Chapter 21#
Daylight spilled in from the gap by the window, the candle on the corner stand had burned out, and the bed curtains had been loosened by someone, hanging limply, blocking the floating dust in the dilapidated small courtyard.
An Wuxue opened his eyes.
The window was slightly ajar, and the morning breeze seeped into the room, but he didn’t feel cold.
His gaze moved slightly, finding himself covered with a thin silk quilt. The quilt was woven from spiritual materials, trapping warmth.
His clothes hadn’t changed; the sleeves were wrinkled, likely from his own grip last night.
The spiritual pouch containing the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit was no longer hanging at his waist for some reason, but was instead lying quietly beside the pillow, clearly having been moved.
The feeling of weakness and feverish heat brought by the Furnace Cauldron Mark had also vanished.
…Did Xie Zhefeng come?
Last night…
As soon as he began to recall, the exhaustion from memories of life and death swept over him like the freezing waters of the Far North washing over his soul, bone-chillingly cold. Bitterness and helplessness weighed down on him, making his face turn pale.
There was also that scent from last night that he particularly rejected, yet found himself forced to draw closer to under the physical impulse; that person’s cold hand seemed to have grabbed his wrist…
Years ago, beneath the ten-thousand-fathom abyss of the Underworld Sea, Xie Zhefeng had also grabbed his hand like this, whispering in his ear: “Senior Brother…”
…!
He clutched the bedding tightly, panting heavily.
Don’t think about it anymore!
He raised his hand and lightly tapped his forehead, hurrying to suppress his thoughts.
There were too many dreams last night; he almost couldn’t distinguish which hazy fragments and feelings came from dreams and which from reality.
“…Senior? Senior?”
Suddenly, Yun Wan’s voice came from outside. It didn’t sound like she was calling him.
“Senior Sister, after this Senior Xie came out of that fur—no, not that, it’s Young Master Su, after he came out of Young Master Su’s room last night, he reinforced the barrier for us. Since then, he’s been meditating in front of the door until now. This…”
“A whole night has passed, why hasn’t Senior Xie moved at all? Nothing happened to him, right?”
“Yeah, the doorstep is cold and the ground is dirty and messy. Senior Xie has been sitting like this all night…”
An Wuxue was startled.
Senior Xie? It’s Xie Zhefeng?
Xie Zhefeng is meditating?
He had thought that after Xie Zhefeng came in and found him and Jiang Qing, he would immediately break the illusion. What was going on now? Where couldn’t the Chuhan Immortal Venerable meditate? Why choose to meditate in a sect occupied by demons where the pure qi was thin?
The outside was quiet for a moment, then Yun Wan sighed: “I tried calling out several times just now, but there was no response. Never mind, no matter how cold the doorstep or how dirty the dust, it won’t chill a Tribulation Transcendence expert or soil a spiritual treasure robe. I’m more worried about Young Master Su. There’s been no movement in the room so far. Is Young Master Su not awake yet…”
“One after another, they say they’re coming to help, but as soon as they get in, they start sleeping. It really is a case of ‘if you want something done right, do it yourself’…”
An Wuxue: “…”
He slowly sat upright, sat in a daze for a moment, then put away the spiritual pouch, got up, pulled back the bed curtains, and walked out of the room.
The dilapidated small courtyard on this remote peak of the Yunjian Sect was still under the protection of the formation. Outside the formation, the sky was pitch black, as if endless, with only this small square of space having thin pure qi.
The door pushed open, and the sight of Xie Zhefeng’s back as he sat on the steps meditating came into view. This man was always particular, yet at this moment he hadn’t even taken out a meditation cushion, sitting directly on the ground, motionless.
In the courtyard, the sound of clashing swords was constant. Yun Wan was actually practicing sword moves with the few surviving disciples, perhaps because of that “if you want something done right, do it yourself” comment from earlier.
An Wuxue looked down at Xie Zhefeng’s still motionless back, frowned, stepped slowly down the stairs, and walked to Xie Zhefeng’s side.
The man’s eyes were tightly shut, his brow furrowed, and he still didn’t react to his approach.
His natal sword, Chunhua, was hovering in front of Xie Zhefeng.
The more he looked, the more frustrated he became.
He wished he could just reach out and take Chunhua away. He quickly looked away and tentatively called out: “Fellow Daoist Xie?”
There was no answer.
Did Xie Zhefeng seal his divine sense and five senses?
What exactly was wrong with this man?
“Young Master Su?” Yun Wan heard the movement, sheathed her sword and turned around, her face showing joy as she ran toward them. “You’re awake? Do you still feel unwell?”
An Wuxue shook his head: “What’s wrong with him?”
Yun Wan was slightly stunned: “Is Young Master Su asking about Senior Xie?”
She was also very puzzled. “Last night you said someone would come looking for us. We waited for a while, and then this Senior Xie arrived. He claimed to be a disciple of Luoyue Peak named Xie Chunhua, but he didn’t ask us about the sect’s destruction. Instead…”
“Instead what?”
“Instead, he came directly to find you…”
An Wuxue was speechless.
“Find”.
Find him?
He was looking for the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit and the suspicious points about him, right?
Just like in the Bramble River all those years ago, what Xie Zhefeng was looking for might not have been his “Senior Brother,” but his own regret.
Yun Wan seemed unsure why he had suddenly gone quiet, so she stopped and didn’t continue.
An Wuxue had to ask again: “And then?”
“When Senior Xie entered the room, you were…” She glanced at the Furnace Cauldron mark on An Wuxue’s arm, hesitating. “He helped you suppress it… after that, it seemed he saw you were restless. He had me take a golden branch rich in spiritual energy and put it in your hand, then told me to go out. I waited outside for a while, and Senior Xie suddenly pushed the door open and hurried out without saying a word, and began meditating. No matter how I called, it was useless…”
It seemed Xie Zhefeng had used the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit on him.
He didn’t breathe a sigh of relief.
His gaze narrowed, and his voice sank: “You’re saying he suddenly rushed out and has been meditating here until now? Did nothing else really happen last night?”
Yun Wan was startled, her face turning pale instantly. She lowered her head and said softly, “Truly nothing else. I only waited outside for a bit, then saw Senior Xie walk out in a hurry. But…”
She indeed hadn’t told everything.
“I didn’t mean to hide it from Young Master Su, it’s just that I saw you two have a deep relationship, and I was afraid I misread it, so I didn’t dare speak carelessly—”
“We have no relationship,” An Wuxue said immediately. “Go ahead.”
“…When Senior Xie came out, his spiritual power was somewhat unstable. It seemed for a moment… for a moment, there was a sign of falling into demonhood in his spiritual fluctuations… maybe I saw it wrong. The sect gate has been sealed by demons for so long, it’s normal for turbid qi to leak into the barrier…”
Sign of falling into demonhood?
Xie Zhefeng?
An Wuxue said almost without hesitation, “You misread it.”
A cultivator’s fall into demonhood can be of two types: one is entering demonhood through cultivating turbid qi, and the other is the birth of inner demons from the heart.
No matter which one it was, it couldn’t be associated with Xie Zhefeng, who had entered the Dao through heartlessness and ascended to the position of Immortal Venerable at a young age.
No matter how unbearable the grievances between him and Xie Zhefeng were, Xie Zhefeng was ultimately that Chuhan Sword Master who met everyone’s expectations and was as clear as the moon and breeze.
His junior brother was an unparalleled sword dao genius of Luoyue Peak. As a child, he held a sword and killed his own father; as a youth, he cut down inner demons for him; and upon ascending to immortality, even his senior brother died under the light of the Chuhan Sword.
His Dao heart was so clear that it reached the point of being heartless and devoid of justice.
How could he possibly fall into demonhood?
He repeated it once more: “It’s impossible. There are millions in this world plagued by turbid qi and inner demons, but he is the only one for whom it’s impossible.”
“Ah…?” Yun Wan opened her mouth, and finally muttered, “And you say you have no relationship…”
An Wuxue was just about to retort.
At that very moment—
The barrier shook violently!
The expressions of the disciples practicing in the courtyard and Yun Wan all changed. The long swords in their hands trembled, all pointing toward the source of the vibration.
An Wuxue looked up and saw that the barrier at the sky had been struck by demonic qi, revealing cracks.
This was a barrier reinforced by both his and Xie Zhefeng’s Tribulation Transcendence avatars. The only thing capable of cracking this barrier in one strike was likely something at the Tribulation Transcendence stage!
From afar came a sharp, androgynous voice: “I was wondering where all the immortal cultivators I pulled in had gone. It turns out a hiding place was actually concealed right under my nose!”
The barrier shook violently again, causing the small courtyard enclosed within to shake along with it!
Yun Wan said urgently: “It’s that Mirror Demon, it found us! Young Master Su, we are definitely no match for it. You and this senior…”
Outside the barrier, the rolling mountains suddenly changed completely. All four directions were unexpectedly identical, as if carved from the same mold as the peak they were on.
This was the Mirror Demon’s Mirroring Technique.
The Mirror Demon had sealed this place off.
Amidst the earth-shattering commotion, Xie Zhefeng remained unmoved.
His divine sense and five senses were sealed. Unless Xie Zhefeng himself was attacked or his soul was directly awakened, one could only wait for him to wake up on his own.
An Wuxue murmured: “But if I were to fight a Tribulation Transcendence stage now…”
Then nothing could be hidden anymore.
The small courtyard shook again.
Heaven-shaking demonic qi surged forward, and the cracks on the barrier spread like a spiderweb. Sand and stones flew, and a black wind roared.
The pressure of the Tribulation Transcendence stage descended, and the hands of those few Yunjian Sect disciples with low cultivation were trembling as they held their swords.
If this continued, the barrier wouldn’t last for a quarter of an hour!
He had a way to retreat alone without exposing his identity, but he couldn’t protect the others.
His gaze swept across the pale-faced Yun Wan and the other disciples.
The young cultivators looked panicked, yet they all stood with their swords drawn or talismans in hand.
Yun Wan stood at the very front, her gaze flickering, clearly having no confidence, yet she didn’t retreat a single step; instead, she took a few steps forward.
If he chose self-preservation now, these people would surely lose their lives!
An Wuxue steeled his heart, turned, and walked quickly to the Chunhua Sword hovering beside Xie Zhefeng.
He had once disturbed Chunhua, which immediately drew Xie Zhefeng over.
Now that Xie Zhefeng never let Chunhua leave his side, he must have placed a new restriction on it.
The restriction could affect Xie Zhefeng’s divine sense…
He bet that since Xie Zhefeng didn’t kill him last time, he wouldn’t kill him this time either.
He reached out toward Chunhua.
Yun Wan was shocked by his action: “Young Master Su, that sword never leaves Senior Xie’s side, you—”
He touched Chunhua.
Luoyue Peak, Burial Frost Sea.
In the center of the pine forest, the frost wind swept incessantly.
Xie Zhefeng’s true body sat cross-legged on a lotus platform.
The wind and snow passed around him, but not a bit could touch him.
His eyes were closed, and the sword mark between his brows was tinged with black.
The Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit had no reaction last night. He couldn’t even say why he had a sudden impulse to use it, or why he felt disappointed in the end.
After that, he sat by the bed, watching the flush fade from Su Xue’s face, revealing a weak paleness. His heart, which should have been empty, still twitched.
But that wasn’t Senior Brother.
The Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit didn’t even have any reaction.
“…A single lantern can make you confused, a similar person can affect your emotions. Do you really love your Senior Brother?”
This sentence, born from an inner demon, was like a curse thrust into his vitals, impossible to gouge out or cut away.
His divine sense returned to his true body, and he sat in the pine forest all night.
Until now.
The black qi on the sword mark between his brows finally began to fade, and the inner demon was about to be suppressed—
But Xie Zhefeng suddenly opened both eyes.
In the Yunjian Sect.
The moment An Wuxue touched Chunhua—
Spiritual power surged.
He was violently thrown back, rolling through the dirt of the dilapidated small courtyard, the world spinning before his eyes.
The moment he hit the ground, his internal organs felt as if they had shifted.
In an instant.
Dust flew, and a cold blade formed of spiritual power pursued him, piercing into his shoulder bone!
He smelled the scent of blood.
For a moment, he couldn’t tell if it was blood from his throat or from the wound in his shoulder bone.
Yun Wan screamed: “Young Master Su! Senior Xie!!!”
She raised her sword, wanting to rush between the two, but Xie Zhefeng’s surrounding spiritual power was turbulent, and she couldn’t get near him at all.
Xie Zhefeng opened his eyes, and killing intent surged within them.
An Wuxue had never seen such a terrifying look in Xie Zhefeng’s eyes.
He dazed for a moment.
Amidst the turbulent spiritual power, the meditating man’s gaze focused, falling upon him, his deep black pupils going blank for a split second.
Xie Zhefeng seemed not to have expected that the person he had attacked and injured was him. His brow furrowed, a look of hesitation appeared for a moment, and then his face turned grim again.
The man said word by word: “I believe I told you—you shouldn’t touch things you’re not allowed to touch.”
So what if he had said it?
He had no heart to heed Xie Zhefeng’s emotions and said urgently: “The Mirror Demon is here—”
The barrier vibrated, and the spiderweb-like cracks expanded further.
The demon was about to break through!
An Wuxue watched as the ice spike quickly melted, blood and icy water mixing, staining a large portion of his clothes red.
It really hurt.
“You are not him,” he heard Xie Zhefeng whisper, “How can you touch his things?”
…What?
“Su Xue” can’t touch Chunhua, but Xie Zhefeng can?
This was his natal sword. For him, the person in this world who was least qualified to touch it was precisely Xie Zhefeng, who now held Chunhua in his hand every day.
He wanted to laugh, yet felt a bit breathless.
He took a deep breath, grabbed a spiritual sword dropped by some trembling disciple nearby, held the hilt, and stuck the tip into the ground, propping himself up to sit.
He never wanted to fall.
In the past, no matter what the situation, as long as he had a sword in hand, he would use it as a pillar.
He had once held Chunhua like this and said to Xie Zhefeng: “I’m in so much pain.”
But now, he wouldn’t say it anymore.
Propped up by the sword, he looked up at Xie Zhefeng.
Xie Zhefeng, who was approaching An Wuxue, suddenly stopped.
He seemed to see a familiar scene, and his expression froze.
In the blink of a eye, the frost in his eyes actually dissipated, and a layer of bitterness soaked into his black pupils.
Another moment of vibration!
All the houses in the small courtyard shook, black wind thickened, and the cracks on the barrier completely split open.
Yun Wan couldn’t get close and could only raise her hand to resist the wind, shielding her junior brothers and sisters behind her as she shouted: “Young Master Su! Senior Xie! The barrier is broken!!!”
The surrounding turbid qi swept in from all directions!!
Rubbish was swept up by the gale, doors and windows rattled and shook, and sand and stones blinded the eyes.
But Xie Zhefeng just looked at An Wuxue.
This man actually seemed emotionally unstable. Holding Chunhua in his hand, his eyes reddened slightly, and he blurted out: “Senior Brother…” His voice was trembling.
Senior Brother.
Those two words were like a wildfire that suddenly fell after a long drought on the desolate prairie; just a single spark instantly ignited the anger in An Wuxue’s heart.
Who was Xie Zhefeng calling?
Senior Brother?
Was it like when he searched for him in the Bramble River after killing him, calling out “Senior Brother”?
He wanted to speak, but his heart was too rushed, the air blocked his throat, and he couldn’t help but cough violently a few times, coughing up blood from his throat.
The turbid qi rolled in, and the Mirror Demon’s arrogant laughter instantly drew closer.
Yet his heart was exceptionally quiet.
He felt it was utterly absurd.
He wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth and said in a raspy voice: “Who is Fellow Daoist Xie calling? Senior Brother? Is it that Luoyue First Disciple who got what he deserved?”
“He’s dead.” An Wuxue couldn’t sense his own emotions and could only say numbly, “He’s dead. Killed by your own hand.”