Chapter 42

A snow-lotus sword mark suddenly emerged between Xie Zhefeng's brows.

His gaze fell upon An Wuxue's face. His dark pupils were deep and void, his expression bewildered, yet tinged with a profound sorrow.

He stiffened his body, the malevolent gleam in his eyes flickering with the blackness entwined within the snow-lotus sword mark, only to suppress it instantly.

The inner demon, firmly imprisoned within his sea of consciousness, stirred slightly, and a voice identical to his own resounded once more in the depths of his mind.

"Why did you stop calling out?"

"Weren't you hoping he is Senior Brother?"

"Ah, you are afraid. You are afraid he is Senior Brother! If Suxue is Senior Brother, you dare not recall everything that happened between you and Suxue before, and you dare not face the fact that he is unwilling to acknowledge you!"

*Shut up.*

He said in his sea of consciousness.

That face, identical to his Senior Brother's, appeared before him with a smile, just like in his memories when Senior Brother used to hold his sword and watch him practice spells with a smile.

The inner demon sneered, "You still hope Suxue is Senior Brother! You hope Senior Brother comes back, you hope Senior Brother is alive, you hope—"

Xie Zhefeng closed his eyes.

All sounds of the inner demon dissolved within the Heart-Cleansing Incantation.

He calmed himself slightly, then opened his eyes once more.

Suxue's smiling visage immediately came into view.

With the silence restored in his sea of consciousness, an abrupt emptiness took hold.

A searing pain gripped his heart.

It felt as though ten thousand arrows had pierced through his heart, or as if he were being consumed by roaring flames and frozen by biting ice.

If Senior Brother were still here...

If Senior Brother were standing right before him...

His thoughts paused.

Qin Wei claimed Suxue was not An Wuxue, and Qi Xun had gone to Zhaoshuishi to trace Suxue's karma, having yet to return.

No matter what, at this very moment, Suxue could not be Senior Brother.

Suxue was simply Suxue.

Being induced by the inner demon to treat Suxue as Senior Brother was like draining an entire jar of immortal wine—one became so intoxicated and immersed that it would be nearly impossible to struggle free if one weren't careful.

Even so, the pain of sobriety brought Xie Zhefeng far more peace of mind than such indulgence ever could.

"Whatever unbecoming behavior I displayed earlier," he said to Suxue, and also to himself, "was driven by my inner demon and perhaps not my true intent. Since you are already aware..."

His voice grew colder.

"...do not test my bottom line again."

Upon hearing these words, An Wuxue wore a faint smile and took a step back, widening the distance between himself and Xie Zhefeng.

He had been holding his breath all along, not daring to betray his panic, and only now did he quietly let out a sigh of relief.

In truth, he was even more flustered than Xie Zhefeng.

Every single utterance of "Junior Brother" could shatter Xie Zhefeng's composure, and even more so, awaken the biting chill of the Chuhan sword light.

If Xie Zhefeng were to truly answer him with "Senior Brother"...

He would likely turn tail and flee regardless of the consequences!

Steadying his expression, he said slowly, "How could I possibly have the audacity to test the Immortal Lord's bottom line? With a single word from the Immortal Lord, the Peak Master standing by the door earlier had to obediently go through the Cangu Tower despite cultivating to the Crossing Tribulation stage, and I certainly don't wish to—"

To enter the Cangu Tower again and suffer.

He hurriedly cut himself off, pivoting his words: "—lose my life in the Cangu Tower."

Xie Zhefeng seemed unwilling to discuss the matter further. With a cold expression, he cut straight to the point: "I had intended to completely eradicate my inner demon before bringing you to Beiming, but the situation in Beiming is urgent and brooks no delay. Tomorrow, I shall still send an avatar to walk abroad. Given the current special circumstances and your level of cultivation, following my avatar into Beiming may not be safe."

This played right into An Wuxue's hands.

He seized the opportunity to ask, "Is Beiming... very dangerous right now? Although I heard the Immortal Lord mention earlier that Beiming's city gates are sealed and it has to do with turbid qi, I have never been to Beiming and am unfamiliar with its ways..."

"Perhaps."

"...Perhaps?"

Could Shangguan Liaoliao's voice transmission not have made it clear why the Beiming sword had been invaded by turbid qi?!

"The voice transmission consisted of only a few words," Xie Zhefeng said. "It was likely the only voice transmission talisman that could barely be sent out under a sealed city. Under such circumstances, the dangers within Beiming will only be many, not few."

"I am telling you this because I promised to bring you into Beiming. Whether you go or not, decide for yourself."

Having said that, he no longer looked at An Wuxue, averted his gaze, and walked outward.

"Immortal Lord!"

Xie Zhefeng turned his head slightly.

Having suppressed the turmoil of his inner demon, the snow-lotus sword mark between his brows faded. As he glanced sideways, he seemed to force his gaze to grow cold before looking at An Wuxue.

"I am going to Beiming."

Xie Zhefeng paused slightly, gave a slight nod, withdrew his gaze, and said nothing more.

He continued, "Yet I heard the Immortal Lord say just now that you haven't had time to eradicate your inner demon and can only continue traveling with an avatar... You have been in secluded cultivation for so long; I thought the inner demon had already been rooted out. How could it...?"

He put on a worried expression of absolute incomprehension. "You are a Changsheng Immortal, yet even you can spawn such a stubborn inner demon?"

He tried his best to feign innocent perplexity, but unfortunately, Xie Zhefeng was truly difficult to deceive. Once the conversation ceased to involve his Senior Brother from their past lives, this man remained the Chuhan Immortal Lord accustomed to standing upon the highest peaks.

Only to hear Xie Zhefeng articulate each word distinctly: "Are you trying to probe the origin of my inner demon?"

An Wuxue was startled.

"I have only ever heard that cultivators refine both body and soul until both are consummate, and only after their state of mind becomes completely translucent can they ascend to immortality. I have never heard of someone ascending to immortality still harboring an inner demon..."

Xie Zhefeng's face darkened, and he uttered not a single word.

An Wuxue couldn't help but reflect that perhaps he had been too eager, trying to fish for information right after bluffing his way through.

He mustn't arouse Xie Zhefeng's suspicions once more...

Fortunately, a voice transmission talisman flying outside the room appeared with exceptional timeliness.

Xuan Fang had arrived.

Xie Zhefeng still had matters to instruct Xuan Fang on, so he didn't linger. With a swirl of spiritual energy around him, he vanished from before An Wuxue's eyes in the blink of an eye.

The moment he left, Yun Wan hurried inside: "Master Su, are you alright? I saw the Immortal Lord dragging you in just now..."

"It's nothing."

"Whenever anything happens, you always say it's nothing," Yun Wan said, unusually piqued. "You only ever say 'It's fine,' 'It's nothing,' or 'It doesn't matter'!"

An Wuxue: "..."

Feeling somewhat guilty, he hastily sat down at the side, rested his head on his arms over the table, and murmured, "So sleepy, I'm going to rest for a while."

Yun Wan: "..."

-

That night.

The top floor of the Cangu Tower.

A thousand years had passed since the immortal calamity, and all the great demons of the Crossing Tribulation stage had perished beneath the Chuhan sword light. The last person imprisoned on the top floor of the Cangu Tower had been Yun Yao two hundred years ago.

And at this very moment, in this desolate place where even birds refused to roost, a single person was locked away.

Qin Wei gripped the chains binding his arms with all his might. His entire body was frozen completely numb, leaving him able to feel only the cold that penetrated straight into his soul.

It was far too cold.

Ever since he had entered the Dao through Bigu, he had possessed the protection of spiritual energy, and over a thousand years, he had forgotten what cold felt like.

Yet these past two short months felt as though they were meant to make up for a thousand missing years of winter. The hundred days, which in the past would have passed in the blink of an eye during closed-door meditation, dragged out with excruciating length under the tug of torment.

It felt as though someone were carving his flesh with ice blades, day after day, without a single moment of rest.

At times, when he could no longer hold on and his soul threatened to drift into eternal sleep, he would suddenly remember—how had Ah Xue endured it back then?

He still had disciples waiting outside, he still had Xuan Fang keeping watch over life and death for him, and he knew this was merely his own hundred-day punishment; once it ended, he would still be himself.

Yet Ah Xue had been different back then.

How had Ah Xue endured it?

Why didn't Ah Xue hold even a single trace of resentment?

How he wished Ah Xue hated him.

"Clack..."

"Clack, clack..."

Hearing the unhurried, leisurely footsteps, Qin Wei didn't even need to raise his head to know who had come.

"What is it?" he rasped, his voice hoarse. "Has the Immortal Lord come to kick me while I'm down?"

Xie Zhefeng stopped in front of him.

"Something has happened in Beiming. Shangguan Liaoliao has sealed the forty-nine cities of Beiming, and after sending a cry for help, there has been no further news of her."

Qin Wei was stunned. "...What?"

"I merely came to inform you of this. Once you finish this willful, useless exertion and leave the tower, go with Xuan Fang to temporarily manage Luoyue, and await my word."

Having said that, Xie Zhefeng turned and made to leave.

Qin Wei let out a scoff of laughter.

"Willful, useless exertion?" His breath was as thin as gossamer, and every word he spoke made his internal organs tremble in the cold, yet his tone carried a hint of malicious delight. "At least I am capable of such willful, useless exertion. Two hundred years ago, when you emerged from seclusion after eradicating your inner demon, didn't you also want to perform this useless exertion? It's just that you will never be able to do it."

Xie Zhefeng's expression abruptly turned chillingly austere.

"Put that way, it's a good thing my talent wasn't good enough; I haven't managed to ascend to immortality to this day."

"Ah, ugh—" Qin Wei laughed too wildly, forgetting his current plight, and violently jarred his body, causing the cold to shatter his limbs for a fleeting instant.

Twisting his face, he insisted on speaking further: "I was always outperformed by you and Ah Xue in cultivation, but I've finally won against you this once. Now I know how cold the Cangu Tower is, but what a pity, what a pity, Xie Chuhan, you will never be able to—"

He abruptly choked.

A layer of frost had already formed over his throat, and now a fresh layer of frost condensed upon it, imbued with spiritual energy that locked his throat tight, rendering him completely unable to utter a sound.

Xie Zhefeng withdrew his hand and said in a low voice, "I indeed will never know how cold the Cangu Tower is."

The two realms required a Changsheng Immortal to hold the fort; he could only ever be the unyielding peak standing tall upon Luoyue Peak.

"You reap what you sow, and I even more so."

He deserved to find no hope, yet could neither live in peace nor die a clean death. He was denied even the release of a quick end, forced to endure day after day without end.

Mortals all yearned for immortals to share the longevity of heaven and perish only in great calamities, but in a world where one could not find Senior Brother, it had instead become an endless punishment.

-

The next day.

As dawn broke, An Wuxue was already waiting outside the Frost Sea gates.

A yawn escaped him, and at the sound of rushing wind from behind, he instantly snapped to attention and caught Kunkun, who came hurtling toward him.

The moment he scooped Kunkun into his arms, Xie Zhefeng arrived closely behind, watching him familiarly cradle the creature.

That man had once again manifested an avatar, holding the Chunhua Sword in his hand just as he had on the trip to the Yunjian Sect.

An Wuxue: "..."

He stroked Kunkun's head and didn't let go—after all, Xie Zhefeng had long known that Kunkun liked to get close to him.

He asked, "Does the Immortal Lord intend to bring Kunkun to Beiming City as well?"

"It is accustomed to helping me suppress my inner demon. Bringing it along will prevent a recurrence of the inner demon loss of control like the one in Zhaoshuishi."

"Wuwu!"

An Wuxue lowered his gaze. "The situation in Beiming sounds so severe; are the Immortal Lord and I the only ones entering Beiming?"

—Naturally not, but not many either.

Aside from a few brief words, the cry for help sent by Shangguan Liaoliao included a pass for entering Beiming while under lockdown; simply holding that Ends of the Earth Talisman allowed one to step directly into the barrier.

However, the Ends of the Earth Talisman could only bring in a very limited number of people—just a few at most. Clearly, Shangguan Liaoliao feared that throwing the barrier wide open while the outside was completely unprepared would lead to critical oversights.