C14 He Said That He Wanted to Cure the Deaf and the Mute but He Did Not Do It

Le Yang left the room with a heavy heart, unaware of the despair etched on the girl's face as she lay in bed.

"Master, are you displeased?" asked a servant clad in gray, standing a short distance from the door. Le Yang would have missed him entirely had he not spoken up.

"No, are there any vacant rooms? I need to practice my Dao techniques," Le Yang inquired.

"Master, please follow me," the servant replied, seemingly holding back further comment. He dared not utter another word until he had a better grasp of his new master's temperament.

At the servant's command, a room was swiftly prepared for Le Yang in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea. The space was both ancient in decor and spotless.

"Are you a butler too?" Le Fan asked, noting the servant's efficient command.

"Master, my name is Jing Chen, at your service for any need. For minor tasks, there's no need for a butler; I take care of them myself," the servant answered.

Le Yang remembered the Bright Mirror Dust, a water-type Dao technique from the Daoist Canon, and wondered if Jing Chen's name was inspired by it.

Once Jing Chen had exited, Le Yang found himself too weary to focus on cultivating 'Star Brilliance.' Without the enveloping starlight, the power of the stars coursed through him much more slowly. Overcome by fatigue, he took a pill to restore his cultivation and fell into a deep sleep.

Waking the next day, Le Yang realized his cultivation had rebounded to thirty percent. By his calculations, even consuming two pills daily, it would take four more days to fully recover. But even with full cultivation, without the ability to practice under the stars, how could he advance? Was he to keep consuming pills? He recalled the Skull Monster's words that a single pill was worth a fortune. To achieve Foundation Building, not even ten mountains of gold would suffice to purchase the necessary pills.

"Master, the three young ladies are awake," announced the butler, who had approached while Le Yang was practicing the Five Animal Frolics in the courtyard to alleviate his melancholy.

"The sisters are awake?" Le Yang perked up at the news and quickly asked the butler to lead the way to them.

Le Yang found it unbearable to see others suffer on his behalf. This was precisely why, despite knowing that swearing an oath to the Heavenly Dao would be to his disadvantage, he remained steadfast and unwavering in his commitment.

"Sister Chu, you're awake," Le Yang said as he pushed the door open and approached Chu Yunrou, who was still reclining in bed.

"Master!" Chu Yunrou exclaimed, throwing off her blanket in an attempt to rise and pay her respects.

"Sister, you haven't fully recovered yet. Please don't move," Le Yang implored with genuine concern, though he was unable to prevent her from getting up. He was then taken aback, "Oh, sister, your legs are healed?"

Chu Yunrou stood firmly on the ground, her posture elegant and upright, showing no signs of her legs ever having been broken.

"It's all thanks to you, Master," she said.

Chu Yunrou had not anticipated such a rapid recovery. Even with the potent medicine from Murong Xuan, such a result seemed impossible. She suspected that Le Yang, who seemed so naive and gullible, must have used some kind of magic on her.

Unaware of Chu Yunrou's thoughts, Le Yang simply believed her swift recovery was due to her resilience and the effectiveness of Murong Xuan's medicine, which he found remarkable.

The two young girls, hearing the noise, also came to pay their respects.

Chu Yunrou was unfazed. If Le Yang could heal her legs, restoring the girls' hearing would likely be within his capabilities. She did sense that Le Yang harbored some secrets, for why else would he not also heal the girls' eyes and tongues? But she was astute and understood that now was not the time for such inquiries.

When a servant arrived to invite Le Yang to breakfast, he took Chu Yunrou and the two girls with him.

"Master, there are hierarchies to consider. It would be improper for us to share a meal with you," Chu Yunrou protested.

Le Yang, seeing he could not persuade Chu Yunrou and the girls to sit, spoke without filtering his words, "Yesterday, my senior brother had a girl dining with him. What's the harm if you join me?"

Chu Yunrou's expression shifted subtly, but she recognized Le Yang's innocent blunder. "Yu Nu’er is Master Murong's consort, and their union is predestined. If you truly wish it, Master, I will sit down."

Le Yang was taken aback, his eyes wide as he gazed at Chu Yunrou's face, etched with sorrow and grief. He hesitated, unsure whether to invite her to sit.

After a moment's thought, Ye Fan rose to his feet, "If you won't sit and join me for a meal, then I'll stand and eat alongside you."

Chu Yunrou's tears gave way to laughter. How could there be such an endearingly foolish cultivator? At heart, he was still just a boy who had not yet come of age.

"Never mind, never mind. As long as you're happy, Master."

Eventually, Le Yang relented and allowed Chu Yunrou and the two young ladies to sit down with him.

Having finished breakfast, Le Yang, cautious not to reveal his starlight power, refrained from practicing the Dao and instead struck up a casual conversation with Chu Yunrou. Despite his thorough knowledge of the Daoist Scriptures, he was puzzled by the discrepancies in the "Great Dao of Three Thousand" he had encountered the day before. Was it possible that his dream memories were incorrect, or had the Great Dao altered over the past millennium?

Chu Yunrou, though a woman, held no ordinary status and was well-versed in the Daoist Scriptures herself. She shared her knowledge with Le Yang, discussing the texts in detail.

The more Le Yang listened, the more perplexed he became. Chu Yunrou's explanations matched the scriptures from his dreams almost exactly, yet this world's inhabitants were only aware of the Nascent Infant stage and oblivious to the existence of True Immortals. Despite the myriad Daoist practices, all were categorized under the principles of Yin and Yang and the five elements, with no mention of the galactic Daoist arts or the potent spells of the apocalyptic teachings.

Le Yang pondered whether this was due to a loss over time or if someone had intentionally concealed the knowledge. But if it was hidden, who could possibly deceive the entire world? The thought was too daunting for Le Yang to contemplate deeply.

Shaking off his apprehension, Le Yang realized he didn't need to concern himself with such distant matters. His goal was to advance to the Foundation Building stage and exact his revenge—that was his heart's desire.

Tired of being addressed as 'master,' Le Yang recalled how the servants at his home, especially those who were more familiar with him, would use his nickname. "Sister Chu, please stop calling me master. I'll call you 'sister,' and you can call me Le Yang or 'little brother.'"

Le Yang was about to share his childhood nickname but stopped himself, remembering his vow not to seek vengeance until he had avenged his family. Thus, he refrained from revealing his family name.

"Very well, master," Chu Yunrou said with a smile. Noticing Le Yang feigning annoyance, she affectionately called out, "Little brother Le Yang."

Le Yang was feeling cheerful when he noticed two servants stealthily carrying a blanket past him.

"What's that?" Le Yang asked, his curiosity piqued.

Startled by his question, the servants' knees buckled, and they collapsed to the ground. The blanket they were carrying dropped, revealing its contents.

The sight that unfolded before Le Yang filled him with a mix of anger, outrage, and sorrow. "Who killed her?" he demanded.

Wrapped in the blanket was the tender young girl he had seen in the house the day before. Her once shy and endearing demeanor was now replaced by the lifeless form of a corpse, her eyes wide open yet void of life.

"Master, the girl took her own life. We had nothing to do with it," the servants pleaded, frantically bowing their heads, fearing Le Yang might take their lives in his wrath.

"Nonsense, she was perfectly fine last night. How could she have killed herself?" Le Yang couldn't accept that the vibrant girl who had greeted him so warmly the previous evening would take her own life.

"Brother, don't misplace your blame; the girl clearly took her own life," Chu Yunrou interjected, calming Le Yang's fury.

"Sister Chu, don't cover for these two. I suspect they were negligent, allowing the culprit to escape, and now they're spouting lies to shirk responsibility," Le Yang countered.

"It's you who's spouting nonsense!" Chu Yunrou retorted, shaking Le Yang gently. "Come to your senses. The Order of Duality is so vast that not even a mosquito could infiltrate without the night watch distinguishing its sex."

"This girl committed suicide. If you insist that she was murdered, then you would be implicating yourself as the killer," Chu Yunrou reasoned, prompting everyone to exit the room. The servants, aware of her special bond with their master, complied without hesitation. Even the steward, who had arrived upon hearing the commotion, did not question Chu Yunrou's directive.

"How could it be me? I never laid a finger on her."

Yue Yang raised his voice in a heated argument!

"It's precisely because you didn't lay a finger on her!"

Chu Yunrou understood the situation the moment she laid eyes on the girl. Encountering this naive younger brother, she pondered whether the girl's fate was fortunate or otherwise.

If Yue Yang accepted the girl that Murong Xuan had meticulously trained, everyone would rejoice. But if he didn't, Chu Yunrou would witness the first rejection of its kind in their sect. It might be acceptable in other sects, but here, in the Order of Duality, a sect dedicated to dual cultivation, rejecting a partner was unheard of. What was he going to do, cultivate with his left and right hands instead?

Upon hearing Chu Yunrou's explanation, Yue Yang questioned further, "Then why would she choose to end her own life?"

Chu Yunrou's smile was tinged with sorrow. "Where would you have her go? Rejected by you, would Master Murong simply take her back and pass her on to someone else?"

Yue Yang replied, "She could stay here with me."

"If you accepted her, she could indeed stay," Chu Yunrou explained. "But if you don't, her existence here would be as cold and lifeless as a tomb. What will happen when you take a wife in the future? How will she fit into that picture? It's better for her to die with dignity than to face inevitable humiliation later on."

Empathizing deeply, Chu Yunrou fell silent, her tears flowing like rain.

"Sister Chu, please don't cry. It's my fault. I may not have killed her, but I am responsible for her plight. This path of cultivation seems so preposterous now. Perhaps it would be better not to pursue it at all, to avoid such troubles."

"What are you saying, brother? If you abandon cultivation, what future would you have? You wouldn't even measure up to the servants in this very house."

Moved by the depth of their conversation, Chu Yunrou shared her own story.

The Chu family was a prominent lineage in the Pearl Country. As the legitimate daughter, she was selected by the sovereign at a young age and betrothed to the Crown Prince. Yet, on her wedding day, as she bowed in ceremony, her phoenix coronet and red veil were swept away by the wind. Zhuge Xuanzhan, who was present, became captivated by her and abducted her to the mountains.

"Cultivators," she lamented, "are no different from mountain bandits."