After Sheng Jun Chapter 80 (Part 2)
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 80 End (part 2)
Jiang Xingzhi covered his face in embarrassment. Su You's mouth twitched, but he still kindly gave a friendship gift, "Now you know how many good things our Demon Realm has, right? Why don't you two consider falling into the demonic path?"
Zhong Ming coldly refused, "No need."
Su You envisioned it for them, "Once you fall into the demonic path, your honorific title will be Demon God. Listen to that, isn't it more imposing than Sheng Jun?"
Zhong Ming frowned, "Demon God? Sounds like a misce......"
Smack! Jiang Xingzhi covered his mouth with one hand and educated him, "Xu Jian, don't use dirty words."
Su You waved his hand in annoyance, chasing them away.
….
After finding new things from the Demon Realm and returning, Zhong Ming had new tricks.
After Jiang Xingzhi was tormented by him continuously for several days, he sent him off to cultivate, "The Three Realms are progressing, the Heavenly Dao is also progressing. If you indulge in matters of love... and affection every day, wouldn't you be treading water in place?"
Zhong Ming touched his dantian, "But our cultivation has been increasing very quickly."
Jiang Xingzhi choked for a moment and changed his rhetoric, "What about your swordsmanship then? Can your swordsmanship match your daily increasing cultivation? If this continues, what if one day you can't handle the Heavenly Dao, be careful he comes to take revenge on you... us."
Zhong Ming thought about it and was quickly persuaded. He picked up the Tinghan Sword and turned to go out and practice swordsmanship.
Having successfully sent him off to practice swordsmanship with one fell swoop, Jiang Xingzhi changed clothes and immediately slipped off to the mortal realm, called up those three troublemaker friends, and long-overdue went to Xuantian Sword Sect for a small gathering.
Xuantian Sword Sect.
The wind was gentle and the sun bright, lotus flowers filled the pond.
The table was piled with fruits and snacks. The four people each occupied one side and began their daily chatter.
Jiang Xingzhi saw that after not meeting for several months, Lord Huan Ji actually had a string of Buddhist prayer beads hanging on his wrist. He couldn't help but cast a rebellious gaze at him, "Have you converted to Buddhism?"
Lord Huan Ji was mysterious, "No, some days ago I seemed to glimpse a secret."
Three heads leaned in, "What secret?"
"My master might be a monk!"
"......" Jiang Xingzhi sucked in a breath and let it out again, his feelings complex: Why don't you think about which thing you've learned these past few hundred years has any relation to Buddhism!
Lord Huan Ji's groundless speculation was quickly passed over.
Lin He pulled out several bundles from his storage pouch and stuffed them to Jiang Xingzhi, "Here, for you, consider it congratulations on your successful ascension."
Jiang Xingzhi felt the soft bundles, "What is this?"
"Other styles of inner garments." Lin He cleared his throat lightly, "That one from your family likes them."
Holy shit! This unfilial son actually dared to give such things.
Jiang Xingzhi glared at him, "You have no idea how hard my time has been."
Lin He watched him stuff the bundles into his storage pouch one by one while saying he didn't want them, his eyes transparent with speechlessness: Saying no with his mouth, but his body is quite honest.
Watching from the side, Shuang Ling took this scene in and couldn't help but ask, "Xingzhi, did you take the tonic medicine I gave you?"
Jiang Xingzhi refused to admit it, "So bitter, who would take it?"
Three penetrating gazes fell on him simultaneously.
Jiang Xingzhi fell silent, "......" Damn.
Fortunately, this embarrassing situation didn't last long. Zhong Ming came down after finishing sword practice to pick him up. Under the three people's meaningful gazes, Jiang Xingzhi grabbed Zhong Ming's sleeve and hurried to leave.
Zhong Ming was puzzled, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Behind them came the three people's scattered whispers, "Xu Jian Sheng Jun is really something."
Jiang Xingzhi: ......
Zhong Ming: ?
Returning to their world of two.
Zhong Ming was still puzzling over the last sentence he heard before leaving. Jiang Xingzhi diverted his attention, "Did you practice your swordsmanship well?"
"Practiced well." Speaking of this, Zhong Ming immediately became enthusiastic, "I also prepared a performance for you."
Jiang Xingzhi was curious, "What performance?"
"That one you quite liked watching before." As Zhong Ming's words fell, the cloud floss before them manifested over ten long swords, arranged in a row, ready to begin the performance.
Zhong Ming also manifested a wide reclining chair behind the two of them and pulled Jiang Xingzhi to lie down on it, "I choreographed it, come watch."
Jiang Xingzhi was amused by his little trick, "giggling" as he nestled in his embrace, eating the snacks he had taken from Xuantian Sword Sect while watching the long swords arrange themselves in a circle and dance.
The familiar scene brought them back to old times.
The two watched the performance and reminisced about the past, "This performance was originally created by Pavilion Master You. He said it started when the Tingxue Sword left the Sword Tomb, giggle giggle~"
Laughing and laughing, Jiang Xingzhi suddenly remembered that Tingxue Sword, "Right, the day I returned, Tingxue transformed into a stream of flowing light and entered my body. After bringing me back, it disappeared without a trace. Where do you think it is?"
Zhong Ming sorted through his rambling, "Didn't you say it's inside your body?"
Jiang Xingzhi choked, "But how come I don't feel its existence?"
The palm embracing him pressed on his shoulder. Zhong Ming hinted, "Perhaps it is a part of you?"
The names are the same, and both love to stir up trouble.
"Which part of me?"
"When you were just reborn, weren't you missing a wisp of soul?"
Jiang Xingzhi had a realization, "That makes sense! Then why did it separately transform into a sword to find me? Where was it before?"
After he asked, the person beside him gave no reply. The sword dance performance before them continued, dazzling to the eyes. Jiang Xingzhi pondered for a few breaths, and Lin He's words suddenly surfaced in his mind: Then Xu Jian Sheng Jun broke through the heavens with one sword strike, forcibly stopping the remaining heavenly thunder, and the one wisp of your soul that hadn't been scattered floated up to the heavens......
After a moment of silence.
Jiang Xingzhi turned his head to look at Zhong Ming, "I heard that back then, beneath the heavenly thunder, you preserved a wisp of my soul."
That stern profile didn't move, like a sculpture. Zhong Ming froze for a while, then slowly buried his head in Jiang Xingzhi's shoulder, like a big ostrich, "Mm."
Jiang Xingzhi, "......"
Feeling the head buried in his shoulder nuzzle, he couldn't help but laugh after a long moment. He lifted Zhong Ming's head and kissed his face, "However, perhaps it was precisely because that one wisp of soul essence remained unscattered by the heavenly thunder that I was able to condense my soul and be reborn."
Zhong Ming's hand supported his cheek and kissed back along his lips, "Whether or not, I would have found you and brought you back."
Jiang Xingzhi was encircled in his embrace. Looking up while kissing, he suddenly sighed with relief, "Fortunately, back then it was I who obtained the opportunity and failed the tribulation."
The hand on his face suddenly used force. Zhong Ming withdrew slightly and stared at him seriously, "Don't say such things."
"Didn't you save me and bring me back?" Jiang Xingzhi said, "If you had been the one undergoing tribulation, I might not have been able......" His voice paused, "No, that's not right. I definitely would have fought with my life to save you. But the time spent might have been longer, perhaps one year, five years, ten years, one hundred years...... until I brought you back."
Zhong Ming kissed him again, his throat slightly choked, "I know, Jiang Xingzhi."
Between their lingering kisses, the sword dance had stopped at some point, each long sword transforming back into cloud floss, swirling and drifting around them.
After the kiss ended, Zhong Ming pinched Jiang Xingzhi's soft earlobe, "Don't overthink it, there aren't so many what-ifs. Even if there were countless crossroads leading elsewhere, my destination would only be here with you."
Jiang Xingzhi suddenly couldn't speak.
He looked at this face that had haunted his dreams for hundreds of years, moisture rising in his eyes, muttering softly, "Xu Jian, I feel a million years isn't enough. We shouldn't just have a million years of harmony."
Zhong Ming gently wiped away the moisture at the corner of his eyes, "It's fine. After a million years pass, we'll hold a 'Million Year Bond Commemoration Ceremony,' capture Wujie, and have him continue to send us blessings."
Jiang Xingzhi, "......"
Zhong Ming asked, "Am I smart?"
The tears that had welled up shrank back. Jiang Xingzhi praised him, "Especially smart, simply the number one smartest in the Three Realms."
Zhong Ming then drew him into his embrace, leaned back again, and raised his hand to once more manifest a row of long swords, "Come, let's continue the music and continue the dance."
Jiang Xingzhi leaned in his embrace, "giggling."
Long swords danced flamboyantly before them, silver-feathered immortal magpies called crisply from the branches, and two spirit birds flapped their small wings and landed on the low table beside them.
Below was the pure white, misty sea of clouds. Jiang Xingzhi looked out—the sky was high and clouds were light, the years peaceful and good.
He thought, not just a million years, they would remain in harmony for ten thousand times ten thousand years, until forever.