ATAVID CH57

The night was as dark as ink, and a cold, clear full moon hung in the distant firmament. Moonlight slanted through the half-open window, casting a small patch of silver-white across the bed curtains.

Wei Xun lowered his head and touched his lips to Jiang Qunyu’s again.

It was very light, like a snowflake landing on another snowflake.

He suppressed the churning lust at the bottom of his eyes, though his breathing remained slightly heavy.

Then, his fingertips paused slightly before slowly lifting. With a cool temperature, his finger pads brushed over Jiang Qunyu’s cheek.

His pads slid down from his full forehead, swept past his slightly furrowed brows, traced the corners of his closed eyes, followed the straight bridge of his nose, and finally rested on his soft lips.

There, the dampness and warmth of his kiss still lingered.

Wei Xun’s movements were so slow they were near-reverent, yet they carried a near-pathological obsession. Inch by inch, he traced and stroked, as if confirming the reality of the person in his arms, or as if he were carving this face, stroke by stroke, into his very bones and blood.

He lowered his eyes, his hazy vision locked firmly onto the sleeping face in his arms, and curved his lips: “So this is what you look like.”

Jiang Qunyu was sleeping soundly, vaguely feeling as if something had been touching him.

His face felt itchy, and his lips felt itchy too.

He frowned and mumbled incoherently, subconsciously wanting to push the intruder away, but his hand was caught and his fingers intertwined, pressed against the side of his pillow.

But he was truly too exhausted; he struggled, failed to break free, and simply gave up, letting Wei Xun continue.

After a long while, Wei Xun felt satisfied, the gloom between his brows fading slightly.

He released Jiang Qunyu’s hand, pulled him closer into his embrace, rested his chin on the top of his head, and closed his eyes.

The next day.

Jiang Qunyu was woken up by the heat.

He opened his eyes, and what met his sight was a pale neck and a distinct, attractive collarbone.

He was stunned for a few seconds.

Then he looked down and discovered he was wrapped around Wei Xun like an octopus. One of his legs was draped unceremoniously over the other man’s waist—a position as ambiguous as could be.

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

Didn’t I sleep on the rafters last night?

However, later, after Wei Xun woke up, he claimed Jiang Qunyu had climbed into bed himself in the middle of the night.

“Jiang Qunyu,” Wei Xun raised his eyelids, “I have no reason to lie to you.”

He gave a self-deprecating laugh: “I can’t even summon my life-bound sword right now, so how could I possibly have carried you down from the rafters?”

Jiang Qunyu had originally not believed Wei Xun, but the young man’s expression was indifferent. After he finished speaking, he remained silent, looking like a snow sculpture—cold, lonely, and desolate.

Because Jiang Qunyu had done similar things before, and because what Wei Xun said wasn’t entirely unreasonable—plus, he was supposed to be finding a way to restore Wei Xun’s cultivation, yet he kept stabbing the man in the heart instead—he wavered, guilt washing over him.

While swearing he would never do it again, he guiltily cut several blooming apricot branches and carefully placed them in a porcelain vase in the room.

Sometimes, when Wei Xun was meditating in the room and the breeze blew through, the apricot blossoms in the vase would tremble gently, occasionally dropping a few petals that drifted beside him.

But Jiang Qunyu’s vows were always useless. Every morning when he woke up, he was still lying securely in bed.

Fortunately, Wei Xun never said anything more, appearing to return to the version of himself Jiang Qunyu was familiar with. The calmer he was, the more guilty Jiang Qunyu felt, and the fuller the vase of apricot blossoms became.

Fortunately, before the apricot tree outside could be stripped bare, summer finally arrived. The blossoms withered, and the apology he had been subtly delivering through flower branches had to come to an end.

…

…………

This year, Wei Xun was seventeen.

After Jiang Qunyu fed him countless pills, his cultivation still hadn’t returned.

He often sat by the window, gazing outward. Even though his eyes were covered by a white silk band and he could see nothing, he would sit like that for half the day.

No one knew what he was actually looking at.

Jiang Qunyu knew better than anyone that, according to the original plot, this was the year Wei Xun would be framed by the elders of the Lingxiao Sect for colluding with the Demon Realm and cast into the sunless water dungeon.

He only remembered this plot point, but he couldn’t pinpoint the exact day.

Whether it was useful or not, Jiang Qunyu kindly warned Wei Xun: “You should avoid going out these next few days.”

Wei Xun’s tone was calm: “Why?”

“Wei Miao and Jiang Yunxi are setting a trap to frame you,” Jiang Qunyu said. “In a few days, rumors will likely spread through the sect that the restricted area behind the mountain has demonic energy. If you go out, the blame for colluding with the Demon Realm will be pinned on you.”

Wei Xun curved his lips into a smile at these words, his eyes full of disgust: “Even if I don’t go out, they will say I did it. There is no difference.”

Jiang Qunyu could only nod: “Alright then.”

Then, not long after, many people swarmed up Guhan Peak.

Disciples, deacons, elders—a vast crowd that shattered the mountain’s silence.

Jiang Qunyu couldn’t reveal himself, so he sat in a tree, hiding his aura, and looked down at the people standing outside the cave dwelling.

Standing at the very front was Hua Zhen.

In this illusion, he was as detestable as ever. He scanned the area coldly and raised his hand.

He saw the disciple beside him throw a person to the ground.

Jiang Qunyu focused, his pupils shrinking slightly.

The disciple was the very same blue-robed disciple he had beaten up last year.

He was stunned, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

No sooner had he thought this than he heard Hua Zhen curl his lips into a sinister smile, his voice cold: “Speak, what did you see?”

The blue-robed disciple shook like chaff, kneeling on the ground without daring to lift his head, trembling: “R-Reporting to the Fourth Elder, there is a demonic youth on Guhan Peak, his appearance extremely enchanting.”

“Oh?” Hua Zhen raised his eyebrows, looking at the white-clad youth standing at the door, his tone as pleasant as if he had caught some massive leverage. “Describe it in detail—when did you meet him?”

The blue-robed disciple was weeping.

He looked up at Wei Xun, his eyes filled with despair.

“I… I didn’t want to say it…” he murmured, his voice almost inaudible. “But if I don’t speak, I’ll die. I beg you, beg you, don’t let him kill me…”

Wei Xun’s expression was cold.

He stood by the door, the aura around him as calm as stagnant water, as if he were watching a farce that had nothing to do with him.

Outside the cave, the blue-robed disciple continued: “It was last year… last March. My junior brother and I went to deliver pills to Junior Brother Wei as usual. But when we were heading down the mountain, we bumped into a demonic youth.”

“That youth wore red, had remarkable cultivation, and carried a red long-scythe the size of a bow. He wanted to kill us. Although… although he didn’t kill us in the end, from then on, he only allowed us to come up the mountain to deliver medicine, and he forbade us from saying another bad word about Junior Brother Wei.”

“So, someone in my Lingxiao Sect is working hand-in-glove with the demons?” Hua Zhen’s gaze fell on Wei Xun, his lips curled in a satisfied smile, like a venomous snake that had finally bitten into its prey’s throat.

Wei Xun’s expression remained indifferent, but upon hearing the disciple’s words, his fingers, hanging by his sides, curled slightly. He then looked up, gazing far off in the direction of Jiang Qunyu.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t notice; he sat in the tree, a towering rage burning in his chest.

He stared at the blue-robed disciple kneeling on the ground, itching to jump down right then and beat him again.

No, beating him is too light. I should have fed this guy to my blade back then.

Hua Zhen saw Wei Xun’s utter lack of reaction, and the fake smile on his face stiffened, a deep gloom spreading across his brows.

“Wei Xun!” he shouted sharply. “Do you still not know your wrongs?!”

“Hand over that demonic youth! Considering your achievements in the sect grand competition last year, the sect can show some leniency and only throw you into the water dungeon, sparing your life.”

He paused, his tone filled with condescending coercion and scheming: “But if you insist on covering for him and refuse to hand over the demon, the sect will no longer have room for you.”

“Although Wei Lan is in secluded cultivation, since he couldn’t teach you well, as your elder… it is not impossible for me to step in and teach you a lesson on his behalf.”

From beginning to end, Wei Xun never looked up, his voice as cold as quenched ice: “What wrong have I committed?”

It was not a question; it was a statement.

With the white silk covering his eyes, his freezing aura remained undiminished. He tilted his head slightly toward Hua Zhen, a cold, icy smile tugging at his lips: “Fourth Elder’s ability to fabricate lies remains as sharp as it was back then.”

Hua Zhen’s expression cracked for a moment upon hearing this.

Back then?

What ‘back then’? How could Wei Xun know about the grudges of the past?

His heart sank heavily.

Wei Xun was a child who shouldn’t have been born. If he hadn’t had utility value back then, he never would have been left alive. Now that his cultivation was gone, he had no value at all.

Just his vague attitude about knowing the past was enough to keep Hua Zhen from sleeping soundly.

Leaving a wolf that could bite was never a wise move.

Regardless… Wei Xun was destined to die young anyway.

Even if he died, he could barely cover it up before Wei Lan, not to mention the tacit approval of Sect Leader Jiang and Wei Miao.

A venomous light flashed in his eyes, and he sneered: “Heh, whether it is true or not, you will find out once you are in the water dungeon. Only, that water dungeon is bone-chillingly cold. You are merely a mortal body now; once you go down, I fear you won’t last more than a few days.”

As his voice fell, Hua Zhen barked an order: “The evidence of Wei Xun colluding with the Demon Realm is solid! Take him!”

The Lingxiao Sect disciples on both sides responded and surged forward, circulating their spiritual power to form an array. Icy, sharp iron chains burst through the air, aimed directly at Wei Xun’s four limbs.

The cold light of the chains shone on Wei Xun’s pale face.

He did not dodge.

The very instant the chains were about to wrap around Wei Xun’s wrists, a sudden gale rose from the flat ground.

The gale swept past, and a domain spread out from the ground with a roar, blooming like bloody red lotuses across the entire courtyard, shocking everyone into a state of panic.

Everyone scrambled to turn and look—

Standing beneath the ancient tree outside the cave was a youth’s figure.

Jiang Qunyu was dressed in red, his robes fluttering like burning clouds. He brandished his red long-scythe in the air, which instantly split into hundreds of scythe-shadows, their points aimed directly at the disciples forming the array.

Taking advantage of the moment everyone was stunned, he flashed forward. In the next instant, he was standing in front of Wei Xun.

The youth’s brows were curved, his spirit high, his eyes filled with a bright, reckless flame of determination.

Wei Xun’s aura beneath the white silk bandage was frigid; his expression was ugly: “You shouldn’t have come out.”

Jiang Qunyu, however, smiled softly. He reached out and gripped Wei Xun’s slightly cool wrist firmly, his voice clear and resolute, piercing through the noise of the courtyard.

He said: “Forget it then. It’s better not to endure such hardships if we can just do it over. Wei Xun, I’m taking you away.”