At that moment, the scenery was unparalleled.
“What did you draw? What did you draw?”
The other boys wanted to come up to see, but they didn’t dare to get too close because the two of them didn’t move. However, before Xue Huai could react, a faint light flashed in Yun Cuo’s eyes, and he wiped it again, wiping away the fleeting peach blossom as well.
Leaving the crowd confused.
Xue Huai also asked, “What did you just draw?”
Yun Cuo let go of him and whispered, “……I won’t tell you.”
*
Xue Huai decided to invite these youngsters to the Shenhua Terrace for a meal since everyone has come. The old man simply fried a few dishes and just increased the quantities, and the group ate them with relish.
Xue Huai is skilled at turning hospitality into friendship. These youngsters’ families have connections outside of Xianzhou, and they are not afraid to travel all over the world. And, of course, he should make a few business deals along the way. After dinner, he opened the Shenhua Terrace’s smelting and weapon room in the name of the owner, allowing the youngsters to enjoy it to their hearts’ content.
Boys of that age are obsessed with weapons. Xue Huai played the role of a treacherous businessman, quietly raising prices and offering discounts while also clearing out the unsold redundant inventory. He sold many kinds of sky-high treasures in one go. If Xue Zong knew, his mouth would be crooked with a smile.
The old man accompanied the youngsters for a tour and introduction, while Xue Huai excused himself and came out to breathe. He then took the magic weapon he had won a few days ago out and began to examine it.
It looks like a knife but isn’t a knife; it looks like a stick but isn’t a stick, somewhat like a firearm from the Mortal Realm, yet it’s not so bulky, and he is also unable to find the trigger.
Xue Huai turned it upside down and saw a phoenix-shaped groove at the end, opening it. Inside was a deep and thin blood groove that looked like it was a magical weapon that needed blood feeding in order to activate.
The Xue family’s weapons and armaments have always been number one in the Immortal Realm’s nine continents. Cold weapons such as swords were directly monopolized on atlas paper by the Fuli Heavenly Lord himself with the best smelting techniques. Every year, only the cherry fruits from the Shenhua Terrace of the Xue family were needed for the offering. These things are all directly activated by magic. Hot weapons, on the other hand, imitate human firearms and turrets, using magical weapons to amplify the user’s cultivation and spiritual power. They’re highly effective but difficult to control and have slow responses, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
“Are those bats in the sky coming for you?”
Yun Cuo’s voice suddenly came from behind him.
“What bat?”
At first, Xue Huai thought he wasn’t talking to him when he heard him speak. He tilted his head and looked up along Yun Cuo’s line of sight. There were a few black shadows swirling in the clear, high sky, but he couldn’t see them very clearly. With a quick glance, he thought it was just dark clouds.
He sat on the corridor, in front of him is a lotus pond surging from the Shenhua Terrace. Yun Cuo stood by the window around three or five steps away from him, and he pulled their house’s winter lotus pods out of thin air, digging out two lotus pods in his hand, then planting the rest back in their original place. In less than a few steps, the place where he threw them back had already grown lush winter lotus again.
Yun Cuo stepped out of the window and chose a place to sit down. He didn’t sit next to Xue Huai, and the two of them were separated by about two feet, each looking at their own scenery.
Xue Huai asked, “Is that a bat? I’m not very sure.”
Yun Cuo said, “Bats are slaves of the demon race. They hide in the Immortal Realm and are not easy to detect. They sell a lot of these things on the black market. It’s used for spying on people. At that time, when you were at the Xunxian Pavilion, I noticed them following you. So I came to tell you about this.”
Xue Huai hesitated for a moment and asked, “Which time?”
Yun Cuo looked straight ahead and spoke cautiously, “The time when I hugged you.”
Xue Huai：“……”
“Be aware of your brothers, sisters, stepmother, servants, or something like this, Xue Huai.” Yun Cuo still did not look at him. He slowly peeled the lotus seeds in his hands, and his voice was still a little warm.
Xue Huai said: “Okay, thank you.”
Yun Cuo emphasized his tone again: “You must be careful. Although we are not very familiar, you can come to me if necessary.”
Xue Huai glanced at him and felt a bit confused.
He was a bit surprised because Yun Cuo mentioned such a thing to him.
He was already on guard after starting over again, he had missed too many details in his past life, and there are also too many things on which he can only rely in this life to find the answers. For example, he knows that Mrs. Liu and Xue He may have had something to do with his father’s illness and even his own death, but he wasn’t sure how it was accomplished.
Yun Cuo carries half of the demon clan bloodline and was born with a pair of demon pupils as deep as a well. He has heard that these eyes can see in the dark without any obstruction and are considerably more sensitive to ghosts, devils, demons, and evils than those in the immortal realm. But accordingly, they cannot see much light in their own world, they can’t see spiritual transformations or faint immortality. Every time those in the demon realm fall ill, they will offer a huge reward to the immortals to help them collect herbs since they cannot see the spiritual medicine.
Heaven has given this tribe the gift of adapting to darkness and evil, yet it has also isolated them from stepping into the light.
But what confuses Xue Huai is that in his previous life, even until his death, the demon breath in his eyes was suppressed by Yun Cuo himself using Xianzhou’s air pressure. Why is it that in this life…when he says it like this, it seems like he sees the world with his original eyes?
Is it impossible to suppress it anymore, or he just doesn’t suppress it at all?
This is another error. Xue Huai remembers very clearly that Yun Cuo’s hair color, and even those eyes of his, did not match with his previous life.
He glanced at Yun Cuo——there was indeed a faint red color in the depths of those eyes, it’s not noticeable unless you look closely.
On the contrary, Yun Cuo noticed that he was looking at him, so Xue Huai immediately averted his gaze.
Xue Huai looked at the sky again and asked, “Are they still here?”
All he could see were a few faint dark shadows, and they were darker than when they had just arrived, and he gradually couldn’t tell the difference between the clouds and these evil spirits.
Yun Cuo replied, “Yes.”
Xue Huai reached out and picked up the magic weapon, gesturing in the direction of the sky. At this moment, Yun Cuo finally turned his head and looked at him quietly.
He wants to try something like this. Without any hesitation, Xue Huai pressed his thumb into the phoenix-patterned blood groove hard, allowing the cold, thousand-years-old black iron to cut through his skin and sucking on his blood in a flavorful manner.
However, what caught him off guard was that his whole person seemed to be directly connected to this thing before he could even activate his spiritual power——his spiritual power amplified several times and rushed straight towards the sky without receiving orders from him!
The wind howled fiercely and the lotus and the wind throughout the courtyard were overshadowed by the dazzling light at that precise moment.
Now Xue Huai knows what it was——it was a spiritual gun, but it was even stranger than any other gun he had ever seen before——he couldn’t control it. As far as he can see, all the black shadows and dark clouds were smashed together. That thing following his gaze’s direction and attack——
No, it is following his thoughts’ direction and attacking!
After giving it some thought, he came to the realization that the way this thing blew couldn’t even compare to the entire courtyard’s wind lotus. In the next moment, the sharp light took a sharp turn for the worst, with a cold and murderous aura, shattering the lotus flowers in the entire courtyard.
“Xue Huai!” Yun Cuo’s voice suddenly entered his ears, disrupting his thoughts.
The sharp starlight scattered by this weapon found its next target and immediately turned.
Xue Huai couldn’t react on time and shouted, “Shut up and run quickly!”
He watched helplessly as countless shattered starlights thrust towards Yun Cuo like a tidal wave. Unfortunately, it was as if the magical weapon had bitten him and he couldn’t pull it off, causing pain in his finger.
Yun Cuo hasn’t reached seventeen yet at this time, and he has not yet opened a calamity1Kai jie is a Chinese term lits. means opening a calamity or tribulation. In Daoism, it is said that at the beginning of heaven and earth, the First Heavenly Father would teach the Immortals the secret way, which is called Kai jie duo ren, or opening a calamity or tribulation to save people. All the immortals then teach each other in turn, and finally to the world.. If he were to be hit by his profound cultivation, he’s afraid that even his soul would be shattered completely.
Xue Huai’s only reaction at that moment was to use his left hand to exert magic and try to cut off his right hand——but he was tightly grabbed by Yun Cuo.
Yun Cuo stood in front of him, his right hand holding his left hand and the other hand forming a dark red formation out of nowhere, blocking all the light from this magical weapon. The light almost burned people’s eyes when both sides met, but it keeps things stable for the time being.
Xue Huai was still thinking about freeing his right hand, and as his thoughts shifted, Yun Cuo felt a lightness in his hand, and those starbursts were actually heading towards Xue Huai himself.
“Xue Huai, look at me.” Yun Cuo whispered。
He repeated. “Look at me, don’t think about anything else, think about me.”
Xue Huai quickly understood his meaning: since this magical weapon is directly controlled by one’s mind, he can slowly stabilize it as long as he focuses, and perhaps there’s a way to break it.
How was Yun Cuo able to withstand his blow?
When he first met Yun Cuo in his previous life, Yun Cuo told him that he was at the same level as him, which is Mahayana2Da Cheng or Mahayana is a Buddhist sect. It includes both practical and theoretical aspects, emphasizing “self-interest, altruism, and benefiting all sentient beings” and advocating the practice of the “Bodhisattva Way” based on the “six dimensions”.. Since then, the two have been advancing side by side, and their progress has been the same. If he had been deceived in his previous life, it would explain why Yun Cuo has such a profound cultivation in this reborn life.
He lost focus while staring into Yun Cuo’s eyes, and his thoughts were focusing on Yun Cuo instead.
When he looked at the other party seriously and noticed that Yun Cuo’s dark eyes contained a hint of red in them, Xue Huai was momentarily stunned.
Yun Cuo was smiling.
Even though he was facing a thousand burning starbursts, he was facing a dangerous situation that could cause chaos and harm people at any time. A pure and innocent smile, without any malice, appeared in Yun Cuo’s eyes. This look of his is the same as when he painted his eyes, like a painter who paints carefully or a craftsman who grows flowers.
This person is always expressionless, but he has already smiled at him twice today.
Xue Huai stares at Yun Cuo without blinking until his eyelids become sore.
He was thinking about the events in his previous life. In his final battle, he had an argument with Yun Cuo before going to the battlefield. Yun Cuo insisted on prohibiting him from traveling with a vague “intuition” reason, but he insisted that it was their best opportunity, a one-shot kill. Both of them were furious, but they didn’t know that the next time they saw each other, there was already a separation between heaven and earth.
He did indeed win that battle with one blow, but he also died there.
Perhaps neither of them is wrong, who can explain such things clearly?
The two were staring at each other, as if passing through a time of life and death in that moment, just frozen there. Even the wind fell silent.
After an unknown amount of time, the scorching heat on his hand subsided, and Yun Cuo randomly withdrew the formation. The cold ice gun fell to the ground with a snap.
With a cold sweat, Xue Huai relaxed and lowered his head to look at his right hand. He had just been desperately trying to cut it out, and even a small piece of flesh had been torn off by him. Now it was bleeding, and the edge of the wound turned white.
Throbbing pain.
He glanced at Yun Cuo and realized that the other person didn’t seem to be hurt, so he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
This incident was unexpected for him. When Xue Zong mentioned such things to him, he only said “very important.” Xue Huai thought that the reason why this item was expensive was simply because it was a divine weapon personally crafted by the next master of the Fuli Palace, but he did not expect such a weapon to be so dangerous.
Dangerous yet incredibly powerful.
Extremely powerful, but… basically useless, it’s a piece of scrap metal.
It’s not that the Divine Realm hasn’t produced treasures controlled by spiritual power before, but most of them directly allowed one’s consciousness to be placed on the weapon, transforming them into self-driving sword spirits. The thing in Xue Huai’s hand is completely different from that. It indiscriminately attacks all the people and things that were in the owner’s mind, which requires complete concentration and absolute control over one’s thinking.
Not to mention ordinary immortals, even in the six realms, there is no one who truly has nothing outside of their heart.
Xue Huai remained motionless as he pondering, he didn’t realize that the wound on his hand was still dripping blood, and he forgot to use a healing spell to heal himself.
Yun Cuo frowned as if he were a bit anxious as he stood in front of him and watched. In the end, he took a step forward, grabbed his hand, and lowered his head to cast a healing spell.
After finishing, he immediately threw his hand back and asked expressionlessly, “What are you doing?”
Xue Huai said, “Think about somethings.”
After a while, he realized that his answer was somewhat perfunctory and told him, “I’m thinking about this thing. I couldn’t concentrate and almost hurt you.”
Yun Cuo looked at him and said, “You couldn’t concentrate? Didn’t you concentrate very well just now?”
He whispered again, “I don’t think… I don’t think it’s difficult.”
——Look at me, don’t think about anything else, look at me.
——Xue Huai, look at me, think about me.
That burning, hot demand seemed to penetrate the cold and calm voice of the young man, and it’s as if it had penetrated into Xue Huai’s mind.
Xue Huai’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively took a step back. Yun Cuo, however, didn’t allow him to step back, he simply came up and grabbed one of his sleeves, then walked inside. “You need not worry, those bats are all dead. And I’m here to buy weapons from you.” he said.
This kind of politeness and directness dispelled that strange and uneasy feeling. Xue Huai followed Yun Cuo inside, turned around, and saw Yun Cuo pointing to something and saying, “I want to buy it. How much does this cost?” he asked.
There lay a pair of beautiful butterfly knives, one long and one short, the long one is used for battlefields, and the short one is used for close combat. These were the seventeen-year-old coming-of-age gifts given to him by Xue Zong, and they were also the weapons that accompanied him throughout the battle.
He subconsciously said, “Not for sale.”
Yun Cuo looked over and asked, “Why not sell it?”
Why… Xue Huai suddenly stopped speaking.
He doesn’t need to go to the battlefield again in this lifetime.
He doesn’t need to wield a knife, grinding himself like a sharp blade that is ready to be unsheathed at any time for anyone anymore. He made up his mind to take good care of his father and the Xue family’s family business, and he vowed to never step into any more disputes again in his life.
He has his own life to live.
“… Sell.” he said. “You can set a price. Young Master Yun was a great help just now. You set the price.”
Yun Cuo whispered, “No, you set the price, Xue Huai. I don’t want you to give me a discount because of this, I want you to do me a favor.”
Xue Huai was puzzled and asked, “What kind of favor? You say it, as long as I can do it, I will do my best.”
Yun Cuo looked at him and said, “Stop hiding from me in the future, okay?”
The author had something to say: Three-years-old Yun: dangerous! Think of me quickly! Just look at me!
