Hearing this, Shen Zaixin swept a light gaze across the two men beside him, and without needing a word from him, both figures vanished from the spot in an instant. For a fleeting moment, the surrounding silence was broken only by the sound of river currents crashing against the shore rocks.
“To tell the truth, the person who saved Junior Brother back then was not actually me.” Xie Linghua wore a nostalgic expression in her eyes as she gazed slightly downward at the rushing river, speaking softly: “When I was hurrying back to the sect, a man in black appeared before me holding you in swaddling clothes and entrusted you to my care.”
Shen Zaixin did not care particularly much about who had brought him into the Canglan Sect, but hearing her words now filled him with a trace of surprise. He had not truly been an unconscious infant at the time, and his earliest memories consisted of Xie Linghua appearing abruptly before him, scooping him up when he was about to be picked up by the demons, and carrying him back to the Canglan Sect.
152: [Oh? There is such a backstory?]
Xie Linghua had no reason to lie about a matter like this, yet who could possibly possess the ability to alter even the system’s recorded memories?
He felt as though he were finally touching upon an unexplored truth within this plane, yet he maintained a calm expression as he waited for her to continue.
“He was a tall man who wrapped himself completely inside a black cloak. I could not see his face, and I only remember that when he brought you to me, he was carrying injuries, and the blood he shed was golden.”
Back then, Xie Linghua had considered revealing the truth, but that person’s background was far too unknown. Since her junior brother’s wings were not yet fully grown at the time, she feared drawing trouble down upon him.
Among the six realms and thousands of races, she had never once heard of any species possessing golden blood.
“I understand.” Shen Zaixin tilted his head with a light chuckle. The autumn breeze brushed past the weeping willows and swept through the tips of his hair, casting his gaze against the clear sky and white egrets behind her with an unexpectedly soft touch. “Who knows when we shall meet again after today, so I hope Senior Sister will take good care of herself.”
Gazing blankly at the carefree world reflected within his eyes, Xie Linghua suddenly felt a wave of release. In truth, what she had wanted to say just then was not merely the truth of the past; she was far from the pure and benevolent person that others assumed. Those unspoken delusions and infatuations had ultimately surrendered before the clear depths of his gaze.
Someone so radiant and unbound by worldly dust was like a beam of celestial light that shattered the millennium-long stagnation and decay of the Canglan Sect. Although he never harbored compassion for all living beings, nor acted with humility toward anyone, he had nonetheless become a magnificent, untouchable color carved deep into the hearts of countless people.
She had been able to read the hidden secrets buried within Ning Wuchen’s heart simply because she used her own experience to measure others, yet she had never expected to actually possess anything. Thus, Ning Wuchen fell to inner demons while she achieved liberation.
Remaining here any longer would only bring trouble to that person. With that thought, Xie Linghua closed her eyes, gathering away all her tangled thoughts in one sweep. When she opened them once more, her expression retained only a gentle warmth: “Take care.”
152 felt a touch of sentimentality: [If the host didn’t have to enter seclusion and level up, you could easily gather all of them into a harem.]
Watching Xie Linghua and Ning Wuchen step into the spatial teleportation array, Shen Zaixin scoffed in his mind: “What, are you no longer afraid of being punished by the main system for breaking the rules?”
152 sneered: [You have to look at the master before you beat the dog, and look at who my host is!]
It had figured things out by now: as long as you discarded your integrity and hugged the host’s thighs, there was nothing to fear from the main system. Otherwise, the host had deleted so many systems over time, and the main system had never once come looking for trouble.
Who the real powerhouse was, stood abundantly clear!
Successfully tickled by its flattering remark, Shen Zaixin offered a few generous words of pacification in his mind before casting a sidelong glance at the black-robed youth who stood in silence behind him. A sudden thought struck him: if golden blood did not exist within the six realms, what about spirits from beyond the six realms?
Spirits existed only in ancient legends, entities requiring countless cycles of rebirth and transcendence. Yet how many beings in this world could endure the excruciating agony of repeatedly struggling between death and survival?
Whether it was true or not, a simple test would reveal the truth.
“Yun Shi.”
Hearing the call, the youth immediately stepped forward, staring at him silently with those heterochromatic eyes: “Master?”
“Senior Sister said that when the demons almost seized me back then, a man in black saved me. All these years, I have never forgotten that person, constantly thinking of finding him to repay the debt properly.” He took the youth’s wrist, his fingertips tracing back and forth over the pale green veins beneath the skin. “That person had no face, and all I knew was that his blood was blue. Yun Shi, could it be you?”
A momentary stun crossed Yun Shi’s eyes as he murmured: “Blue…”
The spiritual energy gathered at his fingertips transformed into a sharp blade that sliced open the youth’s wrist. Lowering his gaze to watch the blue blood spilling from the cut, Shen Zaixin could not help letting out a soft laugh.
It really was blue.
152 silently lit a metaphorical candle for the youth; deceiving the host and pretending to be a savior came with consequences too terrible to contemplate.
“It really was you.” The Immortal’s brows curved delightfully, his fingertips brushing gently across the youth’s quiet brows and eyes. “What is it that you want?”
The youth fell silent for a moment, staring at him unblinkingly: “I want to stay by your side forever. May I?”
Though shifting and complex emotions flickered within those eyes, he merely smiled and replied: “Alright.”
Yet the moment he turned around, not a shred of a smile remained upon his brows, leaving only a bone-chilling frost in his eyes.
Being an Immortal meant one could never enjoy the casual freedom of a Demon Lord, having to report nearly every action to the Sect Master.
Once the matters concerning Xie Linghua were settled, Shen Zaixin lounged lazily against the round armchair across from the Sect Master, passing the time by teasing the parrot resting in the cage beside him.
“Immortal boundless in power! Immortal peerless in beauty!”
The Immortal showed zero appreciation, letting out a scoff: “Stupid bird, you know nothing besides this single line.”
“Stupid bird! Stupid bird!”
152: [Hahaha, host, it’s so dumb.]
“Your temperament truly leaves me not a single inch of leeway.” Lu Wanru sighed helplessly, putting down her brush and massaging her temples with a mild headache. “Alright, if there is nothing else, you’re dismissed.”
“There is.” Shen Zaixin plucked a feather from the parrot’s tail, speaking flatly: “I am going into seclusion.”
Her hand paused mid-motion, and she lifted her eyelids to shoot him a rather surprised look.
The recent tragedy in the Huaxu Secret Realm had directly escalated the already tense relations among the three realms, and whether intentional or not, he happened to choose this exact moment of heightened friction to enter seclusion.
Yet this was also for the best; even just to secure a peaceful environment for Shen Zaixin’s seclusion, the figure over in the Demon Realm would not allow the situation to spiral out of control.
“Very well. If any matters arise during your seclusion, simply send a voice transmission.”
152 could not help chiming in: [She used to treat your man this well too, and look how she turned around and drew a clean line with him.]
“She is an exemplary Sect Master,” Shen Zaixin said as he walked out of the Canglan Sect’s main hall, speaking indifferently. “She cherishes the wings of the Canglan Sect more than anyone else. Without her, the sect would never have become the irreplaceable leader of the righteous path among all those aristocratic clans.”
[But she is also far too ruthless.]
Shen Zaixin found it somewhat amusing: “You are a system made of data without even a heart, and yet you dare talk about ruthlessness?”
Amidst their exchange, he had already flown on his sword to the front of the Canglan Palace atop Sword Peak. Sheathing his sword, he glanced sideways and noticed Yun Shi squatting beneath the silk tree in the courtyard, seemingly busy with something.
“What are you doing?”
The intoxicating voice, sweet as peach wine, drifted down from above. The youth, who had been digging a hole with his head lowered, looked up directly into those clear eyes. Because the other person was leaning over, the dark locks at his temples cascaded down, brushed across the youth’s cheek by the breeze, and instantly sent an illicit, secret itch rippling through his heart. Stunned for a moment, he murmured: “Drunken Joy. Once you emerge from seclusion, it will be ready to drink.”
Drunken Joy. Every single year, Ning Wuchen would harvest the freshest silk tree blossoms to seal into wine, burying a jar beneath the tree for him. Over the initial centuries of brewing, a jar could be harvested every single year, symbolizing joy through every passing season.
Yet how could Yun Shi possibly know about this?
152: [I know this one! Shall we talk about substitute tropes? Starting from the details to become the shadow of your previous man until completely replacing that position in your heart—such a scheming man!]
Shen Zaixin fell silent for a brief moment, giving him a long look before smiling: “You put thought into this.”
Despite such a captivating smile, his eyes held not a shred of genuine emotion. Tracing a seal with his palm, Shen Zaixin raised a seclusion barrier that enveloped the entire Canglan Palace. Giving the man a cold, lingering glance without sparing even a word of farewell, he turned decisively and stepped through the barrier.
Following this single glance, their next meeting would not take place until three hundred years later.
The cloudless blue sky underwent a sudden transformation as the daylight was blocked out, and countless dark clouds gathered over the summit of Sword Peak in the Canglan Sect, rumbling with the near-constant roar of thunder. Everyone in the sect raised their heads to the sky, instantly realizing that Senior Uncle Shen of Sword Peak was about to undergo his heavenly tribulation and emerge from seclusion.
The eighty-nine heavenly lightning bolts resounded across the entire Canglan Mountain, prompting passing rogue cultivators who witnessed the majestic spectacle to remark that tomorrow’s news regarding Immortal Shen’s tribulation would likely keep everyone buzzing for months before dying down.
At the peak of Sword Peak, the red-robed Immortal stood amidst the ruins blasted flat by the lightning, looking completely unruffled despite his blood-stained garments.
He slowly stepped across the charred ground, his legs losing all their strength the moment he cleared the barrier. Before he could stagger and collapse to the ground, a dark figure caught him in time, and Yun Shi’s heterochromatic eyes, filled with deep distress, swam into his view.
Calloused fingertips gently wiped the blood from the corner of the youth’s lips, and Yun Shi held him tightly in his arms, feeling his thin frame and breaking his own heart.
He suddenly regretted it—regretting that in order to keep that person by his side, he had reset the world over and over again, watching him suffer the agony of the tribulation time and time again without being able to take his place.
He couldn’t even bear to see the man frown, so what was he doing now? Driven by an insane, crazed obsession, he had trapped the person in this world through self-deception. How could someone like him still dare to speak of love?
Lowering his gaze to look at the blood-stained robes on Shen Zaixin, his chest felt as though it had been pierced by countless holes, letting the freezing wind whip wildly through them in agonizing torment.
His gaze swept past the dim, lustrous Decisive-Fate Ring upon the man’s finger, traveled upward past his pale lips, and finally settled on his trembling eyelashes.
Even in his pallor, he remained breathtakingly beautiful, every slight movement capable of easily plucking at a man’s heartstrings.
Closing one’s eyes could supposedly seal away all pain, but when he opened them again, the shattered light in Yun Shi’s eyes remained impossible to gather. Tightening his grip around the figure in his arms, he rasped out: “Master.”
“Mn?” Shen Zaixin closed his eyes to circulate spiritual energy and mend his internal injuries, his intoxicating voice carrying an undeniable frailty.
“Seeing that your obedient dog has kept watch outside the hall for three hundred years, might Master bestow the silver ring upon your finger as a reward?”