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chapter 13




Yan Qixin was Yun Xie’s direct Shidi, and only just below Yun Xie in consistently commanding the Solar Envy Sect. At this time, he glared fiercely at Huang Yan for his comment and then turned to speak to Elder Jinghai: “Jinghai-Daozhang1, our Sect Master was only seized as a hostage by Jiang Xunyi because he helped you capture this Sect Head Seal. You shouldn’t sit back and ignore him being in danger, right?”
Yun Xie’s change of loyalties had occurred too quickly. Just one moment before, Yun Xie and Jiang Xunyi had still been brothers with deep affections, trusting their life and death to one another. Now they pointed their swords and knives at each other. Under everyone’s eyes, Yun Xie had been captured for the greater good. Solar Envy Sect closely protected their own, so if Yun Xie was injured or lost, they would not let the matter go.
As Elder Jinghai grasped the Sect Head Seal, he weighed his options over and over. In the end, he felt that the Solar Envy Sect could not be offended. What’s more, Jiang Xunyi was now isolated and powerless, so it would not be difficult to get rid of him in the future.
With this plan in his heart, Elder Jinghai spoke clearly: “Sect Master Yun is righteous and just, we of course cannot endanger him. Jiang Xunyi, let go of Sect Master Yun and leave here!”
Huang Yan had always been extremely fearful of Jiang Xunyi. Hearing Jinghai’s words, he hurriedly said: “Elder!”
Jinghai coldly glanced at him. Huang Yan suddenly shivered and did not dare to speak again.
Jiang Xunyi laughed out loud: “Huang Yan, you timid mouse, even upon becoming Sect Head you would still be a completely useless coward! Since you don’t dare to kill me, get out of the way!”
Huang Yan gnashed his teeth in hatred, but he also knew Jiang Xunyi’s decisiveness and determination. If Jiang Xunyi was stimulated, he wouldn’t hesitate to enter a life and death struggle2. Huang Yan therefore did not dare to say anymore, and clenched his fists as he let Jiang Xunyi pass.
Openly swaggering, Jiang Xunyi drove Yun Xie down the mountain. Just as they were about to leave the formation, three silver shuttles3 suddenly volleyed through the air, shooting towards his back. At the same time, a man rushed out from among the Solar Envy Sect disciples. He reached out to grab Yun Xie’s shoulder, apparently attempting to seize this chance to take Yun Xie back.
The silver shuttles came out of the blue and only had to travel a short distance, so they appeared simply impossible to anticipate. But Jiang Xunyi was a consistently alert and vigilant person. In the face of this imminent peril, he barely managed to hold Yun Xie and roll away in the nick of time, dodging the shuttles coming from the two sides too. He offhandedly stretched his elbow to heavily strike the incoming man’s chest. The sneak attacker sprayed out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground.
Jiang Xunyi picked up Yun Xie and slowly stood back up. He stepped one foot onto that disciple’s chest and said coldly: “One hostage is enough for me to use. Even if you are this eager to recommend yourself, you should first check your own worth.”
With his ability, Jiang Xunyi would only have to apply a tiny bit of strength to kill this disciple on the spot. On the side, many voices immediately began to shout and yell in fury:
“Stop!”
“Jiang Xunyi, you are such a foul and despicable villain!”
“Zhang-Shixiong!”
Jiang Xunyi laughed mockingly. He ignored the disciple beneath his foot, directly turning around to leave.
Yan Qixin braced himself to ask: “Jiang Shi—Jiang Xunyi, when can you let our Sect Master go?”
Jiang Xunyi spoke with indifference: “I always keep my promises4. I said I would not kill him, so I will certainly preserve his life. If Sect Master Yun would ‘please’ escort me along the way, all you sirs should go back and wait.”
Before this, Jiang Xunyi’s reputation had been widely known and he had numerous admirers. At this time, his assertion was so certain that no one actually retorted back. They allowed him to go down the mountain, and he rapidly left their sight.
Jiang Xunyi walked for another stretch of road, before he suddenly released his hold of Yun Xie. He threw Yun Xie onto the ground and frowned: “Do you actually know how to act or not? I’m holding you hostage, not transporting your corpse! What are you doing not walking on your own, why do you keep leaning against me instead?”
Yun Xie smiled mischievously as he crawled back up. He touched the bruises around his neck and sighed: “You really are too cruel, pinching me to this extent. I was naturally so overwhelmed with pain that I couldn’t move my legs. Now see, when I hit you that once, I didn’t even dare to use force.”
Jiang Xunyi rolled his eyes, but said: “I’m sorry, I really did hurt your sect’s disciple just now.”
Yun Xie’s face turned serious: “It’s no matter, his hidden weapons were poisonous enough. If it weren’t for how quickly you dodged, the consequences would have been unimaginable. What you gave him was a fitting lesson for daring to use hidden weapons to hurt you.”
Jiang Xunyi looked around, only to see their surroundings were entirely deserted. The heavens and earth before them were boundless and vast, and a sense of loss filled his heart. He sighed: “Where to?”
Yun Xie laughed: “Young beau, come follow this slave5!” As he spoke, he flew upwards on his sword, waiting with his hands behind his back in midair for Jiang Xunyi to follow.
Vexation and annoyance were written all over Jiang Xunyi’s face, but he still called his sword, rose into the air, and then

. crashed back down.
These past few days, Jiang Xunyi had been rushing back and forth, and received continuous injuries. He had originally kept himself going with sheer grit, but now without a strong enemy to face, he immediately couldn’t hold on anymore. Now after straining himself to gather his energy, he was finally completely exhausted. As a result, the Extinguished Flower sword actually didn’t listen to his call.
Yun Xie was greatly frightened and his smile vanished. He collected his sword and landed back down, hurriedly moving to support Jiang Xunyi. He asked a chain of questions in succession: “What’s wrong? Did your internal injuries erupt? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
As he spoke, he felt stickiness on his hands. He looked at Jiang Xunyi’s right shoulder to see it covered in fresh blood.
Yun Xie frowned and tore off a section of his sleeve, wrapping Jiang Xunyi’s injuries while saying: “I saw your swordplay was smoother than a street juggler’s, when did you receive this injury? You didn’t say a word either. If anything happens to you, how am I going to explain this to Shishu when I go down to the Yellow Springs6 in the future?”
Seeing that Yun Xie had almost finished binding his wounds, Jiang Xunyi slapped the back of Yun Xie’s hand: “Pah, like I need you to explain for me.”
As he spoke, he stood up and brushed the dirt off his body, resuming his usual arrogant attitude to boss Yun Xie around7: “Come here, use your Bright River sword to take me.”
Holding his waist, Yun Xie called his sword to fly into the air. He spoke through gritted teeth: “Bastard, this is what I get for worrying about you.”
Jiang Xunyi was far too used to getting scolded by Yun Xie, and too lazy to refute him. Instead, he looked ahead of them and frowned: “This direction
 Hey, where are we going exactly?”
Yun Xie made his expression serious again: “Before8, you told me that Shishu9 died because of the Marrow-Washing Jade10. At that time, the situation was too urgent and I didn’t have time to ask you further——Why do you say that?”
Jiang Xunyi gave a bitter smile: “When that great calamity occurred fifteen years ago, even though I was still young, the scenes from that time were deeply carved into my memory. Those who died from being sucked by the Marrow-Washing Jade10 all had their meridians fragmented. Their skeletons turned soft and collapsed, and the skin over their entire body split open. They died extremely ghastly and horrible deaths. I saw Shizun’s remains
 were just like that too.”
Yun Xie was doubtful: “They let you see the remains?”
Jiang Xunyi shook his head: “I was urgently called back to the mountain. I felt something odd about the situation upon coming back, so I first circled around to come in through the back mountain trail. As a result, I saw Shizun’s remains——It was the Marrow-Washing Jade, I’d bet my life on it.”
His description was somewhat vague and evasive. Given Yun Xie’s intelligence, he immediately heard something wasn’t right. But since Jiang Xunyi wasn’t willing to say any more, he did not ask. He only said: “A few days ago, Yuele City invited my sect’s disciples to slay demons. But after sending a total of five disciples, all of them were lost. I originally planned to go and see the situation myself, but then an earthquake blocked the way so I did not move.”
Jiang Xunyi nodded, he naturally knew this point because it was all written in the plot.
Yun Xie’s face turned solemn: “As far as I know, those five disciples all died the same way.” He turned to look at Jiang Xunyi’s face, and emphasized every word: “Exactly the same as Shishu!”
Their eyes met. Both of them could see the same unconcealable shock in the other’s eyes: The Marrow-Washing Jade could not move on its own. The only possibility was that the Demon Sovereign Xuan Li sealed in that jade
 had already escaped out of it!
Jiang Xunyi’s mood was complex. The System had given him a task to help the protagonist eliminate Demon Sovereign Xuan Li. But this process was full of twists and turns, and was not pleasant for Yun Xie. Even if these were characters in a book, Yun Xie had always treated him extremely well all these years. The two of them had been mutually drawn to each other and become close friends. Jiang Xunyi wanted to say some more about what was going to happen, and opened his mouth a few times to speak. But as if he had been afflicted with a Silencing Curse, no words came out of his mouth. He couldn’t help but feel unhappily suffocated.
Yun Xie didn’t know what Jiang Xunyi was thinking. Seeing his strange expression, Yun Xie firmly declared: “My sect’s disciples were among those who died, so this matter is inherently related to me. Given your current half-dead state, don’t even think about acting on your own again!”
Jiang Xun sighed: “I got it, first check Yuele City out and then we’ll talk.”
Although Yun Xie loved to talk leisurely and enigmatically, his sword riding was quick as lightning. In less than half a day, the two arrived at the outskirts of Yuele City.
Yun Xie originally wanted to fly directly into the city. But upon getting close, the sword suddenly paused and began to stagnate in place, unable to go forward. Yun Xie could only choose the nearest hill to stop.
Jiang Xunyi jumped off from the sword, and asked in surprise: “An enchanted boundary?”
Yun Xie chose a high spot to look from, and saw a thick and dense black mist in the air above the city. He took a folding fan out from his sleeves and shook it, his air of 30% elegance leaking out 120% coquettishness. He smiled: “Is the Demon Sovereign trying to stew all the people in this city in a pot? If that’s how it is, things aren’t looking good~”
His current “completely unconcerned because this matter doesn’t involve him” appearance was really just asking for a beating. Jiang Xunyi rolled his eyes: “If you maintain this accursed look of yours in front of other people, stay away from me. I don’t want to get dragged in when you’re getting beaten up!”
Yun Xie didn’t care at all: “This is nothing. I have no connections to the people in this city, blood or otherwise, so in the end there’s no need for me to spend any compassion11 on this. I only care about you
 and my sect’s disciples. And I didn’t come here for them.”
The great protagonist’s three views12 lacked morality! If someone else heard Yun Xie say those words, they would definitely reprimand and rebuke him. But given Jiang Xunyi’s familiarity with Yun Xie’s temperament, he was entirely unbothered. He only said: “You can talk all you want, but don’t you still have to enter the city anyway? Let’s hurry, if I get any hungrier I’m afraid I’ll only be able to move if you carry me.”
Yun Xie raised his brows: “Hey, look at how Jiang-Shidi’s talking, as if this enchanted boundary doesn’t exist!”
Jiang Xunyi scoffed: “This enchantment is aimed at cultivators, it does not affect ordinary people. It’ll be fine if you just seal my cultivation while wearing this jade pendant on yourself.”
Yun Xie knew the jade ornament he was talking about was a magical instrument of the Hidden Spirit Sect that could conceal one’s cultivation. He did not take the jade pendant over, and only said: “Why bother with this trouble? Just carry it yourself, and then seal my cultivation.”
Jiang Xunyi chucked the jade pendant into Yun Xie’s arms: “I’m too tired right now. Everything involving fighting is entrusted to you, now hurry up!”
Still bickering and arguing, the two of them entered the city. They discovered that Yuele City wasn’t in the dire straits13 they had imagined, but actually had numerous pedestrians weaving back and forth, bustling and prosperous.
Yun Xie had never understood the definition of “low-key”. He swaggered up to the restaurant with the grandest shopfront, and pulled Jiang Xunyi to sit down in the hall. He arbitrarily ordered a few dishes and called the waiter over: “This little bro14, my brother and I are newcomers to this city. We’re utterly idle and bored, so may we trouble you to talk about any new things that have been happening recently, to help pass the time.” He placed an ingot of silver on the table as he spoke.
The waiter saw these two men had handsome faces as well as generosity to spare, so he hurriedly smiled: “This young master asked the right question, there just happens to be a huge new thing going on in the city center right now.”
Footnotes:
1. 道长 (Dào Zhǎng) is an honorific used for Daoist priests. Cultivation already has such strong roots in Daoist mythology, so some cultivators with particularly Daoist origins (vs. Buddhist, Confucian, or independent origins) will be referred to as “Daozhang”.
2. 鱌死眑砎 lit. “Either the fish dies or the net splits”
3. æą­(suƍ) is literally a shuttle used in a weaving loom, probably modified a bit to be better thrown as a projectile. Shuttles fall under the classification of “Hidden Weapons” æš—ć™š, which also includes things like darts, daggers, coins, needles, etc. Yes, martial artists in Chinese Wuxia tradition can use some weird stuff as weapons sometimes.
4. 侀èŻș捃金 lit. “one promise is worth a thousand gold”
5. Yun Xie playfully refers to himself as 愎柶 lit. “slave of your house”, which is a humble way for female servants (and wives) to refer to themselves. Combined with how he refers to Jiang Xunyi as 氏郎搛 (something like “young noble son” or as I translated it, “young beau”), this sentence is Yun Xie continuing to act all flirtatious and girly.
6. é»„æł‰ lit. “The Yellow Springs” is the underworld of Chinese mythology.
7. éąæŒ‡æ°”äœż lit. “to order people by pointing the chin”
8. It’s implied that Jiang Xunyi explained the situation of Immortal Master Ti Ming’s death to Yun Xie when they were resting in the cave last chapter.
9. Yun Xie refers to Immortal Master Ti Ming as 澈揔 (shÄ« shĆ«) lit. “disciple + younger uncle on the paternal side”. This is because Yun Xie’s own master was the older disciple-brother [Shixiong] to Ti Ming. (Ti Ming and Yun Xie’s master weren’t in the same sect, but they were good friends. It’s been consistently shown that Hidden Spirit and Solar Envy Sects have traditionally been so close that their disciples will cross-call each other Shixiong, etc.)
10. 掗髓玉: 掗 = “to wash”, 髓 = “bone marrow/pith”, 玉 = “jade”. Of note, some Daoist (and thereby cultivator) teachings say that the bone marrow is a reservoir of one’s Qi flow. As you age, your marrow becomes “dirty”. If you can somehow find a way to “wash” your marrow, your body will start to produce healthy blood once again, restoring your youth. This Marrow-Washing Jade appears to suck life force out of other people to wash your own marrow. (Again, all of this is homeopathic traditional Chinese medicine, so don’t try this at home kids :P)
11. æ‚Čć€©æ‚Żäșș lit. “bemoan the state of the universe and pity the fate of mankind”
12. 䞉观 lit. “three views” refers to one’s 䞖界观 “view of the world”、äșș生观 “view of human life”、and ä»·ć€Œè§‚ “view of one’s values”. Put together, they are one’s complete worldview/outlook on life. In this case, Yun Xie’s worldview doesn’t exactly have a normal sense of moral responsibility.
13. 氎深火热 lit. “deep water and scorching fire”
14. Yun Xie calls the waiter ć°ć“„ lit. “little elder-brother”, which is a way to refer to a guy younger than you. Again, no blood relation here.