BXBX NOVEL Chapter 99 Hidden Settlement
At the precipice of Mt. Kunlun, the young master of the Hui Xin sect stood and watched the fleeting clouds below. Beneath those clouds that was like the gossamer of a spider's thread was the outline of the villages in the plains and near the beaches.
The mortal realm.
Young Master Quan Neng felt contemplative whenever he could watch everything from the skies above. The mortals felt far away, and yet his existence was to serve these mortals.
To ensure their safety from the darkness that lurks in the shadows where the sun could not shine.
He heard footsteps behind him, and smiled. He knew who it was just from the sound of the footsteps alone.
"Shidi, did you know that my mother lived in the mortal realms?" Young Master Quan Neng asked.
The junior martial brother greeted him. "Greetings, Young Master Quan. I came with some news, but it seems that this may not be the proper time. I see that you are reminiscing about Lady Lian."
"When is the proper time, I wonder….." Quan Neng turned to him. "Everyone always waits for the proper moment, the proper place, and the proper person. And yet, who determines that? Why is it good, and why is it bad?"
As he turned, his gaze was first drawn to this man's unusually blue eyes.
His hair was also long and golden, curving ever so slightly at the ends. It was not a normal appearance for those who live in the Nine Domains. It was the appearance of people who lived far beyond the borders of the mountains in the West.
However, Junior Fu was not from the West. And this was also his natural appearance since he was born.
"Say, Junior Fu." Young Master Quan Neng said. "If you no longer had your appearance, does that mean that you are no longer the right person to be delivering this news to me? That you are no longer my dearest brother?"
Junior Fu smiled a little at this line of questioning that was like a test. Because it truly was.
Young Master Quan knows how clever this junior was. He had mastered the techniques faster than all his peers and would soon ascend in his cultivation to Nascent Soul. So it became a habit for him to test this junior.
And besides, it was just fun for him to know more about his adoptive brother. He was still an enigma like the stars at night, something so difficult to fathom with the vastness of it all.
Junior Fu took his time in answering. He then said:
"I am still who I am, even without my appearance. The physical form is merely a cloth that our soul wears. Even if we do lose our current physical form, we shall wear another one and our soul continues to thrive."
Young Master Quan Neng chuckled. "A thought-provoking answer. I am sure my father would be pleased with that."
"Thank you, young master." Junior Fu simply bowed his head.
The young master pondered over this. "Hmm, but I do wonder…."
This has become the common catchphrase of the young master, besides his usual 'Do not assume'.
"You speak of losing our current form in reincarnation, but do we not drink Mother of Forgetfulness' soup before taking on a new life? Our memories of our own identity disappears. How can we say that we are still the same person if we ourselves do not remember that?"
Junior Fu has no hesitation as he answered:
"Our memories are fleeting clouds. Try to capture them as we might, they will never stay as they get blown by the passage of time. They do not define us, or our identity. The soul is different from both body and mind, though they could affect each other."
The junior pointed at himself. "For instance, I am seen as an anomaly for most of my life due to my light complexion, light hair, and light eyes. It has shaped the way my mind thinks, as I already anticipated the worst judgment I may receive from others."
The wind blew a strand of hair to his face as he spoke.
"And this has become a part of my identity now to be overly callous on what others may think. It shapes me to talk less and be more observant. But has my soul always been this way? Or was my soul changed by my experience in this world? Either way, the form and the soul behaves the way a candle holds the flame, and the flame consumes the candle."
Young Master Quan Neng felt the urge to push that hair strand away. But as soon as he tried to reach out, Junior Fu took a step back.
He sighed. "There is a stray strand of hair in your face."
"Oh." Junior Fu pushed it away. "Thank you for telling me, Young Master. But please, you must refrain from touching something impure lest it affects your qi. Junior Zhou Qian told me you even touched that mortal woman who was descended from An Xin. Please be more careful next time."
The young master was not pleased with this, but he did not scold the junior. He already knew there was no way to convince him that nothing would happen if he was touched. He just thought how sad it is that he still believes in his 'impurity'.
"I agree with what you said wholeheartedly." He said. "I am simply letting my mind wander off to nowhere again."
He turned back to looking under the precipice, and sat at the very edge of the cliff.
Junior Fu had an unreadable expression on his face, and sat beside him. "It does not wander to nowhere, because it always follows the same path, young master. You always end up thinking about death and mortality. Ever since Lady Lian has passed away."
"Even before she had passed, I had always contemplated it." Young Master Quan Neng leaned his head back, looking at the sky. "Life before death, death before life. What shall be my end? What shall be our end? My mother is a mortal and did not choose to cultivate, and so her end had come sooner."
He then made a wry expression. "But why does it have to be that way? Who decides?"
"Fate, I suppose." Junior Fu answered.
"And who decides fate? Is it us? Is it the gods? Is it some other force entirely?"
"I do not know the answers, young master." Junior Fu sighed. "But perhaps…. Perhaps it is all of them. Just like how the body, mind, and spirit all act to create a person. They all form together into what we call fate— Our decisions, the gods' decisions, and the natural flow that decides the way of things."
The Dao. Young Master Quan Neng had practiced various daos, studied various texts, performed various feats with it. He had ascended many times already, and yet...
He still could not say that he had completely understood the Dao. That he had captured it and controlled it. Made it his own.
It was simply a thought in the back of his head. Was it possible to change the Way of things, the structure of reality itself? Just like all his former questions, it was derived from his natural curiosity for the highly theoretical aspects of life. Things that even the greatest could not fully answer yet.
He sighed, and set aside these thoughts for now. He has duties to take care of, and he cannot overindulge in wondering.
"You may deliver the news now. My mind had been satisfied with its daily wandering." The young master said with a chuckle.
Junior Fu observed him first, before speaking up.
"One of the settlements of the An Xin sect had been found."
Young Master Quan Neng's eyes widened at this. "Is that so? I hope that it is the one that holds Xi Hua's parents captive."
"I'm afraid that is unlikely, young master." Junior Fu frowned. "This settlement is far down the South, at the coast. And….. well, you'd have to see for yourself."
He wondered what he meant by that. He used his superior vision to locate this settlement….
And young master Quan Neng's usually calm temperament disappeared.