At last, the final battle came to an end. The two of them truly claimed first place in the Heavenly Rampart Trial.
Yin Xuanlin was immensely pleased with himself, behaving as though every bit of credit belonged solely to him.
A whole pile of rewards and spirit treasures lay before them and he unceremoniously picked through them as he pleased, “One for junior brother, one for me… this one for me… and this one also for me…”, seizing all the finest items without the slightest restraint.
The others could only watch helplessly. Only Junior Brother Xie remained calm and indifferent. Seeing Yin Xuanlin radiating smug satisfaction while selecting treasures at will, he simply let him be, making no effort to argue over any of it.
Meanwhile, the small time reporter Zhou Xuanle hurriedly pulled out paper and brush. Having just witnessed that moment, he quickly sketched a rough draft,
Yet something strange happened.
Throughout the entire scene, Junior Brother Xie had hardly shown any expression at all.
So why was it that, when Zhou Xuanle drew him, those dark eyes seemed to carry the faintest trace of a smile?
It was far too strange. He revised the sketch several times yet it still turned out the same way every time.
After the trial, at the celebratory banquet, Yin Xuanlin appeared dressed in a crimson brocade robe embroidered with golden cloud patterns. A jade belt encircled his waist and a golden crown adorned his head. His attire was extravagantly luxurious.
The aura of wealth and nobility surrounding him was so overwhelming that it was hard to imagine he had once been a beggar.
Now he casually waved a fan with jade ribs in his hand. At a glance, he looked every bit like a pampered yet carefree young prince, handsome, extravagant and utterly unrestrained.
Within the Tangdi Immortal Sect, Yin Xuanlin was someone people found equally irritating whether they were human or dog.
Yet outside the sect, his bold spending and generous nature made him surprisingly popular.
In particular, he got along extremely well with the young masters and ladies of the Golden Toad Sect, the wealthiest sect in the cultivation world.
By the midpoint of the banquet, they were all gathered together drinking and laughing.
The scene was truly something to behold,
A cluster of people glittering with jewels and precious ornaments, dazzling enough to blind anyone who looked directly at them. Even the arrogant, flamboyant way they laughed was nearly identical.
During the latter half of the banquet, some guests sang and danced drunkenly, while others wandered about enjoying the flowers in the cool evening air.
Zhou Xuanle waited patiently and finally his perseverance paid off. He caught sight of Xie Chen quietly leaving the banquet, walking toward Yin Xuanlin, who was already thoroughly drunk and unsteady.
He watched as Xie Chen half supported and half dragged the intoxicated Yin Xuanlin away, bringing him beneath the corridor to catch some fresh air.
Outside the flower pavilion, Zhou Xuanle strained his ears, trying his best to listen.
Faintly, he heard Xie Chen say, “Senior brother, take off your shoes.”
As he spoke, he actually bent down, his slender fingers gently grasping Yin Xuanlin’s foot through the boot.
Only at that moment, under the warm glow of a nearby lantern, did Zhou Xuanle notice that Yin Xuanlin’s luxurious shoes were actually damaged.
Most likely, there had been too many golden ornaments decorating the boots. One sharp piece had punctured the deerskin and stabbed inward. Because the long hem of his robe covered it, no one had noticed earlier.
Yin Xuanlin, still hazy with drunkenness, first chuckled foolishly for a while.
But the moment his bare foot was exposed to the night breeze, he suddenly seemed to awaken from a dream.
In an instant he curled up on the pavilion bench, hugging his knees tightly. His eyes were full of alarm as he stammered incoherently, “Y…
you… in front of everyone… what kind of behavior is this?! Wh what are you trying to do?”
“Senior brother is bleeding.”
“Shut up. You. you don’t touch it!”
Yet his ankle was still firmly held by Xie Chen.
Even in the deep darkness of night, Zhou Xuanle could clearly see Yin Xuanlin’s face turning bright red.
Xie Chen held his ankle gently with one hand while taking a small white jade medicine bottle from his robes with the other.
Yin Xuanlin bit his lip and stopped speaking but the embarrassment was so intense that even his toes curled slightly.
The ointment was cool to the touch, carrying a faint fragrance of jasmine as it was applied to the wound.
Xie Chen seemed puzzled. “Your shoes were perfectly fine. How did they become damaged?”
Hearing this, Yin Xuanlin’s mouth twitched. He held back for a long while before speaking bitterly.
“You think everyone is like you, blessed by heaven itself! Even after a fight where you’re covered in blood, the hem of your clothes still ends up spotless.”
“When you walk through forests, branches never scratch you. Even when you’re sick or injured, you never look ugly. You slaughter your way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood and even your hair doesn’t fall out of place!”
“Ordinary people… are nothing like you!”
“For ordinary people, things get lost when they go out. The soles of their shoes fall off. They get scratched by stray cats. When they practice martial arts they accidentally stab themselves and when flying on swords they crash straight into fellow disciples…”
Xie Chen listened quietly.
Under the flickering candlelight, the look in his eyes at that moment was difficult to describe.
It seemed to hold a trace of amusement yet also a hint of confusion. His gaze remained fixed on Yin Xuanlin for so long that the latter began to feel increasingly uncomfortable all over.
“Wh….. what are you staring at?! Keep looking and I’ll gouge your eyeballs out!”
Although the Heavenly Rampart Trial had come to a perfect conclusion, the relationship between the two senior brothers did not improve because of it.
At most, there was a slight change.
After returning to the sect, Yin Xuanlin no longer followed Xie Chen every day like a shadow lurking behind him. Likewise, Xie Chen no longer needed to drag him out at the entrance of secret realms and hang him up in trees.
Even so, the two of them still behaved awkwardly around each other in daily life, barely speaking or interacting.
Their exchanges were so rare that Zhou Xuanle could only scratch his head in frustration.
It was true.
After writing and writing for an entire month, it seemed there had been only a single noteworthy event,
Somehow Yin Xuanlin had heard that a newly opened Scarlet Crystal Secret Realm contained a phoenix egg. Determined to obtain it, he recklessly ventured inside.
However, the Scarlet Crystal Secret Realm was still far too dangerous for him.
In the end, it was Xie Chen who, expressionless as ever, carried the battered and injured Yin Xuanlin out of the realm, together with the glittering golden egg he had tried so desperately to seize.
Yin Xuanlin coughed violently, glaring.
“Y… you.. you.. cough! cough! Who asked you to meddle in my business?! I was just about to succeed! Just a little bit more and I would’ve gotten it! Cough…!”
The junior brother, as always, remained patient and mild tempered.
In order to preserve Yin Xuanlin’s dignity, he deliberately explained that since he had accepted the expensive spirit bow from him during the Heavenly Rampart Trial, he intended to use this phoenix egg as repayment.
Yet Yin Xuanlin merely snorted coldly.
“Who wants it!”
He had personally declared that he didn’t want the egg.
Left with no other choice, Xie Chen took the phoenix egg back and began incubating it himself.
But once the egg was being incubated, someone began wandering around nearby every day, his face filled with jealousy and resentment, pretending to casually keep an eye on the egg’s progress.
Finally, the eggshell cracked open,
What emerged was a fluffy, soft little yellow chick.
No matter how one looked at it, it was clearly just a chicken. There was not the slightest trace of a phoenix about it.
Yin Xuanlin laughed so hard at the sight that he nearly doubled over with malicious delight.
From that day onward, his daily mockery gained a brand new subject.
“Junior brother, where’s your chicken?”
“Junior Brother Xie, how is your chicken raising going lately? I have some fresh rice here, do you want it?”
“A famous chicken for a famous junior brother! Cluck, cluck! A perfect match!”
In the blink of an eye, winter arrived once more.
During this period of time, more and more demonic crystal secret realms began appearing throughout the territories of the various cultivation sects. Their ranks were also growing higher and more dangerous.
Even the Tangdi Immortal Sect Gazette had no choice but to begin including serious explanatory articles.
In the cultivation world, secret realms were generally divided into two types.
One type consisted of inherited trial realms left behind by ancient immortals, like the Heavenly Rampart Secret Realm. These realms possessed stable properties and could only be entered by cultivators with relatively high levels of cultivation.
They often remained in the same location for hundreds or even thousands of years, causing no harm to the surrounding population.
In fact, their presence often improved the local geomantic fortune, making the surrounding land lush and beautiful, producing talented people and prosperous communities.
The other type of secret realm, however, was the one most commonly encountered by disciples during their training,
The so called Demonic Crystal Secret Realm.
Such secret realms were formed from the resurgence of demonic energy that occurred in the cultivation world once every several centuries. Within these realms, demonic qi continuously generated and multiplied without end. If left unattended, the consequences would be disastrous. In as little as a few days, or at most a few months, the demonic energy would inevitably transform into vast poisonous miasma, polluting the surrounding mountains and rivers and bringing calamity upon the common people.
Because of this, for thousands of years the great immortal sects had divided the world among themselves, each governing and guarding its own territory.
Whenever a Demonic Crystal Secret Realm appeared within a sect’s jurisdiction, disciples would be dispatched immediately to cleanse it. This served both as a means of training for the sect’s members and as a duty to protect the people living under their protection.
Yet in recent years, the resurgence of demonic qi had grown increasingly intense.
Three to five years ago, the areas surrounding the Tangdi Immortal Sect were still dominated by low rank secret realms, mostly Gray Crystal and White Crystal levels. Soon afterward, however, Green Crystal and Apricot Crystal realms began appearing more and more frequently. By last year, even Scarlet Crystal secret realms had started to emerge every month.
According to ancient texts, this phenomenon signaled the approaching clash between the “World Destroying Demon Star” and the “Savior Zhaoye Lord,” heralding yet another great confrontation between immortals and demons. When that time arrived, Demonic Crystal Secret Realms would bloom everywhere like spreading fire and the cultivation world would face an unprecedented catastrophe.
Now the storm clouds were gathering.
All the immortal sects had already begun preparing for the coming crisis.
When that day arrived, disciples from every sect would undoubtedly be forced to take the field. Lower ranked disciples would have to clear countless White Crystal and Gray Crystal secret realms. The backbone forces would confront Yellow Crystal, Green Crystal and Apricot Crystal realms. Meanwhile, the elders of each sect would be responsible for the extremely dangerous Scarlet Crystal and Purple Crystal realms. At the same time, demonic beasts, rogue cultivators and corpse spirits would inevitably take advantage of the chaos to wreak havoc.
Even wandering cultivators, Daoist practitioners without sect affiliation and ordinary civilians would most likely have to pick up weapons to defend themselves against the countless disasters that would arise.
Several days earlier, along the border between the Tangdi Immortal Sect and the Golden End Sect, a shocking development had occurred: more than a dozen Purple Crystal secret realms had suddenly appeared in succession.
Upon hearing the news, all of the sect’s elders immediately departed to provide support.
But not long after the elders left, an ominous phenomenon appeared at the foot of the sect’s mountain.
Another Purple Crystal secret realm entrance began to manifest.
This entrance was anything but ordinary. In only two days, its demonic qi had already become ferocious and violent, spreading outward at an alarming rate.
Acting under orders as the temporary head of the sect, Xie Chen immediately sent urgent messages across thousands of miles to the elders.
Yet the replies he received were deeply troubling.
The elders of the sect were currently trapped inside the Purple Crystal secret realms, locked in fierce battle. Communication had been severed and their situation remained unknown.
Meanwhile, the demonic qi beneath the mountain continued spreading more and more rapidly.
The disciples within the sect were completely at a loss.
After contemplating the situation for half a day, Xie Chen finally rose to his feet, his gaze dark and resolute.
“I will go.”
Hearing these words, the disciples could not help but feel profound respect.
Junior Brother Xie, standing firm in the face of danger and shouldering such a burden without hesitation, his courage inspired awe in everyone present.
Only Yin Xuanlin reacted as though he had just heard complete madness.
“Go where?! You’re not going! What are you going there for, do you want to die?!”
“At this moment, within the sect, I am the only one who can go,” Xie Chen replied calmly, his voice steady and without ripple.
“You can go? You think you can go where exactly?! Look at the situation, our sect leader and all the elders are trapped inside secret realms, their lives and deaths unknown! Just imagine how dangerous a Purple Crystal realm must be!”
“You’re only at the Scarlet Crystal level yourself! To reach the Purple Crystal level would take decades, maybe even centuries, of cultivation! If you enter that realm, it will be nothing but suicide!”
Yet Xie Chen lowered his gaze and continued calmly packing his belongings, as though he had heard nothing.
Each time he packed an item, Yin Xuanlin would pull another one out and toss it aside.
“I said you’re not going! Xie Chen, even playing the hero should have limits!”
Night gradually deepened.
The candlelight flickered, casting shifting shadows across the sharply defined lines of Xie Chen’s profile.
He lifted his eyes.
Within those dark, unfathomable pupils, the dancing flame of the candle was reflected yet the depths of his gaze remained impossible to see through.
“Senior brother,” he said, his voice low but clear, “I am the orphan of the Crescent Moon Pavilion. In this world, I have neither family nor ties.”
“For all these years, it has been the sect that sheltered me, nurtured me, raised me and taught me. Such kindness must be repaid.”
“Moreover, several villages lie not far from that secret realm. The elderly, the weak, women and children… they have nowhere to escape. How could we simply ignore them?”
He lowered his gaze slightly and the corner of his lips curved into the faintest hint of a smile.
“Besides, ever since the day my thousand year spiritual root was discovered, I had already prepared myself.”
“For the sake of all living beings… I have long been ready to sacrifice my life.”
The words lodged in Yin Xuanlin’s throat.
For a moment, he found himself unable to say a single thing.
People could truly be so different from one another.
Throughout history, the destined ending of every righteous Zhaoye Lord was almost always the same, perishing together with the Demon Lord in a final, mutual destruction.
Yet back when Yin Xuanlin himself had once been mistakenly considered a possible candidate for the role of Zhaoye Lord, the only thing he had done was secretly feel delighted, imagining how glorious and impressive it would be if he truly turned out to be the chosen one of destiny.
As for dying young or sacrificing himself for the world… he had never bothered to think about such things at all.
Suddenly, warmth spread across his palm.
The cold, hard sect leader’s token had been pressed into his hand.
Xie Chen looked at him. His dark eyes, usually calm as an ancient well, now seemed especially deep, as if they were carefully tracing something within Yin Xuanlin’s face.
“While I’m away, I’ll have to entrust the immortal sect to you, senior brother.”
“Please remain here with care. Protect everyone and keep things safe until the sect leader and the elders return.”
The next day, Xie Chen descended the mountain alone.
Meanwhile, Yin Xuanlin was forced to take over every complicated matter within the sect.
He had to assign disciples of different ranks to clear secret realms of corresponding levels, coordinate supplies, calm the disciples’ anxieties and handle one crisis after another…
Acting as the temporary sect leader was no easy task.
He was so busy that he practically felt overwhelmed and dizzy from the workload.
Fortunately, with dark clouds pressing down upon the world and everyone living in fear of the coming calamity, the group of followers who usually surrounded Xie Chen no longer had the leisure to spread their petty suspicions, no more whispering that the sect leader’s token in his possession might have come from some improper source.
After all, with Xie Chen absent, who else in the sect possessed greater authority and prestige than Yin Xuanlin?
Only very late at night did Yin Xuanlin finally manage to catch his breath.
He could not help wondering what had happened to Xie Chen after entering that secret realm.
Was he dead yet?
The thought was strangely ironic.
Everyone in the sect always scolded Yin Xuanlin for being reckless and impulsive.
But in truth, who was the one acting without regard for the bigger picture now?
He would never behave like Xie Chen, charging forward alone in foolish heroism. Yin Xuanlin knew very well where the limits of his strength lay, his cultivation was only at the Scarlet Crystal level. As for secret realms of higher rank, he would not even come close to touching them.
He would never be stupid enough to throw away his life like that.
“Anyway, I already tried to persuade him.”
“If someone insists on seeking death, insists on dying outside, what am I supposed to do about it?!”
“Damn dog… no wonder he walks around with that funeral face all day. Turns out he already knew he wouldn’t live long.”
“In truth, the Zhaoye Lords of past generations didn’t necessarily have to die. Plenty of them survived.”
“Besides, you might not even be the Zhaoye Lord at all, right? Hah. Arrogant.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Once a chosen one of heavenChapter 2 · Why didn’t you crawl in the shadows?!Chapter 3 · They would rather fight each otherChapter 4 · I’ll do a handstand and run naked three times!Chapter 5 · So what if I’m showing off!Chapter 6 · If you look again, I’ll gouge your eyes out!Chapter 7 · The young couple is fighting again.Chapter 8 · I’m back at the Jinchan SectChapter 9 · Sour, sourChapter 10 · To seize credit for someone’s workChapter 11 · The Golden Toad Sect has come to our aid to annihilate the Demon LordChapter 12 · Sect Leader’s HusbandChapter 13 · The stone, fox, tree, and scarecrow are named XuanlinChapter 14 · My junior and I have had sweet moments in private!Chapter 15 · The truth behind their first falling out back thenChapter 16 · Hate lasts longer than loveChapter 17 · Xie Chen was actually the Demon LordChapter 18 · Slaying the Demon LordChapter 19 · From resistance to enjoymentChapter 20 · Xiao Xie’s perspective begins!Chapter 21 · Only because it was Yin XuanlinChapter 22 · Xie Chen was not a foolChapter 23 · The End