Chapter 121#
The mid-winter frost and mist of the First City drifted from the Underworld Sea behind the city, carrying a faint saltiness and an unshakable, clinging cold.
An Wuxue’s ears seemed blocked by the cold mist, making it hard to hear what Qi Xun was saying.
But he clearly heard every word.
He dazed for a moment before realizing he didn’t fail to hear, but rather didn’t want to hear clearly.
Only a dead person touching the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence would produce a reaction.
Only the dead could see the Soul-Nurturing Tree behind the Yellow Springs waters of the Star River path.
The Soul-Nurturing Tree was brought back by Xie Zhefeng. Doesn’t that mean Xie Zhefeng—
No, how could that be possible?
But…
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about the inconsistencies before.
But he always felt it wouldn’t go that far, nor was it possible.
Although he only now learned that only the dead could find the Soul-Nurturing Tree, he had always known—only the dead cannot touch the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence, and only those who are unwilling to re-watch their own life and death even once would not dare to touch it.
“Dare not touch.” The weight carried by these three words was too heavy.
Even for himself, he also didn’t want to experience everything he went through when he fell in his previous life.
But at that time, to prevent Xie Zhefeng from discovering his identity, he still used the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence.
He didn’t want to, but he wasn’t afraid to.
What kind of life and death could make Xie Zhefeng, the owner of the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence, never touch it from beginning to end?
An Wuxue was silent for a long time, motionless.
“…Is he unable to use the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence, or does he not dare?” he asked Qi Xun.
“I don’t know. Why would I care what Xie Chuhan thinks? In the years right after you left the world, there was little difference between Xie Chuhan and me and enemies.
“We only cooperated later to search for a method of revival and to uncover the truth. Because Xie Chuhan was hindered by his inner demon, he sometimes needed me to run errands, and I gradually learned he had an inner demon. To investigate the matter of the Lihuo Sect, we searched through ancient books and found the records of the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence.”
Qi Xun’s folding fan stopped in his palm. “When I saw that only the dead can see the Soul-Nurturing Tree, I thought it was impossible. The living can’t encounter it, and the dead can’t live. Such a treasure of heaven and earth is destined to exist only in legends.”
Qi Xun looked up at the distant sky.
Even though dusk hadn’t arrived, the light suddenly dimmed. Continuous dark clouds drifted over from nowhere, covering the sun.
It seemed like it was going to rain.
“Later, Xie Chuhan actually succeeded in bringing the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence back to the Burial Frost Sea…”
An Wuxue’s eyes suddenly felt a sour, stinging sensation.
“Have you seen the Soul-Nurturing Tree?” he asked.
Qi Xun shook his head.
“I haven’t died, so I can’t see it.”
An Wuxue let out a long sigh, his chest filled with bitterness.
No wonder.
When he was still Suxue, guided by Kun-kun, he had approached the core of the Frost Sea and seen the Soul-Nurturing Tree, and also saw Xie Zhefeng controlling his inner demon under the tree.
The Soul-Nurturing Tree was brilliantly golden, standing there so openly without any special restrictions.
Yun Zhou used Suxue to sneak onto the Frost Sea specifically to find the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence. Yun Zhou clearly had a late-stage Tribulation cultivation at the time, and while Xie Zhefeng was in seclusion, Yun Zhou secretly moved within the Burial Frost Sea, but never found even a trace of the Soul-Nurturing Tree. In the end, he had to wait until Xie Zhefeng brought the essence out of Luoyue Peak to investigate the Yunjian Sect matter before taking action.
But that move was Xie Zhefeng’s counter-plot; Yun Zhou naturally fell into the trap and showed his true colors.
From beginning to end, Yun Zhou had never seen the Soul-Nurturing Tree.
An Wuxue thought it was because the Frost Sea was strictly guarded. Thinking back now…
Thinking back now, from beginning to end, only he and his junior brother could see the Soul-Nurturing Tree.
He was someone who had died once.
What about his junior brother?
His thoughts were in turmoil. He calmed down for a moment before saying: “Kun-kun once climbed the Soul-Nurturing Tree directly to pluck leaves for me…”
“That’s because Xie Chuhan dotes on it. In these centuries, he has used this unique soul treasure as miasma beast fodder every day. Kun-kun has eaten so much of it that it can naturally sense the Soul-Nurturing Tree.”
“A-Xue…” Qi Xun said softly, “Selfishly speaking, we can’t go back to the days of being childhood friends. Seeing that Xie Chuhan can still get special attention from you indeed makes me a bit resentful. We both know Xie Chuhan’s personality; if I didn’t say anything, it’s impossible for him to use this matter to win your sympathy. But before I came looking for you today, I thought for a long time and realized a very simple truth—do you want to know?”
“I think you do want to know, so I can’t hide it from you.”
An Wuxue indeed wanted to know.
He wanted to know how much the Unfeeling Curse had affected Xie Zhefeng’s memory, wanted to know the truth of that sword strike back then, and wanted to know why Xie Zhefeng wouldn’t touch the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence.
But he didn’t expect the answer to be this.
How could it be?
“…How did he die? When? How did he come back to life?” he murmured.
Qi Xun still shook his head: “How could he possibly tell me? I know this only because I helped him search for the Soul-Nurturing Tree. But the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence can reflect the life of a dead person before and after death. If you want to know…”
The way to know was far on the horizon, yet right before his eyes.
Rumble—
A clap of thunder came from the sky.
A fine rain seemed to drift down.
An Wuxue was dazed for a long time.
Qi Xun had already left at some point.
Sect Master Qi had important matters concerning the two realms and An Wuxue to attend to. Currently, the next move of the person behind the scenes was still unclear, and they were too passive. Qi Xun couldn’t afford to delay. After saying these things, he eventually left with a sigh.
An Wuxue remained standing outside the Qu family’s gate.
Until the fine rain gradually turned into a heavy downpour, pouring down and weaving a thick curtain of rain.
The rain soaked his hair and flowed down his neck and shoulders, suddenly making him shiver from the cold.
Only then did he realize he had been lost in thought, forgetting even to use his spiritual power to repel the rain.
The boy outside the Qu family’s gate only knew him as Qu Jizhi’s friend. Seeing him standing there for a long time without moving, the boy approached and asked with concern: “Does this immortal master have anything else? Do you need me to inform the new family head again?”
An Wuxue shook his head in a daze.
He didn’t leave on his sword.
He just held Chunhua and slowly walked away, gradually entering the mortal streets and the thousands of households.
On the stone walls along the street, notices written on immortal spiritual paper were posted at intervals, talking about the change of City Lord, which mortals didn’t actually care much about.
Pei Qian had succeeded to the City Lord position last night, and Upguan Liaoliao had quietly left Northern Ming First City, going who knows where.
In the teahouse, there seemed to be cultivators enjoying the rain and discussing this matter.
They seemed to be saying Upguan Liaoliao “was a City Lord in vain,” “almost failed to stop the Ascension Tribulation,” “trusted the wrong person,” “might be in league with demonic cultivators,” “maybe the experts who mysteriously fell in Northern Ming before were also related to her”…
Upguan Liaoliao had been City Lord for a thousand years, had once saved Northern Ming from collapse, and had put all her effort into building the Northern Ming Sword Array. But because she couldn’t do the last thing well before leaving, she was burdened with gossip and lost her thousand-year reputation.
She was spat upon by those who once admired her, with thousands of people in the streets and alleys speculating about her faults.
And she had lost all her cultivation, starting over. Perhaps she was hiding her identity somewhere in Northern Ming, listening to the people around her discuss these things, yet having no way to defend herself.
…It was exactly the same as the former An Wuxue.
An Wuxue only felt sentimental, with no other thoughts.
When he entered the Cangu Tower a thousand years ago, what he said to Upguan Liaoliao was already a complete break. After that, he died, and the brother who was willing to protect her naturally died too.
Now he was just a stranger.
Whatever happened to Upguan Liaoliao was her own choice.
He turned a deaf ear to these rumors and walked aimlessly forward.
The rain grew heavier, drowning out the sounds on both sides.
Many mortals who didn’t have umbrellas but were in a hurry to return home used their robes to cover their heads and ran quickly through the heavy rain.
Only An Wuxue walked slowly through the rain, holding his sword.
He thought of nothing else; only one sentence flashed in his heart.
He had died once, how could his junior brother also have died once?
Where exactly had fate placed them? How was it that throughout their thousand-year-long, faint lives, no one had found joy?
He thought for a long time but still couldn’t answer himself.
It wasn’t until the sky grew slightly dark that An Wuxue returned to the small courtyard.
Several message talismans had been posted on the soul bell hanging outside the courtyard.
An Wuxue opened them one by one.
Jiang Qing asked him: “I wonder if Suxue’s important business has been resolved? If you need help, feel free to tell me.”
Upguan Liaoliao had a short farewell: “Brother, sorry, take care.”
Pei Qian’s complaint: “There are so many things! It’s only my first day as City Lord! So many trivial after-matters of the puppet technique! I shouldn’t have followed the Xianzun back to Northern Ming in the first place!!!”
There were also voice messages from Xuan Fang, and a thousand-mile transmission from Qin Wei…
An Wuxue only replied to Pei Qian’s letter.
Then, he stepped into the courtyard.
Kun-kun was lying under the eaves yawning. Seeing him return, it flapped its wings and flew to his front.
He hurriedly used spiritual power to flick the rain from his body and caught it.
“Wuu wuu…”
“I have something to ask you.”
“Wuu wuu?”
“Xie Zhefeng died once, did you know?”
“Wuu…”
The cry was somewhat confused.
Kun-kun didn’t know either?
He put Kun-kun down, patted the little fellow’s head, and walked into the barrier alone.
The sounds of thunder and the rainstorm were suddenly all shut out.
As soon as An Wuxue entered the room, only silence remained.
Xie Zhefeng was meditating on the bed.
The man’s eyes were tightly closed, and the snow lotus sword mark on his brow flickered, occasionally turning black, but showing no signs of losing control.
—He was still breaking the curse.
An Wuxue silently walked to Xie Zhefeng’s side and sat on the other side of the bed.
The sky had turned completely dark.
The fire essence in the room had been put away the previous night, and it was now pitch black.
In the darkness, he looked at his junior brother and, inadvertently, had already raised his hand, his fingertip lightly touching the man’s snow lotus sword mark.
The man, immersed in past memories, didn’t move at all.
He asked: “How did you also die once?”
He had asked Qi Xun this question, asked himself, even asked Kun-kun, and now he asked Xie Zhefeng.
Naturally, his junior brother couldn’t open his mouth to answer him at this moment.
An Wuxue lowered his eyes and took out a spiritual bag.
It was the spiritual bag Xie Zhefeng had insisted on leaving with him.
Inside were many rare spiritual treasures and high-power talismans that Xie Zhefeng wanted to leave for his recovery and protection.
Among them was… the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence.
“You…” He took out the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence and said melancholically, “On the day I woke up on Luoyue Peak, I never would have thought that a day would come when I’d use this thing to look at you.”
So on that day in front of the Yunjian Sect, when the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence stood between him and Xie Zhefeng, he wasn’t the only dead person present.
An Wuxue took a deep breath.
He placed the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence on Xie Zhefeng’s hand.
In an instant, a brilliant golden light burst forth—
The next moment.
After the world spun, An Wuxue saw a familiar scene.
He was standing in the pine forest in the center of the Burial Frost Sea. Before him drifted frost and snow like willow catkins, and above his head were the endless Ascension Tribulation clouds.
At this moment in the past, the spiritual energy of the Frost Sea was in great turmoil, and the tall pines swayed as if they were going to be bent by the strong wind.
An Wuxue recognized when this was at a glance.
At that time, Xie Zhefeng told him he was going into seclusion to push for the Ascension stage. Barriers were placed all around the Burial Frost Sea. He should have been guarding at Luoyue Peak, but because he sensed the fifth Heavenly Pillar, he rushed to the Thorn River. After that…
The life and death of his junior brother brought out by the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence was actually that period when he wasn’t at Luoyue Peak!?
An Wuxue was both shocked and confused. He walked inward against the strong wind that couldn’t touch him.
In the center of the pine forest, he saw Xie Zhefeng, who had just triggered the Ascension Tribulation.
He thought the man should be holding Chu Han, standing under the tribulation clouds, calmly waiting for the lightning to fall.
But he wasn’t.
His junior brother was meditating on a floating lotus platform, the snow lotus sword mark on his brow completely black.
Chu Han floated in front of Xie Zhefeng.
Xie Zhefeng suddenly let out a muffled groan, and his soul actually floated out from his brow in its entirety, leaving his body.
An Wuxue’s heart tightened for no reason, and he blurted out: “Your soul leaving your body under a lightning tribulation, what are you doing? Don’t you want your life? Are you crazy?”
He instinctively reached out to stop him.
But as he lunged forward, he passed right through Xie Zhefeng.
—This was only the past brought out by the Soul-Nurturing Tree essence, a past that could no longer be changed.
An Wuxue was dazed for an instant.
In the past, the moment Xie Zhefeng’s soul left his body, the Chu Han floating in front of him suddenly unsheathed!
The blade was pointed not at the tribulation clouds, but at Xie Zhefeng himself.