Indulging in vain
Several days had passed since the group left Longtan Ferry. The further south they traveled, the more desolate the surrounding scenery became. Towering ancient trees were gradually replaced by twisted, strange trees, and a faint, earthy miasma began to permeate the air. The ground beneath their feet became soft and muddy.
According to the original plan, they should have traveled along a relatively clear ancient trade route close to a water source, but Wei Wuxian, who was leading the way, and Lan Xichen, who was responsible for determining the direction, led the team off course and plunged into a more dense and difficult primeval forest.
Su She followed in the middle of the group. At first, he just felt that something was wrong, until he secretly compared it with another simple map hidden in his sleeve, and his heart sank.
This direction is completely wrong! It's not the route he previously passed on to the Wen family through special channels! The Wen family's ambush troops are surely waiting on the wrong road, while their team has slipped like an eel into a completely unknown and dangerous place.
A chill instantly ran from the soles of his feet up his spine. How could this be? Was it a coincidence, or...? He dared not think too deeply, his gaze involuntarily drifting to the backs of the people in front of him. Each of them looked so natural, as if they were meant to walk this path.
"Hey, Junior Brother Su," Wei Wuxian turned around at some point, his face bearing his usual enigmatic smile. His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for the people nearby to hear, "I've noticed you've been looking back the whole way. What's wrong? Are you reluctant to leave the food at Longtan Ferry, or... are you waiting for someone?" His tone was relaxed, as if he were joking, but his eyes gleamed with an all-knowing light.
Su She's heart pounded, and he forced a respectful smile: "Senior Brother Wei is too kind. It's just that the forest is slippery, and I was worried that some fellow disciples might get lost, so I was extra careful."
Jiang Cheng snorted coldly. He didn't turn around, his voice as cold and hard as ever: "Just mind your own business and stop looking around and dragging others down."
Although Lan Wangji did not speak, the hand on the hilt of Bichen Sword seemed more wary than usual.
For the rest of the journey, Su She felt as if he were caught in an invisible net. Whenever he tried to fall behind, Jiang Cheng's cold gaze would sweep over him, and even Nie Huaisang, who seemed the most harmless and only knew how to fan himself, would "coincidentally" point to a peculiar plant and ask him if he recognized it, interrupting his thoughts.
As for Xie Linyang, she didn't even need to do anything; just occasionally casting that calm, unwavering glance was enough to make him feel that all his thoughts were laid bare.
They found out? They must have found out!
This thought gnawed at Su She's heart like a venomous snake, and cold sweat soaked his inner shirt, sticking stickily to his back.
He dared not imagine how Wen Ruohan would deal with him, this useless pawn, if she knew the plan had failed. To escape? Under the watchful eyes of so many experts, it would be tantamount to suicide. To stay? The road ahead was fraught with unknown dangers, his companions were watching him like predators, and his identity could be exposed at any moment…
The group stopped to rest in a relatively dry open space. Wei Wuxian went to check the water source with a grin, while Lan Wangji followed silently.
Xie Linyang walked up to Su She and said in a calm voice, "Junior Brother Su, you don't look too well. Are you feeling unwell? The miasma here is starting to appear, so we need to be extra careful."
Su She shuddered and stood up straight almost reflexively, her voice hoarse: "Thank you... thank you for your concern, young lady. I... I'm fine."
Xie Linyang straightened up and gave him a deep look, a gaze that seemed to pierce through his disguise and reach the deepest fear in his heart.
"It's good that nothing happened." She said calmly, then turned and walked towards Jiang Cheng.
As Su She watched her departing figure, he felt the invisible net tightening even further.
The fog deep in the malarial forest suddenly thinned out.
A golden thread formed from the spiritual energy condensed at Xie Linyang's fingertips suddenly tightened, as if pulled by an invisible force, pointing straight ahead. The decaying leaves there had disappeared at some point, revealing a patch of bluish-black ground.
“This is it.” She stopped, her fingertips lightly twirling, and a golden thread traced a faint light in the air before disappearing into the void ahead.
Everyone stopped and realized something was wrong.
The Lingyang Ruins are located in the far south, where it is hot and humid all year round. Even the stones seem to be immersed in water. However, this open space in front of us is covered with a thin layer of white frost. The ground under the frost is as hard as iron, and wisps of cold air rise up, which condense into tiny ice crystals in the miasma.
Even more bizarrely, in the center of the open space stood a giant stone gate, over ten fathoms high and five zhang wide, entirely constructed of dark black rock. The gate was covered with intricate patterns, not any known immortal runes, but rather the trajectories of stars, faintly shimmering in the cold air.
“Ten thousand years of ice…” Lan Xichen raised his hand and brushed along the edge of the stone gate, a thin layer of ice forming where his fingertips touched. “The southern miasma forest has such a cold and gloomy place. This ruin is probably even older than the legends say.”
Jiang Cheng stepped forward, drawing his Three Poisons Sword half an inch from its sheath, the blade reflecting the patterns on the stone door: "The door is sealed, there are restrictions."
Wei Wuxian circled the stone gate once, then suddenly pointed to a raised bronze lock on the lintel: "Look here! The lock cylinder is hollow, as if something is to be inserted into it." He reached out to touch it, and as soon as his fingertips touched the keyhole, a blast of cold air shot out, making him hiss and pull his hand back. "Goodness, this restriction is pretty fierce."
Xie Linyang walked to the keyhole, and the thread of his fingertip gently touched the lock cylinder. The golden thread trembled violently instantly: "This aura... this lock requires an extremely yang object to open."
“Supreme Yang?” Jin Zixuan frowned. “None of the magical artifacts we brought are like this. Your Blazing Radiance…”
In the Xuanwu Cave, everyone witnessed Xie Linyang Zhuoyao's power and knew that her spiritual power was extremely yang and pure.
Xie Linyang was secretly puzzled. He pulled out the Zhuoyao hairpin from his hair and inserted it into the keyhole, but it didn't budge.
"It's not Zhuoyao." Everyone was filled with speculation and confusion.
"Why don't you try this?" Mianmian, from the back of the crowd, suddenly pulled a palm-sized bronze mirror from her bag. The mirror was polished to a shine, and the words "Yin Yang" were engraved on its edge. "This is my family's Yin Yang Mirror. It's said to be made from Yang copper from Xiangyang Mountain. Would you consider it the ultimate Yang?"
Wei Wuxian's eyes lit up, and he took the bronze mirror: "Try it and you'll see!"
He stepped onto Jiang Cheng's shoulders and leaped onto the stone gate, then inserted the bronze mirror into the keyhole.
The moment the bronze mirror touched the lock cylinder, it suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light. The star patterns on the stone door instantly lit up, flowing as if they had come alive. The bronze lock popped open with a "click," and the giant stone door slowly opened inward, raising a cloud of dust.
"Mianmian, you've done a great job this time!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed in delight.
Mianmian blushed as she accepted the Yin-Yang Mirror.
Behind the door was a long passageway with a domed ceiling so high that its top was invisible. The stone walls on both sides were covered with murals, the lines ancient and simple, but the details were illegible, as if worn away by time. The air was filled with a scent that mixed dust, bronze, and some strange fragrance, as heavy as frozen time.
The most eye-catching feature is that on the stone walls on both sides of the passage, there is a bronze mirror, about the height of a person, embedded every three zhang (approximately 10 meters). The mirror surface is as smooth as water, but it cannot reflect a person's image. Instead, it reflects a faint black and white color.
“This passage…” Jin Zixuan suddenly spoke, his voice echoing in the passage, carrying a hint of imperceptible solemnity, “There are fluctuations in the formation.”
Wei Wuxian peeked inside and laughed, "Who cares what kind of formation it is? Let's go in first. We can't just stand at the door and get chilled, can we?"
He stepped in first, followed closely by Lan Wangji, whose fingertips touched the strings of Wangji's zither.
The others followed one after another.
Su She lagged behind, his palms sweating profusely. He avoided looking at the mirrors, feeling as if something was moving in them.
The passage was long; after walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the space suddenly opened up. The dome had transformed into an arc, adorned with fist-sized luminous pearls, illuminating the entire space as bright as day. In the very center stood a high platform, and on the stone walls on either side, the light from the bronze mirrors suddenly intensified, the black and white colors intertwining and casting distorted shadows on the ground.
"Something's wrong!" Xie Linyang suddenly stopped, the thread of weakness at his fingertips trembling violently. "This is... the formation has been activated!"
Before the words were finished, the bronze mirrors on both sides suddenly shot out beams of light, the black and white colors intertwining in the air to form a net that enveloped everyone.
Just as Wei Wuxian was about to unleash the talisman, his vision blurred and he heard a familiar laugh—the chirping of cicadas from Lotus Pier, and Jiang Yanli calling him "A-Xian."
Lan Wangji's pupils contracted slightly. The scene before him suddenly transformed into the Cold Spring in the Cloud Recesses, where his mother was sitting by the spring calling his name.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, their eyes gradually becoming confused.
The passageway was so quiet that only the soft clatter of the rotating bronze wheels could be heard, while the halo of light from the high platform, illuminated by the luminous pearl, shone with an eerie, ghostly blue hue.
Jiang Cheng was awakened by the chirping of cicadas outside the window.
It wasn't a noisy screech, but a languid, watery tremor, like silk threads softened by soaking in a lotus pond, clinging to the window frame and seeping in strand by strand.
He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the lotus pattern on the top of the tent, embroidered with light red thread in extremely fine detail. It was hand-embroidered by Xie Linyang last winter, who said that his tent was too plain and that adding some color would make it feel like a home.
The bedding beside her was warm, carrying a faint scent of herbs. Xie Linyang was already awake, sitting in front of her dressing table, fixing her hair in front of the bronze mirror. She wore a moon-white undergarment, the collar loose, revealing a small patch of her smooth nape. The ends of her hair were still damp, probably from washing. The bronze mirror was polished to a shine, reflecting her quiet profile as she lowered her eyes.
"Awake?" She heard the noise, but didn't turn around. Her voice was slightly hoarse from just waking up. "There's lotus seed porridge warming in the pot. I'll go get some."
Jiang Cheng didn't move, staring at her back. Sunlight streamed through the window paper, gilding the tips of her hair with a pale gold edge, and even her shadow on the ground looked soft.
He suddenly felt a little unreal, as if it had been a very long time since he had experienced this. When he woke up, he could see the lotus pattern on the top of the tent, hear the cicadas chirping outside the window, and the person next to him was quietly tying up their hair. There was warm porridge in the pot.
"What are you looking at?" Xie Linyang finally turned around, holding a white jade hairpin in her hand, and walked to the bedside. "Your hair is messy." She reached out and gently brushed the stray hairs on his forehead with her fingertips. The movement was very light and had a slight coolness to it.
Jiang Cheng subconsciously tilted his head, but his words were still sharp: "Why are you up so early? Nobody's rushing you."
"I can't expect you to serve me." Xie Linyang smiled, put the white jade hairpin back into the dressing case, and turned to go to the outer room. "Get up quickly. Wei Wuxian said he's bringing Jin Ling to practice swordsmanship this morning. Don't let him see you sleeping in."
"He wouldn't dare." Jiang Cheng snorted, threw off the covers and sat up. The material of his inner robe was very soft; it was made for him by Xie Linyang last year, with a small lotus seedpod embroidered on the collar, the stitches fine and dense.
He looked down and tugged at his collar, feeling a little awkward. His clothes used to be made by Madam Yu, always very proper and without so many fancy designs.
Xie Linyang said, "Even the sect leader needs a soft garment. Isn't it tiring to always be wearing such tight clothes?"
"Not tired." Jiang Cheng wanted to say. He was the patriarch of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan, and he should have been on edge ever since the Wen Clan was eliminated. But when he saw her holding scissors, carefully trimming the thread, sunlight falling on her hair like scattered gold dust, he suddenly couldn't say anything.
It's so soft now that he feels like staying in bed.
The soft clinking of bowls and chopsticks came from outside. Jiang Cheng slipped on his shoes and went out. Xie Linyang was ladling porridge into a bowl. It was a white porcelain bowl with a celadon bottom. There was also a dish of finely sliced pickled cucumbers on the table. They had been sent by Madam Yu yesterday. She said that he had been dealing with sect affairs and was feeling hot-tempered, so he should eat something light to cool down.
"Try it." Xie Linyang pushed the porridge in front of him. "I added some rock sugar, so it's not greasy."
Jiang Cheng scooped up a spoonful of the warm porridge, which slid down his throat. The lotus seeds were cooked until very soft and had a slightly sweet taste. He didn't speak, but lowered his head to drink the porridge. Xie Linyang sat opposite him, also holding a bowl, taking small sips of the porridge. Occasionally, she would glance up at him, and when she saw that he was almost finished, she would silently push the pickled cucumber towards him.
"We're going to check on the newly recruited disciples today," Jiang Cheng suddenly said, putting down his bowl. "Wei Wuxian said their foundation is too weak; even their sword flying is crooked."
"Hmm." Xie Linyang nodded. "I asked the kitchen to prepare some heat-relieving herbal soup. I'll have my disciples send it to the training ground later." She paused, then added, "This afternoon, Father said he would teach you the finishing move of the 'Flowing Wave Sword Technique.' Don't forget."
Jiang Cheng hummed in agreement. The Flowing Wave Sword Technique was the Jiang Clan's family sword technique. He had learned most of it when he was young, but later, due to the Wen Clan... and other matters, he never fully mastered the final few moves.
Last month, Jiang Fengmian suddenly said he would teach him. He was stunned for a long time. His father always said that "the responsibility of the sect leader lies in overall planning, not in swordsmanship" and rarely taught him swordsmanship himself.
"Father seems to have a lot of free time lately," Jiang Cheng couldn't help but mutter.
Xie Linyang looked up at him, a smile in her eyes: "Uncle Jiang just wants to spend more time with you." She put down her bowl, picked up a handkerchief and wiped her mouth. "He always felt he owed you something before, but now that the Wen family has been eliminated and the sect is at peace, he naturally wants to make up for it."
Wen's family.
The name was like a pebble thrown into Jiang Cheng's heart, creating a blurry ripple.
He remembered Wen Ruohan being beheaded at Nightless City, remembered the sealing of the Yin Iron, remembered the hundred sects of the immortal realm raising their glasses in celebration… but he suddenly couldn’t quite recall the exact year and month. It seemed like a long time ago, yet it also felt like just yesterday.
"What are you thinking about?" Xie Linyang waved her hand in front of his eyes. "Your face is all scrunched up like a bun."
Jiang Cheng snapped out of his daze and slapped her hand away. "It's nothing." He stood up. "I'll go change my clothes."
Hanging in the changing room were his sect leader's robes, purple with silver lotus embroidery, and the tassel of the Three Poisons Sword dangling from his belt. He had just picked up the outer robe when he heard Wei Wuxian's loud voice from outside the courtyard: "Jiang Cheng! Jiang Cheng! That brat Jin Ling put my newly made kite in the lake! Aren't you going to do anything about it?!"
Jiang Cheng's temple throbbed, and he grabbed his outer robe and headed outside. Xie Linyang followed behind him, smiling helplessly, "Don't get angry with him, Jin Ling is still young."
"Does being young mean you can be lawless?" Jiang Cheng opened the courtyard gate and saw Wei Wuxian standing by the lotus pond with his hands on his hips. Lan Wangji was standing next to him, holding the hand of a cute little boy, Jin Ling, the son of his senior sister Jiang Yanli, who had just turned five this year.
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