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Editor: Sahloknir
Gong Wei took a half step back, his smile instantly dissipated. He said with restraint, “This disciple greets Shizun.“
As Xu Shuangtze stood with his back facing the daylight, Gong Wei couldn’t make out his expression. Xu Shuangtze lifted his foot, crossed the threshold and entered the room.
Although Gong Wei’s quarters were a side hall of the Xuanji Palace, it was only divided by a single wall from the main hall.
The layout of his quarters was elegant and emanated a sense of tranquility. It was entirely designed in Xu Shuangtze’s personal style—ink-black jade pillars, whalebone beams, blue gauze and silk for the curtains, and a graceful bamboo forest outside the window, which gave off a calming rustling sound every time the wind blew.
Gong Wei focused on the pristine white tops of Xu Shuangtze’s boots and watched them tread on the shiny tung wood floor, unhurriedly circling once, before he took a seat at the table. As if he had not seen what just happened, Xu Shuangtze said, “Have you finished the book you were told to memorise?”
Gong Wei lowered his head and replied, “This disciple is dull.”
As if he had not heard Gong Wei, Xu Shuangtze said, “Recite it for me.”
It was impossible for a mortal to read an immortal scroll like the Soul Fixing Spell, because each rune had to be filled with spiritual energy to be read. And those with insufficient spiritual energy could not even reveal the scroll in its entirety, let alone memorise it.
Gong Wei recited the first two sentences calmly, then paused to think before reciting the third. The further he went, the more he stumbled, until after reaching the forth or fifth sentence when he stopped completely and said shamefully, “Forgive me, Shizun, but this disciple’s cultivation is shallow, and can only recite this much.”
“Nothing more?”
“Nothing more.”
Xu Shuangtze tapped his fingers on the table twice, as if contemplating something, he suddenly looked up and said, “Come here.”
Gong Wei meekly inched forward, keeping his head down. Before he could raise his head, his lower jaw suddenly felt cold and his head was wrenched up by Xu Shuangtze’s strong fingers and forced to stare into two dark pupils.
“I only asked you to practice the first scroll of the Soul Fixing Spell, but you didn’t even memorise the first paragraph. How should you be punished?” Xu Shuangtze spoke quietly, looking seriously at Gong Wei.
Gong Wei didn’t move a muscle. “This disciple is dull, and will gladly receive punishment from Shizun.”
“Are you really dull?” Xu Shuangtze smiled coldly. “I don’t think so.”
“Shizun, the entire Sect is well aware that this disciple has been unable to cultivate a core for many years. I am really ashamed of myself!” Gong Wei cried.
“…”
The two were less than a stone’s throw away from each other, and even the slightest breath was clearly discernible.
Xu Shuangtze suddenly said, “Come with me.”
Gong Wei felt his wrist being gripped tightly by Xu Shuangtze as he stumbled and got pulled out of the door, heading straight into the master hall.
Xu Shuangtze was tall and his long legs made fast and wide strides, forcing Gong Wei to break out into a jog in order to keep up. The two trailed along the long corridor, making numerous heads turn. After walking for a long while, the view suddenly opened up and a strong mountain breeze hit their faces.
They had arrived at the door of the main hall of Xuanji Palace.
A flight of wide, white jade steps sequentially appeared. Xu Shuangtze stopped walking and stood at the top of the steps, the wind whipping up the train of his majestic, white and gold robe.
“Low in cultivation, dull and still not diligent. You have not met my great expectations of you in the slightest. What should your punishment be?”
‘Xiang Xiaoyuan’ stammered for a long time, his eyes reddened and he thought, ‘When did this trashy master have great expectations of me?’ before saying, “This disciple is in the wrong and begs Shizun for forgiveness. I dare not disappoint Shizun again…”
Xu Shuangtze said coldly, “I am impartial with rewards and punishment, and will not forgive you easily.”
—Not forgive me easily?
Gong Wei quickly glanced at the endless jade steps behind Xu Shuangtze. The stairs were imposing, cascading all the way through the peach blossom forest, and was the main path leading down the mountain. A shockingly good guess came to Gong Wei’s mind.
“…Shi-Shizun is expelling this disciple?”
Gong Wei shook his head incredulously, followed by a weakness in his knees. Flopping to the ground, he forced out tears to well up in his eyes, “Please don’t, Shizun! Although this disciple has a bad reputation, not useful, cowardly and lazy, and everyone is ashamed of me…but I truly admire Shizun’s authority! Please don’t expel me from the Sect!”
Xu Shuangtze lowered his gaze at Gong Wei’s hopeful expression, while still showing indifference, “You will be spared from death, but punishment is inevitable.”
Then he paused and said, “You will be punished by cleaning up these nine flights of steps, the broom is there.”
“…”
Gong Wei looked up, shocked, “Huh?”
An hour later, Gong Wei held onto the broom and expressionlessly carried out his punishment.
Swish—swish—
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In the distance, the peach blossoms were as vast as the sea, and whenever a gust of wind came this way, they rustled by the eaves and the long corridor, which was under his feet.
Xu Shuangtze was like an immortal, and his chambers were full of flowers, unlike anything on earth.
So Gong Wei swept for an hour, but he couldn’t get rid of the peach blossom petals that kept floating around.
“Here,” Xu Shuangtze gestured at his feet.
Lord Xu had, surprisingly, moved a table to the entrance of the main hall and sat at the top of the long flight of stairs reading his book.
As he flipped the pages and sipped his tea, he personally directed the work. He was probably so used to being the centre of everyone’s attention that he could not bear the slightest hint of alienation or neglect.
As soon as Gong Wei moved down and swept more than three feet away, he would hear a soft voice from overhead,”Here—”
Then, like a ball that had been punctured, the Great Chief Gong’s resentment deflated, and he dutifully came to Lord Xu’s side with his broom to clean the area around his noble feet.
Xu Shuangtze smelled like white sandalwood covered with ice crystals after the first snow of winter. When Gong Wei was younger and did not know any better, he used to go over and smell him.
Once, when Xu Shuangtze came to visit the Immortal Alliance, Gong Wei hung from his neck with both hands for an hour. Lord Xu had an astonishing level of self-restraint and patience, while Gong Wei hung from him, he continued sipping his tea and going about his errands.
The news of Gong Wei hanging from him like a pendant soon spread around and he was soon torn off by Ying Kai, who came to hear about it.
Xu Shuangtze did have extraordinary patience. Those years, he taught Gong Wei to write his name by holding on to his hand, repeating over and over again for ten or more times. Although he was demanding, he was never impatient. Later on, Gong Wei always felt that if Xu Shuangtze was willing to accept disciples, he would be a very patient master. But unfortunately, Lord Xu did not accept any disciples until the year Gong Wei died.
“—’Cultivation partner’,” Xu Shuangtze suddenly said as he flipped through a page of the book.
Gong Wei came back to his senses and his heart thudded.
Xu Shuangtze said indifferently, “Do you know what a ‘cultivation partner’ means?”
Gong Wei hesitated for a moment before cautiously replying, “A person who shares the same aspirations and the same fate, who can accompany oneself to cultivate and witness the Great Dao.”
“Then do you know who is suitable to be a cultivation partner?”
Gong Wei held the broom tightly as he pondered for a moment, “Someone with complementary spiritual roots and consciousness, whose four pillars and eight characters are compatible?”
When he saw Xu Shuangtze’s quiet gaze, he continued, “Persons with spiritual yin and yang complementing each other, such that the pair can double their cultivation speed with half the effort?”
Xu Shuangtze still did not say anything.
For some reason, Gong Wei felt that his eyes were almost gloomy for a moment, but perhaps his perennially frozen face did not change in the slightest.
“…has to be from famous and orthodox sects and compatible in status, right? There is also a need to obtain the consent from Shizun and other elders? To become cultivation partners, there also has to be the observation of proper rituals and rules, then the Immortal Alliance must be notified and then it made known to the world?”
Gong Wei thought that he would have to dig into impossible depths if Xu Shuangtze required more of a response, but after a long silence, Xu Shuangtze only closed his eyes and exhaled.
“Forget it.” He said softly, “You don’t understand at all.”
Gong Wei frowned as he recalled the Daoist scripture scrolls he had recited in his previous life and was completely confused as to what exactly he did not understand.
Just then he saw Xu Shuangtze look up at him and say, “Do you know why I did not expel you from the Sect and make you leave the mountain?”
Finally, they were no longer discussing the dangerous topic of Yuchi Xiao, Gong Wei immediately bowed down sincerely, “This disciple doesn’t know, please enlighten me, Shizun.”
Xu Shuangtze said, “Although you are a half-demon and cannot develop your core, and you may not be destined to go far on the long journey towards immortality, as a teacher I do not care about your status, and will tirelessly guide you towards your potential.”
“Shizun is wise.”
“A young child who is playful and does not know how to be diligent should be punished lightly. Master hopes that you will take this as motivation, and from tomorrow onwards you should learn to balance work and rest and be dedicated to learning the spell, understand?”
Gong Wei was moved, “This disciple understands!”
Xu Shuangtze acknowledged with a “Hmm,” and waved his hand as he continued reading his book.
Immediately, Gong Wei took three steps backwards with his broom in tow, lowered his head and began to quickly sweep while moving further away.
At that moment, Wen Xiuyang suddenly appeared at the far end of the flight of stairs, in large strides, he ascended the snow-white jade steps and bowed to Xu Shuangtze as he went. “This disciple pays his respects to Sovereign! Sovereign, Sheng shidi, he—”
Wen Xiuyang’s voice stopped abruptly along with his steps, and he looked at Gong Wei, who was holding a broom on the top of the steps, as if he was dreaming, “What…what are you doing?”
Gong Wei respectful bowed in greeting, “Shixiong, I saw that the steps to Shizun’s bedchamber were dirty, so I came to sweep the floor for Shizun.”
Wen Xiuyang, “…”
Xu Shuangtze asked from a distance, “What is it?”
Wen Xiuyang hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down with a lift of his robe, “In reply to Sovereign, Sheng shidi has fulfilled his seven days of punishment, is it time for him to come out of Cold Mountain Prison?”
Gong Wei drew a breath when he heard ‘Cold Mountain Prison’.
All immortal sects had various places of punishment that were extremely harsh. On one hand, it was to punish those who had broken the rules of the sect, on the other, through this harsh process, it could also greatly improve the disciples’ cultivation. Just that it was painful. This was exactly the purpose of Cang Yang Sect’s ‘Eight Prisons’.
In his previous life, Gong Wei was forced by Xu Shuangtze to visit the Cold Mountain Prison, one of the ‘Eight Prisons’. At the time, their relationship had deteriorated after the tragic death of ‘Lady Xu’.
Lord Xu had imposed a ban to forbid Chief Gong from taking even half a step into Cang Yang Mountain, but the daredevil Gong Wei was hell bent on barging in deep in the night.
One night, Gong Wei came to see Xu Shuangtze on a whim again and happened to see him drawing his wife’s posthumous portrait with a flask of wine by his side. Gong Wei only objectively commented that the drawing did not resemble her and kindly suggested, “Do you want me to draw a front portrait for you?”
In a fit of rage, Xu Shuangtze drew his sword and stabbed him in the eye. Covering his right eye, Gong Wei was still not satisfied, and came up to tease him with a kiss, only to be picked up by the back of his neck by a furious Lord Xu, who flew all the way up to the Cold Mountain Prison on his sword. If Gong Wei hadn’t slipped away quickly enough, he would have been thrown in that night.
With the cultivation level of Chief Gong, he still caught a cold and sneezed for half a month when he returned to the Immortal Alliance. So it was terrifying to imagine what it would be like for someone who had gone into the Cold Mountain Prison for a full seven days.
Xu Shuangtze flipped another page of the book before saying, “Let’s have a look.”
Wen Xiuyang immediately bowed his head, then raised his hand and shouted, “Rise!”
A manifestation formation was activated in mid-air, displaying an eerie, cold mountain and an icy green lake with demonic winds coming in gusts and sounding like a million ghosts wailing.
A young disciple dressed only in a single layer of garments appeared, his face was white, faint blue lines that looked like his veins could clearly be seen under his skin.
He was shivering with the cold but tried to get up as soon as he saw Xu Shuangtze, however his legs were already frozen solid, and he finally stumbled down, shaking and saying, “This disciple pays, pays….pays respect to the Sovereign!”
Gong Wei looked him up and down and said in his heart, ‘This little brother is truly pitiful, the cold air has already entered his lungs, although under the extreme suffering in this harsh environment it is bound to stimulate and improve his powers, but for quite a long time in the future he must endure the pain of this injury and on certain days, it will be worse than death.’
He recognised this young man as one of the eight disciples guarding the temple. He should be ranked around the seventh or eighth, and Gong Wei wondered how serious a fault he had committed to be punished so severely.
Xu Shuangtze asked, “Do you know why you are punished?”
The young man’s tongue was also frozen and he could not even finish his sentence, “Disciple…disciple is stupid, and could not recite the entire series of manuals for ‘Spirt of the Sword’ within three days, thus failing to meet the high expectations of the Sovereign. This disciple deserves to be punished!!!”
Gong Wei: “…”
Xu Shuangtze said, “Since you know that you are dull, you should be more diligent. Go back to your studies, and you will be tested again in three days. If you fail again, the punishment will be doubled.”
The young disciple immediately kowtowed, but when he did, he couldn’t get up no matter how he tried, and was hurriedly supported out of by several attendants. The manifestation formation disappeared.
Xu Shuangtze’s gaze turned and he asked unhurriedly, “What’s wrong, beloved disciple?”
“…”
Gong Wei stood there with a pale face, he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
He finally drew a deep breath, bowed down with a sincere expression, saying emotionally, “—Shizun! This disciple suddenly developed a strong thirst for knowledge, and wants to go back to memorise the Soul Fixing Spell, and am determined to live up to Shizun’s expectations this time!”
Xu Shuangtze frowned, “Why are you pushing yourself so hard, didn’t I just say that you should balance work and rest?”
Immediately, Gong Wei said, “No, no, Shizun is too kind to this disciple. I dare not fail!
Wen Xiuyang, who was standing on the side dumbfounded, “…”
Xu Shuangtze then said, “I am very pleased that my beloved disciple is so diligent. Go on.”
Gong Wei didn’t need him to say another word, and fled with his broom.
Ever since he was a child, Gong Wei had learned very quickly. When he was picked up by Ying Kai on Dai Mountain, he couldn’t even speak, but later on he went on to study and cultivate secret scrolls of the Immortal Sect, and was able to understand them by heart, as if he had been born with a natural affinity for the Dao.
Back then, there was an evil cultivator in Beiling who founded the ‘Ghost Master Sect’, whose disciples secretly practised a forbidden art specifically for summoning ghosts and tempering evil spirits, called the ‘Secret Passage of Yin and Yang Chaos Mantra’.
When Ying Kai learnt of this he personally raided the house, and the evil cultivator, in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence, burned down the entire library of forbidden scriptures with a golden flame. Gong Wei happened to be extremely bored and peeked at all the bamboo scrolls before the fire started, and was able to memorise them in a flash. When he returned to Immortal Alliance, he took out a brush and transcribed all the lost mantras at one go, and they became the evidence to convict the evil Sect Master.
But just because Gong Wei was a fast learner, it didn’t mean that ‘Xiang Xiaoyuan’ was also one.
Gong Wei worked hard into the evening, reciting the spell over and over with his heart and soul. In the depths of the night, Xuanji Palace was vast and quiet, with just Xu Shuangtze writing in silence in the candlelight.
The sound of Gong Wei’s recitations could be heard coming from the side hall, his voice was sometimes high, sometimes low, other times it was sorrowful and impassioned, as if two hundred frogs were croaking at the top of their voices in a lotus pond. Wen Xiuyang, who was standing behind the pillar, gritted his teeth for a long time and finally couldn’t help himself, “Sovereign, do you want me to go—”
“No.”
The side profile of Xu Shuangtze looked youthful and upright, like the blade of a sword. Under the light cast by the candle flame, his expression could not be clearly seen, only the faint sound of the wolf’s fur brush rustling with every stroke on the paper could be heard.
Wen Xiuyang silently recited the Mind Purifying Mantra thrice, but the distant jabbers of this horrendous, demonic voice kept on burrowing into his ears, so he finally couldn’t stand it anymore, “Sovereign, why don’t I…?”
Xu Shantze lifted his gaze and with a bone-chilling stare, “What is it?”
A chill that seemingly came from nowhere suddenly rose in Wen Xiuyang’s heart, blocking the words he was about to say.
“Nothing, nothing.” Wen Xiuyang swallowed hard, and in those few seconds he racked his brain and said in a rush, “Just … just suddenly remembered that Sovereign no longer seems to carry your sword with you.”
No answer came.
“It-it seems that this disciple hasn’t seen No Way Out since returning from Linjiang City and wonders if the Sovereign has consecrated the divine sword in the Tianji Tower, this disciple only thought about that…”
“Is that so?” Xu Shuangtze interrupted Wen Xiuyang’s increasingly dry explanation.
And then he was silent for a moment before saying, “If you can’t listen to this, then leave first.”
Without another word, Wen Xiuyang bowed and left the deep and empty main hall.
The lights in the side halls were shining bright, and from afar came the sounds of Xiang Xiaoyuan’s emotional and vigorous recitations. That voice of his alone could easily go up against an entire classroom of students.
And anyone who heard this would have to endure a toothache to praise the boy for working so hard. Wen Xiuyang walked along the corridor for a while, but somehow his mind kept thinking about one small thing after another, which he had observed over the past few days. And the more he thought about it, the more he thought it was strange.
However, he wasn’t able to get a clear grip on his thoughts—just like seeing the moon’s reflection in the water, or flowers in a fog, something was there, but he could not make clear sense out of it.
Unable to help himself, he turned to take another look towards the side hall, and this time his gaze froze.
Under the moonlight, the glazed roof tiles reflected a greenish glow, and the stone pillars were neatly lined along the white jade corridor from near to far. At the end of the corridor, outside the side hall, the faint light cast from the window faintly illuminated the silhouette of a man outside the entrance.
It was Lord Xu.
Facing the tightly shut door of the hall, Xu Shuangtze stood at the bottom of the steps without saying a word. In the moonlight, his back, shoulders and even his jawline seemed to be taut. They looked so tense that it gave off a strange feeling…But the upper half of his face was completely hidden in the darkness.
At last, the train of his robe moved, and he stepped slowly up the steps, reaching out as if ready to push open the door.
—With this movement, his eyes, hidden in the shadows, finally fell into Wen Xiuyang’s line of sight.
Dear Heavenly Dao!
Witnessing his Master, Wen Xiuyang took a half step backwards in horror, the jade pendant at his waist hit the stone pillar, and Xu Shuangtze’s movements suddenly stopped!
“…”
The world seemed to freeze, Wen Xiuyang’s pupils constricted and his mind went blank.
Every nerve in his body was screaming for him to look away, but the truth was that he couldn’t even turn his eyes away. He could only see Xu Shuangtze turn his head and those dark eyes glancing right back at him.
Then, Xu Shuangtze turned and walked back down the steps, his pace unhurried, he turned to leave without a word.
It was not until Xu Shuangtze’s figure had completely disappeared at the end of the corridor, that Wen Xiuyang snapped back to his senses and stumbled backwards half a step.
Wen Xiuyang stood alone in the courtyard. It was even deeper into the night and the sound of loud recitation continued on in the distance. There was a breeze and Wen Xiuyang suddenly shivered, realising that his thick clothes were already drenched in sweat, and that his jade pendant had fallen into several fragments at his feet.
He leaned down to pick up the broken jade pieces, his fingers trembling slightly with disbelief. The look in Xu Shuangtze’s eyes as he reached towards the door of the side hall kept replaying in Wen Xiuyang’s mind.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he knew this was Cang Yang Mountain, he would have thought that the great master of Cang Yang Sect had been possessed by some evil creature.
For Xu Shuangtze’s eyes were that of a caged beast who had been pushed beyond despair and was on the verge of a frenzy.