Ye Futian initially thought that the Imperial Advisor’s Residence would have been extremely magnificent and grand, due to its status as the residence of all who stood at such high positions in the Dali Dynasty.
However, when he arrived outside the place, what he saw was but a rather common manor, which was in no way magnificent nor grand.
Seeing Ye Futian stopping, Lu Chuan asked, “Surprised?”
“Rather surprising indeed,” Ye Futian said.
“The value of a mountain is judged not by its height,” Lu Chuan said nonchalantly, “The title of ‘Imperial Advisor’s Residence’ was more than enough.”
Ye Futian nodded and followed Lu Chuan into the place. Everyone else who were there to send them on the trip, including Li Yao and Li You, have left. The Imperial Advisor’s Residence was a private residence of the imperial advisor, with several personal students of his living within.
While the place was not huge, but it was quaint and elegant nonetheless. The towers were placed in an artful manner.
When Ye Futian saw the imperial advisor again, he found the elder standing before a tower.
That place felt clean and simple to Ye Futian.
“Teacher,” Lu Chuan called as he bowed.
“Yeah.” The imperial advisor nodded and turned his eyes at Ye Futian.
Ye Futina bowed and said, “The Seventh Swordsman hereby greets you, teacher.”
“I don’t have much of any rules around here. There is no need to be bound by mundane propriety. Do you find it surprising that I have chosen you to be my student this time?” The imperial advisor asked Ye Futian.
“I’m rather surprised indeed.” The Seventh Swordsman nodded. “The people of Dali all thought that you would have either picked Di Hao or Dong Chen. Why did not pick me instead?”
He had indeed wanted to know why the imperial advisor picked him.
“The Dali Academy holds a forum every year, to either discuss battle or the way of cultivation. After the battle between Di Hao and Dong Chen, I have asked all three of you, about why did you seek the way,” the imperial advisor spoke. Ye Futian nodded. He looked rather nervous back then.
At that moment after entering the Imperial Advisor’s Residence, he actually became more relaxed.
He reminded himself to be conscious of his current identity—the Seventh Swordsman—and forget about being Ye Futian. He did not bring his enmity and vengeance with him, as it would have exposed him instead.
He was already mentally prepared to play his character well when he was on the way to the Imperial Advisor’s Residence.
“Dong Chen and Di Hao answered in a similar manner. Both of them claimed to do so for Dali, but you, you sought the way more for yourself. People learn to love themselves before they learn to love others. I find that very agreeable. Faith is not something as simple as people often put it to be. When a person becomes cornered and forced to choose, faith would crumble all the same,” the imperial advisor elaborated.
“But that shouldn’t have sufficed to have you pick me as your student,” Ye Futian added.
“Of course.” The imperial advisor nodded and continued, “What truly cemented my decision was the line behind—the great path knows no boundaries.”
“People learn to love themselves before they could love others. People learn to be independent before they could be of aid to others. All of that coupled with the line—the great path knows no boundaries—would have sufficed,” the imperial advisor said.
Ye Futian looked at the middle-aged man. He never once thought that what cemented the imperial advisor’s decision would have been his words back in the Dali Academy.
“You spoke of selfishness with the lines before, and altruism with the lines after. As such, I came to believe that if you were to become able to be independent, you would then be able to put the way that you believe in into action—the great path knows no boundaries.”
Ye Futian was very startled to find that the imperial advisor actually came to admire that line. When the imperial advisor pinned him down with great pressure, he was unable to lie and he did not want to. He never considered becoming a student of the imperial advisor in the first place, so he answered according to what he desired instead.
However, the notion of ‘the great path knows no boundaries’ was apparently different from what Emperor Li’s Realm adhered to. The crown prince, Li Xun, said immediately after that, claiming that the world was filled with boundaries. Emperor Li’s Realm, Emperor Xia’s Realm and whatnot, all of those were boundaries, and he questioned how could the great path be of no boundaries.
The Battle of Empty Realm was an excellent example, as it was a culmination of the conflict between the three imperial realms.
His impression of the imperial advisor of Dali had been that of a great pillar who devoted his being to make Dali Dyansty strong, whose pressure overwhelmed all. He was unable to understand why someone like that would have agreed to that notion.
He was indeed puzzled.
“How about you? I have heard that you have refused the offer to join the Sword Mountain. What changed your mind about taking up my offer?” The imperial advisor asked.
“You are one who stands at the pinnacle of Emperor Li’s Realm, and you are known as the number one below his majesty, teacher. How could I have refused?” Ye Futian continued, “Furthermore, if I were to refuse, would there be a place in Dali Dynasty then? Would Li Xuan come to be up to no good with me instead?”
If he were to refuse, none of those top notch figures would have dared to get close to him. If the imperial advisor had not extended his invitation, there would not have been any problems, as he could have simply took other paths.
“You are indeed practical. So, that is to say that you don’t actually want all that much to study under me then? You would have straight up challenged Di Hao otherwise.” It was apparent that the imperial advisor knew that he had defeated Di Hao.
“Di Hao was powerful, comprehensively speaking, but his way of the sword might not have been more powerful than Jian Wu. I have already defeated Jian Wu, so I saw no reason to fight any further. And furthermore, it was like you put it, I haven’t thought of studying under you before. To me, training could be carried out anywhere.” Ye Futian was honest with his words. None of what he said right there had been lies.
“You are indeed prideful.” The imperial advisor smiled and said, “You are now a student of mine. What do you wish to learn from me then?”
Ye Futian looked up with pondering eyes. He was already half a saint at that moment and was indeed one step away from becoming a saint. What he lacked was comprehension of the world and the right state of mind. Powerful figures would have been of little help in teaching him more.
The only way forward with his training rested on him and him alone.
“I’d like to read the Literary Collections of the Sword of Dali,” Ye Futian said.
“Alright.” the imperial advisor did not hesitate, nodding in agreement to his request and said, “You shall head to the library of Dali Academy together with your elder brother. There are countless books on cultivation in all of Dali, so there is naturally no lack of books on swords. Browse to your heart’s contents. Furthermore, since you’re versed in multiple types of will of the great path, you could learn from the different types of methods stored there, and incorporate them in your way of the sword.”
“I understand.” Ye Futian stood and bowed. There should have been many top notch training methods found within the library of Dali Academy.
“Pay a visit to your elder brothers while you’re on your way to the Dali Academy,” the imperial advisor said again.
“Will do.” Ye Futian nodded again. The imperial advisor was the chief of Dali Academy, so it was only natural for his students to all be studying in Dali Academy.
Furthermore, all of them had been from Dali Academy to begin with, with only Ye Futian being the exception.
That was probably why everyone in Dali thought the imperial advisor would have taken Dong Chen as his student instead.
“You’re dismissed. Lu Chuan would take you to your quarters.” The imperial advisor said nothing else.
“Yes, teacher.” Lu Chuan and Ye Futian left together. Lu Chuan arranged for a place for Ye Futian to stay in the Imperial Advisor’s Residence, which was in a quiet tower.
“Brother.” Lu Chuan took out a storage ring and handed it to Ye Futian.
“What is this?” Ye Futian asked.
“Some fragments of the ways of the sword, covering all attributes. While they might not be much, but you’d be able to train for quite some time with them to further your sword training,” Lu Chuan smiled and said.
“I can’t take this,” Ye Futian said.
“This is a gift from teacher,” Lu Chuan said. Ye Futian only stopped refusing and took it over.
“Rest earlier today. We’d had to Dali Academy tomorrow. Despite being a student of the teacher here in Imperial Advisor’s Residence, there is no need for you to attend to anything special. So you could just train here in peace and try to break into Saint Plane as soon as possible,” Lu Chuan said with a smile.
“Yeah.” Ye Futian nodded and said, “Thank you, senior.”
“This is nothing.” Lu Chuan then added, “A younger brother used to live here and there are some things of his still around. No need to mind them.”
“Why would you let me stay here then?” Ye Futian able to somehow speculate something was going on, so he asked.
“He died in battle.” Lu Chuan sighed.
Ye Futian was able to feel Lu Chuan’s dejection and said, “I’m sorry.”
“He had not joined us for long and should have had a bright future ahead of him.” Lu Chuan shook his head and left, “We’ll get the score settled at a later date.”
He left after he was done talking.
Ye Futian did not know what to think. Yuan Jin died by his hands after all.
At that moment, he was arranged to stay in a place that Yuan Jin used to stay in.
“The imperial advisor and Lu Chuan.” Ye Futian mumbled to himself. The imperial advisor agreed to the notion of the great path knowing no boundaries. He was still unable to fathom why, but he deemed that he would have understood given time.
He sat cross-legged before the tower and closed his eyes to train, finding his mind in turmoil.
He had used extremely little time to get to the heart of Dali and even get in contact with Li Yao directly. If he were to have no sense of preservation, he could have killed Li Yao right there and then.
With his current identity, it became convenient for him to get in contact with Li Yao directly. Killing him became very easy. The problem however, was how to escape in one piece after he was done.
Ye Futian spent the day thinking, finding himself unable to quiet down.
Dali Imperial City was just as restless as he was. The case with the imperial advisor taking in a student and the battle between the Seventh Swordsman and Di Hao became the talk of the town.
There was simply no one who had not heard of the Seventh Swordsman by then.
Lu Chuan returned to the imperial advisor and he was seen sitting on the floor, training. The imperial advisor asked after seeing Lu Chuan show up, “What is the problem, Lu Chuan?”
“Teacher, the battle between little brother and Di Hao was a showcase of his immense combat capacity. Even I had gotten surprised,” Lu Chuan said.
“What are you getting at?” The imperial advisor asked.
“Is there a need to check things out in the Lower Worlds, teacher?” Lu Chuan asked.
“There is no need for that.” The imperial advisor then said, “Remember, Lu Chuan. When I chose to make him a student of mine, he then became your little brother in training. Be it his past or future, there is no need to be bothered about it.”
“I understand.” Lu Chuan bowed and left, putting the matter aside.
Even if he were to venture down to the Lower Worlds, he would not have been able to find out anything. There was simply no way to investigate a person that just appeared out of nowhere, as there were no leads to trace.
The imperial advisor looked up at the sky after Lu Chuan left. The stars were all over the night sky. His eyes were incredibly deep, as if he was able to pierce through the void above and see how the stars move.
In Emperor Xia’s Palace, after Xia Qingyuan knew that Ye Futian was taken into the Imperial Advisor’s Residence to study under the imperial advisor, the sacred beat gave the Black Wind Condor another round of beating.
The Black Wind Condor was in tears, swearing that it would not be called a qualified bird if it were to not get back to the one who gave it a good beating.