Yet Xi Jue acted as if he’d never seen the world, exclaiming “wow” and “ahh” at everything.
Even Feng Yu found it embarrassing to be with him, saying disdainfully: “Young Immortal Lord, restrain yourself a bit. Don’t drag me down with your embarrassment, okay?”
Xi Jue grinned and put his arm around Feng Yu’s shoulder: “It’s my first time in a secret realm—be understanding! Don’t call me Young Immortal Lord anymore, call me Xi Shi’er!”
Feng Yu: “……”
Feng Yu said have some shame.
Xi Jue said no no no.
Feng Yu, with his heaven-grade xiangwen, could despise anything about Xi Jue except mock his spiritual-grade xiangwen. He could only reluctantly say: “Twelfth Young Immortal Lord, you only show off in front of me. Our Zhuxing Zhai has four spiritual-grade xiangwen holders—do you dare boast about being ‘Xi Shi’er’ to them?”
Xi Jue raised his eyebrows proudly: “Of course I dare.”
Feng Yu spat: “Previous spiritual-grade xiangwen holders weren’t as showy and presumptuous as you when they were young. You should restrain yourself.”
Xi Jue tilted his head: “Don’t spiritual-grade xiangwen holders all become immortal lords? Why can’t I be presumptuous?”
“Aren’t you afraid that one day your xiangwen might disappear?” Feng Yu said casually.
Xi Jue was stunned and seemed to freeze.
After Feng Yu finished speaking, he felt his words sounded too much like a curse and quickly patted his mouth: “I was just talking nonsense, don’t take it to heart.”
Xi Jue laughed and asked casually: “Besides the four from Zhuxing Zhai, have all the other spiritual-grade xiangwen holders ascended to become immortal lords?”
“There seems to be one who hasn’t ascended yet,” Feng Yu said thoughtfully. “An immortal lord from several hundred years ago—I’m not too clear about it.”
The two joked around all the way, picking spirit herbs and stealing bird eggs, playing enthusiastically for most of the day before finding a quiet tree to rest under.
Xi Jue lazily leaned on Feng Yu’s shoulder: “Gege, I’m hungry.”
“Get lost.” Feng Yu pushed him away irritably, then turned back to stuff a piece of pastry into his hands. “Here, go gnaw on this—you’re older than me, aren’t you ashamed to call me gege?”
Xi Jue grinned as he hugged the pastry and nibbled away, getting crumbs all over his mouth.
At noon, the secluded pool by the towering tree began to vibrate slightly. A massive creature suddenly surfaced from the bottom, rolling on the water’s surface like a koi fish.
Splash.
The giant water monster sent up dozens of zhang of water, drenching the two under the tree completely.
Xi Jue and Feng Yu: “……”
Xi Jue hadn’t finished his pastry yet and stared blankly at the whale-like monster, his eyes slightly dazed.
Feng Yu was more experienced. He roughly rubbed Xi Jue’s head and said irritably: “Scared like that? Are you really the Xi family’s young master? I’m starting to wonder if you’ve been possessed by some country bumpkin. That’s a Yu Er.”
Xi Jue’s little face was covered in water marks as he said dryly: “Fish, fish!”
“Yu Er,” Feng Yu said. “A water-type fierce beast, trapped here by some immortal lord’s binding ribbons. Don’t worry, it only struggles for a while at noon each day—it can’t make much of a splash.”
Xi Jue took a while to recover, but being too mischievous, he crawled to the shore curiously: “What if I fall in? Would it eat me?”
Feng Yu scoffed: “Are you a three-year-old? How could you fall…”
Before he finished speaking—”Splash—”
Feng Yu: “……”
Feng Yu turned around in horror to see that Xi Jue, who had just been at the shore, was nowhere to be found. Ripples spread across the water’s surface.
“Xi Jue!” Feng Yu was completely terrified and rushed over. “Xi Jue?!”
Just then, Yu Er began thrashing again.
Its massive, ferocious body was covered in pitch-black scales, and beneath its fish body were actually two giant snake tails.
If caught by those snake tails and dragged into the deep pool, Xi Jue’s little life would be completely finished.
Feng Yu was scared out of his wits. He couldn’t swim, and his spiritual power was no match for Yu Er. He could only tremble as he used spiritual power to search for Wen Gubai.
Suddenly, a dark figure leaped into the water and instantly disappeared.
Feng Yu was stunned.
Sheng… Sheng Jiao?
Xi Jue was in a daze, feeling his breathing grow weaker. In his blurry vision, he vaguely saw a massive creature slowly swimming toward him.
“So ugly,” Xi Jue still had the mind to think randomly.
Just as he slightly closed his eyes and let himself sink, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, forcefully pulling his slender frame into an embrace in the weightless water.
Xi Jue was stunned and looked up in confusion.
Sheng Jiao’s face was cold. His Tianyan pearls’ spiritual power wasn’t abundant, emitting dim light to form a thin barrier protecting them both.
Yu Er’s chains clanked as it ferociously charged at them.
“Bang—”
Xi Jue was so frightened he grabbed Sheng Jiao’s collar and choked out a breath.
Yu Er shattered Sheng Jiao’s Tianyan pearl barrier completely with just one strike. Sheng Jiao’s lips pressed tight, completely ignoring his severely injured internal organs as he forcefully swam toward the surface with Xi Jue.
Yu Er wasn’t giving up and this time opened its bloody maw, trying to swallow them both whole.
Xi Jue stared blankly for a long time, then suddenly seemed impatient. With an expressionless face, he extended his hand, and golden spiritual power shot out from his palm, striking Yu Er’s forehead with tremendous force.
“Get lost!”
That spot seemed to be the fierce beast’s vital point. Somehow Xi Jue had found it—just a light touch of spiritual power made it scream in agony, its massive body struggling and rolling.
Sheng Jiao seized the opportunity with the upward surging water flow and instantly broke the surface while holding Xi Jianlan.
“Sheng… Sheng Jiao!”
Xi Jianlan suddenly reached out to grab the neck of the person in front of him, murmuring in confusion: “Sheng Jiao, Sheng Jiao save…”
A scent of osmanthus filled his nostrils, mixed with intense peach blossom fragrance, making Xi Jianlan cough.
He had awakened from the dream memory, holding someone in a daze, trembling all over for a long time before finally coming to his senses.
Sheng Jiao was looking down at him, his dark eyes seemingly unchanged after ten years.
Only then did Xi Jianlan realize he was curled up in Sheng Jiao’s arms, his hands shamelessly hooked around the man’s neck.
Sheng Jiao said coolly: “Had a nightmare?”
Xi Jianlan had just woken up and felt lazy all over. Being thick-skinned, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with shouting to kill Lord Heaven’s Way and sealing his spiritual power earlier, then lying in his arms sleeping now.
He leaned against Sheng Jiao and mumbled: “No.”
Sheng Jiao didn’t expose his obvious lie.
Xi Jianlan felt exhausted all over. Glancing around casually, he discovered they seemed to be in a peach grove with blazing pink colors on all sides, and no sky visible above.
“Where is this?”
Sheng Jiao was concise: “An illusion.”
The gorgeous, elaborate peony courtesan robes were still wrapped around him. Xi Jianlan found them cumbersome and began undressing while saying casually: “Xi Minghuai’s memories should be here somewhere. We’ll need to look around later.”
Sheng Jiao hummed in acknowledgment.
Xi Jianlan sat in Sheng Jiao’s lap, taking a long time to finally remove the layers of courtesan outer robes. Wearing only white robes, he stood up easily and looked around: “How big is this illusion? It won’t be like Shentian She where we have to search for ages, will it?”
Sheng Jiao folded the courtesan robes neatly and draped them over his forearm. Hearing this, he said lightly: “Spiritual power.”
Xi Jianlan looked at him with a half-smile: “Give you spiritual power? Those fifty pearls would definitely make me suffer—I won’t give it.”
Sheng Jiao said: “I won’t.”
Xi Jianlan: “I won’t give it.”
The two were at an impasse, so they decided to walk and search at the same time.
Everywhere were endless peach blossoms, and each tree was towering, with peach blossoms blooming overhead, blocking out the sky.
Xi Jianlan casually picked a peach blossom branch. As soon as it broke, it turned into pink powder in his palm. The peach blossoms and trees were all false illusions—only by finding the one that could actually be touched would they find Xi Minghuai’s memory.
“Sect Master Sheng,” Xi Jianlan said casually while grinding the fine powder in his palm, “have you seen Master Wen these six years?”
Sheng Jiao frowned: “Rarely.”
Sheng Jiao rarely even saw his Zhuxing Zhai classmates, focusing single-mindedly on Xiezhi Sect affairs. Even during annual Zhuxing Zhai gatherings, he never participated.
Xi Jianlan said lightly: “Is that so?”
Sheng Jiao didn’t understand and said in a low voice: “What do you want to ask?”
Xi Jianlan wore white clothes, slightly turning in the flying peach blossoms to look at him with a smile, suddenly asking out of nowhere: “…Did you ever think of me?”
Sheng Jiao was stunned.
Xi Jianlan slowly walked to his side, earnestly gazing into Sheng Jiao’s eyes.
He was no longer smooth-talking and elusive, but showed a gentleness that tore away all pretense as he softly repeated:
“Sheng Wuzhuo, did you ever think of me?”
Sheng Jiao’s heart suddenly contracted.
Seeing Sheng Jiao didn’t answer, Xi Jianlan rephrased:
“Did you miss me?”
Sheng Jiao’s pupils slightly dilated and contracted, as if the seven emotions and six desires suppressed under his cold facade were rolling, wanting to break free, but the thunder tribulation from Shentian She firmly suppressed him.
Sheng Jiao’s five fingers nearly crushed together.
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from nearby.
“What are you talking about?”
Xi Jianlan was stunned, turning around with a numb expression.
Liu Changxing had been watching for who knows how long, holding a pink peach in his hand, looking at them with confusion: “Didn’t you reunite several days ago? Why are you only catching up now? And why does the word ‘miss’ sound so strange?”
Xi Jianlan: “……”
Sheng Jiao: “……”
Xi Jianlan said expressionlessly: “How did you get in here?”
Liu Changxing frowned: “Why does that sound like you’re unhappy about it? If I wasn’t worried about you getting into trouble, would I have followed you in?”
Xi Jianlan: “……”
Xi Jianlan rubbed his forehead: “No, I’m just worried that with you coming in, something might happen to Xun Niang.”
Liu Changxing was stunned: “Oh no! I forgot!”
Xi Jianlan’s headache worsened.
“Then hurry out!” Liu Changxing wiped the peach on his sleeve, speaking while about to put it in his mouth.
Xi Jianlan said casually: “I need to find Xi Minghuai’s…”
Before he finished, his eyes fixed on the peach in Liu Changxing’s hand: “Wait, where did you get that peach?”
“I picked it randomly,” Liu Changxing said, not understanding. “If you want to eat it, take it.”
Xi Jianlan quickly stepped forward and snatched it, stroking it forcefully. The originally crystal-clear peach instantly broke its disguise, transforming into a crystal-clear glass orb.
This was Xi Minghuai’s memory.
Xi Jianlan completely relaxed.
Liu Changxing looked strangely at the glass bead: “What is this?”
“Nothing, nothing.” Xi Jianlan put away the glass orb and patted Liu Changxing’s shoulder forcefully, praising: “Gege, your luck is absolutely amazing.”
He’d thought they’d have to search this peach grove illusion for ages, but Liu Changxing found it as soon as he arrived.
What effortless gain.
Liu Changxing didn’t care for Xi Jianlan’s praise, always feeling it was sarcastic. Worried about Xun Niang, he didn’t ask more and said directly: “Do you know how to get out of this formation?”
Xi Jianlan, having resolved one worry, said casually: “Break it with spiritual power?”
Liu Changxing said quietly: “If I could use spiritual power here, would I need to delay this long?”
Xi Jianlan was stunned: “You can’t use spiritual power?”
“Right.”
This was troublesome.
Xi Jianlan touched his chin and looked around in all directions: “Let me see, this seems to be a formation—hiss, I’m not very good with formations. This is usually Fu Man’s job.”
Liu Changxing said: “At least you’re more skilled than me.”
Liu Changxing either copied Fu Man’s or Xi Jue’s work in formation class and rarely passed.
This was just a place to hide things, so Xun Niang wouldn’t use too complex a formation. After walking several circles around the largest peach trees, Xi Jianlan finally discovered the formation’s secret.
But his first reaction was a slightly green face, thinking “oh no.”
Liu Changxing saw his expression was wrong: “What? Can’t break it?”
Xi Jianlan coughed dryly and turned around seriously: “We should think about how to get our spiritual power back.”
Liu Changxing: “???”
Liu Changxing said in shock: “Why?”
“This is the ‘Encountering Peach Blossoms’ formation.” Xi Jianlan said vaguely. Thinking Liu Changxing wouldn’t remember how to break it, he casually deflected: “Very difficult to break, requires spiritual power.”
Sheng Jiao had been following them like a transparent person, originally waiting for the formation to break. Hearing “Encountering Peach Blossoms,” he paused, then silently walked aside to sit cross-legged and began meditating calmly.
Liu Changxing suddenly burst into three loud laughs!
“Ha, ha, ha!”
Xi Jianlan looked at him suspiciously.
Had he gone crazy?
“I won’t hide it from you—after graduating from Tianyan Academy, I forgot all formations completely, except for ‘Encountering Peach Blossoms,'” Liu Changxing said calmly.
Xi Jianlan: “???”
Xi Jianlan’s eyes nearly popped out.
Liu Changxing said decisively: “Just drop virgin fingertip blood from two people at the formation’s eye and life gate, and you can break it directly without wasting spiritual power.”
Xi Jianlan was incredulous, his voice trembling: “Why would you remember this for no reason?!”
“Mind your own business.” Liu Changxing was ruthless. His spiritual power flashed immediately, forcing out fingertip blood and skillfully finding the formation’s eye to drop it in.
Sure enough, after the fingertip blood fell into the formation’s eye, the ground formation suddenly flashed with red light.
There was a way!
Liu Changxing was extremely happy.
Xi Jianlan was speechless.
“Come on, Jue’er.” Liu Changxing pulled him skillfully to the life gate, shaking Xi Jianlan’s paw. “Hurry up, force out your fingertip blood yourself. If I do it, I might be too rough and chop off your little chicken claw.”
Xi Jianlan said tactfully: “Gege, I think… we should restore our spiritual power first. Then we can split open the formation with a sword—how majestic would that be?”
Liu Changxing found him too much like Heng Yudu and directly used spiritual power to roughly cut Xi Jianlan’s index fingertip.
Xi Jianlan was still babbling: “Really, wait a moment, gege! Listen to my explanation first, we can use spiritual power—ah!”
Xi Jianlan’s fingertip blood suddenly dripped onto the life gate formation.
Liu Changxing waited excitedly for the formation to break.
But after waiting left and right, the life gate formation didn’t emit red light like the formation’s eye had.
Liu Changxing and Xi Jianlan stared at each other with wide eyes, neither speaking.
After who knows how long, Liu Changxing suddenly flung Xi Jianlan’s paw away and shouted: “Xi Jianlan—!”
Xi Jianlan immediately sat on the ground guiltily, trying to curl himself into a tiny ball, hugging his knees and remaining silent.
“What did I say, what did Yunri say, what did the headmaster say?! You’ve thrown it all to the back of your mind, haven’t you!” Liu Changxing was so angry his hair was standing up, tears uncontrollably streaming down as he choked up: “Just because you lost your cultivation, you’re willing to degrade yourself like this?! You, you, you! How can you be so pleasure-seeking at such a young age?!”
Xi Jianlan was scolded so badly he couldn’t lift his head, burying his face in his knees without a word.
Liu Changxing was furious, roughly wiping his tears and cursing like Lezheng Jiu: “You’re really going to anger me to death! You even lied to me saying you only approached men—I see you’re just a lustful scoundrel!”
For the first time, Xi Jianlan was scolded so badly he didn’t dare talk back.
Liu Changxing wasn’t like Lezheng Jiu who knew how to scold people. He could only repeat the same few phrases and soon ran out of words.
He was so angry his head was buzzing. After rubbing his forehead for a while, he scolded in a low voice: “When we get out, I’ll settle accounts with you properly! I’ll get all the other Zhuxing Zhai members to settle the total account with you! You just wait!”
Xi Jianlan said nothing.
Liu Changxing’s face was full of anger, tears still dripping down. He was nearly fainted from anger at this “unfilial son” Xi Jianlan.
Sheng Jiao sat upright under the peach blossom tree, his features cold as frost, like a deity who didn’t partake of mortal food.
With Xi Jianlan losing his vital essence at such a young age as comparison, the more Liu Changxing looked at Sheng Jiao’s appearance of “having no worldly desires, emotionless and desireless,” the more satisfied he became.
“Sigh.” Liu Changxing heavily sighed, walked to Sheng Jiao’s side, and complained: “Jue’er is too careless with himself. All the countless reminders went in one ear and out the other. Fortunately, the three of us entered ‘Encountering Peach Blossoms’ this time, otherwise we might have been trapped to death.”
Sheng Jiao opened his cold, merciless dark eyes with the bearing of a great master of the Emotionless Path who was pure-hearted and had few desires, meeting his gaze indifferently.
His aura was imposing, surpassing snow and bullying frost.
Liu Changxing nodded with satisfaction and said matter-of-factly: “—Wuzhuo, give me a drop of your fingertip blood, I’ll go break the formation.”
Sheng Jiao: “…………”
Xi Jianlan: “…………”
Author’s Note:
Liu Changxing: Huh? Huh?? Huhhh? Why isn’t anyone talking???
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
