Editor: Sahloknir
Puuuchh…
Fresh blood spurted out along the sword. Gong Wei staggered half a step backward and fell to the ground.
A crisp clang sounded, and the poisoned dagger slipped out from his hand and fell to his feet.
“Chief!”
“Lord Xu?”
“What is happening, what—”
The crowd on the Immortal Ascension Platform shuffled forward quickly but their terrified expressions could no longer be clearly seen. Gong Wei lay on the ground and looked towards the bloodstained sword. The sword’s hilt, which had three engraved words“Bu Nai He”, was held in a death grip by a slender yet strong hand with the distinct rippling of tendons on the knuckles. It was a terrifying sight.
Gong Wei’s gaze moved up the arm attached to that hand, and there was Xu Shuangtze with his lofty and perennially stiff face as he said, “…You want to kill me?”
Gong Wei shut his eyes and rapidly gasped, then opened his lids again to focus on the snow capped mountains and forest in the distance.
Xu Shuangtze’s voice seemed a little louder, but perhaps because he was close now, and the words he spoke seemed to be articulated with emphasis from between his teeth, “Why?”
Gong Wei did not respond. The chill, which had set in due the rapid blood loss had paralyzed his senses, and even his vision was now blurred. In a trance, he heard a heated clamour in the distance, and several other sect leaders rushed forward simultaneously and forcefully attempted to channel their spiritual power to prolong his life. Yet it did not help.
Xu Shuangtze had attained the highest realm of cultivation and was the world’s most formidable man. There was none who had survived under his sword, ‘Bu Nai He—No Way Out’.
“…I’m sorry.” Gong Wei forced out a smile. Though blood continued to gush from the corners of his mouth, the laugh lines on his pale face were evocative, “I’m sorry, you…you look…”
“Don’t move!”
“Lord Gong!”
“Don’t move!”
Gong Wei went on as if he was deaf to the surrounding cries, he gasped and lifted his hand. In the direction he pointed, were the winter mountains and forest—a land of grey and white solitude. The cold wind whistled and blew over the mountains and a sea of pine trees before dispersing into the distant horizon.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Obbx, qfjmt yibrrbwr.”
—We Vtejcuahf’r ojmf, qfgtjqr fnfc tlr ygfjat, rffwfv ab yf ogbhfc ralii.
Pc atja wbwfca, Xbcu Qfl’r gluta qeqli kjr ragjcufis liiewlcjafv ys j ygluta, gfv uibk jcv ogbw atf alq bo tlr rifcvfg olcufg oifk j wliilbc rmjgifa qfajir. Pa ibbxfv jr lo atfs kfgf uilaafglcu yeaafgoilfr oieaafglcu lc atf klcv, rkfqa ogbw atf ktlaf pjvf qijaobgw vbkc ab atf fjgat, ktlmt kjr yijcxfafv ys atf tjgrt klcafg.
In a flash, it was as if spring had returned. The mountains, rivers, fields and peach blossom forests were lush and in full bloom, scarlet clouds of exceptional brilliance spread across the horizon and reflected in everyone’s frightened eyes:
“This…what is this?!”
“Illusion, illusion magic!”
“You will never be able to ascend in this lifetime.” Gong Wei lay in a pool of his own blood, grinning with his eyes curved as he stared at Xu Shuangtze. Every word he spoke was terrible and clear, “Your cultivation in this life…will end here.”
He could no longer see Xu Shuangtze’s expression. Casting the terrifyingly powerful illusion of Heaven and Earth had drained every last ounce of his spiritual power. Gong Wei’s hand fell back to the ground. Under the sky strewn with fluttering peach blossom petals, he closed his eyes for the last time and fell into an everlasting slumber.
In the final scene of his life, he remembered that Xu Shuangtze got down, reached his hand towards his throat. But he did not know what had happened after his death.
In the beginning of the twenty-eighth year of Taiyi’s reign, during the Immortal Ascension Ceremony, the Chief of the Immortal Alliance’s Department of Discipline, Gong Wei, armed with a sharp blade, attempted to assassinate the Cang Yang Sect Leader, Xu Shuangtze. He was slain by his target’s sword in the end.
The news spread to every corner of the earth and the world was shaken.
—
Sixteen years later…
“–“Shidi” “Shidi is awake!” “Quickly call for Dashixiong!”
There was complete chaos around him, like countless chickens clucking at the top of their voices. The noise tore into Gong Wei’s temples, giving him a sudden throbbing pain.
His first thought was, Dashixiong? My Dashixiong is here?
But he quickly realised something was amiss, because in the Immortal Alliance, other than the chief disciple Ying Kai, there could not be so many people of greater seniority to address him as ‘Shidi’.
Gong Wei barely opened his eyes and the first thing he felt was pain—it was as though all his limbs and bones had been broken and pieced back together. This was the classic aftermath of losing control during cultivation practice.
The pain made him dizzy and blurred his vision and it took a long while for everything to become clear. The first thing which appeared in his field of vision were plain, white bed curtains. Then it was a small, simple, but tidy room. A man who couldn’t have been more than twenty, with neatly bunned up hair and a sword, stepped forward from a group of five or six teenagers and asked, “How are you doing, Shidi? Quickly lie down! Don’t move too much!”
…It sounded much like the last, angry cry he heard before his death, telling him not to move, this uncanny coincidence gave him a sense of familiarity…
Gong Wei, feeling decidedly light-headed, lay back down, only to see that his Dashixiong instructed several teenagers to stand guard outside the door. Then, the lad grabbed one of his hands to carefully feel for his pulse and was subsequently overwhelmed with relief, “Shidi’s spirit pulse is weak but he is out of critical condition. This is really good news!”
Who am I?
Where am I?
Am I not already dead?
“Shidi, you must remember, the journey to immortality is the most treacherous of all risks. If you go off the rails again in your practice, loss of your cultivation is the least of your worries because you may even die! —Ah, I know that you must be very sad right now, but Yuchi Xiao’s marriage annulment is a done deal! Shidi must let this go. Your bloodline is not your choice, nor is it your fault; not to mention that you only have half of the Mei demon bloodline. Even if you were a pureblooded Mei demon, we would not change our opinion of you, let alone have any contempt…”
Gong Wei, who was lying down like a stiffened corpse, suddenly heard something absurd. “Hold on a minute!”
Dashixiong turned a deaf ear, probably because he was too focused on repeating what he had rehearsed countless times while Gong Wei was unconscious. His speech sounded both passionate and wise, “Although since ancient times, Mei demons have never cultivated a golden core, Shidi you are at least half human, so there must be hope! As long as you are willing to work hard, we all believe that you will be able to attain immortality! We will await your success with pride. We—Shidi! What’s wrong with you? Are you unwell again? Somebody help!!!”
Gong Wei who was in a deathly state just a moment ago sat up in a wave of shock, pulling Dashixiong closer, an undisguised horror reflected in his eyes. “Mei demon?!”
Dashixiong grew more fearful, “Shidi! Have you lost your memory?”
It wasn’t until an hour later, when Gong Wei, relying on bits and pieces of information from conversations, and the scattered memories left by this body’s original owner managed to make out his current situation.
The body’s owner was known as Xiang Xiaoyuan, a junior disciple who had just built up his foundation in cultivation practice. He had mediocre talent and a low level of cultivation, yet he was surprisingly famous in the Sect.
Because he had a learning disability.
For most disciples who have spiritual potential, it is exceedingly common for them to have an above average level of intellect. Therefore, a disciple like Xiaoyuan was one in a million.
Sixteen years ago, disciples who were on duty found him at the foot of the mountain as a baby in a swaddle. He had a high fever, breathed faintly and couldn’t even cry. Other than a note with the eight characters of his Four Pillars of Destiny, there was nothing left on him.
The clan elders hired physicians and tirelessly fed him medicine for half a month before his fever subsided. However, it did cause some damage to his brain and consequently, his intellect. Since then, everyone believed that this was the main culprit for turning him into a slow learner.
Xiang Xiaoyuan learnt to speak only around the age of six or seven and barely built his foundation in cultivation practice at the age of thirteen or fourteen. At present, he was unable to cultivate a golden core, which was regarded as an entrance test to a formal discipleship. So he remained as an unofficial disciple of the Sect.
—However, it would also be false to say that the child was without merits. For example, he was obedient, diligent and no matter how challenging the training was, he would earnestly attempt to complete it, never complaining about hardship or fatigue. There were no elders in the Sect who did not like him.But there was one detrimental behavioural vice which could not be made up by every single one of his merits combined.
The child had a natural obsession for beautiful girls and liked to look at them.
If he were to meet one on the streets, he could trail behind her for an hour as if he were in a demonic trance, without reacting to anyone who attempted to speak to him. When he was younger, people paid less attention to the boy’s unbecoming behaviour towards women. The beautiful ladies themselves would laugh it off as a slightly odd demeanour and did not take him too seriously. As a result of getting away with these actions, his behaviour became worse and he was subsequently attracted to beautiful men as well.
—If it were sixteen years ago when Gong Wei, the Chief of the Immortal Alliance’s Department of Discipline was still alive, he would have berated Xiang Xiaoyuan at the very beginning and slapped him back to the training grounds to reflect and correct his ways. If he dared to reoffend, he would be tied up and sent to the disciplinary court to accept Gong Wei’s ‘raging love’ of repentance.
But surprisingly, the people around Xiaoyuan did not chastise nor punish him strictly. There was even once when he followed a group of disciples who specialised in medical practice down the mountain for their clinical duties. He followed them for a good twenty miles before realising that he had lost his way. The disciples took care of him with good meals and drinks for half a month before reluctantly sending him home with a bag full of elixirs.
Xiang Xiaoyuan’s life had been charmed and smooth sailing without any setbacks. He grew up excessively doted upon by everyone until he was sixteen. Half a year ago, he went down the mountain to purchase things with a senior disciple and consequently met the Madam of the Yuchi family, who was out travelling.
Shixiong merely turned away for a moment when Xiang Xiaoyuan promptly got on the Yuchi family’s horse carriage. For this inappropriate behaviour, it would not be unusual to have him dragged out on the streets for a heavy beating. However, Madam Yuchi was astonished by her encounter and was too startled to react accordingly. When she finally did, her displeasure had turned into pleasant surprise, her eyes gleamed and she gestured for Xiaoyuan to sit beside her. She reached out to stroke his hair and exclaimed, “The rumours do not lie, you are really very, very, very good looking.”
Her next sentence was, “I have a son called Yuchi Xiao. He is twenty and still single. Are you willing to be his life partner?”
Yuchi Xiao, the Sword Sect’s legitimate heir. Not only did he have a pristine reputation in society, he was also the next generation leader of Xuanmen.
With Xiang Xiaoyuan’s intellect, he was probably unaware of what it meant to form a lifelong partnership. But to everyone else, this union meant a great social climb for him. If not for the special circumstances which surrounded the Sword Sect’s internal family affairs, this match was not likely to happen. The Sect’s elders immediately agreed to the proposal by Madam Yuchi and speedily sent his birth characters as a token to seal the deal.
But as the marriage was about to be finalised, it was met with the violent objection of one man.
Who would that be? None other than Yuchi Xiao himself.
“I already have someone in my heart and therefore I cannot obey my parent’s wishes. Please forgive me. I am also aware that the Young Master Xiao has the blood of the Mei demons and is unusual in his behaviour and demeanour. I am unable to continue my path along with a non-human being. I humbly seek your forgiveness once again!”
Yuchi Xiao was too quick and sharp with his words, even his own mother was unable to stop him in time before the words ‘Mei demon’ came out and caused Xiang Xiaoyuan to be utterly dumbfounded.
Mei demons were the lowest class of demons. They had beautiful appearances but were lacking in intelligence. Other than charming the hearts of men, they did not have any devastating demonic abilities and were almost indistinguishable from a regular human being.
The laws of the Immortal Alliance were strict, and stated that demons must be vanquished on sight. But the Mei demons were an exception for two key reasons: Firstly, they were able to complement humans and boost their cultivation practice, which greatly benefitted human practitioners. Secondly, the Mei demons were not smart, which made it a challenge for them to accomplish tasks which required thinking, such as plotting and harming humans. They were simply too dumb for anyone to bear to destroy them.
Xiang Xiaoyuan had been persistently practicing for a number of years without knowing that he was half a Mei demon, which made all his efforts from the very beginning seem as futile as carrying water in a bamboo basket.
The elders were afraid that he would be devastated and kept this secret from him.
The boy went back in a daze only to throw up three litres of blood that night and lose control of himself, consequently suffering a qi deviation. Fortunately, his fellow disciples were well prepared, taking turns to watch over him twenty-four hours a day and found him in time to save his life. Otherwise, he risked dying from internal haemorrhaging.
After slipping into a coma for half a month, Xiang Xiaoyuan finally woke up and everyone was relieved.
But no one knew that the one who actually came back was the great Chief of the Immortal Alliance’s Department of Discipline, Gong Wei, who died under Xu Shuangtze’s sword sixteen years ago.
Poor boy. But at least he was treated nice by the sect. Really nice people.
Ugh, now I’m invested. I hope this will be a good journey ahead.
Thank you for the translation 💛
everyone dotes on him and cares for him. How different will it be now that he is Gong Wei?
thanks for the chapter <3
oh my, poor child, not even knowing what you are all the way till 16, and the way you know it, was in a form of cruel rejection too, tsk tsk, worry not tho, someone who was once in the apex of a mountain is here to take care of you from now on! ლ(^o^ლ)
thank you for the chapter!
This seriously sounds like am amazingly interesting story. I Wish there were more chapters because it just took one to make me interested haha 😬
Thanks for the great translation and the great editor.
Cannot wait for the next chapters
Why did gong wei kill him?
i honestly love a silly little flower vase ^^) he does sound so likeable, i would probably be tempted to spoil him to death as well
He’s so cute, I’m happy he had a happy life at least
Wah, that’s such a shame. He was even working so hard too.
Assfhgfsa “we hate Demons and will kill them On Sight. …. The dumb pretty ones stay tho.”
poor babyy