Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 240: Unfilial Sage

From the catalogue, Anji decided to choose a sage who lived a life completely different from her upbringing and teachings. Yan Ping advised Anji to choose a person she could not understand to view their perspective and broaden her vision, making the training worthwhile. Although it was a risky decision, Anji decided that she would hold onto her principles and not be swayed by the crazy sage who murdered his own family.

"The unfilial sage is an interesting man," Yan Ping agreed when Anji informed her teacher of the decision. "He was born under the star of destruction and paved his cultivation path with blood, building his foundation on bodies as nutrients. One could say that he was far from orthodox. However, we are not here to judge how he lived his life, only to understand it."

Anji was afraid. It was only natural. However, to awaken her Heavenly Eyes, she must bear witness to the whole truth and not just one side of the story. History often speaks ill of losers and praises the winners. That was not new. Yet, Anji could not understand why anyone would kill their own family willingly.

Without wasting time, Yan Ping used chalk and candles to prepare the ancient array.

"This would take a few days or a week at most," she informed her student. "However, you will be living for four hundred years in this span. If you ever show signs of losing control, the safety feature of this array will crush the memory crystal and end the simulation immediately."

Shocked, Anji looked around.

"Shifu, is there a second copy of this memory crystal?"

Yan Ping shook her head. It was difficult enough to gather the remnant soul fragments and energy of those who had ascended. There was no way to duplicate these precious memory crystals. However, compared to the rarity of these records, the fate of the living mattered more.

"Of course, it would be a shame to lose such a precious resource. However, it is a small price to pay for your life. The others undergo similar simulation training. However, their records were recorded by those who are still alive. There are multiple copies of those that we could duplicate. Most of them go insane from boredom of living a meaningless and predictable life. That is not the case for you or me. Do not forget who you are. You can feel for the unfilial sage, but you may not change his fate. To see is to know. To know is to acknowledge that you are only human and to live with the burden of being helpless most times."

Helplessness... Anji began to understand why her shifu was so apathetic and always tired. She was always strict, and nothing seemed to amuse her. Perhaps that was the unintended side effect of gaining unparalleled wisdom that Anji could not yet relate to.

"Anji will not forget," she subconsciously reached for the longevity locket tied to her waist today. "Even if the unfilial sage had a reason to drench the soil red, I have inherited the medical code as Doctor He’s apprentice. All lives are equal in my eyes. We are two completely different people."

Smiling slightly, Yan Ping told her student to get into the formation centre and sit comfortably.

"I’m not worried that you would forget," she told Anji. "You were taught well by the right people so that you would never choose to walk his path. But it is for this very reason that you have chosen to understand his world. Close your eyes, we begin now." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Trusting her teacher’s words, Anji closed her eyes and let the memories flow into her mind. The next thing she knew, she opened her eyes and wrinkled her nose. Something stank badly, and everything itched. Her head was heavy, and her body hurt. She was freezing, but a burning sensation at the back of her throat told her it was not just the weather. She had fallen ill once again.

Unable to control how she thought or reacted, Anji accompanied the young boy in stinky rags in his mind as he crawled, searching for something in the straw bed.

The moment he sensed movement, the boy lunged at it with a speed that did not match his poor condition. Before Anji could identify what it was, the boy had already put it in his mouth and chewed it. The crunch and little stick-like bits, which did not taste like anything remotely edible, made Anji want to hurl.

She had just eaten an insect crawling in the straw bed. Judging from the shape and movement, it had to be a roach!

Instead of throwing up like Anji would have, the boy simply searched for more and popped a few more roaches before drinking from a muddy bucket. Then, he chewed on some raw herbs. They were not cures for the fever and respiratory infection he suffered from. If anything, Anji knew how they were mild sedatives that grew like weeds on the side of the road.

Just like this, she fell asleep once more. While waiting for the unfilial sage’s memory to sync with her consciousness, Anji reeled from shock. Just what had she witnessed? Even beggars might have fared a little better than the unfilial sage.

The next time Anji woke up, it was to a sea of fire. Her burdened lungs could not breathe, and she was weak. The shabby shelter was in flames. Despite knowing the unfilial sage lived four hundred years, she could not help but worry for the young boy. With the fire growing bigger slowly but surely, he had to escape quickly. Yet, there was no exit. The door was covered in flames, and the windows were blazing. How would he get out?

Keeping low, the young unfilial sage crawled closer to the fire. The ashes and smoke particles made his vision darker than it had been before. However, he remained unfazed by the blistered skin and continued to crawl towards the fire. Anji thought he was crazy. However, she soon realised why he did that.

In the middle of the burning debris was a brass trapdoor. It was so cleverly hidden and stood out against the slum-like building. Without hesitation, the young boy braved the fire and melted his skin off to pry open the trap door in the middle of the flames. He summoned every drop of strength in him and crawled into the dark underground bunker as the world above the heated brass trapdoor burned.

Like a blind mole, the unfilial sage ambled in the darkness, the pain throbbed as the adrenaline faded. His condition was critical, and Anji thought he would die before he escaped the burning place. She had no idea why he was there or what he had been doing previously. However, his struggles seemed real enough for him to turn desperate enough to disregard his own safety.

Eventually, he reached a dead end. Anji thought he would give up here. However, the young sage used his blood to activate a spell on the wall as if he had known this would happen all along.

The dead end turned out to be a secret stone door that opened when someone activated the spell. According to Anji’s estimation, the young unfilial sage had to be about the same age as her. Yet, he seemed to know a lot more than she did.

In the secret chamber, Anji could finally see some outline. At first, she thought they were two people sleeping on the bed. However, as the unfilial sage went closer, she realised they were corpses.

"Step-father, step-mother, I did as you told me. I tried to live as honestly as I could. I did not beg, did not fight, did not bother anyone as you told me to. Yet, they came to kill me. This son has been unfilial. Even after your deaths, I cannot keep my promise. Please let me kowtow three times as my final respects. From today onwards, Ah Niu is dead. I will be reborn in the same fire they created to kill me as the Grim Reaper of Duan City."

Unable to understand the backstory or history, Anji could only accompany the poor young sage burning with revenge as he paid his final respect to the couple who had done their best to raise him, but left him too soon. Even briefly, Anji identified that they had both passed due to illness. It was likely the same illness that the young sage suffered from.

The Grim Reaper of Duan City was a legend that Anji only knew because her third brother enjoyed listening to stories of powerful cultivators who ruled with might. They called him the Crimson Scimitar because barbarians raised him and took down an entire fortress by himself in Duan City before disappearing from the murim world. People only knew he passed on when someone stumbled upon his famous Crimson Scimitar in an underground cave deep in a chasm.

In his final years, the Grim Reaper of Duan City devoted his life to creating the most perfect sabre technique that even Bai Dajin learned from. Although his deeds were not righteous, his superior sabre technique gave birth to many righteous sects. His ferocious style reflected his burning desire to cut through any defence more than his barbaric influence. Many dubbed him posthumously as a Sabre Legend, although nobody truly knew whose side he was on.

To think that the Grim Reaper of Duan City’s actual story was very different from the legend, Anji wondered how he became unfilial. He even kowtowed three times to the people who raised him, even if they were not his biological parents.

Deeply invested, she waited for the next memory segment