Chapter 40#
As soon as these words were spoken, Qin Wei’s expression went blank, as if he had been shaken.
He had just drawn his natal sword to drive back Xuan Fang and the others, but his grip on the hilt loosened.
The natal sword fell, landing on the ground with a “clang,” then soared into the air again, circling around Qin Wei.
His gaze fell blankly on the person before him, completely ignoring his natal sword.
That face before him was the same as the Ah Xue in his memory, but the face in his memory, no matter how cold it was to others, always seemed to look at him with a smile.
Ah Xue also loved to tease and mock him, and together with Qi Xun, used arrays to play tricks on him.
Even in those years when they drifted apart, if Ah Xue happened to run into him, his expression was mostly one of sorrow.
Now there was only an indifferent detachment.
Neither care nor anger.
After returning from Zhaoshui City for two days, he stood in front of An Wuxue’s door for two nights, afraid that An Wuxue would not forgive him.
Until now, he belatedly realized that not being forgiven might already be an extravagant hope.
What he should fear was not a lack of forgiveness, but An Wuxue as he was now, appearing truly like a stranger with no grievances or past with him, without even resentment, not even giving him a chance to seek forgiveness.
The Cangu Tower loomed into the clouds, blocking the daylight, and its shadow enveloped the two of them.
Qin Wei opened his mouth, wanting to refute what An Wuxue had said, but he couldn’t find the words at all.
He could only say, “…I didn’t mean anything else, I just… I just don’t know what I can do now.”
An Wuxue’s eyes moved, not understanding these words.
“What can you do? What do you want to do?” He was puzzled. “I am already extremely grateful that Elder Qin hasn’t exposed my secret.”
Extremely grateful.
These words were like another sharp sword, piercing through Qin Wei’s chest.
An Wuxue didn’t even look at Qin Wei.
He didn’t want to linger in front of the Cangu Tower. Having delivered his words, he opened the barrier and turned to leave.
Qin Wei absentmindedly retrieved his natal sword, while Xuan Fang and the others exchanged looks.
Seeing that An Wuxue didn’t fly on his sword but walked quickly toward where the disciples were practicing nearby, he waved Xuan Fang and the others away and followed closely behind.
An Wuxue could naturally sense Qin Wei behind him.
He had originally thought of returning after saying these words to Qin Wei, but the moment he turned and looked in the direction of the Frost Sea, he suddenly remembered that the Frost Sea was actually Xie Zhefeng’s cave dwelling, not his home.
He suddenly didn’t want to go back just like that.
Without the constraints of his cultivation, he simply followed the direction in his memory and walked aimlessly toward the practice grounds.
Luoyue Peak hadn’t changed at all.
When he passed the high platform where he used to practice with Xie Zhefeng and Qin Wei, his footsteps paused slightly.
The “quail” following beside him who hadn’t made a sound finally spoke: “Do you not want to come back?”
An Wuxue looked back at Qin Wei: “Come back?”
“Restore your identity and return to the sect. Your name is still on the first page of the disciple registry, and the position of Chief has been vacant for a thousand years. During the recent Zhaoshui incident, Xie Chuhan also took the opportunity to spread the trivial matters he has investigated over the years along with evidence…”
Trivial matters?
Yun Wan had also mentioned them to him.
Perhaps they were some ruthless things he had to do in the past, or injustices that were simply dumped on him by others because of his long-standing reputation for ferocity.
He had forgotten them himself.
“He wanted to announce them to all the sects before, but those trivial matters were scattered. He used to speak of them as he investigated them one by one, but with those several major events weighing down, nobody would listen to anything he said, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be of much use. If it weren’t for Buwang himself being willing to face the events of a thousand years ago this time, he would have used the Zhaoshui incident to explain everything clearly as well.”
“But since Buwang himself wanted to bear the karma, he lent the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit to Buwang and went along with the situation…”
“Now there are only those few… matters you also know about. Because you weren’t here, Xie Chuhan and Qi Xun haven’t been able to find the source for the past two hundred years, and those things truly cannot be traced. But all other matters have been settled. If you want to come back, with you here, it should be easier to find evidence for what happened back then, so…”
The daylight today was just right, with sunlight spilling through the dense mountain forest like golden streams from the sky.
An Wuxue raised his hand, gently touching the sunlight, and said, “I don’t want to.”
He gave a self-mocking laugh: “Besides, does Elder Qin think I have evidence? If I had something to prove myself back then, or words I could say, why didn’t I say them?”
If he could have explained things clearly himself, how would he have ended up in a position where he was unable to defend himself and was pursued by ten thousand sects?
Qin Wei paused for a moment before saying, “Actually, Qi Xun told me long ago that it was I who was wrong, that I was stubborn, and that I was unwilling to look back. He examined the Li-Fire Sect with the Soul-Nurturing Tree Spirit and couldn’t find a single trace of resentment. He should also… want to see you come back.”
He now wanted to compensate and apologize, but he didn’t know what else he could do. He wanted Ah Xue to vent the resentment in his heart—but Ah Xue didn’t have any resentment left at all.
Without love or hate, how could he repay anything?
He could only say these jumbled words.
An Wuxue said, “If the Elder truly cannot find peace of mind, there’s no need to say these irrelevant things to me. A thousand years ago, An Wuxue died at the mountain gate not far from here. The Elder can set up a tomb there and offer incense every year for his own uneasy heart.”
Qin Wei’s face instantly turned red with frustration, then turned blue and white.
An Wuxue said no more.
Qin Wei suddenly stepped in front of him and handed him a sword.
An Wuxue: “?”
“Just kill me with one stroke.”
“…” He was speechless for a while. “This is a sword.”
Qin Wei’s hand shook.
An Wuxue had nothing more to say.
He hesitated for a while between the two terrible choices of returning to the Frost Sea or being followed by Qin Wei. He decisively chose to return to the Frost Sea.
He lightly commanded his spiritual energy, leaped onto the sword’s edge, and flew away.
Qin Wei still stood on the spot holding his natal sword.
He watched An Wuxue go far away, his grip on the sword becoming tighter, only to finally let it down loosely.
He turned and returned to the Cangu Tower.
Seeing him back, Xuan Fang let out a sigh: “I knew you’d be back. These disciples couldn’t stop the Elder, and I didn’t dare leave.”
This time Qin Wei didn’t act as he had before.
He looked up slightly at the narrow window on the top floor of the Cangu Tower, wondering what it was like inside.
Since the time of the immortal disaster, he had been in charge of the Silu Peak. Not only Luoyue Peak disciples, but also many cultivators from the two realms had been convicted and sent to the tower by his hand. Having seen so much of the world’s turmoil and human strife, he had instead felt that he was inevitably impartial and upright, firmly believing in evidence and incapable of making a wrong choice or going down a wrong path.
And so he had sent so many people into the Cangu Tower himself, only to find that in the end, the one who most needed to go inside and experience it was himself.
He thought of the words An Wuxue had just said.
He turned his head and asked Xuan Fang, “Why can’t I go in?”
Xuan Fang was startled: “I just explained to the Elder…”
“You said I can’t enter the tower without a crime,” Qin Wei said with a sardonic smile. “How can I be considered without a crime? Step aside. He was right; I truly cannot enter the tower just for my own peace of mind. Even if I enter the tower and come out again, I’ll only continue to toss and turn every night, unable to sleep. Entering the tower is only for myself.”
“It is for me to face the wrong things I have done and the wrong paths I have taken.”
He lowered his voice: “Xuan Fang, do you not have a crime you’ve set for yourself due to regret when looking back?”
Xuan Fang’s hand blocking him trembled.
He did.
He suddenly thought of a thousand years ago, when he was still a child and had clearly told that person that he would surely sit high in the hall of justice. But later, when public opinion was like gold being melted and that person’s crimes were listed one by one, why did he just watch from the side and not step out to help?
His hand gradually clenched into a fist, then let go.
This time, Xuan Fang only said, “Regarding the matter of entering the tower, to prevent any trouble, I will seal off the news. It’s rare for a peak Tribulation-stage immortal cultivator to enter the Cangu Tower for punishment, and Elder Qin still bears responsibility for the two realms. I hope the Elder will maintain his own sense of propriety.”
“You can rest assured; I won’t die inside.”
As he spoke, he summoned a spiritual talisman.
Entering the Cangu Tower must be approved by the Silu Peak. He couldn’t approve himself; this was a conviction talisman Song Buwang had drawn for him before going to guard the array.
Having obtained this talisman, he had intended to go in directly but was stopped at the door by Xuan Fang. A fight between two Tribulation-stage cultivators within the sect would look terrible no matter what, so it had been delayed until now, and he could finally use it.
The talisman floated up, and chains emerged from the air, climbing onto his limbs.
The talisman for a hundred-day sentence landed on him. He swallowed a pill to seal his spiritual power and took the initiative to walk into the Cangu Tower.
As soon as An Wuxue returned to the Frost-Burial Sea, Kun-kun dove into his arms with a “whoosh.”
He stroked Kun-kun’s head and asked it, “Where is Xie Zhefeng?”
“Woo woo?”
“Take me to find him.”
Kun-kun seemed not to have expected him to take the initiative to find Xie Zhefeng. It tilted its head, but still jumped down from his arms and led the way.
The restrictions within the Frost Sea were ineffective against Kun-kun. They went all the way into the pine forest deep in the Frost Sea.
An Wuxue saw a figure sitting in the shadow of a tall pine in the pine forest, a stone table before him, with black and white pieces intertwined upon it.
Xie Zhefeng was playing chess alone.
He walked closer slowly.
The man couldn’t have failed to sense his arrival, yet he showed no reaction, simply playing against himself, sometimes as black and sometimes as white.
It wasn’t until An Wuxue stood by the stone table holding Kun-kun that Xie Zhefeng said, “Why did you have Kun-kun lead you to find me?”
An Wuxue looked down and found that on the chessboard, the style of the black pieces’ play was similar to his own.
Xie Zhefeng was imitating his style of playing chess from his previous life…
He said, “Today the Immortal Venerable mentioned that Chief to me again. Having nothing to do, I inquired about it. When that Chief fell a thousand years ago, he was already without bones and his soul was extinguished, with only a wisp of a remnant soul remaining in the world. After a thousand years, perhaps he has already grown tired of the world and his obsession has dissipated?”
He said in a low voice, “Since the Immortal Venerable won’t dual-cultivate with me, why not forget him and let me go too, to seek my own serendipity.”
Xie Zhefeng slowly put down a chess piece.
The man sat by the chess table, looked up at him, and said with a complex expression, “Why do you care if I forget him?”
That’s naturally because your heart-demon is a hidden danger to the two realms.
An Wuxue swallowed those words and said, “After all, the Immortal Venerable kept me because of him. If the Immortal Venerable forgets him, I can also leave.”
“Since returning to the mountain this time, I haven’t constrained your coming and going.”
“The furnace mark is still here. Where can I go?”
Xie Zhefeng then put down the chess piece and stood up to take An Wuxue’s left hand.
An Wuxue instinctively stepped back.
Xie Zhefeng was startled.
He hurriedly said, “What is the Immortal Venerable doing?”
The man took his left hand. He forced himself to resist the urge to pull away and let Xie Zhefeng lift his sleeve.
Xie Zhefeng placed his other hand over the furnace mark. “When Yun Zhou sent you here, I thought of destroying the mark for you, but at that time you were only at the Fasting stage and couldn’t withstand the spiritual power of destroying the mark. I could only temporarily inject spiritual power to stabilize your furnace mark. Now that you have reached the Great Success stage, I can give it a try.”
Xie Zhefeng rarely had such patient and gentle moments.
An Wuxue didn’t understand the other’s state of mind and simply didn’t think about it.
If Xie Zhefeng was willing to use his immortal spiritual power to see if he could destroy the mark, it would be for the best if it succeeded.
He stopped speaking, watching the spiritual power surge in Xie Zhefeng’s palm and be injected into the mark.
A tearing pain suddenly came from the place where the mark was.
An Wuxue gritted his teeth and tried to endure it, but as soon as Xie Zhefeng’s spiritual power began to tear at the mark, the pain spread throughout his body in an instant, as if countless hands were tearing at his meridians, bones, and blood.
His face turned ashen, and he couldn’t help but groan in pain.
Xie Zhefeng immediately withdrew his hand and frowned, saying, “It won’t work.”
An Wuxue also realized it.
If this mark were forcibly rooted out, it would be equivalent to taking his life.
Could it be that his cultivation really had to surpass Xie Zhefeng’s for it to work?
If he had to carry this thing associated with Xie Zhefeng for his whole life, he would rather not have this body and be a lonely soul.
“Several pages were torn from the book left by Yun Zhou; there might be another way to undo the mark in there. I will go to Beiming in a few days to investigate this and find the missing puppet technique.”
What are you looking for a puppet technique for?
His remnant soul couldn’t even be found, yet his junior brother was still thinking of chasing his soul to create a body.
Xie Zhefeng paused, looked at him, and then said, “If you are determined to remove it, you can come with me to Beiming.”
He naturally couldn’t refuse: “Thank you, Immortal Venerable.”
He had come here to test the matter of the furnace mark. Since Xie Zhefeng couldn’t remove the furnace mark for him while protecting his life, going to Beiming to investigate together was indeed the best choice for now.
His goal achieved, he didn’t want to spend another moment alone with Xie Zhefeng and turned to leave.
Xie Zhefeng’s gaze narrowed slightly, watching his departing back. The voices of the heart-demon in his consciousness rose and fell, and he only felt the silhouette was becoming more and more like him.
“Woo woo!”
Kun-kun bit at the hem of his robe.
He withdrew his gaze, picked up Kun-kun, and looked again; the figure had already disappeared into the pine forest.
Although Xie Zhefeng’s heart-demon was suppressed, there was always the danger of a flare-up.
From that day on, Xie Zhefeng didn’t come to find An Wuxue again, nor did he leave the Frost Sea, seemingly intending to completely root out the heart-demon.
Kun-kun had to help Xie Zhefeng deal with the heart-demon and couldn’t come to find him. Qin Wei didn’t appear again either. Xuan Fang, however, came a few times, acting furtively, leaving some spiritual medicines and treasures for cultivation before running off.
So An Wuxue taught Yun Wan every day, and also cultivated himself to consolidate his cultivation, occasionally going down to the Frost Sea to see the current Luoyue disciples practicing their swords.
It seemed as if all the turmoil was blocked outside the Luoyue Peak’s mountain-protecting array, and the world’s bustle was gentle.
He had thought that they would have to wait at least until Xie Zhefeng could completely eliminate the heart-demon before they could go to Beiming.
But after only two months or so of such days, a Heavens and Seas Talisman, carrying the moist water vapor of the Dark Sea, came from the north and drifted into the Luoyue mountain-protecting array.
It was a call for help from Beiming.