The Immortal Lord and the Demon Venerable Are Both My Vests - Chapter 26

……Huh?

Xu Rong looked up in bewilderment at the person who had walked up to him, extending a hand toward him.

He came against the light, his figure not particularly tall, yet it inexplicably gave rise to a deep sense of security in one’s heart.

As if bewitched, Xu Rong reached out and took the offered hand.

“Hiss——” He clutched his forehead, eyes widening, looking rather foolish.

“I know my disciple is very excited, but first let’s attend to the injured.” Shen Muxuan held his sword in one hand, and with the other caught Miss Lin around her waist, turning back toward the ruined cavern.

As he walked, he questioned Xu Rong. “What happened? You lot made quite the commotion this time—over a hundred small secret realms all having problems at the same time. The entire sect was alarmed, and the Sect Master nearly went mad with worry.”

His tone was familiar and natural, not making Xu Rong feel constrained in the slightest. When he restrained his overwhelmingly powerful aura, at first glance he didn’t seem much different from those smiling senior brothers in the sect.

With a muddled mind, Xu Rong recited the excuse he had prepared in advance, but his thoughts unconsciously recalled that Tianji Daojun from his previous life.

Though he too wore snow-white robes with smiling eyes, the aloofness in his every gesture and movement couldn’t be hidden. When encountering others, he would politely nod and smile as he greeted them, the smile appearing on his face but never entering his heart.

Completely different.

However, Xu Rong didn’t notice that on the snow-robed Daojun’s back, the crimson gem between his brows seemed to sway as if blown by wind, and when one looked again, the color appeared even more vivid, as if flowing light circled upon it.

His smile also deepened. A dangerous gleam flashed through his eyes, but in the blink of an eye he was still that carefree and transcendent Tianji Daojun.

Shen Muxuan successfully extracted the several thousand disciples trapped in the secret realm.

When golden sword light broke through the sky and flew out through the white mist, he looked up to meet Gu Fuxuan’s face blackened like charcoal.

“Cough…”

A certain someone guiltily turned his head away, moving with extreme naturalness to step behind his newly accepted young disciple.

Fortunately, Gu Fuxuan wouldn’t embarrass him in front of over a thousand disciples, so he forcibly suppressed his anger and, together with the Sect Master, settled the still-shaken disciples.

Only after everyone had dispersed, just as Gu Fuxuan was about to erupt in fury, did Shen Muxuan lift his hand and pull Xu Rong, who was standing to the side, forward. “Just accepted a new disciple—Senior Brother, how about a meeting gift?”

The rebuke that had reached Gu Fuxuan’s throat choked off, and he let out a heavy sigh.

This posture of knowingly acting shamelessly yet not making one feel disgusted—among the Immortal Sect’s elders, only his junior martial brother could pull it off.

……He truly didn’t have the bearing of an elder at all!

With a dark face, he scolded, “You spring this on me so suddenly, how could I have prepared anything in advance?”

Though his words were harsh, he turned and rummaged through his spatial ring to pull out a token and toss it over. With a cold snort, he flicked his sleeves and left.

Xu Rong caught it, staring blankly at the token with its complex patterns, at a loss.

In his heart, he sighed—Tianshu Jun and Tianji Jun truly were worthy of being martial brothers, casually giving away such treasures without batting an eye.

The Tianxin Token.

The key to open Taihua Immortal Sect’s Treasure Pavilion, allowing entry to the lowest three floors to freely take one treasure, regardless of grade.

This token Gu Fuxuan gave was clearly unlimited in uses, and he hadn’t said when he wanted it back before leaving. This generosity truly shocked even Xu Rong, who could be considered well-traveled in his previous life.

If this fell into the hands of a disciple without restraint, wouldn’t they empty out the first three floors of the Treasure Pavilion?

Tu Feng also patted his shoulder in surprise and casually explained the token’s uses. Finally, he sighed to Shen Muxuan. “Tianshu truly treats you like……” his own son.

“Master…” Xu Rong looked troubled.

On the contrary, Shen Muxuan was the most carefree, or perhaps the one who cared least about such worldly things. After the two had successively left and he was spared from scolding, he clearly relaxed, producing a folding fan from who knows where and saying with a smile, “Senior Brother gave it to you, so just keep it. They’re all sword cultivators in that line anyway—leaving it there would just gather dust.”

“Go take a look in a couple days. If there’s anything you like, just take it.”

Xu Rong seemed convinced and anxiously accepted the Tianxin Token.

Behind the folding fan covering the lower half of his face, Yin Lang’s lips curved into a cold arc.

Oh my, is this the ‘Child of Destiny’ recognized by the Heavenly Dao?

Xu Rong was completely oblivious to this. After brief consideration, he pulled from his storage pouch a piece of broken jade the size of a finger joint and presented it to Shen Muxuan, face slightly flushed as he said, “Master, this is what your disciple found in that secret realm’s treasure trove.”

Seeing Shen Muxuan had no reaction, he immediately became more anxious and stammered. “I…this disciple knows this isn’t anything good to Master, but this is already the best treasure this disciple can offer right now. Please don’t disdain it, Master!”

Shen Muxuan suddenly smiled.

He raised his hand and took the broken jade with a diagonal hook from Xu Rong’s palm, pinching it lightly between two fingers with such gentle force it seemed like a feather floating across his palm.

He said lightly, “It’s fine. Something this good, no one would disdain it.”

Xu Rong only thought the other was comforting him, and his heart leaped with joy.

Using such a piece of trash that didn’t even qualify as a treasure to gain his cheap master’s favor—this deal was absolutely worth it!

Xu Rong followed the other back to the rebuilt Tianji Peak.

His eyes met with nothing but bare earth. Xu Rong stared blankly at Yin Lang. “Master… this?” Where are we supposed to live?

Shen Muxuan also fell silent. Xu Rong heard him mutter under his breath. “Left in such a hurry, forgot to tell them the specifications for rebuilding… Forget it, forget it. I don’t live here often anyway, just build a few houses randomly.”

“……”

Xu Rong knew this person was very easygoing, but this was the first time he realized that easygoing people were mostly unreliable in small matters.

He had no choice but to suppress his urge to cough up blood as Shen Muxuan directed him to build houses, the latter claiming that houses one built oneself were most comfortable to live in. With deep pockets, he pulled out a pile of rare lumber from his spatial ring and dumped it on the bare earth for Xu Rong to use freely.

Xu Rong: ……Truly worthy of being actual martial brothers.

“Master, I’ve heard people say before that the bamboo sea on Tianji Peak was your beloved scenery. This disciple knows of a place in the Li Dynasty where the bamboo is especially fine. Though it’s mortal bamboo, it’s absolutely no worse than immortal varieties. Why don’t I transplant some for you?”

Xu Rong pondered Shen Muxuan’s thoughts and tentatively made the suggestion.

Back in his previous life when he first learned that Tianji Peak was full of bamboo, he had been curious about this. Unfortunately, no one knew the reason, and when he asked Shen Muxuan himself, the man would only smile without speaking, changing the subject within three sentences. He hadn’t solved this mystery even after his rebirth.

“No need, that’s too troublesome.” Shen Muxuan flatly rejected this proposal, raising his hand to rummage through his spatial ring. “Just plant something randomly, as long as it’s not bare and ugly.”

He tossed Xu Rong a bag of seeds. “Red spider lilies that Xiao Chang’an gave me—you can plant them however you like.”

Then he opened his folding fan to cover his face, lazily enjoying the warm, gentle sunlight.

Bamboo?

After finally finding an opportunity to reasonably destroy that disgusting thing, why would he continue to torment himself?

****

Heavenly Sword Sect.

Ji Chang’an, who was practicing swordplay on the cliff, suddenly stopped her flowing sword momentum.

As if sensing something, she stared calmly at the endless sea of clouds below the cliff and suddenly said to Xie Lan, who was practicing alongside her. “Senior Brother, Junior Sister has a matter she wishes to discuss with the Sect Master face-to-face.”

After Xie Lan inquired with Xie Tingxuan, the two, Ji and Xie, once again sat facing each other in the stone pavilion by the cliff.

Compared to last time, Ji Chang’an’s posture was much more natural. “Sect Master, Chang’an wishes to tell you more about that story from before.”

Xie Tingxuan’s eyes were half-closed. “Can you?”

Ji Chang’an scratched her head and smiled. “There’s a feeling deep down—probably… it’s okay?”

Out of caution, she still chose the method of ‘telling a dream’ like last time.

She calmly narrated all the way to the end. The sky was clear and bright, ten thousand miles of blue sky.

No thunder.

Ji Chang’an asked anxiously, “Sect Master Xie, did you… hear it?”

She had still chosen to tell this story to Xie Tingxuan because only his reaction was ‘can’t hear, can’t see,’ while with others, heavenly punishment would descend within three sentences.

Ji Chang’an didn’t know what made Xie Tingxuan special, but since he was someone her master trusted, she was also willing to extend her trust.

Xie Tingxuan didn’t disappoint her.

“I heard it.”

He said, “You fear death.”

Still Sect Master Xie’s characteristic way of hitting the nail on the head.

Xie Tingxuan had no intention of considering his friend’s junior’s state of mind, mercilessly tearing away the fig leaf called ‘dream’ that Ji Chang’an had draped over herself.

“Do you truly know what reality is?”

“Just because of one or two coincidentally similar events, you loudly proclaim the world is false.”

“But if the world is false, then which of you and I is real and which is fake?”

“Am I, sitting across from you, merely a false creation that you can ‘kill’ with a single thought?”

This was the first time Ji Chang’an had heard him speak at such length.

She reflexively answered ‘of course not,’ then immediately fell into long, silent contemplation.

She certainly wasn’t an author and couldn’t determine a character’s life or death with one stroke of the pen. But even based on this, if she were to admit that the taciturn Sect Master Xie was a false character from those comics and novels of her previous life, she found herself unable to do so.

That was clearly a living person… She could hear his voice, see his movements, even feel the breeze created as he walked.

Dense red bloodshot veins once again spread through her eyes.

Xie Tingxuan’s calm expression suddenly turned cold. He pressed his hand on the stone table, and frost rapidly spread from where he pressed toward Ji Chang’an, freezing her until she shivered, but she still couldn’t awaken from her inner demon.

“Enough.”

He stared coldly at the woman’s eerily terrifying eyes, his voice like ice. “You’ve already achieved your goal. Why do you continue to torment her?”

‘Ji Chang’an’ tilted her head: “Require expulsion, you, now the same.”

Xie Tingxuan acted as if he hadn’t heard. “You deliberately allowed her to tell me these things, after you achieved your objective.”

‘Ji Chang’an’ said, “You know, no obstruction.”

Xie Tingxuan stated with certainty, “You cannot expel me.”

‘Ji Chang’an’s’ expression became even more cold and wooden. “First expulsion attempt in progress……”

A ‘buzz buzz‘ static noise sounded, yet Xie Tingxuan showed a nostalgic expression.

‘Ji Chang’an’s’ eyes widened. “Expulsion failed… searching for cause…”

“You cannot expel me.”

Xie Tingxuan repeated, suddenly revealing a slight smile. Like snow melting on a mountaintop, in an instant spring warmth and flowers blooming. “Though I don’t know why, when it comes to exploiting program loopholes, you won’t be better at it than me.”

He said word by word, “Because to me, this world has never been false.”

‘Ji Chang’an’s’ eyes flashed red frantically. “Failure… failure… failure……”

Xie Tingxuan’s face turned cold again, and he unhesitatingly increased his spiritual power output.

Black and red rapidly interwove and alternated in Ji Chang’an’s eyes, her face flushing red. When it reached a certain threshold, her flushed complexion instantly paled, her eyes closed, and she collapsed unconscious on the stone table.

Xie Tingxuan called for Xie Lan to send her back to her room, then stood alone on the cliff, half a step before him the abyss.

The cold wind from the peak blew at the corners of his robes and his long hair, blowing past his cold eyes.

An extremely low voice was blown by the wind down to the bottom of the cliff——

“So this world actually evolved from a novel? I’ve been here for hundreds of years, yet only learned of it when nearly ascending. Truly, it is both fate and destiny.”