Mo Dao Zu Shi: Astray

The Pursuit of Knowledge, Part Nine

The Library Pavilion was blissfully quiet.

With the pleasant ambience of shuffling scrolls and books, Pan Wukun was being treated to a live Library Pavilion ASMR session.

Browsing the shelves, she spotted a book called Legendary Cultivators Throughout the Ages.

That looked like it could be useful. Legendary cultivators probably knew world-bending techniques to cross dimensions.

But there was one problem.

The book was atop a shelf that was way too high. And Pan Wukun was way too short.

She was about to get a stool when a shadow fell over her.

A white-sleeved arm reached over her and retrieved the book.

Pan Wukun felt disappointed that she would have to wait for someone else to finish reading it first.

She turned around to see Lan Wangji.

He held the book out to her.

"Oh!" Pan Wukun took the book, careful not to accidentally touch Lan Wangji's hands. "Thank you, Lan-er-gongzi!"

Lan Wangji nodded and left as quickly as he appeared.

Pan Wukun sat down at a table and read through sections on Jiang Chi, Lan An, the founder of the QingheNie sect, and Lan Yi. Then she finally came across the fabled Baoshan Sanren.

There was no mention of Baoshan Sanren being featured in any educational books in the original MDZS story. But the cultivation sects had to have heard of her from somewhere other than Cangse Sanren.

Much of what was written about Baoshan Sanren was based on personal accounts by Lan An, Wen Mao, and other cultivators alive during the founding of the Five Great Sects. After the personal accounts were research notes written by the educational book's authors.

"Baoshan Sanren has unparalleled medical prowess. She is said to be the oldest living cultivator. Perhaps her medical expertise combined with her powerful cultivation is what has allowed her to live for so long."

That was no surprise to Pan Wukun. Baoshan Sanren had successfully performed eye transplants for Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan in canon.

"Baoshan Sanren and the GusuLan sect leader Lan Yi maintained a close relationship, often meeting with each other privately. Other cultivators observed that the two of them held a strong bond and got along well."

...Pan Wukun was pretty sure those two were a couple. Her sapphic senses could not stop tingling.

"After Lan Yi's passing, Baoshan Sanren retreated into the mountains, closing herself off from the world."

Pan Wukun wished the book specified which mountain Baoshan Sanren stayed in. But she supposed that was knowledge no one knew except Baoshan Sanren and her disciples.

"Baoshan Sanren took on several disciples. Her first disciple who left her mountain and made his presence known in the cultivation world was Yanling Daoren."

Yanling Daoren? Who was that?

Pan Wukun didn't write down every minor detail from the original story in her Canon Timeline notebook.

Wait. Didn't Xiao Xingchen talk about Baoshan Sanren's other disciples when he told stories to A-Qing and Xue Yang once?

If Cangse Sanren left Baoshan Sanren's mountain before Xiao Xingchen, then the cultivator who left before Cangse Sanren must've been Yanling Daoren!

"As Yanling Daoren traveled the world, cultivators immediately took notice of him since no one had heard from Baoshan Sanren in ages. He was greatly admired for his skills as a cultivator. But one day, Yanling Daoren suddenly changed, becoming violent. He killed without mercy. He controlled living people like puppets with a piece of mystical iron. Some even said his cultivation methods were...demonic."