Chapter 95
The voice was too familiar to Zuo Bian. It was the person she had been wanting to meet.
She hadn’t found a way to meet her, and now they had run into each other in the park. It was such a coincidence that Zuo Bian couldn’t believe it was real.
But whether it was real or not, she had to look up and confirm if she had heard correctly, although she knew it was unlikely that she had misheard.
A pair of long legs appeared in her vision first, then Zuo Bian met the woman’s gentle, smiling eyes.
“May I?”
For a moment, Zuo Bian felt like she was back in her previous life, but she quickly snapped out of her memories.
“Sure,” she said, her gaze settling on the woman.
The woman sat down beside Zuo Bian, crossing her legs, her hands resting on her knees, her head slightly tilted as she looked at Zuo Bian’s profile.
Zuo Bian looked at her face, her expression complex.
Now that she had finally met her, she didn’t know what to say.
Was this Meng Zhen just a look-alike? Or was she her master?
If she wasn’t her master, wouldn’t it be awkward to suddenly acknowledge their past relationship?
If she was, how should Zuo Bian approach her?
But before Zuo Bian could figure out what to say, the woman spoke first.
“How are you doing here?” Meng Zhen asked with a gentle smile, as if they were still on Mount Feimeng, and Zuo Bian wasn’t the Zuo Bian of this world.
Just one sentence, and Zuo Bian knew that this Meng Zhen was her master.
“Master, I’m doing well here.” She stopped after saying that.
Although she and her master hadn’t been very talkative before, the atmosphere hadn’t been this awkward.
There seemed to be an invisible barrier between them. Zuo Bian no longer trusted and relied on Meng Zhen as she had before.
“I’ve been in this world for a while now. Are you angry that I didn’t come to find you sooner?”
Meng Zhen was beautiful. Just sitting there, she was captivating.
Even with her baseball cap on, Zuo Bian’s stunning figure couldn’t be completely hidden. However, the passersby seemed oblivious to them, as if they were invisible. Zuo Bian was puzzled and instinctively tried to contact 555 in her mind, but there was no response.
She pushed aside her doubts and continued talking to Meng Zhen.
“I’m not angry, Master. Actually, I also wanted to see you, but I couldn’t find an opportunity. I didn’t expect to meet you here today. Master, I’ve learned so much about things I didn’t understand before since coming to this world.”
Meng Zhen nodded as she listened, her gentle smile unchanging.
It was a smile that could easily win people over, but having seen genuine smiles, Zuo Bian realized that Meng Zhen’s smile was too perfect.
The curve of her lips, the angle of her eyebrows, everything was flawless.
“Master, I’ve always wanted to ask. Why didn’t you let me interact with my fellow disciples? Why didn’t you let me descend the mountain alone?”
Meng Zhen said, “Xiao Bian, you should know that before you, I had another disciple. She was your senior sister, but you never met her. Do you know why?”
Zuo Bian shook her head.
“Your senior sister, like you, had exceptional talent in cultivation. Her mind was pure, and if she had continued her training, she would have definitely ascended to immortality.”
In Zuo Bian’s previous world, those who could ascend were rare. Meng Zhen’s praise indicated how talented her senior sister had been. But Zuo Bian had never met her, only hearing snippets of information from her fellow disciples.
She vaguely knew that she had a senior sister, but nothing more. If she asked, the only answer she would get was a sigh.
It was as if her senior sister’s existence was a taboo, not to be discussed.
Now, Meng Zhen was finally revealing the truth about this hidden past.
Meng Zhen had ascended a thousand years ago. Her strength was unfathomable, and her status as an elder in the human realm’s cultivation sect was unparalleled.
She didn’t take on disciples easily, but her disciples always had unlimited potential. Many people wanted their children to become her disciples, but a cultivator of her status wouldn’t stoop to such things for resources. She had rejected countless requests, choosing only those she deemed worthy.
Zuo Bian’s senior sister had been chosen by Meng Zhen from the mortal world. She had exceptional innate talent and a rare Heavenly Spiritual Body.
Those with a Heavenly Spiritual Body were blessed by the heavens. They possessed an incomprehensible cultivation speed and could communicate with the Heavenly Dao, surpassing countless others from the start.
So Meng Zhen’s claim that her senior sister could have ascended to immortality wasn’t an exaggeration.
But something must have happened.
As expected, Zuo Bian’s senior sister fell in love with an ordinary human man. Love clouded her mind. Her heart was no longer filled with the pursuit of the Dao and cultivation, but with romantic love.
Everyone thought she had gone astray, but she didn’t turn back. She even got pregnant with the human man’s child. Her Heavenly Spiritual Body was damaged by pregnancy and childbirth, her chances of ascension becoming slim. She became just like everyone else.
People lamented her wasted potential.
Seeing her disciple throwing away her future, Meng Zhen disagreed with her choices but didn’t expel her from the sect.
However, Zuo Bian’s senior sister stole Meng Zhen’s treasure and ran away with her baby daughter.
Meng Zhen’s treasure was recovered, and her senior sister, seeing that her plan had failed, committed suicide with her child.
The reason she stole the treasure was simple: She wanted to be with her lover forever. She wanted to use the treasure to help him cultivate. He was a mortal who had already reached adulthood, it was too late for him to start cultivating.
He needed external help, and that was why Zuo Bian’s senior sister had targeted Meng Zhen’s treasure.
After telling Zuo Bian everything, Meng Zhen looked at her with loving eyes. “That’s why I always restricted you and wouldn’t let you descend the mountain alone. There are too many temptations in the mortal world, they can corrupt one’s heart. I don’t want you to become like her. You have unlimited potential.”
Zuo Bian, however, asked, “But Master, how do you know that wasn’t her true desire? Maybe all she ever wanted was to live a simple life with the person she loved.”
Meng Zhen’s gaze shifted slightly. “Xiao Bian, you wouldn’t have thought about these things before.”
Zuo Bian frowned. “Is that bad? Master, everyone wants to achieve immortality, to live forever. But what’s the point of living forever if you have no one by your side?”
Zuo Bian saw the smile disappear from Meng Zhen’s face. Unlike the subtle change earlier, this sudden shift in expression surprised Zuo Bian. In her memory, her master had never lost her composure like this.
But the smile quickly returned, although it wasn’t as perfect as before.
“Xiao Bian, you shouldn’t have entered the entertainment industry. You’re not the same person anymore, you’ve changed.”
If it were the old Zuo Bian, hearing these words from her master would have made her reflect on herself, wondering if she had truly changed.
But after coming to this world, Zuo Bian had experienced many things she had never felt before. She had people who truly loved her, people who believed in her, people who gave her courage and confidence.
She could confidently say that she was a better person now than she had been before. She could feel herself becoming more capable as she learned new things and acquired new skills.
“Master, why do you think that? Actually, I’ve always had a question in my mind. Master, are you truly doing this for my own good?”
Meng Zhen smiled. “Why would you doubt that, Xiao Bian?”
Some things didn’t need evidence, intuition was enough. Human intuition was sharp, sometimes people just chose to deceive themselves, refusing to believe the truth.
Zuo Bian wasn’t the type to deceive herself. She trusted her intuition.
“I don’t know why, but I just feel that way.”
A knowing look flashed in Meng Zhen’s eyes. “Xiao Bian, you’ve grown up, you should have your own thoughts. It’s Master who’s still treating you like a child.”
Then Meng Zhen asked about Zuo Bian’s life, and they chatted for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, Zuo Bian said goodbye to Meng Zhen.
After Zuo Bian left, Meng Zhen remained seated on the bench. A man in black suddenly appeared beside her. “Master, are we not going to act? Time is running out.”
“I know, but we can’t be hasty. Zuo Bian is the last sacrifice, we can’t afford any mistakes. It’s almost time.” Meng Zhen opened her left hand, revealing a small, transparent sphere filled with white clouds.
The sphere was almost full. It had already absorbed ninety-nine pure souls, and Zuo Bian was the last one.
Most people’s souls had colors, representing their worldly desires. There were a few rare individuals whose souls were pure white from birth. Meng Zhen needed these souls as sacrifices to fulfill her wish.
However, even those born with pure white souls could be corrupted by the world. The mortal world was chaotic, and humans, despite their resilience, were also fragile, easily influenced by their surroundings.
That was why Meng Zhen had taken on one disciple after another, cultivating them as sacrifices.
Even someone like her, who had achieved a transcendent status and could travel between worlds, still had unfulfilled desires.
She closed her hand, and the sphere disappeared.
==========
After leaving the park, Zuo Bian tried to contact 555 again. Finally, she heard its faint response.
【Host, it was so dark just now. I tried to contact you, but you didn’t respond. It felt like I was being censored.】
Zuo Bian paused, then said, ‘It might be related to my master. 555, what do you think is the biggest danger I might encounter?’
This was a difficult question for 555 to answer, but it was certain that even someone as carefree as Zuo Bian wouldn’t be worried about something trivial.
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