My Husband’s Ascension C22 (Part 1)
Chapter 22.1 Uncontrollable
Mu Ling felt that something was off with her master lately.
During a break after morning lessons, she shared this suspicion with Zong Fei, but her boorish, rough-edged senior brother didn’t seem to share her sentiments.
“You’re overthinking it.” Zong Fei wiped the sweat pouring down his face, his palms so slick he could barely hold his sword. While drying his hands, he remarked, “I think he’s perfectly normal. Master even took the time to personally guide us in sword practice today. What exactly do you mean by ‘off’?”
Mu Ling glanced at Zong Fei, who looked as though he’d just been hauled out of a river, and then recalled the brutal scene at the Sword Arena (试剑台) earlier, where Master had wordlessly thrashed him from start to finish.
“…Don’t you think Master seems to be taking his anger out on you for failing to track the sorcerers of Mount Ling in time, allowing them to succeed in planting the gu?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Zong Fei, not the most perceptive sort, waved his hand dismissively. “Master has always been impartial and rational. That was just a lesson; how could you speculate about him like that?”
Mu Ling: “…”
Forget it. Talking to him was like playing the zither to a cow[1].
…
The day of Dao Lord Tianshu’s close-door cultivation drew ever nearer.
Yet that disquiet within her did not subside but deepened with every passing moment.
Ordinary disciples of Immortal Realm of Kunwu were too far removed from the Dao Lord to sense anything amiss. If there was any difference at all, it was merely that they seemed to see him far more often than before.
He personally oversaw the academy’s monthly examinations.
When a disciple violated the precepts, he personally conducted the investigation and delivered the verdict.
Even the outer sect’s routine affairs, matters that were usually handled entirely by the Elders, he now insisted on managing himself.
If one were determined enough, there would always be endless tasks to occupy oneself with. Dao Lord Tianshu buried himself in those dull, trifling affairs, even forgoing rest altogether.
Silently, Mu Ling took in every detail.
At times, Mu Ling felt her master appeared perfectly normal, but at others, that very calmness seemed unnaturally eerie.
As though something terrifying was quietly brewing beneath the surface.
Yet aside from Lord Yaoguang, the five other elders found this change deeply reassuring.
They all agreed that it was thanks to Xie Tanzhao’s death.
With her gone, Dao Lord Tianshu’s final weakness had vanished completely. Not only had he reverted to his old self, but he seemed even more composed, more diligent; surely, under his leadership, Kunwu would prosper like never before.
“...Dao Lord, you will be entering close-door cultivation in two days at the latest," Lord Tianxuan said, watching as Dao Lord Tianshu came once again to the Elders’ Hall to collect a pile of intelligence reports from the outer sect. “These trivial matters can be left to us; you need not handle everything yourself.”
He spoke with a faint smile.
Appearing in his forties or fifties, Lord Tianxuan was a man of stern and distinguished bearing, the most senior of the Kunwu Elders. He had been there since the former sect master brought back the child of the Zhongli Clan, and his feelings toward Dao Lord Tianshu was one of both father and teacher.
The young man before him had a gentle countenance as he replied, “Precisely because I’m about to enter close-door cultivation, I’ve little else to occupy me so I took a look in passing. During my absence, I must trouble you elders to see to the sect’s affairs.”
“Think nothing of it; that’s only natural.”
The sapling they had once nurtured in Kunwu had now grown into a towering tree, one strong enough to shelter the sect from storm and wind. Pride and satisfaction welled within Lord Tianxuan’s heart.
Recalling a matter he and the other elders had discussed a few days ago, he hesitated briefly before testing the waters, “Once this close-door cultivation ends... have you considered the future?”
The young man’s brows lifted slightly as he asked with humble composure, “What matter of the future does Elder refer to?”
Lord Tianxuan replied, “If your close-door cultivation brings about a breakthrough, that would, of course, be most fortunate. But should it not... the other elders and I have discussed that perhaps it is time you consider seeking a suitable cultivation partner,someone with whom you might engage in dual cultivation...”
It had not been mentioned before, as Dao Lord Tianshu pursued the Dao of abstinence and purity of mind.
But now that his Primordial Yang had been taken by that mortal woman, his cultivation path would inevitably require adjustment. Entering a dual cultivation bond might, in truth, serve as another means to advance his power.
Dao Lord Tianshu’s lips curved faintly, betraying no sign of objection. “Has Elder someone in mind?”
The original candidate had been the veiled Wu-Shaman of Mount Ling, but after the madness Dao Lord Tianshu displayed that day, none dared bring up her name again. The Wu-Shaman herself had likely been frightened half to death and would not dare set foot upon Kunwu’s peaks for many years to come.
Lord Tianxuan said, “The other elders and I are of one mind—the daughter of the Polaris Confucian Sect’s sect master, Shi Lanyan, would be a most fitting match. Dao Lord might give it some thought—”
“No need.”
The outcome was, in truth, within expectations. Lord Tianxuan was just about to give up when Dao Lord Tianshu continued,
“If the elders are satisfied with the choice, you may go to Polaris’s Confucian Sect to propose the match yourselves. I have no objections.”
Twisting peaks herald a change unforeseen.
(TLN: 峰回路转 is an idiom that literally translates to ‘the mountain road twists around each new peak’, which can be interpreted as ‘an unexpected opportunity’ or ‘things have taken a new turn’)
Lord Tianxuan’s head snapped up, disbelief flickering across his face. “Dao Lord, do you mean this in earnest?”
The Dao Lord in snow-white robes regarded him with eyes as clear and cold as glazed crystal, a faint, elusive smile glimmering within them. His voice was soft, almost languid, “Ah, in earnest. Go ahead.”
Dao Lord Tianshu, who had always been untouched by worldly affection, agreed with such ease that the elders of Kunwu could scarcely believe it.
They had steeled themselves for a prolonged struggle—gentle persuasion, solemn reasoning, perhaps even appeals to duty and legacy. Yet all their preparation landed upon a cushion of air; utterly anticlimactic.
Could this be a ruse?
But since the Dao Lord’s word had ever been unshakable, though doubt simmered in their hearts, they dared not question him aloud. Holding on to a sliver of hope, they immediately set about arranging the formal rites of engagement, dispatching their envoys to Polaris Confucian Sect the very next day.
The sect master of Polaris was no less astonished. He asked repeatedly, “Was this truly spoken by Dao Lord Tianshu himself?”
With a face aglow with triumph, Lord Tianxuan replied, “Indeed. Henceforth, Immortal Realm of Kunwu and Polaris Confucian Sect shall be allied in friendship. Kunwu will spare no resources, and our two sects shall share freely in what each possesses.”
The sect master of Polaris was keenly aware that Lord Tianxuan’s aim was to assess Shi Lanyan’s stance in advance.
“In that case, I must first thank Lord Tianxuan,” he said with a genial smile. “Polaris Confucian Sect will, of course, respond with equal sincerity—”
Thus the two heads of the great sects spoke warmly, their conversation flowing so smoothly that they were soon discussing details of the forthcoming union ceremony—how many days of feasting to hold, how many sects to invite.
However—
“Keep clinging to your impractical pipe dreams!”
“To have me form a bond with Dao Lord Tianshu is no different from killing me outright! Father, if you still wish to see me alive, drive them all out!”
Everyone from Polaris Confucian Sect was struck dumb.
Who in the cultivation world didn’t know that their young lady and Dao Lord Tianshu had been childhood sweethearts? That she had adored him since youth? Everyone had thought that as long as Dao Lord Tianshu agreed, this marriage would be as unshakable as iron.
No one had expected that in the end, it would be Shi Lanyan herself refusing to marry him.
The sect master knocked on his daughter’s window in exasperation. “My dear daughter, what’s gotten into you? Wasn’t becoming Dao Lord Tianshu’s cultivation partner your lifelong dream? Are you perhaps possessed?”
What answered him was yet another flower vase smashing against the window frame.
“What ‘dream’! I’ve never had such a pathetic dream! Starting today, I’m going to focus on cultivation; men only slow down my progress!”
Sect Master: “…”
His daughter really did seem…not quite right.
Seeing that Shi Lanyan truly looked ready to die rather than be forced into marriage, the Polaris sect master, though full of doubts, had no choice but to let it go.
Meanwhile, Lord Tianxuan was waiting in the main hall, ready to welcome the Dao Lord’s newly anointed future wife to Kunwu. He waited and waited—only to be met with Polaris Confucian Sect’s polite message of apology:
“As for the matter of the marriage bond, it will likely not come to pass. Lanyan’s cultivation is shallow; she deems herself unworthy of the Dao Lord’s match. Our sect thanks Kunwu for its kind regard.”
Lord Tianxuan was stunned for a long while before realization dawned.
So this—this was why Dao Lord Tianshu had agreed so readily to their proposal!
Though he could not fathom the reason, it was clear the Dao Lord had known all along that Shi Lanyan would never accept the marriage. And so, he had consented without hesitation.
All of it just so they would march in with pomp and ceremony today, only to slink away humiliated, never daring to bring up the matter of marriage again.
Lord Tianxuan’s face turned from ashen to livid, fury boiling in his chest. He said nothing further to the Polaris Sect Master and departed in a storm of suppressed anger.
Only after the Kunwu delegation had gone did Shi Lanyan open her door, her emotions at last settling into uneasy calm.
In her mind, the memory of that day at Separation’s Regret Heaven resurfaced once more.
After she had spoken those words, that Xie Tanzhao had been pregnant, the snow-clad Dao Lord had merely paused for a heartbeat. When he regained his composure, the ripples of expression vanished, as though a pebble dropped into a deep lake that stilled in an instant.
“To reproduce and pass on one’s bloodline—that is a mortal’s wish, born of their brief span of years. We who seek the path of longevity, how could we care for such things as bloodline continuation?”
“You seem to wish to sway me with talk of pitying her death. But if I were truly moved by such a claim, would I grieve for her, or for the child that carried my blood?”
“To cultivate, one must first cultivate the heart. Lanyan, you have trained for a thousand years…have you still not cast off a mortal’s heart?”
For generations, there had been near-universal agreement within the cultivation world:
Dao Lord Tianshu was the one most likely to ascend to true immortality.
Not merely for his unrivaled cultivation, but because he seemed born with the countenance of one destined for transcendence; eyes clear as glazed crystal, a visage as serene as the sacred statues enshrined in temples, untouched by worldly desire or turmoil.
Yet hearing his words that day, Shi Lanyan finally understood—
Even the carved gods of clay and wood are sculpted with sorrow upon their faces.
But Dao Lord Tianshu, he had no heart.
The flame of affection that had burned within Shi Lanyan’s chest for a thousand years was at last doused completely by those few words.
She thought again of that young woman who had once, with a mortal’s frail body, crossed countless kilometers, step by step, to stand before a celestial palace mortals could never reach.
The passionate are ever vexed by the unfeeling.
Shi Lanyan thought that perhaps, in the days to come, she would still look up to Dao Lord Tianshu, admiring his peerless cultivation and the unshakable majesty that set him above all beings.
But she would never, ever, be a fool like Xie Tanzhao; she would never love him with a heart so true.
Standing by the window, she watched the Kunwu delegation fade beyond the clouds.
After a long silence, Shi Lanyan lowered her gaze, tilted her cup, and poured the remaining wine upon the floor.
.
.
.
Footnote:
[1] Playing the zither to a cow (对牛弹琴) - The meaning is pretty intuitive so I decided against an in-text note, and opted for a footnote. This is an idiom that literally translates to ‘to play the lute to a cow’. It’s supposed to be interpreted as ‘offering a treat to an unappreciative audience’, ‘to cast pearls before swine’, or ‘to preach to deaf ears’.
