ATAVID CH98

Jiang Qunyu hadn’t expected to run into Wen Xingyao in a place like this.

As he saw him lunging straight toward him, he subconsciously sidestepped, dodging him cleanly.

Wen Xingyao looked bewildered: “…”

“…” Jiang Qunyu stared at his expression, remained silent for a moment, and finally squeezed out a dry, “You understand.”

It really wasn’t his fault; he had to blame Wei Xun. He didn’t want to be gnawed on by Wei Xun again. Even now, thinking about the dense patches of ambiguous red marks on his body made his scalp tingle.

Wen Xingyao, however, was unfazed. He sighed, “I understand.”

The two of them stood staring at each other in the desert, deadlocked for quite a while, before Jiang Qunyu finally spoke first to break the silence: “How did you end up here?”

Upon hearing this, the expression on Wen Xingyao’s face instantly cracked. He complained with annoyance: “It’s all that Qin Shiyue from the Lock-Ghost Hall! I don’t know what kind of madness he had; he suddenly ran to the West Palace and dragged me out. I thought he had gone back on his word and wanted to swallow me alive to solidify his soul, but without a word, he just threw me into a white beam of light and turned to leave, not offering a shred of explanation!”

The more he spoke, the angrier he became: “I’ve been out for nearly three months. Before being thrown into the secret realm, I had just sent a message to my Shizun saying I would return to the sect in a few days. Now look at this—delayed for so long, I’m definitely going to get punished and lectured when I go back!”

Jiang Qunyu: “Why would he throw you into a secret realm for no reason?”

Wen Xingyao: “How would I know!”

After saying this, the two fell silent.

Wen Xingyao’s expression was strange as he asked: “Does Wei Xun know you’ve left the Nine Nethers?”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

He didn’t want to talk again. After a long while, he spoke with an expression of hopelessness: “If I said I accidentally fell into that damn secret realm and accidentally broke my sound-transmission jade pendant, would you believe me?”

Wen Xingyao almost knelt down for Jiang Qunyu. He took a large step back, forcing a distance between them, and said with a miserable face: “Jiang Qunyu, you are going to be the death of your friend! That madman Wei Xun will definitely think we conspired to run away together. When the time comes, he’ll peel my skin off!”

Seeing him acting as if he were avoiding a plague, Jiang Qunyu grew irritated. He gritted his teeth and said: “Is our friendship so fragile? Forgot who it was two months ago who pulled me aside and asked if I wanted to go to the Immortal Alliance together, saying you wanted to help me escape the Nine Nethers?”

“That was then, this is now!” Wen Xingyao hurriedly rummaged through his robes, pulled out a sound-transmission jade pendant, and tossed it to Jiang Qunyu from a distance, saying urgently: “Quickly, send a message to Wei Xun!”

Jiang Qunyu’s mouth twitched as he bent down to pick up the pendant.

Wen Xingyao emphasized: “You must, you absolutely must tell Wei Xun that this really has nothing to do with me!”

Jiang Qunyu threatened him viciously: “Fine, I’ll tell Wei Xun that it was you who seduced me into leaving with you.”

“Are we even friends anymore!”

“Heh,” Jiang Qunyu curled his lips, “It’s precisely because we are brothers that we must share the burden.”

Wen Xingyao looked like he wanted to turn and run.

Just then, the jade pendant Jiang Qunyu had been clutching in his hand let out a faint, crisp sound without warning.

Jiang Qunyu and Wen Xingyao: “…”

After a brief, dead silence, the two spoke at the same time, attempting to shift the blame to the other.

Wen Xingyao: “Did you secretly crush it?!”

Jiang Qunyu: “It’s all your fault for throwing the pendant on the ground!”

Then, a strange silence followed.

The next second, as if they both remembered something at the same time, they abruptly turned their heads to look around, hoping to borrow a communication tool from other cultivators.

However, the group had already flown into mid-air on their swords.

Only Jiang Qunyu and Wen Xingyao were left standing there, stunned and blank.

“Now we really can’t wash the mud off even if we jump into the Yellow River.” Jiang Qunyu’s face went wooden as he sighed in resignation, comforting himself: “It’s fine, Wei Xun should be able to understand us.”

Wen Xingyao only wanted to draw a line: “Hehe, we should probably go our separate ways!”

Jiang Qunyu wanted to go his separate ways too, but…

He had no sense of direction.

Before Wen Xingyao could jump onto his sword, Jiang Qunyu grabbed his sleeve.

“?”

Wen Xingyao tugged, but couldn’t pull away. He said with tears in his eyes: “What if Wei Xun kills me?”

“Please forgive a person with no sense of direction,” Jiang Qunyu said. “Just drop me off anywhere I’m familiar with; I’ll wait for Wei Xun there, and I definitely won’t drag you down.”

Wen Xingyao asked irritably: “A place you’re familiar with, for example?”

Jiang Qunyu: “The Netherworld Abyss.”

Wen Xingyao: “…Jiang Qunyu, are you asking me to send my head thousands of miles away, to go die in front of Wei Xun on purpose?”

Jiang Qunyu smiled apologetically: “It should be fine, right?”

“It better be fine.” Wen Xingyao was completely defeated. Ultimately, because of their many years of friendship, he couldn’t bear to leave him behind and, quite unwillingly, took him along to continue their journey.

Fortunately, both were chatterboxes. They talked incessantly along the way, from what they saw in the secret realm to interesting stories about their sects, which managed to dispel much of the boredom of the trek.

Wen Xingyao whispered mysteriously: “Do you know who I met in the secret realm?”

Perhaps because they had reached a place where they couldn’t fly on swords, they were walking in a wilted state. Jiang Qunyu tried to keep his spirit up, a strange thought crossing his mind: “…It wouldn’t be Su Fuyao, would it?”

“How did you know?!” Wen Xingyao was shocked.

Jiang Qunyu: “Because I met him too.”

“No wonder,” Wen Xingyao said understandingly. He paused and added, “Ever since Lan Yuanzhou died, Su Fuyao left the Profound Sword Sect. For over a hundred years, there hasn’t been any news of him. I wonder why he went to the Place of God’s Fall.”

Jiang Qunyu’s fingertips, hanging by his side, curled slightly. He said, half-truthfully: “Perhaps he was guided by someone in the shadows.”

Wen Xingyao also said: “I always feel that Su Fuyao is a bit wrong.”

Jiang Qunyu remarked with emotion: “No wonder you managed to survive until the finale.”

“Finale? What is that?” Wen Xingyao was very studious.

Jiang Qunyu fobbed him off casually: “I’m praising you.”

Wen Xingyao: “Oh!”

I don’t know how many days they had been trekking through the desert, but suddenly, the vast Gobi was blanketed in a sky full of goose-feather snow. In just the span of a night, the boundless earth was buried; a thousand miles of desert sand covered in snow, a world of pristine white.

“The weather here is really strange.” Jiang Qunyu huddled into his plain white cloak.

He was naturally handsome, and a green robe accentuated his upright posture. The soft fox fur at his neck pressed against his throat, wrapping around his palm-sized face, making his brows look even more clear and his lips more lustrous. The faint tear mole under his eye was increasingly prominent in the wind and snow; his eyes were gentle, making him look exceptionally beautiful.

Wen Xingyao shrank his neck, glanced at him, and said: “This should be the boundary area between the Nine Nethers and the Demon Realm. The space is chaotic and the weather is naturally volatile, so this kind of wind and snow is normal.”

They had been walking for several days, and with the snow, Jiang Qunyu proposed they stop and rest for a while.

Wen Xingyao asked: “Can I refuse?”

Jiang Qunyu: “No.”

So, they finally found a wind-sheltered mountain rock and rested for an entire day.

The campfire crackled, dispelling the chill around them. Jiang Qunyu leaned against the rock, yawned, and asked casually: “Why are you in such a hurry to go back? Is the business of the Immortal Alliance very busy?”

Wen Xingyao had a look of distress: “Yes and no. The main thing is that the sound-transmission pendant was destroyed by you, and now I haven’t had the chance to send a message to my Shizun. He must be worried about me.”

Jiang Qunyu kept a straight face: “You have the nerve to say that. Who told you to throw the pendant on the ground randomly? Otherwise, it wouldn’t have shattered.”

They glared at each other, both refusing to admit their own fault. They bickered for half the day without deciding who was wrong, and in the end, it was left unresolved.

They rested for a night, but the next day the wind and snow still hadn’t stopped, so they had to continue trudging through it.

The journey was desolate, and the desert chill bit to the bone.

Halfway there, they encountered a blind old man in thin clothing by the side of the road.

The old man had a hunched back, his eyes were turbid and listless, and his expression was anxious. Seeing the two pass by, he hurriedly stepped forward with trembling voice to block their way, begging bitterly and saying that he had been separated from his grandson and had lost his way here. He pleaded with them to be kind and help him find his grandson.

Jiang Qunyu’s heart softened, and he was about to agree.

Wen Xingyao, beside him, pulled his sleeve and reminded him in a low, alert voice: “Don’t believe it. In this boundary land of the Nine Nethers, most are lingering phantom illusions of lonely souls. These types of ghosts who prey on sympathy are the most skilled at deceiving people; let’s just leave quickly.”

It was just a lonely soul, and he didn’t sense any malice from the old man. At worst, his cultivation level could protect him. So Jiang Qunyu paused, and eventually stepped forward, gently agreeing to the old man’s request.

He patiently searched along the faint aura in the surroundings, and not long after, found the soul of the old man’s grandson by a snowbank not far away.

With the grandfather and grandson reunited, the blind old man was very grateful. His face full of earnestness, he tried to persuade them: “Thank you both young masters for your help. The wind and snow outside are cold and piercing. My dwelling is close by; why not come back with me to rest your feet and drink a cup of hot tea to warm your bodies?”

It was freezing, and the twilight was gradually settling in. Jiang Qunyu thought for a moment and nodded: “Then thank you, senior.”

Wen Xingyao frowned, but couldn’t overcome him, and could only follow the blind old man into an ancient and solemn hall hidden in the wind and snow not far away.

Weng Shouji poured tea for the two of them. Jiang Qunyu held the cup and took a sip, immediately feeling much warmer.

Weng Shouji asked: “Would the young master like another cup? It is very cold here, and since you cannot use internal power to warm yourselves, the remaining journey is still long, and I fear you will have to suffer a bit more.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qunyu couldn’t help but curse that treacherous secret realm in his heart again.

Moreover, he didn’t know what was wrong with that chattering little sprite—it followed him out, but then passed out. He saw it still had a heartbeat, so he threw it into his Qiankun bag first. It hadn’t woken up yet, so there was no way to ask anything.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Jiang Qunyu said.

“It is, of course, no trouble at all.” Weng Shouji smiled gently.

He stood up to pour tea for Jiang Qunyu again.

With his body warmed up, Jiang Qunyu had the mind to quietly observe this temple.

Soul lamps were scattered and stacked throughout the hall, their deep-green flames flickering, floating in every corner of the cold, gloomy hall. In the center of the hall stood an ancient statue with gentle brows and a peaceful, compassionate expression.

Jiang Qunyu gazed at the statue, and a sense of indescribable familiarity inexplicably welled up in his heart, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

The soul lamps swayed gently all around, stretching the surrounding shadows, and the entire hall was soaked in a hazy warmth.

This scene, however, reminded Jiang Qunyu of the Floating Lantern Hall in the Lingxiao Sect.

As if seeing his confusion, Weng Shouji smiled and explained: “My grandson Nian’an and I are both Keepers of this Hall of Longevity. Each of the soul lamps in the hall carries the unreleased delusions of living beings in the world.”

Hall of Longevity?

Jiang Qunyu was slightly stunned, feeling like laughing.

And so, he did laugh.

Weng Shouji asked: “Why does the young master laugh? Is there something improper in what I said?”

Jiang Qunyu said: “I mean no offense, senior; I just remembered my partner. He once told me with absolute certainty that there could never be a Hall of Longevity in this world. I didn’t expect that I would happen upon it by chance today.”

Weng Shouji laughed heartily: “In all things in the world, one can see it if the heart is sincere; if you believe, it exists; if you do not believe, it does not.”

Jiang Qunyu nodded understandingly, not wanting to intrude further. He stood up, bowed to Weng Shouji to say goodbye, and then pulled Wen Xingyao, preparing to turn and leave.

Weng Shouji called him to stay: “Young master, please wait.”

Jiang Qunyu turned back.

Weng Shouji walked forward slowly and handed a simple blue paper lantern to him, his voice gentle: “The sky is dark and the wind and snow are heavy; the road ahead is bound to be dark and difficult to travel. I hope this lamp can illuminate your long, long night.”

Jiang Qunyu originally didn’t want it, but the lantern looked so much like the blue paper lantern Wei Xun always carried in his hand, so he didn’t refuse.

A faint smile bloomed between his brows. He reached out to take it, curling his lips: “Thank you for your generous gift, senior.”

Having said this, he carried the blue paper lantern and walked out of the Hall of Longevity side-by-side with Wen Xingyao, their two figures soon disappearing into the sky-filling wind and snow.

Inside the Hall of Longevity, Weng Nian’an blinked his round eyes, looked up, and pulled Weng Shouji’s sleeve, asking curiously: “Grandfather, why did you give the lantern to that beautiful young master?”

Weng Shouji leaned down, gently rubbed his grandson’s hair, and whispered: “Because, that lamp was specifically lit for him by someone.”