Chapter 21.1: Birth (Part 16)

Shen Suwei did not dare to relax, standing at a distance with his hand tightly gripping the hilt of his sword.

He knew that Shui Rushan had more tricks up his sleeve.

As a mortal, Shui Rushan understood that he was as insignificant as a blade of grass. Yet he meticulously plotted, rehearsing day and night, and did all he could.

Shen Suwei knew that such an enemy was often more difficult to deal with than those with extraordinary skills and arrogance.

After Shui Rushan finished speaking, he calmly stood up, and even Guan Niang rose to her feet. Soon, the family servants appeared from the corners, holding sticks and silently forming a human barrier.

Humans have eyes, noses, ears, and mouths; they can judge and evade, unlike that object in the tube that could be easily broken.

But suddenly, a flash of pomegranate red darted in front of Shui Rushan, and a sword that had been placed in a box was picked up. With a “whoosh,” it was drawn from its sheath. Shen Suwei clearly saw that it was a wooden sword, with some decayed nicks on the blade, yet when drawn, it still carried a sharp wind.

Xu Qianyu pointed her sword at his face: “Stay back.”

Shui Rushan exclaimed in surprise: “Qianyu!”

Shen Suwei immediately stepped back, not because he was intimidated by the girl, but because he noticed the tip of her sword was slightly trembling. He realized she was putting on a fierce front due to the situation, while in her heart, she was extremely anxious.

He feared she might point the sword at his neck the next moment.

Xu Qianyu thought for a moment and indeed crossed her sword, adopting a self-executing posture, glaring at him: “Do you want me to?”

“Hey, hey…” Shui Rushan and Guan Niang immediately panicked.

“…” Shen Suwei closed his eyes for a moment.

Guan Niang raised both hands, not daring to touch Xu Qianyu, and couldn’t help but look at Shen Suwei, who was standing in place: “Shen Xianjun, you are a person of compassion. You have seen what the sect leader has done; do you also condone it? Are you willing to be a sword in someone else’s hand, aiding in their tyranny?”

To incite discord between master and disciple on the spot was indeed a low tactic. But Guan Niang, seeking a glimmer of hope, could not care less.

However, Shen Suwei was not angry; he remained calm: “Fifteen years ago, the sect leader was ambushed at a banquet and stayed with a young girl, developing an inappropriate relationship. When he left, it is said he gave her a contraceptive medicine, but for some reason, Miss Shui still became pregnant.”

He continued, “This matter was known to the Elder Taishang, who is the father of the sect leader’s wife. He was furious and sent someone to secretly assassinate this child with the Light Red Sword. Miss Shui narrowly escaped a disaster and did not lose the fetus. However, that Light Red Sword wounded the fetus in her womb, causing blood to fall and give rise to a curse called the ‘Lotus Seed Heart Mantra.'”

Shen Suwei looked at Xu Qianyu and said, “It’s this vermilion powder on the young lady’s forehead.”

Both Shui Rushan and Guan Niang were shocked to hear this.

“This Gu grows with the blood and bones, spreading like the root system of lotus leaves. After fifteen years, it will Gu the heart and lead to death. This Gu originates from Penglai; it’s an ordinary kind. If nourished by Penglai’s spiritual power and within a monk’s body, it can be suppressed on its own. But for a mortal, it’s a disaster.”

“I can’t speculate why the sect leader insists on bringing the young lady back to Penglai. However, since the lady asked me to speak,” Shen Suwei lowered his gaze, “I believe there’s nothing more important than staying alive.”

After saying this, he fell silent.

For him, that statement was too much.

All those references to pregnancy, avoiding children’s medicine, the lady, the fetus, schemes, and entanglements had nothing to do with him, and he had to learn many things to understand them.

Yet he was entangled in it, needing to figure everything out before he could solve the issue; this was the most frequent work he did in Penglai.

He was originally meant to break formations with a sword, and this was his only exception, expressing his position outside of life and death.

Guan Niang exclaimed in horror, “But the young lady is already fourteen…”

Xu Qianyu, however, showed no reaction upon hearing this.

The vermilion powder had been painless for years, and death was far away; she felt nothing real about it. She was still desperately pondering who those people were.

She had almost no impression of the Elder Taishang.

They were probably the old turtles nearing immortality, often in closed-door retreats, sitting high on lotus thrones, a hundred thousand miles away from her. They had even gone to great lengths to try to erase her from this world, all because she was a mistake?

Thinking of this made her quite displeased. Holding a sword in one hand, she opened the box that Shen Suwei had given her with the other and said, “What gift did you send me, Shen Xianjun?”

Shen Suwei replied, “It’s a Snow-Nourishing Pearl. If you take it, it will instantly freeze your blood vessels, and if you no longer grow, then the Lotus Seed Heart Curse will also cease. In this way, you can remain in this world for another ten years.”

Xu Qianyu pinched the translucent pearl; frost patterns rolled gently on its surface, resembling an icy orb.

As expected of her senior brother, his method was so simple and brutal that it would freeze her into an ice statue.

Xu Qianyu looked at him somewhat suspiciously, and within that suspicion, a hint of disdain emerged. “Then after ten years, won’t I still die?”

So, what was the difference between this goodwill and taking her away only after her birthday?

However, Xu Qianyu thought about it vaguely.

All she wanted was to stop growing taller.

She wasn’t satisfied with her current height; she had hoped to grow taller so she could play polo.

“After ten years…” Shen Suwei seemed to sigh silently, “I will come again.”

For him, it made no difference where he lived. Since Xu Qianyu was unwilling to leave, he assumed it was because she was attached to her home; if she was attached, then he would stay longer.

The “Lady Wang” he transformed into had received two favors from the young lady. What he repaid her with was a delay. Or rather, it was a choice, not a last resort.

As for the Master… he could bear a little more.

“Immortal Monarch.” A voice suddenly called from afar.

The house servants were pushed down, and amid the shouts, someone stumbled over.

Shen Suwei instinctively felt the formation set up in the room was suddenly broken, like a pocket sliced open; the killing intent contained within rushed out in an instant, immediately filling the room with a chilling sword energy.

Victory and defeat often turn in an instant.

“You!” Shui Rushan looked at the newcomer, his expression changing, “How did you get out?”

“Immortal Monarch.” The woman stumbled over, and from a distance, she appeared to be dressed like a young girl. As she got closer, it became apparent that she was no longer young, but her beauty had not faded. She had soft, gentle eyes, shy and watery, but upon seeing Shen Suwei, disappointment flashed across her face. “It’s not him.”

But after a moment of disappointment, she scanned the tense atmosphere and became cheerful again. “Did the Immortal Monarch send you to take me away?”

Shen Suwei recognized her at a glance.

That portrait from that day didn’t look like Xu Qianyu, but it was drawn in her likeness.

This was Qianyu’s mother, Shui Weiwei.

But unexpectedly, she…

“Dad.” Shui Weiwei turned when he didn’t answer and said to Shui Rushan, “Dad, is it that you won’t let me go? Please, let me leave! I want to go to the Immortal Gate with him!”

“You… he can’t possibly marry you.”

Shui Rushan’s face was pained and angry; if the old man had merely looked dejected moments before, seeing Shui Weiwei here was like a mountain collapsing.

Shui Weiwei, however, showed remarkable composure regarding Xu Binglai’s matter, even displaying some calmness.

For instance, when Xu Qianyu was born, Guan Niang had held the baby and rocked her, soothing her with words. Suddenly, she had pinched Guan Niang’s arm, forcing her to say that the child’s surname was Xu.

“He will,” Shui Weiwei suddenly smiled, stroking her nonexistent belly and whispering, “We already have a child. He is from the righteous path of the Immortal Gate. Doesn’t he fear what people will say? Sooner or later, he will be compelled by the situation to take us back.”

Her tone was unexpectedly certain.

She was completely living in her own world.

Xu Qianyu slammed her sword down on the table, startling Shui Weiwei, who jumped up and ran behind Shen Suwei.

Xu Qianyu frowned. The sword was too heavy; she really couldn’t move it anymore.

Even self-harm didn’t seem easy.

She panted, rubbing her wrist as she looked at the sword. After a long moment, she raised her eyes to look at Shui Weiwei, who was swaying behind Shen Suwei, feeling a hint of pity for her for the first time.

Shui Weiwei had also learned the same “virtues of a gentleman” and “behaviors of a lady,” and she had been Gued into foolishness by the worldly rituals taught by those great scholars.

If the child’s father were some noble mortal, he would indeed be concerned about reputation and morality; even if he didn’t love her, he would at least be responsible.

But the monks of the Four Great Immortal Gates looked the same as mortals and could mingle with them, yet how were they similar?

In the eyes of cultivators, mortals simply lack the same abilities; they are not of the same category but rather akin to the grass and trees in the courtyard, or the cattle and sheep in the pen. Who would apologize for stepping on a blade of grass? Who would truly care about the opinions of grass or be bound by its etiquette?

Shui Weiwei, like her back then, grew up in this four-cornered courtyard, where she was the ruler who could call the wind and summon the rain. A casual remark from her would receive only agreement, never a rebuttal.

However, they had to learn the hard way that there are many insurmountable forces in this world. These people or things cannot be explained by reason; once confronted, the only option is to retreat.

If one could accept it, then one could close the door and continue being the ruler of the small courtyard, turning a blind eye to everything.

But the problem is…

Xiao Dong had already allowed the demon to consume her father, sister, and brother. She willingly sold herself as a maid in the safest area of Nanling, yet still nearly fell into the demon’s maw.

She hadn’t even stepped out of Nanling, and the Lotus Heart Gu poison within her had been continuously developing from the moment she was born.

This so-called safest place in Nanling was, in reality, a land where demons roamed freely and cultivators moved about at will.

Regardless, the strong will always bully the weak.

Even if one closes the courtyard door, one day, there will still be nowhere left to retreat.

One could either become like those people or become… Shui Weiwei.

She coldly said to Shen Suwei, “I will go with you.”

She didn’t need to delay for ten years; she wanted it now.

Guan Niang and Shui Rushan exchanged glances. Shui Rushan lowered her gaze, her expression as usual, showing no surprise, as if she had already anticipated this.

“But,” Xu Qianyu pointed at Shui Weiwei, “I want to take her with me. If she doesn’t go, I won’t go. Do you understand?”

Shen Suwei was about to speak when Xu Qianyu’s gaze fell on the sword’s edge. He immediately said, “Alright.”

“Let her go.” Guan Niang supported Shui Rushan and said to Xu Qianyu, “If she stays here, it will only infuriate you. If we take her to Penglai, perhaps there’s a way to cure her. Once she’s cured, I will send her back.”