CH 6

Zhang Qin’s expression changed drastically, and he had to let Changming go, but the soft satin was still tightly wrapped around his hand.

The silk had a peculiar luster; it was faintly shining in the moonlight. Even though Changming’s knowledge was vast, he could not recognize this material.

Zhang Qin’s face turned red, and he muttered,

“The Jianxue Clan and our sect are not enemies, why must daoyou Xu humiliate us again and again!”

“Sect Master Zhang is mistaken! I can’t bear seeing this gentleman being ruined by you, how can you call it humiliation? It should be called ‘drawing a sword at the sight of injustice’, or ‘a hero pities a tender beauty and saves her’—you can choose the one you find the most pleasant to your ears!”

A slender figure appeared from the layers of the soft satin like a descending fairy, attracting countless stunned eyes.

Even though they understood that there was a frightening person who could easily kill them behind this breathtaking appearance, they still couldn’t retract their gazes from her.

The purple-clothed girl walked towards them with dainty steps, landing silently. She was clearly a few zhangs away just a second ago, but in the blink of an eye she had already reached them.

Zhang: 3.33 m.

“Fine, I will let you go, Sect Master Zhang doesn’t have to be so agitated. If you have something to say, I won’t interrupt you.”

Her voice was mild and gentle, as soft as cotton. Accompanied by the crisp ringing of the bell, it could almost bewitch human hearts.

She wasn’t wearing the bell on her body, but tied it to one edge of the soft satin. The girl retracted the fabric, and it turned into a belt wrapped around her thin waist. The bell was also tied to her body; she was beautiful and lovely, gentle and refined.

“Aiya, isn’t this daoyou Liu Xiyu? Why is he here?”

Zhang Qin said in a deep voice: “I just wanted to ask you the same question, daoyou Xu. Xiyu had an accident very recently, how do you already know about it and why did you rush here right away? Is there something to this story I don’t know about?”

He was furious to the core, but his voice was now calm.

Xu Jingxian said innocently: “How can you say that? Shixiong Liu and I only exchanged pointers earlier that day, that’s all. There is always a winner in a competition. Shixiong Liu was inferior to me in skill. Did you want this young lady to cut him some slack?”

She appeared to be small and tender, and looked so innocent that no one could bear to find fault with her words.

“I have every reason to suspect that you caused a commotion and killed shixiong Liu in order to prevent him from entering the Jianxue Clan. It cannot be that shixiong Liu felt so bad about losing that he couldn’t accept it?”

“You!”

Zhang Qin couldn’t hold it inside anymore. He almost exploded from anger.

“I’ve just asked to investigate this person. He is of unknown origin. When he met our recruiting disciples at the foot of the mountain, he took the initiative to join them. Not only is he full of lies, but he was also the first to come to the crime scene, how can we be sure that he is not a spy from the Jianxue Clan!”

Xu Jingxian didn’t get angry but laughed instead: “Sect Master Zhang venomously slanders us and continues this farce on purpose. He even went back on his word and didn’t give the person over to the Jianxue Clan, isn’t this right? Fine then. The delicate and pretty girl, me, is hopelessly outnumbered. I suffered losses in everything, so I have to go back to the Clan Master and explain the ins and outs of this matter to him. As for the Clan Master’s reaction — it is really not under my control!

After she said that, she turned to leave.

“Daoyou Xu, wait!”

Said Zhang Qin. His expression changed, and only after a long time did he start speaking.

“There is still room for discussion on this matter. Let me arrange the funeral for Xiyu first, and then we will give it further thought.”

Xu Jingxian looked back and smiled, as if she could understand him well.

“Now this is better. Sect Master Zhang needs time to restrain his grief, accept his fate. I will stay in the Qixian Sect for a few more days.”

She stopped speaking up for Changming, so Zhang Qin waved his hand to order people to take him away.

The death of Liu Xiyu shook the whole Qixian Sect.

Naturally, the marriage with the Xiao family was cancelled. The Xiao family took the bride and left the Qixian Sect overnight without saying a word. Zhang Qin had to write a letter to Xiao Cangfeng in order to apologize and explain the matter.

But this was not over yet.

The Qixian Sect was now in a situation of ‘the rising wind forebodes the coming storm’.

The rising wind forebodes the coming storm: a difficult situation, omen.

Zhang Qin actually knew that Xu Jingxian had no need to kill Liu Xiyu.

Even if she wanted to kill him, with Xu Jingxian’s strength, even though she might have really been able to do so, it would inevitably be a vigorous fight, and both sides would have been hurt. Even if Liu Xiyu was not a worthy opponent for her, he wouldn’t have gotten killed before he could even cry for help.

What’s more, the strange thing was that Liu Xiyu went to the outer circle’s Linde Peak in the middle of the night.

Zhang Qin asked all the disciples who shared good relationships with Liu Xiyu, but no one had heard about him having friendship with people from the outer circle. Zhang Qin’s wife also told him many disciples affirmed that Liu Xiyu was arrogant and especially valued strength, so it was unlikely that he could have taken a fancy to someone of the outer circle, and the outer sect had always looked up to this dashixiong.

If there actually was a person who could kill the Sect Master’s favorite disciple in his own sect unnoticed, did it mean that he could go in and out as he pleased, meeting no obstacles? Were those people whose cultivation was not as good as Liu Xiyu’s in mortal danger all the time?

Everyone in the Qixian Sect was in a panic.

Unlike the turmoil outside, there was a dead silence in the dungeon.

Changming thought they would try to force a confession from him by tortures. He even made a puppet to replace him in those tortures. But a few days passed, and the breeze was still, the waves were quiet. Not only did he not suffer tortures, but no one even came to interrogate him.

The breeze was still, the waves were quiet: nothing happened.

Naturally, no one brought him food either.

It seemed like he was completely forgotten, and no one was concerned about him.

This quiet environment gave him time to think and cultivate.

Changming still remembered that in the past when his cultivation reached a bottleneck and he was searching for a breakthrough, he noted a practice called Zhiyu Nianyue.

This was a scripture created by two people, Zhiyu and Nianyue, hundreds of years ago. The most important was its ability to help a practitioner reshape their meridians, cleanse their marrow, and [purify their veins], even if this person’s spiritual powers have been depleted for a certain period of time.

Zhiyu and Nianyue were ordinary people with no spiritual power, but because they were not content with being ordinary, they traveled all over the world, flipped through every ancient book, searched for secluded masters, and finally devised a demonic technique.

The world agrees that Demonic sects have no connection with the real demons and evil spirits released from the abyss.

People from Demonic sects are eccentric, unreasonable and tend to the extremes, advance in cultivation using drastic methods, do not hesitate to kill people to achieve their goals, and cross every traditional ethical line. Followers of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism hold them in contempt.

The reason why Zhiyu Nianyue is called a demonic scripture is also because of this unusual skill which could help to achieve something unattainable by general cultivation practices.

Everything in the world has its price. If you want to get one thing, you have to give up another. Zhiyu Nianyue was not an exception. If you don’t turn others’ spiritual power into your own, you must sacrifice your own lifespan.

Zhiyu was unwilling to use other people’s cultivation to succeed. In the end, when he reached the eighth level, he lost his powers, his hair turned white overnight, and he died of exhaustion.

Nianyue didn’t want to repeat her friend’s mistakes. She resorted to every conceivable means to take over the spiritual power of other cultivators. In a short time, her cultivation skills improved rapidly, and she became one of the best masters of Demonic sects. But because she targeted anyone regardless of their sect and faction, she quickly made a lot of enemies and caused cultivators to join forces to annihilate her.

Although those two, Zhiyu and Nianyue, died, this demonic technique has survived through their manuscripts. It was never a secret. Later, many people began practicing it, wishing to reach the heavens in a single leap, but they all met a tragic end because of the technique’s backlash.

Changming learned it a long time ago, and had already memorized it. Now, even though he had been staying in the Yellow Springs and narrowly escaped a calamity, he had not forgotten this scripture.

His spiritual powers were exhausted, and his meridians and bones were almost destroyed. If nothing out of the ordinary happened, he would have almost no chances of becoming a cultivator again in this life. That’s why the Qixian Sect did not kill him immediately—they also thought that an ordinary person like Changming couldn’t kill Liu Xiyu.

But they didn’t know that in a body that was weaker than one of a regular person resided the soul of a great master who almost achieved immortality.

He was accused of being a murderer after Liu Xiyu’s death, and this reminded him that he needed to speed up his cultivation.

But taking a shortcut through the backdoor, although it takes far less time, comes at a higher expense.

When a person who used Zhiyu Nianyue to reshape the meridians and absorb qi reached the eighth level, they encountered a fatal flaw in this technique. The only solution was to forcibly break through it and absorb external power, overcoming the shortfalls of the technique.

In other words, he could quickly regain his cultivation, become a second-rate or even high-level cultivator, and perhaps could even reach the level of a first-class master.

But when his skills in this exercise would reach the eighth level, he would have to face the test of life and death, and the chance of success would be very low. If he were to fail, his body might decay and his soul might disperse.

Returning to the mortal realm and starting over is not necessarily a good thing.

He was surrounded by a dense fog, and the road ahead of him was chaotic and unclear.

He was surrounded by a dense fog, and the road ahead of him was chaotic and unclear: He was completely misled, and his future was uncertain.

First Xiao Yun, then Liu Xiyu.

Changming was suspicious of Xiao Yun’s sudden appearance and mysterious evanescence from the very beginning. No one had ever seen him before, as if someone had sent him there especially for Changming.

Then what was the purpose of luring him out, killing Liu Xiyu and shifting the blame onto him?

It couldn’t be just to let the Qixian Sect lock him in a dungeon or kill him.

Since the murderer managed to kill Liu Xiyu, he definitely had the ability to kill Changming. The whole scheme would have been just going through lots of troubles to do an arduous and thankless task.

Since he couldn’t do anything to get out of this situation, he might as well sit back and enjoy it.

Changming closed his eyes and began reciting the Zhiyu Nianyue Scripture silently.

All the demons of this world are born from people’s hearts, a simple principle that one should keep in mind.

When a place where a spirit resides is confined and a cerebral spirit is in chaos, one should use foreign objects as a furnace, gather spiritual essence and refine it. The foreign objects can be: first, grass and trees, secondly, domesticated animals, and thirdly, the souls of people and demons. Any sentient being can use this method…

Cerebral spirit: from Baidu: “The niwan, also called the cerebral spirit. Taoists see the human body as a small world. Every part of it is given a ‘spiritual’ name. The spirit of the brain is called the cerebral spirit or niwan (…)”

“The gentleman is so concentrated. You were locked up here, and can still meditate nonchalantly and calm your mind. And such a talent is helping the cook in the outer circle of a third-rate sect, isn’t it a pity how wronged you are?”

A charming voice sounded nearby, interrupting his meditation.

Xu Jingxian floated to him, her feet not touching the ground.

“No one has come to visit you for so many days; I am the first one. Aren’t you touched?”

She was standing outside the bars, smiling, with a basket in her hand.

A fragrance filled the air.

Changming didn’t need it to be opened to know it was made by Chef He’s hands.

“You must be full of questions. Just ask, I will answer everything.”

She put the basket on the ground, opened the lid, and got all sorts of dishes out, thoughtfully placing them so that he could take them easily.

Changming didn’t act shy either. He stretched out his arm to take the food and immediately started eating.

Xu Jingxian: “Aren’t you afraid that I could have poisoned it?”

Changming didn’t even raise his head: “This lady is so beautiful, she certainly wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Lady: she calls him “langjun”, a gentleman, he calls her “xianzi”, a fairy, a celestial being. 

Xu Jingxian raised her eyebrows and squatted to watch him eat with keen interest.

“A lot of people from the Qixian Sect want to kill you. They think you are related to Liu Xiyu’s death.”

Changming: “Thank you for bringing this meal. These roasted pine mushrooms are one of old He’s best dishes. I was able to eat them before my death, so I have no regrets.”

Xu Jingxian pouted, “Why aren’t you curious at all, are you sure they won’t dare kill you?”

Changming said sincerely: “I was wronged, naturally they won’t kill the innocent.”

Xu Jingxian couldn’t keep up this conversation, so she had to switch the topic.

“I heard that your name is Changming, ‘long nights under a splendid moon’. How can a mediocre person have such a lovely name?”

Changming: “Has the lady heard of Wang Jiuyou?”

Wáng Jiǔyōu, lit. King of the Netherworld

Xu Jingxian: “No, who is he?”

Changming: “He is the uncle Wang from our village. When his mother was pregnant with him, she dreamed of a stale pomelo, so she named him Old Pomelo. Later, because of the local accent, it turned into Jiuyou. It can be seen that names have nothing to do with skills.”

Old Pomelo: Jiùyòu

Xu Jingxian stared at him for a long time, and then suddenly smiled: “To tell you the truth, I am also disgusted with this Liu Xiyu. He treats others with contempt, he is arrogant and haughty. A little sect like the Qixian Sect is willing to support him, but send him elsewhere, and he will just die for some unknown reason! Even if it was you who killed him, I could only applaud you.”

She took out half of a burned fox puppet and put it down on the ground.

Changming didn’t react.

Xu Jingxian: “I picked this up near the bushes where Liu Xiyu died. I also found puppets like this one under a pillow in your residence. But you can rest assured that I took them all away, so Zhang Qin and others won’t know you mastered the art of control over matters. Shouldn’t you thank me?”

The art of control: there are two main categories in the art of swordsmanship in cultivation. The first one is “control over matters”, the second one is “control over qi”. The first one depends on your level (realm), the second one depends on your skill (training). When a technique is discussed, I usually drop this “control over matters” part in its name.

Changming slowly uttered an innocent monosyllabic word: “Eh?”

Xu Jingxian: “I have already asked around. You entered the Qixian Sect through the Qingbei Mountain disciple’s recommendation, but no one knows your origins. Only a small sect like the Qixian Sect can casually accept someone like you. You know the art of controlling matters, yet you wish to quietly stay here. How does it make any sense?”

They looked at each other.

Xu Jingxian tried to find the slightest changes in his expression, but didn’t manage to.

He really knows how to hide his emotions, she thought.

“Good brother, it doesn’t matter if you killed Liu Xiyu, but if I return empty-handed, the Clan Master won’t spare me. So I told Zhang Qin to replace Liu Xiyu with you. You will return to the Jianxue Clan with me and serve as a cultivation furnace for the lord. Isn’t it an honor that many people wish for?”

Changming pretended to be confused: “What is a cultivation furnace?”

Xu Jingxian smiled and said, “It means being a very close attendant.”

Changming hesitated: “I don’t understand anything, I only know how to help Chef He with his work, isn’t this position too high for me?”

Xu Jingxian: “It doesn’t matter. You were born so good-looking, the Sect Master will definitely like you very much.”

Changming thought, I’m afraid that when your Clan Master sees his teacher’s reanimated corpse, he will be so scared that he will chop your head off.

The author has something to say:

A small theatre not related to the main text:

Xu Jingxian: Are you pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger?

Pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger: Acting foolish to mislead the enemy.

Changming: I have never seen a tiger, can this lady show it to me?

Xu Jingxian: Ha-ha, I can deliver you to its mouth.