(16)
The sun was high in the sky under a cloudless blue light. Outside the window, vibrant, dripping-red pomegranate flowers hung heavily on the branches, with a gentle breeze delivering a refreshing fragrance.
With a soft creak, the room door was slowly pushed open.
Zishu Bai carefully picked up the scattered wine pots on the floor, put them back in place, and tiptoed over to the small daybed. Looking at Yan Zhun—who was lying sprawled out and snoring like thunder—and Jiang Xing, whose brows were tightly knitted as if he hadn’t slept well, Zishu Bai couldn’t help letting out a low chuckle.
Ever since achieving bigu (fasting/inediain cultivation), Zishu Bai rarely slept; to him, meditating and cultivating was equivalent to resting. Judging by the look of it, these two must have drunk a lot more after he left last night, given that they still hadn’t woken up even at noon.
He leaned down, quietly gazing at Jiang Xing. Usually, there was no opportunity to stare like this; whenever he met Jiang Xing’s cold, sharp eyes, he would inexplicably feel flustered and lost for no reason.
Yet when those eyes were closed, he felt that this was clearly a quiet, docile face—his eyelashes were very long and delicate, casting a soft, warm shadow beneath the sunlight.
Why were his brows always furrowed so tightly? Was he unhappy even in his dreams?
He really wanted to smooth away those furrowed brows, erasing all those worries along with them.
Zishu Bai watched for a long time, only snapping back to his senses when Yan Zhun started muttering indecipherable sleep talk beside him. Extra reluctant to pull away, he gently poked Jiang Xing’s shoulder.
No reaction.
It seemed he was truly quite drunk.
Zishu Bai smiled secretly, then poked him lightly two more times. “Jiang Xing, wake up quickly, we have to head back to the sect.”
Hearing his voice, the person on the daybed slowly stirred and woke up.
Jiang Xing opened his eyes, squinting at the glaring sunlight. When he clearly saw the person in front of him, he was dazed for a moment, almost thinking he was still in a dream.
He had dreamed about Zishu Bai again last night—the aftermath of that spiritual connection truly was endless.
Lotus Heart Wine was indeed good wine; despite drinking so much, he didn’t have a hangover headache the second day.
He slowly climbed out of bed, then suddenly looked at the daylight outside the window, his face abruptly changing. “What time is it?”
Zishu Bai answered him with a beaming smile: “If you sleep a bit longer, it’ll be noon.”
As his words fell, Jiang Xing’s face turned even darker, and he gritted his teeth: “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”
Although the mission had no time limit, he had originally planned to return to the sect today to attend the elder’s morning class. Now it was ruined—who was going to make up the missed lesson for him?
Seeing him in a hurry, Zishu Bai also panicked, explaining with a bit of guilt: “Seeing you two sleeping so soundly, I couldn’t bear to wake you… I’m sorry…”
Jiang Xing had no heart to pay attention to him. He landed a kick right on the butt of Yan Zhun, who was still snoring and talking in his sleep, and urged impatiently: “Get up.”
Kicked awake by him, Yan Zhun turned over discontentedly to keep sleeping. “I haven’t slept enough yet, what’s the rush?”
Did this idiot think a servant was calling him to get up?
Jiang Xing ground his teeth and simply kicked him right off the bed.
With a loud crash, he was completely awake now.
Another big bump was added to Yan Zhun’s head. He glared at Jiang Xing with dare-not-speak anger while putting on his clothes—after all, when Jiang Xing threw a temper, he really would beat him up.
The three tidied up and rushed back to the sect, flying on swords across a hundred miles of road, arriving at the sect just at noon.
Jiang Xing handed the spiritual core of the slain demon cultivator over to Fang Wenjie, receiving two thousand spirit stones plus three bottles of top-grade Rejuvenation Pills as a reward.
“You completed the mission and returned so early. Among the new disciples, you’re the fastest.” Fang Wenjie handed the Rejuvenation Pills into Jiang Xing’s palm, his side-glance catching sight of Zishu Bai and Yan Zhun following behind Jiang Xing, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Oh… those two are the outer sect disciples you selected?”
Jiang Xing hadn’t wanted to bring them along, but Yan Zhun was afraid he would pocket that 40% reward and insisted on coming to witness it with his own eyes. He had no choice but to bring them along reluctantly.
“Yes,” he acknowledged in a low voice, then asked softly, “Is it forbidden by the sect for three people to team up?”
Hearing this, Fang Wenjie slowly shook his head and let out a light laugh. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just that one of them looks familiar, so I was merely asking casually.”
Back then, the Sect Master had ordered him to deliver the inner sect invitation letter to Zishu Bai, only for Zishu Bai to decline without the slightest hesitation. That was how Fang Wenjie remembered this face.
Besides, for a Heavenly Spiritual Root disciple rarely seen in a thousand years, it was hard not to look familiar. This person kept a low profile; except for showing off on the day of the spiritual root test, no one had heard about his recent situation. Turns out he went to the outer sect to act as a foil for Jiang Xing—truly lacking ambition and squandering his natural talent.
Having received all the rewards, Jiang Xing turned back to look at Yan Zhun and handed him one bottle of Rejuvenation Pills. “The spirit stones have to be collected at the sect’s accounting office; go by yourself.”
He didn’t care about spirit stones—he could have as many of those things as he wanted. In the sect, pills were the scarce resource.
Yan Zhun caught the Rejuvenation Pills, delightedly opening the bottle. He poured out half into his palm to stuff into his pocket, and handed the remaining half-bottle to Zishu Bai.
“For me?” Zishu Bai looked at that bottle of pills in astonishment, saying softly, “We agreed that I wouldn’t take a reward—you keep it.”
Yet Yan Zhun insisted on shoving the pills into his arms, saying with righteous conviction: “You helped us so much, you should accept it. Don’t be polite!”
Turns out he had been squabbling and demanding from Jiang Xing all along for the sake of Zishu Bai’s share of the reward.
Jiang Xing watched them novelly fiddling with those pills, happy like two children. It was merely a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills, yet it was worth being this happy over. He sneered in his heart, but the corners of his lips curved up slightly into a tiny arc, which he immediately pulled back a moment later when they looked over at him.
“You’re back?”
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind, making Jiang Xing’s body stiffen slightly.
He turned his head to look. Wu Moxun stood beside Fang Wenjie at some unknown point, arms crossed as he looked at him.
Oh no.
Wu Moxun had a feud with Zishu Bai. If he found out…
Before Jiang Xing could come up with a reason to explain, he saw Wu Moxun speak with a cold face: “Get over here.”
Hearing his tone, Jiang Xing knit his brows, feeling displeased in his heart. The step he had been about to take forward to explain came to a stop.
Seeing him standing on the spot without moving, Wu Moxun’s face darkened even further, his tone turning hostile: “You went out on a mission with these two useless wastes?”
His voice wasn’t quiet, and both Zishu Bai and Yan Zhun heard his words.
Seeing Wu Moxun’s gloomy expression, Zishu Bai’s heart tightened, guessing that he might have brought trouble to Jiang Xing. He hurriedly stepped forward and explained in a low voice: “I’m sorry, Senior Brother. We aren’t close with Jiang Xing, we just happened to form a team…”
His skill at lying was truly terrible.
Jiang Xing swept a glance at him, raised his hand to push Zishu Bai aside, and looked at Wu Moxun calmly. “Yes, what’s wrong, Senior Brother?”
As those words fell, both Zishu Bai and Wu Moxun froze for a moment.
Gazing at Jiang Xing’s unyielding eyes, an inexplicable surge of anger rose in Wu Moxun’s heart. Jiang Xing clearly knew that this Zishu Bai had a feud with him, yet he still chose Zishu Bai to go on a mission with—what was the meaning of this?
“Your wings have grown strong,” Wu Moxun let out a cold laugh. “Did you forget who taught you spells back then and worked hard to promote you into the inner sect?”
Jiang Xing’s eyes narrowed slightly as he said nonchalantly, “I didn’t forget.”
He spoke as if it were entirely Wu Moxun’s credit. The main reason he could enter the inner sect was that he learned fast enough—did he really think teaching him for two days meant he could command him for a lifetime?
When it came down to it, hadn’t he exchanged the mother worm’s spiritual core with Wu Moxun for that? Why make a trade of mutual benefit sound so nice? Weren’t they both the same kind of profit-driven people?
“What exactly does Senior Brother want to say?”
Wu Moxun clenched his fingers tightly, staring fixedly at Jiang Xing as he said in a heavy voice: “From now on, you are not allowed to associate with these two useless wastes again. When you go on missions, I will arrange people for you.”
Jiang Xing’s brows furrowed tightly, finding it more and more grating to his ears the more he listened.
Who did he think he was? What right did he have to control him?
Wu Moxun didn’t view him as an equal person at all, merely treating him as a convenient sidekick who was at his beck and call.
But Wu Moxun was wrong. Jiang Xing never bowed or scraped to anyone. Wanting to use a so-called “favor” to press down on him for a lifetime? Keep dreaming!
He lowered his eyes, pulled Zishu Bai back to his side, looked at Wu Moxun indifferently, and said in a cold voice: “Senior Brother, I should reintroduce you.”
Zishu Bai looked at him in astonishment, hearing Jiang Xing open his mouth without the slightest hesitation: “This is my friend, Zishu Bai. The one behind is called Yan Zhun. If you call them useless wastes again, don’t blame me for showing no regard for past feelings.”
The last sentence was spoken extremely coldly and decisively. Jiang Xing stared straight at Wu Moxun without a shred of fear.
Wu Moxun’s face turned ash-pale. He was so angry he laughed instead, pointing at Jiang Xing as he said three ‘goods’ in a row: “Good, good, Jiang Xing, very good. ‘No regard for past feelings’—you said it yourself.”
He angrily flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.
On the other side, Fang Wenjie witnessed such a big show. Stroking his chin, he chuckled softly and said to Jiang Xing: “It’s the first time I’ve seen Wu Moxun this angry. Hmm, you’ve got capability.”
His tone was unable to conceal his delight at another’s misfortune. Jiang Xing naturally picked up on it and replied to him lukewarmly: “Thank you for the compliment, Senior Brother.”
Fang Wenjie shook his head and lowered his voice: “I didn’t actually compliment you. You’d better pray for your own good luck—having offended Wu Moxun, I’m afraid your days in the inner sect won’t be as comfortable as before.” After finishing his meaningful words, he turned and left.
Of course Jiang Xing knew the consequences of offending Wu Moxun. It was written crystal clear in the original book—at most, he would play some tricks when he went on missions or give him a few cold glares on weekdays. Besides that, what else could Wu Moxun do?
He could handle it.
Jiang Xing turned his head, only to see Zishu Bai and Yan Zhun looking at him with complicated expressions.
“What now?” he asked with a frown.
Yan Zhun said in a small voice: “I’m really sorry, I didn’t expect to bring you trouble.”
He had never seen such a domineering senior brother. Before, he had always thought Jiang Xing was living very comfortably with the inner sect senior brother and thus didn’t come to hang out with old outer sect friends like them. Thinking about it now, perhaps Jiang Xing had suffered quite a lot.
Zishu Bai also lowered his head, speaking in self-reproach: “I’m sorry.”
Just now he should have dodged away. Jiang Xing had instructed him before that they couldn’t act closely in front of anyone, nor could they let Wu Moxun know about their relationship.
The experience of going on this mission was simply too wonderful, so much so that he was walking on air and forgot his previous promise.
Jiang Xing’s brows furrowed even tighter, his voice cold: “Look up.”
Zishu Bai looked up at him blankly.
“Is it your fault that you’re apologizing?” Jiang Xing really couldn’t understand him sometimes. When someone insulted him to his face, his first reaction wasn’t to be angry about being humiliated, but to worry about whether others would be implicated. How could there be such a foolish person in the world? “It’s his fault that he isolates you. Do you really think being with me is dragging me down?”
Hearing this, Zishu Bai was silent for a moment, then whispered: “I’m always not likable enough. Being with me really does drag others down.”
Jiang Xing was choked up.
Those words were truly familiar. Thinking carefully, he used to say that in his heart often in the past too—with a personality like Zishu Bai’s that made enemies everywhere, whoever hung out with him was indeed in for terrible luck.
“But you just told Senior Brother Wu that we are your friends,” Zishu Bai slowly revealed a faint smile, a soft, bright glimmer lingering at the bottom of his eyes as he said warmly, “I’m really extremely happy. Really.”
Jiang Xing looked at him speechlessly. Just now he had merely spoken out of anger, intentionally wanting to make Wu Moxun uncomfortable.
This person was truly silly to the core.
When someone showed just a tiny bit of kindness, he would be endlessly grateful.
“Rest assured, I will handle my own matters myself,” Jiang Xing said in a low voice. “There’s no need for you two to worry.”
He didn’t deny that Zishu Bai and Yan Zhun were his friends. Perhaps at some moment while bickering with them, or perhaps while listening to Yan Zhun and Zishu Bai reciting those terrible poems in his ear, he had begun to dislike them a little less.
“No matter what happens, the three of us will bear it together—are we supposed to be afraid of a single inner sect senior brother?” Moved, Yan Zhun rushed forward to hug him. “And to be honest, you were extremely handsome just now, even handsomer than me! I really didn’t expect you to be so tough against that senior brother. I judged you wrong in the past; I thought you were just a bully who fears the strong and walks over the weak.”
Jiang Xing pushed him away in disgust. “Get lost, don’t wipe your snot on me.”
Who was a bully that feared the strong? He clearly looked down on everyone equally.
Seeing him push Yan Zhun away fiercely, Zishu Bai—who had intended to take the opportunity to come up and hug him together—froze on the spot, silently pulling back his hand.
“At such a deeply moving moment, how about I treat you two to a meal?”
“Do you know anything other than eating?”
“I also know Babao Hall released a new soy-braised goose.”
“…”