The evening breeze blew gently, and Jiang Xuning couldn’t help but fall into a trance. By the time he snapped back to his senses, the person who had been calling from a distance just moments ago was now close at hand.
“Young Master, it really is you! I thought I had recognized the wrong person just now.”
As the figure approached, Jiang Xuning finally saw the newcomer clearly. It was a youth with a somewhat honest and simple appearance. Unfortunately, Jiang Xuning did not recognize him and felt quite confused, not understanding why the boy called him “Young Master” or why he was so excited. One had to remember that this was within the Tianyan Sect; even if it weren’t, in his memory, the only cultivator he knew was Yu Heng. As for anyone else, he truly couldn’t think of anyone. Consequently, he became a bit guarded and took a few steps back.
He knitted his brows slightly and asked, “Who are you?”
Noticing his defensiveness, the youth hurriedly slapped his own forehead, frustrated by his own rashness. He immediately took two steps back to create some distance between them before explaining: “Young Master, it’s me! You don’t recognize me?”
He spoke with some anxiety, fearing the person before him wouldn’t remember him. “I’m A-Mu! The A-Mu who used to always accompany you in crawling through dog holes!”
Jiang Xuning: “……”
When he first heard the name A-Mu, Jiang Xuning was still blank, feeling the name sounded both foreign and inexplicably familiar. It wasn’t until he heard the words “dog hole” that his eyes subconsciously widened. A piece of dark history, forgotten for a long time, resurfaced at that very moment.
Jiang Xuning hadn’t always been this steady and composed. When he was a child, he was quite mischievous. He didn’t think about anything else all day except sneaking out of the manor to play. But because his health was poor, the Jiang parents did not allow him to go out. Having no choice, he could only go behind their backs and find another way. Since he couldn’t use the main gate, he had to resort to crawling through dog holes, playing until he was exhausted before he was willing to return. He was quite happy then.
However, fire cannot be wrapped in paper forever. During one instance of crawling out to play, Jiang Xuning developed a high fever that night. The Jiang parents finally discovered the trickery and were furious, sending people overnight to completely block up that dog hole.
When Jiang Xuning woke up again, he was sad about it for a long time. But people eventually grow up. As he became aware of his physical condition, he stopped clamoring to go out. As his personality became quieter and quieter, he gradually forgot the existence of that dog hole. Mentioning it now brought a sense of “things remaining the same while people have changed,” though mostly, it was embarrassment.
Yet, precisely because of this, as the memory surfaced and he looked once again at the face of the youth before him, he suddenly realized. The face from his childhood overlapped with the face now; they were identical. He finally reacted as if waking from a dream, feeling a surge of excitement.
“A-Mu?”
A bit of color finally returned to Jiang Xuning’s pale face. Knowing it was an acquaintance, he lowered his guard and couldn’t help but take two steps forward, as if to see the person clearly. “You’re the A-Mu who, along with A-Liang, always followed me!”
“Yes, Young Master, you’ve finally remembered me.”
Seeing that he was finally recognized, A-Mu was also very excited and couldn’t help but smile. He had thought the person before him had already forgotten him.
“Sorry, A-Mu. It’s been too long; I really didn’t recognize you just now.” Jiang Xuning said this as he looked at the youth, his face tinged with a smile. “What about you? How have you been faring lately?”
Speaking of which, it was also a coincidence. Five years ago, when the Immortal Master came to the Jiang manor to test for spirit roots, besides the once-in-a-century cultivation genius Yu Heng, there was actually another one: the A-Mu standing before him.
“I’m doing alright. Although I haven’t been taken as a disciple under an Immortal Sovereign like Senior Brother Yu, I am still an outer sect disciple.”
He spoke without any trace of resentment, but rather with total contentment. Unlike Yu Heng, who possessed the talent of a single-attribute water spirit root, A-Mu only had the aptitude of an ordinary triple spirit root.
Although cultivation is a struggle against heaven and those who meet the requirements are naturally few and far behind, the world is vast with hundreds of millions of people. Even if it’s one in ten thousand, one or two people with ordinary aptitude like A-Mu can still be found. Yu Heng was different, never mind hundreds of millions of people; without a stroke of luck, one might not find a second like him even across an entire continent.
So, A-Mu didn’t intentionally compare himself. After all, when his mother was alive, she always taught him to be content. Although he was just an outer sect disciple now, it was still much better than before. At least he could cultivate.
At the same time, he was still grateful. “This is also thanks to you, Young Master. If it weren’t for you back then, I might not have been able to join the Tianyan Sect.”
Unlike Yu Heng, A-Mu was not a free person. In the early years, his father had owed money outside and had sold A-Mu to the Jiang family to repay the debt, subsequently vanishing without a trace. A-Mu thus became a small servant of the Jiang family, his life and death decided by them.
Consequently, although the Immortal Master later detected that he possessed a spirit root, there was no intention of taking him away. First, for a great sect like the Tianyan Sect, such ordinary talent was indeed unnecessary. Second, cultivators care deeply about karma; once it is broken, one receives punishment from the Heavenly Dao. No one was willing to take a risk for a disciple who could barely start cultivation.
If it hadn’t been for Jiang Xuning’s strong support back then, he would likely still be an inconspicuous little servant in the Jiang family today.
To the side, the bamboo leaves made a “rustling” sound in the wind. In the shadows, the youth’s eyes were bright. Hearing this, Jiang Xuning felt a bit embarrassed and couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.
Back then, his willingness to let A-Mu go to the Tianyan Sect also carried his own selfish motives, and that motive was Yu Heng. When A-Heng left the manor, he was only twelve. With such a young person going to a strange place alone, Jiang Xuning was inevitably worried. Since A-Mu also had the opportunity, he thought of letting them go together so that A-Mu could look after him a bit and let A-Heng suffer less.
However, seeing that A-Mu was doing well now, his heart also settled. His brows relaxed. “Don’t say that. Everything you have now is due to your own efforts; it doesn’t have much to do with me. I just went with the flow.”
A-Mu didn’t speak. Gratitude cannot be proven by words alone; it was enough that he remembered it in his heart. In the future, there will always be an opportunity to repay it…
Therefore, he changed the subject and said, “Why did you suddenly leave Yue City, Young Master? Given the personalities of the Master and Madam, I thought I would never see you again in this lifetime. If Senior Brother Yu hadn’t sent me a message, I wouldn’t have known you had already arrived at the Tianyan Sect.”
“A-Heng sent a message for you to come pick me up?”
Hearing news of Yu Heng, Jiang Xuning’s eyes couldn’t help but light up. He hurriedly asked, “Where is he now? Is everything handled?”
“Not yet.”
Seeing this scene, A-Mu couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. He had thought that after not seeing each other for five years, the bond between the Young Master and Senior Brother Yu might have faded slightly. He hadn’t expected it to have changed at all. He hurriedly explained, “Senior Brother Yu is still with the Disciplinary Elder right now. It’s just that he didn’t want you to be tired from waiting, so he thought of calling me to lead you down to rest first.”
“So that’s how it is.” Hearing that Yu Heng hadn’t arrived, Jiang Xuning couldn’t help but daze for a moment. There was a sort of disappointment in his expression that even he hadn’t noticed. However, this didn’t last long. In a blink, his brows smoothed over again. Looking at the person before him, he said warmly, “Then let us go.”
The sky grew late. Under the dimness, bits of starlight led the way. On the mountain path, two figures walked one after the other.
“By the way,” looking at the starlight leading the way, Jiang Xuning recalled what happened just now, so he asked again, “When you came looking for me just now, did you see anyone else by my side?”
“A person?”
Hearing this, A-Mu truly began to recall seriously. After a good while, he said hesitantly, “I think I saw someone. Was it someone wearing blue-and-white robes?”
“Yes, that’s him.” Seeing that he had indeed seen him, Jiang Xuning became curious and hurriedly asked, “Do you recognize him?”
To his surprise, A-Mu’s face turned bitter, and he said with some difficulty, “Young Master, most of those who can wear blue-and-white robes in the Tianyan Sect are sword cultivator disciples. There are countless sword cultivator disciples in the sect; how could I know them all?”
Moreover, he hadn’t seen the person’s face clearly at all, so how could he recognize him?
He felt wronged.
……
Jiang Xuning was speechless for a moment. A long time later, he slowly uttered a sentence,
“My apologies.”
Under the silent night sky, the voice was particularly distinct.