11. Chapter 11

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I felt as though I had awakened from a great dream. When I opened my eyes, it was as if I had crossed into another lifetime. Someone was sitting beside my bed, offering me a bowl of medicinal broth. By the time I realized what I had done, the scalding broth had already spilled all over him.

“Elder Brother Fuguang.” I came fully awake at once and stared at him in alarm. Fuguang rose with an unchanged expression and reminded me, “Remember to drink your medicine.”

I watched his retreating back, bewildered and confused. Before I could work out the source of those feelings, however, something else seized my mind.

Why was Elder Brother Fuguang here?

If he was here, then that meant—

Phoenix entered with light, springing steps, clapping his hands and laughing. “You actually thought of running away from home. Xiwei, I underestimated you.”

I slowly covered my face and slid beneath the quilt, like a camel pretending to be dead. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear it!”

Phoenix roared with laughter. “How did you and Yingzhen manage to run faster than all of us? Oh, I know. She must have borrowed the formation of the Near-at-Hand Altar. Activating that formation isn’t cheap, but it certainly is convenient… Stop hiding. Your Master is right here.”

He yanked off the quilt and met my grief-stricken, humiliated gaze. Phoenix froze for a moment, then quickly arched a brow and grinned.

“Was the Hundred-Clan Banquet worth seeing? If you wanted to go, couldn’t you simply have told your Master? You sneaked away and fell ill. Do you really think Yingzhen could take proper care of you? If you begged your Master a few more times, would he really have refused you?”

He poked my flushed cheek, his voice carrying a hint of rebuke. “You’re in such poor health, yet you still dared to sneak away. Why do you imitate Yingzhen in everything? She acts recklessly, and you follow right along. Don’t you know you’re practically a walking medicine jar?”

I had no desire to answer him. I turned my face away, believing that what I could not see could not annoy me. Phoenix, however, refused to let me off.

“Aren’t you going to beg forgiveness for your Senior Sister Yingzhen? If your Master punishes her, you’ll be crying miserable tears again.”

“I was not crying!” I glared at him, then turned and ran out of the room. As I went, I worried about what I would do if Senior Sister Yingzhen really was punished, and how I could plead for mercy on her behalf.

Yet the moment I entered the doorway, I came to an abrupt halt.

I seemed to have arrived at a bad time.

The hall was full of people. With one hurried glance, I discovered that even the Lord of Fate was there. He sat to the right, accompanied by a young man in russet robes, and gave me a kindly nod and smile.

Seated at the highest place was my father. The Heavenly Venerable’s white hair surpassed snow, and his presence was vast and imposing as a range of mountains—lofty, remote, and magnificent. His eyes were as still as an ancient well, stirring only faintly when they fell upon me.

For a moment, I did not know whether to advance or retreat.

Oh no. I had barged into a meeting of great powers, and I was still disheveled, with my hair loose and my clothes in disarray… This was all Phoenix’s fault. Why had he not warned me?

I turned around and, slowly—very slowly—closed the door.

Phoenix appeared behind me like a ghost. “Why is your face so red…?”

It was all his fault!

I indignantly ran back to my room and changed. When I had finished, I discovered that my father was still in session. Phoenix crept up beside me and whispered that there were at least five Sages seated in the hall. I asked whether he had seen Senior Sister Yingzhen. He said Yingzhen had long since disappeared to enjoy herself somewhere, which infuriated me enough to pinch him again.

We were accustomed to quarreling. Whenever we met, we could not help picking at each other. In terms of brute force, I could not defeat a single person present, but after so many years together, I knew Phoenix’s weaknesses by heart. Thus, our quarrels usually ended in a draw.

Phoenix took out a mirror and sneered. “In that case, don’t look at what’s happening on the Zhuolu Battlefield…”

My sharp eyes immediately recognized it as a magical treasure. I seemed to have seen him use it before. I hurried over, and Phoenix gave several smug little laughs, forcing me to apologize aloud a few times before finally splitting the mirror’s image with me.

The Zhuolu Battlefield appeared upon its surface.

The ancient battlefield, once peaceful, now crawled with monsters and fiends. Dark clouds pressed down upon the sky, and ominous blood rain fell in torrents. Phoenix and I sat shoulder to shoulder, our heads pressed together.

“This formation is truly incredible. It moved every monster from that fiendish den in Weicheng onto this ancient battlefield. The overflowing demonic energy is being suppressed by the battlefield’s baleful aura, turning this place into a natural prison for sealing demons. Then the disciples of the various schools can break through the scattered monsters one by one. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius.”

“Wouldn’t that leave Weicheng empty?” I immediately made the connection.

“Exactly. A once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity.” Phoenix grinned, showing a row of white teeth. “Reclaiming Weicheng would earn immense merit. The merit bestowed by Heaven’s Way would be enough to raise a Quasi-Sage to Sainthood. Tell me, who wouldn’t want to pick up such a tremendous bargain?”

“Is it really that easy?” I felt that matters could not be so simple.

Phoenix shrugged. “Who knows? In any case, it isn’t our problem.”

“I’ve heard that beneath the Demon Lord are the Seven Extinctions and Eight Venerables, each one a supreme expert. We haven’t even figured out their identities yet. Do you think the Demon Lord might send them into action?”

“It’s hard to say whether they’ll act, but one identity is perfectly clear.” Phoenix seemed to remember something. He gave an inscrutable smile. “A hundred years ago, when Weicheng fell, the Blood-Robed Extinction emerged. With three of his Venerables—the Wrath-Sea Venerable, the White-Bone Venerable, and the Sin-Absolving Venerable—he slaughtered every immortal sect along the border in a single night. The headless corpses of the white-robed immortal envoys hung from the city walls for three days and three nights. White robes became blood robes, and the immortal lands became lands of death.”

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That was the obstacle that still lodged in everyone’s hearts. Weicheng had fallen too quickly, and the immortal sects surrounding it had been destroyed with such ease. The Demon Lord’s lightning-fast ambush had left many people with a lingering psychological shadow.

I had once listened to Elder Du recount history. He told us that the Bottomless Abyss, where the monsters and fiends dwelled, was a strange realm. The laws of Heaven’s Way there were incomplete, and as a result, the environment had been shaped into something utterly different. No one knew from which corner the Demon Lord had emerged. By the time he became famous, he had already unified the demonic sects. Those notorious archfiends had all submitted to him willingly.

Yet he rarely appeared before the world. His most recent appearance had been seventy years ago, when he answered the Heavenly Venerable’s challenge.

Wait. Where had the protagonist gone?

I thought of my father, who was presently meeting with the Sages, and the protagonist, who was somewhere in some corner of the ancient battlefield. Anxiety seized me. If my father and the protagonist crossed paths, would he strike Li Zheguang down on the spot?

…No, no. My father never struck people at random.

But what if?

To prevent any accidents, I had better stay by my father’s side. I could not let him run into the protagonist.

Fellow countryman, you had better keep a low profile lately.

That was what I thought.

We chatted sporadically while watching the situation on the Zhuolu Battlefield through the mirror. Phoenix pointed at the people within it, criticizing one for inadequate training and another for lacking the final touch. I watched the scenes on the battlefield with complete concentration. Many of the beasts there were creatures I had seen only in books. The Sages’ formations had scattered them, and our view leaped from one person to another.

One moment, someone was fighting nine-headed monsters to the death; the next, someone else was being chased by heavenly demons, fleeing in panic. Phoenix said that the Sages had given every cultivator participating in the Hundred-Clan Trial a token. If they encountered mortal danger, they could shatter the token and leave the battlefield. The token could also monitor the activity within the battlefield. The fact that we could see what was happening there was thanks to those tokens.

“Do you know why so many people came to the Hundred-Clan Banquet this year?” Phoenix bared his teeth in a grin. “Because a Sage of the School of Law spread word that he intends to choose a disciple at the banquet.”

A Sage’s personal disciple—what an enticing prospect. It was extraordinarily difficult for any of the Hundred Schools to produce a Sage these days. Every year, countless Quasi-Sages became trapped at the final threshold, forced to settle for becoming merely Sage-Bearers.

I watched the Zhuolu Battlefield for a long while, my eyes filled with flashing blades, crossing swords, and the corpses of monsters and fiends. At last, I hesitantly said, “These monsters… are so weak.”

Although I had never been on a battlefield or been in a real fight, even I could tell that the monsters on the Zhuolu Battlefield were practically made of paper. The cultivators, who had initially been somewhat flustered, soon adapted. With every stroke of their blades, another monster fell dead.

Phoenix also stared at the mirror, muttering to himself. “Something’s wrong. The one who conquered Weicheng back then was a notorious archfiend. Where did these small fry come from…?”

No one knew how many monsters and demons that fiendish den in Weicheng contained. Phoenix and I watched the cultivators slaughter them for a long time without exhausting their numbers. Then a flash of white light swept across the mirror, and the entire image vanished.

“What happened?” I asked in confusion.

“The sun has set.” Phoenix seemed lost in thought as he put away the mirror. “The momentum of an ancient battlefield isn’t something that can be borrowed casually. The Yellow Emperor and Chiyou fought their decisive battle here. Those two were each more destructive than the other. One summoned the Drought Fiend and turned the land barren for a thousand miles; the other called upon the Masters of Wind and Rain to conjure storms. Who knows what calamities they left behind? During the day, things are still manageable. But at night—Heaven preserve us—who knows what those soldiers who died here might become?”

“The Yellow Emperor became a Sage. He actually didn’t lead his soldiers into the cycle of rebirth?”

Phoenix gave a derisive snort. “He cultivated the Way of the Emperor. When one general achieves success, ten thousand bones lie forgotten. Have you ever seen an emperor whose throne was unstained by blood? What emperor did not climb to Heaven over a mountain of corpses?”

I slowly drew in a breath. “Phoenix, I don’t think you have much respect for the Ancestor of Humanity.”

Phoenix rolled his eyes. “I’m not human.”

The dead of an ancient battlefield could not be disturbed lightly. Those spirits had once followed the Ancestor of Humanity in opening new territories and expanding the human realm. Killing even one of them would be an unforgivable crime. If you so much as plucked a hair from one, your ancestors’ graves would lose their sacred flames. Of course, if they were the ones trying to kill you, that was another matter.

I discovered that the Sages had planned everything rather thoroughly. If the monsters of Weicheng could not be exterminated in a single day, then the cultivators could simply continue for several more. Once activated, the formation could not be halted, and even if the Demon Lord himself arrived, he could only sigh helplessly before it.

When night fell, the cultivators on the Zhuolu Battlefield were gradually transported back to the Ji Xia Academy by a formation. The final contest was a simple one: who had killed the greatest number of monsters?

Phoenix and I were temporarily staying at the Ji Xia Academy with my father. Phoenix said that the people currently residing there were either Sages, Sage-Bearers, or special figures such as the Lord of Fate. In short, this little academy was now filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

After the great powers concluded their day-long meeting, they each returned to their quarters. I obediently squatted outside my father’s room, waiting to be lectured. At this point, I had better think of a way to muddle through.

My secret journey down the mountain could be treated as either a serious matter or a minor one. It mainly depended on how my father chose to handle it. I had never stayed away from the mountain for so long before, and I knocked on the Heavenly Venerable’s door with a pounding heart.

My father was seated in a chair. The Heavenly Venerable seemed to be resting with his eyes closed, but at the sound of movement, he looked toward me.

Zou Yan said that I resembled my father, though I thought that was open to debate. Anyone who saw my father would hardly notice his appearance first. I eagerly poured him a cup of tea.

The Heavenly Venerable did not take it.

My already anxious heart sank even further.

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I carefully circled behind my father and began kneading his shoulders, coaxing him in a soft, wheedling voice.

“Father, I wanted to come down the mountain. Senior Sister Yingzhen only brought me because I asked her to. Could you please not blame her?”

I kneaded his shoulders for quite some time. It was not the first time I had acted spoiled like this. The tactic was astonishingly effective, second only to crying, making a scene, and threatening to hang myself. Whenever I behaved this way, my father would satisfy my requests. Even that insufferable Si Gui could not withstand my wheedling. Every time, he would look at me with some strange expression, then stop opposing me.

Thinking about it, I realized that I was apparently the only filial one in our family. My three older brothers were never home and were not close to their own father. Poor Father—despite all his accomplishments, he had only one daughter to care for him in his old age.

I tried to imagine the Heavenly Venerable, like an ordinary mortal, reaching his later years with no one to support him…

The scene was so frightening that I could not picture it. I kneaded his shoulders even more energetically, only to discover that the Heavenly Venerable had closed his eyes.

I stared blankly for a moment, then leaned around in front of him to look. His white hair had fallen into my palm. I carefully put it back in place and called softly, “Father?”

The Heavenly Venerable opened his eyes. He looked at me and took my hand. I froze for a moment but did not pull away. He pressed his fingers against my wrist. Only after a long while did he raise his head and ask blandly, “Have you taken your medicine?”

I nodded obediently.

“Have you chosen a companion for the Way?”

My face reddened, and I shook my head.

“Xiwei.” The Heavenly Venerable paused. “There is no need to hurry.”

I—I was not in a hurry at all. Uncle Siming had said that I had a destined romance waiting for me, yet with so many people coming and going through the Ji Xia Academy, it was unlikely that I would encounter that person easily. If I could find my destined romance, perhaps I would not need to seek a companion for the Way at all.

The Heavenly Venerable did not ask about my secret flight from home. It seemed he had no intention of pursuing the matter. Having escaped disaster, I hugged his arm and swayed it gently.

“Can I stay by your side for the next few days?”

Just in case, I had better remain close to my father. At least then I could keep track of both him and the protagonist.

The Heavenly Venerable neither nodded nor shook his head. He lowered his gaze to me, his eyes settling upon my chest. After hesitating for a moment, I took out my longevity lock and repeated what the Lord of Fate had told me.

“Uncle Siming said I have a destined romance.” My cheeks burned. Talking about such things with my own father was truly embarrassing. After living in this world for so many years, I occasionally imagined what my future partner might be like. My requirements were not high. They did not need to be especially powerful. After all, my father was the most powerful person of all.

The Heavenly Venerable stared at my longevity lock and remained silent for a moment.

My heart rose into my throat once more. The Heavenly Venerable reached out and stroked my head. I stared at him in a daze. Ever since I had grown older, my father had not been so affectionate with me.

In a slow voice, he said, “As long as you like them.”

My father’s palm was not warm. On the contrary, after years of gripping a sword, it seemed to carry the cold intent of steel. Ordinary people who saw the Heavenly Venerable could only shrink back in fear, like mayflies facing a mountain. Perhaps because I had grown up beside him, I was not particularly afraid of his presence. In fact, being near my father made me feel completely safe.

I sat beside him and watched as he once again played a game of strategy against himself. Black stones and white stones fought one another, as though two entirely different people were playing that match. I propped my chin on my hand and swung my legs idly. The longer I watched, the sleepier I became.

“Hm?”

The Lord of Fate had not expected to visit the Heavenly Venerable at night and encounter such a scene. The young girl, radiant with an almost spiritual vitality, was sprawled across the table, snoring away in deep sleep. Her utterly defenseless appearance made him smile despite himself, and he instinctively lowered his voice.

“Heavenly Venerable, there has been an unforeseen incident.”

The young girl pursed her lips unhappily. Her lips were like flower petals, her face still carrying the innocence of childhood, her cheeks slightly puffed. She was utterly pure and guileless. The Lord of Fate thought of a lotus in the pond, its blossom not yet open. He smiled faintly.

“Give her flowers, and let her be adorned in splendor from every quarter.”

With that, he took a seat as well and continued, “When the Sages counted the tokens, they discovered that one was missing. Some unlucky fellow has been left behind on the ancient battlefield.”

He flicked a finger lightly. A scene appeared in midair.

It showed a giant tree growing in the battlefield beneath a silver moon. The unlucky fellow trapped there was lying on a branch with his legs crossed, apparently dozing. Below him lay a shallow, gleaming lake. Beyond the lake were countless indistinct figures clad in battered armor. They patrolled the battlefield as though searching for something.

The carefree unlucky fellow stretched, glanced at the moonlit water below, and somehow produced a wine gourd. He uncorked it, took a drink, and began singing drunkenly to the sky.

“Raising my head, I gaze upon the bright moon…”

His voice drifted into the distance. The spirits on the battlefield followed the sound and looked around, but found nothing. Only faint laughter lingered in the air—wild, arrogant, heedless, and fearless.

“Lowering my head, I think of my old home.”

With a splash, the unlucky fellow fell into the water, shattering the moon’s reflection across the entire lake.

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