I Ruined the Long Ao Tian Script-Chapter 53

Thirty Years of a Floating Life

The Third Layer of the Painting Realm.

When Xu Shulou opened her eyes, she found herself in tattered clothes, disheveled and filthy, half-lying on a jolting oxcart. Before her stretched a dusty, windswept road.

She sat up and patted the dirt off her clothes.

She remembered this place—of course she did.

This was perhaps the most humiliating memory of her life.

Such a miserable beginning—was it because that voice had been angered by the two bricks hurled at its face?

She remembered it clearly. Back then, after fleeing the palace, she and her companions had spent a month in hiding. The nursemaid who had followed her, worn down by constant fear and anxiety, fell gravely ill. Xu Shulou had no choice but to leave the nursemaid in a small town, giving her half the silver they had taken from the palace to pay for a physician. She also left behind the palace maid who had escaped with them to care for the nursemaid.

Alone, she continued her journey. After all, the new emperor’s target was her alone—she didn’t want to drag anyone else down with her.

But a young princess with no survival skills stumbled at every turn. By the second month after leaving the palace, all the silver she had brought had been stolen by thieves.

Later, she encountered a kind-looking merchant who took pity on her—hungry, exhausted, and covered in dust. He offered to take her back to his village, where she could temporarily work at the mill.

She was endlessly grateful—until that night, when she overheard the merchant and his fellow villager talking in the next room of the small inn. The merchant’s real plan was to take her back as a bride for his nephew, who had never been able to find a wife.

The villager, who seemed to know the situation well, said, “Your nephew’s last wife ran away. Given his condition, isn’t this just harming the girl?”

The merchant retorted, “Sure, my nephew’s a bit slow in the head, but his family has several large tile-roofed houses and even two maidservants. This girl’s barely surviving—how could she afford to be picky?”

“Hah, fair point,” the villager conceded, and the two soon moved on to other topics.

The displaced princess sat stiffly against the crude wooden headboard of the inn’s bed, dazed for most of the night.

Her only goal was to survive, as her father and mother had instructed. Admittedly, becoming a village man’s wife was a way to survive—at least she wouldn’t have to struggle so desperately to stay alive. She’d have hot meals and even a maid or two to serve her.

She could live like that. But was this the life her parents and elder brother had sacrificed themselves to give her when they sent her out of the palace before the city fell?

Xu Shulou bit her lip, fighting back the tears threatening to spill. Living like this—she might as well have died the day the city was breached. At least then, she wouldn’t be alone on the road to the underworld.

She had never faced such a situation before. Born clever, she had never needed to rely on herself—everything had always been handled for her. Whatever she wanted to do, someone would help her. Whatever she desired, she only needed to lift a finger, and it would be placed before her. Only now, in such dire straits, did she realize… her mind was meant to be used.

She ran through every survival skill she had learned since leaving the palace. After much hesitation, she quietly took the fire striker used for lighting lamps in the inn, tore open the bed padding, and tried to set the straw inside ablaze to create chaos for her escape. But then, unwilling to harm others, she doused the straw with a pot of cold tea from the night before. The damp straw didn’t catch fire but instead smoldered, producing thick smoke. It was enough to trick the inn’s occupants into thinking there was a fire. Amid the chaos of people shouting and scrambling to put it out, she slipped away.

During her escape, she heard that the scholar who had once been betrothed to her had become an official in the new dynasty and had been assigned to a post outside the capital. Coincidentally, the city where he was stationed—Qingyang City—was only two cities away from her current location.

Should she seek him out? She believed he wouldn’t betray her, but… Xu Shulou stood at the crossroads, hesitating for a long time.

Then she met a kind-hearted couple returning from visiting relatives. Seeing her standing alone in the middle of the road, they asked if she’d like to ride with them on their oxcart.

Xu Shulou clung to this lifeline. “Are you going to Qingyang City?”

The woman shook her head. “We’re heading to Jingxiang City. Are you going to Qingyang? Then our paths diverge.”

Xu Shulou closed her eyes, then finally made her decision in a trembling voice. “No… I won’t go to Qingyang.”

She traveled with the couple to Jingxiang City. As luck would have it, it was here that she met Elder Changyu. The lofty cultivator had been drawn to the city by its famous tavern’s renowned Free and Easy Brew. Standing atop a high building, he gazed down at the mortals below and, upon seeing her in the crowd, immediately recognized her extraordinary talent. Whether she ascended as an immortal or fell as a demon, she would undoubtedly become a force to be reckoned with.

The man, who had never taken a disciple before, was moved. He calculated the threads of fate and decided to follow this mortal bond.

Xu Shulou’s choice at the crossroads of life—a single thought—led her down an entirely different path, the path of immortality.

From then on, she became Xu Shulou of Bright Moon Peak on Dustless Island—the righteous, noble-hearted senior sister of the cultivation world, whose talent was the envy of nearly everyone. No one knew her life could have taken another turn. Had she followed that merchant or sought out the scholar… she would never know what those other paths might have held.

Now, Xu Shulou had awakened on this oxcart, rattling toward the city that had once altered the course of her life.

But since this was a trial of her “Dao heart,” she likely wouldn’t meet her master so easily this time.

The woman sharing the oxcart handed her a waterskin. “You’re awake? Have some water.”

Xu Shulou smiled and accepted it. “Thank you.”

The woman gave her a surprised glance. Throughout the journey, this girl had seemed utterly despondent, as if she had lost everything under heaven. Why had she suddenly perked up?

They soon arrived in Jingxiang City. Xu Shulou stepped off the oxcart and looked around at the small city from her memories. Though the world had recently undergone upheaval, the people here had already returned to their peaceful lives. As much as she hated to admit it, Xiao Juncheng did have some talent for ruling as emperor.

But the turmoil had left its mark. Some local government records had been lost, and officials were going door-to-door to re-register households. There might be an opportunity here to exploit.

If Chang Yu didn’t appear, she would have to find a way to survive in this city.

The couple’s destination was a bookshop. The woman hesitated before speaking to Xu Shulou. “Miss, if you truly have nowhere to go…”

Her husband tugged at her sleeve, as if to stop her from being overly generous.

Xu Shulou smiled. “I can read and write. I can help you copy books.”

The man eyed her skeptically. “You can do that?”

“I won’t ask for wages. In exchange for copying books, I’d like a clean set of men’s clothing and a temporary place to stay.”

Hearing that she wouldn’t demand payment, the man finally nodded. “Fine. You can try first.”

The woman pulled her aside: "Young lady, why don't you go wash up in the courtyard first? I'll find you some clothes my husband no longer wears. Then you can write a few characters so we can see what kind of books would suit you for transcription. When the shop closes tonight, I'll bring you bedding—you can make do here in the shop for now."

"Thank you."

Xu Shulou bathed in the cold water of the deserted backyard, changed into the men's clothing the woman had given her, and tied her hair into a single topknot like a young scholar. She gazed at her reflection in the water basin and nodded approvingly at the handsome young man staring back. Even if her life was miserable, she would at least be elegantly miserable.

She went to wait at the place where they had once met, but as expected, the illusion wasn’t so kind—Elder Changyu did not appear this time.

When she earned her first copper coin, he did not appear.

When she bought men’s clothing and fully transformed herself into a dashing young man, he did not appear.

When she lied about being a scholar who had lost her credentials during the war and, relying on genuine talent, passed the examination to teach at a private school, he still did not appear.

The voice from the void seemed to have forgotten her—or perhaps it was silently lurking, waiting to see when she would finally break.

Unable to find Elder Changyu, she also couldn’t seek immortality on her own—the voice had trapped her in the mortal realm.

Time flew by, and before she knew it, thirty years had passed in the human world.

One day, Xu Shulou lay in a hammock in the backyard, a copy of The Classic of the Way and Virtue covering her face as she dozed peacefully.

Finally, a voice sounded in her ear, tinged with smugness: "How have you spent these thirty years?"

Xu Shulou stretched lazily. "So you’ve finally decided to show up?"

"Thirty years have passed. You’ve grown old."

Xu Shulou swayed gently in the hammock and recited with a playful lilt: "Thirty years wandering this world, once chasing fleeting fame in youthful haste."

"How have you fared?"

"Three decades—another lifetime, filled with laughter and sighs alike."

"...Speak properly."

"Fine," Xu Shulou finally removed the book shading her face and smiled. "I never imagined this is how I’d look at fifty."

"How can you still laugh?"

"It’s all an illusion." Xu Shulou flicked her sleeve. Today, she wore a scholar’s robe embroidered with cranes, looking refined and gentle—almost like her father.

"But the decades you’ve lived here are real."

Xu Shulou nodded, pouring herself a cup of wine. "At least it’s been meaningful. I became a teacher at a private school, bought a house with my earnings, and planted apricot blossoms in the courtyard."

Outside, children passed by, calling out greetings to "Teacher Xu." She waved back cheerfully.

The voice in the void sounded surprised. "You seem to have lived well?"

"Not bad. Though the neighbors are a bit too enthusiastic—always trying to set me up with a wife. A bit troublesome."

The voice muttered, "How have you not gone mad from impatience?"

"Madness wouldn’t help." Xu Shulou shrugged. Before entering, she had read records of someone who spent a century here, only to emerge hours later. Her junior disciples likely wouldn’t worry too much.

The ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‍voice pressed urgently, "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Reading classics, using the time to broaden my knowledge. I’ve also read many storybooks—some even based on me. I wrote one myself, though it didn’t sell well."

"..."

Xu Shulou fanned herself with a folding fan—yes, she had even picked one out from a street vendor. "Thanks to you, I’ve mastered lock-picking, gardening, playing the zither and carding cotton, learned to speak a lovely Suzhou dialect, cheated in gambling dens without using spiritual power, and even dabbled in counterfeiting coins—though that last one wasn’t very useful."

"Wait, counterfeiting coins?"

"Oh, and I’ve studied some exquisite mortal sword techniques. Once I’m out, I’ll blend them with spiritual power—they’ll be devastating. Still can’t cook, though."

"Wasting your cultivation like this—aren’t you anxious?"

Xu Shulou tapped her temple with a smile. "I’m cultivating my heart."

"..."

An old man called from outside the courtyard, "Teacher Xu! My wife’s asking you over for dinner—made your favorite lamb noodles!"

"Wonderful! I just bought a jar of Xiaoyao wine yesterday—I’ll bring it over for us to share."

"Perfect!" The old man chuckled as he walked away.

Xu Shulou turned back to the void. "By the way, I never asked—what should I call you?"

"You don’t need to call me anything."

"Can I give you a name? It’s awkward talking like this."

"No!"

Xu Shulou sighed. "Your loss. I’m excellent at naming things."

The voice ignored this, scoffing, "What’s so great about this place?"

Xu Shulou pointed at the artificial waterfall in the courtyard—"Flowing water," then at the sky—"Drifting clouds," at the apricot blossoms—"Flowers," at the table—"Fine wine," and finally at the ground—"Dusty bricks."

She concluded, "Flowing water, drifting clouds, blossoms, and wine—what’s not to love?"

"..." Wait, did something odd just slip in there?

"You haven’t gone mad," the voice said. "I thought someone like you, who thrives on excitement, would lose their mind trapped in a small town."

"I’ve traveled occasionally. After all these years, the emperor’s long stopped searching for me."

The voice seized on something. "Have you been to Qingyang City?"

"No," Xu Shulou answered calmly. "He left Qingyang long ago—returned to the capital to become a high minister."

"I don’t believe you’re truly this composed. Are you just putting on a brave face?"

"Of course I am." Xu Shulou tossed her folding fan and caught it. "Oh, could you at least manifest an illusion? Even a shadow would do—I don’t like talking to empty air."

The voice, now wiser, let out a cold laugh. "So you can have a target to aim at?"

Xu Shulou feigned shock. "How could you think such a thing of me?"