Chapter 132: Twin

The group that had just returned was welcomed into the Qianji Sect by their junior brothers and sisters, who beat gongs and drums. All those words flying in the sky were magical artifacts that the junior brothers and sisters had forged during this period.

Ye Su looked up at the magical artifacts above and said, "You’ve improved."

The junior brothers and sisters had only been working with materials and forging artifacts for less than three years, yet now they could already be considered mature artifact refiners. Once their cultivation realms improved in the future, they would be able to forge even better magical artifacts.

"Senior Martial Sister, we’ve all reached Foundation Establishment."

Amid the noisy crowd, they shouted excitedly, and finally one junior sister was pushed forward.

"Junior Sister Li has the highest cultivation realm among us. She’s already at the late Foundation Establishment stage!"

At this age, being at the late Foundation Establishment stage could only be considered average when compared to disciples of major sects. But the Qianji Sect disciples were extremely happy, and so were Ye Su and the others who had returned.

The Qianji Sect had only had spirit stones for cultivation for the past two years. In an environment with such depleted spiritual energy, reaching the late Foundation Establishment stage was already quite impressive.

Ye Su looked at the junior brothers and sisters gathered around her and said seriously, "From now on, you’ll cultivate even faster. Senior Sister guarantees that in the future, there will be more spirit stones."

No one doubted her. Everyone had tremendous expectations for the future, their eyes shining brightly.

"Senior Martial Sister, we’ll also work hard at artifact refining. In the future, we’ll be able to earn spirit stones too."

"I’ll be waiting." After smiling, Ye Su pointed at the magical artifacts in midair. "Later, let your senior brothers and sisters inspect them and see where they can still be improved."



The junior brothers and sisters immediately put away the magical artifacts, clasped their hands behind their backs, and obediently said yes.

They had only walked a short distance up Jiuxuan Peak, mainly to familiarize Lü Jiu with the surroundings, when they ran into Zhang Fengfeng coming down.

"I could hear them beating the gongs and drums from far away. I figured you must have come back!" Zhang Fengfeng was extremely excited to see his disciples return, and he hadn’t even put his shoes on properly.

Xi Yu covered his eyes with a mirror, then moved it away. He repeated this several times, confirming that his master across from him wouldn’t change appearance, and immediately became overwhelmed with grief. "Master——"

Zhang Fengfeng was startled. "What’s wrong, Little Xi Yu? Were you bullied?"

"Can you change back?" Xi Yu touched his nonexistent tears. "I’m just not used to looking at you like this."

A two-hundred-year-old man suddenly transforming overnight into a handsome young man—the impact of seeing it in person was far greater than seeing it on a communication jade disc.

In the past, when his master appeared before everyone dragging a shoe along with his clothes in complete disarray, he looked like nothing more than a dispirited, shabby old man. Now, doing the exact same things somehow gave off an alluring, languid charm.

Zhang Fengfeng: "……I even shaved my beard! I can’t change back!"

After saying that, he ignored Xi Yu and walked a few steps before warmly looking at Lü Jiu. "Welcome to our Qianji Sect. Welcome to becoming a member of the Qianji Sect."

Lü Jiu was flattered and hurriedly greeted him.

Zhang Fengfeng then turned his head to look at Yi Xuan. "You’ve grown taller."

"Master has become younger." Yi Xuan hadn’t returned for more than three years. Standing on Jiuxuan Peak again, everything was so familiar yet so unfamiliar. Only his feelings were no longer the same.

Zhang Fengfeng cheerfully greeted everyone before turning around and walking upward with them.

You Fushi hated walking up long flights of steps, but they needed to familiarize Lü Jiu with the surroundings, so he slowly fell behind everyone else and lazily dragged himself upward.

"Come here." Ye Su, who was ahead, stepped aside to let the others pass, then extended her hand toward him.

You Fushi looked up at Ye Su for a moment before finally raising his hand and placing it in hers.

"I’ve already found someone to cut open that purple pear gall wood box from before. I’ll give it to you later." Zhang Fengfeng said to several of his disciples. "Now that you’re back this time, when are you leaving?"

"Senior Martial Sister and the others still have to go to the Reincarnation Tower. The three of us don’t have to go." Xia Er said excitedly, "Master, I heard there are lots of good things inside the Reincarnation Tower! Anyone who enters can bring any one thing out with them."

"The Reincarnation Tower?" Zhang Fengfeng became excited as soon as he heard this. "Those who can go to that place won’t be ordinary people in the future."

After they reached Jiuxuan Peak, Zhang Fengfeng divided the purple pear gall wood among Ye Su and the others. This thing was precious, and it had taken him a long time to contact old friends before he could get it divided.

There were only five rooms on Jiuxuan Peak, so Lü Jiu shared a room with Xi Yu.

"Later, we’ll tidy up those peaks covered in grass and you can pick one to live in." Xi Yu said to Lü Jiu.

Lü Jiu stood in the courtyard and looked around before lowering her voice and asking, "Are we missing one room?"

There were seven of them, but there were only five rooms here. Just now, Yi Xuan, Ming Liusha, and Xia Er had all entered their rooms.

"The first room originally belonged to Senior Martial Sister, but later Junior Martial Brother wanted to live there, so it became Junior Martial Brother’s." Xi Yu explained.

Lü Jiu suddenly understood. Seeing Ye Su enter together as well, she asked, "So Ye Su and Young Master You live together?"

"No." Xi Yu looked into his mirror and adjusted his hair ornaments. "Senior Martial Sister sleeps in the cave."

Lü Jiu: "?"

"Senior Martial Sister used to cultivate in the cave too. It’s normal." Xi Yu pointed at the first room. "There’s nothing much in that room anyway, just an extra bed."

Very soon, the two people in the courtyard saw Ye Su walk out of the room, with You Fushi following behind her.

"Senior Martial Sister, where are you going?" Xi Yu asked.

"Going for a walk around the back mountain." Ye Su said.

She wanted to take You Fushi around the back mountain, especially the places where Ning Qianyao had once stayed, to see whether Junior Martial Brother could remember anything, or whether there were traces of him having once been here.

The back mountain was not small. Ye Su usually only went to her own usual places and rarely wandered around, especially since that was where the male and female protagonists had stayed that year.

"I don’t know which great senior of the Qianji Sect you are, and I’ve never heard of anyone here being a demon." Ye Su walked along the pebble path beside the stream, then turned around and reached out to take You Fushi’s hand. "Are you familiar with this place?"

You Fushi looked at the wild grass and scattered stones everywhere. He frowned and shook his head. "I don’t remember."

"Let’s go somewhere else." Ye Su took him toward the areas where the male and female protagonists had once stayed.

They weren’t difficult to find. Although wild grass grew everywhere, in some places the grass had grown unusually tall, clearly showing that someone had once released spiritual power here.

The Blood-Crying Sword flew over and cleared away the surrounding wild grass in just a few strokes, then hovered around You Fushi as if currying favor with him.

The two entered a cave. It was considerably larger than the cave Ye Su lived in, and the furnishings were also quite good. Candle stands were placed throughout the cave. Ye Su swept her spiritual fire across them, lighting the candles. The dim cave immediately became brightly illuminated, revealing quite a few sword marks on the walls. They were probably left behind by Lu Shenhan.

Ye Su’s gaze fell upon the Blood-Crying Sword. Since the Blood-Crying Sword was a sword from before the Divine Fall Era, it was highly likely that You Fushi was also a member of the Qianji Sect from that period.

After the Divine Fall Era, she knew most of the powerful figures from the Qianji Sect. It was only the period before the Divine Fall Era when, supposedly, the records of the entire cultivation world were rather incomplete.

The Blood-Crying Sword was in the sword tomb of the Wujian Sect. Junior Sister had never been to the Wujian Sect, yet she had been able to obtain the Spirit-Hiding Pearl, which meant there were other things belonging to You Fushi in other places.

It was just that Ye Su had previously recalled the secret realms the female protagonist had visited before the sect competition, as well as the things she had obtained, and discovered one thing: Ning Qianyao always seemed to have certain heavenly treasures that had never been described before, which she would suddenly take out.

Every single one was precious enough to leave the major sects dumbfounded.

That feeling was extremely similar to…… the shock Ye Su felt whenever You Fushi suddenly took something out of his realm and gave it to her.

That was why, during their stay at Kunlun, Ye Su became even more suspicious that Ning Qianyao had obtained some method that allowed her to enter You Fushi’s realm.

She had come to the Qianji Sect’s back mountain because she wanted to see whether Junior Martial Brother could remember anything.

You Fushi walked around the cave once before wanting to leave. He still couldn’t remember anything.

Ye Su took him around to look at other places. Junior Martial Brother didn’t remember a single thing, but instead took a liking to the cave where she lived.

"It’s dark. I’ll sleep here." You Fushi sat in the place where Ye Su usually sat and lazily sprawled over the crude table as he spoke.

Ye Su turned around and glanced at the waterfall at the cave entrance, immediately understanding. Junior Martial Brother probably preferred shady places.

"Alright." Ye Su tidied up the narrow bed inside the cave. "You sleep here. I still have something to do."

She took out that talisman paper, preparing to enter the Dark Realm that night to take a look. The jade slip Lian Lian had given her had deepened her understanding of the basics of talismans.

You Fushi didn’t rest immediately. He lay there watching Ye Su. She had already begun meditating and entered the Dark Realm.

The cave was exceptionally quiet, with only the sound of the waterfall at the entrance and the two people’s shallow breathing remaining.

You Fushi lay there for a while. Being alone was somewhat boring. The legs beneath his robes suddenly transformed into a long tail, which he unconsciously swished around. In the end, finding the ground dirty, he draped his tail over Ye Su’s legs.

He contentedly narrowed his eyes. Being human was too tiring. He even had to walk every day.

But this mortal seemed incapable of getting tired no matter what. Every day, she was either doing this or doing that.

You Fushi straightened up and leaned closer to look at Ye Su’s face. The two were extremely close, so close that he could feel his own breath.

Eyes, nose, mouth…… just an ordinary human.

You Fushi carefully looked her over from top to bottom, but couldn’t find any difference between Ye Su and other people. At most, she was a little better-looking.

He entertained himself alone, and after becoming tired from playing, he didn’t rest on the narrow bed Ye Su had prepared. Instead, he transformed back into his true form.

This mortal knew about his true form and had even taken his shed snake skin. She was also meditating, so there was no problem with him showing his true form.

In an instant, an extremely beautiful little black snake and a Mist-Killing Flower appeared together on the crude tabletop.

The little black snake coiled around the Mist-Killing Flower, looking extremely much like twin snakes. The only difference was that the little black snake had a white mark on top of its head, while the Mist-Killing Flower did not.

You Fushi usually liked the Mist-Killing Flower. After transforming back into a little black snake, he played with it for quite some time before finally letting it go.

He himself fell onto Ye Su’s wrist, coiled around it once, and fell asleep in that position.

……

In the Dark Realm, as soon as Ye Su entered, it was still pitch-black. After a long while, a wall of light appeared in front of her again, densely covered with new talismans.

Ye Su walked closer and roughly looked through them. She couldn’t help becoming curious about the designer of this Dark Realm. It seemed to be able to sense her cultivation realm. The talismans that appeared this time all required the Divine Transformation stage to draw.

These talismans were the things most appealing to Ye Su. She hardly stopped for even a moment and began learning the talismans on the wall of light, determined to master every single one.

During this time, Ye Su unconsciously lowered her head and glanced at her right wrist. For some reason, she felt that her right wrist seemed slightly heavier than her left.

But this thought only flashed through her mind for an instant. The next moment, Ye Su continued looking at the talismans on the wall of light.

Before Ye Su came out of the Dark Realm, You Fushi woke up first. He hadn’t rested in his true form for a long time, so after waking up, he was unusually energetic. He transformed into human form and slowly put on his clothes.

He lowered his head and randomly tied the belt around his waist. Then he turned around and looked at Ye Su. Why hadn’t she woken up yet?

You Fushi waited beside the table for another hour. During that time, he had even counted how many eyelashes Ye Su had.

Only then did Ye Su finally open her eyes. After studying talismans nonstop in the Dark Realm without sleep, she was momentarily dazed when she returned, but Senior Martial Sister quickly came back to her senses.

Because You Fushi waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Ye Su, I’m hungry."

"I’ll take you back." Ye Su’s gaze fell on the Mist-Killing Flower on the table, and she was somewhat surprised. You Fushi usually wore it and never took it off. Had he gotten tired of it?

She pointed at the Mist-Killing Flower and asked, "Why did you put it here?"

You Fushi extended his wrist in front of Ye Su, glanced at the Mist-Killing Flower on the table, and made his meaning perfectly clear.

Senior Martial Sister: "……" I must have owed him in my previous life.

Even so, Ye Su still put the Mist-Killing Flower back on him.

"It looked like me before." You Fushi lowered his head and looked at the Mist-Killing Flower he had just put on.

Ye Su froze for a moment, remembering that little black snake she had seen back in Dinghai City. There had been a white mark on its head. When she forged the Mist-Killing Flower, she had thought that white mark was unattractive, so she hadn’t added it.

She guessed that he had probably been injured later when undergoing tribulation.

She pulled Junior Martial Brother to his feet. "What do you want to eat? The Qianji Sect doesn’t have much spiritual food. I’ll take you out to eat."

Before leaving the cave, she looked back at the narrow bed, only to discover that there wasn’t the slightest sign that anyone had slept on it. Yet Junior Martial Brother’s belt was tied into a complete mess.

"Where did you sleep last night?" Ye Su suddenly asked You Fushi.

Junior Martial Brother met Senior Martial Sister’s gaze, slowly raised his hands, covered his ears, and tried to avoid the question.