Green Gourd Sword Immortal - Chapter 23: Rotten Wood Reborn (Patreon)

Liang Yan had repeatedly failed in his assaults on the bottleneck.

He had originally placed great hope in the Barrier-Breaking Pill; he had not expected that in the end he would still fall short by a single basket.

Under blow after blow, his state of mind nearly collapsed.

He let out a long breath and walked out of the cave dwelling.

By now it was deep into the night, and there was almost no sign of anyone on the mountain path.

Liang Yan raised his head to look at the sky.

The night sky was black as ink; the waning moon was half-hidden and half-visible; there were scarcely even a few stars.

It exactly matched his gloomy and bitter state of mind.

The great Dao of heaven and earth was distant and without a promised date.

For a time, Liang Yan did not know where he should go, nor what he should do.

He was muddled and dazed, his soul not returning to its place, walking aimlessly within the valley.

When he came back to his senses, he discovered that, without knowing it, he had actually walked back in front of Lush Cloud Mountain.

Liang Yan sighed and smiled bitterly: “It seems I still cannot forget playing Go in these mountains.”

Although he knew that “Senior Sister Tang” could not come again, he still could not help but follow the mountain path upward.

When he climbed to the mountain top and looked under the tree, it was indeed empty and desolate, without a single person.

Liang Yan mocked himself inwardly.

‘I really am muddled. Never mind that Senior Sister Tang said she would not come again; even before, I had never played Go with her here at such a late hour.’

He strolled under the big tree and saw that a Go board was set upon the huge rock, with black and white stones arranged on it.

Liang Yan was puzzled. ‘Eh? Could there be someone else playing Go here at this hour?’

He focused his attention on the Go board.

Suddenly he was stunned. ‘Isn’t this the incomplete game I saw on the first day I came to Lush Cloud Mountain?’

On the board, the black stones still bristled with fangs and claws, looking utterly arrogant.

The white stones were suppressed everywhere, like a trapped dragon still fighting, with no life in them at all.

Liang Yan stared fixedly at the Go board.

Suddenly he felt that these white stones were exactly like the true qi and spiritual power within his body, restricted everywhere by his own aptitude; while those black stones were like the bottleneck suppressing him, simply invincible.

He gazed for a long time.

Suddenly he felt a strange attractive force draw his entire mind and spirit inside.

He himself became that white dragon, while rolling black clouds pressed above his head and roared.

The starry sky and all the stars of heaven also transformed into this nineteen-by-nineteen grid.

Situated within it, he felt that every step around him was opportunity, and then he was startled to realize that every step was killing intent!

“Ang!” An unwilling roar issued from within his body.

He slowly swept his gaze around, yet his heart gradually calmed.

During this period since he had come to know the girl in white, he had studied the Go Dao bitterly day and night.

His skill at Go advanced by leaps and bounds a thousand li a day, far beyond what it had been when he first saw this incomplete game.

At this moment Liang Yan himself had transformed into the white dragon, personally on the scene, and only then did he discover that although the black clouds were powerful, they were not a single iron barrel.

They seemed all-encompassing, but in truth were strong outside and dry within.

‘If one is willing to abandon one’s own cities, and thrust straight into the black stones’ rear vital point, it may not be impossible to have a new heaven and earth.’

Thinking this, Liang Yan raised his hand and picked up a white stone.

Pa! It landed on the Go board.

The moment this stone fell, it was like parting the clouds to see the sun, a hidden dragon ascending to heaven.

Even Liang Yan’s state of mind became suddenly clear.

On the Go board, the white dragon roared and soared into the sky.

From then on, heaven was vast and earth was broad, free to do as it pleased!

Liang Yan gazed at the board.

After a long while, he gave a long sigh.

‘The white stones have gained a new life, but what about me?’

Thinking of this, he could not help but shake his head and smile bitterly again.

Just as he returned to his senses from the Go board, he suddenly felt a warning in his heart and looked toward the other side of the big tree.

There stood an old man, in blue robes and with white hair, his face ruddy, looking at him with a half-smile.

Liang Yan was extremely horrified.

He had been here for so long, yet had not discovered that another person had appeared beside him.

When exactly this person had come, he actually had not felt it at all.

Before he could think further, the white-haired old man already spoke: “Who are you? How did you find your way to Lush Cloud Mountain?”

Liang Yan respectfully saluted, then said: “This junior was brought here by a senior sister.”

“Oh? The senior sister you speak of, what did she look like?”

Liang Yan described her slightly according to the impression in his mind.

The white-haired old man secretly nodded.

He thought: ‘So it was that girl Butterfly Immortal. That girl is eccentric and clever; this is indeed like something she would do.’

Thinking this, the old man turned his gaze again to the Go board under the tree.

With a strange look in his eyes, he said: “Which master of the Go Dao are you a disciple of?”

“This junior is not a Go Dao disciple. In truth, this junior is a Miscellaneous Duties Disciple of the Formation Meridian,” Liang Yan answered awkwardly.

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the old man burst out laughing: “Miscellaneous Duties Disciple? Hahahahaha! What a Formation Meridian Miscellaneous Duties Disciple. Wonderful, wonderful!”

After laughing for a while, the old man seemed rather pleased.

He looked at him and said: “Boy, are you willing to accompany this old man in a couple games of Go?”

Liang Yan was no longer the boy who did not know the height of heaven and depth of earth.

He also clearly knew that the old man before him must be an unfathomably deep senior.

He merely cupped his hands and said: “This junior’s Go skill is lowly; I may ruin senior’s elegant mood.”

“No matter. You and I meeting here is fate. Hand-talk does not distinguish age. All the past is floating clouds. The trivial affairs of the world are all within these square-inch nineteen.”

“Good. Since that is so, this junior dares not disobey.”

The two sat on the ground and played Go under the tree.

Both were fully concentrated.

After three games, the horizon had already shown fish-belly white.

As expected, Liang Yan lost all of them disastrously.

Liang Yan smiled bitterly and said to the old man: “This junior’s Go skill is too stinking. I am not even qualified to be senior’s opponent. I have truly disturbed senior’s elegant mood.”

Who would have thought the old man would twirl his beard, stare at the Go board, and seem quite satisfied as he smiled: “No, no. In your last game, your two hundred thirty-third move actually hid a ghost fetus. It is a pity you thought of the front but not the back, and wasted this good game for nothing.”

Liang Yan reviewed the game and found it was indeed as the old man said.

It was just that it was not that he did not care about head and tail, but truly that he could not attend to both.

The old man placed stones rigorously, with front and back echoing each other, and anticipated the enemy’s first move.

He was often one step ahead in occupying the formation corners.

No matter how Liang Yan changed moves, the old man would seize the step ahead, and he would lose the initiative.

“Actually, with your natural talent, combined with your cultivation at the third layer of Qi Refining, you do have the qualifications to participate in the Go Dao outer sect disciple trial. Why not go and try?”

Liang Yan’s heart tightened.

This was the first time someone had seen through his cultivation to his face.

From this, one could see how unfathomable the old man was.

He did not dare be negligent, and answered truthfully: “It is not that I do not go, but that I cannot. My aptitude is too poor. I have been stuck at the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining for a very long time. Even borrowing the Barrier-Breaking Pill, I cannot break through. In this life, my cultivation likely can advance no further, not even an inch.”

Hearing this, the old man was silent for a while, then leisurely said: “Boy, do you know this old man’s name?”

Liang Yan was stunned.

He did not know what he meant, and could only answer: “This disciple does not know.”

“This old man’s name is Xiumu Sheng.”

“Xiumu Sheng.”

Liang Yan had also stayed in Yi Xin Pavillion for more than three years, and had heard quite a few names of somewhat famous elders in the sect.

Yet no matter how he racked his brains, he could not recall a figure called “Xiumu Sheng.”

“You must be thinking, who is this Xiumu Sheng?”

The old man seemed to see through his thoughts and chuckled:

“It is only because when I first stepped onto the immortal path, although I entered under a famous Go Dao master, I was stuck at the third layer of Qi Refining for ten years.

At that time, none of the senior and junior brothers around me were not ahead of me, making me ashamed to face my honored teacher.

I named myself ‘Xiumu,’ meaning rotten wood cannot be carved, and that it was not my teacher’s fault.”

Liang Yan had not expected he had such a past.

But the old man sitting before him now had an aura deep as the sea, clearly already reborn.

“Later, when I achieved Core Formation, my honored teacher added the character ‘Sheng’ after Xiumu.

From then on my name was Xiumu Sheng, meaning that rotten wood can also be reborn, and a diseased tree can also meet spring.”

After saying this, the old man closed his mouth and said no more, only looking at Liang Yan with bright, piercing eyes.

Liang Yan drew a deep breath.

It was like a blow on the head and a shout.

The gloom in his heart was swept clean.

He rose and bowed slightly to the old man.

“Many thanks for senior’s guidance!”

Xiumu Sheng smiled and waved his hand: “I merely told you a story. The path of cultivation still depends on oneself. Especially when breaking through a bottleneck, one needs one step, one footprint. Otherwise, in the future, your Dao Foundation may be unstable, and great disaster may come.”

As he spoke, he also seemed casually to take a bamboo slip from his sleeve and hand it to him.

“This is a cultivation art I created myself. You are a Miscellaneous Duties Disciple, and have no right to borrow cultivation arts from the Technique Transmission Pavilion. I suppose you have been cultivating randomly on your own. You might as well look at this one of mine.”

Liang Yan reached out and took it.

On the scroll were five large characters, written crookedly: “Heart Without Fixed Intent Art.”

His heart was delighted.

‘I have cultivated the old monk’s Hooligan Art for so long, yet still cannot break through the third layer of Qi Refining.

As the saying goes, stones from other mountains can attack jade.

This Heart Without Fixed Intent Art may perhaps help me break through!’

Thinking this, Liang Yan drew a deep breath and respectfully bowed to Xiumu Sheng.

Xiumu Sheng looked rather happy and laughed: “From now on, on the eighth day of every month, if you wish to learn the Go Dao, you may come here during the hour of Zi to find me. We two shall be a pair of forget-age Go friends.”

Liang Yan also laughed: “This boy shall obey!”