Yue Shanfeng looked at his disciple with the expression of a man whose teeth hurt. “You…”
Shang Shuangze bowed again. “Master, please bestow the Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew on me in advance.”
For some reason, phrases like disciples never stay once they’re grown, boys always turn outward, and once he has a Dao companion, he forgets his master started popping into Yue Shanfeng’s head… The more he looked, the more irritated he became. He waved a hand. “Fine, fine. Go find your Martial Uncle Kunwu and get it from him!”
Shang Shuangze visibly relaxed. “Thank you, Master.”
Yue Shanfeng: “…”
Only after Shang Shuangze had left did Yue Shanfeng suddenly remember something. Damn it, he had forgotten to ask whether the Dao companion was a man or a woman. Could it be that young friend who had sent the Delicious Fasting Pills last time?
After taking leave of his master, Shang Shuangze flew toward Baodan Peak, where Martial Uncle Kunwu lived.
A fluffy little ball burrowed out from the clouds and landed on his shoulder, chirping twice as its tiny wing brushed his ear.
Shang Shuangze said gently, “It’s already healed.”
Snowshadow chirped at him again.
They happened to reach Baodan Peak just then. Shang Shuangze landed and immediately saw a cultivator who looked like a young man, asleep with his head pillowed on a white cloud.
Shang Shuangze stepped forward and called, “Martial Uncle Kunwu.”
The young man opened his eyes blearily. “Mm? Little Shuangze is back! Come here, let Martial Uncle take your pulse. Are you injured, or did you suffer qi deviation?”
Shang Shuangze: “…”
He continued with another bow. “Martial Uncle, I came to collect the Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew bestowed by Master.”
Kunwu’s hand was already pressed against Shang Shuangze’s pulse. “Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew… hm?” His eyes opened a little wider. “You used the Fuli Annihilation Sword?”
Shang Shuangze lowered his head and admitted it. “It wasn’t that I insisted on showing off. I only did it to save a friend…”
Kunwu waved a hand. “It’s fine. Everyone from Xianyun Peak is the same. Back when your master first went down the mountain, he used it to save your master’s wife. Your Martial Uncle Lanying used it to save her friend too. I’m used to it by now. Don’t worry, your martial uncle has experience. It can be treated. All of it can be treated.”
Shang Shuangze: .
Kunwu took out a jar of pills, grabbed a handful, and stuffed them into Shang Shuangze’s mouth. Then, swish, swish, two golden needles were planted into his forehead. “You know, I sometimes think we’d have been better off never telling you people the Fuli Annihilation Sword was forbidden. Maybe then you’d forget it existed. The moment we told you not to use it, every last one of you started treating it as a finishing move… All right, go back. Come see me again tomorrow.”
Shang Shuangze swallowed the pills and hurriedly said, “Please forgive me, Martial Uncle. I need to go back down the mountain urgently. Could you first give me the Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew?”
Kunwu paused mid-motion. “You’re still going back down? Then…”
Shang Shuangze said, “I’ve already taken the Innate Snow Essence. The backlash from the Fuli Annihilation Sword has been suppressed.”
Only then did Kunwu look him up and down. “Mm, not bad. That really is the aura of Innate Snow Essence. That thing is extremely difficult to find. As expected of Little Shuangze, your luck is excellent.”
Shang Shuangze smiled without speaking. The lucky one was someone else.
He then explained why he wanted the Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew.
Kunwu nodded. “Since he helped you obtain the Innate Snow Essence, giving him Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew in return is perfectly reasonable.” As he spoke, he took out a golden gourd the size of his palm. The mouth of the gourd tilted, and three drops of immortal dew gathered at its lip.
The immortal dew formed drops without falling, gleaming like liquid gold and radiating an intense power of life origin.
Kunwu sealed the three drops of immortal dew inside a jade sphere and handed it to him. Then he took several more golden needles and stuck them into the back of Shang Shuangze’s hand. “Traveling back and forth between Baiyujing and the mortal world isn’t easy. Since you’ve come all this way, let Martial Uncle adjust your condition a little more… Hm? How did this Biluo Nine-Turn Art turn warm?”
Shang Shuangze said helplessly, “Martial Uncle…”
The next moment, a faint sound came from his Hundred-Compartment Pouch. His expression changed. With a flip of his hand he pulled out a jade tablet. Crack. The tablet split apart.
Kunwu leaned over for a look. “Huh? Isn’t that one of Baiyujing’s communication jade tablets? Does your master need you for something?”
Shang Shuangze’s expression changed sharply. With a sweep of his hand, the dozens of golden needles embedded in his body were forcibly pulled free. “Thank you for treating my injuries, Martial Uncle. Something urgent has come up. I must go first. I’ll apologize properly another day!”
With that, he swept his sleeve. Clouds and mist surged up… and when the mist dispersed, he had vanished from the spot.
Kunwu was so shocked his mouth remained open. After a long while he finally said, “Good grief. What kind of emergency was that? He didn’t even leave through the gate, just cut straight through space and left. Don’t tell me someone stole his Dao companion?”
Then he chuckled to himself, very pleased with his own joke. This martial nephew of his was so cold and detached that even if every other person in Baiyujing paired off, Shang Shuangze would still be the one man nobody expected to find a Dao companion.
* * *
Qingxi City.
The yellow jade seal summoned by the Golden Core cultivator continued growing until it towered like a mountain. It looked ready to come crashing down and flatten all of Qingxi City into a sheet of paper.
Yunjiangguan’s contempt for everyone beneath them could hardly have been clearer. For the slightest defiance, they were actually willing to destroy an entire city.
Xia Yunzhao gritted his teeth. I have the Snow-Crane Spirit-Guarding Crown. If it really comes down to it, I’ll risk everything and kill that Golden Core cultivator! Once the cultivator is dead, the magical treasure can’t possibly keep killing people on its own!
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear, one that was very familiar yet that he had not heard in a long time. “I haven’t been here for a while, and Qingxi City has only gotten livelier.”
Before Xia Yunzhao’s brain had even caught up, his mouth had already shouted, “Brother Xing!”
Everyone turned at once. Even the Golden Core cultivator frowned. The other Foundation Establishment cultivator muttered, “Thousand-Thread Puppet Xing Wenyu? How is he still alive?”
On the now-empty street, a figure in a blue-green padded robe walked toward them at an unhurried pace. The first thing he did was look Xia Yunzhao up and down. Seeing that he was unhurt, he relaxed slightly.
Behind him was another figure dressed in black leather armor, a massive black saber resting across one shoulder. The lower half of his hair was white and had been tied carelessly behind his head. He looked to be in his thirties, but the roguish expression on his face held not the slightest trace of steadiness.
Following Xing Wenyu’s gaze, he looked over at Xia Yunzhao and grinned. “Yo, so you’re another little brother he picked up. If someone was bullying you, why didn’t you give them his name? Do you know how scared these hypocritical, arrogant idiots are of him?”
“Noisy.” Xing Wenyu gave him a sidelong glance, then walked through the two opposing groups until he reached Xia Yunzhao.
He was still wearing that same loose blue-green padded robe, and his steps were still weak and unsteady. Yet once the name “Thousand-Thread Puppet” had been spoken aloud, not a single person dared underestimate him.
Only after reaching Xia Yunzhao’s side did Xing Wenyu ask gently, “Are you hurt?”
Xia Yunzhao shook his head. “Not yet. Give it a little longer and that might change.” He pointed ahead. “I’m planning to kill him.”
The Golden Core cultivator: ?
Xing Wenyu laughed. “The Kunyuan Xutu Seal is one of Yunjiangguan’s Four Great Magical Treasures. It possesses a spirit of its own and has not acknowledged a master, so killing its user alone won’t solve the problem. But there’s no need to worry too much. This treasure is not easy to use. He may be able to summon it, but that doesn’t mean he can control it. Even if he does force it down, there’s a chance it’ll crush him to death too.”
Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment. “So what you’re saying is, I don’t necessarily have to destroy the magical treasure itself?”
The Yunjiangguan cultivator opposite them could not stand listening anymore and cursed, “You’re nothing but a petty Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet your ambition is monstrous! It isn’t enough that you want to kill a member of Yunjiangguan, you even want to destroy one of our great treasures?! Do you think that just because the Qianyuan Sect and Xing Wenyu are backing you, no one can do anything to you? Everyone knows Xing Wenyu had his meridians stripped and lost all his cultivation. He only looks frightening!”
Xia Yunzhao glanced at him.
The cultivator snapped, “What are you looking at? Am I not telling the truth…?”
The next second, his vision blurred.
Xia Yunzhao activated the Flowing Cloud Leg Art, the Lightness Technique, and Earthwalking Art at once. Before even the blink of an eye had passed, he was already beside the man. The Spirit-Severing Dagger flashed in his hand and sliced through the cultivator’s throat.
In the next instant, the Snow-Crane Spirit-Guarding Crown lit up, blocking the simultaneous attacks from the nearby Golden Core cultivator and the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivator. Xia Yunzhao withdrew unharmed and reappeared beside Xing Wenyu.
Thud.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator clutched his throat and collapsed. Only then did blood begin spreading beneath him.
A dignified Foundation Establishment cultivator, his skin, bones, and flesh tempered countless times, had died just like that at the hands of a young cultivator.
Xia Yunzhao himself was at mid-Foundation Establishment, true, but every cultivator present could see that his bone age was still very young. He could not have entered mid-Foundation Establishment very long ago. Yet even so, he had killed the Yunjiangguan cultivator in a single move.
The surviving Foundation Establishment cultivator, the woman, went pale and pointed at Xia Yunzhao. “Y-you… you actually dared kill someone from Yunjiangguan! Aren’t you afraid of a Yunjiangguan kill order?!”
Xia Yunzhao flicked his dagger, scattering a string of blood droplets onto the ground. Irritated, he said, “You keep repeating the same line. Don’t you have anything else?”
Xing Wenyu took out a handkerchief and wiped the splattered blood from Xia Yunzhao’s face. “If all of you die, won’t there be no one left to issue a kill order?” Then he tilted his head slightly. “Go.”
The black-armored man grumbled, “You call me like I’m a dog.” As he spoke, his wrist turned and the saber spun in a flourish. His aura climbed steadily. “You two, don’t run. I need to kill a hundred people for him. Once I finish you off, I’ll only have ninety-eight left.”
Not only did the female Foundation Establishment cultivator’s expression change, even the Golden Core cultivator’s face shifted. This black-armored man was also a Golden Core cultivator, and a mid-Golden Core one at that!
The Golden Core cultivator’s expression twisted as he desperately tried to control the Kunyuan Xutu Seal above him. “Press down! Hurry up and press down!”
Under his control, the enormous jade seal slowly descended. The surge of spiritual power it brought with it alone made everyone below feel as though they were being squeezed flat.
The Si-family cultivators had the lowest cultivation of anyone present and were suffering inwardly. They had known Yunjiangguan could not possibly have called them here for anything good. They still could not understand why the family head insisted on attaching themselves to Yunjiangguan. If they had known this would happen, they would never have come…
The black-armored man finished off the female cultivator with a single saber strike. At that very moment, the Golden Core cultivator suddenly cried out in delight, “It worked! The magical treasure spirit answered me! Hahahaha! I… pfft!”
The joy had not even faded from his face when a pressure as heavy as a mountain came crashing down from above and flattened him directly into a puddle of mush.
The Kunyuan Xutu Seal suddenly blazed with brilliant light and began descending rapidly!
The cultivators present, together with the civilians hiding nearby, had not even had time to rejoice that the Yunjiangguan cultivators were dead before the crushing pressure enveloped them.
The mortals were forced flat onto the ground at once, terrified beyond measure yet unable to move at all.
Even Xia Yunzhao and the others, though still standing upright, had been driven deeply into the ground up to their feet.
The black-armored man braced himself with his saber and cursed, “Fellow Daoists, which one of you has the terrible luck? I heard the magical treasure spirit inside the Kunyuan Xutu Seal hasn’t woken in three thousand years! Yunjiangguan had practically kicked this thing out of its Four Great Magical Treasures. Anyone above Golden Core could use it. So why did it have to wake up today?”
Xu Ziyu gritted his teeth and struggled against the pressure. “Before I came to Qingxi City, I never ran into this much trouble! Xiao Xiaozhao, are you all right? Can your meridians handle this?”
Du Yan did not even have time to drink. He sent one stream of spiritual energy after another into Xia Yunzhao’s body, helping stabilize his spiritual power and meridians. “Back when I just ran my shop quietly, I never ran into this much trouble either!”
Xia Yunzhao: “…” Wait, what is that supposed to mean, friends? Are you all pointing at me?
Xing Wenyu’s expression did not look good either. His brows drew tightly together. “What happened to your meridians? Did something go wrong with your cultivation method?”
Xia Yunzhao had just opened his mouth to answer when his expression abruptly changed. “Not good!”
The Hundred-Compartment Pouch at his waist, stuffed completely full, actually burst apart under the ever-increasing pressure!
Xia Yunzhao had no time to worry about anything else. His first move was to grab for a jade tablet. The tablet was crystal clear, engraved with a flowing-cloud design. It was the very one Shang Shuangze had given him before. All he needed to do was strike it to contact Shang Shuangze.
Now that they were trapped beneath the Kunyuan Xutu Seal, how could he possibly let Shang Shuangze come here?
But when he reached for it… he had not expected that beneath the jade seal, not only had the pressure multiplied, the spiritual energy was also violently chaotic. A turbulent current of spiritual energy slammed into the jade tablet, knocking it flying. It struck the ground hard and shattered!
Xia Yunzhao’s heart clenched. Before he had even exhaled, clouds suddenly formed out of empty air overhead. A white figure appeared without warning. Sword light erupted in every direction, and a colossal sword shadow came crashing down against the enormous jade seal!
In a daze, Xia Yunzhao thought he heard an aggrieved little cry. He had no attention to spare for it. His eyes held only the figure in midair. “Shang Shuangze!”
Every stroke of Shang Shuangze’s sword was fierce and sharp, yet for some reason the magical-treasure spirit did not resist. Instead, it shrank smaller and smaller until it finally vanished.
Only then did Shang Shuangze put away his sword and drop straight down in front of Xia Yunzhao. “Are you hurt?”
“No, no, don’t panic.” Xia Yunzhao caught his hand, then cupped his face. “I’m completely fine. The balls of spiritual power you left behind protected me!”
Du Yan slowly withdrew his own hand.
The black-armored man beside them chuckled and patted Du Yan on the shoulder. “Brother, leave this kind of thing to the young couple.”
Si Kongzhuo froze and looked around. Young couple? Where?
Xu Ziyu, who had just burned through five protective magical treasures in succession, rolled his eyes. Out of sight, out of mind. He turned around and went straight back into the shop.
Xia Yunzhao held Shang Shuangze’s face and rubbed it this way and that until he felt the tightly drawn muscles gradually relax. “All right, all right. Relax…”
Shang Shuangze sighed softly. Mingyun returned to its sheath. He wrapped Xia Yunzhao in his arms and held him tighter and tighter before murmuring beside his ear, “From now on, I won’t leave you even for seven and a half minutes.”
Xia Yunzhao laughed. “Did you miss me after one whole day apart? Oh, right, I want to introduce someone to you. He’s my…”
He turned his head and met Xing Wenyu’s inscrutable gaze head-on. “Xiao Xia, have you forgotten that there’s something you owe me an explanation for?”
Xia Yunzhao: “…”
* * *
The group went into the shop.
Of course, the little shop could not fit that many people, so Si Kongzhuo sent all the Si-family cultivators home and stayed behind alone.
The first thing Xia Yunzhao called after entering was, “Xiao Li? Xiao Li, are you there? Are you all right?”
A cabinet shifted. The young attendant crawled out from inside, his whole body still trembling uncontrollably. “I-I’m here, Proprietor. Y-you… your orders…”
Feeling guilty, Xia Yunzhao took out a Lingwei Pill and handed it to him. “I’m sorry. You got dragged into this because of me. The sun’s about to set, so go home. You don’t need to come to work for the next few days, and I’ll still pay your wages. You… actually, use these few days to look for another job. I’m afraid you probably won’t dare come back here anyway.”
After saying that, Xia Yunzhao patted him on the shoulder and ran off to attend to his friends.
Xiao Li stared at the pill and froze. Then it suddenly struck him that Lord Xiao Xia had just called him “Xiao Li.” So… cultivators could remember a mortal’s name too?
With a wave of his hand, Xia Yunzhao moved several display cabinets aside to clear an open space, then took out a large table.
Fortunately, only part of his Hundred-Compartment Pouch had burst, so some of it was still usable. It did not matter much anyway. He had refined the pouch himself, and making another one after he returned home would not be difficult.
He took out some food and set it on the table, then grabbed a handful of spirit herbs that soothed the mind and brewed a pot of tea. Only then did he wave everyone over. “Why are you all standing around? Sit down.”
Everyone looked at one another, then found seats.
They had all attended plenty of banquets of one kind or another, but none of them had ever seen a gathering where everyone simply sat around one table in a circle like this.
Shang Shuangze sat beside Xia Yunzhao. Xing Wenyu looked at him, then sat on Xia Yunzhao’s other side.
Xia Yunzhao looked at the two men flanking him. They were like two cold-faced door gods, and he could not afford to provoke either one. He cleared his throat. “All right, friends. Let’s discuss the most urgent problem: how we’re going to deal with Yunjiangguan’s retaliation.”
He looked around, decided to pick the softest persimmon, and said, “Brother Du, why don’t you go first?”
Du Yan got a headache just looking at him now. “I never imagined I’d somehow manage to provoke Yunjiangguan.”
Xia Yunzhao cleared his throat again. “Then… Fellow Daoist Xu?”
Xu Ziyu was even more straightforward than Du Yan. “Sit at home and wait for them to come chop me to pieces.”
Xia Yunzhao: “…Fellow Daoist Si?”
Si Kongzhuo was an honest man. He even tried to comfort Xia Yunzhao in return. “No need to worry. The Si family will expel me from the clan, then come after me to kill me before Yunjiangguan gets the chance.”
Xia Yunzhao: “…”
Xia Yunzhao said, “…Let’s not be quite so pessimistic. It’s only Yunjiangguan. Can they really kill every last one of us? Those three cultivators today didn’t even seem that strong once we actually started fighting!”
The black-armored man had been looking around with curiosity ever since they sat down, and he had eaten more of the food on the table than anyone else. Hearing Xia Yunzhao, he chuckled. “Little brother, do you know what level of power Yunjiangguan is?”
Xia Yunzhao thought, Who’s your little brother? Out loud he said, “I still haven’t asked for your honorable name.”
The black-armored man smiled. “This one is Zhong Yundu, nothing more than an unaffiliated cultivator, hardly worth mentioning. There isn’t really a strict classification system for forces in the cultivation world. Usually, people judge them by the highest cultivation realm reached by a cultivator within that force.”
He looked at Xia Yunzhao. “On our way to Qingxi City, we heard quite a lot about how you two Fellow Daoists foiled the Fang family’s schemes. Take the Fang family as an example. Fang Yanya and Fang Wenyuan were the strongest cultivators in the family, both at Foundation Establishment, so the Fang family was considered a Foundation Establishment-level power.”
“As for the Puppet Gate…” He glanced at Xing Wenyu. “Its highest cultivation realm at present is Golden Core, so it is a Golden Core-level power. Yunjiangguan, however, is a Nascent Soul-level power. It has two Nascent Soul cultivators and several hundred Golden Core cultivators. Within three thousand li, it is the greatest power by far, and that entire region is its sphere of influence. That is why they are so arrogant. Understand?”
Elio’s Notes: Earlier source chapters used 傀儡宗, which we render as Puppet Sect. This chapter shifts to 傀儡门, so I’ve preserved the raw change as Puppet Gate rather than silently treating the two names as identical.
Xia Yunzhao nodded thoughtfully. No wonder Yunjiangguan had looked down on everyone back in Beiliang City. Their fists were simply the biggest.
Then again, if their fists were not the biggest, how would they dare swagger around ordering everyone about and forcing mortals to swallow Demon-Warding Spirit Pills that were practically poison?
Still, Zhong Yundu’s phrasing was interesting. He had specifically said the Puppet Gate’s highest cultivation realm at present. Did that mean someone there had once reached a higher realm?
After hearing all this, Xia Yunzhao really did deflate a little. “In that case, doesn’t that mean no one around here can stand against Yunjiangguan? We killed three of their cultivators. Aren’t they going to hunt us down?”
Seeing his dispirited expression, Xing Wenyu lifted a hand as though to pat his head. Then he noticed that Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze were holding hands. He hesitated and ultimately did not touch him, merely offering reassurance instead. “It may not be that bad. On our way here, we also heard that the news of demonic qi reappearing was jointly released by the Wentian Sect and the Pill Cultivator Alliance. The Wentian Sect has issued a Wentian Order requiring powers large and small to eliminate the demonic qi within their territories. Yunjiangguan is only a Nascent Soul-level power. It would not dare pretend to obey the Wentian Sect while secretly defying it. Even if they intend to hunt you down, they will first have to finish carrying out the Wentian Order.”
Shang Shuangze glanced at Xing Wenyu, then raised a hand and stroked Xia Yunzhao’s head.
Xia Yunzhao rubbed against his hand and thought for a moment. “That’s good, then. I’m not really afraid for myself. I’m just worried they’ll retaliate against the ordinary people of Qingxi City…”
When he looked up after speaking, he found everyone staring at him. Puzzled, he asked, “Why are you all looking at me? Aren’t you worried?”
Xu Ziyu shook his head, his tone openly disdainful. “Are you stupid? Other than you, who cares that much about a bunch of mortals? Who would think killing mortals counts as revenge?”
Xia Yunzhao froze. “So that’s how it is…”
True enough. If someone wanted revenge on another person, who would dig up every anthill around that person’s home? Yunjiangguan could even produce Demon-Warding Spirit Pills that shaved thirty years off a mortal’s lifespan and force people to swallow them. To people like that, mortals died in one batch and grew back in another. They probably were not worth much more than ants.
Even though everyone said Yunjiangguan would not retaliate against Qingxi City’s civilians, Xia Yunzhao still remained in the city for three days. Seeing how worried he was, the others stayed too, keeping him company while they watched to see what would happen.
On the fourth day, Si Huaiyi secretly sent word. Yunjiangguan had indeed issued a kill order, and the portraits on it were of Xia Yunzhao, Du Yan, and Xu Ziyu.
It seemed Xing Wenyu had guessed correctly. Although a kill order had been issued, no one had actually come after them yet. Perhaps Yunjiangguan was busy carrying out the Wentian Order.
The moment Xu Ziyu saw the kill order, he kicked the table in fury. “I didn’t even make a single move! Why the hell is my portrait on there?!”
Du Yan lay serenely in a reclining chair. Back when he had come to Qingxi City, it had been precisely to live under an assumed name and keep his identity hidden. Well, that had worked out beautifully. Now everyone within three thousand li knew who he was.
Xia Yunzhao himself did not care much. He had a disguise technique anyway. At worst, he could just disguise himself every time he went out from now on. Once both he and Shang Shuangze reached Nascent Soul, they could simply take Yunjiangguan down…
He turned his portrait this way and that, then leaned toward Shang Shuangze. “Did they draw me well? Do I look good?”
Everyone else: “…”
Shang Shuangze gave the question proper consideration. After studying the portrait for a while, he shook his head. “It bears no resemblance to you.”
Xia Yunzhao said, “Huh? Really?”
Shang Shuangze nodded firmly. “It captures not the slightest trace of your spirit or bearing.”
Everyone else: “…”
Du Yan stood up clutching his head. “I think I’ll go back and drink…”
Xia Yunzhao was very satisfied with the praise. Still, there was something he genuinely did not understand. “Weren’t all of us there at the time? Why did they only put the three of us on the order?”
Zhong Yundu shrugged. He was an unaffiliated cultivator and did not know much about the internal affairs of sects.
Xing Wenyu sneered. “Yunjiangguan looks down on outsiders, but that does not mean it cares much about its own disciples either. This is probably more about saving face than anything else. I doubt they even bothered to investigate how those three died, much less how many people were present.”
Then his tone softened abruptly as he asked Xia Yunzhao, “Are you returning to the mountains today?”
Zhong Yundu still found this scene fascinating. Xing Wenyu was ruthless, cold, and hard even on himself, yet somehow he treated this younger brother he had only recently met with extraordinary gentleness. If someone told Zhong Yundu this Foundation Establishment kid was Xing Wenyu’s real younger brother, he would have believed it.
Xia Yunzhao nodded. “From now on, I can just come into the city every three days to check on the shop. Brother Xing, do you want to come live in the mountains with me? It’s more comfortable there.”
Xing Wenyu acknowledged the offer. “I still have some matters to deal with. Another time.”
Xia Yunzhao understood that this was a polite refusal. He was a little disappointed, but remembering that Brother Xing was not alone anymore, he felt somewhat reassured.
Shang Shuangze was waiting behind him. The two of them turned and started walking out. They had only taken a few steps when Xu Ziyu caught up with them. “Wait. I’m heading back too.”
After the three left the city, Xia Yunzhao said, “You have something you want to tell me?”
Xu Ziyu hesitated.
Xia Yunzhao found that genuinely novel. “You, Xu Ziyu, actually have things you can’t bring yourself to say?”
Xu Ziyu looked up at the sky. “What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t open my mouth just to curse people, all right?”
Xia Yunzhao laughed. “Just say what you want to say. No matter what it is, I know you’re doing it for my sake.”
That was one of the things Xu Ziyu liked most about him. He finally said, “About Xing Wenyu. You knew him before you knew me, so strictly speaking, I shouldn’t be trying to sow discord between you. But I have heard some things about him.”
Xia Yunzhao’s expression turned serious, and he gestured for Xu Ziyu to continue.
Xu Ziyu said, “Xing Wenyu used to be a disciple of the Puppet Gate and was the genius of his generation. The Puppet Gate cultivates puppet arts, and puppet threads are the measure of attainment. Qi Refining disciples can cultivate ten puppet threads, Foundation Establishment cultivators a hundred, and Golden Core cultivators a thousand. But Xing Wenyu was exceptionally gifted. He cultivated a thousand puppet threads while he was still at Foundation Establishment and became famous throughout the region, which is how he earned the title ‘Thousand-Thread Puppet.’”
Xia Yunzhao froze. “Then what happened later…?”
Xu Ziyu sighed. “Later, when he was breaking through to Golden Core, he was ambushed. And the person who attacked him was none other than his own master, Yan Sikong, the master of the Puppet Gate.”