Chapter 83#
Xie Zhefeng sat alone in the moonlight for a long time.
His Senior Brother hadn’t continued further, nor had the Heartless Curse been cast. Yet even now, recalling his Senior Brother’s indifferent and unconcerned expression when attempting to cast the curse, he still felt a lingering fear.
Gradually calming down, he found the situation strange.
Why was he so afraid?
He had never feared anything like this before.
It was as if this had happened before.
Sitting in silence for a while, he finally made his way quietly to the guest room next door where An Wuxue was resting.
An Wuxue hadn’t set up a barrier.
When a cultivator slept without a barrier, they were actually more alert.
Xie Zhefeng walked with extreme caution to the bedside. By the moonlight, he saw his Senior Brother fast asleep. Kun Kun was pressing its ears over its eyes, huddled close to An Wuxue’s shoulder.
He was still here.
He hadn’t left.
And he hadn’t opened his eyes to make him forget everything or say those words more terrifying than torture.
He still made a decision.
A decision that, if An Wuxue knew of it, would surely make him angry again.
He silently took An Wuxue’s wrist from beneath the bedding and rolled up the sleeve of his left arm.
His Senior Brother’s current cultivation was, after all, not as high as his own. Despite his actions, An Wuxue and Kun Kun remained sound asleep, completely unaware.
The puppet seal came into view.
Xie Zhefeng crossed his hands and formed a hand seal.
—It was a forbidden curse he had once cast on An Wuxue.
That forbidden curse could transfer the physical pain of the person it was cast upon for three days. Previously, when An Wuxue broke through to the Tribulation-Transcending realm and suffered the agony of his meridians being torn, he had used this curse to take on An Wuxue’s suffering.
He slightly modified the curse, placing it upon the puppet seal!
In this way, the curse wouldn’t cover the entire body and wouldn’t expire for a long time. Only the pain from the flare-up of the puppet seal would be transferred to him, making it difficult for his Senior Brother to discover.
He had been secretly researching this method for some time but hadn’t dared to use it because An Wuxue had said he disliked such things.
Now, however, he had no choice.
He knew An Wuxue didn’t want to have these entanglements with him, but he feared his Senior Brother still intended to make him forget his love.
His Senior Brother had given up on the plan this time, but what about in the future?
He couldn’t be on guard against An Wuxue, and if it truly happened…
Xie Zhefeng didn’t dare think about it, but he was even more afraid that if he were under the Heartless Curse and forgot An Wuxue, what would happen if the puppet seal on An Wuxue flared up?
When the puppet seal flared up, life was worse than death.
Having cast this forbidden curse, from now on, regardless of whether he remembered his Senior Brother, if the puppet seal on his Senior Brother flared up, the one to suffer its torment would only be him. Naturally, he would then do everything in his power to alleviate or break the curse for An Wuxue.
With the forbidden curse cast, Xie Zhefeng’s mind was completely at ease.
He turned to leave, but felt a sense of reluctance.
The sleeping An Wuxue was resting in his clothes, looking exceptionally obedient. The bedding was slightly mussed from Kun Kun’s movements, but the person beneath was unaware, lying quietly on the bed.
Gentle and easygoing.
Xie Zhefeng had once thought An Wuxue was always gentle and easygoing.
During the Immortal Calamity, the struggle between immortal and demon cultivators was exceptionally brutal. Occupying high positions, neither he nor An Wuxue could have been indecisive individuals. Yet his Senior Brother was only cold and hard toward demon cultivators; toward those around him, he was always smiling.
But now…
Now, his Senior Brother hadn’t changed.
Except, perhaps, he was no longer one of those “people around him.”
He simply sat on the floor by the bed.
Listening to his Senior Brother’s breathing in the silence, he closed his eyes in meditation, and the persistent anxiety he had felt earlier finally vanished.
He gradually fell into a deep sleep.
The moonlight grew thicker. The North Abyss First City of five hundred years ago slipped into a quiet night. The lights of ten thousand homes faded beneath the starry sky, and the streets were lonely.
The river of stars flowed west, and the round moon sank into the sea. In the eastern sky, a narrow, fine streak of white silently appeared.
The night had slipped away just like that.
An Wuxue slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Kun Kun let out a yawn beside him.
He was the only one in the room. The window hadn’t been closed the night before, and no barrier had been set, yet the bedding was neatly covering him. It seemed he hadn’t felt the cool breeze at all during the night.
A sound transmission talisman arrived with the wind, floating through the window and coming to a stop before An Wuxue.
An Wuxue waved his hand, and the talisman opened, releasing Jiang Qing’s voice: “The City Lord is arriving soon. Come to the Qu estate at once.”
He crushed the talisman, performed a simple cleaning spell, picked up Kun Kun, and walked out of the guest room. He spread his divine sense to inform Xie Zhefeng.
But he found only Pei Qian and Qu Jizhi in their rooms; Xie Zhefeng was already in the inn’s lobby.
He sent a message to Pei Qian and then made his way down the stairs.
North Abyss was prosperous, and the First City was especially thriving. Furthermore, it was the wedding banquet for the young Immortal Master of the Qu family; the inn was bustling with people, and the tables in the lobby for tea and storytelling were nearly full.
Only the table where Xie Zhefeng sat was empty.
The man was dressed neatly in the white robes An Wuxue had given him, with a snow-colored hair pin in his dark hair. Without the illusion to hide him, his true face was revealed—peerlessly handsome and exceptionally prominent even in the bustling, crowded lobby.
Yet the owner of such a face just sat there coldly, the light in his dark eyes like stars in a deep pool—visible, but unreachable, making people afraid to approach.
Though in the mortal world, he seemed not to belong to it.
As An Wuxue descended the stairs, he spotted his junior brother immediately.
The man also noticed his approach instantly, turning his head. His deep, dark eyes were immediately filled with a brilliant light.
He was a completely different person from the distant and cold individual he had been just moments ago.
Caught in such a gaze, An Wuxue immediately looked away.
“Seni—”
An Wuxue stopped him.
“Why are you here?” he asked as he sat down in front of Xie Zhefeng.
Discussing the affairs of the two realms, Immortal Venerable Chu Han finally composed himself. He said solemnly, “Since Qu Jizhi feels this likely concerns the Qu family head, Qu Wenxin, any changes won’t be sudden; several hundred years are enough to leave a trail. I sat here for a while listening to the people passing by talk about the Qu family’s wedding banquet.”
“And?”
“No ill words, but no praise either.”
At that moment, Pei Qian and Qu Jizhi also came down.
As the “protagonists” of the wedding banquet, they naturally couldn’t appear openly in a crowd. Both had used illusion techniques to change their faces, appearing as plain individuals.
Pei Qian’s spiritual power was finally unsealed, but the spiritual rope on his wrist was still vaguely visible.
In the few steps it took to reach An Wuxue, he caught a glimpse of the rope and immediately glared at Qu Jizhi.
But Qu Jizhi was actually looking at him, so his glare was met directly by the other’s smiling eyes.
Pei Qian muttered, “You! Are! Sick!”
“Yes.”
Pei Qian: “.”
An Wuxue frowned. “Why is that spiritual rope still tied? I don’t care about your private matters, but if it affects the affairs in North Abyss, I will show no mercy.”
Qu Jizhi: “You—”
Pei Qian directly covered his mouth, then smiled at An Wuxue. “It won’t affect anything; he’s just sick. Has City Lord Shangguan arrived?”
An Wuxue nodded. “To be safe, it’s better not to fight our way in. Can we enter the Qu estate directly?”
Qu Jizhi didn’t push Pei Qian’s hand away.
Instead, staying in that position, he kissed Pei Qian’s palm.
Pei Qian immediately widened his eyes, pulled his hand back, and retreated, so angry he began to stammer: “You—you you you you!!!”
Qu Jizhi then laughed and said, “Passing through the Qu estate relies entirely on family crests; there’s no need to reveal one’s identity. I can use my crest to take you inside. But…”
The young Immortal Master Qu’s expression finally turned serious. “I know the Qu clan must be linked to the Guan Ye Array in the First City and cannot be cleared of suspicion. But having been born in the Qu family, I know that not everyone in the main branch would commit such atrocities.”
“Since I am assisting the Immortal Venerable in breaking the array, can the Immortal Venerable grant me a promise—if the experts of the Qu clan have only taken the wrong path under Qu Wenxin’s orders, the Immortal Venerable shall not punish or exterminate the entire Qu family. I will handle the guilty members of the Qu clan, and once the crisis is over, I will reorganize the clan.”
Xie Zhefeng, however, only looked at An Wuxue. “What does Su Xue think?”
Qu Jizhi was startled.
The Immortal Venerable Chu Han actually listened to someone else’s opinion?
But the other person only shook his head. “The Immortal Venerable is the lord of the two realms.”
Xie Zhefeng looked dejected, but then said, “If it’s not the entire clan that’s involved, and it’s only Qu Wenxin’s crime, I can promise you.”
Qu Jizhi inconspicuously studied the two of them, seemingly understanding something, and said no more.
With Qu Jizhi’s help, they reached the guest entrance of the Qu estate without incident.
Qu Jizhi asked about Shangguan Liaoliao’s whereabouts. The cultivator receiving guests said, “The City Lord sent a sound transmission saying she’ll be here soon, but she hasn’t appeared yet. It should be any moment now.”
An Wuxue and Xie Zhefeng looked at each other.
Without needing words, they knew each other’s plans.
Since Shangguan Liaoliao hadn’t appeared yet, rather than waiting here, they might as well use these moments to investigate the Qu Wenxin of five hundred years ago.
Before An Wuxue could say anything, Xie Zhefeng had already nodded slightly. He stepped forward and revealed his Chu Han sword energy to the welcoming cultivator.
This illusion was from five hundred years ago, and also five hundred years after the end of the Immortal Calamity. Many cultivators at the Great Success stage and above had seen the Chu Han sword energy cleansing the demons of the four seas.
The cultivator was startled. “You—”
“No need to alert others,” Xie Zhefeng said. “I have a matter to discuss with the Qu family head.”
The cultivator hurriedly said in a low voice, “Immortal Venerable, please follow me.”
As Xie Zhefeng followed the cultivator into the Qu estate to find Qu Wenxin, An Wuxue was about to send a sound transmission to Jiang Qing, who was already at the banquet. Suddenly, a clear breeze blew from behind, and the pressure of a Tribulation-Transcending cultivator at the half-step to ascension stage spread out.
All the immortal cultivators passing by came to a halt.
The cultivators guarding the Qu estate gates bowed with their swords. “City Lord.”
An Wuxue turned around.
A woman in black robes with her eyes covered descended from the air. She was alone, without any attendants, yet she radiated a sharp and cold quality.
Pei Qian whispered fearfully behind him, “The Immortal Venerable just went in. Should we call him back?”
Shangguan Liaoliao had already been at the Tribulation-Transcending stage during the Immortal Calamity, and after it ended, she was at the half-step to ascension level. None of them were her match!
An Wuxue’s expression remained unchanged.
The puppet body of Su Xue was only at the early stage of the Tribulation-Transcending realm. It wasn’t that he couldn’t fight the current Shangguan Liaoliao, but it would be a major undertaking.
He first nodded, then immediately shook his head. As Shangguan Liaoliao walked slowly toward them, he asked Pei Qian, “You said earlier that only death allows the real body to feel the memories. If Xie Zhefeng strikes in a few moments, will the real Shangguan Liaoliao remember what happened now?”
Pei Qian was startled. “…No, she’ll only remember the events around the time of death. Wait, you… you aren’t—hey!”
An Wuxue had already walked out.
Shangguan Liaoliao was the number one person in North Abyss. As soon as she arrived, the surrounding cultivators had all bowed. He was the only one who approached her.
She sensed someone coming with her divine sense. Turning her head slightly, she said in a deep voice, “Tribulation-Transcending stage…? I don’t recognize you.”
An Wuxue stopped before her.
The last time he had seen Shangguan Liaoliao was just after he had woken up on Falling Moon Peak. He had been left on the Frost Sea by Xie Zhefeng and had run into Shangguan Liaoliao, who had come to borrow the Soul-Nourishing Tree Spirit.
Whether it was now, five hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago, the black robes and black hair were no different from An Wuxue’s memory of the person who had righteously executed her kin and taken the throne at a young age to reorganize North Abyss.
He just didn’t understand.
Aside from himself and Xie Zhefeng, Shangguan Liaoliao had been the one most likely to ascend back then.
Xie Zhefeng had ascended.
He had died.
What about Shangguan Liaoliao? Why had she made no progress for a thousand years?
Before his death, Xie Zhefeng was the only Long-Life Immortal in the two realms. Now that he had returned after a thousand years, Xie Zhefeng was still the only one.
This mystery concerned the pursuit of the highest realm in the world. An Wuxue had vaguely wondered about it since he woke up, and now that he had the chance, he naturally wouldn’t let it pass.
“City Lord Shangguan,” time was short, and he asked directly, “Thou… no, this is five hundred years ago. It’s been five hundred years; have you encountered some obstacle in your cultivation?”
Shangguan Liaoliao was startled.
“What do you mean, five hundred years? Five hundred years ago wasn’t…”
Kun Kun: “Whine…”
It flew in front of An Wuxue and used its claws to slightly unsheathe Chun Hua.
Chun Hua released its sword energy.
Shangguan Liaoliao’s expression shifted slightly.
“You—!?”