Daoist Master of Qing Xuan

Shen Lian glanced at the Fengshen Beast and said, “It is still a living thing and hence I can’t keep it using the Technique of Sleeve Storage. Xiaoyu, if you don’t think it’s too troublesome, please keep it in your arms.”

Zhao Xiaoyu laughed, “Friend, I’m not here to be your labor. If you want it, hold it yourself.”

She threw the beast forward and the beast was rather vigilant. It had the ability to turn into the wind. Its little body took a turn in the air and it wanted to escape with the wind.

Who knew that the wind shifting method that always worked did not work this time as it was blocked by a steel wall. It immediately felt dizzy and it was caught by a net-like wind. Shen Lian fastens the mouth of the net and held it in his hand.

The beast could not help but start to sob as it knew it could not escape. It was grieving and its black eyes were full of worry. It started to tear up, and the tears were initially held up in its eyes before they fell through the gaps in the net. They floated in the sky and flew off to somewhere unknown.

Shen Lian and Zhao Xiaoyu stood side by side in the void. Zhao Xiaoyu glanced at the beast from the corner of her eyes. While she was pitiless by nature, but as a woman, and as the beast grieved with a pitiful and loving look, she could not help but feel guilty.

It was not odd as some people could be decisive in killing, where an order could cause many to die but they too could spare pity to the weak and sometimes they would even feel guilty. That was the complication of human nature, but once aware, the weakness could be removed. To them, it was not a difficult task.

As Zhao Xiaoyu said, “Shen, you tend to be kind. This time around are you indeed going to turn this spiritual beast into an elixir? Even if you don’t do it, there will be others who do and it seems like it is going against your principle.”

Shen Lian laughed and said, “If this is the Xiaoyu from the past, she will not say something like this. As a friend, I am glad to see this change as having some humanity and less pitiless isn’t a bad thing. Even Buddha cut off his meat to feed the eagles, but it didn’t mean he was trying to help or harm anybody.”

Zhao Xiaoyu had such a fast mind and hence she replied, “Are you saying you will let it go?”

Shen Lian said to the beast, “You were born out of the gathering of the Qi of the wind and have had spirituality since birth, but it is limited to only the body. Even if you can live a long life, you will never attain Dao. Now I will give you a chance to be relieved of the body and to be reborn again as a human. You have a sturdy spirituality and you will not find it hard to cultivate. Even if you’ve lost a long time, you can still get out of the tough situations. When it is time I will invite you to Qing Xuan and return the favor you have been given to your body. Otherwise, I will just let you go, but you also know that even if you can escape this time, in the future it is still the fate you have to accept. When your body is dead, you won’t have such a good opportunity as today.”

The beast had such strong spirituality. Since birth, it had been hiding everywhere but it still fell into the hand of cultivators. Other than the wind shifting method, it had no other tricks. Even if it feigned death, it could only deceive the demon beasts and it had no effect on human cultivators like Shen Lian.

The beast lied on its stomach and it nodded and blinked rapidly.

Shen Lian did not have the intent initially but as he observed its spirituality, he felt that he should not kill it. It might not impact him but if the retribution fell on the students of Qing Xuan, it would be bad.

He had succeeded in his Tongtian Skill and hence he had some senses. While he could not tell about fate or rebirth, but to the circle of life, or the path of good and evil, he had a new understanding. Among Xuanmen, the reason why the origin of them all was The Book of Dao, ‘Dao De Jing’, was because of the words ‘Dao De’. ‘Dao De’ meant morals.

‘Dao’ did not just mean the Dao of the universe or nature, but it meant the ways to attain ‘Dao’. ‘De’ did not just mean moral or behavior, but the right worldview, method and how you treated others as a cultivator.

As long as it fulfilled ‘Dao De’, one could then follow the fortune of the world and succeed in everything and avoid unnecessary danger.

If the demon beast tried to attack him, Shen Lian could have just killed it. Every action has a consequence as in the moral principles.

If he killed the beast with such spirituality, it might be inappropriate.

Hence, Shen Lian found an alternative.

To be reborn as a human was not something any spiritual beast could do. It would require someone like Shen Lian to help and the right opportunity.

Unlike the rebirth of Zhang Ruoxu, for the beast, it was more accurate to say it remained in the same life but a different body.

Shen Lian and Zhao Xiaoyu traveled for ten plus days then they finally found a family.

It was a medium-sized village, and it was in the evening.

As the saying went, there were many crows and the water circumvented around an abandoned village.

The family just had a newborn baby who was unfortunately dead after a few days. It was not a rare occurrence as children were difficult to raise, even in wealthy families, the child could suffer an early death.

Shen Lian took a piece of leaf that looked like one of the paddy plants, and it was from an acorus that had lived for several hundred years. He stuffed it in the Fengshen Beast’s nose and soon some green smoke rose from its head. It looked like the beast’s shape. It waved bye to Shen Lian and then Shen Lian formed some incantation to command a wind which sends the green smoke to the dead baby.

The baby then began to cry and it shocked the adult who was holding it. The adult threw it away.

Shen Lian managed to catch it.

Shen Lian was now dressed as a scholar who seemed studious and laughed, “Please be careful to not drop the kid.”

People from the village tended to respect scholars, and as the man was just a farmer. He took the child from Shen Lian and he felt happy that it came back alive. He asked Shen Lian, “Where are you from? Thanks so much.”

When he asked Shen Lian in a confused state, Shen Lian disappeared all in a sudden as if he never appeared. He thought he was daydreaming, but looking at the kid who was blinking, it looked much alive.

There was a green bamboo stick next to him, and he did not know who left it by his door.

As Feng family’s baby came back alive, the news spread through the entire village and had become a miracle. They gave him a name, Feng Qingyang. The kids in the village were often just referred to as Goudan, Erdan and something similar, but for the treatment the kid in Feng family got, it was for the first time. When he was four, he could make poems, and hence it proved that he was a prodigy. More often than not people saw the Feng’s kid with a bamboo stick chasing after the cows and goats. They were all very tame and never ran away.

This was of course what happened after. Shen Lian and Zhao Xiaoyu were back in Longevity Temple.