Chapter 54: The Refining Furnace (Part 9)

Shen Suwei’s refusal was firm and straightforward, just as Xu Binglai had anticipated.
Teaching others requires a tremendous amount of energy. If such time and effort were spent on oneself, one might have already advanced several levels.

After a moment, Xu Binglai’s gaze shifted, and his divine sense burst forth. Shen Suwei restrained his fighting spirit, closed his eyes without resisting, and allowed him to observe his cultivation level.
“Today is not like the past. Spiritual energy is thin, and most disciples, after half a lifetime of hard cultivation, only reach the foundation establishment stage,” Xu Binglai said. “You’ve reached the late Golden Core stage in just over ten years; that’s fast enough. When Xu Jiansu was your age, he hadn’t even formed his core yet. Why are you in such a hurry?”

“There are others in other sects who reach the Golden Core in one step. I’m nothing special.” Shen Suwei’s master thought he was advancing too quickly, which was almost exactly what Xu Qianyu had said the other day, both telling him to slow down. Shen Suwei didn’t understand the meaning and responded with lowered eyes, “Is it truly better to slow down? Slowing down only adds more entanglements.”
Xu Binglai laughed softly. “In this life, who can be without attachments? Even the Elder Taishang cares deeply for Qianqian. Only the immortals sever all bonds. Keep in mind that the highest level our predecessors reached was the Dao Monarch of the God Realm stage, and no one has yet ascended. Do you truly have such confidence in yourself?”
Shen Suwei raised his eyes, his gaze bright as snow yet seemingly directed at the void, and said softly, “There is still the grudge of the mountains and rivers, of all the people, upon me.”
The smile at the corner of Xu Binglai’s lips faded slightly. “You still remember that.”
“Yes.”

Years ago, he had taken Shen Suwei from the palace of Beishang. The young child had been dressed in intricate court attire, his hair tied in a tilted style, adorned with eight phoenix hairpins, pale and beautiful. Yet, when he walked, he was as silent as a cat, making no sound at all.
His eyes were deep black and round, standing there with an expressionless face, like a paper figure painted with pupils. Bloodstains marked his robe, making him seem especially eerie.
Shen Suwei was led by him, compliant but not by choice, for Xu Binglai’s divine sense had penetrated his meridians, locking his shoulder blades and seriously injuring him. “You’re impressive, aren’t you? Even blinded, those eyes of yours can kill.”
“When the entire palace was haunted, you killed a demon—that’s not much to speak of. But if you keep going on a rampage and kill one more, heaven and earth themselves will destroy you.”
The phrase “heaven and earth will destroy you” was emphasized, and his divine sense shook. Shen Suwei spat out blood.

With each step he took, he left a small bloodstain on the ground, which the sand slowly absorbed. Yet he remained silent, like a lifeless doll, no longer needing intimidation.
But at one point, he suddenly stopped and wouldn’t move any further. Xu Binglai saw that the place was full of green trees, birds chirping, and the sound of a flowing stream. Shen Suwei was looking back at the murmuring water.

“Do you wish to wash up?” Xu Binglai, understanding, released him. “Go ahead.”
The child removed his courtrobes by the stream, taking off all his pins and ornaments. The clear water washed away the powder from his face and the bloodstains on his fingertips.
When he turned around again, he wore only a white inner garment, his black hair down, and his face pale and clean, like a jade tree in the wind, returning to the appearance of a snow-like gentleman.
Shen Suwei looked up at him. His resentment seemed to have dissipated, and his pupils had returned to their normal shape, revealing an extraordinarily beautiful pair of eyes: shaped as if outlined in ink, the ends slightly tilted; the irises were like clear glass, black and white distinctly separated. Only the most treasured jade kept hidden could possess such a pair of clean and pure eyes.
Xu Binglai said, “You’ve chosen a good place for yourself. Do you wish to be buried here?”
The wind brushed through his black hair as the boy looked at him, nodding.
“Good.” Xu Binglai pressed down on his head, pushing him into the stream. Suddenly, Shen Suwei grabbed his arm.

The child’s hand was cold, his fingers white and slender with faint calluses. A hand that could twist someone’s neck with ease, but when it touched him, it was as light as a feather, betraying a barely detectable hesitation.
Xu Binglai’s heart stirred. “What, are you afraid?”
Shen Suwei asked, “Will you come back?”
“I will. But I don’t know when. You’ll have to wait.”
“Alright.” He nodded, as if he only needed a promise, then looked up. “As long as you return. My life is yours; I can serve you.”
Xu Binglai smiled inwardly and pressed him under the water, sealing the entire stream with ice. He plucked a leaf from a tree and wiped the bloodstains from his hands amidst the icy stillness.
To a cultivator, life is cheap. How much value could his life hold?
Yet, that was the most precious offering the child could make a wager with everything he had.
Even someone born to kill fears being abandoned alone in a cage and fears being forgotten by the world.
Thus, when Xu Binglai pulled him out nearly a century later, he was quite surprised.
Such a desolate prison—so lonely and terrifying that even cultivators often sought death or went mad.
It had been too long, and he had given up hope, expecting to find the bones of a child under the water, which he’d give a proper burial to fulfill his promise.

But in the ice, Shen Suwei was almost unchanged, as if he had fallen asleep yesterday and woken up today. His eyelashes trembled, and when he opened his eyes, he seemed bewildered, not understanding why the face of the cultivator before him had remained unchanged, while a golden sword mark had formed on his brow, and his once-black hair had turned frosty white.
A century had passed. Back then, Xu Binglai was just in the foundation establishment stage, but now he was in the late true monarch stage, capable of sealing even the mightiest demons.
Shen Suwei had slept in the ice but was also unmistakably awake. When Xu Binglai examined him, he discovered Shen Suwei had, without guidance, transformed his water spiritual root into an ice and snow path, advancing far along the Dao and even reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
He could see, he could speak, and during his moments of wakefulness over the past century, he must have replayed his life experiences repeatedly, refusing to forget how to walk in the world or how to be human.

But in that short and pitiful life, there had been only killing, schemes, endurance, blood, tears, and partings—had there ever been a trace of warmth?
Xu Binglai couldn’t help but ask, “I told you I would bring you into the sect. So what if you forgot or if it was all in vain? A hundred years are hard to endure—why not just sleep?”
Shen Suwei’s long and frost-covered eyelashes quivered slightly. His lips trembled, a faint breath of white visible. After all those years in the ice, he was still in a mortal body, and he felt the cold. His bright gaze fixed on him: “Master, within me, there is still… the vengeance of the mountains and rivers and the people.”

After saying this, he collapsed unconscious.
…
Xu Binglai asked, “Your enemies are long dead. Who will you seek vengeance on?”
Shen Suwei was silent for a moment. “Then I will exterminate demons to the utmost, rise swiftly on the Dao, and reorder the world for the benefit of all people.”
From the moment Shen Suwei entered the sect, he was out of place.
He looked at the chopsticks in his hand, forgetting how to hold them, mocked and ridiculed by others, yet he showed no reaction. For how could these children, who appeared to be his age, have experienced the same fate as him?

His figure was graceful, and the disciple’s robes on him seemed carved from snow, untouched by mortal dust. Due to his beautiful and pure eyes, some female cultivators were drawn to him, wishing to be close, yet whenever they approached, they felt an icy aura that kept them at a distance, compelling them to retreat.
He had been alone for so long that he no longer knew how to interact with others.
Only with a sword in his hand did he feel familiar and at ease. He would focus his gaze and, with a single strike of his sword, release all his emotions into the sword’s wind.
Xu Binglai thought this was an unsolvable dilemma. If Shen Suwei weren’t so stubborn, he wouldn’t have survived to this day; yet being too stubborn, deeply ingrained in his bones, how would he persist until his path was fully realized?

He had thought that over the years, Shen Suwei had gradually integrated into Penglai, especially since Xu Qianyu joined the sect, filling it with lively chaos that even brought a bit of life to him. But today, it was clear that he remained trapped in his nightmare.
There was room for negotiation in this matter, but given his recent obsession with breaking his own path, intervention was inevitable, forcing him to shift his focus.
Xu Binglai asked, “Since you still remember your revenge, do you also remember what you promised me that day?”

Shen Suwei was momentarily stunned. “My life will be driven by Master.”
“Is that still valid? Just because you’ve grown stronger, you won’t turn your back on me, will you?”
“The disciple wouldn’t dare.”
“I don’t want to hide anything from you,” Xu Binglai said with a half-smile. “I’m about to advance to Half-Step Transformation. This realm has its tribulations; you know that, right? If not, I would personally teach you and wouldn’t trouble you to come here.”

If struck by the transformation lightning, one could be unlucky and regress instead of ascending. There were past cases where cultivators, due to unstable minds, were struck by lightning and fell from a godly rank back to the foundation-building stage, becoming the laughing stock of their sect.
“I do have a selfish motive: if this lightning knocks me down a level, I hope the inner sect disciples can protect the sect leader. I can’t guarantee anyone else, but Xu Qianyu is my blood relative…”
“Alright.” Shen Suwei didn’t wait for him to finish and readily accepted, “Master, what do you want the disciple to do?”
“You go into the Water Moon Flower Realm and bring her out. If I misjudge her and she doesn’t make it, then you find someone who can.”

*

At the dining table, Yu Chu’s face was flushed from drinking. Xu Qianyu and Ruan Zhuqing sat to her left and right, respectively, shelling fried broad beans with their chopsticks while listening intently as she recounted her experiences at home as a concubine’s daughter, how she was beaten and poked by the madam and various aunts.

When she reached a sorrowful part, tears began to fall: “Have you ever encountered a mean aunt who pokes fingers?”
Both Xu Qianyu and Ruan Zhuqing shook their heads.
Ruan Zhuqing said, “Before I entered the sect, I was just a young master from an ordinary wealthy family.”
Xu Qianyu added, “Before I entered the sect, I was just a young lady from an ordinary wealthy family.”
Yu Chu immediately felt a wave of sadness and cried, “Wow,” as she laid her head on her arms. The two hurried to comfort her. Ruan Zhuqing performed a trick, while Xu Qianyu raised his hand and said, “Waiter, bring another bowl of red bean milk pudding.”

Yu Chu heard that it sounded delicious, so she stopped being sad. However, unable to handle the alcohol, she still leaned on the table, feeling dizzy.
Just as they waited for the pudding, suddenly there was a commotion nearby. Before Xu Qianyu could react, Ruan Zhuqing picked up a jade chopstick and threw it like an arrow, then flew into the fray, shouting, “I saw you acting sneaky earlier, and now you dare to openly abduct a woman?”

Xu Qianyu saw four white-clothed people wearing masks, one of whom was dragging a woman dressed in blue with a veil. They were trying to leave with her. The woman had originally been sitting at the next table, but her companion was now slumped over, unconscious.

Xu Qianyu glanced at the hourglass; it was still half an hour until midnight. If they delayed too long, they would violate the rule that forbade entering the Water Moon Flower Realm three days before the inner sect selection.

Ruan Zhuqing loved to do righteous deeds like this. Rather than pulling him back, it was better to quickly resolve the situation together. She took the veil and covered Yu Chu, already shooting arrows from her sleeve towards the four.
The jade chopstick Ruan Zhuqing had thrown was blocked by one of the four with a sword, turning it into dust. When they turned to see the two blocking their way, they indeed struck back. In an instant, hidden weapons whizzed through the air like rain, slamming toward them.
Xu Qianyu stepped swiftly to Ruan Zhuqing’s side, reached into her robe, and pulled out a handful of talisman papers, throwing them forward. A golden light shield formed, protecting the two.
The “hidden weapons” struck the light shield and fell to the ground. Xu Qianyu kicked with her toes, revealing many tiny black pouches, which was quite strange.

“Hey, hey, hey, how did you know where I kept my storage bag?” Ruan Zhuqing was surprised but also realized something. He picked up one of the pouches, squeezed it, and exclaimed, “What the heck, it’s spirit stones.”
Throwing spirit stones at people how extravagant! There must be a conspiracy.
The arrows in her sleeves could freeze cultivators for a moment but wouldn’t harm ordinary people. Earlier, Xu Qianyu had randomly shot six needles, leaving the four standing stiffly in place. One of them had their mask knocked away by Ruan Zhuqing’s pouch. From behind the mask, it seemed they could feel the chilling gazes directed at them: “…”

These four were likely cultivators, but they were dressed oddly, possibly from another sect.
“It really seems like spirit stones.” Ruan Zhuqing picked up another pouch and threw it. He also pulled out a magical artifact.

Xu Qianyu noticed that the woman they had grabbed was moving slightly. Instead of trying to escape, she looked around anxiously, which was quite strange. She pulled out a sword from Ruan Zhuqing’s arms. The sword’s wind sliced through the air, lifting her veil and revealing an elegant and cold face.
The girl looked about seventeen or eighteen, with a teardrop mole under her left eye. Her eyes were urgent, and though her face showed no fear, she was greatly astonished when her veil was lifted. Upon meeting Xu Qianyu’s gaze, she looked at her, and her lips moved, saying something.
The system chimed in, “She said, ‘I volunteered. Let me go.’”

Xu Qianyu: “? You can read lips?”
The system responded, “What lip-reading! I just transformed into a mosquito and flew up to her to listen. I’m useful, right? Quick reaction, huh? Please don’t drive me away!”
Having said that, it quickly silenced itself, fearing Xu Qianyu would be annoyed.
The girl in blue’s veil fell back down. The freezing effect of the arrows in her sleeves had expired, and the four moved. Xu Qianyu pressed down on Ruan Zhuqing, who was about to jump up: “It’s too late. You take Yu Chu back. I can handle this.”

“Okay.” Ruan Zhuqing looked back; the little rabbit was still drunk on the table, which was very unsafe. He gritted his teeth and threw a talisman paper from his storage bag to Xu Qianyu. “Hang in there for a bit!”
He had already grabbed Yu Chu and leaped through the window.
Once Ruan Zhuqing had left, Xu Qianyu used her sword to pierce a small hole in the light shield, picked up a bamboo basket on the table filled with fruits, and collected a whole basket of spirit stones.