“Help! Is anyone there?!”
“Why is this place so high?!”
“There seems to be a crack over here. Come look!”
“Watch me! Aaaah—ha!”
Xia Yunzhao hurriedly lifted his head away from the crack and dodged backward.
Sure enough, a force struck outward from inside the rock fissure. Two muffled bangs shook loose a pair of small stones.
Xia Yunzhao: “……”
That had been even weaker than the shout just now.
Shang Shuangze had naturally heard the conversation inside too. “Something seems wrong.”
Xia Yunzhao said, “Of course something’s wrong. Look at this cliff. It isn’t tall or deep, so how could several living people be hidden inside it?”
If the voices had merely traveled here from somewhere else, that would have been one thing… But the force that had just struck the cliff proved that the speakers were directly behind it. That made things troublesome.
No matter what, however, people still needed to be rescued.
Shang Shuangze had him step back two paces, then released his divine sense. Bracing against the “polite refusal” from within the cliff, he carefully distinguished the life force behind the stone. The moment he found the right spot, he released a slash of sword qi and shaved away the hard cliff face.
“Ow—!”
Several people tumbled out.
Everyone stared in shock. Even Xia Yunzhao was dumbfounded. “Th-this is…”
Three female cultivators rolled out of the newly opened fissure. They were Wei Xuening and the other two women he had met several times before. Seeing them was not surprising in itself. What shocked everyone was that all three had become tiny!
They were now only about the size of soybeans. If cultivators did not have exceptionally sharp senses and eyesight, the three women would probably have gone completely unnoticed in this messy wilderness.
The three female cultivators staggered upright in a daze. They were just about to thank the fellow Daoists who had helped them, hands not even fully raised in salute, when they looked up and saw a crowd of monsters…
Ying Yanyu rubbed her eyes. “Damn, what kind of giant beasts are these…?”
Wei Xuening tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late. A rather familiar voice boomed above them like thunder. “Fellow Daoists, you’re still as unlucky as ever, huh?”
Wei Xuening hurriedly looked up. Following the voice, she found enormous facial features on a figure towering like a mountain. After peering carefully, she bowed in embarrassment. “Senior, we’ve troubled you to save us yet again.”
Ying Yanyu quickly craned her head up. “Senior? Where, where?” After finding him, she waved. “Whoa! Senior, do you want spirit herbs? We found a gigantic spirit-herb garden! It’s right in there!”
Yu Fanyang nodded from behind them and said softly, “Yes, yes.”
Amused, Xia Yunzhao crouched down. The wind stirred by the movement nearly blew all three women over. “So what you’re really saying is that I also have to figure out how to turn you back to normal, right?”
Ying Yanyu grinned. “While you’re at it! But I really wasn’t lying. There’s a ruin down there, and inside is a spirit-herb garden that’s been around for a very long time. Even the youngest herbs are over a thousand years old! Unfortunately, our cultivation wasn’t good enough, so we couldn’t get inside.”
Xia Yunzhao was genuinely tempted… and he was curious too. What exactly could shrink people like this? If the effect could be controlled, wouldn’t that mean he could grow and shrink just like Sun Wukong?
He looked questioningly at Shang Shuangze. Shang Shuangze naturally would not refuse him and simply nodded.
Xia Yunzhao asked, “How did you get inside? What happened afterward? Tell me everything in detail.”
Ji Hongyu was good at reading the room. Seeing that this looked like the start of a long conversation, he went back to the village and brought over several tables and chairs.
Wei Xuening and the others obviously could not sit on normal chairs. Ji Hongyu somehow found a fruit platter, had the three women climb onto it, then placed the platter on the table.
Wei Xuening: “……”
Ying Yanyu adapted just fine. Xia Yunzhao was probably too easygoing, and he had saved them so many times that Ying Yanyu felt calm the moment she saw him. Their bodies had not returned to normal yet, but she somehow felt that once Senior Xia and his Dao companion acted, it was only a matter of time.
So Ying Yanyu began chattering away.
The three of them had entered the ruins through sheer luck. Whether it counted as good luck or bad luck was another question…
During the Mist-Barrier Period, the three women had gained quite a lot in the mountains. Combined with the resources they had accumulated by supplying Xia Yunzhao with Spirit-Eroding Vine, they had become prosperous enough to practically put a spring in every step.
Later, when Xia Yunzhao left home for the north, he had specifically left word at Wanglai Pavilion telling them the Spirit-Eroding Vine trade was temporarily suspended. Since they no longer needed to worry about that business, the three decided to venture deeper into the mountains and try to earn more resources.
Conveniently, the Mist-Barrier Period had already ended, so the mountain was not as dangerous.
The three wandered through the mountains for two full months and made quite a haul. Wei Xuening had even advanced to the fifth layer of Qi Refining! Ying Yanyu had reached the third layer, while Yu Fanyang was at the second.
Just as they were planning to leave the mountain and properly stabilize their cultivation, they encountered something strange.
Ying Yanyu said, “We ran into a Spined Porcupine, but it was only one-tenth the size of an ordinary Spined Porcupine. If its features weren’t so distinctive, we would’ve thought we’d identified it wrong. It was too strange, so we all knew something was wrong. We didn’t alert it and decided to follow it instead.”
Every cultivator present nodded. Naturally, something like that had to be investigated.
Only the villager silently lowered his head and thought, What kind of people are cultivators? When they see something this strange, instead of running away, they follow it? And now look. They got shrunk too.
Wei Xuening continued, “We followed that Spined Porcupine for a long way and eventually discovered an entire herd. Every one of them had shrunk. That was when we became certain there was something wrong with this place. At the time we didn’t think there were ruins here. We assumed some strange treasure had appeared, or perhaps a mysterious spirit plant.”
“Later, we found a cave where the Spined Porcupines foraged. There was a strange spiritual-power fluctuation coming from inside, so we went in to have a look… and ended up like this.”
After hearing them out, Xia Yunzhao asked, “Where did you enter?”
Wei Xuening described the direction. Xia Yunzhao calculated it and realized the location was not far from Yuantong Village.
He asked again, “Did anything else happen after you entered?”
Ying Yanyu pouted. “After entering the cave, there was a long mountain passage. We walked and walked for ages, and the farther we went, the wider the passage seemed to become. We thought we’d found some enormous secret realm… Looking back now, we were probably getting smaller the farther we walked.”
She nudged Yu Fanyang, signaling for her to say a few words too and make herself known before the senior.
Yu Fanyang said softly, “We followed the mountain passage all the way to the end and saw a complex of buildings. That was when we realized this wasn’t a secret realm but a set of ruins. But a formation protected the ruins, so we couldn’t enter. From outside, we could only see a very lush spirit-herb garden.”
Ying Yanyu took over again. “The formation didn’t hurt anyone, but we couldn’t break it. We tried for a long time without success. Then, when we wanted to leave, the mountain passage we’d used to come in was gone. We were trapped there for ages, and eventually we had no other choice but to shout.”
After listening, Xia Yunzhao was silent for a while before asking, “Fellow Daoists, would you like to join the Qingxi City Guard?”
All three women went blank. “Huh?”
Xia Yunzhao introduced himself. “I’m Qingxi City’s city lord now. I don’t have a guard force of my own yet. Would you like to join? Normally you can cultivate just as you always have. When something happens, you’ll answer the call. The city lord will also issue a monthly allotment of resources. Hmm…”
He thought about it again. New employees were supposed to get onboarding benefits, right? So he turned his hand over and took out a three-piece set consisting of a Refined-Iron Sword, Tough-Hide Armor, and Clear-Breeze Binding, then added one bottle of Bloodstanching Pills and one bottle of Qi-Replenishing Pills. “Consider these your joining gifts. What do you think?”
Never mind the three female cultivators. Even the Ji family cultivators beside them were shocked. The three-piece set was not especially precious, but pills personally produced by their City Lord were excellent stuff! At the same grade, they worked nearly twice as well as ordinary pills sold on the market!
Besides, Qingming Pavilion’s pills were ridiculously hard to get. Anyone who made it through the line bought them one pill at a time so they could afford several different kinds. Who could bear to buy entire bottles at once?
Oh, right. There was also the monthly resource allotment. Could that possibly include pills too?
The Ji family cultivators were so jealous their mouths practically twisted sideways. They wanted to join the City Guard too! Maybe they should go back and discuss it with the family head?
Even the Ji cultivators reacted like that, so the three female cultivators were ecstatic. Ying Yanyu had far fewer reservations than Wei Xuening and immediately bowed deeply. “Thank you for recognizing us, Senior! From now on I’ll cultivate properly and never embarrass our Qingxi City!”
Wei Xuening shook her head speechlessly, but she had no intention of refusing either and bowed as well.
With both older sisters agreeing, Yu Fanyang naturally had no objection. And so the three became the first cultivators to join the City Lord’s Guard.
As for why he had chosen them…
Xia Yunzhao whispered to Shang Shuangze, “People this unlucky are honestly rare. They’re extremely worth recruiting.”
Forget everything else. If these three helped him stumble across just a few more secret realms or ruins, he would already make back the cost.
Shang Shuangze: .
The three women had no idea the two seniors were quietly gossiping about them. They were too delighted with their new joining gifts.
Xia Yunzhao asked several more questions about the ruins, then had Ji Hongyu and the others carry the fruit platter back to the village. The three women would wait there with them while he and Shang Shuangze entered the ruins to investigate.
After everyone agreed, Xia Yunzhao asked, “You understand why I want you to wait in the village, right?”
Seeing the City Lord look directly at him, the cultivator who had been scolded hesitated. He was just about to say, “If things go badly, are we supposed to rescue you?” when inspiration suddenly struck. “If things go badly… rescue the ordinary people here?”
Xia Yunzhao nodded in satisfaction. “Correct. You may be rotten wood, but at least you can still be carved. Remember: while you’re staying in the village, eat your own food, drink your own water, and arrange your own lodging. Do not disturb the villagers’ normal lives. If something happens in the ruins, help the villagers so long as you can do so without endangering yourselves. Understood?”
The cultivators exchanged baffled looks. None of them, in all their years, had ever heard such a thing. Protect themselves while still helping mortals? If the point was to ensure their own safety, wouldn’t the easiest solution simply be not to help at all…?
Still, saving a few mortals in passing would not take much effort. Since the City Lord had said so, they hurriedly agreed.
On the fruit platter, Yu Fanyang clenched both fists. For the first time, she did not simply follow behind her two older sisters. Instead, she bowed of her own accord and answered loudly, “Yes!”
Although her “loudly” was only slightly stronger than a mosquito’s hum.
Of the three sworn sisters, she was the only one born to ordinary mortals. Her family had been honest farmers. Two cultivators had once fought near their home, flooding and burning the area until all the farmhouses and homes nearby were destroyed. Her parents were crushed to death beneath their collapsing house. Only Yu Fanyang had escaped by running for her life.
Later, Wei Xuening and Ying Yanyu found her. The two older girls tested her spiritual roots, discovered she could cultivate, and kept her with them to teach her.
Sometimes she felt fortunate. Thank goodness she had spiritual roots. Thank goodness she could cultivate. At last she was no longer an ant that someone could crush beneath one careless foot…
But for some reason, hearing Xia Yunzhao’s instructions made grievance and bitterness surge through her for the first time. It was like a child who had held everything in for too long and only began to cry after an adult offered one word of comfort. Right. To cultivators, ordinary people are like weeds beside the road. Whether you kill them or save them is only the lift of a hand. So why can’t you simply let them live?
If every cultivator in the world were like Senior Xia, her parents would never have died… Yu Fanyang looked at Xia Yunzhao and made up her mind. She would cultivate properly. She would become a good guard for the City Lord!
Once everyone had left, Xia Yunzhao caught Shang Shuangze’s hand. “Come on, let’s go inside!” He started to squeeze toward the crack in the rock.
Seeing his impatience, Shang Shuangze laughed and tugged him back by the collar. “Not through here. We need to use the entrance they used.”
“Really?” Xia Yunzhao followed behind him and asked humbly, “What’s the reason?”
“Ruins have another name. Do you know what it is?” Shang Shuangze tapped the tip of his nose. “An inheritance.”
“Some pass down their owner’s Dao lineage, while others pass down only resources and spirit items. To distinguish them, cultivators call the former inheritances and the latter ruins. But if it is an inheritance, that means…”
Xia Yunzhao understood instantly. “The owner actually wants people to enter.” He remembered how his and Shang Shuangze’s divine senses had been politely turned away earlier. So they really had tried the wrong door.
Shang Shuangze smiled approvingly. “An inheritance cannot be entered casually. Before entering, one must also accept an entrance gift…”
Xia Yunzhao rubbed his chin. “So that’s how it works.”
* * *
In the mountain range full of slaughter beasts, a herd of Spined Porcupines rolled away like watermelons scattered across the ground, roaring as they fled.
“You know, any animal becomes kind of cute once it’s tiny. These Spined Porcupines are so small I almost can’t bring myself to kill them.” Xia Yunzhao could not be bothered chasing them and stood where he was, watching them run.
Shang Shuangze looked at the blood on the sword in Xia Yunzhao’s hand and seemed to want to say something.
Xia Yunzhao picked up five or six corpses from the ground and stuffed them into the Hundred-Compartment Pouch. He had already stopped caring about slaughter beasts at the Spined Porcupines’ level, and their meat was not especially tasty either. But the household had gained two spirit beasts, neither of which was picky. In their home, any slaughter-beast meat was popular.
Using Wei Xuening and the others’ description, the two quickly located the cave entrance and went inside.
The cave was dim, so Xia Yunzhao took out a glowing magical treasure to light the way. This was the magical treasure once given to him by that Yan family disciple, the man who had been controlled by Jing Ruyun’s puppet threads. The treasure lamp was the very Level-Two magical treasure the man had used to attack them. Now Xia Yunzhao was using it as an actual lantern.
After they had walked for a full hour, Shang Shuangze said from ahead, “It’s starting.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately put away the magical treasure and took another step. Sure enough, he felt his body, bones, flesh… everything begin to change.
If he had not learned the Disguise and Bone-Shrinking Art, he might not even have noticed. His body was shrinking!
The moment Shang Shuangze mentioned an “entrance gift,” Xia Yunzhao had understood. A guest followed the host’s customs, and this shrinking technique was precisely the “entrance gift” the owner of this place bestowed upon visitors.
Xia Yunzhao relaxed his body as much as possible and did not try to control his bones or meridians. The process was not painful. In fact, he barely felt anything at all. Someone less attentive might not have noticed, because not only his body but the magical artifacts he carried were shrinking too.
Visually, it felt as though nothing had changed. Only the cave passage grew broader and broader around them.
Looking at Shang Shuangze’s back ahead of him, Xia Yunzhao suddenly realized this meant Shang Shuangze had also become soybean-sized.
A soybean-sized Shang Shuangze, wearing his solemn expression, with a tiny sword like a needle on his back… Agh, that’s adorable!
Just as he was imagining it, a hand reached back with perfect accuracy and closed around his wrist, sliding down inch by inch until their ten fingers intertwined.
Shang Shuangze was leading the way and staying alert to their surroundings, so it was inconvenient to turn around. Sensing Xia Yunzhao’s gaze, he had simply reached back to take his hand.
Xia Yunzhao looked at their interlaced fingers, smiled, and squeezed his hand in return.
A cool breeze suddenly drifted from ahead and daylight flooded the tunnel. Shang Shuangze’s calm voice came with it. “We’re here.”
Xia Yunzhao quickened his steps to catch up, then stared in surprise. “This is…”
What an enormous spirit-herb garden!
This was not Xia Yunzhao’s first time seeing a spirit-herb garden. He had encountered one in Pu Heyun’s Obsession Secret Realm before. But compared with Pu Heyun’s little plot, this garden was so lush it resembled an entire jungle!
The whole garden formed two concentric circles, and its area was impossible to estimate. From where they stood, they could not even see its boundaries!
Both the quality and levels of the spirit herbs were extremely high. Xia Yunzhao did not recognize the high-level herbs in the distance, but among those nearby, even the lowest were Level Two. There was not a single Level-One spirit herb anywhere in sight!
Even the lowest-level plants were around a thousand years old. He actually saw a Scarlet Berry plant grown almost as tall as a tree, covered so densely in red fruit that they resembled stars!
Thinking of the tiny Scarlet Berry plant back in their little valley, Xia Yunzhao finally understood what it meant to die of frustration from comparing yourself with others.
As a pill cultivator, Xia Yunzhao had absolutely no self-control around spirit herbs. He immediately looked around. “How do we get down there? Can we break this formation?”
Shang Shuangze stopped him. “Don’t rush. The formation can be broken, but if it is destroyed, the spirit herbs inside will also turn to ash. If we want the inheritance, we should follow the owner’s rules.” He lifted a hand and pointed.
Xia Yunzhao looked closely. A passage of text had appeared on the cave wall, glowing faintly: [I style myself True Lord Tongxin, and together with my Dao companion I comprehended the Dao of plants and herbs. In years past my Dao companion perished, and I confined myself here until I finally found release. External possessions are useless to me, so I leave my entire estate to those who come after. This garden is called Tongxin Garden. Every blade of grass and every tree within carries my longing. Only Dao companions whose hearts and intentions are truly joined may enter. Three trials lie within. Pass all three, and you may obtain every resource here.]
After reading it, Xia Yunzhao shook his head. See? Wei Xuening and the others really were spectacularly unlucky. No wonder the three had been trapped here for so long without even seeing the inscription. This was a couples-only event.
At that thought, he tightened his grip on Shang Shuangze’s hand. “Then the two of us are basically perfect specialists for the job.”
Shang Shuangze raised an eyebrow. The wording was unfamiliar, but somehow he understood the meaning anyway.
Xia Yunzhao leaned closer to inspect the inscription. “But how are we supposed to prove we’re Dao companions…?”
After thinking for a moment, he leaned toward Shang Shuangze, rose onto his toes, and pressed their lips together—
He had only intended a quick touch as a test, but Shang Shuangze had no resistance whatsoever to this move. One arm wrapped around Xia Yunzhao’s waist while the other hand cupped the back of his head and pulled him close… kissing him thoroughly, inside and out.
Only when Xia Yunzhao made muffled noises and pushed at him did Shang Shuangze let him go, somewhat reluctantly.
Panting, Xia Yunzhao turned to look at the formation. “Huh? It didn’t work. What else do we have to do? Surely we don’t have to… you know?”
Shang Shuangze gently stroked his back to steady his breathing. “We only need to send both of our divine senses into it.”
As he spoke, Shang Shuangze’s divine sense had already emerged and entered Xia Yunzhao’s sea of consciousness. With lingering intimacy and unmistakable possessiveness, it wound around a thread of Xia Yunzhao’s divine sense and carefully drew it out, guiding it into the formation.
A rumbling sound arose. The scenery within the formation changed, and a wide entrance opened.
Xia Yunzhao stared. “That’s all it took? …Wait, you knew that already?!”
Shang Shuangze nodded as though it were obvious. “This is common cultivation knowledge.”
Xia Yunzhao: “……” The disadvantages of not being a native strike again! He absolutely refused to admit he had delivered himself straight into Shang Shuangze’s mouth. Rubbing his still-numb lips, he snorted. “Funny how you’re suddenly not reserved anymore.”
Shang Shuangze pressed a finger to his lips and gently rubbed them. In a low voice, he said, “A gentleman deceives in a dark room when no one can see…”
Xia Yunzhao thought, Danger. He spun around and fled toward the formation. “Is that really how the saying goes…? We’re entering the garden. Stop talking nonsense!”
Elio’s Notes: Shang Shuangze is deliberately twisting the idiom “not deceiving even in a dark room,” which describes maintaining integrity even when no one is watching. He very conveniently drops the “not.”
Shang Shuangze sighed faintly and followed.
The two entered the formation, but instead of the lush spirit plants they expected, they found a barren little path.
The winding path led forward to the entrance of an immortal residence.
The residence’s gate was delicate and elegant. The stone carvings to either side were not lions or any other divine beasts, but two butterflies.
Xia Yunzhao shook his head the moment he saw them. “Butterflies are graceful and beautiful, always fluttering together, but they can’t even withstand a strong wind. The symbolism isn’t very auspicious.”
Shang Shuangze gave a soft laugh, tightened his hold on Xia Yunzhao’s hand, and looked inside the residence. “That should be the first trial.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded and squeezed his hand too.
They could not let the ruins’ owner’s temperament fool them. No matter how kind the owner had been, no one went easy on those being tested for an inheritance. These three trials would not be simple.
Hand in hand, they stepped over the threshold together and entered the front courtyard.
Whoosh— A gust of wind swept past. Before they could even see what the courtyard contained, pink mist rolled toward them, carrying a faint, secret fragrance.
Holding one’s breath upon smelling an unfamiliar fragrance was basic survival instinct. Xia Yunzhao covered his nose and mouth, but still felt something was wrong. “Shang Shuang…”
His voice stopped. Shang Shuangze was gone!
He slowly raised his hand. It was empty. The person who had been standing beside him and watching him every moment was gone.
At the same time, a memory seemed to appear inside his mind…
“Hiss—” Xia Yunzhao clutched his head as a piercing pain stabbed through his temples. No. It was not a new memory. It had always been there, but only now had he remembered it…
Was it truly a memory he had possessed all along, or one forcibly stuffed into his mind? He could no longer tell.
He closed his eyes. Every detail of the memory unfolded vividly before him.
Baiyujing.
Beneath jade pillars taller than the heavens, inside a vast hall, an immortal sat high upon a cloud platform while Shang Shuangze knelt below. An overwhelmingly oppressive voice declared, “Shang Shuangze, since you cultivate the Unfeeling Dao, this is the moment for you to sever emotion and desire! Kill Xia Yunzhao, and you may ascend as a Sword Immortal! Are you willing?”
Xia Yunzhao saw Shang Shuangze’s peerlessly handsome yet expressionless face. Not a trace of affection remained in his eyes. Without hesitation, Shang Shuangze nodded, then raised his sword and walked toward him.
“Draw your sword,” Shang Shuangze said.
“Oh? You won’t draw it.” Shang Shuangze seemed to lift an eyebrow in surprise, but there was not the slightest hesitation in him. “Then I’ll do it.”
Xia Yunzhao felt himself shake his head and retreat. “No… Ngh!”
Pain burst through his chest. He looked down. A white spirit sword had pierced straight through him, and blood sprayed outward.
The painful memory tore at his mind, half real and half illusion, like Zhuang Zhou’s butterfly dream. He could no longer tell which was which!
Elio’s Notes: This invokes Zhuang Zhou’s famous butterfly dream, where the boundary between dreamer and dream becomes impossible to pin down. Here, Xia Yunzhao is caught in the same kind of uncertainty between memory and illusion.
Xia Yunzhao clutched his chest and bent deeply at the waist as though he truly had been stabbed. Shang Shuangze watched him without expression, as though looking at an object that had nothing to do with him.
Pink mist wound around Xia Yunzhao in ribbons, circling him again and again as though dancing with delight…
Xia Yunzhao’s brows knotted in pain. He gripped tightly at the space before his chest as though trying to pull out an invisible spirit sword. “Seriously, you cultivators…”
With a sharp effort and a muffled grunt, he finally yanked the “sword” free. “Your imaginations are terrible.”
In his hand, a worm formed from pink mist twisted and writhed in panic.
Xia Yunzhao glanced down at it and laughed despite himself. “Even if someone wants to sever love and emotion, why does it always have to involve killing? Can’t people just break up? It’s not like I’m the type to cling to someone who doesn’t want me.”
He had been embracing and kissing his Dao companion affectionately only moments ago, and now “Shang Shuangze” had stabbed him through the chest. Xia Yunzhao’s mood was awful. He crushed the pink worm in one hand, and the surrounding mist instantly withdrew, leaving a blank space around him.
Xia Yunzhao pointed at the sky and shouted arrogantly, “Where did you put my Dao companion? Hand him over!”