Chapter 23: Rolling and Crawling Part 2

It was as if he had slept for ages; even the feel of his own legs had gone strange.

“Wait.” Fu Yuqiu suddenly realized something. How many years has it been since my Spirit Core Self-Detonation?

And with a Self-Detonation of that magnitude—even if Feng Beihe had escaped the fatal blow, there was no way he would be up and hopping around after barely half a month, right?

Before he could puzzle it out, footsteps approached his ear.

Fu Yuqiu’s heart jumped, and he put on his fiercest front: “Get away!”

The Immortal Venerable’s footsteps stopped.

Beside him, Ming Nan nearly stopped breathing.

Flying into a temper at the Venerable One himself—this White Sparrow truly had a death wish?

But the Immortal Venerable, who should have raged, took no offense at all, only lowering his eyes to ask, “Can you get up?”

If he hadn’t asked it would have been fine; the moment he asked, Fu Yuqiu felt his dignity shattered. He bowed his head, clamped his collar in his mouth, and gnawed furiously to vent his anger, lest he be angered to tears.

Seeing the Living Yama still standing there, Fu Yuqiu assumed he wanted to watch him make a fool of himself, and in his fury threw caution to the wind, glaring up viciously: “Go away, I don’t need your—chirp—I can walk myself.”

Ugh. Chirped again.

The Immortal Venerable laughed.

At last he could see the shadow of that White Sparrow bristling like a boiled glutinous rice ball.

But to Fu Yuqiu’s eyes, that laugh meant only one thing: He’s mocking me?!

Fu Yuqiu felt the humiliation would follow him all the way back to the Secluded Sound Valley. Heat welled in his eyes, threatening to spill; he fought to hold back the useless tears, his thick, raven-feather lashes gone damp.

But tears of rage are not so easily swallowed back. On the verge of disgrace, Fu Yuqiu whirled around and hid back inside the canopies, sulking in silence.

He refused to return to the Living Yama’s bed, but he couldn’t walk either, so all he could do was hole up among the layered snow-gauze and recover first.

If he accidentally burst into tears mid-tantrum, Fu Yuqiu would sooner crack his own head open.

The Immortal Venerable lingered no longer and left the inner room.

Ming Nan, who had been enjoying the show at the side, had gone rigid, staring near-terror-stricken at Fu Yuqiu, wrapped in his canopies, muttering and cursing under his breath.

When that snow-haired youth had whipped his head up in furious glare, that face—the one favored by the Heavenly Dao itself—had slammed directly into Ming Nan’s sight.

Ming Nan’s breath caught without his meaning it to.

The Yuanchu Clan—no, the whole of the Three Realms—praised Ming Nan’s peerless beauty.

Even with his spiritual root and inspiration both crippled, those who cursed him as trash would append “beauty” to the insult.

His looks had practically been the tool of his survival all these years, the sharp thorn that had guarded him through life among the tiger-and-wolf kin of his own clan.

The position of Presiding Venerable was only an empty title—more so now that his brother’s “grace” in saving the Venerable One was exposed as nothing.

Ming Nan had meant only to be a beautiful, exquisite vase in peace, and keep the Venerable One’s special regard forever.

But now…

Even as arrogant and vain as Ming Nan was, for a moment he had to admit: the White Sparrow’s face was beautiful past all reason.

How could anyone be born with a face so exquisitely, dazzlingly lovely?

And that White Sparrow had just called it…

An Ugly Freak?

If that face was an “Ugly Freak,” every self-styled beauty in the Three Realms might as well die of shame.

Or—did that White Sparrow know he was listening, and mean to humiliate him on purpose?!

Ming Nan’s face went white as paper, as if his pride had been ground to powder.

His thoughts in chaos, he drifted dumbly after the Immortal Venerable back to the outer room.

“You said just now—the Reincarnated One. Where?”

Only when the Immortal Venerable spoke did Ming Nan startle violently and come back to himself.

The Immortal Venerable seemed to have noticed his distraction. He plucked lightly at the Konghou’s strings and said flatly, “I said it before: the position of Presiding Venerable I have granted will not be revoked.”

Ming Nan froze, realizing the Venerable One had seen straight through him, and hastily bowed his head, cold sweat beading.

“The Reincarnated One is…”

Ming Nan had never been caught so perfectly between two fires. Feng Beihe’s words echoed unbidden in his ears…

“You wouldn’t want to be treated as a plaything either…”

Given a choice, who would want to be treated as a plaything?

Ming Nan’s thoughts were a tangled ball of black thread. Gritting his teeth, silent for a long while, he at last spoke in a low voice:

“The Reincarnated One is in the Mortal Realm. In the Phoenix Ruins, perhaps.”

The Immortal Venerable showed none of the agitation Ming Nan had imagined. He was even seriously tuning the Konghou, absently answering, “Mm.”

Ming Nan couldn’t gauge his attitude toward the Reincarnated One at all.

After a long silence, the Immortal Venerable drawled, “And? Did you see him?”

“Yes.”

The Immortal Venerable seemed to find this rather interesting. He smiled and raised a hand slightly; a shard of broken mirror came drifting on a cloud, settling slowly before Ming Nan.

“This is a shard of a broken mirror your elder brother left behind,” the Immortal Venerable said flatly. “It must be damaged—only a shadowy profile remains within.”

Ming Nan took it.

In the bloodstained broken mirror, a profile could be faintly glimpsed, its face unseen; behind it stretched, seemingly, endless yellow sands?

Ming Nan’s expression darkened.

Though he and the Yuanchu Young Clan Master were twins, one had been the heaven-blessed favorite while the other was a Useless Beauty; from childhood they had rarely even met.

Ming Nan had once divined things about the Immortal Venerable: the Water Mirror had shown a lofty, snow-robed man imprisoning himself within intricate Spell Formations, half-conscious yet clutching this very mirror with all his strength.

Golden-red Phoenix Blood streaming down his hand, and still he would not let go.

Back then, he had assumed the figure in the mirror was his elder brother…

No—everyone in the Four Clans had believed the Reincarnated One the Venerable One awaited so devotedly was the Yuanchu Young Clan Master.

Now it seemed the Reincarnated One was, indeed, someone else entirely.

“Is it him?” the Immortal Venerable asked.

Ming Nan fumbled for words before saying, “I did not see his face.”

“Then what did you see?” the Immortal Venerable asked, with interest.

Ming Nan pressed his lips together. The wound on his forehead seemed to ache anew.

He raised his head slightly, as if resolving upon something, drew a deep breath, and said, “I saw… the Reincarnated One will soon be hunted by the Three Clans. In the Phoenix Ruins. He will be gravely wounded, his life hanging by a thread.”

Feng Beihe had ordered him to lure the Venerable One down to the Mortal Realm, and Ming Nan had indeed done so.

But if the Venerable One descended, the Three Clans shouldn’t expect to escape unscathed either.

Fight, then. Fight until one of you is dead.

Yet against all expectation, at the news that the Reincarnated One’s life hung by a thread, the Immortal Venerable showed not the least stir. He even played a light little tune on the Konghou, lively and sweet.

Only when the song ended did he turn his head, as if hearing some trivial matter: “Mm. Understood.”

Ming Nan was taken aback. “You… won’t descend?”

The Immortal Venerable seemed to find the question itself absurd: “Why would I descend?”

“You don’t wish to save… him?”

Any ordinary person, learning that their beloved’s reincarnation might be in danger—wouldn’t they seek that person out beforehand and protect them well?

Ming Nan had always thought the Venerable One merely eccentric, easily enough read. But now the man seemed utterly unfathomable.

The future shown in the Yuanchu Clan’s Reflection Well had the Venerable One loving that person down to the marrow;

yet hearing of his peril, he reacted with this total indifference.

“Mm…” the Immortal Venerable said offhandedly. “Life, death, withering, flourishing—the Heavenly Dao decides them, not mortal hands.”

Ming Nan: “???”

A madman indeed.

The Immortal Venerable seemed done with the subject of the Reincarnated One. He waved a hand carelessly. “Go back.”

Ming Nan gritted his teeth, bowed respectfully, and took his leave.

Presiding Venerable though he was, in the Nine Heavens he lodged only in the remote Resonant Stream Hall.

That White Sparrow… got to stay in the Venerable One’s own side hall.

Ming Nan glanced back once at the sleeping chamber and left with a dark face.

In the outer room, Yun Gui appeared as if from nowhere, brow furrowed. “Venerable One, he may be luring you down deliberately.”

The Immortal Venerable: “Mm.”

Seeing his mood was good, Yun Gui ventured a few more words: “You don’t even know what that person looks like. Ming Nan only dared steal a single glance—how could he confirm the Reincarnated One is truly…”

The Immortal Venerable had no intention of descending—and he had far more interesting matters at hand.

He rose and walked into the inner room, glancing at the canopies where that ill-tempered White Sparrow had been hiding.

Empty.

The Immortal Venerable arched a brow slightly and walked over slowly, pushing aside the layered snow-gauze canopies.

The bed was deserted; only a broken, intermittent trail of water wound its way to the window lattice.

Fu Yuqiu… had fled out the window.

The Immortal Venerable felt a faint sense of foreboding.

Just then, Yun Shou came charging in, beside himself with frustration: “Venerable One, that White Sparrow has gone too far!”

The Immortal Venerable frowned: “What?”

“He is utterly out of control—won’t listen to a word of reason.” Yun Shou had truly been pushed past his limit. “His Spirit Core isn’t even stable. One moment he’s a White Sparrow, the next he’s human, and he—he went rolling and crawling and cursing all the way to the Phoenix Hall!”

The Immortal Venerable: “…”

The Phoenix Hall was the forbidden ground of the Nine Heavens—no wonder Yun Shou was so furious.

Yun Gui knew the Venerable One was deeply fond of the game of playing “Phoenix” and “Immortal Venerable” as separate identities to tease the White Sparrow. Seeing the Venerable One’s face darken, she steeled herself to ask on his behalf: “Has the Little Highness entered the Phoenix Hall?”

Yun Shou said, “Not yet—but he’s at the steps. He’ll climb up any moment.”

The words had barely fallen when the Immortal Venerable’s figure burst into a wisp of smoke and vanished from where he stood.

Yun Gui: “…”

Yun Shou: “????”