Chapter 19#
Chapter 19#
Why didn’t Xie Zhefeng use the tree spirit himself?
Why did he have to let someone like him, who appeared to have the lowest cultivation, hold it?
He was a lonely soul who should have vanished a thousand years ago, and the original soul of Su Xue’s body had disappeared for some unknown reason. Whether it was the body or the soul, he had too many things that couldn’t be explained.
He couldn’t touch the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit.
Xie Zhefeng stood sideways, reaching out towards him, with the spiritual pouch containing the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit held between the two of them.
The “Yunjian Sect Leader” was about to arrive in front of them.
He lowered his head slightly, suppressed his thoughts, and reached out to take the spiritual pouch into his hand, making a gesture as if he were about to take out the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit.
Then, as if he had thought of something, his movements paused, and he said calmly, “This item is still too precious. My cultivation is too low. If I hold it in my hand, I’m afraid I won’t be able to protect the tree spirit if something unexpected happens later. Daoist Xie, since it was given to you by the—” he deliberately elongated these two words, looking at Xie Zhefeng with a specific meaning, “—Immortal Venerable, I don’t dare to touch it recklessly.”
Xie Zhefeng didn’t move.
The man looked at the spiritual pouch held in An Wuxue’s hands, clearly in a state of just waiting for An Wuxue to take it out.
Yun Zhou said anxiously, “Daoist Xie, Su Xue is only at the Bigu stage; it’s normal for him to be afraid to use it. Why don’t you use it instead?”
Jiang Qing took a step forward, “Let me do it.”
Xie Zhefeng glanced over, “This item belongs to Luoyue. Daoist Jiang has no relation to my Luoyue Peak, so it cannot be handed to you.”
Yun Zhou reached out, “Then let me do it! It should be fine if I do it!”
Xie Zhefeng raised his hand, and the Chunhua Sword, still in its scabbard, blocked Yun Zhou’s path, stopping his attempt to take out the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit.
He was determined to have An Wuxue take it personally.
But he absolutely could not take it.
An Wuxue froze in place.
Even on that night when Xie Zhefeng almost killed him again on the Frost Sea, he had never been so flustered.
He wasn’t afraid of the Chuhan Sword Venerable in the eyes of the world, but he was afraid of the junior brother in his own eyes from his previous life.
The thought that Xie Zhefeng might see his pathetic self back then through the effect of the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit, the thought that this person would know he was that senior brother who deserved to die ten thousand times, the thought that he would have to face Xie Zhefeng again as “An Wuxue”…
The past was like a stormy sea, making his face turn pale.
He steadied his expression and said in a low voice, “Since neither Jiang Qing nor Yun Zhou are considered Luoyue disciples, then naturally I am not either. Why doesn’t Daoist Xie take it himself?”
“It’s inconvenient for me to use.”
Inconvenient?
Only someone like him who had died once would be afraid of touching the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit. What inconvenience did Xie Zhefeng have?
He was the one for whom it was most inconvenient to use.
No matter what Xie Zhefeng’s plan was, this plan had accidentally blocked his path.
If he took it, he would be exposed; if he didn’t, it would be a sign of guilt, which was also exposure.
The “Yunjian Sect Leader” had already arrived before everyone.
Looking from afar just now was nothing, but looking closely now, although he seemed no different from an ordinary person, his expression was somewhat stiff and his eyes were quite dull.
There was an almost imperceptible turbid qi above the space between his eyebrows; it was likely a demon inside.
An Wuxue was closest to this demon.
He was still holding the open spiritual pouch, delaying his movements.
The “Yunjian Sect Leader” glanced at him and said in a flat tone, “Which one is the envoy from Beiming?”
Several people looked at each other, and Jiang Qing smiled, “Sect Leader Yun, it’s me.”
“What urgent business does the envoy have?”
“Can we go inside to talk?”
“Since it’s an urgent matter, why not keep it short and talk here?”
The implication was that they weren’t being allowed in at all.
Their plan to enter without alerting the demons inside the mountain gate was likely going to fail.
Jiang Qing’s brow moved, and he glanced at Xie Zhefeng, seemingly waiting for his decision.
Before Xie Zhefeng could speak, Yun Zhou said sorrowfully, “Sect Leader, do you still recognize me and my senior brother? And Su Xue, you were the one who found Su Xue back then and told my senior brother and me to take Su Xue to Luoyue Peak…”
The “Yunjian Sect Leader’s” gaze paused, and he turned to look at Yun Zhou.
Suddenly—
The demon knew it couldn’t pretend anymore. Billowing turbid qi erupted from its body, its eyes turning crimson-black, and it suddenly charged straight at An Wuxue, who was closest to it!
An Wuxue pretended not to react and stood still.
Yun Zhou cried out, “Su Xue!!!”
Xie Zhefeng’s expression changed slightly. He brought his fingers together and instantly activated a spiritual seal, easily pulling An Wuxue to the other side where the demon’s attack couldn’t reach.
The spiritual pouch shook, and the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit was about to be pulled out by the spiritual energy fluctuations. An Wuxue hurried to grab the spiritual pouch and took the opportunity to fall to one side.
In the blink of an eye, Yun Yao stepped back, seemingly wanting to protect An Wuxue, while Jiang Qing and Yun Zhou both attacked at the same time.
Sand and stones flew all around, dark clouds rolled in, and darkness descended.
The mountain gate lost its previous neat appearance and became extremely dilapidated.
A place that was originally peaceful suddenly changed its appearance, and the world was turned upside down.
Jiang Qing pointed his sword straight at the demon’s brow—for both immortal and demonic cultivators, the space between the eyebrows was where the sea of consciousness and the sea of spiritual energy met.
The demon stepped back to avoid the attack, and a fierce wind continued to blow.
In the next instant—
Jiang Qing and the demon suddenly disappeared from before everyone’s eyes!
All of this happened in an instant, and An Wuxue was still falling to one side.
In the haste, he saw the situation at a glance.
That demon wanted to pull them separately into the illusion and defeat them one by one!
Xie Zhefeng stood calmly to one side, spiritual energy gathering at his fingertips, seemingly about to strike.
An Wuxue gripped the spiritual pouch in his hand tightly.
If Xie Zhefeng acted and solved the matter with lightning speed but still insisted that he take out the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit in front of everyone…
He looked at the place where Jiang Qing had disappeared.
As long as he was temporarily separated from Xie Zhefeng…
It was worth taking the risk once.
He hurried to grip the opening of the spiritual pouch tightly, pretending to be pushed to one side and unable to stand firmly, and fell towards the opening of the illusion without hesitation!
The sound of the fierce wind entered his ears. In the illusion, a huge suction force came from the intersection of turbid qi and clear qi, violently sucking in An Wuxue, who had just approached!
Yun Zhou’s shouting entered his ears, getting further and further away.
“Su Xue!!!”
“—Daoist Xie! Why did you go in too…”
“Then I…”
An Wuxue could no longer hear the rest.
The world spun before his eyes.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet.
After being sucked in by the force of the illusion, he rolled forward.
The surroundings were gloomy.
Turbid qi spread through the air, and the clear qi was thin. He seemed to have been thrown onto the side of a mountain peak, and even the surrounding vegetation had a deathly still feeling.
There was a thud.
He was thrown against a rock and bumped into it.
He let out a muffled groan and quickly looked at his surroundings.
This was a remote small mountain peak, and everything he could see bore traces of erosion by turbid qi.
There was no one around.
Was this what the Yunjian Sect really looked like after it was exterminated?
Jiang Qing was not here, Xie Zhefeng was not here, and Yun Zhou and Yun Yao were nowhere to be seen.
The several of them had entered the Yunjian Sect one after another, and they were likely all scattered.
There was only him here at the moment!
The impact against the rock made him feel as if his internal organs had shifted, and many parts of his body were scraped, causing a lot of pain, but he breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately.
He had bet correctly.
He slowly sat up and looked down at the spiritual pouch in his hand.
He had just used the fight between Jiang Qing and the demon to take the initiative to be sucked into the illusion ahead of Xie Zhefeng and the others, taking a risk for the chance to hold the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit alone for a while.
Although the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit would reflect the life and death of the deceased, a person could only use it once, whether alive or dead.
Xie Zhefeng could find him at any time.
As long as he touched it once before Xie Zhefeng found him, when he touched it again later, the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit would not react.
Enduring the abrasions from the fall, he didn’t even use any spiritual medicine for external injuries and hurriedly opened the spiritual pouch.
The scent that soothed the soul once again emanated from the spiritual pouch.
He took out the item inside.
It was a small tree branch only as wide as an adult’s palm.
There were no leaves on the branch, and a faint golden light flowed over it.
The moment An Wuxue grasped it, the golden light trembled and shone brightly!
A wave of memories suddenly flooded into his soul.
The Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit took effect, reflecting the life and death of the deceased!
—Was it his, or Su Xue’s?
In an instant, his consciousness was pulled into those memories.
He saw the Thorn Stream (Jingji Chuan).
…It was his life and death.
He saw himself stumbling over thorns, gripping the hilt of the Chunhua Sword, and stabbing the long sword into the thorns to support his body.
He saw those familiar, unseen, and once-encountered… countless cultivators.
And Qi Xun.
Qi Xun’s eyes were red, and the folding fan in his hand turned into a long sword, its point aimed at him.
At that time, he was actually exhausted.
Turbid qi had eroded every inch of his meridians, and the heaven-bestowed golden body and jade bones were shattered; his whole body was in pain.
But somehow, he still struggled to fight his way out of the siege. When he returned to the mountain gate of Luoyue Peak, he was covered in blood, and it was no longer possible to tell where the blood was flowing from or which wound was hurting.
In the frost and snow, Xie Zhefeng stood on the long steps behind the mountain gate.
“Junior brother.”
“It hurts so much.”
He said.
His junior brother only gave him one sentence: “Senior brother is—deserving—of—the—punishment.”
An Wuxue’s eyes went dark.
The memory stopped there.
That was the last memory of his life.
After a moment, the darkness cleared, and he still saw the Luoyue mountain gate.
…It was after his death.
It was after his death that he himself had never seen.
He saw himself close his eyes in front of the mountain gate and never open them again, and Xie Zhefeng had gone who knows where.
He lay on the frost, and his body began to dissipate.
His golden body and jade bones had been shattered during his life, and after his death, there was no vitality to support them. In just a moment, his body and bones vanished, leaving only a ground of icy coldness.
His soul also dissipated, eventually leaving only one last wisp.
This wisp floated in the air, rose with the wind, floated for who knows how long, and gradually floated back to the Thorn Stream.
The Thorn Stream was covered in thorns, and the spiritual energy was thin. No mortals lived here, and no sects had established themselves here.
In a desolate land, his soul landed quietly like that.
At that time, An Wuxue himself had long since lost all perception.
He thought that this was all there was to his life after death.
But the images brought out by the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit did not end.
He saw Xie Zhefeng.
His junior brother, without using any spiritual energy to protect his body and with a face as pale as death, came stumbling through the thorns.