Chapter 55: Not Resting Until Death
“Dead men don’t come back to life.” Jing Di seemed to realize his earlier words had been too blunt and hurtful. But there was no helping it—truth often hurt. Only by cutting to the bone and confronting reality could one move on and begin a new relationship.
He tried to patch things up awkwardly by adding, “My condolences.”
In the darkness, Ji Xiao held onto one of Meng Xueli’s wrists. He missed the other, so Meng Xueli jumped on the spot and slapped Jing Di hard on the forehead. “Condolences, my ass!”
The slap carried about eighty percent of his full strength. Jing Di felt a sharp pain in his skull, a wave of dizziness washing over him as the world spun and a ringing filled his ears.
Since Ji Xiao’s death, many had said the same thing—not with malice, but in simple attempts to comfort. Meng Xueli heard it almost daily. On the surface, he always nodded indifferently, but inwardly, he was simmering with rage.
He had once told Yu Qishu that there was a special connection between dao companions. He believed Ji Xiao Zhenren wasn’t really dead—that he was still by his side. Yu Qishu thought he was delusional from grief and burst into tears in fright. After that, he stopped talking about it and just listened to others say, “My condolences.”
Today, he had heard it one time too many. He had had enough. All his suppressed emotions exploded: “What the hell am I even supposed to be mourning?!”
Meng Xueli: “If he’s alive, I want to see him. If he’s dead, I want to see the body—do you understand?! Don’t talk to me about him dying outside the realm. Even if he fell into the fire pits of hell and burned to ash—if those ashes scattered into the South Sea, I’d boil the whole sea dry just to get a handful of his remains. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, who dares tell me he’s dead?!”
Jing Di clutched his head in both hands, dizzy and nauseous, too stunned to speak.
Ji Xiao pulled Meng Xueli into his arms, gently patting his trembling back. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Then Ji Xiao turned to the stunned Jing Di and said, “You should leave. Before you get hit again.”
His expression was calm, unreadable, yet carried an inexplicable authority.
Jing Di, still reeling from the blow, met Xiao Tingyun’s cold gaze and knew that things had fallen apart. His confession today was a complete failure. Saying anything more would be pointless. Holding his head, he turned and left.
Not far outside the cave, the other four sat on the ground and spotted their captain’s figure.
Liu Jing shouted, “He’s out, he’s out!”
Zheng Mu: “Amitabha, did he really get hit?”
Jing Di looked thoroughly defeated. He suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Rubbing his forehead, he asked the healer, “My head’s still spinning. Check if my skull’s cracked, will you?”
Xu Sanshan: “Hahahaha, Elder Meng really packs a punch. I thought he’d slap your left cheek or right cheek at most, but nope—he went straight for your forehead!”
Still fuming, Song Qianyi gave them only an angry silhouette as she turned away. “Can’t help. Go home and wait to die!”
……..
In Ji Xiao’s mind, it wasn’t worth arguing with juniors.
Even if Jing Di’s master Yun Xuzi were here, he wouldn’t bother saying much. If Jing Di’s grand-master, Gui Qing Zhenren, had shown up, then maybe they could have had an equal conversation and reasoned things out.
Ji Xiao believed that when he saved Meng Xueli back then, it wasn’t to hold it over him or demand lifelong devotion in return. Meng Xueli was a free, independent person—not something he owned. If Meng Xueli wanted to grow flowers and raise fish on Changchun Peak, that was fine. If he wanted to explore the broader world below the mountain, that was fine too.
Jing Di wasn’t entirely wrong. After losing a dao companion, anyone had the right to choose again and start a new life. That was why Ji Xiao had been willing to let him finish speaking—to gauge his sincerity, and also because he worried Meng Xueli might be deceived.
But since Meng Xueli didn’t want to hear it, then his wishes came first.
At this moment, Ji Xiao gently patted his young dao companion’s thin back and thought, But I might have messed this up again.
“He’s gone now, don’t be angry.” Ji Xiao was inexperienced in handling such situations and felt quite at a loss.
“I’m not mad at him for being rude. Why would I bother with a youngster? I’m mad because he disrespected Ji Xiao! He thinks now that the Sword Sovereign is dead, the ‘invincible era’ he stood for has ended, and the mountain pressing on everyone’s head is finally lifted…”
Meng Xueli’s muffled voice came from Ji Xiao’s embrace. “I know lots of people don’t say it out loud, but they think the same. Because they never truly understood Ji Xiao.”
As he gradually calmed down, Meng Xueli realized how embarrassing it was to be caught by his disciple in such a ridiculous moment and then need comforting from said disciple.
He looked up at Xiao Tingyun with a complicated expression. “But Tingyun, you’re not like them. You must understand the Sword Sovereign. The order he established might not have been perfect, but he genuinely wanted to make the human realm better.”
“In the past, the human world was just like the demon and devil realms—might made right. Powerful cultivators from all factions did as they pleased, fighting brutally over cultivation resources and dragging innocent mortals into the mess… Your generation never saw that world. You grew up in peaceful times, so you don’t understand how precious ‘order’ truly is.”
“With order comes more choices. With rules comes freedom. Like Shopkeeper Qian—not fond of sword cultivation—can safely run his business instead.”
“I’m not saying this to sound righteous or to take some lofty moral stance. I say it because it actually benefits every one of us. You were born with the body of an innate sword spirit, your talents are extraordinary—you don’t need to worry about your future. But if one day, your relatives, friends, or disciples in the cultivation world don’t want to follow that path, and wish to pursue something else instead—wouldn’t you want this world to treat them with kindness? To let them live with more dignity?”
In the eyes of others, Ji Xiao was a dictatorial rule-maker. But in Meng Xueli’s eyes, he was a great man who had changed the world.
Meng Xueli looked at him with unwavering focus. Ji Xiao stayed silent for a while after listening, then smiled.
“With someone like you speaking for him, all his struggles and perseverance until death weren’t in vain. Honestly, he wasn’t even as good as you say.”
Every time Ji Xiao thought Meng Xueli was adorable, Meng Xueli would reach out his little paw and softly scratch the tenderest part of his heart.
But Meng Xueli didn’t like that comment. “He was that good! You’ll understand when you grow up.”
Ji Xiao had no choice but to patiently reason with him: “You think Ji Xiao did a good thing, but it was actually very dangerous. If one day he strayed from his original heart, the entire human world would suffer. What he truly wants to do is to replace one person’s sole authority with rules that are widely accepted and beneficial to humanity. Even if that authority is his own.”
Meng Xueli thought for a moment. “Maybe you have a point, but I still can’t accept it. He will never stray from his original heart. In this world, in all three realms, anyone can doubt or misunderstand him—but not you and me! I’ll let it slide this time, but if you say he’s not good enough again, I’ll punish you by the sect’s rules.”
Ji Xiao was at a loss between laughter and tears. “Changchun Peak’s rules?” What rules did Changchun Peak even have?
“The rules of the Pro-Ji Party! Your punishment will be to write a thousand-word essay praising Ji Xiao Zhenren!”
As he spoke, Meng Xueli pulled out a few pages filled with writing from his wide sleeves, flipping through them under the glow of Hundred Generations of Time.
Ji Xiao was mildly surprised. “You still kept this?”
Meng Xueli cleared her throat. “Ahem.”
Ji Xiao sighed helplessly. “Don’t read it, don’t read it. I admit I was wrong.”
Meng Xueli chuckled and tucked the papers back away. “You need to listen to your master from now on.”
Back when they were in the Hall of Legal Principles, when Xiao Tingyun joined the party, he had written a thousand-word essay too. Ji Xiao had always kept it on him.
The cave was pitch-black and silent. The moon had shifted west, casting a narrow strip of silver light at the cave entrance, like a pool of still water.
Meng Xueli said, “The secret realm is dangerous. When morning comes, I’ll take you out.”
Ji Xiao: “Where isn’t dangerous? When you’re here, I worry about you. When I’m out there, you worry about me. Why don’t we just stay together?”
Meng Xueli thought about it and agreed. When he was Xiao Tingyun’s age, he had already been risking his life, clashing swords in bloody battles over territory. How could anyone grow without facing danger?
Lately, he had been guiding three of his junior nephews in combat and had picked up some teaching experience—just in time to apply it to his disciple. It didn’t make sense to be able to teach his junior nephews well, but not his own student.
They had shared many heartfelt words tonight, and Meng Xueli felt that their relationship had grown closer.
“You can stay—just make sure you stick close to me.”
Ji Xiao nodded and pulled out another handful of pine nuts from his storage pouch.
Meng Xueli was stunned. “How many did you bring?”
Ji Xiao replied, “Enough for you to eat for three months. Eat a few and rest. I’ll wake you at dawn.”
Meng Xueli had gone through a fierce battle in the morning, a disastrous confession by evening, and had poured out his heart late into the night. The emotional rollercoaster had left him a bit drained.
The two sat together, leaning against the stone wall. After eating some pine nuts, Meng Xueli extinguished the glow of “Hundred Generations of Time” closed his eyes, and lightly dozed.
Ji Xiao knew he was still alert—any disturbance would instantly wake him.
Outside, Xiao Tingyun was still a new disciple of Han Shan. He hadn’t been in the Dao for long. Though he progressed quickly, his cultivation was still far from matching the true heavyweights.
But the secret realm operated independently, like a world of its own. Within it, Ji Xiao held a certain level of control and could tap into its spatial energy—much like a sage borrowing the power of heaven and earth to perform divine feats.
He had come here, partly for Meng Xueli, and partly to draw on that power.
The moon drifted behind the clouds, shifting a little farther west. A silvery glow poured into the cave, illuminating half of Meng Xueli’s face. Ji Xiao thought to himself—he really was good-looking. This body had been crafted well—one could look at it endlessly without getting tired.
As for what Meng Xueli had said earlier tonight—that Ji Xiao would never stray from his original heart—
Ji Xiao himself had never dared to believe that.
“Endless Sky Sword” had been forged through the combined efforts of the six major sects—a divine weapon created by the power of the entire human realm. When the demon race invaded and chaos loomed, the six sects presented their swords to him and asked him to wield this blade to guard the mortal world.
Before this sword came into existence, Ji Xiao had another sword. It wasn’t nearly as renowned as “Endless Sky Sword.” Few spoke of it—because it was a wooden sword.
That had been a long time ago, back when Ji Xiao’s master was still alive and Hu Si had not yet left Han Shan.
When Hu Si had just begun to see success in his craft of weapon forging, he used divine phoenix wood from the South Sea to forge a wooden sword as a gift for Ji Xiao. The sword was named “Startling Wind and Rain”. Despite its name, it was calm and upright—solemn, serene, and lacking in killing intent.
Ji Xiao had used that wooden sword for many years, until he acquired “Endless Sky Sword.”
The year that divine weapon emerged, Ji Xiao’s reputation reached its peak. People in the mortal world revered him like a god. But that was also the year his master’s life drew to an end.
His master had said to him:
“When Tai Heng Zhenren was young, he came to Han Shan Sword Sect from the Zhou family in Huai River. He had many ideas—he wanted to change Han Shan, to change the cultivation world. Later, he became the Supreme Elder. His whole family came to rely on him, and everything he did carried immense weight. Eventually, he turned into the person you see today… I know you want to do many things. But the greater your power, the more careful you must be. Before you act, it’s worth thinking a little more.”
After his master passed, Ji Xiao sat in deep thought through the night. Then he handed the wooden sword back to Hu Si.
“This sword—keep it with you. It’s been imbued with my divine power.”
Hu Si: “To use as protection?”
Ji Xiao replied, “If one day I stray from my original heart, and become intoxicated with power and desire—use this sword to kill me.”
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
