Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 91: After the Sun Extinguishes, It Is the Moon

Prior to Lan Ting setting up the Spirit-Energy Gathering Array, the trio had individually trained in a bid to enhance their Foundation Establishment cultivation. With the introduction of the Spirit-Energy Gathering Array on the second floor, the four of them now cultivated together. During their free pockets of time, they would even gain deep insights into cultivation through their exchanges with one another.

For example, Lu Yang learned that Man Gu couldn’t recite Words of Sages while in horse stance but could be in horse stance while reciting Words of Sages, and that Man Gu found the former to be a form of disrespect to the sages.

For example, Man Gu learned that Meng Jingzhou would often visit the brothel in the day and do nothing else but listen to songs in order to strengthen his mental power, something Man Gu found admirable.

For example, Meng Jingzhou learned that when Lu Yang had food stuck between his teeth, the latter would use cowhair sword qi to pick it out, which Meng Jingzhou found to be an entirely novel cultivation method.

For example, Lan Ting learned that the Central Continent was once refined from stars.

“Never have I once expected something like that.” Lan Ting was dumbstruck, though this new piece of information also helped to alleviate some of her doubts. Lan Ting pondered about it for a bit and figured that it wasn’t something she couldn’t share. “As all of you know, our name, Moon Laurel Celestial Palace, carries two layers of meaning. The first meaning is derived from the moon laurel trees that grow throughout the celestial palace. The second interpretation comes from the celestial palace’s belief that the moon holds some special significance.”

The Moon Laurel Celestial Palace was built atop a snowy mountain so that it could be as close as possible to the moon, a testament to the moon’s importance to the celestial palace.

“When I joined the Moon Laurel Celestial Palace, I asked my shifu, “‘Why does the moon hold a special meaning? What about the sun and other stars? Can we draw power from stars such as the Big Dipper?’

“My shifu answered that the moon and sun are one. As for the other stars, she had simply smiled meaningfully without saying anything else. However, she would always smile like that when faced with something she wasn’t sure about, so I didn’t make much of it. Linking that with what you’ve just told me, I feel that she probably knew the truth about the stars.”

Lu Yang knitted his brow. “The moon and the sun are one?”

Lan Ting nodded. “I initially didn’t know what that meant until one time after class, I heard two of my senior sisters talking and mentioning ‘after the sun extinguishes, it is the moon.’”

“After the sun extinguishes, it is the moon?” Lu Yang was surprised. He had never heard of such a concept before.

Could it be the stars scattered across the sky are unreal shadow images while the sun and moon truly exist and are two sides of the same entity? It’s the sun when it blazes in the day, and it’s the moon when it extinguishes at night?

The sun’s energy is extremely terrifying. One theory is that the sun is the source of all living beings. Even now, there are people who harness the sun’s power to cultivate, visualize, or comprehend.

If the sun is the moon, what happens to all that energy after it extinguishes? This should be an enormous amount of power! Does the sun withdraw this energy into itself and transform into the moon at night?

“Come to think of it, why did the Ancient Nameless One refine all the stars except the sun?” Lu Yang muttered to himself. If the sun is gone, the world will be consumed by darkness, and countless beings will wither. According to Branch Leader Chu, the Ancient Nameless One had no regard for lives, so they probably wouldn’t have spared the sun out of benevolence.

Meng Jingzhou suddenly asked, “Have you heard of the Radiant Sun Creed?”

“Do you mean one of the Four Great Diabolic Creeds?” Lu Yang hardly knew anything about them.

“That’s the one. The Radiant Sun Creed worships the sun, believing that it possesses some divine and wondrous power. When the sun reawakes, all things will perish, and they advocate for self-destruction before that happens so that they can head to the Kingdom of Elysium.” Meng Jingzhou added, “I don’t mean to be disrespectful to the Moon Laurel Celestial Palace, but if the sun and moon are one, we can draw some similarities between the Radiant Sun Creed’s views and that of the Celestial Palace. Both believe that the sun and moon respectively hold a special significance and possess terrifying power.”

Lan Ting shook her head, not finding Meng Jingzhou’s words offensive. There were similar opinions within the Moon Laurel Celestial Palace, including even more radical ones.

Meng Jingzhou voiced his conjecture, “Perhaps the Ancient Nameless One is hiding right inside the sun. Since time immemorial, the sun has been hanging in the sky without anyone questioning it. It’s a blind spot.”

Lu Yang offered another theory, “Or it could be that the sun contains such immense power within that even the Ancient Nameless One was unwilling to touch it.”

That said, no matter what the truth is, the sun and moon are definitely not as peaceful as they appear to be.

“Never mind, let’s not think about it anymore. It’s the Spring Festival after all; let’s go out and have some fun.” Meng Jingzhou gave up on ruminating over the issue further and encouraged everyone to take some time off. Rather than overthinking it now, I should just go home and ask the elders. Those people surely know more than I do. Just like how they kept their mouths tight despite knowing that I have a Single’s Spirit Root, even telling me that I’ll find out once I get to the Dao-Seeking Sect.

With the Spring Harvest Festival coming up, the festive mood had intensified. Various shops ran their own events, preparing to receive a flood of customers. The barbeque shop was also in the preparatory phase, offering complimentary tofu masks with each purchase of skewers, which was a hit among the children. Small colorful flags decorated the whole street, a tradition in Yanjiang Commandery that was funded and organized by the authorities. They were meant to symbolize the colors of spring to welcome the season.

It was said that Commandery Governor Li had specifically instructed for the flags to be set up quickly to avoid disrupting the daily lives of the civilians, deploying much manpower in the process. In reality, it wouldn’t have affected the civilian’s normal routine. Commandery Governor Li was just putting on a show for the people.

Meng Jingzhou smiled. “These small flags really add to the festive atmosphere.” Even the entrance of the barbeque shop had a small red flag planted there.

“Come check this out! These are all rare books!” An old man with yellow teeth was hawking on the street, drawing the group’s attention.

“What books do you have?”

“Martial arts secret manuals, limited editions of cultivation techniques, you name it.” The old man grinned.

Meng Jingzhou casually browsed through the collection. Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he found a martial arts secret manual. “Lu Yang, look! This book is perfect for you. If you’re willing to cultivate this, I guarantee you’ll reach the highest level.”

Lu Yang looked at the cover.

Toad-Style Kungfu.

“Get lost!”

Soon, Lu Yang also came across a secret manual and recommended it to Meng Jingzhou. “This secret manual is practically tailor-made for you. If you’re willing to cultivate this, it’s possible for you to become a Martial Immortal in the future!”

Meng Jingzhou looked at the cover.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

Sunflower Manual. [1]

The two exchanged glances and chuckled, “kindly” buying the secret manual for the other party.

Man Gu saw that the first page of the Sunflower Manual wrote “One who wishes to practice this kungfu must first self-castrate.” He couldn’t help but ponder, Can’t women practice this martial art?

On the other hand, Lan Ting was oblivious to Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou’s banter for she was engrossed in reading a classical zhanghuiti novel. [2]

The story was about a renowned courtesan who pursued true love and entrusted her life to a scholar in order to buy her freedom and quit the trade. However, the scholar was weak and selfish. Although he loved the courtesan, he was embarrassed to marry a courtesan as his wife. Under his friends’ instigation, he eventually betrayed the courtesan, culminating in the tragic ending of the courtesan drowning herself in the river.

Tears streamed down Lan Ting’s eyes as she found the courtesan’s fate to be very pitiful.

Noticing how immersed Lan Ting was in the story, Lu Yang craned his neck to have a peer. He also found the story to be vivid and touching.

He tilted his head to look at the title of the book.

Dream of the Green Brothel Chamber. [3]

Lu Yang, “...”

He found the title to be particularly amusing.

1. Written for a eunuch for eunuch. ☜

2. Zhanghuiti is a type of long-form classical novel. The Four Classic Novels of China are famous examples of this. ☜

3. There are two jokes here, First, it is a reference to one of the Four Classics, Dream of the Red Chamber. Second, “green chamber” here also literally means “brothel.” ☜