SQLJBFDTW Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Advancement – Was it all a wasted effort?

They were still dropped in the middle of Water Moon Valley. The night sky between the two valleys was dotted with stars, and seemed to flow with a fluorescent green illusion.

Yu Wei had agreed with his senior siblings to meet at the Fuxiang Restaurant at dawn. He concentrated on adjusting the campfire.

The dry branches he’d gathered crackled in the fire, sending up sparks and making crisp popping sounds.

Chao Jianxue sat sideways by the fire, tilting his head to dry his hair.

He had a lot of hair, falling down like a mass of flowing, lustrous, ink-black jade.

He saw Yu Wei clutching his chest where he had been struck, his breathing not as steady as before.

“You…”

“Senior Brother…”

They spoke at the same time, looking at each other in surprise. For some reason, Yu Wei seemed a little restrained.

“Senior Brother, does Lord Mu Yuan know you left the sect?”

He asked knowingly, and Chao Jianxue followed his question, saying, “I used an illusion technique to come out precisely to keep Lord Mu Yuan from knowing… You’d better keep it a secret for me.”

Yu Wei looked at him, his eyes reflecting the leaping firelight. “This time it was fortunate. Senior Brother must never enter a secret realm alone again. Secret realms are full of dangers. A minor injury is already a blessing.”

Chao Jianxue also knew this was true, but the opportunity was not to be missed, so he just had to be more careful in the future.

He joked, “I was fine in the secret realm, but I almost died at your hands when I came out.”

Yu Wei frowned, averted his gaze, and continued to watch the fire. “That’s the second thing I wanted to talk about. Senior Brother should have told me that you were coming in using an illusion technique, so I would have known.”

“Oh? Aren’t you going to say ‘it’s irrelevant’ now?” Chao Jianxue teased.

“…Senior Brother and I are both disciples under Lord Mu Yuan. In public and in private, I should take responsibility.”

He looked young, but he spoke like an elder, which seemed out of place. Chao Jianxue grinned and said, “I don’t need you to be responsible. What responsibility do you need to take!”

He was still sore all over, so he propped himself up and patted the outer robe that was drying beside him. It was still wet, and wearing it would give him a cold.

Yu Wei had been struck by that demon cultivator, so he shouldn’t recklessly use his spiritual power, which was why he didn’t use a spell to quickly dry his clothes.

Chao Jianxue lay back, seeing the brilliant Milky Way. The rustling of insects and the crackling of the fire combined into a pleasant sound in his ears.

“The Thousand Li Sword was taken by the demon cultivator. What should we say when others ask?”

Yu Wei said, “Report the truth. I wasn’t vigilant enough, which allowed the demon cultivator an opportunity.”

He added, “The demon cultivator didn’t show his face from beginning to end. Senior Brother Li said that he was knocked unconscious at the Fuxiang Restaurant. You were with him at the time. Did you notice anything unusual?”

Chao Jianxue carefully recalled, and said, “No, if there’s a possibility, it could only have been when I was bathing…”

In an instant, Yu Wei remembered the scene at that time. When he saw Chao Jianxue talking to Hua Ze at the door, he was indeed slightly damp.

Hua Ze…

Pain spread through his wound at this moment. Yu Wei’s breathing hitched slightly. He immediately took a deep breath, and the cold night wind made his head heavy.

“The defenses at the border of the demon territory need to be strengthened. The True Immortal said there were two demon cultivators, so one must have slipped out as well.”

Chao Jianxue curled his lips. “But there’s no way around it. Both humans and demons want a piece of the pie. Besides, Fuhang True Immortal is also a demon immortal, so it’s reasonable for a demon to take it.”

Yu Wei didn’t answer for a long time.

Chao Jianxue turned his head to look at him, seeing him lower his eyes, sitting quietly in front of the firelight, inexplicably giving off aEthereal sense of about to fly away.

Oh, he forgot.

That demon cultivator gave him a palm strike before escaping. He must have hated demons to the extreme.

However, he didn’t expect Yu Wei to look so gentle, yet be so ruthless towards the demon race. Just because of suspicion, he almost drowned him in the water.

The discomfort of the cold water filling his nasal cavity and throat was still stuck in his throat. Chao Jianxue coughed.

Had he finally discovered Yu Wei’s unknown angry side?

Yu Wei abruptly said, “Senior Brother, where’s that bell you picked up in the secret realm? Do you still have it with you?”

Chao Jianxue choked and coughed several times, sitting up guiltily.

But his expression was normal, with no trace of lying. “I didn’t bring it out. I must have left it in the secret realm.”

Yu Wei looked at him, his clear, insightful eyes seemingly trying to see through him.

Finally, he said, “Then forget it. That bell should just be a magical artifact for opening the formation. It’s really not an important thing.”

He was let off the hook so easily. Chao Jianxue breathed a sigh of relief, but felt even more guilty at the same time.

“Senior Brother,” Yu Wei said again, “Thank you for believing in me.”

He was talking about the formation eye. Chao Jianxue was stunned. “Didn’t you say that already?”

“I just said it to Lu Renyi. Now I’m saying it to you. It’s hard to trust someone in the face of life and death.”

Chao Jianxue didn’t know what he was feeling sentimental about. “Besides trusting you, I had no other choice.”

“Mm.” Yu Wei suddenly smiled, a smile like a clear breeze on a bright moonlit night.

Chao Jianxue was baffled.

“Right,” he said, “I seem to have a few pills here. Can you see what they do and if they’re edible?”

He poured them out like beans, a few red, black, and green ones.

Yu Wei glanced at them. “Supreme Grade Essence Stabilizing Pill, Spirit Assisting Pill, and… Flower-like Face, Moon-like Appearance, Youth Preserving Pill.”

How did a strange name get mixed in!

Chao Jianxue said sheepishly, “Eat them, eat them. They’re good for injuries. The Flower-like Face, Moon-like Appearance, Youth Preserving Pill is good for your face.”

“No need.”

Chao Jianxue couldn’t give away his good intentions, and said unhappily, “I’m giving it to you. Isn’t it good to have painless beauty? If you don’t eat it, throw it away!”

“…Does Senior Brother like pretty faces?”

Chao Jianxue nodded. “Who doesn’t like pretty faces?”

“The skin is empty.”

“I just like pretty faces. Stop saying all this useless nonsense.”

“Then…” Yu Wei picked up a Flower-like Face, Moon-like Appearance, Youth Preserving Pill. The pink pill skin shimmered in the light. “What counts as a pretty face?”

What kind of broken question was that! The pretty face he had seen recently, Hua Ze’s pure and lovely sweet-looking appearance, flashed in his mind.

Besides him, there was also…

Chao Jianxue peeked at Yu Wei’s calm expression. If he said him, he would definitely put on that untouchable Guanyin-like appearance again.

He chose to say, “Hua Ze’s is very good-looking.”

It might have been an illusion caused by the dim light, but he felt like Yu Wei sneered.

Then he heard Yu Wei say calmly, “Indeed. Fellow Daoist Hua Ze’s appearance is beautiful.”

He never liked others being unmotivated and indulging in a life of pleasure.

He handed the Flower-like Face, Moon-like Appearance, Youth Preserving Pill back to Chao Jianxue.

Chao Jianxue handed over two more Essence Stabilizing Pills, but Yu Wei still refused.

“Thank you, Senior Brother, but I have already adjusted my spiritual energy.”

His sleeves were rolled up, and the wounds he had suffered in the secret realm had already completely healed.

The healing ability of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator was naturally first-rate. Based on the principle that since he had already taken them out, Chao Jianxue ate all the pills himself.

After eating them, his dantian immediately felt full. Only then did he keenly realize that in the empty dantian, an unusual small core had appeared.

His heart was pounding wildly, overflowing with joy.

There was only one step left to go from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core!

If Yu Wei wasn’t still here, he would immediately focus on examining the Thousand Li Bright Heart that Fuheng had given him. He, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was about to become a Golden Core cultivator with Fuheng’s help. He wondered how Yu Wei was doing?

He moved closer to Yu Wei and asked, “After coming out of the secret realm, has Junior Brother’s cultivation improved?”

Yu Wei shook his head. “There haven’t been any major changes.”

He had actually surpassed Yu Wei. Chao Jianxue suddenly felt infinite strength and jumped up happily. He patted the dried outer robe for a while and threw some wood into the fire for a while.

Yu Wei asked, “How did Senior Brother get the outer disciple clothes and wooden tag?”

“I stole them while he was taking a bath.”

Yu Wei: “…”

Chao Jianxue tilted his head, asking with a very innocent question, “What’s wrong?”

Yu Wei rubbed his forehead. “Senior Brother is really…” He had never seen such a willful person. In Yu Wei’s previous education, everyone around him had the demeanor of a gentleman, with rules for every sitting and every action.

“You must properly apologize to that disciple when you return.”

Chao Jianxue thought that losing a sect wooden tag was normal, but since Yu Wei wanted to uphold his principles of conduct, he had to agree, “Okay, okay, I’ll listen to you.”

“However, I didn’t expect Senior Brother Li’s name to be Zhenzhen.” He smiled teasingly.

“It’s precisely because of this name that Senior Brother Li never easily reveals his real name when he goes out.” Yu Wei also curved his lips. “However, Zhenzhen means true and sincere. Senior Brother Li has a pure heart. Senior Brother shouldn’t make fun of him to his face.”

Chao Jianxue muttered, “How dare I make fun of him? Others call me a good-for-nothing to my face. I wouldn’t dare make fun of a Nascent Soul powerhouse.”

Yu Wei: “…”

“Senior Brother.”

Chao Jianxue snorted. “Forget it, I was just joking.”

He actually cared a lot.

He glanced at Yu Wei, who was looking at him intently. It was hard to say what emotions were in his eyes, perhaps pity, or perhaps nothing at all.

Chao Jianxue became annoyed by this topic. Why was he feeling sorry for himself in front of Yu Wei for no reason? It made him seem like he was seeking comfort.

“I’m not talking about it anymore!” He stood up and put on his outer robe. “Let’s go back. We paid for the Fuxiang Restaurant. It’s a waste not to stay there!”

However, he still had to change his appearance.

He tried several times this time, but Yu Wei always said that there were differences from his previous appearance. In the end, he had Yu Wei adjust it for him.

Yu Wei moved closer. Chao Jianxue looked at his nose, nose at his heart, and inadvertently saw a small, light-colored mole at the edge of his eye, hidden in his long eyelashes.

If he hadn’t looked closely and he hadn’t lowered his eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to see it at all.

“Here.” Yu Wei’s fingers lightly brushed his eyebrows, a touch as light as a breeze, and then he stepped back.

After looking at it up and down again, he said, “It’s the same as before.”

Chao Jianxue suspiciously touched his own face, and said miraculously, “You have such a good memory? I’m not even that clear myself.”

The two of them left Water Moon Valley. Chao Jianxue looked back at the meeting of Water and Moon, the inverted Milky Way, and bowed in his heart to Fuheng True Immortal again.

–

Back at the Fuxiang Restaurant, he opened the door, and his Senior Sister exclaimed in shock, “Demon cultivator! Take my sword—”

Chao Jianxue barely dodged her, and shouted, “Misunderstanding! Misunderstanding! I’m one of us!

“What exactly is going on?”

Yu Wei said, “He’s not a Miaoxuan Mountain outer disciple. He’s a Fuxian Mountain outer disciple.”

The two had already rehearsed their story in the valley. Fuxian Mountain ultimately shouldered all the burdens.

Senior Brother Li Zhenzhen lay on the couch, dizzy. He had been unconscious for a day and a night while everyone was in the secret realm. He was attacked by a demon and almost suffered a concussion.

He said angrily and sadly, “None of you actually discovered that I wasn’t the real me. All these years of affection and time, were they all a wasted effort!”

This sounded familiar.

Senior Sister excused herself, saying, “The secret realm is very dangerous. We didn’t have time to pay attention to each other. Luckily you didn’t go. You avoided a disaster!”

Senior Brother Li Zhenzhen said with tearful eyes, “Did you get any opportunities?”

Everyone looked at Yu Wei, and Yu Wei shook his head. “There were no great opportunities. The Thousand Li Sword that I got was also snatched away.”

In this way, Li Zhenzhen was not so grief-stricken.

Everyone kept the matter of obtaining a bit of Fuheng True Immortal’s cultivation a secret, and would only explain it when they all broke through to the Nascent Soul realm in the future.

The next morning, Hua Ze knocked on their door.

Yu Wei opened the door. Hua Ze’s eyes lit up, and he said with a smile, “Since we met once, I’ve come to say goodbye to you especially.”

Yu Wei gestured for him to keep his voice down, gently closed the door, and exchanged a few pleasantries.

As they talked, Hua Ze asked curiously, “Where’s Fellow Daoist Lu? Why don’t I see him?”

Yu Wei: “He suffered a minor injury yesterday and is feeling unwell.”

Hua Ze said regretfully, “It’s a pity that he’s only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Then please trouble Fellow Daoist Yu to say goodbye to him for me, and thank him. Thanks to him, I was able to sleep peacefully.”

“…” Yu Wei didn’t respond, and finally gave a light “Mm.”

By the time he finished talking at the door and came back, Chao Jianxue was already awake.