CH 140

Jiufang Changming actually first caught sight of Yun Weisi earlier than the Yun Weisi had thought.

That year, the Yun family invited all their relatives and friends to attend the Zhuazhou banquet for their youngest son. Jiufang Changming, who at that time was part of the Yuhuang Temple, had also received an invitation.

Zhuazhou banquet: when a child was 1 year, the child’s parents placed several objects in front of the child, waited for the child to pick one of them and thus forecasted the future career (sword—warrior, book—scholar)

It arrived just in time—he was going to enter a period of closed-door cultivation. Had the letter arrived a little later, he could have already left the Yuhuang Temple, and the disciples of the sect would not have bothered him over such an insignificant matter.

However, the young Jiufang Changming, keeping in mind his history with Yun Chang’an and his wife, still decided to go to the capital.

The Yun family was nobility, and for many generations, someone from this family occupied a high-ranking position in the royal court. However, to cultivators, all this wealth and rank was worth close to nothing, and Jiufang Changming’s arrival was warmly welcomed. Yun Chang’an was both surprised and happy as he did not really expect the former to attend. Fate had intertwined their paths at Yuru, and they had been through a lot there. While the accident at Yuru had rendered Cong Rong blind, it had also granted Yun Chang’an the luckiest opportunity in his life—he happened to meet Jiufang Changming.

Despite the efforts the Yun family poured into preventing his marriage with Cong Rong, he firmly held onto his beliefs and eventually married the woman he loved. It had been years since they married, but only now did they have their first child: Yun Weisi.

At that time, Yun Weisi’s name was not Yun Weisi. When he was little, his parents treated him like a treasure, so, before he was formally given a name, he was addressed by his infant name—Yun Baobao. When Changming saw his future disciple for the first time, Yun Chang’an was holding the child in his arms. Seemingly annoyed at being called “Baobao”, the child frowned and gnawed at his lips, which looked funny. Yun Chang’an was like any other silly father in this world: he shook his son that could not even talk at this moment, and pointed to Changming: “This Daoist priest saved our lives. After you grow up, you have to repay his kindness!”

Baobao: baby, darling

The child could not understand what he had been told, and only looked at Changming, blinking his big black eyes. After looking for a long time, he suddenly smiled. He was fidgeting in his father’s arms after having been overwhelmed with joy, paying attention to nothing around him. Yun Chang’an was perplexed at his behavior, and told Changming with an awkward smile: “This child loves to smile and always giggles like this. Take a look, is he suitable for cultivation?”

Jiufang Changming shook his head: “I can’t tell.”

Since they were good acquaintances, Yun Chang’an asked him boldly: “Isn’t it true that an aptitude for cultivation is in-born, so you can tell from the first glance?”

Jiufang Changming: “A person has to be older if you want to evaluate their spiritual consciousness. He is too young, I’m afraid that spiritual power would hurt him. Do you want him to be a cultivator?”

Yun Chang’an answered thoughtfully: “I want him to be able to protect himself in the future. But the path of cultivation is long and arduous, and I don’t want him to be lonely. I only wish he would be able to live peacefully and happily, free from any worries.”

If someone lived without planning ahead, they were bound to encounter difficulties, so no one could actually be carefree. But Jiufang Changming did not refute Yun Chang’an’s words. After all, this was the simplest hope a father would have for their favorite child.

The child suddenly opened his arms, wanting to hug Changming, and mumbled something only he himself could understand.

Yun Chang’an also looked at Changming expectantly.

Jiufang Changming: …

He had never held children and had never been passionate about them. However, under the ardent gaze of two pairs of eyes, he had to grant this demand and held the soft and heavy child in his arms.

The little creature grabbed at his lapel with both hands, whined and bit Changming’s chin with his newly erupted white teeth. He could not possibly harm Changming, and only left a wet mark on his chin.

The corners of Jiufang Changming’s mouth trembled. Seeing that things were going badly, Yun Chang’an quickly reached to take the child back. The child started crying and did not let Changming go, and looked like he was going to hold onto him no matter what.

“I’m sorry for this awkward situation. This child doesn’t usually behave this way, he’s very obedient.”

Yun Chang’an laughed. Obviously, he loved his son and thought that he was cute even if he behaved like this. However, Jiufang Changming was not his parent, and cultivators did not like getting dirty, so he was afraid that Changming would be disgusted with the child and started apologizing.

But the child did not stop crying no matter how much others tried to cheer him up or calm him down. His mother took him from Yun Chang’an and all kinds of toys were given to him to distract him, but the child furrowed his brows with an agonized look until he had no more tears to shed and started coughing. Yun Chang’an could not bear to see him like this, so he could only ask Jiufang Changming for help.

“I’m afraid I have to ask you to hold him again as the child really likes you.”

Jiufang Changming did as asked and accepted the child. The child calmed down at once and laughed again, grabbing the tassel on Changming’s jade crown with glee.

Jiufang Changming initially thought that the child did not actually like him—instead, he was simply disappointed at being forcibly taken  away from his new toy and was unable to get it back.

For a long time after this, Jiufang Changming’s impression of Yun Weisi remained the same as when they had first met—Yun Weisi was stubborn.

It was this stubbornness, which was engraved into his very bones, that kept him from being captured after his family’s execution and allowed him to flee for a thousand lis, narrowly escaping death, until he reached the Yuhuang Temple.

Many years passed after their brief meeting at the Zhuazhou banquet. Jiufang Changming’s cultivation had been growing rapidly and received a great deal of attention at the Qianlin Assembly, turning him into a well-known young talent who represented the Daoist sects. All this time, Yun Weisi had still been growing up under his parents’ loving protection, and had eventually turned into a mischievous brat.

It was not enough for him to cause trouble at home and enjoy his idleness—he frequently left the residence without permission to stir up trouble on the streets with his friends. Once, to take revenge upon someone, he decided to sneak into their yard and steal their apricots, and almost fell head first from the top of the wall.

His friends shouted from under the wall, but, as if blessed by the heavens, he soared down to the ground unharmed.

The son of the Yun family looked around, anxious and doubtful, and finally noticed a sleeve disappearing behind a corner.

“Immortal, wait!” he shouted.

Why would an immortal stop because Yun Weisi told him so? The sleeve had disappeared, and by the time the child got around the corner, there was no trace left of the person in question.

At that time, Jiufang Changming had been passing through the capital and noticed an old friend by chance. He just happened to be going past this place and saw that Yun Weisi was falling down, so he helped him with a sweep of his sleeve and had quickly left.

Their fate had already intertwined at some point, and even if they were forced apart, they were still connected by this unbreakable thread.

Thinking of the past, Changming smiled.

“When I had a breakthrough this time, I’ve clearly understood many intricate details of matters and recalled many things,” he said.

He now remembered things he had overlooked or forgotten.

After the battle at the Sacred Mountain Wan, his spiritual soul had been damaged. He was lucky enough to survive and lingered in the Yellow Springs. He did not want to remember this period of his life that took fifty years.

“At daytime, sands cover the entire area, and tornadoes rise up out of nowhere, carrying away those who were not cautious, and tossing them right into caves full of ghosts or into a purgatory filled with lava. At nighttime, countless snakes start hunting, and poisonous demons lurk around. The weak would fall prey to them immediately. It is only quiet and peaceful there for half a shichen before the sun sets.”

Within this half a shichen, he would often sit at the mountainside that was covered with sand and watch the distant sunset, reminding himself to not forget his past, his name and identity which he was gradually forgetting. That would have eventually turned him into one of the wandering souls of the Yellow Springs that could never leave, having lost their memories before disappearing completely, their remains blown away by the wind.

As he kept recalling what had happened in his past, thinking of all the elder grandmasters he had challenged, all the breakthroughs in his cultivation, and all the spiritual tools and weapons he had found, everything seemed empty to him. Only the people that shone brightly could stir up his emotions.

Most of those memories were naturally connected to Yun Weisi.

After Changming accepted him as his disciple in the Yuhuang Temple, Yun Weisi had always been following him, and every time Changming turned around, he would see Yun Weisi.

And exactly because of Yun Weisi, many vague details of his recent past were recovering their colors.

The road to the Yellow Springs was long, and so were the nightmares of this hell.

One by one, he had been forgetting things while in the Yellow Springs, and only remembered Yun Weisi.

“It is not pity,” Jiufang Changming sighed.

Pity was not something one would never forget no matter how hard their life got, and was not something one would be reluctant to let go of in the face of danger.

Years had passed, and he left the Yellow Springs. The first person he met was He Xiyun. He Xiyun talked a lot about the state of the world nowadays, but he still felt detached from it, as if he had just been reborn and had nothing to do with his past self. Only when he heard the name, Yun Weisi, did the unbreakable thread between him and the world restore itself.

It had never disappeared, but he had not paid attention to it.

And Jiufang Changming was not the type of person to bind himself to something for life because of pity.

“Before I arrived at this answer, I thought I had already obtained everything I had ever wanted. After all, I didn’t want much more.”

Yun Weisi said slowly while watching him.

“But shizun, you know what? After I heard you say this, I realized what it means to be wild with joy.”

Yun Weisi was composed because he had convinced himself that he did not want for much, but in truth, he was greedy and hypocritical. He had been carefully hiding this greedy side of him behind a calm facade, before gradually revealing his true face. Yun Weisi then probed and schemed before the other had given in, and after that, he immediately turned avaricious, ready to devour the one he desired without a trace of politeness.

Only after obtaining what he wanted today did he understand how much he had repressed his feelings. Fortunately, he did not fail in this life.

Jiufang Changming took back his hand and cut the palm of his other hand. As his blood started oozing from the wound, he made a seal with his fingers, and drew a line in the air. A golden script appeared as the drops of his blood fused together before him.

“From this day forward, I, Jiufang Changming, pledge to the Heavens and the Earth that I will be taking Yun Weisi as my daoist partner so that we may share our lives and our deaths. May the Heavenly Lightning strike me and scatter my souls should I betray my heart and go against this vow.”

This was a deadly oath which was sealed by the Heavens and the Earth and which bound their karmas together. One who broke such an oath could not escape retribution. Even when cultivators became daoist partners, they would not usually form a contract like this because it tied together both partners, leaving no room for renouncing the vow.

Yun Weisi was completely shocked and could not even utter a word.

Jiufang Changming was waiting for him.

If Yun Weisi regretted his words and refused to take the oath, he only needed for the blood to drip off the seal, and Jiufang Changming’s vow would take no effect.

But, almost with no hesitation, he also cut the palm of his hand.

“From this day forward, I, Yun Weisi, pledge to the Heavens and the Earth that I will be taking Jiufang Changming as my daoist partner so that we may share our lives and deaths. May the Heavenly Lightning strike me and scatter my souls without any chance of rebirth should I betray my heart and go against this vow!”

He finally finished the vow.

Jiufang Changming frowned slightly as if he wanted to reprimand him, but in the end said nothing.

The two of them held hands, and their blood intertwined in the seal. The golden light abruptly turned dazzlingly bright, shining upon the world with near-blinding rays.

A clap of thunder rumbled from the cloudy horizon, and a bolt of lightning appeared, landing perfectly on the scripture, as if the Heavens had a spirit, and the wilderness around them could sense this moment.

Half of our lives have been left behind, we’ve finally come to this. And even if tomorrow our enemy overtakes us and claims our lives, I’ll have no regrets.