Cultivating to Become a Great Celestial Chapter 9

Chapter 09: Little Brat

The first thing Su Tingyun did when she got up was to check Li Xinmei’s injury, but unexpectedly when she looked over, she discovered that Li Xinmei’s eyes were open.

“You’re awake? How do you feel?”

It looks like this Regeneration Pill’s effectiveness was even better than expected.

Su Tingyun reached out to help Li Xinmei get up and leaned her against the rock wall, planning to let her eat another Regeneration Pill. It was after she extended her hand that she discovered her hand had already been bandaged, it was definitely Zhang Zhizi that bandaged her while she was sleeping.

“Water……”

Li Xinmei weakly spoke. Su Tingyun said: “How could I sleep so deeply, and Xiao Zhi didn’t wake me even though you regained consciousness.” After she finished speaking she realized Zhang Zhizi wasn’t in the stone cave: “And don’t know where he ran off to either.”

Li Xinmei grinned: “He left.”

“To go where?”

Su Tingyun replied casually, only to see that grim smile on Li Xinmei’s face. Her heart suddenly thumped and she reached out to feel around in Li Xinmei’s pocket. The little bag that held the spirit stones were gone.

“He took it?”

Li Xinmei nodded and didn’t speak anymore.

Su Tingyun didn’t know what to say. She silently got up and went outside to gather some clean dew water for Li Xinmei, then fed her another Regeneration Pill. Normally when she slept she didn’t sleep that deeply, no matter how tired she would not sleep that deeply. And now, she had slept through the entire day to late noon, it was very likely that something was added to that spirit beast meat.

“Little damned brat, if I catch him I’m going to beat the crap out of him!”

She never would have thought that Zhang Zhizi would do such a thing. After all, that time the person that kindly gave her directions was him, the one that invited her to stay together was also him. In her heart, Zhang Zhizi was an extremely kindhearted little kid that was also respectful of elders. But at the crucial point, he actually stole away the spirit stones and abandoned the older sister that he had faced life-or-death struggles with.

“But he still doesn’t have enough for the registration fee with his spirit stones. Yesterday those fraters gave several low grade spirit stones but even totaled it’s not enough.” Su Tingyun still puzzled over it: “Zhang Zhizi’s age is too small and his strength is very weak, relying on himself would he be able to collect the rest of the spirit stones needed?”

“When Xu Wei left, he only took two mid grade spirit stones.”

The number of spirit stones they had collected back then was more than two, but after that there was not even one left. Su Tingyun heard Zhang Zhizi say that Xu Wei took all of them, but now, it looks like Xu Wei only took two, the rest were all hid away by Zhang Zhizi. If it’s like this, then with the addition of what they later collected, there was enough for two mid grade spirit stones.

Zhang Zhizi wasn’t even ten years old, yet he was already so shrewd. Su Tingyun suddenly felt that this world was truly too scary.

She looked at her own wound that was bandaged well and only felt that it was especially glaring to the eyes.

“He’s not very bad, but also not kindhearted. He just chooses to do whatever would be most beneficial to himself. Only with this type of personality would he be suitable to survive in this world and attain the dream of reaching the top of the martial arts world.” After Li Xinmei said this her breathing became a bit unsteady. She was gasping for breath, her originally much improved facial color also rapidly lost its color. Su Tingyun, flustered, softly helped her breathe, and then she completely had no idea what to do next.

“Grannie, why did you come here?”

Not waiting for Su Tingyun to answer, she then said: “Once you’ve come you can’t return anymore. How nice it would be to just be an ordinary person.”

Once you come, you can’t leave, because based on their strength they simply don’t have the ability to fly past that void sea that separates the immortal and mortal world.

“I don’t know what the mortal world is like, but it’s definitely much more relaxing than living here.” Li Xinmei’s face exposed an expression of longing. Su Tingyun’s expression froze, then she picked some amusing stories to tell the little lady. As she talked, she even took out all the jewelry in a small box and picked out some pretty ones to put on her.

“So lovely.”

The jewelry in the cultivation world are also pretty, but most of them were artifacts and she simply could not afford them. And if they were not artifacts, they wouldn’t waste money to buy them. Li Xinmei had grown up this big, yet she had never worn a single piece of jewelry before. Her small, palm-sized face was still smiling, just one second ago she was still listening to Su Tingyun tell long-winded stories, yet in the next second she vomited out a mouthful of blood and her gaze became a bit unfocused.

Such a small child, still having so much life ahead of her, yet for the sake of saving her she received a heavy injury and had to experience the betrayal of friends. Even though she didn’t say it, but Su Tingyun know that Zhang Zhizi leaving definitely hurt her, that’s why she would exhibit the signs of the last radiance before death. 

Three Regeneration Pills originally could keep her alive for three days, but now, she almost can’t hold on anymore.

Su Tingyun could not hold it back anymore as tears fell. Now, what could she do to save Li Xinmei?

There was only one way left.

Su Tingyun put Li Xinmei on her back, then found some vines to firmly bind Li Xinmei onto her back. Carrying her, she walked, not pausing for even a second, to Wuliang Mountain’s foot. This time, she fiendishly wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves and charged through that crowd of accompanying servants that tried to block her. It was also that her luck wasn’t bad and she didn’t encounter those few people that were hardest to deal with, letting her successful get to the foot of the cloud ascending stairs. 

“Ey, old woman, you came again?” The disciples guarding the foot of the mountain had in fact been greeted before, they recognized Su Tingyun.

“I’m going up the mountain.”

“Up the mountain?”

“Up the mountain to find my hus…… Enlightened Spiritual Master.”

Now that I’m translating the novel, I’ll be making some changes. Well, some more changes. Some have already been made while I was editing. But this is the first one that I’m officially making and declaring as a translator. Spiritual Master Ling Wu is changed to Enlightened Spiritual Master as Ling Wu is not a name and according to baidu it originally meant something along the lines of attaining wisdom/enlightenment.

“Oh, then you’ll have to climb by yourself. This mountain isn’t one that old bones can climb. If something happens don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Carrying someone will be even more exhausting, you must think carefully……” Perhaps it was because he saw that such an old person still dared to climb the mountain so the disciple gave a good-intended reminder.

But how could she not carry her. She doesn’t even know how long Li Xinmei can hold on, whether or not she might just die in the next second. Leave her here and climb the mountain herself? Not to mention she doesn’t know how long she’ll be climbing, if in this time Li Xinmei wasn’t able to endure anymore, while carrying her, at least she could stay at her side……

Su Tingyun didn’t say anymore and reached back to softly push Li Xinmei a bit, then stepped forward to the stone steps without any second thoughts.

This mountain, she’s definitely climbing.

The stone steps ahead were still quite effortless. The soles of Su Tingyun’s feet generated wind, after climbing a total of one thousand steps she seemed to have entered an entirely different world.

All around were clouds and mist as if she was walking in the immortal palace in the heavens, but her body suddenly became much heavier, as if the force of gravity suddenly increased multiple times, making each step extremely difficult.

The road of the strongest is long. Not to mention Su Tingyun was very anxious, worried that this sudden increase in gravity would crush Li Xinmei.

She stuffed the last Regeneration Pill into Li Xinmei’s mouth then braced herself and continued climbing. At the start she could still count the number of stone steps, but later she completely could not think anymore. Her legs felt weighted with lead and could only be lifted with every ounce of her strength. Each step was torture, her body was pressed down on by an enormous force, her heard spun. Every step she took she would cough, but later, she actually started coughing up blood.

She had gotten old.

Or to put it more accurately, this body, after all, belonged to an old lady over seventy years old.

Even if she had taken the White Jade Dew and cleansed her bones and marrows, she was still an old lady. In this type of high intensity pressure, Su Tingyun’s entire body was trembling. She already could not even lift her feet. She held her breath as she mechanically continued to climb, her legs became heavier and heavier. In a slip of concentration she fell to the floor. With this fall, she struggled hard, but couldn’t get back up from the floor.

“An old person fell next to the road, will you help them up or not?” In all honesty, Su Tingyun didn’t think of this question on purpose. Merely that as she laid at the side of the stairs, though she was obviously breathing heavily like an ox, she still pulled the corners of her mouth into a brief smile.

The Heavens Ascending Stairs tested people’s strength and perseverance, but more than that it tested people’s resolution.

The path of searching for the truth was full of untold dangers and difficulties, the path of immortality was long without end. Unless it was a person with a firm resolution, it would be easy to walk towards the wrong road during the path of cultivation.

Walking on this Heavens Ascending Stairs is like walking on the path of cultivation. If your will was not strong you would see all sorts of illusions, for example there’d be someone calling out to you rest and offering you a cup of tea to drink, or say you would see a fork in the road that seemed to be a shortcut to the mountain, and so on. And there may not truly be ninety thousand nine steps, without outside factors these steps still naturally increase with desire for less.

Of course, since the Heavens Ascending Stairs were designed to test newcomers, the illusions were not especially dangerous. Most of the people that came to become disciples all know, and in addition they had been warned before by seniors no matter what they see to pretend that they didn’t see it and continue climbing single-mindedly, so in actuality, the number of potential cultivators that were dropped here were very little.

No one told Su Tingyun what she would encounter on the Heavens Ascending Stairs, and her goal was only to climb up to find someone and save Li Xinmei.

If she gives up, Li Xinmei will definitely die. Continuing to climb up, there’ll still be a chance of survival. Nothing could hinder her upwards climb, because the burden her body bears is not her own life, but someone else’s life.

Su Tingyun could not stand up, but she didn’t stop and used her hands to crawl and continue climbing up the stairs. Between the curling clouds and mist, past those dense purple clouds, she saw the end of the white marble steps. There was a round arched door, behind the door was three stories of mountains that floated in the sky.

The three mountains seemed to form a Chinese character, the center mountain was the most majestic. A waterfall dropped down from high above the clouds, similar to the Milky Way, and sprinkled, filling the entire sky with starry splendor. Yet at the summit it unexpectedly restrained its majestic imposing manner and became gentle and affectionate, becoming a silver ribbon that coiled around the mountain.

“We’re close, close……”

The bandaged wounds on her hands had split open and blood seeped out from the white cloths, but she still climbed upwards against the friction of the stone steps rubbing against her body, leaving a winding blood trail along the white marble steps. It was an extremely ghastly sight. At this time Su Tingyun was climbing mechanically, she didn’t feel pain, nor did she feel fatigue, it was like her consciousness had floated free from her body and her body was simply moving forward due to inertia. Until she finally climbed to the summit of the stone steps, only then did Su Tingyun’s consciousness return.

“I’ve made it here, I want to see the Enlightened Spiritual Master!”

She wanted to shout loudly but her throat had already turned hoarse. The moment she opened her mouth she coughed out quite a bit of blood. And it was at this moment Su Tingyun heard a voice say with amazement: “I never thought that you would really make it here.”

Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Edited by Sonia

Chapter end