After Sheng Jun Chapter 10 (Part 1)
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 10 Relieving Him (part 1)
The familiar voice carried traces of anxiety. The Three Paths True Fire in the cave flickered slightly. Jiang Xingzhi's taut nerves relaxed for a moment before quickly tensing again.
He couldn't tell if the current situation was fortunate or unfortunate.
The fortunate part was that it wasn't someone from Qijue Tower; the unfortunate part was that it was the one person he couldn't handle.
The energy blade in his hand hadn't dispersed yet, but his cold body was pulled up by a hand. The other person acted as if they hadn't noticed his defensive posture, letting his chin rest against their chest.
Through his half-opened eyes, Jiang Xingzhi saw the man's broad shoulders. The chest his chin rested on was warm and heaving heavily. "Bai Mu..."
"It's me."
A surge of blazing spiritual energy quickly enveloped him.
The other person held his waist with one hand while pulling back his collar with the other, brushing aside his sweat-soaked black hair and placing a hand on the skin of his nape—soothing spiritual energy flowed into his body from where they touched.
The clash of cold and heat made Jiang Xingzhi shiver. He heard a voice from above say, "Relax, don't resist."
He hesitated for a moment before dropping his defenses, allowing the other's spiritual energy to enter his body. "Mm."
Might as well take a gamble that his new protector wouldn't harm him.
…..
Zhong Ming held the ice-cold person in his arms, his brows tightly knitted, not daring to let his attention waver for even a moment.
The person he'd been thinking of constantly was in his arms, a stretch of porcelain-white nape exposed right before his eyes, completely defenseless. But at this moment, he had no inappropriate thoughts.
Zhong Ming bent his long legs to secure Jiang Xingzhi's body, his cheek pressed against the other's forehead as if to comfort him. Then he raised one hand to guide the floating Three Paths True Fire nearby.
—This was something they had found together back then.
He carefully guided the flame into his own body, then filtered it through to Jiang Xingzhi's meridians.
The Three Paths True Fire had already acknowledged its master, and when forcefully entered, it produced a violent resistance. Zhong Ming let out a muffled groan from the burning sensation, "Hmm."
He endured it: this was the safest solution to prevent the two forces in Jiang Xingzhi's body from losing control and tangling together.
Fortunately, the true fire had some familiarity with Zhong Ming's soul, so it didn't trigger a strong backlash, and the channeling gradually fell into rhythm.
After an unknown amount of time, the cold energy in Jiang Xingzhi's body gradually dissipated.
Sweat fell to the ground, seeping into a damp patch.
The Three Paths True Fire emerged from both their bodies and returned to Jiang Xingzhi's dantian.
Zhong Ming exhaled a turbid breath and looked down at Jiang Xingzhi leaning against his chest, pulling him even closer into his embrace.
The person was temporarily out of danger, but...
His heart felt heavy: it turned out to be soul damage, no wonder he was so sensitive to cold.
He had clearly restored everything to how it was before the tribulation, so why did Jiang Xingzhi's soul have damage? Could there be something wrong with that opportunity stored in his heart meridian?
Zhong Ming's arms unconsciously tightened.
If there really was something wrong with the opportunity, he would never have given it to this person back then, no matter what.
The person in his arms stirred slightly in response. Zhong Ming's gaze swept over, seeing Jiang Xingzhi's lowered eyelashes completely soaked, his forehead hair clinging to his pale cheeks.
He reached out to wipe away the other's sweat-dampened bangs and called out, "Jiang Xingzhi."
A cool breeze swept across his forehead, and when Jiang Xingzhi opened his eyes, he saw the man's face close enough to touch.
Objectively speaking, this face had the capital to bewitch people's hearts.
Jiang Xingzhi's muddled mind hadn't quite recovered, and he actually stared blankly for a moment at first, then noticed how his entire body was being held in the other's embrace.
His waist was still cradled in Zhong Ming's arm, their legs pressed close together. Wet hair tangled around his neck, falling into his open collar.
This posture, this atmosphere...
Jiang Xingzhi's heart skipped a beat.
He hurriedly pulled his clothes together and rose from Zhong Ming's embrace, "Brother Bai, thank you."
Zhong Ming's arms emptied, and after a pause, he also stood up, "How do you feel?"
Jiang Xingzhi checked himself and nodded, "Like being reborn from the ashes."
Zhong Ming's gaze swept over his sweat-soaked clothes, "I've never seen a phoenix, but at least I know what a drowned rat looks like."
"....."
Considering that the other person had just saved him, Jiang Xingzhi magnanimously pretended not to hear that. "I owe you one today. If you need anything, just ask!"
Zhong Ming lowered his eyes and smiled, "I do."
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you later." He said as he walked towards the cave entrance.
Jiang Xingzhi followed behind, then suddenly stopped, asking puzzled, "You can manipulate my Three Paths True Fire?"
Was the little flame in his belly really that unguarded?
Zhong Ming's expression remained unchanged, "Natural talent."
After speaking, his brow furrowed, "By the way, how did your soul become damaged?"
The topic returning to the main point, Jiang Xingzhi's attention was drawn back. Since his condition had already been thoroughly examined during the healing, he decided not to hide anymore, "There was an error during my previous breakthrough, probably got struck by lightning."
Zhong Ming pressed his lips together, "Are you sure it was heavenly lightning?"
"What else could it be?" Jiang Xingzhi asked reflexively, then suddenly froze.
Under habitual thinking, he had always believed his soul damage was an aftereffect of the Ninth Heaven Lightning Tribulation, but thinking carefully, there could be other possibilities.
Such as that strange opportunity.
He still remembered that opportunity was born in the Kongxuan Secret Realm that opened once every thousand years.
Once every thousand years.
...Wait, now was exactly a thousand years ago, wasn't it the year when the Kongxuan Secret Realm would open?
Jiang Xingzhi spoke up, "Have you heard anyone mention the Kongxuan Secret Realm?"
Zhong Ming's heart sank—it really was related to the opportunity.
He said, "Never."
Jiang Xingzhi pondered, "If you haven't heard of it, never mind. Tomorrow we're going to Qingfeng Pavilion, and they have something to ask of us, maybe we can find out something."
Opening the Kongxuan Secret Realm required meeting many conditions.
Back then, it took all nine major sects working together to accomplish it. If there were signs of the secret realm appearing recently, it couldn't be possible for all the major sects to remain silent about it.
……
Having sweated during the healing, Jiang Xingzhi returned to his room to change clothes first.
As his inner garment fell away, moonlight shone through the window lattice, casting patterns of light and shadow on his smooth back.
With a "thud," a brocade box fell before the couch. Jiang Xingzhi picked it up—it was clearly the trigger of this accident—those two Moon-Holding Pearls.
The situation had been chaotic earlier, and he'd forgotten to give them to Bai Mu.
The newly changed clothes suddenly unfurled, quickly concealing that complexion whiter than moonlight.
The door opened, and Jiang Xingzhi was about to turn towards the adjacent courtyard with the brocade box when his steps on the small path suddenly stopped, sensing something unusual.
He saw that large patches of moonlight illuminated the path ahead, and the originally uneven mountain path seemed to have been smoothed as if by a sharp sword.
His vast divine consciousness immediately spread out, covering the entire Panshi Mountain.
Only then did Jiang Xingzhi discover: from the outskirts before the mountain to its foot and peak, everything had been neatly arranged. The original path up the mountain had merely been roughly paved with stones, but now it had all been carved into uniform, equal-width stone steps.
It really had taken on the embryonic form of a sect.