Mu Xuan Ruo Tong

Zuo Ruotong didn't look at Liu Jin. His gaze fell on Li Muxuan, his tone calm and devoid of any emotion: "Come with me."

Li Muxuan stood frozen in place. Liu Jin walked past him without looking at him. Zuo Ruotong had already turned and walked up the mountain, her pale white figure like a flowing moonlight in the night. Li Muxuan gritted his teeth and followed.

Zuo Ruotong took him not to the lecture hall or the main hall, but to a secluded courtyard behind the Sanyi Gate.

The courtyard wasn't large, surrounded by a low stone wall, topped with clumps of wild grass. Before even entering, Li Muxuan heard a sound. It wasn't the wind, nor the chirping of insects, but a human groan. Very faint, as if swallowed tightly by teeth, only leaking out as the breath could no longer be suppressed. Pushing open the courtyard gate, he saw a person reclining on a deck chair. The person was about thirty years old, with a sallow complexion. A thin blanket covered his legs, but beneath it was nothing—not that his legs were missing, but rather that the muscles had completely collapsed, like two sacks emptied of cotton. Seeing Zuo Ruotong enter, the person tried to sit up straight, but Zuo Ruotong quickly stepped forward and pressed his shoulders: "Just lie down."

"Master..." The man forced a smile, his lips cracked and his voice hoarse and almost inaudible, "Another little fellow has arrived?"

Zuo Ruotong nodded and sat down beside him, taking his withered hand in her grasp. The knuckles of that hand were all deformed—not broken, but twisted, as if an unseen hand had forcefully twisted it and then carelessly tossed it aside. Li Muxuan stood at the courtyard gate, not taking a single step inside.

After leaving the house, Zuo Ruotong led Li Muxuan out of the courtyard, telling him about Sanyi's past as they walked.

"He's been a disciple for twelve years." Zuo Ruotong's voice was calm, not the kind of calm that was deliberately lowered to show respect, but genuine calm, as if he were talking about something that had already happened, something that couldn't be changed, something that could only be accepted. "When he was trying to break through to the second level, his Qi went astray. His meridians broke inch by inch, and his muscles atrophied little by little. He was unconscious for three days, and the first thing he said when he woke up was, 'Master, can I still practice?'"

"The Threefold Reversal of Life defies one's innate nature. The faster one cultivates, the greater the price of straying from the right path. The first level transforms Qi into flesh and skin; a misstep will result in the entire body festering. The second level transforms Qi into tendons and bones; a misstep will lead to what you just saw. As for the third level, I've never seen it either." His tone wasn't forceful or deliberately emphasized. "I heard part of what you said in the training ground. You said you were dissatisfied, not with the Threefold Reversal of Life, but with not being chosen. You think your intelligence is enough to allow you to cross any threshold."

Li Muxuan remained silent. He lowered his eyes, staring at the cracks in the stone slabs beneath his feet.

"You are indeed quite clever. You've chopped wood for three days and already know all the supplies on the mountain. Do you know how many disciples the San Yi Sect has?" Li Muxuan was taken aback. He counted the faces he had seen and said uncertainly, "Twenty...thirty?"

"There are twenty-three people in the Upper Academy. Many disciples have already gone down the mountain because the path to the second level is endless, and they are all looking for methods to break through." Zuo Ruotong squatted down to be level with Li Muxuan.

"The Sanyi Sect never considers intelligence when accepting disciples. There are too many intelligent people. I've even seen people smarter than you. Most of them are currently at home down the mountain, basking in the sun every day, waiting for nightfall. Those who truly persevere rely not on intelligence, but on sincerity. Not sincerity towards their master, but sincerity towards themselves. Do you know why you want to learn the Reverse Rebirth Triple Stage? It's not to get someone to accept you. It's about yourself, Li Muxuan, what kind of person do you really want to become?"

Li Muxuan's shoulders trembled slightly. He lowered his head, staring at the moss in the cracks of the stone slab for a long time. Then he spoke.

His voice was muffled, as if squeezed from the deepest part of his chest, and unadorned: "I admire you."

Zuo Ruotong was slightly taken aback.

"I've followed my father and seen many extraordinary people. But they were all still ordinary people, just with more tricks up their sleeves." Li Muxuan raised his head, the moonlight shining on his face. He didn't smile, there was no pretense, no acting. His eyes were red, but no tears fell. "Only you, your brilliance fills me with admiration."

His voice was trembling, but he enunciated each word with great force, as if he had kept these words inside him for many years, until they were almost rotten before daring to speak them.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the last bit of trembling. Then he knelt down.

"Sect Leader. I don't know if I can be honest. I'm used to it, used to playing the role of Li Muxuan that everyone wants to see. But I want to learn. Not to learn the Triple Rebirth, but to learn how not to act. You asked me why I must become a disciple of the Sanyi Sect, and this is my real reason. I admire you. I want to become like you. I'm not afraid of how difficult cultivation is, I'm not afraid of how dangerous breaking through is, I'm only afraid that you won't even give me a chance to try."

......

"Oh no, what a heartfelt confession."

"The upstairs server is not in this version, leave immediately!"

"If only you had said that earlier, it would have been over sooner. Li Muxuan was just too pretentious and stubborn, which caused so many tragedies and made his life a tragedy."

"Ghost Hand King is crying in the toilet, saying he has no objection. Hahaha, nobody cares about Wang Yaozu."

"He was the only one who was cunning the whole time, scheming the whole time. He only dared to ask Li Muxuan to call him 'Master' when they were about to settle things privately."

"The future has changed."

......

Zuo Ruotong looked at him. She looked at him for a long time. The wind rose again, blowing his long hair that was scattered behind his head and the mud-stained hem of his clothes. In front of her was a boy kneeling on the ground, trembling. His expression changed from stunned to serious, and from serious to a very faint, almost imperceptible emotion.

"I'll ask you one last question," Zuo Ruotong's voice was a few decibels lower than usual. "You said you admire me. What is it that you admire?"

Li Muxuan thought for a long time. Not a feigned pause, but a genuine thought. Then he looked up, his eyes red-rimmed, and answered, "It's the way you looked squatting here tonight."

Zuo Ruotong was silent for a moment. Then he reached out and helped Li Muxuan up from the ground. His hand was steady and warm, unlike the temperature one would expect from an immortal who had reached the peak of the second level of Reverse Life, but it was the temperature of a human being.

"From this day forward, you are a formal disciple of the Trinity Sect."

Li Muxuan was stunned. He even forgot to wipe the tears that finally fell from his eyes, and just knelt on the ground, looking up at Zuo Ruotong.

"But you must remember one thing," Zuo Ruotong said, looking down at him, "Here, you don't have to act."

Li Muxuan nodded vigorously.

Standing outside the courtyard gate, Liu Jin watched as Li Muxuan gritted his teeth, forced back his tears, stood up, and followed Zuo Ruotong out of the courtyard. For the first time, an expression Liu Jin had never seen before appeared on Li Muxuan's arrogant face. It wasn't obedience, smugness, or scheming. It was a kind of bewilderment, as if he had been caught and hadn't even realized he had landed.