Chapter 119#

The past turned over as finely as the pages of a book.

Memories from a thousand years ago were gradually unsealed. Xie Zhefeng followed the long river of time and finally found the moment when the Unfeeling Curse was placed.

…

Cultivators abstain from grains to enter the Dao. Reaching the initial stage of success counts as becoming a proper immortal cultivator, the great success stage allows one to stand on their own, and reaching the Tribulation Crossing stage means becoming an expert known in both realms.

After an immortal cultivator breaks through from the initial stage to the great success stage, they must choose the path they will take, and most also form a bond with their natal sword during this period.

It was during the great success stage that An Wuxue completely settled on the Floating Life path. Nanhe gave An Wuxue the famous sword Chunhua, which he had used during his cultivation at Luoyue Peak before ascending.

The day Xie Zhefeng broke through the great success stage and emerged from seclusion, An Wuxue was waiting for him outside his cave dwelling.

The young man had a smile in his eyes, which reflected Xie Zhefeng’s figure dressed in white robes.

“Congratulations to Junior Brother on your great success,” An Wuxue said. “With great success, it’s time to decide on your path. My current cultivation isn’t enough to examine Junior Brother’s skeletal structure; has Master spoken to you?”

Examining skeletal structure is not something just any cultivator can do.

After Nanhe brought Xie Zhefeng back to Luoyue Peak, he had once examined him.

At that time, An Wuxue couldn’t help but ask, but Nanhe didn’t answer. Xie Zhefeng was there but didn’t pay much attention.

Back then, he thought he would follow the Floating Life path.

It was the same now.

He shook his head: “Master hasn’t spoken to me yet.”

But Xie Zhefeng had already made his decision and wouldn’t change it.

The Unfeeling path is sharp and unparalleled, encompassing all living beings but discarding personal feelings.

But Xie Zhefeng couldn’t discard his personal feelings.

He thought that even if he had the skeletal structure for the Unfeeling path, he wouldn’t follow it.

But An Wuxue didn’t know what Xie Zhefeng was thinking. His smile faded slightly, and he said gloomily: “Given your personality, the elders and fellow disciples in the peak all say you’ll likely follow the Unfeeling path in the future. You…”

His senior brother seemed to hesitate for a moment.

Xie Zhefeng was also hesitating.

He wanted to refute his senior brother, to say he had already decided on his path.

He was debating whether to speak frankly at this moment, to state that no matter what, he would choose the Floating Life path because his feelings for his senior brother went beyond those of fellow disciples.

But what if his senior brother was unwilling?

Would their years of friendship be strained because he couldn’t suppress his transgressive heart?

Since he first held a sword, even the moment he pierced Xie Zhui’s heart with a single stroke, he had never hesitated. Yet now, he was pondering deeply and hesitating over a simple sentence.

Xie Zhefeng hesitated for just that moment.

A light breeze stirred, and a familiar immortal aura descended.

An Wuxue and Xie Zhefeng both paused and spoke one after the other: “Master.”

The newcomer wore a cyan-blue robe, his hair tied with a wooden hairpin. His features were handsome, but his expression was flat.

Despite it being the day his youngest disciple emerged from seclusion after reaching great success, he showed no joy.

Nanhe had just descended from the air and, without even stopping, walked inside, only letting a sentence drift back: “Zhefeng, follow me inside.”

An Wuxue was stunned: “Master—”

Nanhe had already led Xie Zhefeng into the room.

Xie Zhefeng could only say hurriedly: “Senior Brother, I have something to say to you. Could you wait for me for a moment?”

An Wuxue smiled: “Of course. I’m still waiting for Junior Brother to decide on his path.”

Only then did Xie Zhefeng turn to enter the room.

He watched as Nanhe set up a barrier to seal the surroundings and asked in confusion: “Master, why avoid Senior Brother?”

Nanhe turned around and gave him a meaningful look.

Nanhe Xianzun had already ruled the two realms for several thousand years and had slain many great demons and Muddy Immortals during the Immortal Calamity. There were few things in the world that could make him look worried.

But at this moment, he let out a sigh.

“You do see things clearly.”

It wasn’t that Xie Zhefeng saw things clearly, but rather that he was always more mindful of anything related to his senior brother.

“When you first entered the sect, I examined your skeletal structure,” Nanhe said suddenly.

As he spoke, he suddenly produced a sword.

The moment this sword was taken out of the spiritual bag, it emitted a piercing coldness. Its humming sword-cry was infused with immortal spiritual energy, and wherever the sword-qi reached, it was covered in frost.

“This sword is named Chu Han. I forged it with the trunk of an ancient tree as the body and the astral winds of the Guixu Sea,” Nanhe held the spiritual sword out to him. “It is sharp and piercing, untainted by attachments, and most suitable for the Unfeeling path.”

Xie Zhefeng’s mentor was the world’s greatest sword, Nanhe Xianzun. Both he and An Wuxue would be gifted famous swords upon entering their path.

Nanhe’s sword from before his ascension, Chunhua, had already been given to An Wuxue. Xie Zhefeng’s sword was likely specially reforged for him by Nanhe, something he had never considered.

So when Nanhe handed over the sword, Xie Zhefeng instinctively reached for it.

But just as his fingertips touched the scabbard, he heard that phrase “Unfeeling path.”

He was stunned.

“Master,” he asked, “is my skeletal structure one for the Unfeeling path?”

He would never enter the Unfeeling path.

No matter how long the immortal path might be, losing his feelings for his senior brother would make it less than the blink of an eye for a mayfly.

If Nanhe just nodded, Xie Zhefeng would immediately state his choice.

But Nanhe shook his head.

His master still maintained the posture of handing him the sword, and amidst the waves of Chu Han’s sword-cries, he told him without sorrow or joy: “But you can only practice the Unfeeling path.”

That was to say—he was originally suited for the Floating Life path, but could only practice the Unfeeling path?

This statement was too vague and confusing. Xie Zhefeng didn’t have time for shock and could only ask in bewilderment: “…Why?”

Nanhe only said: “Accept the sword.”

Even if an immortal doesn’t display their pressure, their every move inherently carries it. Nanhe was the sovereign of two realms, accustomed to ruling his subordinates, and his words carried an indisputable authority.

But Xie Zhefeng neither accepted the sword nor responded; instead, he knelt straight down.

“This disciple wish to enter the Floating Life path,” he said.

Nanhe was not angry. He looked down at him and sighed again.

“Do you have love in your heart?”

Xie Zhefeng nodded: “I—”

At such a time, he naturally couldn’t mention An Wuxue’s name, but he was determined not to budge.

He didn’t understand either.

Since Master had tacitly acknowledged he was suited for the Floating Life path, why say he could only follow the Unfeeling path? And why had he prepared the Chu Han sword used for the Unfeeling path, yet never mentioned anything about entering a path all these years?

But he didn’t have the chance to say another word.

Nanhe Xianzun didn’t even care who was in his heart. He suddenly threw the sword up, and the moment the spiritual sword suspended in the air, he abruptly formed a seal, directly driving runes through Xie Zhefeng’s brow into his soul!

For no reason, Xie Zhefeng was filled with fear of that curse, as if the moment the curse fell, he would lose what he cared about most.

But he was only at the beginning of the great success stage; how could he possibly resist Nanhe’s magic?

In an instant, his sea of consciousness shook, and his mind wavered.

In his blurring consciousness, Xie Zhefeng seemed to hear Nanhe saying: “No matter who you love, practicing the Unfeeling path is for the sake of all living beings—the person in your heart is also among them.”

“For him, and for all living beings, you can only practice the Unfeeling path.”

Later, Xie Zhefeng only remembered that Nanhe had gifted him the spiritual sword, decided the Unfeeling path for him, and then left immediately because there were important matters regarding the Immortal Calamity to handle.

He walked out holding the sword and found his senior brother still standing by the door.

There seemed to be a rare apprehension in his senior brother’s expression. Seeing his figure, An Wuxue stepped forward quickly and asked quite nervously: “Has Junior Brother decided on his path?”

“Yes, Unfeeling.”

An Wuxue was stunned.

He seemed to be dazed for a very, very long time.

Xie Zhefeng looked at his senior brother’s reaction and felt a strange sense of frustration in his heart.

But he didn’t understand the origin of this feeling, so he didn’t speak.

After a long while, he heard his senior brother ask again: “Unfeeling… well, Junior Brother indeed… had the aura of being unfeeling even in your youth. Then, what did you want to say to me earlier?”

An Wuxue put on his usual gentle, water-like smile.

But Xie Zhefeng felt that his senior brother’s smile tasted slightly bitter.

He frowned, thought for a moment, and then said: “When did I say that?”

“…Before you went into the room with Master, didn’t you ask me to wait?” An Wuxue’s tone was even more hollow.

Xie Zhefeng could only shake his head.

“Perhaps it was something unimportant,” he said. “I’ve forgotten.”

—He had forgotten it all.

The Unfeeling Curse had already fallen then. He forgot his brief confrontation with Master in the room, forgot that he was actually suited for the Floating Life path, forgot…

He forgot many things.

Everything that shouldn’t be forgotten, everything he didn’t want to forget, was buried deep under the runes of the Unfeeling Curse.

For the next several days, Xie Zhefeng received continuous congratulations from his fellow disciples.

For some reason, An Wuxue hadn’t come to see him.

He felt that his senior brother seemed to be in a bad mood, but he didn’t know the reason.

He also felt as if there was something he used to do, but he couldn’t think of what it was.

Half a month passed like this.

On a similar afternoon, while An Wuxue was practicing swordsmanship in the bamboo forest, Kun-kun came looking for Xie Zhefeng, biting his sleeve and pulling at him repeatedly.

Xie Zhefeng didn’t understand and was pulled to the kitchen by Kun-kun.

“What is it?” he asked the spiritual beast he had searched for all night in the Bewildering Forest. “Did Senior Brother ask you to bring me here?”

Kun-kun tilted its head: “Wuu?”

A moment later, the little miasma beast carried all the tools for making ice cakes to him.

“You want to eat ice cakes?”

Kun-kun shook its head.

The little fellow had no idea what had happened and couldn’t understand how Xie Zhefeng, who used to make ice cakes for An Wuxue once a month, didn’t even know now when it reminded him.

It stomped its feet in frustration.

Xie Zhefeng ended up making the ice cakes anyway—he thought Kun-kun was being greedy.

But after he finished, he saw the little thing carrying the plate and bringing it to An Wuxue.

His senior brother’s sword had just cut down a patch of bamboo in the forest.

An Wuxue was usually unwilling to damage plants; he always avoided them when practicing swordsmanship. Doing this now clearly showed he was still in a bad mood.

But seeing the ice cakes and Xie Zhefeng following behind, his expression brightened slightly, and he said in surprise: “Junior Brother made these?”

“Yes, Kun-kun came to ask me for them,” he said. “I thought it wanted to eat, and that Senior Brother had sent it to find me.”

An Wuxue was stunned.

Kun-kun quietly nudged Xie Zhefeng with its head, as if frustrated by his lack of effort.

Afterward, An Wuxue chuckled: “I do love ice cakes. Perhaps Kun-kun was being greedy and saw that I liked them, so it went to pester you. Junior Brother is busy with sword practice and cultivation; you don’t need to mind it.”

“Wuu wuu!!!”

“…”

From then on, Xie Zhefeng never made ice cakes again, and An Wuxue never asked him for any.

Until later, when he passed through Langfeng City once and remembered his senior brother mentioning he liked the ice cakes there.

By then, he had been on the Unfeeling path for a long time. Every day, his thoughts were only of cultivation and the common people. An Wuxue was very good to him; he was his senior brother, a respected elder fellow disciple, and that was all.

But as he stopped outside Langfeng City and remembered his senior brother’s love for ice cakes, his heart suddenly twinged.

He seemed to want to see his senior brother’s surprised expression.

So he bought a box of ice cakes to bring back to Luoyue Peak.

But after his senior brother took a bite, a moment of gloom flashed through his eyes.

This gloom was hidden extremely well by An Wuxue, appearing for only an instant.

But Xie Zhefeng had been staring at him and easily caught An Wuxue’s disappointment.

“…Doesn’t Senior Brother like ice cakes?”

Being seen through, An Wuxue wasn’t embarrassed but said helplessly: “I do, but I’m quite picky. The ones I like aren’t from this shop.”

He put down the pastry, looked up, and smiled at Xie Zhefeng.

When those peach-blossom eyes curved, they were like ripples on spring water or a gentle breeze through flowers, softly brushing past one’s eyes—untouchable, yet very warm.

“Thank you, Junior Brother. I’m very happy that you can remember my preferences.”

Looking at his senior brother’s smile, Xie Zhefeng unknowingly dazed out.

He thought.

He seemed to have fallen in love with his senior brother.