Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Chapter 150 – Sage's essence

One by one, the masks on the wall were not settled, swaying back and forth, stealing glances at Su Yun. When Su Yun was not paying attention, a mask would come down from the wall and turn into a human form.

These masked monsters were like nightmares in a dream. Different masks had different magical powers and personalities, often catching Su Yun off guard.

Each of them possessed unique skills, making Su Yun busy and flustered. However, gradually, he began to learn more fighting techniques from these monsters.

As time passed, Su Yun experienced hundreds of battles, but still had not found the end of the Saint's residence.

He felt a little uneasy in his heart: "This is Xue Saint's spiritual world. My spirituality can support me for so long, but my body cannot withstand it for so long!"

He remained calm, not only timing with the yellow bell but also using it to remember the path he had taken.

He had passed through more than a hundred Saint's residences, and although each one looked exactly the same, he could still see subtle differences.

This was because each Saint's residence had only one owner, only one Xue Qingfu with a mask, and no other masks could become Xue Qingfu.

"A person's energy is limited, and it is impossible to learn too many magical powers. Each mask in the Saint's residence represents Xue Qingfu's personality and a magical power. His magical power cannot be endless. There must be a time when I defeat him!"

As long as the maze had an end, he could get out!

In the real Saint's residence, Su Yun sat across from Xue Qingfu in front of the water pavilion, still holding a teacup.

Xue Qingfu looked at the book monster Ying Ying with a smile: "Ying Ying, do you remember me?"

Ying Ying flapped her paper wings and flew around Su Yun, saying, "Of course, you are Xue Taichang, Xue Dashifu, and before Qiu Taichang and Qu Taichang, you were responsible for managing the Tian Dao Academy. Where did you take Su scholar's spirituality and spiritual world?"

"I spliced his spiritual world with mine, so you fell out of his spiritual world."

Xue Qingfu smiled and looked at her, saying, "Weren't you always in the Wen Yuan Ge of the Tian Dao Academy? Why did you run out?"

Ying Ying flew in front of Su Yun, stretched out her hands, and laboriously opened Su Yun's eyes to look inside, saying, "Su scholar took me out. He said he had a book that I had never seen before, so I followed him out."

Xue Qingfu laughed and said, "You are too naive, Ying Ying. Do you remember your past life?"

Ying Ying thought for a moment and said, "I loved reading books when I was alive. Later, I died and attached myself to the book. Xue Taichang, you moved him to your spiritual world. Will there be any problems if it lasts too long?"

Xue Qingfu smiled and said, "How could there be any problems? His cultivation level among the spiritualists in the Yun Ling realm is already considered not bad. Even if he doesn't eat or drink, he can hold on for about ten days. I trapped him for ten days, which is equivalent to him fighting with someone outside for thousands of times!"He stood up, with his hands behind his back, and said proudly, "Qiu Shuijing taught my disciple to express goodwill. If I don't return this favor, how can I still call myself a saint?"

Suddenly, his pupils contracted, and he took a step forward, picking up a rope from behind Su Yun.

Ying Ying's heart tightened, and she quickly said, "It's Su scholar's, it fell out of his spiritual realm!"

Xue Qingfu picked up the Immortal Rope, his eyes flickered, and he smiled, "Although it is a remarkable treasure, I am not so greedy. This rope has hanged a saint. It belongs to Cen Sheng..."

He looked at Su Yun, walked around him, and looked at him in confusion, "Cen Sheng's things, how did they end up on him? He has too many treasures on him..."

He picked up a Heavenly Dao Order, a Wen Chang Order, and a wooden box.

Ying Ying's heart tightened, and she saw Xue Qingfu fumbling around, apparently not recognizing the wooden box, so she put these treasures next to Su Yun and said with a smile, "Su scholar is really lucky, so many experts value him. This box was left by Lou Ban Tian Shi for him, right? Lou Ban can confer sainthood, but unfortunately the emperor did not confer it. Ying Ying, do you know why he wants to challenge me?"

Ying Ying breathed a sigh of relief and said, "He said that Qiu Taichang wants to take him as a disciple, and as a condition, he must defeat Di Ping."

Xue Qingfu's face changed slightly, and he exclaimed, "Defeat Di Ping? Does he know who Di Ping is? How dare he make such a bold statement!"

Ying Ying complained, "Lower your voice! I've been observing him for a few days and I found out that he really doesn't know who Di Ping is! He doesn't know who Di Ping is, but he knows that Di Ping is very strong and may surpass you and Qiu Taichang at the same level, so he plans to challenge you first."

Xue Qingfu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed out loud, "I understand, I understand!"

He sat down again, reached out to take the tea, but the cup was already empty.

Ying Ying grabbed the teapot and poured him tea, asking, "What does Xue Taichang understand?"

"I understand Qiu Shuijing's intentions."

Xue Qingfu picked up the teacup, sniffed it at his lips, and said slowly, "Qiu Shuijing deserves the nickname 'Old Fox Qiu'. His goal is to let Su Yun defeat Di Ping. When Di Ping is defeated, he will know that Qiu Shuijing has perfected the Great Unification Method. Guess what the first thing Di Ping will do after knowing that Qiu Shuijing has perfected the Great Unification Method?"

Ying Ying shook her head in confusion.

"The first thing Di Ping will do is to summon Qiu Shuijing back to the capital, confer him a high-ranking official position, and keep him in the capital to study the method of immortality for himself!"

Xue Qingfu drank tea and smiled, "Qiu Shuijing was attacked by the civil and military officials in the court because of his political views, and was sent to the Jianghu. But how could he give up so easily? He wants to go back, and he wants the emperor to apologize to him and invite him back! His political views will no longer be hindered! Unfortunately..."

Ying Ying listened in amazement, completely unaware of the many twists and turns involved, and asked, "Unfortunately, what?"Xue Qingfu put down his teacup and said lightly, "It's a pity that Your Majesty cares more about longevity than the people. Qiu Shuijing is capable, but as long as the emperor is in power, his passion will ultimately be useless."

He sighed heavily and said, "However, it is indeed a good idea to use the method of longevity to lure the emperor. It's just that it will be troublesome for me and Left Minister."

He slammed the table suddenly and sneered, "The day Su scholar defeats Di Ping will be the day Qiu Shuijing returns to the capital and resumes his post, or even get promoted. As for the chaos of the seven major families, what does it have to do with him?"

Ying Ying dared not speak.

"It's easy to keep him here."

Xue Qingfu looked out the window and whispered, "As long as Su scholar cannot defeat Di Ping..."

Ying Ying looked up at him and hurriedly said, "You are a sage, you cannot act recklessly!"

Xue Qingfu's gaze was deep, and his voice was a bit hoarse and desolate, "Ying, although I have the name of a sage, this sage is always fake. A real sage is appointed by the emperor. I also need a great credit to force the emperor to summon me back to the capital and appoint me as a sage..."

Ying Ying was stunned and thought, "He called me Ying, not Ying Ying."

"However, you are right. I really can't interfere with Su scholar. Qiu Shuijing and I are competing fairly. We both have strategies to return to the capital. If I ruin his plan because of this, he will also ruin mine. He is also a person with the hope of becoming a sage. Since we are fellow cultivators..."

Xue Qingfu smiled slightly and said, "I'll give you this opportunity."

He thought to himself, "The real me, without a mask, is hidden in my spiritual realm. Su scholar, if you can find the real me, whether you can defeat me or not, you will make great progress!"

Time passed slowly, and it was already night, but Su Yun still did not wake up. The servant came up to light the green lamp, and Xue Qingfu waved his hand and said, "The guest doesn't eat food, bring me the new book I wrote."

The servant agreed and brought a book. Xue Qingfu pushed it in front of Ying Ying and said, "Afraid you're hungry, have some books to fill your stomach first. Su scholar won't come out for a few more days."

Suddenly, there was a loud noise in a hall of the Wenchang Academy's Shijia Temple, and the hall shook violently. There were terrifying sounds inside, as if some monster was hitting the hall.

The monks came out one after another to watch, and saw that the hall was filled with the sound of dragons and horses, as if real dragons and divine horses were fighting inside.

Tu Ming pushed the monks aside and asked, "What's going on in this hall?"

A monk said, "Senior brother, someone sent a stone-carved horse to the academy today, saying that it was sent by Su scholar and asked Left Minister to take care of it. Left Minister was busy, so he threw it into our Shijia Temple and said that this horse needed to be kept in a sturdy place and tied up."Upon hearing the noise inside the hall, Master Tu Ming's face changed slightly, and he exclaimed, "Most likely it's the tomb beast from the Celestial Market Wall! Damn it, how could this thing end up in the Jia Lan Temple? If the Jia Lan venerable is alarmed and descends, he will kill that horse!"

He quickly opened the door and rushed in, only to see a strange creature with a dragon's head and body, covered in dragon scales and a dragon tail, with claws gripping the head of the Jia Lan venerable's golden statue, knocking it down and stepping on it, spewing fire from its mouth and nose, and exuding a murderous aura.

Master Tu Ming was shocked, "Why hasn't the venerable descended yet..."

He knew something was wrong and was about to escape, but suddenly the dragon rushed towards him. Master Tu Ming was about to resist when the dragon's claw grabbed his head and slammed him to the ground. He quickly shouted to the other monks, "Go and fetch the attendant! Close the door, close the door, don't let it escape!"

The monks hurriedly closed the door.

The dragon roared angrily, threw Master Tu Ming to the side, and rushed to the door, peering outside through the crack.

Master Tu Ming bumped into the Jia Lan venerable's golden statue and stared with wide eyes, tongue out, pretending to be dead. But he saw the Jia Lan venerable's statue suddenly blink its eyes.

Master Tu Ming was startled and almost cried out.

The golden statue quickly used a finger thicker than Master Tu Ming's head to cover his mouth. Master Tu Ming struggled to push the finger away and whispered, "Venerable, our Shaolin Temple is your dojo. I thought you didn't know about this, but it turns out you have already descended! You've been bullied by this tomb beast, why don't you fight back?"

"I can't beat it."

The Jia Lan venerable's golden statue complained, "And I can't fight back either! This beast is the mount of the Eastern Master. A few days ago, the Eastern Master said his dragon had run away. I didn't expect it was hidden here. If I hurt his horse, he'll tear down my temple."

The dragon seemed to hear the sound and suddenly turned its head, staring fiercely at them.

Master Tu Ming and the golden statue pretended to be dead. Master Tu Ming looked fierce with his tongue out, but he saw the golden statue also sticking out its tongue and thought, "You're a statue, why pretend to be so realistic... Attendant, attendant, come and save us..."

The dragon walked over and sniffed around them, but didn't smell anything, so it turned around.

Master Tu Ming breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly the dragon sat on the golden statue with its hindquarters, its two front legs resting on the statue's neck and belly, and its two hind legs crossed, swaying its legs.

Master Tu Ming secretly cursed, but saw the dragon pucker its lips and whistle leisurely.

"The attendant is not at home!"

The voices of the monks outside came, "Brother, Idle Cloud Taoist said the attendant went to supervise Saint Xue and protect Su Shizi. Taoist said you should endure until daybreak and then go over."

The next day.

The monks opened the Jia Lan Temple and struggled to pry Master Tu Ming out from the petrified dragon's claw. Master Tu Ming was sore all over and angry, "Send this horse to the Emperor's Temple! We can't afford to serve it in our Shaolin Temple!"Seven days later, Ying Ying had read through all the books in Xue Qingfu's collection, but Su Yun had still not left the spiritual realm of Xue Qingfu.

Several maidservants were worried that Su Yun would starve himself for too long and harm his body, so they made soup and fed him.

Ying Ying was very worried and paced back and forth on the tea table. Xue Qingfu had not eaten or drunk anything and was meditating with his eyes closed. Ying Ying couldn't help but fly over to him, lift one of his eyelids, and ask, "Where has Scholar Su gone?"

Xue Qingfu smiled and said, "He has already come to the edge of my spiritual realm and is about to come out..."

Just as he said this, his face suddenly changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "He went back again!"

In Xue Qingfu's spiritual realm, Su Yun had already passed through more than 800 holy residences and fought with more than 800 different Xue Qingfu wearing different masks, learning more than 800 different divine abilities!

He pushed open the last door, and outside the door was his own spiritual realm, but Su Yun closed the door and turned back.

"The number of masks hanging in these holy residences is fixed, there are 1,068 kinds of masks, and I still lack some. Moreover..."

He closed his eyes and walked leisurely in the maze-like holy residences, whispering, "The true Xue Qingfu is hidden in these holy residences. Only by fighting with him can this trip be worthwhile!"

"What a daring person!"

Xue Qingfu exclaimed and said to Ying Ying, "He went to find my spiritual body!"