In Zhu Xian, people start to rise from plundering entries

Chapter 799 Lu Xueqi and Biyao

"You...your arm is healed?" Su Han blurted out.

The woman looked down at her left arm, gently raised it, and moved it a couple of times. "It's alright. Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother Su. If it weren't for your timely arrival with your Buddha's light that day, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to save this arm."

Su Han waved his hand: "It's not all my achievement. You guys were carrying the load up front; I just gave it a final push."

The woman chuckled, her laughter as clear and crisp as a stream hitting a rock: "Senior Brother Su, why are you being so polite? Do you know what people are saying about you? They say you're the reincarnation of Buddha, that your palm strike directly destroyed the evil creature's lair, and some even say you've already ascended to heaven and descended to earth specifically to save the world."

“Nonsense.” Su Han frowned.

“I know it’s nonsense.” The woman took a step forward, standing opposite Su Han, looking up at him. “That’s why I came specifically to ask you—what’s the real situation? I want to hear the truth.”

Su Han looked down at her. From this angle, he could see a small red mole on her earlobe, which looked like a speck of cinnabar against her plain white dress. Her eyes were dark brown, and the pupils reflected the shadows of the paulownia leaves and a small patch of sunlight.

"Who are you?" Su Han asked.

“My surname is Shen, Shen Qingdai, and I’m a rogue cultivator. I went with the Beiming Sword Sect to help out that day, and left after the battle. I didn’t originally plan to come today, but my father…” She paused, “My father insisted that I come. He said I should thank you in person.”

Who is your father?

"Xuanjizi," Shen Qingdai gestured towards the main hall, "is that the white-bearded old man who was talking to you just now."

Su Han was stunned. Xuanjizi's granddaughter? A descendant of the Northern Dark Sword Sect's sect leader, how could she be a rogue cultivator?

Shen Qingdai seemed to see through his confusion and shrugged, "I don't like the rules of major sects. I want to run around outside, and my father can't stop me, so he just lets me. Anyway, I don't have to inherit his mantle—my brother is staying in the sect properly."

Su Han said "Oh," unsure of what to say next.

Shen Qingdai, quite the social butterfly, circled Su Han, sizing him up. "He doesn't look anything special to me, just an ordinary person, though his eyes are quite bright." She leaned closer, staring into Su Han's eyes. "I heard you've awakened your Heavenly Eye? Can you see the light emanating from me?"

She was too close. Su Han smelled a faint herbal scent on her, along with a hint of soapberry fragrance. He unconsciously took a half step back, his ears burning again: "I can see a little."

What color is it?

"...blue with a hint of white. Very bright."

Shen Qingdai smiled with satisfaction: "That's not bad. It shows my cultivation hasn't fallen behind." She took two steps back, stood under the paulownia tree with her hands behind her back, and tilted her head to look at him, "Senior Brother Su, I have a question for you."

"you say."

"What were you thinking on the battlefield that day?"

Su Han paused for a moment. Xuanjizi had just asked this question, and he had already answered it. But Shen Qingdai asked it differently—Xuanjizi asked about "reason," while Shen Qingdai asked about "what was on one's mind." The former was abstract, the latter concrete. He thought for a moment, then pointed down the mountain.

“I saw a light in that destroyed city in the distance. It was a tiny light, still shining amidst the ruins. I thought to myself—there must be someone under that light. Someone is waiting for me to save them.” Shen Qingdai looked in the direction he was pointing. Smoke was rising from the village below the mountain, tinged with a pale gold by the setting sun.

"It's that simple?"

"It's that simple."

"Didn't you think about any grand principles? Like 'serving the common people' or 'sacrificing oneself for righteousness'?"

Su Han laughed: "Those were for writing articles afterward. I didn't have time to think about those things at the time."

Shen Qingdai looked at him for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Okay, I understand. Just like my father said—you just felt a little warm inside. It's that simple."

When she smiled, her eyes curved into two crescent moons, and the red mole on her earlobe trembled slightly with the smile lines. Su Han suddenly felt the bluish-white light around her brighten for a moment, like a lamp flame being stirred by the wind, and it suddenly jumped up a few inches.

"Then I'll be going." Shen Qingdai turned and walked towards the mountain gate, but after taking two steps, she turned back. "Senior Brother Su, if I ever encounter any insurmountable difficulties in the future, can I come to you for help?"

"able."

Where do you live?

"There's a small courtyard on the back hill, and a peach tree in it."

Shen Qingdai nodded, said nothing more, and strode away. Her figure disappeared into the shadow of the sycamore tree, while Su Han remained standing there, taking a long time to come to his senses. He looked down at his wrist; the bodhi seed was quietly nestled there, gleaming with a warm, amber luster.

"My heart warmed a little." He repeated Shen Qingdai's words softly, and smiled to himself.

That night, the main hall of the Lingxiao Immortal Sect was brightly lit, and the sect leader hosted a banquet for cultivators from all over. Su Han was seated at the head table, with Xuanjizi to his left, the red-robed elder of Fire Cloud Valley to his right, and the green-robed fairy from Penglai Island opposite him. He felt extremely uncomfortable during the meal—not because he was restrained, but because everyone was asking him the same questions: What were you thinking at the time? What did you see? How did you achieve enlightenment?

He found it increasingly difficult to answer these questions. It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, but rather that those insights were like water; if you tried to cup them in your hands, they would slip through your fingers; the harder you tried to grasp them, describe them, and put them into fixed language, the more slippery they became. In the end, he could only honestly say, "I really can't explain it. It's like…like breathing. You don't usually think about 'I'm breathing,' but you are breathing. Light is that kind of thing to me. It's not something I think up; it's something that's always been in my heart."

Xuanjizi held his wine cup in silence for a long time, then suddenly said, "Young friend Su, your words remind me of someone."

"who?"

“My master. His last words to me before he passed away were—'You've searched for the Way your whole life, the Way is in your heart; you've worshipped Buddha your whole life, Buddha is also in your heart. Don't look outward, look inward.'” Xuanjizi downed his cup of wine in one gulp. “I didn't understand then. Now I think I understand a little bit.”

A moment of silence fell over the table. The red-robed elder coughed lightly, raised his wine cup to smooth things over, and said, "Come, come, let's not talk about these mystical things. Young friend Su, I'd like to toast you! Your palm strike saved more than just the lives of us cultivators—the homes of 100,000 mortals in three towns at the foot of Fire Cloud Valley were all on the path of the evil creature. Your light saved those people. I thank you on their behalf."

Su Han picked up his wine cup, but suddenly remembered something: "Elder, how are the people at the foot of Fire Cloud Valley doing now?" (End of Chapter)