Chapter 39: Qingyun (5)

The red lanterns within Nan City lit up one after the other. They lined the eaves, walls, and the criss-crossing streets and alleyways, rising like a vast wave into the sky. Osmanthus blossoms perfumed the moonlit tiles, making a thousand gates as bright as day. Once the green fog dissipated, everyone crawled out from their corners. Nanze Province’s largest underground trading hub once again bustled and flourished come nighttime.

Yan Qing helped mentally prepare Xie Shiyi in advance. “Have you read novels before?”

Xie Shiyi said, “No.”

Yan Qing said, “No way. You’ve never even read a novel before? Your life these past two hundred years must’ve been so boring then.”

Xie Shiyi shot a look at him and serenely said, “The pleasant surprise you mentioned was taking me to read novels?”

“…” Yan Qing suddenly lost interest and said with ridicule, “Next time, even if you do guess it correctly, can you at least play along and pretend not to know?”

However, Yan Qing’s plans fell through. The little peddler had the courage of a mouse. And was scared off by the green mist and little bells. He had packed his things and run away, pissing his pants in terror. When the two reached the peddler’s original location, the only thing that remained was an empty plot of dirt.

Xie Shiyi gave a light laugh and drawled, “Did you go and scope out a good space with the plan to personally narrate the novel to me?”

Yan Qing: “…”

Xie Shiyi: “Wow, it really is a pleasant surprise.”

Yan Qing gave a perfunctory “Haha.” His tone was gloomy and spat out each word as he said, “Immortal Master, you’re so amazing, you really guessed it! Isn’t it just a novel? I’ll read it aloud for you!”

Xie Shiyi glanced down at him and ignored his peculiar mood. The two just happened to walk past a mat on the ground, and arranged on top were copper and iron blades and swords of obviously slipshod craftsmanship. Xie Shiyi stopped, his lip hooked, and he said to Yan Qing mildly, “Weapons from the bustling city. Do any of them catch your eye?”

Yan Qing didn’t get angry either. He casually squatted down and picked up a wooden sword, and earnestly said to the seller, “Shopkeeper, you have some great weapons here—look at this exterior, look at this grandeur, look at this sharp edge. It must not cost anything less than a hundred thousand spirit stones.”

The shopkeeper: “???”

Yan Qing left no room for argument. “A hundred thousand spirit stones. Take it or leave it. If it’s even a single stone cheaper, I don’t want it.” After finishing, he turned his head toward Xie Shiyi and snidely said, “Immortal Master, surely you can’t expect me to pay for this. You must know that storytellers like me are beyond destitute.”

Xie Shiyi indifferently said, “I have no spirit stones on me.”

Yan Qing shot back, “Don’t you have many valuable things on you, though?”

Xie Shiyi glanced down at him.

“…” Upon seeing this, Yu Xin, who had been silently trailing behind the two after leaving the auction hall, stepped forward. “Qianbei, I’m carrying spirit stores on me, I’ll buy it for you.”

“Forget it.” Yan Qing merely wanted to torment Xie Shiyi, that’s it. Even he couldn’t bear to actually spend a hundred thousand spirit stones on a garbage sword like this.

After all, right now, he was still a pauper, making only a hundred spirit stones a month.

Yan Qing put down the sword and said, “People should earn their own living. I can’t always rely on others.”

Yu Xin: “…” Uh-huh! So, asking our Alliance Master for spirit stones isn’t relying on others?!

Although very few people in the Upper Heaven had seen Xie Shiyi before, people from all walks of life participated in the black market, so Yan Qing still didn’t wish to spend too long here, dragging him around. He was concerned that they would draw out unnecessary trouble, although usually it was Xie Shiyi who went looking for trouble with others.

Upon returning to Wangqing Sect, they inevitably encountered the nine thousand nine hundred steps. Yan Qing pulled out the novel from his sleeve. He could largely predict the entire plot just from peeking at the table of contents.

He casually flipped open the first page, and with the help of the moonlight, he read aloud,

“Once, there was a legendary person in the cultivation realm called Murong Motian, with an outstanding appearance and a lofty and reserved demeanor. He was at the top of the Qingyun Rankings, at the apex of Soul Formation, the Chief Disciple of the greatest sect in the world, and was a famously illustrious proud son of heaven. Countless infatuated men and women submitted their hearts to him. Unfortunately, Immortal Master Murong was unsympathetic and devoid of desire. All of the many men and women who climbed their way to his couch were coldly turned away. Pfft, hahahaha!”

After he finished reading aloud, Yan Qing was so delighted he closed the book and couldn’t stop laughing. The more he thought about it, the funnier it became, and he asked, “Immortal Master, is this true?”

Xie Shiyi had no expression whatsoever after listening. He merely flicked his sleeve and, when Yan Qing wasn’t watching the path due to his happiness, helped him dispel the branches beneath his feet. He didn’t answer, and instead softly asked, “Do you think I’m pleased or surprised right now?”

Pleasantly surprised, pleasantly surprised, pleased or surprised?

Yan Qing, whose reputation was thoroughly soiled by Eunuch Qi in his past life, could deeply empathize with Xie Shiyi’s current feelings.

However, after hearing his question, he only wanted to provoke him, and thoughtlessly said, “Of course, you’re so pleased that you’re unable to contain your joy! Yaoyao, it looks like your life in the Upper Heaven is filled with rich and colorful experiences. Your romantic luck is not too shabby, not too shabby.”

Xie Shiyi was silent.

Yan Qing batted his lashes. “So is it real or fake?”

Xie Shiyi turned his head to lightly gaze at him.

The moonlight and red plum blossoms glanced off each other, and when he seriously looked at someone, the dark blue that surfaced from within the depths of his pupils seemed both hidden and manifest, like jade fragments or shooting stars. He looked for a long time before withdrawing his gaze and saying, “It’s fake.”

Yan Qing: “Huh?”

Xie Shiyi said, “Those who have seen me are few in number, and those who dare to act impudently before me are even less.”

This was merely a fabricated storybook, him as the world imagined.

However, at the same time… it was also a manifestation of the hundred years they had lost between them.

Xie Shiyi paused for a moment before calmly saying, “I spent the entirety of the first hundred years after joining Wangqing Sect focusing on my cultivation. After assuming the duties of the Immortal Alliance, I spent all my time at Xiaoyu Palace. I’m not unsympathetic. It’s just that, of the people who would appear before me, not a single one was deserving of sympathy. As for being devoid of desire—” After saying this much, he gave a low laugh, and his tone was cold as he continued, “Even I myself wasn’t aware that I had such a nature.”

“Ah?” Yan Qing never thought he would receive such a serious explanation from him. For a moment, he held the novel and stood there like a fool. Only after a while did he say, embarrassedly, Oh.”

Xie Shiyi mildly asked, “Do you want to keep reading?”

Yan Qing answered with a question. “Do you want to keep listening?”

Xie Shiyi raised his gaze to look at him.

In truth, he had already heard these kinds of judgements about him before. Although nobody dared let him catch a glimpse of these kinds of popular novels, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t know about them.

Yet, although he knew about them, that didn’t mean he wanted to understand them either.

However, these nine thousand nine hundred steps were truly endless, and Yan Qing’s eagerness was almost visibly dancing in his eyes.

Xie Shiyi said, “Keep reading.”

“Alrighty.” Yan Qing’s eyes glowed with starlight and curved into crescent moons as he once again brought out the novel. At the moment, he was utterly bored to death, and before he started reading, he chipped in, “Xie Shiyi, do you still remember those stories I told you in Youjue Prison?”

Xie Shiyi said, “I remember.”

They were a complete mess, utterly illogical.

Yan Qing quite confidently said, “I think that if I hadn’t gone to the Demon Realm at the time, I also could’ve been a pretty good storyteller in the human realm.”

Xie Shiyi cooly replied, “You indeed are pretty good at starving to death.”

Yan Qing rolled his eyes and slapped the book in his hands. “Xie Shiyi, don’t be so callous with your words. If you knew even a little bit of the sweet talk from these books, you wouldn’t be so feared by everyone now.”

Xie Shiyi’s expression was indifferent. He dropped his gaze to look at the path beneath Yan Qing’s feet.

Yan Qing found the first paragraph and began reading, saying, “I’m starting. Even now, the little Shidi still remembers the first time he saw the Chief Disciple. He was riding his sword while returning from travels abroad, his white robes aflutter, just like an immortal…it’s so long, I’m not reading all this. I’ll just give you a plot summary.”

He could roughly guess the entire plotline just from looking at the table of contents.

“The little Shidi was a menial laborer of Wangqing Sect, and had suffered immense humiliation from his family. After joining Wangqing Sect alone, he remained a victim of bullying. On this windy, snowy winter’s day, he had been exiled by his fellow sect members to the forbidden cold springs. As luck would have it, Murong-Shixiong was currently bathing in the cold springs at the moment. When he saw the little Shidi’s cute and pitiful appearance, his heart was moved, and he brought him back and accepted him as a disciple.”

Xie Shiyi’s face was devoid of expression.

Yan Qing flipped between looking at the table of contents and rapidly scanning the text and said, “Murong-Shixiong was extremely good to his sole disciple. He taught him swordsmanship and cultivation and bestowed countless spiritual elixirs and artifacts upon him. The little Shidi was envied by all, who viewed him as a thorn in their side. They constantly schemed against the little Shidi behind his back. Every day, if the little Shidi wasn’t being kidnapped, then he was being plotted against. And every time, Murong-Shixiong would travel a thousand miles to rescue the little Shidi from fire and ice.”

The author had spun out more than a hundred chapters by endlessly rehashing similar kidnapping and rescue scenarios over and over again.

Yan Qing rifled through the pages until he finally happened upon a plotline that seemed to stand out from the others.

“Ooh. Later on, the little Shidi discovered that there was a phantasm in his consciousness, and that he was a demonseed. Murong-Shixiong, in order to protect him, was perfectly happy to—betray the sect??? After being forsaken by all¹, he roamed the human realm with him…”

After reading up to here, Yan Qing was silent for a moment.

A plum blossom petal brushed past the pages, casting a thin layer of blood-red on the three words “forsaken by all”.

Yan Qing was in a daze.

Forsaken by all.

—Xie Ying devoted his entire life to love. Even his death came at the hands of the one he loved.

For Bai Xiaoxiao, he destroyed his Path of Heartlessness, broke his liuli heart, betrayed his sect, and became a miserable vagabond.

And yet, at the very end, the only thing he received in return was Bai Xiaoxiao’s tearful sword strike.

Yan Qing held the book with a gloomy, indecipherable expression.

Actually, from Xie Shiyi’s completely unfamiliar attitude towards Bai Xiaoxiao at Huichun Sect, Yan Qing didn’t believe that the plot of Phantasms of the Heart was completely accurate.

However, after his rebirth, his memories of modern life hadn’t even recovered yet before he was forced to accept the contents of Phantasms of the Heart. The contents themselves were also muddled, and he only remembered the parts pertaining to the original protagonist’s storyline and Xie Shiyi’s ultimate ending. This was a book that he wasn’t necessarily interested in and had rapidly skimmed over. He understood the overall gist of what it was about, but was wholly clueless about plot details. He didn’t even have enough knowledge to give forewarnings.

Given that his rebirth was the work of the Demonic God, Yan Qing knew that these memories weren’t a simple matter.

Earlier, Yan Qing wasn’t quite sure how he should approach the matter of Bai Xiaoxiao with Xie Shiyi, given his identity. Now, because the matter related to the Demonic God, he didn’t want to involve Xie Shiyi. Although he wasn’t worried that Xie Shiyi wouldn’t have the ability to confront the Demonic God.

What he was worried about was…once Xie Shiyi joined the fray, then the final enemy would become himself.

During his hundred years in Shifang City, in order to have him awaken the phantasm within his consciousness, the Demonic God made countless tempting offers… and Yan Qing wasn’t entirely unmoved by them.

“Xie Shiyi.” Yan Qing opened his mouth, blinked his eyes, and gave a sloppy smile. “Give some commentary.”

Xie Shiyi said, “What?”

Yan Qing said, “How’s the plot?”

Xie Shiyi deadpanned, “Very good.”

Yan Qing nearly choked on his own saliva and aggressively threatened him, “Don’t be perfunctory with me. If you were Murong Motian, would you act similarly?”

Xie Shiyi glanced at him, reflected on the plot thus far, and indifferently said, “I wouldn’t.”

Yan Qing asked, “You wouldn’t what?”

Xie Shiyi replied, “I wouldn’t accept a disciple.”

Yan Qing stifled a giggle. “Indeed, I can’t imagine you as a Shizun.”

He would lead his disciples utterly astray.

Xie Shiyi calmly and clearly continued, “Wangqing Sect doesn’t have menial laborers; Yuqing Peak doesn’t allow outsiders to enter; running into me isn’t good news; moreover, if I truly did care about a person, then I wouldn’t let them be caught up in all sorts of trouble.”

Yan Qing said without thinking, “Uh-huh, then would you betray your sect for love?”

Yan Qing: “…”

Xie Shiyi: “…”

After asking this, Yan Qing felt so awkward that he almost threw himself off the nine thousand and nine hundred steps. However, he feigned composure and smoothly switched topics. “Immortal Master, do you like congee?”

Xie Shiyi had never answered this kind of question before. He seemed to laugh lightly, yet his eyes revealed no humor. “You can guess if I would or not.”

Then he answered the latter question.

“No, I don’t. Don’t I prefer begging for food?”

Yan Qing: “…”

1. 众叛亲离, to be deserted by all one’s followers and abandoned by one’s loved ones ↩