Martial Cultivator

Without waiting for He Liang to speak, the young man continued on his own, "What else in this world is more important than staying alive?"

"And besides, it's just a few buns. It's not stealing or robbing, why is it not acceptable? Why can't she accept other people's goodwill? Must she wait until her own child starves to death?" "In that case, it seems your mother is still somewhat pedantic. Or perhaps, in her eyes, your life and death is simply not worth mentioning!"

The young man spoke slowly, but his gaze remained fixed on He Liang who was sitting next to him.

He Liang stood up with a rush, his face filled with anger. "You're not allowed to say that about my mother!"

After saying those words, He Liang turned around to leave. He and his mother had always been dependent on each other. He would not allow anyone to speak ill of his mother. She was the best mother in his heart, no matter who said otherwise!

But just as he took a couple of steps forward, the voice of the young man sounded out behind him, "Don't you want to know where the immortal is?"

Hearing the voice behind him, He Liang's foot paused mid-air. After a moment, he still withdrew that foot in the end.

The young man's voice continued to sound out indifferently, "Can't take it after I say a few words? You seem impatient, but who is it that waits at the foot of the mountain every day?"

He Liang turned around, tears welling up in his eyes, feeling somewhat aggrieved. But after a moment of silence, he still said softly, "Can you tell me where the immortal is?"

The young man stood up unhurriedly. Looking at the child in front of him, he said calmly, "That's not the attitude one should have when asking for a favor. Why don't you try kneeling down?"

Hearing the words kneel down, He Liang shook his head, tears streaming down his face and falling to the ground. However, he still shook his head and said, "No, my mother will get angry. I can do many other things, but not this."

After saying these words, He Liang looked up at the young man in front of him, pleading, "I can help you with many things. Can you tell me where the immortal is?"

The young man shook his head, still saying calmly, "What if I insist that you kneel?"

At this moment, the young man was unbelievably cold. He seemed completely different from before, showing no pity towards this child of merely seven or eight years old.

A battle was clashing in He Liang's mind, his mind in turmoil. Despite the slightly chilly weather, his forehead was drenched in sweat, the tiny beads mixing with tears and continuously dripping down his face, unable to distinguish whether they were tears or sweat.

Shaking his head, He Liang murmured, "I can't, I can't. My mother will get angry."

The young man sighed, saying seriously, "If you don't kneel down, I won't tell you. After you kneel, I'll tell you where the immortal is. You want to find the immortal to cure your mother's illness, yet you refuse even to kneel? Don't you want to cure your mother's illness?"

His voice was calm, but his emotions were sincere, making He Liang believe that what he said was one hundred percent true.

He Liang looked into the eyes of the young man who easily discerned the hope, conflict, as well as confusion in He Liang's eyes.

A seven to eight-year-old child, he was actually doing quite well, but the young man still wanted to see what he could do.

He Liang remained silent for a long time before shaking his head.

The young man did not speak either, he just reached out his hand. Immediately, there was a roaring sound from the stream, countless streams of water landed in his palm, forming one droplet after another. When this scene fell into He Liang's eyes, how could he still not understand? The young man in front of him was the immortal he had been looking for!

In the next moment, a dark red daoist robe appeared on the young man's body, and an ordinary wooden hairpin appeared in his hair.

He Liang did not hesitate, directly kneeling in front of the young man with a thud, "I beg Lord Immortal to save my mother! I'm willing to toil for Lord Immortal like a horse for the rest of my life!"

Seeing He Liang kneel without hesitation, the young daoist priest was genuinely curious. He looked at He Liang and asked, "Why are you willing to kneel now?"

He Liang knelt on the ground, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at the young daoist before him, saying seriously, "My mother always taught me to have a backbone, not to kneel to anyone easily. But my mother is really dying. I beg Lord Immortal to save her life!"

The young daoist thought for a moment, understanding the situation, and said with vicissitudes of emotion, "I see."

"Get up."

The young daoist sat back down by the stream, then threw out another question, "But why should I save your mother? The things that you can do, can't I do them? And what I cannot do, can you accomplish?"

He Liang did not want to get up, still kneeling on the ground, listening to these questions. For a moment, he was at a loss for a reply.

The young daoist said softly, "Kneeling down is something that will surely anger your mother, but if it can save my mother, I can kneel too. However, if kneeling down doesn't get what we want in the end, wouldn't it be in vain?"

"If it turns out to be in vain, would you regret it?"

The young daoist did not look at He Liang, just gazing at the stream as he said, "Answer this question well. Whether I will go with you to save your mother or not depends on this question."

He Liang who was kneeling behind him listened to these words with great nervousness. In essence, it was probably just about regret or no regret. But even with these two simple answers, He Liang did not know how to answer for a moment.

This was his mother's last hope, he did not dare to speak lightly.

"You only have fifteen minutes. If I don't hear an answer after that, I will leave immediately."

The young daoist reminded softly.

Then he quietly waited as time passed slowly.

After fifteen minutes.

The young daoist stood up, looking at the child whose face was full of confusion, shaking his head.

Suddenly, He Liang spoke, "I would regret it."

The young daoist looked at him quietly, "Why?"

He Liang said softly, "Because I didn't know the outcome beforehand, so even if I had to choose a hundred times, I would still kneel down, because it's my mother's only hope. But if the result turns out to be bad, then I would regret doing something that made my mother angry and went against her wishes."

The young daoist pondered for a moment, not expressing his own opinion on this answer, and simply said, "Lead the way."

Hearing this, He Liang's eyes reflected a surge of hope-like emotions.

Then he quickly got up, leading the young daoist through half of the small town, finally arriving at the dilapidated courtyard.

He Liang pushed open the door and the young daoist followed behind.

The woman leaning on the bed saw that her son returned home, and had a smile in her eyes. But she quickly noticed the young daoist following behind her son.

"Who is this... guest?"

He Liang hurriedly said, "Mother, this is the Lord Immortal from the mountain behind the town. He has come to cure your illness!"

The young daoist looked at the woman, who clearly did not have much time left. Bowing slightly, he said softly, "This penniless daoist is called Yun Jianyue, and I've been cultivating in the mountain temple since childhood."

The woman was taken aback, but there was no joy on her face. Instead, she looked at He Liang with concern and asked, "What did you promise him?"

He Liang instinctively wanted to shake his head, but remembering his kneeling down, he gritted his teeth and remained silent.

The young daoist glanced at the woman but said nothing. He reached out to grasp the woman's thin arm, but the woman suddenly exerted a burst of strength, pushing back and refusing to let Yunjian Yue hold her arm. Instead, she turned to her son again and asked, "What did you promise him?!"

Only then, did He Liang open his mouth, recounting everything he had experienced throughout the day.

The woman became furious upon hearing this. "Didn't I tell you before? One should have a backbone. How could you kneel down to others so easily?!"

He Liang's face was full of tears as he sobbed, "But I don't want Mother to die. I want to be with Mother forever!"

The woman glared at her son, her voice cold, "Do you think by curing me like this, I will accept you as my son? If my A'Bao has no backbone, then he is no longer my A'Bao!"[1. It might seem weird why she calls him A'Bao even though there's no Bao in He Liang. It's likely just a pet name.]

With tears streaming down his face, He Liang felt nothing but aggrieved at this moment. He just wanted to cure his mother, even if it made her angry.

"Mother, please don't be angry. I know I'm wrong. Let's cure your illness first, and then Mother can punish me however you like."

He Liang looked at the young daoist with hope in his eyes, pleading, "Please, Lord Immortal, help to treat my mother first."

The woman glared at He Liang and said in a solemn voice, "Be quiet!"

But then Yun Jianyue's voice sounded out again faintly, "He has already knelt down. Whether your illness is cured or not, he has already knelt down. Do you want his kneeling to be in vain?"

The woman listened to this and was somewhat dazed.

Yun Jianyue was patient in testing He Liang's character, but he did not want to waste too much time on this woman. He casually said, "This penniless daoist intends to take him as my disciple, so his kneeling wasn't in vain."

This time, the woman's expression was complex. The reason why the town remained peaceful and why they had not encountered any demons all these years was because of the presence of a daoist temple behind them. Now, if an immortal from the temple was willing to take her son as a disciple, she knew exactly what that meant.

"Lord Immortal, are you serious?"

She looked into Yun Jianyue's eyes, worried that the young daoist might have just said it casually.

Yun Jianyue nodded slowly. If he had not harbored such intentions, he would not have wasted so much time on He Liang.

But before the woman could speak, He Liang immediately shook his head, "No, I want to stay with my mother forever!"

The woman frowned, wanting to say something, but Yun Jianyue spoke first, "The daoist temple is just behind the mountain. If you're willing to come down the mountain every day, no one will stop you."

He Liang heard this and could not find words to respond for a moment.

Yun Jianyue took out a medicinal pill and placed it in He Liang's hand, saying calmly, "As I said before, fifteen minutes, I'll wait for you in the courtyard for only fifteen minutes. If you're willing, you can come out and I'll bring you up the mountain. If you're not, then I'll return to the mountain alone."

Yun Jianyue walked out of the house and stood in the courtyard. Looking at the moonlight tonight, his expression was calm. The legacy of cultivators was mostly passed down in the form of master and disciple. However, most masters who take disciples would be very old. For a young cultivator like Yun Jianyue, it was rare to have the desire to take in disciples at such a young age.

But there were always exceptions to everything. After observing He Liang that child, he found his aptitude to be good, and after a bout of testing, he found his character to be decent too. Since they had met, he believed it was fate. The decision to take him as a disciple was made at this moment.

……

……

After fifteen minutes, He Liang walked out of the house and looked at Yun Jianyue sitting on the steps. His tears had dried by now. He sat down beside Yun Jianyue and opened his hand, still holding the medicinal pill.

Yun Jianyue looked at the pill and asked curiously, "Reason?"

He Liang replied, "My father died on that Great Wall. I want to avenge him."

Yun Jianyue said calmly, "If you're willing to fight the demons at the Northern Frontier Great Wall in the future, no one will stop you."

Suddenly, He Liang asked, "If I go up the mountain and enter the daoist temple, will I still be considered a Liang person?"

They had heard about the attitude of the foreign cultivators towards the people of Great Liang. Even though the immortals on the mountain behind them might not be like that, overall, they still belonged to the group of foreign cultivators.

Yun Jianyue replied, "What you want to do never has anything to do with your identity."

He Liang asked softly, "Then which side should I stand on in the future?"

Yun Jianyue said calmly, "If you stand on the opposite side, I won't mind either."

He Liang shook his head, "But I mind."

Yun Jianyue pondered for a moment, understanding his reason. He said, "I see."

Yun Jianyue continued, "Since you have this idea, I won't insist either. Consider the medicinal pill as a gift for treating me to the rice balls."

After saying this, he was about to get up. As one of the Twin Pillars of Daoism, one of the few young geniuses in the world, he took fancy on a disciple, but failed to take him in. If the news spread, he would probably be ridiculed by people. However, he did not care too much. Fate was something he believed in, and seeing He Liang was fate. He Liang refused, so it was not fated to be.

Coming due to fate, parting because they were not fated.

But still, He Liang shook his head, saying sadly, "Lord Immortal, you treated me to a meal too, so we're even. Mother won't eat this medicine."

Yun Jianyue looked at He Liang, asking with some curiosity, "What kind of person is your mother?"

Those who could calmly choose death in the face of life and death were never ordinary people.

He Liang thought for a moment and shook his head. Actually, even he himself did not truly understand what kind of person his mother was. Since he was young, he only knew that his mother was very strict, always teaching him to have a backbone, not allowing him to gain without effort, and not allowing him to easily accept others' kindness.

"She won't live much longer."

Yun Jianyue shook his head, picked up the medicine pill, and got up to leave.

He Liang had a sorrowful look, but quickly said from behind, "No matter what, thank you, Lord Immortal!"

Yun Jianyue ignored him, but when he reached the doorway, he suddenly stopped and turned back. Looking at He Liang, he asked, "If you don't want to stand on this side, then you can probably only be a martial artist."

He Liang looked puzzled, not quite understanding what the term martial artist meant.

Yun Jianyue looked at He Liang and said, "If one day you happen to meet someone named Chen Chao, perhaps you can consider acknowledging him as your master."

"Who is that?"

"A very interesting martial artist."

Yun Jianyue recalled the young martial artist he once fought against and shook his head.

He Liang still looked puzzled, but he quickly remembered the name. His intuition told him that this person might be very important to him. He quickly asked, "Where is he?"

Yun Jianyue looked at him and said calmly, "In the Divine Capital."