Chapter 307: Chapter 307

You can hide your technique, but you can’t hide your cultivation realm.

For the past few days, Li Xun had been troubled by this problem.

The Bone-Meridian Heartlink technique, paired with the Jade Bixie, had done its job almost too well. It completely masked the bloody, demonic aura that clung to him… and in the process it also stripped away forty percent of his cultivation.

But as his cultivation realm kept climbing higher, Li Xun started to notice something. The way he was seeing and experiencing the world had subtly changed compared to before. Worse yet, he still had not figured out exactly where the difference lay between the two realms.

So while sparring with Ming Ji, he clearly felt like his understanding of the Shadowed Bamboo, Rising Mist technique had jumped to a whole new level. But because he was holding back so much, the whole thing just felt awkward and wrong. Ming Ji was seriously pissed off by it, stopped pulling any punches, and started unleashing sword qi everywhere. In the end she beat him into a complete mess; he was stumbling all over the place, couldn’t even catch his breath.

For that reason alone, the days that followed were extremely “fulfilling” for Li Xun.

On one hand, he had to pour a massive amount of energy into writing that huge, ambitious masterpiece. On the other hand, this didn’t get him out of Ming Ji’s punishment-style “tutoring” sessions. Whatever scraps of time were left went to — under Ming Ji’s guidance — solidifying his cultivation and getting truly familiar with the sword’s nature. And honestly, that hurt way more than being forced to churn out ten whole damn scriptures.

For Li Xun, this was the closest he’d come to a simple life in years.

Every day followed the same rhythm. He’d get up at dawn to climb the peak and practice his sword. In the afternoon, he wrote and expounded on his ideas. By evening, he regulated his breath and sat in meditation. The routine was so plain it was almost boring.

Yet it was precisely this kind of life that allowed Li Xun’s restless mind to settle. All the things that had once troubled him were pushed aside, gradually fading until they felt distant and unreal… like stories that belonged to some other life, some other world entirely.

More than ten days passed like this. Li Xun himself had not grown tired of the routine, but new troubles began to surface. Especially late at night, when he sat alone in meditation and his mind was clear and luminous, just as he was slipping into a deeper state, countless images that were half real and half illusory would surge up, transforming into all manner of demonic tribulations.

Such phenomena were common in cultivation, so Li Xun did not pay them much mind at first. He used his methods for overcoming tribulations to cut them down one by one. But after two days, the demonic disturbances intensified. They began to stir his qi and blood, tug at his heart and mind, and set the “Unmoving Evil Heart” thrumming insistently. His true breath was thrown into chaos, and an entire night of cultivation went to waste.

Li Xun opened his eyes and dispersed his true breath. Everything immediately returned to normal. However, after only a brief calm, his chest began to tingle and prickle, as if countless tiny insects were crawling beneath the skin. The sensation was so faint that he almost dismissed it as an illusion.

What’s going on here?

This didn’t feel like the restless anxiety from a few days ago. It was more like something indefinable had been stirred deep inside him. Li Xun pressed a hand to his chest and walked over to the window. Moonlight spilled over the snowy scene outside. He frowned, brows drawn tight.

“Hey. Did something go wrong with my cultivation?”

It looked like he was talking to thin air, but the air actually answered back. Yin Wanderer’s low voice drifted back. “Considering that no one before you has ever cultivated all three traditions at once and lived to your age, I really can’t give you a definite answer. But if we’re just guessing, I’d say it sounds a lot like a Buddhist divine ability.”

“A Buddhist divine ability?”

“Because of some kind of trigger, you resonate with the workings of the Heavenly Dao and feel a response to everything under the heavens, past and future alike. In the terms used by the Mingxin Sword Sect, this would be called ‘aligning with the Heavenly Heart.’ Didn’t your dead master style himself the ‘Heart Heaven Sword’?”

The last remark was dripping with sarcasm, but Li Xun let it go in one ear and out the other. He focused on what actually mattered.

“Even if it is ‘aligning with the Heavenly Heart,’ what does that mean? That my cultivation has improved? And what exactly was it that stirred me in the first place?”

“Your cultivation improved? Don’t flatter yourself.” Even though Yin Wanderer hadn’t show her physical form, her words were vivid. Hearing him was like having the man standing right in front of you.

“Aren’t you curious? That Jade Bixie of yours is known as a supreme cultivation treasure for one main reason. It can ward off demonic influence and inner corruption, surrounding you with dense spiritual energy and offering the highest level of protection.

“And yet these past two days, your mind has been plagued nonstop by demonic tribulations. You’ve been treating the Jade Bixie as if it weren’t even there. That’s a classic case of being attacked from both inside and out. The source isn’t your mind at all. It’s your physical body.”

Li Xun hummed and thought it over. “My body? You mean the Blood-Shadow Demon Body?”

“I’m afraid so. In cultivation, blocking things up is never as good as letting them flow. You used the Bone-Meridian Heartlink technique together with the Jade Bixie to forcibly lock that supreme demonic art inside your heart aperture. True, it keeps things from leaking out and exposing you. But inside the heart aperture, the demonization doesn’t stop. It only grows worse and worse. The constant demonic tribulations you’ve been experiencing lately are very likely connected to this.

“Also, the Blood God Child is, after all, a supreme Heavenly Demon secret method. It has its own profound mysteries. Insights like these usually come by chance and can’t really be put into words. Trying to analyze them too deliberately just doesn’t work.

“As for that stirring you felt in your heart, there should have been some kind of trigger. Think about it. Is there something you were supposed to do recently but forgot? And if so, what consequences might that lead to? That’s all I have to say.”

“Something I forgot?” Li Xun tried to think, but there was nothing. His heart, on the other hand, was thumping hard. And the weird pressure in his chest kept ramping up, getting heavier every moment.

He rapped his knuckles against his forehead, annoyed. Just then, a streak of light caught the corner of his eye. He turned his head on reflex and saw, through the open window, a bolt of sword-light shooting across the night sky, headed toward Zuowang Peak.

It was deep into the night, and this was Zhiguan Peak where masters from across the sect were gathered. A sword-light that blatant jolted at least a dozen serious experts. The mountaintop stirred for a moment, then settled down again.

Li Xun knew that sword-light very well, which was exactly why he was stunned. Qi Bi? What happened to her?

Judging from the angle of the flight and the aura trailing behind it, Qi Bi was in a terrible mood. At this hour… could she have been fighting with Wenhai?

Li Xun walked to the window and looked toward Zuowang Peak. Qi Bi’s sword-light had shrunk to nothing more than a tiny speck. A few quick flickers, and then it vanished completely from sight.

Staring out at the vast curtain of darkness, Li Xun recalled Qi Bi’s look of self-pity and sorrow that day. Just as he turned to go back inside, his eyes met someone else’s. Both of them froze.

Their reasons were different, but neither could escape the awkwardness. The smartest solution would have been to pretend nothing had happened and go back to bed. Unfortunately, two very clever people made the same dumb move at the same time:

“Senior Brother Wen?” “Junior Brother Xun?”

Greeting each other at the same time made the air more uncomfortable. It was dark out, but Li Xun could still see the mortified look Wenhai couldn’t quite wipe off his face. He wanted to step back, but worried it would look too deliberate and leave Wenhai overthinking things.

After a quick calculation, Li Xun simply hopped out the window and walked toward him. He opened with, “Senior Brother Wen, what was that about just now?”

He didn’t ask, “What happened with Senior Sister Qi?” He kept it broader and gave Wenhai a way out. Wenhai was sharp too, and his expression softened into a helpless smile. “I argued with your Senior Sister Qi. She got angry and just…”

Li Xun was considerate enough to avoid bringing up the specifics. He shook his head. “Senior Brother Wen, don’t take this the wrong way, but you two have been dao partners for decades. When something comes up, taking one step back can save a lot of trouble.”

He tossed out those familiar platitudes, then added with concern, “Why don’t you go after her? If Senior Sister is climbing the peak on her own, she won’t have anywhere to stay for the night. Is she supposed to sleep outside?”

Wenhai finally seemed to recover and sounded much more composed. “That’s no problem. She has a place on Zuowang Peak. Near the Three Absolutes Pass, there’s a small retreat that Immortal Master Qing Yin once owned. She later gave it to your Senior Sister. It’s a very quiet spot. Whenever her mood gets bad, she goes there for a few days. Once she calms down, everything’s fine again.”

Li Xun paused in surprise. He hadn’t expected this to involve Qing Yin as well. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and said, “Good to know.” He was already thinking up an excuse to slip away when he suddenly felt something. He looked up and found Wenhai staring right at him.

Unable to make sense of the look in his eyes, Li Xun raised an eyebrow. “Senior Brother Wen?”

“Ah… what?”

Wenhai was clearly lost in thought. Thankfully, Li Xun didn’t press him. He acted like he hadn’t noticed and went on, “You mentioned the Three Absolutes Pass. Does that mean…”

“Right. It’s the same place where you were serving your punishment back then, mining the Ninefold Stones.”

Wenhai let out a long breath, moothly picking up the thread of conversation. The topic shifted in that direction without effort. After chatting a bit about “the old days,” most of the awkwardness had melted away. With both of them more relaxed, Li Xun finally had room for something else, like taking a closer look at Wenhai.

Among cultivators, once you’ve cultivated long enough, age stops being a clear dividing line. People end up judged by cultivation level and by their responsibilities.

Cultivation is easy enough to see, but responsibility is a more abstract thing. Looking at Wenhai now, it was hard for Li Xun not to think, He was born to carry a heavy burden. His bearing and aura were on a completely different level from their other sectmates.

He could still remember the first time he met Wenhai as a kid. Back then, even though Wenhai was already the top disciple of the third generation, he hadn’t yet shaken off that carefree, dashing, almost frivolous charm. He and Qi Bi were practically inseparable. Every few years after that, whenever Li Xun saw him again, Wenhai’s manner would be a little more calm and tempered than before.

At first glance, he no longer shined like he did back in the day. His cheeks looked a bit thinner, and most of the time you could not tell what he was feeling. Even when his eyes flashed with emotion, it was hard to read him. If you dropped him in among the second-generation immortal masters and someone who didn’t know him well came along, they probably wouldn’t be able to pick him out.

Li Xun did not care what Wenhai would eventually become. He was simply struck by how completely Wenhai had changed over the last seventy years. In contrast, Qi Bi was still drowning in old memories and could not pull herself free. How could a married couple like that not run into serious problems?

With this, Li Xun felt he finally had a deeper understanding of their situation, though it did not seem to help anything.

They talked for around twenty minutes. When the moment felt right, Li Xun excused himself, saying he needed to begin his evening cultivation.

Wenhai did not try to stop him. They parted on friendly terms, and Li Xun headed back to his room. How Wenhai would spend the rest of the night tossing and turning was not something Li Xun intended to worry about.