Ch68 - A Journal of Observations on Otherworldly Humans After Transmigrating

Thank you Miimaas for the Ko-fis!

Editor: Sahloknir

In the Snowy Plains…

Jiang Yinghe had visited this place before his reincarnation.

He had come here last time because it was a sparsely populated location, suitable for undergoing his tribulation. Afterwards, he had met Chang Ye, who was sealed away in the ice.

This could be said to be the place he and Chang Ye first met.

Jiang Yinghe pulled his cloak tighter around himself. His cultivation was not yet at its peak. He had a lot of spiritual energy at his disposal, but the chill of the Snowy Plains could still pose a danger to him.

A warm hand covered his cold fingers. Its owner asked, “Is this the place?”

Jiang Yinghe nodded, entering the snowy cave he had once used and looking around. “This is it.”

Li Huanhan made a sound of acknowledgement. His eyes never left his shizun.

“Chang Ye revived here, so I’m sure he knows something about the blessed land surrounding this area. Rumour has it that Sword Saint Taichu’s Wuchen sword has the ability to change the climate. These snowy plains suddenly appeared less than ten thousand years ago, but its climate has remained stable throughout… That is the reason many people speculate Wuchen is sealed here.”

Jiang Yinghe still felt a chill. He unconsciously pushed his fingers deeper into the other’s warm hold and quietly said, “I’ll have to put on another layer. My current cultivation is insufficient to resist this chill.”

One of the advantages of bringing Li Huanhan with him was that the other had already taken all these things into consideration. Even if Jiang Yinghe had not prepared for this, his eldest disciple would have something in his spatial artifact or Qiankun pouch.

Li Huanhan smoothly took out a black cloak with blood red embroidery that faintly shone with an extraordinary lustre. It very obviously did not belong to Jiang Yinghe.

As he arranged the cloak on the other’s shoulders, Li Huanhan lowered his head and said, “Bringing me alone should’ve been enough.”

“Not necessarily.” Jiang Yinghe said, “I feel like…there is more to this than meets the eye. If it really is as you’ve all said, that I am the reincarnation of the Sword Saint and the one who set all these events in motion… How could I have not anticipated Wangchen shattering during my tribulation?”

Li Huanhan was silent, his bloodshot eyes staring straight into Jiang Yinghe’s.

“A Half-step Golden Immortal and a sword cultivator… His renowned sword contains a sword spirit, so maybe it will be able to give me some answers.” Jiang Yinghe pondered, “After all, the Sword Saint warned me about—”

“…Warned you of what?”

Jiang Yinghe forgot that he hadn’t told them about that part yet. He absentmindedly said, “The…small dark room.”

Li Huanhan didn’t even bat an eye, but his gaze deepened. He leaned over to press a kiss to Jiang Yinghe’s lips, quietly saying, “How did he tell you?”

Jiang Yinghe found another thing he had omitted. He thought about it and decided to say it in a nicer way. “He said that all of you…wouldn’t actually do anything to me by force, that you wouldn’t dare to.”

Li Huanhan paused for a moment. He nodded slightly without speaking.

“On the contrary, you guys have made a habit of bullying me lately. What respect for your teacher? All of my teachings were for naught.”

With another layer on, Jiang Yinghe felt much more comfortable. He examined the Snowy Plains blessed land carefully, thinking about how to retrieve the sword that may or may not be sealed here. More importantly, how was he supposed to determine its location?

Just when he was feeling stuck, he noticed a wall filled with words in the depths of the ice cave. It was…all in simplified Chinese.

Jiang Yinghe sighed. “…I really went all out for myself.”

The message was very straightforward. It directly listed out the process to access the underground caverns. There was some advice at the end: “It’s best if one person goes in. Everything will go smoothly if you don’t allow others to touch Wuchen.”

Jiang Yinghe could see himself writing a similar message. He followed the inscripted steps and touched the layer of ice on the wall. After moving his finger down about three inches, there was indeed a tiny concealment formation there.

It seemed like this concealment formation had operated tirelessly over the last 10,000 years, drawing on natural spiritual energy and the cold to power itself. The mechanism was very simple. Spiritual energy from someone with an ice and snow foundation was enough to grant control.

As the concealment formation fell, the sharp sword aura beneath the Snowy Plains blessed land suddenly became much more apparent. Jiang Yinghe looked down and saw that the thick layer of ice had become translucent. Injecting more of his spiritual energy opened a door forged from ice that led underground.

Everything was still within his expectations. Jiang Yinghe looked down at the steps and said to Li Huanhan, “I’ll go down alone.”

“No.” Li Huanhan frowned slightly and looked at him with some urgency, “What if there is something lurking underground…”

“I’ll bring Wangchen.” Jiang Yinghe said, “It has your demonic heart on it, so you’ll be able to sense if something’s wrong and teleport to my side.”

Seeing that the other party was still reluctant, he continued, “On another note…I clearly said that you alone were enough. Why did the other two follow me here anyways?”

Jiang Yinghe pointed and sent his divine sense outside the cave towards a nearby snow-covered mountain.

Li Huanhan extended his divine sense as well. As expected, he saw that Qin Jun and a big cat that had become one with the snow were at the peak of the mountain.

Li Huanhan only spared them a glance. When he turned to continue his conversation with Jiang Yinghe, he saw the door in the ground close.

Did he just…get whooshed?

At the same time, on that snow-covered mountain peak.

Qin Jun glanced at the big cat waving its tail beside him before looking back at the nearby ice cave. He seemed slightly puzzled. “Little Chang Ye-shidi, aren’t you a little too laid back?”

The big cat yawned and got up from the snow, shaking its fur and transforming into a young adult. He leaned against the cliff with his hands behind his back, saying indifferently, “This is the place where I met Shizun. I know it like the back of my hand. Here, I’m the only one in the world who can interfere with Shizun under Li Huanhan’s eyes.”

Qin Jun gave him a warning look. His lightly spoken words hit the bull’s eye, “Have you ever wondered why Shizun brought Li Huanhan, when it is you who know so much about this place?”

Chang Ye stopped talking. He’d been trying to ignore this point, but Qin Jun brought it up again.

He gritted his teeth and said with feigned casualness, “Who cares who Shizun brings? Martial. Siblings. Need. To. Get. Along.”

Qin Jun wanted to laugh in his face. So he did. He sarcastically said, “Then why don’t you reign in your devilish aura? The Snowy Plains devils we passed on the way almost fainted because of you. Is this the extent of your tolerance?”

“Weren’t you the one who suggested following him here?” Chang Ye drew out the emerald flute at his waist and tapped it against his palm. His eyes revealed his dissatisfaction. “I find that all you’ve learned from fusing with me is sowing discord.”

“And the same to you.” Qin Jun was very modest, “It’s still little Shidi who does it particularly well. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want this part of you either.”

“Pei, you think I would?” Chang Ye turned away, tapping his flute with increasing anxiety. Then he sneakily swept his divine sense over to that cave. He abruptly found that he could not perceive Jiang Yinghe’s figure anymore.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask Qin Jun, another voice coolly rang out from behind him.

“Don’t waste your time looking.”

Li Huanhan descended from mid-air and gave the two an expressionless stare, “He’s gone underground.”

Without waiting for a reply, he continued smoothly. “You two appearing here is really…surprising to me.”

—-

There was only darkness in the depths of the ice cave.

Jiang Yinghe used hand signs to cast a lighting spell. He used the faint light between his fingers to continue forward.

The path was cold and slippery, so he slowed his pace. After crossing a series of spiralling steps, he saw a hanging sword mantle.

The style was exactly the same as the one he had seen in the old residence back then. Both had a rather peculiar aesthetic, one that his youngest disciple would enjoy.

Jiang Yinghe took a few steps forward to shine more light on the hanging platform. He saw the longsword sealed in ice and snow.

But there were no signs of life surging through it, nor was there any sign of the sword spirit.

But how could this be…?

Jiang Yinghe pondered for a moment before reaching out to touch the cold ice encasing Wuchen. As if sluggishly recognizing his touch, the ice quickly melted away from the inside out, revealing the longsword inside.

It was completely snow-white, radiating a chillingly cold aura. The words ‘Wuchen’ were engraved on the blade in a long and winding dark script.

Jiang Yinghe was able to retrieve it from the sword mantle unimpeded. However, the sword lacked any spiritual activity.

Not to mention a sword spirit, it didn’t even resonate or hum. It was like this wasn’t a treasure honed for many years, but just a replica made with many top-quality materials.

It shouldn’t be like this…

When he recalled the reminder he saw before he descended belowground, Jiang Yinghe knew that the deductions of his past self must’ve gone awry somewhere.

Jiang Yinghe caressed Wuchen’s blade. The sword that had lost its spirituality didn’t resonate at all.

Just through touch, Jiang Yinghe was able to appreciate how many rare materials had been used to forge this sword. The Snowy Plains probably also formed because of those materials gathering here.

Jiang Yinghe put away the sword and prepared to go back and use it to cast his own. But he returned after a few steps to retrieve a book seemingly impervious to the elements from amongst the melting ice.

He hadn’t noticed it before because his attention was focused on the renowned sword. At a glance, a line was written on the cover:

‘A Journal of Observations on Otherworldly Humans After Transmigrating’.

Straightforward, brutal and practical. Just as he liked it.

Turning the first page, Jiang Yinghe saw his own name written there. The handwriting was neat and familiar, not surprising considering he had made it a habit as a child.

He turned to the second page without much fuss. At the top was the weather and date from ten thousand years ago. After confirming that this book was left by his past self, Jiang Yinghe saw the first sentence.

‘He really is insane.’

Jiang Yinghe’s gaze lurched as his heart skipped a beat. He continued to look down.

‘He actually told me that everything he had was fake, that he is going to cripple his own cultivation and start over to gain…my sympathy?’

‘What a ridiculous thing to say. I have every reason to suspect that he’s on the verge of a qi deviation, but he appears normal on the surface. He said he was glad I had come when I did, or else the Dao’s questioning during his test of mentality would have destroyed his cultivation.’

‘Does he think that I wanted to come here? Does he think that I want to face this living hell on earth he’s created? This man appears completely normal on the outside, but why does despair cloud every one of his thoughts…’

‘I wouldn’t have come to him if it wasn’t to get back to Earth. Just how long does it take to guide someone who has gone astray back to the righteous path?’

‘…The difficulty of this task is too high. I might as well think about how long this world will last amongst the endless cycles of carnage and slaughter.’

‘When I return, I will definitely cherish my students.’

Author’s Corner

HeHe: So I’ve been into male♂ on male♂ action all along.