Jiang Youbai was momentarily choked by Shen Changchuan’s sudden interrogation. He then realized that just now, Mu Jiyuan had transformed into a white snake and licked his cheek with its forked tongue. Viewed from the courtyard entrance, the angles must have been misaligned, making it look precisely like a kiss.
An exasperated laugh escaped Jiang Youbai. He stood up, walked right up to Shen Changchuan, deliberately leaned in close, and hovered his lips right near the other man’s face, neither kissing nor pulling away. “Then does Master want to get close to your disciple as well?”
It was like white swans intertwining their necks, an ambiguous heat igniting in an instant only to be snuffed out just as quickly. A chilling intent quenched Shen Changchuan’s gaze. “Is this how you always get close to people?”
Jiang Youbai smiled. “That depends on whether I want to or not.”
Giving Jiang Youbai a long, deep look, Shen Changchuan spoke in a voice audible only to the two of them. “You want to get close to me?”
Jiang Youbai’s smile reached his eyes, yet it carried an undeniable danger. “I do. Of course I do.”
As he stared at Shen Changchuan’s stern face, he suddenly recalled what Mu Jiyuan had told him just moments ago, claiming that Shen Changchuan was gentle with him. Pushing his luck, Jiang Youbai pressed further. “Master, may I take a look at your jade pendant?”
Everyone in the cultivation world knew that a cultivator’s natal dharma artifact represented their very life. If the artifact suffered damage, the master would likewise suffer backlash, making it completely impossible to lend such an item to others.
The moment that question left his lips, Mu Jiyuan, standing nearby, snapped his head up to stare at the pair.
No matter how much Shen Changchuan doted on Jiang Youbai, it was impossible for him to lend his natal dharma artifact to Jiang Youbai, right?
Yet Shen Changchuan merely glanced at the person before him, his gaze clearly mirroring the craftiness and danger lurking in the youth’s eyes. Raising his hand, a flash of golden light illuminated the space as the jade pendant materialized right between them, gently separating their close proximity. After the pale golden glow faded, a small, exquisite jade pendant hovered in midair. It was crafted from what appeared to be mutton-fat white jade, carved with bizarre patterns he had never seen before, yet fashioned with such meticulous precision that not a single flaw seemed to exist.
The spiritual energy contained within the pendant was vast and overflowing, mirroring Shen Changchuan’s own sea of consciousness. All of his spiritual power converged right here.
If this pendant were destroyed, Jiang Youbai could hardly imagine how severe the resulting trauma to Shen Changchuan would be.
Yet Shen Changchuan had told him that even if he knew how to crack the pendant, he wouldn’t be able to kill him. He truly wondered whether the man was simply arrogant or genuinely possessed a hidden trump card.
As Jiang Youbai watched and pondered, he raised his hand and reached toward the floating pendant. The faint golden light surrounding it did not reject his approach. The moment his fingertip brushed against the pendant, Jiang Youbai felt a comforting, chilling coolness seep into his body, soothing every meridian throughout his entire being. It felt identical to the sensation Shen Changchuan himself projected, being detached and aloof yet steadfast and reliable.
This harmonious scene, witnessed by Mu Jiyuan off to the side, filled his eyes with absolute shock. Shen Changchuan actually let Jiang Youbai casually touch his natal dharma artifact?
Staring at Shen Changchuan’s back, Mu Jiyuan bit his lip, a cold edge suddenly bleeding into his gaze.
A cultivator’s natal dharma artifact was never lent to outsiders, let alone allowed to be touched casually, let alone stroked and played with like this. Because a dharma artifact shared a resonant connection with its master’s consciousness, damaging the artifact meant injuring the master, and touching the artifact allowed the master to perceive the contact as well.
Perhaps his gaze was simply too intense. Detecting it, Shen Changchuan turned his head to look in his direction. Those eyes were like frost and snow, resembling the coldest sword in the deep reaches of a frozen mountain. Mu Jiyuan hurriedly withdrew his gaze and stammered, “This disciple will go help Eldest Senior Brother. This disciple takes his leave.”
Shen Changchuan retracted his gaze. “Mhm.”
Jiang Youbai did not even notice Mu Jiyuan leave. He hadn’t expected that not only could Shen Changchuan’s zither music suppress the demonic qi within him, but this jade pendant possessed a suppressive effect as well, even leaving his entire body feeling remarkably comfortable.
Without realizing it, he closed his hand around the jade pendant, pressing his entire palm tightly against it. Feeling the faintly cool temperature radiating from the pendant itself, he smiled in admiration. “This dharma artifact of yours is quite nice. If I truly learn how to crack it in the future, I promise I will not destroy it.”
As Shen Changchuan passed him toward the inner quarters, he retrieved the pendant from Jiang Youbai’s hand. “Give it back now that you are done playing.”
With the source of comfort pulled away, Jiang Youbai muttered softly behind Shen Changchuan’s back, “I was not done playing.”
Ignoring him, Shen Changchuan put the pendant away and turned to the matter at hand. “Since you are not done playing, come and try figuring out how to crack my jade pendant.”
Jiang Youbai was taken aback. For some reason, he always felt like Shen Changchuan was deliberately changing the subject.
Still, he was more than happy to try cracking Shen Changchuan’s pendant.
Jiang Youbai asked, “How do we try?”
Without answering verbally, Shen Changchuan summoned the phantom of the jade pendant, which pulsed with golden light as it floated directly before him. Jiang Youbai narrowed his eyes. “Relying solely on that tiny shred of spiritual energy inside me, I cannot beat you.”
Before his voice had even faded, the jade pendant in the air drifted toward the space between his brows. Golden light stretched out like fine threads connecting to his forehead, and the pendant residing within his body seemed to sense it. The seal loosened, and his demonic power instantly surged outward. The corners of Jiang Youbai’s lips curved upward as he reached out and grabbed the floating jade pendant right in front of his brow, demonic energy swirling in his palm as if he intended to crush the pendant to pieces the very next second.
Yet, with a sudden hardening of his gaze, Jiang Youbai glanced sharply behind him. Two jade pendants had locked off his retreat from left and right. Shen Changchuan’s jade pendant could multiply into countless phantoms, and finding out where the true pendant was hidden remained the key to breaking it.
Releasing his grip on the fake pendant he had grabbed, he flashed forward, closing the distance to Shen Changchuan in an instant as his right hand transformed back into its original form, sharp claws lunging straight toward the man’s heart.
Shen Changchuan did not even retreat a single step. A row of jade pendants materialized to block his claws, while three more pendants rapidly pursued from behind, forcing Jiang Youbai to reluctantly widen the distance between them.
The pendant flew back into midair, merging back into a single piece. Staring at the phantom of the pendant, Jiang Youbai felt an urge to grab it and bite it to pieces.
The pendant followed no predictable pattern whatsoever. No matter where he appeared around Shen Changchuan, the pendant seemed able to anticipate it, accurately blocking every single attack. It was practically cheating.
Fixating on the pendant, he suddenly summoned his feathers. This time, the feathers transformed into countless flower petals, scattering like a sky full of starlight and converging simultaneously upon Shen Changchuan.
With a torrential volley like a thousand arrows fired at once, he refused to believe Shen Changchuan’s pendant could block all of them!
The feathers danced through the air like butterflies, and Jiang Youbai’s figure wove between them. Golden light collided with white feathers, scattering like a sky full of rosy clouds as Jiang Youbai materialized directly behind Shen Changchuan and struck out with a palm strike.
Yet as fast as he was, Shen Changchuan was faster. The moment their palms collided, frost condensed and climbed up Jiang Youbai’s arm, threatening to freeze his entire hand solid. It was Shen Changchuan’s spiritual energy transformed into ice and snow, devouring his meridians and flesh.
Frowning, Jiang Youbai found his hand completely immobilized and unable to withdraw.
Yet Shen Changchuan had no intention of killing him. The gathered frost quickly faded, and in an instant, his hand returned to its normal state, though the biting chill still lingered deep within his palm.
Withdrawing his hand, Shen Changchuan watched the surrounding jade pendants vanish into thin air, while the feathers were blown away to unknown destinations by the wind, leaving everything without a trace. “Today’s lesson ends here.”
Jiang Youbai did not mind, though he did not leave immediately either. Flexing his palm, which had just been frozen by Shen Changchuan’s spiritual energy, he saw an area of stubborn, pure white, bone-chilling frost that had not entirely dissipated, beneath which his skin was flushed red. Looking up at Shen Changchuan, he abruptly asked, “Does Master prepare gifts for disciples during their apprenticeship ceremonies?”
Reading the look in Jiang Youbai’s eyes, Shen Changchuan knew the youth was up to no good. “What is it?”
Pushing his luck, Jiang Youbai asked, “Can I choose this gift myself?”
After a two-second silence, Shen Changchuan replied, “Letting you down the mountain, no. Unlocking the jade pendant, no.”
Jiang Youbai let out a dry, amused laugh. He had not planned on asking for either of those things anyway; by this point, without even thinking, he knew Shen Changchuan had not intended to let him go. “I do not want those. I want a promise from you.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Shen Changchuan’s eyes. “What promise?”
Dropping his smile, Jiang Youbai said earnestly, “Shen Changchuan, I want you to swear an oath that you will never kill me, regardless of the reason.”
Gazing at Jiang Youbai, Shen Changchuan caught the extraordinarily complex emotions directed at him within the youth’s expression. He could not help asking, “Why would I want to kill you?”
Lowering his gaze, Jiang Youbai muttered evasively, “No reason. Consider it me worrying that you will not keep your word and might refuse to spare me someday for the sake of some Immortal Alliance or Demonic Realm cause.”
Giving him a long, profound look, Shen Changchuan raised his hand and swore an oath. “With Heaven and Earth as my witness, I, Shen Changchuan, hereby swear that from this day forward, for any reason whatsoever, I will never harm Jiang Youbai in the slightest. Should I violate this oath, may my body and soul be utterly destroyed.”
Jiang Youbai had not expected Shen Changchuan to utter such a heavy oath. His gaze trembled, and for some reason, his voice turned somewhat raspy. “Are you really that certain you will not want to kill me?”
In response, Shen Changchuan turned the question back on him. “Why are you so certain I would want to kill you?”
Looking at Shen Changchuan, Jiang Youbai felt the image overlap seamlessly with the memory of that cold figure glaring down at him from the edge of the cliff. “What if I kill a great many people from the Qingshang Sect? What if I stand as an enemy against the entire Immortal Alliance? You are the model of righteousness, the First Seat of the Immortal Alliance. Would you really just stand by and do nothing?”
Instead of answering immediately, Shen Changchuan asked another question. “Then why would you ever stand as an enemy against the Immortal Alliance?”
For a split second, Jiang Youbai could not tell whether he was speaking to the Shen Changchuan of the present or interrogating the Shen Changchuan of his past life. He simply followed his own voice. “Because those not of our kind have different hearts. They do not trust me, and neither do you. All of you want me dead.”
Noticing something amiss with Jiang Youbai, Shen Changchuan took a step forward. “I will not kill you, nor will I ever doubt you.”
As Shen Changchuan raised his hand, Jiang Youbai reacted as if terrified, rapidly retreating backward. “You are lying to me! You are going to lie to me again!”
Without pulling his hand back, Shen Changchuan continued walking slowly toward Jiang Youbai. “I never lie. If you do not believe me, you are welcome to test it.”
Hearing this, Jiang Youbai stopped retreating. His gaze locked onto the hand Shen Changchuan had extended toward him, a hand that looked like it had transformed into a sharp blade, ready to pierce straight through his heart the very next second. Suddenly freezing in place, he reached out and grabbed that hand, gripping it as tightly as one would grasp a sword blade, even as the action sliced his own palm open and left it dripping with blood.
He stared blankly at it for a moment, then raised his head to look at Shen Changchuan. His pupils were entirely unfocused, yet the corners of his mouth twitched upward into a slow, blossoming smile that even reached his eyebrows.
Jiang Youbai was breathtakingly beautiful. A smile upon his jade-white face possessed a bewitching, captivating allure. Yet such a devastatingly lovely face was also the most adept at deception. The next instant, from a hidden spot where he had concealed a feather once more, Jiang Youbai drove it straight through Shen Changchuan’s heart.
Brilliant golden light surged outward. In a single heartbeat, the blinding radiance of the jade pendant practically swallowed Jiang Youbai whole, leaving him unable to see anything at all. Just as consciousness slipped away, he vaguely heard Tang Ci’s panicked, frantic shout ringing out.
“Master!”