Chapter 375: Chapter 204: Fusion of Yin Qi from the Underworld

On the eastern side of Black Water Pond Manor, there was a slightly deserted small courtyard.

This was originally the courtyard where Shen Wenyan and Zhao Xuan lived after getting married, and the entire family lived within this courtyard.

However, after Shen Wenyan and Zhao Xuan passed away one after another, their eldest son Shen Chongxuan inherited the Literary Dao and moved to live at the Mountain Foot Academy, leaving the courtyard unoccupied.

Only Shen Chongxu resided here alone.

As deep winter arrived, a heavy snowfall blanketed the courtyard with snow and fallen leaves, heightening the desolation in their contrast.

The servants in the mansion used to come and clean regularly.

But they were all driven out by the irritable Shen Chongxu.

Over time, this courtyard gradually fell into decay.

In the courtyard’s pavilion, a figure lay fast asleep on the stone table, surrounded by numerous scattered wine jars.

Creak——

The sound of the old courtyard gate being opened was heard, but the figure did not lift his head and shouted in a hoarse voice.

“I said, you don’t need to care about me!”

“Get out!”

The figure at the gate paused slightly before stepping on the thick snow and walking in slowly.

The figure on the stone table heard the footsteps, burst up suddenly, and threw a punch at the newcomer!

A character for “shield” floated suddenly in front of the newcomer, condensing Literary Qi to easily block this fierce punch infused with Spiritual Power.

“Brother?”

The disheveled figure paused slightly, the violent aura dissipating slowly upon seeing the newcomer.

“If the person coming was a servant from the mansion, or grandma and them, was this punch intended to kill?”

Shen Chongxuan spoke expressionlessly.

Facing his brother’s gaze, Shen Chongxu said nothing, turned back dejectedly to the pavilion, grabbed a wine jar beside him, and raised his head to drink it heartily.

A sword aura formed by Literary Qi came flying, directly shattering the wine jar in his hand!

The half jar of wine splattered, soaking his clothes.

Shen Chongxuan walked slowly into the pavilion, his gaze falling on an old reclining chair nearby, vaguely seeing again the image of their mother lying there quietly, hoping for their father’s return.

He gently brushed away the leaves and snow on the chair and sat down quietly.

“Uncle and Brother Ming have both been here.”

“I know…”

“Are you planning to continue wasting away like this?”

Seeing his disheveled, untidy appearance, Shen Chongxuan felt both heartache and anger, mixed with helplessness.

“Grandpa has asked about you many times. I always tell him you’re in secluded cultivation…”

Hearing this, a slight ripple appeared in Shen Chongxu’s dejected eyes, followed by a bitter smile as he said, “Why ask about me?”

“I’m a waste, not as talented as that little vixen.”

As he spoke, he slowly stood up and started rummaging through the chaotic pile of wine jars nearby, trying to see if there were any left unfinished.

Seeing this, Shen Chongxuan gently waved his sleeve, shattering all the wine jars in the pavilion.

“Kneel down!”

He shouted sternly.

Shen Chongxu paused slightly, stared at him blankly for a moment, and then fell to his knees with a thump on the ground littered with shards of wine jars.

“Brother, tell grandpa to expel me from the Shen Family.”

“I’m just a burden to this family.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of anger crossed Shen Chongxuan’s eyes. He suddenly waved his hand, delivering a slap from a distance.

“You’ve been cultivating since childhood. Where have your ten years of cultivation gone?”

“Look outside our Shen Family. Foreign relatives toil endlessly just for a bit of cultivational resources, and yet you…”

A sliver of blood trickled from Shen Chongxu’s mouth. He slowly raised his hand, gently wiping his mouth, a strange smile suddenly appearing on his face.

“Cultivation…”

“Grandpa once said that cultivation is to make oneself strong, to protect those one wants to protect… But Mother is gone!”

“Big brother.”

“Tell me, what is cultivation?”

Staring at his younger brother’s thin face, Shen Chongxuan was silent for a long time.

He knew very well he must help his brother untie this knot in his heart.

“Cultivation… has three insights.”

“To see heaven and earth, to see sentient beings, and to see the true self.”

“Heaven and earth are the laws, the changing phases of the moon, birth, old age, sickness, and death.”

“Our parents have passed. If their spirits are in heaven, they surely wouldn’t want to see you continue in this way.”

His deep voice carried a hint of elder brotherly affection, filled with pain for his current state.

Compared to him, his younger brother Shen Chongxu had never met their father since childhood, never experienced fatherly love.

Listening to his words, Shen Chongxu said nothing.

The fragments of wine jars under his knees had already pierced the flesh, and blood soaked into the snow on the ground.

“Stand up first.”

Seeing this, Shen Chongxuan got up and helped him to his feet.

The two brothers stood in the pavilion, looking around at familiar surroundings.

Shen Chongxu tidied his disheveled hair at his temples, and his mother’s figure, busy in the courtyard before falling ill, appeared before his eyes again.

Shen Chongxuan continued, “Sentient beings are human nature; demons, ghosts, fame, power, and emotions are all part of cultivation.”

“And the true self is desire. The seven emotions and six desires, greed, anger, and delusion are obstacles in our cultivator’s path to seeing the true self.”

He turned slowly, looking at Shen Chongxu beside him, speaking in a deep voice:

“For cultivators, seeing heaven and earth is easy; seeing sentient beings is not difficult.”

“Only seeing the true self… requires overcoming so many trials and tribulations.”

“You’ve been clever since young, exceptionally gifted, and need not your brother’s redundant explanations to see heaven and earth and sentient beings.”

“Only this seeing of the true self… your brother hopes you can emerge from it.”

Shen Chongxu did not reply, silently watching his elder brother pick up a broom in the corner and start sweeping the snow and leaves in the courtyard.

…

Behind the Shen Family’s mountain.

A large amount of overcast clouds gathered from all directions, accumulating above the entirety of Yunshui City.

The city’s inhabitants were not too surprised, merely thinking that another heavy snow was about to fall.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep