After Xie Tinglan left, neither of them spoke first.

In the silence, Chu Xinghui suddenly thought inappropriately of the day when Xie Liufeng brought him back and stuffed a bag of candied hawthorn into his hand.

Actually, later on, whenever Xie Liufeng returned from outside, he often brought him little trinkets, including all sorts of strange or normal foods.

But strangely, he still thought the tastiest thing was that bag of candied hawthorn Xie Liufeng gave him when he first brought him back.

But now… it might all be coming to an end.

In the end, it was still Xie Liufeng who broke the silence first and reached out his hand to him: “Give me your hand.”

Chu Xinghui shook his head: “I’m fine.”

Xie Liufeng replied with a soft “Mm,” and directly pulled out the hand he didn’t know when Chu Xinghui had clenched inside his sleeve. He used gentle strength to coax him into slowly unclenching his fingers: “Don’t clench it anymore. Doesn’t it hurt?”

The moment he touched Chu Xinghui’s hand, Xie Liufeng realized that the boy who appeared calm on the surface was actually trembling involuntarily.

Xie Liufeng released his hand and sighed softly in his heart.

Still just a child.

To face matters of life and death at this age was still too early.

These heavy burdens were better left to old things like them who had lived many years to handle.

Chu Xinghui suddenly grabbed the corner of his sleeve and asked him: “Will you abandon me?”

He looked up at Xie Liufeng and explained word by word: “I no longer have any value to cultivate, and there’s a high chance I won’t grow strong enough to repay you. You can give up on me.”

He would not give up the chance to stay alive, not until death truly came upon him. But that was his own responsibility, not Xie Liufeng’s.

No one was obliged to carry another’s karma.

Xie Liufeng had originally been thinking about how to comfort his little disciple, but after hearing this sentence, he fell silent for a moment.

Chu Xinghui stubbornly looked at him, waiting for his answer.

He didn’t know what answer he wanted, nor what answer he would get.

After a long time, Xie Liufeng reached out to ruffle his hair, and then Chu Xinghui heard his voice, as light and smiling as usual: “This is the third time.”

Chu Xinghui was stunned: “What?”

Xie Liufeng tapped his forehead: “This is the third time you’ve tried to persuade me to abandon you.”

Chu Xinghui lowered his eyes and said nothing.

That was a fact—just as he had said from the start, investing too much in him would only lead to loss.

Xie Liufeng continued: “This time I’ll say ‘I won’t’. And if there’s a next time…”

Chu Xinghui’s heart tightened. He quietly lowered his head and didn’t look at Xie Liufeng.

It was as if he were waiting for some ordinary, inevitable, lonely fate.

Xie Liufeng deliberately dragged out his words: “I can only tell you again—I still won’t. No matter how many times you ask me this question, no matter what happens afterward, the answer will be the same. I’m not short of money, and I can afford another pair of chopsticks for you… Of course, if you still like eating two portions, I can prepare two pairs.”

He chuckled: “Although you might not quite believe it, I actually have decent character. I don’t have the habit of abandoning wives and children—unless, of course, I unfortunately die first. Besides, I’ve told you many times, when things are beyond your ability, just leave them to your elders. At least while I’m still alive, there will always be a way to make you better.”

He reflected on his choice of words and felt it wasn’t very refined, but the meaning was probably there, so he let it go.

Chu Xinghui was stunned.

He slowly lifted his head and hesitantly looked at the person in front of him.

Dusk had fallen. The sun was about to set, and only a thin layer of light filtered through the window, not enough to brighten the whole room.

Xie Liufeng’s face was hidden at the intersection of light and shadow, making it hard to see clearly, and inexplicably adding a sense of distance.

Without reason—though he was still smiling—Chu Xinghui saw something from him that should not have belonged to his personality: a calmness as silent as death.

Like a mountain where snow fell all year round.

Chu Xinghui suddenly felt that maybe this topic about his own life and death, which he had found hard to accept earlier, ought to be dropped now.

He really didn’t like the way Xie Liufeng looked when he mentioned the word “death”.

So he finally spoke, cutting Xie Liufeng off: “I’m fine now. You don’t have to comfort me anymore.”

Xie Liufeng carefully observed his expression and confirmed that his mood had indeed improved a little. Still, he didn’t forget to joke around: “Hmm? That’s it? I had prepared a lot of life lessons and sentimental words. Don’t you want to hear more?”

Chu Xinghui sternly refused: “No.”

Xie Liufeng looked quite regretful, but still chose to respect his disciple’s wishes: “Alright, alright. Then rest a bit. I’ll go find Senior Xie to discuss the follow-up treatment.”

He turned and left. When he reached the door, he suddenly heard Chu Xinghui call out his name from behind: “Xie Liufeng.”

Xie Liufeng turned around and answered: “Hmm?”

Chu Xinghui looked up and said to him: “Hug me.”

That was what he wanted most right now, so he said it directly.

Xie Liufeng was stunned.

Then Chu Xinghui rushed into his arms.

Xie Liufeng snapped out of his daze, his expression softening like a spring breeze, and he reached out to catch the boy who ran into him.

Chu Xinghui tightly grabbed his clothes, listened to the strong and steady sound of his heartbeat for a while, then pushed him away: “Alright. You can go now.”

Xie Liufeng was not very satisfied: “What, use me and toss me aside?”

Chu Xinghui didn’t speak. He pushed him out the door and then shut it.

*

Xie Liufeng stood at the door for a while and laughed helplessly.

He walked into the courtyard and went to find Xie Tinglan as originally planned.

Xie Tinglan had already been waiting for a while. Seeing him come out, she asked: “Did you comfort him?”

Xie Liufeng shook his head: “Actually, I didn’t do much. He’s a very resilient person. Even without anyone to comfort him, he wouldn’t let himself wallow in bad news.”

Xie Tinglan sighed with emotion: “This disciple of yours… His temperament is very much like yours when you were young.”

Xie Liufeng said shamelessly: “Of course. Anyone I take a liking to must be as good as I am.”

Xie Tinglan ignored him and took out a prescription from her storage pouch: “I just found this. Back then, my master used this formula to suppress Qin Xueyi’s cold poison.”

Xie Liufeng took the prescription and carefully examined the ingredients listed.

He also had some knowledge of pharmacology, and after reading it for a while, he noticed something: “This prescription… seems quite similar to the one used for treating cold poison from the Human-Faced Snow Spider.”

Xie Tinglan nodded: “Exactly. It was modified from that one. According to Qin Xueyi’s account, the beast that attacked her back then had some spider-like traits. So my master tried a few prescriptions aimed at ice-type spider beasts and finally settled on this one.”

After hearing her explanation, Xie Liufeng became even more puzzled.

If they had already found the right path, they should’ve been very close to a cure. Why then…

Xie Tinglan noticed his confusion and continued: “Actually, my master had come up with several effective formulas, but in the end, none of them could fully eradicate the toxin. The core problem was that the essential fire-attribute spiritual herbs used in the formulas were of too low a grade. No matter how you swapped them, what auxiliaries you added, or how you changed the refining method, they were still insufficient.”

From her words, Xie Liufeng caught on to something and frowned.

At this point, Xie Tinglan glanced at him and vaguely hinted: “…So my master had always suspected that the so-called ancient secret realm Mu Chengjin and Qin Xueyi went to was actually related to that incident from five hundred years ago.”

Five hundred years ago, something from the Upper Realm had come to the cultivation world.

If the toxin originated from the Upper Realm, it made sense that native spiritual herbs couldn’t cure it.

Xie Liufeng pondered for a moment and asked her: “Are there any clues about that secret realm?”

Xie Tinglan immediately saw what he intended: “You want to go?”

Xie Liufeng nodded: “Everything has a counter. Since that beast was in the secret realm, the thing that can suppress it might also be in there.”

Xie Tinglan frowned and said seriously: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The Sect Master and his wife of Lingxiang Sect went in and nearly died after only exploring the outskirts. That place is almost certain death.”

But Xie Liufeng was unfazed: “What place in this world would I not dare to go? And if I don’t go, should we send our Xinghui instead?”

Xie Tinglan sighed: “…Fine, there really isn’t another way. That secret realm hasn’t appeared since it surfaced twenty years ago. You’d better ask Shang Ling to keep an eye out—he’s well informed.”

With business done, she took her leave: “Then I’ll go refine the pills. Once they’re ready, I’ll have someone send them over.”

Xie Liufeng handed her the agreed payment: “Thank you. I owe you a favor.”

Xie Tinglan put away the payment and sneered: “Please, I should be thanking you for not holding my disciple hostage.”

Speaking of Cheng Yu, Xie Liufeng finally remembered this little friend of Chu Xinghui: “Not taking him back?”

Xie Tinglan shook her head: “Take him back for what? At their age, they should be out training. Can’t keep him locked in a pill room all day gathering dust. His senior brother and sister were running around for years at that age too. I only came to find him to know where he was in case something happened so I could pull him back in time. Now that I know where he is, he can do whatever he wants.”

Xie Liufeng didn’t know the full story of this kid running away from home, so he didn’t say much and respected their choice.

Before she left, Xie Tinglan suddenly slapped her forehead, remembering something minor: “Oh right, do you know that junior from Lingxiang Sect named Qin Yuwen?”

Xie Liufeng thought for a moment and finally dug the name out from some dusty corner of his memory: “You mean the first disciple of this generation from Lingxiang Sect?”

Xie Tinglan nodded: “Yes, that’s him. He went out for training not long ago and claimed to have found the secret realm left behind by the Sword Sovereign and inherited his legacy.”

Because of Chu Xinghui’s situation, Xie Liufeng held some resentment toward that Sect master, but he had no impression of this junior, so he politely complimented: “Oh, sounds impressive.”

Then he suddenly reacted: “Wait, who did you say… left behind?”

 

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