A waning moon does not lose its light; a broken sword does not lose its strength.
On the day disaster struck Fengyi Sect, two moons appeared simultaneously in the vast, profound night sky.
One was the true moon. It was the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and the full moon hung in the heavens like a flawless jade disc, its outline seemingly drawn with a compass before being filled with a lustrous, milky-white nectar that glowed softly.
As for the other—
It was a Fat Cheep.
A Fat Cheep as round and plump as the full moon itself, covered from head to toe in snowy-white feathers that radiated a faint silvery glow beneath the moonlight.
Upon its back, nestled in its fluffy, cloudlike down, sat one strange and exotic spirit beast after another.
Giant pandas, little seals, fierce tigers, goofy tortoises, Arctic hares, Tibetan foxes…
The cultivation world’s very own Noah’s Ark had been completed.
Shu Fu flew in wide, rising and falling around the Fat Cheep Ark, standing on her heavy sword with Gu Guang in hand as she vigilantly surveyed the area.
Jiang Xuesheng sat in the middle of the animal park. On one side, Bai Tian nervously unfolded a defensive formation; on the other, Handan stood with the Firecloud Spear raised high, looking eager to put it to use.
The two of them had been utterly astonished when they discovered the identities of Jiang Xuesheng and Shu Fu. Bai Tian had initially been left speechless, but after recalling Liu Ruyi’s cross-dressing, she accepted the situation surprisingly quickly—and even felt enormously relieved.
Fortunately, they had disguised themselves as husband and wife. Otherwise, she might have fallen in love at first sight all over again.
Jiang Xuesheng wore women’s clothing with complete ease, showing not the slightest trace of embarrassment. His manner was tranquil and natural as he casually laid the jade zither across his knees. From beneath his fingers flowed a hazy, expansive melody.
At times, it was grand and resonant, like bells and chimes cleansing a secluded valley. At others, it was crisp and lively, like pearls scattering across a jade plate.
The zither music had an overwhelming presence, impossible to ignore. Yet once it entered the ears, it only made one’s mind feel ever more clear, empty, and serene, as though heaven and earth themselves were murmuring a gentle song.
Wherever the music reached, the strange insects that had taken wing retreated in terror, not daring to advance.
“By the way…”
Shu Fu said softly, “Doesn’t this Fat Cheep look a little like Totoro?”
After Shu Fu split open the stone cavern with a single sword strike, the group led the spirit beasts, now free once more, onto the Fat Cheep and fled the mountain swarming with countless strange insects.
Qin Huan was, as expected, a true heir of a renowned beast-taming clan. With just a few words, he soothed the spirit beasts, who had been tortured and driven into a frenzy, and persuaded them to follow him to freedom.
Naturally, there were plenty of strange insects capable of flying into the sky. But Shu Fu’s group was unstoppable. With Gu Guang’s sword aura tearing through the air ahead of them and the Italian cannon poised to fire behind them, they quickly carved out a path through the skies, escorting the Fat Cheep in a single cannon-shot straight into the clouds.
…
They had escaped without a scratch. Those left on the ground, however, were not nearly so fortunate.
The explosion in the rear mountain cavern sent tremors across nearly the entire Qiw u Mountain. Every bird and beast on the mountain awoke from its sleep, to say nothing of the guests who had merely intended to “stay for one night.” Some of the less fortunate were jolted straight out of bed.
Sect Master Song hurriedly led people to surround the guest quarters, placating everyone with soothing words as he tried to disguise the disaster and maintain the appearance of peace.
The Six Poisons Demon Lord behind him, however, had no such intentions. Knowing that the truth had been exposed, he understood that he absolutely could not allow these people to leave. Otherwise, years of planning would be ruined in an instant.
So he decided to take things one step further. He activated every poisonous creature he had hidden throughout Qiw u Mountain: snakes and scorpions, demonic moths, bird-eating spiders, killer bees, poisonous vines that could seal one’s throat with a single touch, poisonous mushrooms that exploded on the spot…
They came surging forth from every direction, intending to create the illusion of an attack by demonic cultivators and devour every visiting cultivator alive.
Fengyi Sect had served its purpose. Its usefulness ended today.
As for the Song family, since they had been obedient and compliant, he might consider taking them back to the Demon Realm and keeping them at his side as a pack of lapdogs.
Thus, the cultivators who had been completely in the dark were caught off guard. When they abruptly awakened to find themselves trapped in a sea of poison, they naturally suffered miserably—
Why had things turned out this way?
They had obtained the spirit beasts they had long desired, and then been invited by Fengyi Sect to tour the area. Two happy events had overlapped, and those two happinesses had brought forth even more happiness. They should have been enjoying a dreamlike stretch of blissful time…
But why had things turned out this way?
“Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!”
As the Fat Cheep flew over the guest quarters, it heard a loud, shrill, full-bodied scream resounding through the night. The cry was so piercing that it shook several feathers loose from its wings.
“What should we do?”
Shu Fu turned to Jiang Xuesheng. “The spirit beasts are safe, but if we’re going to break through with these cultivators, I’m afraid we’ll have to fight another vicious battle.”
As luck would have it, the cultivators had been caught completely off guard. Some had their storage pouches snatched away by venomous snakes; others had barely managed to pull their trousers halfway up before being thrown onto the defensive at the first encounter.
Although there were a few capable fighters among them, the poisonous creatures swarming down the mountain were endless and impossible to kill all at once. The cultivators could barely protect themselves, let alone rescue the inexperienced Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment disciples.
“Fu’er, what will you do?”
Jiang Xuesheng’s expression remained detached. He asked calmly, “Save them, or not? Or perhaps… wait until ‘seventy percent are dead’ before we intervene?”
“It’s pitch-black out here. We can’t tell how things are going.”
Shu Fu raised a hand to shade her eyes and pretended to peer into the distance. “If we sit back and do nothing, what if we let the demonic cultivators run free until things go too far, and they burn everyone to a crisp? What then?”
Xie Fangnian sneered. “You two are serious? Don’t forget, these people are all more trouble than they’re worth. When we were dealing with the hook snake at the foot of the mountain, they repeatedly interfered for the sake of a few petty gains and nearly ruined everything.”
Shu Fu tried to argue with him. “That may be true, but there are so many people down there. We can’t tell which ones are clever and which ones are fools. Some of them must have been dragged into this innocently. If we abandon everyone indiscriminately, wouldn’t those people die unjustly?”
Xie Fangnian remained unconvinced, his voice still dripping with sarcasm. “You worry about other people dying unjustly, but they may not spare a thought for you. If you have that much kindness to waste, why not save it for something useful? Honestly, casting flirtatious glances at a blind man is completely…”
“Elder Xie.”
Seeing that his attitude was particularly nasty today, Jiang Xuesheng interrupted him meaningfully. “That’s enough. Fu’er has never offended you. Do not make things difficult for her.”
“When has she ever not offended—”
Xie Fangnian was about to argue further when his voice abruptly cut off, as though someone had pressed a pause button.
“…”
Above them, in the night sky bathed in silvery moonlight, among clouds as light as gauze and mist, a black shadow had appeared at some point.
The shadow’s shape was strange. Though it vaguely resembled a human figure, its outline was indistinct. The lines along its edges writhed and twisted without pause, different from one moment to the next, like the old, distorted image on a television screen, riddled with jagged edges and static.
Looking more closely, one would realize that the edge was not “writhing,” but “swarming.”
Because the figure itself was not a single entity at all. It was formed from countless densely packed black specks clustered together.
To put it more accurately, what kind of “person” was this?
It was clearly a swarm of insects, so numerous that they made one’s scalp crawl, converging in midair to form the shape of a human being!
What was even more bone-chilling was that the swirling mass of insect shadows crept closer and closer. At the spot roughly corresponding to a human head, a gap split open, curving into the shape of a "mouth" that let out a hoarse, grating male voice:
"Master Tanhua, long time no see. I heard that back in Wei City, Ninglu and He Xiuwen fell right into your schemes, and met a most miserable end."
"Too much praise."
Jiang Xuesheng gave a slight bow — a fake bow, in fact — before leaning back haughtily, "But the one I schemed against was Zhao Jiuge. The rest of those fiends, including you, are not even worth the effort."
"..."
Even though it was nothing but a swarm of flying bugs, the figure across from him looked for all the world like it had been left speechless by his retort. "Truly worthy of the title Master Tanhua, sharp-tongued as ever, you bite hard."
Jiang Xuesheng lifted his eyelids lazily, speaking in a casual, drawling tone, "Demon Lord Six Poisons, watch your words carefully. If you insult me, that's you biting people. But if I insult you? That's nothing more than 'beating a dog'."
Demon Lord Six Poisons: "..."
Jiang Xuesheng then shook his head and sighed, "No, that title of yours is far too idiotic, I'd rather not utter it again. Just saying it once makes me need to rinse my mouth for half an hour to wash the stupid stench off my tongue. You didn't come up with that yourself, did you? No way."
"..."
Demon Lord Six Poisons went silent for a moment, as if he had been completely shut down by the scolding.
Seizing the perfect opportunity, Shu Fu and Handan exchanged a quick glance. One of them charged forward with her sword, while the other hefted the Fire Cloud Spear, spouting a burst of blazing fire straight at the "figure's" face the very next second.
"?! ! !"
Caught completely off guard, Six Poisons dodged the flame by darting aside, and roared in a fury, "Insolent wretches! I was in the middle of speaking with Master Tanhua, who gave you permission to interfere?"
Shu Fu swung her sword with a flick of her wrist, and said in surprise, "What, you actually enjoy talking to him? That's a really weird quirk." Though she was joking, her sword strikes were razor-sharp and fierce. "If I send you off sooner, you'll suffer less. You ought to thank me for that."
"Little girl, you are far too underestimating me."
Six Poisons laughed out of pure rage, and the humanoid shape formed by the clustered flying bugs suddenly dissolved, turning into a cloud of black mist that came surging at Shu Fu.
Shu Fu did not dodge or evade. Her stance was as steady as a deep mountain, and she treated that black mist like she was playing Fruit Ninja — when the bugs gathered, they were a whole watermelon, and when they scattered, they were a handful of strawberries. She locked her gaze onto the path the "fruits" were flying along, and swept her Solitary Light Sword through the mist as gently as the Queen Mother of the West drawing the Milky Way apart with her hairpin.
Her control over sword energy was so precise it had reached the pinnacle of perfection. Every wisp of her fine sword energy seized one flying bug, grinding it into fine dust without the slightest mistake.
Before Demon Lord Six Poisons could launch another attack, he watched Shu Fu set down her sword with one hand, and toss her Free Xiao flute up with the other. The jade flute instantly shattered into countless shards of jade (written as shards of jade, pronounced as floating gun batteries), swirling and circling above her head like a menacing, ill-omened halo.
Demon Lord Six Poisons: "..."
He had long known Master Tanhua's disciples were tough to deal with, but he never imagined they could be this much of a hassle. No wonder she went from being his disciple to becoming his wife.
On the other side, Jiang Xuesheng also sent a voice transmission to Shu Fu:
[Fu'er, his main body is not here. All of these are just poisonous insects he is controlling. Stall him for a while. I will leave a sliver of my consciousness here, and follow the scent to track down his real body.]
Demon Lord Six Poisons was a seasoned veteran of countless battles, how could he not guess what they were up to? He immediately let out a cackling, eerie laugh. "I bet you are dying to find my main body, aren't you? But Master Tanhua, you can only do that if you have the spare capacity to pull it off."
The moment his voice faded, the wails rising from the ground grew more and more shrill, mixed with cries of pain and pleas for help.
"Snakes... there are snakes! I've been bitten! Who has antidote pills?!"
"Help — let go, let go of me! Some fellow daoist, give me a hand! I can't break free from these vines... aaaaah!!!"
"My hand, my hand...! Master, senior fellow apprentices, where are you, save me, I don't want to die..."
"..."
The atmosphere froze in a stalemate. Even Jiang Xuesheng fell silent.
Human power always has its limits. Right now he was not the all-powerful Lord Yinglong who could summon wind and call for rain, just a single Snow White Secluded Tanhua bloom. His spiritual power ebbed and flowed, entirely dependent on the Wi-Fi signal coming from his original body.
It would not be hard to wipe out Demon Lord Six Poisons, but to sweep away all the poisonous insects all over the mountain in an instant and save hundreds of cultivators from danger was far easier said than done.
Jiang Xuesheng's spiritual power was undeniably strong, but his zither music could not distinguish friend from foe. If he used it to kill the insects, the moment every last poisonous bug was dead, the low-level Qi Refining stage cultivators below would have their organs ruptured and die too.
Unless there was some kind of AOE ability that could selectively kill every single poisonous creature, without harming a single innocent person.
And the only one he knew of was...
"Senior, please let me do this."
Just then, a gentle, calm voice rang out from the bustling crowd of spirit beasts.
Feng Jinyu stood up. Her slender, gaunt figure stood tall and graceful, like a water lily swaying in the night breeze.
She said softly, "My clan is born with Phoenix Spirit Fire, which has the power to ward off evil. If I pour all the power of my primordial spirit into it, I might be able to wipe out all the poisonous creatures, and let all the fellow daoists here escape safely."
"Nonsense!"
Before Jiang Xuesheng could even respond, Xie Fangnian snapped at her in anger. "Your cultivation level is not high enough, your soul is weak, and you have already suffered a major loss of vitality this time. Using your spirit fire in this state will damage your own primordial spirit. Are you that eager to die?"
Feng Jinyu said firmly, "But this is the only way. If it is necessary, I will not shirk my duty."
"Sure, such noble sentiment, such great lofty spirit." Xie Fangnian's tone was full of mockery. "Is your next line going to be 'If thousands must go, I will go'?"
Feng Jinyu: "Yes."
Xie Fangnian: "..."
The two of them, one human and one cat, stared at each other silently in the dark night, neither willing to back down.
In the end, Xie Fangnian looked as if he had made up his mind. He said coldly,
"What if I told you that the summoning Xie Fanghua performed back then did not fail completely?"
"What?"
Fat Cheep was so shocked that he nearly shook off all the spirit beasts on his back. "Mother didn't fail? Then the Phoenix Ancestor —"
"Is right here."
Xie Fangnian cut him off coldly, his tone as gloomy as if he was admitting "I used to wear women's clothes too". He transformed into a human figure in a flash, staring straight at Feng Jinyu and said,
"Feng Jinyu, let me ask you this."
"The reason I have been plagued with illness and weakness all this time is that the summoning was never completed. If I can obtain the body of a descendant of the Phoenix clan, I will truly be able to return to the world of the living, and restore the Phoenix clan to its former glory..."
"I am willing."
Feng Jinyu did not even have time to be shocked before she spoke without the slightest hesitation. "If senior can turn the tide of this crisis and save everyone, my life is a small price to pay."
"..."
Xie Fangnian had a blank, cold look in his eyes, and he really did make as if to press his hand to the top of her head.
"Elder Xie, wait!"
Shu Fu was about to step forward to stop him, but she saw his gesture change abruptly. He curled his index finger, and flicked Feng Jinyu hard right on her smooth forehead.
"Absurd! Childish!" Xie Fangnian scolded her unceremoniously. "If the Phoenix Ancestor ever made a demand like that, he wouldn't be worth calling a Phoenix. You're still so young, yet you keep talking about dying all the time. What would your parents think if they heard that? Alright, get out of here. I don't need you for this."
Shu Fu always felt that this tone was strangely familiar, and she instinctively tried to cut in: "Elder Xie..."
Xie Fangnian snapped, "Shut up, you are not much better than her."
He flicked his wide sleeve, turned to Jiang Xuesheng, and said lightly, "Master Tanhua, you don't seem surprised at all."
"Should I be surprised?"
Jiang Xuesheng stopped plucking the guzheng, lifted her eyes to meet his gaze, and said, "If anything, the fact that you are willing to step forward at this moment surprises me more. With your current temperament, I thought you would knock the princess unconscious and take her away directly."
"I'm just curious... what on earth have you gone through to become like this?"
"If I knew, would I still have ended up like this?"
Xie Fangnian let out a self-deprecating snort, waved his hand and said, "The Phoenix Fire damages the primordial spirit. This journey ahead is extremely dangerous, and I may not return safely. If you have any other questions, you might as well ask them all at once."
Jiang Xuesheng tilted her head and pondered for a moment, then half-joked, "There's really nothing much. It's just a question that has been on my mind for a very long time..."
"Why did you name yourself 'Xie Fangnian'?"
"What kind of question is that?"
Xie Fangnian frowned and said, "Xie Fanghua had poor skills, and I fell for her tricks. When I woke up, my mind was muddled and I had lost all my memories, not even knowing my own surname or given name. It was several years before I recovered. I misremembered 'Xie Fanghua' as 'Xie Fanghua', so I took the meaning of 'the fine years of youth', using 'Fangnian' as my name and 'Huayue' as my title."
"Xie Fanghua had planned meticulously, wanting me to possess a thousand-year-old spiritual tree, but it was all burned to ashes by a demonic cultivator. I drifted around Mount Qiwu for a long time with no place to rest, and in the end, I could only take shelter in the Xie family — in the dying Guanguan. In that sense, I am half a member of the Xie family."
When Xie Fangnian finished saying this and saw Jiang Xuesheng nodding without further questioning, he suddenly felt a little listless, then turned to Shu Fu and Feng Jinyu and said:
"You two, come here."
"Huh?"
Shu Fu pointed at herself in confusion, "You're calling me? Wait, Elder Xie, who did you say you were just now?"
While responding, she passed the battlefield over to Handan and Jiang Xuesheng, and leaped onto Fat Cheep's back:
"I mean, we've known each other for so long, we're all old friends. Don't scare me like that. Don't pull some 'Archer is actually Emiya Shirou' plot on me..."
"Who's Wei Gong Shiro? I only know Nangong."
Xie Fangnian really wanted to roll his eyes, but he had long been used to Shu Fu's odd remarks and did not take them to heart.
Seeing Shu Fu approach, he raised his bony wrists, resting one on the top of her head and the other on Feng Jinyu's, and said slowly word by word:
"There is a saying that Xie Anzhi spoke correctly. The Phoenix Ancestor never had very high expectations for what would happen after their passing."
"Descendant."
He pointed at Feng Jinyu.
"Successor."
He tapped Shu Fu's forehead with his index finger, "That's more than enough. I'm not as greedy as Lord Yinglong, that three-thousand-year-old old tree who still wants to blossom and bear fruit. After returning to life once, the things I wanted to find are all found now."
"Huh?"
Shu Fu was even more confused, "Wait, since when did I become your..."
Xie Fangnian pulled the corners of his mouth into a dry, forced smile, as if trying to show a cold sneer, but in the end, the look in his eyes as he gazed at her was almost one of relief and kindness.
"Although the origin is a bit ridiculous, 'Poyue' is the proudest work of my life. Since you have this fate, you must take good care of it and not let it down."
"...Though, you've almost let it down enough already."
"There is a wisp of my divine sense inside Poyue. I have known all along what it has gone through in your hands over the years. Similarly, I remember all the people you have hurt with it — every single one of them deserved to die."
Perhaps still a little sore about all the times he got his feathers plucked bare these days, Xie Fangnian met Shu Fu's suddenly horrified gaze, and ruffled her hair roughly on top of her head:
"That's why I forgive you."
"Xie —"
Shu Fu only felt the scene blur before her eyes, as if countless fragmented images came pouring in, and countless voices whispered in her ears. The lights, shadows and sounds were like a raging flood, surging into her mind in an instant.
She saw a haggard, blood-soaked woman with faint breath but burning light in her eyes, exactly the "Xie Fanghua" Xie Fangnian had outlined with wispy smoke.
[...Phoenix Lord, Phoenix Lord. I beg you, save the Phoenix Clan... Only you can...]
She saw a tall figure standing with hands behind his back, his aura pure and thick, pressing down like a mountain, dressed in resplendent golden brocade robes.
[Phoenix Lord, this sovereign wishes to strike a deal with you. With your broken current body, you won't survive three years in this world without my protection. Now that the descendants of the Phoenix Clan are missing, their fates unknown, what you need most right now is time, is it not? Lingxiao City can give you that time.]
[All the world's bustle is for profit. People are fickle and sycophantic, and have long forgotten the kindness bestowed by the dragons and phoenixes. If you die and your soul dissipates, the descendants of the Phoenix Clan drifting in the mortal world will not meet a good end.]
[You want to keep your clan descendants safe, and this sovereign wants the Yuanchu birds to thrive. Our goals do not conflict.]
She also heard Xie Fangnian's voice, carrying icy mockery, not sure if he was laughing at the other party or at himself.
[Sect Master Ling, the Yuanchu birds have long been our comrades. Even without using such underhanded means, I might have still helped you. I only hope you remember your words today, and do not bring shame to our ancestors.]
At the very end, she saw a dignified and beautiful couple, teasing each other with smiles:
"My child, mother is going to test you. Among the poems written by mortals, what is the next line after 'the moon wanes but never changes its light'?"
"It is 'the sword breaks but never changes its firmness'. The moon wanes but never changes its light, the sword breaks but never changes its firmness. Power and influence may press down on mountains, but they cannot bend the heart of a steadfast man."
"Then what about 'the Qiang flute need not complain about the willows'?"
"'The spring breeze crosses the Yumen Pass from far away'... Sorry, that's what I made up. But if the spring breeze can never cross, wouldn't the Yumen Pass be too lonely?"
……
"……？！！"
Shu Fu jolted back to her senses, cold sweat trickling down her temples, as if waking up from a thousand-year-long deep dream.
In front of her, Xie Fangnian turned his face and glanced at her lightly, as if asking "Do you understand now?"
"Elder Xie?!"
Shu Fu instinctively reached out to grab him, but Jiang Xuesheng moved quickly to stop her, and she only managed to catch a corner of his robe.
Then, she watched Xie Fangnian leap down, his black hair flying like a waterfall, his overly wide robes fluttering in the night wind, like a lone, outcast bird separated from its flock.
Beneath his sleeves billowing against the wind, on his thin, slender wrist, there was still a string of white jasmine bracelets.
Not the Danxin jasmine that blooms once every five years — they were the same as the ones she had seen in Weicheng, just ordinary jasmine flowers that could be found anywhere by the roadside.
...Why hadn't she noticed before?
The Phoenix Clan has always disliked extravagance. Those "randomly bought" flower strings were the best proof from the very beginning.
When he recovered his memories.
When he was in Lingxiao City, searching day and night for the descendants of the Phoenix Clan in vain, forcing himself to swallow his humiliation every day.
— All alone, what on earth was he thinking back then?
"Xie — Feng Yuandu! Feng Yuandu!!!"
"……"
In the vast dark of night, she seemed to see that person turn back, a faint glimmer of the high-spirited look he had in the old days lingering on his pale, gaunt face.
A thought suddenly occurred to her.
Xie Fangnian was a master of esoteric arts and mystic techniques, but Feng Yuandu had originally been a sword cultivator.
A sword cultivator trapped within a confined space, who could no longer wield a sword.
That was why he had said to her, "Your sword is a fine sight to behold," and why he clung so stubbornly to finding a successor who carried the spirit of the sword in their heart.
...Come to think of it, was the name "Xie Fangnian" really just a simple combination of split characters?
The phrase "fang nian hua yue" originally meant "the beautiful years of youth."
For Feng Yuandu, when exactly had the best years of his life been?
Perhaps — if her guess was not wrong — in the illusion of Wei City, within Jiang Xuesheng's memories, those noisy, bustling days, and the people who laughed and played while putting flowers in each other's hair, were the eternal, unchanging nostalgia he held close.
Maybe he had once forgotten for a time, maybe his appearance had changed greatly through the trials of the mortal world.
Or perhaps, he had never forgotten at all, and never changed.
— Lord Xie, you once bestowed upon me the most beautiful years of my youth.
...
"I told you so long ago," Jiang Xuesheng murmured softly to himself, his gaze fixed on the direction where he had fallen, "My cousin, for all his bad temper and the way he always picks fights with me, is truly remarkable."
Right where his eyes were resting, red lotus flames burst forth, surging straight toward the sky.
A gentleman's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold, and he will never betray his good name, not even at the cost of life and death.
