SQLJBFDTW Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The So-Called Peer Pressure

Chao Jianxue was seriously considering what he should say if Yu Wei gave him a gift.

–“Little brother, you shouldn’t have spent so much. Little brother, you’re too kind. How did little brother know I liked it, haha…” How could he express his gratitude in a way that showed his demeanor as an older brother, while also being polite and reserved, without appearing too overjoyed?

He really liked that incense burner.

He waited and waited, but after three days, Yu Wei didn’t come to find him.

Chao Jianxue understood again; Yu Wei simply hadn’t prepared a gift for him. If he didn’t, he didn’t. He could buy one himself next time they went out. Who cared about Yu Wei’s gifts anyway?

The four of them were on their way back after practicing their swordsmanship when Chao Jianxue and Qiu Shui walked behind, listening to her talk about which scenic spots and places outside the sect were interesting.

Nan Shan turned his head and said to Qiu Shui, “You haven’t been out much either, so how can you talk as if you’ve seen it all with your own eyes?”

Qiu Shui said smugly, “I’ve read a lot of books. Traveling ten thousand miles is not as good as reading ten thousand books.”

“Then you’re talking about all sorts of things, encompassing the Eastern Plains, Western Continent, Southern Island, Northern Territory, and Central Changtian of the Xuanzhen Realm. Have you been reading all kinds of popular tales and story collections?”

“Get out of here. I’ve been reading ‘Xuanzhen Realm Landscape Travelogues’. You’re so uncultured,” Qiu Shui scoffed.

After spending the past few days together, Chao Jianxue already knew that these two were a pair of bickering rivals. When they learned that Chao Jianxue had reached the Golden Core stage, they changed their opinion of him and had become slightly more familiar recently.

After finishing their bickering, Qiu Shui continued to promote the good places: “The Three Thousand Dreams Ferry in the Western Continent is such a good place, captivating countless young men and women. It’s like spring all year round, with hundreds of flowers blooming, and it also produces beauties. The Hehuan Sect and Qiqiao Sect are both near the Three Thousand Dreams Ferry.

I heard from the senior sisters on the main peak that when the sects used to have exchanges, some disciples went to stay for twenty years and came back crying and demanding to leave the Wuwu Sect, so the exchange program was canceled.”

Just from the name, one could tell it was an extremely romantic and extravagant place, and Chao Jianxue yearned for it.

Qiu Shui said, “I wonder if Master has the leisure to take us out to see it, or just give us a long vacation!”

Nan Shan said, “When your cultivation reaches the Transformation God stage, you can go wherever you want.”

“Master probably doesn’t have the leisure lately. He failed his last closed-door cultivation, so he’ll have to find time to break through to the early Great Ascension stage. He might be in seclusion for fifty years.”

With such a long closed-door cultivation, one or two hundred years wouldn’t be enough time to waste. Many people had died in the closed-door cultivation cave.

But that was also why time in the Xuanzhen Realm was sometimes both long and short, contradictory and baffling.

Nan Shan and Qiu Shui separated one after the other, and Chao Jianxue and Yu Wei had to walk the last short section of the path together.

Yu Wei hadn’t said anything during their lively chatter, as if he didn’t care at all about what the outside world was like.

Chao Jianxue was still thinking about that incense burner, but how could he bring it up if Yu Wei didn’t mention it? He had no choice but to give up and secretly hold it against Yu Wei.

They were about to see the eaves of Qingxue’s residence.

“Tomorrow, I will also be going into closed-door cultivation.”

Chao Jianxue thought he had misheard. Who was going into closed-door cultivation, and what kind of cultivation?

“Huh?”

Yu Wei said calmly, “I have already discussed the matter of closed-door cultivation with Master. After the secret realm that day, my nascent soul showed signs of movement. Starting tomorrow, I will go into closed-door cultivation.”

What!

Three words rose in Chao Jianxue’s heart: He’s making me feel pressured again!

Why didn’t he say anything when he asked him if he had made any progress before? Now he’s only saying it when he’s about to go into closed-door cultivation? Yu Wei was just like that, a silent gourd who kept half of what he said hidden!

It was simply like telling you that he hadn’t been working hard and then suddenly handing in a fully completed, advanced assignment.

The pressure from his companion was at its maximum, and with the saying about slaughtering the realm upon ascension, Chao Jianxue’s anxiety rose rapidly.

He gritted his teeth and forced a smile: “That’s really congratulations to you.”

Yu Wei looked into his eyes: “At least three months, at most a year.”

What did this mean to him? Wasn’t he putting pressure on him? In a year, Chao Jianxue didn’t know if he could go from the early to the mid-Golden Core stage.

Chao Jianxue barely maintained a fake smile: “Oh, oh, I understand.”

Yu Wei: “Well, see you later, senior brother.”

After speaking, he left without looking back, leaving Chao Jianxue alone in the wind, in a state of disarray.

A few days later, Li Zhenzhen came to find him. Chao Jianxue was frantically practicing his sword skills at Qingxue’s residence, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. He collapsed on a lounge chair and drank tea.

“You’re too late. Your thigh has gone into closed-door cultivation,” he said, rocking the chair slowly, sounding sarcastic.

Li Zhenzhen wasn’t polite either. He took a big step and dragged a stool out of his room, sitting opposite him.

“Brother, I’m suffering!”

Chao Jianxue propped up his chin: “Who isn’t suffering? I’m suffering too.”

Li Zhenzhen said, “When I didn’t remember the past, it was fine to just cultivate in peace. Now I just want to find a place in the human realm to retire and live a good life. There’s no hope at all.”

“You want to be a deserter!” Chao Jianxue glared.

“What else can I do!”

Chao Jianxue had thought about this question thoroughly these past few days. He took a sip of tea and said, “Kill him.”

Li Zhenzhen was frightened: “No, no, no! Think about it, he’s the protagonist of this world. How can he die? We’ll end up losing our own lives.”

He knew he would say that. Chao Jianxue calmly said his real plan A: “Then do our best to prevent him from ascending, delay the progress of the plot until you and I find a chance to run away.”

“But, do you really not remember why he slaughtered the Xuanzhen Realm?”

Li Zhenzhen shook his head blankly.

“How could the protagonist have such an ending? Did the Xuanzhen Realm do something to let him down?”

Li Zhenzhen shook his head blankly.

Chao Jianxue rolled his eyes at him: “What use are you!”

Li Zhenzhen said suspiciously, “Are you really confident in delaying the progress?”

“Yes, I am.”

For example, he had intervened in the Shuiyue Valley secret realm and seized the opportunity. If he hadn’t transmigrated, the opportunity would definitely have gone to the protagonist. Hadn’t that already changed the progress?

Having made up his mind, Chao Jianxue wasn’t worried at all. At worst, he would act as a villain, hindering Yu Wei’s cultivation and postponing his ascension.

By the way, he could follow Yu Wei and pick up some of the protagonist’s halo and understand why he wanted to slaughter the Xuanzhen Realm.

Li Zhenzhen expressed deep concern about his idea: “Your idea is dangerous. You’re not a villain, are you?”

Chao Jianxue laughed: “Even if you’re a villain, I won’t be a villain! It’s not that easy to be a villain. What’s Yu Wei’s cultivation level, and what’s mine?”

Li Zhenzhen shook his head: “That’s true.”

“Relax.” Chao Jianxue comforted him, “Since we’re here, let’s make the best of it. You’re already at the Nascent Soul stage, so you’re considered a master. Keep working hard!”

“I’d better stick to my original intention of being a follower,” he said dejectedly.

As they were talking, Li Zhenzhen’s jade pendant emitted a message, and it was Xie Bingyuan calling him back.

Chao Jianxue teased, “Senior Brother Zhenzhen, you’re busy, huh?”

Li Zhenzhen looked pained: “You don’t know, my master is a hands-off person. I’m like a mother taking care of my younger brothers and sisters. I really want to escape down the mountain.”

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

“Tch!” Li Zhenzhen left in a hurry.

The leaves turned yellow and fell in the blink of an eye. Yu Wei showed no sign of coming out of closed-door cultivation, but Chao Jianxue had an unexpected good thing happen.

The martial intent he had comprehended from the Thousand Mile Mind Method finally awakened its spiritual light.

With just a thought, Bright Thousand Miles could transform in his hand, turning into a sharp object like a crescent moon, spinning and hovering in the palm of his hand.

When Mu Yuan saw it, he said in surprise: “This golden ring was originally a high-grade magic weapon, so it’s not a waste for it to be transformed into a weapon. But this is not a sword; it is a moon wheel magic weapon driven by spiritual power. What should we do?”

He pondered for a moment, and then said: “Let’s learn the Wuwei Sword Technique first. The nature of swords and magic weapons is the same. As long as you learn the sword well and understand the control of spiritual power, you will master this object without a teacher.”

As soon as he started practicing the sword technique, another three months passed.

This morning, Chao Jianxue pushed the door open and went out, only to find that it was lightly snowing.

He sneezed and quickly went back to put on his fur coat. Nan Shan and Qiu Shui both said that the eldest senior brother was weak and easily vulnerable to the cold. Chao Jianxue chuckled twice, but he still couldn’t shake it off.

The three of them suddenly had an idea. While Mu Yuan and Yu Wei were away, when the cat’s away, the mice will play, they set up a table on the Moon Gazing Platform to make a hot pot, which was very audacious.

Then, they casually scooped up the snow from the trees to drink. Under the combination of hot and cold, Chao Jianxue’s teeth began to ache again.

His teeth had ached once when he ate that candied hawthorn on the Qixi Festival. Chao Jianxue liked to eat sweets, and he had eaten a lot of sugary snacks in the past few months, but now the consequences were suddenly catching up to him.

So he couldn’t eat anymore and just sat to the side, sighing.

He wore a fox fur coat and faced away from the path leading to the Moon Gazing Platform, only because it was sheltered from the wind, and from a distance, it looked like a ball of silver-grey.

Nan Shan and Qiu Shui were chatting happily when they suddenly stopped.

Chao Jianxue turned his head in the direction of the two’s line of sight, and the person who came was wearing simple, thin clothes, but it was hard to hide their immortal aura.

“…”

—

Chao Jianxue felt like he was going to be blinded.

“Little junior brother! You’re out of closed-door cultivation!” Nan Shan said awkwardly, trying to hide the table of food.

But then he thought about it. Little junior brother was just little junior brother, not the master. What were they afraid of! So he invited Yu Wei up.

Yu Wei looked at the table of food, but in the end, he didn’t say anything and naturally sat down beside them.

Chao Jianxue couldn’t help but ask him, “Little junior brother, was your closed-door cultivation successful?”

He felt like he had said something unnecessary. Just looking at the spiritual light emanating from Yu Wei’s body, even a blind person could tell that it was a great success. It was estimated that he had already reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Yu Wei nodded and said, “Late Nascent Soul.”

Chao Jianxue’s hand trembled, and the cup in his hand fell, rolling along the edge of the table, almost falling off, but Yu Wei reached out and caught it.

Qiu Shui said: “That’s a great thing! Quickly, little junior brother, it’s been a long time since you’ve eaten, quickly eat something!”

Nan Shan was also shocked with a hint of joy, smiling like a fool.

In one closed-door cultivation, he had actually jumped two levels. No one had ever heard of such a thing.

Yu Wei was also happy, but he wasn’t overly complacent and tasted a sweet pastry with great restraint.

Seeing that Chao Jianxue’s bowl was empty, he took one for him.

Chao Jianxue lost interest: “…I don’t want it, my teeth hurt.”

Nan Shan on the side said, “Why don’t you let little junior brother take a look?”

Chao Jianxue said strangely: “Is he a dentist? How would he know about this? Hey, what’s there to see? It’s probably just a bad tooth.”

Nan Shan said: “Little junior brother knows everything. It won’t hurt you to have him take a look.”

Yu Wei: “I’ll take a look.”

Since he had spoken, Chao Jianxue symbolically opened his mouth, intending to close it immediately, but Yu Wei reached out and grabbed his cheek, telling him to look up.

What was this? It made it seem like he was a child.

Chao Jianxue’s face heated up, and he didn’t know if he was blushing.

This action was slightly embarrassing, and the force on his cheeks couldn’t be ignored. But looking at Nan Shan and Qiu Shui out of the corner of his eye, they both looked calm, as if such concern between fellow disciples was perfectly normal.

Chao Jianxue felt awkward and didn’t dare to meet Yu Wei’s eyes at all, and he quickly turned his head away.

Then he heard Yu Wei say: “There’s nothing wrong.”

Chao Jianxue rubbed his face: “Then never mind it.”

After they finished eating, Yu Wei took out a letter.

“When I came out of closed-door cultivation, a letter bird just happened to bring a letter.”

Chao Jianxue saw the familiar name at the end, and upon closer inspection, it was Hua Ze.

A person from the Hehuan Sect was looking for Yu Wei?