Remembering You For Eternity

2.9 Reminisce

Second Prince Zuo JinHai was the youngest child of Empress Yun.

When he was six, he was admitted to be an inner-disciple of Wu Shan sect under the tutelage of Sage Meng Ting. In fact, with his sensibility and innate talent, the Sage would very much like to take Zuo Jinhai as her succeeding disciple.

However, as Zuo JinHai was a Prince, he might become a contender for the Imperial Throne when he reaches adulthood. If such was the case, Meng Ting did not want to waste the sect's precious resources and her time cultivating the talented young boy, only for the latter to leave the sect indefinitely.

Of course, there had been several Royal Princes in the past who decided to forego the temptation of the throne, or even the riches of being officials, to pursue the Dao. 

However at the moment, Sage Meng Ting could only bide her time. If Zuo JinHai decided to not return to the Imperial Palace in the future, then Meng Ting would bestow onto him the succeeding-disciple's status and entitlement.

Sage Meng Ting was one of three Sages of Wu sect, and the only female Sage of the sect.

During her younger days, her name and standing was constantly linked with the late Sage Shuan Yi. Along with Sage Shen Zheng – Shen Wei's shifu – the three were fellow disciples under tutelage of the same shifu. Their shifu was already long gone by this time, merely becoming a name listed on the sect's honorary record, as another old Sage that failed to attain immortality. Ironically enough, their shifu and Shuan Yi himself, were listed on the same page. Two different generations of Sages, only to become nothing but a black ink on a paper scroll.

If Shen Zheng was always indifferent and did not have any qualms fighting women cultivators, Shuan Yi had always been somewhat a romantic gentleman. He was kind towards everyone, but was more so towards women. Perhaps, that was why the late Sage was highly popular in his days, attracting a lot of attention from the sect's female disciples. This included Meng Ting herself, who used to think that she had a special standing inside Shuan Yi's heart.

She expected to become Shuan Yi's Dao partner. She believed that there was no other female worthy of Shuan Yi; and there was no other man apart from Shuan Yi that was worthy of her.

She, as well as everyone else in the sect believed that they were meant to be. Hence, after Shuan Yi attained Sage-ism, Meng Ting wholeheartedly cultivated and trained really hard so she could break-through from her Enlightened status as well. After all, Dao partners of the same rank were said to benefit each other the best, even strengthening their qi. If there was an offspring between the two, the baby would also be a Dragon among men or a Phoenix among women.

Decades ago, she had just broken through, attaining her Sage status. She came out of her almost decade-long closed-door meditation, only to find out that Shuan Yi already had a daughter – Shuan Bing.

Meng Ting did not even have the chance to see the woman that had stolen Shuan Yi's heart with her own eyes. Apparently, not long after giving birth to Shuan Bing, the woman died. Listening to the stories of the other sect's disciples, not long after Meng Ting commenced her closed-door meditation, Shuan Yi left the sect for a considerable number of years. This was not unusual; after all, cultivators were often dispatched into the vast world to obtain resources or undergo missions. However, when Shuan Yi returned to the sect, he brought Shuan Bing along. The little girl turned out to have a good aptitude for cultivation, so the sect decided to keep her, putting her under direct tutelage of her own father.

Meng Ting watched Shuan Yi, who did not quite move on from the woman's death; watched him dote on Shuan Bing; watched him get heart-broken because Shuan Bing decided to forego her cultivation to be with Zuo JinLong; watched him enter closed-door meditation with an unstable mind; felt him die as his strong qi gradually diminished until there was nothing left.