Chapter 60

Xie Zhefeng remained silent for a long time.

The gaze that man had cast upon him seemed to have withdrawn entirely; he stood stiffly to the side, devoid of all sound.

For a long, long while.

"You do not like it," his Junior Brother said. "I know that now."

How utterly absurd!

If he knew, he should leave at once.

An Wuxue lowered his gaze, able to see only the hem of Xie Zhefeng's robes.

His breath was turbulent, his heart palpitating endlessly, yet he felt no physical discomfort.

Within his body, his meridians were also surging with unruly spiritual energy, and that inexplicable sense of urgency stemmed from this very source.

What was happening to him...?

Amidst his bewilderment, his gaze wandered, unexpectedly colliding with Xie Zhefeng's restless eyes.

The man was even more flustered than he was, and actually managed to look away a step ahead of him.

An Wuxue: "...?"

He blinked, a momentary emptiness blooming in the core of his heart.

What on earth was wrong with Xie Zhefeng?

Ever since he ascended the Frost Sea once more, Xie Zhefeng's inner demon had already relapsed—yet now that his Junior Brother had suppressed his inner demon, why did he seem somewhat...

In short, he did not resemble the Chuhan Sword Immortal from the final moments of his memories in his previous life.

Perhaps sensing the weariness of his soul, Kunkun curled up on his shoulder, using the innate spiritual energy of a miasma beast to soothe his spirit.

With his head lowered, he realized that even his outer robes had been changed. A clean silk quilt lay draped over his body, though it had slipped slightly due to the movement of his abrupt awakening.

Xie Zhefeng stood to the side, towering overhead, able to look down and take in his appearance at a glance.

Much like when he had first awakened in the guise of Suxue, and that man had stood by his bedside in the dead of night, gazing down at him...

He truly disliked being treated thus.

Frowning deeply, he spoke in a low voice, "Immortal Venerable."

"...Mn?"

"I am plagued by nightmares, and my mind is ill at ease. It is truly difficult for me to ponder many things right now. If the Immortal Venerable wishes to ask about what transpired when Zhao End alone seized me, or has any other lingering doubts, might you first allow me to rest in solitude for a moment?"

He wished nothing more than for Xie Zhefeng to leave immediately. "I shall seek the Immortal Venerable shortly."

Yet Xie Zhefeng said, "I did not come to ask you about..."

The man's words trailed off.

"It will still take Pei Qian another day or two to transport us near the First City using the power of the sword array, so there is no rush to leave just yet. I shall be right next door," Xie Zhefeng said, his voice slightly hoarse. "If you have rested well, you may come find me."

In his dreams, An Wuxue was the heartless and emotionless Junior Brother; upon waking, he faced Xie Zhefeng, a man he could neither see through nor wished to see through even a millennium later. At this moment, his mind remained in complete disarray.

He nodded hastily and said, "Very well."

Only then did Xie Zhefeng turn around.

An Wuxue lifted his gaze slightly, watching the man's retreating back, and caught sight of the fingertips trembling faintly beneath those sleeves.

What was this...?

He should have been unconscious for a day or two by now; had the pain of the split soul not yet subsided?

"Immortal Venerable!"

Just as Xie Zhefeng's hand reached for the door, An Wuxue called out to him.

Daylight poured in from beyond the threshold, casting fine, fragmented shadows upon the man and outlining his tall, crane-like posture.

Standing against the light, An Wuxue could not clearly discern Xie Zhefeng's expression, knowing only that the man had turned back with immense swiftness.

"What is it?"

An Wuxue reached up to pluck Kunkun from his shoulder and held the creature up in his palms.

"Wuwu?"

"The Immortal Venerable previously suffered damage from splitting his soul. As the Immortal Venerable's spiritual pet, the miasma beast excels at nourishing the spirit. I should not keep it here simply because it enjoys clinging to me. It ought to remain by the Immortal Venerable's side to help soothe the pain of your split soul and suppress the relapse of your inner demon."

"You are... worrying about me?"

An Wuxue felt nothing amiss with this and spoke the honest truth: "Naturally."

"You—"

"The Immortal Venerable is currently the sole longevity immortal in the entire realm. Furthermore, whether from Zhao End's own words or from his memories, the perpetrators of the chaos in Beiming are all linked to the Turbid Immortals. The Immortal Venerable's safety now concerns both realms, and naturally takes precedence above all else."

Xie Zhefeng's tone seemed to dim in an instant: "I understand."

This tone did not befit a dignified Immortal Venerable addressing a captive of dubious origin.

An Wuxue found it all the more bizarre and uncanny in his heart.

Before he could process this realization, Xie Zhefeng had already turned back, scooped Kunkun from his hands, and after hesitating for yet another lingering moment, finally turned away and slowly departed.

The chamber door closed, once again shutting out the external light, drifting dust, and even severing the faint wisps of wind.

Silence returned to his ears, and with the complete disappearance of Xie Zhefeng's familiar yet repellent aura, his heart finally began to settle.

Suppressing everything from his dreams at last, An Wuxue gathered his focus to think deeply.

He closed his eyes and channeled his spiritual energy to circulate throughout his entire body, only to abruptly discover—he had somehow broken through to the Tribulation Stage while asleep!

Though it had not yet reached the half-step ascension realm of his past life, the Tribulation Stage differed vastly from all prior realms. The moment he manipulated his spiritual energy even slightly, he felt the sensations of his previous life rush back in full force.

He was well aware that the fortuitous opportunity left to him by Lou Shuiming had been digested, with a lingering layer remaining atop his meridians, awaiting only the tempering of those pathways to achieve a breakthrough.

The Tribulation Stage...

With his experience and techniques from his past life, even at the early Tribulation Stage, provided it wasn't Xie Zhefeng, he would no longer need to fight to the death against other Tribulation-stage cultivators.

Regardless of everything else, though ascension remained ethereal and elusive, reaching the Tribulation Stage meant he was one step closer to unsealing the puppet mark!

Yet breaking through to the Tribulation Stage was no ordinary feat; tempering one's meridians in a short span of time usually entailed excruciating bone-deep agony, yet he felt no discomfort whatsoever.

He merely felt profoundly tired.

It was a fatigue akin to having suffered pain, yet he could locate no site of injury.

Strange...

Closing his eyes, he scanned his entire body with divine sense, yet discovered no anomalies whatsoever.

With no other choice, An Wuxue temporarily set the matter aside. He changed out of the brocade immortal robes—which had undoubtedly been swapped for him by Xie Zhefeng—and donned the simple white garments he routinely kept on hand.

He sat up straight and began to meditate, stabilizing his new realm at the Tribulation Stage and regulating his meridians.

-

Outside the room.

After closing the door, Xie Zhefeng raised his hand and gave a gentle wave, leaving a protective barrier around the exterior to ensure An Wuxue's tranquility.

The moment the barrier settled, his brow twitched slightly, and he whirled around, launching a sword beam condensed entirely of spiritual energy.

That sword beam crossed the distance to the adjacent rooftop in the blink of an eye!

"Immortal Venerable! It's me!!"

Qiao Ting materialized out of thin air, finding the sharp edge of the sword beam hovering a mere inch before the center of his brow. Had it advanced by even a fraction of a moment, he would have perished on the spot.

Since Xie Zhefeng had struck with such precision, he had naturally recognized who was hiding upon the rooftop.

Having taught the intruder a minor lesson, he withdrew the sword beam and demanded coldly, "What are you doing here?"

Qiao Ting chuckled dryly, rolled down from the rooftop, and after finishing a formal, cupped-fist bow before Xie Zhefeng, said, "The crisis in the twenty-seven cities has temporarily eased, and there is nothing any of us can do about the perils of Beiming for now. My sister found some free time and wanted to talk to me, searching everywhere in the city for me. I had no desire to see her, and the Immortal Venerable and Suxue's quarters are the only place she wouldn't dare to approach, so I simply..."

"She wouldn't dare approach, yet you dared to come?"

Recalling that sword strike from moments ago, Qiao Ting felt a lingering trace of dread.

Even so, he straightened his expression and said, "Ever since I was born, both realms have said that the Chuhan Immortal Venerable is fair, impartial, and never slaughters the innocent indiscriminately. Furthermore, you are an immortal, yet you endured the cultivation of the Tribulation Stage to slip into Beiming in disguise just to investigate the crisis here, hiding your identity without ever putting on airs. No matter how I look at it, you don't seem like the kind of person who wouldn't even let me hide on a rooftop."

Xie Zhefeng merely stated, "Make no noise to disturb him."

"Of course!"

"And stay only on the rooftop."

Qiao Ting: "...Understood."

Qiao Ting turned, preparing to vault back up onto the tiles to claim his hard-earned rooftop sanctuary.

However, Xie Zhefeng called out to him once more: "Wait."

"Immortal Venerable?"

"Since your sister is looking for you, why are you hiding from her?"

Qiao Ting froze.

He had never expected such domestic trivialities to issue from the lips of the man before him. He stood in a daze for several dozen breaths before replying, "When she looks for me, it's nothing more than an apology. She apologizes for herself, and she apologizes on behalf of the late City Lord Qiao. Then she breaks down in tears, pouring out her guilt to me, reminiscing about the City Lord and our mother. This exact routine has repeated itself numerous times over the past few days, and I simply cannot bear it."

Xie Zhefeng's expression stiffened.

"Since she regrets the past and wishes to explain herself to you, do you not wish to mend fences with her?"

Qiao Ting scratched his head. "She can feel her guilt, and I can refuse to reconcile. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"I know she was caught up in those events back then, and how she acted was her choice. But the same applies to me; I am willing to understand her hardships and acknowledge her remorse, which is why I hold no resentment."

"However, lacking resentment does not mean we must reconcile."

Xie Zhefeng's gaze darkened, and the complexion that was already looking somewhat ill from bearing An Wuxue's pain turned even paler.

"Why does the Immortal Venerable look so pale? Were you depleted while repairing the sword array or setting up the barrier earlier?"

With a flick of his sleeve, Xie Zhefeng directly banished him back onto the rooftop.

Qiao Ting: "..."

He opened his mouth to speak, only to see Xie Zhefeng turn and step into another chamber, closing the door behind himself with a wave of spiritual energy as he sat cross-legged in meditation.

He muttered under his breath, "Looks like he went to meditate and recuperate..."

-

Early evening.

An Wuxue awoke from his meditation.

His entire body felt light and refreshed, weary yet vigorous, his cultivation realm entirely harmonious.

The chaotic thoughts from earlier had gradually settled during his meditation as well.

Consequently, he found the situation increasingly bizarre.

It wasn't as though he had never cultivated before—surging from the Inanition Stage to the Tribulation Stage in the span of a mere year inflicted a degree of meridian strain far surpassing that of ordinary cultivators, yet achieving a steady breakthrough within a few days without the slightest suffering—why was that?

He clearly felt profoundly fatigued, as though he had endured pain, yet could locate no trace of injury upon himself.

And then there was Xie Zhefeng.

Xie Zhefeng was acting completely abnormal.

Frowning in deep contemplation, he rose and walked outside.

The moment he stepped through the door, he discovered that an icy protective barrier hovered across the firmament, enclosing the entire city. Frost wove through the firelight, and he could faintly discern that the city below was brightly illuminated with lanterns.

A soundproof barrier had originally enveloped his quarters; stepping beyond its perimeter instantly brought the clamor of the bustling streets to his ears, accompanied even by the faint strains of song and dance.

"Suxue!" Qiao Ting abruptly vaulted down from the rooftop.

An Wuxue: "..."

"You're awake? Oh, you—?"

An Wuxue nodded.

"Congratulations. Who would have thought that amidst Zhao End's villainy and the trial of the sword array, you would serendipitously break through to the Tribulation Stage."

The neighboring door swung open, and Xie Zhefeng walked out.

The man gazed at him through the night, his eyes profound and dark.

Kunkun fluttered over to his side: "Wuwu..."

An Wuxue raised a hand, naturally cradling Kunkun into his embrace.

Qiao Ting explained, "The crisis in the twenty-seven cities has temporarily passed. The mortal populace lived in terror for far too long, and now that they can finally venture outside, they've prepared a night market for tonight. Have you ever been to Beiming before?"

An Wuxue was not surprised.

It was a traditional custom in Beiming to greet sorrow with joy; following major calamities with casualties, or in the wake of severe disasters, Beiming would instead host celebratory events to symbolize smooth and auspicious fortunes for the future.

So that was the source of the clamor he had heard.

"I..." He had indeed been to Beiming before.