The Legend of Futian

The music stopped within String Palace. The two Empresses stood behind String Emperor, their hearts full of many different emotions. They had not been like this in a very long time.

They had originally wanted to follow String Emperor when he left and went out into the world, but he had asked them to stay at Taixuan mountain.

 String Emperor looked up, his fingers still resting lightly upon the strings of his guqin. He looked over at Ye Futian and asked, “Which of the six songs is your favorite?”

“Flight of the Phoenix Pair,” answered Ye Futian.

 “Why?” asked String Emperor.

 “I think that music makes the emotions linger. It reflects the player’s sorrow and joy, their pain, and their pleasure. Only if they have deep feelings can they play with soul. Flight of the Phoenix Pair contains the deepest emotions of any of the songs,” answered Ye Futian. “Thus, I think that Flight of the Phoenix Pair is the best one of these six songs.”

 String Emperor’s gaze rested upon him, then slowly shifted. He looked at the guqin that he had been playing and whispered, “It does not make any sense to waste String Palace by keeping it for my return. From now on, if you see anything you like, you may take it, including these guqins. There is no need to ask anyone for permission.”

 Ye Futian was stunned when he heard this. String Emperor was giving String Palace to him.

 At first, he had entered Taixuan Tavern while hiding his identity to come up to Taixuan Mountain. He wanted to spend some time there cultivating, but everything that had happened afterward had gone surprisingly smoothly. The House Master of Taixuan had brought him up the mountain, and Uncle Lan had brought him to String Palace.

 And now, String Emperor was giving everything within String Palace to him.

 He was not sure what all of this meant. He was not even particularly excited by this prospect.

 He looked back at String Emperor. Would he really give away String Palace with a single sentence?

 Perhaps the House Master of Taixuan must have had something to do with this.

 But really, he was probably overthinking this. String Emperor was a powerful figure. Why would he care about the petty machinations of the House Master of Taixuan? There was nothing that he could do to hurt him.

 “Thank you, senior.” Ye Futian bowed in thanks. Although he was not excited by this, he still would not refuse it.

 The two Empresses stared deeply at him. This guy had not been on Taixuan Mountain for very long and had already stolen so much! Now he had obtained String Palace. If the disciples of Taixuan Mountain knew what he had gained today, they would not be so friendly towards him!

 …

 The 10,030th year of the Divine Prefecture Calendar drew to a close. On that day, Taixuan Mountain, which was usually so peaceful, became quite lively. In addition to all the disciples who had returned from being abroad, the four great disciples of Lord Taixuan were there as well, and they had brought many of their own disciples.

 On this day, Lord Taixuan would teach the Way.

 Everyone gathered together in front of Taixuan Palace early in the morning. Although Taixuan Mountain did not accept as many disciples as a lot of other places, there were still countless cultivators there.

 Cultivators from Guqin Valley, Sword Abyss, and other places were all gathered together. For a time, the area outside the palace was incredibly lively.

 Ye Futian also came quietly. He had come with Little Phoenix. Although he had met many powerful figures and had even been personally taught by the Divine Elephant Emperor, this was the first time he had attended a lecture in this style; this would probably be very helpful for his cultivation.

 In addition to the countless Saint level disciples, there were also some Renhuang level figures there, sitting in the foremost seats.

 Ye Futian saw many familiar faces. The place that he knew the most disciples from was Sword Abyss. Some of them smiled and nodded when they saw him.

 “Shen Jing,” came a voice. Ye Futian turned and saw a group of people walking up. At the front were Wan Shouyi and Princess Luoyue, as well as Deng Hu and the others who had fought at the ruins. The people from the City Lord’s Office had all come.

 Ye Futian smiled and nodded at them.

 “How has this period of cultivation been for you?” asked Wan Shouyi with a smile.

 “Not bad,” answered Ye Futian, “but I am a little bit confounded whenever I practice swordsmanship. If we have a chance, I must ask you to teach me.”

 Wan Shouyi nodded. “That makes sense. It is the guqin arts that you are skilled in. If you run into any difficulties, I can give you a few pointers.” His words were modest yet confident.

 “Thank you,” said Ye Futian with a nod.

 “Brother Shen Jing,” came another voice. He saw Ma Yi and his sworn sister of Taixuan Tavern walking over. Ma Yi was interested in Princess Luoyue, and when he saw her and Wan Shouyi together, his face changed a bit.

 “Sister Luoyue,” he called.

 “Brother,” replied Luoyue.

 “I never thought I’d see you here. The last time we were together was at Taixuan Tavern,” said Ma Yi with a smile. “Shen Jing, I haven’t seen you since the Lord sent you up to Taixuan Mountain. How has your cultivation been going?”

 “Very well,” said Ye Futian with a smile.

 “It makes me a little jealous how well they treat a guqin master like you. Keep cultivating diligently,” said Ma Yi. Then he turned to talk to Luoyue. Without realizing it, he was soon standing next to her, and they were walking together.

 Ye Futian smiled to himself when he saw this. He was like an open book.

 May Yi was incredibly competitive. But this was not something that he needed to worry about.

 “Shen Jing,” came another voice. A look of surprise came over Ye Futian’s face. Since when had he been so popular here on Taixuan Mountain?

 This time the people coming to welcome him were Li Zhiyin and Chen Yu of Guqin Valley. Li Zhiyin had played Flight of the Phoenix Pair at String Palace. He was incredibly talented.

 Ye Futian smiled slightly and inclined his head.

 “How has it been cultivating at String Palace? Which of the six songs are you best at?” asked Li Zhiyin.

 “Each of the six songs is deep and brilliant. I have only touched upon them as of now. I must put more effort into them all,” said Ye Futian.

 “None of the six songs are simple, and becoming specialized in one of them is no easy thing. If you want to learn a lot about one of them, then I am afraid it will be difficult to get good at all of them. Given this situation, your best chance is to choose one song and work on it diligently,” said Li Zhiyin.

 2“What you say is true, but given Shen Jing’s surroundings, I can’t blame him. If I were in his place, I would want to study all the songs too,” said Chen Yu with a smile. Li Zhiyin agreed. If she were cultivating at the String Palace, it would probably be the same. She would want to study all six of the songs.

 But this was incredibly difficult.

 Ye Futian smiled and nodded. “Very well, I will keep that in mind.” The others had no more to say, and so the people from Guqin Valley left him there.

 Ye Futian smiled ruefully. Would anyone else come and seek him out today?”

 “It seems like you are very popular on Taixuan Mountain,” Little Phoenix whispered to him. Ye Futian rolled his eyes.

 “But although they’re being polite to you, I can sense that there is another attitude as well,” said Little Phoenix said gloatingly. “They are very protective of String Palace.”

 Ye Futian naturally understood this. He had entered Taixuan Mountain under the guise of a guqin master, and had kept things low key, humbly concealing his skill. Thus, although the disciples of Taixuan Mountain were polite to him, they did not respect him that much and did not look at him as an equal.

 But Ye Futian did not mind this. After all, this was the result that he had hoped for, and he had worked to create this effect.

 Otherwise, how would he be able to cultivate in peace?

 “Great Teacher and Second Teacher are coming!” came an excited cry. Everyone made a path for them. The two of them were walking together. Everyone bowed to them, saying, “Greetings, Great Teacher. Greetings, Second Teacher.”

 They were the head teacher of Taixuan Mountain and the City Lord of Taixuan City.

 The head teacher of Taixuan Mountain stepped forward. His aura was exquisite, and there was a sense of majesty about him. He raised his hand and said, “Today Lord Taixuan will teach us the Way, so there is no need to be so polite towards us. We have come here to listen to him, just like all of you.”

 “Yes, teacher.” Everyone rose, but their gazes were still full of respect. Great Teacher was such an important figure. His power was widely famed. It was said that he was on the same level as Lord Taixuan, and was thus one of the most powerful figures in the Higher Heavens Realm.

 Of course, no one was clear on exactly how strong he was.

 Not long after, String Emperor and the House Master of Taixuan arrived, but not at the same time. One followed the other. String Emperor came first, and the House Master of Taixuan came after.

 Most of the people there did not notice, but a few people understood what this meant.

 String Emperor walked to the front and bowed to the head teacher of Taixuan and the City Lord of Taixuan City. “Greetings, brothers.”

 “There is no need to be so polite, brother. Please sit,” said the head teacher of Taixuan Mountain with a smile. String Emperor nodded and sat down. The House Master of Taixuan said nothing; he just sat down beside them. The four personal disciples were sitting in the very front row.

 At that moment, a figure slowly walked out of the palace. In a flash, everyone stood up and bowed, including the four great teachers. “Greetings, Lord Taixuan,” they all said.

 Everyone moved as one. The respect that they felt for him was plain on their faces.

 The fact that Lord Taixuan was willing to teach them the Way was enough to make him worthy of their respect.

 After all, in the face of a powerful figure like this, even Saint level people were little more than ants.

 Moreover, Lord Taixuan would no longer take on new disciples. There was nothing that could be said to sway him on this.

 Thus, when he taught the Way, the ones who were present would be the only ones to ever benefit from it.

 “Please be seated,” said Lord Taixuan to everyone. Everyone took their seats, and Lord Taixuan sat on a rush hassock in front of them all.

 Although Ye Futian had been cultivating at Taixuan Mountain for a while, this was the first time that he had seen Lord Taixuan. He had white hair, a white beard, and a cultivator’s robe. He had the demeanor of a transcendent being, and he was so graceful that he seemed to not be of this world, but was rather a truly celestial being.

 Lord Taixuan waved his hand, and suddenly a character was floating in the air in front of everyone. “The Way.”

 The character was full of vigor and power as if it had been written in the air by an ink pen. “What do you see here?” asked Lord Taixuan.

 “A character.”

 “The way,” people answered.

 “Is that all?” asked Lord Taixuan. Everyone looked at the character with a confused expression. They did not understand.

 All they could see was a character that read “The Way.” Could it be that this character held some mysteries?

 They all released their Divine Spirits and perceived the character in detail. But though they could see it floating there, they could not feel any unusual aura coming from it.

 The vast area became incredibly quiet.

 “When I teach the Way to you today, I will only speak of this character here,” said Lord Taixuan. “Can no one see anything else?”

 Everyone was still silent. No one could answer Lord Taixuan’s question.