Sweetness After Bitterness

Although Yang Jinshu’s position as Hall Master of the Enforcement Hall had been introduced back on the sect’s main square, Elder Liu had not taken them to visit the Enforcement Hall afterward.

As a result, mother and daughter still had yet to meet properly.

Zhu Xiurong merely shook her head with a smile.

“Everyone here seems so busy today. Jinshu must have plenty to deal with as well. Let’s wait until later; there’s no need to distract her for now.”

Now that they were all in the same place, meeting was only a matter of time. They had waited through all these years, so there was no need to rush. She couldn’t interfere with her daughter’s important work.

Hearing this, Liang Zhonghuai said no more.

He reached into his storage pouch and took out a meat bun that looked exceptionally soft and handed it to her.

“We don’t know when the sect will serve its next meal. Have something to tide you over first. Don’t let yourself go hungry.”

Zhu Xiurong had barely eaten anything in the past two days, and she was indeed hungry. Just as she accepted the bun, a voice came from behind Liang Zhonghuai.

“Brother Liang! Brother Liang!”

A tall and handsome young man came jogging over from behind them.

Liang Zhonghuai turned around and saw that it was a Qi Refining cultivator he had just met.

“Brother Feng?”

Feng Xuanbie hurried over to his side. When he saw Zhu Xiurong, whose age was apparent at a glance, he first bowed to her before answering Liang Zhonghuai.

“Oh, I just wanted to ask which skill you’re planning to study, Brother Liang. Back when I was at the Shangyang Sect, they never taught the four cultivation arts to Qi Refining disciples like us. At most, they let us do odd jobs. I really made the right choice by switching sects this time. Elder Liu said that, outside of our regular cultivation, we can go learn whenever we want!”

Before Liang Zhonghuai could reply, he continued on his own.

“I can tell that Brother Liang’s cultivation is profound. Which sect did you previously serve at? Ah, I really couldn’t stand staying at the Shangyang Sect any longer. If I had remained there, my Feng family’s line—three generations of single heirs—would have ended with me. Fortunately, the Lingxian Sect started recruiting. You have no idea, Brother Liang—leaving the Shangyang Sect and coming to the Lingxian Sect cost me dearly. All the spirit stones and talismans I’d saved over the years were confiscated by the sect. They even took the storage pouch that had been with me for years. Sigh.”

“Luckily, my Feng family is a cultivation clan, so we still have an ancestral storage pouch…”

He chattered on and on, leaving Liang Zhonghuai feeling as though he could not get a word in.

This Brother Feng really wasn’t shy at all…

In truth, Feng Xuanbie usually wasn’t this talkative.

He only became like this when he was nervous or excited.

And right now, he was extremely excited.

The Lingxian Sect was so much better than the Shangyang Sect!

The moment he imagined becoming a disciple of the Lingxian Sect, and recalled all the things he had just seen—many of which the Shangyang Sect had never possessed—he became so excited that he could hardly contain himself!

Even this brief glimpse was enough to make him feel that the sect was far superior to the Shangyang Sect.

And compared with the elders of the Shangyang Sect, the elders he had met here were practically ten thousand times more amiable!

They were easy to talk to as well. After accepting new disciples, they had actually taken the trouble to show them around the sect and introduce everything one by one.

Unlike when he had first entered the Shangyang Sect, where he had been treated like a weed, ignored by everyone.

Yet while they regarded them as weeds, they still refused to let them grow freely. The sect was full of rules and restrictions—nothing like this place.

Elder Liu had just said so himself!

They could wander around the sect as they pleased, so long as they didn’t get lost or go somewhere dangerous, such as the edge of a cliff!

They could study any of the four cultivation arts they wanted!

At that moment, Feng Xuanbie felt as though he had fallen into a jar of honey.

Seeing how happily the young man was talking, Zhu Xiurong smiled and said to Liang Zhonghuai, “I’m getting old and can’t hold out much longer. I’ll go rest first. You young people have a good chat.”

In a daze for much of the day, Tong Jialiang simply followed everyone’s example and helped make the beds.

He had barely paid attention to the sect tour. After waking from that dream, he only remembered following everyone around from place to place.

When Han Weishu saw him, she pulled him aside to ask whether he was feeling better, then told him about everything that had happened during this period.

After listening to her, Tong Jialiang felt that he actually knew what had happened during the past three years.

But it was strange. At the same time, he felt that his memories only lasted until the Jishi mine cave, after which he had entered the dream on the Path of Questioning the Heart.

He remembered the pairs of eyes in the mine cave, changing from a desperate desire to live into a longing for death. He also remembered a force that had reached out from the darkness and pulled him back.

Tong Jialiang sat on the edge of the bed and raised a hand to cover his chest.

There was something unusual inside it.

A faint, subtle warmth seemed to be flowing through him, continuing without end.

He had never felt anything like this before.

If he got the chance, he would ask Shu about it.

Thinking of Han Weishu made him remember his older cousin.

He possessed memories of the past three years, but they always felt unreal, like something seen from the far side of a river—visible, yet impossible to touch.

He knew that his older cousin had been taking care of him throughout those three years, and he also knew that his cousin had entered the Path of Questioning the Heart with him.

Yet among those who had passed through the Path of Questioning the Heart, he had not seen his cousin.

Could he have returned to the village…?

If he went to ask the immortal for permission to descend the mountain later, would the immortal agree…?

As he pondered this, Tong Jialiang heard Han Weishu calling for him outside.

He cast aside the jumble of thoughts surging through his mind, rose, and walked out.

His aunt had often said that life would always turn sweeter after enough suffering—that after enduring bitterness for long enough, one could even taste sweetness in it.

As Tong Jialiang walked out, he lowered his eyes to watch his feet take one step after another.

He had tasted sweetness before.

In the long years he had spent living with his uncle and aunt after losing his grandparents, in the days he had spent with his friends, and whenever he received news from his older cousin.

It had always been faint and delicate, never particularly intense.

But he had acquired a taste for it, and now he wanted more.

Since all the suffering he had endured before still had not made him stop—

then he would keep going.

When Tong Jialiang came out, Han Weishu grabbed him by the sleeve and set off, just as she had always done. She was as brisk and energetic as ever.

“Come on! I asked Mr. Sun at the Pill Refinery just now. As long as we passed the Path of Questioning the Heart, there shouldn’t be any trouble leaving or entering the sect. We’re going down the mountain to see your brother!”

The Lingxian Sect did impose some restrictions on new disciples descending the mountain.

The main reason was that the sect’s recruitment drive had caused quite a stir recently. Qin Jianghe was worried that someone might be watching the sect during this period. The new disciples, who had only just arrived and still knew practically nothing, would not be safe if they were allowed to go down the mountain freely.

That was why, not long ago, they had borrowed Da Tao from Little Luan to guard the mountain road entrance.

However, they completely understood Han Weishu’s wish to take Tong Jialiang down the mountain to see Baojian, so naturally they agreed.

Not only did they agree, Mo Yuanjiao was going with them as well.

He said that he had not seen Baojian for three days and was starting to miss him.

While he was at it, he also wanted to find out why Baojian had failed to pass through the Path of Questioning the Heart.