50. The Daoist of the Door
This…
When Qiu Shui gave her answer, it was like a sudden enlightenment for Gong Yiling.
Oh, right.
A master’s wife was called Shi Niang. There was no need to overthink it. The answer was simply Shi Niang.
But… she had to consider the questioner’s perspective.
“Isn’t it Shi Niang?” Qiu Shui, seeing no reaction from the stone door or Gong Yiling, asked, puzzled. “Was I wrong?”
“Little Qiu Shui,” Miss Gong patted Qiu Shui’s shoulder, adopting a wise tone. “The answer ‘Shi Niang’ is too obvious.”
“The one who set this question, though we don’t know if it’s this broken door, let’s assume it’s some powerful being. They wouldn’t use a simple riddle, right?”
“So, we have to consider the question itself, not fall for obvious traps.”
“If you can do this, your math scores will definitely improve by a few points. Understand?”
Qiu Shui naturally didn’t understand her nonsense, but it somehow sounded reasonable.
“Master is right,” Qiu Shui nodded seriously. “This disciple has learned a valuable lesson!”
“So, this question…”
Just as Gong Yiling was about to ask the stone door to repeat the question, it suddenly burst into thunderous laughter.
“Hahahahahahahaha!!!”
Gong Yiling was startled. “Are you having a seizure?”
But the door ignored her, continuing to laugh. “Shi Niang! Brilliant! That answer is brilliant!”
Huh?
What did that mean?
Could the answer really be Shi Niang?
“I’ve pondered this question for tens of thousands of years, and seventeen people have given me different answers.”
“Each answer represented a different aspect of life, but they only confused me further, making me lose myself in the pursuit of the Dao.”
Wait, are you sure those seventeen people gave different answers because they didn’t know the answer and were just guessing?
“Before this, I thought the answer ‘Master’ was the true solution. Oneself and one’s wife, self and others, are all illusions, attachments. Their existence depends only on one’s heart.”
Wait, wasn’t that answer just “I’ll marry myself” because they didn’t know what else to say? Are you sure you’re not overthinking this?
“But even so, I still couldn’t grasp the Dao, still couldn’t reach enlightenment. I was still far from the door.”
Gong Yiling rubbed her forehead, speechless.
“But today!” The door suddenly roared towards the sky. “Shi Niang! This is the true answer!”
“Casting aside worldly distractions, seeing through all illusions and complexities, returning to the essence of the question—this is the Dao, this is it!”
“Thank you, young lady.” The door’s voice suddenly became solemn and ethereal, like a Buddhist chant or a celestial melody.
“I understand now.”
Then, the door emitted a seven-colored light, surrounded by golden clouds.
Its form became translucent, and the surrounding spiritual energy, previously thin, became incredibly dense, forming a spiritual mist only found in blessed lands.
After millennia of confusion, enlightenment finally arrived.
The door ascended to immortality.
Leaving Gong Yiling standing there, dumbfounded, her jaw almost hitting the ground.
“What the hell was that???”
But Qiu Shui, surprisingly, nodded seriously. “So that’s the Dao. I understand now too.”
“What? Are you ascending too? Going on a pilgrimage to the West?”
“No!” Qiu Shui shook her head, asking Gong Yiling, “Didn’t Master understand?”
“Understand what… ahem!” Looking into the girl’s eyes, Miss Gong quickly changed her answer. “Of course Master understood. My head is still spinning from it.”
To prevent the girl from asking any more strange questions, Gong Yiling quickly pulled her into the cave.
Yes, with the door’s ascension, the entrance was now open. But inside… it wasn’t a grand cave dwelling as Miss Gong had imagined, but a small, dilapidated room.
There was practically nothing inside, just some junk you would find in a beggar’s hut.
However, unlike a beggar’s hut, the items here…
Gong Yiling picked up a black sword lying on the table.
“Name: Broken Steel Holy Sword
Alias: Immortal Slayer
Grade: High-grade Immortal Artifact
Attack Power: SS+
Defense Power: None
Description: A legendary holy sword, passed down through four generations of masters. The previous owner was the Divine Venerable Daoist Daman from tens of thousands of years ago. This sword was forged from ten-thousand-year-old Meteorite Divine Iron in the Earth’s Core Fire for eight thousand eight hundred and forty-eight years, then tempered with the dew of the Wisdom Heart Redwood for nine hundred and ninety-eight years, finally becoming a high-grade Immortal Artifact. It was once ranked among the top ten Immortal Weapons, but disappeared after Daoist Daman vanished.
Note: This sword has been stored in a low-spiritual energy environment for tens of thousands of years, thus losing all its spiritual energy. It is now just a slightly more refined piece of scrap metal.”
What… a sword could become useless from being stored for too long?
Gong Yiling twitched her lips.
Weren’t treasures like vintage wine, the older the better? In normal novels, a ten-thousand-year-old wine would be a divine elixir, granting immortality with a single sip.
But this sword… how did it become scrap metal?
As she was thinking, the sword in her hand crumbled into dozens of pieces, clattering to the ground.
Then, she picked up a dull, purplish-black pill.
“Name: Maltesers
Alias: Nine Revolutions Heavenly Divine Pill
Grade: Immortal-grade Pill
Description: The art of Nine Revolutions, defying the heavens, becoming immortal. This pill can harness the Yin and Yang energies of heaven and earth, nine transformations into one, granting immortality. It can heal all injuries except for soul dissipation and enhance inner energy and cultivation to the limit, turning decay into magic.
Note: Items from tens of thousands of years ago should be kept refrigerated (in a high-spiritual energy environment). It’s already rotten. Do you want to eat it? Aren’t you afraid of dying? If you have guts, then eat it.”
Gong Yiling: “???”
Although she would never touch such a strange-looking ancient artifact…
The system’s tone seemed to be mocking her—”Go ahead, eat it if you dare.”
Could pills really go bad?
Gong Yiling looked at the pill, gulping.
—Better not risk it. If something went wrong, it wouldn’t just be a stomachache.
She should look for something usable first.
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