12

When Bai li yue woke up a day later, she was alone in a strange room. She didn't remember how she got there.

'Teacher! Teacher!' she scrambled out of the room searching desperately for chu jiang li from room to room. She found him sitting in the courtyard watching the moon. 

' foolish child. I won't leave without saying farewell.'

' i was afraid-'

'This girl! I didn't know you were such a baby. When i leave, are you going to spend the rest of your life crying?'

They watched the moon in a comfortable silence. 

'do the people of your world gaze at the moon too?'

'mmm. Maybe in the ancient times. Nowadays, people are too busy or too distracted by other things to enjoy a simple thing like moon gazing.'

' li yue' er, i'm sorry.'

' for what?'

' i can't fulfill my promise to send you back to your world.'

His words made her heart twinge in pain. Her tears threatened to overflow.

'There. No more tears. You have cried enough for both of us.'

She sniffed and dried her eyes with the corner of her sleeve.

' you don't have anything to apologize for. I don't feel cheated at all by our deal. You gave me a new lease on life that is more than i can say for you.'

'what makes you think that i got the bad end of the deal? I am home, aren't i? To me, that is more important than all the riches of the world.'

' well, have you seen your home? It is in really bad shape.'

' it is now your home too. The sect is in a worse shape than i thought. You should have seen it when i was here. The peaks were a sight to behold. Spirit energy was abundant and the students were the best and brightest from all over the continent. That was what a sect founded by three immortals. But now, everything is falling apart.'

She listened to him recounting the glorious past. She didn't really care about the sect, but her teacher treasured it. It was his home and even though he was dying, he probably wished he could protect his home. She yawned and said her goodnites before leaving. 

Chu jiang li watched the moon for a while before deciding to leave. The moon was too beautiful tonight, but his strength was dwindling at an alarming rate. He was finally back home. His heart was at peace. Standing up, the moonlight fell on the ring lying beside the tea pot. It was the spatial ring that he'd given to Bai li yue. 

The next morning he asked her about the ring.

' i'm giving it back to you. You'll need everything in there to save the sect.'

' are you disappointed in this old man?'

' did you intend for this to happen?'

'No.'

'Then i'm not disappointed at all. You wish to protect your home. It is a praiseworthy sentiment.'

'my eyes really didn't deceive me. How about we do something else instead. Follow me li yue. Since the contents of the ring are rightfully yours, give them part of it and leave the rest for yourself.'

They arrived at the courtyard belonging to the first elder. Grand elder mu was visiting him after the meeting with the elders. 

They hadn't had much time to talk after ancestor chu's arrival. In the beginning, they had been filled with hope at the prospect of the return of a sect ancestor who had attained sovereignty more than a thousand years ago. The reality of the situation, however, was like a cold shower: cold and bone chilling. There was no way to save the sect.

The first elder vacated his seat for ancestor chu when he arrived. He didn't know whether to bow to the young lady who was technically his senior. She saved him by giving him a half bow before taking a seat next to ancestor chu. 

'after understanding the situation, i have come to a decision. Naturally, i cannot sit and do nothing when my beloved sect is facing its end. li yue er, hand the azure rainwater sutra to grand elder mu. I don't know if it will be a cure for your problem, but reciting this sutra religiously is good for eliminating poisons and evil energies.'

Bai li yue produced a scroll from the ring and handed it over to grand elder mu.

' it will take time to recover and return to your peak, but it will be well worth it. The thousand bamboo immortal sect will once again have a hidden weapon that it can call on in times of need.'

Next he listed a number of manuals and scrolls that she gave to the first elder. The elder was visibly shaking in excitement. He had never seen such a vast array of martial skills. The current thousand bamboo immortal sect was an empty shell in many ways. It had not been long after the departure of the immortals for hidden desires to surface. The sect was ransacked several times by different powers, each time depleting the few resources that had been preserved from past raids. Nowadays all that remained was a scant number of low level martial scrolls that were too widely known to be of any value to the sect.

' do you know what this means? If we can train a few talented youngsters, we can hopefully prevail during the coming tournament and gain the patronage of a higher ranked sect. The sect would be saved then.'

When Bai li yue produced a mountain of martial weapons, the first elder could no longer hold himself back. He scooped a few in his hand, exclaiming in awe. 

' grade one axe.'

' is this really a bloody sabre? I have never seen one in my life.'

' eeeh! A spirit weapon? I have lived long enough. I can die with a smile on my face.'

Bai li yue sighed hearing his excited rambling. If he was already satisfied to death with this little show of wealth, then he'll be shocked back to life when he sees what was to come.

Medicinal herbs and pills piled into another mountain at the corner. The first elder and grand elder mu stared, open mouth at the immense wealth before their eyes.

' Ancestor, this is more than we ever hoped for. More than enough. More than enough. Thanks to you, our sect is saved'

These people! Have they left their brains somewhere? Why are they refusing good things?

Bai li yue exchanged a look with elder chu who chuckled at her frown.

' there is one more thing.'

Without any emotion, Bai li yue dumped pile after pile of spirit stones on the floor. When she ran out of space, she began to double the height of the piles. She was having trouble moving around the courtyard when she finished dumping the spirit stones. She took a glance around and moved to the next room. Grand elder mu and the first elder heard a clinking of metal through the wall and rushed to investigate only to return a few seconds later, looking at ancestor chu with a little uncertainty and some fear.

What kind of old monster was ancestor chu? This kind of wealth, did it even make sense?

The girl was still spraying gold coins out of thin air into the room as if she was watering a garden. 

Grand elder mu took her leave once bai li yue returned. She sent her son with an urgent message for the sect leader before secluding herself to study the azure rainwater sutra. The sect leader was meeting with the leaders of the other rank 1 sects in the province. In the message, she ordered him to return to the sect immediately. Who cares about the purple wind sect or the cloud peak mountain or whatever they called themselves? Sect leader chang kong had more important matters on his plate than wasting his breath on some self important frogs.

For now, first elder could handle matters until sect leader chang kong returned. If things went well for her, the thousand bamboo immortal sect will soon have a sage protector. It wouldn't be like the past when the sect was flooded with sages, but even now, a sage was still a sage. Against, other rank 1 sects, a sage was more than enough.

Ancestor chu discussed the utilisation of the provided resources with the first elder till late in the night. Bai li yue awoke from her cultivation and stopped the meeting when she saw that her teacher's energy was almost depleted . 

The first elder had failed to notice his condition because he was focused on recording the plan ancestor chu had put in place.

The plan would take centuries to be effectively put into action because it relied on secrecy. They were weak at the moment so showing this amount of wealth would be calling doom to their doorstep. They would begin with cultivating a group of talented youngsters to gain patronage and protection of more powerful sects. Under the protection of higher ranked sects they would slowly begin to grow and strengthen themselves.

The first elder escorted them back to their courtyard and returned home in a rush. He couldn't leave such wealth unguarded for long.

That girl was a mischievous child. It was only after the ancestor had scolded her that she gave him a few spatial stones. The stones didn't have a large space so she gave him several stones. He spent the night returning the various treasures to the spatial stones. 

' li yue er, did you leave enough treasures and spirit stones for yourself?'

teacher chu asked her when they returned to their courtyard.

'of course. I kept some for myself.' 

' good. You won't need it until you leave the sect. For now, you can cultivate in peace inside the sect until you reach the sage realm. I'll leave behind a decree for you to be made an elder. That way you can enjoy all the sect resources. You won't even have to dip into your resources.'

'ehh… teacher.' 

Was her teacher this shameless? They'd gifted the sect with so much wealth but he was already making plans to use it.

' teacher, is that a good idea?' 

' this place is now your home. The people here are now your family so of course it has to feed its children. That is only right. Let me tell you, back in the day, as the only heir of  eccentric thousand waves, even though i didn't excel at using the sword, but focused on the dao of formations, i enjoyed more than a quarter of the sect's resources. As my student and heir, don't disgrace me.'

Ahh... teacher is on a different level to me. I can't be that shameless and domineering. Even if i was, would it change anything if the sect leader and first elder say no? I already gave them the treasures, what more can i do?

' i will do my best, teacher.'

She quickly changed the topic of discussion to a simpler one before saying goodnight. She was still feeling the lingering effects of her journey. 

Day after day, bai li yue accompanied her teacher during his last days. He was almost gone now. She sometimes had to squint really hard before she could differentiate his form from the air around. Last night, he closeted himself away and invited the first elder for a private talk. She had fallen asleep while waiting outside. Today when she woke up and saw her teacher, she couldn't help her tears.

' teacher…'

' li yue er… it is almost my time to go.' his voice was but a drawn out whisper now. 

' teacher! Don't go. Please don't leave me alone.' she cried.

' you are not alone li yue er. You are strong.'

She knew her tears hurt him. They were a burden he couldn't carry. He was dying and there was nothing he could do to change it. 

I can't let teacher worry about me in his last hours. I don't want our final moments together to be filled with tears. 

She gathered herself and wiped her tears. Teacher chu was relieved that his student proved his words true. 

They spent the day in comfortable conversation with her doing the talking while he listened.

Chu jiang li, ancestor of the thousand bamboo immortal sect, sovereign of the dao of formations, teacher and master to Bai li yue passed away peacefully in conversation on the fifty second night of the harvest month in year 71 of the turtle king.