Chapter 68. Do you think I look like your shizun?

Xie Chunxi would have never thought that the words he had said all those years ago would change half of that little girl’s life.

If an ordinary person heard such words from him, they would be disheartened, and give up on any endeavour.

Xu Jingxian was a common person back then, while Xie Chunxi was already a distinguished cultivator of a Daoist sect. Few people doubted the judgements that cultivators passed on common people.

Xie Chunxi had said that she couldn’t cultivate, and her father had told her to let it go. He had hoped she would then rather learn a bit of the four arts, and after that,  find a well-matched family, marry into it, and give birth to a son, sailing smoothly through her whole life. However, Xu Jingxian didn’t believe Xie Chunxi’s nonsense at all.

The four arts: zither, go, calligraphy, painting

She had entered a Demonic sect accidentally and found the Yangzhen Grass by chance as well. Now, Xu Jingxian wasn’t someone Xie Chunxi could humiliate as he wished, changing her fate with a few words. But that didn’t mean she had let go of her past grudges.

Xie Chunxi was half bewildered, half confused, and was forced to protect himself before he could even react. After some time, he realized that the battle wasn’t in his favour.

Why is the power of this seductress so astonishing?

During their fight, Xie Chunxi was mostly on the defensive and had to slowly retreat. He unsheathed his flying sword with great difficulty, but it became wrapped in his opponent’s silk. They seemed to be in a stalemate, but in truth, he had to deal with Lu Zhinyuan earlier, and his spiritual powers still hadn’t recovered. His forehead was sweating, and he was barely holding on. Colourful light, divided by the silk, struck him right in his face. He stumbled, his abdomen injured, and smacked into the tree behind him.

Xie Chunxi exhaled: “Stop!”

Xu Jingxian smiled coldly, and, naturally, didn’t stop. She waved her hand, and the silk moved, urged by her spiritual powers, seizing Xie Chunxi.

When the others saw the two cultivators engaging in a fight inside the garden, they fled in fright.

Xie Chunxi had also been angered. They were fighting more and more vigorously, and soon, most of the trees in the garden had been broken, and they flew outside the city, ready to go all out.

Changming saw that the danger had been driven away, and walked away with Yun Weisi, satisfied with this outcome.

Although the palace guards didn’t know his status, they had seen the empress dowager’s attitude towards him, and, naturally, didn’t dare obstruct his way.

“Teacher, wait!”

Song Nanyan hurriedly caught up to them.

He was concerned about the emperor’s state, so he stayed with the empress dowager for some time.

“Teacher, the empress dowager spoke to me just now. She hopes you two will be able to stay here for several days and see whether you can cure His Majesty’s illness.”

Changming had already declined Song Nanyan’s offer, so although the latter knew that these words wouldn’t persuade Changming either, he still had to convey them.

As expected, Changming said: “The emperor isn’t ill now. There are two souls in his body, and the Zhaoyue princess’ body was seized by a demon. Their souls complement each other’s. Even if a deity descends from the Heavens, it will be hard to separate them.”

Song Nanyan smiled bitterly: “Since the Zhaoyue princess’ body won’t be found anytime soon, can’t we find one that would fit her souls, and move her into it?”

Changming smiled too: “Isn’t she already in a body that fits her?”

Song Nanyan: …

Changming: “In ten thousand bodies, only one other body except for the original would be compatible for one’s souls. In other words, the Zhaoyue princess and your emperor are fated to be. Nothing troublesome should happen under the Kuhe’s supervision. If you find it inconvenient, you can only change the emperor.”

Song Nanyan had nothing to say in response. In this moment, his mood finally corresponded to his name.

His name: CM called him ‘nanyan’, ‘hard to say’ because he wanted him to shut up

The empress dowager had only one son. If they wanted to change the emperor, they could probably only go with King Hui, who was plotting to rebel earlier today.

And if they left the emperor as he was—

Then he would be one person during the daytime, and another at night. Would the ministers have to take care of both of them, who were entirely different people?

When Song Nanyan recalled how the emperor was keeping his fingers in that orchid gesture, wiping off his tears, Song Nanyan felt his head spinning. He couldn’t think about it anymore.

“Teacher, there are still several days left before the fifteenth of the seventh month. Why don’t you and shixiong Yun rest in my residence for some time? You won’t be bothered with the usual trivial affairs at all, and I’ll make everything comfortable for you!”

Changming: “There’s no need. Your shixiong Yun is wounded, so we’ll go back to our inn for several days, and won’t return here. After that, if we are fated, we will probably meet again.”

He was bidding farewell.

Song Nanyan was disappointed. Usually, his tongue was bright like a lotus, but he didn’t know what to say to his incredibly stubborn shizun now and felt helpless.

Tongue bright like a lotus: a glib tongue

Even his teacher turning out to be a cultivator still felt unreal, like a dream.

“Then this disciple will help you send back shixiong Yun.”

He reached his arm to support Yun Hai. The latter seemed to have his eyes closed, but at that moment, he shrank back, and Song Nanyan’s hand caught only air.

Song Nanyan: …

Changming laughed: “I spoiled him, so his temper is awfully bad.”

Yun Hai smiled faintly. It wasn’t that he was too lazy to refute Changming’s utter nonsense, but that he had no strength to.

His intense fatigue was not due to his wanting to sleep. Instead, it was because his inner breath was in chaos as a result of a loss of his spiritual force.

When Yun Hai had not allowed Song Nanyan to touch him earlier, it was not because he was in a fit of pique.

It was because he could lose control over his demonic qi at any moment. If Song Nanyan was near him at this time, it would be hard for Yun Hai to contain himself and refrain from killing him.

Changming was holding him tight, trying to suppress Yun Hai’s demonic qi with his spiritual powers. He seemed like a person enjoying a light breeze on a cloudy day, but in fact, they felt as if there were strings stretched in them.

Felt as if there were strings stretched in them: tense, stressed, nervous

By the time they got back to their room, that string inside Yun Hai’s sea of consciousness was fully stretched. With one hand, he caught Changming’s wrist, and with the other, Yun Hai grabbed his neck.

His eyes turned red completely, and his rationality was crumbling into pieces.

But, in a moment, he loosened his grip and fell to the floor.

A sword glow flew near them suddenly, hitting Yun Hai right on the several acupoints on his back. The Sifei Sword was hovering in the air, responding to Changming’s call.

Just with a single thought from Changming, it would come to him from a thousand li away. They had met again after a long separation and restored their tacit understanding of each other.

Changming withdrew the sword glow. He leaned on the table with one hand, and set up a barrier around their courtyard with the other, preventing people from barging in.

When the barrier was set, he couldn’t help coughing. Blood started oozing from his mouth, and it was too late for him to cover his mouth with his hand; the blood fell on Yun Hai’s body.

Yun Hai knew nothing about this.

He was having a very long dream.

He was equipped with a long sword and was about to go travelling. He said to Jiufang Changming, who was standing in front of him on a staircase: “I understood it clearly a long time ago. Even if I leave my sect for ten, twenty, or two hundred years, my Dao Heart will always be you.”

Dao Heart: the reason for a Daoist cultivator to seek immortality

“My Dao Heart isn’t you.”

Changming said coldly. His voice was so frosty that it sounded especially indifferent.

“When it comes to worldly matters, one should abstain from covetousness most of all. Where are the teachings I gave you?”

Yun Hai, no, rather Yun Weisi, was looking at him without blinking.

“Only a persistent person can seek the Great Dao of the highest virtues. Shizun, is it that you don’t want to, or don’t dare to?”

Jiufang Changming didn’t give him an answer. He turned back, entered the Daoist temple, and only said one last thing.

“Kneel for three more days.”

The weather was ice-cold. Forget three days—a normal person wouldn’t be able to bear it for three shichens.

But cultivators weren’t regular people. Yun Weisi felt himself turning into ice in the snow.

Buffeted by the wind, his insides turning into ice, just like—

Just like what had happened in the Treasured Celestial Library Pagoda: his primordial spirit was split into halves: one of them was embracing Changming, as if he was holding a block of thousand-year ice, and wanted to melt it with his warmth, while the other half was swirling around in a wild demonic dance, and wanted to make Changming suffer the most excruciating tortures in the world.

Primordial spirit: it appears in a cultivator, can exist independently from their body, and control souls

His mind was leaping from one thought to another, as if looking at the flowers while riding a horse, the past and the present were mixed up, in utter disorder.

Looking at the flowers while riding a horse: glancing over things hurriedly

Yun Hai’s breath stabilized, and he opened his eyes abruptly!

He was lying on a bed, and Changming was sitting near him, reading a book, with his back turned to Yun Hai.

What was a dream, and what was real?

Yun Hai closed his eyes, opened them again and said to Changming: “Shizun.”

Changming hummed, still concentrated on the bamboo scroll, and didn’t turn his head: “How do you feel?”

For a short time, Yun Hai couldn’t tell whether he was still in the Yuhuang Temple, or if this was a dream of Nanke, an illusion with smoke and glass, formed from matters of his past.

A dream of Nanke: the story of a man who sees a nightmare about becoming a governor of Nanke, which turned out to be an anthill. link

“Shizun, turn your head, I want to see you,” he said in a low voice that partially sounded like a plea, although he didn’t notice it.

“How old are you, why are you still behaving like a child?”

Changming finally put aside the bamboo scroll and turned to him.

But that face—

Yun Hai suddenly trembled!

It was a green face with saw-like fangs, and indescribably wicked intentions were seen in his eyes.

“Do you think I look like your shizun?”