“Vile, truly, utterly vile!”
“For a Hehuan Sect witch to do such an outrageous thing to your disciple’s disciple, Old Zhang, it’s enough to enrage both gods and men.”
“Who says otherwise. You all know how diligent and hardworking my disciple’s disciple used to be. And now, three months on, he’s STILL mooning over that witch, spends all day staring blankly at the wall, hasn’t even trained his fists.”
“Don’t get me started, Old Zhang. Six senior alchemists of my Alchemy Cauldron Bureau got played like dogs by a single Hehuan Sect witch. I counseled them earnestly, and they actually said she was just too kind-hearted, that she couldn’t bear to hurt any one of their feelings. Sigh, what is even happening?!”
“No word yet on how things went on Sword Venerable Wuwang’s end. If he can flatten the Hehuan Sect in one stroke on this trip, it’ll lay to rest a longstanding worry for us old men.”
For this cause, the several old men had gritted their teeth and dug into their private coffers, pooling a hundred thousand green spirit stones.
At that moment, the white-bearded old man of the Sword Sect, seated at the round table, huffed his beard and glared, slapping the table.
“A few witches, that’s all, with Wuwang taking the field, we’ll surely have them weeping and repenting their ways… Wuwang, you’re back already?”
The white-clad young man walked in calmly and set his jade slip on the table.
The old men pressed him: “How did it go? Has that Hehuan Sect witch seen the error of her ways?”
Xie Wuwang’s face showed a trace of sorrow. He slowly shook his head.
The old men were aghast. “Is that Hehuan Sect witch truly so formidable, not even you were her match?”
Xie Wuwang swept his gaze over them, seeming about to speak, then held back.
The white-bearded old man of the Lingyun Sect turned grave. “Wuwang, just speak, what on earth is the situation?”
Xie Wuwang gave a soft sigh and drew Zhezhu, laying it on the table. “As you esteemed venerables know, ever since this sword birthed its own sword-spirit, its temperament has been willful and unruly, not much inclined to obey me.”
As he spoke, a childish, cold snort suddenly issued from within the sword.
“Today, thanks to your generous favor, it took a great deal of spirit stones to feed it before it would deign to leave its sheath. I’d meant to complete your charge then and there, but who knew an accident would befall me on the road.”
The old men: “What accident?”
Xie Wuwang lowered his eyes. “Just as I was about to reach the Hehuan Sect, a formidable cultivator wreathed head to toe in golden light suddenly barred my way and, without a word, insisted on sparring with me. I had no choice but to draw and meet him.”
“I fought a bitter battle with that golden-light cultivator, and though I won in the end, Zhezhu had spent its spiritual energy and refused to leave its sheath again.”
On the table, Zhezhu gave another heavy, cold snort.
Xie Wuwang sighed softly. “That Hehuan Sect Master is exceedingly powerful. Without my sword I was no match for her, and could only barely play the jade-slip proclamation through once before returning.”
Hearing this, the old men fell suddenly into deep thought.
The white-bearded old man muttered, “A cultivator wreathed head to toe in golden light…”
The gazes of the five old men present turned, as one and without prompting, toward the sixth, the bald old man in Buddhist robes.
The robed old man: ?
The robed old man: “What are you all looking at this old daoist for?”
The other old men: “Wreathed head to toe in golden light, blinding the moment he appears, who else could that be but you and your South Sea Arhat’s secretly-transmitted Golden Light Incantation?”
“Exactly, exactly. Every time my sect’s disciples spar with yours, they have to put on Curio Pavilion sunglasses first.”
“Well now, so we’ve got a mole in our midst. Old Ah, you tell us how you’re going to handle this today!”
The robed old man, surrounded by the pack: “…”
He sank into thought. Which disciple of their sect was that strong? Strong enough to fight the Sword Venerable to a standstill…
The white-clad young man picked up Zhezhu. “Esteemed venerables, this matter has nothing to do with the South Sea Venerable. Please do not make things difficult for him.”
“It’s all my own fault. My sword-heart is unsteady and I still cannot tame Zhezhu. Today I intend to go back and enter seclusion for another hundred years, to properly hone my sword-heart.”
The white-bearded old man’s eyes went wide. “That won’t do! Wuwang, it’s less than half a month until the Lingyun Sect’s new-student Sword Venerable Dao-Lecture Assembly. If those disciples don’t see you there, they’ll tear the whole sect down.”
More to the point, the news was already out. Enrollment had drawn two hundred thousand. If the Sword Venerable was a no-show and everyone kicked up a fuss and dropped out en masse, where would that leave the face of him, the Grand Elder, and the Sect Master?
The white-bearded old man cleared his throat. “The fault of an undisciplined disciple falls on his master. Since it was Old Ah’s disciple who wrecked this whole affair, today’s situation is entirely Old Ah’s responsibility, and this matter is his to handle.”
Under the threatening stares of the group, the South Sea Venerable spoke up meekly. “…Yes, yes, yes, I’ll launch a thorough investigation when I get back and hunt down that little brat and teach him a good lesson.”
“As for this sword-spirit business, the fix is simple enough, since it likes eating spirit stones, then give it some. What’s a hundred thousand green spirit stones? My South Sea has a large and thriving estate, this is nothing. I’ll take care of this too.”
The South Sea Venerable: um… um?!
In the end, the South Sea Venerable, who had no spirit stones on him, tearfully signed an IOU under the supervision of the other old men and handed it to Xie Wuwang.
The white-bearded old man spoke earnestly. “Wuwang, don’t take today’s affair to heart. There’s half a month until the Dao-Lecture Assembly. In the meantime, eat well, drink well. You’ve just come out of seclusion, go wander around and relax a bit. And whatever you do, don’t take some setback to heart and go straight back into seclusion, all right?”
Xie Wuwang said gently, “Many thanks for the Grand Elder’s concern.”
The white-bearded old man: “By the way, now that you’ve come out of seclusion, do you have any plans?”
Xie Wuwang lifted his eyes. “The Grand Elder means?”
The white-bearded old man, sneakily fishing: “For instance, taking on a disciple? Passing down your mantle?”
The single piece of news that he’d left seclusion had drawn two hundred thousand new students. If they could add another, “Sword Venerable Wuwang is about to take a disciple and pass on his sword-dao”…
Xie Wuwang shook his head. “Grand Elder, Wuwang can’t even tame his own sword right now, how could I have the ability to instruct a disciple? Better not to lead someone else’s child astray.”
Zhezhu let out another very cool “hmph.”
Since he’d put it that way, the white-bearded old man had to let it go. He offered a few words urging Xie Wuwang to rest well, then let him leave the Immortal Alliance’s Green Jade Hall.
Not long after Xie Wuwang was out the door, Zhezhu suddenly went limp, all its willful, unruly attitude gone, and let out a feeble little whimper. “So hungry…”
Xie Wuwang said calmly, “You ate through a hundred thousand spirit stones in less than half a day.”
Zhezhu’s spirit said quietly, “…It wasn’t a hundred thousand.”
Xie Wuwang: ?
Zhezhu’s spirit added feebly, “You grabbed the last half a stone yourself, boss, and chucked it to that mortal.”
Xie Wuwang: “…”
Zhezhu’s spirit eyed a tuft of foxtail grass at the base of the wall, itching to try. “Boss, have you ever eaten this? Is it good?”
Some Immortal Alliance staff were already peering over from a distance. Xie Wuwang was silent for two seconds, then hoisted up Zhezhu, which was so ravenous it was trying to gnaw the grass, turned, and headed for the Immortal Alliance’s Bureau of All Affairs.
The Immortal Alliance was the organization governing the Immortal Realm, founded jointly by the great sects after the Devil Tide was quelled five hundred years ago. Its full name was the Grand Alliance for the Harmonious Coexistence of the Immortal Realm and the Mortal World. Its jurisdiction covered the entire Immortal Realm and the human world, and its chief duty was to maintain peace among mortals.
If devils or demonic creatures caused trouble, the Immortal Alliance would dispatch people to handle it, and if it couldn’t be handled, the Bureau of All Affairs would post a high-bounty mission.
“Honorable Sword Venerable, the case in the human city of Baihua occurred last night. Of the three hundred people in the city, not one survived. This morning our Immortal Alliance people found two suspects at the scene. The specifics are still unclear. The two captured suspects are being held inside, under interrogation.”
“The two of us still have other duties and can’t go in, so we’ve brought them here to you.”
Xie Wuwang gave an “mm.” “Thank you both for the trouble.”
“No trouble at all, no trouble at all!”
Xie Wuwang stepped inside. From a distance he could still hear the two Bureau of All Affairs staff talking in low voices.
“Never thought the honorable Sword Venerable would come to the Bureau of All Affairs to take a mission. Could it be the honorable Sword Venerable is short on money?”
“How could he?! This is the honorable Sword Venerable we’re talking about, as if he’d do it for money, how vulgar, how shallow! Naturally the honorable Sword Venerable does it for calm seas and clear rivers, for peace under heaven!”
“True enough, heh heh.”
Xie Wuwang: “…”
Normally, taking a bounty mission meant completing it before collecting the reward, but the moment the Bureau of All Affairs staff saw it was Sword Venerable Wuwang, they handed him five hundred green spirit stones up front.
Zhezhu’s spirit hugged the spirit stones, gnawing and chatting. “By the way, boss, why won’t you take a disciple?”
It knew the earlier remarks were just to fob off that white-bearded old man.
The young man’s voice was cold. “Boring.”
Zhezhu’s spirit, puzzled: “It’s that boring?”
Five hundred green stones wasn’t much. It nibbled at them in small bites, mumbling.
“But I think having someone to play with is pretty fun, though.”
Xie Wuwang didn’t respond again. Reaching the place, he walked slowly in, his pitch-black eyes reflecting the grim prison door without a ripple of emotion.
He lifted his gaze and looked inside, his calm eyes falling on the figure behind the cell door, and suddenly paused.
“Woof woof woof, big bro, heaven as my witness, the blue sky above is my proof, we really aren’t the murderers! The two of us just happened to be passing by, we don’t know anything!”
“The truth, honest, truer than pure gold, if I’m lying, may she and I never find a partner as long as we live!”
“…Big bro, that’s going a bit far, what do you mean the two of us wouldn’t find partners anyway, back in the Demon Realm I once made countless young she-wolves swoon…”
“Last night? Last night the two of us weren’t in Baihua City at all, we were in the Liuhe Wildlands, right at the junction of the three realms. I was working the night shift, dropping her off, you checked my work permit yourself.”
“…It’s a bit far, sure, but I’m fast, aren’t I? I was in a bit of a hurry.”
“Held here until the case is solved? How long is that going to be, what, three days at the shortest, three months at the longest? What about my job then…”
“Damn it all! Kid, quit picking at the wall in the corner and say something too!”
At the gray wolf’s shout, the little black lump in the shadowed corner of the cell finally shuffled slowly over to the cell door. It hesitated a moment, then spoke to the Immortal Alliance prison guard at the door in a small voice:
“H-hello, um, do our cells here provide meals?”
“Oh, oh, three meals a day. C-could I have mine without mushrooms? I’m allergic to mushrooms. Okay, thank you.”
With that, the little black lump shuffled slowly back to the corner to be a mushroom again.
“Woof?! Kid, seriously, is that really all you’ve got to say?! The two of us are about to be locked in here for months!”
The little black lump was silent for two minutes.
“I suppose my life has been…”
“…”
“You know what, just shut up.”
Is now really the time for last words?!
Feixiao gave her a look of exasperated disappointment, then went right back to sticking out its paw and chatting up the guard bro, angling for early release.
“Big bro, you know the Six Inquiries Bureau of the Demon Realm? My auntie’s…”
Yun Xiu shrank back into the corner and silently picked at the wall. When they’d been dragged in, both their glazed mirrors had been confiscated, so all she could do now was pick at the wall to pass the time.
Life is unpredictable, who’d have thought she’d spend her last three months in an Immortal Alliance prison with a chatterbox husky?
Whatever. Dying’s dying, wherever you do it.
Yun Xiu made her peace again.
She hugged her knees, rested her chin on her arms, looked at the tic-tac-toe grid she’d scratched into the wall with her nails, and played tic-tac-toe against herself.
“The Immortal Prison has held vicious criminals for years. Although it’s an ordinary prison, the material used in its construction is thousand-year black iron, common blades cannot mar it in the slightest. I never expected that today an utterly spirit-less mortal would scratch through it with her bare hands.”
A clear, resonant voice that didn’t belong to the guard bro suddenly rang out. Yun Xiu startled, turned dazedly, and saw a white-clad figure standing before the cell railing.
Raising a hand to steady her veiled hat, she lifted her eyes, and abruptly met the young man’s calm, pitch-black, beautiful gaze.
“We meet again, my friend.”