Chapter 123#

The Disciple’s Rebirth and Revenge#

The courtyard was silent.

The blind youth bit his index finger, standing before Xiao Nian with hollow, sightless black eyes. The corners of his lips were slightly raised, and in his seemingly peaceful smile, there was a trace of almost imperceptible provocation.

He had figured it out—this man was now a copper pea that couldn’t be fried or crushed, only a step away from being truly detached from all worldly matters.

To make him waver, some strong medicine had to be applied.

“You…” Sure enough, Xiao Nian grabbed his wrist, his voice hoarse.

Here it comes!

Lin Xiaodong perked up his spirits and prepared to respond with full concentration. His spiritual sense was fixed firmly on Xiao Nian; the moment the flow of spiritual energy in the man’s meridians showed even the slightest stagnation, he would not hesitate to strike again, piercing the other’s throat with demonic energy!

“Don’t bite your hand,” Xiao Nian said. “It’s dirty.”

Lin Xiaodong: “…………”

The smile on the blind youth’s face froze.

He blankly “watched” as Xiao Nian took his finger out of his mouth and very considerately handed him a handkerchief. He felt as if all his strength had hit cotton, like a balloon that had been let go, deflating with a “whoosh.”

“Master,” he asked with utmost sincerity, not even caring about respecting his teacher anymore, “Is there… something wrong with you?”

A normal person, upon discovering that their disciple wanted to kill them again and again, would at least show some disappointment or anger, wouldn’t they?

But Xiao Nian still didn’t get angry, only answering flatly: “No.”

He was silent for a few seconds. Just as Lin Xiaodong was holding his breath waiting for what came next, Xiao Nian changed the subject directly: “It seems your mind is unsettled today. In that case, there’s no need to practice the sword. Rest.”

Then, he turned around and went back to his room on his own.

The blind youth stood alone in the courtyard, holding that defective sword hilt, and suddenly gave a low laugh.

His expression also slowly returned to calm.

But within that calm, there was a thick sense of despair.

There is nothing more despairing than when you are full of hatred and intent on revenge, yet your enemy stands before you, meeting all your provocations and probes with a peaceful and tolerant attitude, and casually neutralizing them.

“Xiao Nian…”

The blind youth murmured the name with a trembling voice, plopped down on a stone stool, and buried his head deep in his palms.

He didn’t want to be like this either, sitting idly on Cold Maple Peak day after day, spending time with his enemy from his previous life.

But he was unwilling to let go.

In this life, all his joy, delight, and happiness came from his master; yet, the betrayal, the endless pain of being imprisoned in the array, the hatred, and the torment were also brought to him by Xiao Nian.

Inside the room.

The white-robed Immortal Venerable leaned against the wall, one hand tightly covering his lips to suppress the cough that was about to escape, yet unable to control the trace of metallic liquid slowly flowing between his fingers.

Cloudsoaring Sect, Main Hall.

“I personally went to the array yesterday to take a look; that coffin is empty.” Late at night, the Sect Master, who had rushed back to the sect, looked at Xiao Nian and spoke with a serious expression, “Do you know what this means?”

Xiao Nian neither nodded nor shook his head, only looking at the Sect Master and saying: “I will handle it.”

“Handle it… how will you handle it?” The Sect Master was laughed into anger by him. “You told me the same thing last time! And what happened?”

He flicked his sleeve hard: “A grand Immortal Venerable, insisting on using such low-down methods to deceive his disciple! And making it known to everyone!” He shook his head repeatedly in anger, “Xiao Nian, oh Xiao Nian, if it weren’t for your dedication to Cloudsoaring Sect all these years, I wouldn’t even want to see you! No face!”

“Let them say what they want,” Xiao Nian said in a flat voice. “I have a clear conscience.”

The Sect Master turned his head abruptly and glared at him: “Xiao Nian, you practice the Path of Ruthlessness, not the Path of Shamelessness, right? How… how do you have the nerve to say those words? Do you simply have no heart at all?”

He asked in disbelief.

Back then, because of that child, he and the elders sat opposite each other late at night, everyone silent, unable to make a decision despite discussing it many times. The Sect Master felt even more guilty toward Xiao Nian, thinking that as his master, he must be suffering the pain of having his heart gouged out, and had even visited him several times to console him.

And the result?

Thinking of what he had seen on Cold Maple Peak back then—Xiao Nian holding the youth while sitting in the courtyard, pressing the back of the other’s head to kiss him gently and meticulously—that child not only knew nothing but was also to be deceived in both body and heart by a ruthless path cultivator who didn’t even know what love was in the final moments of his life… The Sect Master gritted his teeth and thought, why wasn’t the one who died Xiao Nian?

What a good child!

“The Sect Master is right,” Xiao Nian said. “I think so too.”

The Sect Master was stunned, not yet reacting to whether he had accidentally spoken his inner thoughts aloud or if Xiao Nian was answering his question about having a heart just now, when he saw Xiao Nian turn around and stride away.

“Sigh!”

He could do nothing about Xiao Nian and could only let out a heavy sigh.

Although the Cloudsoaring Sword had not returned to its position and remained firmly inserted in the center of the array as the eye, an array that had lost its sacrifice would definitely not last much longer. The Sect Master didn’t know where the youth who was originally sealed in the coffin had gone, but if he really couldn’t find the other’s whereabouts, then for the sake of the people of the world, he could only resort to unscrupulous means once again.

Coincidentally, the Sect Master thought with a sigh, another Heavenly Demon Body had come to Cloudsoaring Sect, and he had also joined Xiao Nian’s sect.

“Heaven’s will, heaven’s will…”

Lin Xiaodong noticed Xiao Nian’s departure late at night.

After the man left, he immediately ran into the courtyard and found that, based on the direction the flying boat took, Xiao Nian should have headed toward the Main Hall of the Cloudsoaring Sect.

But it was so late; what urgent matter could the Sect Master have with Xiao Nian?

It couldn’t be that they had already discovered the missing eye of the array, he thought ironically.

When he left back then, Lin Xiaodong had also thought about whether to cover it up slightly, otherwise his resurrection would be too easily discovered. But in the end, he decided to do nothing because he was already a dead man now. The spiritual energy accumulated in his body had long been drained and exhausted by the demonic energy stored in the array for a hundred years, and finally assimilated.

The current Lin Xiaodong, just like that sword hilt Xiao Nian gave him, was a defective product that had been given up halfway.

Even if he were placed back into the array, it wouldn’t be of any use.

However, after experiencing that kind of feeling worse than death, Lin Xiaodong had already made up his mind: if Xiao Nian or the Cloudsoaring Sect dared to lay a hand on him again, he would rather leave this world immediately by committing suicide than let them have their way.

Once he understood this point, Lin Xiaodong only felt refreshed and fearless.

It’s decided.

Lying in bed, he thought happily, from tomorrow on, he would use all sorts of methods to kill Xiao Nian.

Since the man couldn’t feel joy or sorrow and he was already dead anyway and not afraid of retaliation, whether it was poisoning, assassination, or something else, his dear master should be able to adapt well, right?

Therefore, the next morning, when Xiao Nian sat on the stone stool in the courtyard, took the peach blossom wine handed to him by Lin Xiaodong, and prepared to pour himself a cup as usual.

Just as the wine cup was brought to his lips, the man’s movement suddenly stopped.

Not far away, the blind youth who was cleaning the courtyard observed the scene with his spiritual sense, and his hand holding the broom tightened unconsciously.

“Wang Ling,” Xiao Nian called out.

“…Yes, Master.” He froze for a moment before realizing this was his current name. “Any instructions?”

“This is wine.”

Lin Xiaodong: “Huh?”

“I mean, I lied to you last time,” Xiao Nian put down the wine cup and sighed. “This isn’t water; it’s wine.”

“…………”

What does this man mean?

“Next time you add something, don’t spoil the flavor of the wine itself,” Xiao Nian said. “Otherwise, it won’t taste good.”

Lin Xiaodong: You’re crazy!

The blind youth’s expression was stiff, but he didn’t deny the fact that he had added something to the wine. Instead, he lowered his head submissively and replied: “Master, I understand.”

But after this probe, Lin Xiaodong also completely confirmed the fact that Xiao Nian’s bottom line for him was incredibly low.

Was it indulgence? Or was he simply too lazy to care?

The youth curled his lips, showing a smile no different from usual, and went back into the room to get a new bottle of wine for Xiao Nian.

This time he didn’t put anything in.

…He only sprinkled some bone-dissolving powder that kills on touch on Xiao Nian’s bedding.

Don’t ask where Lin Xiaodong got so many strange and deadly poisons. He had crawled out of a coffin and returned to Cloudsoaring Sect to prepare for revenge; how could he not prepare some useful “good stuff” in advance?

But for some reason, even though the bone-dissolving powder was colorless and odorless and was hard to find on the bedding even during the day, Lin Xiaodong just had a premonition that Xiao Nian would still be able to escape unscathed this time.

That night, after paying his respects and returning to his room, he kept his ears perked, listening carefully to the movements next door.

The sound of footsteps, the rustling of fabric… it should be Xiao Nian changing clothes. Because his spiritual sense probe had been discovered last time, Lin Xiaodong could only rely on his hearing to judge the situation in the room. He clenched his fists, one ear pressed against the wall, but heard an extremely faint cough that he would never have noticed if it weren’t for his poisoning whim today.

…Xiao Nian has a cold?

How is that possible!

If a grand Immortal Venerable could still catch a cold, half the immortal world would laugh their heads off.

Lin Xiaodong thought he had misheard, but when he heard the low cough again, a flash of brilliance suddenly erupted on his pale face—it actually wasn’t an illusion!

Something was truly wrong with Xiao Nian’s body!

He was so excited that he even forgot about the bone-dissolving powder. His mind was full of how to find out the truth from the other’s mouth and how to use this weakness to deal with Xiao Nian.

—Until Xiao Nian appeared before him holding a dead rat.

“Master is very gratified,” he said slowly, with a trace of an imperceptible smile hanging at the corners of his lips. “But I hope that the next time you use poison to kill rats, you’ll let me know in advance.”

Lin Xiaodong: “…………”