Ch19 - The Kindest Man

Editor: chestnutwhale

Of course Jiang Yinghe knew what he meant.

He recalled the disparity between the way his disciples treated him and their treatment towards others.

“Right?” Yun Buxiu sighed. “Did Shixiong choose his disciples based on their tragic backstories?  Let me tell you, those who have been orphaned at a young age tend to rely on their elders.  Judging by their behavior, Shixiong must have spoiled them, though I suppose it was inevitable as it was your first time taking someone in.”

Yan Caiwei lightly coughed a few times in warning.  Yun Buxiu hesitated, glancing at Jiang Yinghe’s expression before quickly adding, “But their aptitudes are truly incredible, practically one in a million.”

Jiang Yinghe remained silent for a long time before saying, “They would truly become orphans if they couldn’t even rely on me.”

He rose from his seat, his crane-lined sleeves sliding off the table.  He straightened his collar before saluting the others and leaving the meeting room.

Yun Buxiu wanted to add something, but was silenced by a harsh tug from Yan-shijie.

Yan Caiwei only spoke when Jiang Yinghe’s scent completely disappeared from the room. “Don’t worry, Jiang-shidi only thinks of them as his disciples.  He definitely wouldn’t harbor any wayward thoughts towards them.”

Xiao Yun-shidi shook his stinging arm while looking in the direction Jiang Yinghe had left in.  His mood was conflicted as he spoke. “I know, but I can’t help but worry that those brats are way too close to him. They’re falling over themselves to be kind and gentle in front of their Shizun, but as soon as he turns his head they show their true nature. If one day, Jiang-shixiong gets his passion root back and decides to settle down with some female cultivator, will they be able to accept it?”

Yan Caiwei and Zhou Zhengping were thinking about the same thing.

“The Lan Ruo Abbot once made the prediction that Shixiong would experience a great upset in his romantic relationships, but his passion root isn’t even on him. I’m starting to think that it could be related to his disciples…”

“Enough.” Zhou Zhengping gave him a look while brushing his whisk. “No matter how sticky his disciples are, what could they possibly do to their Shizun’s cultivation partner? And as long as the irregularities at the Endless Sky Watchtower persist, we cannot retrieve his passion root which is acting as a keystone for the formation.”

Yan Caiwei, “It was only with the help of Lan Ruo temple that year that we were able to help Jiang-shidi erase his memories of his passion root being extracted. Telling him about these baseless theories will only bring him needless pain.”

She continued after a pause. “Besides, any female cultivator worth her salt should have to work hard to get with an esteemed sword cultivator like Shixiong.”

Yun Buxiu had already been in a strange mood, and those words brought up memories which made his mood even stranger. “But Jiang-shixiong…seems to be more attractive to men?”

Zhou Zhengping and Yan Caiwei were wearing mirror expressions as they looked at Yun Buxiu — under the influence of a curse set by the Tian Muo school, he had confessed several times to Jiang Yinghe, only to be driven into the ground by his Shixiong time and time again.

Yun Buxiu, “….That’s not what I meant.”

Yan Caiwei looked at him with understanding. “No need to continue. Zhangmen-shixiong, let’s keep a close eye on him.”

Zhou Zhengping, “Of course.”

Yun Buxiu: ….WTF guys???

—-

The air in Yun City was heavily laden with resentful energy. It was even worse than it was a century ago.

The Peng Lai disciples were too stunned by the sight of countless migrating ghosts to take another step forward.  They had not expected to be so seriously outnumbered, as the appearance of even one ghost cultivator could be considered unusual.

The true exorcisms were left to the seniors and elders, as the younger disciples barely managed to prevent themselves from being consumed in the onslaught.  There were quite a number of righteous cultivators including a few Zhenrens and even a Xianjun from Peng Lai, so the upcoming battle didn’t seem hopeless.

Only those of Jiang Yinghe’s level were aware of the true danger of this place. Yun City was in complete chaos, and resentful energy was spreading at an alarming rate in all directions.

But why was this happening? Jiang Yinghe withdrew Wangchen and glanced at the young-looking monk in white robes beside him. “Hui Jing Chanshi?”

The blade of his ice sword was near absolute zero. A cold light enveloped and purified all the miasma that came into contact with it.

Hui Jing Chanshi was the younger martial brother of the abbot of Lan Ruo temple. He was already at the Primordial God level and was quite well-known as a karmic monk cultivator. He wore only white and was still youthful. A red buddhist letter adorned his forehead.

“This little monk is unable to perceive the karmic relationships of this place.”

Jiang Yinghe frowned slightly. “Then this place must be….”

He was interrupted by the sudden eruption of resentful energy from within the crowd of Peng Lai disciples, more intense than any that came before.

Fortunately, no disciples seemed to be caught in it. Cultivators with less experience scrambled to get away, leaving only two figures behind.

Li Huanhan stood at attention with a hand resting on the hilt of his sword.  Beside him, Chang Ye yawned and looked on with amusement as miasma surrounded someone.

In a split second, all the ghosts that they had managed to pacify went mad. Clouds began to gather as a streak of purple lightning reared its ugly head.

“….A nascent soul tribulation?” Hui Jing Chanshi said, dumbfounded. “But why is resentful energy gathering? …Ah! Jiang Xianjun?!”

He could only watch as Jiang Yinghe headed straight for the densest part of the fog where the heavenly lightning was aiming. The snow white sleeves passing before his eyes strongly contrasted the dark environment it was set against.

He resembled a hazy beam of sunlight unhesitatingly shining into an endless darkness resembling hell.

The little monk beside him pulled on his sleeve and said, “Shifu, the one undergoing this tribulation seems to be Xuan Wei Xianjun’s second disciple.”

Hui Jing Tanshi muttered a prayer under his breath. He then looked around him. “The world deemed him to be a cold man.”

The little monk tilted his head in confusion.

“Helping the mortals, treasuring his disciples. Following the righteous path even in the most difficult of times. The kindness of this man is truly unmatched under the heavens.”

His words were light and soon carried away by the wind. Only the seemingly unending storm of resentful energy surrounding Qin Jun remained.

Li Huanhan and Chang Ye remained apathetic to the wraith’s plight until they saw Jiang Yinghe dive in.

…Did Shizun think for some reason that that bastard Qin Jun relapsed because he came here again and needed his help?!

Their cultivation was around the same level as Qin Jun. The wraith never hid his strength against them so they were able to clearly see this. But Jiang Yinghe had been deceived by him this whole time…

Li Huanhan tightened his grip on his sword. He stared unblinkingly at the center of the swirling vortex of miasma and was about to head in when he was stopped by Chang Ye.

“Are you going to tell Shizun?” His little half-masked shidi used a special sound technique to speak directly into his ear with a serious look on his face. “Li-shixiong, you’re a demonic cultivator. If you go into that kind of place, the demonic aura on your body will also….”

Li Huanhan shot him a cold look. “The same logic applies to you.”

“I just don’t want to get caught in the crossfire when you two expose yourselves.” The darkness in Chang Ye’s eyes faded, and he smiled sweetly. “I plan on staying by Shizun’s side for a long time to come.”

—-

Qin Jun’s situation could be described as ‘relapsing’.

Being a wraith, this dense source of resentful energy was like a multivitamin to him. The only issue was that he took in too much at once and triggered his tribulation. He and Li Huanhan had already reached the Primordial God stage in their past life, so it was only a matter of time.

But as they advance their cultivation, the immortal foundation that serves as their disguise would be stretched thin. Shizun was completely surrounded by an aura of righteousness. He didn’t want to be distant from him. Even the slightest inch was unbearable.

The surrounding resentful energy continued to pour into his body, and the right hand he held his sword with that he had hid for so long began to warp. Skin and flesh peeled off to reveal the bones underneath.

This was natural in ghost cultivation. His true form 3000 years ago was like this. As the flesh began to slowly dissolve, a portion of his true strength was unsealed.

He never expected Jiang Yinghe to charge over to the center of the miasma storm.

The air around Shizun was noticeably cooler. When he came over, it was just like how he pulled him out of his cocoon-wrapped coma a few centuries ago.

Jiang Yinghe didn’t notice his hand at first and immediately set up a formation to protect his heart and core. He ordered, “Circulate your energy and endure.”

“Shizun…”

“Be good. Circulate and endure.” Jiang Yinghe looked away. A tremor could be heard in his usually calm voice. “Shizun is here for you.”

Qin Jun was stunned.

There was a note of self-reproach in Jiang Yinghe’s voice.

“I shouldn’t have let you come…” This voice was soft, but it seemed to pierce deep into the wraith’s heart, drawing blood. “It was careless of me.”

Qin Jun could see the worry in the line of his brows. It took a herculean effort to not kiss him then and there.

Why did he want to kiss him instead of eating him?

Qin Jun didn’t know and he didn’t care to find out.

All he knew right now was how much he wanted to bring Shizun back to the territory of the ghost cultivators, and stain this distant sword cultivator with the dust of mortal affairs.

The hand that was only bones held his Shizun’s sleeve as if it was a sparkling, delicate snowflake.

No matter how cold or how difficult it was from now on, he would never let go again.

Author’s Corner

“Although they say that good and evil are divided, I would still never let go of your hand.” — lyrics from ‘Imaginary Dark Immortal’

Wow I just found a new song to add to my playlists. Zhang Bichen is such a good singer. You can listen to her song on Youtube.

Everyone please give a warm welcome to the new editor for this novel, chestnutwhale!