Just like this, Anji spent half a year viewing mory crystals of different sages and recovering from the ti differences. Her body grew slowly, but her ntal maturity was now closer to Yan Ping’s than it would be with peers of her age.
Living more than five different lifetis had its perks and disadvantages. After viewing the chaotic life of the Whimsical Sage, Anji learned to accept more and judge less. She understood how flawed sages were and, more importantly, why life was so fleeting. However, regardless of how different everyone’s lives were, the view from the top was always similar.
Empty compassion. Anji finally understood it. It was surprisingly simple once she understood what emptiness ant. It would explain why her shifu completely transford in deanour. At her core, she was still the sa person she had always been, except without the attachnt to pride.
Emptiness was not the absence of soul. It was, in fact, the opposite. True emptiness was the natural state of the self on the day one was born, fully naked. There was no pretence, no judgnt, no ego and no desires.
There was only one thing humans truly craved in this world, and Anji soon ca to understand it after the sixth cycle. She confird it with the seventh mory crystal, and sothing in her must have shifted because Yan Ping declared the special training over after Anji gave her last report.
"It was here all along," Anji sighed as she ground the dried herbs.
Yan Ping chuckled beside her, sipping on persimmon leaf tea. Now that the preparations were complete, she could finally give Anji permission to enter the accelerated isolation chamber. With the groundwork done, all that was left was for Anji’s body to catch up with her wisdom. No matter how talented Anji was, she would never allow her successor to attempt the trial without at least reaching the Solid Core stage. While there were no real monsters in the successor trial caves, it was a place that destroyed one’s senses and reasoning with the level of illusions and vast barrenness.
"Sotis the best hiding spot is beneath one’s nose," Yan Ping concluded. "Rejoice, you only needed half a year to reach the sa conclusion many sages took an entire lifeti."
Here, Anji frowned. If they had a similar understanding, ignoring her state of enlightennt, why was her shifu still walking in the mortal realm? Shouldn’t she have ascended a long ti ago?
Instead of becoming offended, Yan Ping smiled. Anji could sense the pain behind that bitter smile. Sothing about her teacher struck Anji as odd, especially now that she understood what sagehood required.
"Have you heard the story about the boatman of the Naihe River? The one who ferries those to the afterlife is neither dead nor alive. He cannot leave the boat and is forever destined to row it."
The motor and pestle stopped for a while as Anji let the words sink in. She studied her teacher and frowned.
"But shifu, I’m here now."
Indeed. Yan Ping once considered it. For many years, she was the sole guardian of the Mystical Qilin Sect, even before she was handed the position officially. Although Yan Ping did not act as the sect’s guardian as long as her own teacher, who lasted eight hundred years, duty was the one thing that prevented the sect leader of the Mystical Qilin Sect from ascending. They must pass the torch before they leave.
"You are still far too young. How can I leave the fate of the forest in the hands of a young sprout?"
Hearing this, Anji grimaced.
"Shifu, Anji might be under the age of ten right now. However, I’ve grown up alongside so many sages that I should be as old as grandshifu. Sotis I forget that we now have hot water talismans and will walk to the well to fetch a bucket of cold water for baths."
Oh, yes. Yan Ping rembered the tis when Anji’s actions would reflect soone elderly or ancient, unbefitting of her young self. It was more amusing than concerning. Anji’s ntal state and emotion regulation were back to normal, if not more advanced than before. However, her mannerisms often swung back and forth between a young child and an old woman.
Hearing Yan Ping’s chuckles, Anji could not be frustrated for long. Instead, a similar small grin appeared on her face. If there was sothing Anji discovered on her own while reviewing mory crystals, it was the constant existence of karmic soulmates. Not every sage had one. However, many who were struggling to find enlightennt often encountered one.
For the Grim Reaper of Duan City, it was the monk he befriended. For Anji, it was ironically her shifu. Yan Ping and Anji had a unique interwined fate. At first glance, many people would assu that they were very different. In truth, Anji would think the sa. However, their natures were so different that they were each other’s complentary halves after Anji attained a new level of wisdom.
In a comfortable silence, Anji prepared her unique soldier pill concoction. It was an improvent of the recipe from Elder Quan sprinkled with so extra herbs that Anji specially imbued with her spiritual energy. The persimmon leaves that she gifted her teacher were one of those ingredients. The other spiritual herbs were foraged from the vast mountain a few days ago. Apart from a great environnt, Anji wanted to increase the efficiency of her isolation training. After all, Yan Ping forbade her from attempting the official successor trials unless she had achieved the Solid Core stage for safety purposes.
On one hand, Anji found it ridiculous how she still had to struggle with the reality of an eight-year-old even when she lived for over eight hundred years in mory content. Understanding her teacher’s concern did not make the decision any less frustrating. If anything, it was a type of vexation Anji had to learn to beco accustod to.
On the bright side, her shifu smiled and laughed a little more now that Anji was mostly on the sa page as her. For that, Anji did not mind. She was willing to be the clown that amused her teacher. After all, it seed like they only had each other in the whole world who could understand the sa view of the top and not reach the peak.
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