When Xiao Fuxuan stood up, he withdrew the mighty oppression that bore down on the entire inn.

The Feng Sect junior disciples sensed their bodies abruptly lightening, once again able to move. But upon looking back and forth at one another, they gaped anxiously at their acting leader without daring to move.

Unfortunately, the acting leader Feng Huiming fundamentally couldn’t attend to them.

Face taut, he clutched at his robe upon getting up from the floor. His posture was not at all disheveled, but the sides of his face were flushed.

"Elder Huiming, are you—" Feng Shulan was well aware of his temperament, and glanced several times at him.

"I’m fine." Feng Huiming interrupted her; his tone was resolute.

He’d just said quite a lot while under pressure, but now that it’d eased off, the more he thought, the more embarrassed he felt. Unfortunately, the deed had been done under myriad staring eyes, and he was forced to muster up what remained of his pride.

When Feng Shulan helped him up, she said in a low voice: "You shouldn’t bring them back to the Feng Sect. No matter what, we should at least inform the Sect Leader."

Feng Huiming knit his brows: "I know what I’m doing."

Feng Shulan shot him a look.

Feng Huiming added: "Moreover, the Sect Leader had said, when he’s not present, I can make any decision as I see fit."

Feng Shulan said nothing more.

She turned to sweep a glance at those junior disciples, and raised her voice to say: "Are you all stupid or what? Need me to help you up?"

She had naturally smiling lips, but didn’t like to smile, and her tone of voice was biting. She looked after the Disciples’ Hall all year round; the junior disciples were inherently afraid of her, and would of course not dare wait for her to help them up.

They all clambered up and shook the spirit-binding ropes off their bodies, then helped one another take the mouth-sealing talismans off their foreheads, at which point they slowly began to speak, but still kept to the corners of the walls.

Feng Shulan: "Come here."

The junior disciples gathered over obediently.

The junior disciples congregated obediently. Feng Shulan stepped aside and pointed to Xiao Fuxuan, saying coldly to the disciples: “Come thank the Immortal.”

The junior disciples: "???"

They truly couldn’t figure out why they, as kidnapping victims, had to thank their kidnappers.

Even Xiao Fuxuan himself was somewhat surprised and glanced at Feng Shulan.

The junior disciples were really a bit timid, but their confusion pushed everything else down: "Thank them for whaat???"

Feng Shulan: "Thank them for showing mercy?"

These words actually sounded quite clever.

Now that the words "showing mercy" were thrown down, anyone who heard these words would feel that they would have to show mercy now. If later on something unexpected happened and led to conflict, then these junior disciples could be saved from trouble—

After all, they’d said thank you in front of them.

From the perspective of a more sentimental mortal, this method was extremely effective. Unfortunately, Xiao Fuxuan was no such person.

But this didn’t keep Wu Xingxue from feeling that this young lady’s character was somewhat interesting, or at least more interesting than that of Feng Huiming.

Clearly, he wasn’t the only one who thought like this. Huddling up to Yi Wusheng, Ning Huaishan asked stealthily: ‘What was that you said before? Afterwards, this girl became—"

Yi Wusheng couldn’t help but balk at his means of address: "This what?"

Ning Huaishan didn’t like being interrupted: "This girl. What are you overreacting for, it’s not like I called you that."

Yi Wusheng: "……"

He shot Ning Huaishan a few looks, but truly couldn’t figure it out. This little devil himself looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, how could he be so fond of using this patronizing tone when addressing others?

Yi Wusheng kindly brought up: "Don’t forget that this is hundreds of years ago. Technically, she’s your senior by now.”

Ning Huaishan stuck his mouth out in Feng Shulan’s direction: "If I bothered to call her an old senior and then spoke like you had me, tell me, would she or wouldn’t she raise her sword and come chop off my mouth."

Yi Wusheng: "……"

"She would.” Wu Xingxue’s voice chimed in.

Ning Huaishan promptly withdrew his arrogant tone: "City Lord."

While Feng Shulan was briefing disciples on arrangements, Wu Xingxue vaguely overheard Ning Huaishan and Yi Wusheng’s discussion, and said curiously: "What did you just say this young lady later became?"Yi Wusheng was about to open his mouth when Ning Huaishan stole his thunder: "Sect Leader."

Wu Xingxue let out an "Oh," and said, both surprised and not: "Even you know this?"

Ning Huaishan: "Of course!"

Having gotten some rare praise from City Lord, he was full of excitement. He promptly fished up all the words he’d gotten from Yi Wusheng’s end, and commenced showing off: "She was Feng Sect’s previous Sect Leader, but long since passed away.”

Upon hearing this, however, Wu Xingxue was a bit puzzled: "The previous one?"

Ning Huaishan: "That’s right."

Wu Xingxue: "When we entered Zhaoye City, you mentioned Zhaoye City’s current city lord, Xueli…"

Ning Huaishan clicked his tongue, not at all wanting to hear about this new city lord.

Wu Xingxue motioned to Yi Wusheng: "At the time, you said that Xueli was the son of an old friend, the youngest son of the previous Feng Sect Leader… wouldn’t he be this young lady’s son?"

Ning Huaishan was taken aback.

Wu Xingxue said: "The ages seem a bit odd though…"

Yi Wusheng was born a hundred years ago, and the Falling Flower Mountain Market before their eyes was at least over three hundred years ago. Of course, cultivators lived long lives; a few centuries was no problem, but hearing that there was still such a difference between generations, it was somewhat odd.

Ning Huaishan opened his mouth. This time, he was unable to answer first. After faltering a couple of times, he pushed Yi Wusheng forward: "You go."

Yi Wusheng was unsure whether to laugh or cry, but maintained a serious face to explain: I’m not friends with this Sect Leader herself, but with her partner instead. There was indeed somewhat of an age discrepancy, which could be written off as hitting things off regardless of age, but…"

"But what?"

"But I’m thinking it’s still not quite right." Yi Wusheng thought it over and said, "Extrapolating based on Senior Shulan’s age, during the time of Falling Flower Mountain Market, she probably would have been… would have been a bit younger. So when I’d previously heard her name at the inn’s threshold, I almost thought I’d heard wrong, and was rather surprised."

But after saying this he added: "But what I know and remember isn’t all that clear."

Cultivators could live up to centuries, and very few would go carefully calculating their own ages, let alone others. Yi Wusheng waved his hands to say: "Don’t take my word for it, don’t take my word for it."

Afraid he’d miscalculated, he smiled nervously and took the initiative to change the subject: "In comparison, I’m more surprised about the other one."

The other one?

Wu Xingxue followed his line of sight, to Feng Huiming.

"Why are you surprised?"

"He’s about the same age range as Feng Shulan, but I’ve never heard of him." Yi Wusheng lowered his voice further, as these words were truly unsuitable for the Feng Sect people to hear, or else it’d likely lead to a misunderstanding.

Because at first glance, these words would lead people to imagine certain unsavory conclusions, such as… dying an early death.

But another thought flashed through Wu Xingxue’s mind—were he really to have died an early death or the like, wouldn’t it have actually made him less forgettable? Weren’t people more likely to remember him and pity him?

Thinking like this, Feng Huiming’s situation was even stranger.

But this, after all, was something that hadn’t yet happened, and blind guessing was useless. The discussion ended quickly.

For one, Feng Shulan had finished all her briefing of the younger generation, and nodded at them to indicate they could head out. Feng Huiming was already beside the door to the inn, standing aside to let everyone pass through.

And for two…

The main reason was, Wu Xingxue’s attention had been drawn away by the Tianxiu Immortal.

Before, while talking about the discrepancy between Feng Shulan and Yi Wusheng’s ages, Xiao Fuxuan had still been listening to the side. But at some point afterward, he’d turned around and went behind a red pillar.

While Yi Wusheng had been talking, out of politeness, Wu Xingxue didn’t let his gaze drift, but kept a corner of his eye focused on that red pillar.

He could make out a corner of Tianxiu’s robe as well as the tips of his matte black boots, but couldn’t see very clearly. That feeling was like a dulled claw scratching at him over and over…

***

Xiao Fuxuan lowered his hands, the sword aura between his fingers returning to normal.

He was just about to lift his feet when he abruptly heard a soft voice: “Mr. Tianxiu, what misdeeds are you secretly doing?"

He slightly dragged his words out, intentionally emphasizing the word "secretly."

Once, there were quite a few people who’d said that person would occasionally use this tone of voice, liable to bring a little tickle to one’s heart. Each time he heard this talk, he’d felt an onset of discomfort.

Those people thought he didn’t like to hear about things related to "Spirit King." But in fact, it wasn’t that; he just didn’t like this talk coming out of other people’s mouths.Xiao Fuxuan turned around. He saw Wu Xingxue poking his head and said: "I caught you in the act."

The light in his eyes stirred. In a low voice, he replied: "Caught me doing what?"

Wu Xingxue looked at him, but his lips moved without an immediate reply. After a beat, he again used that traipsing-along tone to say: "I’m ever so curious—

"So you hid over here, to do what?" he asked.

Xiao Fuxuan replied: "Spirit partition."

Wu Xingxue was stunned: "Partition of which spirit?"

Xiao Fuxuan: "Of spirits."

Wu Xingxue: "?"

Wu Xingxue: "Which spirit?"

He thought to himself, is he talking about those spirits in the forbidden area? I think you’re taking advantage of my memory loss to bluff me.

Sure enough, he saw Tianxiu’s gaze sweeping across his face, and as though having had enough of bluffing, he then said: "Spirits like in spiritual consciousness."

Spiritual consciousness sounded much more reasonable. After all, Wu Xingxue had previously seen him projecting his consciousness.

With an "Oh," he thought to himself: Sure enough, he succumbs to bad influences very fast.

But he only thought these words. The words that came out of his mouth were: "Why do you want to partition your spiritual consciousness all of a sudden?"

Xiao Fuxuan: "Just in case."

Wu Xingxue recalled that just as Yi Wusheng started talking about Feng Shulan and Feng Huiming, Xiao Fuxuan had gone to hide behind the pillar, likely because he’d sensed something amiss.

Wu Xingxue calculated: "Are you partitioning out a bit of your spirit to leave some leeway?"

Xiao Fuxuan: "More or less."

Wu Xingxue muttered something to himself.

Xiao Fuxuan didn’t know what he was muttering, but his intuition told him it wasn’t anything good.

Sure enough, he watched as the devil said to him: "Then spare some for me too."

Xiao Fuxuan: "……"

Tianxiu looked at him without uttering a word. Clearly, he wore no expression, but one could make out a slight headache in it… No, more like an "everything-ache."

"Wu Xingxue…" his deep voice sounded.

The devil intuitively knew he was about to say no, and scrambled to first ask: "Does spirit splitting spiritual consciousness hurt a lot?"

As he spoke he studied at Xiao Fuxuan. After all, this person had just partitioned himself.

Xiao Fuxuan moved his lips. After a beat, he let out: "No."

The devil asked: "Then why not? If it doesn’t hurt, we can leave even more leeway. Wouldn’t it be a loss not to partition?”

Xiao Fuxuan: "……"

Xiao Fuxuan: "Then we’ll take the loss."

The devil: "……"

Everyone said the Tianxiu Immortal was unyielding. They weren’t lying.

The devil looked at him with lips pursed. After mulling it over, he turned around to say: "Oh, then I’ll go ask Ning Huaishan and Yi Wusheng and see if they can help—"

Before the "me out." could come out, Wu Xingxue felt himself being tugged at.

He turned his head to meet Xiao Fuxuan’s half-lowered eyes, his deep voice uttering: "…Give me your hand."

A smile floated up across Wu Xingxue’s eyes as he passed his hand over.

But his smile rapidly froze…

The moment Xiao Fuxuan had him in his warm and clean grip, an external energy spilled into Wu Xingxue’s veins from where he was touched. That energy was as brash as Tianxiu’s sword intent; when it gushed through his veins, it was simply impossible to ignore.

He could distinctly sense the impetus passing through every vital gate, every essential acupoint of his body. After making its way through each of his key junctures, it flowed toward his heart.

Wu Xingxue’s fingers almost unconsciously clenched.

As that energy gushed toward his heart, it suddenly slowed down, and enclosed it in an intimate, warm embrace.

At that moment, he heard Xiao Fuxuan’s deep voice emanating almost snugly against his heart: "You ought to know what manner of thing spiritual consciousness is, you can’t just ask anyone for help."