Chapter 20 Return to the Mortal Realm

Chu Jianshan's mind went blank for a moment, his eyes glazed over. How could he possibly survive falling from the nineteenth floor?

The pavilion master slowly walked over, looked down at Chu Jianshan, chuckled, and added fuel to the fire, saying, "Oh dear, so tall, how can he possibly survive?"

Chu Jianshan slowly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. He gripped the Liuyin Sword tighter and tighter, then instantly stood up and placed the sword against Chu Jianshan's neck, gritting his teeth and saying, "I want you dead..."

The sect leader calmly looked at the nearly insane Chu Jianshan and said serenely, "I was born a person from the spirit world. To you people of the mortal world, I am already dead. How could you possibly kill me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and slapped Chu Jianshan away. Chu Jianshan threw his sword, and the Liuyin Sword passed straight through his neck, but it was as if it had skimmed the surface of water, without hurting him at all.

Chu Jianshan propped himself up and was about to step forward again, but Cheng Yuan grabbed him and held his wrist tightly.

"Chu Jianshan, don't be impulsive."

Cheng Yuan's words calmed Chu Jianshan down a bit. He looked up at Cheng Yuan with red eyes and realized that he was right. He couldn't panic now. Ji Shi's life or death was still unknown, and they couldn't give up yet.

Cheng Yuan pulled the injured Chu Jianshan back a bit, stepped forward half a step to block him, and faced the Pavilion Master.

He knew the Pavilion Master was making an example of someone, but unfortunately, he didn't want to be manipulated.

Cheng Yuan drew Mo Yang from his sword once more. He knew he had no chance of winning against him, but he had to give it his all for the last person.

The same situation as Chu Jianshan just now played out again. Cheng Yuan was no match for that pavilion master at all, and soon his body was covered with wounds of all sizes.

The sect leader had truly lost his patience and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up.

"Cheng Yuan!" Chu Jianshan shouted loudly.

The Pavilion Master of "Chu Jianshan" called his name for the first time, his face hardening as he said, "This is your last chance. If you're willing to stay, I'll let him go."

"don't want……"

Cheng Yuan managed to utter those two words; he didn't want Chu Jianshan to make a decision he would regret because of him.

Chu Jianshan stood there in silence for a long time, so long that the Pavilion Master was almost losing patience and was about to strangle Cheng Yuan.

"Okay," Chu Jianshan replied, looking up.

The pavilion master immediately beamed with joy, released his grip on Cheng Yuan's neck, and said, "That's more like it."

"Stay here, stay in the Bliss Pavilion forever, and never suffer the hardships of the human world again."

The Pavilion Master slowly walked towards Chu Jianshan, speaking each word softly and slowly, as if trying to entice Chu Jianshan.

Suddenly, Chu Jianshan raised his eyes and struck the Pavilion Master with a palm. The Pavilion Master easily dodged it by slightly turning his body, and then frowned, as if he had realized something.

That palm strike wasn't aimed at him at all.

Chu Jianshan's real target was Cheng Yuan, who was standing next to him. Cheng Yuan was very close to where Ji Shi had fallen and had nowhere to hide. He was directly bounced away by Chu Jianshan's full-force palm strike and fell from the nineteenth floor just like Ji Shi, without even struggling.

"Chu Jianshan, have you gone mad!" the Pavilion Master roared angrily.

Chu Jianshan staggered to the dilapidated wall, glanced down, and suddenly lowered his head and laughed with relief, as if he had truly gone mad.

“Everyone has obsessions.” Chu Jianshan stopped laughing maniacally, looked up, and said weakly, “Then, Pavilion Master, what is your obsession?”

The Pavilion Master spoke up: "Naturally, I want more people to stay in my Bliss Pavilion and enjoy the happiness of family life."

Chu Jianshan closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he had lost all his strength, and slowly said, "You have never cared about anyone, so you naturally don't understand why some people would risk their lives for another person and be reincarnated."

“You founded the Bliss Pavilion not out of pity for them, but simply to prove that these people would stay for their own greed, abandoning their obsessions and the people they care about. You have never experienced this before, so naturally you want them to not care about it either.”

"That's your obsession."

The sect leader remained silent, simply gazing at Chu Jianshan. After an unknown period of time, he finally spoke, asking, "And you, who do you care about?"

Chu Jianshan didn't answer, but just tilted his head and glanced downstairs, thinking of someone.

He closed his eyes, opened his arms, and lay down on his back. The wind as he fell scattered his hair, which tangled in the air.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of the days he spent in Changjin Mountain.

He always disobeyed his master and secretly went down the mountain several times. When his master punished him, his two senior brothers, Jiang Yan and Xie Yin, pleaded for him. When he was injured, his older sister bandaged him up.

Most importantly, he had an obedient and adorable disciple. At that time, he felt that there was no greater joy in the world than this. If he could go back again and hear Cheng Yuan call him "Master" once more, how wonderful that would be.

Unfortunately, time cannot be reversed, some people can never come back, and some memories can only ever be memories.

"Chu Jianshan...Chu Jianshan?"

"Chu Jianshan!"

Chu Jianshan heard someone calling his name, and slowly opened his eyes a crack, but the intense sunlight made him close them again.

With a loud slap, a loud slap landed on his face, followed by a series of slaps.

"Chu Jianshan! Don't fall asleep!!"

"Season!"

Chu Jianshan was so angry that he sat up abruptly and shoved him away. He seriously suspected that Ji Shi was taking revenge for personal reasons.

"Chu Jianshan, you're finally awake!!" Ji Shi felt relieved and said with a silly smile, "You have no idea how long you've been asleep. A Yuan and I have both woken up, but you've been sleeping the whole time."

Chu Jianshan then realized where he was. He was still on the same mountain as before. The stone tablet of Ghost Mountain Village was no longer in front of him, and the fog had dissipated. The golden sunlight of the setting sun shone evenly on them.

"Are you alright?" Cheng Yuan walked over with his arms around Cheng Yuan.

Chu Jianshan nodded slightly and exhaled.

"What on earth is going on?" Ji Shi asked, completely bewildered. "I thought I was going to die, but when I opened my eyes, I was back here."

Chu Jianshan pushed himself up with his hands, dusted himself off, and said, "Actually, I'm gambling too."

Cheng Yuan turned to look at him and asked, "A gamble on the real way out?"

Chu Jianshan nodded and recalled, "I felt something was off from the beginning. Why would he, as the pavilion master, personally guard the pavilion?"

"Also, he keeps emphasizing that he wants us to stay, but if he really wanted us to stay there, wouldn't it be easier to just tie us up?"

"So I'm betting that he wants us to stay voluntarily. Rumor has it that if you fail to pass the challenge, you will be destroyed, but how can you be reborn if you don't die once? So the only way to pass the challenge is for us to 'die'."

"Taking a risky step." That was Cheng Yuan's assessment.

Chu Jianshan lowered his head and chuckled softly, then said, "You made the right bet, didn't you?"

The three walked along the path they had come from. Sunlight was blocked by the leaves, creating dappled shadows, which made Chu Jianshan sigh that the mortal realm was still better, at least...

Chu Jianshan glanced at Cheng Yuan beside him, a faint smile appearing on his lips. At least he still had someone he cared about.

Two hours later, in the backyard of the inn.

Ji Shi borrowed a brazier from somewhere and pulled them along, saying they were going to step over the brazier to get rid of bad luck.

Chu Jianshan looked at the brazier in front of him, which had been filled with firewood and was now half a person tall, and turned to Ji Shi, who was still grinning foolishly, and said, "Why don't you step over one first and let me see?"

"Well……"

Seeing the fire in front of him burning brighter and brighter, Ji Shi immediately changed his mind and said that he would walk around the fire pit twice, which would be enough to convey the meaning, and there was no need to be superstitious.

Before the two could speak, he grabbed Chu Jianshan, who then grabbed Cheng Yuan, and the three of them circled the brazier twice like idiots.

I don't know if it wards off bad luck, but it's certainly quite warm.

"Here, take this!" Ji Shi handed out a jug of wine to everyone.

"How come you have all sorts of things?" Chu Jianshan asked, puzzled.

"Just went out to buy this? Let's have a drink to celebrate our escape from death!"

Chu Jianshan chuckled and complied with his gesture. The three of them raised the wine jug and drank it all in one gulp.

Ji Shi is right. Such a thrilling thing is probably something you'll never encounter again in your life. It's definitely worth celebrating.

After several rounds of drinks, the fire in the brazier had died down considerably, and Ji Shi, who was quite drunk, clung to Chu Jianshan's shoulder, insisting on having another drink with him.

Chu Jianshan pushed the drunkard away with a look of disgust and sighed softly.

Turning to look at the other person, Cheng Yuan didn't react much and just sat there obediently.

Chu Jianshan thought he wasn't drunk and wanted him to take Ji Shi back to his room, but when Cheng Yuan turned around, he saw that his eyebrows were drooping and his eyes were blurry.

Well, another one is drunk. What kind of alcohol tolerance is this? How much has he even drunk?

Chu Jianshan resigned himself to his fate, pulled Ji Shi up from the ground, and wanted to take him back to his room first.

But just as he helped Ji Shi up, Cheng Yuan on the other side also stood up. Before Chu Jianshan could figure out what he was going to do, he saw Cheng Yuan staggering towards him.

He walked up to Chu Jianshan, glanced at him, and then reached out to pull Ji Shi away from him.

Chu Jianshan thought he wanted him to take Ji Shi back, but to his surprise, he gently pushed Ji Shi and threw him to the ground.

"Hey you..." Chu Jianshan didn't understand what he was going to do.

Fortunately, the poor child Ji Shi wasn't angry when he was thrown to the ground. He found a wine pot to use as a pillow and fell asleep.

"What do you mean?" Chu Jianshan raised an eyebrow and looked up at him.

Cheng Yuan took two more steps forward, placing his hands on his shoulders, and the distance between them continued to shrink.

As the familiar face slowly approached him, Chu Jianshan nervously swallowed. Fortunately, Cheng Yuan stopped when Cheng Yuan was still a fist's distance away, staring blankly at him and calling his name.

“Chu Jianshan…” Cheng Yuan’s voice was a little hoarse.

"Um?"

"Chu Jianshan?"

"Um."

"Chu Jianshan."

"I am here."

Back when they were at Changjin Mountain, Cheng Yuan liked to call him that, calling him Master over and over again, and he would answer over and over again, never getting tired of it.

After a while, Cheng Yuan finally stopped calling his name and suddenly said to him in a coquettish tone, "I'm drunk."

Chu Jianshan chuckled helplessly and said, "What kind of drunkard claims to be drunk?"

"I was drunk," he said firmly again.

"So?" Chu Jianshan asked tentatively.

"Take me back." After saying that, he slumped onto Chu Jianshan like he had no bones.

[Author's Note]

Feel free to ask the author any questions about the plot in the comments section! The author is a really nice person! [Cat emoji]