The Oath Taker

One by one, they straightened, their eyes following Lin Qingyan as she walked from the hall to the top of the stone steps.

Even Perfected Xuanstone, standing beneath the eastern covered walkway with a black sword strapped to his back, subtly straightened his spine.

Perfected Spirit Pine stopped peeling pine nuts as well. He raised his head and peered toward the steps with his small, narrowed eyes.

His gaze shifted between Lin Qingyan and Gu Chengyin. Then he let out two low chuckles.

Standing atop the stone steps, Lin Qingyan swept her gaze across the plaza.

Her eyes were cool and clear. Everyone she looked at instinctively straightened their already rigid backs a little farther.

She said nothing. After one glance across the plaza, she withdrew her gaze.

Turning around, she walked back into the Ancestral Hall.

The vermilion doors remained wide open behind her, as if waiting for something.

Gu Chengyin followed.

His steps were calm and resolute. As he crossed the threshold, the hem of his moon-white robes caught the glow of the ever-burning lamps and shimmered faintly.

Then his entire figure disappeared into the dimness suffused with sandalwood within the hall.

The doors did not close.

According to the rules of the Celestial Master Residence, when the sponsor accompanied a newcomer into the hall to swear the oath, the doors were to remain open as a sign of openness and impartiality.

More than a hundred people in the plaza could see what was happening inside.

Two figures stood shoulder to shoulder before the shrine, facing the tablets of the Celestial Masters of generations past. The flames of the ever-burning lamps flickered before them.

Inside the hall, Lin Qingyan walked up to the shrine and took a bundle of fresh incense from a small box beside the bronze censer.

Her movements were slow, as though she were performing an exceedingly solemn ritual.

First, she lit the incense sticks in the flame of the ever-burning lamp. Then she watched as the sparks slowly spread along their tips, sending up thin wisps of blue-gray smoke.

Lin Qingyan turned and handed the incense to Gu Chengyin.

“The oath of the Celestial Master Residence is different from an ordinary oath,” she said.

“This is not a formality to be completed by reciting a few empty phrases.”

“Before the Celestial Masters of generations past, the oath-taker must use their own Dao Heart as the contract.”

“Each word of the oath must be carved into the Dao Heart. Should the oath ever be broken, the backlash will shatter it.”

Lin Qingyan paused, her gaze lingering on Gu Chengyin’s face for a moment.

An oath carved into one’s Dao Heart was no child’s play. Once inscribed, it was almost impossible to alter.

However, the Celestial Master Residence had an unwritten rule: the oath-taker could choose a Daoist title.

The four lines of the oath could be carved into the Dao Heart under that title’s name.

That way, if one day they wished to leave the Celestial Master Residence, they merely had to cast off the Daoist title, and the oath carved into their Dao Heart would vanish with it.

Though this rule had never been formally written into the residence’s regulations, it had been customary for thousands of years.

Nearly every cultivator who joined the Celestial Master Residence would choose a Daoist title, leaving themselves a way out.

“Have you decided what Daoist title you’ll use?” Lin Qingyan asked softly.

Gu Chengyin accepted the incense and met her eyes for a breath.

Then the corners of his lips lifted slightly. He did not answer.

He merely turned around to face the layers upon layers of ancestral tablets in the shrine.

Though the people in the plaza could not make out every subtle movement inside the hall, they could clearly sense the changes in the two auras within.

Lin Qingyan’s aura was cool and pure as frost, standing quietly beside the shrine.

Gu Chengyin’s aura, meanwhile, gradually grew heavier and more concentrated, as though it were gathering strength.

The cultivators who had still been whispering among themselves fell silent one after another.

Even the several Golden Core enshrined elders now sat upright, their eyes fixed intently on the Ancestral Hall.

Inside, Gu Chengyin raised the incense sticks above his head and bowed toward the tablets of the Celestial Masters of generations past.

Three wisps of blue-gray smoke rose from the burning incense, drawing a perfectly straight line before him as they ascended toward the domed ceiling.

Gu Chengyin straightened and slowly let his gaze pass over the names on the shrine.

The founder of the residence. The Celestial Masters of generations past. Some of the names he had seen only in historical records.

Some had been mentioned to him by Lin Qingyan. Most were complete strangers.

Yet at that moment, beneath the flickering glow of the ever-burning lamps, those ancient names seemed to come alive.

They quietly watched this young man who was about to carve his oath into his Dao Heart.

“To establish the heart for Heaven and Earth.”

The instant he spoke the first word, the flames of the ever-burning lamps flickered faintly.

It was not caused by wind. The Ancestral Hall was completely sealed, and the lamps were protected by spiritual power. Ordinary wind could not move them in the slightest.

That flicker came from elsewhere—from some deeper force within the hall, stirred the moment Gu Chengyin uttered that first word.

The entire Ancestral Hall seemed to sink into silence.

Even the wind outside in the plaza appeared to pause for an instant.

The tablets of the Celestial Masters remained quietly arranged upon the shrine. The names carved into the ebony tablets were illuminated in alternating patches of light and shadow by the ever-burning lamps.

At that moment, the disciples and stewards stationed throughout the Celestial Master Residence all stopped what they were doing and turned toward the Ancestral Hall.

Some of the lower-cultivated disciples even shuddered involuntarily, though they could not explain why.

“To establish the destiny for the people.”

The cultivators in the plaza exchanged bewildered looks.

They had witnessed countless oath ceremonies. Every year, newcomers swore their oaths inside the Ancestral Hall.

But this was the first time they had ever seen an oath resonate with the flames of the ever-burning lamps.

Beneath the eastern covered walkway, Perfected Xuanstone narrowed his eyes.

Under the ginkgo tree, Perfected Spirit Pine stopped peeling pine nuts once more. He looked toward the Ancestral Hall, then slowly rose to his feet.

“To continue the lost teachings of the sages of old.”

When the third line was spoken, Lin Qingyan’s pupils contracted.

She was closest to Gu Chengyin and could sense the changes in his aura more clearly than anyone else.

It was not a fluctuation of spiritual power, but a tremor of the Dao Heart.

Standing beside Gu Chengyin, she could clearly feel his Dao Heart quiver with every word he spoke.

It was as though someone were striking an ancient bell deep within his soul. The tolling spread along his meridians throughout his entire body, then radiated outward, permeating every corner of the Ancestral Hall.

“To bring peace to all generations.”

The instant the final line fell, the three incense sticks in Gu Chengyin’s hand suddenly flared.

It was not the ordinary brightness of burning incense, but a searing white radiance like blazing fire, illuminating the entire Ancestral Hall as brightly as day.

A vast surge of spiritual power spread outward from the Ancestral Hall as its center.

Like a gale sweeping across the land, it sent the robes of the hundred-odd people in the plaza billowing violently.

Ginkgo leaves were swept high into the air beneath the covered walkways before raining down in a fluttering golden cascade, like snow made of gold.

The casual indifference on the faces of the several Golden Core enshrined elders finally vanished completely.

In its place was an astonished gravity.

And yet it was not over.

Gu Chengyin’s voice continued to echo through the hall. This time, he was not reciting the four lines of the oath.

It was the final step of the ceremony.

Everyone was waiting for him to announce his Daoist title.

“The oath-taker…”

Lin Qingyan, standing behind him, unconsciously held her breath, waiting for him to state his Daoist title.

“Gu Chengyin.”