Sheng Jiao crouched down, his brow furrowed tightly.
He gently parted his lips but couldn’t produce a single word. He could only channel spiritual power: “What happened?”
Xi Jue’s mind hadn’t cleared yet, but he blurted out skillfully: “What, feeling sorry for me?”
Sheng Jiao looked at him coldly, treating his flirtatious words like wind passing his ear. His fingers touched Xi Jue’s face.
He didn’t know how long Xi Jue had knelt in the ice and snow. His small face was frozen like ice, and looking closely, you could see a handprint on his left cheek and his lips were split.
Sheng Jiao’s brow furrowed even tighter.
Xi Jue’s thoughts lagged behind his words. Once his mind finally cleared, his pupils contracted as he instinctively turned away from Sheng Jiao’s touch. His usually arrogant, extravagant face inexplicably showed embarrassment.
“Why did you come?” he asked quietly again.
Sheng Jiao said nothing and pulled him up.
“No, no, no.” Xi Jue moved slightly, and frost and snow fell from his body in flurries, even his joints making creaking sounds. He insisted on staying kneeling: “I made a mistake. Mother made me kneel for two days. I can only get up at winter solstice.”
A fire burned in Sheng Jiao’s heart that couldn’t be extinguished, scorching his usually clear mind blank.
Kneeling for two days until winter solstice.
Which meant he’d been kneeling in the ice and snow for three days already with barely any spiritual power.
Sheng Jiao’s hand holding Xi Jue trembled. He slightly closed his eyes and forcibly suppressed that inexplicable rage trying to seize his consciousness, speaking word by word with icy precision.
“Winter solstice has passed.”
Xi Jue froze, his eyes widening in shock: “You can talk?”
Sheng Jiao: “…”
You’re thinking about that?!
“Haha, you’re not a silent gourd anymore!” Xi Jue laughed carelessly. He leaned forward and cradled Sheng Jiao’s face with his ice-cold paws, grinning: “Say a few more words. I love listening.”
The fire in Sheng Jiao’s heart flared up again.
He roughly pulled Xi Jue up. Ice chunks mixed with snow fell everywhere.
Sheng Jiao dragged Xi Jue toward the room.
Xi Jue took two steps before his legs buckled and he collapsed back to the ground, clutching Sheng Jiao’s hand.
“Sheng Jiao, Sheng Jiao…” Xi Jue inhaled sharply, laughing dryly: “Go slower. My legs have no feeling.”
Sheng Jiao slightly closed his eyes, his expression dark. He turned and scooped the ice-covered Xi Jue into his arms, walking quickly into the room where he directly threw the “ice block” onto the warm, soft couch.
Driving the cold from one’s body could be done with ordinary spiritual power, but for some reason Sheng Jiao sat with his expression like frost as he continuously channeled Tianyan spiritual power into Xi Jue’s meridians, which had nearly been destroyed by cold.
Shortly after, warm currents flowed through Xi Jue’s meridians.
He stretched comfortably, then stripped the soaking wet clothes from his body until not a thread remained.
Sheng Jiao’s brow remained tightly furrowed throughout. Seeing this, he skillfully opened the wardrobe, pulled out a set of clothes without looking, and was about to toss them to Xi Jue when he heard him, wrapped in a blanket, being picky.
“I don’t like this set. Give me a white one.”
Sheng Jiao selected another white set and threw it over.
After Xi Jue finished dressing, Sheng Jiao asked coldly: “What happened?”
Xi Jue huddled in the blanket, grinning: “I already said—I made a big mistake.”
Sheng Jiao said: “That’s not it.”
Even if he’d committed the capital crime of murder and arson, Lady Zong wouldn’t be so cruel as to make him kneel for three days.
“Tell the truth.”
Xi Jue peered at him from under the blanket: “My, what an impressive display of authority, Lord of Heaven. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were an Xiezhi Sect enforcer interrogating this criminal.”
Sheng Jiao sat in dark silence, staring at him for a while before suddenly standing to leave.
Xi Jue quickly reached out and grabbed him: “Hey, hey, don’t go. I’ve suffered so much—don’t you have a few words to comfort me?”
Sheng Jiao looked at him expressionlessly: “…Tell me one truth.”
Even one.
Xi Jue was silent for a long time before stammering: “I… I don’t know how to say it. I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?” Sheng Jiao sat back down.
Xi Jue was silent for most of a long time, then suddenly asked in non-sequitur fashion: “Sheng Jiao, is there justice in this world?”
Sheng Jiao froze.
“If the justice I want, even Xiezhi Sect—which claims to be fair—cannot give me…” Xi Jue said in confusion, “…then where should I go to demand it?”
Should he just swallow the bitter fruit and accept his misfortune?
Sheng Jiao watched him for a long while, then gently parted his lips: “There is no justice in this world.”
The weak fear the strong. Small families depend on great clans. Spiritual-grade xiangwen, ordinary cultivators, and common people…
Injustice exists everywhere.
Xi Jue’s pupils dimmed, as if all naïve hopes about the world completely collapsed.
A mayfly shaking a tree; throwing eggs at stone.
Sheng Jiao continued: “If you want it, I will give it to you.”
Xi Jue was stunned, taking a long while to understand Sheng Jiao’s meaning. He stared intently at Sheng Jiao’s face before suddenly smiling.
Sheng Jiao froze.
In the three years he’d known Xi Jue, this was the first time he’d seen such a smile.
Not the usual masked facade of arrogance and extravagance. It was like peeling back layers of heart to expose true feelings in a brief, fleeting bloom.
“Good.” Xi Jianlan looked at him without turning away, smiling with joy and brilliance: “Then I’ll wait for you.”
But Sheng Jiao sensed he seemed to be grasping at the last straw before collapsing in grief-stricken weeping.
Wait for you.
Yet in the end, Xi Jue never received what he’d waited for.
***
Time turns and stars shift.
In the third year at Tianyan Academy, as spring arrived, magnolia flowers bloomed throughout the garden.
Xi Jue remained the Xi family’s most pampered young master, constantly causing trouble everywhere.
Wen Gubai had taught Zhuxing Zhai cultivation techniques for the first two years, even imparting spiritual-grade techniques that could alter others’ memories. Yet only Xi Jue had mastered it all.
In the third year, Dean Wen began teaching swordplay, having them seize the holiday to seek spirit stones to forge swords.
However, unlike the others, Xi Jue didn’t stay away the entire holiday. He briefly returned to the Xi family residence before coming back to Tianyan Academy.
Upon returning to Zhuxing Zhai, the other seven hadn’t yet arrived.
Xi Jue sat alone on a tree by the pond, silently watching the mist on the water’s surface in a daze.
Suddenly, golden patterns flashed in his pupils. Then he became like a puppet being controlled, cheerfully leaping down from the tree and strolling toward the Dean’s residence.
Wen Gubai was playing the qin in the courtyard. He seemed to have anticipated “Xi Jue’s” arrival, gently smiling as he looked up.
“Xi Jue” walked in without courtesy, sitting sprawled before Wen Gubai with no trace of the usual respect toward teachers. He even rested his chin on his hand, grinning: “So you’re Wen Gubai? I’ve heard your formation techniques are quite good.”
Wen Gubai smiled, plucking the qin strings: “If you wish to leave the Xi family, you need only possess this body.”
“Xi Jue” disdainfully pulled at his sleeve, displeased: “He stole everything from me. After this, I must grind his bones to dust to ease the hatred in my heart.”
Wen Gubai studied his expression without changing expression, finally setting down his qin-playing hand and saying lightly: “What makes you think I would help you?”
“Xi Jue” raised an eyebrow: “You’re unwilling? Never mind then.”
His temperament was capricious. After speaking, he directly stood to leave, showing no hesitation whatsoever.
Wen Gubai’s brow moved slightly, suddenly saying: “The formations in the Xi family’s Tianyan shrine are too intricate to break in one go.”
“Xi Jue” smiled as if his conspiracy had succeeded, turning back: “Then how long will Dean Wen need?”
“Five years.”
“Xi Jue” burst into loud laughter, his beautiful young face full of indescribable malevolence: “So you truly hate the Xi family to the bone?”
Wen Gubai remained unmoved, speaking lightly: “The Xi family rose to become Central State’s premier family in mere years simply by relying on ‘Kan Tianyan,’ while ordinary cultivators practice for hundreds or thousands of years yet cannot compare even slightly.”
“Xi Jue” raised an eyebrow.
Wen Gubai lowered his gaze to the ancient qin in his hands, speaking carelessly.
“For these hundreds of thousands of years, the Thirteen States’ Central State families have produced heaven-defying talents due to Tianyan xiangwen, one after another. Some spiritual-grade xiangwen even achieved infant formation at eighteen—such prodigious talent.
“Ordinary cultivators suffer greatly passing the Nascent Soul tribulation after years of bitter cultivation, much less ascending further to Spirit Transformation and Void Return stage.
“I am already several hundred years old, and was even childhood friends with the third spiritual-grade xiangwen owner.”
But after that xiangwen awakened, the two walked completely different paths.
One ascended with the spiritual-grade xiangwen, everything smooth sailing without any obstacles;
The other barely achieved Nascent Soul at forty. With the spiritual-grade xiangwen as contrast, he was frequently met with cold gazes and mockery.
Wen Gubai was originally a person of exceptional talent. Even without a xiangwen, he could successfully withstand the Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, and even Void Return tribulations with his own spiritual roots alone, step by step reaching his current position as Tianyan Academy’s Dean.
Yet the Xi family’s patriarch, barely past fifty, simply because the family produced a spiritual-grade xiangwen “Kan Tianyan,” smoothly ascended to the position of Master of the Thirteen States.
Wen Gubai even had to bow respectfully when meeting him.
“I am no righteous sage or virtuous person. After bitter cultivation for hundreds of years, I cannot accept this.” Wen Gubai said softly, “I am simply jealous and hateful. It has become a heart demon. I wish to use you to completely destroy Tianyan.”
Able to openly admit his jealousy has become a heart demon, speaking his causeless resentment aloud.
Behind him in the main chamber of the Dean’s residence hung four characters in bold, sweeping calligraphy—”A Gentleman’s Nine Thoughts.”
“Xi Jue” found this person somewhat interesting, the corners of his lips curling up with intrigue.
He was about to speak when a distant sound rang out—whining, yelping.
“Xi Jue! Where the hell have you been?! Come quick and see Papa’s premium spiritual sword stone!”
“Xi Jue” smacked his lips: “Dean Wen, tomorrow at the hour of Zi, beneath the magnolia tree in Jiusi Courtyard.”
With that, he strolled and turned to leave.
***
As night fell, beneath the magnolia tree in Feng Yu’s dream, they accidentally overheard two people discussing breaking formations and slaughtering the Xi family.
At that time, Xi Jue was only fifteen years old.
“Karma’s Course” had transformed into four blood-red threads of causation.
The Xi family’s destruction was not born of a moment’s hatred, but of meticulous calculation accumulated over years.
Xi Jue seemed innocent, yet was not entirely so.
“Karma’s Course’s” banyan tree kept bursting through dreams one after another.
***
Ever since “Xi Jue” began finalizing this matter with Wen Gubai, whenever Tianyan Academy had holidays, Xi Jue no longer wished to return to the Xi residence. He would either stay with Sheng Jiao’s family or come alone to Zhuxing Zhai.
Until one midsummer, Xi Jue followed Lezheng Jiu to Medicine Sect to play and saw Lady Wan for the first time.
Medicine Sect had long since withdrawn from the world. By logic, even if Lezheng Jiu got along well with Zhuxing Zhai’s people, there was no way to bring a friend back to Medicine Sect.
When bringing Xi Jue this time, Lezheng Jiu was so nervous he feared a beating.
But the moment Lady Wan saw Xi Jue, she was stunned for a long while before smiling gently: “So you’re A-Jue?”
Xi Jue looked at her in confusion.
Lezheng Jiu carefully asked: “Mother, you’re not angry?”
“Angry about what?”
Lady Wan smiled and reached out to gently remove a leaf from Xi Jue’s hair, bringing with it a faint, elegant herbal fragrance.
Xi Jue froze.
🥲
Lady Wan patted both boys’ heads, her smile radiant as she scolded them: “Which cave did you two crawl out of? Look how dirty you are. Go change your clothes quickly. We’ll have medicinal cuisine tonight.”
Lezheng Jiu complained: “Medicinal cuisine tastes bad, Mother. I rarely bring a classmate over, and you won’t make something delicious?”
Lady Wan: “Don’t be picky. Go on.”
Lezheng Jiu had no choice but to go inside searching for clothes.
Xi Jue watched Lady Wan, reluctant to enter the room—he loved the faint herbal fragrance surrounding everything, as if his long-tense heart could gradually relax.
Being gazed upon so gently by Lady Wan, Xi Jue rarely felt shy. He carelessly wiped his small face, but only succeeded in smearing the dirt on his cheeks more.
Lady Wan laughed continuously, taking a silk handkerchief and leaning down slightly to gently wipe his cheeks.
Xi Jue looked up at her.
As Lady Wan wiped, a drop of water suddenly fell onto her silk handkerchief. She looked up in shock only to find Xi Jue’s eyes vacant and unfocused—”tears flowing down his face before he could stop them.
Lady Wan’s expression became even more gentle. She wiped away his tears, speaking softly and warmly: “Missing your mother?”
Xi Jue froze, only then realizing he had embarrassingly cried before a stranger.
He was mortified and quickly stepped back half a step, his face flushing red as he stammered: “I… I dare not.”
Lezheng Jiu hung at the window frame, calling outside: “A-Jue, come change your clothes quickly.”
Xi Jue hurriedly performed a bow to Lady Wan, then bolted into the room, nearly stumbling over the threshold.
Lady Wan’s eyes seemed to shimmer with water as she watched his departing figure with both compassion and pity.
Xi Jue ate a bowl of medicinal cuisine.
Lezheng Jiu complained endlessly, sticking his tongue out in disgust. But Xi Jue ate it as if accustomed to it, spoonfuls after spoonfuls, even draining the herbal broth until not a drop remained.
Lezheng Jiu said incredulously: “You like it?”
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1
aww poor baby jianlan :,,,(
Finally caught up with the story 😩 I can’t wait to learn what exactly happened back then!
Can’t wait to see the story unfold!!!!!
Jianlan is so pitiful🥺
The way this story weaves lies with truth is so good! I’m trying to figure out how much of this dream sequence is true. What is Kan Tianyan’s goal?