Chapter 38

An Wuxue sat in the courtyard, holding Kun-kun, waiting for Xie Zhefeng.

The Immortal Venerable Xie was not easily fooled. Now that his inner demon had been suppressed, he would inevitably reflect on the events of the day the Zhaoshui Sword Formation went awry. An Wuxue also wished to investigate the furnace-tripod mark, so he simply decided to remain unmoved, letting events unfold as he awaited Xie Zhefeng’s arrival.

Unexpectedly, it was not Xie Zhefeng who arrived, but Qin Wei.

When Qin Wei arrived this time, he did strike the soul bell, but only once. Hearing it, An Wuxue frowned; he continued to gently stroke Kun-kun’s fur, making no move to respond. Qin Wei was stubborn—he had been set in his ways in the past, and he remained so today. Knowing that meeting would only lead to more of those confusing, frustrating behaviors he had endured before, An Wuxue chose to avoid him. He ignored the sound, assuming Qin Wei would leave once he realized there was no answer.

He let the wind of the Frost Sea wash over him, drifting into a daze, completely forgetting the faint chime from earlier. It was not until the moon—invisible from Luoyue Peak—began to rise over the Frost Sea, and Kun-kun had fallen asleep in his arms, that Yun Wan quietly approached him.

"What is it?" he asked, feeling helpless.

Yun Wan opened his mouth, then hesitated. An Wuxue’s gaze shifted, and he understood. He extended his divine sense and found, as expected, that Qin Wei was still standing outside his door.

"..."

"Let him in," he said.

Yun Wan nodded immediately and trotted off to open the gate. The moment Qin Wei stepped inside, Kun-kun woke up. The creature knew that before An Wuxue had perished in his previous life, he and Qin Wei had grown increasingly distant. It let out a soft whine, turned its head away, and buried its face completely in An Wuxue’s lap, refusing to look at the intruder.

Qin Wei: "..."

He didn't dare say a word, simply sitting down before An Wuxue.

An Wuxue said, rather displeased, "Elder Qin."

"Yes?"

"If you intend to expose me, you are currently in the Frost Sea. You need only send a single transmission talisman, and I shall prepare myself to face Xie Zhefeng and his wretched inner demon. Even if the Silyu Peak were to come and drag me to the Canggu Tower, I would not be surprised."

His cultivation had now recovered to the peak of the Great Completion stage, and his soul was no longer as exhausted as it had been upon his awakening. At worst, he would simply fight for his life.

Qin Wei grew anxious immediately. "I have already told you, if you do not wish it, I will never expose your identity. A-Xue, why can you not believe me?"

An Wuxue’s brow flickered. He looked puzzled, then gave a soft, mocking laugh, as if he had heard something truly absurd. Qin Wei’s expression froze.

*—"Why can you not believe me?"*

How many times had An Wuxue said those very words to him regarding the Zhaoshui incident, insisting it was a last resort? And how had he, Qin Wei, failed to believe him then? Hearing those words spoken by his own mouth, he found them truly ironic. He clenched his fists, suddenly feeling as though he were sitting on needles.

Yet, this discomfort was agonizing. He could not bear it, yet compared to what An Wuxue had endured, his own suffering was not even a fraction of the past.

Qin Wei could only lower his head, his expression dejected, and say in a conciliatory tone, "Please, do not worry. I will not tell anyone."

"Then why did Elder Qin spend an entire day standing outside my door?" An Wuxue asked bluntly. "This is the residence of an Immortal Venerable. With a single sweep of the Changsheng Immortal’s divine sense, he would have guessed everything upon seeing you like that. Does it really require you to expose my identity?"

"Rest assured. Xie Chuhan is not in the Frost Sea today; that is why I dared to do this."

An Wuxue paused.

Not in the Frost Sea? Xie Zhefeng hadn't immediately doubted his words and actions and come to question him?

Qin Wei explained, "He just came out of seclusion and originally intended to send someone to test you. I was present at the time and intercepted him, suggesting I go first to probe the situation. That is why I came to disturb you—to give you a heads-up. When I return, I will send him a message saying I have tested you and that you have nothing to do with 'An Wuxue'."

"Then I must thank you, Elder Qin," he said, devoid of joy or sorrow. "In that case, what reward do you wish to exchange with me? I am truly not what I once was; in terms of spiritual treasures and cultivation, I am inferior to you. Only my soul retains the strength of a thousand years ago. If it concerns divine sense, I can certainly be of assistance."

Qin Wei’s face contorted with pain, his complexion pale as he replied, "I only... I only came to inform you; I do not want anything in return. Concealing this for you is something I ought to do."

An Wuxue remained silent.

Qin Wei had to pull himself together, continuing, "Although I can gloss over it this time, you must still be careful. I know you look exactly as you did in the past. Even if others feel a sense of familiarity, their first thought will be that the resemblance is the reason. But Xie Chuhan is different."

"How is he different?"

Qin Wei replied, "The fact that he has been searching for a way to resurrect you is known to the few Transcending Tribulation cultivators who survived the Immortal Calamity. He is the only Immortal who has ascended in all the Four Seas, and as the Immortal Venerable ruling both realms, there have naturally been those who covet your position, hoping to gain favors from him.

"Six hundred years ago, someone found a child with naturally occurring jade bones. Though the child lacked a golden body, the jade bones alone were a sign of immense talent. That person gave the child a name related to snow and sent him to Luoyue Peak, claiming they wished to apprentice him to Immortal Venerable Chuhan. He glanced at the jade bones, offered a few words of advice, and had the child returned to his family.

"Three hundred and fifty years ago, a mortal appeared in Langfeng City who bore an eighty-percent resemblance to you. The Lord of Langfeng City took the child in and wrote a letter to Xie Chuhan, hoping to trade for spiritual herbs and artifacts. He only replied, 'The lives of Langfeng City are the responsibility of its Lord,' and never paid it any mind again.

"There have been three or four such incidents. Only this time, he kept you. Furthermore, your scattered soul remains unfound. Once he realizes that his sense of familiarity is not a product of his inner demon, he will sooner or later realize the coincidence. Sometimes, even I wonder—if not for the singular thought of finding and resurrecting you that has sustained him for these past thousand years, he might never have survived the repeated onslaughts of his inner demons."

An Wuxue lowered his eyes.

*Why must you insist on finding me and resurrecting me, Junior Brother?*

*What good would it do to find me?*

*And to develop an inner demon because of it.*

He had nothing to say about this inner demon. Having abandoned him for the sake of the Dao, he should have followed that path to the end. Why be like this now...

Seeing Qin Wei still sitting there, he asked, "Has his inner demon been completely suppressed?"

"I suppose so... He and his inner demon have been tormenting each other for a thousand years. This current level of flare-ups is considered routine."

"—A thousand years? Because of... me?"

"Yes," Qin Wei said solemnly. "If you want to be precise, it isn't quite a thousand years. It was the eight hundred years after you... fell. Aside from when he had to act, he remained in seclusion in the Frost Sea. It was only two hundred years ago that the inner demon was completely rooted out. And now, just two hundred years later, because your soul fragments can no longer be sensed in the Bramble River, the inner demon has resurfaced."

Eight hundred years.

Ha.

It hadn't even taken Xie Zhefeng eight hundred years to ascend to immortality, and the light of the Chuhan sword had pierced his heart in but a single instant. If the version of him from the previous life were sitting here, he would likely be overwhelmed with a complex mix of emotions.

"After ascending to immortality, why did the inner demon take eight hundred years to suppress?"

Qin Wei shook his head. "Xie Chuhan never speaks of it to us. Qi Xun and I only knew he had an inner demon because he required me to take charge of Luoyue Peak whenever he had a flare-up, while Qi Xun went to investigate matters related to you. That is how we found out. Shangguan Lele does not even know of this..."

An Wuxue frowned.

Kun-kun raised its head from his lap. "Woooo..."

Kun-kun was a Miasma Beast with the innate ability to suppress inner demons. It had likely helped Xie Zhefeng a great deal over the past millennium and might have known the reasons behind it all. But spirit beasts could not speak in human tongues; no matter how much it knew, it could not tell him.

"A-Xue—"

"Elder Qin," he said in a low voice, "I have already told you, I am not the A-Xue of whom you speak. The A-Xue you know fell beneath the gates of Luoyue Peak a thousand years ago. When he broke through the siege of the myriad sects to reach those gates, you neither stopped him nor aided him, but told him that from then on, life and death were of no consequence."

"I hope you remember those words."

Qin Wei looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He froze for a long time, his mouth opening, his gaze gradually dimming.

He could only say, "Young... Young Master Su, are you worried about Xie Chuhan’s inner demon?"

"He is the only Changsheng Immortal in the world. If his inner demon goes out of control, do you intend to trigger another Immortal Calamity?"

An Wuxue let out a cynical laugh, his expression full of exhaustion. He continued, "There is a furnace-tripod mark on Su Xue that links to Xie Zhefeng’s aura. I still need to find him. He is not at Luoyue; where has he gone?"

"Back then, he sensed your soul fragments in the Bramble River, and because you... mentioned the Heavenly Pillar when you fell, he has spent these years either searching the Bramble River for you or scouring both realms for clues related to the Heavenly Pillar. Recently, he discovered your soul fragments had vanished from the Bramble River. Qi Xun has been there ever since. Now that the matters of the Cloud Sword Sect and Zhaoshui City have been resolved, he has gone to the Bramble River to find Qi Xun."

-

Bramble River.

The area was sealed off by immortal cultivators of the Lihuo Sect. Qi Xun stood amidst the thickets of thorns, a formation swirling around him. He kept his eyes closed for a long time before reopening them, his face showing signs of disappointment.

Still nothing.

Still no trace of A-Xue’s soul fragments.

Soul fragments originated from obsession; they either dissipated into the vast heavens and earth when the spirit could no longer hold on, or they dissolved once the obsession was satisfied.

What about A-Xue?

Did he no longer have any attachment to this world?

Qi Xun disheartenedly retracted the formation. In the distance, a figure in white descended from the air, immortal power stirring a gentle breeze.

"Xie Chuhan," he said, "have you resolved the matter of the soul-stealing infiltrators on Luoyue Peak?"

Xie Zhefeng did not speak.

The Changsheng Immortal’s divine sense spread out. The divine sense struggled to expand in the Bramble River, but he searched bit by bit. Just like the past thousand years, he found nothing—neither An Wuxue’s soul fragments nor the Heavenly Pillar that An Wuxue had mentioned existed in the Bramble River before his death.

He slowly opened his eyes.

"That matter is settled," he said. "It has some connection to the recent crisis in Zhaoshui."

"How is your inner demon? If something goes wrong with it, A-Xue would be angry if he were still alive."

Xie Zhefeng was silent for a moment, then continued from his own previous thought: "Spending any more time in the Bramble River is a futile effort. If you trust me, go to Zhaoshui on my behalf."

Qi Xun, who had been waving his folding fan, paused. "Can the Immortal Venerable speak like a human being? What does that mean? I help you because those matters concern A-Xue; I am not an errand boy for your Luoyue Peak! Didn't you just return from Zhaoshui City? Why send me back there?"

Xie Zhefeng reached out, opened his palm, and with a flicker of spiritual power, a scroll appeared in his hand. He gave it a light shake, and the scroll unfurled, revealing the portrait painted upon it.

Qi Xun blurted out, "A-Xue..."

He paused, then shook his head. "No. It is not him."

The person in the portrait was very similar to An Wuxue, but the expression was dull, lacking any vitality—entirely devoid of the spirit and charm that defined An Wuxue.