Starlight shone on the ground, and the stars sparkled in the night sky, as if they were looking at the ground. Su Ming was sitting in the courtyard in the village and cutting wood. His expression remained calm, and the wood he cut was placed neatly by his side. It was a clear difference compared to the messy way the old man had cut wood.
The old man's wood was of different sizes and thickness. Once he finished cutting it, the area would be filled with wood shavings. But for Su Ming, once all the wood was cut, there was practically no difference.
In fact, even the sound of wood being cut was very rhythmic. This was also different from the old man. When midnight arrived, the door to the house behind Su Ming let out a creak, and the old man walked out with his hands behind his back. He stood beside Su Ming, and with the help of the moonlight, he cast a glance at the wood Su Ming had finished cutting and frowned.
"Cutting wood like this isn't right."
Su Ming put down the axe and lifted his head to look at the old man.
"What's wrong?" This was the first time Su Ming spoke in the courtyard.
"Everything's wrong. You're not cutting wood, you're cutting people. Oh well, the sound of you cutting wood is making me unable to sleep. Come, I'll teach you how to cut wood. "The old man spoke as if he was lecturing Su Ming. He went up and nudged Su Ming, signaling him to get up.
Once Su Ming stood up, the old man sat down on the stump and picked up the axe as well as some firewood. With a bang, he stuck the axe into the firewood and struck it a few times. Only then did a cracking sound resound, and the firewood was split into two halves of different sizes. Once they fell to the ground, the old man lifted his head and cast Su Ming a glance.
"Do you understand now?"
"No." Su Ming shook his head.
"Your comprehension is too bad, boy. Look carefully. I'll show you again." As the old man spoke, he picked up another piece of wood, and when he swung the axe, he split it in half with a bang.
"Do you understand now?" The old man looked at Su Ming with an expectant expression.
"No." Su Ming frowned, but still shook his head.
"Y-you … Oh well, I'll show you again." The old man spat on his hands, picked up the wood, and split it again.
"Do you understand now?"
"No."
"Do you understand now?"
"Just a little more …"
Time trickled by just like that, and in the blink of an eye, two hours went by. The old man continued cutting wood, and Su Ming continued shaking his head. When there was only one last piece of wood left in the courtyard, the old man rolled his eyes.
"You little devil, are you trying to anger this old man?!" The old man threw away the axe in his hand and glared at Su Ming angrily as he rubbed his wrist. The two hours of chopping wood seemed to have made the old man a little tired.
"I understand now. Thank you for your guidance, Senior." Su Ming's expression was calm, and a pensive look appeared on his face. He looked at the old man, and once he nodded gravely, he wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed deeply.
"Understood? What do you understand? "The old man glared at him and said angrily.
"Every section of the firewood I chopped was very neat and orderly, but this kind of neatness and regularity was done deliberately. Even if I didn't consciously do it, it still naturally resulted in this result.
"But every section of the firewood you chopped was done naturally, and it did not matter whether it was the broken lines or the size, I couldn't find two people who were the same. It's just like life … there are no two people who are the exact same. At most, they are similar.
"Senior, you are not chopping wood here, but cutting off life," Su Ming said slowly. His words echoed in the night, causing the old man to fall silent for a long time once he heard them. Then, he slowly lifted his head and cast Su Ming a deep look.
"I'm just chopping wood, and you're giving me such a long speech? Let me tell you, I'm chopping wood this way because it's the only way I can start a fire. Do you understand? Do you understand?
"It's not easy to burn the wood you cut!" The old man stood up with a huff and glared at Su Ming.
Su Ming looked at the old man. He was not bothered by the old man's previous words, but instead asked calmly, "The only thing I don't know is which part of your life you want to cut off with your level of cultivation and status, and why do you want to cut it off? Also … I don't know how many years you've cut off, but why … have you never cut it off?!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Go to sleep. Hey, boy, sleep outside in the future. You're not allowed to sleep in the house!" The old man let out a harrumph, then turned around, intending to walk towards the house.
"Or perhaps, what you want to cut off isn't your life, but the knot in your heart that has gathered together in that life. You want to cut off the knot in your heart so that the Dao will appear under your feet …
"Senior, could it be that you still haven't cut off this knot in your heart because even you are uncertain about whether you should cut it off or not?" When Su Ming said those words flatly, the old man walked to the door of the house without even turning his head around. Just as he was about to lift his foot and step in, a hint of understanding suddenly appeared on Su Ming's face.
"Could it be … that you are hesitating about whether you should cut it off or not because you are uncertain about the truth behind this knot in your heart? "You are afraid that you will make a mistake in cutting it off, which is why you cannot make a decision. That is why … you want to clear your heart while cutting wood. Instead of asking yourself, it would be better to ask the Dao of Heaven!" At the instant Su Ming said those words, the old man's foot came to a halt. With one foot outside and the other inside, he slowly turned his head around and looked at Su Ming. At that moment, a hint of an expression that was greatly different from his usual one appeared on his face.
There was a solemn look on his face, and his pupils shrank slightly. When he looked at Su Ming, even Su Ming could clearly sense that the old man seemed to have become different at that instant.
But he could not tell just what was different about him.
"You …" When the old man said those words, he paused for a moment.
"Do you snore at night?" At the instant he asked those words, even Su Ming was stunned.
"If you snore, I will chase you away." Once the old man finished speaking, he turned around and walked into the house.
Su Ming stood in silence for a moment before a smile appeared on his face.
'With Gu Tai's level of cultivation, the fact that he respected someone so much is the same as telling me that among the three ninth level Dao Gods, one of them is Asura Clan's Tian Xiu Luo, the second is the emperor of the royal capital, and the third … is a sect that few people know of and his Daoist name …' Su Ming lifted his head and stared at the extinguished light in the house. He slowly sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.
When morning arrived, the moment Su Ming opened his eyes, his pupils suddenly shrank. He saw that the firewood he had cut the previous night had gathered together once again, as if time had reversed.
"Why are you daydreaming?! Hurry up and cut wood!" There seemed to be a hint of anger in his voice. When the door to the house was pushed open, the old man changed into a small jacket and walked out with his opium pipe in hand.
Su Ming was silent for a moment, but he did not speak. He walked to the stump, picked up the axe, stared at the wood, and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the fierce look of a cultivator was no longer in his eyes. The presence of a cultivator could no longer be detected from his body. It was as if he was no longer a cultivator at that moment, but a young man in the mortal world.
At that moment, he casually swung the axe, and the wood was instantly cut in half. They were not neat, but of different sizes.
When Su Ming stared at the two halves of the wood, he felt as if he was not looking at wood, but as if he had created some sort of life. It was as if … these two halves of wood had never existed in the world before, but because of him, they had appeared.
This feeling came quickly, and it disappeared without a trace. It was as if when Su Ming wanted to examine it carefully, he could not notice it. There was a clear difference between this and when he cut wood the previous night.
In silence, Su Ming picked up the second piece of wood and continued cutting it, one by one … When an entire day passed by, Su Ming seemed to have forgotten about the passing of day. When dusk arrived, he looked around in a daze, and there was no longer a single piece of wood left before him.
"Hmm? You've cut wood pretty well today. Oh well, I'll allow you to rest. How about this? Change into a set of clothes and take these pieces of wood to Carpenter Zhang in the western part of the village. Trade them for some food and bring them back. I haven't eaten for an entire day, and I'm about to starve to death. " The old man sat on the threshold and smoked his opium pipe. He patted the clothes he had prepared for Su Ming a long time ago and spoke in a tone of an old man.
Su Ming walked over slowly. He no longer wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed to the old man like he did the day before. Instead, he picked up his clothes and changed into them in the courtyard. It was a sackcloth shirt with some patches on it. It looked incredibly simple and unadorned.
Once he changed his clothes, Su Ming tied up all the firewood in the yard and walked out of the yard with his back slung over his back. Under the setting sun, his shadow was elongated, and it fell into the eyes of the old man smoking his pipe in the yard. He watched Su Ming leave into the distance and slowly put down his pipe. A hint of melancholy appeared on his face.
"Am I getting old? Even this boy can tell what's on my mind … I can't cut it off, I can't cut it off … Is this world … real or fake?" the old man mumbled softly, and anguish as well as confusion appeared on his face.
Days went by, and this sort of life was a rare moment of peace. Soon, three months went by. During these three months, Su Ming continued cutting wood. Each time he did so, he would gain a different epiphany, but he would always feel that something was missing … Similarly, during these three months, Su Ming blended into the village and was accepted by it.
All the people in the village knew that the old man in the eastern part of the village had adopted a son. That adopted son had a pleasant name — Su Ming.
Then, on a rainy night half a year later …
Thunder roared in the sky. Lightning sliced through the ground. Su Ming lay in the wooden shed in the courtyard. He had been staying there for the past half a year. Even though it was raining outside, no raindrops fell into the shed. Su Ming lay there quite comfortably.
At the instant lightning sliced through the night sky outside the village, two figures walked out from the forest. One of them was fat, while the other was thin. They were dressed in gray Daoist robes, and when they stood there, there seemed to be an invisible barrier around them that prevented the rain from getting close.
It was as if they were standing at the top of the world. If any cultivators noticed their levels of cultivation, they would definitely be shocked. They were … Dao Paragons!
"Great Sect Elder, you have been divining the world and the universe. You have calculated the entire universe of Ancient Zang, and you have finally found this person's location. I didn't expect that he would be hiding in this mortal village!" the thin cultivator said faintly. His voice was slightly piercing.
"Of course he wants to hide, but since he's found, he won't be able to hide anymore."
Wei Xin uploaded the pictures of the Resentful Wei, Greed, and Su Xuan Yi.
"This November, the Demon Army needs to fight with a bang. We need to fight with our heads held high. My sword is ready. All of you … raise your weapons. We are cultivators. We do not fear fighting.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
