Chapter 117#

Xie Zhefeng’s pupils shook, his expression one of shock.

Deep within his soul, there truly was an Unfeeling Curse buried so deeply!

Moreover, the immortal spiritual energy on this curse indeed originated from his master, Nanhe Xianzun!

When was this placed?

Why did he have no memory of it?

Just how many things had he forgotten because of this curse back then?

The dual cultivation in the Underworld Sea that his senior brother mentioned, could it also be…

A thousand years—could it be that for these thousand years, he had been under the Unfeeling Curse without knowing it!?

Why?

That was the master of both him and his senior brother, an immortal elder respected by everyone in the cultivation world.

Why would he do such a thing?

He couldn’t figure it out.

He became distracted; the hand seal he was forming wavered, and the rune for breaking the curse faltered, nearly shattering.

Xie Zhefeng quickly composed himself, casting aside the cluttered thoughts in his mind. He focused his mind and held his breath, his gaze falling back onto the jade slip.

An Wuxue’s annotations were on the side, the handwriting elegant and refined, like the only soothing, silent clamor amidst the stillness beneath this barrier.

Xie Zhefeng memorized every single word.

He slowly closed his eyes.

The curse-breaking rune collided with the Unfeeling Curse.

Xie Zhefeng let out a muffled groan.

Silver light flowed.

The curse runes were like a tangled mess of fine threads until finally, an end was pulled out. Bit by bit, along with memories flowing back like time reversing, the years sealed within the runes were dragged out.

One hundred years.

Two hundred years.

…

Eight hundred years.

One thousand years…

Suddenly—

Xie Zhefeng’s whole body swayed, his face turning deathly pale in an instant.

The inner demon clearly hadn’t flared up.

With the Unfeeling Curse broken, there was no time clearer than this moment.

Yet he felt as if his chest had been torn open, his bloody flesh and bone gouged out, and then a sharp blade thrust deep inside, grinding his heart to pieces.

—He remembered everything.

The memories forcibly sealed by the Unfeeling Curse a thousand years ago came rushing in like a bursting dam, filling the blanks he hadn’t even noticed.

From being brought back to Luoyue by Nanhe, to his senior brother holding his hand as they entered the sect, to the dual cultivation under the ten-thousand-fathom deep abyss of the Underworld Sea, and finally the descent of the Ascension Tribulation clouds over the Burial Frost Sea…

All these events, he remembered them all.

Xie Zhefeng’s mind was in great turmoil.

He once thought he had failed his senior brother so deeply only because he forgot a session of dual cultivation and struck a sword light.

That was already a regret he could never salvage in his lifetime.

Until this moment.

Only now did Xie Zhefeng realize that those were not the full picture.

How could he have forgotten!?

Clearly…

Clearly, he was the one who fell in love first.

Xie Zhefeng first met An Wuxue among the ruins of the Langfeng City Lord’s Mansion.

At that time, the sword in his hand was still in Xie Zhui’s chest.

That was his biological father.

His biological mother was said to be a female cultivator who had a fleeting romance with Xie Zhui, her identity unknown. After giving birth to him, she left him in front of the City Lord’s Mansion and vanished, never to be seen again.

Xie Zhui was known throughout Langfeng City for his philandering. Older immortal cultivators said that Xie Zhefeng’s mother was deceived by Xie Zhui’s sweet words and only realized his true nature after becoming pregnant. Children are rare for cultivators, and pregnancy is not easy; she neither wanted to raise Xie Zhui’s child nor could she bear to kill the infant, so she abandoned the baby at Xie Zhui’s doorstep.

Xie Zhui disliked having descendants. He never expected to have a child and initially didn’t want him.

But Xie Zhefeng was born exceptionally beautiful and gifted. While other children were still beginning their education, he could already memorize sword techniques and mantras at a glance.

Seeing that he was a genius, Xie Zhui finally gave him a bit of attention.

But it was only a bit.

When Xie Zhefeng was young, he often sat in front of the City Lord’s Mansion, watching the constant flow of mortals, seeing many mortal parents walking by holding their children’s hands.

At that time, the Immortal Calamity had been raging for a long time. Langfeng City was surrounded by barriers, and the atmosphere inside was tense; the mortals’ steps were always hurried. But no matter how hurried, the elders never let go of the children’s hands.

Xie Zhefeng never spoke. He could practice swordsmanship all day, and he could watch like this all day as well.

If Xie Zhui saw him like this, he would only sneer: “Ignorant. What’s so good about mortals?”

He wouldn’t speak either.

Sometimes he would hear cultivators visiting the City Lord’s Mansion ask Xie Zhui directly in front of him: “Why does Young Master Xie never acknowledge anyone? Or speak? This child isn’t a mute, is he? The City Lord should find a good medical cultivator to check him out.”

Xie Zhui said indifferently: “He’s been cold-natured since he was young, no need to mind him. That mother of his…”

Xie Zhui snorted coldly, “wasn’t some proper immortal cultivator either, just a bastard. It’s not easy to raise a descendant or disciple in these troubled times. If it weren’t for his high talent, I would have sent him to a nearby sect long ago.”

Xie Zhefeng had no reaction.

He had only one thought—with a character like Xie Zhui’s, how could he protect the living beings of a city in these troubled times, under the bone-chilling astral winds of the Guixu Sea, and before the beautiful and powerful Snow Demons?

Later, as expected, Langfeng City was breached by the Snow Demons.

The Heavenly Pillar standing in Langfeng City completely collapsed, many immortal cultivators died or were injured, and the city was filled with corpses.

It was unknown what those Snow Demons were looking for in the city, or if they wanted to dig out all the spiritual items in Langfeng City, but the Snow Demon clan did not rush in; instead, they closed in and slaughtered bit by bit.

The Snow Demons’ singing echoed all around Langfeng City. The few remaining immortal cultivators gradually retreated until only the small area of the City Lord’s Mansion remained.

The barrier placed by Luoyue Peak for Langfeng City shattered. Xie Zhui only had the peak of the Tribulation Crossing stage and was no match for the Muddy Immortal of the Snow Demon clan. He was severely injured by the Muddy Immortal, and his realm fell to the Bigu stage.

Xie Zhui went into hiding.

Xie Zhefeng listened to the singing and crying overlapping outside the City Lord’s Mansion. The gale brought by the fighting swept in waves, grating on the ears, while his biological father urgently said to him: “Release your spiritual energy, relax, don’t be afraid. Father has raised you for so long and given you so many benefits, isn’t it time for you to repay Father?”

Xie Zhui put down his spiritual sword and had already formed a dharma seal, his soul condensing at his brow, preparing for possession.

He thought that since Xie Zhefeng had been silent and taciturn since childhood and was ignorant of the world, he understood nothing.

But Xie Zhefeng looked indifferently at the spiritual sword on the ground and nodded gently.

Xie Zhui was satisfied. While the immortal cultivators were still in their death throes, his divine sense completely withdrew from the spiritual sword, and his soul was about to leave his body.

Right at that moment.

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh came. Xie Zhui’s hand forming the seal stiffened. When he opened his eyes and saw blood flowing from his chest, he realized that his own spiritual sword had pierced through his heart.

A sword recognizes its master, but Xie Zhefeng was his own son, and the power of their bloodline was enough to temporarily control the spiritual sword.

“You—”

Xie Zhui suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The youth’s face was stained with blood, a streak of red flowing down from his brow.

He blinked gently, only feeling that Xie Zhui’s blood was as unbearable as Xie Zhui himself.

In the distance, someone seemed to be arriving on a sword.

The wind and snow enveloping Langfeng City suddenly stopped.

—Was it that those immortal cultivators could no longer hold on? Was he also going to be killed by the Snow Demons?

Xie Zhefeng’s hand holding the sword trembled, and he turned his head toward the sound.

That day, Langfeng fell. Nanhe personally led many experts from Luoyue Peak to battle the Snow Demon Muddy Immortals at the Guixu Sea, finally driving back the demons within Langfeng City.

Amidst the ruins, Xie Zhefeng saw a youth wearing a simple robe with gold-threaded edges behind the Xianzun, who instantly stepped to his front.

He thought the other person was going to question him about parricide and killing the City Lord.

But the youth didn’t care at all. Using the sleeve of his expensive dharma robe, he wiped the filthy blood from between the boy’s brows and covered his eyes with the sleeve.

Dust swirled with the scent of blood from all directions, but the youth’s voice was like a cup of warm tea in the snow, refreshing to the heart.

“My name is An Wuxue, a disciple of Luoyue Peak. I have been ordered to Langfeng City to eliminate demons. The Snow Demons have retreated, and the barrier is being re-established. Luoyue Peak is clearing the muddy energy in the city.”

“Don’t be afraid.”

In the life Xie Zhefeng had experienced up to then, it was the first time someone had said those three words to him.

He truly was no longer afraid.

Later, Luoyue Peak reorganized Langfeng City. Nanhe Xianzun searched Xie Zhui’s remnant soul, learned about the possession attempt, and didn’t say another word.

From then on, Xie Zhefeng was brought back to Luoyue Peak by Nanhe Xianzun and became his second disciple.

Because of the fall of Langfeng City, Nanhe was overwhelmed and had many trivial matters to handle, leaving him no time to look after him.

It was An Wuxue who brought him back to Luoyue Peak and temporarily settled him in a quiet mountain peak.

The disciples in the sect all wanted to see the new little junior brother, to see what the young boy who made Nanhe Xianzun break his rules for a second time looked like, but they were all turned away by An Wuxue on the grounds that “little junior brother needs rest.”

Xie Zhefeng was inside the room, listening to An Wuxue blocking the others.

When the other person covered his eyes, his words were clearly softer than the spring breeze, and when he led him here, his expression was gentler than fine rain, yet when he scolded the disciples who came to watch the fun, he was actually quite stern.

He looked down at his clothes, which were still covered in bloodstains.

He suddenly felt a bit bashful, feeling that meeting An Wuxue like this truly soiled this person’s—who should now be his senior brother—truly soiled this senior brother’s eyes.

He used a mantra, wanting to wash away the bloodstains. But the robe was dark-colored; even though he had clearly washed it clean, he always felt there was filth on it that he couldn’t see.

An Wuxue had already lifted the door curtain and walked in, happening to catch him inspecting his clothes.

“Little junior brother,” his brows curved slightly as he narrowed his eyes, “Luoyue Peak isn’t so poor that it can’t afford a disciple’s clothing. This outfit of yours is old; I’ll go prepare a few new dharma robes for you. Do you have a style you like?”

Xie Zhefeng shook his head: “No…”

“Then what about the color?”

Xie Zhefeng thought about it seriously.

“White.”

“Oh?” An Wuxue raised an eyebrow. “We are sword cultivators; we’re always rolling around and getting dirty. Don’t you think white robes get dirty easily?”

“…They get dirty easily, and it’s also easy to see when they are dirty.”

Unlike the one he was wearing, where he couldn’t tell if there was filth that wouldn’t wash away.

Xie Zhefeng was already used to his requests being ignored by others.

After he finished speaking, he felt again that he was asking for too much and that the other person would not pay him any mind.

It was just a robe; anything wearable would do.

But the young An Wuxue just nodded and followed his request: “Then I will prepare a few white robes for you.”

Xie Zhefeng didn’t know how to interact with others in a friendly manner, so he could only recall the ordinary people he had seen sitting in front of the City Lord’s Mansion and, imitating their way of addressing those close to them, whispered: “Thank you, A-Xue.”

An Wuxue was stunned.

“Ow!” He was tapped on the head by his senior brother.

An Wuxue pretended to be angry: “What are you calling me? I am your senior brother. There is an order of seniority. I can call you by your name, but you should call me Senior Brother.”

“…Thank you, Senior Brother.”

“I heard the cultivators in Langfeng City say you never spoke since you were little and were likely a mute—as if that were true.”

His new senior brother looked him up and down and said, “Not only is little junior brother not a mute, he’s also quite handsome. If you wear white, you will definitely look very good.”

Because of this one sentence.

From then on, Xie Zhefeng only wore white.

The budding heart of a youth was planted at that time. Thereafter, the years at Luoyue Peak were long. In those troubled times, the bamboo forest on the peak was filled with the sound of swords, yet it was an irreplaceable peace in Xie Zhefeng’s heart.

When did he start realizing he had fallen in love?

Perhaps it was at a certain moment when he was a few years older and could start practicing swinging a sword, when his senior brother held his hand and taught him swordsmanship in place of Nanhe.

Perhaps it was on one of the nights when they were ordered down the mountain and slept in each other’s arms.

Maybe it was one night when his senior brother peeked his head out from under his half-closed window and whispered to him: “Is Junior Brother asleep? Master went to Mingri City for something and can’t watch us. Tonight there’s a rare firework display in the mortal world below Luoyue Peak. Do you want to sneak out with me to see it?”

It could also be…

Exactly when it was, he no longer knew.

But he remembered.

He had already fallen in love long ago.

So he knew his senior brother liked him wearing white, and he never bought clothes of any other color again.

That day his senior brother taught him swordsmanship and didn’t notice his palm was chafed by the sword hilt; in truth, he knew his senior brother would be distressed and would bandage it for him, so he deliberately pretended not to notice until it was chafed before opening his palm for his senior brother to see.

He knew his senior brother would like the ice cakes he spent the night making while injured.

And when they went down the mountain to eliminate demons, he clearly knew his senior brother’s face was a bit red from embarrassment, yet he still pretended not to know and reached out to feel the warmth of his senior brother’s cheek, just to get a little closer.

The past gradually became clear. The vines of time at this moment belatedly covered Xie Zhefeng’s heart, bringing back the vanished past.

He was the one who was moved first, and he was the one who first stirred his senior brother’s heart.

Yet he had forgotten it all.