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Lu Xun looked up at the Spirit Crow perched on a slender bamboo branch, noticing it was still looking as dumbfounded as the Psyduck from Pokémon.

Ravens’ eyes are deep black, while the eyes of a Spirit Crow are an even more profound black.

It was difficult to determine any emotion from its eyes. Coupled with its dazed expression, it looked even more foolish.

“The cultivation technique of Boundless Mountain has a flaw. Although cultivation is rapid in the early stages, everyone ends up with a poker face. My little crow, from Boundless Mountain, always looks like a dumbass.” Lu Xun muttered to himself.

However, the Spirit Crow certainly has not cultivated any technique. Therefore, Lu Xun concluded—it might just be a simpleton genuinely.

The teacher was about to continue the story about Boundless Mountain, but when he saw Spirit Crow had returned, he glanced up at it, smiled, and resumed his tale.

“The third sect leader of Boundless Mountain, named Li Huanhuan, was an adopted daughter of the second sect leader. She was a girl who loved to smile.”

Mao Nanbei interrupted the teacher while eating oranges peeled by Lu Xun, “Teacher, how do you know she’s a girl who loves to smile?”

Kids of a certain age are like this— they love to listen to stories but keep pretending they don’t care about them and question their credibility.

The teacher smiled and replied while peeling an orange with his hand, “Of course, someone told me.”

Lu Xun raised his right hand and stuffed half an orange into Mao Nanbei’s mouth, saying, “Stop interrupting!”

“M-mmm!” Mao Nanbei’s mouth was stuffed full while sitting on his shoulder, which made him scratch Lu Xun’s hair in annoyance.

The teacher lowered his head, looking at the half-peeled orange in his hand, his gaze unfocused, and started to continue with his story.

Obviously, the teacher is a good storyteller.

No wonder Mao Nanbei said that when the teacher was bored during his trips down the mountain, he would go to teahouses and tell stories.

He vividly told a simple love story, which, like most love stories, ended in tragedy.

The story roughly goes like this: a wanderer woman happened to meet a cultivator, and they fell in love, but they never ended up together.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, they were separated.

The wanderer woman was Li Huanhuan.

Li Huanhuan was not gifted for cultivation, so the cultivator travelled far and wide in search of rare and precious treasures to improve her physique.

When he returned with his finds, Boundless Mountain had been exterminated due to grudges, and Li Huanhuan had already passed away.

He rebuilt the sect on the original site, retained the name of Boundless Mountain, and proclaimed himself as the fourth sect leader.

And that’s when the rise of Boundless Mountain started.

In this story, the teacher repeatedly emphasized that the cultivator always wore a black cloak that covered his appearance.

Even Li Huanhuan, right before her death, still didn’t know what he looked like.

Being a person who grew up with the internet, Lu Xun didn’t show much emotion.

However, Mao Nanbei and Lin Chan were deeply moved by the story, even their normally cold second sister seemed to be emotional.

“Why did it happen like this? Why didn’t he show his true face?” Mao Nanbei felt sorrowful and frustrated.

“What if he couldn’t face others?” The teacher asked in return.

“Even so, he could not keep himself concealed his whole life, right?” Mao Nanbei pouted, expressing her disagreement.

“But what if he is not human?” The teacher peeled an orange, put a piece in his mouth, and continued while munching.

Upon hearing this, Mao Nanbei’s ears twitched. She went on top of the table and puffed out her chest, saying,

“Isn’t he a human, but a monster? And what’s the big deal about being a monster, what’s so disgraceful about it?”

“I, Mao Nanbei, am the famous and adorable ghost from the Demon Sect!”

Though I’m a monster, people love me, right?

The teacher held out his right hand and pointed to the empty space below, hinting at her to sit down, then started,

“What if… he is a very strange monster?”

Mao Nanbei jumped back onto the chair, saying, “How strange can a monster be? Can it be that it’s not transformed from an animal, but from flowers, plants, and trees?”

In Mao Nanbei’s view, since they can all transform in the end, the differences aren’t actually significant.

The master shook his head without saying anything.

Lu Xun opened his mouth at the right moment and said, “Master, is the cultivation technique of Boundless Mountain flawed due to this reason?”

If the fourth-generation ancestor of Boundless Mountain was indeed a Monster Cultivator, then the cultivation techniques he passed on to humans would naturally have some side effects, more or less.

Like Lu Xun himself, after proceeding down the path of Body Refining Sword, the side effect was becoming a Non-Swordbearer.

If he could still hold a longsword now, that would undoubtedly be a bonus, which could be called…

A sword atop a sword?

The master put down the tangerine peel in his hand and said, “Are you referring to the emotionless cold faces of the disciples of Boundless Mountain?”

“Yes.” said Lu Xun.

The master nodded, seeming to recall something, and said, “Well, there may indeed be a connection.”

Who would have thought, here’s another excellent foreshadowing.

At this time, Lu Xun suddenly remembered Ghost’s Grief, where a Ghost King, shrouded in a cloak, was imprisoned by chains.

Is there a connection between these two?

“Probably not. Who would lock the remains of their own ancestor in the Trial Ground?” Lu Xun thought to himself.

Now, he was somewhat curious. What type of monster was the fourth-generation ancestor of Boundless Mountain, originally?

The master seemed to realize everyone’s confusion and sighed:

“Actually, beings like Little Nanbei, who are transformed from living creatures, can be called monsters. Even if they are flowers, plants, or trees, they possess their own life.”

“But if it’s a stone that gains spiritual wisdom, it is instead similar to the sword spirits in swords and the blade souls in knives.”

“This is the law of this world.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Xun nodded.

That’s how it is set out in Heavenly Dust, so there’s no need to think about the existence of things like “Stone Monster” and “Broom Spirit”.

A broom that has gained spiritual wisdom can only be called a magical weapon at most, and no one would refer to it as a monster.

His sword sheath is rather spirited but it is just a magical weapon after all.

Even though he treated it as the Sword Sheath Maiden, others wouldn’t.

And it would never be able to transform.

Even the mighty The Sword Qi is Near can’t achieve transformation.

Come to think of it, like Lu Xun, acting in defiance, training in the way of the sword as a human, seems a bit off character!

“Did I violate the law of heaven and earth as preached by the master?” Lu Xun wondered to himself.

But upon reconsidering, in a strict sense, he himself isn’t really a product of this world, is he?

“Master, are you implying that this fourth-generation sect leader of Boundless Mountain isn’t even considered a monster?” inquired Lu Xun.

The master nodded, saying:

“He was a puppet, a puppet with a carved smiling face.”

At this moment, Lu Xun couldn’t help but recall how the master had described the third-generation sect leader.

Her name was Li Huanhuan, a girl who loved to smile.

(PS: I am here again recommending a book, an old friend I’ve known for many years. The title is “I Really Don’t Want to be the Savior of the World”. If you’re interested, do give it a look.

Lastly, there will be two updates tomorrow.)