Immortal Xianweng’s garden was like a utopian paradise, and the fruit wine was sweet and intoxicating.
Having spent a long period spreading kindness and bestowing charity in the mortal realm to accumulate vast amounts of merit.
During the days he had been away, the kid had probably played to his heart’s content, so it was about time to head back and check on him.
“Yichen, how can you still be spacing out while drinking wine? Is this old man’s wine-brewing skill slipping?”
Immortal Wuqing took a sip of wine, sensing nothing amiss as he spoke and laughed.
“Immortal Wuqing’s wine is peerless across heaven and earth; how could it possibly slip?”
Bai Chen’s tone carried a couple of parts drunken haze.
Hearing this, Immortal Wuqing stroked his beard and let out a hearty laugh.
“Peerless across heaven and earth to think it would receive such high praise. Yichen always manages to make this old man immensely happy.”
“That snow lotus you obtained from Heavenly Mountain when do you plan on parting with it for me?”
“Snow lotuses are not easily acquired; at most, two bloom in a century. This old man wishes to use it to brew wine and taste its flavor. When the brewing is complete, this old man will only sample a single sip to satisfy his craving, and everything else shall be entirely up to you.”
“How about it?”
One of the Heavenly Mountain snow lotuses had been eaten by Tu Xiao, and the other had been handed over to Tu Xiao to play with.
Bai Chen took a sip of wine without uttering a word.
A quarter of an hour later, he retrieved an ice lotus from his storage pouch. It was one he had personally cultivated with tremendous difficulty, frequently braving ice mountains during its growth period and watering it with the purest water from the glacial peaks to finally nurture a single blossom to full maturity.
The efficacy of the ice lotus was on par with, or even surpassed, that of the Heavenly Mountain snow lotus. Its petals were translucent like crystal, possessing an exotic, delicate fragrance, while its stamens were a bewitching shade of red.
“This master did not acquire a Heavenly Mountain snow lotus, but I do happen to have a cultivated ice lotus which is virtually identical to the Heavenly Mountain snow lotus. Immortal may make do with this lotus.”
With a flick of his curved finger, Bai Chen sent the ice lotus drifting across, remaining completely motionless as he lay sideways amongst the tree branches.
Immortal Wuqing chuckled, catching the ice lotus and inspecting the blossom that someone had painstakingly tended to, before bursting into a hearty laugh.
“You hand over an ice lotus you lovingly cared for, yet you won’t give up a readily available snow lotus?”
“Are you really treating your disciple that well, Immortal Hengchen?” Immortal Wuqing deliberately used his formal title to tease him.
Since Bai Chen now had a disciple, he guessed that both lotuses must have been given to the kid to eat.
Treating him well?
“Immortal Wuqing has so many disciples how do you go about instructing them?”
Immortal Wuqing glanced sideways at the white-clad immortal drifting amidst the trees, his eyes narrowing slightly as he gripped his wine cup, taking a good while before answering.
“First, personally instruct a single disciple; once this disciple completes their apprenticeship and graduates, you can enjoy your twilight years in peace without having to worry anymore.”
Bai Chen fell silent as he took a sip of wine.
Having finished speaking with a cheerful laugh, Immortal Wuqing suddenly shifted his expression.
Just a moment ago, Jian Zhiwei had sent a sound transmission asking him to stall Immortal Hengchen for seven days.
Although the sound transmission talisman didn’t state the reason, he could more or less guess seven or eight parts of it. Something must have gone wrong on Xinjing Mountain, and it was tied to Yichen. The only person on Xinjing Mountain connected to Yichen was that single individual.
“I’m heading back to teach my disciple. Immortal’s wine shall be sampled another time.”
With those words, a flash of white figure dropped gracefully from the tree, landing with absolute stability.
“Yichen, why don’t you wait a bit before heading back?” The smile continued to spread across Immortal Wuqing’s face as he offered a mild retention: “I actually still have another story—how about you listen to it before you leave?”
Leaning casually against the tree trunk with his slender peach-blossom eyes half-closed in a feigned slumber.
Exhaling a breath of wine, Bai Chen said in a low voice: “Speak.”
“Suppose a disciple was injured by someone would you care to hear this story?”
Bai Chen stood up. He hadn’t failed to notice the shifting expression on Immortal Wuqing’s face just moments ago. The ominous premonition in his heart had now been confirmed.
Injured? Whoever inflicted the injury shall pay back a thousandfold.
The moment space-manipulation arts were activated, the clear daylight instantly darkened under a crushing canopy of storm clouds. His sleeves fluttered in the gale, emitting a rustling sound, and in the span of a breath, not a single trace was left behind.
Not a single trace of Bai Chen remained beneath the tree.
Sighing, Immortal Wuqing muttered, “He leaves without even finishing his sentence, how impolite.”
Slowly finishing the wine in his cup, he figured he simply had to go check out the commotion since a lively spectacle had presented itself. Suddenly, a wine cup tumbled down with a clank onto the table, fortunately remaining intact without shattering.
Outside the hall, wind and snow raged furiously, while inside, candlelight flickered dimly.
When Bai Chen stepped into the medicine pavilion, the potent stench of blood filling the chamber had not yet dissipated. On the bed, Tu Xiao lay motionlessly, breathing as faintly as a gossamer thread, his complexion as pale as paper with dried blood still staining the corners of his lips.
Bai Chen’s gaze turned chillingly fierce.
Walking over with unhurried steps, he lightly touched his disciple’s brow with his fingertips. The very instant his spiritual power probed inward, the frigid coldness in the depths of his eyes nearly condensed into physical reality.
Forbidden technique backlash, spiritual power running in reverse.
Slowly withdrawing his hand, Bai Chen’s wide sleeves rippled without any wind as the aura surrounding his entire body sank into a freezing, bottomless abyss.
“Who forced him?”
Three words, as light as falling snow, yet causing the air throughout the entire grand hall to freeze into stagnation for a split second.
The hall doors were pushed open as Suizun hurried inward accompanied by eight disciples, the female cultivator right at the front cradling a stalk of Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Grass in her hands, before she could even open her mouth.
Hearing this, Bai Chen said indifferently: “Get out.”
“For beating this deity’s disciple, a worthless stalk of common herb is supposed to make up for it? Where in this world is there such a wonderful bargain!”
Jian Zhiwei halted his steps, cold sweat beading on his temples as he dared not attempt any flippant banter at this moment: “Bai Chen, there was indeed a misunderstanding in this matter; it was merely a friendly sparring match between fellow disciples.”
“A misunderstanding?” Bai Chen raised his eyes, a gentleness in his tone laced with three parts unyielding insistence. “Then how about sparring with this master instead?”
An invisible pressure bore down silently, causing the knees of all eight disciples to buckle simultaneously as they dropped to the floor in a collective kneel, trembling as they spoke: “May Immortal Hengchen appease his wrath.”
The ground where they knelt instantly iced over into frost, the biting cold creeping straight past their kneecaps to freeze their very bone marrow.
Suizun stepped inward right after, his brows furrowing deeply upon witnessing this scene.
“Bai Chen, the mountain codes are paramount; those who harm fellow disciples ought to receive severe punishment, but Tu Xiao recklessly employed a forbidden technique, meaning he is also at fault.”
Hearing this, Bai Chen suddenly let out a soft laugh. “At fault?”
The ones at fault were the group of individuals who had driven him to recklessly risk self-harm by unleashing a forbidden technique!
Lifting his fingertips, eight wisps of freezing spiritual energy pierced instantly into the glabella of the eight disciples not harming their physical bodies, but striking straight at their souls.
In a fraction of a second, the complexions of all eight turned ghastly pale, cold sweat soaking through them as they felt as though they had been plunged into a ten-thousand-zhang glacial abyss, their very souls freezing inch by inch.
“You ought to taste the flavor of a forbidden technique’s backlash yourselves.”
Suizun’s expression shifted drastically: “Bai Chen! You how can you resort to private punishment?”
“Rest assured, they won’t die. This master knows his own limits.”
Bai Chen’s tone was utterly detached.
Turning around, he walked back toward the bed. With a gentle sweep of his sleeve, a surge of pure spiritual power was channeled into Tu Xiao’s body, barely managing to anchor his heart meridian.
“Tu Xiao is my sole disciple; according to seniority, you ought to address him as your Uncle-Master!”
The Immortal stood with his back facing the crowd, his voice as cold as frost and snow.
“The eight of you, devoid of respect for superiors and guilty of harming a fellow disciple, shall kneel outside the hall every morning at the hour of chen (7-9 AM) to undergo the punishment of the Soul-Freezing Bone-Piercing Nails.”
Suizun’s expression changed: “Senior brother, this punishment is far too severe, they won’t be able to endure it…”
Turning his head slightly, Bai Chen fixed them with a chilling, awe-inspiring gaze: “My disciple managed to endure the backlash of a forbidden technique; what is there that they cannot endure?”
Immediately following his words, eight freezing soul-nails condensed in mid-air. Believing that Immortal Hengchen intended to administer the punishment personally, everyone in the hall wore looks of panic and distress. With a crook of Bai Chen’s hand, all eight nails drove straight into his own body in unison.
“Tu Xiao’s offense stems from this master’s lax discipline, so it is only right that this master suffer the punishment on his behalf.”
Bai Chen’s expression remained completely unchanged, as though the body just pierced by nails wasn’t his own.
Looking down with a haughty gaze toward Suizun and Zezun: “If the two of you also wish to take his place, this master has nothing more to say.”
Dead silence filled the hall.
After a brief moment of silence, Zezun ultimately raised his hand in a wave, causing dark iron chains to materialize out of thin air and bind the eight individuals securely.
“I will personally oversee the punishment.”
As wind and snow began to pick up outside, Bai Chen stood quietly by the bedside, lowering his gaze to watch his unconscious little disciple while continuing to channel spiritual power into him. His pretty brows knitted slightly, brimming with an aura of protective heartache.
“Xiao,” he murmured softly, “This master is right here; no one will ever hurt you again. Wake up for me, won’t you.”
Outside the window, eight figures knelt amidst the snow. Engulfed by the soul-freezing frost, before any wails could escape their throats, their voices were frozen solid within their windpipes.
Inside the hall, the flickering candlelight cast its glow against the immortal’s frost-like side profile and the pale, youthful countenance of the child resting upon the bed.
From this moment onward, across the entirety of Xinjing Mountain, there was not a single soul who did not know just how fiercely protective Immortal Hengchen was of his own.