Chapter 56: Soaring High
Meng Xueli had one of the sweetest, most restful sleeps he’d had in a long time. Although the cave was crude and bare, the air inside carried a peaceful aura that made him feel at ease, as though he had returned to Changchun Peak. His body seemed to have finally put down a heavy burden.
He had a dream that smelled like golden thread peach blossoms.
Back when Que Xianming came to rescue him from Han Shan and asked what kind of person Ji Xiao was, Meng Xueli had hesitated for a long time before finally saying only one thing: Ji Xiao was a good man.
Because he knew that no matter what more he said, Que Xianming would never understand.
Life was sometimes like that—even your closest and most trusted friends might not be able to truly understand you.
But Xiao Tingyun was different. Tonight was different. Meng Xueli had opened up, telling him so much about Ji Xiao.
Maybe it was the whole “what you think during the day, you dream about at night” thing—because Ji Xiao appeared in his dream.
In the dream, he was still in his snow-white spirit ferret form, lying across Ji Xiao’s knees, flipping over to show his soft belly. “Our Tingyun has grown up. He’s smart, kind, valiant—surely he’ll be just like you one day.”
Ji Xiao nodded with satisfaction. “You’ve done very well. You haven’t let down my trust.”
Deeply moved, Meng Xueli asked, “I’m more useful than the Mirage Beast, right? Who do you like more?”
Ji Xiao gently stroked him with a smile. “How could the Mirage Beast even compare? You’re a thousand times, ten thousand times better than him. It was worth all the effort I spent saving you back then.”
Meng Xueli sat up and placed his front paws on Ji Xiao’s shoulders. “Really? Say it again!”
“You’re a thousand, ten thousand times better than the Mirage Beast.”
“Again!”
“You’re better than the Mirage—”
“Hahahahaha—”
Meng Xueli laughed himself awake.
He blinked and realized he had fallen asleep leaning against his disciple’s shoulder. The morning sunlight, clear and piercing, broke through the lingering mist outside the cave and shone in, slightly dazzling.
Ah. So it really had been a daydream. Only in some ridiculous dream would Ji Xiao pamper him and say such nice things.
“What’s wrong?” Ji Xiao looked over at his little companion’s blushing cheeks and silly grin. But then he sighed upon waking, and Ji Xiao couldn’t help but worry.
Meng Xueli rubbed his eyes and mumbled wistfully, “Good dreams always end too soon.”
He rubbed his disciple’s shoulder. “I didn’t squish you, did I?” Such a silly child—acting as a cushion all night and never saying a word.
Ji Xiao’s heart softened. “Want to sleep a bit more?”
“No more sleeping! Let’s go.” Meng Xueli stood up and summoned Hundred Generations of Time. “Remember what I said last night—always remember it.”
Ji Xiao gave a helpless smile. “Alright.”
Relieved, Meng Xueli felt that the future was like the morning light streaming into the cave—bright and full of promise.
…
“They’re out!” Jin Di leapt down from a tree, a thin blade of grass in his mouth.
“Huh? There’s someone with Elder Meng?” Liu Jing set down his array disk, confused.
“Who’s that guy? You got booted out last night and he got to spend the night alone with Elder Meng?” Xu Sanshan sat up on his tiger’s back, grinning gleefully at Jin Di. “He’s better-looking than you, too.”
Jin Di instinctively twirled his long sword. “So what? Being pretty doesn’t put food on the table. Don’t talk nonsense—that’s Xiao Tingyun, Xueli’s disciple.” His sword, Ice Mirror Jade Wheel, was long and slim, so light he could spin it single-handedly, even with the sheath still on—just like a student flipping a charcoal pencil, easy and fluid.
Zheng Mu had a sudden realization. “So it’s him. Xiao Tingyun, born with an innate sword spirit body, given a ‘sage prophecy.’ He hasn’t been training long, has he? Why is he participating in the Secret Realm Competition?”
Jin Di spat out the grass leaf. “You’ve just inspired me—he’s a sword cultivator.” He scanned the area. “Where’s our medical cultivator? Someone go distract him, strike up a conversation. Junior Sister Song—”
Song Qianyi brushed the dust from her skirt, stood up with her nose in the air, and gave a cold snort.
“Senior Sister Song? Master Songi? Grandmaster Song ?” Jin Di tried different honorifics.
“Shut up!” she snapped.
Jin Di rubbed his nose and looked at the other three teammates, silently asking: “Who ticked her off?”
The three of them widened their eyes, shrugged, and pushed blame onto each other. That was just Song Qianyi’s temper. When you didn’t cross her, she was a gentle and competent medical cultivator. But if you rubbed her the wrong way, she was more explosive than a beast tamer.
“Now that his disciple is here, should we still follow them?” Liu Jing asked, holding up the array disk.
Jin Di gritted his teeth. “We follow!”
Meng Xueli and his disciple walked out of the cave into the fresh morning sun. He unfolded a map and began carefully studying it.
Ji Xiao asked, “What are you looking at? You can just ask me.”
“I’m figuring out how to shake our tail.” Meng Xueli replied. “First, we need to find a place with complex terrain…”
Their pursuers had an array master to track their direction, messenger birds in the sky, and a running tiger on the ground. Jin Di’s light-body and sword-riding techniques were no joke either. Meng Xueli was good at fighting, but not at running away.
He’d just been feeling confident and hopeful about the future, but now, right at the start, he was already facing a headache.
Ji Xiao turned his head toward the direction where Jin Di’s group was hiding. “You want to lose them?”
Meng Xueli sighed in frustration. “We’ve fought side by side before, and they’re not bad people. I don’t want to hurt them.” He briefly summarized everything that had happened over the past few days.
He just wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble. As long as Jin Di didn’t show his face to Xiao Tingyun again, everything would be fine. But if he said something insane and left a scar on Xiao Tingyun’s heart—if it caused even the slightest rift between him and his disciple—then even breaking Jin Di’s legs wouldn’t be enough to settle things.
“That’s easy,” said Ji Xiao. “Your flying artifact is really fast. It can reach heights even spirit birds can’t. They won’t be able to chase you with sword-flight.”
Meng Xueli was confused. “What flying artifact? I don’t have one.”
Ji Xiao blinked. “Give me Hundred Generations of Time.”
Meng Xueli handed it over obediently, curiosity all over his face.
Ji Xiao positioned his two swords—one horizontal, one vertical—and with a crisp click, the vertical sword slotted precisely into the center of the horizontal one. Then he gave it a gentle twist, and the horizontal sword began to spin, like an enormous bamboo dragonfly.
Meng Xueli’s eyes lit up. “That’s so clever! You’re brilliant!”
Ji Xiao: “Hold on tight.”
Meng Xueli hooked his hands around Ji Xiao’s shoulders, clinging to him like he was a koala.
Ji Xiao gripped the vertical sword with both hands, and the spinning blade grew faster and faster. The two of them began to lift off the ground. The wind howled around them, bending the grass and trees—but a barrier of force held around the two, keeping them untouched.
“We’re actually flying!” Meng Xueli exclaimed in delight.
Ji Xiao, affected by his excitement, also cracked a smile.
Jin Di and the others were just about to move out when they heard rustling in the bushes near the cave. Suddenly, through the roaring wind, a massive “bamboo dragonfly” shot into the air—with two people hanging from it.
Xu Sanshan jumped in fright. “What the—!”
Jin Di stared. “What kind of monster is that?”
All five of them stood there, dumbstruck.
A whirlwind swept across the ground, and Hundred Generations of Time soared upward like a rocket. Below them, the forests and rushing rivers shrank rapidly into the distance.
Meng Xueli looked down and shouted with glee, his voice echoing with spiritual power: “Bye-bye—hahahahaha!”
Ji Xiao laughed. “Where do you want to go?” Might as well take his little companion on a scenic tour of the secret realm.
Meng Xueli said, “East—Central City.”
Clouds rushed past them. Below the mist were ranges of mountains and winding canyons, the winding Heishui River slicing its way through the terrain.
Ahead, the sky glowed with radiant light. Hundred Generations of Time skimmed the sea of clouds, flying straight toward the rising sun.
Author’s note:
Juanjuan: Baby, Mama thinks this scene would make a perfect “The End.” What do you think?
Xueli: Ridiculous author lashing out at society… Hundred Generations of Time!
Juanjuan: Tomorrow will be loooong~ just you wait!
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
