CH 139

Name:Estranged Author:齐成琨
Yun Weisi suddenly felt tired.

Cultivators were used to sleeping under the sky and not eating anything for several days. After one mastered bigu, they could go on with just some water and a little medicine once every several days—even not eating and sleeping for ten days was no longer a problem for them. 

During the time he had spent in the Nine Layers of the Abyss, Yun Weisi had encountered extremely troublesome demons. He had fought with them for ten years without ever closing his eyes, but he never felt tired. After that, he had left the Nine Layers of the Abyss and went to the Jianxue Clan together with Jiufang Changming, and had subsequently broken into the Wanlian Buddhist Temple. Obviously, he had had no time to rest. But now, when everything was calm and tranquil, and all noise had died down, a wave of drowsiness washed over him, and his eyelids seemed heavier.

Unknowingly, he relaxed and fell asleep, leaning against the table.

The dreams he had kept switching between each other as many scenes flashed before his eyes. Some of them disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, while others seemed to linger for ages, lasting for entire lifetimes or for several hours. Some of these dreams were doleful and full of sorrow, while others were blissful and merry. Fragments flashed before his eyes and fell to the ground with a rustle, but when he wanted to pick them up, everything disappeared like the melting ice or popping bubbles.

He did not remember everything that happened in these dreams, and when he opened his eyes, there was only one figure he kept in mind.

That person had been a part of Yun Weisi’s life since his youth. It was not that they had spent all this time together, but no matter where Yun Weisi went, with every step he took, he could never leave this man’s shadow. Naturally, all his worries were related to this person. This link between them was unbreakable, as if made of stone or gold.

After these long, ragged dreams passed, his mind became quiet and peaceful, and he slept well. When he finally woke up, he felt as if his meridians had been cleared even better compared to how he usually felt after meditation.

Yun Weisi looked around. The sky had already turned black, and the room was dark and empty.

A bit worried, he opened the window.

A cold and clear wind blew in his face. The full, white moon was shining above his head, and the night was rarely bright. A man was sitting on the roof of the building opposite, and it somehow seemed that the moon was closer to Yun Weisi than that man who was looking at it. The latter looked like he could ride the wind and reach it, becoming an immortal.

He noticed that the window had been opened and looked down at Yun Weisi.

It was difficult to discern Jiufang Changming’s expression because of the moon behind his back, but he was obviously sitting in a very relaxed manner.

They had not had time to take a break ever since their last grand battle, and very soon, they would have to go to an even more decisive one. They had already lost once, but could not afford to lose now.

“It is rare for us to have the time for leisure. I don’t know if shizun is willing to devote some of it to giving advice to his disciple?”

Jiufang Changming did not move.

“A long time has passed since the time when your cultivation was lower than mine, and now it doesn’t matter if I instruct you or not.”

“A teacher for a day is a teacher for a lifetime. Shizun’s recognition is the most important thing for me.”

“If you only follow the person in front of you blindly, you will never actually make progress.”

“For me, you are the Dao.”

After saying this, Yun Weisi turned his palm so that it faced upwards, and a flash of light appeared above it.

This light quickly spread, turning into a sword that shone brightly in his hands.

Jiufang Changming gasped with surprise and stood up.

“A heart sword?”

“Yes.”

“When did you learn this technique?”

“After the Chunzhao Sword was broken, I wanted to find a new weapon, but just finding a spiritual tool somewhere on your journeys is a rare occasion. In this world, only one sword, Chunzhao, could synchronize with me, so I gave up searching for one.”

That was how it had been until he came to the past, made different choices there and thus changed history slightly, meeting the demonic cultivator Lousheng ahead of time and almost losing his life in the process. At that moment, when Yun Weisi was about to die by Lousheng’s hand, his soul suddenly cleared up, and he comprehended mysteries that had always eluded him.

This comprehension helped him decide on his Dao, which, in its turn, helped him create his spiritual weapon.

[His heart was his sword, and the divine spirit was its soul. The moon was shining in the cool autumn, and the courtyard was colored in deep emerald shades.]

[The world was vast. One’s mind could travel far away up to the Highest Heavens or down below to the Yellow Springs, but the sword would always take a form from nothingness. One could sense it, just like the falling leaves or flying petals.]

He had broken through. The direction he had taken was completely opposite to Changming’s, but Yun Weisi was still following him.

For him, Jiufang Changming was like a lantern. From someone who was chasing after the light, Yun Weisi had turned into a hand that was guarding the lantern from the wind.

After seeing the heart sword, Changming understood that Yun Weisi had progressed a lot, so now Changming was actually inclined to have a friendly battle.

“A duel is indeed what I desire.”

He waved his sleeves and jumped down the roof, but disappeared before his feet touched the ground, as light as a feather or a falling leaf.

Yun Weisi was standing firmly and did not move, only letting the sword leave his hands. It floated in front of him, and now Yun Weisi knew that there was no one there.

Even if a person was a grandmaster of cultivation, they would not be able to completely conceal their presence.

If someone seemed to have disappeared, this meant they had just blended into the surroundings.

Yun Weisi closed his eyes. He used his spiritual powers to check the area of ten li around him.

Some snow slid down the roof tiles, falling down onto the staircase.

A bird settled in its nest on a tree, either falling asleep or fighting with another over an insect.

A little girl was refusing to fall asleep, so her mother was forced to start telling her a tale. The mother-and-daughter pair were quietly talking under a blanket.

But he did not hear anything nearby.

Where would Jiufang Changming appear?

Yun Weisi recalled that Jiufang Changming frequently taught him lessons like this when they were in the Yuhuang Temple. Changming had never cut him any slack, so Yun Weisi often got hurt during these battles. His injuries were even bad enough sometimes that he had to be bedridden for days afterwards. 

Back then, unbeknownst to himself, he resented Changming for this, feeling that this was too heartless. If a person was like an autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves even to his disciples, that meant that he was completely inhuman. But later, when he went down the mountains to learn from experience, he was ambushed by someone and barely managed to survive. Only then did he start to appreciate shizun’s intentions.

Like an autumn wind sweeping the fallen the leaves: ruthless

Suddenly!

The qi of the sword in front of him was shining warmly, but he felt a chill coming from behind his back and filling the space around them from every direction. It was too late for Yun Weisi to turn around, so he formed a seal immediately to make himself invisible so that his opponent’s spiritual power would only hit thin air. The Changming Sword clashed against his heart sword, and in a flash, snow and wind rose around them as their swords’ intentions seethed with it, ice-cold and powerful enough to reach the heavens!

The sky above their heads had been perfectly clear, but by this time, it had gradually been covered with dense clouds. A storm had been brewing close to them, having quickly arrived from faraway.

Yun Weisi knew that his cultivation had broken to a new level that had even surpassed what he had before entering the Nine Layers of the Abyss, but he had not expected himself to be able to cause changes in the weather after reaching the grandmaster realm.

It now seemed that in their battle against Luomei, the latter had won by using clever maneuvers and without using his full strength. It was thus no wonder that Jiang Li held no hopes regarding their trip to the Qianlin Assembly—even though they had returned to the past, Luomei was still the most difficult enemy.

As these countless thoughts appeared in his mind, lightning struck, illuminating the clouds. The lightning descended through the layers of the sword light!

Not only did the light not die out, on the contrary, it shone even more brightly now. The two sword glows competed against each other in a whirlwind, gradually outshining the lightning, turning almost blindingly dazzling. At the same time, Yun Weisi felt Jiufang Changming’s presence.

There!

He moved, even quicker than the sword, and reached out in the direction of his opponent’s forehead. Changming raised his hand to block the attack. Both of them did not use spiritual powers at this moment, and the murderous qi around them disappeared instantly, replaced with a light and pleasant breeze.

The wind died down, the clouds dispersed, and the lightning dissipated. Everything had returned to normal. The people of Hongluo had thought that a new storm was about to arrive, but now it just seemed like a false alarm. No one would have guessed that the changes in the weather were induced by a fight between two cultivators.

“Your skills are better than I imagined. Even if I go all out, I won’t beat you now.”

Jiufang Changming said seriously. The corners of his mouth were slightly raised, not because he was displeased with being overpowered, but because he was genuinely happy.

Indigo blue, though extracted from indigo plants, was even richer in color than the original. Was this not a reason to be happy for a teacher?

Indigo blue was extracted from indigo plants, but it was even richer in color than the original: to excel one’s teacher

Yun Weisi also smiled.

He reached to brush snow off Changming’s eyelashes. Changming did not move and did not even close his eyes.

This was almost impossible to imagine when the person in question was a cultivator, who was always wary of others. Every cultivator was used to being plotted against in Jianghu, and everyone had their stories of betrayal, so no one showed this level of trust. Even people like Jiang Li probably would not let others get so close because it essentially meant entrusting your life to the other person.

Jiufang Changming would decide to save his past disciples, but he would never allow anyone to come so close without fighting back.

Yun Weisi’s heart skipped a bit. Using the chance, he kissed the soft lips that had been covered with the sleeve and quickly moved away.

The contact had been superficial, like a dragonfly touching the surface of water lightly, but for Yun Weisi, it tasted like the beginning of spring, as fresh as young grass that had just sprouted, as sweet as a gentle breeze—it was if he was standing on the peak of a snowy mountain that was melting under the sunlight. The feeling was pleasant, cool and soul-stirring.

Jiufang Changming still did not move, and only looked up at Yun Weisi.

Yun Weisi was almost unable to suppress his emotions thanks to this glance.

In the Treasured Celestial Library Pagoda of the Luo Capital, Yun Hai, who had had a qi deviation and lost control, squeezed Jiufang Changming’s throat and kissed him to transmit demonic qi. In the guest house of Hongluo, however, Yun Weisi, who had already recovered his clear mind, suppressed his emotions even though Jiufang Changming did not object to the kiss.

“Why are you suppressing yourself?” he heard Changming’s question.

Because the more one values something, the more they care about it and fear ruining it.

Jiufang Changming was not only his shizun, but also his Dao heart.

No one would hurt their Dao heart, and he had vowed to never injure Changming.

After spending decades being tortured in the Nine Layers of the Abyss, he never thought that one day, he would escape death and finally reunite with this person. Not only that, he had even confessed his feelings to this person and learnt that his feelings had been accepted.

Jiufang Changming’s Dao was the Great Dao of the Heavens and the Earth, as wide as the universe, even encompassing all celestial bodies. There was nothing that was not a part of this all-embracing Dao, and he could both see yet never pay any heed to the creatures of the world. But he was still willing to find a place specifically for Yun Weisi.

Yun Weisi was also a cultivator, so he could understand how difficult it was for Jiufang Changming.

“I never know whether your tacit consent is pity or genuine feelings.”

After beating around the bush for so long, Yun Weisi finally voiced his old question.

Jiufang Changming fixed his eyes on Yun Weisi.

“So you don’t want it if it’s pity?”

After thinking for a moment, Yun Weisi shook his head with a smile: “If it’s pity, maybe I’ll regret it later, but I still won’t let you go.”

He held Changming’s hand. That hand was cold like ice and slender like jade, and Yun Weisi did not want to let it go.