Chapter 60#
Xie Zhefeng did not respond for a long while.
His gaze, which had been fixed on An Wuxue, seemed to shift away. He stood stiffly to one side, losing all sound.
A long, long time passed.
“You don’t like it,” his junior brother said. “I know now.”
Inexplicable!
Now that you know, leave quickly.
An Wuxue kept his gaze lowered, only able to see the hem of Xie Zhefeng’s robes.
His breath fluctuated, and his heart continued to palpitate, yet he felt no discomfort.
The meridians within his body were also surging with restless spiritual energy; his inexplicable sense of urgency stemmed from this.
This is…
In his confusion, his wandering gaze happened to collide with Xie Zhefeng’s own shifting eyes.
The man was even more hurried than he was, actually looking away a step before he did.
An Wuxue: “…?”
He blinked, his heart feeling empty for a moment.
What was wrong with Xie Zhefeng?
Ever since he returned to the Frost Sea, Xie Zhefeng’s inner demon had resurfaced—but now that his junior brother’s inner demon was suppressed, he seemed a bit…
In short, he didn’t resemble the Immortal Chu Han from those final moments in his previous life’s memories.
Kun Kun, perhaps sensing his soul’s exhaustion, lay on his shoulder, soothing his soul with the innate spiritual energy of a miasma beast.
Keeping his head down, he realized that even his robes had been changed. A clean silk quilt covered him, though it had slipped slightly due to his sudden awakening.
Xie Zhefeng stood by the bed, looking down from a height, able to see his current appearance with a downward glance.
Just like when he had first woken up as Su Xue, and that man had watched him by his bedside in the middle of the night…
He truly disliked this.
Frowning, he called out in a low voice, “Immortal.”
“…Hm?”
“My dreams are full of nightmares, and my mind is unsettled. Right now, it’s truly difficult for me to think about many things. If the Immortal wishes to ask about what happened when Zhao Duan captured me alone earlier, or other matters of doubt, could you first allow me to rest on my own for a while?”
He only wished for Xie Zhefeng to leave quickly. “I will come to find the Immortal in a bit.”
But Xie Zhefeng said, “I am not here to ask you…”
The man’s words paused.
“It will still take Pei Qian a day or two to teleport us to the vicinity of the first city using the power of the sword array. There is no rush to leave right now. I am right next door,” Xie Zhefeng’s voice was slightly hoarse. “If you have rested well, you can come find me.”
In his dream was his heartless and emotionless junior brother; awake was the Xie Zhefeng of a thousand years later whom he couldn’t see through and didn’t want to see through. At this moment, his mind was still a mess.
He nodded hastily, “Fine.”
Only then did Xie Zhefeng turn around.
He looked up slightly at the man’s back, noticing the fingertips still trembling beneath his sleeves.
This is…?
He must have been asleep for a day or two; had the pain of splitting the soul not yet subsided?
“Immortal!”
Just as Xie Zhefeng was opening the door, he called out to him.
Daylight poured in from outside, and fragmented light and shadows hit the man, outlining his tall and upright figure.
Against the light, he couldn’t see Xie Zhefeng’s expression, only knowing that the man turned back extremely quickly.
“What is it?”
An Wuxue pulled Kun Kun off his shoulder and held it up.
“Wuwu?”
“The Immortal previously split his soul and damaged his body. The miasma beast is the Immortal’s spiritual pet and is skilled at nourishing the soul. I shouldn’t have kept it here just because it likes to cling to me. It’s better for it to be by the Immortal’s side, to help alleviate the pain of splitting the soul and suppress the resurgence of the inner demon.”
“Are you… worried about me?”
An Wuxue didn’t see anything wrong with that and told the truth: “Naturally.”
“You—”
“The Immortal is currently the only Eternal Immortal in the world. And whether from Zhao Duan’s own words or his memories, the person causing chaos in Beiming is related to turbid immortals. The Immortal’s safety is now tied to the two realms, so it is naturally of the utmost importance.”
Xie Zhefeng’s tone seemed to dim instantly: “I understand.”
These words didn’t sound like the tone a dignified Immortal should use toward a cauldron of unclear origin.
An Wuxue felt even more strange and eerie in his heart.
In his daze, Xie Zhefeng had already turned back, scooped Kun Kun from his hands, and seemed to linger for another moment before slowly turning and leaving.
The door closed, once again blocking the light, shadows, and dust from outside, even stopping the faint breeze.
His ears became quiet, and Xie Zhefeng’s aura—which was exceptionally familiar yet exceptionally repulsive to him—was also gone. His heart finally slowed down.
An Wuxue finally suppressed everything from the dream and focused his thoughts.
He closed his eyes, circulating spiritual energy throughout his body, and suddenly discovered—he had actually reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage while asleep!
Even if he hadn’t reached the half-step into immortality of his previous life, the difference between the Tribulation Transcendence stage and other realms was vast. With a slight use of spiritual energy, he felt that most of his feelings from his previous life had returned.
He knew that after the opportunity Lou Shuiming left him was digested, a layer remained on his meridians, just waiting for them to be tempered before he could break through.
Tribulation Transcendence stage…
With his experience and techniques from his previous life, even if he was only at the early stage of Tribulation Transcendence, as long as it wasn’t Xie Zhefeng, he wouldn’t have to risk his life against other Tribulation Transcendence cultivators.
Regardless, though ascending to immortality was ethereal and elusive, reaching the Tribulation Transcendence stage was always a step closer to undoing the puppet mark!
But reaching Tribulation Transcendence was extraordinary, and tempering the meridians in a short time was a pain that reached the bones. Yet, he didn’t feel any discomfort now.
He was just very tired.
It was an exhaustion brought by pain somewhere, yet he couldn’t find where the pain was.
Strange…
He closed his eyes and probed his entire body with his divine sense but found nothing unusual.
An Wuxue had to let it go for now. He first changed out of the fine silk dharma robes—which were most likely changed for him by Xie Zhefeng—and put on the plain clothes he usually kept ready.
He sat up straight and began to meditate to stabilize his Tribulation Transcendence stage and regulate his meridians.
Outside the room.
After closing the door, Xie Zhefeng gave a light wave of his hand, leaving a barrier outside the room to ensure An Wuxue’s peace.
Just as the barrier was set, his brow twitched slightly. He turned around and sent out a sword light condensed from spiritual energy.
The sword light glided to the roof on the other side in the blink of an eye!
“Immortal! It’s me!!”
Qiao Ting appeared. The sword light was just an inch from his brow; if it had moved forward for a moment longer, he would have been dead.
By striking like this, Xie Zhefeng had naturally recognized who was hiding on the roof.
After giving the man a lesson, he withdrew the sword light and said coldly, “What are you doing here?”
Qiao Ting gave a sheepish laugh, rolled off the roof, and after clasping his hands and bowing to Xie Zhefeng, he said, “Now that the crisis in the twenty-seventh city has temporarily eased and we are temporarily powerless against the crisis in Beiming, my sister found some free time and wants to talk to me. She’s searching for me all over the city. I don’t want to see her. This place, with the Immortal and Su Xue, is the only place she doesn’t dare to search, so I…”
“She doesn’t dare to search, yet you dare to come?”
Thinking of that sword strike just now, Qiao Ting was also a bit cowed.
But he still composed himself and said, “Ever since I was born, both realms have said that Immortal Chu Han is just and selfless, not someone who kills the innocent. Moreover, the Immortal is already an immortal, yet for the sake of Beiming, he can endure a Tribulation Transcendence cultivation to enter as an avatar and investigate. He didn’t put on airs when his identity wasn’t revealed. By any measure, he doesn’t seem like someone who wouldn’t even let me hide on a roof.”
Xie Zhefeng only said, “Do not make any noise.”
“Of course!”
“Only the roof.”
Qiao Ting: “…Alright.”
Qiao Ting turned, about to flip onto the tiles to stay on his hard-won roof.
But Xie Zhefeng called out to him again: “Wait.”
“Immortal?”
“Since your sister is looking for you, why hide?”
Qiao Ting was stunned.
He hadn’t expected such domestic talk to come from the person before him. He was dazed for dozens of breaths before saying, “Her looking for me is nothing more than an apology. She apologizes, and apologizes on behalf of City Lord Qiao as well. Then she weeps and pours out her guilt to me, reminiscing about City Lord Qiao and Mother. This process has repeated quite a few times over these past few days; I truly can’t handle it.”
Xie Zhefeng’s expression stiffened.
“Since she regrets the past and wants to explain to you, do you not want to reconcile?”
Qiao Ting scratched his head: “She feels her guilt, and I am unwilling. Is there anything wrong with that?”
“I know that she was in the midst of it back then and how she acted was her choice. But I am the same. I am willing to understand her difficulties and know her guilt, so I have no resentment.”
“But not having resentment doesn’t mean we have to reconcile.”
Xie Zhefeng’s gaze darkened. His face, already pale from bearing An Wuxue’s pain, turned even whiter.
“Immortal, why do you look so pale? Is it from the depletion while repairing the sword array and setting the barrier?”
With a wave of his hand, Xie Zhefeng sent him directly back onto the roof.
Qiao Ting: “…”
He was about to speak, but saw Xie Zhefeng turn and enter another room, closing his eyes to meditate, using spiritual energy to shut the door.
He muttered, “Seems he’s gone to meditate and recover…”
Just after nightfall.
An Wuxue woke up from his meditation.
He felt relaxed and refreshed all over, tired but not lethargic, his realm harmonious.
The chaotic thoughts had also gradually calmed during his meditation.
He felt more and more strange.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t cultivated before—breaking through from Fasting to Tribulation Transcendence in just a year, the suffering his meridians bore far exceeded others. Yet, breaking through so steadily in just a few days without any suffering—why was that?
He clearly felt very tired, as if he had been through pain, yet he hadn’t felt any pain.
And then there was Xie Zhefeng.
Xie Zhefeng was not right.
He frowned and pondered for a moment, then stood up and walked out.
As soon as he stepped out, he found the cold barrier covering the entire city in the sky. Frost netted the firelight, and he could faintly see that the city seemed brightly lit.
There was a sound-isolating barrier around his room. As soon as he stepped out of it, he could hear the incessant clamor from all directions, and even the sound of singing and dancing.
“Su Xue!” Qiao Ting suddenly flipped down from the roof.
An Wuxue: “…”
“You’re awake? Eh, you—?”
An Wuxue nodded.
“Congratulations. I didn’t expect that from Zhao Duan’s evil and the sword array crisis, you’d happen to break into the Tribulation Transcendence stage.”
The door to the next room opened, and Xie Zhefeng walked out.
The man looked at him in the night, his eyes deep.
Kun Kun flew to his side: “Wuwu…”
An Wuxue raised his hand and naturally took Kun Kun into his arms.
Qiao Ting said, “The crisis in the twenty-seventh city has passed. The mortals and commoners have been terrified for so long, and now they can finally come out. They’ve prepared tonight’s night market. Have you ever been to Beiming?”
An Wuxue wasn’t surprised.
The tradition in Beiming was to use joy to commemorate sorrow. If there were casualties after a great calamity or disaster, Beiming would instead welcome it with celebration, symbolizing that everything would be joyful and smooth in the future.
So that’s what the clamor he heard was about.
“I…” He had been to Beiming.
But he had never seen the Beiming of today.
He said, “I have never been here.”
Qiao Ting smiled, “Then I’ll take you around.” He paused, then looked at Xie Zhefeng, and his smile instantly vanished—this was the Immortal Chu Han who had ruled the two realms for a thousand years.
Qiao Ting asked respectfully, “May I ask if the Immortal is going?”
Only then did An Wuxue look at Xie Zhefeng.
The man should have been the one who had rested for a few days, yet his face was pale and his expression gloomy, with only those eyes looking at him carrying a bit of light.
The sense of strangeness in his heart grew even stronger.
He saw Xie Zhefeng nod slightly and suddenly realized, “Immortal…? You’ve told them your identity?”
Did Qiao Ting and the others know that Xie Chunhua was Xie Zhefeng?
Qiao Ting was already leading the way and, hearing this, looked back and said, “Eh, you knew all along? I saw how surprised Pei Qian was back then; I thought none of you knew.”
“Where is Pei Qian?”
“He’s in the array. Beiming is his homeland, but he has no interest in the night market, so he’s in the sword array studying how to teleport.” This time, the one who answered An Wuxue was Xie Zhefeng, who was walking beside him.
An Wuxue had a particularly good impression of someone like Qiao Ting and was willing to say a few more words, but he had no intention of talking much with Xie Zhefeng. He said with little interest, “Oh…”
Xie Zhefeng’s lips moved slightly, and after failing to get a word from him for a long time, he finally followed in silence.
Qiao Ting led the way at the front, with An Wuxue behind him, looking at the bustling streets after leaving the City Lord’s Mansion and the local customs that were somewhat different from present-day Zhaoshui. His eyes were filled with the prosperity.
Xie Zhefeng, on the other hand, walked at the very back. The dignified Immortal Chu Han actually seemed like a follower whom no one paid attention to.
Just as they entered the flow of the crowd, Qiao Ting, who had said he would take them around, had his attention drawn away by a snack stall.
An Wuxue didn’t mind and stopped on his own in front of a lantern stall.
He indeed liked these things.
Though they weren’t easy to preserve and grew dim once they burned out, they were exceptionally vivid when the flames danced.
Unlike the lanterns in Zhaoshui City, which were mostly flowers, plants, and small animals, the lanterns in Beiming were mostly fish, shrimp, clouds, and the moon.
He took a fancy to a small fish lantern. Xie Zhefeng suddenly asked him from the side, “Which one do you like?”
With mortals coming and going all around and many eyes and ears, he said in a low voice, “Fellow Daoist Xie, I’ve said it before.”
I don’t want your things.
He wouldn’t take the little rabbit lantern in Zhaoshui City, and naturally, he wouldn’t take another one now.
But Xie Zhefeng said, “You were the one who helped us find Zhao Duan’s hiding place this time. As a thank-you gift, I should give you something. It’s not… it’s not like taking my things.”
“Then when the thing on me is resolved, Fellow Daoist Xie can give me a spiritual boat to leave in. How about that?”
Xie Zhefeng’s entire body stiffened, and he suddenly stopped responding.
An Wuxue was reaching out for the fish lantern when he noticed the man’s strange reaction. He turned his head to look as he reached out.
As he took the lantern, the stall owner hurriedly said, “Wait a moment, Young Master, the handle hasn’t been finely polished yet—”
An Wuxue had already picked it up, but he didn’t feel the handle was rough.
He had just seen Xie Zhefeng frown for some reason and look at his own palm when he heard the stall owner’s shout.
Only then did he look back and found that there were indeed a few wooden splinters on the handle. The splinters had pricked his palm, drawing a few drops of blood.
This truly was nothing to a cultivator. He smiled at the stall owner and said, “It’s fine, don’t worry.”
After he paid, he formed a seal with his other hand, and the wound on his hand vanished.
The fish lantern swayed in his hand, like the dancing bustle of this prosperous age a thousand years later.
But Xie Zhefeng, truly…
What exactly was wrong?
An Wuxue continued walking forward and saw Qiao Ting waving at him up ahead to rejoin them.
Hand…
He thought of how he had felt no pain when he was just injured, while Xie Zhefeng had frowned at the same time.
And he had felt no discomfort during his breakthrough to the Tribulation Transcendence stage over these past few days, while Xie Zhefeng instead looked like he had just recovered from a serious injury.
And—Immortal Chu Han today didn’t look at all like he was treating “Su Xue.”
Xie Zhefeng…
A thought flashed through his mind, and his heart clenched. His breath suddenly stopped, and he halted abruptly.
His junior brother, who had been following silently behind him, hurriedly stepped forward, actually coming in front of him, and said urgently, “What’s wrong?”
An Wuxue looked up at him.
The other party was slightly dazed by his gaze.
Yet he looked down again. Holding the fish lantern in one hand, he took something out from his spiritual pouch with the other.
It was the old soul bell.
Steadying his expression, he adopted a casual conversational manner, listening to his own voice amidst the bustling market: “I almost forgot. I stole this soul bell in front of the Frost Sea Gate earlier; it’s useless now. The soul bell was originally Junior Brother’s item; it’s better to return it to Junior Brother.”
Xie Zhefeng reached out to take it: “Fine—”
The man’s fingertips had already touched the soul bell, yet his movement suddenly froze, and his fingertips trembled once.