Chapter 190 Common Goal, Bitterly Practicing Part 1/8
Her body was shrouded in the blue light. They were thirty meters away from her and could feel the strong air flow surging around them.
After fifteen minutes, Dier waved her hand and her spiritual power gradually dissipated. She curtsied again to Old General Mu and Mu YingYi. Then she and Vaninaya slowly rose into the air, along with the spirit pets, including Feiyun. Soon, they all disappeared without a trace.
Shangguan LingRan looked at them and the spirit pets disappear in the air. He secretly gritted his teeth and vowed, “I must practice Xuantian Jue to the tenth stage. Then I can fly and go to India to bring YouYou back!”
Old General Mu and Mu looked at the distant Zi You and couldn’t help but cry tearfully. They didn’t know when they would see her again. Perhaps, they would never meet again.
At this thought, Old General Mu’s heart pained and he staggered.
“Father (grandfather)!” Shangguan LingRan and Mu YingYi shouted and went over to support him.
After carrying him into the tent, Mu YingYi quickly took out a life-saving pill and stuffed it into Old General Mu’s mouth. The two people deeply sympathized with Old General Mu’s feelings. He didn’t know whether he could see his precious granddaughter, whom he raised as a pearl in his palm, again. How could he not be sad?
Shangguan LingRan saw this and thought of the task that Zi You had entrusted to him. He forcefully fought back his grief and comforted Old General Mu. “Don’t be sad, grandfather. I swear to you that I will bring YouYou back.”
Old General Mu’s expression was ashen. He nodded and closed his eyes weakly.
“Ling’er. My good grandson!” After an unknown amount of time later, sixth martial nephew and the old Prime Minister, Shangguan LingRan’s maternal grandfather, the Left Prime Minister, opened the tent flap and rushed in.
He saw Shangguan LingRan sitting next to the bed with a lowered head. Old General Mu was lying in bed with a face full of grief. The Left Prime Minister immediately went over and looked his grandson up and down in concern. Then he looked at Old General Mu and asked, “What is going on? Did you faint or did Old General Mu faint?”
Old General Mu’s letter only said, “Something happened to You’er. Shizi fainted from excessive grief.”
He had received the letter and quickly asked sixth martial nephew. Sixth martial nephew had exaggerated, “Mu Xiaojie is dead. Little Shishu spat out blood and wants to follow Mu Xiaojie.”
Oh, no! The heavens knew how much expectations he had for this grandson. Nothing could happen to him!
Thus, he had rushed into the mountains in time to see the mountains shrouded in a blue light. The light was very strange. The strong air flow shook his eardrums and his head was in pain. He then suddenly fainted.
When he had woken up, he discovered himself lying on sixth martial nephew’s back and was being carried up the mountain.
Shangguan LingRan frowned and told him what had happened. Only, he substituted Dier for a passing master.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his grandfather, but it was better if one less person knew about Dier. Otherwise, if it spread to the Emperor, it would be disastrous for the General’s Manor. It would be a crime of deceiving the monarch!
Prime Minister Yang quickly comforted Old General Mu. “Don’t be too sad, Old General Mu. This old man believes that the heavens will help Mu Xiaojie. She will return after recovering.”
Old General Mu said sadly, “Thank you, Prime Minister. I have something to discuss with you.”
“Please say it!” Prime Minister Yang clearly respected Old General Mu. He spoke very politely.
Old General Mu looked at Shangguan LingRan and said, very touched, “I really didn’t think that Shizi Ye is such a devoted and righteous person. If I knew, I wouldn’t have engaged You’er to Duke Yongnan Shizi no matter what. But the mistake has already been made.
“The key point is that Shizi Ye has exposed the fact that he knows martial arts today. I have hidden this from the soldiers, but we need to have the same story. We can’t let the facts that he knows martial arts and his relationship with You’er be exposed to anyone.
“When You’er comes back, we will slowly make plans to fulfill their love.”
Old General Mu thought that Prime Minister Yang would be surprised after hearing about Shangguan LingRan and Zi You’s relationship. But he was surprised that Prime Minister Yang nodded and replied clearly, “This old man already knew his intentions. This is also this old man and Wangfei’s intentions. Originally, this old man was worried that you would have concerns. This old man didn’t expect that you don’t disdain Shizi.”
Old General Mu immediately shook his head. “I know Shizi’s difficulties. Let’s not mention that he’s not a real dandy. Even if he is, we won’t make things difficult as long as You’er likes him.”
“Thank you, grandfather!” Shangguan LingRan spoke excitedly. Then he firmly said to Prime Minister Yang, “Grandfather, think of a way to find a substitute to stay in the capital for me. I have to return to Emei and learn Xuantian Jue to the tenth stage. I have to find YouYou and bring her back.”
“Okay, I will think of a way.” Prime Minister Yang nodded. He didn’t dare to refuse. His grandson was deeply in love. Other than Mu Zi You, he probably wouldn’t accept anyone else. Thus, he could only fulfill his wishes.
Moreover, he was very satisfied with everything that Zi You had done. As An Wang Shizifei, it wasn’t enough just to be beautiful and kind. She needed to be intelligent and have her own abilities.
The next day, Old General Mu wrote a letter to Xuanwu Emperor. The letter said: “There was heavy rain yesterday. The army in the mountains suffered landslides and mudslides. Chen’s granddaughter is seriously injured and unconscious from trying to rescue soldiers from being washed away by the mudslides.
“Chen was worried and at a loss. Fortunately, a passing master took her away to be treated. However, the passing master cannot guarantee whether Chen’s granddaughter will completely heal. So, whether Emperor’s conferred Commander of the female medical team Mu Zi You can return is an unknown. Please appoint another female medical team commander to replace Chen’s granddaughter.
“Also, there are casualties amongst the soldiers. Chen is unwell due to excessive grief. Please allow Chen to take the soldiers down the mountain to recuperate, Emperor.
“Please forgive Chen for not telling you and handed Chen’s granddaughter to the passing master. But Chen’s granddaughter was in a critical situation and it couldn’t be delayed. Please forgive Chen’s disrespect on account of the situation being urgent, Emperor!”
The Emperor was just worrying if yesterday’s storm had any impact on the soldiers when he received Old General Mu’s letter.
At that time, the Emperor had a strange feeling in his heart. It pained like it never had before. Then he felt stifled.
He immediately agreed to Old General Mu’s request and expressed his condolences.
Thus, Old General Mu returned with the army back to the capital three days after the storm.
It was still Taizi, Second Wangzi, and Third Wangzi who brought officials to meet them. However, the atmosphere this time was completely different from the send-off. The soldiers were all listless.
Apparently everyone was affected by the ruthless reality. Their little fairy, Old General Mu’s granddaughter Mu Xiaojie, had been seriously injured and unconscious due to rescuing soldiers who were being washed away by the mudslides. She had been taken away by a passing master. It was unknown whether she would be saved or could come back to train with them.
That clever and pretty female medical team commander, who wasn’t afraid of suffering or exhaustion and didn’t disdain their sweaty selves, had disappeared.
Taizi had felt bad in the beginning, but he soon let it go. Even if she was alive, Muhou firmly refused to let him marry her. If he had to just look, but couldn’t eat her, then it was better that he never saw her again.
Third Wangzi was also sad for a day after he received the news. But he soon comforted himself: This is good. No one can obtain her then.
Second Wangzi was clearly sadder than his brothers. After learning of Zi You’s accident, he had cried and immediately went with De Fei to pray.
When he couldn’t see that slender and straight figure in the army, his tears couldn’t help but surge again.
Zhao HongXiang shed a few crocodile tears, but he wasn’t sad at all. The thing that bothered him the most was where was he going to find Xiaoyao Powder now? If he knew that she was going to die so early, he would have had her make more Xiaoyao Powder for him.
Mu YingRui also shed a few crocodile tears, but he was soon relieved, as if a major source of trouble was removed. Without the darned ruthless yatou, his days would go smoothly.
However, when Old General Mu returned to the fu, he pretended to be stricken with grief and desperately squeezed out some tears. He asked, “What happened? How did she get hurt? Why didn’t her mother’s spirit protect her?”
He thought, ‘Didn’t her mother’s spirit punish me and Ping’er for her? Then why didn’t she protect her? She wanted to take her away, right? Then take her away! That way she won’t oppose me all the time.’
He finished speaking and Old General Mu slapped him. Old General Mu’s tiger eyes seemed to have seen through his thoughts. He was so angry that he hated that he couldn’t kick him to death.
Wang Yiping also received the news that Zi You was seriously injured and unconscious and was taken away by a passing master. She cried while laughing in her heart. ‘Great! The heavens have eyes. She’s finally taken away. It’s best if she never comes back. Hahaha…… Today is the happiest day in my life!’
Yu Lanxuan laughed madly in her boudoir. Afterwards, she changed into red clothing and said to her confidant maidservant Cui’er, “Send a letter to Shizi Ye. His fiancée is dead. I have to comfort him. I’ll meet him in Tianlaifu Restaurant.”
At this time, Shangguan LingRan was burrowed in the Empress Dowager’s arms and silently crying. It was the first time that the Empress Dowager had seen him cry so helplessly and sorrowfully. Even when his father An Wang had locked him up for three days and nights because of his brother Shangguan Liran, he was more angry than sad. He hadn’t even shed a tear.
But he was really crying this time. The Empress Dowager could feel her grandson’s tears soaking into her clothing and his body trembling.
The Empress Dowager couldn’t help but worry. She went to the temple and prayed for Zi You for a while. But it was really for her grandson. She was really afraid that her grandson would be hurt by love and become a monk.
After Zi You left, Old General Mu became ill. Although Mu YingYi did not collapse, it was clear that he was suppressing his grief. He lost a lot of weight.
Nee Liu was already sad. And now she saw her father-in-law and husband like this, so her whole person was on the verge of collapse. Wang Yiping was so happy that she almost jumped for joy.
At this time, Zi You was locked up by Goddess Mari in the darkest and most dangerous place in the God Realm: Blackwater Pool. Blackwater Pool was a deep valley and the confinement place to punish disciples.
As the name suggested, the water in the pool was black, cold, and chilling. There were all kinds of poisonous snakes, lizards, and insects there. It was bottomless and not many people could come out.
Zi You was saved by her mother. She opened her eyes and saw her mother and grandmother, whom she had never seen before. She was very happy. But after ten days or so, she said to Dier, “Mother, I want to go back to Great Yan. I can’t stay here. I’m worried about grandfather and uncle. You also know that in the previous life, they both died in the Nanjiang rebellion two years later. I’m afraid that someone wants to harm them. I want to go back to protect them.”
Dier nodded. “Yes. Your grandfather and uncle did not die because of the miasma, but because of gu.”
Zi You was even more anxious. “If that’s the case, then I can’t stay here. I have to go back.”
“No.” Goddess Mari immediately came in and interrupted her. “You are my descendant. How can you stay in the mortal world? And a foreign mortal world at that? What is worth remembering about those heathens?”
Zi You was angry. She didn’t even call her “great-grandmother” and directly said, “Goddess Mari, those heathens are my family.”
“We are your family.” Goddess Mari coldly interrupted Zi You.
Zi You sneered and scoffed. “Really? Are there relatives who won’t allow mother to save me in order to force me to come to the God Realm? I can’t afford to have relatives like you!”
“Impudent!” Goddess Mari was evidently angered by Zi You. Her cold face and beautiful face, which usually joy nor anger could be seen on it, finally looked angry. “I’m not only your grandmother, but I am the Goddess of Flowers and Rain. I am worshipped by people year-round. How dare you talk to me like that?”
Zi You was even angrier. “So what? Even if you’re superior, you have no love in your heart, so it’s all in vain!”
“No love in my heart?” Goddess Mari was angry at Zi You’s words and sneered. “Fine. I’m going to lock you up in Blackwater Pool. I want to see if you have any love in your heart then.”
“You cannot.” Dier and Zi You’s grandmother Namisha both begged, “Grandmother, You’er was just injured. Her spiritual power hasn’t recovered yet. She won’t be able to withstand it there.”
“Mother, she’s just a child. Forgive her rudeness. I will slowly teach her.”
“Grandmother, mother, don’t beg her!” Zi You became stubborn. She firmly and categorically said, “Isn’t it just Blackwater Pool? I want to see if it will make me give in.”
Countless disciples had died in Blackwater Pool. On the first day there, Zi You, Feiyun, and Weishali killed a poisonous snake as thick as a child’s waist and a large seven-foot lizard.
The pool water was colder than ice. The shallowest place was higher than her head. The deepest place was two meters deep. There were crocodiles, countless leeches, poisonous frogs, piranhas, and countless skeletons.
Zi You persevered and practiced the spiritual techniques that Dier gave her, day after day and year after year.
Summer turned to winter. There seemed to be no end. Whenever she couldn’t stand it anymore and was ready to give up, she thought of her relatives and Shangguan LingRan.
Her mother had told her about what Shangguan LingRan did that day. Once she thought that her relatives were waiting for her to return and that Shangguan LingRan might be practicing hard to pick her up, she had no more reason to give up.
And she was right. Shangguan LingRan was bitterly practicing like she was.
Because it was urgent, he didn’t have time to find a man similar to him in height and weight. Someone disguising as him might not be able to pass for him. Finally, one of his secret guards, his eleventh martial nephew Yi He disguised as him and stayed in the capital.
For Yi He not to be recognized by the Empress Dowager, who was very familiar with Shangguan LingRan, he could only be “seriously ill” for a long time. Afterwards, his temperament changed and he was stranger, more elusive, and more devilishly charming.
And almost all of Shangguan LingRan’s time on Mount Emei, regardless of cold or hot weather, was spent on practicing.
Winter snow turned into summer heat. Like Zi You, he had the same faith and painstakingly practiced.
Two long years passed. Shangguan LingRan finally mastered above than the ninth stage of Xuantian Jue.
Now, in the whole Xuanyuan Sect, other than his Shifu and his 402-year-old second martial brother who became a living immortal, there were only his fifth and ninth martial brothers who had mastered above the ninth stage.
It could be seen how hard the road to becoming an immortal was! Shangguan LingRan’s Shifu’s time spent on practicing was longer than the sect had been established.
And at Shangguan LingRan’s age, him mastering the ninth stage was due to his superhuman perseverance and extraordinary talent.
So, he prepared to say goodbye to his Shifu and go to India.
His Shifu, Daoist Priest Xuanyuan, sent his second martial brother with him. He told him countless times: “Don’t get into a conflict with that Goddess Mari. She is a Goddess. She must have some ability. You are not going to compete with her, but to bring your wife back.”
While Shangguan LingRan and his second martial brother Aochen were traveling, it was the time that Zi You’s spiritual power broke through her bottleneck and reached its strongest point. Now, there was nothing in Blackwater Pool that could hurt her.
It was unlike when she had first arrived here. She had been bruised and injured all over. The more she bled, the more she attracted a variety of poisonous insects to bite her. Fortunately she had spiritual power. She could quickly heal her wounds. Gradually, those animals didn’t dare to approach her anymore. They went from biting and eating her flesh to being eaten by her.
For two years, she had eaten crocodiles, snakes, lizards, piranhas, and poisonous frogs in Blackwater Pool. But she had sacrificed five spirit mice and two spirit snakes. Her spirit pets fought side by side with her and their spiritual power had greatly improved, especially Weishali and Feiyun.
Weishali could use spiritual power and spit out black rays.
Feiyun could psychically communicate with her and fly her on its back. But Goddess Mari had sealed the top of Blackwater Pool, so Zi You currently could not break through it.
The five black mandara flowers could transform into human forms that look like her. Other than having different temperaments, they looked exactly like her.
Of course, they could transform into other people and things. If the five beautiful women wearing black saris stood next to Zi You, unless you were particularly familiar with Zi You, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish which was the real her.
Goddess Mari had seen her once since she was locked in Blackwater Pool. She had been beheading a hungry crocodile. Goddess Mari hadn’t seemed to think that she would still be alive. She saw her ferocity and strength and finally said, “This yatou is really like me when I was young.”
Second martial brother and Shangguan LingRan went to India to find the divine realm that Goddess Mari governed. That took more than two months. In those two months, Shangguan LingRan and his second martial brother broke through the ninth stage of Xuantian Jue and reached the tenth stage. It could be said to be an epiphany.
Second martial brother looked at his little martial brother who was called an evildoer and was shocked.
When they found the God Realm, Dier saw that Shangguan LingRan had really kept his promise to pick Zi You up. But amidst her happiness was deep worry.
After all, her future son-in-law had just become an immortal and he was small in numbers. How was he going to fight against her grandmother, who could summon wind and rain, turn thousands of flowers into soldiers, and was a real goddess with countless small gods and guardians under her command?
If her grandmother didn’t change her mind and let Zi You go with him, Dier was afraid that there would be a bloody battle.
Goddess Mari obviously didn’t put Shangguan LingRan, who was peerles, had outstanding temperament, and looked romantically dandyish, in her eyes. She heard Shangguan LingRan say, “I’m Mu Zi You’s lover. I’m here to take her back.”
Goddess Mari immediately scoffed. “Mu Zi You does not belong to you mortals. She is a goddess. She should stay in the God Realm, accept the worship of her believers, and protect her believers.”
Shangguan LingRan looked at her arrogant and condescending attitude as if she was the master of heaven and earth and was looking him and his second martial brother like they were ants. If she wasn’t Zi You’s maternal grandmother, he would have angrily struck out already.
He gnashed his teeth and took a deep breath. He patiently said again, “You are her grandmother, right? Then you should know that YouYou doesn’t want to be a goddess. She wants to be my wife.”
He already looked handsome. Because he was thinking of Zi You, he looked endlessly affectionate and gentle. Amidst his devilishness, it added a magnetic charm. The breaths of all the goddesses there stifled. They couldn’t help but look starry-eyed and infatuated at him.
Goddess Mari was already very unhappy that a man so handsome that he looked like an evildoer was here to pick Zi You up. Now that she saw all her female disciples so un-virtuous, she was so angry that her liver trembled.
She coldly said, “Your wife? As far as I know, she’s not engaged to you. Besides, so what if she’s engaged to you? She violated God’s will and I threw her into Blackwater Pool to feed the crocodiles.”