Chapter 140: Astonishing

This betrothal jade pendant was indeed no precious treasure or spiritual object. It might have gleamed with a bit of spiritual light back then, but after such a long passage of time, it had long since become a common stone.

Lin Xingheng remembered clearly that this jade pendant was something A-Xi had cut from a raw stone at a roadside stall. She had made a pair of Dragon and Phoenix Pendants out of it. Though ordinary, A-Xi had treasured them dearly, carrying them wherever she went. Later, when A-Xi’s close friend, Madam Xia, became pregnant, the two used this pair of Dragon and Phoenix Pendants to arrange a betrothal. In truth, A-Xi wasn’t even pregnant at the time; the so-called betrothal was merely a bargaining chip A-Xi used to help her friend secure her position.

Huainan had a good temperament, but his elder brother was no good man. Back then, A-Xi had also advised her friend not to marry into the Xia Family, but most ordinary members of prominent clans had no choice in their own fates. Regardless of gender, they were merely cultivation resources for the family. It might sound cruel, but that was the reality.

With A-Xi’s passing, the Phoenix Pendant was buried with her, while the Dragon Pendant was reclaimed by him from Madam Xia. He had kept it carefully preserved ever since, but no matter how well it was kept, its spiritual light had faded long ago.

This sky-filling rain of jade pendants was a direct assault on his Dao Heart. Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Xingheng swept his sleeve, shattering all the jade pendants into fine powder.

By sheer bad luck, Wen Xu and Bian Chunzhou arrived at this exact moment, barely escaping the aftershock.

“What madness has possessed you?!” Xia Huainan stepped in just in time to neutralize the blow, preventing casualties among the low-level cultivators present. “And you, what is your background? Since you’ve come to crash this wedding, you must have a name.”

As a close friend, Xia Huainan had naturally seen this pair of betrothal jade pendants back then. But once the person was gone and the tea had grown cold, he assumed they were lost forever. He never expected them to appear again.

What a mess. It was all the doing of that man surnamed Lin. Not only had he ruined his own path of cultivation, but he was also bringing disaster upon his descendants.

“I am Yan Wuchuan. Greetings, City Lord Xia.”

“Yan? Which character for Yan?”

“Naturally, the ‘Yan’ of a solitary wild goose^[1], or the mournful cry of the wild goose.”

As a former close friend, it was impossible for Xia Huainan not to know that Lin Xingheng’s wife was named Yan Xi. The name Yan Wuchuan, specifically the characters ‘Wu’ and ‘Chuan’, seemed to declare some sort of resolve. After all, Xishan City was a mountain city famous throughout the continent.

“Your mother…”

“Indeed. My mother’s name was a single character, Xi. Does City Lord Xia still remember her?”

Xia Huainan turned his head in shock. In truth, he did not know what had truly happened back then. He only knew that after that incident, Xishan City no longer had a City Lord’s wife, Lin Xingheng’s cultivation path progressed rapidly, and he was subsequently surrounded by beautiful concubines. He had once gone to demand answers from Lin Xingheng, only to see Yan Xi’s tombstone in the city.

“The things my mother promised to give away, even if they rot, stink, or get thrown into a ditch, cannot be seized by others.” No one knew how many jade pendants Yan Wuchuan had prepared, but he pulled another one from his sleeve and tossed it in his hand. “City Lord Lin, I know your family is powerful and wealthy, and there are plenty of women who want to marry your son. So just let this girl go. She can marry anyone, but she cannot marry into your family. If this wedding goes through today, it will be built upon my bones.”

“Wow, this kid talks big. Crashing a wedding right in front of two Soul Transformation cultivators, he seems very confident.”

“Why aren’t you saying anything, A-Xu? You’ve taken off the ribbon over your eyes, so you should be able to see, right?”

Wen Xu sighed, wondering why his master was just like Chunzhou, so fond of a good spectacle. “Master, do you wish to save his life?”

“I won’t interfere in this. Under the watchful eyes of so many, if he dies so easily, Xia Huainan might as well step down as City Lord.”

…In that case, Master, just enjoy the show.

“Nonsense! If you truly are that lady’s son, why did you only dare to show yourself now? Furthermore, even if we take a step back, my daughter Xia Rui was not the one betrothed before birth. You crashing the wedding feast today must be out of some ulterior motive!”

Patriarch Xia’s words were not false. Back then, his first wife had indeed been pregnant, but the Xia Family had always struggled to produce offspring, and that child did not survive past the age of three. Xia Wei and Xia Rui were both born to his second wife, and were not the ones intended by the betrothal.

“So what?” Yan Wuchuan spun the jade pendant in his hand, seemingly certain that no one would dare harm him at this moment. “You were the ones who forced the betrothal onto them. What ‘talented man and beautiful woman,’ what ‘match made in heaven,’ what ‘joy of two cities’? Where is the joy in this? City Lord Lin, what do you think?”

Lin Xingheng, however, seemed dazed. He hadn’t heard a single word of their conversation. His eyes were fixed on the young man atop the gilded carriage, trying to find some trace of his late wife in him. Unfortunately, he could find none.

“You are not my child with her.”

Yan Wuchuan nodded. “Of course. Of course I’m not. If I were, Mother would have strangled me to death.”

“But you carry her aura. What on earth are you?”

Lin Xingheng’s mind was in turmoil, but as a Soul Transformation Sovereign, he could naturally tell that the red-robed lad before him was not a human cultivator.

“What is he?” Wen Xu asked in surprise.

“Indeed, indeed. Why don’t you guess his background, A-Xu?”

“If he’s not human, then is he a Yao?”

“No, no. This kid lacks human presence, and he doesn’t have a shred of Yao Qi either. Guess again!”

“Neither human nor Yao… could he be a ghost?”

“A-Xu, it’s broad daylight. What are you thinking? Just keep watching and you’ll see.”

Wen Xu thought to himself that his master must have recognized the man’s origin at a single glance, yet insisted on making him guess. So, what exactly was he?

While master and disciple conversed in their minds, the man named Yan Wuchuan had already jumped down from the gilded carriage. He stood casually right in front of Seventeenth Young Master Lin Zhinian, showing no fear of being attacked. “Have them call off this wedding, and I’ll tell you what I am. How about it?”

Lin Xingheng actually began to seriously consider it. Seeing this, Lin Zhinian showed a look of panic for the first time today. “Father!”

Yan Wuchuan’s expression instantly darkened upon hearing this form of address. “How wonderful. After abandoning your wife and child, not only did your cultivation progress rapidly, but you even got such a fine son. Truly, blessings come in pairs.”

What was this about abandoning his wife and child?!

Bian Chunzhou thought to himself that missing the backstory really ruined the flavor. He didn’t even know which part of the gossip he was chewing on. But in a situation like this, a small fry like him had no right to know the backstory anyway.

“Wen Xuxu, do you think… Wen Xuxu, are you zoning out?”

Wen Xu smiled. “Sorry, what did you just say?”

“I did hear that the City Lord of Xishan City treated his first wife differently, but this is too… too unusual. Do you think the part about abandoning his wife and child is true?”

“Perhaps. I’ve only heard from Master that some cultivators who practice the Dao of Heartlessness will slaughter their relatives and kill their wives to prove their Dao for the sake of advancing their cultivation.”

“What? Isn’t the Dao of Heartlessness notoriously impossible to graduate from?”

“What do you mean by ‘impossible to graduate from’?”

“It’s… well, an old meme.” Bian Chunzhou thought to himself, Who still dares to practice the Dao of Heartlessness these days? “It basically means whoever practices it dies.”

‘Ah Xu, though your friend’s words are blunt, they aren’t wrong at all.’ Indeed, whoever practiced it really did die.

“But the Ruthless Sword Dao is said to be incredibly powerful. Wen Xuxu, have you heard that saying? ‘With no one in your heart, drawing your sword makes you divine!’” Bian Chunzhou even mimed drawing a sword. “Super cool, right? Actually, if you’re not obsessed with ascension, it doesn’t really matter what Dao you practice. As long as it works, your cultivation will go up anyway.”

It was the first time Wen Xu had heard such a refreshing perspective, and the same went for Venerable Chengwei.

‘Ah Xu, play along with him.’

Wen Xu spoke up. “Last time, you said you cultivated the Dao of Balance. But hearing you today, it sounds more like the Dao of the Salted Fish.” The concept of the “salted fish,” of course, had come from Chunzhou’s own mouth.

“What’s wrong with being a salted fish? Even salted fish have dreams. It’s not like we’re just lying flat all the time. It’s just that, compared to most koi striving to leap over the Dragon Gate^[2], we lack a bit of that obsession with turning into dragons.” Bian Chunzhou certainly had his own pursuits, but he was a practical man who didn’t push himself too hard. “Look, everyone says they cultivate to ascend, but how many actually do? Very, very few. Everyone demands too much of themselves. Take choosing a Dao, for example. Everyone wants to pick a path that leads straight to the heavenly ladder, but who the hell knows if it actually works?”

“Maybe some paths that look easy are actually more rugged. It’s better to choose the path that follows your heart. It might be hard, but at least it yields results.” Just like running an experiment, the worst thing wasn’t failing to finish, but having it be meaningless and yielding no results.

‘What a fresh perspective. Ah Xu, the two of you becoming friends is truly a match made in heaven.’

These words echoed in his mind, instantly dispelling the heavy thoughts in his heart. Wen Xu thought to himself that his master didn’t need to adopt new phrases quite so readily.

“You’re right. Perhaps the Dao itself isn’t what’s important, but the person walking it.”

Wen Xu felt as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun. In truth, he didn’t crave ascension either. His previous goal had simply been to quickly form his core and return for revenge. The reason he had spent so much time contemplating which Dao to choose was, first, because he still had some pride and wanted to do his best if he was going to do it at all, and second… he didn’t want to disappoint his master’s expectations.

Just like how he had studied desperately in the past to fulfill the Old Scholar’s lifelong wish, what he was doing now felt like stepping into the exact same situation again.

A cold sweat broke out on Wen Xu’s back. Perhaps his master had long since seen through his mindset and had simply chosen not to point it out.

“Exactly. If it’s you, Wen Xuxu, I feel like you can achieve anything.” Bian Chunzhou said this as if it were a matter of course, not finding anything odd about it at all.

After all, this was Wen Xuxu, and he had a divine dragon teaching him. If even Wen Xuxu couldn’t ascend, then wouldn’t he have an even better excuse to slack off with a clear conscience?

“…You’re looking at me through too thick of a filter.” Having spent so much time with Chunzhou, Wen Xu had clearly picked up some very modern vocabulary.

“I have facts to back this up, you have to believe me.” Bian Chunzhou patted his chest. “Anyway, look! It seems like a fight has broken out over there! The two grooms are fighting!”

Wen Xu: …Chunzhou, you’re quite busy, multitasking like that.

‘Aren’t you multitasking too, Ah Xu? But jokes aside, this friend of yours is truly decent.’