Chapter 11

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The annihilation of an entire sect.

If that was truly what had happened, then everything would be entirely different.

The disciple was shaken several times by Yun Zhou, yet did not dare speak. He merely sighed and said, “I dare not jump to conclusions. It would be better to let the Immortal Venerable decide.”

Silence descended over the room.

Yun Zhou glanced at Xie Zhefeng, but did not dare meet his eyes and quickly looked away.

Xie Zhefeng merely tapped his fingertips against the tea table, saying nothing.

An Wuxue had kept his head slightly bowed and remained still from beginning to end.

He listened carefully. In his heart, he had already reached a conclusion.

Perhaps the Cloud Sword Sect had been like this for quite some time.

When outsiders came to visit, they were treated coldly on the very first day. They might not persist, and so no one had ever discovered anything.

Had Xie Zhefeng not happened to be investigating the “source” of An Wuxue’s talisman paper, and had this disciple not persevered for three days, who knew how much longer this abnormality would have remained unnoticed?

But Su Xue had been offered to the Burial Frost Sea by the Cloud Sword Sect. The earliest that could have happened was when he had appeared on Moonfall Peak.

That meant it had only happened within the past few months.

“…You seem to have some thoughts on this.” Xie Zhefeng’s voice drifted over slowly.

An Wuxue thought Xie Zhefeng was speaking to the disciple, and continued pondering with his head bowed.

Yet after a long while, he still heard no reply from the disciple. Confused, he raised his head and happened to meet Xie Zhefeng’s gaze.

Yun Yao seemed to have been struck senseless by the upheaval in his sect. His expression was blank. Both the disciple and Yun Zhou were looking at him, and Yun Zhou was even waiting anxiously for him to speak.

“This matter—”

He almost voiced the thought that had just occurred to him, but suddenly paused.

“…I have no particular thoughts,” he said. “I have simply never heard of anything so bizarre, and it gave me quite a fright…”

Yun Zhou stepped forward first and dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.

“Immortal Venerable, Su Xue never cultivated at the Cloud Sword Sect, so he does not know. I grew up in the Cloud Sword Sect, and I can say with certainty that our master, senior uncles, and sect master could never have replied for three days in succession without receiving a guest. Moreover, there is no longer any trace of living outsiders within the sect. Someone must have annihilated the sect and then created this illusion to deceive those beyond its gates.”

Yun Zhou lowered his head over his clasped sword, his voice trembling. “I have heard that a Soul-Nurturing Tree spirit can reveal what a person was like before and after death. I take the liberty of asking Moonfall Peak for aid. Please lend us the Soul-Nurturing Tree spirit so that we may return to the sect and investigate this matter thoroughly!”

The Soul-Nurturing Tree spirit again.

An Wuxue felt a headache coming on whenever he heard those four words.

Why did everyone, one after another, insist on using that thing?

Still, Yun Zhou’s request was perfectly understandable.

The annihilation of an entire sect was no small matter. Moonfall Peak would not stand by and do nothing.

Xie Zhefeng said to the disciple, “Inform every peak of Moonfall Peak and every sect of what happened to the Cloud Sword Sect. If you hear anything connected to the Cloud Sword Sect, send word to me.”

The man made his decision. “There are still matters concerning the Cloud Sword Sect that I must investigate. I will send someone there with the Soul-Nurturing Tree spirit.”

Send someone to investigate?

Su Xue had some connection to the Cloud Sword Sect. Could he take advantage of this opportunity to leave?

If he could find a reason to accompany them in their investigation, he would not need to risk using the Soul Bell. At the very least, he would be able to leave the Burial Frost Sea…

An Wuxue had just begun searching for an excuse to say that he wanted to go when Xie Zhefeng continued, “Since all three of you are survivors of the Cloud Sword Sect, you will leave the mountain together tomorrow.”

It could not have suited him better!

Nearby, Yun Zhou came back to himself and was about to say something, but Xie Zhefeng rose, picked up Kunkun, and left.

The disciple naturally did not dare remain behind either. After offering Yun Zhou and Yun Yao a few words of comfort, he hurried after him.

With everyone gone, the matter was naturally settled.

An Wuxue had never expected that, after all the twists and turns, he would be able to leave Moonfall Peak the very next day.

He raised a hand and rubbed his forehead before walking to Yun Zhou’s side. “You…”

Yun Zhou shook his head. “My senior brother and I need some time to ourselves.”

An Wuxue nodded silently, stepped out of the room alone, then turned and closed the door behind him.

He stood before the door, lost in thought for a long while.

He stared at the tightly closed door. Not a sound came from within.

It was clearly so quiet.

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Yet in his ears echoed the words that female disciple had spoken to him on the night he arrived in the Frost Sea, in the corridor through which flying snow drifted:

“…But he actually destroyed the spiritual veins of the Blazing Fire Sect, causing the foul energy sealed beneath them to scatter. Every member of the Blazing Fire Sect perished in the calamity.”

Every member of the sect had perished in the calamity.

After the Blazing Fire Sect met with disaster, had Qi Xun also sat inside his room like this for an entire night? Then, when An Wuxue was surrounded and attacked, had he emerged with sword in hand and said to him from afar, “An Wuxue, from this moment onward, all ties between us are severed. Either you die, or I do.”

The past drifted like scattered catkins, fragment by fragment, never ceasing. He was tired and unwilling to think about it anymore, yet his thoughts continued to wander of their own accord.

He rested his forehead against the door and sighed soundlessly.

That vow had indeed come true.

Qi Xun had, in a sense, gotten his wish.

An Wuxue had not survived that night.

—

That night.

An Wuxue gave the branches and leaves of the Soul-Nurturing Tree to Shangguan Liaoliao. As expected, he could not sleep once night fell.

He simply rose and began meditating, continuing to drain the spiritual power within Su Xue’s body and reshape Su Xue’s bones and meridians.

He did not know how much time had passed before he heard a whimpering sound beside him.

He opened his eyes and saw Kunkun sprawled beside the bed, its forepaws and teeth tugging at his robe as though trying to pull him outside.

His heart softened.

“You came sneaking over to find me again?” An Wuxue lifted it in both hands and said softly, “I’m sorry. I gave the leaves you brought me to someone else. She needed them more than I did.”

Kunkun shook its head instead, kicking its hind legs as though asking An Wuxue to put it down.

“Whimper…”

“Hm?”

An Wuxue stood and gently set it on the floor.

Kunkun continued tugging at his robe, dragging him forward.

“Where are you taking me?”

Kunkun nodded.

An Wuxue hesitated.

This was the Burial Frost Sea…

Oh, well.

Kunkun could not possibly harm him.

He followed in the direction Kunkun pulled him, and Kunkun immediately ran ahead to lead the way.

After following it for some time, An Wuxue realized that they were heading deep into the pine forest at the heart of the Burial Frost Sea.

There should have been barriers all around, but whoever had established them seemed to have granted Kunkun free passage. The barriers did not stop An Wuxue from passing alongside it.

They continued inward. An Wuxue passed through a dense bank of mist and suddenly saw a mass of golden light ahead.

A cold wind howled. The golden light swayed, and the mist was blown aside.

An Wuxue saw it clearly.

It was a great tree shining with golden light, shaped like a mushroom, with a trunk as wide as three people and a height of roughly two men.

The golden radiance around its outer branches was faint, growing denser the closer one came to the trunk.

Though An Wuxue had seen only its leaves before, he recognized it at a glance.

It was the only Soul-Nurturing Tree in the four seas and two realms.

So that was it.

Kunkun knew he no longer had any leaves from the Soul-Nurturing Tree, so it had brought him directly here to recuperate beneath it.

But…

An Wuxue saw the figure leaning against the tree and immediately stopped.

The man sat with his back against the trunk. Several empty jars of immortal wine lay beside him. His head was bowed, and his expression was hidden within the thin mist, making it impossible to tell whether he was asleep or awake.

In any case, he could not possibly be drunk.

Xie Zhefeng did not get drunk. The clarity of this man’s heart surpassed that of all the living beings across the four seas combined.

An Wuxue saw Xie Zhefeng turn his head slightly in his direction. He simply picked up Kunkun and walked over.

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“I encountered Kunkun tonight and saw that it kept trying to come this way, so I was worried about it and followed,” he said calmly. “I did not expect to disturb the Immortal Venerable. Please forgive me.”

Kunkun let out a soft, aggrieved whimper.

An Wuxue did not want to stay another moment. As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and began to leave.

The man’s hoarse voice suddenly rang out, filled with urgency.

“Axue!”

His footsteps halted abruptly. His entire body stiffened, every muscle drawing taut.

What had Xie Zhefeng called him?

Had Xie Zhefeng recognized him?

Where had he given himself away—

In the instant his thoughts descended into chaos, the man spoke again.

This time, his voice was very soft. The urgency was gone, replaced by a hint of disappointment.

“Axue, you’re leaving again.”

Kunkun: “Whimper…”

That sound immediately pulled An Wuxue back from his tangled thoughts.

He let out a long breath.

What did “leaving again” mean?

If Xie Zhefeng had truly recognized him, the Cold-Slaying Sword would probably already have been drawn. How could he possibly have spoken in such a tone?

He was calling Su Xue.

Without turning around, An Wuxue said, “You’re drunk.”

He did not want to remain another moment. He strode quickly along the path by which he had come.

Kunkun shot into the air and landed in the Soul-Nurturing Tree. It plucked three or four leaves from above, then immediately flew after An Wuxue.

Xie Zhefeng remained seated beneath the tree from beginning to end, watching in the direction An Wuxue had gone without moving.

He could not move.

Had An Wuxue taken a few more steps toward him, he would have seen the snow-lotus sword mark reappear between the man’s brows, suffused with black energy.

The black energy was suppressed from time to time, only to rise again.

When An Wuxue had approached just now, it had grown especially dense.

It was not until An Wuxue had been gone for a full hour that the darkness upon the snow lotus gradually faded.

Another person arrived beside the Soul-Nurturing Tree.

The newcomer wore a short blue-green robe embroidered with the emblem of Moonfall Peak. His black hair was fastened with an exquisitely carved spiritual-wood hairpin, and every inch of him was refined to perfection.

The sole exception was the spiritual pouch hanging from his waist. It had been made in a particularly twisted fashion, with crooked, uneven stitches that followed no discernible pattern.

The newcomer exclaimed in surprise, “I was only in seclusion recovering from my injuries for a while. How did the Immortal Venerable manage to turn himself into this?”

Xie Zhefeng opened his eyes, rose, and cast him a glance.

Qin Wei immediately said, “I received a letter from Qi Xun saying that something had gone wrong at Thorn River, causing your inner demon to awaken, and asking me to keep an eye on you in case anything serious happened. What exactly have you been doing?”

“You came at the right time.”

“…What!?”

“I am going into seclusion to suppress my inner demon, but I will divide off a strand of cultivation to form an incarnation that can travel outside in my place. The incarnation will leave the mountain tomorrow. Xuan Fang has other matters to attend to for me, so Moonfall Peak will be left in your hands for the time being.”

Qin Wei: “…”

I should never have come.

—

Early the next morning.

An Wuxue woke exceptionally early this time.

Thanks to the extra leaves from the Soul-Nurturing Tree that Kunkun had plucked for him the night before, he had completely forgotten Xie Zhefeng’s strange, seemingly drunken state as soon as he returned to his room, and slept until dawn without dreaming.

But Yun Zhou and Yun Yao had risen even earlier.

When he went outside, the two of them were already standing at the edge of the mountain, waiting for the spiritual boat that had come to collect them.

An Wuxue approached, intending to offer them some comfort, but Yun Zhou shook his head.

“No need. I figured everything out last night. Every grievance has its cause and every debt its debtor; every feud must be settled with the person who deserves it. The two of us should live well in the meantime, so don’t worry. By the way, the Immortal Venerable said yesterday that he would send someone with us to the Cloud Sword Sect to investigate. Where are they?”