BW Chapter 180

At First Sight (3)

After Yijian Peak was originally leveled to flat ground by Chu Jun’s Taiji Seal, it had since rebuilt its mountain ridges anew. Shen Xi handled the advance and retreat appropriately without making excessive changes, only ordering people to guard it well.

Although this young sect master sometimes acted with swift decisiveness, not as gentle as Chu Linyuan, now that the seventeen states had suffered such great turmoil and the Wushi Sect had also lost many disciples, her own qualifications were still shallow. She precisely needed some thunderous methods to stabilize the situation.

Upon hearing that Chu Jun was coming, she personally brought people to welcome him, putting on a full display of grandeur.

Although Chu Jun didn’t particularly like overly lively scenes, he still didn’t refuse. After all, this time he came with Ning Buwei specifically to support Shen Xi’s position.

Although Ning Buwei and Shen Xi had old grievances because of Shen Ze’s matter, Shen Xi had both helped and sent favors, and the invitation even specified names. If Ning Buwei didn’t come, it would be unreasonable.

Ning Buwei had absolutely no interest in any sect or aristocratic family gatherings. He lowered his eyes, staring blankly at the tea mist on the table, when a clear and bright voice sounded before him:

“Master Ning.”

In his hundreds of years of wandering through the seventeen states, Ning Buwei had been called Ning Chengfeng, Ning Buwei, Great Demon, and even “son of a b*tch,” but he had never heard himself addressed this way. He looked up upon hearing the voice.

A young man with proper appearance, looking to be only about a hundred years old by bone age, with Golden Core cultivation.

He had never seen him before and didn’t recognize him.

“This humble one is a collateral descendant of the Ning family scattered outside.” That young man respectfully performed a junior’s bow.

Ning Buwei instantly narrowed his eyes with displeasure. The Ning City Lord’s family and the collateral branches living in Xun Prefecture had all died out completely. The only one who escaped, Ning Fan’s branch, had all been chopped up by him. The Great Demon’s face revealed a kind smile.

It seemed that Ning Fan’s branch hadn’t been killed cleanly enough.

Just as his smile gradually became sinister and menacing, that young man said somewhat nervously, “This humble one’s ancestors were from the Ning clan collateral branch of Chen City in Shangzhou’s Xun Prefecture five hundred years ago. Our ancestors received protection from the late Ning ancestor and Li Xiaohan ancestor and were able to escape. Following our ancestors’ dying wish, we changed our names and hid in the northern Kan Prefecture. It has been over five hundred years now. We still have the collateral genealogy and family inheritance. According to protocol, this junior should respectfully address you as ancestor grandfather.”

Ning Buwei’s hand holding the teacup trembled, and the cup instantly turned to powder.

That young man seemed to misunderstand his anger and hurriedly knelt down, saying, “Previously, we were incompetent. Our family has gradually declined, and we only heard of your mighty reputation but dared not rashly seek recognition. Now that the truth has come to light, this junior has boldly come forward. We seek nothing else, only hope to return the genealogy and family inheritance of the Chen City branch back to Chen City’s Ning Manor, to fulfill our ancestors’ wish to return home…”

Ning Buwei looked at him with complex emotions. “What is your name?”

“In response to ancestor grandfather, this junior’s generation should be the ‘Jia’ character generation. My father gave me the name Feng, so I am Ning Jiafeng.” That young man replied.

Ning Buwei never expected that back then, there were actually people who could escape alive from Chen City. Even the horrifying address of “ancestor grandfather” no longer mattered to him. “How many of you are there now?”

“When we escaped from Chen City, there were seventeen people. Our ancestors changed their surname to Jia, but they always kept Chen City in their hearts, instructing us younger generations never to forget our ancestral roots. Now including myself, the Ning family has one hundred and thirty-six people.” Ning Jiafeng replied.

Although a family of over a hundred people was pitifully small when placed in the seventeen states, it was still better than the Ning family having only one Ning Buwei and one Ning Xiu remaining. Moreover….this was a bloodline that his parents had desperately protected, besides himself.

Ning Buwei waved his hand to indicate he should rise. “Then change it back.”

Ning Jiafeng immediately wept with joy.

****

The wooden building on Yijian Peak was still there. Ning Buwei went in for a stroll, then propped himself up and sat on the railing of the second floor.

Chu Jun stood beside him and handed him an exquisitely crafted box.

“Hmm?” Ning Buwei made a questioning sound but still took the box and opened it.

Inside lay two jade pendants fitted together.

“You left too early. Ning Jiafeng couldn’t find you, so he asked me to pass this to you.” Chu Jun said, “He said this was a clan token left by your parents back then, and now it should be returned to its rightful owner.”

Ning Buwei picked up those two jade pendants fitted together. They were lustrous and translucent in the sunlight, carrying a slight warmth.

When Ning Gu and Li Xiaohan died from body explosion back then, their bones were completely destroyed. The tomb he erected for them contained two empty coffins.

He wasn’t particularly concerned about these things—after all, the people were gone—but having them….was still better than not having them.

It was probably still wanting some psychological comfort.

Chu Jun embraced him from behind.

“I’m not sad.” Ning Buwei insisted on emphasizing this point to him.

“Mm, I know.” Chu Jun held him tighter and said gently, “Zizhang and the others always complain that Chen City is cold and deserted.”

Ning Buwei snorted with laughter. “It’s still that Wanxuan Academy assigns too little homework.”

Each one of them was climbing walls and roofs with terrible restlessness. Fang Wanchen was already so worried he was starting to lose hair. Clearly there were only five children plus one little dragon, yet they made Ning Buwei feel like he was raising over a thousand ducks at home.

What’s more, these ducks kept clamoring every day that the surroundings were too quiet.

Chu Jun smiled slightly. “People have already begun moving back into various parts of Xun Prefecture one after another. Within a hundred years, it will surely become lively again.”

Ning Buwei pressed his lips together. “Then let them move back to Chen City.”

That place was originally their ancestral land anyway.

“I have never seen my own parents.” Chu Jun said, “I also don’t know what relatives I have. I simply took my master’s surname Chu. Although the three senior brothers… have different personalities, having more liveliness is always good.”

Even though they hadn’t been in contact for hundreds of years, when he underwent his fate tribulation, they still rushed over in a hurry and helped without a second word.

Ning Buwei leaned against him. “Mm, when they’re here, you sleep much more soundly than usual.”

Chu Jun’s voice paused. “Not really. As for me, I still prefer things quieter.”

This diversion immediately piqued Ning Buwei’s interest. “Hey, is it true what eldest senior brother said about you climbing trees to pick fruit as a child and breaking your leg?”

Venerable Jinghe said seriously, “Of course not.”

“What about what second senior brother said about you coaxing Zhuozhi Zhenren to go to the Dark Domain to find you a spiritual beast, and the Zhenren got his whole beard singed?” Ning Buwei asked again.

“…How could that be possible.” Chu Jun replied without changing expression. “Master has always been steady and dignified. He wouldn’t do such things.”

“Third senior brother also said you instigated Ning Xingyuan to lie on the Floating Sky Realm’s gate with you to pry off silver pieces——” Ning Buwei looked dazed, half-believing and half-doubting.

After all, looking at Chu Jun and Ning Xingyuan’s usual conduct, they absolutely didn’t seem like people who could do such things. Moreover, roughly calculating, Chu Jun was already five hundred years old at that time—how could he not be very steady by then?

Even for Ning Buwei himself, he felt he could only possibly do such ridiculous things when he was at most fourteen or fifteen years old.

“Absolutely no such thing.” Chu Jun said with a calm expression, “Those three have always loved making up stories. They can’t be taken seriously.”

Ning Buwei thought of the bizarre rumors they had fabricated about himself taking pregnancy pills to “nurture a pregnancy,” and immediately got goosebumps all over. He nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. Indeed, they can’t be taken seriously.”

Chu Jun imperceptibly breathed a sigh of relief. “Next time they talk nonsense again, just listen and let it pass.”

Ning Buwei nodded. “But looking at that piece of pure silver Ning Xiu has for his longevity lock, it really does look quite similar to the silver on the Floating Sky Realm’s gate.”

“That pure silver was a gift from third senior brother. It was probably pried off by him.”

“Tsk, third senior brother really has retained his childlike innocence.”

“…Right.”

****

Ning Gu and Li Xiaohan were buried by Ning Buwei in the deep mountains beside the Endless River. Ning Buwei hadn’t come here for hundreds of years. It took him and Chu Jun a long time to find the barrier he had set up here originally.

Chu Jun withdrew his gaze from that distant city. “That place is Linjiang City that Xiao Jiang and Zizhang often mention?”

“Mm.” Ning Buwei lit incense and looked at the two names on the stone tablet, adding several more layers to the already ridiculously thick barrier around the area. “After the battle at Xingluo Cliff previously, my meridians were completely severed and my dantian damaged. I was unconscious for a full year. When I woke up, I was by that section of river at the foot of this mountain.”

He rarely came here to see them, because even he knew there was nothing under this tomb—it was merely an empty plot of land he had used for comfort in his youth. Later, as he was busy running for his life, he visited even less frequently. Over time, when he saw this place again, he had even forgotten about it.

It wasn’t until today when he came to place the jade pendants that he suddenly realized the riverbank where he had lain dying was merely the distance between mountaintop and foot from his parents’ grave marker.

Ning Buwei bent down to wipe the dust from the stone tablet and smiled. “At that time, the Chongzheng Alliance was hunting me everywhere, and Pei Heguang and Ning Fan were also lurking in the shadows, watching like tigers… Clearly when they died, their bodies exploded and their souls scattered——

Yet I was inexplicably able to sleep peacefully for a year and still wake up, with a child suddenly appearing in my arms. No matter how I thought about it before, I couldn’t figure out how I safely passed through that year of unconsciousness…”

Chu Jun looked at the two names on the stone tablet that had long since faded, leaving only deep carved marks, and put his arm around Ning Buwei’s shoulder.

Ning Buwei lowered his eyes, watching the jade pendants slowly fall into the deep coffin.

Perhaps this was just an amazing coincidence, or perhaps there really was something predestined—a fact that even he himself couldn’t explain.

When he was dying and fell from Xingluo Cliff into the Endless River, the turbulent rushing waters carried his broken body eastward, passing through the resting place of Ning Gu and Li Xiaohan. They recognized their own child, so they exhausted all their strength to pull him from the turbulent waters onto the shore, protecting him from those ominous pursuers and dark surveillance, allowing him to sleep peacefully after five hundred years of exhaustion.

Worried parents looking at their son’s scarred body seemed to also perceive his despairing will that held no desire to live, so they gave him an adorable child to accompany their child, letting him continue walking in this not particularly beautiful or peaceful mortal world with hope.

The farewell back then had been too hurried, so they selfishly let him sleep this long sleep, so they could carefully look at their child’s current appearance once more.

Then standing before the bank of the Endless River, standing in the bleak pattering autumn rain, quietly watching Ning Buwei carry Ning Xiu away, until their figures could no longer be seen.

Perhaps it was just like this.