Chapter 25

In the Guiyuan Sect,
Kong Ji was methodically changing Ye Hangzhou’s medicine, using a secret art to draw out some of the poisonous Red Waist insects from his body, and carefully sealing them into a jar.
The process was agonizing, but apart from the first day, when he was still unconscious, Ye Hangzhou never made a sound for the elders to hear. Not a single word about the pain.
“Hang in there a few more days. Your senior brother and sister have headed into the Dongyue Temple. I’m sure they’ll find the antidote.” Kong Ji, far more gentle than usual, offered rare comfort to the patient in bed as he packed up his medicines and went to leave.
Su Xingtin entered just then. Ye Hangzhou, pale and sickly, was staring distractedly out the window at drifting clouds.
He used to be the most lively, fidgety disciple, couldn’t sit still for even a breath, always in motion until forced into stillness. Now, stripped of both hands and feet, he could do nothing but lie in bed and gaze quietly at the sky beyond the window.
“Master, where’s Xiao Xue? I haven’t seen her at all.” Ye Hangzhou turned his head and asked when he saw his teacher arrive.
Su Xingtin coughed, avoiding the question.
Ye Hangzhou froze for a long time before finally catching on, eyes snapping wide. “No way. You mean… Xiao Xue went too?”
Su Xingtin said nothing, which was answer enough.
“But that’s crazy! Xiao Xue’s still a little kid. How can she go anywhere near somewhere as dangerous as the Dongyue Temple?” Ye Hangzhou braced himself upright with his remaining hand, nearly trying to sit up.
“She may be young, but now that she’s built her foundation, she’s truly one of us, a cultivator. She can’t be treated like a child anymore.” Su Xingtin pressed him gently back to bed. “Besides, no one is clearer or more determined than Xiao Xue. She chose this herself. As her master, I couldn’t force her to stay if her heart was already set.”
Ye Hangzhou was silent for a long time. At last, he lay back, closing his eyes.
As Su Xingtin reached the doorway, a voice called him back from the bed.
“Master,” the disciple said softly, “When I first came to the mountain, everyone was crying. I didn’t get it. This place was amazing, we got to be immortals. What could there possibly be to be sad about?”
“I didn’t have a home then, or a family.” He squeezed his eyes shut, voice low. “But now, I think I understand.”
In the courtyard outside, Kong Ji stopped Su Xingtin.
“One of the jars of Red Waist insects is missing. Yesterday I swear it was locked in the storeroom, but today, gone. That stuff is dangerous. Who had the nerve to sneak off with it?”
Su Xingtin considered. “There are no outsiders on Xiaoyao Peak.”
Realization dawned on Kong Ji; his eyes widened. “You mean, ?”
Someone from Su Xingtin’s own peak had been seriously wronged by people from Tianyan Sect, and notoriously protective as Su Xingtin was, he hadn’t even raised a fuss, just covered it up in silence.
So, he was planning to take things into his own hands. Makes sense. Negotiation between sects only ever ends in a slap on the wrist for the other side, never real justice. If your own disciple suffers like that, aren’t you going to make it up to them yourself?
Kong Ji narrowed his eyes, the knife-scar on his eyelid lending his face an extra fierceness.
“Huh. I didn’t think those two kids of yours would have such heavy hands. Was it that rascal Fu, or Miao going for revenge? Tch. I’ll play dumb this time, but if this all blows up and the sect leader starts looking for culprits, don’t drag me into it.”
Together they headed to the sect leader’s tranquil peak.
“No! I won’t allow it this time!” Ding Huirou was in the midst of a heated rant inside. “That secret realm is far too dangerous. Our disciples, do you know how much effort and time it takes to train just one? I can’t just stand by and watch any of them die in the Dongyue Temple!”
She spotted the Head of Xuandan Peak entering. “Why don’t we ask the Xuandan Peak Master? Since the Divine Path appeared, how many incidents have there been?”
Kong Ji paused, then admitted, “It’s true, things haven’t been good. Especially for the inner disciples, the casualties are alarmingly high. In fact, even higher than the outer disciples in some cases.”
The sect leader stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, simply gazing out at the auspicious mountains, purple mist curling on the breeze. After a long pause, he sighed.
Su Xingtin took a seat indoors, idly turning the clear “Heaven Egg” in his long hand, transparent jade world spinning over and over between his fingers. In the exquisite miniature realm inside, silvery flakes drifted, and three coins floated and sank, dancing unpredictably.
“Su Xingtin, you’re awfully quiet.” Ding Huirou called across the room. “You’ve barely got a handful of seedlings on Xiaoyao Peak, and if something happens to any one of them, are you honestly fine with it? Is your Dao heart really that solid, that nothing shakes you?”
“It’s not unwavering faith,” Su Xingtin replied, halting the coin’s spin in his hand as the three coins settled among the miniature mountains. “It’s… being too softhearted. That’s why I can’t bring myself to take on more disciples.”
“We cultivators, we seize the fate of heaven and earth for ourselves. That defies the natural order. Heaven’s way takes from the full, gives to the lacking. Demonic beasts, calamities, disasters, they’re all nature’s balance, reclaiming the energy we borrow from the world.”
He looked down at the coins, now settled in the tiny landscape. “If all we do is shelter them under our wings, how can we protect them their whole lives? As teachers, sooner or later, we have to let them go.”
Ding Huirou’s bluster faded. "Everyone knows that in theory. But if we could all really see that clearly, what’s the point of cultivating the Dao in the first place? If you’re so detached, why did you barge into the secret realm to drag your own disciple out?”
Su Xingtin lowered his lashes, silent. He slipped the Heaven Egg back into his sleeve.
Sect leader Danyang turned, his tone solemn. “Everyone, our spiritual cultivation world has enjoyed an era of peace for centuries. But no one knows when the next calamity will descend. It might be right around the corner. I think… it’s time for our disciples to face real trials and tempering.”
Ruins of the Dongyue Sacred Hall. Out near one of the Divine Path outposts,
Two men wandered aimlessly through the wilderness.
“Have you heard? Apparently the old masters are all getting ominous feelings, the next great catastrophe is almost here. But no one’s telling grunts like us.” One of them grumbled regretfully.
The other was turning a delicate white flower in his hand, eyeing it from all sides. “Exactly why we should grab every rare treasure we can and hit a new breakthrough, so we’ll actually survive it.”
The little white flower in his hand was pale and fragile, scentless and unremarkable at first glance. Only holding it did you sense the faintest trace of spiritual energy. He didn’t know its name, but in the end, a spirit herb from ancient godly ruins could only be valuable.
Not long ago, that little girl named Xiao Xue, just six years old, had handed him this very flower herself.
“Here, this is for you, Senior Brother.” The innocent, bright-eyed girl smiled as she held out the bloom, sunshine in her laughter. Even someone like Lu Yihong couldn’t help but feel a fleeting pang of guilt at the sight.
His companion joked, “Yihong, you’re a real piece of work. You killed her senior brother, and now her junior sister’s practically in tears with gratitude, giving you flowers.”
“Watch your mouth, man! You dare say that out loud?” Lu Yihong shot a guarded look around, lowering his voice. “If the Guiyuan Sect catches wind of this, we’re both dead meat.”
“Yeah, yeah. Relax. The view here’s wide open, nobody for miles, and you can hardly muster any spiritual power. Whose divine sense could possibly reach this far? Not even a Golden Core bigshot would have it easy in here.”
Far away from them, perched atop the shoulder of an ancient divine statue, stood a tiny “Golden Core bigshot.”
Her eyes shut, Mu Xue sent the barest thread of spiritual power out, linking herself to the quivering pale flower’s stem from afar.
Her cultivation was suppressed to almost nothing by divine might, but the gap between a Golden Core cultivator and a Foundation Establishment disciple was always vast.
A Foundation disciple needed to calm their mind, gather their true qi, send their senses out, and then carefully guide their power to move things.
But once you reached Golden Core, it all changed. Divine sense faded, the primordial spirit awoke, thought and will linked. Just a flicker of intent, and power flowed instantly to your command.
Even if both sides had only a shred of spiritual power left, a Golden Core cultivator whose spirit was crystal-clear could wield it ten times faster and better than any Foundation or Qi Condensation novice.
As for Mu Xue, reborn anew, her realm hadn't quite caught up, but her primordial spirit had long been sharpened to a blade. In her heart, she saw herself as the most qualified person on the whole Xiaoyao Peak to enter this temple.
She had the strength of a Golden Core cultivator, and… she alone could risk her life for the Path if she had to.
The flower Mu Xue gave Lu Yihong, called the Sincerity Blossom, was used for crafting messaging artifacts. It only grew in the Demon Spirit Realm and was almost unheard of in the Immortal Spirit Realm. In her previous life, Mu Xue had handled more Sincerity Blossoms than she could count, and knew all their secrets inside out.
As long as Lu Yihong still carried it, she could track his every move with ease.
Seated within her own Spirit Chamber, Mu Xue’s primordial spirit overheard the voices drifting in from afar.
“Yihong, you sure Ye Hangzhou’s really dead? Miao Hong’er and Fu Yun have shown up. Neither of those two are easy to deal with.”
“Hmph. Don’t worry. He’s lost an arm and a leg, dumped into Red Waist’s lair, he wouldn’t survive even if he were immortal. What’s Fu Yun going to do, pick up a corpse and haul it back?”
“You’re ruthless. That Ye Hangzhou really saw you as a brother, you know. He took the fall just to save you.”
“Ye Hangzhou is my brother, sure. But blame it on the Heavenly Infant Herb, too rare and too precious to pick. I had no choice. Cultivators defy fate; if you don’t look out for yourself, the heavens will wipe you out.”
“Ah, wait, what are you-!” One man’s voice suddenly broke into a terrified scream.
“Idiot. If I killed Ye Hangzhou, what makes you think I’d split the spirit grass with you?”
“Lu Yihong! May you die a miserable death!”
The man, blood-spattered, strolled along in the slanting afterglow of dusk.
By the path, a tiny girl crouched, digging intently at something on the ground.
“Well, if it isn’t Junior Sister Xiao Xue. What treasure have you found there?” The man, backlit by the sun, bent down and beamed at her.
Mu Xue looked up, eyes shining in surprise. “Oh! Senior Brother Lu!”
“I got lucky, I found a little bit of mithril. Shame it’s so small.” She stood up and showed him the tiny shard of mithril in her hand, but with the tip of her toe, she nudged a small tin doll beside her, slipping it out of sight behind her back.
Of course, Lu Yihong didn’t miss the move.
A speck of mithril wasn’t anything special. What was special was that this little kid had barely been at camp for a day, first she found a rare spirit flower, now a chunk of mithril? No one had luck that good.
“What’s that? Let me see?” Lu Yihong smiled, eyebrows raised, nodding at the tin doll.
“Um… but my Master said I can’t tell anyone.” The girl ducked her head, suddenly shy and anxious.
That only made Lu Yihong more certain: this thing, which looked like nothing but a child’s toy, had to hold secrets he’d never even guessed.
“How could I count as ‘anyone’? I’m as close to your Senior Brother Ye as real brothers get, he tells me everything. He says you’re the most obedient little sister in the world.”
“R-really? Then I guess I can tell you, Senior Brother…” The girl caved at once, impossible to resist a little coaxing. “My Master, Immortal Xingtin, gave it to me. It’s a puppet that can find treasure!”
At her words, the tiny tin puppet jerked to life, circling once around Mu Xue.
Here, most constructs driven by spiritual power were useless. But this toy-like tin man could move on its own, undeniably a real treasure.
If the person before him had been a Golden Core cultivator, Lu Yihong might have suspected she was steering the thing with clever tricks. But this was just a six-year-old kid, nothing to worry about.
“Seriously? Immortal Su gave you something this amazing?” The man’s lips curled in a sly grin as dusk cloaked the world, and a greedy gleam lit his eyes.
“Can you show me how it finds treasure? I’d really love to see.” Lu Yihong squatted beside Mu Xue, coaxing her gently.
“But…”
“I have a treasure too, you know.” Lu Yihong pulled out a bright green spirit plant, topped by a golden fruit the size of a peanut.
“Know what this is? Heavenly Infant, a key ingredient for Dragon-Tiger Pills, priceless. If you show me your puppet in action, this is yours. Sound good?”
"Really?" The girl’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
The tiny tin figure clattered and clicked as it led the way, winding left, weaving right, as if searching intently for lost treasure buried beneath the earth.
Lu Yihong’s heart soared. They’d ventured further than he’d dared hope, so far out, not a soul around. This must be fate’s blessing.
He glanced subconsciously at his little junior sister at his side. She met his eyes with a sweet, innocent smile.
Another naive little lamb, clueless and trusting. Just like her senior brother before her.
Even at the end, so grateful to the one swinging the axe.
Soon all these lambs would kneel at his feet, offering up their flesh and blood, paving his path to greatness.
The little tin man stopped, turning in a circle on the ground.
"Is it here?" Lu Yihong licked his lips and rolled up his sleeves. "Let’s see what fortune we unearth this time."
Tiny Mu Xue stood clapping a few steps away, no guard up at all. "Yeah, yeah! Come on, senior brother, dig! Let’s see what you find!"
Lu Yihong’s sword sheath worked like a spade, digging at record speed. Clunk, a metallic clang as the sheath struck something jar-like below. Delighted, he bent closer, only to see two or three crimson threads snake out of the dirt and shoot right into his arm and thigh. They vanished beneath his skin in a blink.
"Red... Red... Waist..." Lu Yihong’s face drained of color instantly. "How, how could there be Red Waist here?!"
"Yeah," a childish, innocent voice piped up, the pure-white lamb had spoken. "How did Red Waist worms end up here?"
"You? YOU! You set me up!" Lu Yihong jabbed a trembling finger at Mu Xue, eyes wild with rage.
"Maybe focus on survival first, senior brother. Red Waist is an ancient venom, nothing cures it. Hack off your arm now, you might still have a chance."
A wave of icy dread crashed over Lu Yihong.
He remembered what he’d told Ye Hangzhou, back when the Red Waist worms burrowed under his skin.
"Hurry, junior brother! The Red Waist is a fatal poison. Chop your arm now, you might make it, "
That junior brother had said not a word, just severed his poisoned limbs then and there. And Lu Yihong had shoved him straight into the Red Waist nest anyway.
Now, Karma had come full circle: just like the unlucky friend he’d once sneered at, he dove desperately for his sword, hacking off his own arm and leg through a flood of agony and tears.
So this is what poisoning feels like, the agony that tears the soul apart; this is what death tastes like, dreadful, hopeless. Lying in a pool of blood, Lu Yihong begged the person in front of him for mercy.
"Please... please have mercy, junior sister. Killing brings a heart-demon, it’ll wreck your Dao heart. Just let me go, let me live, please."
He was dying.
But the pretty little demon wrapped in lamb’s skin only watched him coldly, her words drifting past his despair,
"I grew up alone, no parents. Raised myself in this city’s darkest corners.
People either beat me bloody, or poison my food and water.
I never knew what it felt like to be cared for."
The demon ignored his pleas, rambling on about who-knew-what. Lu Yihong’s vision started to blur.
"But one day, suddenly, I ended up in a new place. And there, people were kind to me…”
At the city gates, that senior brother crouched down,
“Little junior sister, why aren’t you crying?”
A snowy dawn, on the town square,
“Want to learn some moves? I’ll teach you.”
Mountain peaks swaying, leaves whirling, the two of them flying wild,
“See that? That’s my junior sister Mu Xue. No one’s allowed to bully her.”
“You hurt the one who cherished me most, yet you beg for mercy? Sparing scum like you, that’s what would corrupt my Dao heart.” Mu Xue spoke, ice-calm.
"Oh, so young, but ruthless already." A cold voice drifted down from above.
Mu Xue glanced up. Atop the long-dead pagoda tree stood a man in black.
Clad in fitted dark armor, slender waist and long legs, black boots balanced on the branch, he looked down from above. Wind ruffled his ink-black hair, revealing a frosted, strikingly handsome face.
Mu Xue instinctively turned away, shielding her face.
Xiao Shan?
Why is he here?