Inside a dilapidated old schoolhouse in Dragon Spring Town, long since abandoned, a young Daoist priest wearing a lotus crown sat alone behind a small desk, gazing at the spot where Qi Jingchun had stood for sixty years. The priest was silent, his fingers unconsciously tracing patterns on the tabletop.

Snapping out of his reverie, Lu Chen raised his arm and, with a single grasp, plucked He Xiaoliang, who had departed on a Kun-ship riding the winds, directly from the boundless sea of clouds. Even a Golden Core cultivator like He Xiaoliang, experiencing the instantaneous transit of millions of miles, felt dizzy and stumbled before regaining her balance.

He Xiaoliang, with a solemn expression, straightened her robes, calmed her mind’s lake to steady her spirit, retreated three steps, and prostrated herself, “Disciple He Xiaoliang greets Master.”

To leap from a Jade Maiden of a single continent’s Daoist lineage to become the direct disciple of a Daoist sect leader was akin to a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate.

Lu Chen nodded, gesturing for He Xiaoliang to rise, “Get up. In my humble sect, there’s no need to adhere to strict apprenticeship rituals. Sincerity is enough. You probably don’t believe it now, but you’ll understand once you’ve spent more time with the other five senior brothers and sisters. Beyond the Great Dao, all is vanity.”

Lu Chen, born in the Great Harmony World but truly raised in the Azure Heavens, had never cared much for the Confucian school’s secular etiquette or even the golden rules within his own Daoist tradition. Even before his ascension, he was a figure who diverged from worldly norms, living a free and unrestrained life. His writings were renowned for the concept of “Unfetteredness.”

Unlike his eldest senior brother’s comprehensive approach or his second senior brother’s keen sense of propriety, this youngest junior brother didn’t adhere to rules, even in front of their master. He had been advised by his eldest brother and even beaten by his second brother for this. Yet Lu Chen persisted in his own way, and fortunately, their master, who occasionally appeared in the Little Lotus Grotto Heaven, didn’t mind.

Lu Chen looked at the slightly uneasy young Daoist nun and smiled, “What, once bitten, twice shy? Do you always suspect your master is scheming against you, so you have to carefully consider every word I say? You’re mistaken. Going too far is just as bad. You were chosen as my direct disciple because you passed three ‘Heart-Searching Trials.’ First, you perceived my calculations and immediately questioned your true heart, dispelling the illusion of a match made in heaven and grasping the truth of a shallow connection. Only by passing this trial will you avoid premature death in the Julu Continent. Otherwise, in a place filled with sword cultivators as numerous as hairs, where everything is decided by fast swords and fists, you will eventually encounter a major setback. Once your mental state shows a flaw, because your life has been too smooth, it will shatter completely. I wouldn’t even need to search for your next incarnation.”

Lu Chen pointed his finger at He Xiaoliang and smiled, “You must know that this time, Xie Shi requested three people from the Great Li Dynasty. I won’t mention Li Xisheng, and Ma Kuxuan is a lucky fellow chosen by my second senior brother. An old man and a child, they share similar tastes. As for any other hidden agendas, the sect has its own rules, forbidding us three brothers from deducing or calculating about each other. As for you, He Xiaoliang, you were my choice because your Dao-heart is similar to my own cultivation path, breaking through illusions to directly grasp the true heart. So, it’s much simpler than you imagine, such as being a chess piece or a puppet, or some grand Daoist scheme in this world’s contention among the hundred schools of thought. I simply found you pleasing to the eye and chose you as my disciple.”

“Do you really think those old codgers in the Confucian Temple aren’t watching my every move? So, this is a grand and righteous overt scheme. Whether you can gain a foothold in the Julu Continent and survive to the end depends solely on your own abilities. After I depart for the Azure Heavens, I won’t deliberately favor my disciples. The Confucian Sages won’t deliberately harm you. Besides, you have a senior brother wandering in the Central Divine Continent and a senior sister training at the Great Sword Wall. If something really happens, you can ask them for help. Now that you are fellow Daoists, with the bond of sect brotherhood… you must bring glory to your master, me.”

Speaking to this point, Lu Chen smiled slightly, “Rest assured, I’m not like your master in the Divine Talisman Sect, I won’t ask you to become a dual cultivation partner.”

He Xiaoliang returned to being the beautiful Daoist nun with a cool temperament. All things outside the Great Dao were external possessions. She asked a question she had pondered for a long time, “Does the Azure Heavens, where our Daoist sect governs everything, also have secret schemes from the Confucian Sages?”

Lu Chen laughed heartily, “Of course. It’s the same everywhere. Everyone is busy. Do you think Ma Kuxuan, Wei Jin, Song Changjing, and the like are the most outstanding prodigies in the world?”

Lu Chen laughed very happily, “Then you really should go to the Central Divine Continent in the future, or to the White Jade City in the Azure Heavens, and you will understand that there is always a mountain higher than the previous one.”

He Xiaoliang sat behind a desk not far away, twisting her waist, and looked at Lu Chen. She frowned slightly after hearing this, as if she couldn’t quite understand.

Lu Chen asked playfully, “Do you want to ask why the three schools don’t simply agree to develop their forces only on their own territory, excluding other sects and schools of thought? Wouldn’t that save so much trouble?”

He Xiaoliang nodded, which was exactly what she was thinking.

Lu Chen said with emotion, “Because the current territories are completely the largest ancient battlefields. They are the achievements that the sages exchanged their lives for. We are also afraid that the world will change in future generations. If we choose to be complacent or let the people below feel that the Great Dao is blocked, what will be the consequences? The current worlds are the best proof.”

Lu Chen casually pointed in the direction of the Immortal Graveyard in the town, “The rivers and mountains are still the same, but the masters who were once high above have been reduced to a pile of broken limbs in the mud.”

He Xiaoliang had some understanding.

Some things are too far away and difficult to understand, people who know them are unwilling to say, and they are not written in books, so future generations are of course confused.

There are too many speculations, the boosting of novelists, the unrestrained writing of literati, and the esoteric language of unofficial histories, countless, year after year the mud and sand fall, I am afraid that even a little bit of the truth floats to the surface, it is quickly submerged, and ultimately becomes regarded as an error.
Lu Chen chuckled, “We’re digressing. Back to the main point. Your second trial was about me needing to ascertain whether your trip to Ju-lu Island would involve you depending on the Heavenly Sovereign Xie Shi, or establishing your own sect and blazing your own trail. So, I deliberately set a trap for you, making you believe you’d abandoned two correct choices, opting for the worst decision, leading you to think you were about to miss the Great Dao, causing you regret and questioning your very core principles.”

He Xiaoliang candidly replied, “I only managed to pass by relying on the last shred of clarity in my mind.”

Lu Chen smiled, “Regarding that, I’ll use it as a closing note to explain why you and Chen Ping’an were destined to meet. Let’s talk about the final trial, which was a bit more intricate, a series of interconnected hurdles. The word ‘qing’ (emotion) can be interpreted in countless ways.”

“Between a man and a woman, the heart is most easily moved. So, I planted a seed of emotion in your heart without you knowing. When it encountered the rain of opportunity, it would take root and sprout rapidly. This is usually a low-grade, quick-fix method, but it worked for you, He Xiaoliang. Besides, even the most unorthodox method becomes extraordinary in my hands.”

“There was the divine talisman sect master, your teacher, with his benevolence, the brilliant fellow disciple of Fengxue Temple, Wei Jin, and the common boy from Mud Bottle Alley. You successfully navigated the first two, steadfastly adhering to your heart, unmoved. It was only the last trial, where I deliberately made things difficult and helped pave the way, that you, He Xiaoliang, found yourself in a dilemma. If you were to…”

Lu Chen stood up, lightly tapping the lotus crown, the symbol of his position as sect leader, with his curved fingers, and continued, “Vaguely, your Dao heart was shaken by the name ‘Lu Chen,’ and you chose to walk the path I helped you create, then I would still allow you to establish a sect on Ju-lu Island, but I would absolutely not accept you as a disciple.”

“Accepting a disciple is such a difficult matter.”

Lu Chen’s smile faded, “To become a disciple of Lu Chen, you must have the thought that one day, your Dao will surpass Lu Chen’s, your path will be longer than Lu Chen’s. Deviating from the norm? What norm are you deviating from? The norm is merely what the sages have written. Rebelling against the Dao? What Dao are you rebelling against? The Dao is merely the path the sages have walked. Why not try it yourself?”

Even someone as aloof as He Xiaoliang felt a sense of awe and respect from the bottom of her heart.

She stood up and bowed respectfully to Lu Chen, “I hope that one day, this disciple, He Xiaoliang, will be able to sit with Master and discuss the Dao.”

Lu Chen tsked, “That might be a bit difficult.”

He Xiaoliang sat down again and asked, “What does Master mean by ‘closing note’? Does my destined connection with Chen Ping’an also have deeper meaning?”

Lu Chen nodded, “Of course. If it were ordinary people, if you weren’t He Xiaoliang, if he weren’t Chen Ping’an, then me working so hard to play matchmaker would seem meaningless. Qi Jingchun’s haphazard matchmaking was to give him a burden, hoping that one day, the boy could move mountains with his heart. The red threads in my hands connect two people, but even more so, they are two clear, pure mirrors, reflecting each other, not just letting Chen Ping’an share your blessings and help you through your emotional trials.”

Lu Chen turned to look in the direction He Xiaoliang had appeared from, “Chen Ping’an’s temperament, among the myriad extraordinary people in the world, I have seen countless, and it may not be that remarkable. But it just so happens to be similar to, yet not the same as, your temperament, He Xiaoliang, remarkably in sync. Even when you first met, when your statuses were vastly different, you still saw how shallow the affinity was. In fact, your affinity wasn’t shallow, it’s just that your cultivation was limited, and you saw it as shallow.”

He Xiaoliang softly asked, “Master, is this another test?”

Lu Chen laughed heartily, “You’re already my disciple, what’s the need for more tests? What, do you want to become the personal disciple of the Dao Ancestor in one fell swoop, to be on equal footing with Lu Chen, only then will you be satisfied?”

He Xiaoliang’s eyes were clear, and she shook her head with a smile, “I don’t wish for that.”

Lu Chen smiled and said, “Since I’ve become your master, I should give my new disciple a welcoming gift. This gift is not small. It’s a bit of the Dao that your master painstakingly obtained from your grandmaster before descending.”

He Xiaoliang was taken aback.

Had she just cut off that “bridge” with Chen Ping’an on the kun ship, only to become the extraordinarily fortunate He Xiaoliang again?

Lu Chen seemed to see through the beautiful Daoist’s thoughts, and burst out laughing, slamming a palm on the table, “I’ll take you on a journey through the River of Time, against the current!”

Even a Li Zhu Grotto-Heaven, even if spells and arts were forbidden, it still couldn’t escape the grand rules of the Heavenly Dao, such as the seasons, birth, aging, illness, and death.

And then, under the great power of Sect Leader Lu Chen.

Winter, autumn, summer, spring, death, illness, aging, birth.

Still within the academy, yet seemingly detached from the world for the time being, He Xiaoliang watched the bizarre scenes around her reverse. The beautiful Daoist’s eyes shone brightly.

This was precisely the path she wanted to walk!

Lu Chen smiled and said, “Follow behind me, to a certain place. I’ll take you to see two people.”

The two of them started walking, behind them was the increasingly brand-new academy and the children’s clear voices reciting their lessons. The young children were literally reciting backwards, but perhaps due to some kind of restriction, or perhaps a deal Qi Jingchun made with the Dao Ancestor, the children’s appearances were perfectly clear, their voices clear and audible. But the teacher they faced was no longer there, seemingly completely vanished into the River of Time.

All the way through the streets and alleys, He Xiaoliang closely followed the Daoist in the lotus crown, afraid that one wrong step would cause her to get lost.

Finally, Lu Chen stopped and said to wait a moment. He Xiaoliang dared not move, standing in place.

Lu Chen waved his sleeve, reversing the universe, and everything returned to normal order. The River of Time began to flow downstream.

Afterwards, Lu Chen led her to a stall. He Xiaoliang didn’t know why her master wanted to bring her here. Could there be something strange about the stall? He Xiaoliang focused her attention and looked, and saw a seemingly simple and honest middle-aged man selling candied hawthorns.

Then He Xiaoliang saw a dark, thin child slowly approaching, standing next to her, quietly looking at the busy stall, swallowing his saliva. When the stall was less busy, the child quietly walked away.

Lu Chen snapped his fingers, and day and night passed in an instant.

The vendor carried out his ordinary business day after day. The child either returned from gathering herbs on the mountain, or came back from catching fish by the stream, or passed by carrying water for the neighbors, passing the stall time and time again.
Finally, the day arrived when the child, who should have been heading up the mountain to gather herbs for money, stood at the entrance of Mud Bottle Lane, basket on his back. But remembering his previous stroke of luck, when he’d gathered some valuable herbs, the family’s rice jar was, for once, more than half full. At least for the next ten days, they wouldn’t have to worry about hunger. So the child looked up at the gloomy sky, as if telling himself that it was going to pour. Even if he went up the mountain, he’d probably have to turn back halfway.

So the child ran back to the ancestral courtyard, dropped the basket, and retrieved a few copper coins from a small pottery jar hidden at the base of the wall. Then, he darted down Mud Bottle Lane, heading for that stall.

But as the child got closer to the stall, his steps grew heavier, his pace slower. He stopped some distance away, a comical expression of inner turmoil on his face, clenching his fist tightly around those extra copper coins.

Finally, the child took a few more steps, squatted down, and gazed up at the bright red, tempting candied hawthorns.

Lu Chen and He Xiaoliang stood beside the child.

Lu Chen smiled and asked, “If you were in his shoes, what would you think is the most natural thing for the child to be thinking?”

He Xiaoliang replied without hesitation, “He’d be thinking about how great it would be to eat candied hawthorns without having to spend money.”

Lu Chen nodded with a smile. “Let’s wait and see.”

Later, the stall owner finished his business. While resting, he seemed to casually notice the child who repeatedly passed by his stall but never bought candied hawthorns. The man thought for a moment, sitting on his stool in silence. Finally, as if moved by compassion, he stood up, beckoned to the child, and smiled, “Come, come, I’m about to pack up and go home. There are some candied hawthorns left that I can’t sell. If you want to eat one, I can give you a stick for free!”

The man’s smile was extremely simple and honest, just like a farmer. He pulled out a stick of candied hawthorns and waved it at the boy. “Take it.”

But the child quickly stood up, shook his head with a smile, and ran away.

He Xiaoliang was a little puzzled. If this were the young Chen Ping’an, making such a choice wouldn’t surprise her.

Lu Chen pointed to the candied hawthorn vendor. “That man is a Yin Yang master from the Central Earth Divine Continent, whose name is not well-known in the secular world. In fact, he can contend against the entire Lu family of Yin Yang masters all by himself. He’s quite a remarkable eccentric. Even our eldest brother can’t completely fathom his thoughts.”

He Xiaoliang became even more puzzled.

Lu Chen smiled. “Those aren’t the key points. What comes next is.”

Lu Chen extended his palm and gently swept it downward. A small “Chen Ping’an” appeared beside He Xiaoliang.

This child ran over and accepted the free stick of candied hawthorns, skipping happily back to Mud Bottle Lane. He was very happy. After eating the candied hawthorns, he craved more. A few days later, he went to the stall again and got another free stick. This poor child, who had just gotten used to hardship, began to develop laziness. He would think of those candied hawthorns from time to time, and he gathered fewer herbs on the mountain than usual… Day after day, year after year, the boy didn’t become a bad person, but in He Xiaoliang’s eyes, he was definitely no longer the straw sandal-wearing boy she first met on the green ox’s back.

After that, returning to the original spot, Lu Chen swept his palm again, and a small Ping’an reappeared. This time, he didn’t choose to accept the free candied hawthorns but chose to buy them with money. After that, the child became more and more willing to endure hardship, desperately trying to earn money. But he got tired of candied hawthorns, and one time he became fond of pastries. As the child grew into a teenager, in He Xiaoliang’s eyes, this Chen Ping’an also seemed a little off.

With Lu Chen raising his palm again and again, He Xiaoliang saw one Chen Ping’an after another, each with subtly different life circumstances.

In the end, He Xiaoliang fell into deep thought.

Lu Chen smiled. “Let’s go back.”

One in front, one behind, they walked towards the school.

This scene was actually very similar to that stretch of the long river of time flowing through the human world, when Qi Jingchun took the boy to the old locust tree to ask for a locust leaf.

Lu Chen walked ahead with his hands clasped behind his back and asked, “Have you figured anything out?”

He Xiaoliang replied softly, “Only by guarding the heart can one be oneself.”

Lu Chen hummed in agreement and said nothing more.

He Xiaoliang asked, “Could it be that this disciple has misunderstood, or is not seeing high enough or far enough?”

Lu Chen suddenly turned his head and smiled. “No, no, you’re thinking well. The only flaw is that you, this disciple, can’t see the light under the lamp and realize your own master’s all-encompassing Daoist powers.”

While Lu Chen was taking He Xiaoliang to see the myriad aspects of life, in a certain section of the river of time, there was a scholar with slightly graying temples. After the children’s class was over, he sat alone in the room, playing a game of Go. His face was clear and no longer blurry. In Lu Chen and He Xiaoliang’s “present,” or rather, in the past of the Li Zhu Grotto-Heaven, Qi Jingchun bent down, picked up a chess piece, and smiled faintly, “Nothing more than that.”