Chapter 39#
Morning.
The drifting flakes on the Frost Sea were slightly more numerous than usual. Tall pines stood upright, hung with a few white specks.
A cool breeze entered through the window.
After reaching the Great Success stage, An Wuxue’s body was no longer as sensitive to the cold as before. Instead, he liked the feeling of the gentle breeze blowing in thread by thread and no longer closed the window at night.
Feeling the fine wind, he slowly opened his eyes and got up, sensing that something seemed wrong.
It was so quiet.
Where was Yun Wan?
Although Yun Wan didn’t know his identity, when they were at the Yunjian Sect, she could be considered to have known that he was hiding something. Now following him, she would usually ask him some things about cultivation.
He simply treated Yun Wan as half a disciple, often giving her pointers.
Yun Wan was very sensible and always got up even earlier than him. Every day when he woke up, he could already hear the sound of sword practice coming from the courtyard.
Not today.
He extended his hand from the quilt, placing it in the fine wind.
Feeling that temperature, which was colder than usual due to the influence of the eternal immortal’s spiritual power, he composed his thoughts. As before, he got up, put on his outer robe, and methodically finished his cleaning spells before slowly pushing the door open and walking out.
The moment he saw Xie Zhefeng sitting in the courtyard, he feigned a look of surprise and said, “Immortal Venerable.”
Xie Zhefeng turned his head to look at him at the sound.
The man’s expression didn’t seem as cold as it was in front of others. After the heart-demon was suppressed, the ferocity in those eyes had also quietly disappeared, replaced by a layer of clarity.
The man wore that cloud-patterned white robe he had gifted him in his previous life, sitting there upright and proper.
For a moment, An Wuxue was a bit dazed, as if he had returned to the past. He would return from eliminating demons, covered in wind, rain, and the blood of slaughter, not daring to see his junior brother and hurrying back to his room to wash and comb.
Once finished and tidied up to go out, his junior brother would be sitting outside the courtyard waiting for him to discuss important matters. Hearing the movement of him opening the door, his junior brother would turn his head to look at him.
Just as it was now.
Xie Zhefeng’s gaze flickered slightly, as if he had thought of the same past.
An Wuxue looked away.
Not seeing Yun Wan’s silhouette, she must have been sent away by Xie Zhefeng.
Walking to Xie Zhefeng’s side, he found that the Immortal Venerable had actually prepared warm tea and pastries himself. The brazier was even surrounded by spiritual power to keep the warmth from dispersing.
“Sit,” Xie Zhefeng said in a steady tone, also with a bit less chill than usual. “I’ve been in seclusion for many days. I didn’t expect you to have reached the Great Success stage already.”
Asking what he already knew.
With Xie Zhefeng’s realm, could he have failed to see Lou Shuiming gifting him spiritual power within the sword array?
He said, “I also don’t know why, but I had a full body of spiritual power after I woke up. I thought it was the Immortal Venerable’s blessing…”
As if he hadn’t repeatedly suspected his identity before, Xie Zhefeng said calmly, “An immortal is not omnipotent either. The spiritual power you obtained is because Lou Shuiming felt you were like his senior brother. Before his remnant soul dissipated, he sent the surplus spiritual power in the array into your body, gifting you a piece of serendipity and helping you reach the Great Success stage in one stroke.”
This man began to pour tea himself, his movements casual.
What was this for?
Could it be that, like the previous game of chess, he was reminiscing about his past life and came to see Su Xue, this similar person?
An Wuxue wasn’t sure. He always liked to fiddle with something in his hands or eat something when he was thinking. Looking at the immortal fruits and pastries on the stone table, he unconsciously reached out to take something.
“Then if I have the chance, I should return to Zhaoshui to pay my respects to that City Lord Lou…”
As he spoke, he reached out, instinctively wanting to go for the plate of ice cakes placed at the edge of the stone table.
Xie Zhefeng looked at him, his gaze softening.
An Wuxue suddenly remembered what Qin Wei had said.
Xie Zhefeng had not dismissed his suspicions of him.
At this very moment, his junior brother’s gaze was falling on his hand.
These ice cakes were placed there intentionally.
No, it should be said that the whole table of immortal fruits and pastries was set up for the sake of placing this one plate of ice cakes.
In his previous life, he loved to eat ice cakes. His junior brother’s spiritual power was icy cold, and as a youth, he would often make them for him.
In the blink of an eye, his hand didn’t pause as he picked up an immortal fruit next to the ice cakes.
A look of disappointment indeed flashed in Xie Zhefeng’s eyes.
But he quickly composed his thoughts and said composedly, “Before the incident with the Zhaoshui Sword, you saw my heart-demon flare up.”
“…Elder Qin exhorted me about this matter. I swear never to let it out.”
“I don’t care about that. You’ve already seen it once before in the Frost Sea pine forest.”
“Immortal Venerable—”
“I mention this because I want to ask you, after my heart-demon flared up and until the Zhaoshui Sword incident, did you see anything unusual in Zhaoshui?”
“No. I was always by Elder Qin’s side. It’s better for the Immortal Venerable to ask Elder Qin. This concerns the two realms; what could a furnace like me know…”
He lowered his head slightly and took a bite of the immortal fruit, seeing Xie Zhefeng reach out and pick up an ice cake.
These hands had held swords for years and were immersed in icy cold. The knuckles were long, like jade and bamboo.
When Xie Zhefeng first joined the sect, he had held these hands, leading his junior brother in practicing the sect’s swordplay. His junior brother was very good, not making a sound even when the sword hilt rubbed his hands raw, and he only found out after finishing and seeing the bloodstains on the hilt. He himself was raised by his elders and didn’t know how to look after people; he used a spiritual medicine capable of growing bones and then bandaged his junior brother’s hands into large “zongzi.”
Looking at his truly unpresentable bandaging, he said bashfully, “Junior Brother, rest tomorrow. No sword practice for these two days.”
His junior brother had a quiet nature and nodded without speaking.
The next day he was lazy, leaning on a tree branch to feel the wind. Unexpectedly, his junior brother, with those zongzi-like hands, had made a plate of ice cakes and brought them to him, saying, “Thank you, Senior Brother, for healing me.”
Since then, it was his favorite pastry.
Seeing Xie Zhefeng pick one up and take a bite himself, he truly forgot the years for a moment.
Xie Zhefeng swallowed slowly and spoke, “In the Yunjian Sect, I wanted to search Yun Zhou’s soul, but a curse had been placed on Yun Zhou’s soul that caused it to dissipate upon contact. Afterward, the Zhaoshui Sword Array was shaken by turbid energy, which happened to unseal the Great Demon. This doesn’t seem like something a Tribulation cultivator from a minor sect like Yun Zhou could achieve.”
An Wuxue’s thoughts condensed.
This was also what he thought…
“…After I came out of seclusion, I carefully searched the spiritual pouch left by Yun Zhou and found a book. It records the furnace mark pattern on you and the method of imprinting it, as well as a few pages of records on puppet techniques, but only the beginning—the subsequent pages have all been torn out.”
“He was able to plot all this because he got this book? Could it be that he was also being used…”
This matter was also what An Wuxue was worried about, and he unconsciously began to ponder.
Xie Zhefeng, holding the ice cake that had been bitten into, listened seriously. His gaze changed slightly, and he said slowly, “I carefully studied that book. There’s no other content in it, nor any other solution for the furnace mark. But the method of making the book and the materials used both originate from Beiming.”
Beiming?
Could there be someone behind the scenes guiding Yun Zhou, plotting to shake the Four Seas Ten Thousand Sword Array?
He was just about to ask for more details when Xie Zhefeng continued, “The Great Demons at the Tribulation stage have already been completely executed, and the remaining petty ones shouldn’t be a threat. But over these years, minor sects have constantly been having trouble, either being wiped out or being disturbed by turbid energy, and the source of the trouble always seems to be an accidental incident with a spiritual vein, resulting in the leakage of turbid energy. I suspect these events are all connected, perhaps the remnants of demonic cultivators. What does Senior Brother think?”
“I—”
An Wuxue suddenly froze.
Xie Zhefeng’s words were truly deep enough. He had almost begun discussing major affairs of the two realms with his junior brother as he did in his previous life. Only at the very end of his words did his junior brother quietly hide a “Senior Brother.”
He was instantly covered in cold sweat.
Seeing that Xie Zhefeng’s gaze had already changed, he suddenly gave a light laugh.
His fingertips hidden in his sleeve clutched his palm tightly, while his face was full of smiles: “I dare not remark on such major matters. But what did the Immortal Venerable just call me? The Immortal Venerable always calls me ‘Senior Brother’…”
He leaned forward slightly, reached out, and climbed onto Xie Zhefeng’s shoulder.
Xie Zhefeng seemed to stiffen for a moment.
Today, An Wuxue was wearing a set of plain green clothes, his hair simply tied with a wooden hairpin. Even the ordinary disciples of Luoyue Peak were more extravagant than he, the companion of the Immortal Venerable living on the Frost Sea.
But leaning close before him, no matter what kind of plain clothes he wore, he was always more dazzling than the daylight.
Those peach blossom eyes curved slightly, the black pupils moist with laughter, and his thin lips curled up, exactly like in his previous life.
He said in a low voice, “I have now tasted the sweetness of my cultivation advancing by leaps and bounds. If the Immortal Venerable truly wants to treat me as that Chief and dual-cultivate with me, I’m willing to give it a try…”
His voice paused, and after a short stop, he softly called out that long-lost term of address: “…Junior Brother.”
Xie Zhefeng was dazed for a moment.
Suddenly, the man rose abruptly, his immortal spiritual power unconsciously dispersing and pushing An Wuxue away.
An Wuxue stumbled back a step, looked up, and saw a flash of panic in Immortal Venerable Chuhan’s expression.
A cool wind rose around them, and by the time he blinked again, he was the only one left in the courtyard.
Xie Zhefeng had just left like that.
The brazier was still burning, the tea was boiling, and the immortal fruits and ice cakes on the table were still neatly arranged there.
An Wuxue stood on the spot, listening to the sound of the tea boiling. He was dazed for a long while before finally letting out a long sigh of relief.
Whether it was the ice cakes or that “Senior Brother,” they were both quiet tests under uncertainty.
In that case, he simply went along with Xie Zhefeng’s suspicion, putting on an act of wanting to use dual cultivation to break through to the Tribulation stage and being willing to be a substitute.
He knew Xie Zhefeng didn’t like this.
This was not a move the An Wuxue of his previous life would have made. Xie Zhefeng’s leaving like this was mostly because he felt this was not that gentle, noble, and modest senior brother in his memory.
It should have temporarily let him slip by.
But this method was truly harmful to both the enemy and himself. He himself had almost been pulled back to the time of getting along with his junior brother a thousand years ago, and even now he felt unable to catch his breath.
Just now he had almost responded to that “Senior Brother.”
If he had truly responded…
What would have happened if he had truly responded? He couldn’t seem to imagine that either.
In the beginning, he didn’t want to die at Xie Zhefeng’s hands again, and now he already knew that Xie Zhefeng wouldn’t kill him, but he still didn’t want to be exposed.
He slowly walked back to the stone table and sat down.
Only after Xie Zhefeng left did he pick up an ice cake and eat it bite by bite.
The taste was very familiar.
…Xie Zhefeng had made it himself.
He suddenly didn’t want to eat it anymore.
Just as he put it down, Yun Wan returned.
“The Immortal Venerable left?”
“…Hmm.”
“Mr. Su, you and the Immortal Venerable…?” she stammered, “Should, should I not ask…”
He laughed and said, “It’s nothing. You’ve always had a sense of propriety. Just know what should be said and what shouldn’t.”
“Yes…”
He stopped talking.
That “Junior Brother” just now had truly cost him too much mental energy. Even now he was lost in thought and still had lingering fears.
Seeing that he wasn’t in the right state, Yun Wan simply began talking about the trivial matters of Luoyue Peak over the past two days to keep him company.
“…It’s that Young Immortal Song who came to visit Mr. Su that day. I heard the disciples of Luoyue Peak say that he informed all the living beings of Zhaoshui about the past events of the Zhaoshui Sword Array through a dream. The next day, the Immortal Venerable followed up on this and also had some of the things about that Chief he had collected over all these years carved into jade slips and passed to the ten thousand sects.”
“I heard Zhaoshui City has been exceptionally quiet these past few days. No one expected that the story told for a thousand years was not the same as the truth at all. Some even went to kowtow under the Zhaoshui Sword, because that Chief has been dead for a thousand years and has no bones left, not even a place to pay respects. Alas, I also grew up near Zhaoshui City, and I didn’t expect it either…
“No matter what his reputation was, he indeed never failed the living beings of Zhaoshui City.
“Mr. Su, tell me, since the matter of the City Lord sacrificing to the sword had such a big hidden truth, could it be that the Chief really had such a long list of crimes as the rumors say? No matter what, he was the one who personally pushed for the Four Seas Ten Thousand Sword Array…”
An Wuxue finished eating the immortal fruits, pointedly bypassing the plate of ice cakes Xie Zhefeng had made himself.
He still had something in his mouth and said indistinctly, “Maybe.”
Yun Wan said again, “And Young Immortal Song’s master, that Elder Qin who also came to visit several times! I just went to join in the fun, and the disciples guarding near the Frost Sea told me that Elder Qin is currently in front of the Cangu Tower, insisting on entering. The disciples guarding the tower are almost unable to hold on. I don’t know what Elder Qin is really trying to do…”
An Wuxue said helplessly, “Is he still making a scene?”
“…Making a scene?” Yun Wan vaguely felt this word was a bit strange.
Mr. Su’s words didn’t seem to be talking about an elder and master of the number one sect in the cultivation world, but about some annoying peer or fellow disciple.
An Wuxue had already stood up and was walking out.
“Where is Mr. Su going?”
“The Cangu Tower.”
“What?”
An Wuxue was already gone.
His cultivation had recovered to the peak of the Great Success stage. Although his natal sword Chunhua was still in Xie Zhefeng’s hands, it wasn’t difficult to fly on any ordinary spiritual sword.
The layout of Luoyue Peak hadn’t changed at all in a thousand years. Following his memory, he quickly reached the base of the Cangu Tower.
The Cangu Tower was just as it had been a thousand years ago.
He had once undergone punishment for a hundred days at the top of the tower. Just looking at it like this from the outside made him feel cold all over.
“Move aside!”
Qin Wei’s displeased voice came from ahead.
He looked up and saw no fewer than a dozen disciples guarding the tower blocking the door. Xuan Fang was also holding his sword and standing still, between Qin Wei and the entrance to the Cangu Tower.
He heard Xuan Fang say, “Elder Qin, inside the tower are all heinous immortal cultivators and demonic cultivators who have entered demonhood. Since the Cangu Tower was built, there has never been a reason to let a Tribulation cultivator of the sect enter without cause.”
Qin Wei gave a “tsk” and said, “Two hundred years ago when Xie Chuhan entered, I didn’t see you stopping him.”
Xuan Fang: “…”
The crowd of disciples: “…”
Could they have stopped him?
And the icy cold of the Cangu Tower couldn’t disturb the immortal body of an eternal immortal. Immortal Venerable Chuhan was like a fish in water even if he went in to meditate and cultivate; there was no reason to stop him.
Xuan Fang: “The top floor of the Cangu Tower is a place where there’s a slim chance of survival, Elder…”
Qin Wei ignored him. With a movement of his fingertips, he drew his natal sword and was about to act.
Xuan Fang’s expression turned stern.
An Wuxue shouted, “Peak Master Xuan, Elder Qin.”
Xuan Fang and Qin Wei turned their heads at the same time.
Xuan Fang was startled for a moment, and Qin Wei rushed to his side in an instant.
“Ah—”
An Wuxue frowned.
“Mr. Su,” Qin Wei changed his words, “you… why are you here?”
He seemed a bit guilty, his eyes darting around, and he said in a low voice, “Did someone send you to persuade me? Was it Buwang? I want to enter the Cangu Tower, it’s just…”
His expression was desolate, and his momentum grew even weaker: “I just want to see what kind of scene it is to have one’s spiritual power sealed and enter for a hundred days…”
An Wuxue gave Qin Wei a look.
His face was devoid of joy or sorrow, and his heart was without ripples.
“You’ve misunderstood,” he said, “I’m not here to persuade you.”
Qin Wei was startled.
He casually dropped a sound-insulating barrier before saying, “Why does Elder Qin want to enter the tower?”
Qin Wei hurriedly said, “Back then when you entered the tower to undergo punishment for a hundred days, I was the one who approved it. Now I…” He lowered his eyes, his expression gloomy, “I don’t know what to do or what to ask you. I can only try the suffering and pain you tried, as compensation…”
An Wuxue laughed: “So it’s because of me?”
Qin Wei, unsure of his meaning, froze there, neither nodding nor shaking his head.
He then asked, “Is it for the sake of compensating me, or for the sake of setting your own conscience at ease?”
Qin Wei’s face instantly went ashen.
An Wuxue’s smile suddenly vanished, and he said in a deep voice, “The person Elder Qin wants to compensate died not far from here, at the Luoyue mountain gate. He has nothing more to do with you, whether in life or in death. If you want to enter the tower, you’re free to do as you wish, but do not do it in the name of compensating a dead person when in reality it’s only to ease your own mind.
“I am not that Chief, and I cannot accept this apology.”