Chapter Fifty-Three: Many Worries

  With someone by your side, time flies extremely quickly. As night deepens, a thin cloud drifts in from somewhere and covers the moon behind it. The valley wind gradually grows stronger, blowing into my ears with a loud whooshing sound. Even when shouting to talk and laugh, five or six out of ten sentences are blown away by the wind.

  A handsome young man slowly stood up against the stone wall, rubbing his knees and looking up at the sky. A hint of disappointment flashed across his face: "Ah, it's past midnight!"

  "After midnight, you don't have to blow cold wind in the valley, isn't that great?" Xuan Zhen smiled and looked up at the sky with him, "Why be so downhearted?"

  The young man glanced at him with a look of "you're so uninteresting" on his face, and muttered: "Isn't this the first time we've met someone who can talk so well after going up the mountain... Just as we were getting excited, we had to go back. If we went back a little later, that ice block face would have put us under house arrest..." His words were full of resentment, as if he had been refused entry many times before.

  Xuan Zhen Wan Er: "I suppose it's because he couldn't bear it any longer."

  "I didn't go out to play every day, but one night I caught a few summer cicadas and put them by his pillow..." The young man's voice became softer and softer, but the expression on his face became more and more mischievous. In the end, he couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. After a while, he stood up straight, stamped his feet, and said to Xuanshen, "Alright, I'll go back now. The days are still long ahead, and Brother will come to find you to play!" With that, he waved his hand and walked towards the valley entrance through the grass.

  The rustling sound gradually faded away, drowned out by the howling wind. Xuan Zhen slowly leaned back against the stone wall, still gazing up at the sky above his head. The boy's presence around him gradually dissipated, and the lively feeling from earlier also gradually turned into a quiet solitude. After a long time, a thread of serenity emerged in his mind.

  The moonlight was cool and clear as water, sprinkled in this desolate valley where there was nothing but the sound of wind. It seeped into the heart of a young man sitting cross-legged under the moon. Xuan Zhen closed his eyes, with the hard stone wall behind him, the relentless cold wind by his ears, and in his heart, melancholy and sorrow churned together.

  Fleeting joy seemed to have left with the young man, and the troubles that had been cast aside returned. How should the Qingyu case be resolved? Having lingered in the valley for ten days, would Ziyu in Shouyang not be anxious and worried?

  Just as he was thinking, another rustling sound of grass leaves came from afar, getting closer and closer. Xuan Zhen's eyes remained closed, but the corners of his mouth slightly curled up as he said, "But I forgot something."

  He only thought that the handsome young man had gone and returned, but after a while, he didn't hear anyone responding. The rustling sound stopped beside him, and for a moment, there was only the whistling cold wind in the sky, and a faint, almost imperceptible chill in his nostrils.

  Xuan Zhen's heart was slightly puzzled, and he couldn't help but open his eyes, look up, and then froze.

  For an instant, the moonlight seemed to be hazy, the wind sound suddenly disappeared, leaving only the white and blue color below, and the boy standing quietly in the withered grass, staring at himself. That red mark on his brow was as bright as blood, more striking than when he saw it half a year ago. Xuanyin stared blankly, his eyes slowly dropping, falling into those sharp-as-sword, cold-as-ice eyes.

  "...... Xunheng." Xuanzhen muttered.

  The cry was extremely soft and faint, and it was soon swept away by the wind without a trace. However, the cold-faced young man seemed to have heard something, and the frown between his eyebrows relaxed slightly, and the chill around him dissipated somewhat. The corner of his blue-white robe, bathed in a layer of silver light, swayed gently as he took another step forward, standing in front of Xuan Zhen, and slightly bowed his head.

  "What is this?" Xuan Zhen stared at the paper package that suddenly appeared in front of him and the long fingers holding it, asking blankly.

  "Dim sum." The young man said briefly, and after a while added another sentence, "Shu Xiang Shifu asked me to bring it to you." Seeing that Xuān Zhèn only looked at the paper package without taking it, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, he put his hands in his sleeves and let the package fall into his arms.

  Xuan Zhen hastily took the wrapped paper in his hand, his nostrils slightly flaring as he indeed caught a whiff of sweet fragrance. It was just that Su Xiang had always been like a tomboy, and he had never heard that she actually had such good culinary skills...

  It seemed like Xuan Zhen saw the doubt in his heart, and Xun Heng's mouth corners moved slightly as he said lightly: "Su Yu did it."

  Xuan Zhen suddenly enlightened, put down his heart and laughed: "I said that Su Xiang would not be able to make the dessert into charcoal... Cough, trouble you a few to remember." After a moment, he doubted again, "Why did it come at this time..." Earlier, that handsome young man was shouting that he was hungry, making Xuan Zhen's temples ache. If the pastry had been delivered at that time, it would have shut his mouth and avoided many troubles.

  Xun Heng's face remained still, but Xuan Zhen clearly saw a hint of smile in those cold, starry eyes. The young man's clear and gentle voice carried on the wind: "Delivered early... I'm afraid Shixiong won't be able to eat anymore." The implication was surprisingly clear that there had been a monkey here earlier, jumping around and starving to death, and it seemed that he had deliberately waited until midnight before arriving.

  Xuan Zhen was stunned for a while, and suddenly a gleam of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he blurted out: "So the 'dead ice block face' he mentioned is actually..."

  His whole body suddenly released a cold air, and his face was as if it had frozen into an ice block. He spoke in a chilly tone, "Dead, icy, stiff, face?" His voice carried a hint of gritted teeth.

  Xuan Zhen hurriedly suppressed his smile and comforted, "That... junior brother was just joking, you don't have to mind it..." Seeing Xun Heng still not satisfied, he pretended to be nonchalant and changed the subject, "Cough, Xun Heng, you've been a disciple for four months now, I wonder which level of cultivation you've reached?"

  After a while, the anger in his eyes gradually dissipated, and he slowly said: "Xuan Xiao's talent is mediocre, and it was only yesterday that he broke through the third realm."

  Xuan Zhen was both shocked and delighted, entering the door for only four short months yet already reaching the third heavy boundary. Such talent couldn't be called dull, it's clearly a once-in-a-lifetime natural-born genius... even he himself needed to cultivate for half a year before breaking through to this point... wait, what did he just call himself again?

  "You... are you Xuan Xiao?" Xuan Zhen was both shocked and felt a sense of inevitability. On that day, Ling Guang's jade had shone brightly when he saw Shun Heng, he should have expected this day to come...

  "Yes." Xun Heng nodded, gazing at Xuanyue Dao, "The mundane name has been discarded along with the old affairs. From now on, just call me Xuanyue will do."

  Xuan Zhen nodded slightly, but a hint of melancholy flashed across his heart. Forget the past... So did that encounter in Qinglong Town also...

  Xuan Xiao was originally cold and indifferent, Xuan Zhen's heart was now filled with melancholy. The two gradually fell silent, their ears only hearing the sound of the wind whistling by, as if all the winds between heaven and earth had gathered in this mountain valley, blowing freely and cutting like a knife. Past events, clearly only a year ago, yet already seemed so distant, as if they had quietly faded away in the sound of the wind.

  After a long time, the cold-faced young man suddenly said: "If Master has nothing else, Xuan Xiao will take his leave first."

  Xuan Zhen suddenly woke up from his thoughts, and after a moment's consideration, he hastily said: "There is still one more thing, I'd like to ask you to pass on." After a pause, he mentioned the matter of Zi Xuan, "I have a friend in Shouyang who must be anxiously waiting for news. However, I am currently unable to leave Si Fan Valley for ten days, so I will need someone else to escort her back home. Please inform either Su Yao or Su Shan about this, and instruct them to send the young girl to the southern border, so that I can rest assured."

  Xuan Xiao nodded, and didn't say another word. He turned around and walked away, his long robe fluttering in the wind with a beautiful arc, barely brushing against the grass leaves as he passed by, carefree and unencumbered. Set against the cold, hard lines of his chiseled features, his handsome face, and that one body of clear, calm, and detached air, he was truly like a rare orchid or a distant mountain in the snow at dusk.

  "Shidi!" Xuan Zhen's heart skipped a beat as he couldn't help but call out again.

  Xuan Xiao's footsteps paused for a moment, and without turning his head, he said, "Is there anything else?"

  "You... are you belittling yourself because Master has not given you a sword to wear?" Xuan Zhen recalled the unhappiness between his eyebrows when he was young and said lightly.

  “…Last month, I broke through the third heavy boundary with Yun Tianqing.” Xuan Xiao stood still on the spot, still with his back to him, and said coldly, “Master was very delighted, and immediately had someone bring the famous sword ‘Seven Feet Jade Furnace’ from Jian Ge…”

  "What about the Seven Feet Jade Sword?" Xuán Zhèn was shocked, the Five Spirits Sword Pavilion had countless swords stored inside, with many famous ones among them. However, even so, that Seven Feet Jade Sword was still one of the best, this sword was given by Emperor Guangwu to General Féng Yì during the Red Eyebrow Rebellion, its sharpness unmatched, it's a top-grade excellent sword. Unexpectedly, his master would be so generous, it seems these two junior brothers are indeed favored by him.

  Ke Xuanxiao seemed not to be delighted at all, and after a long silence, he continued: "...... He gave that sword to Yun Tianqing."

  Xuan Zhen was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly understood that Tai Qing had long been secretly treating Xuan Xiao as the master of Xihe, and would not match him with other treasures. However, his own junior brother was completely unaware, thinking that their master was dissatisfied with him. That mischievous... Yun Tianqing's words were humorous, and his personality was straightforward, it seemed that he got along well in the Qinghua Gate, while Xuan Xiao... had always been taciturn and indifferent, and probably didn't get along well with others, which is why such thoughts arose in his mind.

  "Could it be that you, my junior brother, still harbor resentment?" asked Xuan Zhen calmly.

  Xuan Xiao's body shook slightly, and he shook his head, saying, "No!" He usually kept his thoughts hidden in his heart, not even revealing a word to Yun Tianqing, who lived with him in the same disciple's room. But seeing his old friend, now his senior brother, he suddenly felt an urge to confide. After a moment of silence, he couldn't help but ask, "Senior brother, since I entered the sect, I have been diligent in my cultivation every day, never willing to fall behind others. Why is it that Master still..."

  "Unexpectedly, under that icy exterior lies such a strong competitive spirit. Cloud Tianqing's words made him both envious and unwilling to show weakness. Now it seems he is the same, just like two children competing with each other. Xuan Zhen thought to himself, his mouth curling up into a faint smile: "You think you're not as good as Cloud Tianqing?"

  "How could it be!" Xuan Xiao said decisively, "This person is flighty and still dwells on romantic feelings every day, whenever he opens his mouth, he speaks nonsense..." Speaking of this fellow apprentice who entered the sect at the same time, he suddenly became more talkative, although he was rebuking him with his words, it could also be seen that he got along extremely well with Yun Tianqing.

  Xuan Zhen suppressed a smile and said, "If that's the case, then what's the point?" He paused for a moment before speaking seriously, "We cultivators should first cultivate our hearts. If we harbor envy and resentment, it means we've formed attachments. How can we still achieve the Great Dao?"

  Xuan Xiao was silent and did not speak.

  "Besides, you're exceptionally talented, and Master has been praising you nonstop in private. What do you mean by 'not taking you seriously'? Xuan Zhen smiled slightly, "The Seven-Foot Jade Sword may be a fine sword, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no one who can surpass it. As long as you cultivate diligently, the day will come when your wishes are fulfilled."

  P.S. I feel like this chapter made Xuan Xiao seem too soft...... but thinking about it, he's probably just a teenager right now...... so even cold-faced teenagers have young hearts too~

  PPS. Doesn't Master Brother look like a close brother?