Chapter 2716 — A Visit to Tang Zhi
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
So the Grand Elder and Elder Zhang came to the guest rooms and saw Kang Xiaofeng, Xiaofen, and Liu Xinlan. The Grand Elder breathed a sigh of relief—so long as it was not that Wei Zhao who had come, all was well. Her one fear was that, at Wei Zhao's urging, Tang Zhi might leave Snow Valley and cultivate no more, and then she would lose far too much.
"The three of you, this is our Snow Valley's Grand Elder!" Elder Zhang introduced her to Kang Xiaofeng and the others.
"Greetings, Grand Elder!" Kang Xiaofeng's tone was respectful, but inwardly he was unimpressed. So this was the old shrew Shen Yushu had spoken of—she certainly did look like someone hard to get along with.
"What is your purpose in coming here?" the Grand Elder asked, coming straight to the point.
"We simply haven't seen Tang Zhi in a long time, and only wished to come and see her. We have no other purpose," Kang Xiaofeng said respectfully.
"Oh—then there is no need to see her. Tang Zhi is at a critical moment in her cultivation, and I do not wish her to be forever recalling the past. Seeing you, she might think of Wei Zhao, and that would cause her great pain and hinder her cultivation. If she were to lose control and suffer cultivation deviation, the consequences are more than you or I could bear." The Grand Elder waved her hand, her mind already made up.
"What? Cultivation deviation?" Kang Xiaofeng was startled. He had never imagined that even a single glance at Tang Zhi could cause cultivation deviation—that was far too frightening.
"That is so. Since you are all Tang Zhi's friends, there is no harm in my telling you in detail." The Grand Elder's brows drew slightly together. "No doubt you already know that when Tang Zhi began her cultivation, she ought to have taken the Forgetfulness Herb draught, but she did not take it—she gave it to Wei Zhao instead. And so, in her cultivation, certain obstacles have arisen…"
Here the Grand Elder could not help but sigh. "What Tang Zhi cultivates is the Heartless Art. To harbor love in one's heart hinders cultivation, and the process of cultivation becomes unbearably painful! If she cannot forget Wei Zhao, then she will go on suffering. Should she lose control and suffer cultivation deviation, at the least she will lose all her power, and at the worst her body will burst and she will die!"
"What! Her body could burst and she could die?" Kang Xiaofeng, Xiaofen, and Liu Xinlan all stared wide-eyed in shock.
"Naturally. In the world of cultivation, losing control and having one's body burst asunder is commonplace." This was no lie the Grand Elder told them—such things truly did happen. She had merely exaggerated Tang Zhi's situation somewhat.
In those years, the Snow Ancestor who founded the sect had created the Heartless Art amid just such suffering, and she had not burst asunder either. But she had grown through her pain, which made her situation somewhat different from Tang Zhi's—she had never obtained love, whereas Tang Zhi had.
And yet the circumstances of their cultivation were much the same. Tang Zhi would not burst asunder either; at worst she would suffer greatly and advance more slowly.
"This…" Hearing all this, Kang Xiaofeng hesitated…