Chapter 75#
Jiang Qing was also surprised. “Little Pei has never mentioned this. I thought you cultivated the Way of Floating Life!”
An Wuxue added, “There aren’t many cultivators of the Way of Heartless, and those who succeed are all exceptional. For Fellow Daoist Pei to reach the late stage of the Tribulation-Transcending realm is truly impressive.”
“You flatter me. In front of you two…” Pei Qian glanced at Xie Zhefeng and An Wuxue. “I’m not much at all, am I? After all, the Way of Floating Life and the Way of Heartless are just paths; neither is superior to the other. Haven’t the accomplishments of the two of you in the Way of Floating Life far exceeded mine?”
An Wuxue immediately said, “I do cultivate the Way of Floating Life, but Fellow Daoist Xie entered the Dao through the Way of Heartless.”
Upon hearing this, both Pei Qian and Jiang Qing looked at Xie Zhefeng with strange expressions.
An Wuxue, fearing the man would say something about his Way of Heartless being broken again, was about to pull the conversation back to Qu Jizhi and Pei Qian when Xie Zhefeng suddenly spoke in a deep voice: “Someone in the lobby is stopping the attendant to ask questions. The attendant called him ‘Master Qu.’”
The other three immediately fell silent.
Xie Zhefeng’s gaze was slightly unfocused, as if he were still listening intently. After a moment, the man said, “That Master Qu asked the attendant—‘You sent word that Pei Qian invited four friends to my wedding banquet. Where are those four now?’”
This was clearly Qu Jizhi.
Pei Qian’s expression changed abruptly, and he muttered a curse before saying, “How did he find us!?”
Jiang Qing quickly stood up and frowned. “This is bad. Within the Death Gate of the Guan Ye Array, everything must happen exactly as it did in the past. If we change the past, all the cultivators in the Death Gate will break free from history, lose their reason, and attack us…”
They were never supposed to meet Qu Jizhi at this point in time.
If their presence caused this Qu family genius to do something inconsistent with the true past, what would happen?
Even if they weren’t afraid of being besieged by all the cultivators in the First City, their goal was to find Shangguan Liaoliao.
If they changed the past, triggered the killing intent of the Death Gate, and failed to find Shangguan Liaoliao, who knew how many Life and Death Gates they would have to traverse before getting another such opportunity?
Pei Qian said with annoyance, “It’s my fault. I only thought about staying here to wait without affecting what was about to happen. I was negligent.”
Xie Zhefeng didn’t speak, still focusing his divine sense on the situation in the lobby.
If Qu Jizhi had truly found them, he wouldn’t remain silent.
An Wuxue felt slightly relieved seeing no other reaction from Xie Zhefeng and asked patiently, “Since we entered the Death Gate, we have interacted with others in the illusion, yet the Death Gate wasn’t affected. Is there a specific rule for what triggers it?”
Pei Qian said, “Yes, because the Life and Death Gates of the Guan Ye Array actually follow the thoughts of those who enter. If an intruder has memories of the North Abyss First City’s past, then whatever past event they think of will make it easier to enter the corresponding illusion.”
“We are in this illusion mostly because of me. I thought of the karma between Qu Jizhi and me, which brought everyone to this point in time. Consequently, all developments in this illusion will revolve around Qu Jizhi and me.”
An Wuxue understood.
“Then can I take it that as long as what happens between the two of you doesn’t change, the Death Gate will remain stable until Shangguan Liaoliao attends the Qu clan wedding banquet?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yes. The process doesn’t matter, and other people don’t matter. Qu Jizhi and I are the core. We can’t change the trajectory of ‘me’ and him at this point in time.”
Xie Zhefeng suddenly said, “He just asked the attendant about our characteristics and origins. He’s coming up.”
What should they do now?
Jiang Qing asked, “Can we deal with young Master Qu directly? Little Pei is an adopted son of the Qu family. Based on what you said, the Qu family adopted you specifically to face Qu Jizhi’s tribulation for him. You two could be considered childhood friends. Surely inviting a few friends to his wedding banquet wouldn’t be a big deal?”
He then muttered to himself, “Strange. When I entered the North Abyss First City several hundred years ago, I also knew the young Immortal Master Qu. How did I never know he had a cultivation partner?”
An Wuxue also said, “Is it possible to come up with an excuse to send him away?”
“No!” Pei Qian said quickly. “Because it’s impossible for me to invite people to the wedding banquet! He’s a brilliant person; he’s likely already sensed something is wrong…”
An Wuxue’s thoughts raced, and in an instant, he made a decision.
He said, “Could we—”
At the same time, the man’s deep voice spoke over his: “Could we—”
Both of them paused.
An Wuxue instinctively looked at Xie Zhefeng, only to find the man looking back at him with a gaze of surprise and joy.
During the Immortal Calamity, they had faced far more critical and complex situations than this. He and Xie Zhefeng had often discussed and decided on plans together; their styles of handling such matters were identical.
In this moment, An Wuxue knew that Xie Zhefeng had thought of the same stalling tactic as he had.
His heart was filled with complex emotions.
This simultaneous speech seemed to serve as a reminder of the indelible karmic link between him and Xie Zhefeng.
An Wuxue felt somewhat fortunate that the situation was urgent and didn’t require him to engage further with Xie Zhefeng.
Seeing Xie Zhefeng stop, he ignored whatever the other was thinking and continued on his own: “Could one or two of us first create an appearance of the four of us leaving for a temporary excursion, pretending to miss Qu Jizhi? Since Qu Jizhi is looking for us, he will surely pursue. We can stall him for a while, during which time Pei Qian can explain the past in detail, and we can consider our next move.”
He volunteered, “I can go and lead Qu Jizhi away.”
Jiang Qing immediately smiled and said, “Then I’ll go with you. You’ll need someone familiar with North Abyss to lead the way, so we don’t get caught by Qu Jizhi.”
Time was short. An Wuxue spread his divine sense slightly and could sense that Qu Jizhi had already climbed the stairs and reached the floor where their guest room was located.
He quickly turned and said, “Let’s go.”
A spiritual sword suddenly moved between him and Jiang Qing, blocking their departure.
Because its owner was traveling in an incarnation, the Chu Han sword hadn’t followed him into North Abyss, and Chun Hua had been returned to An Wuxue. He was currently using an ordinary spiritual sword, yet the way he raised it was as if he were contending with demons and monsters.
With a cold face, Xie Zhefeng said, “I am not skilled in the way of karma and have no experience in handling social affairs. Staying here might not lead to a solution. I will be the one to lead him away.”
He then glanced at Jiang Qing. “Since Fellow Daoist Jiang knows North Abyss, you shall come with me to lead the way and help lure Qu Jizhi away.”
Jiang Qing: “I—”
But they didn’t have time to discuss it. Xie Zhefeng added, “He’s about to knock on the door.”
As he spoke, he flashed out of the room.
Helpless, Jiang Qing had no choice but to follow.
Two light breezes blew past as Xie Zhefeng and Jiang Qing vanished from the room one after another.
An Wuxue heard an unfamiliar young man’s voice from outside: “Fellow Daoists, please wait—”
The voice instantly drifted away.
Qu Jizhi had followed the phantoms of the four of them that Xie Zhefeng and Jiang Qing had conjured.
The surroundings finally became quiet once more.
With Xie Zhefeng personally handling the matter, An Wuxue was naturally at ease.
Relaxing, he sat back down by the tea table and even leisurely used his spiritual energy to light the furnace and brew some immortal tea.
Pei Qian clearly didn’t want to meet Qu Jizhi more than anyone else. Now that the person had been led away, he let out a long sigh of relief.
An Wuxue poured him a cup of hot tea and said, “When I first met you, you said you were a rogue cultivator. You severed ties with the Qu family because of Qu Jizhi, right? What was that wedding banquet about? Was it related to you?”
Pei Qian had already raised the tea cup to drink, but hearing this, his movements faltered, and his desire for tea faded.
He put down the cup, his expression becoming solemn as he whispered, “That fellow had no cultivation partner at all. That wedding banquet was just a farce that the entire Qu clan indulged him in.”
“No cultivation partner? Then how could they hold a wedding banquet? And what does it have to do with you?”
After asking, An Wuxue paused.
He vaguely guessed something.
“Because the person he wanted to become partners with was me. It was completely impossible for me to join with him. During these few days five hundred and twenty years ago, I went into hiding. He wouldn’t have found his partner at the wedding banquet.”
An Wuxue: “…”
As expected.
No wonder Pei Qian had said earlier that it was strange for Qu Jizhi to think the four of them were friends invited by Master Pei to attend the wedding banquet.
“First Seat An, you have lived through the Immortal Calamity, witnessed life and death, and seen the entire mortal world. You must have seen many absurd things in the two realms and four seas over these thousand years.”
“Have you ever seen someone who is a favored child of heaven, with the world’s beauties at his disposal, yet who is so stubborn that he insists on becoming cultivation partners with his childhood friend who follows the Way of Heartless?”
An Wuxue’s movements as he drank his tea faltered.
He suddenly felt the tea was scalding, the heat making his throat uncomfortable and making it difficult for him to speak.
“Since childhood, my emotions have been faint; I can’t truly feel the emotions of others. my biological parents always complained that I was heartless, saying I would surely not be filial in the future. They even felt feeding me a few bowls of porridge every day was a waste of food. The Qu family took me away for only three copper coins. When they asked my parents for my name, they just said, ‘Just a Peiqianhuo (money-loser).’ The immortal cultivators, unaware of the hardships of the mortal world, misheard and thought my name was Pei Qian, so they took me away under that name.”
“When the Qu family adopted me back then, it was because they valued my immortal bones, sensing I already showed the foundation for the Way of Heartless.”
“The Qu clan took me from the refugees into an esteemed immortal family that looked down upon North Abyss. I keep this kindness in my heart. Entering the Way of Heartless for Qu Jizhi’s sake was something I did willingly; it was even my own intention. However, I don’t know what Qu Jizhi was thinking. In our youth, things were fine, but as we grew up, he suddenly said he wanted to become cultivation partners with me.”
Listening to this, An Wuxue also found it exceptionally absurd.
The Qu clan had chosen an excellent candidate for the Way of Heartless—someone with faint emotions and no attachments—specifically to face Qu Jizhi’s tribulation.
In the end, the young Immortal Master Qu had actually fallen for the very Pei Qian who was cultivating the Way of Heartless in his stead?
He heard Pei Qian continue, “He and I grew up together. He cultivated the Way of Floating Life while I cultivated the Way of Heartless; the entire Qu clan knew this. Was it the first time he knew I was cultivating the Way of Heartless? Was it the first day he knew it was impossible for me to feel for anyone?”
“The kindness of the Qu clan remains; I could die for him, but I cannot love him. I don’t know how many times I told him this, but what did he do?”
“He gave up on the myriad wonders of the world, insisting on doing what could not be done, stubbornly pursuing an absolutely impossible follower of the Way of Heartless—”
“If that’s not being sick in the head, what is?”
An Wuxue lowered his eyes.
Giving up on the myriad wonders of the world.
Insisting on doing what could not be done.
Stubbornly pursuing an absolutely impossible follower of the Way of Heartless…
He gently swirled the tea cup in his hand, watching the tea ripple within, and gave a self-deprecating laugh.
“Indeed,” he said.