Chapter 20

Originally, the sword cultivators and medicine cultivators in the spectator seats surged forward, and the cheers of the Cloud Immortal Sect disciples almost echoed through the heavens.

The two groups each gathered up, forming two clusters on the Azure Cloud Platform, and quickly an unbridgeable distance opened up between Wen Qingyin and Pei Junheng.

Wen Qingyin, what scheming tricks have you pulled!

A loud question came from the crowd of sword cultivators, and Qiu Sanchi stepped out from the crowd; the sword cultivators behind him were applying medicine powder to Pei Junheng's shoulder wound.

Qiu Sanchi stared at the soft sword in Wen Qingyin's hand, his gaze like a torch: "Where did you get this sword?" Looking at it, it seemed incredibly familiar.

The cooling Jade Marrow Ointment was applied by Zi Shu Zhi to the wound on Wen Qingyin's right hand; the moment the ointment covered it, the previously horrible wound visibly began to grow and heal.

Hearing Qiu Sanchi's question, Wen Qingyin glanced at him sideways, his tone arrogant: "You should ask your Young Sect Master about that."

As soon as Wen Qingyin's words fell, a group of medicine cultivators behind him burst into laughter: "Tch, defeated underlings!"

Qiu Sanchi was furious at the smug faces of those medicine cultivators, and just as he was about to recklessly draw his sword, the sword cultivators behind him held him back.

"Treating the Young Sect Master's injury comes first," they reminded.

That made sense. Qiu Sanchi sheathed his sword, and before leaving he threw out a harsh warning: "You medicine cultivators, just wait for me!" His gaze lingered on Wen Qingyin's face for a few seconds.

Wen Qingyin, meanwhile, glared at him without fear.

The sword cultivators, surrounding Pei Junheng, departed in a mighty procession.

The disciples of the Cloud Immortal Sect were high-spirited, continuously praising their own sect's Junior Sect Master who had won the championship; their words of praise flowed like an endless river, almost lauding Wen Qingyin as a rebirth of the Supreme Harmony Immortal Lord, for that group of sword cultivators was never a match for their Junior Sect Master.

Yet none of those words reached Wen Qingyin's ears; he withdrew his gaze from Pei Junheng's back, having stared at Pei Junheng for a long time ahead, but Pei Junheng never turned to look at him.

Wen Qingyin lifted his eyes to the totem unique to the Cloud Immortal Sect on the hundred-zhang stone pillar; just as he had thought, he seized the championship of the sect's grand competition, successfully defeating Pei Junheng. Yet returning that sword from years ago to Pei Junheng did not bring him the joy he had imagined.

He had thought he would be happy.

A pain seemed to rise in his right palm, growing increasingly intense, as if sword energy were stirring in his wound, just like when he years ago grabbed a sword tassel and his right hand was sliced open, bleeding profusely, the pain severe.

Wen Qingyin's body trembled.

Zi Shu Zhi, together with the medicine cultivators surrounding Wen Qingyin, keenly sensed that something was off with Wen Qingyin; those around were all elated, but Wen Qingyin, standing at the center of the crowd, seemed to be in a daze.

Zi Shu Zhi asked: "Junior Sect Master, why aren't you speaking?"

Hearing Zi Shu Zhi's question, Wen Qingyin's eyes stared blankly as they turned back, and Zi Shu Zhi heard Wen Qingyin murmur softly: "My hand hurts… so much…"

The Junior Sect Master's hand still hurts!

Zi Shu Zhi slapped his forehead and hurried to look at Wen Qingyin's palm, which had already been coated with ointment.

The Jade Marrow Ointment took effect extremely quickly; the ferocious wound on the front of Wen Qingyin's palm had largely healed, but a narrow scar remained, revealing the red flesh within.

The wound in Wen Qingyin's palm is too deep!

Continuing to silently curse Pei Junheng for striking too hard, Zi Shu Zhi called out to the medicine cultivators present, and a group of them led Wen Qingyin to the medical clinic of Yingzhou Academy for treatment.

In the end, Wen Qingyin's right hand was tightly bandaged before being released from the medical clinic.

Making an excuse to send off the Cloud Immortal Sect disciples, Wen Qingyin said he wanted to return to his residence to rest a while; the medicine cultivators, still immersed in the excitement of winning the sect grand competition, did not press further, and they all left happily together.

Wen Qingyin walked alone along the desolate mountain path back to Falling Star Courtyard.

He had always thought Falling Star Courtyard was remote, requiring a long mountain trek to reach this little courtyard hidden in a mountain hollow.

But today, as if in a daze, Wen Qingyin realized he had unknowingly arrived at the gate of Falling Star Courtyard.

The dense forest beside Falling Star Courtyard was tranquil; a huge apricot tree stretched its head out from the courtyard, half-leaning against the ancient courtyard wall, its canopy half delicate apricot blossoms and half green leaves, as if half-made up.

Wen Qingyin stood at the courtyard gate, staring at the tightly closed door and hesitating a moment, but finally he extended his uninjured hand and pushed the gate open.

Upon entering the courtyard, Wen Qingyin quickly discovered that Pei Junheng was not inside, and for a moment he did not know what he felt.

After realizing Pei Junheng was absent, his first reaction was actually a sigh of relief.

He did not know how to face Pei Junheng.

Clearly this was a debt Pei Junheng owed him, yet when he actually thrust his sword into Pei Junheng's shoulder, Wen Qingyin did not feel the satisfaction of a great vengeance repaid.

But the sect grand competition was originally won by Wen Qingyin through his own ability; occasional injuries in a match are normal, so what does he have to be uneasy about?

Wen Qingyin then convinced himself, and only after his mood settled did he notice how warm the sunlight falling on him was.

Today really is fine weather.

Pulling himself out of that emotion, Wen Qingyin's thoughts gradually began to stir.

He remembered that he needed to take out the love gu and sunbathe it.

He took out from his bag the small porcelain box in which he had carefully kept it; upon opening it, the fat gu worm inside was sweetly asleep, and when Wen Qingyin grabbed it out and placed it in the sunlight, it merely turned slowly facing the sun, appearing lazy and unwilling to move.

After placing the fat gu worm properly, Wen Qingyin was not idle either; he reached out to tend the spirit field he had personally reclaimed.

He took a few spirit grass seeds from his bag, letting them fall from Wen Qingyin's hand; as soon as the seeds dropped into the soil, they sprouted tender little shoots.

Tending the spirit grass occupied Wen Qingyin's attention, so he did not notice the passage of time until the fat gu worm, chilled by the evening's coolness, curled up beside his hand, and only then did he realize the sky was almost completely dark.

And Pei Junheng had not yet returned.

Wen Qingyin rose, holding the fat gu worm.

What does Pei Junheng mean? Could it be that after losing to him this time, he has no face to appear before him?

The jade slips of the inland disciples have a communication function; Wen Qingyin prepared to go find Pei Junheng to ask for clarification.

He wanted to clarify why Pei Junheng hadn't returned, he wanted to clarify Pei Junheng——

why he willingly let Wen Qingyin's sword strike his shoulder.

But when Wen Qingyin picked up the jade slip, he remembered that Pei Junheng had long been placed on his blacklist, forbidding communication with him.

Thus Wen Qingyin's finger bent, and he sent a message to Zi Shu Zhi: "Do you know Qiu Sanchi's contact code?"

After sending the message, Wen Qingyin soon received Zi Shu Zhi's reply.

【Zi Shu Zhi】Junior Sect Master, why would you need the contact code of that lousy sword cultivator?

【Wen Qingyin】Never mind, just tell me whether you know or not.

【Zi Shu Zhi】I really don't know; I've always looked down on associating with sword cultivators—sword cultivators are despicable and shameless, petty and contemptible……

Zi Shu Zhi probably thought Wen Qingyin's question was a test of his loyalty, so after the message came a long rant of nasty remarks about the Myriad Day Sword Sect, flowing on and on. At this moment Wen Qingyin had no mood to read those; he closed the jade slip and sat back alone on his bed.

After closing the jade slip, Wen Qingyin couldn't help but recall the scene of him stabbing Pei Junheng's shoulder with his sword; Pei Junheng didn't utter a sound, his eyes locked firmly on Wen Qingyin's wounded hand.

Pei Junheng could have dodged it.

Wen Qingyin knew his own swordsmanship level; he wanted to defeat Pei Junheng openly and honorably, so why didn't Pei Junheng dodge? At that moment, Pei Junheng stared at his wound—what was he thinking?

As Wen Qingyin was about to fall into a dead-end train of thought, the jade slip he had placed on the bed rang.

He picked it up and opened it to find a message from Zi Shu Zhi giving Wen Qingyin Qiu Sanchi's contact information; apparently sensing Wen Qingyin's bad mood, Zi Shu Zhi still went to someone to obtain Qiu Sanchi's jade slip code.

【Zi Shu Zhi】 When I went to get Qiu Sanchi's contact code, that person suspected I was looking for a fight with members of the Wan Zhou Sword Sect! How laughable—who cares about those Wan Zhou Sword Sect people? Just a bunch of defeated lackeys.

After thanking Zi Shu Zhi, Wen Qingyin sent a message using the code Zi Shu Zhi had found for him, asking whether Pei Junheng would return to Fall Star Lodge tonight.

After the message was sent successfully, Wen Qingyin felt a twinge of regret, as if it showed his guilt, as if he were worrying about Pei Junheng.

Wen Qingyin looked at his bandaged right hand; in fact, the wound on his right hand had already healed when the marrow‑nourishing salve was applied, yet he continually felt a faint pain.

He didn't know whether it was from the new injury or the old scar.

At that moment, the jade slip in Qiu Sanchi's bag sounded, indicating a received message.

He picked up the jade slip to check it, and after seeing what the message asked, he stood frozen in place.

Qiu Sanchi carefully examined the sender of the message—it was an unfamiliar string of code.

If the sender is not a mutual contact on the jade slip, only the code is displayed, and the other party's identity cannot be viewed.

"Who is this?" Qiu Sanchi said, baffled. He used the jade slip to dial the code on the message: "It couldn't be Wen Qingyin, could it? Why is he asking about this? Is he waiting for the young sect master to return so he can stab him again?"

Pei Junheng, whose shoulder was bandaged, stopped Qiu Sanchi from uttering vulgarities, his eyes dark and sunk, and he warned coldly: "Tell him that in the near future I will apply to Qing Xuan Shangjun to change lodgings; for these few days I will stay elsewhere."

Qiu Sanchi nodded in agreement: "Exactly, we shouldn't be living with that Wen Qingyin…… Hey? When did the call get connected?"

He had only just realized that the code he dialed had been answered by the other party at some point; after the connection, the other side said nothing until just now, when they hung up on him.

Just who is this?

Qiu Sanchi tried to call back, but as soon as he entered the code, the jade slip popped up a notice that he had been blocked from communication by the code's owner.

Even after being suddenly blocked, Qiu Sanchi never figured out whose code it was.

But now is obviously not the time to dwell on this; Qiu Sanchi drew a long face: "Young sect master, what are we to do about the sect master?" Originally everyone in the sect, high and low, firmly believed the young sect master would win the sect grand competition, yet who could have imagined…… they still lost to the Cloud Immortal Gate, and the sect master will surely punish the young sect master again.

"Young sect master!" a sword‑cultivation disciple came running with a jade slip; Pei Junheng's jade slip had been smashed, previously taken to the academy for repair, but it would take some time.

Thus Chi Xiao Sword Venerable's message was sent to that disciple's jade slip; Pei Junheng took the jade slip the disciple handed him, the slip lit up, showing a communication request from Chi Xiao Sword Venerable, presumably concerning this sect grand competition.

Pei Junheng lowered his gaze, his expression unchanging, yet blood seeped through the bandage on his shoulder.

His fingertip hovered over the jade slip for a few seconds before he finally opened the communication.

Wen Qingyin flew into a rage upon hearing Pei Junheng's words, but only after he hung up the jade slip's communication did he slowly react.

Winning the sect grand competition and not sharing lodgings with Pei Junheng—aren't these exactly what he had hoped for?

Why, then, after knowing this, did he not feel the relief of a heavy burden lifted?

Wen Qingyin lay alone on the bed, tossing and turning, until finally, before the indoor candle burned out, he understood everything.

During the match, Pei Junheng actively stepped forward to meet his thrusting sword; this time, too, Pei Junheng took the initiative to move out, and although in the end both achieved their goals, it was as if……

as if Pei Junheng were giving him charity.

By contrast, Wen Qingyin preferred to hold the initiative himself.

It is he who wishes to cast off Pei Junheng, not the present situation where it appears Pei Junheng pities him, actively meeting his sword to let him win the championship, then abandoning him by moving out of the lodgings.

Having figured it out, Wen Qingyin immediately turned over, picked up his jade slip, and sent a message to Qiu Sanchi: "Where is Pei Junheng? I want to have a good talk with him."

Although he hadn't yet decided what to say, he wanted to meet Pei Junheng alone.

But as soon as he sent the message, Wen Qingyin discovered that Qiu Sanchi had blacklisted him.

Presumably that Qiu Sanchi fellow eventually figured out that the code belonged to Wen Qingyin and swiftly blocked Wen Qingyin's code from communication.

Thus Wen Qingyin again retrieved Pei Junheng's code from the blacklist on his jade slip.

【Wen Qingyin】 When are you free? Let's meet and talk.

This message was sent successfully.

Pei Junheng actually did not put Wen Qingyin on the blacklist.

Back when Wen Qingyin returned from Dragon Spine Mountain to the Cloud Immortal Gate, the first thing he did upon waking was to put Pei Junheng's code in his jade slip on the blacklist; he never imagined that, over all these years, it had always been him unilaterally blacklisting Pei Junheng.

Why does Pei Junheng still keep his contact code?

Wen Qingyin couldn't understand it, and his desire to confront Pei Junheng alone grew stronger.

He lay alone on the bed, tossing and turning for a long time before finally falling asleep; even as he drifted into sleep, his hand clung tightly to the jade slip.