Chapter 115#
An Wuxue had already forgotten about the Han Sang flower hanging from his belt.
He had rushed back as soon as he obtained the method for breaking the curse. While flying, he had used his divine sense to scan the jade slip, confirming there were no issues with the technique Qu Jizhi had sent.
Upon landing, he naturally forgot the Han Sang flower he had taken only out of necessity.
He walked up to Xie Zhefeng, only to see his junior brother’s previously bright eyes grow dark and silent.
“Junior Brother?” he asked tentatively. “Is your inner demon still troubling you?”
If an episode was occurring and hadn’t been suppressed, he couldn’t mention the Heartless Curse recklessly.
“…Should I check your sea of consciousness?” he asked.
Xie Zhefeng still didn’t respond.
Puzzled, An Wuxue raised his hand, intending to tap Xie Zhefeng’s brow. But just as he reached out, the man suddenly seized his wrist and pulled him directly against his chest!
He was completely unguarded against the man at this moment, and by the time he snapped out of it, he had already collided with his chest.
Their breaths intertwined.
The puppet seal, which had been quiet for a long time, showed a vague sign of flaring up under the influence of their unyielding auras.
But An Wuxue only felt a flush of heat in his arm, while Xie Zhefeng’s breathing hitched.
That pause finally gave An Wuxue a chance to breathe.
“Junior Brother!” In his arms, his frustration was greater than his anger. “What madness is this now? Are your inner demons still at work?”
Xie Zhefeng held him firmly and didn’t answer.
In the silence, An Wuxue looked up and saw the snow lotus sword mark flickering with a dark aura, though it didn’t show signs of losing control as before.
His junior brother’s eyes were red and deep, clearly appearing on the edge of madness, yet he watched him with a strange calm.
Then, the man lowered his head, slowly drawing near An Wuxue’s neck.
At this moment of ambiguous closeness—
An Wuxue suddenly panicked and said urgently: “What are you doing?”
He tried to pull back, but Xie Zhefeng wouldn’t let go.
The man seemed to lightly sniff the faint scent of wine clinging to him, and his grip on his wrist tightened uncontrollably.
His junior brother’s eyes grew even redder, and his voice was low, raspy, and dangerous: “…Jiang Qing’s aura? Senior Brother went to see him again? North Abyss’s Winter Sang is a wine of joy. Did Senior Brother enjoy drinking it with him?”
“You—”
“Are the flowers he gives truly so beautiful that Senior Brother can’t wait to hang them at his waist?”
His voice was tinged with grievance.
He was the one acting mad without reason, yet in the end, he was the one who felt aggrieved.
An Wuxue looked down blankly and saw the Han Sang flower, which was already somewhat wilted under the pressure of the immortal’s spiritual energy.
Amidst his daze, he seemed to understand.
…Xie Zhefeng thought he had accepted the flower and pledged his feelings to Jiang Qing?
“…”
He truly didn’t know what to say.
Nothing was happening, yet Xie Zhefeng was misunderstanding. But why should he explain anything to Xie Zhefeng?
In matters of love, if there was a misunderstanding, it should be explained to one’s lover.
He and Xie Zhefeng… were hardly lovers.
An Wuxue was silent for a moment, and Xie Zhefeng took his silence as a silent admission. Holding him close, he reached out to throw the flower away.
An Wuxue frowned.
He didn’t care about the flower, but he didn’t want to indulge Xie Zhefeng’s behavior. He gave him a cold look: “Is the Immortal Venerable going to throw away my belongings regardless of my wishes?”
That single word “Immortal Venerable” was actually more effective than all his previous questions and resistance. Xie Zhefeng’s movement froze, and in the end, he didn’t dare touch the flower.
An Wuxue was still held in the man’s arms, leaning against his burning chest.
By his ear, his junior brother’s erratic breath was warm, so hot it turned his earlobes and neck red.
Before this, he had been constantly thinking about the curse on his junior brother, and had even broken his appointment with Jiang Qing to hurry back, reading the jade slip the whole way. Only to return and be questioned like this without reason.
To make matters worse, the man seemed to be the one who had suffered a great grievance, saying to him fearfully: “Senior Brother, was it because I couldn’t control my inner demons well last night that I’ve made you angry again? Or did I make you remember the past, and you resent me? If you resent me, you can hit me, curse me, or kill me, but why go to drink with that Jiang Qing? Why accept the Han Sang flower he gave you?”
Why?
Did he need to report to Immortal Venerable Xie when he had tea or wine with a fellow daoist?
An Wuxue’s temper finally flared. He gritted his teeth and said: “What? The Immortal Venerable won’t let me wish for you to have a beloved, yet you want to manage my personal matters of the heart? Last time you threatened me, what will it be this time?”
“I only have this one life; it’s not enough for the Immortal Venerable to kill twice. You’d better think carefully about what you use to threaten me.”
Xie Zhefeng’s pupils shook, and he didn’t even dare to feel aggrieved anymore. He said hurriedly: “I didn’t… I won’t threaten you… I just, I just don’t understand. Did Senior Brother not dislike Han Sang flowers? If you think the ones I picked weren’t good enough, I’ll go look for more. I’ll find every single one that’s been scattered over the years!”
“Are you truly mad? Are you going to steal the Han Sang flowers others give to their partners too? Why be an Immortal Venerable? You should be a Demon Venerable instead!”
“But you like them…”
“I do not like Han Sang flowers!”
What he liked had always been the pure and clean snow lotuses of Langfeng and Guxu.
“Then why did you accept Jiang Qing’s? How is he better than me?”
An Wuxue found it quite absurd.
“The Immortal Venerable who governs the two realms is now comparing himself to a fetal stone at the early Tribulation-Transcending stage?”
“I am jealous of him.”
“You—”
“He doesn’t love you as much as I do,” Xie Zhefeng’s voice grew lower. “The look in his eyes is at most one of admiration, not romantic love at all! That Han Sang flower is not young; it’s existed for at least several centuries. He didn’t pick it for you! And…”
And what?
Xie Zhefeng was becoming somewhat incoherent.
He didn’t know what he was saying, yet he had so much to say.
He was at his wits’ end in his anxiety, yet he held his Senior Brother tightly, as if letting go would mean his Senior Brother would vanish completely, just as his soul had been impossible to find a thousand years ago.
He truly had no tricks left.
An Wuxue said he governed the two realms, yet while he could slay villains and command all living beings, he could not keep a single person.
He wanted to say more, but he heard An Wuxue say: “You say you love me more than Jiang Qing? Immortal Venerable, can you understand one thing—even if it weren’t Jiang Qing, if I picked any one from the countless immortal cultivators in this world, none of them would share with me the grievance of having personally killed me.”
Xie Zhefeng stiffened completely.
An Wuxue then gave a self-deprecating laugh: “Except for you.”
Xie Zhefeng’s breathing stopped abruptly, and the spiritual energy around him stagnated for a moment before turning into chaos!
The pain returned.
His soul was in pain, and his heart was too.
The inner demons he had just calmed were now trying their best to break through his suppression like ashes reigniting.
But no one liked an uncontrollable madman.
He was already terrified; he couldn’t dare to frighten his Senior Brother.
Xie Zhefeng suppressed it with all his might.
His soul felt as if it were being torn apart, a pain like being sliced alive.
He felt regret, jealousy, distress, and sorrow.
His Senior Brother said he was mad; perhaps he had been for a long time.
He looked at An Wuxue so close to him, at the face whose smile hadn’t yet faded, at those slightly curved lips…
If his Senior Brother had gone to drink with Jiang Qing and brought back a Han Sang flower, had Jiang Qing kissed those lips?
When he had engaged in dual cultivation with his Senior Brother… had he kissed those lips?
Spiritual energy swirled, appearing to coat the cool night with a layer of heat.
Xie Zhefeng felt a flicker of desire for an instant.
An Wuxue didn’t notice.
He had been asked a string of inexplicable questions and was full of anger.
But having stung Xie Zhefeng, his anger was almost spent.
Ultimately… he was more concerned about his junior brother’s inner demons and the Heartless Curse.
Still leaning against Xie Zhefeng’s chest, he was about to step back and tell him about the curse.
But his gaze fell upon Xie Zhefeng’s, which was fixed on his…
“Xie Zhefeng,” he said word for word, “…do you want to kiss me?”
The man looked guilty, his eyes flashing as he hurriedly looked away.
With the man’s presence so close, An Wuxue’s puppet seal seemed to be growing warm.
But it showed no sign of flaring up.
In contrast, Xie Zhefeng…
It seemed that every time his puppet seal grew warmer, the man’s breathing would hitch. He looked more like the one under a puppet seal than An Wuxue did.
An Wuxue’s thoughts paused, and he frowned.
He remembered back in the North Abyss sword array, his spiritual energy had been drained repeatedly. The puppet seal should have flared up and tormented him, yet he had felt nothing.
For so long now, the puppet seal had seemed ineffective.
Could it be…?
With a shift in his thoughts, he didn’t retreat but instead stepped closer. Still held by Xie Zhefeng, he raised his head.
Xie Zhefeng hadn’t expected this and was stunned for a moment.
“Senior Brother—”
An Wuxue suddenly kissed him.
Their lips met.
All words were blocked within their kiss.
Xie Zhefeng forgot to breathe, as if facing a great enemy, his whole body tense.
In an instant.
The man suddenly used both hands to pull An Wuxue tightly into his embrace, instantly taking control. He was like a beast tasting hard-won prey—cherishing it, yet using great force.
An Wuxue had originally only intended to test the state of the puppet seal.
He hadn’t anticipated Xie Zhefeng would lose control so quickly and couldn’t help but let out a soft groan.
“Mmph…”
This soft groan was the final straw that broke Xie Zhefeng’s reason.
The inner demons were silent, but his sea of consciousness was boiling.
The immortal’s spiritual energy was both gentle and frenzied, appearing as if it would crush the moonlight itself.
An Wuxue uncontrollably remembered that night at the Black Sea.
The man’s aura had trapped him in that same small space as he whispered “A-Xue” in his ear.
But in a flash, he remembered that sword strike on the day of his fall, and the familiar back walking further and further away into the snow…
He had already obtained the method to break the Heartless Curse. After his junior brother broke the curse, he would likely remember the details of that sword strike…
He wondered if he should believe in himself.
Believe that he hadn’t actually chosen the wrong person.
Believe that his past feelings hadn’t been a futile act of a moth to a flame…
Then his mind went blank, and he forgot that he had only intended to test him.
Thinking of nothing, he cast aside love and hate and allowed himself to be swept away, remaining motionless as he let Xie Zhefeng do as he pleased.
“Whine…” Kun Kun poked its head out by the door, tilted its head, and then retreated.
It seemed both an instant and an eternity.
An Wuxue finally opened his eyes slightly, the haze of passion not yet faded from them.
He snapped back to reality from the past he had indulged in and his delayed love and hate.
He was no longer the youth whose heart was full of love a thousand years ago.
He blinked slowly.
Suddenly—
His spiritual energy flowed through his meridians, all of it rushing toward the puppet seal at the same time!
Stimulated by the spiritual energy, the puppet seal should have flared up even more violently.
Yet An Wuxue felt nothing. Xie Zhefeng, however, let out a muffled groan, his breathing hitching and his grip loosening for a moment.
An Wuxue took the opportunity to retreat, breaking away from the man.
Xie Zhefeng looked dazed.
He stared blankly at his Senior Brother, his gaze meeting the other’s calm and clear eyes.
After the impulse passed, Xie Zhefeng slowly regained his senses.
How could An Wuxue have proactively approached him?
—His Senior Brother had found out.
His eyes trembled, and the joy sparked by their kiss was instantly extinguished. He said fearfully: “Senior Brother…”
An Wuxue finally left that warm chest, the late-night cold easily enveloping him, yet it only made the heat on his cheeks more evident.
He took a deep breath and said in a low, angry voice: “The Immortal Venerable is truly capable. Since when did you tamper with my puppet seal?”
—He had intentionally stirred Xie Zhefeng’s passion just now to verify his suspicions.
His puppet seal hadn’t failed to flare up; it had flared up on Xie Zhefeng’s body instead!
Xie Zhefeng said blankly: “I…”
“I told you, I don’t need you to share these things with me, and I don’t want to owe you anything because of it.”
“I only worried about Senior Brother suffering. I didn’t do anything else…”
Xie Zhefeng’s voice was soft, his heart still full of worry.
But he seemed to have noticed the moisture on An Wuxue’s lips and instinctively raised his hand, his fingertip lightly touching the corner of his mouth.
An Wuxue: “…”
Distressing.
He said nothing more. He turned, bent down, and picked up Kun Kun, who was hiding by the door.
Seeing him about to go inside, Xie Zhefeng hurriedly reached out to stop him: “Senior Brother, Jiang Qing—”
An Wuxue was also flustered and annoyed by Xie Zhefeng’s actions. He said crossly: “Even if I accept Jiang Qing’s Han Sang flower and want to become his cultivation partner, what of it? Is the Immortal Venerable going to stop being my fellow disciple and turn against me again just to manage my private affairs?”
Before he could finish, the door slammed shut, locking Xie Zhefeng outside.
A barrier was immediately established.
“Whine—” Kun Kun’s cry was cut off by the barrier.
Xie Zhefeng was pushed back by the barrier right in front of him.
He could clearly break the barrier, but he dared not and would not.
Even though panic was rising in his heart once more.
—“Even if I accept Jiang Qing’s Han Sang flower and want to become his cultivation partner, what of it?”
His hand resting on the barrier quietly clenched into a fist.
Senior Brother…
Does Senior Brother truly have feelings for that Jiang Qing?
Just thinking it for an instant made him feel as if his chest were being shredded by a blade and his soul were being torn apart. His whole body was in pain, yet there was no cure and no way out.
Endless fear instantly submerged him.
But what could he do?
His Senior Brother was right; what could he do?
He wanted nothing more than for his Senior Brother to be happy for the rest of his life, with no one able to harm him—including himself.
He could only stand outside the barrier, listening to the sounds he couldn’t hear inside, standing beneath the plum tree beside the snow.
An Wuxue was completely unaware that Xie Zhefeng remained outside.
He had already intended to look at the jade slip for the cure. Now, annoyed by Xie Zhefeng, he simply stayed behind closed doors, meticulously studying the jade slip to ensure Qu Wenxin hadn’t hidden any traps within the technique.
He had always been adept at studying arrays and curses. After a few moments of careful reading, the flush on his cheeks faded and his anger dissipated as he became fully focused.
The fire essences in the room were bright, and Kun Kun was sleeping on the bed with its belly up. Outside, the moon moved west and the sun rose in the east.
The sky had actually turned bright.
Night retreated into the depths of the sky, taking with it the love and hate of the starlit night.
After confirming that the cure had no issues, An Wuxue added many annotations.
The one who had cast the curse was Sword Venerable Nan He; the one to break it must be Xie Zhefeng himself as a Long-Life Immortal.
His junior brother was a genius with the sword, but in curses, he was at best only above average. Fearing he might make a mistake during the ritual, An Wuxue meticulously noted the points he needed to be careful of.
Having finished, he tucked the jade slip away and went to the door, intending to tell Xie Zhefeng everything.
But the moment the barrier was removed and the door opened, the person outside turned around abruptly.
The man didn’t know how long he had stood outside. He seemed to be covered in a night’s worth of frost and mist, and as he turned, he brought a wave of cold with him.
Yet as a Long-Life Immortal who didn’t fear the cold, his junior brother had no idea how icy he currently was. He rushed up to him and grabbed him in a panic.
He didn’t even dare to grab An Wuxue’s hand, only his sleeve.
An Wuxue looked at his still-reddened eyes and was slightly stunned: “You didn’t rest last night?”
“Senior Brother,” Xie Zhefeng completely ignored the question. Afraid An Wuxue would turn and leave, he said hurriedly: “I lost my composure in my urgency last night and made Senior Brother unhappy again. It was my fault.”
Last night…?
An Wuxue thought for a moment before remembering what he had forgotten.
He let out a sigh, his brow furrowing slightly, feeling that this man was indeed covered in too much night dew.
He was about to pull his junior brother inside to speak further.
But Xie Zhefeng spoke again in a low, pleading tone: “If you… if you like Jiang Qing, whatever it is you like about him, I’ll learn it, alright? I can certainly do anything he can.”
An Wuxue was stunned.
Unsure of his thoughts, Xie Zhefeng added: “If there is a large gap in cultivation between partners, it is often tolerated for the stronger one to keep cultivation furnaces. Jiang Qing is only at the early Tribulation-Transcending stage and wouldn’t dare interfere with Senior Brother. I will resolve the sword array crisis and help Senior Brother remove the puppet seal.”
“When that time comes, I…”
The words were too humiliating. Xie Zhefeng had thought about this all night, yet he still faltered now.
But with a clench of his teeth, he continued: “I want to stay by Senior Brother’s side. You can treat me as your cultivation furnace, or place a slave seal on me to help you practice. I will never interfere with whomever you choose to be with…”
He spoke such humble words yet was terrified of being rejected. He watched his Senior Brother anxiously and asked in a soft voice: “Would that be alright?”