Chapter 928: Smitten by Beauty

"What is noble righteousness? For those on the path of Cultivation, Heaven and Earth serve as a ritual cauldron to forge the self through fire and condense a golden core. The worldly energies all harbor wondrous effects: yang qi refines into pure yang, Li-fire qi manifests as fire-attribute Divine Abilities, and channeling water momentum yields peerless Divine Abilities. The same principle applies to noble righteousness. The righteous spirit born of literature and scholarship within one's heart falls drop by drop. As the years slip by, these drops converge into an ocean. Righteousness becomes an ocean..."

Sitting cross-legged inside the main hall, the two faced each other.

Chen Changsheng explained the meaning of noble righteousness word by word. Through patient guidance, he allowed Master Wei to slowly discover that deeply hidden noble righteousness.

To Master Wei, these concepts were perhaps a bit obscure and difficult to grasp; he still had much to comprehend. Today was merely an attempt, but having tried, he realized this was far more difficult than he had imagined.

Cultivation was not an easy matter. Furthermore, Master Wei was already advanced in age, making it even harder to step onto this path. He still needed perseverance.

Chen Changsheng raised his hand, and a streak of golden magical power descended into the schoolmaster's body.

That magical power traveled along the meridians within Master Wei's body, completing a grand heavenly cycle.

"Experience it well, schoolmaster."

Hearing this, Master Wei focused his mind.

After that strand of magical power circulated through his body for three cycles, it returned, sinking back into Chen Changsheng's sleeve.

Master Wei slowly opened his eyes and looked at Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng said, "Entering this door is by no means an easy feat. You will need to meditate on it often in the future, schoolmaster."

Master Wei stood up and offered a formal bow.

"Many thanks for bestowing this method upon me, Brother Chen."

Chen Changsheng rose to his feet. "You are too polite, schoolmaster."

He gave a warm smile and glanced at the sky. "It's getting late. This Chen should be going."

Master Wei stared blankly, a bit slow to react, before hurriedly saying, "You're leaving so soon, Brother Chen? Why not stay a few more days? I haven't even had the chance to properly thank you. How can I let you leave like this?"

Chen Changsheng chuckled. "The food and wine were plenty. What need is there for further thanks?"

"You need not worry, schoolmaster. The foundation has been laid. As long as you slowly adapt and explore, your technique will surely succeed."

For a moment, Master Wei felt a wave of panic and tried to make Chen Changsheng stay.

But he never got the chance to speak.

Chen Changsheng interrupted him. "This Chen is in a hurry to meet an old acquaintance, so I won't linger. Mountains and rivers always meet again; there will be chances to see each other in the future."

With that, he turned around and walked out the door.

"I'll see you off, Brother Chen!"

Master Wei hastily called out and chased after him.

But the moment he stepped out the door, Brother Chen's figure was nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Hu Yin, who had been hiding by the courtyard gates, had originally wanted to follow Mister Chen. In truth, he had mostly wanted to stop Mister, for Mister came and went without a trace, and finding him again would be immensely difficult.

But who could have expected that in the blink of an eye, Mister would vanish?

Hu Yin opened his mouth. "This..."

After staring blankly for a moment, he let out a helpless sigh. Only then did he realize that Mister likely truly had business to attend to. There was no stopping him.

Resigned, he revealed himself.

Seeing Master Wei hesitating in confusion by the door, he spoke up. "There's no need to look, schoolmaster. Mister has already left."

Master Wei snapped back to reality and turned his head to look at the Shangguan.

He was instantly startled and hurriedly bowed. "This Wei pays his respects to the Shangguan."

Hu Yin glanced at him and said, "You need not be afraid, schoolmaster. Whatever Mister Chen says, goes. No one will obstruct you. This is your fortuitous encounter. Do not squander it, and more importantly, do not forget it."

Master Wei paused, lowering his head to glance at himself.

Upon closing his eyes, he could feel a distinct heavenly cycle circulating through his meridians.

This was the gift Brother Chen had left behind.

A fortuitous encounter...

Wei Jingming opened his mouth, murmuring, "This Wei feels unworthy of such a gift."

Hu Yin stepped forward and cupped his hands. "In the future, we will have to rely on you, schoolmaster."

Wei Jingming froze, hastily bowing his head. "Shangguan, your words carry too much weight."

Hu Yin chuckled, then said, "The Demon Bureau has matters to attend to, so I won't linger. Cultivate well, Master Wei. Do not disappoint Mister Chen's expectations."

Hearing this, Wei Jingming's heart skipped a beat, and he voiced his assent several times in a row.

After the Shangguan left, however, he felt a sudden, heavy pressure.

Standing by the door, it took him a long time to calm down.

It felt as though he had barely experienced anything, yet the entire situation before him had been turned completely upside down, all because of this Brother Chen who had suddenly visited.

He thought about it deep into the night, yet he still couldn't understand why Brother Chen would help an unremarkable person like him to this extent. He was just a village schoolmaster, after all.

"Sigh..."

He felt as much worry as he did joy.

In truth, Master Wei's greatest fear was that he wouldn't be able to bear such a heavy responsibility.

It was the Shangguan's words that had led him to this misunderstanding. Chen Changsheng's original intent was simply to give him the power to protect himself in a future tribulation.

Even Chen Changsheng hadn't anticipated that his visit would saddle the schoolmaster with such heavy thoughts.

As for Chen Changsheng...

He had already left the Demon Market, heading steadily north toward Shangjing.

...

Shangjing City was bustling with extraordinary liveliness.

With chaos frequently erupting across the world, Shangjing had now implemented strict controls. Generally speaking, anyone of unidentified origins was absolutely forbidden from entering the city without official documentation.

And among those so-called people of unidentified origins, Chen Changsheng was one.

Unsurprisingly, he was stopped outside Shangjing City.

"No official documentation, no entry into the city. Get out of here, shoo!"

Chen Changsheng didn't press the matter, mostly because his pockets were empty of silver, leaving him unable to bribe the city guards.

He simply found a spot not far from the city gates and sat down.

He waited patiently.

Waiting for someone brought by fate to take him into the city.

Unexpectedly, barely half a quarter-hour passed before a horse carriage drove toward him, coming to a steady halt right in front of him.

The curtains were pulled back, revealing a face lightly powdered with rouge and exuding a faint floral charm.

The woman in the carriage could certainly be called beautiful, though she belonged to the type whose looks grew tiresome after staring for too long. Even so, there was no denying her attractiveness.

"Why are you here, young sir?"

The woman held a round fan, using it to half-hide her face to appear shy.

However, the gaze she directed at Chen Changsheng was blatantly ill-intentioned. It was the clear look of someone smitten by lust at first sight.

Chen Changsheng was momentarily taken aback, but upon seeing that look, he immediately understood.

This woman had likely taken a fancy to him.

Though he couldn't be called tall and mighty, his clean and refined appearance was a rare sight, naturally causing some women to stop and stare.

Chen Changsheng chuckled and said, "Are your eyes playing tricks on you, miss? Why not open them wide and take another look at This Chen?"

The woman in the carriage froze. In the blink of an eye, the man before her suddenly changed his appearance, sporting a head of white hair and a face full of wrinkles.

The handsome young man from just a moment ago vanished, replaced by an old man with white hair and wrinkled skin.

The woman gasped in shock, and the carriage driver's eyes also widened in disbelief.

"This, this, this..."

The driver stared with wide eyes and rubbed them, feeling utterly incredulous.

"What is going on here?"

The woman was confused and slightly panicked. She paused for a moment before asking, "May I ask, old gentleman, how did you do that?"

Chen Changsheng replied, "Just a petty parlor trick, that's all."

"Then... was that your true face just now, or is this it?"

"This is my true face, naturally. What the world sees is naturally the better side of things."

Hearing this, the woman inwardly lamented the pity. If only that handsome young gentleman had been real.

She had such a fondness for handsome young men like that.

In the end, it was a fake.

Sigh...