CHAPTER 12 If you entered the Hidden Realm of Xuanji, you'll harm all the walking lives of Yunze

Hearing these words, Wu Sisi shook her head and said, “You cannot use my money. Nothing here should be able to trace back to me. That person is constantly observing the entire town. Although I have set up an array, it’s only to speak to both of you when he’s not looking. You must tread carefully.”

“Understood.” Qin Yan finally spoke, telling Wu Sisi in all seriousness, “Then, after we’ve helped Senior, will Senior be helping us out of the Hidden Realm of Xuanji?”

“As long as my master reclaims the Hidden Realm of Xuanji, naturally, this isn’t a big deal.”

Wu Sisi instantly agreed. Qin Yan nodded his head and bowed towards her.

Wu Sisi returned it, as well as an additional bow that was uniquely shared among sword cultivators. Then, she gave them more orders, then stretched and left.

Once Wu Sisi left, Fu Changling leaned in close to Qin Yan. Qin Yan lifted his gaze at him. “What’s the matter?”

Fu Changling said nothing as he reached out to pull Qin Yan. Qin Yan instinctively wanted to retreat, but Fu Changling had taken his wrist and whispered, “Open up.”

Qin Yan furrowed his brows and opened his palm. Fu Changling began writing on his palm. “Do you think Wu Sisi can be trusted?”

Qin Yan stole a look outside. He understood that Fu Changling was being wary of any eavesdroppers, so he nodded his head.

And then, he pulled Fu Changling’s hand and wrote on his palm.

There were blisters on his hand, making Qin Yan’s fingers ticklish. When they brushed over Fu Changling’s palm, it instilled an itchiness in his heart that was indescribable by words. Fu Changling wanted to withdraw his hand, but felt that it was far too big a reaction to make. So he only stiffened up his body as he allowed words to be written in his palm.

Qin Yan’s finger sketched to and fro on his palm and every stroke made him feel limp and numb. Fu Changling had to gather his focus, only then could he understand what Qin Yan meant.

Qin Yan had written: Theogony of the Ancient Gods, Wu Si.

This name made Fu Changling recall some of his memories.

Wu Si was a god in the Theogony of the Ancient Gods who became the cultivation partner of her master, Ming Xiu, in the form of a sword spirit. Ming Xiu was a disciple of Ye Lan’s. Back in those years, during the War between Demons and Immortals, Ming Xiu and Wu Si had once contributed immensely. But after that, Ming Xiu vanished from the grounds of battle and Wu Si was never seen again.

If Wu Sisi was Wu Si, then the former god of this hidden realm must have been Ming Xiu, disciple of Ye Lan.

Following this theory, Ming Xiu was believed to be dead back in that year. After Ming Xiu’s death, it’s feared that Ye Lan must have put his disciple’s spiritual consciousness into the Hidden Realm of Xuanji to be nurtured. As his sword spirit, Wu Si must have naturally followed him.

“How did you know?” Fu Changling urgently asked, curious. Qin Yan then wrote on his palm: Fragrant sachet, sword pattern.

Fu Changling understood. Sword cultivators usually had their own unique insignia, the patterns of the sword on the fragrant sachet was the most obvious. The patterns on their swords are the sword cultivator’s own, but it would make Qin Yan a prodigy to have been capable of recognizing a sword solely by its patterns from millions of others.

Having obtained Qin Yan’s verification, Fu Changling loosened his suspicions on Wu Sisi. Once he relaxed, fatigue abruptly seeped into his bones. He yawned and climbed into bed, crawling as he said, “Ah, finally, a bed to sleep in. I’m so, so tired…”

Speaking, he lay on the bed and after closing his eyes for a while, he opened them back up to see that Qin Yan had gotten up to the couch on the opposite and sat cross-legged.

Stunned, Fu Changling rolled over and sprawled on the bed. “Qin Yan, not sleeping?”

Qin Yan answered using his nose “En”, and Fu Changling said to him, “Your injuries haven’t healed. Let’s not meditate and perhaps, sleep?”

“You can sleep.”

“Oh ~ I know now.” Fu Changling’s mind clicked. “Are you just wanting to sleep on the same bed with me?!”

He took Qin Yan’s silence for approval. Fu Changling sighed, got up, and walked down from the bed. “Alright, alright. You’re the one with heavy injuries, you can sleep on the bed.”

“There’s no need.” Qin Yan rejected him with his eyes closed, and after a while, he added, “Thank you.”

Fu Changling was originally mad with steam, feeling like this person was far too stubborn. But when he heard the words “Thank you”, his heart softened. He turned and while Qin Yan was not paying any attention, he raised a finger and said, “Deal!”

Qin Yan’s eyes abruptly flickered open and before he could act, he was frozen on the spot. Fu Changling had walked towards him, carried him up, placed him onto the bed and pulled the covers over him. Qin Yan blinked his eyes wide. Fu Changling snorted and closed them with his hand.

“This young master wants you to sleep on the bed, so how dare you sleep on the couch? Want to defy me?” Fu Changling turned and found a blanket from the cabinet before squeezing into the little couch and covering himself, then he snorted. “No way!”

Fu Changling closed his eyes and turned. After a while, he heard Qin Yan say, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Fu Changling remained silent. This time, he didn’t bother himself with Qin Yan.

After a while, he heard Qin Yan whisper softly, “Thank you.”

“Don’t bother yourself with thank yous,” Fu Changling dragged his tone, “I’m relying on you to cover me. Take care of yourself, as the late game would depend on you.”

“Alright.”

Qin Yan’s answer was very bland, but he meant it. As he listened, Fu Changling pondered over it for a while before he finally turned around and propped his head up, looking at Qin Yan from not far off and asked, “Qin Yan, can I ask you something? I’m just simply asking, and if you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine.”

“En.”

“Why on earth did you want to kill me?”

Qin Yan remained silent.

Faced before such silence, there were a few moments where Fu Changling felt disappointed. Only during the moment he felt disappointment did he realize that when he asked, he’d thought that Qin Yan would have told him.

This was how he had always been. If he wasn’t certain of something, he wouldn’t even think of asking. As long as he didn’t ask, there would at least be a memento. He could never have allowed the situation to transpire into such a situation where he felt emotionally suffocating.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me; after all, it must be something you care about.”

Just as Fu Changling wanted to turn around back, he suddenly heard Qin Yan say, “Perhaps it’s fate.”

“Fate?” Fu Changling didn’t understand.

Qin Yan explained to him in all seriousness, “If you entered the Hidden Realm of Xuanji, you will harm all the walking lives of Yunze.”

“I… I will harm the walking lives of Yunze?”

Fu Changling felt it was a little laughable.

Back in that year, it was obviously Qin Yan who mistakenly lifted the seal of the Avici. It was Qin Yan who betrayed his sect and murdered his shifu. It was Qin Yan who allied with the demons, abandoned the path, and established the Unsullied Palace, and became known as Suiyan Mojun. Presently, this person dared to tell him that it was fate who said he, Fu Changling, would destroy the walking lives of Yunze in the near future?

“Who told you that?”

Fu Changling resisted himself from laughing out loud, but he couldn’t help asking, “Who said I will destroy Yunze?”

Qin Yan said nothing.

If he wasn’t willing, no one could force him.

But even if he said nothing, it didn’t mean that Fu Changling didn’t know.

Words like ‘it’s fate’ were not words that every cultivator liked using, for these were words cultivators who are passionate about divination and astrology loved using frequently.

During Qin Yan’s time in the Heavenly Palace of Hongmeng, his best friend was Su Wenji, a young master from the Su Clan who claimed to have the eyes of Heaven’s mandate.

Members of the Su Clan were born blind, but they had a pair of mind's eyes. According to their qualifications, Su Clan cultivators with mind's eyes could view the past, present, and future of others from a different perspective. They specialised in divination and astrology, and could foretell events of blessings or calamities. They were the most secular and monastic clan among the Four Great Clans of Yunze.

Su Wenji was a young master of the Su Clan. He had a pair of blue eyes at birth but during his tenth year, a comet shot across the night and from that moment onwards, Su Wenji could no longer see ordinary things. What his eyes could see, however, was fate.

The legends go that he could not only see a person's past and present, but that he was also the most powerful among the successors of the Su Clan. He had a pair of eyes that could truly expose the intentions of heaven, the eyes of Heaven's mandate.

Su Wenji and Qin Yan had an incredibly good relationship. In their last life, even if Su Wenji and Qin Yan ultimately chose two different sides, their friendship didn't end there. Su Wenji's pair of eyes were dug out by a demonic cultivator and so Qin Yan went up to the Su Clan in person to return Su Wenji a pair of eyes.

Other than Su Wenji, no other cultivator who could cultivate the art of foresight[3] could order Qin Yan around.

If it was Su Wenji from a few years later, Fu Changling would take his foresight seriously. However, the present Su Wenji was only nineteen years old and Fu Changling already knew of events in the future, so he wouldn’t take his words seriously. Hence, he jokingly smiles and says, “Su Wenji was the one who ordered you to come?”

Qin Yan looked astonished, as if he didn’t realize that Fu Changling’s mind would come across this.

This only made Fu Changling even more certain that these were originally Su Wenji’s orders. There was an unspoken feeling of being troubled in his heart. Although he was smiling, his tone sounded somewhat grave. “Are you going to do everything Su Wenji tells you to? If he told you to kill me, you’d kill me?”

Qin Yan said nothing, as if he was silently acknowledging it. Fu Changling suddenly felt a deeper searing of anger in his heart, then thought that they didn’t come rationally.

Was this why Qin Yan wanted to kill him?

It wasn’t like this was the first time Qin Yan wanted to kill him. By now, he should’ve been used to it.

Or perhaps… this was because Qin Yan was killing him on behalf of Su Wenji?

Fu Changling didn't think much of it. He discreetly discarded that piece of thought and stuffed the pillow behind his head, then he sighed. “So, he meant that if it were the Shangguan Manor, save me; but if we came to the Hidden Realm of Xuanji, then kill me. Is that it?”

“I’m sorry.”

Qin Yan finally spoke again, but his apology only meant that Fu Changling had guessed everything correctly. As he stared at the ceiling, Fu Changling felt a little tired and said, “You were extremely obedient to me the moment you came. Whatever I said in the Shangguan Manor, you’d believe it.” Fu Changling turned around to look at Qin Yan as he spoke, feeling a little undeserved. “Were these also what Su Wenji told you to do?”

Qin Yan didn’t give him an instant answer. After a while only did he say, “I trust you would not harm others without reason.”

“You will trust that I am gifted,” Fu Changling replied nonchalantly.

Qin Yan didn’t give an instant reply, but after a while, he finally said, “You are gifted.”

“And now you know?” Fu Changling finally smiled. “How did you know?”

Qin Yan closed his eyes and said, “Wenji said so.”

After he slept, he had a dream. In the dream, he was kneeling amid the heavy snowstorm, not able to see anything clearly. All he could hear were the howling of the winds and then there was a voice, “Member of the Fu Clan?”

He lifted his head. A horrendous wind picked up and a sword was placed into his hand.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll bring you out.”

And then they walked into the snowstorm. That person was walking in the front. He was tall and he blocked off most of the winds. Fu Changling followed behind him and after a long period of walking, Fu Changling’s vision gradually began to clear. He finally couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Are you Yanming?”

The sword cultivator in front of him turned, a pair of phoenix eyes that looked complimenting, yet his gaze was dead.

Fu Changling’s eyes widened as he heard the other person say, “Qin Yan.”

“I am Qin Yan.”

Fu Changling abruptly woke up and realized that the sun had already risen[4]. Qin Yan was meditating on the bed. Fu Changling frantically inhaled before Qin Yan asked, “What are the arrangements today?”