Upon hearing such an array of titles, Li Guanyi was astonished, although he’d already realized that this old magician wasn’t just anyone when he first encountered the remarkable effects of prescriptions arranged by Hou Zhongyu.
After all, Chen Dingye was suspicious by nature, yet the elder brother and father before him each had their own strengths. That Hou Zhongyu could remain the foremost magician in the Chen Kingdom Royal Family under emperors of varying temperaments, holding his ground in Qilin Palace, was telling in and of itself.
A magician’s expertise lies in concocting prescriptions, mystical skills, and setting up Great Formations.
Their own realm of cultivation does not tell the full story.
Yet, Li Guanyi had still underestimated Hou Zhongyu.
If it weren’t for Hou Zhongyu being taken by surprise by the connection between Li Guanyi and the Qilin, being forcefully controlled by Qilin Fire, Li Guanyi feared he wouldn’t have been able to kill the man. Among the numerous opponents he had defeated and slain in the Chen Kingdom, there were those with unique identities and martial arts like Emperor Chen’s illegitimate child and Situ Deqing, one of the top ten assassins in the world.
But looking back now, it seemed that Hou Zhongyu was indeed the most valuable.
Yet, Li Guanyi couldn’t fathom the old magician’s attitude towards Hou Zhongyu.
For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond. The old magician turned the Elixir Pills into a liquid and handed it to Shaking Light. After assessing it, Shaking Light took a small sip. It seemed quite bitter, a tinge of rigidity crossing the young girl’s face, before she took a small breath.
With a minor tilt of her neck, she downed the entire contents of the Elixir.
Li Guanyi said, "My connection with Hou Zhongyu is quite fateful indeed,"
The old magician looked at him, "Oh? How deep?"
Li Guanyi candidly replied, "It can be considered a matter of life and death."
"However, I hold more respect for Hou Zhongyu’s master, and I’ve received from Hou Zhongyu himself a letter intended for his friend. Would you happen to have paper and ink here? I will write down this letter for you."
The magician was silent, fetched some paper and ink for him. Li Guanyi removed a sugar pill from within his clothing, placed it in Shaking Light’s mouth. The girl’s body swayed, and then Li Guanyi smiled, picked up the pen, and began to write the letter he had memorized that day from among the items hidden by Hou Zhongyu.
Li Guanyi’s calligraphy and handwriting had been personally instructed by Murong Qiushui.
He had no particular talent.
He couldn’t become the founder of a prominent school.
But mimicking handwriting, of course, was a fundamental skill.
After Li Guanyi finished writing the letter from the nameless magician, he paused, then wrote down on another sheet of paper a series of intricate characters in one breath. He handed both papers to the old magician and said earnestly,
"What I’ve just written is the letter from that senior. As for this, it’s the Cultivation Technique mentioned in the letter."
"After stealing your technique, he hid it within the Imperial Palace of the Chen Kingdom."
"It took a full 60 years to completely dispel and exhaust the malevolence within this Cultivation Technique. He then combined it with the Immortality Elixir along the way to create a martial art known as ’Eternal Moon Undying Divine Body’."
The magician remained silent, examining the letter.
Seeing the words his disciple had written, ’As alchemists, we are not part of the Three Sects of the World or the Taoist Mystical Sect lineage; we walk the very middle between good and evil, adhering to only one taboo.’
’It is said: one must not overstep, neither be excessively good nor completely evil.’
’Pure goodness is Tao, pure evil is villainy’
’We seek but one technique, acknowledge one ’stop’, understand one ’enough’.’
These were all the words he had often imparted to his own disciple. The old magician, lost in reverie, recollected the time he rescued the child from the chaos of war, teaching him hand by hand as he grew up. On the day of the heavy rains, seeing a passerby, he kindly invited the man to take shelter from the rain.
The events that followed were like a grand dream.
When he awoke, his disciple had died, and his era had ended.
After a long silence, the magician saw the ’Eternal Moon Undying Body,’ a martial art born of his own madness combined with the teachings of Qingpao Changsheng. It took the child sixty years to break the wickedness within it.
Named master and disciple, their bond was like that of father and son.
The magician said, "You need not have written out this martial art."
Li Guanyi responded frankly, "That senior spent a lifetime perfecting this technique, preserving it well; he probably wanted to make amends to you. I’ve practiced this martial art, overcoming several great disasters. Now that fate has brought me to you, it’s as if things have come full circle."
Touching the ink characters on the letters, Li Guanyi had imitated the handwriting of Hou Zhongyu’s master. The old magician caressed the words, seemingly without sorrow, merely in a daze. He asked, "How did my disciple fare?"
"All I’ve heard is my lineage’s current successor called Hou Zhongyu. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard any news of him."
Li Guanyi hesitated, then replied,
"He was slain by his own disciple, Hou Zhongyu."
"Hou Zhongyu is the orphan he saved during the chaos of war decades ago."
After a long silence, the old magician said, "So it is dictated by fate, then what can I do?"
"I can sense the scent of my lineage’s Undying Elixir on you, you have this letter, this technique, and also the aura of the Immortality Elixir. If I’m not misjudging, that rebellious disciple Hou Zhongyu must have been killed by you."
"The Immortality Elixir has been consumed by you, right?"
Li Guanyi exhaled and replied forthrightly, "It was a battle of life and death."
"Should I face it again, I would still take the Immortality Elixir!"
The old magician chuckled, "Straightforward."
Yet he did not seem as obsessed with the Immortality Elixir as Hou Zhongyu had been.
He merely said, "You’ve eaten it, then you’ve eaten it... Immortality Elixir, oh Immortality Elixir, what is the meaning of dying and then living again?" He reached out for the technique in his hand and said, "Bring me that flute."