Chapter 131: The Choice (Part 3)

In the past few days, Xu Qianyu had been sharing a bed with her senior, Shen Suwei, and he had been very cooperative. However, sometimes in the middle of the night, when Xu Qianyu opened her eyes, she would find that her senior wasn’t asleep. Instead, he was sitting beside her, meditating, and her eyes would widen in surprise.

The two exchanged glances. Shen Suwei’s expression was hard to read, but his tone was gentle: “Are you hungry?”

Even though Xu Qianyu wasn’t hungry, she nodded and watched as he took out food from his cultivation space. She sat up and suggested they eat together.

Shen Suwei told her to sit at the table and eat.

As Xu Qianyu ate, she kept her senses alert, glancing toward the curtains, thinking to herself: How can someone be so dedicated, even using every moment beside her to cultivate? She needed to interrupt him once in a while to avoid the feeling of being left behind.

When she lay back down, if she wasn’t sleepy, she would also secretly meditate in bed.
Shen Suwei, as before, held her hand. For a moment, he froze, then couldn’t help but smile softly.

After a while, Xu Qianyu felt a pure, soothing spiritual energy enter her body through their touching hands. Her senior had noticed she was meditating and was helping her adjust her breath, a process that lasted for half an hour.

Xu Qianyu felt guilty.

She thought her secret practice was rather petty, so she wanted to pull her hand away. But Shen Suwei suddenly tightened his grip: “Are you uncomfortable?”

Xu Qianyu replied honestly, “It’s quite comfortable.”

She only wanted to pull her hand back because she felt that her senior still had injuries and didn’t want him to waste his spiritual energy by working at night.

Shen Suwei gave a soft “hmm” in the darkness. His tone was unreadable, but the spiritual energy became even softer and more focused.

Under the influence of the spiritual energy, Xu Qianyu relaxed completely. Her soul seemed to float, lying on a cloud, bathed in a gentle breeze. It was so hard to resist that she didn’t push him away anymore. After feeling a bit guilty, she fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.

She didn’t know how long Shen Suwei helped her adjust her breath. In any case, in the past few days, Xu Qianyu had been sleeping very well.

After a few days of rest, it was time to return.
The Tianshan warship, which had been reduced to little more than a broken skeleton, drifted back to the sect on its own. After repairs, it was restored to its indestructible form, cutting through the sea and anchoring at the shore.

You Yin was the first to board. The rules of Tianshan were strict, and the spiritual butterfly on the ship could prove his innocence, confirming that when he was stranded in the Demon Domain, he hadn’t been playing around with any other female disciples.

Leaning in the corner, he glanced at Lin Shuyue’s spiritual butterfly and tucked it back into his sleeve. He looked up at the full moon in the sky and thought about the meteor shower web that Lin Shuyue had arranged for him.

The Tianshan Immortal Sect was somewhat mysterious, with its mountain mist shrouded in haze, where both male and female disciples covered their faces, making it impossible to tell one from another at a glance. Such a rare, clear view stood out. When a place was linked to a special scene, it was hard to forget.

After returning to the sect, he guessed that he would often remember those few months of nights.

Others were still on the shore, bidding their farewells.

Hua Qingyu had come with an air of coldness, but after staying with Hua Liangyu for a few days, she had softened quite a bit. She walked beside Hua Liangyu, her steps light, carrying a hint of laziness: “Are you sure you want to stay here?”

Hua Liangyu replied, “The Wanfu Sect is gone. This is my home; where else can I go?”

“Come with me to Penglai.”

“Little Umbrella, my soul has been under your care for many years, and I’ve become a burden to you. I am an outsider to the Penglai Immortal Sect, so I won’t trouble you further.” Hua Liangyu took out a scroll from her sleeve and unfurled it. The paper figures of ghosts and the paper figure that sealed Fu Shao were all neatly attached to the long scroll. Her gaze turned sharp.

“Whoever used Fu Shao back then is my enemy. I’ve made this scroll with the Demon Realm’s army. I can command it. If you need help later, I can assist you.”

Hua Qingyu asked, “You’re still going to get involved in these matters?”
“Naturally,” Hua Liangyu said, “I neglected Fu Shao back then, which caused him to go astray, ultimately leading to the fall of the Wanfu Sect. I planted the seeds of this, and I will do everything I can to make it right. Moreover, his fall into the nightmare was no accident.”

Hua Qingyu turned sharply at those last words, “What do you mean?”
“Spirit roots. The problem lies with his spirit root,” Hua Liangyu explained. “Do you remember? Back then, his spirit root was destroyed, yet afterward, it suddenly recovered, and his cultivation skyrocketed.”

“You suspect that someone helped him replace his spirit root?” Hua Qingyu said. “And then used this to tempt him into evil.”

“I was one with Fu Shao. His spirit root was tied to his pride, and this was the one thing he never told me the truth about. But I suspect that the spirit root was tampered with. A spirit root doesn’t simply appear for free. Otherwise, how could those people restrain his progress as his cultivation advanced? The moment he changed his spirit root, he was destined to fall into the Nightmare. That was their control over him.”

“Replacing a spirit root is an act against nature. Perhaps his fall into the nightmare was retribution,” Hua Qingyu said, a sudden thought occurring to her. “We have someone in our sect who recently replaced their spirit root. She’s the granddaughter of the Elder Taishang. Let’s see if she faces any problems. That will tell us if your guess is right.”

Laughter from children came from nearby.

Xiaolong (Little Dragon) and Fu Lingsha were starting a fire on an iron rack to roast fish. Fu Lingsha flicked her black sleeve, and the orange-red phoenix flame suddenly shot up several feet.

Xiaolong (Little Dragon) let out a startled “ah” and looked up, trying to control the flame. Fu Lingsha listened to the sound of the wind, offering guidance.

Wuzhen sat in front of the fire, watching them, letting the night breeze tousle his hair, which was tinged with a reddish-golden glow.

Xu Qianyu carried her bundle onto the ship, and as she came down, noticing no one was around, she quickly ran over and sat beside him: “Master.”

Wuzhen didn’t turn his head. “Something on your mind?”

“I’ve been puzzled by something,” Xu Qianyu said. “That day when my senior, Shen Suwei, came back from the Mirage Realm, I wanted to run over to him. Why did you stop me?”
“Oh.” The boy spoke flatly, “Only now, after so many days, do you think to ask?”

Xu Qianyu’s face turned red. Just as she was about to explain, Wuzhen suddenly extended his hand toward her spiritual core. Xu Qianyu didn’t have time to avoid it, but as she watched, his hand turned to nothingness. When he retracted it, it was smoking. She was greatly startled:

“Master!”

“It’s fine; ghosts do this,” Wuzhen said indifferently, looking at his arm. From the blue smoke, a slender hand quickly reformed, its fingers moving slightly. “Your golden core is hot.”

Xu Qianyu froze. She looked at the spiritual pool and said, “I have my Golden Core now. I’ve advanced.”

Wuzhen said, “If it weren’t for the lack of spiritual energy in the Demon Realm and your body reaching its limit, forcing you to form the Golden Core prematurely, you could have directly advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.”

Xu Qianyu’s earlier excitement vanished, and she lay back down, holding her burning face in her hands, feeling a strange discomfort.

“It’s okay,” Wuzhen said, offering rare comfort. “Cultivators must accept this unpredictability.”

Xu Qianyu remained unhappy.

“You were asking why I stopped you, right?”

Xu Qianyu sat up, focusing on listening to him.

Wuzhen said, “Do you know how we learned that you were in danger?”
“You said you heard the distress signal from my messaging token?”

“Indeed,” Wuzhen said blankly. “But it wasn’t me—it was the Sect Leader. Both Flower Qingyu and I came at the Sect Leader’s orders.”

“Sect Leader?”

Wuzhen explained that shortly after the disciples had set off, Xu Binglai declared seclusion, forbidding anyone to see him without a summons. They had just missed the Elder Taishang’s return to Penglai, and the Elder Taishang had been displeased, feeling the Sect Leader was deliberately avoiding him.

That day, they had received an urgent summons from the sect leader and were to head to the Snow Cliff Cave that night. Xu Binglai had a wooden token with him and had said that the Penglai disciples were in peril in the Demon Domain, and the two elders were urgently requested to act swiftly and secretly to rescue them.

The secrecy meant avoiding the Elder Taishang’s notice so that the situation in the Demon Domain wouldn’t become public knowledge.

Although it was a tough and tiring task, Hua Qingyu had been worried about Hua Liangyu, so she readily agreed. She also used a white bone finger to force Wuzhen to agree as well.

Just as they were about to leave, a huge burst of spiritual energy suddenly erupted behind them, and Xu Binglai spat out a mouthful of black blood. Wuzhen and Hua Liangyu were startled, quickly turning to support him. Both of them felt the power shake the cave, and snowflakes began to fall.

Xu Binglai opened his eyes, his expression one of pain and shock. “He broke the seal.”

“Who?”

“Shen Suwei.”

Xu Binglai continued, “When I first took Shen Suwei as my disciple, he had already established his own foundation. He had both water and fire spiritual roots. During cultivation, water and fire spiritual roots cannot coexist; otherwise, it will lead to an uncontrollable path. So, I used my own cultivation to seal his fire spiritual root, leaving him with only the water spiritual root.”

Xu Qianyu’s eyes widened. She had never known that her senior brother was a dual-root cultivator! He had a fire spiritual root as well.

“But water and fire are opposing elements, aren’t they? How can they coexist in one person?”
Wuzhen said, “Conflicting spiritual roots often appear in those who are cursed by the heavens, with water and fire being the most extreme. At best, it causes mental instability and a broken spiritual vein; at worst, it can lead to great disaster, with the potential to destroy the world.”

Xu Qianyu froze.

Heaven’s punishment… world destruction… Could it be that what Fu Lingsha referred to as the heavenly punishment wasn’t about Xie Yuzhen but about Senior Brother? In her memory, Shen Suwei was always gentle and composed, particularly strict with her. In her past life, Shen Suwei became a Daoist lord, always thinking of the common people and never taking a wrong step.

Such a person couldn’t possibly be a great threat.

Wuzhen continued, “Now that the seal is broken, the sect leader has asked us to be especially cautious with Shen Suwei. I stopped you because I’m afraid he may have lost control and could pose a danger to you.”

“Do you understand? For your own safety, keep your distance from your senior brother from now on.”

Xu Qianyu suppressed her anger and said, “I won’t. Why should I distance myself from Senior Brother? I see him doing fine, with no problems at all. Even if he has dual spiritual roots, so what? I think these rumors are just nonsense. Master, don’t you agree?”

Wuzhen replied, “Have you finished the assignments I gave you? You seem quite confident. How about I test you?”

Xu Qianyu fell silent for a moment before quickly running off.

Shen Suwei was approaching and saw Xu Qianyu sitting with Wuzhen, talking animatedly. He paused for a moment. From his perspective, he could clearly see Wuzhen’s profile.

He knew that Wuzhen wasn’t Xie Yuzhen, but they looked almost identical. In Xu Qianyu’s past life, she had always liked Xie Yuzhen, and this scene easily triggered his inner panic.

Xu Qianyu jumped up and ran, and only then did his panic slowly subside as he approached them.

“Come, sit down,” Wuzhen said, his back to him. “The ice spoons have been obtained. The Sect Leader hopes you’ll return soon.”

Shen Suwei replied, “Alright.”

“When you disembark from the ship, remember to first go to the Snow Cliff Cave and personally deliver the ice spoons to the Sect Leader, who is in seclusion there.”

Shen Suwei acknowledged the order. He had always obeyed Xu Binglai’s instructions without question.

But in the past, Xu Binglai would always find him directly. This time, however, the message came through Wuzhen. Could it be that now that the seal is broken, his master has begun to be wary of him? Shen Suwei kept his expression neutral, but a chill ran through him, accompanied by a faint pain in his heart.

There was a brief silence between them. Shen Suwei suddenly asked Wuzhen about Qingheng Daojun and Xie Yuzhen.

Wuzhen was slightly surprised but answered calmly, “When my elder brother died, he sent me a message. He heard a voice asking him if he was willing to become the Demon King and establish a demonic realm. He was very surprised but rejected it, saying, ‘I would rather die than become a demon.’ Then, the abyssal fire on him suddenly burned uncontrollably. He remained steadfast and unyielding, even as he was burned to ashes. And then, as you know, from his tailbone, another person was born—the Demon King Xie Yuzhen.”

Shen Suwei admired Qingheng Daojun in his heart. If he had been Qingheng, he would have made the same choice.

But in this life, he had lost the chance to remain pure from the very beginning.

“By the way, do you know,” Wuzhen said, his dark eyes locking onto him, “the Demon King’s soul was shattered into three pieces by me. You only killed two of them at the disciples’ meeting, but you didn’t destroy him completely. One piece is still drifting in the world, and it could return at any time.”

Shen Suwei’s ears rang, and his grip on the sword hilt tightened. The engraved design on the blade pressed painfully into his palm, his heart burning with killing intent and hatred. Yet his eyes, black and white, met Wuzhen’s calmly.

Wuzhen studied him for a moment but didn’t detect any violent tendencies. “Get on the ship.”

Shen Suwei’s fingers clenched in his sleeve, and he sighed in relief.

From this day on, he would need to be especially patient.

He couldn’t let anyone discover that half of his heart was tainted by demons or that anything was wrong with him. Otherwise, endless trouble would await him in the future.