Editor: chestnutwhale
The next time Jiang Yinghe saw Chang Ye, he was wearing an ornate black mask that covered half of his face. The portion that remained visible was breathtaking to behold, like a vivid peony blossom.
The black-haired youth carefully packed their belongings and was now waiting obediently for his Shizun beside the front desk. He had not expressed even a single complaint or question about the months of travelling on foot.
Jiang Yinghe was touched, this little disciple of his was such a sweet and clever boy.
He noticed that the third progress bar on the system’s display had finally unlocked. His mood improved as he thought about how he was one step closer to returning home. He reached out to a hand to Chang Ye.
Chang Ye turned his head and called out, “Shizun.”
He then stared at the snow white hand that was holding his.
The sun was just beginning to climb into the sky, so a multitude of rainbow-coloured rays shone down on the two. There was a faint fragrance in the air. Chang Ye was like a young pup who had just woken up, imprinting the other’s scent deeply into his mind.
They arrived in the southern province where Peng Lai resided four months later.
Crossing the boundary into sect territory, a green-clothed youth jumped down from his rocky perch once he caught sight of Jiang Yinghe. He hurried to greet the elder, “Congratulations on the Xianjun’s successful return from seclusion. Sect Master Zhou anticipated your arrival and sent this disciple to attend to you. This one is…..?”
Chang Ye seemed to be sixteen or seventeen at most, but he was unusually tall. It was often hard to discern a cultivator’s true age based only on appearance.
“He is this master’s newest disciple.” Jiang Yinghe introduced concisely. He placed a comforting hand on Chang Ye’s shoulder and guided him through the defensive formations surrounding the sect.
After emerging from the concealment arrays, the scenery before them suddenly changed. Chang Ye tightened his grip on Jiang Yinghe’s hand before gradually relaxing.
Jiang Yinghe wanted him to become more comfortable in this new environment, so they took a more scenic route back to Qing Jing Peak. All the disciples along the way greeted him respectfully. The news that Xuan Wei Xianjun exited seclusion with a little disciple in tow soon spread across Peng Lai.
Qing Jing Peak had not changed much from when he had left. The spiritual cranes were idly resting by the entrance. Jiang Yinghe sensed someone’s presence when he opened the main doors to his residence. He looked up to see Xiao Yun-shidi seated beside the sword mantle with a long face.
Xiao Yun-shidi had changed a lot in the past century. There were even some silver strands in his once inky-black hair, as if he had exhausted himself with worry recently.
Jiang Yinghe raised his eybrows, “Shidi, you…”
Yun Buxiu only realized he had an audience when he heard his voice. He paused, then rushed over, “Shixiong ahhhhhh!!! My life is so hard–”
Jiang Yinghe did not react. He caught the other person and held him up by his shirt collar. “What happened?”
Xiao Yun-shidi became more depressed by the ease with which he was caught. He let out a long breath, “Shixiong, Li Huanhan and Qin Jun have both broken through to the Nascent Soul stage.”
Even Jiang Yinghe was surprised by this. He scrunched his brows, “How fast.”
Before he entered seclusion, he left a bottle of blood for Jun-er. Who would have thought that by the time he returned he would have made this much progress.
“Not only that.” Yun Buxiu said, aggrieved, “The two of them insist on leaving Peng Lai to go on excursions all the time. Your first disciple is obsessed with training and only comes back to dump his loot in the Qing Jing treasury! The second disciple is on a demon killing spree and recently hunted down an evil sea dragon to get its pearl to use as a light for your room! I feel more and more like my status as their shishu has been dragged through the mud and marginalized…Hey, who’s this?”
Yun Buxiu stared at the half-masked Chang Ye, then at his unreadable and aloof shixiong. He choked out, “Could this be…your…..”
“My little disciple.” Jiang Yinghe let go of him to stroke Chang Ye’s head.
Yun Buxiu dusted himself out of habit while looking at this so-called ‘little disciple’. He suddenly had a very bad premonition.
“…Shixiong.”
Jiang Yinghe: “?”
“If I’m not mistaken, Li Huanhan should be back soon.”
While Jiang Yinghe was processing his words, his Xiao Yun-shidi had already escaped in the flash of an eye by turning into a stream of light. What made him run away like the hounds of hell were on his heels?”
Li Huanhan was a warm person that cared greatly for his fellow sect members. He was also an attentive instructor to his shidi, which is a good thing for Chang Ye.
Just as Jiang Yinghe was lost in his thoughts, Chang Ye who stood a few steps away felt a deadly killing intent directed at him, intense enough to send a shiver down his spine.
Chang Ye turned to look at the entrance. At the same time, a blood-red longsword emitting a horrifying aura flew through the doors and embedded itself deeply into the ground before him. It could almost be mistaken for a demonic instrument.
But Chang Ye could sense that this sword had already been disguised and definitely did not look like this to Jiang Yinghe’s eyes. Otherwise that person would never have allowed such an object to appear on Qing Jing Peak.
He raised his head to see a red eyed man in dark clothing appear before him. His eyes only had room for his Shizun.
Only during pauses in his conversation with Jiang Yinghe did this bloody demon glare at him with a gaze filled with bloodlust, wrath and endless envy.
Like a river of magma underneath a layer of ice.
Chang Ye felt his throat tighten. The reincarnated soul in his vessel slowly opened its eyes to reveal the ancient beast within.
He smiled thinly at the demon hiding his true nature before him.
—-
It rained the night Jiang Yinghe returned.
Huanhan remained unchanged after a hundred years. He offered to show Chang Ye to his room like the good shixiong he was. Now that Chang Ye had been accepted into the sect, it would be good for him to become more independent to focus on cultivation.
The rhythmic pitter-patter of the rain brought about a sense of drowsiness. Jiang Yinghe took out the novels he had collected over the years from his personal dimension and began to reread them.
He had nothing else to do. There were no smartphones, computers or internet here, so life was much more simple.
Jiang Yinghe only glanced at a few words before noticing a new book resting on the jade table. He examined it out of curiosity. It must have been left here by Yun Buxiu. He casually read out the title.
‘My Days in the Cultivation World being Pampered by Three Powerful Lovers’.
…The style looked familiar.
Somewhat dazed, Jiang Yinghe flipped to the first page. The system that had been hibernating suddenly exclaimed with audible excitement in its computer-generated voice, “Yes! Just my cup of tea!”
Jiang Yinghe coughed, “You guys like these kinds of books?”
System: “…Then what do you want to read about? Distance learning? How to become a good shizun?”
Jiang Yinghe thought about it for a moment and nodded, “If it can be of use to me, I don’t mind taking a look.”
He continued to flip through the book. It seemed like a dramatic love story. Who knew that Yun Buxiu’s tastes were like those of a schoolgirl from Earth? Is this how they did things in the cultivation world?
Jiang Yinghe paused on the last page.
Blue lines lined the page, and gold ink announced in flowing strokes: ‘Hundred Year Ranking of Notable Cultivators’.
This page was folded and began from the bottom. Jiang Yinghe trusted his intuition and went straight for the innermost section after glancing at a few names.
To break through to the Nascent Soul stage in such a short time, this kind of rare genius was definitely included in this list, and quite near the top. Maybe even in the first three spots.
Jiang Yinghe opened the paper up completely with anticipation. His disciples were both here, with Li Huanhan at number 2 and Qin Jun at number 5. Their names were outlined in red.
Jiang Yinghe was surprised by this, he saw that the short description beside Li Huanhan’s name read: ‘Under the tutelage of Xuan Wei Xianjun, he is a fully fledged Nascent Soul cultivator. A rare genius that has a disregard for the living and is completely devoid of kindness. He has no fate with the Dao1与大道无缘 – he’s being discriminated against by uppity cultivators due to his heavenly demon physique, and so his ranking was purposely lowered.’
Jiang Yinghe felt his heart go cold at the last sentence. His eyes traced over the first part again before moving on to Qin Jun’s entry.
The description beside his name read: ‘Under the tutelage of Xuan Wei Xianjun, he is an early stage Nascent Soul cultivator. A rare genius who is arrogant and easily resorts to extreme violence. His body is weakened by miasma and he is not expected to live past the middle levels. He has no fate with the Dao, and so his ranking was purposely lowered.’
Jiang Yinghe’s good mood was gone. He closed the book and deeply sighed, “….How can people that talented and hard-working have no fate with the Dao?”
He heard soft footsteps approaching through the rain and looked out the window.
The youth took off his wet cloak and quickly climbed under his Shizun’s blanket, just like he used to do on every chilly night when they were returning to Peng Lai.
“Chang Ye,” Jiang Yinghe said with exasperation, “you can’t sleep with Shizun anymore.”
The ball wrapped in the blanket wriggled a bit before a head popped up from between Jiang Yinghe’s arms. The teen’s eyes were black and shiny, appearing pitiful and pleading.
“Shizun, I’m still kind of nervous.” Chang Ye blinked, “And Li-shixiong is so scary.”
Jiang Yinghe stroked his hair and thought of the prejudice many held against those with the heavenly demon physique. He sighed, “Huanhan is actually very nice. Don’t be too concerned with appearances.”
After hearing this from Jiang Yinghe, Chang Ye had a new suspicion about that demon’s scheme: was he planning to deceive Shizun into becoming his cultivation partner in order to use him as a furnace?
His thoughts coincided exactly with Qin Jun’s. They could only think the worst of each other.
Chang Ye shifted to reveal the wounds caused by a sword on his forearms. He said in a wronged tone, “Shizun, Li-shixiong hits too hard. Can you blow on it for me…..”
His eyes were open and clear, like they were from a spring of innocence.
Author’s Corner
Don’t ask. They all think that they’re the kindest one and the others are scheming bastards.
