Chapter 62: Passing Through the Official Road (Part 13)
If there hadn’t been any profit in it, Bai Chunsheng still wouldn’t have wanted to get involved in the longstanding grudge between Tianqing Sect and the Tai Xu Sect. He wasn’t that capable and couldn’t afford to take on the risk of Yan Yi’s recovery.
Jiang Ji was just being polite with her words. Based on the past few days of interacting with Yan Yi and Bai Chunsheng, she clearly understood that neither of them were the type to be moved by kindness or sentiment. Since that was the case, the fact that they had saved her must have been for some other reason.
He Shan was left alone in the carriage, accompanied only by a paper puppet Bai Chunsheng had crafted to keep her company.
The carriage was parked a short distance away from where they were now, but none of the three seemed to be in any rush. They simply followed the path they had come by and walked back.
Jiang Ji had still been clinging to a sliver of hope that Shen Fangxing might have survived. Even though no one was said to have made it out alive from the foot of Yuren Peak, she still held on to that tiny belief. Jiang Ji had considered the possibility that Lin Zeming had been lying to her, but the fact that he had shown up here had completely extinguished whatever hope she had left.
—Shen Fangxing was dead.
Jiang Ji had been walking for a long time when she suddenly stopped, as if only at that moment did the realization truly hit her—Shen Fangxing was dead.
He really was gone.
Jiang Ji let out a long sigh.
Multiple severe injuries that hadn’t had time to fully heal had left her looking noticeably worn down. Bai Chunsheng had been thinking of how to bring up the idea of them joining Tianqing Sect as guest cultivators when he suddenly heard Jiang Ji sighing over and over again.
Finally, Jiang Ji asked Yan Yi, “Is your name really Ye Jingxing?”
Yan Yi was walking beside Bai Chunsheng. He gave a quiet “Mm,” and replied, “I can’t quite remember. I think that’s it.”
Jiang Ji remained silent for a long while, then asked him in a dazed tone as if just waking from a dream, “I didn’t see you draw your sword today. How did you kill those people?”
Before Yan Yi could answer, Jiang Ji sluggishly realized how inappropriate it was to so bluntly ask about the secret behind Yan Yi’s sword techniques. She quickly corrected herself: “Ah, that wasn’t the right way to ask. That was foolish of me.”
“Your sword strikes were like the wind—unmatched and unstoppable. It stirred something in my memory, and then I recalled someone,” Jiang Ji said. “He was a very famous figure hundreds of years ago, during the chaotic Immortal-Demon War when conflict raged across the realm. He became renowned throughout the cultivation world with his elusive sword techniques—clearly, a sign of extraordinary talent. But this man had a mysterious background and vanished long ago. No one knows what became of him.”
“Who was this person?” Bai Chunsheng asked.
Jiang Ji smiled and replied, “He was also called Ye Jingxing.”
“He had the exact same name as Brother Ye. Probably just a coincidence. I used to wonder if Brother Ye could be him, but that was hundreds of years ago. That man was already a famous sword cultivator in the Dao stage back then, so it’s unlikely.” She shook her head with a smile. “There aren’t many records of him left. I just remember his swordsmanship was extraordinary. I heard not long ago that the inheritance he left in a secret realm has finally been claimed.”
“If the two of you are thinking of involving yourselves in the great upheaval sweeping the world, you might just run into his successor. That would truly be something to witness,” Jiang Ji sighed. “A gathering of heroes like this… it might be another thousand years before we see such a grand event again.”
Bai Chunsheng felt a stir in his heart. The timeline and the name matched, after all. He asked Jiang Ji, “Was that man from the Tai Xu Sect?”
Jiang Ji shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Some said he was, others said he wasn’t. When Ye Jingxing first appeared, he already had the cultivation level of the Dao stage. By the time he made a name for himself in the cultivation world, I had only just broken through the late Nascent Soul stage. I never even had the chance to speak with him.”
“From his first appearance to his disappearance, it was only about a hundred years. Every era in the cultivation world produced countless powerful sword cultivators, each claiming to be unmatched in their time. Heh, as if there could be so many people like Yan Jingqiu in this world.”
Both Yan Yi and Bai Chunsheng furrowed their brows subtly, each for their own reasons.
Jiang Ji didn’t notice and continued speaking. “The fact that I could remember his name for so long, and even recall fragments of him after his disappearance, shows just how extraordinary he was back then.” She sighed. “It’s a pity. I don’t recall ever hearing of Brother Ye before. I suppose it’s due to my limited knowledge. With strength like his… he should’ve been renowned across the world long ago.”
Yan Yi interrupted, “It’s nothing. It’s not a particularly important matter. Because of my cultivation technique, I often forget things that aren’t significant. Perhaps the name I used publicly in the past wasn’t this one. I’m not even sure what identity I used to have.”
Hearing this, Jiang Ji’s attention shifted. “If that’s the case, there are many possibilities regarding Fellow Daoist Ye’s identity. Who knows, maybe I even brushed past your former self at some point.” She laughed heartily, but after the laughter, she seemed to remember the news of Shen Fangxing’s death again and sank back into silence.
Bai Chunsheng was deep in thought. It didn’t matter if Jiang Ji couldn’t remember the identity of “Ye Jingxing” right now—what mattered was confirming that such a person truly existed. That would make investigating the matter much easier. Bai Chunsheng was only so invested in this because both the Blue Dragon and Ye Jingxing seemed to have connections with Bo Yan.
Right now, the real threat wasn’t the distant Bo Yan, but the deadly specter that was Yan Jingqiu, who still carried his sword.
Jiang Ji, having been saved by Yan Yi, now saw his pride and strangeness as quirks that naturally belonged to the strong. She understood that Yan Yi didn’t like idle chatter, so she asked Bai Chunsheng bluntly, “You two risked offending the Tai Xu Sect to rescue me. It couldn’t possibly be just to exchange a few irrelevant words with me, could it?”
She went on, “If there’s something you need me to do, just tell me directly. Given my current circumstances… there’s no need for polite formalities. You saved my life. I owe you, and I don’t want to be in debt.”
That was exactly what the two men wanted to hear. Bai Chunsheng said, “We do have a matter we need help with. The reason the two of us are traveling together to the Southern Region is to go to the current location of Tianqing Sect—inside the Xu family’s territory.”
Bai Chunsheng had grown a lot. After many trials, he could now lie without blinking. “To be honest, my ancestral roots are from that region, but the land was later claimed by the Xu family. It was a blatant and unreasonable act, but we were too weak to do anything. Our descendants were forced to move to the Middle Realm, but we never gave up on reclaiming our homeland. Recently, I heard that joining the Tianqing Sect might give me a chance to reclaim it, so I asked my friend to come with me.”
Bai Chunsheng glanced at Yan Yi, who gave a cooperative nod.
Satisfied, Bai Chunsheng nodded in return.
Jiang Ji didn’t pay much attention to their subtle gestures. She lowered her head and said, “That shouldn’t be too difficult. As long as you gain guest elder status, you should be able to claim a mountain peak to establish your own cave-dwelling. But right now, Tianqing Sect has no one in charge, and they fear that people from the Ten Thousand Demon Sect or Tai Xu Sect will take advantage of their vulnerability. If two powerful cultivators show up out of nowhere, they might raise some concerns.”
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Ji added, “If you come with me, you’ll probably just need to complete an assessment task for a Dao stage elder.”
“Both of you are clearly very capable. Such a task should be easy for you, so there’s no need to worry.”
As Jiang Ji finished speaking, the outline of the carriage came into view. He Shan heard her voice and pushed open the window, poking her head out.
Seeing that Jiang Ji was safe and whole—no limbs missing—He Shan relaxed the tense curve of her back, let out a deep breath, and gave a genuine, heartfelt smile.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
