ILDV Chapter 54

When all the parties involved had mostly recovered, the trial of the Hua mother and daughter was also put on the agenda.

Lu Li stretched his muscles and bones as he passed by a flower bed sprouting new buds. He casually plucked a verdant leaf and tossed it into the courtyard, calling out, “Are you really not going to Huayuan Hall?”

Yin Lang, lazily sunbathing with his sleeve draped over his face, waved his hand to swat away the new leaf without opening his eyes. “What’s there to see? Those who deserve to die are dead, and those still alive are destined to be imprisoned for life. Since we already know the outcome, why bother going to join the commotion and be gawked at like monkeys?”

“You’re quite open-minded about it.”

“There’s nothing to be open-minded or not about. I never had any deep hatred with the Hua mother and daughter to begin with. It was they who couldn’t let go of those old feelings and brought themselves to this point.” As he said this, his entire face was covered by his sleeve, making his voice slightly muffled.

“Speaking of which,” Lu Li slowly strolled over, lifted his hand and knocked on the side of his head with great interest, his gossip desire flaring up. “Was that affair between you and Hua Qilan back then real?”

Yin Lang removed his sleeve, his face expressionless. “With your spirit of getting to the bottom of everything, how exactly have you managed to survive all these years without being beaten to death?”

“Ah.” Lu Li let out a theatrical sigh. “Who told me to be so strong? Those who want to hit me can’t beat me.”

Yin Lang lay back down. Lu Li refused to give up, shaking the reclining chair and pressing on. “Tell me about it. Looking at you, it doesn’t seem like there’s any hidden story.”

Had this peacock truly exposed his real nature, deciding not to even pretend to act like an elder anymore?

“No feelings, just an act. Satisfied?”

Lu Li earnestly shook his head and held up two fingers tentatively. “A bit more detail?”

How idle.

Yin Lang closed his eyes to sunbathe and ignored him.

What were the Hua mother and daughter anyway? Their miserable end was merely the first step of his revenge.

Setting aside the affairs triggered by his special blood, the entanglement between him and Hua Qilan could be summed up simply with the phrase “lust at first sight.”

A young and handsome Immortal Sword Master attracting a young girl’s attention was perfectly normal. If not for Hua Feiying’s sudden betrayal, the secret of his blood should have remained hidden forever, and he wouldn’t have become a tool to supply blood to Yuan Daozhu before even reaching his hundredth year.

A full five hundred years…

Back then, when he first realized that Feng Jiangcheng harbored such disgusting thoughts toward him, in order to spite him, he deliberately allowed Hua Qilan’s pursuit without realizing the enormous impact this action would have on his future. Unexpectedly, he angered both Feng Jiangcheng and Hua Feiying simultaneously. After thirty years of imprisonment in the cave dwelling, the moment he saw daylight again, he was summoned by Yuan Daozhu.

Young and naive, he had thought that even if Shizun harbored improper thoughts that violated ethics, he still cared about him in the end. His trust in Shizun outweighed his suspicion, and he poured out all his grievances in one breath. But he waited until the hot tea’s steam dissipated, waited until a warm heart fell into a cold prison, yet never heard Shizun say “Don’t be afraid.”

Feng Jiangcheng remained silent about everything, silently watching as he fell into endless hell.

So he would rather endure Yuan Daozhu’s increasingly exploitative treatment than stay away from this ‘only pillar of support,’ establishing his own peak to silently accumulate the strength for revenge.

“Oh, Tianshu is back?” Lu Li sat down on the ground by the flower bed and called out cheerfully, “What’s the verdict?”

Gu Fuxuan smiled and addressed him as ‘Elder,’ then said seriously, “Hua Feiying is dead. Her soul was scattered under the power of the great formation in Sword-Inquiry Valley. Once a person dies, it’s like a lamp being extinguished—there’s no point in discussing accountability. Hua Qilan has had her spiritual roots destroyed. Considering she was unaware of certain matters, the punishment wasn’t too severe—she’s only to be imprisoned in the Heavenly Punishment Ravine’s Confinement Prison, never to be released.”

The Cold Prison was famous for its cold, but in terms of lethality, it wasn’t the most terrifying—among the many formations in Heavenly Punishment Ravine, it was merely an appetizer. The Confinement Prison was the third prison of Heavenly Punishment Ravine. Legend had it that those confined inside, let alone mortals without spiritual power, even Tribulation stage mighty ones would find it difficult to escape once imprisoned.

So light?

Lu Li looked at his expression and sensed he was still holding something back but didn’t feel right pressing him. He smiled and lowered his head to fiddle with the flowers and plants again. Gu Fuxuan asked instead, “Martial Uncle’s injuries have healed considerably. I wonder when you plan to return to the Beast Garden?”

Lu Li didn’t look up. “Ah, I think Tianji Peak is quite nice. Young Shen hasn’t driven me away yet, but you’re anxious on the master’s behalf first?”

Gu Fuxuan helplessly explained a few words. Seeing that the martial brothers had private matters to discuss, Lu Li tactfully wandered off to elsewhere.

Gu Fuxuan walked over and sat beside Yin Lang without lifting the sleeve covering his face, his tone still gentle. “You’ve really caused me a huge problem this time.” Though he said this, there wasn’t a hint of blame in his voice.

He continued, “If Hua Qilan hadn’t shouted in the hall that she’d gained the Yaoguang Sword’s recognition, she should have been sentenced to death on the spot.”

Yin Lang let out a scornful laugh, completely unsurprised. “Tu Feng went to Sword-Inquiry Valley to investigate the situation, right? The Sword Master’s privilege… I’ve been dissatisfied with that thing for eight hundred years already.”

“So you’re indirectly admitting that you interrupted the Yaoguang Sword’s inheritance?” Gu Fuxuan shook his head and sighed, poking his forehead repeatedly with his finger. “You, you—don’t you understand how important Sword Masters are to our sect? You don’t know how terrible Tu Feng’s expression was.”

The activation of an Immortal Sword was equivalent to raising the sect-protecting great formation’s stability another level. If all seven Sword Masters were complete, they could even activate the long-sealed Big Dipper Seven Stars Killing Formation, with combat power comparable to Dao Integration stage. How could Tu Feng, someone who valued the sect above everything else, not be angry?

“Then I’m really grateful that Senior Brother stopped the Sect Master. I’m too lazy to deal with him.” Yin Lang joked around, completely unconcerned, even yawning. “Let him be angry. Once he calms down from his anger, he’ll be glad that Hua Qilan didn’t truly become the Yaoguang Sword Master. That woman’s temperament…”

Gu Fuxuan reached out to smooth his sleeve, unable to hide his indulgence. “You already said you couldn’t bear to see the Hua mother and daughter end well. As your senior brother, how could I not help you?”

The warm breeze was pleasant, the midday sun perfect, and drowsiness gradually crept in.

Gu Fuxuan chatted idly, Yin Lang’s eyes half-closed, occasionally responding with a word, his expression gradually becoming hazy, clearly about to fall asleep.

“…The Sect Master has almost finished arranging the upcoming sect martial demonstration. I mentioned to you before that Ah Lan and Chang’an will return soon—probably a few days before or after the demonstration. Oh right, Shizun should also be coming out of seclusion in the next day or two…”

“Feng Jiangcheng is coming out of seclusion?” Yin Lang suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, without a trace of drowsiness.

Gu Fuxuan realized his slip of the tongue. “Muxuan, Shizun he—”

“Senior Brother.”

Yin Lang looked directly into his eyes, his gaze as cold as ice, speaking each word clearly. “You are someone I care about. I know you respect him, so don’t mention him in front of me—whether in reverence or insult. I really don’t want to speak disrespectfully of him in your presence.”

The words Gu Fuxuan wanted to say got stuck in his throat. He wanted to say he wasn’t here to reconcile the two of them—he had just suddenly remembered and mentioned it too casually because he was too relaxed.

Faced with his junior brother’s suddenly cold gaze, he wisely swallowed his explanation and continued talking about the upcoming sect martial demonstration instead.

In Gu Fuxuan’s eyes, a rift had appeared between Shizun and his junior brother at some unknown point. It seemed that one day, suddenly, cracks formed in what had been a harmonious master-disciple relationship. Junior Brother no longer showed Shizun a kind face, and Shizun treated his various disrespectful behaviors as if he couldn’t see them.

He asked Shizun, who only told him to cultivate diligently and not meddle in others’ affairs. He asked Junior Brother, whose expression darkened as if he would draw his sword and kill someone the next moment, coldly telling him to leave and saying, ‘If Senior Brother still considers me your junior brother, don’t mention that person in front of me.’

After that, Junior Brother became even more enthusiastic about going out on missions, mostly together with Young Sect Master Xie of Heavenly Sword Sect. Each time he returned, his mood would improve for a while. In stark contrast was Shizun, whose icy aura grew heavier and whose mood was clearly unpleasant.

The further deterioration of their relationship came before Junior Brother’s bonding ceremony with Hua Qilan. Shizun, who somehow learned of the news, emerged from seclusion in great fury and imprisoned Junior Brother on the peak for a full thirty years without any explanation or reason, and no one’s pleas were of any use. He secretly snuck over to visit Junior Brother while Shizun was away. The young man in the cave had become increasingly thin and cold, showing warmth only when looking at him.

How could Gu Fuxuan bear to watch his junior brother suffer? He immediately said he would go petition Shizun.

“Don’t go.” Junior Brother tugged at the corner of his mouth lightly and said softly, “He just wants to force me to submit. As long as I don’t submit for a day, I won’t be able to leave here for a day.” 

“But Senior Brother, I did nothing wrong. If he dares to use force, I dare to ruin his reputation for life. He wants his reputation and also wants… Where in the world is there such a cheap deal!”

Gu Fuxuan couldn’t understand the meaning behind his junior brother’s words, but it wasn’t difficult to hear the resentment filling his heart from these hate-filled words.

But he truly couldn’t imagine what the strict yet responsible Shizun from his memories could have done to make his junior brother hate him to this extent.

Before he left, Junior Brother clutched at his sleeve, repeating over and over, “Don’t go, Senior Brother.”

“This is my own matter. I don’t want to implicate you, an innocent person. Don’t plead for me, and don’t come anymore in the future. Just pretend this never happened, pretend there was never someone like me on this peak.”

Gu Fuxuan pretended not to hear and knelt before Shizun’s door that very night to plead for his junior brother. Shizun threw him back to his own residence with a wave of his sleeve. When he tried to go out again, even he was confined, only regaining his freedom after a month.

He went to plead again and again, only to be met with coldness and increasingly severe punishments each time. Gu Fuxuan finally gave up on the possibility of Shizun relenting and only dared to secretly visit the back mountain cave frequently to chat with Junior Brother, often bringing him fresh novelties to relieve his boredom. Perhaps he was lucky—he never once ran into Shizun.

Later, somehow, Junior Brother was released.

Gu Fuxuan had thought the two had resolved their misunderstanding. How laughable—it wasn’t until Junior Brother had a huge fight with Shizun and stormed out to establish his own peak that he realized the conflict between these two had already accumulated to the point of eruption. A perfectly good master-disciple pair had actually reached the point where neither could tolerate the other.

“What are you thinking about, Senior Brother, with such a bitter expression? Who offended my good-tempered senior brother like this?” A lazy yawn interrupted his thoughts. Junior Brother was leaning against the reclining chair, smiling just like before.

Gu Fuxuan was silent for a moment, then tried his best to show a gentle smile and suggested, “A few days ago, I received a letter from Chang’an saying there’s some unrest near the Capital of Li, suspected to be demonic cultivators causing trouble. You’ve been cooped up in the sect for quite a while now anyway. Why not take this opportunity to bring your young disciple out for some rest and sightseeing for a period of time?”

Shen Muxuan tilted his head and stared at him. Gu Fuxuan’s palms were sweating from tension, until he finally heard him speak with a smile.

“Alright.”