Chapter 130#
What happened next in the illusion gave An Wuxue the answer.
Xie Zhefeng once again condensed his soul, separating the part of his soul that was surrounded by the turbid energy of the inner demon.
This time, An Wuxue even used spiritual techniques and spells.
“Junior Brother!!”
He called out.
But even spiritual techniques and spells couldn’t stop the Chuhan sword from a thousand years ago.
As the sword light fell, Xie Zhefeng trembled all over, his spiritual power unstable. The flesh formed by his transformation instantly disappeared, revealing many white bones.
Repeatedly shattering his soul, even an immortal couldn’t remain unharmed.
Xie Zhefeng was unconscious for a long time.
So long that the long pines on the Frost Sea were once again covered in a thick layer of frost, and the wind and snow blew, leaving specks of fluff on him. He lay in the frost mist and snow, as if he was melting into it.
Xie Zhefeng finally woke up again.
When his soul left his body for the fifth time, An Wuxue heard the inner demon say: “He’s dead.”
Xie Zhefeng’s body stiffened.
“You killed him.”
The man’s brow sword mark flickered, and the dark energy was extremely dense.
An Wuxue stood by, shaking his head repeatedly: “Don’t listen to him.”
The inner demon continued: “You killed him.”
Xie Zhefeng’s eyes were tightly closed, but his pupils kept moving.
Beneath the calm, turbulent waves surged.
At this moment, his transformed body had condensed flesh and blood. His lips moved slightly, and black blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth.
“Senior Brother is dead, what are you holding on to?”
“There’s only one immortal in the two worlds and four seas! Even if you fall into demonhood and cultivate turbidity, who can stop you?”
“…”
“You don’t want to?”
“Why don’t you release your divine sense into the Frost Sea and listen? Listen to how the world talks about An Wuxue!”
“And you? You are clearly the strongest in the world, yet you are trapped on this mere floating island, fighting with me!”
“…”
“He’s gone! What’s the point of this world? Why not accept me! Accept me, and I’ll flatten this world for you!”
Xie Zhefeng finally opened his eyes.
His eyes were devoid of light, and his voice was hoarse.
“Accept you? I killed Senior Brother, but Senior Brother also died because of you. Even if my soul suffers daily, I will still tear you to pieces.”
“You—”
Xie Zhefeng closed his eyes.
The Chuhan sword light fell again.
This time, his sword strike was faster than any before.
When he ascended to immortality, he would still often injure himself due to his lack of proficiency.
But with each successive soul division, his sword strikes became faster and faster, never again piercing the wrong place.
Soul division required time to recover. Each time the turbid energy of the inner demon was dispersed, Xie Zhefeng would use spiritual objects and medicines to repair his soul. Once his soul recovered, he would divide it again to suppress the inner demon, repeating this cycle.
His bone transformation also became more and more flesh-like.
His soul was cut off again and again, and he would always think of An Wuxue. The Ruthless Curse would flare up again and again, and be suppressed again and again.
Gradually, the effect of the Ruthless Curse weakened, and Xie Zhefeng also experienced countless soul divisions.
An Wuxue sat beside him, accompanying Xie Zhefeng.
An Wuxue couldn’t remember how many times Xie Zhefeng had divided his soul when he reached across time and space, stroking his Junior Brother’s cheek, saying with both blame and heartache: “When I thought you were heartless, I also hoped you would be an Immortal Venerable sitting on a lotus platform. How could you… have spent these thousand years like this?”
He no longer made futile attempts to stop him.
But whenever Xie Zhefeng called “Senior Brother,” even though he knew his Junior Brother in the past illusion couldn’t hear him, he would still soften his voice and gently nod, saying, “Mm, I’m here.”
Thus, a year passed quickly in the illusion.
The inner demon was finally somewhat controlled.
Xie Zhefeng took advantage of the inner demon’s temporary lull and went to Jingji Plain.
The immortal’s spiritual power once again covered the entire Jingji Plain, but not a trace of a remnant soul could be found.
—At that time, An Wuxue was still hiding from Xie Zhefeng.
His Junior Brother’s face was pale, whether from the torment of the inner demon or from not being able to find An Wuxue’s soul.
Three days later, his inner demon relapsed again.
Jingji Plain was undefended, and cultivators from all four seas could pass through here.
He couldn’t stay long and returned to Luoyue Peak, to the Frost Sea, to seclude himself and suppress his inner demon.
He raised Kunkun in the pine forest, issued decrees to all of Luoyue Peak, and arranged all matters concerning the common people.
The Frost Sea occasionally received guests, all reporting major events from the two worlds.
If Xie Zhefeng had to personally handle something, he would temporarily manifest a clone to travel outside.
Otherwise, he could only confine himself to the Frost Sea, entangled with his inner demon.
The world only knew that the Immortal Venerable lived in seclusion, only appearing for major events.
Only the wind and snow on the Frost Sea and the countless thorns of Jingji Plain knew these years.
Once, Qi Xun’s voice was sent in by spiritual power.
“Xie Chuhan, what do you mean by staying behind closed doors?”
Qi Xun had told An Wuxue that after An Wuxue’s death, Qi Xun thought for a long time in the old grounds of Lihuo Sect, finally understood, and then came to find Xie Zhefeng. Only then did the two temporarily put aside their grievances and cooperate.
It should have been around that time.
Xie Zhefeng initially ignored him.
But Qi Xun came for many consecutive days.
Only after Xie Zhefeng divided his soul again to suppress the inner demon did he open the Frost Sea and let him in.
He said to Qi Xun: “If you truly want to investigate, tens of thousands of years ago, a divine soul treasure once appeared in the world, named the Soul-Nourishing Tree. The Soul-Nourishing Tree has a spirit that can discern the grievances of the dead, illuminate a person’s life before and after death, and also nourish shattered souls.”
Qi Xun left—he went to investigate the whereabouts of the Soul-Nourishing Tree.
The Frost Sea became quiet again, leaving only Xie Zhefeng from a thousand years ago and An Wuxue from today.
An Wuxue looked at his Junior Brother’s pale face, stepped forward, and “hugged” him in the void.
“Forget it,” he said to Xie Zhefeng, “don’t think of me. The Ruthless Curse will help you forget me.”
Xie Zhefeng’s inner demon arose from the demon bone. The demon bone was connected by human love. If there was no love, the demon bone would only be suppressed by Xie Zhefeng’s sword bone.
If there was no love, Immortal Venerable Chuhan would only be a respected figure of the two worlds who had achieved the Path of Ruthlessness, heartless and emotionless, undisturbed by personal matters, and caring for all living beings.
He would not suffer this agonizing pain daily, nor would he struggle with his inner demon without escape.
Before Xie Zhefeng ascended to immortality, An Wuxue had actually thought that if his Junior Brother successfully passed the tribulation, and an immortal was not bound by the Dao, he might be able to express his feelings to his Junior Brother.
But now it seemed…
If he had still been alive then… he should have advised his Junior Brother to forget.
Unfortunately, he died then.
So he could only watch Xie Zhefeng endure this for eight hundred years.
A full eight hundred years.
The suffering of slow slicing for mortals lasts no more than a few days, the torture by fire a few moments, the pain of a gouged heart but an instant.
Yet Xie Zhefeng endured this for eight hundred years.
The illusion brought forth by the Soul-Nourishing Tree spirit was different from reality. Time would pass extremely quickly, and it would skip many insignificant, mundane details.
An Wuxue hadn’t actually stayed in it for eight hundred years.
But he had truly felt those eight hundred years.
Until Xie Zhefeng’s inner demon was completely suppressed.
The inner demon could not be eradicated.
The demon bone on his Junior Brother’s body was still there, and love was still there, so the inner demon would never disappear.
To say it was eradicating the inner demon, it was more like the pain of soul division was too long and too intense, so intense that the inner demon dared not emerge again.
Why was Xie Zhefeng so decisive and skilled when he divided his soul to suppress his inner demon in front of him that day?
Because Xie Zhefeng had been doing the same thing for eight hundred years.
He told him that he had fought with his inner demon for many years, knew how to deal with it, and would not let it bring disaster to the world.
But the inner demon was the most difficult obstacle to overcome in this world; how could he know how to deal with it?
This person was merely using the most barbaric, crude, and direct method to contend with the inner demon that was deeply rooted in his bones.
An Wuxue, seeing this, was filled with an unspeakable sorrow.
Something invisible tightly enveloped his heart, gripping it so tightly that he couldn’t let go.
He raised his hand and touched his cheek, only to find it damp.
“Woo woo.”
It was Kunkun’s voice.
His mind was swaying at this moment, and he reacted slowly, dazed for a moment.
“Woo woo! Woo woo!”
Before An Wuxue could withdraw himself, the world around him began to spin.
He merely blinked, and the surroundings were already in the small bedroom within the cold plum courtyard.
Kunkun was in his arms, looking up at him with concern.
The light cluster formed by the Soul-Nourishing Tree spirit had shrunk significantly, with only over a hundred years of illusion remaining inside.
Daylight streamed in through the window—it had actually been an entire night.
An Wuxue raised his hand and touched his cheek again.
It was dry.
The tears he shed were in the illusion and would not follow him out of it.
Just like that past, it would only exist in an illusion that could not be returned to.
The past could never be chased.
“Did you pull me out?” he asked Kunkun.
Kunkun swept its tail and pointed outside: “Woo!”
An Wuxue was startled.
He spread his divine sense and found that Xie Zhefeng was already waiting outside the barrier.
Outside, the sky was completely bright, and the sun hung overhead—it was already noon.
An Wuxue didn’t have time to think too much. He quickly put the remaining illusion into his spiritual pouch, got out of bed, and rushed out with Kunkun in his arms.
Spiritual power opened the door.
With a “clang.”
Bright light spilled in, and the long wind outside instantly rushed in, blowing across An Wuxue’s cheek, bringing with it a thousand years of the past.
His Junior Brother stood in white clothes under the plum tree, seemingly gazing at the distant sky.
Falling plum blossoms drifted down, covering his shoulders and hair.
He felt the spiritual power fluctuate, the barrier withdraw, and heard the door open. He slowly turned his head.
“Senior Brother is awake?”
An Wuxue stopped at the door.
Xie Zhefeng immediately noticed An Wuxue’s poor complexion, paused, and stepped forward: “What’s wrong? Was last night’s dream not good?”
An Wuxue looked up at him.
Kunkun swayed its tail in his arms, sweeping across his wrist again and again, a little itchy, a little warm.
He said: “Yes. A very bad dream, too long and too bitter, so bitter that I wished it would end sooner, but it just wouldn’t end.”
“Then—”
“The sun is high in the sky, why didn’t you call me?”
Waiting right outside.
“I was afraid of disturbing your sweet dreams,” Xie Zhefeng said. “If I had known it wasn’t a sweet dream but a nightmare, I would have broken the barrier and called you in earlier.”
An Wuxue looked at him quietly.
His Junior Brother today wore a white cloud-patterned robe, his long dark hair tied up, adorned with the snow hairpin he had given him. The white hairpin in black hair was like falling snow in the mortal world.
Anyone looking at him at this moment would only feel that he was some noble young master from the mortal world, or a proud scion of an immortal sect.
No one could see what kind of thousand years lay beneath this body.
He opened his mouth, but still didn’t say that he had opened the illusion.
“If I hadn’t woken up, you could have rested and waited for my transmission. Why stand at the door?”
Xie Zhefeng said in a low voice: “Although it’s cold outside, standing is indeed a bit tiring. But it’s better for me to wait for Senior Brother than for Senior Brother to wait for me.”
It was cold outside.
Standing was tiring.
These were things mortals might say, but how could they affect an immortal?
He was pretending to be pitiful again.
An Wuxue thought.
Repeatedly pretending to be pitiful over such small matters to soften his heart, yet not wanting him to see the long thousand years after his death.
He only wanted his momentary soft-heartedness, but not his true heartache.