CH 136

Jiufang Changming and Yun Weisi shut themselves away with a formation that enclosed both of them, so no one outside could guess what was happening inside. Although Jiang Li and the others were worried, they could not do anything.

They had all met by chance and were cultivators who used to meditate all day long. As such, their willpower was stronger than that of a common person, and they would not treat each other like friends after just a few occasional meetings. However, they had been through a lot of danger together after coming to Hongluo and shared a common enemy as well, so their connection was pretty strong.

Moreover, after experiencing all that, they were heading to the Qianlin Assembly to face the most powerful enemy they had ever encountered. If Jiufang Changming and Yun Weisi did not accompany them, the outcome might have already been decided.

Jiang Li had met his dashixiong, Yao Wangnian, after a long separation, so he had a lot to discuss with him. However, they still had to deal with many problems before that. They did not even know whether Sun Wuxia and the princess who had come to this town with Chi Bijiang and who were now trapped in the guest house were still alive, and this was by no means their only problem.

When the three of them were on their way to the guest house, Yao Wangnian and Jiang Li were walking together ahead of Chi Bijiang, who wanted to give the two fellow disciples some space to talk to each other.

But the two of them were silent.

It had been too long since the last time they had met. Even though Jiang Li had much to say, he did not know how to start.

“What do you think of what daoyou Yun said?” After pondering for a while, Jiang Li finally opened his mouth.

“Don’t ask me, ask yourself. You’re only asking this because you don’t believe him. And if you don’t believe his words, why ask me? Just go back and pretend that nothing happened here, then you can continue to revel in your high position and live freely.”

Yao Wangnian was bitterly sarcastic and talked with no consideration for Jiang Li’s feelings whatsoever. But as soon as the latter thought of Yao Wangnian’s current appearance that was neither human nor ghost, the thick ghost qi that enveloped him and his inability to even breathe, Jiang Li could not help feeling bad for him and did not retort at all.

“It’s not that I don’t believe him—I just think that daoyou Yun’s words are a bit strange. If shizun did this, he would ultimately only hurt everyone, including himself. Maybe, if I go to him right now and try to persuade shizun to let go of his obsession…”

“Jiang Li!”

Yao Wangnian’s voice turned frenziedly furious, and even his eyes flashed with rage under his mask.

“If he still had any conscience left, would he have killed his disciple and pushed all the blame onto that disciple?! Can you even imagine how I have spent these years? Every bone in my body is in pain. At times, it seems as if I’m burning, and at other times, it feels like I’m being pierced with countless icicles. After my death, I had to pay an even higher price to support my physical form compared to other ghost cultivators. I went to the Yellow Springs to cultivate, and had to endure tens of thousands of ghosts gnawing at my heart. ”

He sneered, “My mistake. I shouldn’t have told you this. You are the master of the illustrious Wanjian Immortal Clan, so no matter how many times I explain, you’ll never understand. If you want to leave, just go. But even if you die there, I won’t come to pick up your dead body!”

Jiang Li let him speak and remained silent.

But Chi Bijiang had had enough, so she stepped forward and said softly: “Daoxiong Yao, there’s a misunderstanding. Daoxiong Jiang is a kindhearted person, and both you and Immortal Luomei are like relatives to him, so he can’t bear to see anything happen to either one. However, if he lacked resolution, he wouldn’t have decided to appear at the Qianlin Assembly. He’s feeling conflicted and can’t just change his opinion immediately. Please, daoxiong Yao, give him more time, and he’ll eventually come to understand you.”

Daoxiong: ‘dao’ from daoyou and Daoism, ‘xiong’ from shixiong, she’s addressing them respectively because they are older, like “elder brother who also cultivates”

Yao Wangnian disregarded her words: “That’s a woman’s soft nature talking! You can’t hesitate when you’re facing an imminent disaster. Everyone will end up dead while you’re hesitating!”

Although he did not trust Yun Weisi’s predictions completely, Yao Wangnian had spent all these years in search of the truth behind his own death. At first, he had denied it. Afterwards, he lost his trust in Luomei, and eventually, he accepted the truth with a mix of grief and anger. He understood Luomei’s true nature much better than Jiang Li. Had he died in Hongluo today, everything would have been blamed on him, and these years of painstaking cultivation and searching for answers would have been in vain. Jiang Li would have never learned the truth of this matter and turned into the next Yao Wangnian.

His heart was full of ghost flames that he could not vent, so he waved his sleeve and disappeared from sight, not willing to talk to Jiang Li anymore.

Jiang Li could not help but smile bitterly.

It had been so many years, but Yao Wangnian’s temper had not changed a bit, and he would still leave before Jiang Li could say anything.

“Daoxiong Jiang…”

“It’s not that he’s angry with me—rather, it’s that he’s depressed and full of resentment that he can’t vent out. We should let shixiong calm down a bit. We used to have good rapport. It’s a pity that I was so stupid and dense and never noticed something had gone wrong. I have wronged him.”

“This is not your fault.”

Jiang Li shook his head: “You don’t understand him. He used to have a better relationship with our shizun than myself, and shizun had always treated him as his successor. In the beginning, I could not believe what happened, so of course shixiong was even more shaken by this.”

Chi Bijiang frowned: “Although I’ve never met Immortal Luomei, I’ve heard that his cultivation is incredible, perhaps greater than that of any other cultivator of this world. If it’s really as… as how daoxiong Yao and daoyou Yun describe it, I’m afraid that even if we combine our efforts, we won’t necessarily pose a threat to him.”

Jiang Li whispered: “This is not the only thing that I’m worried about.”

This time, the Qianlin Assembly was held by the Zhengrong Mountain Villa, and the Zhengrong Mountain Villa maintained a good relationship with the Wanjian Immortal Clan. Jiang Li had even heard that the current master of the Zhengrong Mountain Villa managed to rise to his position because of Immortal Luomei’s support. Taking this into consideration, their current trip to the Zhengrong Mountain Villa might be akin to a lamb walking into a tiger’s den, as if they were knowingly falling for a trap.

Immortal Luomei had been leading the Wanjian Immortal Clan for many years. At first, his sect used to fall behind the Celestial Abode Shenxiao, but now they were on an equal footing, all solely thanks to Immortal Luomei’s efforts. The entire sect was willing to follow his every command. Even though Immortal Luomei had left his position and appointed Jiang Li as the clan master, Jiang Li was fully aware that every single disciple of their clan held the utmost respect towards Immortal Luomei, and not to Jiang Li. Even if Jiang Li had never made a mistake and led them smoothly, he lacked experience.

In the past, Jiang Li also revered his shizun and never intended to fight for power, so he did not care about this. Yet now, when he should acknowledge his shizun as his enemy, he suddenly realized that Luomei was not a friendly and supportive person. He had probably already anticipated that they would go to the Zhengrong Mountain Villa, and probably had set up a trap there for them.

However, if they retreated now, they would never have a chance to expose his sins to the public and clear Yao Wangnian’s name. There was only one occasion when cultivators gathered like this, and the date for the next Qianlin Assembly had not even been set yet. Yao Wangnian could not wait for so long.

Regardless of if they went there or not, they would walk right into a death trap.

“Even though my cultivation is nothing to write home about, I’m quite skilled in setting up formations, so I can probably help you a bit. If we’re completely cornered, I’ll send a message to my shifu and ask him to come. He dotes on me, so he’ll most certainly lend us a helping hand.”

Jiang Li came to his senses after a long contemplation caused by his worries and smiled at Chi Bijiang’s somewhat clumsy attempt to comfort him.

This girl was exceptionally talented in her area of expertise, but when it came to other things, she seemed utterly clueless. Her heart was pure, and she looked naive and bright too. Relying on her talent, she should have developed into one of the grandest talents of her generation, yet she was willing to fall into this mud for him, a perfect stranger.

Jiang Li felt that he should not let this foolish girl face danger together with him, so he was trying to come up with a reason for her to leave.

Leaving his worries behind, Jiang Li changed the subject.

“You’ve been looking at daoyou Jiufang’s sword a lot, why is that?”

Chi Bijiang sighed: “This story is a bit unusual. My shifu used to store this sword inside the Treasure Pavilion. When my shifu entered closed-door cultivation, I used the chance to sneak out quietly. Before leaving, I visited the Treasure Pavilion to borrow several things, and this sword flew right into my hand itself. My shifu has mentioned that he stumbled upon this sword while on his journey along the shore of Donghai Sea. At that time, the sword was so rusty and decrepit that he couldn’t even tell what it had looked like as he only saw its core. This sword was almost useless, so he was going to reforge it after he returned. Unexpectedly, after he left it at the Treasure Pavilion, he never managed to find it there until it followed me willingly when I left.”

Although heavy thoughts were putting pressure on Jiang Li, he was still fascinated by the story: “What happened next?”

“Strangely, the sword followed me outside, and was shining more and more brightly with each passing day until it turned into what we see now. However, no matter how hard I tried, I never managed to pull it out of its scabbard. And then I met daoyou Jiufang. When I gifted it to him, I didn’t expect him to pull it out just like this after everyone else failed. The sword replied to him immediately, as if—”

Chi Bijiang showed a puzzled expression.

“As if it finally met its owner after waiting for a long period of time.”

They kept talking until they reached the guest house.

The place had been in a mess after the chaotic events that had occurred here. Many people had already left, and many of those who had not were those that had lost their relatives or had their carriages buried under snow and could not leave for now. Some of them were just arguing with the owner of the guest house about the price of their stay.

The princess that had arrived here with Chi Bijiang was still in the inn, accompanied by Sun Wuxia. The latter had become much less restless and talkative.

The princess was anxious. As soon as she saw Chi Bijiang, she hugged her tightly, refused to let her go for some time, and even started crying. They were whispering something to each other, so Jiang Li could only go outside and drag Sun Wuxia away with him to give the two some space.

“Daoyou Sun, I’ve heard about what happened to your shishu. My condolences, I hope you can restrain your grief and accept your fate. We still have work to do, but you should return to your sect and tell them what happened. When this is over, I’ll visit you.”

Sun Wuxia seemed gloomy and distant, as if he had not heard these words. After thinking about his own problems, he suddenly asked: “Do you know if there is a technique that allows a shadow to move?”

Jiang Li was perplexed: “Why would anyone move a shadow?”

Sun Wuxia shook his head and furrowed his brows, but did not answer.

Jiang Li suspected that Sun Wuxia had started having hallucinations after seeing his shishu’s death and having his arm ripped off, so, he was thinking of anything that could cheer Sun Wuxia up, like what kind of spiritual herbs from his sect could help. 

However, Sun Wuxia suddenly spoke again: “The shadow of the thumb of the princess’ right hand was slightly trembling and touched the other fingers; but the princess’ hands were definitely lying on her knees and did not move. Were my eyes deceiving me, or is there actually a problem?”

After he finished talking, he raised his head to look at Jiang Li worriedly: “Could it be that I’m so shocked that I’m hallucinating?”

Jiang Li opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly a thought struck him. His shizun, Immortal Luomei, was proficient in divination, and often used to calculate it with his left hand. This was just a habit he did not even realize he had.

His expression changed abruptly. Without saying anything, he rushed to the room and opened the door with a strong push just in time to see a shadow taking an unconscious Chi Bijiang outside through the window. The princess was lying on the bed, but there was only her skin left.

“Let her go!”

Jiang Li shouted and reached out to catch the shadow, but only grabbed thin air.

A weird laughter sounded in the air. The shadow and Chi Bijiang had already started to disappear and would completely vanish at any moment now. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed from the door, and a sword swiftly pierced the shadow!

“The heavens and the earth were created as a wasteland, so was every single thing in this world. The Dao has arrived with the wind, and the heart comes from seas and mountains.”

The fresh wind was sharp like a sword, and the man in the dark clothes quickly expelled the demon.

This was Jiufang Changming!

His voice resounded clearly like a bell, and Jiang Li felt as if he could finally hear after having been deaf. His heart skipped a beat, and it seemed as if all thoughts were swept clean from his mind. This could not have happened unless the person’s cultivation was unprecedentedly strong. Could it be that daoyou Jiufang had had a breakthrough?!