As Xia Yunzhao demanded an answer, the dense pink mist churned and changed. Ribbons of fog twisted and spun as though alive, streaming toward a certain point…
Gradually, all the mist surged there. It was like a swimming pool suddenly being drained, a whirlpool forming as the fog was sucked into that spot.
The pink around him grew thinner and thinner, the mist dwindling until the surrounding scenery was about to appear… Then, without warning, the ground vanished beneath Xia Yunzhao’s feet and he opened his eyes.
Everything just now had been an illusion. He was still standing where he had been, not far from the entrance at all.
This was a desolate front courtyard overgrown with weeds. That part did not matter… What mattered was that slender vines like little snakes had already crept onto their bodies. Who knew how long they had been standing here?
Pain stabbed Xia Yunzhao’s left wrist. One of the vines wrapped around him had already burrowed into his flesh. He frowned and tore it free.
His right hand was still being held tightly. Shang Shuangze stood beside him.
The white-robed sword cultivator’s eyes were tightly shut, wisps of pink mist seeping from his body.
Xia Yunzhao grew anxious. “Shang Shuangze! Shang Shuangze, wake up! Shang…”
Shang Shuangze opened his eyes. Confusion lingered there for a heartbeat before clarity returned. “…Yunzhao.”
Xia Yunzhao knew a memory must have been planted in Shang Shuangze’s mind too, but this was not the time to discuss it. “Look at these vines!”
In the span of just those few sentences, the vines had already begun creeping toward them again. “These vines… they seem alive…”
He had not even finished speaking when the previously sluggish vines suddenly moved like lightning. They swarmed over like snakes, coiling around both men’s ankles and yanking them toward somewhere ahead!
Xia Yunzhao instinctively tried to counterattack, only for the spiritual power in his body to suddenly stall. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shang Shuangze’s movement falter too!
The vines and that mist were working together. The mist did not merely create illusions. It could also disrupt the circulation of their spiritual energy!
That single moment of delay was enough. The vines dragged both men all the way to the foot of a bridge.
The bridge itself was covered in vines, while two enormous parent vines stood on either side of the bridgehead.
The two plants were extraordinarily strange and alluring. One was blood-red from root to tip, the other snow-white. Each had drunk blood from one of them. Before Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze could examine them carefully, the vines attacked.
His spiritual power had already recovered. Xia Yunzhao had no intention of being polite. He flipped his hand, took out the treasure lamp, and shone it directly at the snow-white vine.
The lamp was a Level-Two magical treasure with formidable offensive power. Under its light, the branches reaching toward him withered instantly.
Several tendrils died at once. The white vine emitted choking, sob-like whimpers, but Xia Yunzhao was unmoved. With his other hand he summoned the Li-Fire Banner and blew gently. Whoosh! The little banner erupted into roaring flames, poised to burn the eerie vine to ash. Suddenly his vision blurred, and Shang Shuangze was standing directly in front of him!
“Move!” Xia Yunzhao’s pupils contracted. He forcibly restrained the fire dragon that was about to fly out, barely wrenching it aside at the last possible moment. With a boom, it slammed into the ground nearby.
Fortunately, the Li-Fire Banner helped him control it. Otherwise, changing direction so abruptly would have made him cough blood on the spot.
Xia Yunzhao let out a breath. “Why did you suddenly come over…” No, wait. He turned his head. Shang Shuangze was still fighting the red vine. This Shang Shuangze was fake!
The “Shang Shuangze” before him gave him a provocative smile and slowly dissolved.
Xia Yunzhao inhaled sharply. Another illusion.
He resumed fighting the white vine. Yet every time he was about to finish it in one strike, the vine transformed into Shang Shuangze. It was infuriating.
In a cultivator’s battle, the body moved faster than the mind. There was no time in that instant to distinguish real from false. Worse, both he and Shang Shuangze were genuinely here, and the two vines could manipulate their positions. Even if nine times out of ten the figure was an illusion, he did not dare gamble on the remaining one.
Shang Shuangze had an even harder time on the other side. Just as his sword was about to cut down the red vine, it suddenly transformed into Xia Yunzhao. Shang Shuangze withdrew his blade instantly, and the sharp sword qi even cut into him. Blood dripped to the ground.
Xia Yunzhao became furious. Shang Shuangze had fought even the Nascent Soul City Lord of Xuanshuang without being injured, only to get hurt in a place like this. Illusion arts really were the most hateful techniques in existence. Once this was over, he was going to tear down the entire bridge!
His thoughts accelerated furiously. Neither vine was strong in actual combat. Forget the two of them together, either one of them could handle both vines alone. In fact, perhaps one person would have an easier time, since there would be no need to worry about the other…
Wait. Xia Yunzhao’s eyes lit up. He kicked aside the white vine whipping toward him, twisted in midair, and shouted, “Shang Shuangze, switch!”
The command was simple, but Shang Shuangze understood instantly. He leaped into the air, caught Xia Yunzhao, turned with him, and the two swapped places.
The red vine now stood before Xia Yunzhao, while Shang Shuangze faced the white one.
The more Xia Yunzhao looked at the red vine, the more annoying it became. Raising the treasure lamp, he charged. “Go on, transform again if you’ve got the guts!”
The vine was huge, so using the Spirit-Severing Dagger was inconvenient. He relied on the treasure lamp as his main attack instead. Wherever its light shone, whole swaths of the vine withered.
The red vine tried the same trick again and transformed into a human figure. It clearly had very little intelligence. Xia Yunzhao watched with his own eyes as it turned into him.
The “Xia Yunzhao” in the vines looked weak and pitiful, tears trembling on the verge of falling as he gazed over miserably. “Are you really going to kill me?”
“……” Every hair on Xia Yunzhao’s body stood on end. His original ten points of attack power rocketed straight to one hundred and twenty. He raised the lamp and charged. “Damn it! This is the first time I’ve ever felt like my own face was this punchable!”
The delicate “Xia Yunzhao” paled. “You’re still hitting me?! Do you really care nothing for our feelings?”
Xia Yunzhao bristled even harder. “Feelings, my ass! Are you going to die or not?!”
He did not even bother summoning the Li-Fire Banner. Chanting the mnemonic formula, he cupped both hands around his mouth and blew. Whoosh! Boom!
Crimson earthfire roared. The red vine and the illusion of “Xia Yunzhao” before it screamed together and turned to ash.
Xia Yunzhao landed and turned around. Shang Shuangze’s battle had ended too. He now stood to one side holding his sword, looking at the flames with an expression of genuine heartache.
Xia Yunzhao rubbed his aching wrist and said irritably, “You actually feel sorry for it?”
Shang Shuangze walked over and began massaging his wrist. He answered seriously, “It did, after all, wear your face.”
The corner of Xia Yunzhao’s mouth lifted. “Where are you hurt? Let me see.”
Shang Shuangze hesitated, then extended his hand. A wound split the center of his palm, deep enough to expose bone.
Xia Yunzhao’s heart immediately ached. He scolded him, “Why are you so ruthless with yourself? You already knew the vine could transform.” Any deeper and the cut might have taken his hand off.
As he spoke, he took out a Bloodstanching Pill and pushed it into Shang Shuangze’s mouth.
Shang Shuangze’s throat moved as he swallowed. In a low voice, he said, “There was no way to distinguish real from false in that instant. If there were even the slightest possibility that the strike might land on you instead, what would you have me do?”
Never mind a cut across his palm. If the price had been the entire hand, he would still have paid it.
Xia Yunzhao wanted to lecture him but had no idea what to say. Only now did he realize just how single-minded his Dao companion could be. After glaring helplessly for a while, he managed a dry, “You’re not allowed to do that again.”
Shang Shuangze laughed softly.
Seeing that expression only annoyed Xia Yunzhao more. He grabbed another large handful of pills and stuffed them into Shang Shuangze’s mouth. Only after watching the wound in his palm close and scab over did he continue forward.
With the two strange vines gone, the vines covering the bridge disappeared too, revealing an exquisitely carved stone arch bridge.
Two rows of stone posts lined the bridge, each carved into the shape of a different spirit herb. They looked vivid and charming.
Xia Yunzhao swept his gaze across them and found that he did not recognize eight or nine out of every ten.
“Looks like the spirit-herb garden is across the bridge. Let’s go. There’s still one more trial.”
Hand in hand, the two stepped onto the bridge together.
The scenery from the bridge was beautiful. Below, the water wound into the distance like green brocade clouds. Across the bridge lay the quiet, luxuriant spirit-herb garden.
Xia Yunzhao suddenly looked up at the sky. “What kind of place is this, exactly? We should still be inside a cave. So why can we see the sky?”
Shang Shuangze shook his head. “Ruins and secret realms that have gone unseen by sun and sky for many years are shaped by nature. No strange sight appearing inside them is truly surprising.”
The two entered the spirit-herb garden and continued along a path paved with white stones. The scenery on both sides was delightful. Their reason remained vigilant, but their mood inevitably relaxed.
Breathing in the clean fragrance of the spirit plants, Xia Yunzhao suddenly asked, “By the way, what exactly did you see in that pink mist? And why did I see all the mist being absorbed by you? Could it affect your body?”
Shang Shuangze shook his head. “It has no effect.”
Xia Yunzhao narrowed his eyes. “You think I can’t tell that you skipped two questions?”
Shang Shuangze laughed. Having a Dao companion who was too clever had its drawbacks. He was difficult to fool.
Xia Yunzhao did not press him. He swung their joined hands instead. “I saw a memory in that mist. There was an immortal mountain made of white jade, jade pillars taller than the sky, and the three characters Baiyujing written above it… Wait. Why does ‘Baiyujing’ sound familiar to me?”
“Baiyujing in the heavens.” Many people knew that line from Li Bai’s poem, so that was not why the name felt familiar. Xia Yunzhao had the distinct feeling he had seen it somewhere after transmigrating into this world.
Xia Yunzhao thought for a while but could not remember. Then he felt Shang Shuangze’s hand tighten around his. He turned and found Shang Shuangze looking at him. “I am from Baiyujing.”
Xia Yunzhao made a surprised sound. “Baiyujing is your sect?”
“Exactly.” Shang Shuangze nodded. “It appears the mist exchanged our memories, then altered them.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded thoughtfully. Would Shang Shuangze have seen his memories of the modern world? “Then I’ll continue. In the memory, someone told you to cultivate the Unfeeling Dao, then kill me…”
He summarized the false memory in a few sentences. The more Shang Shuangze heard, the more distressed he became. When Xia Yunzhao reached the part where the sword pierced his chest, Shang Shuangze looked as though he had been stabbed himself.
Xia Yunzhao laughed when he saw his expression. “Why do you look like that? Didn’t I say it was fake? Actually, the moment the you in that memory drew your sword, I knew it wasn’t real. Do you know why?”
Shang Shuangze shook his head. All he wanted was to pull Xia Yunzhao into his arms.
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “Because you simply aren’t that kind of person. Even for the sake of pursuing the Great Dao, you would never slaughter innocents. You can’t even bring yourself to use a heavy hand against a few little hooligans.”
Love itself was never what deserved trust. A person was. How did that saying go? You should choose someone who was fundamentally good, so that even if the relationship broke apart someday, they still would not hurt you.
Only after finishing his own account did Xia Yunzhao smile slyly. “Now it’s your turn. What did you see?”
Shang Shuangze was silent for a moment. “I saw you refining pills.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded. So it had not been a memory from his modern life. Good… It was not that he did not want to tell Shang Shuangze. He simply did not understand how he had arrived here himself, so he had no idea how to explain it. Curious, he asked, “Just pill refining?”
Shang Shuangze’s tone and expression remained calm. “Your path as a pill cultivator had reached a bottleneck. You wanted to break through, so you planned to dig out my Golden Core and use it as a pill catalyst.”
Xia Yunzhao’s heart tightened. “And you just let him dig it out?”
Shang Shuangze smiled faintly. “The you in that memory drugged me. The moment you were about to extract my Golden Core, I knew it was false.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded. “Of course. I’d never do something like that…”
Then Shang Shuangze continued evenly, “If you needed a Golden Core, I would certainly have prepared one for you before you ever realized the need. How could I let you dig it out yourself? Merely allowing the thought to occur to you would leave you distressed for a long time. Making you do it with your own hands would be even worse. It could damage your Dao heart.”
Xia Yunzhao: “……I only have one question. What exactly do you mean by ‘prepare one’?”
Without hesitation, Shang Shuangze said, “Naturally, I would dig out my own, disguise it, and give it to you. Do not worry. With every turn of the Biluo Nine-Turn Art, my cultivation falls. I could simply form another Golden Core. It would not be a serious problem.”
Xia Yunzhao: “……” Why was he talking about digging out a Golden Core as casually as removing a kidney stone?
Xia Yunzhao had assumed Shang Shuangze saw through the trap through logic. As it turned out, he had done it through an absolutely terminal case of love-brain! No wonder all the pink mist had been absorbed by him. Had it lost a contest in being lovesick and surrendered?
Thinking this, Xia Yunzhao reached up and tugged Shang Shuangze’s hair. “Let me see if your brain is pink…”
Smiling, Shang Shuangze caught his hand and pulled him into his arms. “Stop fooling around.”
Xia Yunzhao thought, How could I possibly outdo you? You’d even dig out your own Golden Core… Just then, Shang Shuangze patted his back. “Look over there.”
Xia Yunzhao instinctively turned his head and saw an exquisite three-story pavilion. The entire structure had been carved from blue-green and white spirit jade. Spirit plants that had grown for a thousand years or more had climbed all over it, wrapping around the building and blooming in spirit flowers of every color.
As the two approached, they could feel spiritual-power fluctuations coming from the pavilion.
“Such strong spiritual-power fluctuations after all this time. This pavilion itself must be a high-level magical artifact.” Xia Yunzhao looked up at the patterns carved into the outer walls. They were all auspicious images of devoted pairs, including paired fish and twin lotus blossoms on one stalk.
Remembering the inscription he had seen before entering the formation, Xia Yunzhao silently nodded. True Lord Tongxin had clearly been another hopeless romantic.
They sensed no formation around the pavilion, so the two walked inside.
On the first floor, the very first room was unexpectedly a quiet chamber for cultivation, with two warm □□ placed opposite each other. There were two side rooms to the east and west. The eastern room held a qin table with a spirit qin and a jade xiao flute resting atop it. The western room was for chess, with an unfinished game on the board and pieces in the same blue-green and white colors.
Elio’s Notes: The official JJWXC raw itself reads `暖□□` here. The missing characters are preserved rather than guessed.
Xia Yunzhao inspected everything in turn. “They really were an affectionate pair… Come on. Let’s look at the second floor.”
The second floor was a study. Two bookshelves stood back to back. The lower shelves were filled with books, while jade boxes on the upper shelves contained jade slips of varying sizes and materials. At a glance, most concerned the Dao of plants and spirit herbs, though all sorts of miscellaneous studies were represented too. By the window, two writing desks stood facing each other. One was perfectly tidy; the other was a complete mess.
Xia Yunzhao said nothing. He pulled Shang Shuangze along and continued upstairs.
The moment he entered the third floor, he paused. This room… was rather unusual.
The room was very empty. Despite being on the top floor, it was dimmer than the two floors below. Low tables of different heights filled the room, each holding a Phantom Stone.
All of the Phantom Stones had been activated, displaying different scenes of two extremely harmonious figures. They admired snow, drank tea, played chess, sparred together…
Some of the Phantom Stones were not high-grade and had already exhausted their spiritual energy, so no images remained. But from what still played, these appeared to be scenes from the couple’s life here.
In the center of the room sat one Phantom Stone that had not yet been activated.
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze exchanged a look, walked over, and activated it.
A figure appeared. It was one of the two people they had seen together in the other recordings.
After spending so long watching those two figures accompany each other, seeing only one of them now felt strangely unfamiliar to Xia Yunzhao.
Compared with the other images, this figure looked much more haggard and desolate. He did not speak immediately. Instead, he lifted a huge wine jar and drank half of it with the determination of someone trying to drown himself.
Only then did he open his mouth, voice hoarse. “Since you have reached this place, you must have passed the first two trials. I originally intended to make the third easier, but every spirit herb here was planted by his own hands. It would be a pity for them to fall into the hands of someone incapable. His talent in the Dao of plants was extraordinary, and he once personally cultivated a spirit plant called Tongxin Grass. Make one Tongxin Grass bloom and bear fruit, and you will pass the trial. Place the fruit it produces into the spirit-herb garden, and you may claim every resource here and return to the outside world.”
After saying that, he did not even look toward the viewer. He flicked a hand and ended the recording cleanly. The Phantom Stone cracked, and a stone pillar rose from below. On it sat a small, exquisitely made jade flowerpot containing a single tender spirit-herb seedling.
Xia Yunzhao’s eyes widened in disbelief. “There’s only one? What if we accidentally kill it? Wouldn’t we be trapped here for the rest of our lives?!”
Shang Shuangze laughed softly. “It would not come to that. From what I can tell, the formation here is somewhere between Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation. Once we reach Nascent Soul, we should be able to leave by force.”
Xia Yunzhao’s hand itched again. He wanted to yank Shang Shuangze’s hair. “That joke isn’t funny!”
Who wanted to cultivate all the way to Nascent Soul in here? Who knew how many years that would take?
With only one seedling, Xia Yunzhao did not dare act rashly. He plunged straight into the study instead and began reading through the books and jade slips.
Once he started reading, he got completely absorbed again.
So loving to learn had its drawbacks too. Xia Yunzhao read and read until he forgot the passage of time. Who knew cultivating spirit herbs had so much depth to it?
One of the owners of this place had clearly been meticulous. The shelves contained not only all sorts of collected texts, but also his personal notes. He had even drawn diagrams for every kind of spirit plant and recorded their habits.
Xia Yunzhao read through them page by page and gained enormously.
The illustrations did not merely depict how each spirit herb looked at every stage of growth. They even mapped the routes of spiritual power circulating inside the plants!
At first, Xia Yunzhao was surprised. Spirit herbs circulated spiritual power too? They did not cultivate any methods.
But as he kept reading, he understood. Since spirit herbs contained spiritual energy, naturally that energy circulated within them while they were alive.
Understanding the paths of their spiritual-power circulation made it easier to care for them properly. Xia Yunzhao grew spirit herbs at home and had some experience of his own. Comparing the two, he quickly began seeing the principles behind it.
By the time he finished all the material in the study, nearly a month had passed. Xia Yunzhao lifted his head in complete satisfaction, then suddenly remembered something. “Oh no! The Tongxin Grass!”
According to the dates in the records, the two owners had left at least a thousand years ago. For a tender Tongxin Grass seedling to remain viable so long, the place storing it must have been protected by a formation. Now that it had been removed from that protection, it definitely needed care.
If no one had tended it all this time and it died, then they really would be trapped!
He hurried outside and ran headfirst into someone’s chest. With a hiss, he looked up. “Do you have an iron plate in there? Why is your chest so hard?”
Shang Shuangze rubbed the sore spot for him, heart aching. “Where are you rushing off to?”
“The Tongxin Grass. No one’s checked it in so long. What if it died?” Xia Yunzhao grabbed him and pulled him toward the upper floor.
Seeing what he was worried about, Shang Shuangze reassured him. “It won’t.”
The two reached the third floor and found the Tongxin Grass, jade flowerpot and all, wrapped inside a familiar orb of spiritual power.
Xia Yunzhao immediately relaxed. “Good thing you’re here.”
Shang Shuangze lifted a finger. The spiritual-power orb dispersed.
Xia Yunzhao carefully inspected the seedling. Sustained by the spiritual-power orb, its two tender leaves looked healthy and vigorous. Their length and width, however, had not changed at all. Spiritual power alone could preserve its condition, but it was not enough to make it grow.
Sure enough, if the owner had chosen Tongxin Grass as the trial, it had to differ from ordinary spirit herbs in some way.
Xia Yunzhao had found no information about Tongxin Grass in the study. That made sense. If someone set a question, they were hardly going to leave the answer behind. Otherwise it would be an open-book exam.
Still, all methods shared underlying principles. After learning so much about the Dao of plants, Xia Yunzhao had an idea.
He carried the little seedling to the brighter cultivation room, set it on the table, and lightly touched one leaf with his fingertip. With utmost care, he sent a thread of spiritual power into it.
That leaf instantly perked up, while the other showed no change.
Xia Yunzhao understood. “Shang Shuangze, come help.”
Shang Shuangze walked over.
Xia Yunzhao had him send spiritual power into the other leaf. Shang Shuangze did so. That leaf also perked up, but the plant still did not grow.
Xia Yunzhao grew a little anxious. “Look at me.”
Shang Shuangze instinctively turned his head and met Xia Yunzhao’s gaze. Those clear eyes instantly occupied his entire attention.
With a sudden whoosh, the Tongxin Grass shot upward by a section.
“It worked!” Xia Yunzhao beamed. “Tongxin, united hearts. It really is connected to the feelings between Dao companions!”
He affectionately rubbed his shoulder against Shang Shuangze’s. “Am I clever or what?”
Shang Shuangze sighed. “Extremely clever.”
If only he were this clever in a few other areas too.
For the next stretch of time, their lives became extremely “monotonous.” The most important task every day was showing affection in front of the Tongxin Grass.
At first, merely looking at each other while sending in spiritual energy was enough. Later it required an embrace, then a kiss, and finally… Ahem. Fortunately, the Tongxin Grass finished growing by the kissing stage.
Once the Tongxin Grass reached the height of a forearm, its two leaves stopped growing larger. Instead, two slender green tendrils emerged from the base of the leaves.
The willow-like tendrils curved farther and farther until they formed two concentric circles around the pair of leaves. Then a ring of tiny pale-green flowers bloomed along the “willows.” Each was only the size of a grain of rice, yet their fragrance was clear and lingering.
This was obviously the fastest-growing spirit herb Xia Yunzhao had ever raised. As long as the feelings were strong enough, it grew faster than chives.
In the third month after they entered the ruins, the Tongxin Grass’s flowers withered and fruit formed.
The fruits grew directly on the two leaves. They were transparent and drop-shaped, like beads of dew, exceedingly unusual.
The dewdrop-shaped fruits rolled back and forth across the leaves as though they could not quite settle. Xia Yunzhao lifted the jade flowerpot with extreme care and carried it into the spirit-herb garden.
The moment he set the jade flowerpot down, the entire spirit-herb garden, or rather, the entire ruins, began shaking violently!
Something enormous burst from the earth. A force of spiritual power appeared from nowhere, swept up Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze, and hurled them outward.
Sensing that this was the power of the ruins itself, neither resisted. They let the force throw them beyond the formation.
Shang Shuangze wrapped an arm around Xia Yunzhao and hovered in midair. The two turned back to look and froze in shock. The entire ruins was actually situated atop a gigantic Tongxin Grass!
The Tongxin Grass they had raised flew up and merged with the gigantic plant, then began shrinking inch by inch… Or perhaps the two of them were slowly growing larger. Once it returned to a normal size, it flew toward them and landed in Xia Yunzhao’s palm.
The two leaves enclosed by those concentric circles were the very foundation of the ruins. Each leaf contained a world of its own. The spirit-herb garden lay upon them, overflowing with countless herbs and thriving spirit plants.
A flower, a world… The power that made people grow larger and smaller had come from the Tongxin Grass all along!