Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

In the West Chamber, Su Yun lit a bonfire, stripped off his clothes, and washed himself with snow to clean the bloodstains off his body. He then treated the wounds on his back before putting his clothes back on.

"My clothes are stained with blood again."

The young man frowned and examined the bloodstains on his clothes in the firelight. "I have to buy new clothes again. If I enter the city wearing bloodstained clothes, the people there will think I'm a monster, won't they?"

He had always tried to make himself look like a normal young man, not like someone from the no man's land of Tian Shi Yuan.

Su Yun dressed neatly and went to clean the monkey demon's body out of the temple's main hall before returning to the bonfire. He thought to himself, "I can't search for Hua Er and the others at night, so I have to wait until dawn."

He was truly exhausted and fell asleep by the bonfire without realizing it.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Yun woke up and saw that the bonfire was almost extinguished. He was about to add some firewood when he heard a conversation outside. "As a scholar of the Heavenly Dao Academy, you actually want to leave during this crisis and go study abroad? What's so good about Western knowledge? The Westerners invaded our territory, captured our people, and demanded compensation from the court, and you still want to go to the West! You are a scholar of the Heavenly Dao Academy!"

Another voice spoke up. "Brother, can't you see it? The era of the Old Sage has already passed! Those barbarians we thought of across the ocean have surpassed us in national strength! I must go study abroad and learn their skills!"

Su Yun was slightly startled. "This voice..."

"Study abroad and learn from them, learn Western knowledge? You are a Confucian scholar, are you betraying Confucianism and our ancestors?"

"I use Western knowledge for the essence of Confucianism. Brother, come with me to study abroad. Use Chinese learning as the foundation and Western learning as a tool to save this country and save the collapsing building!"

"Only by staying can we save this country, only by keeping the secrets of the Old Sage can we save it from destruction, and only by preserving the spirit of Tian Shuo can we save this country! Otherwise, our nation's backbone will be broken! Qiu Shuijing! Stop right there!"

Su Yun stood up and looked outside. Two young men with heroic features stood in the temple courtyard under the moonlight, their bodies formed by the light of the moon.

One of them vaguely resembled a young Qiu Shuijing, while the other had thick eyebrows and big eyes, making him look taller and stronger than Qiu Shuijing.

Both of them were magnificent.

Su Yun was slightly startled. "The obsession of the spiritual soul?"

This scene, the voices, and the two magnificent young men in the courtyard were all the obsession of the spiritual soul worshipped in this temple.

In the moonlight tonight, the obsession of the spiritual soul erupted and turned into his younger self.

And the other person he was talking to was Qiu Shuijing from his youth.

"Mr. Shuijing was a scholar of the Heavenly Dao Academy when he was young?"Su Yun looked at the two young men in the courtyard, who were still arguing about whether or not to study abroad. He wondered, "Is this because the owner of this temple is also from the Heavenly Dao Academy? Mr. Qiu Shuijing wants to go abroad to learn knowledge from other countries, while the temple owner believes that the old Saint's unique skills should be preserved. Did they have a conflict because of this?"

The obsession with spirituality was slowly dissolving.

"Brother, I will go to the other side of the ocean to study, and come back after several decades to see who is right and who is wrong between us." Mr. Qiu Shuijing's voice came.

The obsession with spirituality dissipated, and the figures of the two young men in the courtyard disappeared with the moonlight.

Su Yun pushed open the door and came to the courtyard, lost in thought. "Is this conversation that has been haunting the temple owner even after his death really that important?"

Although he was well-versed in the old Saint's classics, he couldn't tell who was right or wrong between Mr. Qiu Shuijing and the temple owner at this moment.

"The temple owner should also be a respectable person, right? He, like Mr. Qiu Shuijing, wants to save this country."

Su Yun stretched his body and brought some snow to clean the floor of the main hall, washing away the bloodstains.

He had fought a bloody battle with a group of monkey monsters from Yuanjia Ridge here last night, and felt that leaving stains on the ground was disrespectful to the temple owner.

After Su Yun finished all this, he sweated and sat outside the temple gate to rest.

"Little blind man, do you know the ghosts and gods in the temple?" a voice came.

Su Yun looked in the direction of the sound and saw a large mansion next to the temple, with a pair of stone lions in front of it. An old, thin man sat on the stone steps, smiling and waving at Su Yun.

Su Yun was surprised. He didn't see such a large mansion near the temple when he arrived!

"Senior, do you know me?" Su Yun asked curiously.

The thin old man smiled and said, "We set up stalls together in Tian Shi. I was on the right side of the street, at the ninety-seventh intersection, and you were on the left side of the street, at the ninety-second intersection. Of course, I recognize you. We are stall neighbors and have been for several years!"

He was referring to the Ghost Market Lane. Su Yun's stall was the ninety-second intersection from the Tianmen entrance.

Su Yun became excited and ran over.

"This neighbor moved in two months ago."

The thin old man chuckled, "One of my friends fixed up this mansion for him. That friend's name is Qiu Shuijing. He has been to Tian Shi and has followed you before. When he came here that day, he talked to me for a while. He said that the person in this mansion is a big shot from the East, and also his old friend. He came back this time to pay his respects to this big shot." 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

Su Yun was surprised, "Did Mr. Qiu Shuijing build this temple?"

Liu Ban nodded, "He hired some monsters to build it and paid for it. Your teacher is very remarkable, a person with great talent and deep skills. What happened in the past few months since you haven't been to Tian Shi?"

"I cured my eyes, so I didn't go anymore," Su Yun said.

Liu Ban looked at him and asked, "Are you planning to go into the city?"Su Yun nodded: "I will go to Shuofang to study. Mr. Qiu Shuijing said that the knowledge of the old saints is outdated, and we must go to the city to seek new knowledge."

Lou Ban said leisurely: "Some of the knowledge of the old saints is outdated, while some are timeless and unbreakable. Do you know why?"

Su Yun shook his head.

He had learned a lot of knowledge from the old saints with Wild Fox Master, but at present, he only understood the Honglu Shanchan Neiqi and Xianyuan Shanchan Neiqi techniques, which made him progress faster, but there was nothing else special about it.

"I have also studied abroad."

Lou Ban smiled and said: "Westerners are indeed more sophisticated in their learning methods and practical application than us. But they are inferior to us in one aspect, which happens to be the strength of the old saints."

Su Yun's heart moved slightly, and he bowed respectfully: "Please enlighten me, senior."

Lou Ban stood up, stretched lazily, and said: "Westerners ask God for everything, while the old saints ask people for everything."

Su Yun immediately understood his meaning.

Asking God means asking for guidance from the gods when things are undecided.

Asking people means asking for guidance from people, without the intervention of gods.

This is precisely what the old saints advocated, asking the people and not the gods, respecting the gods but keeping them at a distance.

"The knowledge of the old saints is lacking in practical application, and it is more about guiding you to cultivate and temper your mind. Westerners have made up for this point, so they have become powerful."

Lou Ban said: "Yuan Shuo is currently weak, but as long as we learn from the Westerners' methods and apply them practically, rectify the shortcomings of the old saints, turn the old knowledge into new, and defeat the Westerners, I think it is feasible. I am like Qiu Shuijing, a follower of the new knowledge."

Su Yun suddenly became excited: "Senior, are you a saint of the new knowledge?"

"There are no saints in the new knowledge so far."

Lou Ban shook his head and said: "At least not when I die. Little blind man, if you go to the city to study, I will entrust you with one thing."

He turned and walked into his own residence, took out a small wooden box, square and neat, and placed it in Su Yun's hand, saying: "When I die, the students under my door will be confused and bury this key with me. Take this key and help me check if the things I hid in Shuofang City are still there. After completing this task, the key will belong to you."

Su Yun weighed the wooden box and felt that it was heavy and solid, and asked: "What do you want me to do, senior?"

Lou Ban smiled and said: "It's simple. If you have time, go to Shuofang City and check if the things I hid there are still there. After completing this task, the key will be yours."

Su Yun understood that this was the rule of the Tianmen Ghost Market. Of course, in his heart, it was not a ghost market, but the Tianmen Night Market, also known as the Tian Market.

The rules of the Tian Market are simple: take people's things and fulfill their wishes!

If the wish is not fulfilled within the time limit, the "owner of the treasure" will take back the treasure!Su Yun was once one of the treasure sellers at Tian Shi, but his treasure was not a real treasure, just a burial item. The ghosts and gods like Lou Ban, on the other hand, brought out real spiritual weapons, and they were definitely the best spiritual weapons!

Su Yun took the wooden box and bowed, "Senior, rest assured, Yun will not let you down!"

Lou Ban smiled, "It's not much of a task. I just saw Qiu Shuijing appreciate you, so I followed him and appreciated you too, thinking that you could handle it. Alright, it's almost dawn, and your job is coming. You should leave."

"My job is coming?" Su Yun was puzzled.

Lou Ban pursed his lips, and Su Yun turned to look. He saw trees shaking and snow falling in the mountains and forests, and trees falling one by one.

"Master Yuan San!"

Su Yun was shocked, quickly took the package, bowed to Lou Ban, and then pinched the head of the immortal rope. The immortal rope straightened and stretched into the sky!

He had just grabbed the immortal rope and was taken into the air, only to hear Lou Ban's voice, "Little blind man, you are also a spiritualist, and you may not be weaker than him. Why are you afraid of him?"

"I'm a spiritualist?"

Su Yun was stunned. He had just reached the sixth level of foundation building, when did he become a spiritualist?

He didn't have time to think about it. Yuan San, covered in blood, rushed out of the mountain forest with a thick iron stick on his back and roared towards the immortal rope!

Su Yun climbed up quickly, and suddenly pulled the rope. Yuan San jumped up and grabbed nothing, and had to land!

The white-haired violent ape stood up in the snow, with shocking wounds all over his body. Obviously, he was also seriously injured in the battle with the giant ghost.

Yuan San's face was gloomy, and he looked up. He saw Su Yun climbing the rope, using both hands and feet, and drilling into the night sky.

"You killed so many of my Yuan family's disciples at Yuanjialing, and you will never leave Tian Shi alive!"

Yuan San pounded his chest and roared to the sky. In the snow beside him, there were more than a dozen monkey demon corpses in front of the newly built temple, which were obviously the group of Yuanjialing masters killed by Su Yun in the temple!