Chapter 61#
The sky was already dark. The barrier formed by the light of the Chu Han Sword was like another layer of the night sky, revealing a more distant starry sky and flashing with a faint icy white glow, as if the Heavenly River were flowing through the mundane world.
The twenty-seventh city occupied a vast area, with countless streets and alleys. The long street running through it was like an endless dragon, with crowds surging within.
People came and gone; many mortals and cultivators passed by An Wuxue.
Amidst the flow, only the two of them seemed like frozen time.
Some people stopped by the stalls, curiously watching the two of them standing still as one offered an item and the other prepared to receive it. The stall owners also glanced over from time to time.
It seemed like a brief moment, yet also a long time.
Xie Zhefeng remained motionless.
His fingertips rested on his soul bell, his eyes flickering. After a momentary daze, there was a completely uncontrollable panic.
Those eyes, which clearly showed only coldness in front of others, were now flashing with nervousness, and even…
fear.
Unfortunately, the person standing in front of him did not see all this.
An Wuxue lowered his eyes slightly, looked at the soul bell in his hand that Xie Zhefeng had not yet taken, and gave a silent, bitter smile.
“All is fair in war,” his voice was hollow, “…this trick was something the Immortal taught me.”
It was just that Xie Zhefeng calling him “Senior Brother” hadn’t managed to trick him, but he had managed to trick Xie Zhefeng out with this one call of “Junior Brother.”
Xie Zhefeng suddenly withdrew his hand, “I…”
The clamor almost drowned out this word; An Wuxue thought he hadn’t heard the whole sentence.
But he waited for a while and found that Xie Zhefeng didn’t say anything.
Indeed.
What else was there to say?
When he called him “Junior Brother,” even if Xie Zhefeng had reached out to take the soul bell without reacting, he could have explained it away somehow. But this person happened to realize what he had been called after reaching out and then stopped his movement.
Moving first and then stopping was enough to explain everything.
Xie Zhefeng knew.
No, it should be said, Xie Zhefeng had confirmed it.
How could…?
How could it be!!?
He was most unwilling to let Xie Zhefeng know.
But Xie Zhefeng happened to know.
An Wuxue felt a spasm in his heart and something blocked in his throat, bringing a sense of suffocation he couldn’t shake off.
His hand holding the soul bell was so stiff he couldn’t move it.
“…When?” he asked with great confusion, not expecting Xie Zhefeng to answer every question.
But Xie Zhefeng didn’t seem at all like an Immortal who commanded the four seas; instead, he was like the little junior brother who had just joined the sect back then, his tone filled with panic and his speech extremely slow as he answered: “The soul bell.”
“Hm?”
“This soul bell can only be rung by you.”
Actually…
An Wuxue glanced at the soul bell in his hand again and was finally speechless.
No wonder he felt something was wrong back then, and even Kun Kun was much more unscrupulously clingy than usual.
If they hadn’t left that little thing in the City Lord’s Mansion before coming out, Kun Kun would probably be guiltily circling around him now.
So Xie Zhefeng’s strangeness back then was not because he had suppressed his inner demon.
But because from that time on, his junior brother was not facing Su Xue, but the senior brother who had deservedly died under his own sword.
Then with what kind of heart was Xie Zhefeng facing him now?
And it happened to be when he was under increasing suspicion regarding the Beiming incident.
Even if… even if his junior brother had feelings for him a thousand years ago—what did that have to do with the coldness of the Chu Han Sword?
His junior brother would go outside the barrier in Langfeng City alone to fight the Snow Demons, and similarly was unwilling to bring back a single snow lotus for him from the Guixu Sea.
Under the ten-thousand-foot water abyss of the Sea of Darkness, he would call him “A-Xue” in his ear, yet in the end, he still gave him the words “well-deserved” in the wind and snow.
His junior brother had always had the affection of a fellow disciple toward him, but when the Immortal Chu Han of the four seas and two realms needed to be heartless and emotionless, his sword still did not hold back.
“Senior Brother—”
“Don’t—!” He suddenly called out to the other party, but then paused again.
Don’t what?
He didn’t know either.
“Su Xue!”
A voice came from behind An Wuxue.
Qiao Ting quickly bypassed the crowd and walked up to them, then clasped his hands and bowed solemnly to Xie Zhefeng: “Fellow Daoist Xie.” Only then did he regain his smiling face and ask them, “What are you two standing here for?”
An Wuxue and Xie Zhefeng almost simultaneously composed their expressions.
They each remained silent for a moment. When Qiao Ting, with a face full of confusion, was about to ask again, An Wuxue put on a smile and said as if nothing had happened, “It’s nothing. I previously stole Fellow Daoist Xie’s soul bell to break the mountain-guarding array of Luoyue Peak. It’s useless now, and I’m returning it to him.”
Qiao Ting: “Oh… eh!?”
I-I-I-is that something one can just say out loud?
He quickly turned his head to look at the Immortal, already imagining the moment the light of the Chu Han Sword pointed straight at his brow.
But the Immortal, who had previously told them he was “not above slaying immortal cultivators,” now lowered his head slightly. With a particularly forlorn expression, he took the soul bell, held it in his hand as if it were a precious treasure, rubbed it, and then put it away.
Qiao Ting: “…?”
Something’s not right!
Qiao Ting was somewhat curious yet didn’t dare ask. He wanted to see something, but An Wuxue’s expression had already changed, looking completely as if he had forgotten what had just happened.
The fish lantern An Wuxue held in his hand swayed. The candlelight jumped together with the lanterns in the hands of those mortals. He curved his eyes, the bright light reflected in his pupils, and asked Qiao Ting warmly and politely, “Didn’t you just say you were going to eat to your heart’s content? Why did you come back to find us?”
Although Qiao Ting heard An Wuxue’s intention to change the subject, he also knew what should be said and what should be asked. He immediately followed suit and replied, “I just heard someone ahead saying there will be fireworks in a while, and the Dengyun Tower is also open today—oh, right, the Dengyun Tower is the tallest restaurant in the twenty-seventh city. Every private room on the upper floors has a window. Many mortals have gone to the Dengyun Tower to climb high and watch the fireworks. Shall we go and see?”
An Wuxue murmured, “Climb high and watch the fireworks?”
Only then did Qiao Ting realize they didn’t seem to need to rely on climbing a building to go higher, “…That, although there are rules in the city not to let cultivators fly at will, but with Fellow Daoist Xie… flying on a sword is also fine.”
Anyway, the person beside him was the Immortal Chu Han; the two realms and four seas were all under the Immortal’s rule. Even if the Immortal stood at the edge of the clouds to watch fireworks, who would dare to say anything?
He said embarrassedly, “I didn’t think too much just now. You two also know that my foster mother was a mortal. she liked the hustle and bustle of the mortal world. Before she passed away, she would always take me into the mortal world to enjoy flowers and lanterns with the common people. I’m used to it and forgot that you two might have no interest in this.”
His eyes shifted, his gaze falling on Xie Zhefeng, waiting for the Immortal to make the decision.
But Xie Zhefeng’s gaze was on An Wuxue. Without a word, he also looked like someone waiting for another to make the decision.
So Qiao Ting looked at An Wuxue together.
“How could I have no interest?” An Wuxue said with a frank smile, “I have never seen a Beiming like this. Before…”
He turned his head, his gaze slowly sweeping across the crowd beside him, finally landing on the flower lantern in his hand, and said slowly, “A long time ago, I always wanted to see it, but unfortunately, the time never came. Now that I can finally enjoy the lanterns from a height like the vast mortal world, I don’t want to miss it.”
Holding the flower lantern, An Wuxue walked slowly forward, moving through the crowd.
Although Qiao Ting didn’t say where the Dengyun Tower was, one could see the tallest of the high buildings and houses at a glance, so he could naturally see it.
Qiao Ting hurried to keep up, telling An Wuxue about the twenty-seventh city of Beiming a thousand years later that he never knew.
Xie Zhefeng didn’t speak from beginning to end.
He followed anxiously and closely by An Wuxue’s side, not knowing what to say, not daring to say anything.
Senior Brother… isn’t he angry?
Doesn’t Senior Brother have anything he wants to say to him?
Whether it be blame or resentment.
He would do anything he was asked to do.
But there was nothing.
He couldn’t tell why his Senior Brother suddenly didn’t care about what had just happened, nor did he understand why his Senior Brother was suddenly acting as if nothing was wrong.
An Wuxue even, before long, truly played very happily like a mortal who lingered in the night market and forgot to return.
He passed another flower lantern shop. This shop had many more styles than the small stall earlier, and the fish lantern in his hand became ordinary.
He looked at it in fascination. Only then did Xie Zhefeng dare to step forward and ask tentatively: “If you like them, I will buy them all and store them in a specialized spiritual pouch, alright?”
Qiao Ting: “?”
His eyes shifted to look at Xie Zhefeng, then shifted to look at An Wuxue, sensibly not interrupting.
Xie Zhefeng’s expression was nervous; he had already prepared for his Senior Brother to coldly refuse as before.
But An Wuxue tilted his head, took down a shell-shaped flower lantern, and said, “If one enjoys it alone, then it can’t be called enjoying lanterns. I’ll just take one to accompany this little fish.”
Xie Zhefeng hurried to take out spiritual stones and hand them to the shop owner.
“Oh, Immortal Master, this spiritual stone can buy the whole small shop. You’ve given too much…”
“It’s fine.” Xie Zhefeng just watched An Wuxue nervously.
An Wuxue smiled: “Then many thanks to Fellow Daoist Xie.”
Xie Zhefeng was stunned.
His Senior Brother had already continued toward the Dengyun Tower with those two flower lanterns and Qiao Ting.
After not walking for long, An Wuxue took a fancy to a sword tassel.
That tassel was just made by a mortal, with no spiritual energy attached, but the style was very exquisite. He picked it up and didn’t put it down again.
Xie Zhefeng tried to buy it for him again, and there was another “thank you.”
This was much better than before.
It was so good that by the time the three of them reached the Dengyun Tower, a spark of hope actually ignited in Xie Zhefeng’s heart.
Qiao Ting asked for a private room on a high floor and led the way, taking them up the stairs.
Xie Zhefeng asked An Wuxue: “Tonight… are you happy?”
An Wuxue’s brow shifted slightly, and he stated frankly: “Naturally.”
How could he not be happy?
Wasn’t what he most wanted to see a thousand years ago the lights of ten thousand homes under such a starry night?
During his inexplicable second life, only on the night he entered Zhaoshui City had he caught a hurried glimpse of the Tianshui Sacrifice. Only tonight, only on that walk just now, had he truly let go of everything and lingered in the mortal world.
“Su Xue! What are you two still standing at the door for? Come in.”
“Coming.”
The moment An Wuxue stepped into the room, he saw the window on the other side was wide open. Looking out, it was all the prosperity of the human world revived under the protection of the barrier.
The night wind rustled in. It clearly brought coolness, yet it couldn’t cool a person’s heart.
“Bang—”
The first firework shot straight into the sky, blooming beneath the barrier.
Brilliant flowers blossomed in the night sky, their flowing light reflected on An Wuxue’s face and into his black eyes.
He put down the flower lanterns, sat down by the tea table, and slightly turned his head to watch.
The Immortal Chu Han, however, had no interest in these fireworks after the narrow escape. Sitting opposite him, his gaze fell only on what was before him.
Qiao Ting leaned directly against the window, sitting on the windowsill, and poked his head out to look down, saying: “The last time I watched fireworks at the Dengyun Tower was when Mother was still alive—”
His voice paused.
He saw Qiao Yin, with several cultivators from the City Lord’s Mansion, stopping in front of the Dengyun Tower. The sound of fireworks blooming blurred her words; Qiao Ting and the others only roughly heard her seem to ask the waiter of the tower: “He… Erlang… upstairs…”
Qiao Ting instantly rolled off the windowsill.
A dignified Tribulation Transcendence cultivator almost fell face-first.
An Wuxue: “…”
He couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Qiao Ting didn’t have the time to care and directly clasped his hands: “I cannot accompany you two to watch fireworks today. Farewell!”
He was afraid that if he were a step slower, Qiao Yin would find him. He turned and flew away on his sword.
Below, Qiao Yin sensed the spiritual energy fluctuation, looked up, and shouted in surprise: “Erlang!”
Also on a sword, she chased after him in the air.
In an instant, only a few fireworks had just burned, their light and shadow overlapping beneath the night sky.
Only An Wuxue and Xie Zhefeng remained in the room.
The sound of fireworks blooming “banged” and “banged,” and the crowd beneath the window clamored incessantly, yet An Wuxue felt that everything around him had become dead quiet.
His smile suddenly vanished.
At this moment, he finally had to face Xie Zhefeng with his identity as “An Wuxue.”
“Immortal,” he was the first to speak, “when I woke up this time, I was already at Luoyue Peak. That day you returned to the mountain, the meeting at the mountain gate was just when I had woken up. I initially thought I had just come to Su Xue’s body by some coincidence. Looking back now, perhaps ‘Su Xue’s’ appearance was intentionally brought about by someone.”
He watched those fireworks of different styles one after another with reluctance, saying as calmly as possible, “I don’t know how you speculate about my resurrection, but I speak no lie—I had no consciousness during these thousand years, and I woke up only a few months ago.”
“Regarding the Zhaoshui incident, I only found out after seeing something wrong with the sword array. As for the crisis in Beiming, I learned of it from the Immortal’s mouth.”
He sighed.
“These things were not done by me.”
“Bang—”
“Bang, bang—”
The fireworks reached their middle stage, and several brilliant flowers blossomed together.
Xie Zhefeng was dazed for a long time.
On this journey, he had imagined several kinds of words his Senior Brother would say to him. He thought that regardless, the person who should explain should be him.
He only hadn’t expected this scene.
He could naturally see that his Senior Brother also knew nothing about the source of the puppet mark.
He even less could connect that person behind the scenes with An Wuxue.
He…
“Why does Senior Brother—”
Why say these things to him?
An Wuxue interrupted him: “What I know is very little, and I can produce no evidence to prove myself. I have only this one sentence—it truly wasn’t me.”
His voice grew lighter and lighter, speaking to Xie Zhefeng and also to himself.
“Although I don’t know why the Immortal knows my identity yet keeps it hidden, I am after all a ‘sinner’ of the cultivation world. The Immortal might have his own plans. It’s just… if those plans are to find clues from me, I’m afraid the Immortal will be disappointed.”
“What I know is probably even less than what the Immortal knows, and I have told all.”
“If you don’t believe me, whether you want to kill me or judge me, I won’t just sit and wait for death.”
He said all this in one breath, afraid that the light of the Chu Han Sword would suddenly appear at any moment. From beginning to end, he only watched those brilliant fireworks.
Now that he had finished speaking, he looked back at Xie Zhefeng, only to find the other party’s expression dazed, his eyes full of disbelief.
Disbelief in what?
Disbelief in the words he had just said?
True.
A dead senior brother would be remembered, and an irrecoverable yesterday would keep a junior brother trapped in an inner demon. But what about a resurrected sinner who seemed inextricably linked to the chaos in Zhaoshui and Beiming?
It was only natural not to believe he had nothing to do with this.
After all, Xie Zhefeng hadn’t believed it a thousand years ago.
Qin Wei had told him that for a thousand years, Xie Zhefeng had been running for him and had developed an inner demon because of him.
But the coldness of the Chu Han Sword light was still in his heart, that phrase “well-deserved” lingered in his ears, and the heartless and emotionless Immortal Chu Han in his dream would not go away.
He was still afraid.
Not afraid of Xie Zhefeng as a person, but afraid of the uncertain unknown brought by this name.
Now that he had torn away the last veil between the two of them, what did Xie Zhefeng intend to do?
The person before him finally spoke: “Didn’t you just say—that tonight… you were very happy?”
These words were irrelevant, and An Wuxue was stunned for a moment.
But he still said: “Yes, I was very happy. I was thinking just now that I have already pointed out that you’ve seen through my identity. If you want to kill me, I am indeed no match for the current you.” Not to mention there was a puppet mark on him.
“Perhaps tonight truly is the last look I’ll have at the human world…”
Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth hooked slightly, and a smile appeared in his eyes and on his brow, “So just now, I truly was very happy.”
Because he thought of nothing.
Even when Xie Zhefeng paid with spiritual stones, he didn’t have any extra thoughts, nor did he care.
“Bang—”
The last firework fell.
The night sky flashed for a moment, then returned to silence once more.
He really was quite happy.
He thought.
His several words of thanks earlier were also sincere.
“I should still thank the Immortal.”
“At least the Immortal didn’t kill me the moment he knew my identity this time, allowing me to finish watching tonight’s fireworks.”