The cultivation master

On a half-ruined bridge, a silent and still train stood like a sleeping worm. White clouds rushed overhead, casting their shadows on the lake, the bridge, and the surrounding mountains. Fang Yuan remained on the bridge, gazing into the distance without moving an inch. In fact, he had sent his consciousness into his immortal aparture to have more time for contemplation.

The flow of time in the immortal aparture differed from that in the real world. Time spent in the there was usually slower than in reality, with this slowness corresponding to the level of Gu Master. For Fang Yuan, six minutes in the immortal aparture equated to one minute in the real world. Thus, by spending ten minutes in the immortal aparture, he could gain an hour to think. He couldn't afford to lose a single moment, as the sect tournament was approaching, and he needed to buy himself as much time as possible.

In his mind, his thoughts flitted around like fireflies, appearing as faint lights in that empty void. Occasionally, they collided and sparked, but those sparks disappeared just as quickly.

[I need to try harder!!! The zombie mind is slower than others, so I must use my stored thoughts.]

Fang Yuan exerted himself and activated more thoughts. Now, that void shone with more lights, and the collisions had increased.

He recalled each moment of the incident, from the very first shouts to the death of the last bandit; Fang Yuan reviewed everything over and over. He scrutinized every event, and this process took him six hours. When he opened his eyes, his awareness was still trapped in the immortal aparture, surrounded by an infinite darkness that smelled of death.

He raised his hand and smiled. "So, he was a sorcerer? But why didn't he use his power?"

Fang Yuan returned from the immortal aparture. He looked at the train and entered the last carriage. Passengers awaited the immortal Master with anxiety and worry, but it had been over an hour since they last saw him.

When Fang Yuan entered the carriage, everyone erupted with excitement. The faces that had been troubled now found a glimmer of hope, and they wished to cross that cursed bridge as soon as possible. Fang Yuan pushed through the crowd and approached the individual who had hidden beneath a long cloak.

"You... follow me."

The person shivered and couldn't respond. Others, noticing this, scolded him: "Hey you! Don't you see the immortal Master is busy? Hurry up, don't waste his precious time. Go see what he wants with someone insignificant like you."

Some even wished they were in his place to speak privately with the immortal Master. After all, such an opportunity rarely came to anyone who could meet and converse with a true immortal.

These contradictory reactions eventually turned into looks filled with anger and jealousy that targeted the person's spirit—exactly what Fang Yuan hoped for.

In the end, Fang Yuan met that person outside the train and on the bridge. He had exited the train a bit earlier and was gazing intensely at the small island in the middle of the lake. A cool breeze played with his wide sleeves and flowed through his long hair. Shadows of clouds danced on the surface of the rippling lake and the broken bridge, and the sound of waves crashing against the bridge's piers was clearly audible.

Fang Yuan asked, "Who are you?"

The person did not respond, nervously rubbing his hands, continually surveying the surroundings with restless eyes, searching for an answer to the immortal's question. However, his silence lingered longer than expected, and was broken when Fang Yuan posed another question: "What are you hiding? Did you think I wouldn't notice? Even if it's just for a brief moment, I realize what you intended to do."

"Why didn't you act sooner? Why did you allow the blood of innocents to flow on the ground? Do the souls of the deceased not haunt you? Aren't you afraid of the curse of angry spirits?"

"But I can feel you. I understand. We all face difficult choices. In moments when we don't know what is right or wrong, we always try to follow the call of our hearts, but what's the use of pursuing a weak heart's call? Weakness paralyzes a person. Weakness is not a brother to death; it is death."

"I can sense that you are not an ordinary person. In fact, no ordinary human can wield magic, just as no mortal can ascend to immortality. You can trust me. I'm not interested in your treasures. I'm a free soul; I won't entangle myself in these mortal feelings."

Fang Yuan noticed that his words had somewhat affected the person, so he continued.

"The world is full of wonders, my friend. Good and bad people are everywhere. The betrayal of one does not mean you should view all beings as traitors!"

Suddenly, he noticed a shift in that person's demeanor upon hearing the word "traitor."

[Ha ha ha! So that's the case!]

"I, too, have tasted the bitter fruit of betrayal. Betrayal is not something you can bear alone. It crushes mountains, and the human spirit is not harder than stone. Brother, no soul deserves this experience."

Suddenly, the person fell to their knees and bowed before Fang Yuan, saying, "immortal Master! This foolish soul deserves death! Please save me from this terrible torment with death!!!"

Fang Yuan was a bit surprised. The person's voice was thin and imbued with a certain grace, revealing that the voice could not belong to a man—it was a woman! But her masculine appearance prevented Fang Yuan from realizing that she was hiding her gender.

[She didn't use magic to conceal her identity. That means the face I'm seeing either belongs to a poor soul sacrificed for making this mask, or it has been crafted so delicately that you wouldn't notice its falseness unless you looked closely.]

[And that woman knew as long as she didn't act rashly, no one would pay attention to her. So that's why she tried to avoid using magic as much as possible?]

[But what is her identity? What led her to this point? Could she possibly be one of the demons?]

Fang Yuan considered various possibilities, but when he couldn't find a satisfactory answer, he decided to directly ask the woman for clarity. Without hesitation, he said, "Please stand up, my friend. In life, you should never kneel even before death."

Tears brimmed in the woman's eyes as she rose to her feet, her legs trembling. Fang Yuan radiated the aura of a sage, a high deity who perceived all the truths of the universe in a single glance.

"My friend, there's no need for you to bow before me. You owe a great debt to the spirits of the deceased. Now tell me, are you ready to release your spirit from this heavy burden?"

The woman replied, "Yes."

Fang Yuan welcomed her warmly. "Then help us with this predicament we're in. I'm sure you know a way by using magic to assist the people."

She bowed and said, "Yes, using magic… there's always a way to help people!"

Her voice trembled, but Fang Yuan could not tell if it was due to fear or excitement. However, it didn't matter to him. He was receiving substantial help from an unexpected source, and that was sufficient. Who the woman was or whom she was fleeing from mattered little.

"Very well, I won't let anyone notice you. Go and repay this debt. May the light of truth shine upon your life!"

Cultivators were, in fact, monks who cultivated the spiritual energy of the earth, and thus they were often considered divine beings. So when Fang Yuan, a disciple of one of these sects, offered a blessing for the woman, she accepted it joyfully and moved toward the front of the train without anyone noticing.

Fang Yuan approached the others and, like the cultivators of old, guided them toward the righteous path: "Brothers! Sisters! Today, the divine has shown you a miracle. You have witnessed the miracle of death today. You have gained an experience that you could never have obtained in ordinary circumstances. I hope you learn from this experience to pursue the path of truth in your lives. In life, only your good name will be remembered!"

"The body will decay; wealth will vanish, homes will crumble, and clothes will tear. So what will remain of us when we lie in the ground, our wealth gone and our home in ruins?"

"My brothers! we came from nothing and to nothing we shall return!"

"We are travelers who will depart from this land. We will be forgotten; our grave will be a stone hidden in a mound of stones."

"Unless we take the path of immortality, the path of immortality, my brothers, lies not only in sects! The paths that lead us to the heavens do not cross through the majestic gates of the sects hidden in the heart of the mountains, but through the gates of our hearts!"

"To be forgotten is the reward for the forgetful!"

As he said this, all the passengers were in shock and awe. They had never heard such words before—words from a true immortal that revealed the essence of the Dao to everyone.

When Fang Yuan's speech concluded, he realized that the sorceress had seized the moment and returned to her place on the train.

He then turned his gaze to the astonished eyes of the passengers and said, "My brothers, now is the time to continue this journey!"

Everyone stared at each other in disbelief.

[Could it be that the immortal Master has found a way to continue the journey?]

At that moment, Fang Yuan utilized the green energy he had stored in his immortal aparture, and a green light shimmered from his palm onto the floor of the train.

"Now is the time to continue our journey!

"Move!"

Suddenly, the train jolted back into action with a loud whistle.

[The immortal Master is moving this train with his power!!!]

[The immortal Master is God's blessing to these lost souls!]

[The immortal Master is right! How is it that we mortals didn't realize these profound truths? We felt these truths every day, but had we not heard them from someone as great as the immortal Master, we would not have believed them.]

Fang Yuan, then, peacefully made his way down the carriage. He could now proceed on his journey to fulfill his mission, unaware of the events happening in the sect where all the cultivators were returning.

The train whistled loudly and continued on its path. Fang Yuan looked out the window at the tall, wild trees of the forest, their spears pointed toward the sky like a ready army.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, several experts were silently observing this scene. They appeared like shadows, quietly watching every slight movement of Fang Yuan and the sorceress.