Chapter 298: Chapter 298

Ever since Li Xun had created his own Single Stick of Incense formation for the Cloud Tower Moon-Grasping Chariot, he made a point of adding new refinements every few years. It was his way of testing how much his mastery of forbidden formations had advanced. Because of that, he became the only third-generation disciple in the sect officially allowed to tinker with the sect’s Cloud Chariot.

Leaving aside how much the sect master’s favor made others jealous, the Cloud Chariot itself was remarkable. Over the past few decades, its speed alone had increased by nearly fifty percent. This time, the journey of several million li from the Star River back to Lianxia Mountain took only eight days.

During those eight days, news that the Mingxin and Xingji Sword Sects had resolved their conflict spread across the world. Close on its heels came another piece of news. The Xingji Sword Sect had refused to attend the Water Mirror Assembly, and word of that traveled just as fast.

Li Xun had no interest in how the various sects would respond to this development.

Having poured everything he had into the mission at the Star River, even the eight-day journey back wasn’t enough to shake off the bone-deep exhaustion. After bidding farewell to the elders, stepping off the cloud chariot, and exchanging a few quick words with some familiar fellow disciples, he headed straight to his quarters, collapsed onto the bed, and passed out cold. Just what you’d expect from someone who’d come back wounded.

He slept incredibly well. When his body finally settled itself into balance, Li Xun opened his eyes without any effort. Light rushed in, bright, vivid, blood-red.

His heart jolted. He looked around, then glanced out the window and realized it was already dusk. He must have slept for more than a day. He pressed a hand to his chest first. The scar there had faded even more. In another couple of days, it would probably be gone without a trace.

He let out a long, quiet breath and swung himself out of bed, planning to wash up. Just then, he noticed faint voices drifting up from downstairs.

Li Xun paused, then padded down the stairs as softly as he could. He passed through the sitting room and stopped outside the study.

The small two-story bamboo house had once been Lin Ge’s residence on Zhiguan Peak. After Lin Ge’s death, Li Xun was left as his only disciple. Qingming made the decision to give the entire building to Li Xun.

Li Xun had never cared much for material things, and he was also mindful of the dignity owed to his master. So he left the house exactly as it had been, unchanged for decades.

Now, two guests were sitting at opposite ends of the long table along one side of the study. They were pointing at several slab-like pieces of stone, sketching and jotting notes as they talked. They were so absorbed that they did not even notice Li Xun standing at the doorway.

Li Xun did not step inside. He just stood there, watching the two people in the room, one tall, one small, both bent over the table. One would write a stroke, the other would add a line. Back and forth like that. The scene felt strangely familiar. Bathed in the dim, yellow light of dusk, he found himself staring, lost.

In the end, it was the smaller guest, seated facing the door, who noticed something. She looked up and let out a startled “Ah!”

At the cry, the female cultivator with her back to him turned around. When she saw him, surprise flickered across her gentle face, then melted into a smile.

“Junior Brother Xun, you’re awake?”

Framed by the glow of the setting sun, her tender gaze seemed to shine straight into Li Xun’s heart. To his eyes, in that instant, the beauty before him almost seemed to glow. No matter how cold and iron-hard his temperament, he could not help feeling a little lightheaded. A beat later, he finally remembered himself and offered a salute. “Senior Sister Qi, I hope you’ve been well.”

His gaze soon shifted to the other person. The familiar-looking girl was now dressed in pale pink silk, her hair arranged in three small buns. She wore no pearls or jade at all, yet a warm blush colored her cheeks, as if it might melt into the last light of the sunset. Judging by her expression, could it be…

“Ying Ning?”

“Master!”

Maybe because so much time had passed, the girl was no longer as clingy as she had been in the beginning. After calling out “Master,” she simply stayed where she was and gave a graceful bow.

Still, the shimmer in the girl’s eyes was far more captivating than any words or gestures could ever be. She might not have Qi Bi’s gentle elegance, but the fresh beauty of her youth shone with a brightness all its own. It wasn’t hard to imagine what sort of charm she’d have in another three or five years.

For just that moment, Li Xun felt his heart stir.

He quickly shoved that ridiculous though. Nodding to Ying Ning, he walked into the room with an easy smile. “What’s the occasion today? Did some special wind blow in, or why’d Senior Sister Qi drag this little girl all the way to my place?”

Qi Bi shot him a reproachful look. “Junior Brother Xun!”

“Huh?”

Li Xun froze, then glanced at the girl. She’d already dropped her gaze, looking almost a little upset. He had no clue what he’d said wrong, so he just turned to Qi Bi with a totally innocent, “what’d I do?” expression. But inside, he couldn’t help noticing: Senior Sister Qi had been in a noticeably better mood lately.

Qi Bi came to his rescue. “Junior Brother, you’ve been gone for months; you wouldn’t know. A few days ago, Ying Ning passed the mountain-entry trials and is supposed to move on to the Hall of Beginnings to continue her cultivation. The thing is, it’s not the season for our sect to take in disciples, and there isn’t a single female disciple in Hall of Beginnings right now. She’d be all alone in there with no one her age to talk to. So I let her stay here for the time being, until you got back and we could sort out proper arrangements.”

“Oh, I see.” Li Xun gave a bland reply, then quickly caught himself. “The Hall of Beginnings? Isn’t that a bit fast for Ying Ning’s progress?”

Hearing the concern in his voice, Ying Ning lifted her head and looked at him with a bright smile. “I’d already built a foundation before. My mama told me I had good aptitude, that I might have a real stroke of fortune someday. So she wouldn’t let me cultivate their methods. Instead, she found me a proper orthodox qi-refining technique…”

She seemed to remember the brutal deaths of her parents, and her face dimmed. Qi Bi noticed right away and quickly jumped in, “The method Ying Ning cultivated before was simple, but it was orthodox. Once she came into contact with our sect’s teachings, all her earlier cultivation fell into place naturally. There were no obstacles at all. Her foundation is extremely solid.”

Seeing Qi Bi rattle that off in a rush, Li Xun guessed what was coming next and cut it off by changing the subject. His eyes drifted over to the ink, brushes, and scattered papers on the table. And then to… stone slabs?

They were so familiar it made his heart jolt, Li Xun was genuinely startled. He walked over and picked it up. One look was enough. This had to be his own work from when he was young. As for where these two had dug it up from, he had no idea.

Watching his reaction, Qi Bi covered her mouth and laughed softly. “Well? An authentic piece by Master Spirit Bamboo, unearthed after sixty years. Worth a fortune now, wouldn’t you say?”

Her mood really was much better now…

Once Li Xun was certain, a smile spread across his face. “Back then I buried this junk halfway up Zuowang Peak. I have to hand it to you, it couldn’t have been easy to find. Let me see… mm, this must be from after I’d been climbing peaks for four years. If it were earlier than that, I would’ve smashed it on the spot. Painful to look at is one thing, but misleading disciples, now that would’ve been unforgivable.”

Still joking, he picked up the papers lying beside the tablet. After flipping through just a couple of pages, he understood. Qi Bi was using the patterns scratched on the slabs to teach Ying Ning the sect’s seven major restrictions. Though honestly, it looked more like playful doodling than serious lessons.

He came across a page written by Ying Ning. After skimming it for a few moments, his brow tightened, then smoothed out again.

What a pity.

Li Xun sighed to himself. By now, he was unquestionably a grandmaster of the Forbidden Path, and with a single glance he could tell. Ying Ning was bright and talented, no doubt about that, but when it came to forbidden formations, she simply lacked that spark of intuition. If he were looking for someone to inherit his legacy, this girl would not make the cut.

That’s what he thought, but he just smiled and said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a neat stack of slabs under the table. Half as tall as a person, lined up perfectly. He turned back with a teasing grin. “Senior Sister, you must’ve had way too much free time lately. I’m actually kind of jealous. Rounding up all these slates probably took some serious effort, huh?”

“This time you’ve guessed wrong!” Qi Bi beamed, pointing at the pile of stone slabs. “Your good brothers were the ones who hauled all of these back. Ever since they discovered this kind of tablet, the two of them have been going up and down Zuowang Peak, following the route you took back when you first climbed the mountain. They’ve been searching for almost half a month and only managed to find this many.”

“The two of them?”

Seeing the genuine happiness on Qi Bi’s face, Li Xun felt his heart tighten. He paused, then asked, “You don’t mean Lingji and Shan Zhi, do you?”

Qi Bi didn’t notice the stir in his thoughts. She smiled lightly. “That’s right. They saw how much Ying Ning loves this stuff, so whenever they had a spare moment from cultivating, they’d go hunt for more. Later on, the two of them, especially Junior Brother Shan, pretty much took it all on themselves. Ying Ning and I hardly had to do anything.”

Li Xun kept the easy smile plastered on his face, but his eyes were locked on Qi Bi, tracking every flicker in her expression. The second she mentioned Shan Zhi, he zeroed in even harder.

To his relief, Qi Bi didn’t show the slightest hint of anything unusual from start to finish. Even when she said Shan Zhi’s name, her tone stayed even. It was only when she spoke of Ying Ning that the look she gave her made something click for Li Xun.

So that was it. From that look in Qi Bi’s eyes, it was clear she’d shifted the regret she carried about not having children onto the girl Ying Ning instead.

Li Xun sighed to himself and was about to speak when voices suddenly came from outside the door. Hearing the cheerful chatter, he exchanged a look with Qi Bi, and they both laughed. “Speak of the devil.”

“Is Junior Brother Xun awake yet?” Ling Ji came into the study carrying a stack of stone tablets. Shan Zhi followed right behind, holding another stack of his own.

The moment the two stepped inside, their eyes landed on Li Xun standing there with that easy grin on his face. They both froze for a second, then burst out together, “You’re finally awake!”

They hurried to set the tablets down and clasped Li Xun by the arms in greeting. Li Xun’s gaze swept over Shan Zhi’s face. His complexion almost seemed to glow, completely different from the gloomy, worn-down look he’d had before. Li Xun couldn’t help but praise him. “Senior Brother, you look so much better this time around.”

Shan Zhi grinned, about to reply, but Ling Ji cut in first, clearly sharing the sentiment. “Way more than just looking good. He’s made crazy progress in his cultivation these past few months. Martial Uncle Ming Song praises him all the time.”

“Oh? That is good news.”

Li Xun kept the casual words rolling off his tongue, but inside he was getting more and more puzzled. Could it really be that those blunt things he’d said last time had jolted the guy awake and actually helped him break through whatever heart-devil had been choking him?