Chapter 64#
Word by word, the sentences hung in the night air, wrapped in the barrier created by Chuhan’s sword-light, heavy with irony.
Xie Zhefeng couldn’t manage to speak a single word.
An Wuxue looked down. He watched as lights in home after home began to go out. The crowds in Dengyun Tower were thinning. Only a few lingered still — mortals who hadn’t had their fill of pleasure, or who had drunk themselves high.
The fireworks had ended long ago.
He hadn’t drunk a single cup of wine, yet he felt as though he were intoxicated.
He spoke as if to himself: “In Zhao Duan’s memories, I once told you — affection can bloom from time, or from a single moment, or from a moment within time. Disappointment is the same. That stroke you gave me was only a moment, but that moment was the final moment of all the time before it.”
Did he fear Xie Zhefeng because of that one sword stroke? Did he want to leave because of it? Would he sooner die than return to what was before?
Yes.
But not only because of that stroke.
Perhaps it was also the Guixu Sea snow lotus he had waited for so long that never came. Perhaps it was because even after dual cultivation at the Dark Sea, when he was sentenced to a hundred days in Canggu Tower, he never once waited for Junior Brother to offer him a moment of mercy…
He thought that he and Xie Zhefeng should have nothing left to say to each other.
He turned. He placed Chunhua back into his spirit pouch. He left several spirit stones on the table as compensation for burning the long curtain outside the door.
The table full of mortal food sat untouched.
He walked straight out the door and made his way down the spiraling stairs of Dengyun Tower, step by step.
The long street below was now nearly empty of people. Not as brilliant with light as it had been before.
Some homes had already hung white lanterns — after joy gave way to mourning, mortals who had lost family in this calamity would begin their funeral rites.
An Wuxue knew Xie Zhefeng was not far from his side, but he simply treated the man as though he didn’t exist.
He stopped before a house with a white lantern already hung.
The lantern had only been put up on one side. Inside, a single candle still burned, dim and low.
Through the paper window, the silhouette revealed itself: only a woman and a child.
The woman, perhaps not tall enough, was moving a long ladder. The child was carrying the lantern out when he saw An Wuxue and Xie Zhefeng. He took a startled step back.
“You…” Don’t be afraid.
An Wuxue hadn’t even finished his first word when the child, seeing their robes unstained by dust, recognized their station.
The child cried: “Immortal Masters!”
The child ran straight to An Wuxue with the white lantern in hand: “Are you Immortal Masters here to hand out blessing talismans?”
— A few days ago, the twenty-seventh city had been overrun with puppets. The mortals had all hidden in their homes, pasted talismans on their doors, not daring to take even a single step outside.
The child knew little. He hadn’t yet understood that the calamity was over.
An Wuxue slowly crouched down until their eyes were level, and smiled as he spoke: “You don’t need talismans anymore.”
“Did the Immortal Masters defeat those demons that looked like people?”
He must have meant the puppets.
An Wuxue nodded.
“Will my father come back now?”
An Wuxue went still.
He glanced at the white lantern in the child’s hand…
At that moment, the woman came out carrying the long ladder. When she saw the situation, she quickly set it down and hurried over, her voice trembling with fear: “Immortal Master, the child speaks without thinking…”
An Wuxue shook his head slightly, signaling her not to worry.
He asked the child: “Where did your father go?”
“Mother said Father went to help the Immortal Masters catch those demons that were doing wicked things! Since the demons are gone now, can I wait for Father to come back before I go to sleep?”
As the child spoke, the woman behind him clasped her hands together, nervously rubbing her fingers as though afraid An Wuxue would expose the lie.
An Wuxue’s expression softened.
The world’s evils are endless, and so too are its virtues.
Even thousands of years before the Immortal Calamity ever came, there was always chaos and disaster. The Immortal Calamity had barely passed through a thousand years — the tree seeks quiet but the wind won’t still. The disasters may well stretch from a thousand years ago even now…
He said: “Demons cannot be completely eradicated.”
The child blinked in confusion.
“The twenty-seventh city has peace and joy now, but Beiming spreads across forty-nine cities spanning vast distances. The four seas hold countless races and domains. Both realms together hold ten thousand sects — and the calamities are not yet finished.”
“If your father has not yet returned, perhaps he is somewhere far away, slaying demons and subduing disasters. Each day he does not return is a day that someone else is afflicted by demons and receives his help.”
He smiled gently. “Your father will not return to see you so quickly. You should sleep early tonight.”
The child didn’t understand such complex language. He tilted his head, seemed to think for a moment, then said in his small voice: “Then… then it’s okay if I see Father later! That way, other people will have the Immortal Masters and Father to help them, and they won’t have to wait for their fathers every day like me!”
Behind him, the woman bowed her head slightly, rubbed her eyes, and her voice became choked: “Come, little one — we should hang the lantern now.”
She bowed slightly to An Wuxue: “Thank you, Immortal Master.”
An Wuxue stood to the side and watched them hang the lantern and return inside.
The light went out. He heard Xie Zhefeng finally speak at his side: “Senior Brother — you still cannot let go of the two realms.”
He said: “I wish to let go.”
Wish to let go — not have let go.
Xie Zhefeng said quietly: “If you cannot let go, then don’t leave. Please? The one causing trouble with the sword formation tampered with a formation that Senior Brother established. No one in this world understands such matters better than you. The things you could not defend back then may well be connected to what is happening now.”
“Even if you leave now, you would only be searching Beiming separately from me. But to find the one pulling strings behind this — two together is always better than divided…”
“Senior Brother — if you would only think of it as me needing your help, as the two realms needing your aid — you are staying for the two realms’ sake. Would that be all right?”
An Wuxue said nothing.
Xie Zhefeng continued: “That person — whether intentionally or not — every clue they’ve revealed aligns with you. In any case, this person likely has old ties with you. Having Senior Brother there… would help…”
An Wuxue remained silent still.
He stood in the middle of the dark street for a long time, then finally began to move. He didn’t use spiritual energy — he simply walked back to the city lord’s residence at an ordinary pace.
Xie Zhefeng walked with him in silence.
If anyone had seen the two of them like this, they might have taken them for close friends strolling through the streets together.
Until they reached the small courtyard where they were staying. An Wuxue stopped at the door to his guest room.
Xie Zhefeng, behind him, hesitated for a moment, then asked: “Does Senior Brother wish to rest? Is there anything you need me to do?”
An Wuxue didn’t turn around. With his back to Xie Zhefeng, he said softly a single word: “Good.”
Clearly this wasn’t an answer to Xie Zhefeng’s question.
They had been silent the entire walk back. The last time they had spoken, An Wuxue hadn’t said anything — it had been Xie Zhefeng doing all the persuading.
Persuading…
Xie Zhefeng suddenly understood, his eyes flickering. He asked carefully, deliberately slowing his voice: “You’ve agreed to stay?”
An Wuxue let out a soft laugh.
He wasn’t laughing at anything else — certainly not at Xie Zhefeng. He was laughing at himself.
In the silence as he walked alongside Xie Zhefeng, he had seemed to think of many things. But by the time he reached the door, he had forgotten them all.
He truly could not let go of the two realms.
He understood clearly that he was no longer the First Seat of Falling Moon. Going it alone to search for a way to break the puppet brand, his power would be limited. Working together with Xie Zhefeng to search for clues about who was behind this — they could do twice the work in half the time.
But could Xie Zhefeng truly never be coerced by the puppet brand?
Even if Xie Zhefeng didn’t suspect him now, what about later? What if later they encountered some other slander that pointed to him — how would Xie Zhefeng respond then?
He couldn’t afford to be a fool. He couldn’t be the kind of person who stayed by Xie Zhefeng’s side and let things be.
That single word — “good” — had already cost him nearly all his remaining strength.
He said: “But once the brand is broken, whether I go or stay has nothing to do with you. If I cannot ascend to immortality, you may have the power to kill me — but I would sooner die than be bound by you, or become your cauldron. And from today forward, if the Immortal Sovereign harbors any doubt, or has any other plan — in remembrance of the fact that we were once of the same sect…”
Xie Zhefeng’s expression turned bitter — Senior Brother had mentioned only being of the same sect.
“…I hope the Immortal Sovereign will speak plainly with me. If the puppet brand flares and the Immortal Sovereign is unwilling to suppress it — tell me beforehand. I don’t want to die without understanding why.”
“I would never suspect Senior Brother. I would never let anything happen to you.”
An Wuxue said nothing.
Xie Zhefeng waited a moment, then finally understood — An Wuxue simply wasn’t going to believe him.
His voice grew rough: “All right. I understand.”
An Wuxue then continued: “The forbiddance curse on me…”
He glanced at his arm, where the wound had already healed.
“The forbiddance curse will only last three days…”
An Wuxue pushed open the door. Only then did he turn his head slightly to look back at Xie Zhefeng.
In his past life, he had never spoken to Junior Brother like this.
He stood on the threshold steps while Xie Zhefeng stood below, obedient and gentle, waiting for him to speak — and it gave An Wuxue an absurd sense of superiority.
“Once those three days have passed and the curse lifts, the Immortal Sovereign should not do this kind of thing to me again. I don’t want to owe you anything — and I especially don’t want to be bound by the kindness you’re forcing on me in a situation like this.”
“Because… if I happen to die again beneath your sword, I don’t want to die burdened by the favor you’ve given me, so much that I can’t even hate you completely.”
“Senior—”
An Wuxue didn’t wait for Xie Zhefeng to respond. He entered the room and used his spiritual energy to slam the door shut in the same instant.
A barrier fell. It cut off all sound from the outside world.
No matter what Xie Zhefeng said at the door, An Wuxue could hear nothing.
Xie Zhefeng stood still for a long time, then slowly walked to the door An Wuxue had stood before.
Senior Brother’s presence still seemed to linger there. He simply sat down on the steps before the door.
Kunkun, who had been resting in his room, heard the door close and flew out — only to see Xie Zhefeng sitting at the door. It tried to push the door open to find An Wuxue, but the barrier bounced it back.
Kunkun tilted its head toward Xie Zhefeng: “Wuwu?”
Xie Zhefeng raised a hand and caught it, bringing it into his arms. He stroked its fur gently.
“I haven’t been good enough,” he said to Kunkun. “He found out. Tonight should have made him happy. If only I could have hidden it longer — he should have had good dreams…”
“Wuwu!” Kunkun bit his webbing between thumb and forefinger.
Yet Xie Zhefeng seemed not to feel it at all. His expression held only desolation and sorrow.
He thought back to what Qin Wei had said after entering Canggu Tower. Now he finally understood.
It would be better if Senior Brother hated him. Like this — with no hate, no retaliation — that’s what truly cut off all his hope.
He murmured: “He said he doesn’t want to owe me a favor, but the one who can’t repay the debt is clearly me.”
“Senior Brother won’t even believe I won’t hurt him…”
What was he supposed to do?
Tomorrow, the sword formation should be ready to transmit them.
Since An Wuxue had agreed to stay, he would surely go with him to find Shangguan Liaoliao…
“Wuwu…”
Kunkun bit him again.
As he sat thinking, he suddenly laughed.
“At least he’s not leaving anytime soon.”
For Xie Zhefeng, that was already great fortune.
Just then, a gust of wind swept through, and someone descended into the courtyard in a single leap.
Qiao Ting hadn’t expected to find Xie Zhefeng sitting before An Wuxue’s door in the dead of night, cradling Kunkun. She startled and stopped abruptly, hurrying to bow: “Immortal Sovereign!”
A moment before, Xie Zhefeng’s expression had been tinged with melancholy and something like a smile. But the instant his gaze fell on Qiao Ting, it froze back to cold.
“What are you doing here?”
Qiao Ting’s heart sank. He’d been chased by Qiao Yin for so long — wasn’t he just coming back to get some rest?
What happened? Such a terrible mood!
She said hurriedly: “I came back to sleep!”
Xie Zhefeng’s eyes narrowed.
“Y-you promised me a roof to sleep on!!!!”
Xie Zhefeng seemed to have just remembered, withdrew his gaze, and said nothing more.
Qiao Ting sighed with relief and was about to fly up to the roof.
Xie Zhefeng suddenly looked at her again: “I observed Zhao Duan’s memories. You once went to the Starriver Ancient Road and picked star grass.”
Qiao Ting blinked, then nodded: “Yes, though it was a matter of good timing. Star grass on the Starriver Ancient Road only grows once every five hundred years, and where it grows is unpredictable. Even if you’re willing to brave the bone-devouring wind, you might not encounter any. Whether I could pick any depended entirely on fate. I got lucky…”
Xie Zhefeng simply asked: “Do you have any left?”
“What?”
“Star grass.”
Only then did Qiao Ting understand.
She rummaged through her spirit pouch and pulled out all the remaining star grass, offering it to Xie Zhefeng.
Star grass was only used to store spiritual energy, and transmitting through it was extremely wasteful. It wasn’t actually economical at all. She didn’t know what Xie Zhefeng wanted it for, but she wasn’t foolish — she didn’t ask a single extra question.
Xie Zhefeng handed her several extraordinarily precious spiritual plants in exchange, then took the grass.
Qiao Ting protested: “The twenty-seventh city wouldn’t even have defeated Zhao Duan without the Immortal Sovereign’s help. A mere handful of star grass is too meager as thanks!”
“Since I hold this position, matters concerning both realms are within my purview. There is no need for gratitude.”
Seeing that Xie Zhefeng wasn’t taking back those precious spiritual plants, Qiao Ting could only accept them.
She found that Xie Zhefeng had nothing more to say, and felt inexplicably uneasy. She quickly flipped and climbed onto the roof.
She’d thought that after a long night, at last she could rest.
During the days when Qiao Ting had been forced to leave the city lord’s residence by Zhao Duan, she’d lost her cultivation and lived rough. She’d endured all kinds of hardship. Sleeping on a roof was nothing to her.
But she discovered she couldn’t sleep.
Because the Immortal Sovereign who governed the two realms, who held power over all beings, who had the four seas at his command — was now holding that little white spirit beast and sleeping at the door of Suxue’s room.
Qiao Ting: “……”
She truly didn’t dare move.