Chapter 103#
An Wuxue looked at the cluster of spiritual pouches in Kun Kun’s hand. He casually took one and opened it, finding many precious spiritual objects.
Each one was a treasure that only an esteemed immortal family could produce.
He had seen many rarities in his previous life, but he had never possessed so many things at once.
But he still didn’t want them.
He had no use for them and wouldn’t use them.
His gaze shifted as an idea occurred to him.
Pei Qian was looking around guiltily when he noticed the courtyard was piled with Han Sang flowers beneath the snow.
“Whoa,” he said in surprise. “And you say I robbed the immortal families? Didn’t you also rob the Xue clan? My goodness, the Xue clan doesn’t have many spiritual grottos; they rely on this entire mountain of Han Sang flowers to earn spiritual treasures and stones. Now it’s all gone.”
“I wasn’t the one who picked them,” An Wuxue said. “But you’ve reminded me of something.”
“Huh?”
An Wuxue used his spiritual energy to clear the snow from the stone table and beckoned Pei Qian to sit with him beneath the plum tree.
“Whine…” Kun Kun finally got to place the dozen or so spiritual pouches on the table and rubbed its head against An Wuxue’s wrist with a pitiful expression.
An Wuxue stroked its head to comfort it and then opened all the pouches.
Pei Qian was even more confused. “What are you doing?”
An Wuxue found a jade slip in one of the pouches—it was a list of these treasures compiled by Xuan Fang.
From the list, he selected some families, sects, or rogue cultivators with whom he had no grievances, whether from a thousand years ago or now, and kept their gifts.
Since he had no enmity with these people, he was willing to accept these gifts as Su Xue, considering it a way to form good karma.
As for the others…
He remained silent, his head lowered as he placed the remaining treasures into different spiritual pouches. Each time he did, he picked up a Han Sang flower from the courtyard and stuffed it inside.
Pei Qian watched him work for a long time, unsure of what he was up to.
“Done,” An Wuxue said.
The dozen pouches on the table had turned into dozens.
An Wuxue first set one aside and said, “Since Xuan Fang tricked you into coming to see me, he’ll likely be waiting outside to ask you about it. When you go out, give this spiritual pouch to him. Tell him the Immortal Venerable took all the Han Sang flowers from the Xue clan, and these are the spiritual items and stones in exchange.”
“It really was the Immortal Venerable who robbed them!”
An Wuxue: “…”
He said helplessly, “That’s not the point.”
“Oh… then what are the rest of these for?”
An Wuxue smiled and picked up one of the pouches, explaining: “For instance, this one. The North Abyss Wang clan excels in using music to control spiritual beasts; this is one of their music scores. I’ve added a Han Sang flower inside. The Wang and Qi clans have been at odds for a millennium. I won’t accept this pouch, but the Wang clan won’t want it back either. It’s better to send it to the Qi clan in the name of the Wang clan. You could call it—helping them turn their swords into plowshares.”
Pei Qian was puzzled. “But why add a Han Sang flower? Han Sang flowers are tokens of love. If sent between clans, it implies an intent for a marriage alliance.”
“Then let’s see what they guess.”
Pei Qian was shocked. “That’s truly wicked.”
An Wuxue took the evaluation in stride and picked up another pouch, continuing: “These are secret spiritual pills from the North Abyss Pure Dan Sect. They are a major dan-path sect, and many of the poisons and medicines circulating in the two realms come from them. Their pills can neutralize all toxins originating from their sect.”
“They have an old grudge with the Wang clan I just mentioned. I recall a Tribulation-Transcending expert of the Wang clan was poisoned by their fire toxin and hasn’t been cured yet. Send this pouch and the Han Sang flower inside to the Wang clan in the name of the Pure Dan Sect.”
Pei Qian clapped his hands. “Then that Wang clan expert’s poison will be cured! They’ll surely turn from enemies to friends!”
An Wuxue went through the remaining pouches one by one in this manner.
Finally, he said, “I won’t be accepting these. Send them all out in the names of the clans or sects with whom they have ’excellent’ relations.”
“So wicked! But I love its wickedness,” Pei Qian said, looking over the pouches with their assigned destinations. A thought suddenly occurred to him: “Since you’re doing this, it’s best to have someone with no ties or sect send them. Who do you plan to have do it?”
An Wuxue looked at him.
Pei Qian: “.”
He stood up, intending to flee.
But An Wuxue said, “If Xuan Fang can break the illusion you worked so hard to place on Qu Jizhi, I certainly can too.”
Pei Qian sat back down, obediently tucking the pouches into his robes and saying firmly, “Running errands for the First Seat is my honor.”
Kun Kun rolled over on the side.
“Whine…”
Pei Qian glared at it. “Don’t you laugh!”
“Whine! Whine!” It laughed even harder.
This time, even An Wuxue couldn’t help laughing.
As he laughed, he said, “Rest assured, when have I ever made you do something for nothing? This will be useful for you.”
“Useful for me?” Pei Qian pouted. “You’ve given everyone’s gifts to their enemies. They won’t realize what’s happening when they receive them, and once they do, they’ll just have to swallow their anger and reluctantly make peace.”
These people, in their attempts to compensate An Wuxue for his past grievances or repay his current kindness, had achieved neither, and their gifts had ended up in the hands of their old enemies.
“They won’t be able to make a fuss, and their old scores will be forcibly settled. If there’s any benefit, it’s for all of North Abyss. I’m just a rogue cultivator wandering the world; what does the state of North Abyss have to do with me?”
An Wuxue smiled but didn’t speak.
Pei Qian gave up trying to understand and sighed, " I want to take back something I said earlier."
“Oh?”
“Those people from Falling Moon Peak are far too shameless, including you!”
An Wuxue laughed again.
By now, Kun Kun was laughing and hiding in his arms.
He held the fluffy white ball, dressed in plain robes that completely belied his status as a peak Tribulation-Transcending expert, sitting beneath the plum tree by the stone table.
The sky had cleared after the snow, but the ground was still white. The sunlight spilled down, reflecting off his face which looked like a peach blossom, as if spring were sitting amidst the winter snow.
Though he was joking, even his teasing was as graceful as a swaying orchid, so elegant he seemed not of this world.
Most people, having died once, borne a millennium of infamy, and then risked their lives to save those very people, would feel some resentment or at least grievance, right?
Yet An Wuxue seemed devoid of all greed, anger, obsession, or malice.
After all that had happened, he just sat there amidst the falling plum petals and snow, brighter than the sunlight.
He had neither the arrogance of a world-class expert nor the wariness of someone who had been estranged from the world for a millennium.
He was neither arrogant nor impetuous, neither humble nor overbearing.
Pei Qian’s expression suddenly turned solemn, and he let out a long sigh.
“First Seat.”
“…Hmm?”
“In the Guan Ye Array, you told me I had a misunderstanding of you because I had never seen you a thousand years ago, because I didn’t know how you led the two realms during the Immortal Calamity.”
Pei Qian weighed the spiritual pouches in his hand. “I see it now.”
An Wuxue was stunned.
“But my thoughts haven’t changed. If I had been born a thousand years ago, I would have been one of those rogue cultivators in North Abyss who followed the First Seat’s orders and helped establish the Four Seas Ten Thousand Swords Array. I would have followed only the First Seat and helped you stabilize a world in chaos.”
“Even now, I actually… consider you half a teacher.”
Pei Qian paused, the gravity on his face vanishing as a smile returned to his lips. “Those people truly don’t know how lucky they are! They’re blind!”
An Wuxue’s gaze paused.
His eyes still held a smile as he said calmly: “It was just a different time. Back then… it was too chaotic, and it had been chaotic for too long.”
As he spoke, he slowly closed his eyes.
His vast divine sense spread out from the plum courtyard, covering the entire First City Lord’s manor, and continued further, gradually covering all the streets and alleys.
There were cultivators walking the main streets, mortals with their stalls, storytellers shouting in the tea houses…
He even seemed to hear people talking about the events at the sword array a few days ago, speaking the name “An Wuxue.”
The corners of his mouth curved up.
Watching all living beings in this manner, he said: “The Immortal Calamity lasted too long. In truth, it’s rare for all debts of gratitude and grudge in this world to be settled. So many people’s resentment had nowhere to go back then. In the beginning, there were places to direct it—Turbid Immortals hadn’t been eliminated, and demon cultivators were everywhere.”
“But later, the Turbid Immortals died, and the demon cultivators declined. The world was on the verge of peace. Yet so many people’s hatred still had no outlet…”
So they needed someone to hate and blame.
“Whether young or old, mortal or immortal, it is ultimately difficult to be truly impartial.”
Hadn’t I also been troubled by personal feelings back then?
“Since one cannot be impartial, many things are naturally not for the sake of justice or right and wrong. They are merely to make one’s own heart feel at ease.”
An Wuxue withdrew his divine sense and opened his eyes. “All living beings are muddled to begin with. You are muddled, I am muddled, and they are muddled too. Since we are all muddled, wouldn’t obsessing too much just be making things difficult for myself?”
In his previous life, his greatest hope for himself was to save a world in chaos and protect everyone he wanted to protect.
In this life, he only wanted to be the most muddled of all, living his most muddled life.
As he finished speaking, the light breeze stirred the snow, burying all sound.
A long time passed.
Just as Pei Qian was about to take his leave and run this errand for An Wuxue, the soul bell at An Wuxue’s gate was rung.
An Wuxue’s expression immediately became complex.
He called out: “I had intended to rest for a few days before visiting the City Lord, but since the City Lord is here today, please come in.”
The courtyard gate wasn’t closed and no barrier was set, so Shangguan Liaoliao walked directly inside.
She was still dressed in black, her long hair flowing down and trailing over the snow.
Her current cultivation was only at the Inedia stage, less than that of a disciple who had just entered a sect. Only her divine sense remained unchanged.
In the past few days, she had learned many things.
But this was their first time being together in peace since the crisis. For a moment, Shangguan Liaoliao was in a daze, not knowing how to begin.
Pei Qian said hurriedly, “The two of you have things to discuss. Since I’m not involved, I’ll take my leave…”
“No need,” Shangguan Liaoliao stopped him. “You are not uninvolved.”
“Huh?”
Shangguan Liaoliao turned around, facing An Wuxue.
Finally, she spoke: “Brother.”
An Wuxue’s movements paused, and he remained silent.
She suddenly understood and said bitterly: “Master Su said he was going to look for me. Is there something you need me to do?”
Only then did An Wuxue speak: “I only wanted to ask the City Lord—now that the lightning tribulation has passed and the North Abyss sword array has been fully repaired, do you regret sacrificing your cultivation? If you do, although I cannot restore the City Lord to her peak, I can use the North Abyss sword array to return some of it to you.”
“You really haven’t changed at all,” Shangguan Liaoliao murmured.
“I have broken my Dao. Master Su, for all these years I practiced in obsession. If those lost levels were to return to me, they would only add to my inner demons. I am the one who wronged you; to be able to do my best to repay you, how could I regret it?”
An Wuxue remained silent.
He was not one for indecision. Since she had spoken like that, there was no need to insist.
He didn’t bring it up again, instead asking: “Yesterday there were many people making noise at my gate, and I heard a few mentions of the City Lord—are you leaving North Abyss?”
“A cultivator at the Inedia stage has no business being a City Lord. My cultivation can be hidden for a time, but not forever,” she gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Since I am starting over after breaking my Dao, I should naturally go and find the path I was meant to walk.”
“North Abyss needs a City Lord who can manage the sword array and command the immortal sects.”
“I have already chosen a candidate.”
An Wuxue raised an eyebrow.
“Where is this candidate?”
Shangguan Liaoliao raised her hand, pointing to the silent Pei Qian standing to the side.
Pei Qian: “?”
She said, “Right here.”
Pei Qian: “???”
He hurriedly looked at An Wuxue, but saw no surprise on his face.
He remembered what An Wuxue had just said.
“…”
He suddenly seemed to understand why An Wuxue had said the shift in North Abyss’s situation would be of great use to him.
Pei Qian: “.”