Chapter 43#

Chapter Forty-Three#

Although the ceremony had ended, the crowd did not disperse.

Elders took their newly recruited disciples to converse with friends from other sects, and the atmosphere was harmonious and joyful.

Only Xue Jingci, holding the extinguished lamp, sat alone on a wooden chair.

He didn’t seem to fit into this bustle. The moonlight fell on him, illuminating his slightly bowed neck, which looked like white porcelain that would shatter at a touch.

Song Jue and Yin Xinyao took the initiative to come find him, but once they reached Xue Jingci’s side, neither knew what to say.

“I’m fine.”

Xue Jingci looked up. Knowing the celebration had ended and everyone had much to do, he picked up the kitten and said, “I’ll be leaving first.”

Song Jue moved his lips, wanting to stop him, but heard Yin Xinyao whisper, “Let him be alone for a while.”

The two watched Xue Jingci walk away. The wind made his sleeves flutter; from a distance, he looked as thin and light as if he might be swept away.

Xue Jingci kept walking forward. A few more steps and there would be a bottomless abyss.

Xie Zheng had been following him. Because of their previous unpleasant parting, he hadn’t intended to show himself again, but seeing that despondent figure walking toward the edge of the cliff, he thought he was overwhelmed and about to do something rash. His mind went blank for a moment, and his body was pulled over as if by an invisible thread.

He grabbed Xue Jingci’s arm forcefully and said harshly, “Xiao Xun is no good person. You weren’t clear-sighted before, but you should wake up now. Stop trapping yourself in your own web…”

Xue Jingci pulled his hand away and stared coldly at Xie Zheng. “I was indeed not clear-sighted.”

Xie Zheng was momentarily speechless.

He felt as if something was blocked in his heart. His lips moved, but the cold wind went down his throat and into his stomach, burning and churning.

Seeing Xue Jingci walk away, he chased after him and blocked his path with his blade.

“Wait a moment!”

Seeing that Xue Jingci didn’t look back, Xie Zheng shouted anxiously, “Right now the sect is…”

He stopped halfway through his sentence, suddenly realizing this matter couldn’t be disclosed to the public. He swallowed his words, followed quickly, and whispered, “I advise you to abolish this demonic cultivation as soon as possible, or I won’t be able to protect you either.”

Xue Jingci was already annoyed, and Xie Zheng’s repeated attempts to provoke him were the final straw.

A sense of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes. With a slight flick of his finger, a sword light pressed against Xie Zheng’s neck. “Xie Zheng, do you truly think I don’t dare to kill you?”

Xie Zheng tightly gripped the blade in his hand, suppressing the urge to draw it and fight back.

This person had once gently helped him home and treated the injury on his leg. He had also strictly taught him how to use a sword, holding his wrist to correct his mistakes.

Now, he held a cold sword across his neck.

The system clung to Xue Jingci’s shoulder, screaming at him to calm down.

Xue Jingci withdrew his sword, took a step back, looked at Xie Zheng, and said, “Don’t come looking for me again.”

His voice was very light, yet it cut through Xie Zheng’s heart like a sharp blade.

Xie Zheng stayed where he was, only withdrawing his gaze when he could no longer see Xue Jingci’s figure.

A light laugh came from behind. Xie Zheng suddenly turned around and saw Xiao Xun walking out from the shadows of the trees with a playful smile on his face, holding the copper lamp from the earlier ceremony, which had long since been extinguished.

Xie Zheng didn’t hide his disgust and questioned coldly, “How exactly has he offended you that you would humiliate him like this! Xiao Xun, what exactly do you want?”

Xiao Xun tilted his head and spoke meaningfully, “What do I want? I should be asking the Young Peak Master that.”

Xie Zheng’s frown deepened. Just as he was about to press further, Xiao Xun’s movement technique was uncanny, and he vanished within a breath.

He stared at the branch Xiao Xun had stepped on and broken, muttering under his breath, “Lunatic.”

Xue Jingci carried the system down the mountain. Sensing someone following him and thinking it was Xie Zheng again, he showed no more mercy and struck out with a sword light without even looking back.

The sword qi was like frost, cold and sharp, instantly making the person behind him cry out.

The voice didn’t sound like Xie Zheng, but it was very familiar.

Xue Jingci turned around abruptly and saw Chen Zhao desperately summoning his natal magic treasure to defend himself.

The treasure was a golden lotus, with seven-colored light radiating from its petals, which instantly reminded Xue Jingci of something.

He suddenly remembered that he had indeed met Chen Zhao once in the lower realm, and he finally understood why Chen Zhao had such great hostility toward him, not hesitating to spend so much time and energy to slander him.

To be precise, he hadn’t seen Chen Zhao’s face; he had only seen his magic treasure.

Back then, he had happened to pass by and heard a woman calling for help. As he approached, he smelled a heavy scent of alcohol.

A man was pinning a woman down, reaching out to strip her of her clothes.

Xue Jingci stepped in to stop it and lent his outer robe to the woman. Being concerned about forging the natal sword for Xie Zheng, he didn’t stay long.

As a result, when Song Jue asked him earlier if he remembered harassing a female cultivator, he couldn’t recall anything.

Seeing this magic treasure now, Xue Jingci understood everything in an instant.

It was clearly Chen Zhao who felt guilty upon seeing him and pinned the disgraceful thing he had done onto Xue Jingci to strike first. This way, even if Xue Jingci recognized him, others wouldn’t believe it.

A cold sword landed on the side of his neck, brimming with killing intent. Chen Zhao’s voice trembled: “Don’t strike! Lin Heng sent me to apologize to you!”

Xue Jingci looked at Chen Zhao and said coldly, “I remember you now.”

These words instantly made Chen Zhao feel a chill throughout his body.

Xue Jingci withdrew his sword, gave him a faint glance, and warned, “If you don’t want to die, don’t bother me. Otherwise, I will tell everyone every single thing you’re trying to hide.”

Chen Zhao didn’t dare to move. Only when Xue Jingci was far away did he kneel on the ground as if his strength had left him, tightly clutching his natal magic treasure.

He was born into the Chen family, which always taught self-restraint and propriety.

Chen Zhao had been taught to strictly observe etiquette since childhood and never dared to overstep. Only that one time in the lower realm, he couldn’t hide the malice in his heart and committed that disgraceful act.

Now, his clansmen only knew of him slandering another, which was already a great disgrace. These past days had been like hell for him; the gossip and cold stares of others had nearly swallowed him whole.

If he told them about that incident…

He clenched his fists, his expression shifting between fear and ruthlessness.

One moment, Xue Jingci’s cold, knife-like sword intent flashed through his mind; the next, he thought of others pointing and scolding him for disgracing his family’s reputation.

Finally, he slowly stood up, took a breath, withdrew his magic treasure, and left in a sorry state.

Xue Jingci returned to the small courtyard and smelled the aroma of food from afar. But he had no appetite. He bypassed the dining area and headed straight for his bedroom.

Guanzi and Shu Mo glanced at each other, set up an array to keep the dishes on the table warm, and each returned to their own rooms.

The small courtyard became completely quiet. Xue Jingci didn’t light a lamp, looking down at the newly forged sword in his hand by the moonlight.

After a long time, he slowly reached out and gently brushed the carved patterns on the sword.

The sect had a rule: after taking a disciple, one must give them a gift.

Xue Jingci knew Xiao Xun liked swords, so he had spent a lot of effort refilling and reforging this old sword, thinking Xiao Xun would surely like it.

It wasn’t until the ceremony began that Xue Jingci saw what the gifts prepared by others were.

They were spirit treasures and pills he had never even seen before, whose names he couldn’t even call out. It was only after hearing the amazed and admiring remarks of others that he knew what they actually were.

He also learned for the first time that the white tiger spirit beast beside Xie Zheng was the master-disciple gift given by Li Xuanfeng back then.

This white tiger was a Heaven-grade spirit beast. Not only would its cultivation grow in sync with its owner’s, but when it used its bloodline secret technique, Tiger’s Roar, it would form a protective shield sufficient to withstand a full-force strike from a Soul Transformation cultivator.

Compared to that, the sword in his hand was truly a bit embarrassing to present.

Xue Jingci knew he had wronged Xiao Xun and silently tucked the sword away, planning to give it to him after the ceremony when they returned to the courtyard for dinner.

In the future, he would find an even better spirit sword for Xiao Xun.

The system nestled beside Xue Jingci, nudged his hand, and said, “Host, this time it was all that ungrateful Xiao Xun’s fault. Let’s go out and eat something good; don’t think about him.”

Last time when Xie Zheng broke off with the host, it had comforted him this way, and at that time, the host had smiled and nodded in agreement.

This time, however, Xue Jingci just sat blankly by the window, like a puppet that had lost its soul.

The Lingxu Sect was the number one sect in the cultivation world, filled with geniuses and outstanding heroes.

Among them were powerhouses who broke through to the Nascent Soul realm in a hundred years, and descendants of top cultivation families with inexhaustible spirit stone resources.

But what he gave to Xie Zheng and Xiao Xun was only the techniques he had written himself and the magic swords he had forged with his own hands.

Aside from these inconspicuous things, he could no longer produce anything more.

Xue Jingci couldn’t help but ask himself, with the mission failing twice in a row, where exactly the problem was.

Had he always been overestimating himself, or had he done something wrong and was simply not suited to be a master?

Feeling depressed, Xue Jingci climbed onto the roof, looked up at the sky, and gazed at the distant Main God Space.

“Did I not do well?”

The stars in the sky twinkled, and the clouds slowly dispersed, revealing a beautiful night sky. A peculiar power was gentle, and a mild wind brushed his hair like a hand soothing his emotions.

Xue Jingci rare showed a child-like expression, curled his body up, and let himself be enveloped by that wind, lowering his head and murmuring, “I don’t know what to do next.”

A hollow daze appeared in his eyes until a light flashed in the sky, and he looked up in surprise.

Something seemed to be in his palm. Xue Jingci spread his fingers and saw a red gemstone.

This thing emitted a gentle power and soon turned into a shimmering red liquid, slowly floating up.

It can move!

Xue Jingci watched with wide eyes, thinking this thing looked like a transparent glass berry and wondered if it was tasty.

However, this fruit had no scent.

Just as he was hesitating whether to take a bite, the glass berry suddenly grew two small hands—not even fingers—and the outlines of eyes and a mouth popped out on its face, making a faint “boojoo boojoo” sound.

Can’t be eaten?

Why did the Main God give him this thing?

Xue Jingci was a bit confused, but the palm-sized little thing had already flown to his face and clung to it tightly, seemingly very fond of being close to him.

Just before Xue Jingci could pull the little thing off, a cat’s paw suddenly struck, pulling the little thing down.

“Where did this little ghost come from? Let go of my host!”

The little berry closed its eyes, seemingly frightened, and kept making a “bo bo bo” sound to call for help.

Xue Jingci reached out to pick it up and shook off the dust on it. “It’s a gift from the Main God.”

The kitten’s eyes narrowed. It took a long time before it sat down and said, “It’s a God-grade spirit treasure; it can even speak.”

It looked at the sky and spoke sourly, “I’ve only seen it in the manual. The Main God is truly good to you, using such a good thing to comfort you.”

Xue Jingci poked the little berry with his finger, and the little fruit was pushed into doing several somersaults.

“Is this edible?”

The system’s eyes widened. It extended its claws and pulled the little berry onto its belly. “He can hear you; don’t scare him like that!”

It seemed it couldn’t be eaten.

Xue Jingci turned his head and continued to stare blankly at the sky.

Guanzi and Shu Mo were not asleep and had been secretly observing Xue Jingci’s movements.

Seeing that it was midnight and Xue Jingci was still sitting alone on the roof without eating or drinking, the two finally pushed the door open and also climbed onto the roof.

Ordinary people couldn’t see God-grade spirit treasures. Guanzi looked at Xue Jingci and shook his head. “No eating, no sleeping—how can you go on like this! I told you last time to take me as your disciple; do you want to reconsider?”

Xue Jingci looked at Guanzi. Knowing his fate was one of wealth and honor and didn’t fit the system’s criteria for selection, he shook his head gently.

Shu Mo didn’t speak, but silently handed a jar of strong wine to Xue Jingci and then pulled Guanzi away.

Xue Jingci stared at the wine jar for a long time. In the end, he didn’t reach for the cup next to it but picked up the jar directly and poured it down his throat.

His alcohol tolerance wasn’t bad, and he wouldn’t easily get drunk, but he couldn’t withstand such a fierce way of drinking.

By the latter half of the night, he was completely drunk. His clear and cold eyes seemed covered with a light veil, revealing a hint of daze.

Xue Jingci picked up the kitten. His voice after drinking was tinged with a bit of hoarseness as he asked the system, “Am I not good?”

The system looked at Xue Jingci silently. His brow was slightly furrowed, and although he still had his usual quiet and cold appearance, a hint of茫然 and helplessness could be vaguely seen.

He was extremely handsome. Furrowing his brows and whispering like this made the system’s heart ache as well. It immediately jumped up and said, “How could you not be good? It’s clearly Xiao Xun’s fault!”

After it finished speaking, Xue Jingci had already curled up and lied down, falling asleep using the empty wine jar as a pillow.

It opened the system interface, wanting to buy something to comfort the host, but the points column was empty.

While feeling distressed, the system suddenly saw a golden prompt flash at the bottom.

[Ding—You have a new side mission!]