Chapter 138: Severed

“You two are going to attend the ceremony. Why do I have to come along?” Chen Zui was quite reluctant. In the time this took, wouldn’t it be better for him to go back to the mountain and practice his saber work?

Xia Ying thought to herself that if he didn’t go, wouldn’t their secret be exposed? Besides, the three of them were riding their swords to attend the ceremony, and they could leave early as soon as it concluded. The whole trip wouldn’t take more than an hour. All they needed to do was say a word to the elders of Kaiyuan Peak before going, and when they returned, he could go back to being Yonglu Mountain’s “Rumor-Busting Ambassador.” “Isn’t Senior Brother Chen a saber cultivator? I heard that City Lord Lin of Xishan City possesses an extraordinarily powerful Quechen Saber. I thought…”

Chen Zui stood up immediately. “I’m going!”

Lin Congcong: …He really is easy to trick. Still, the City Lord’s Quechen Saber is indeed famous across the continent. But for someone at the City Lord’s level of cultivation and status, how could his natal saber be seen so easily?

In the cultivation world, grand wedding banquets were held only when prominent noble families formed marital alliances. When ordinary cultivators became Dao companions, if both were cultivators, they merely needed heaven and earth to witness their union and exchange Concentric Jade Pendants to complete the ceremony. Should their feelings ever fade in the future, they only had to inform heaven and earth and return each other’s pendants to dissolve their bond.

If a cultivator married a mortal, it depended entirely on the cultivator’s feelings. If they cherished their partner, they would naturally treat them with the respect they deserved. When Xia Ying was young, the nursemaid who cared for her had been harsh to her, saying she was bound to be unfortunate and would only be married off by the clan head to some low-tier cultivator from another family in exchange for cultivation resources. The nursemaid had also claimed that the eldest young lady was blessed with great fortune and was destined to walk the immortal path.

Back then, she had felt terrified and helpless, enduring each day as best she could. She had never expected things to turn out so completely different now. From this, it was clear her parents must be watching over her from heaven, ensuring she wouldn’t lead a lonely life.

“This Seventeenth Young Master of your Xishan City certainly has a lavish style.”

Having grown up in the City Lord’s Mansion, Xia Ying had seen her share of grand sights. Yet the moment she entered the city, she saw both sides of the road blooming with vibrant spiritual flowers and herbs. Even if they were just low-tier spiritual redflowers, such a massive quantity still added up to a terrifying sum. “Are all the Young City Lords of Xishan City this rich?”

Comparing the two, Xia Ying suddenly felt like she had lost.

Xishan City was indeed extremely wealthy, but that had nothing to do with Lin Congcong. “I’m not too sure either. Perhaps the City Lord places great value on the Seventeenth Young Master.”

Lin Congcong came from a branch line of the Lin Family. His family wasn’t excessively rich, but they were much better off than ordinary households. Growing up listening to stories of the Young City Lords, he had naturally felt envious as a child. But ever since he joined Yonglu Mountain, little of that envy remained. “The Seventeenth Young Master is exceptionally talented. Like me, he has a single Earth Spiritual Root, though his spiritual root is even thicker than mine.”

“I should have guessed sooner. Your surname is Lin and you have an Earth Spiritual Root, and the Lin Family of Xishan City is known for their Earth-attribute techniques. I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots at all.”

Lin Congcong was actually quite ambitious when it came to cultivation. Otherwise, with his spiritual root and talent, he could have received excellent cultivation resources in Xishan City even without joining Yonglu Mountain. But he didn’t like walking a path with a visible end, nor did he want to become a pawn or bargaining chip in the Young City Lords’ fight for the title of City Lord. “I didn’t mention it. Besides, I’m just from a branch line.”

“How much longer are you two going to talk? Weren’t we going to watch the ceremony?”

With this attitude and tone, how on earth did the guy named Bian and the Little Grand-Uncle Master tolerate him? Lin Congcong couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “When you’re with Little Grand-Uncle Master, do you have this attitude too?”

Chen Zui was puzzled. “What attitude?”

“This exact attitude.”

“Is there a problem with it?” Chen Zui felt this Junior Brother Lin talked far too much nonsense. “No wonder Junior Brother Bian said you’re troublesome.”

Lin Congcong’s attention shifted in a split second. “What troublesome?! Explain that in detail!”

“Don’t want to. You’re kind of annoying.”

Xia Ying: …

Although the three of them had been delayed for a bit, the ceremony hadn’t started yet when they reached the City Lord’s Mansion. Xia Ying led her two fellow disciples to pay their respects to her uncle first, only to discover that her uncle was currently receiving City Lord Lin of Xishan City, Lin Xingheng.

She couldn’t help glancing at Chen Zui. Earlier, she had really just made that up on the spot to trick him into coming, never expecting that they would actually run into him.

Xia Huainan had no desire to meet with the man named Lin in private. Their relationship had broken down several hundred years ago, a fact well known to everyone. Even if he avoided him out of laziness, outsiders would only say that the relationship between the two city lords was indeed terrible. He certainly hadn’t expected that while he refrained from seeking the man out, Lin Xingheng would actually come knocking on his door.

“What are you doing here?”

“That reluctant to see me?”

Xia Huainan sneered. “As long as you know it in your heart. The door is right there. I won’t see you out.”

Lin Xingheng had sharp brows and starry eyes, carrying himself with a commanding presence. Anyone who set eyes on him would marvel at his handsome appearance. Coupled with his mid-stage Soul Transformation cultivation, he would be received with utmost courtesy even if he visited Yonglu Mountain. “Huainan, why must you be like this? I came looking for you because I have an important matter.”

“Hmph, what important matter? Showing off your seventeenth son?”

Lin Xingheng used to have friends all across the world, but now, some were dead and others had gone their separate ways. The friend closest to him was Xia Huainan. Everyone claimed their relationship was awful, but once upon a time, they had been life-and-death companions. “Huainan, my Dao is about to break.”

Xia Huainan thought to himself, Whose fault is that? Could it possibly be mine?

“You severed it with your own hands, and now at the end of your rope, you come to my mansion to wail like at a funeral? Today is your son’s grand day. Tell me, which of your wives is sitting with you in the high hall today to receive my niece’s bow?”

Xia Huainan possessed a Fire Spiritual Root and a fiercely righteous nature that abhorred evil. Back then, this guy had cherished his wife like his own life. Who could have expected that once she passed away, not only did his feelings cool with her death, but he took a new wife the very next year. Even if she wasn’t an officially wedded City Lord’s wife, in Xia Huainan’s eyes, the man named Lin had changed his heart and nature. And after that… forget it, he couldn’t even be bothered to talk about it.

“Yes, I severed it with my own hands…” Lin Xingheng’s voice was not mournful; he spoke as if merely stating an ordinary fact. “Forget it. Knowing you don’t like listening to this, I’ll talk about something you like.”

“Whatever you talk about, I won’t like listening to it.”

Lin Xingheng had already put on another smile. “My Dao is nearing its end. Don’t you want to know who the future master of Xishan City will be?”

Xia Huainan paused his shooing hand. “Has it truly reached such a point?”

“Huainan, you really do care about me after all,” Lin Xingheng said with an expression of deep touch.

“…” Xia Huainan did not bother to respond to that. “So? Which child do you favor to take your position? It couldn’t be the one getting married today, could it?”

Lin Zhishan’s talent and cultivation were indeed quite good, but for a Golden Core cultivator to hold down the position of City Lord was nothing short of a pipe dream. Any cultivator capable of sitting on the City Lord’s throne had to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage.

As far as he knew, Xishan City had at least three Young City Lords at or above the Nascent Soul stage.

“Of course not. Zhishan is still too green. How could he handle such a heavy responsibility?” Rumor had it that Lin Xingheng doted heavily on his seventeenth son, but before his old friend, he showed no extra fondness. “Being able to marry a child of your house today is already the fulfillment of one of my wishes.”

“Ha, so that was your angle all along. What is the point? Aside from my elder brother, who else benefits or is made happy by your actions?” Xia Huainan sneered, finding the man more and more unpleasant to look at. “Since it isn’t him, it doesn’t matter who it is. Leave. Once you’re dead, I’ll consider burning a stick of incense for you.”

“So heartless?”

Xia Huainan shot him a sideways glance. “Not half as heartless as you.”

“Fine, I can’t win an argument with you,” Lin Xingheng said with a faint smile. “Truth be told, I came to ask a favor of you.”

“Then save your breath. I won’t help you.”

It was at this moment that Xia Ying knocked on the courtyard gate with her friends. Xia Huainan knew full well that with their relationship so strained, for Lin to insist on coming to his door meant this matter was best handled by him. But he had not seen Lin Xingheng for hundreds of years, and he had no idea what kind of person he had become. To play it safe, it was better to put the matter aside for now.

So he called out for A-Ying to bring her friends in, intending to send the man away first, but he had not expected what happened next.

“Since when did you get so thick-skinned?”

Lin Xingheng brushed off his sleeves. “Huainan’s juniors are my juniors. What’s the harm in meeting them?”

This was also Xia Ying’s first time meeting the rumored City Lord Lin. She had expected someone given over to debauchery to be somewhat repulsive, but judging solely by his appearance, he seemed quite dignified and honorable.

Lin Congcong hadn’t expected to meet the City Lord here in Langyuan City either.

“Lin Congcong, I hear you joined Yonglu Mountain. You’re certainly more capable than those kids of mine.” Lin Xingheng offered a casual compliment, his gaze falling onto the quiet, tall figure standing behind them. “You use a saber?”

Chen Zui’s eyes burned with battle intent. “Yes. Please enlighten me.”

“No need for that. However, I recently acquired a saber technique. I see a connection between it and you, so I’ll give it to you.”

“I don’t want it.” Chen Zui shook his head without hesitation.

“Why not?”

Chen Zui answered bluntly. “I wouldn’t understand it, and I can’t be bothered to practice someone else’s saber.”

Seeing Lin suffer a setback, Xia Huainan was immediately in a great mood. “You think everyone’s a hoarder like you?”

Lin Xingheng did not feel embarrassed. He tried to recall his younger self, only to find he could barely remember. A trace of listlessness finally settled between his brows.

Just then, someone from outside suddenly arrived with news:

“City Lord, terrible news! Someone has come to crash the wedding and steal the bride!”

“Stealing the bride?! Who? Stealing whose bride?”

While a lively bride-stealing scene was unfolding at the City Lord’s Mansion, over on Yonglu Mountain, Bian Chunzhou had already emerged from the Back Mountain Secret Realm. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to stay inside longer, but… he simply couldn’t stay any longer. Any more time inside and the balance of fire and water in his body would break. God damn it, who could have known the secret realm simulated a desert environment? Not a single drop of water; it was practically driving him to his death!

And where on earth was that ridiculously elusive jade pendant! No wonder someone as smart as Wen Xuxu had to stay inside for three months to find it. The moment Bian Chunzhou thought of this, he instantly forgave his own uselessness.

Oh well, saving his life and preserving his progress came first. Once he got his internal balance back in order, he would challenge the jade pendant again!

So he sent off two Transmission Talismans with a swift whoosh. The moment he returned to his peak and washed himself clean, he actually received a reply from Chen Zui! What? That guy actually went to the City Lord’s Mansion to watch the ceremony? What? There was even a bride-stealing going on?

No way, he wanted to join in on the fun too! Bian Chunzhou rummaged through his storage pouch. Aha, he hadn’t thrown away that wedding invitation yet!