CH 141

By the time the last meteor shot across the brightening sky above the roof, Yun Weisi had already woken up.

He had only slept for half a shichen. After they took the vow, the sky eventually darkened again, and the two of them had talked on the roof. Having finally found a moment to relax, Yun Weisi felt the leisurely and carefree mood of a common person for the first time.

He had fled from the capital when he was still young and narrowly escaped his death. Right after that, he had cut all ties with the life of a mere mortal. It was very difficult for him to take a break with the person he had loved for his entire life, but he did not understand this truth when he was little. At that time, he was full of fight and unruly. His parents had still been alive, and he had a high social standing, so he never felt the need to ponder over anything in his life, let alone the mysteries of nature.

He thought back to the time he had spent at the Void Shore and also kept in mind what he had seen in Yuru. He now realized that even if his father, Yun Chang’an, had not angered the emperor or the Cong family of his mother had not been denounced for being traitors, his parents still would probably not have escaped their tragic fates. Even before he was born, certain arrangements in this direction had been made. The only thing that could be changed in his life was meeting Jiufang Changming.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he heard someone strike their barrier from the outside.

Potent ghost qi surged over, as forceful as a storm. The barrier that had been imbued with spiritual powers trembled, and even Yun Weisi was affected.

He frowned and went out, pushing the doors open and sending forward his sword to stop the attack, shouting: “Yao Wangnian, have you gone mad!”

The ghost qi abruptly withdrew, and Yao Wangnian appeared out of the black whirlwind.

“And where is Jiufang Changming?”

He looked like he was demanding an explanation for something, and his already pale face had turned even ghastlier.

Yun Weisi felt that something was wrong: “He went out to treat the wounds of a small fox. Why? What happened?”

Yao Wangnian: “Jiang Li has disappeared!”

Yun Weisi frowned: “Why? Did Luomei come?”

“No, he left of his own accord.”

Yao Wangnian seemed gloomy. He had gone to the herbal medicine shop to look for Jiang Li early in the morning. The shopkeeper had told Yao Wangnian that Jiang Li had been looking for the shopkeeper in the middle of the night when he was sleeping, so he did not even immediately realize that Jiang Li was actually gone. Yao Wangnian did not believe him at first and ordered ghosts to search for Jiang Li throughout Hongluo. But, after looking everywhere and still finding nothing, he had no other choice but to accept that the shopkeeper was telling the truth.

Yun Weisi muttered to himself: “Maybe he has run into some kind of accident?”

Yao Wangnian: “There are no traces of a battle around the medicine shop, he left on his own. Have you two said anything to him?”

Yun Weisi: “Why would you think that?”

Yao Wangnian answered coldly: “This one surnamed Jiang is both soft-hearted and impulsive, so one only needs a couple of words to persuade him to do all he can to help them. If you haven’t talked to him, why else would he run away so abruptly?”

Yun Weisi raised his eyebrows: “This one surnamed Yun is deeply touched by daoyou Yao’s zealous efforts to defend his shidi. But no, we haven’t talked to clan master Jiang in your absence. And you have seen him as your enemy for so many years, yet have suddenly remembered your brotherly bond. Are you going to start lashing out at the innocent because of the guilt you feel towards him?”

“What did you say?”

Yao Wangnian’s sinister voice suddenly sounded like it was coming from nearby. It carried his energy, and his ghost qi surged forward in dense waves.

He had been wronged and driven to death many years ago and had been seeking something unattainable all this time. His chest was filled with hatred that had not been vented, and his character was drastically different from what it had been before his death, so he was ready to kill at the slightest provocation. His boundless ghost qi, which was accompanied by violent wailing, was aimed at taking Yun Weisi’s life despite everything that had happened up to this moment!

Changming had already mentioned to Yun Weisi that although they and Yao Wangnian shared a common enemy and could be considered from the same faction in this war, this man’s demeanor was presently way more extreme than that of someone from the common people. Anything could now cause him to get possessed and experience a qi deviation. So, when Yun Weisi saw Yao Wangnian lose his temper now, he was not surprised. He only waved his sleeves, and when the wave of ghost qi reached him, it turned into black water droplets that fell to the ground. This skillful and easy victory on Yun Weisi’s part caused Yao Wangnian’s expression to change at once, and he even seemed to regain some clarity.

At this moment, he heard a voice say from behind him: “Why is daoxiong Yao so angry?”

This voice struck him in the same way a drumstick would hit a drum. It was also like the roar of a lion in that it was immediately able to subdue Yao Wangnian’s ghost nature.

He turned around and saw Jiufang Changming.

“Where is Jiang Li?”

Jiufang Changming reached out his hand, which held a letter, and Yao Wangnian grabbed it without thinking twice.

“When I went out this morning, I noticed this letter that he left.”

The letter was hidden in a tree outside the building. When Changming went out, a leaf turned into the letter and fell right into his hands.

“Clan master Jiang said that a majority of the participants at the Qianlin Assembly this time will be the Wanjian Immortal Clan disciples. Luomei met us in Hongluo, and is probably well-prepared. Clan master Jiang is afraid that the enemy is too strong for the four of us, so in the end, we’ll all get injured. He went ahead to scout the situation for us. We are supposed to follow him and do as we see fit, and in the case of an emergency—”

I wish that in the case of an emergency, you will use me as bait and let me sacrifice my life for the greater good. I only ask one thing of shixiong and you two, daoyous: please, save daoyou Chi. She fell into this miserable state because of me. I already owe a lot to shixiong, and I don’t want to burden her too.

Changming did not need to voice the last part: Yao Wangnian could already read it in the letter.

He had not seen Jiang Li’s handwriting for many years and thought that he had forgotten everything from the Wanjian Immortal Clan, but as soon as he saw the letter, his memories all surfaced inside the sea of his consciousness.

Jiang Li was always like this. Yao Wangnian knew that.

Jiang Li was soft-hearted and lazy, and no unhappy things would linger in his presence. He was completely different from Yao Wangnian who was dedicated to cultivation wholeheartedly and was proud and arrogant. Jiang Li’s heart, when compared to him, was big and could contain the entire Wanjian Immortal Clan. No matter whether it was a friend, a fellow disciple, or another pupil of his master—Jiang Li would not want to betray anyone’s expectations.

A person like this was both suitable and unsuitable for the role of clan master.

And how could a person like this get revenge on Luomei?

Luomei would probably capture him before they would even get into a fight.

“I’ll go find him.”

Yao Wangnian burnt the letter to ashes and turned around to leave, but Changming stopped him.

“You want to stop me?” asked Yao Wangnian with a murderous look on his face and blood-shot eyes.

Changming said: “We’ll go together, you can’t go like this. Jiang Li has next to zero chances to go against Luomei alone, but there is a reason for Luomei not to kill him. We’ll split up. You and Yun Weisi will hide somewhere and wait for a moment to save him, and I’ll go where he’ll definitely notice me.”

Yao Wangnian: “Where?”

Jiufang Changming: “Obviously, I’ll partake in the Qianlin Assembly.”

Yao Wangnian frowned: “Those who enter the assembly can only enter if they have an invitation with their names. Their sect and background is clearly stated on the invitation and there is no way to forge it. Where can you get one?”

Jiufang Changming smiled lightly as he got a red letter with gold stamping from his sleeve. At first glance, the letter looked ordinary, but one could notice that it glowed around the edges. It actually could not be damaged by being burnt by fire nor by being submerged into water and would not decompose for a hundred years.

When he opened the letter, they could see the name written at the top of it—

The Daoist Temple of the Imperial Palace, Sun Wuxia.

The traveling companions of Chi Bijiang, shishu He Bo and his shizhi Sun Wuxia, suffered a disastrous defeat at Hongluo. The shishu, He Bo, died, while his shizhi Sun Wuxia was suffering not only from this painful loss but had also been left one-armed. As things were now, he could not participate in the Qianlin Assembly, so Jiufang Changming could take his invitation and make use of it.

Thus, Sun Wuxia, a disciple of the Daoist Temple of the Imperial Palace, changed his appearance.

“What about He Bo’s invitation?” Yun Weisi stretched his hand, “I’ll go with you.”

Jiufang Changming laughed: “You haven’t had enough fun becoming my shixiong and want to be my shishu now?”

Yun Weisi: “Luomei knows you.”

Jiufang Changming: “You’re forgetting about the Art of Transferring Spirit. I can change my face easily.”

Yun Weisi: “I don’t want us to part.”

After they became Daoist partners, Yun Weisi no longer needed to hide his feelings, and these words were honest.

Jiufang Changming: “It’s bad for us to appear at the same time, and you know it. Clan master Jiang and daoyou Chi’s spiritual soul must be saved. Weisi, trust me.”

He rarely discarded surnames and usually called him Yun Weisi. It used to be like this even in the Yuhuang Temple.

For Yun Weisi, these three words were like magic, and he could not say anything against it.

He had never doubted Jiufang Changming. Even if he hesitated or even if got possessed, he only ever doubted himself.

“Fine. Remember your own words and don’t get into trouble,” Yun Weisi looked at him pointedly.

“Don’t worry.”

Yun Weisi and Yao Wangnian left first, taking a shortcut. Jiang Li had only recently left, so they had a chance to intercept him before he had reached the Zhengrong Mountain Villa. Jiufang Changming took the usual road, taking the invitation with him. He was going to enter the assembly alone, which was very conspicuous. It was better for him to find some other cultivators to travel there together.

Although he told Yun Weisi not to worry, he did not feel as assured as he appeared.

Their enemy was formidable. That much was as obvious to Jiufang Changming as to anyone else.

Not only was Luomei’s cultivation great, he was adept at scheming, duplicitous and had impeccable patience. He did not even spare his disciples that worshiped him as their father in order to set up a formation. It took him several decades to extend his web over the entire world and trap all people inside. Had Chi Bijiang not left a weakness inside the Liuhe Zhutian Formation, and had Jiufang Changming with Yun Weisi not decided to die, dragging him down with themselves, they would have already lost.

Thinking back now, Luomei was prepared for their battle in Hongluo. Even though they had split into two parties, one acting in the light while the other hid in the darkness, almost anything could happen during this trip.

But he must lure Luomei into a battle in front of everyone. That was the only way to force him to reveal his true face.

Jiufang Changming lowered his head.

A paper figure was squeezed in his hand. He moved a finger, and the puppet swelled as if moistened until it reached the size of a human. It slowly approached Changming and merged with him from head to toe. After that, his face started to change.

His originally pointy chin became rounder and chubbier, his eyes were narrower and longer, while his nose was flatter now. The hair on his temples subsided a bit, the corners of his mouth were lowered, and his half-white hair had turned completely black.

Although the changes were minor, he looked like a different person now. Even if he looked at himself in a mirror right now, he would have probably felt that this person was unfamiliar to him.

I still need a sword, Changming thought, and called the Changming Sword.

“Swords have sword souls. I know that you are my Sifei Sword. Your soul has been searching for me, and fate finally reunited us through Chi Bijiang’s hands.”

The sword hummed, hanging in the air, as if it heard Changming’s words.

Jiufang Changming smiled.

No to Daoism, no to Buddhism, no to the Demonic Path, no to Confucianism.

No to Daoism, no to Buddhism, no to Demonic Path, no to Confucianism: Sifei literally means “4 no’s”

When he created the sword, Sifei, many years ago, he actually had bold dreams like any other famous young man who wanted to travel through the entire world—otherwise he would not have given the sword the name that sounded as if he regarded himself as being above others. But the Sifei Sword never left his side. The sword cut his way through thistles and thorns, accompanied him to the peak where he became the strongest person in the world and then sacrificed itself for Changming’s sake. Now, it had traveled more than one hundred years to the past to help him reverse the course of events.

“This time, we have to fight together again. But I have to inconvenience you and change your appearance for a while. Sun Wuxia had a sword named Zhiqiu, let’s turn you into what it looks like.”

Changming waved his sleeve, and the light around the Sifei Sword dimmed. The patterns on the sword changed and it fell back to Changming’s hands.

Carrying the sword on his back, Changming went off into the sunrise, setting foot on the path that led the way forward.
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