Chapter 121#

The Disciple’s Rebirth and Revenge#

“This is tough,” Lin Xiaodong sat cross-legged on the bed, sighing. “This Xiao Nian is really too difficult to deal with.”

Unlike the god in the last world, the Evil God at least had joys, angers, sorrows, and delights. But Xiao Nian was simply like a cold stone; the joys and sorrows of the human world had absolutely nothing to do with him.

If it were before his Path of Ruthlessness reached completion, Lin Xiaodong could have used Xiao Nian’s pursuit of the “Dao” as a breakthrough point to strive to defeat him in one fell swoop.

But the current Xiao Nian, having gone through the heavenly tribulation, was only half a step away from ascension and could be called a true semi-immortal body.

If he had even the slightest wavering, he would have been struck dead by heavenly thunder during the lightning tribulation.

This was the most incredible thing. Even though the disciple he raised by hand and who should have been his closest Dao companion in the world was tragically plotted to death by him, Xiao Nian’s Path of Ruthlessness still showed no flaws!

“Is the difficulty of your small world missions actually increasing?” Lin Xiaodong asked the system while leaning against the window. “I’d really like to ask your headquarters’ high-level officials to let them come and see for themselves: how on earth can a person warm up a cold stone?”

System: “Well… I believe you can do it.”

Lin Xiaodong pointed to his eyes, which could see nothing: “Then you should solve this for me first.”

It certainly couldn’t be solved. The damage to the host’s body from the Heavenly Demon Body was irreversible. If the youth hadn’t joined Xiao Nian’s sect in his teens to learn how to suppress the demonic energy, he definitely wouldn’t have waited for the array to open before going completely blind.

“You can try using spiritual sense to find your way,” the system suggested. “That way, it won’t matter even if you can’t see.”

Spiritual sense?

Lin Xiaodong remembered. It seemed the youth had been the same back then. Despite trying hard to suppress it with immortal techniques, as the demonic energy in his body grew daily, his eyes had already begun to show symptoms of blurring. To avoid worrying his master, he started training his spiritual sense, so no one ever noticed anything wrong.

Feeling the gloomy emotions lingering in his chest, Lin Xiaodong took a deep breath and activated his spiritual sense according to the method given in the data.

“…It actually works?”

The feeling was very wonderful. Although his eyes were still tightly closed, the layout of the entire room was clear, albeit only in black, white, and gray—he could even see through the walls to the layout of the empty room on the right.

With a thought, the youth thought of Xiao Nian next door and cautiously extended his spiritual sense there as well.

He knew Xiao Nian rarely slept, because the man felt it was a waste of time.

He was a practitioner who wished he could use every minute and every second for cultivation. Whether in the depths of winter or the height of summer, he would practice his sword on Cold Maple Peak for three hours every day, and then meditate for another three hours at night.

But Xiao Nian was very indulgent toward his disciple.

Even after the two confirmed their relationship, the man would accommodate his disciple’s desire to be lazy and accompany him to sleep in bed, listening to him chatter about all sorts of meaningless nonsense, just like all the loving couples in the world.

And no matter when the youth woke up, he would always find that Xiao Nian was already awake, lying on his side in bed, quietly watching his sleeping face.

Once, he naively thought he had changed Xiao Nian.

But looking back now, Xiao Nian had never changed from beginning to end.

…It was all just his wishful thinking.

The spiritual sense passed through the wall, and the familiar room unfolded “before his eyes.”

It seemed as if nothing had changed from before, except that two people’s pillows had become one, and the small colorful fish he kept in the fish tank had disappeared, presumably dead.

On the bed, Xiao Nian lay flat with his hands folded over his lower abdomen.

…He actually wasn’t meditating?

As if sensing something, the man calmly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

“Have you seen enough?”

Lin Xiaodong instantly retracted his spiritual sense.

“I’m sorry, Master,” he said a few breaths later in a voice that sounded entirely devoid of guilt. “Disciple didn’t do it on purpose.”

Even Lin Xiaodong himself felt his apology lacked sincerity, but Xiao Nian, as if he didn’t sense his perfunctoriness, said indifferently: “Don’t let it happen again.”

“Yes.”

Lin Xiaodong was still thinking about Xiao Nian’s posture lying on the bed. To be honest, that was really not “Xiao Nian-like.” Thinking back, how much effort did the youth spend to persuade his master to experience the feeling of truly falling asleep? He didn’t even doubt that if he weren’t by his master’s side, Xiao Nian would definitely revert to his old ways overnight.

But he had been dead for so many years, why did Xiao Nian still maintain this habit?

If someone were to say Xiao Nian had affection for him, Lin Xiaodong would definitely not believe it. If he really missed him, wouldn’t Xiao Nian go to the array to dig out his coffin, rather than lying here sleeping in remembrance?

So, has Xiao Nian encountered some bottleneck in his cultivation?

Lin Xiaodong decided to probe again first thing tomorrow morning.

The next morning.

To match Xiao Nian’s habit of rising early, he specifically set an alarm for the system to remind him. He forced himself out of his warm bed, only to find the courtyard silent, with no movement at all.

Xiao Nian… hasn’t gotten up yet, has he?

The youth felt a surge of nameless fire rising from the bottom of his heart. Fine, he had been dead for over a decade, suffering in a coffin for over a decade, yet Xiao Nian, as the murderer, not only felt at ease being your Immortal Venerable in Cloudsoaring Sect, but even developed the habit of sleeping in!

Suppressing his anger, he came to Xiao Nian’s door with his bamboo staff and knocked heavily twice, with a sound no less than smashing the door.

“Master, good morning!” he shouted loudly. “Disciple has come to pay his respects to you!”

He knocked twice more, and this time the door finally opened.

Xiao Nian stood before him fully dressed, with no trace of sleepiness. He merely glanced at his blind disciple with his pale gray eyes and walked past him.

The youth hurried to follow: “Master, what are we learning today?”

However, no matter what Xiao Nian taught him, it was impossible for him to learn it.

Because he was already a dead man now. If someone were to step forward and feel his pulse, they would know that this seemingly normal youth had a cold and stiff body. The heart in his chest was as silent as death, and the blood in his veins no longer flowed, no different from the living dead who lived in the dark abyss and made people’s hearts turn cold.

He couldn’t feel the warmth of the sun, couldn’t see the colors of the world, didn’t even have a sense of smell or taste; everything he ate tasted like chewing wax, like a walking corpse.

—And all of this was thanks to his dear master.

The youth “looked” toward the white-robed Immortal Venerable with a smile, his expression full of reverence, as if his mind and heart were filled with his beloved master.

No one could know that endless pain and hatred were surging within him.

Xiao Nian raised his chin, indicating a broom in the corner.

The youth’s smile froze: “Master, you, do you want me to sweep the courtyard?”

Xiao Nian nodded.

Although he desperately wanted to tear this man into a thousand pieces, he knew he couldn’t defeat him. He could only wait for an opportunity to find a weakness… Alright, no matter what, Xiao Nian was still his master in name. If he told him to sweep the courtyard, Lin Xiaodong could only sweep it obediently.

There was a three-hundred-year-old peach tree in the courtyard. Because it was touched by the aura of the underground spiritual vein of Cloudsoaring Sect, it bloomed regardless of spring, summer, autumn, or winter. Looking from afar, it was like a pink cloud, exceptionally beautiful.

The youth’s favorite thing to do used to be lying on the branches of the peach tree for an afternoon nap.

Waking up as dusk fell, the sky would be brilliantly golden with twilight, and his body would be covered with fallen peach blossoms. Xiao Nian would be standing below looking up at him, and a table of fragrant dishes would already be prepared on the stone table in the courtyard.

That was the youth’s happiest time.

However, in Lin Xiaodong’s eyes now, even the most beautiful peach tree was only in black and white, with nothing to look at. He pursed his lips tightly, picked up the broom, and lowered his head to collect the scattered petals one by one, piling them into a corner—just as he had done every time before.

He thought maliciously, I wonder if seeing me so similar to the disciple he personally killed, Xiao Nian will have nightmares at night?

Or, once again feel murderous intent toward his disciple?

But to his disappointment, Xiao Nian didn’t look his way even once from beginning to end.

The man merely sat under the peach tree, lightly sipping the peach blossom wine worth a thousand gold pieces in his cup, occasionally gazing at several distant mountain peaks, his posture very leisurely.

This is preposterous!

Lin Xiaodong was so angry his nose was almost crooked. Without waiting to finish sweeping the courtyard, he plopped down on the stone stool beside him, quite rudely grabbed a cup, poured himself a cup of wine as well, and drank it in two gulps like a cow chewing on a peony.

Noticing the look Xiao Nian cast over, a surge of twisted satisfaction rose in the youth’s heart. He coughed, as if he had just reacted, and asked “in a panic”: “Mas-Master, this wine isn’t very expensive, is it? I was thirsty for a moment and didn’t think much before…”

Xiao Nian gave a non-committal “Mhm” and put down the wine cup.

“It’s not expensive,” he said indifferently, “Because it’s water.”

The youth sitting on the stone stool instantly froze.

Damn it, why are you drinking water from a wine cup! Are you crazy!

Lin Xiaodong cursed in his heart but still racked his brains to try and cover up the lie: “Re-Really? I’m not very good at drinking, so I didn’t taste it…”

“Mhm.”

He actually believed it!?

The blind man “stared” at Xiao Nian’s calm appearance as he refilled his cup with wine, no, water. He really couldn’t understand; they hadn’t seen each other for only over a decade, which in the immortal world could even be considered “parting for three days.” Why did it feel like Xiao Nian had completely changed into another person?

Although he desperately hoped that in these dozen or so years Xiao Nian couldn’t eat or sleep well due to guilt, and was tormented by inner demons day and night, based on his years of understanding of his master, the youth also knew that was impossible.

But this current appearance of Xiao Nian, where everything passed like the wind without catching his eye, was not what he wanted to see either!

“That, Master,” he really couldn’t hold it in and asked, “Do I… have a Master’s wife?”

Xiao Nian’s movement of sipping wine paused.

He raised his head, looking at the blind youth before him with an unfathomable expression. The youth asked cautiously, his face practically writing “I’m just purely curious.” Suddenly, the man very slightly curled the corners of his mouth.

“You have none.”

“…Oh.”

True, whoever is blind enough to marry you is unlucky. Who would want to sleep in the same bed as a stone, and if you’re not careful, you’ll be backstabbed, dying a miserable death.

—The youth who was now blind thought bitterly.

System: “…………”