Lin Shijin was a little stunned. He watched helplessly as Sheng Rufei left, not even managing to call out to him. The door stood open, but Sheng Rufei was already nowhere to be seen.
“Why such a big reaction?” Lin Shijin muttered.
He carefully put the jade away and sprang to his feet, planning to go and find him. He wanted to see where Sheng Rufei had hidden himself.
Just as he stood up, someone tugged his ear.
Fuheng had grabbed it, his voice cold. “If you go over now, do you still want him to toss you around again?”
Lin Shijin did not understand at first. He and Sheng Rufei had only kissed, nothing more. Then the meaning dawned on him and his ears immediately grew hot.
Rubbing the tip of his ear, he asked in a low voice, “Have you been following me this whole time? Can you see everything I do?”
“If you were a little quieter, perhaps you would not wake me,” Lin Fuheng sneered. “Next time I ought to record it with a Tongtian Stone so you can see for yourself what you looked like.”
Watching the other person make such expressions with exactly the same face as his own made him want to tear the other culprit apart.
Lin Shijin fell silent.
He could tell that Fuheng disliked Sheng Rufei, although Fuheng seemed to dislike everyone. Fuheng did not even seem to like him. They might even be reincarnations of the same person.
“We did not finish our conversation just now,” Lin Shijin said, instinctively skipping past the awkward topic. “What you mentioned earlier was the Wusheng Sword Intent. I have never heard of it before.”
“You do not believe me?” Lin Fuheng saw straight through the youth’s thoughts and pinched his ear again. “If you do not believe me, go and find someone else.”
“Stop bothering me.”
After saying this, Fuheng disappeared.
The room fell silent. Lin Shijin called out “Fuheng” twice, but received no response.
He muttered to himself, “Why are you so angry? I never said I did not believe you…”
Lin Shijin knew Fuheng could hear him. After offering a brief explanation he stopped speaking. It was about time to go to Su Lian’s room.
Su Lian’s room was also on the second floor, not far from theirs. As Lin Shijin stepped out, he saw Sheng Rufei not far away. Just as he was about to call out, Sheng Rufei turned and walked away.
What was that about?
Lin Shijin was baffled. All he had done was kiss his ear.
The door to Su Lian’s room was already open. Chunhe and the others had arrived. Only he and Sheng Rufei were left.
When they entered, the door closed behind them. Su Lian set up a barrier. In the centre of the table lay a map.
“We all arrived in the past two days,” Su Lian said as he lit a candle on the table. “Originally the sect arranged for us to travel in pairs. I did not understand the reason at first, but after asking around on the road I learned that this year’s Wuxiang Mountain trial is conducted in pairs.”
“I suspect the sect master and the others received advance notice, which is why they paired us up.”
The six of them sat around the table. Lin Shijin sat beside Sheng Rufei. On his other side was the disciple from Medicine Peak.
Only then did Lin Shijin remember his name. Danggui. The name of a medicinal herb. His surname seemed to be Xue.
As Lin Shijin sat down he accidentally stepped on him.
Danggui lifted his eyes. There was a trace of emotion in them and his gaze was somewhat sharp. Lin Shijin felt as if he had been pricked by invisible thorns. A little embarrassed, he said, “Sorry.”
When he lifted his foot, several dusty prints were left on Danggui’s shoe.
Danggui withdrew his foot and turned his face away.
Su Lian noticed the small disturbance but, seeing that it was nothing serious, continued speaking.
“Liuguang. When we met yesterday we already discussed matters. The four of us encountered no trouble on the road. It was very smooth. There were no so-called trials.”
Sheng Rufei listened while sparing a little attention for the youth beside him.
“Our journey was also fairly smooth.”
“I heard you made a trip to Jinyue Temple?” Su Lian said in his gentle voice. “The place is very lively now. Elders from various immortal sects have gathered there. I heard that you destroyed Jun Yewu’s formation. The elders all wanted to meet the young genius responsible, but after doing the deed you left immediately. Truly hiding your merit and fame.”
Lin Shijin was somewhat surprised by Su Lian’s information network. They had only left Jinyue Temple the day before.
“There were Scourge-Slayers there,” Sheng Rufei said, clearly unwilling to elaborate. “Did they capture Jun Yewu?”
Su Lian shook his head.
“In all these years the demon race has produced only one Saint Lord besides the demon immortals. Jun Yewu is not someone who can be captured easily. He escaped.”
Lin Shijin listened carefully and felt rather regretful that the bastard had escaped again.
His attention was fixed on Su Lian, so he did not notice the movement beneath the table until someone stepped on him.
He turned and met Xue Danggui’s face.
He remembered the other youth as rather ordinary before, yet now his bearing seemed sharper. And he was childish enough to deliberately step on him.
Everyone else was discussing serious matters. Lin Shijin did not feel much pain. He glanced at his boots, shifted slightly closer to Sheng Rufei, and ignored him.
He tugged lightly at the edge of Sheng Rufei’s robe. If Xue Danggui stepped on him again, he would complain.
Su Lian continued teasing Sheng Rufei.
“You have already done very well. The immortal sects have noticed you this time. If you ever leave Fuguang in the future, the major sects will surely compete to recruit you.”
Sheng Rufei raised his thin eyelids and met Su Lian’s gaze. His eyes remained cool and he said nothing.
“This incident at Jinyue Temple involves the Sword Master. He will also go there. If the sword light on the corpse truly belongs to him, he may find it difficult to withdraw from the matter.”
There was an unreadable look in Su Lian’s eyes.
It was truly an excellent move. If he had not known who had orchestrated everything behind the scenes, he might have thought Sheng Rufei had arranged the entire game.
Step by step, perhaps even eliminating Feng Rugao directly. Such depth of scheming would surely become a future threat if left unchecked.
For a while no one spoke. After some time Su Lian looked at Lin Shijin with concern.
“Lin-shidi, how is your cold? Your complexion seems better now.”
Lin Shijin felt Su Lian was asking a question he already knew the answer to. With everyone’s eyes on him he felt a little embarrassed.
“It is much better now. There are still some minor symptoms, but I should recover in a few days.”
Leaving things slightly vague felt safer.
Su Lian did not pursue the matter and quickly returned to the main topic.
“In previous years most trials occurred along the road to Wuxiang Mountain. This time there have been none.”
He paused.
Chunhe frowned slightly and continued, “That means the elimination rate will be extremely low. Even in the worst case scenario, the trials after entering Wuxiang Mountain will be far more brutal.”
“Exactly,” Su Lian said. “Danggui and I travelled along the Fengyu City route. We discovered something unusual there. The demon race appears to have been making moves recently.”
“It may be related to Jun Yewu’s visit to Jinyue Temple. There were always demons causing trouble in the city before, but when we passed through we learned that for the past month they have stopped entering the city entirely.”
“They have not caused any disturbances. No one knows what they intend.”
“We noticed something similar,” Mu Wanqing added. “They all seem unwilling to enter the cities and remain outside instead.”
Sheng Rufei listened quietly, his eyes thoughtful.
“This is the map for our next route,” Su Lian said. “We will all travel together to the next city for now. We will not separate. If there is notice of a trial, we will adjust our plans then.”
After the discussion ended, everyone returned to their rooms.
Sheng Rufei stayed behind, apparently having more to discuss with Su Lian.
Lin Shijin returned first. Following Chunhe and the others, he stepped out of the room and glanced back toward Sheng Rufei.
When he turned around again he nearly bumped into someone.
It was the Medicine Peak disciple, Xue Danggui.
Danggui steadied him with one hand, the corner of his lips lifting slightly.
“Su Lian will not do anything to him. What are you staring for?”
Lin Shijin felt rather baffled. They were not familiar with each other.
“Excuse me,” he replied politely.
The person in front of him did not move. Only when Su Lian coughed inside the room did Xue Danggui finally step aside.
Lin Shijin moved further away from him. He glanced back once before leaving but saw nothing unusual, and soon returned to his room.
He still had something to say to Sheng Rufei, so he waited for a while.
When he heard movement, he guessed Sheng Rufei had returned. Hugging his small pillow, he went to the door of the neighbouring room.
Lin Shijin stood on tiptoe and touched the small wooden plaque hanging from the beam, then knocked on the door. At the same time a door nearby opened.
Sheng Rufei had not appeared yet. Instead Chunhe stepped out from the room two doors away. He seemed to be passing by. His gaze paused briefly on the small pillow before he greeted him.
“Lin-shidi.”
Lin Shijin felt a little awkward and gave a vague reply. Mu Wanqing also came out of her room and glanced at him. The door in front of him opened. Lin Shijin slipped inside immediately, his face slightly flushed.
Sheng Rufei stood at the doorway, looking at Mu Wanqing and Chunhe while keeping the youth inside the room in the corner of his vision.
He said nothing. Mu Wanqing spoke first.
“Keep an eye on Seventeenth-shidi. The youth following Su Lian-shixiong seems somewhat unusual.”
Chunhe nodded. After a moment he looked up again. “Rufei-shixiong, will you change your decision?”
The question was extremely soft.
Sheng Rufei glanced toward the youth behind him and shook his head. “He is here. I will not abandon him.”
Chunhe said nothing further and left together with Mu Wanqing. Sheng Rufei turned back.
Inside the room the youth was already behaving very familiarly, sitting at the table examining what he had been working on. He had even picked up Yinbing Sword lying on the table.
“Shixiong, your sword can become warm as well.”
Yinbing Sword was entirely silver-white. Lin Shijin looked as though he had discovered something astonishing.
The sword should have been cold, yet when he touched it the blade warmed in his palm and even faintly flushed red.
“Shixiong, why does the sword change colour?”
Lin Shijin refused to let go of Yinbing Sword and carried it over to show Sheng Rufei.
“It has developed a sword spirit. Usually it doesn’t pay much attention to people,” Sheng Rufei said. His voice paused slightly; he did not tell the youth that the change of colour came from embarrassment, nor that the warmth was because it liked him.
“Then does it eat pastries and drink tea?” Lin Shijin asked curiously. “I read in the records that among the great cultivators of the past, some swords developed sword spirits that could even speak like people, eat pastries, and drink tea.”
That sort was somewhat different from the spontaneous sword spirit of Feng Rugao.
Sheng Rufei’s lips tightened faintly. “No.”
Perhaps the sword had inherited his temperament. It was unusually taciturn, usually lying motionless. Sheng Rufei himself had rarely paid it much attention. This was the first time he had seen it so lively.
As though it were showing off in front of the youth.
Lin Shijin gave an “oh”, growing fonder of it the more he touched it. A sword like this had so many uses. In winter, couldn’t it even serve to warm one’s hands?
The Yinbing Sword stirred in his palm. The blade gently nudged his hand, carrying a hint of intimacy.
“Shixiong, I came to see you because there’s something I want to ask.”
Sleeping was merely incidental. Incidental. He had proper business now.
Lin Shijin casually tucked the Yinbing Sword into his robes. The sword promptly burrowed straight into his arms. He paid it no mind and asked,
“Shixiong, have you ever heard of the Wusheng Sword Intent?”
…
Fuguang, Changgao Peak.
Changming Hall was entirely black. A letter sealed with wax lay upon the table. Feng Wuping lifted it idly between his fingers, and the envelope burned away into ash in the air.
“The Council of Elders has already reached a decision. They want you to go there in person.”
As the Sect Master of Fuguang, Feng Wuping had not stepped into Changming Hall for many years. The last trace of ash drifted away. The man hidden in the darkness remained silent.
“They know you cannot leave Changming Hall, yet they still made this decision. In the past three months, you were the only one who went to Jinyue Temple. If it were anyone else, they would not have had the ability to kill Bu Wen.”
Feng Wuping continued speaking to himself, unconcerned whether Feng Rugao was listening.
“They went to question your disciple as well. Sheng Rufei’s answers were perfectly proper. But at Jinyue Temple he truly made a name for himself by breaking Jun Yewu’s formation in a single day, and even destroying the illusion array surrounding the sacred artefact.”
“Do you know what that means?” Feng Wuping let out a cold laugh. “So many people have their eyes on that sacred artefact. Now that he has broken the illusion array, who knows how many will turn their attention to him as well.”
“I know you do not care about such things. Someone stepping forward to shield that sweetheart of yours. You would be more than happy to see it happen. But…”
“I only want to ask you one thing.”
“Why did you make a move against Bu Wen?”
The person he addressed remained silent for a long time. The bleak, shadowed hall of Changming lay submerged in stillness.
After a long while, just as Feng Wuping thought Feng Rugao would give no answer, the man’s low, cold voice broke the silence.
“Before I lit the Seven-Soul Candles, Bu Wen once tried to stop me.”
“He said that forcibly altering the cause and effect of this life might bring about consequences that could never be undone. He told me to stop.”
“If one were to reincarnate and begin again, everything would only repeat itself.”
Including the catastrophe that destroyed the immortal sects a thousand years ago.
So how did he choose? No one would ever know the answer again.
