The sun set in the west.
After a whole day of turmoil, Xi Jianlan’s powerless body was extremely exhausted. He pushed Heng Yudu toward the city: “Oh right, you’re here to recruit students. Give me a Tianyan Academy jade slip to save me another trip.”
Heng Yudu casually stroked the glass bird in his palm, raising an eyebrow: “Someone you know awakened their Xiangwen?”
Xi Jianlan nodded.
“That’s good.” Heng Yudu didn’t ask more, raising his hand to give him a Tianyan Academy admission jade slip. “In recent years, for some reason, fewer and fewer people are awakening Xiangwen. Those Central State families haven’t produced a single Spiritual level in six years. Rang Chen said…”
Xi Jianlan casually glanced at the lotus flowers by Chang River, always feeling something wasn’t quite right.
But he was somewhat tired and didn’t think much about it, saying vaguely: “Said what?”
Heng Yudu didn’t speak aloud, silently making hand signs.
[Heaven’s will above. From ancient times to now, the Thirteen States… are destined to only produce thirteen Spiritual levels.]
Xi Jianlan was stunned.
Heng Yudu didn’t want to say more about this: “…What kind of Xiangwen did the person you know awaken? Mysterious level?”
“No, Heaven level.”
Heng Yudu blinked in surprise: “That’s really rare.”
“Yes.”
Xi Jianlan chatted absent-mindedly, but his gaze that had inadvertently fallen on the riverside lotus flowers suddenly froze, his drowsy mind abruptly clearing.
He finally realized what was wrong.
When he left Wuyin City this morning, it was clearly ice and snow everywhere, with Chang River covered in frost.
How could the ice and snow have melted in just one day, turning to summer heat with even lotus flowers blooming?
Seeing his expression was wrong, Heng Yudu said: “Jianlan?”
Xi Jianlan’s face turned deathly pale as he suddenly said: “I’ll go ahead first. Come find me at Naihe Shi’er Ju.”
Heng Yudu: “Wait…”
Xi Jianlan didn’t look back, striding quickly to the city gate.
Probably because Xiezhi Sect had given orders, the Chengshe Academy cultivators who had been guarding the city gate checking fish tokens and household registrations had withdrawn. Xi Jianlan entered the city smoothly without much questioning.
The black cat stood on his shoulder, puzzled: “What’s wrong?”
“Something’s not right.” Xi Jianlan hurried toward Shi’er Ju, quickly removing his facial disguise while saying hastily, “The snow disaster is gone.”
Black cat: “Didn’t Juan Xunfang come to Wuyin City to investigate the snow disaster? Once he found the source array eye and severed it, the snowy weather would naturally disappear—why… why are you so anxious?”
Xi Jianlan said nothing more, returning to Naihe’s secluded alley in less than a quarter hour.
Qin Banban’s pastry shop usually stayed open until late at night, but today before it was even dark, the shop door was tightly closed.
Xi Jianlan didn’t even look at the door, pressing his hand against the door crack and giving it a sharp shake. The door bolt shattered with the sound.
“Banban!”
The black cat said in alarm: “How can you break into a little girl’s home?”
Qin Banban had lost her mother at a young age, and her father was a gambling addict who only left behind a pastry shop for them to barely get by.
The little girl was very sensible. Even when that gambling father went out carousing all day, she wouldn’t cry or make a fuss. The half-grown child would stand on stools every day, struggling to make pastries, using those meager spirit stones to supplement the household, finally growing up safely to this age.
Xi Jianlan hurried through the simple, clean backyard and quickly found Qin Banban’s room, pushing the door open without a word.
On the old wooden bed, the little girl was curled up under a thin blanket, sleeping soundly. Her black hair spread across the entire bed, trailing to the floor in several coils.
She didn’t wake up despite such a commotion.
Xi Jianlan called her softly: “Banban?”
Qin Banban didn’t respond.
Xi Jianlan slowly approached, raising his hand to brush aside her messy hair, revealing her slender neck.
—A slightly red scar appeared.
Xi Jianlan’s hand suddenly trembled, as if his own neck was also struck by intense pain.
Qin Banban made a vague “mm?” sound. Sensing someone beside her, her consciousness seemed to struggle in a swamp for a while before finally regaining a trace of clarity, opening her eyes drowsily.
“Brother Lan?”
Xi Jianlan withdrew the hand covering his own neck, leaning down to speak softly as if afraid of frightening her.
“Banban, who came today?”
Qin Banban’s face was pale as she struggled to sit up and rubbed her eyes: “Huh?”
“Who came?”
Qin Banban was dazed for a while before saying: “My dad came back, and he brought a pretty, good-looking brother whose arm was made of wood.”
Xi Jianlan frowned: “Didn’t I tell you to…”
His voice stopped abruptly.
He had only told Qin Banban not to go out, but hadn’t expected that gambling father who didn’t come home once in ten days or half a month would return today…
After saying a few words, Qin Banban finally woke up completely. Despite her sickly pale face, she still smiled brightly, happily picking up a palm-sized wooden doll from beside her pillow.
“Look, I always wanted to buy a doll to play with, but my dad always said that was something only children played with and wouldn’t let me waste money.”
The little girl seemed to really like this doll, constantly stroking the wooden doll’s face with her fingers, her eyes curved as she said: “…But this time my dad actually bought it for me on his own initiative. Isn’t that wonderful? Brother Lan, do you think he’s really reformed and won’t gamble anymore?”
When she said the last sentence, her young face was full of expectation.
Xi Jianlan took the wooden doll, lightly stroking it with his fingertip and seeing a flowing character on the doll’s arm.
—”Evil.”
“Banban.” Xi Jianlan suddenly said, “Do you know what Xiangwen is?”
Qin Banban looked puzzled: “I know, it’s the spiritual root that those family immortal lords cultivate. Why?”
Xi Jianlan stared at her intently for a while, then suddenly reached out to gently hold her in his arms.
Qin Banban didn’t understand and giggled while lying on his shoulder.
“Brother Lan, you’re so strange today.”
Xi Jianlan smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes.
He stuffed the Tianyan Academy admission jade slip that Heng Yudu had given him into Qin Banban’s hands, saying gently: “Hold onto this.”
Qin Banban didn’t understand what it was, only thinking it was crystal clear and beautiful. She happily accepted it.
“Thank you, Brother Lan.”
She fondled the jade slip whose purpose she didn’t know, completely unaware that in the flickering candlelight, Xi Jianlan’s face was expressionless, his eyes that usually held affectionate smiles now dark and gloomy like storm clouds, cold almost to the point of murderous intent.
***
It was already dark. Heng Yudu had somehow entered the city and sat quietly beside Shi’er Ju clinic, holding a small glass lamp in his cupped hands.
“That child… awakened her Xiangwen?”
Xi Jianlan walked toward him against the candlelight of the secluded alley, saying lazily: “Yes, I had originally planned to send her to Tianyan Academy when I returned this time, but unfortunately this silly girl has such a hard life, stuck with such a gambling father.”
“Her father sold her Xiangwen?!” Heng Yudu frowned. “The Thirteen States clearly prohibit the buying and selling of Xiangwen…”
Before he finished speaking, he remembered today’s grand auction of the Xiangwen painting at Guchangsi Temple.
Heng Yudu was born into a major Central State family. From childhood, the events he experienced and people he met were all from righteous immortal sects, nurturing his upright and noble character. He had never imagined that parents could be so selfish and terrible as to extract their child’s Xiangwen just for filthy lucre.
“What was her Xiangwen?”
“Heaven level, Third Watch Snow.”
The “snow disaster” in Wuyin City that had been impossible to trace was caused by Qin Banban’s confused inability to control her Xiangwen.
Heng Yudu was speechless.
A Heaven level Xiangwen would be enough to enter Tianyan Academy’s Zhuxing Zhai.
—Yet now it had been destroyed by a short-sighted, profit-driven gambling addict.
Heng Yudu seemed to remember something: “But I recall that Wuyin City doesn’t have a Tianyan spiritual vein. She’s just an ordinary person—how could she have Xiangwen?”
Xi Jianlan said nothing, slightly turning to look at the pastry shop that had already extinguished its lights.
An innocent little girl, carelessly trading away the most important gift from Tianyan for just a pretty wooden doll and a lifetime of endless hardship ahead.
She had no idea what she had lost, still jumping for joy over her father’s rare gift.
Xi Jianlan walked behind Heng Yudu, pushing the wheelchair but not returning to the clinic. Instead, he headed toward the outside of the secluded alley.
Heng Yudu said: “Where are we going?”
“Evil Qi Road.”
Heng Yudu was surprised.
Xi Jianlan’s voice was so light it seemed about to dissipate in the evening breeze. Accompanied by the sound of wooden wheels rolling on the ground, he said lightly: “Xi Qingfeng’s Xiangwen painting has the mark of Evil Qi Road on it.”
Heng Yudu was stunned.
He and Feng Yu had studied that Xiangwen painting for a long time, examining it thoroughly inside and out, but hadn’t found any mark.
“You know where Evil Qi Road is?”
Evil Qi Road, as the name suggested, was full of people who took evil paths and entered wicked ways—chaotic, evil, a mixed bag of fish and dragons. Heng Yudu had heard of Evil Qi Road’s “reputation” through the rhinoceros lamp but never knew where it was.
He only knew that Evil Qi Road was located somewhere in Wuyin City, but countless people had racked their brains without finding its entrance.
“Of course.” Xi Jianlan yawned, pushing the wheelchair out of Naihe alley entrance, then turning several corners and heading straight toward Chang River while boasting: “Evil Qi Road’s thirty-six alleys and eighty-two brothel districts—I know them like the back of my hand.”
Heng Yudu patiently listened to his bragging, then still advised: “Xiezhi Sect people will naturally search for clues about Xi Qingfeng’s Xiangwen painting. If it’s not necessary, you shouldn’t make this trip.”
Xi Jianlan asked puzzledly: “Why?”
“Ah, don’t misunderstand.” Heng Yudu explained gently, “I’m not questioning your spiritual power cultivation. I just think if you encounter Xiezhi Sect people again, you’ll probably get beaten up again.”
Xi Jianlan laughed quietly.
Heng Yudu thought about it and added another patch: “What I mean is you currently have no spiritual power. Even before you lost your cultivation six years ago, you had only just entered the Spirit Transformation realm. Even if you recovered your cultivation from back then, Feng Yu could still beat you to tears with one hand.”
If it were someone else, Heng Yudu would have been impatiently interrupted during his first explanation, but Xi Jianlan was extremely patient, seriously listening to Heng Yudu’s five or six “patches” of explanation.
Finally, Heng Yudu felt his words were perfect and wouldn’t cause misunderstandings, so he said: “You also don’t want to encounter that Xiezhi Sect… sir from today again, right?”
Xi Jianlan had already pushed Heng Yudu to Chang River’s edge, frowning as he seriously considered.
Chang River, which crossed Wuyin City, was blooming with lotus flowers at night. There were no railings on the bank. Heng Yudu thought Xi Jianlan would stop, but unexpectedly, while saying “mm,” he didn’t stop walking and pushed him straight toward Chang River.
Heng Yudu: “…”
“Jianlan.” Even at this moment, Heng Yudu remained graceful, saying gently: “Do you think these legs of mine look like they can swim?”
Only then did Xi Jianlan come to his senses.
He made an “ah” sound. The wheelchair was already half stuck on the bank, Heng Yudu’s toes suspended in air, while the jade slips around him transformed into birds chirping and drilling toward his neck.
“It’s fine.” Xi Jianlan finally made up his mind. “If we encounter that ‘tough guy’ again, you can help me kill him.”
Heng Yudu: “…”
Who kills whom?
Sheng Jiao slaughtering both of them would be more like it.
Before Heng Yudu could speak, Xi Jianlan suddenly exerted force with his hands, pushing forward without blinking. The wheelchair rolled directly off the bank, and intense weightlessness along with faint lotus fragrance rushed toward them.
Heng Yudu: “…”
The next moment, Xi Jianlan and Heng Yudu along with that exquisite wheelchair fell into Chang River with three “splash” sounds.
The lotus flowers swaying in the wind seemed to gain consciousness, instantly growing countless lotus leaves on the water surface, nodding and swaying as if concealing something.
When the lotus leaves were scattered by the wind, there were no longer any human figures in the water.
A firefly shuttled between the lotus leaves.
Accidentally struck hard by a swaying lotus flower, it staggered and fell toward the water surface.
But at one inch from the water surface, it seemed to touch a thin restriction. With a weak “pop” sound, the firefly was forcibly sucked in.
The world spun, even the void seemed to be in chaos.
In an instant, the firefly swayed, and the lotus flowers that had surrounded it somehow disappeared, replaced by an endless long street bright with lights.
Evil ghosts cultivating the ghost path, demons full of evil, wooden puppets acting like normal people—all evil things not accepted by the Thirteen States gathered here.
Evil energy soared to the sky. People came and went in bustling crowds, like the legendary Yellow Springs road leading to hell.
—Beneath Chang River was Evil Qi Road.
The firefly that had mistakenly entered this place was made dizzy by the overwhelming sinister evil intent, staggering twice before landing weakly on a small lamp, only its tail flashing with dim light.
Suddenly, a hand gently reached over and decisively flicked the firefly away.
Feng Yu held his ghost blade, chuckling: “Don’t let anything get close to your lamp—if it gets blown out, even if you have overwhelming cultivation, don’t think about leaving Evil Qi Road again.”
Sheng Jiao carried a blue-glowing small lamp, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
As they spoke, several seductive ghosts came floating over with fluttering robes, blowing cold ghostly energy toward the ghost fire on Feng Yu’s lamp while close to the ground.
Feng Yu said impatiently: “Get lost.”
The seductive ghosts giggled, lifting their petal-like skirts with a flourish before disappearing into the darkness with laughter.
After driving away the lamp-blowing seductive ghosts, seeing Sheng Jiao walking forward quickly as if he had a definite destination, Feng Yu hurried to follow Sheng Jiao to gather intelligence for Xi Jue.
“Going to Hezhou City?”
Sheng Jiao said coldly: “Don’t follow me.”
“That won’t do.” Feng Yu said leisurely, “Hezhou City has Ying Zhuo. If you go there, it’ll be rivals in love meeting. Such great entertainment—how could I miss it?”
Hearing the words “rivals in love,” Sheng Jiao was cold as frost, the thunder patterns on his wrist crackling with faint ghostly light.
Feng Yu continued babbling fearlessly: “I remember Ying Zhuo’s courtesy name was randomly given by Xi Jue’s sharp tongue, but after coming of age, he shamelessly still chose ‘Qiao’er’ as his name. And you? When Xi Jue called you ‘Jiaojiao’ once, you chased him with heavenly thunder.”
“Sizzle—”
The Tianyan pearls suddenly burst out a small heavenly thunder.
Feng Yu reacted quickly and jumped to the side, making an annoying “Hey! Can’t hit me” face while laughing heartily at the spectacle.
“No wonder you couldn’t have Xi Jue, tsk tsk.”
Sheng Jiao: “…”
##
