Chapter 36#
Qin Wei’s expression stiffened slightly.
He looked a bit at a loss, clutching the scabbard of his natal sword, his fingertips incessantly rubbing it.
His gaze fell on An Wuxue, wanting to look at him, but as soon as he met An Wuxue’s questioning eyes, he abruptly looked away, actually not daring to look.
He hurriedly explained: “I don’t have a purpose…”
An Wuxue’s brows furrowed.
No purpose?
He was somewhat bewildered.
The moment something went wrong with the Zhaoshui Sword, he had already prepared for the worst. Qin Wei knowing his identity was like a sword he had already accepted as hanging over his head; the fact that this sword hadn’t fallen to take his life instead left him unable to understand.
He recalled everything that happened under the Zhaoshui Sword before he lost consciousness…
Perhaps it was a desire to understand the details of the past that led to his identity being temporarily kept secret.
He asked: “Do you want to talk to me about what happened back then?”
Qin Wei nodded eagerly.
An Wuxue let out a sigh.
He pointed to the soul bell in front of the door and said: “The soul bell I’ve hung is linked to my soul. If Elder Qin needs to find me, just ring the soul bell. The Frost Sea is the Immortal Venerable’s cave dwelling, and I am the Immortal Venerable’s furnace. For an elder to stop in front of my door for two days will only cause trouble.”
As he spoke, he had already turned and led Qin Wei inside, not seeing Qin Wei’s momentarily desolate expression.
He only heard Qin Wei say hurriedly: “In the Zhaoshui Sword Array, Xie Chuhan saw Shuiming and Lady Lou and guessed the truth of the past. His state of mind was unstable, and he went into seclusion to suppress it upon returning—” He paused.
An Wuxue said: “I know he has a heart-demon.”
“…He went into seclusion to suppress his heart-demon as soon as he returned. After you fainted, I told him that the injury on him was an accidental one I caused when I discovered his heart-demon’s flare-up. He’s too busy looking after himself right now, so you can rest easy.”
Every word and sentence was actually intended to cover for him.
It was too unfamiliar.
It was so unlike the Qin Wei in his memories before his fall, who was reckless and did as he pleased.
Within a few sentences, they had already reached the main hall.
Yun Wan saw them approaching and, thinking they were old friends, prepared immortal tea and warmed the brazier for them, then perceptively closed the door and withdrew.
An Wuxue looked at the gurgling steam rising from the brazier. Not wanting to waste Yun Wan’s kindness, he invited Qin Wei to sit and drink tea.
Perhaps because this action of his seemed very gentle, Qin Wei’s nervous expression softened slightly, and he said with anticipation: “Ah Xue…”
An Wuxue’s hand holding the teapot paused, and water almost splashed out.
“You should still… call me Su Xue,” he said with a sardonic smile, “or An Wuxue is fine, just like before.”
“I…”
He didn’t want to chat with Qin Wei for long: “To make a long story short. Regarding the past, I really don’t have anything else to say. What Lou Shuiming said under the Zhaoshui Sword two days ago is everything I know.”
He poured two cups of tea and said in a low voice, “When that child was brought back back then, it would still take hundreds of years for him to open his eyes. I thought he was innocent after all—whether being born with dead meridians or having them cleared by Lady Lou using the sword array’s spiritual energy, neither was a choice he could make.”
“The reason I couldn’t speak out was partly because that was the last thing I promised Lou Shuiming, but the primary reason was that I didn’t want that child to live his entire life within the shadow of his parents’ affairs.”
Qin Wei hadn’t expected him to say so much of his own accord, yet every word was without any partiality, as if he were truly recounting the past of someone already dead.
He said: “Ah Xue, I’m sorry.”
An Wuxue’s gaze paused.
He took a small sip of the warm tea, his gaze landing on that messy-stitched spiritual pouch at Qin Wei’s waist.
He remembered this pouch; it was the first one Lou Shuiming had made. It didn’t look good, yet Qin Wei had worn it all along. Initially it was because he was drunk and not clear-headed, and later because An Wuxue liked to tease him about it, Qin Wei simply didn’t take it off.
This single spiritual pouch was like an epitome of those ten or so years in Zhaoshui City, and Qin Wei had worn it to this day.
But in the end, it was just an object.
He looked away and saw the tea before Qin Wei hadn’t been touched at all.
Qin Wei seemed to have no heart for drinking tea with him.
He began to find it puzzling.
—“I’m sorry.”
It seemed that under the Zhaoshui Sword, Lou Shuiming’s remnant soul had also said similar words to him.
But he didn’t feel happy at all; instead, he was extremely weary.
He thought about it and then suddenly realized that Qin Wei was feeling guilty toward him.
So he was even more puzzled: “Is it because of Shuiming’s sacrifice to the sword?”
Qin Wei’s one hand gripped the sleeve of the other, and the exquisite and neat dharma robe sleeve was wrinkled by his grip. He said somewhat helplessly: “Yes… no, it’s not exactly.”
Strictly speaking, between him and An Wuxue, things hadn’t reached the final state just since Zhaoshui.
After Lou Shuiming died, it was actually he himself who had lost a friend and was sad and hurt, and in the end he vented all that sadness onto An Wuxue. But at that time he forgot: he was sad, so how could An Wuxue be happy?
He had stuck to his own wrong reasoning, and once the rift was born, after that, the matter of Shangguan Ran in Beiming, the entire Li-Fire Sect being wiped out, and many, many other things, large and small, piled up together, step by step, until today.
“I’ve thought a lot over these two days. I can’t even remember when back then I started to feel you were becoming more and more heartless, to the point that…”
To the point that when An Wuxue was besieged by ten thousand sects, he only felt An Wuxue was reaping what he sowed and did not step out to help.
His voice was hoarse: “You said I didn’t use the soul bell… because I was standing at the door waiting for you to wake up. Every time I saw the soul bell hanging at the door and wanted to ring it, I thought of when you rang the soul bell all night back then, and I…”
And he hadn’t not heard it; he just hadn’t paid any attention.
Thinking like this, he didn’t dare ring it.
An Wuxue sat quietly to the side, saying nothing.
Qin Wei couldn’t gauge his thoughts, so he continued: “Don’t worry, what you don’t want to talk about, I won’t ask. You don’t want to expose your identity, and I’ll help you cover it from Xie Chuhan’s side. Regarding the matter of being a furnace, if there’s anything you want me to do, I’ll also do my best. By the way, there’s also your cultivation—”
“Elder Qin.”
An Wuxue couldn’t listen any further and interrupted him.
Qin Wei was startled.
An Wuxue said: “I’ve just woken up, and my body is still very weary. If you don’t have something important, I won’t be entertaining guests. Now that you know my identity, I indeed don’t want to be exposed; I admit this is a handle I personally handed to you.”
He said frankly: “So if you use this handle to threaten me, I will indeed compromise as much as possible. As for the rest…”
He gave a light laugh.
“That’s all the business of An Wuxue, the former Chief of Luoyue Peak. My name is Su Xue, a nameless mortal from near Zhaoshui City.”
Qin Wei’s eyes turned red: “As things stand now, how could I possibly threaten you? How could you—”
How could you think of me like that.
He instinctively wanted to say those words.
But halfway through, he suddenly remembered every word he had once said to An Wuxue a thousand years ago, and what he had said after An Wuxue rang the soul bell all night.
How had he thought of An Wuxue back then?
He suddenly stopped, his lips trembling, unable to speak for a long while.
In the end, An Wuxue saw the guest to the door and said to him: “Elder Qin, the words I said to Lord Lou under the Zhaoshui Sword weren’t just for him.”
He could tell that Qin Wei wanted to hash out the past with him, but he didn’t want to count the rights and wrongs at all.
“Su Xue is just a mediocre mortal from a thousand years later, and cannot represent a person who died a thousand years ago to debate grievances with you.”
Qin Wei’s face was ashen.
An Wuxue closed the door and turned back without hesitation.
When he returned to the room, Yun Wan was sitting on a swing in the courtyard. Seeing him and Qin Wei part on bad terms, she said in confusion: “Wasn’t that Elder Qin just now Mr. Su’s friend? I saw him waiting at the door for two days and still not wanting to ring the soul bell to wake you; I thought you two had a deep relationship…”
An Wuxue murmured: “We once did.”
“Once?” Yun Wan tilted her head.
He simply sat down on the steps of the small courtyard, facing the light of the sky over the Frost Sea, and asked her: “Yun Zhou massacred the entire Yunjian Sect. Yun Wan, thinking of it now, do you hate him?”
“How could I not hate him?” Yun Wan thought for a bit, her expression sorrowful. “But… he’s dead; how much more can I hate? Whether a cultivator or a mortal, one always has to look forward.”
“Yeah, he’s dead…”
Drifting flakes began to fall again over the Frost Sea; perhaps the spiritual energy of that Immortal Venerable Xie, who was in seclusion to suppress his heart-demon, was losing control.
He raised his hands, catching the falling flakes in his palms, and said: “In terms of love, hate, and grievances, dead people always have a bit of an advantage.”
He knew that back then, everything was originally becoming better, and it seemed the array was about to be completed, and Zhaoshui and the two realms would welcome peace. Every one of them had given so much for the two realms and four seas, but Lou Shuiming suddenly died just like that in the sacrifice to the sword, so Qin Wei couldn’t accept it, and all these grudges naturally fell onto him, the living person.
He happened to be bound by a promise, and due to the existence of Song Buwang, he couldn’t speak, didn’t dare to speak.
The rift had been born, and thereafter naturally anything he did Qin Wei found unpleasant, and the accumulated resentment grew until nothing could be cleared up.
He understood all of this. If it had been him who sacrificed to the sword back then instead of Lou Shuiming, perhaps it would have been the same.
A thousand years later his junior brother would miss him, Qin Wei would regret, Qi Xun would want to find the truth…
Isn’t it precisely because he eventually became an advantaged “dead person”?
The An Wuxue of a thousand years ago might have looked forward to a smile that dissolves all grievances while alive, but the “Su Xue” of a thousand years later had no sense of relief.
He even felt that thinking about these grudges was a waste of mental energy, and he might as well use that energy to plant spiritual flowers and grass in the courtyard.
He watched the palms of both hands fill with cold frost and snow, then closed his hands, crushing everything in his grip.
He sat in the courtyard for a while, and after clearing his mind, he returned to the room to meditate.
He had originally just wanted to meditate to recuperate, but unexpectedly, as soon as he checked his physical condition, he suddenly found that his cultivation had actually jumped directly into the Great Success stage during his short two-day coma!
How could this be!?
Cultivators enter the path through Fasting, first reaching Minor Success then Great Success, and then Tribulation. Once their temperament reaches perfection, they can ascend to immortality.
Yun Wan has cultivated for over two hundred years and is currently only at the Minor Success stage. With his talent from his previous life, it had also taken decades of effort to cultivate to the Great Success stage.
Great Success within two days, and while in a deep sleep…
He suddenly remembered when Lou Shuiming’s remnant soul dissipated, it seemed a wisp of spiritual light had flowed into his body.
Could it be that before his soul was completely extinguished, Lou Shuiming had condensed the surplus spiritual energy remaining in the Zhaoshui Sword Array and transferred it into his body, helping him break through to Great Success in one stroke?
No wonder he had slept so tiredly.
If his mental cultivation hadn’t already been at the Tribulation realm, he would probably be a hundred times more tired than he was now.
The source of the furnace mark on him was unknown, and the only known solution was for his cultivation to exceed that of the other party of the furnace mark—which for him meant ascending to immortality.
Cultivation is an unavoidable matter. The trip to Zhaoshui, with its many pains, unexpectedly brought a pleasant surprise.
He hurriedly drove his spiritual energy through his meridians, confirming this conjecture.
This amount of spiritual power was too heavy a burden for Su Xue’s body; he dared not be negligent and immediately sent a voice transmission to Yun Wan saying he was going into seclusion, then sealed his five senses and divine sense and began his seclusion to digest this spiritual power.
When he opened his eyes again, half a month had passed in a flash.
His cultivation had stabilized at the late stage of Great Success. Su Xue’s meridians had long since been reshaped by him, and during this half-month, they had completely and harmoniously carried this spiritual power.
The feeling of fatigue on his body completely disappeared, and he felt a long-lost lightness.
He walked out of his bedroom feeling refreshed, only to run into Song Buwang, who was waiting for him to come out of seclusion.
An Wuxue: “…?”
Qin Wei was Xie Zhefeng’s old friend, the previous Peak Master of Silu Peak, and a current Elder of Luoyue; it was one thing for him to come to the Frost-Burial Sea to find him. Why would Song Buwang, a mere disciple, also come to the Immortal Venerable’s cave dwelling to find him?
Without needing him to ask, Song Buwang walked forward quickly, held his sword in a salute, and said rather urgently: “It’s been a while, Mr. Su. Miss Yun told me Mr. Su was in seclusion, so I’ve been coming here every day for the past few days, and finally I’ve caught Mr. Su coming out.”
“Young Immortal Song, what is this about…?”
Song Buwang looked conflicted, as if speaking with forced courage: “I only thought of Mr. Su because I had no other choice. Something happened to my Master half a month ago, and he suddenly wanted to enter the top floor of the Cangu Tower to undergo punishment. The top floor of the Cangu Tower is… he has neither committed a crime nor fallen into demonhood; how can he enter the top floor of the Cangu Tower?
“He couldn’t do this alone, so he made me, in my capacity as a disciple of Silu Peak, approve his crimes and send him into the tower. This, I, I as a disciple, how could I…”
An Wuxue found it amusing.
Back then, he had killed Shangguan Ran and personally admitted to the crime of murdering a fellow cultivator. Qin Wei had confirmed it with him again and again, and he had not backed down, so Qin Wei, in his capacity as the Peak Master of Silu Peak, sentenced him for the crime of murdering a fellow cultivator.
When he killed Shangguan Ran, he was prepared to bear the consequences and naturally would not escape. After frankly admitting his guilt, he entered the Cangu Tower to undergo punishment for a hundred days.
Back then he was brave enough to act and bear the consequences, and would not blame anyone.
But two hundred years ago Xie Zhefeng entered the Cangu Tower, and now Qin Wei also want to enter the Cangu Tower for some inexplicable reason to undergo punishment.
What are these people doing?
He said: “This is a matter of the Silu Peak. Why is Young Immortal Song looking for me?”
“I’ve tried to dissuade him again and again, but Master is determined. I’ve been blocking him for half a month until now, yet Master still wants to enter the Cangu Tower. I don’t know why Master is being so abnormal. After careful investigation, I found out that half a month ago Master came to the Frost Sea to look for Mr. Su…”
He looked a bit embarrassed: “I know this has nothing to do with Mr. Su, but I still wanted to ask if Mr. Su knows why Master is like this? Is there any way to stop him?”
An Wuxue leaned against the door and said lazily: “Young Immortal Song should go find a cultivator skilled in medicine instead.”
“…Huh?”
“Let him treat his illness if he’s sick.”