No Worldly Thoughts was the name of a poetic tune often used by Daoist elders in their writings. Upon seeing these three characters, Jiang Luo immediately knew—this was definitely the residence of that Daoist Master Wei He from the Lian family.
Their whole family had this kind of style.
Lian Xue stepped forward and knocked on the door. After a moment, a young boy opened it. He looked to be about fifteen and showed no surprise at the group’s arrival. Calmly, he said, “Senior brothers and sisters, please come in. The Daoist master is waiting for you inside.”
The boy led them through the gate, and not long after, they arrived at the quiet meditation room, where Daoist Master Wei He sat calmly, already waiting.
Daoist Master Wei He was over fifty, with deep furrows between his brows from years of frowning. He looked like a strict and upright elder. Upon seeing the three of them return safely, his expression eased slightly. He glanced over the group several times. “News reached us from the foot of the mountain a few days ago saying you all climbed up while the snow stopped. But the blizzard followed immediately after. These past few days, so many people have been worrying about you. Luckily, you’re standing before me in one piece—otherwise, your masters and uncles would have nagged me to death.”
Lian Qiang chuckled. “Martial Uncle, just admit you were worried about us.”
“Worried about you brats? As if!” Daoist Wei He huffed and glared, beard bristling. “I told you clearly I wouldn’t be coming down the mountain those few days. Why couldn’t you wait patiently down below?”
As he spoke, he gave Jiang Luo a pointed look.
Jiang Luo was still basking in the thrill of having exposed the evil spirit’s feelings for him. But sensing Daoist Wei He’s gaze, he forced his excited mind to calm down and quietly reflected on the elder’s words.
When Daoist Wei He went into seclusion on the back mountain, he originally said he would descend after a week. But once the week passed, he mysteriously delayed three more days. On the third day, the blizzard hit and sealed off the mountain.
The timing was too much of a coincidence. Lian Xue and the others didn’t have the habit of reading the signs of the heavens, but Daoist Wei He—this mountain-anchoring figure of the Lian family—could it be that he hadn’t foreseen the coming blizzard?
Jiang Luo leaned toward the idea that he had foreseen it.
But even so, he intentionally delayed descending the mountain. The meaning was clear: he didn’t want to get involved in the matter Jiang Luo had gotten tangled in. So he used the snowstorm as an excuse to stay away. What he hadn’t expected was that Lian Xue would bring them up the mountain anyway, risking danger.
If they hadn’t come up the mountain, they wouldn’t have encountered the wooden villa, and thus wouldn’t have entered the mirror world.
But Jiang Luo also considered another possibility.
Could it be that Daoist Wei He didn’t know Lian Xue’s personality? That delaying his descent would make her anxious and act impulsively? Wouldn’t anyone familiar with her guess how she might respond?
Thinking this way, it felt more like they had been guided up the mountain.
Jiang Luo wasn’t sure which version was true. But he was certain that this snowstorm and the mirror array in the villa were likely connected to Daoist Wei He.
Even if he didn’t set it up himself, he likely knew something.
And maybe… Lian Xue wasn’t so innocent either.
Despite all these thoughts, Jiang Luo’s face remained calm and smiling. No one could tell he had already started to suspect Daoist Wei He—and even some of the others—right then and there.
Lian Xue briefly recounted what had happened on the road, then pointed to the three limp figures seated on chairs. “Martial Uncle, after they died in the mirror world, they haven’t woken up no matter how we call them in reality. Please check what’s going on. Besides them, Lian Bing was also badly hurt inside the mirror. And as for Heavenly Master Feng’s disciple…”
She turned to look at Jiang Luo, but he shook his head and said modestly, “Let’s treat those who are seriously injured first.”
Daoist Wei He’s furrowed brow eased a bit at that. Jiang Luo came off as kind and thoughtful—this reassured him somewhat.
With his mind settled, he became more at ease. Daoist Wei He stood and checked the pulses of the three unconscious people one by one. After a long silence, his expression turned increasingly grave. “Their condition is not good. If we’re not careful, they may never wake up again. Lian Qiang, take two disciples and move them to the medicine room. I’ll come examine them further in a moment.”
Lian Qiang led people to carry them out. Worried for her classmates, Li Xiao followed them out of the meditation room.
Daoist Wei He then examined Lian Bing. “Go soak in the holy water. You’ll need at least forty-nine days to fully recover.”
Lian Bing scratched his head awkwardly. “Martial Uncle, why so long?”
“Bones and muscles take time to heal. Half your soul and body were bitten off. It’s already good you can stand now. You still complain it’s too long?” Daoist Wei He’s voice rose sharply. “Get moving and soak!”
Lian Bing hurriedly left. Now, Jiang Luo was the only patient left in the quiet room.
Daoist Wei He looked at him for a while. Lian Xue interrupted, “Martial Uncle, Senior Brother Jiang Luo came to us to cleanse the contamination. I once told Master Feng that he could recover in a month, but now there are only about ten days left. What should we do?”
“No need to rush,” Daoist Wei He said, leading the two out. “His master will come up the mountain in the next couple of days. No need to be obsessed with the one-month limit.”
Jiang Luo was surprised. “My master?”
“Yes, your master.” Daoist Wei He’s tone shifted. “Lian Xue, go check on your junior brother first.”
Lian Xue glanced at Jiang Luo worriedly, then obediently stopped. “Yes.”
Daoist Wei He led Jiang Luo out of the house and toward the back of the courtyard. Jiang Luo watched every step carefully, making sure to step exactly where Wei He did, to avoid falling into any formation traps.
Behind the courtyard was a patch of bare trees, from which heavy snow occasionally fell.
After following Wei He a short while, Jiang Luo noticed the thick snow beneath his feet thinning, and after a few dozen steps, the snow completely disappeared. In the damp earth, tiny soft green grass appeared.
Dead branches were budding new shoots. It felt like walking from winter into deep spring. They stopped by a steaming pool shrouded in white mist. Daoist Wei He finally halted and said, “The Tianbi pool has two springs. The one in the ancestral home is the big spring, flowing with clear cold water. The small spring lies deep in the mountains, flowing with hot water. Your junior brother Lian Bing is soaking in the hot spring water carried from here. Lian Xue said your contamination is heavy. You should go in, let me see how severe it is.”
Jiang Luo politely declined, “That might not be appropriate.”
Although he wanted to soak in the hot spring, he feared that if he polluted the spring, he might not be able to leave the Lian family.
His hesitation was obvious on his face, and Daoist Wei He naturally saw through it. The man in his fifties laughed heartily, with some pride, “Go ahead. This small spring will definitely not be stained by you.”
Since he said so, fine.
Jiang Luo shrugged, set down his belongings, took off his heavy clothes, and wearing only a thin sweater, stepped into the spring water.
Warmth surged in, the height of the spring water reaching Jiang Luo’s waist. He found a spot to sit down, leaving only his shoulders and above exposed above the water’s surface, and couldn’t help but sigh in comfort.
Though the waters of Tianbi Pool made the surrounding area feel like spring bursting into bloom, it couldn’t change the winter’s cold temperature. To soak in hot water within this vibrant environment during the dead of winter, Jiang Luo felt the soreness and fatigue in his body ease quite a bit.
He spread the mist drifting over the water’s surface with his palm and began watching the changes on the surface.
Daoist Wei He, standing by the shore, was also watching.
But he wasn’t very worried. Although the small spring was only about the size of a tiny kitchen house, its effect was far more powerful than the big spring.
The reason the Lian family elders liked to meditate in the back mountain was precisely because of this small spring pool. Daoist Wei He had lived on the mountain for years and knew its powers intimately. Even if twenty people heavily tainted by malicious ghosts were thrown into the pool simultaneously, as long as they could stand, the small spring could cleanse all the filth on their bodies within fifteen minutes.
Without exaggeration, Daoist Wei He believed there was no one in the world whose body couldn’t be thoroughly cleansed by the small spring.
Besides cleansing physical filth, the small spring’s water had another important function: it washed away layers of greed and desire from a person’s heart.
After soaking in the pool, people would become clear-headed, feel refreshed all over, and have diminished desires. It was easier to let go of tangled resentment and dissatisfaction in the heart. If one soaked long enough, they could even achieve the “desireless and wantless” state the Lian family sought.
Daoist Wei He briefly zoned out, but when he refocused on the pool, his eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. “How is this possible?”
Clear to the bottom, the spring water near Jiang Luo slowly overflowed with a ring of pure black filth. The filth spread outward steadily without slowing. The small spring did not dispel the black pollution; on the contrary, it was continuously eroded by it, and to Daoist Wei He’s shock and disbelief, the filth swiftly swallowed half the pool’s water.
Daoist Wei He couldn’t believe his own eyes, murmuring, “How is this possible… This is Tianbi Pool water, the small spring…”
The black water engulfed and consumed everything without slowing down just because it was from the small spring.
Jiang Luo coughed awkwardly twice. Seeing Wei He’s hand trembling in anger, he took the initiative: “Daoist, I think I should get out of the pool?”
Daoist Wei He took a deep breath, waved his large hand, and fixed his gaze on the pool. “Don’t move. Keep soaking. At least fifteen minutes.”
After fifteen minutes, Daoist Wei He looked at the pool, now pitch black and without a single ripple, and was left speechless.
His beard trembled. Then, from the corner of his eye, he suddenly stiffened, then regained composure, saying, “Fated One, you’ve arrived.”
Jiang Luo followed his gaze.
Amid lush greenery, the Fated One, covered in a layer of white like snow, slowly approached. His skin was pale. Normally, such pale skin would easily show blue and purple veins beneath, but Jiang Luo had never seen these on the Fated One.
His long hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were so white he looked almost like a snowman. When he looked up, his pupils had nearly lost all color.
He didn’t look like a human.
The Fated One reached the edge of the pool and lowered his eyes to the black water.
Steam swirled around him, and Jiang Luo almost felt as if he would melt into the hot water.
The Fated One was here?
Wasn’t he supposed to be at Master Feng’s residence?
Daoist Wei He sighed and confessed shamefully, “Fifteen minutes, and the water turned like this.”
Jiang Luo also felt the filth on him seemed worse than when he was down the mountain.
In the wooden tub at the foot of the mountain, he could dye a whole tub of clear water black in fifteen minutes as well. Now, in this much larger spring pool, it still took the same fifteen minutes, no more, no less.
More water, but the time stayed almost the same.
The Fated One gently nodded.
He wore a white Taoist robe that looked like it could be lifted by a breeze. Jiang Luo didn’t know what he intended to do, but the next moment, the Fated One stepped forward and lightly stepped into the black spring water.
Daoist Wei He immediately called out, “Fated One!”
The Fated One said, “No harm.”
He fully submerged himself.
His movement caused ripples on the black water, small waves spreading from his waist. The Fated One looked up at Jiang Luo and walked slowly toward him.
Jiang Luo’s muscles involuntarily tensed, instinctively alert.
The robe covering half of the Fated One’s body was soaked, but he didn’t care.
As he walked, the dirty water beside him suddenly began to purify, the blackness instantly receding and turning clear again.
With each step he took toward Jiang Luo, the clean water quickly chased and purified the black water ahead. By the time he reached Jiang Luo, only the black water right beside Jiang Luo was still faintly lingering.
The Fated One stood before Jiang Luo.
He reached out his hand, his pale eyes seeming to hold the vast passage of time, a gentle smile on his lips, and said, “Come.”
Jiang Luo’s fingers twitched under the water, then he smiled and raised his hand to meet the Fated One’s.
The moment their hands touched lightly, Jiang Luo’s fingers stained black the remaining water droplets on the Fated One’s hand. the Fated One looked down briefly, then clasped Jiang Luo’s hand firmly.
In an instant, starting from Jiang Luo’s fingertips, every single blackened droplet on the youth’s body rapidly turned clean and transparent. In no time, the pool no longer had a single drop of stained water.
Jiang Luo’s eyes flickered with admiration and respect. He said voluntarily, “You’re amazing.”
The Fated One smiled faintly. “It’s nothing.”
He let go of Jiang Luo’s hand. Water droplets formed on his fogged face, and the once distant, unreachable aura suddenly softened considerably. He said, “Come to the middle of the pool.”
Jiang Luo obeyed him and walked to the middle of the pool.
The Fated One left the water, and the moment he did, the black water on Jiang Luo’s body surged out again. The Fated One raised his hand, his long fingers drooping. A drop of blood welled from the tip of the middle finger on his left hand, falling into the pool.
The powerless Tianbi Pool seemed to gain infinite strength, beginning to continuously devour and purify the filth coming from Jiang Luo’s body.
