Transcending the Nine Heavens

A stunned Wu Juecheng said, “I’m just adding on…” Upon seeing Chu Yang’s murderous gaze, he could only come to a compromise. “You can speak, I’ll just add on from the side.”

“What add on! Can you be quiet first?!” An enraged Chu Yang said forcefully, “How annoying can you be?!”

Wu Juecheng glared at him. He muttered a few choice words under his breath before turning away.

Chu Yang glowered at him for a while before he turned his gaze back to the others as well. “Cough… It’s like this — Today, Elder Wu Juecheng has taken an interest in the aptitude of my younger sister, Chu Le’er, and intends to take her in as a disciple. This is my younger sister’s great fortune, as well as, hurhur, Elder Wu’s fortune.”

Wu Juecheng picked his ears grouchily and rolled his eyes at Chu Yang.

“This matter, after discussion, has been approved by both parties. Of course, it is my younger sister’s great fortune to be accepted by Elder Wu. He has also promised to groom my younger sister, Chu Le’er, with full effort, as well as vowed to his ancestors that no matter when and no matter what happens, he will never harm my younger sister!”

Wu Juecheng glared at him, wanting to ask, “When have I made a vow to my ancestors?”

However, Chu Yang pretended not to notice and went on without stopping, “Today, everyone shall be witness to this grand occasion of the Nine Heavens! The super expert of an era, the Poison Doctor Wu Juecheng, is finally taking a disciple! And his disciple is my younger sister, Chu Le’er!”

When he finished, Chu Yang’s gaze swept across the audience.

Everyone was astounded by this piece of news, unable to react for a while.

Wu Juecheng, who was sitting there, was originally very satisfied with the last part of Chu Yang’s speech, smiling till his eyes almost couldn’t be seen. However, after a while, he felt something amiss and his brows drew together. He snapped furiously, “Why aren’t all of you applauding?!”

“Clap clap clap…” Rui Butong hastily started to clap his hands, cheering loudly. “That’s great, that’s great! Congratulations to Le’er for gaining a renowned Teacher and congratulations to Elder Wu for finding a brilliant disciple!”

“Clap clap clap…” Mo Lei’er also hurriedly clapped her hands; everyone started to applaud at once. Rui Butong even pursed his lips and let out a loud whistle into the air, echoing far and wide.

The atmosphere indeed became very warm and enthusiastic.

The Moon Breeze couple had already guessed as much earlier. Both of them smiled and applauded.

“Cough, and now we shall commence the ceremony to honor the Teacher. May I invite Elder Wu Juecheng to be seated?” Chu Yang’s demeanor was stern but inside, he was pretty much already in stitches. He had never expected a person like Wu Juecheng to be such a stickler for this kind of ceremony.

However, what he didn’t know was that Wu Juecheng was born in a prestigious clan. Ceremonies such as this and things like etiquette and protocol etc were already deeply entrenched in him, never to fade. No matter how high his cultivation became or how passive his temperament became, the moment it involved the serious things deep in his memories, he would always adopt the customs of back then.

Wu Juecheng coughed and rose to his feet solemnly and steadily. “Alright!” He strode over with a stern expression, a look of sentimentality in his eyes.

There was even some nostalgia in him.

Perhaps Chu Yang and the others would never know just what kind of emotions Wu Juecheng was going through right now. Because, in this moment, he recalled the times of paying respects to his ancestors when his clan was still around; he recalled the time when, after traversing the world, he first met his respected Teacher who had passed on his poison techniques to him.

He recalled what had happened back when he was accepted as a disciple by his Teacher.

As he reminisced, Wu Juecheng suddenly had a feeling as though time was going backward. Sorrow rose in his heart as he recalled what his Teacher had said —”Our school of expertise, when cultivated to the acme of perfection, is enough to enable one to move around the Nine Heavens Imperial Court with no obstructions! With perfect ease, one can slay a deity or a demon! The only shame is that both our aptitude is not enough to reach such a level. We are only able to cultivate the ‘Guide to the World of Poisons’!”

“The ‘Guide to the World of Poisons’, as the name indicates, only refers to this world, and not the universe¹!”

He remembered asking, “In that case, Teacher, is there a place above the Heavens?”

At that time, his Teacher had replied, “Yes, there is! The ‘Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court’— those are the true first-class poison techniques! If one cultivates the ‘Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court’, poison inflicted by a mere flip of the hand would be able to destroy the entire current Nine Heavens continent — all Upper, Middle and Lower Three Heavens!”

“Where is the Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court?”

“In the Nine Heavens Imperial Court! However, with your aptitude, it will be useless even if you find it, because you can’t cultivate it.”

“Then what kind of person can cultivate it?”

“Innate Poison Meridians, Innate Poison Body, Innate Poison — Anyone who fulfills any of the above-mentioned three conditions would be able to cultivate the Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court! Neither your aptitude nor mine is suitable. Even if we were to forcefully do so, we would be poisoned to death by the Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court immediately.”

“Since that is so, how did Teacher come to know of this?” He remembered that when he had asked this question, his Teacher was silent for a long time before he had replied, “The grandmaster of our sect is the Supremacy of poison in the Nine Heavens Imperial Court. It was precisely because of poison that he was chased out. He fought with all his might and escaped to the Nine Heavens… That is how the ‘Guide to the World of Poison’ came about.”

“However, even until his death, he couldn’t let go of his wish to return to the Nine Heavens Imperial Court! Because he had only cultivated half of the Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court. If he had finished the other half too, he would be able to walk the Nine Heavens Imperial Court with no restraints whatsoever!”

“What I am about to tell you is the whereabouts of the Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court. You must commit this to memory and pass this down generation by generation! Should you meet a successor who possesses a body of Innate Poison Meridians, you must tell him of it and groom him so that he can charge up to the Nine Heavens Imperial Court and cultivate the Poison Scripture of the Imperial Court! And reinstate the might of our sect!”

“The name of our sect is the Heavenly Poison Palace!”

Wu Juecheng’s heart was filled with sorrow.

Teacher! Do you know, I have finally found this person today! Not only does she have a body of Innate Poison, she also has Innate Poison Meridians and is even an Innate Poison Body!

I have finally found the successor to Heavenly Poison! The hope of our Heavenly Poison Palace!

Wu Juecheng was lost in reverie. Only when he felt his knee knock against something hard did he suddenly realize that he had already reached the front of a tall armchair. If he had walked on further, the armchair would have been knocked over by him.

Everyone was looking at him strangely.

Wu Juecheng took a deep breath. He turned around, sweeping his robe to the side and slowly sat on the chair. His hands were placed properly on the handles of the armchair.

Today marks the day of the Heavenly Poison Palace’s re-emergence! The re-emergence in the Nine Heavens Imperial Court!

Who would know of the solemnity and reverence in my heart?!

“The second segment of the Teacher-honoring ceremony — Tea offering by the disciple.” Chu Yang the emcee was seriously a novice at this because he had never done this before. Even his own Teacher was acknowledged when he was still a baby. Neither had he seen the way how others acknowledged Teachers, so all the more he wouldn’t know…

Chu Le’er came forward and respectfully offered a cup of tea. A smile appeared on Wu Juecheng’s face as he accepted the cup of tea and downed it in one gulp. An odd expression appeared on his face at once.

He almost spat the mouthful of tea on Chu Yang’s face.

This was no tea at all! This was obviously just a big cup of vinegar! And salt! And even mustard!

This damned little girl! See how Teacher is going to train you in the future!

Wu Juecheng continued to smile warmly, a hint of vexation flashing across his eyes. The mouthful of tea was stuck in his throat, unable to go down his throat no matter what. After a long time, his throat finally moved and this unique ‘Teacher tea’ was swallowed down at last.

“Now, we’ll proceed with the next segment — The disciple kowtowing. Kneeling thrice and bowing nine times!” Chu Yang announced loudly.

Moon Breeze pinched their own thighs, trying their best to suppress their laughter.

Who acknowledges a Teacher like this?

Already kneeling thrice and bowing nine times? Don’t they need to indicate and report their sect and ancestors, offer incense and pray, bring out a token and then… Only after kneeling and bowing at the end can one be considered as having entered the sect…

This Chu Yang was certainly keeping it very simple.

Seated at the top, Wu Juecheng had a clear and unobstructed view of Moon Breeze’s odd expressions. He coughed and said, “Everyone’s a child of the pugilistic world, what’s the point in being so particular about protocol…”

“Cough cough cough… Cough cough cough cough cough…” While it didn’t matter much that Wu Juecheng had said that, Chu Yang who was taking on the role of emcee suddenly choked and started coughing. He coughed so hard that even his face turned red and his neck thick.

He seriously didn’t expect that Wu Juecheng would actually say something so amusing.

It was simply… too out of his expectations!

Seeing that his disciple was still kowtowing yet there was no end to Chu Yang’s coughing at the side, Wu Juecheng almost died of irritation.

He tried his best to maintain the smile on his face and said kindly, “You may rise, my beloved disciple.”

Only now did he truly smile with utmost sincerity.

Ahh, he had finally taken this disciple of his!

He helped Chu Le’er to her feet. While he was at it, he also gave Chu Yang who was still coughing a kick. He snapped furiously, “We’re done! What kind of emcee are you?”

Everyone burst into laughter.

The atmosphere became relaxed at once.

Chu Yang hurriedly shouted, “End of ceremony!”

Everyone started to fool and joke around happily, cheers of celebration resounding non-stop. Wu Juecheng smiled cheerfully and spoke with everyone. Chu Yang suddenly had a distinct feeling in his heart — Wu Juecheng seemed to have changed into a completely different person.

It seemed like this ceremony had let him somewhat… gained an insight? Or… let go of something? Liberated from something?

When no one was looking, Chu Yang leaned toward Wu Juecheng and asked, “Elder Wu, this ceremony seems to be very important to you?”

Wu Juecheng was stunned for a moment. Then, he smiled lightly and said, “Chu Yang, life is but a ceremony.”

Chu Yang was taken aback. He mulled over this one sentence, a kind of emotion taking over him suddenly.

Mo Lei’er and Mo Qingwu went off to prepare wine and a feast for everyone to celebrate. Chu Le’er also wanted to join and help out but was stopped in unison by everyone.

Don’t joke around, even if the food you prepared was the most tantalizing feast in the world, no one would dare to eat it…

After witnessing the tragedy that was Zhuge Changchang’s death, whoever still dared to eat Chu Le’er’s cooking… Just how insensitive would that person be…

Seeing everyone reject her offer, Chu Le’er was a little upset.

Chu Yang leaned over to the little girl and whispered, “Le’er, you can make me a few dishes to go along with wine tonight. We, the Chu family, will celebrate for you.”

The little girl’s tears changed into a smile and she gave Chu Yang a peck on the cheek, a smile blossoming across her face. “Big Brother is the best!”

Chu Yang burst into laughter.

Food and wine were delivered to the table one after the other. During this period of time, Mo Lei’er had been trained into a culinary expert. The dishes that she made truly looked, smelled and tasted great.

Everyone enjoyed the food while chatting.

Wu Juecheng naturally took the topmost seat. Succumbing to the influence of wine, when he saw everyone’s happy faces, especially how Chu Yang, Dong Wushang and Rui Butong sat together and chatted without any reservations, his eyes lingered on them for a long time. A look of nostalgia showed on his face and he said with an air of sentimentality and sorrow, “Back then… I also had brothers like these…”