Chapter 19. Yun Weisi, how long are you going to pretend?

Xu Jingxian returned empty-handed.

Yun Hai removed his hand.

Xu Jingxian noticed it and blinked.

Changming teased her as if nothing happened: “The lady didn’t see any treasure that is good enough for her?”

Xu Jingxian said quietly: “There are no clouds to one who has passed Mount Wu. The clan master promised me the muslin from the Donghai Sea, why would I wish for something else?”

There are no clouds to one who has passed Mount Wu: (…and no rivers to one who has crossed the ocean): one who has seen the world doesn’t stop at small things.

In truth, she liked a couple of first-class spiritual tools, but they were taken by others. If she really wanted them, she could start a fight, but Xu Jingxian didn’t intend to cause a ruckus. She came here not to benefit at others’ expense, so there was no need to try to win a little only to lose a lot.

Changming smiled: “How do you know that Sect Master Zhou is not going to give you a depicted cake?”

A depicted cake: a pie in the sky.

“Are you trying to make me lose hope?” Xu Jingxian looked at him sideways, “Just now, an attendant asked me to report on our schools and the number of people to arrange guest rooms for us to take a rest there tonight, so I told him there are three of us, here—”

She opened up her palm, but there were only two plates in it.

“Three of us, two rooms. Who wants to spend a spring night with me?”

Yun Hai took one plate.

“Looks like daoyou Xu can only lead the lonely life of a widow.”

Changming touched his nose: “I can stand one night with Lady Xu.”

Touched his nose: point at oneself. Europeans point at their hearts, Chinese point at their noses.

Xu Jingxian sighed: “My heart longs for the bright moon, yet the moon only shines upon ditches.”

My heart longs for the bright moon, yet the moon only shines upon ditches: to be sincere towards anyone, while others are hypocritical towards you.

She finished speaking, closed her palm, turned round and went away without looking back.

Yun Hai smiled: “Daoyou Changming, please?”

Changming: …

Xu Jingxian refused to reveal their identities, saying they were only rogue cultivators; they concealed spiritual tools on their bodies. Naturally, the Seven Star Platform’s attendant neglected them, gave two rooms to three persons, and the rooms were ordinary, remote, damp, and gloomy.

Changming meditated in the room for some time. By the time he opened his eyes, Yun Hai had already disappeared without a trace.

The room was empty. The dense fog and the moon were faintly glowing outside, and the night clouds were brightly red, but they couldn’t be seen through the fog.

In late-night silence he finally had free time to think about this mysterious Yun Hai.

But no matter how long he was pondering, he still couldn’t arrive at the final conclusion.

He hadn’t seen this unworthy disciple for too long, and his memories of him had already become a little vague.

But among these vague memories, some episodes remained clear and distinct.

It was a rainy night when he first entered his master’s sect.

He was seriously injured, but kneeled on the green slabstone under the open sky all night long.

At first, Changming was not ready to accept him.

In his eyes, a perfect direct disciple should study Dao without any distractions, and be both talented and persistent. If a person is like this, there is a chance for them to break through to the Heaven Realm.

But Yun Weisi was full of deep-seated hatred caused by a blood debt, and wanted to acknowledge him as his master only to get revenge.

People who are controlled by their hatred can never reach high results.

The Yuhuang Temple’s gates were tightly closed, and they refused to accept Yun Weisi.

Foes of the Yun family reached the gates at the first glimmer of dawn, aiming to kill Yun Weisi right in front of the Yuhuang Temple.

They thought that people from the Yuhuang Temple wouldn’t interfere.

The gates of the Yuhuang Temple were full of noise and clamour. Yun Weisi fought desperately, refusing to bow his head.

The green slabstone was all soaked with blood.

No one knew whether the blood was his or his enemies’.

Changming finally decided to interfere.

And even personally.

He disposed of the Yun family’s enemies, and brought infinite troubles upon himself.

Yun Weisi studied hard, and had a clear comprehension of Dao which surpassed that of ordinary people by far. He was also able to create a different approach and deduced many things from one case. He lived up to Changming’s expectations indeed, reaching a high cultivation level in a few years. Many things that Changming preached to other disciples fell on deaf ears, and only Yun Weisi was able to understand them and could even put them to good use.

Back then, Changming thought that even if he left the Yuhuang Temple, Yun Weisi would be able to continue treading his path and eventually become the first great master of a Daoist sect to ascend.

But now, he was unexpectedly here, in the Nine Layers of the Abyss.

Changming suddenly opened his eyes.

A pair of eyes almost within reach were staring at him.

Changming turned to him, so Yun Hai straightened up, saying with a smile: “I’ve called for you several times, but you didn’t answer. I almost thought that your soul has left your body!”

Changming: “Daoyou Yun is in high spirits and doesn’t sleep in the middle of the night. Do you want to have a heart-to-heart conversation with me?”

Yun Hai: “Sure!”

Changming: …

Yun Hai: “When I saw you, I thought you seemed familiar. I’ve asked you about that, and you said we might have met in our dreams, but I’ve never had any dreams. Could it be that we have met in our past lives?”

Changming wasn’t sure whether he was really mad or just playing stupid. But, even if he was only pretending, his words were still deranged. He behaved abnormally ever since they met on the seashore.

Changming couldn’t help but expose his thoughts: “Do you know Yun Weisi?”

Yun Hai was astonished at first, and then laughed: “Where did another one with the surname ‘Yun’ come from? First it was Xiao Yun, then Yun Weisi, are there so many people surnamed Yun in this world? Or is that daoyou Changming fell in love with me at first sight, and admiration was born in your heart, yet you dare not show it, and now you are looking for excuses to strike up a conversation?”

Changming said indifferently: “Yun Weisi, how long are you going to pretend?”

Yun Hai kept smiling: “I’m afraid that daoyou Changming has mistaken me for another person. My name is Yun Hai, not Yun Weisi.”

Changming said: “You have a scar on your neck near your left shoulder, under the collar of your robes. You were injured during those years when you had just entered the Yuhuang Temple. Later, you said that you wanted to leave it as a reminder of a lesson you’ve learned, so you never got rid of it. The scar must still be there.”

Yun Hai’s finger moved.

He was looking at Changming.

The red moon’s dim light shone from the crevice of the window, illuminating the latter’s face sideways.

His lips were pale and slightly pursed, showing that he had stubborn diseases haunting him.

But, for unknown reasons, Yun Hai felt he was tough like a massive rock, and nothing could shake him.

So ridiculous. He was obviously a weak person who could get killed any moment, yet he dared enter the Nine Layers of the Abyss and deal with all imaginable kinds of evil spirits.

One of Yun Hai’s hands, no, one of his fingers was enough to kill this man, but he still tried to look composed and was talking cheerfully.

Then again, why didn’t he kill Changming?

Yun Hai looked through his memories, but didn’t find an answer.

He couldn’t help feeling a little nervous.

“Why don’t you worry about my identity rather than the existence of a scar on my neck?”

Yun Hai was talking slowly. He raised the corners of his lips and rolled up his right sleeve.

Changming’s line of sight naturally moved there, and he suddenly froze up, straightening his back a bit.

A slender winding red line started from his elbow and went down his arm more than two inches, swerving right and left.

A common person would have deemed it a cinnabar pattern that could be erased with one sweep, nothing out of normal.

But Changming knew that this line not only couldn’t be removed, but would also grow longer with time, wrap around his wrist, come down his palm and finally—

Turn him into a demon.

“Does that old friend of yours have demon blood too?”

Yun Hai cast a sidelong glance at him, smiling. But this smile somehow resembled an alluring demonic smile.

Impossible.

Changming was shocked, and this one word appeared in his mind.

But he also knew very well that there was nothing impossible in this world.

Changming raised his eyes to look at Yun Hai.

“What happened?”

Yun Hai: “Looks like your old friend has no relationship with demons.”

Changming: “How did you become this way?”

Yun Hai raised his eyebrows: “What, do you still refuse to accept that I am not your old friend?”

Changming: “You are Yun Weisi, and Yun Weisi is you.”

Yun Hai sneered: “Daoyou Changming is so stubborn! Let me bring you to watch a good play. Maybe I can help you gather all the cultivators from the Seven Star Platform, and you will find your old friend there.”

He didn’t wait for Changming’s objection or consent and directly pulled him towards the exit.

Changming was forced to follow his light steps. Guards were patrolling the whole Seven Star Platform, but Yun Hai escaped their attention with no difficulty even with Changming until they arrived at the backyard of a gorgeous residence. They passed through a dense forest and stopped at a half-opened window of the residence.

Changming said nothing, because he couldn’t—Yun Hai silenced him with some technique.

The other grabbed his hand and wrote one word on his palm.

Wait.

Wait for what?

Changming threw him a gaze. Yun Hai only smiled, unwilling to explain.

Yun Hai must have also covered their breaths as the people in the room didn’t notice their presence.

Changming quickly recognised the two inside the residence.

The one who had defeated Tai Luo and became the new owner of the Seven Star Rivers, Bei Shu.

And Zhang Mu.

“My lord looked so awe-inspiring tonight, this subordinate is sincerely happy for you. Seven Star Rivers is the first layer of the Nine Layers of the Abyss, so it’s not too dangerous, but holds abundant spiritual resources. Since my lord is in charge of the Seven Star Rivers, your position is not inferior to that of the master of the Qingyun School. They can dispatch people and send them here, but I am afraid that their master isn’t even worth half of you!”

Changming had never heard Zhang Mu talk this way.

Tactful and affectionate, sincere and enthusiastic.

Zhang Mu was one of those few people who talked to him in the Yellow Springs. He was a young man who came from a small sect and was used to following the usual rules and regulations. His decision to enter the Yellow Springs to gain experience must have been the boldest step in his life, but his innate talent was too shallow, and he couldn’t make a breakthrough with his own powers. Even if he advanced in the art of using a spear, the bottleneck still limited him.

At first, Changming thought to use the chance to give him advice, but a swarm of evil spirits and demons came for them. Zhang Mu was unable to break away from his innate weaknesses, and at the life and death crisis he shoved Changming to demons in order to run for his life alone.

At that moment, Changming gave up on Zhang Mu.

But now, all of a sudden, he met him again in this place.

Through the half-opened window, Changming first heard Bei Shu’s laughter, and then saw a terrifying scene.

Tn:

Mount Wu from “there are no rivers to the one who has crossed the ocean, and no clouds to the one who has passed Mount Wu”: