Chapter 9#
Chapter 9#
For Su Xue to say these words to Xie Zhefeng, it was nothing short of defiance.
If he wants to be angry, let him be angry.
Although he didn’t want to expose his identity, even if he were suspected by Xie Zhefeng, fought to the death, and died once more, it was impossible for him to fawn over Xie Zhefeng in the capacity of a “cauldron.” He wasn’t going to serve him.
An Wuxue shifted his gaze, waiting for Xie Zhefeng to lash out.
But Xie Zhefeng’s expression shook, and he nodded almost imperceptibly.
He murmured, “…You are not him.”
Thinking of something unknown, he retreated a few steps in a state of lost soul.
He even forgot to control his spiritual power. The icy spiritual energy radiated from around him, and the small spirit array that the Luoyue disciples had previously set up for An Wuxue was shattered into pieces.
An Wuxue didn’t get the expected reaction and looked up in confusion.
The snow lotus sword vein between Xie Zhefeng’s eyebrows surfaced for a fleeting moment.
A sword vein!?
The sword techniques practiced by the disciples of Luoyue Peak concentrated the spiritual energy center at the brow, interlacing it with the sea of consciousness. Only those who had transcended in the way of the sword could manifest a sword vein at their brow.
In his previous life, although An Wuxue was blessed with a jade bone and golden body, he was merely exceptionally talented in cultivation; his understanding of sword techniques was indeed inferior to Xie Zhefeng’s.
Over several generations of Luoyue Peak, only this one sword vein had appeared.
On the day Xie Zhefeng broke through to the Great Achievement stage, the sword vein appeared at his brow.
At that moment, both Nan He and he understood that the candidate for the next Immortal Venerable was likely already decided.
The sword vein was related to the flow of spiritual energy within Xie Zhefeng’s body and did not easily manifest outside of combat.
Was he seeing things…?
An Wuxue was about to take another look when Xie Zhefeng’s gaze suddenly fixed. He restrained all his expressions and walked quickly toward the door.
The spiritual power swept the door open, and in the blink of an eye, Xie Zhefeng had left with Kun Kun.
An Wuxue let out a long breath.
Yun Zhou took a few quick steps over: “The Immortal Venerable left? He really comes and goes as he pleases. I didn’t dare move at all outside just now.”
He glanced into the room, “My God, no wonder it’s suddenly so cold. Why are all the warming spirit arrays broken? Su Xue, aren’t you cold!?”
An Wuxue didn’t respond.
“Master Su?” Yun Yao walked in belatedly and began to rearrange the warming spirit arrays. He asked, “Aren’t you cold?”
An Wuxue only then realized the two were calling him.
He looked down and found that both his hands were already covered with a layer of frost, yet he hadn’t even channeled spiritual power to ward off the cold.
There were too many painful places to distinguish the source.
“It’s alright,” he curled his eyes slightly, “…I’m used to it.”
In the Frost Sea Pine Forest.
Xie Zhefeng, holding Kun Kun, landed on the lotus platform.
The snow lotus sword vein that had only briefly appeared earlier was now fully visible, flowing with a faint black hue.
Kun Kun’s miasma beast spiritual power once again covered Xie Zhefeng’s soul, helping him suppress the heart demon in his sea of consciousness.
From all sides of the pine forest, a wild wind suddenly rose, and frost and snow overturned.
In just a short while, the entire pine forest was a sea of white, obscuring the sky and sun, making it impossible to see anything.
A transparent barrier descended, encompassing the entire pine forest within it.
In the following days, Luoyue Peak was calm.
The Seal the Mountain order had still not been lifted. Xie Zhefeng had gone somewhere unknown, and Kun Kun had not appeared again.
Xuan Fang did visit once.
At that time, An Wuxue was taking a nap in the courtyard. His divine sense felt Xuan Fang’s arrival, but he was too lazy to move, so he pretended to be asleep and didn’t even open his eyes.
Strangely, Xuan Fang didn’t say anything either; he just stood at the door and watched him for a while before leaving.
Other than that, the Frost Sea seemed to only have An Wuxue, Yun Zhou, Yun Yao, and a few disciples coming and going on business.
Even though Kun Kun didn’t come, with that leaf from the Soul-Nourishing Tree, An Wuxue slept much better than before.
Without those messy dreams, he sometimes slept until dawn as soon as he closed his eyes. Opening his eyes to see the familiar scenery outside the window, he felt that the thousand years during which his soul had wandered aimlessly instead seemed like a continuous, lingering dream.
Until he walked out and saw Yun Zhou practicing his sword in the courtyard. The sword light shook the frost off the pines and cypresses, and the sharp edge cut through the wind and snow. The young man heard his footsteps, sheathed his sword, and turned his head to look at him: “Su Xue, you just woke up!”
On this day, hearing these words, he was momentarily dazed, then nodded: “Yes, just woke up.”
“But… I’ve also been awake for a long time.”
“Ah?” Yun Zhou still didn’t understand.
An Wuxue didn’t explain: “I’m just taking a walk to clear my mind.”
Yun Zhou muttered: “Walking every day, yet I don’t see you cultivating…”
He spread his hands, didn’t deny it, and turned toward the entrance of the Frost Sea.
Indeed, he had been “taking walks” every day—at least, that’s what he told Yun Zhou and Yun Yao.
After Xie Zhefeng left that day, he hadn’t given up and used the excuse of taking a walk to go around Xie Zhefeng’s bedroom.
But Xie Zhefeng had actually added a barrier around the bedroom, and he couldn’t get close.
Where else could there be a spiritual treasure imprinted with Xie Zhefeng’s aura?
An Wuxue began to eye the Soul Bell hanging at the entrance of the Frost Sea.
Both the Soul Bell and the Sea and Sky Talismans were magical items for transmission via divine sense, but they were not exactly the same.
Once a transmission talisman was activated, it would carry the aura of the divine sense to the other party. Using it would expose his identity.
The Soul Bell, on the other hand, would only ring with a “ding-ling, ding-ling” sound in the owner’s sea of consciousness.
Moreover, a Soul Bell was not considered rare; everyone in the cultivation world had one. No one would steal such a worthless item, and there certainly wouldn’t be any restrictions on it.
As long as he secretly took the Soul Bell and used it while Xie Zhefeng was out, even if Xie Zhefeng heard the “ding-ling, ding-ling” sound, he would likely just think someone was visiting Zangshuanghai. By the time Xie Zhefeng returned, he might have already been gone for a while.
Holding this plan, he walked to the entrance, only to see two women standing where people were usually never seen.
One of them was wearing the attire of a core disciple of Luoyue Peak—the very disciple who had placed him in Zangshuanghai for Xie Zhefeng that night.
The other woman was clearly not from Luoyue.
That woman was tall, wearing a jet-black dharma robe with gold-threaded edges. Her thick black hair almost blended into the robe. She wore no hairpins or accessories, and her long hair fell over her shoulders down to her waist.
A black silk ribbon was tied over her eyes; she seemed to be blind.
The blind woman with loose hair seemed to have already sensed An Wuxue’s approach and turned her head slightly in this direction.
But she said nothing.
An Wuxue stopped abruptly.
…It was her.
An old friend.
An old friend who, perhaps like Xie Zhefeng, hoped his soul would dissipate without a trace.
His head began to ache after a long time.
The golden leaf hidden in his sleeve gave off a warm sensation, and a soothing feeling covered his soul, nourishing it and slightly easing his headache.
He heard the disciple say, “City Lord Shangguan, it’s really not that I won’t let you through, but… the Immortal Venerable issued an order a few days ago. No one except the disciples responsible for transport is allowed to enter or leave the Frost Sea.”
Snowflakes fell on Shangguan Liaoliao’s long hair, black meeting white.
She tilted her head, and the frost and snow fell. She said, “Oh? A few days ago, I sent a message to the Immortal Venerable saying I would visit Luoyue, and he even allowed me to enter Luoyue Peak under the Seal the Mountain order. How is it that now that I’ve arrived, I can’t find him instead?”
The disciple looked troubled.
She didn’t speak, and she didn’t step aside; clearly, there was no room for negotiation.
“Fine, I won’t make it difficult for you.” Shangguan Liaoliao nodded. “I didn’t really come to Luoyue to see Xie Chuhan. Recently, for some reason, I often have nightmares. I always dream… dream of my mother, and some old matters from the time of the Immortal Calamity, and I cannot sleep peacefully. I heard the Immortal Venerable found a Soul-Nourishing Tree hundreds of years ago. I want to borrow the Soul-Nourishing Tree spirit to settle my soul.”
“Ask Xie Chuhan for me if he’ll lend it.”
An Wuxue frowned.
At the gate, the disciple bowed, formed a hand seal, and threw out a Sea and Sky Talisman.
But the talisman didn’t float away; it only vibrated in place, with no other movement.
The disciple sighed, “The Immortal Venerable did not respond.”
Then it could not be borrowed.
Shangguan Liaoliao pondered for a moment, shrugged, and turned to leave.
Seeing her leave, An Wuxue stepped forward and called out, “City Lord Shangguan, please wait.”
Shangguan Liaoliao stopped.
She had lost her eyes a thousand years ago and moved entirely by divine sense. She didn’t turn around like ordinary people but remained with her back to him: “I did hear before coming to Luoyue that Xie Chuhan had unprecedentedly kept a cauldron. It’s a pity I can’t see, otherwise, I’d like to see what kind of appearance could make the ice bloom.”
She disliked opportunistic people who relied on others. An Wuxue knew her character, so he just smiled helplessly and didn’t respond to that comment.
He took out the golden leaf Kun Kun had given him from his sleeve.
“This is a leaf from the Soul-Nourishing Tree. Its veins are tinged with gold. It’s not an ordinary external leaf; it should have grown near the Soul-Nourishing Tree spirit,” An Wuxue handed it to her. “Although its effect is not as good as the tree spirit, it’s definitely enough if it’s just to calm the mind and settle the spirit.”
If it could soothe even a stray soul like his that had wandered for a thousand years, it should be more than enough to deal with some nightmares.
Shangguan Liaoliao seemed puzzled for a moment.
“What do you want to exchange with me?”
An Wuxue shook his head.
He looked at the black silk covering the woman’s eyes.
He had seen what should have been under that black silk.
During the Immortal Calamity, Shangguan Liaoliao’s biological mother, the Beiming Immortal Lord, was one of the muddy immortals who had fallen into obsession. She drew a large amount of turbid energy into Beiming City and fought Nan He in the Sea of Hades.
The Beiming Immortal Lord wanted to take her daughter with her into obsession. Turbid energy entered Shangguan Liaoliao’s eyes. In front of the battle array, she gouged out her own eyes with her own hands, sacrificing her eyes and bloodline to the array to help Nan He find the Beiming Immortal Lord hidden in the Sea of Hades.
The Beiming Immortal Lord fell, Shangguan Liaoliao took over in the face of danger, Beiming City changed dynasties, and from then on, it allied with Luoyue.
A thousand years passed in a flash. Looking at the woman in front of him, he blinked rapidly, suppressing the astringent feeling in his eyes, and gave a light laugh: “I come from the mortal world and have heard of City Lord Shangguan’s righteous sacrifice during the Immortal Calamity. I have always admired the City Lord’s character. I am fortunate to be able to offer a small leaf to the City Lord today; I want nothing in return.”
“…I only hope the City Lord can have a good night’s sleep tonight.”
Shangguan Liaoliao was stunned.
She didn’t refuse. She turned sideways to take the golden leaf from An Wuxue’s hand but still placed a bag of spirit stones in his hand, saying, “I don’t receive favors for no reason. You are only in the Bigu stage; magic tools would be useless to you. Take these spirit stones and buy what you need.”
Before her voice had even faded, the woman’s figure had already disappeared into the endless snow of the Frost Sea.
The female disciple hurriedly chased after her, calling, “City Lord Shangguan, there are many peaks in Luoyue. Please let me lead the way for you.”
The two of them left one after the other, leaving only An Wuxue behind, holding the spirit pouch filled with stones, still standing at the entrance.
He shook his head.
How could Shangguan Liaoliao possibly need someone to lead the way?
She was more than familiar with the various peaks of Luoyue.
Back then, she and An Wuxue were of similar age. After the battle of Beiming, Nan He pitied her youth and brought her to Luoyue to study.
She once sat on a mountain rock, her long hair falling to her waist, swaying and grazing the stone.
She listened as An Wuxue held Xie Zhefeng’s hand and taught him how to wield a sword, saying to him, “A-Xue is so good to your junior brother. I also had a younger brother, but when she… mother drew the turbid energy into the city, there was chaos in the battle, and swords have no eyes. I couldn’t find him. If I had found him, I would have taught him swordplay just as A-Xue teaches Junior Brother Xie.”
Later, she did find him.
That person died under An Wuxue’s sword.