Chapter Forty-Five: Clouds in Motion, Rain Descends

The old man was none other than the Five Thieves. As the saying goes, “Observe the way of Heaven, act according to the path of Heaven.” Thus, there are five thieves in Heaven—hence the name he bore.

At the words of Clear Breeze, he could not help but pause in the act of pouring tea, glancing up to say, “Xingyu?”

You have come for him? This...

Clear Breeze nodded. “Indeed.”

Suppressing his surprise, the Five Thieves asked, “May I ask, sir, why you seek him?”

Could it be for old grievances?

“It is nothing much, merely to inquire about certain matters. Master, rest assured—I harbor no ill intent.” His gaze pierced through all pretense, and he was too indifferent to conceal his purpose.

At this, the Five Thieves finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This disciple of his, though steeped in bloodshed in the past, still possessed a true and candid nature. If not for his wife being persecuted unto death, he would not have become so.

He then said, “He is performing morning rites at the Six Paths Hall. If you do not mind the trouble, come with me.”

“My thanks for your assistance, Master,” said Clear Breeze, rising. The two stepped outside.

As they walked, they entered a bamboo grove. Pushing aside the slender branches, the Five Thieves laughed and conversed with him, “Say not so, sir. You have twice saved the Xiumen. Had it not been for your secret protection in years past, how would the sect have survived?”

He sighed, “But my youngest disciple has suffered much. I beg you, sir, keep all this to yourself.”

Else, his life would be swept by endless storms, his soul left drifting as dust...

Clear Breeze matched his pace and smiled, “That goes without saying.”

After half a cup of tea’s time, they reached the depths of the bamboo forest.

“We have arrived,” said the Five Thieves. No sooner had he spoken than the bamboo’s appearance changed.

Clear waters flowed gently, their surface pure and still.

Before them lay a lake. In a blink, breeze brushed across, and ripples spread over a thousand acres.

It was a sight to lift the spirit, to clear the mind.

“Please,” gestured the Five Thieves.

“Is the Master testing me?” Clear Breeze raised a brow, accepting with good humor.

“Hahaha! It is merely something my disciples devised for idle amusement. Try it, and they will learn that there is always a sky beyond the sky, a man beyond the man!” The Five Thieves laughed, his voice thunderous, his bearing proud. Though he spoke with humility, pride could not be hidden from his heart.

Clear Breeze grew interested. “Forgive my offense, then.”

With those words, he took a step forward.

Instantly, wind and cloud shifted. Six figures emerged upon the lake, shaped from water itself. Each wielded a staff, arranging the Indra Rakshasa Formation, encircling Clear Breeze within.

The foremost attacker advanced, his staff striking forward with the power to shatter mountains and split rivers.

“Well wrought!” Clear Breeze praised, raising his hand. He drew the lake’s clear waters into a silken ribbon, entwining and locking the staff, preventing its advance.

Suddenly, harsh winds whistled at his ears—turning, he met the staff and a sweeping kick at his feet, while two more staves closed in from the side.

With a backward lean, Clear Breeze’s silken ribbon scattered their pincer attack. Before he could rise, two more disciples brought their staves down from above.

Swiftly, he twisted at the waist, lifted a toe to deflect the blow, using their own force to break their formation.

Three were instantly sent tumbling back into the lake, dissolving once more into water. Fresh waves surged, a renewed assault pressed close.

This round of attacks was fiercer than before, their coordination flawless, seamless as a woven cloth.

Even Clear Breeze was, for a moment, entangled.

Their staffwork advanced from the left, struck from the right, wheeled about to stab again—each move possessed the strength to subdue dragons and tigers. An ordinary immortal would have perished or at least been maimed.

But Clear Breeze was no ordinary man. He gathered his true energy in his palm, sending them all flying back.

In a flash, the water splashed and stilled, and all was calm again.

The Five Thieves strode across the ripples, laughing, “Well? Are my disciples not of some merit?”

Clear Breeze withdrew his energy and nodded with a low chuckle, “I thank your disciples for their mercy.”

“You! You think this old man doesn’t know your strength? You were merely indulging them,” the Five Thieves scolded with a laugh.

That round just now—this fellow hadn’t even used a tenth of his strength. Even to say he’d used three parts was an exaggeration.

Yet he tried to give the glory to others, as if the old master were too dim to notice...

Just then, fresh ripples stirred the water.

A man emerged, hair loosely tied, dressed in coarse, short garments, his skin dark and sturdy, with no trace of spiritual energy about him.

He approached the Five Thieves and bowed deeply. “Disciple greets Master.”

He glanced at Clear Breeze. “And this is?”

The Five Thieves lifted him up with a wave. “Rise. This is my friend, Elder Feng.”

“Greetings, Elder Feng.” Yun Xingyu bowed again.

Clear Breeze used a subtle wave of energy to keep him from kneeling. “No need for formality.”

“Elder Feng?” Yun Xingyu’s heart was filled with confusion and suspicion. Had he done something wrong?

“Do not overthink it. I am here to speak with you alone.” Clear Breeze was blunt, choosing not to mince words.

At this, Yun Xingyu’s demeanor changed, cold killing intent emanating from him as he eyed Clear Breeze warily.

“What does Elder wish to ask?”

The Five Thieves sighed, seeing his disciple still unable to let go after all these years. “Xingyu, Elder Feng is no stranger—you need not be so guarded.”

Yun Xingyu glanced at his master, then at Clear Breeze. “Is that so?”

Clear Breeze nodded and countered, “If I meant harm, do you think you could stop me?”

“...What do you wish to know?” After a moment’s silence, Yun Xingyu’s murderous air faded.

“Master, may we borrow a quiet room?” asked Clear Breeze.

“Come with me.”

The three left the Six Paths Hall. What lay hidden beneath it, or why morning rites were performed there, none could say.

Back at the residence, they entered the bedchamber. The Five Thieves formed a seal and chanted a mantra; a stone door appeared in the wall. Pressing a button beside it, the door slowly opened to reveal a flight of stone steps.

Clear Breeze and Yun Xingyu descended together. Outside, the Five Thieves immediately shut the door, restoring calm.

After a short walk, the two reached a secret chamber. A perennial oil lamp glowed dimly. The room was simply furnished: a square table, four stools, a pot of tea and two cups.

Only behind a blue curtain ahead, it was unclear whom they worshipped—perhaps a Daoist patriarch, perhaps a long-fallen Buddhist master.

Yun Xingyu’s gaze flickered. “Are you not curious, Elder?”

Clear Breeze replied coolly, “That is not my purpose here.”

“Very well. Then let us begin. What do you wish to know?”

“The Land of Departed Life.”

“I do not know.” Yun Xingyu turned away, fists clenched until they creaked.

“Is it because of her?”

“You—”

“The dead are gone. In that affair, you slaughtered every member of the opposing family. I do not seek to judge you, but you know how many lives you have taken.” And many were not the direct culprits.

“What exactly do you know?” At the mention of the past, Yun Xingyu’s eyes turned bloodshot.

He could never forget—never forget how she died before his very eyes...

“Not much nor little. What you know, I know. Except the whereabouts of the Land of Departed Life.”

Yun Xingyu looked up sharply, fixing Clear Breeze with a deadly stare. “Who are you, really? How do you know all this?”

Clear Breeze brushed his sleeve aside, sat down, and arranged his robes. “That is not important. What matters is that I am not your enemy.”

Yun Xingyu said nothing, and Clear Breeze did not rush him, leaving him to think.

After a long while, the blood faded from Yun Xingyu’s eyes. He slumped at the table.

“When she died, the Land of Departed Life vanished. Since then, I have never seen it again...”

If not for that treasure, she would not have drawn the wolves’ covetous eyes.

She would not have been shamed, tortured to death. By the time he returned, he found only beasts desecrating even her corpse.

Before his very eyes, they defiled her...

And so he went mad, and slaughtered. He killed those who took her life, and their wives, their children, their entire kin.

He killed for three days and nights, pursuing them for a thousand miles—determined to leave no root behind.

By the end, even his silver snow blade had turned crimson...

Clear Breeze sighed. “Your wife was the last bearer of the Land of Departed Life. Surely you know its nature?”

Yun Xingyu gave a bitter, desolate smile. “The Land of Departed Life—departing death, turning to life; turning to life, departing death. Yet in the end, she died... Tell me, why is that?”

With that, he looked up suddenly at Clear Breeze.

“All things are governed by fate—what is not yours, you cannot force.”

“Shut up! Are you saying she deserved to die?” Yun Xingyu smashed his fist onto the table, shattering it and the teapot, tea spilling across the floor.

“There are countless kinds of karma—not all are good. You must have sensed this when the Land of Departed Life was with your wife. Without some measure of greed or anger, how could such disaster have followed?”

Yun Xingyu was stunned for a moment, then stumbled, barely able to stand. He collapsed, clutching a stool, weeping uncontrollably.

It was his fault. When he realized the Land of Departed Life wished to depart, he did not persuade her to let go. Instead, he yielded to her pleas and helped her keep it.

She said the treasure’s spirit was newly born, ignorant of the world’s dangers. If it met wrongdoers, would it not come to harm?

So each time it tried to leave, he helped her keep it.

Until one time, he left on a journey... and then, and then...

Who would have thought a moment’s kindness would bring utter ruin?

As memories flickered by, it was clear—it was he who had doomed her. In this moment, Yun Xingyu was consumed by regret.

Clear Breeze rose, walked to the curtain, and said, “Each drink, each morsel, is predestined—regret is useless. Do you know which direction the Land of Departed Life fled?”

“When I returned, I heard someone call out that it went east.”

“That is enough. Thank you!” Clear Breeze clasped his hands in farewell, leaving Yun Xingyu alone.

As he emerged, the Five Thieves hurried to greet him, peering past. “Well? And Xingyu?”

“He is fine—he needs only a moment to calm himself. I have troubled you long enough; I should take my leave.”

Just then, Wu An arrived with plain dishes and rice. “Uncle Master, I have left your meal outside. Call me if you need anything.”

“Very well, you may go.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Five Thieves looked to Clear Breeze. “Why not stay for the meal before leaving?”

Clear Breeze glanced at the sky outside. After several polite refusals, he finally agreed to stay for the meal.

It was not until afternoon that Wu An escorted him from the Xiumen. Thereafter, the sect remained secluded from worldly affairs.

Only the Five Thieves, upon returning to his room, heaved a long sigh before entering the secret chamber.

His disciple, after all, was still shackled by earthly ties...

As for Clear Breeze, once he left the Xiumen, wind and snow lashed his body, but he seemed not to notice.

Years ago, Yun Xingyu and his wife had suffered their fate in Paranatva Heaven. If the treasure fled east, would it not be in the Four Sufferings Heaven?

The Sea of Desire Heaven was the first of the Lower Nine Heavens, comprising five great heavens: the Sea of Desire, Paranatva, Four Sufferings, Three Pure Heavens, and, at the center, Middle Dhyana Heaven.

The five heavens interconnect, with established passages, but few traverse them, and thus contact between heavens is rare—only a handful of immortals go back and forth, each content in their own realm.

But if the Land of Departed Life had gone to Four Sufferings Heaven, he would have no choice but to journey there.

If he went, Suhe would be in grave danger on her own. If he did not, the person he needed to save could not be helped without this treasure.

After a moment’s hesitation, Clear Breeze vanished into the wind and snow.

In the vast world, only endless whiteness remained...