the very summit.

As an ordinary disciple, Pu Hanzhong’s tomb was at the foot of the mountain.

Master Xuanji took out a compass and, after careful calculation, chose a spot for the grave. With a wave of his sleeve, a strand of pure spiritual energy shot into the earth, blasting open a pit three meters deep.

“Good child, life and death are decided by heaven. Do not grieve too much,” Xuanji said, patting Qin Haoxuan’s shoulder as several disciples lowered the coffin into the earth.

After the grave was filled, the disciples of the Nature Hall bowed in farewell and departed with Xuanji, who now looked even older than before.

“Brother Haoxuan, the dead cannot be brought back. Please don’t be so sad. Senior Brother Pu wouldn’t want to see you like this,” Xu Yu said, walking over to where Qin Haoxuan knelt before the fresh grave, his head bowed low.

She wanted to stay and comfort him, but Qin Haoxuan spoke with solemn righteousness. “Sister Yu, the trial in the Aqueous Manor is in three days. You are not like me; many eyes are watching your performance. If you don’t want me to feel guilty, go back and cultivate now. If your training is delayed because of me, even Senior Brother Pu will resent me!”

Luo Jinhua, who had been standing behind Xu Yu waiting for an opportunity, chimed in. “Junior Sister Xu, let’s go first. Let Junior Brother Qin spend some more time here with Senior Brother Pu. We shouldn’t disturb them.”

Xu Yu sighed softly. “Alright. Brother Haoxuan, I’ll go then. You should head back soon too. Senior Brother Pu certainly wouldn’t want his passing to delay your cultivation.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded silently. After Xu Yu and Luo Jinhua left, only he and Ye Yiming remained before the grave.

The two of them stood in silence. Qin Haoxuan stared blankly at the mound of earth, showing no intention of leaving.

Ye Yiming waited quietly by his side, not rushing him. But Qin Haoxuan remained as still as a clay statue.

One hour… two hours… three hours…

Finally, Ye Yiming could not wait any longer. “Haoxuan, it’s time to go back and cultivate.”

Qin Haoxuan didn’t answer, only shaking his head slightly.

Ye Yiming took a deep breath. It was normal for young people to be willful, but this was not the time for it. He stood up and stared into Qin Haoxuan’s eyes, his tone becoming sharp. “What? Just because Senior Brother Pu died, you’re going to stop cultivating? You are a cultivator of the Taichu Sect!”

Qin Haoxuan kept his head down, mumbling softly, “You are not me. You can’t understand. It wasn’t your closest kin who died…”

THUMP!

Ye Yiming’s foot shot out, kicking Qin Haoxuan in the chest and sending him tumbling to the ground. Before he could get up, Ye Yiming was upon him, grabbing him by the collar. “Senior Brother Pu was my senior brother too! You think you’re the only one who lost him? Come! You come with me!”

Ye Yiming dragged Qin Haoxuan to an old grave. “The one lying here was my Guiding Senior Brother! He treated me just as Han Zhong treated you! Not long after I began my journey, he passed away in meditation!”

He then dragged him to several newer graves. “A few years ago, I went to Hundred Beasts Mountain with these senior brothers. We found a spirit beast cub, but we alerted the mother. She attacked, and we were no match for her. To cover my escape, they were all killed and devoured. These are just graves for their clothes.”

He walked a few dozen steps up the mountain to a solitary grave. “This was an elder of our Nature Hall, technically our Master’s senior brother. I was injured on that mountain, and he was the one who personally nursed me back to health. It would not be an exaggeration to say he saved my life.”

As Qin Haoxuan watched, Ye Yiming went from grave to grave, telling the stories of those who lay beneath the earth. Qin Haoxuan listened in silence, each word echoing in his mind like the tolling of a great bell.

After half an hour, as the sky began to darken, Ye Yiming finally stopped. His face was a mask of solemn respect, mixed with a faint sadness.

“This Mountain of Heroic Spirits holds the remains of countless generations of Taichu disciples. It bears witness to their unyielding desire to achieve immortality. Although no one from our sect has ever become a true immortal, not even the merciless Heavenly Dao can crush our determination.”

At this, Ye Yiming’s voice rose with passion. “This mountain may bury the dead, but it cannot bury the will of the Taichu Sect! No matter how thick the yellow earth, it can never truly bury our Dao Heart! This is the spiritual sanctuary of our sect!”

As Ye Yiming’s powerful voice washed over him, Qin Haoxuan felt as if he were waking from a dream. The Mountain of Heroic Spirits was a place of failure, yes, but it was also filled with the unwavering resolve to achieve immortality!

After a long silence, Qin Haoxuan suddenly turned, knelt before Pu Hanzhong’s grave, and kowtowed three times. “Senior Brother Pu,” he said, “I will come and speak with you again after the trial. From now on, I will follow Senior Brother Ye’s teachings.”

Ye Yiming nodded in satisfaction. The boy is teachable, he thought. Han Zhong saw the right man. If he can keep this up, perhaps the Nature Hall will not fall in his hands.

He walked over and patted Qin Haoxuan’s shoulder. “Let’s go. No more dawdling. It’s time to cultivate.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded and followed Ye Yiming back to the Spirit Field Valley.

As he stepped into his room, the grief he had just managed to overcome washed over him again.

He sat cross-legged in the spot where Pu Hanzhong had passed away, his heart heavy. “Senior Brother Ye,” he said, “I still haven’t fully adjusted.”

Ye Yiming considered this for a moment. “It’s alright. Take a little more time to think of Han Zhong. When cultivating, your state of mind must be stable. You cannot force it, lest you fall into demonic deviation.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded and closed his eyes. Two lines of tears streamed down his face again as memories of Pu Hanzhong flooded his mind.

Lost in his grief, Qin Haoxuan suddenly felt a stirring from the immortal seedling within him. A pure and powerful surge of spiritual energy, which had been accumulating for three months, erupted from it.

To an outside observer, a palpable wave of spiritual energy radiated from Qin Haoxuan. A small vortex of energy even formed above his head—a resonance caused by the seedling inside him sprouting its first leaf.

As the spiritual energy pulsed, black, foul-smelling liquid began to seep from every pore on Qin Haoxuan’s body. It quickly solidified, forming a thin, black cocoon that enveloped him completely.

He could feel it: at the very tip of his immortal seedling, a leaf was slowly emerging. It grew from the size of a grain of rice to the size of his pinky fingernail. As the leaf unfurled, Qin Haoxuan could feel an unprecedented vitality surging from the seedling.

Ye Yiming, who had been waiting for Qin Haoxuan to emerge from his sorrow, was overjoyed when he felt the spiritual fluctuations of a breakthrough. But a moment later, he realized something was wrong.

Qin Haoxuan was just sitting there; he wasn’t circulating his energy or actively cultivating at all. How could his seedling suddenly sprout a leaf?

Could it be a demonic deviation brought on by extreme grief? The thought struck Ye Yiming, and he paled in alarm. If Qin Haoxuan really fell, how could he ever face their Master, or the deceased Pu Hanzhong?

Just as he was hesitating, the leaf inside Qin Haoxuan fully formed, and the spiritual fluctuations subsided. At that moment, he opened his eyes. They were perfectly clear, with no sign of confusion or madness.

Feeling the sticky filth on his body, he circulated his energy slightly. A surge of spiritual power, several times stronger than before, erupted from his dantian, shattering the black cocoon. He then opened his mouth and exhaled a long, turbid breath.

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