Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 61 The Young Man and the Young Girls in the Dusk

It rained all night long and didn't ease up until day broke.

Holding the sword in her arms, Lu Jiajia leaned against the window for a snooze. Her clothes in the morning sunshine looked like snow.

Ning Changjiu had the medicine soup and regained some strength. He sat up with his back on a pillow, leaning against the wooden bed and looking at the sunlight shone from the window. The light shone on Lu Jiajia's body vaguely, adding some artistic beauty to her.

Shortly, some noises also came from Zhao Xiang'er's bed.

Ning Changjiu asked, "You are up too?"

Zhao Xiang'er was obviously unwilling to accept the fact that she woke up later than him, so she lied, "I've been up for a long time."

Upon hearing the noises, Lu Jiajia opened her eyes. After rubbing her eyes, she slightly cleared her head and then brought a bowl of warm medicine soup.

Zhao Xiang'er fetched the medicine soup and said thanks. As her lips touched the bowl, she slightly raised her head and sipped the medicine soup.

Ning Changjiu looked at Lu Jiajia, asking, "Is everything okay with Xiaoling?"

Lu Jiajia looked at the other bed only to find that the young girl, with a slight frown, was curled up in the corner and covered with the quilt. "Judging from her Qi and countenance, I guess she is fine."

Ning Changjiu asked, "When will she come around then?"

Lu Jiajia said, "After the battle, the evil seed was completely destroyed and her snow fox also lost most of its cultivation base but a large amount of it still returned to her body, which is bliss for her. As a result, her body needs to refine it. In short... She has been "over-nourished" now, which is a bit overwhelming for her body, so she has to keep sleeping."

Ning Changjiu nodded with delight.

Zhao Xiang'er had the medicine soup and then asked curiously, "Watching your fellow disciple become a lot stronger than you doesn't make you feel any sense of frustration?"

Ning Changjiu replied with a smile, "Yes, but upon thinking that you are going to take quite a lot of schadenfreude on me, of course I cannot show that."

Zhao Xiang'er held back her raised lips, saying, "It seems that you've had your temperament well cultivated."

"I'm flattered," Ning Changjiu said smilingly, "Actually at the thought that you would be far ahead of me in terms of the realm, I just couldn't fall asleep last night and also woke up early this morning."

Zhao Xiang'er bit her moist lower lips and said with a faint smile, "My achievement is thanks to my mom. How can I compare to you, who has profound Taoist skills and always conceal his ability?"

Listening to their conversation quietly, Lu Jiajia could smell gunpowder in the air.

Then, she saw Ning Changjiu's white clothes and Zhao Xiang'er's black outfit, which made her feel that the two of them did make a good match.

Despite the aching and limpness of his body, Ning Changjiu searched around his body and then finally found the red marriage letter by the bed.

He fetched it and opened it.

Of course Zhao Xiang'er saw what he did. The letter was given by her, making it inappropriate for her to get it back. What Ning Changjiu was doing now appeared provocative to her but she just pretended not to notice it.

Ning Changjiu opened the marriage letter and started reading it.

Ji bai tou zhi yue, zhi yuan lyu zhi meng, xin ren er ba, gong di yin yuan, zhi hai shi shan meng wei xin, gong shan que yu chan wei ya, chi sheng zao ji, jia zhu xiang jian. Hei fa bai shou, da dao yu lyu, yuan zhu lian bi he, yong jie tong xin. (Hereby, we consent on the marriage of the two contracting parties. When they turn 16 years old, they shall get married as consented. The oaths high as the mountains and vows deep as the ocean shall be the messengers, and the contract shall remain valid as long as the sun and the moon. The two parties are destined to be together and live in company. From the youth to the old age, they shall keep each other company on the journey of life. Hereby it is wished that they shall make a perfect match and live together with one heart.)

The marriage letter's content was exactly the same as the one he had back then, except that the writing was subtly different. And now, on the marriage letter with rich aura, the four words "Yong Jie Tong Xin" had lost the luster.

Ning Changjiu read it over and over again and finally fixed his gaze at the three words of the seal--Bu Ke Temple.

The three words were scrawled but they were actually easy to recognize. However, the words seemed to be veiled inherently so Zhao Xiang'er could only recognize the word Bu after studying them for a long time.

Lying quietly in bed, Zhao Xiang'er noticed he kept observing the marriage letter. Out of anger, she snapped, "Would you cut it out?"

Ning Changjiu slightly came to his senses, folded the marriage letter and put it aside, saying, "In the hall that day, I was acknowledged by you as your fiance."

Zhao Xiang'er refuted with disgruntlement, "It was because you had a lucky guess of the word Bu that I misjudged."

Ning Changjiu chuckled. He found that fate was so wondrous. Yesterday, Zhao Xiang'er was sure that he was the fiance mentioned in the marriage letter while he was quite the opposite.

Today, the situation was reversed. He learned about the truth, knowing that she was the fiancee he declined in his last life. On the contrary, Zhao Xiang'er thought otherwise and believed that her guess was wrong, about which she felt humiliated.

Ning Changjiu said, "What a coincidence!"

Of course Zhao Xiang'er didn't know what he was thinking about, saying, "What you did in the imperial city was too coincidental, which did mislead me."

Ning Changjiu said, "I just couldn't help it."

Zhao Xiang'er asked, "Your constitution is clearly average but your cultivation base shown before was not bad. Where did you get the spiritual power?"

Ning Changjiu said, "My master transferred his spiritual power to me before death."

Zhao Xiang'er nodded and asked further, "Did you really absorb the spiritual power from your master? Where do you learn the evil skill of spiritual power absorbing from?"

Ning Changjiu shook his head and said, "Except the blood sacrifice magic, there is no good or evil Taoist skill. I've saved the people of the city with that skill, which is a good deed. Miss Zhao, please mind your words."

Zhao Xiang'er nodded resignedly and still took off her gloves, saying, "Fine, then... how did you learn it?"

Ning Changjiu replied, "I bought a book from a stall in the street by chance. Unexpectedly, it recorded the exceptionally profound immortal skills. One of the recorded Taoist skills is this."

Zhao Xiang'er sneered, "If you don't want to talk about it, just don't. Stop making up stories and lying to me."

Listening to their conversation, Lu Jiajia maintained an uncoverable faint smile and then suddenly asked, "What are you going to do next?"

Of course she was asking Ning Changjiu.

Ning Changjiu thought about it and said, "I've promised you that my fellow disciple and I would acknowledge you as our master."

Lu Jiajia heaved a sigh lightly and said, "If you become my disciple, I'm not confident that I can let you excel Miss Zhao in three years. Not confident at all."

Ning Changjiu said smilingly, "Cultivation is about the tranquility and mystery of Taoism. I cultivate not to seek to prevail over others."

Zhao Xiang'er sniffed at him. "You are quite good-looking. What you say against your conscience is even better than your face."

Ning Changjiu said, "Surely I cannot be compared to your stunningly gorgeous look."

Zhao Xiang'er disliked being complimented in this way. She felt that no matter how pleasing the compliment sounded, it was still somewhat tacky for her. Hence, she said, "Then I wish you could become more and more beautiful, dazzling enough to make the fish sink and wild geese fall."

Ning Changjiu just laughed it off.

Lu Jiajia looked at Ning Changjiu, saying, "The Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect has four branches--Shouxiao, Xuanri, Huiyang and Tianku. Shouxiao Peak was the leader. And the peak masters of Xuanri and Huiyang were sister and brother. Since my master passed away years ago, Tianku Peak has been in the charge of me temporarily. Yet, although Tianku Peak was a rarely seen immortal peak, it is less resourceful than the other three peaks. If you become my disciple, what you can truly rely on is your own diligence."

Ning Changjiu kept it down and asked, "You went down the mountain to the imperial city to subdue the demons. Supposedly, you must want to seek for a lucky chance."

Lu Jiajia nodded. "Indeed. I thought it was only a shallow pond but when I arrived here, I felt as if a boat was floating in the middle of the lake, unable to advance or retreat in confusion."

Ning Changjiu asked, "I wonder what realm the other peak masters have reached?"

Lu Jiajia said, "Among the four peaks, the realm of the peak master of Shouxiao Peak is the highest, which is the fourth stage of the realm of Purple Court; the peak master of Xuanri Peak has reached the second stage of the realm of Purple Court and the peak master of Huiyang Peak also entered the realm of Purple Court a year ago. They are all my seniors."

Ning Changjiu slightly nodded his head. In terms of the constitution, Lu Jiajia was top-notch among all the disciples in the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect. If she didn't suffer the drop of the realm, she was basically the same as the old generation.

"I wonder what realm the sovereign has reached," Ning Changjiu asked.

Lu Jiajia hesitated for a moment and still said, "The sovereign resided in Mount Huanbao for 60 years and has reached the peak of the realm of Purple Court since 60 years ago. His realm remains the same now."

Ning Changjiu nodded his head. The peak of Purple Court was a marvelously supreme realm while the Five Realms above the Purple Court could be regarded as the pinnacle of the mortal power. Even the legendary Three Great Realms above the Five Realms were only about the improvement of the Taoist realm but not the martial capability.

Ning Changjiu said, "By then, would you please help ask the sovereign to check my fellow disciple's body? I'm...still somewhat worried."

Lu Jiajia nodded and said, "Of course. Unfortunately, a few days ago, the sovereign got a heavenly inspiration and wanted to seek an immortal opportunity. I'm afraid that he may have left the sect."

Ning Changjiu said, "We'll go back to the mountain with you first."

Lu Jiajia said seriously, "When we go back to the sect and perform the ritual, you can't call me Miss Lu anymore."

Ning Changjiu asked, "You mean I should call you...Master?"

Lu Jiajia looked quite taken aback. "Of course, why...do you seem unwilling to?"

Ning Changjiu hesitated for a moment and then said, "I think I'll be a name-recorded outer disciple."

Lu Jiajia was a bit angry. "No matter what disciple you want to be, as long as you perform the ritual, I'll be your master anyway."

Ning Changjiu said, "I...have my own difficulties."

Lu Jiajia stared at him for a while and said curiously, "Do you have other masters apart from the old Taoist priest who had passed away recently?"

Ning Changjiu puckered his lips and contemplated but finally, he still slightly shook his head, saying, "I hope that you can understand."

Lu Jiajia heaved a sigh and said, "Fine, you've done a great favor for me. If you only want to find a quiet place for cultivation, I can make you a name-recorded disciple so that you can stay on Tianku Peak. As to your fellow disciple, I will treat her as my personal succeeding disciple."

Ning Changjiu said smilingly, "My fellow disciple admires you very much. It'll be so great."

Lu Jiajia stared at his eyes and said seriously, "The disciplines of the sect are not strict but there are rules. If you are only a name-recorded disciple, the resources you can get for cultivation will be rather limited. You must think it over."

Ning Changjiu took a look at the rain that had just stopped and then said, "The best elixirs in the world cannot make one reach the realm of Purple Court. In terms of cultivation, you cannot make use of outside forces."

Zhao Xiang'er couldn't stand him anymore so she interrupted, "You asked me to wait and see what you could do three years later but now you act so casually when you talk with Jiajia. From where I stand, you look like having few desires but deep in your heart, you are a frivolous and rash man. Jiajia, you must be really careful. Don't be deceived by his sweet talks."

Ning Changjiu replied, "It is not contradictory. The first time I met you, I thought you were a noble lady. Afterward, when I finally knew you, I was almost freaked out."

Zhao Xiang'er said coldly, "I've been thoroughly accomplished in lyre-playing, chess, calligraphy and painting since I was a kid. And I've also read various classics. Why am I not a noble lady?"

Ning Changjiu talked back calmly and yet seriously, "You've read books but you are not cultivated. All of the reading is a waste of time."

With the rise and fall of her chest, Zhao Xiang'er took a deep breath. "I don't beat you up for now simply because you've done a great favor for the state of Zhao. However, if you continue provoking me verbally, I will get off the bed and kick your a*s so badly that even your fellow disciple cannot recognize you."

Ning Changjiu knew he should end on a good note so he didn't make any response.

Lu Jiajia only smiled faintly in response to their tit-for-tat conversation and then thought for a while before saying to Ning Changjiu, "I know that you are proud, but if you find it hard to cultivate in the future, you shouldn't lose heart. There are a lot of open paths to Taoism."

She was still talking about his constitution.

Ning Changjiu also knew that but he was skeptical about whether his body could be used for cultivation but he had thought it through since yesterday.

After all, his body condition was the same in his last life. However, he encountered the second fellow disciple, who brought him into the mountain. Then, somehow, his body was changed and then he became a talented cultivator. As a result, it only took him a bit more than 20 years to become immortal from the Profound Realm.

The life path that the current Ning Changjiu had now was the one in the case of him not being brought to the immortal mountain by his second fellow disciple.

For some reason, his master failed to find him during the past 16 years...

Hence, he became an ordinary and even a bit silly and stubborn Taoist priest.

Was this...really him? He should be a talented and smart person since childhood...

Ning Changjiu pondered silently.

However, since he had the same body, there must be a reason for that great change. Maybe it was a shackle his master set on him, just like the mystery of Zhao Xiang'er's name. If he could solve his own problem, he might be able to teach his arrogant fiancee a lesson in three years.

Ning Changjiu said, "Miss Lu, thank you for your comfort. I understand."

As he kept silent for a while before responding, Zhao Xiang'er figured he had a sense of loss because his talent was not good enough for his aspiration, so she showed her understanding and softened her tone, saying, "If you still accomplish nothing in three years, as long as you watch your mouth, I will still treat you to good wine when you come to the imperial city."

However, Ning Changjiu still said recklessly, "I don't drink."

Zhao Xiang'er closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It seems that you still want to do it the hard way."

.

It was at dusk when Ning Xiaoling came around.

She had a long dream. In the dream, she was lying on a bleak mound. It was snowing. The snowflakes, cold and weightless, fell incessantly. Some of them covered her body. She was curling up on the grave-like mound. Although she was in the dream, she still felt more and more tired as if she would fall asleep anytime.

The snow lasted a long time, falling on her body like a layer of the thick quilt.

She opened her eyes now and then. Staring at her body on the mound, she slightly reached out her hand and then suddenly saw a small claw and the pink paw pad?

"It turns out that I'm a fox." Ning Xiaoling thought to herself.

After a long while, she couldn't tell whether it was snow or the snow-like fur that her body was covered with.

Dizzy and sleepy, she was lingering between sleeping and waking for a long time. When the hazy light shone on her eyelids, she opened her eyes and found that she was holding a newly-grown little tree in her arms. The tree made her feel quite warm so she leaned on it and held it more tightly.

Under the tree, the snow gradually melted, as if the spring was arriving. The warm sunlight enshrouded her body and even the shadow covered by the crown was as soft as water.

When Ning Xiaoling really woke up, she found that she was holding a pillow in her arms.

She looked upward and saw three figures standing by the bed.

Ning Changjiu waved before her and said, "Where is the secret money of Ning Qinshui?"

Ning Xiaoling was dazed and then said, "Under the hearth, and the compass... Emm, Changjiu, you told me that I could have it all. You mustn't go back on your words!"

Ning Changjiu let out a sigh of relief, saying, "It is Xiaoling who has come around."

The twilight in the imperial city was bleak and warm. Before night fell, bathed in the peaceful dusk, a page of the state of Zhao was turned over.