Chapter 17: Overflow (3)
17 – Overflow (3)
“Programmer!” Yuanxiao’s face lit up with admiration. “That’s amazing. We had a VB course last semester, but I didn’t pass.”
Lin Xun asked, “What major are you planning to study?”
“I don’t know,” Yuanxiao replied. “I’m thinking about history or philosophy.”
As he said this, he added, “It works out since I’m also cultivating.”
The mountain gate was already very close to the main hall of Shangqing Palace. They could vaguely see lights shining brightly inside and figures moving about.
As Lin Xun and Yuanxiao walked, they ran into several young Taoist priests hurriedly descending the mountain.
Upon seeing Yuanxiao, the leading priest said, “Junior Brother Yuanxiao!”
Yuanxiao responded, “Senior Brother Yuanqing.”
“And this is…”
Yuanxiao said, “He is a disciple of Azure Peak True Lord from the Limitless Sect.”
“So it’s Junior Brother Lin Suan,” Senior Brother Yuanqing greeted Lin Xun.
Lin Xun also followed his lead and called him “Senior Brother,” thinking to himself that since this senior brother knew he was Lin Suan, he must also be in the “Loving and Caring Family” group chat.
Just as he was thinking this, he saw Senior Brother Yuanqing anxiously say, “Junior Brother Yuanxiao, when you came up the mountain just now, you didn’t run into any trouble, did you? I heard from the junior brother guarding the gate that Qi Yun brought a few people to storm the mountain gate again. I was just about to take some people down.”
Yuanxiao blinked. “Qi Yun left.”
“Left? You saw him?” Yuanqing said. “He always causes trouble and insists on fighting. Why did he leave this time?”
Yuanxiao patted Lin Xun’s shoulder. “Senior Brother Lin Suan drove them off!”
Yuanqing frowned and looked at Lin Xun. “Yuanxiao, tell the truth. Qi Yun is clearly at the Foundation Establishment Stage. That’s why Master sent me and several other senior brothers at the Foundation Establishment Stage down the mountain. Junior Brother Lin Suan is at the Qi Refining Stage like you. It would already be fortunate if he wasn’t harassed by Qi Yun. How could he…”
Before he could finish, Yuanxiao interrupted, “Senior Brother, Qi Yun really left. Senior Brother Lin has secret techniques from the Limitless Sect.”
Yuanqing still didn’t believe it and took out his phone, saying he would message the junior brother guarding the gate to confirm.
Yuanxiao cheerfully pulled Lin Xun away. After they had walked some distance, he said to Lin Xun, “Senior Brother Yuanqing is the eldest disciple under my master. He’s the most old-fashioned.”
Lin Xun asked, “Isn’t Qi Yun the eldest disciple?”
Yuanxiao explained, “Qi Yun is the eldest disciple of another senior, Yan Yangzi. Yan Yangzi and my master, Xiaoyaozi, are both disciples of our grandmaster. Five years ago, Senior Yan Yang took his disciples and defected from Qingcheng, incidentally creating a feud with Qingcheng. He even left the group chat himself.”
Lin Xun: “…”
He felt like he was watching a drama of entangled grudges in an immortal cultivation story, but Yuanxiao’s mention of “leaving the group chat” immediately broke the immersion.
Yuanxiao continued, “They come looking for trouble every day, saying they want to reclaim Qingcheng Mountain. Qi Yun is at the Foundation Establishment Stage. If a Golden Core elder were to drive him off, Qingcheng would really lose face. But sword cultivators are naturally more skilled in combat than others, often beating senior brothers at the Foundation Establishment Stage until they’re scrambling for their heads…”
Lin Xun patted Yuanxiao’s head.
Yuanxiao asked, “Senior Brother, do you want to come back to my room first and meet Master tomorrow, or do you want to meet Master now?”
As he spoke, he scratched his head. “But Azure Peak True Lord hasn’t arrived yet. Why don’t you come back with me first, Senior Brother?”
Lin Xun said, “Alright.”
He didn’t know the rules and etiquette of these people, so he would just listen to little Yuanxiao.
Yuanxiao pulled him along, bypassing the main hall of Shangqing Palace, and arrived at the cluster of buildings in the rear hall.
White lanterns hung under the eaves of the Taoist temple, illuminating the rear hall.
It was a simple row of buildings, without the painted lacquered wood of the main hall. According to Yuanxiao, these were built several hundred years ago.
Yuanxiao turned on the electric light, closed the door, and said, “Senior Brother, let me make you some tea.”
Lin Xun sat at the small wooden table, watching the little Taoist priest in blue robes hopping around the room to fetch the teapot, find tea leaves, and boil water. It all felt quite surreal.
The teapot was heated over a small coal briquette stove as he sat facing Yuanxiao.
Yuanxiao said, “My mom told me to bring an induction cooker before, and Master allowed it. But—the power was too high, and Qingcheng’s wiring is too old. It short-circuited that very night.”
Lin Xun replied, “Be careful of carbon monoxide poisoning with the coal stove.”
“It’s fine,” Yuanxiao said. “Master says I’ve already achieved Qi Induction, so I’m not afraid of gas poisoning.”
Lin Xun chuckled.
Yuanxiao asked, “What will you do tonight, Senior Brother? I have to memorize… the Nanhua Jing.”
Lin Xun said, “I’ll watch a livestream.”
With that, he checked the time—7:40, still twenty minutes until eight o’clock.
Tonight at eight, Galaxy was holding a product launch for a new release, and Dong Jun was scheduled to appear.
Yuanxiao let out an envious hum, pulling an ancient text from the cabinet and staring at it with a troubled expression.
Watching this child of the new century memorizing such obscure and esoteric Taoist classics struck Lin Xun as bewildering, yet it reminded him of someone else.
He himself had tinkered with computers since learning to read and, unsurprisingly, chose computer science in university.
However, his focus was on algorithms, which demanded a strong foundation in mathematics. Back then, he would often attend lectures from other departments whenever he could.
There was one math course he wanted to take, offered by the theoretical physics department next door, so he went and sat in the last row.
—And there, he met someone. That person also sat in the last row, shared his surname, and was named Lin Shu. The name itself carried an ethereal air, and his appearance was serene and beautiful. Yet, Lin Xun had never once heard him speak.
He had secretly watched this desk mate doing homework—his handwriting flowed like clouds and water, and his speed was astonishingly fast, solving complex and abstruse physics and math problems as effortlessly as writing one plus one equals two. But that wasn’t what left the deepest impression on Lin Xun. What did was how, during breaks, this person would take out some yellowed ancient texts, flipping through them while taking notes with an air of solemnity.
Those ancient texts closely resembled the ones Yuanxiao was now memorizing.
Lin Xun quite liked this desk mate. Back in school, aside from studying, there wasn’t much else to do. Hearing that his desk mate’s roommate treated him poorly, Lin Xun even dragged Wang Anquan along to intimidate the roommate.
Later…
Later, this person disappeared.
The night he vanished happened to be during that math class. Lin Xun still remembered staring at the empty seat, thinking, “My desk mate never skips class. Is he sick?”
That day was a thunderstorm. According to his desk mate’s roommate, he had been standing on the roof of a skyscraper when, under a strange purple lightning strike, he simply vanished.
The scene showed no traces, only a black sword, which was later collected by a museum.
And this person seemed to have evaporated from the world, never appearing again.
He asked Yuanxiao, “Can people who practice Cultivation disappear into thin air?”
Yuanxiao replied, “Teleportation techniques? Those have been lost for a long time.”
Feeling a bit sad, Lin Xun pressed on, “What about disappearing under a lightning strike? The lightning was purple.”
“Purple lightning?” Yuanxiao frowned. “If it’s Tribulation Transcendence for ascension, then it’s possible.”
After speaking, Yuanxiao explained, “Our cultivation is divided into several major realms: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and Tribulation Transcendence. Tribulation Transcendence is the final realm. Master says that at this stage, violet-gold tribulation lightning descends from the heavens. If one can survive the heavenly tribulation, they can ascend to the immortal realm. So, cultivation allows one to ascend and achieve immortality—it’s still very worthwhile.”
“What’s the meaning?” Facing Yuanxiao, Lin Xun asked the question—one he didn’t dare ask Old Man Huo for fear of being beaten.
Yuanxiao: “Meaning?”
“Spending decades reading… these kinds of texts for cultivation—don’t you find it suffocating?” Lin Xun asked sincerely.
“Not at all,” Yuanxiao replied matter-of-factly. “Although they’re difficult to read, don’t you think they make a lot of sense, Senior Brother?”
Senior Brother couldn’t understand.
Lin Xun thought, perhaps this was the joy of a humanities student.
Then he heard Yuanxiao continue, “The books use their own principles to explain the laws of heaven and earth. Senior Brother, don’t you find it profound?”
After hearing this, Lin Xun fell into thought.
“You use your own principles to explain things and cultivate…” He furrowed his brow. “I can also use my own principles to explain things. I don’t necessarily have to follow your rules.”
—For example, the C programming language.
“Exactly! There are three thousand great paths, and each person’s is different.” Yuanxiao said with a serious tone, “Senior Brother, you’ve attained enlightenment.”
Lin Xun smiled and was about to continue the conversation when suddenly, a booming voice echoed from outside the hall.
“Old Man Xiaoyao! Huo Qingshan of the Limitless Sect pays a visit!”
Their master, who had gone to visit a friend at the Celestial Master Cave, had returned.
Lin Xun and Yuanxiao then headed to the front hall to meet up with Old Man Huo.
Before they even arrived, they saw Old Man Huo holding several swords and speaking with an elderly, ethereal-looking Taoist priest around fifty or sixty years old.
“On the way, I encountered a few little brats under Yan Yang. They’ve gone mad from cultivation deviation, acting crazy and waving their swords around, not knowing what they were doing. I disarmed them!” Old Man Huo said. “Don’t they know there’s a crackdown on crime and evil these days? They’re just embarrassing us cultivators!”
Lin Xun fell silent.
He held Qi Yun’s sword and looked at Old Man Huo.
Old Man Huo, holding the other swords, also looked at him.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Well then.
Their Limitless Sect’s feud with the sword cultivators was officially settled.