Chapter 318: Jiang Che's Past
The Heavenly Stele Grand Assembly came to an end in a way no one had expected.
That very night, communication jade slips across the entire Xuanying Continent were almost completely flooded by a single piece of news—
"Lin Wan of the Immortal Spirit Holy Land beheaded Ji Wuque with one sword!"
Countless cultivators stared dumbfounded at their jade slips, and some even flew on swords through the night toward Heavenly Capital City, solely to witness the legendary "battlefield" for themselves.
At this moment, the instigator herself was leaning by the window, idly playing with a gilded magical artifact between her fingers.
Under the moonlight, the Sanskrit inscriptions on the surface of the vajra pestle emitted a faint, chilling glow.
"Martial Aunt… this is…"
Xiao Chen's eyelid twitched as he watched his own martial aunt compare a divine artifact to her hair bun as if it were a hairpin.
"Spoils of war."
Lin Wan casually slipped it into her sleeve, the corner of her lips lifting slightly.
"I couldn't very well let that bunch of idle people pick it up."
Sure enough, just after midnight, furtive figures began appearing one after another in Heavenly Stele Square.
Some held luminous pearls and lay flat on the ground searching carefully. Some pinched object-seeking incantations while muttering under their breath. Others were elderly figures pacing back and forth with compasses in hand.
In the end, all that could be heard were overlapping sighs of regret.
"Too late!"
"It must've been snatched by some damn bastard!"
"I even prepared a recording stone…"
Inside the pavilion, Han Yu suddenly sprayed out a mouthful of tea with a "pfft."
Ji Lingxiu's face flushed red as she tried to cover Chen Xingcai's ears, only for Chen Xingcai to wriggle free at once.
"Senior Sister, I'm not little anymore…"
…
After a bout of playful chaos, everyone gradually returned to the main matter.
Xiao Chen frowned deeply.
"Martial Aunt, what should we do next?"
"When soldiers come, block them. When water comes, dam it."
Lin Wan lifted her gaze toward the Heavenly Stele standing in the distant night.
"Ji Wuque made such a grand display—he must have had some scheme. You will set off early tomorrow morning and return to Immortal Spirit Valley. As for this pavilion…"
She paused briefly.
"There's no need to leave anyone behind to guard it. It's meaningless to us now."
"Then what about you, Martial Aunt?"
Xiao Chen could not help but ask.
"Me?"
The corner of Lin Wan's lips curled upward, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes.
"Since things are finished here, naturally I should go take a look at that place."
At this moment, Jiang Che, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
"Martial Aunt…"
He took a deep breath.
"Could you take me along?"
Lin Wan turned around with interest.
"Oh? Why?"
By the candlelight, the muscles of Jiang Che's profile were drawn taut. He hesitated briefly, then finally spoke as if making up his mind.
"If the place Martial Aunt is going to really is the path leading to the Upper Realm…"
His fingers unconsciously rubbed the jade pendant at his waist.
"Then perhaps… I can be of some help."
The room fell abruptly silent.
Chen Xingcai tilted her head in confusion, while Xiao Chen and Han Yu exchanged knowing looks.
Jiang Che took another deep breath, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
"Actually… you probably already guessed."
He lifted his head, and a depth of weariness unfitting for his age surfaced in his eyes.
"My previous life… was indeed from the Upper Realm."
Moonlight streamed through the lattice window, casting a lonely shadow at his feet.
…
"In my previous life, I was a true disciple of the Ziwei Heavenly Dao Profound Sect, among the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands of the Upper Realm."
He began to speak slowly, his voice low and calm, yet making the air in the room seem to freeze.
Xiao Chen and the others held their breath. Even Chen Xingcai quieted down, staring at him with wide eyes.
"At that time, before I reached eight hundred years of age, I had already touched the threshold of the Saint Realm, and was hailed as the greatest genius the sect had seen in ten thousand years."
The corner of Jiang Che's lips lifted slightly, yet there was no trace of a smile in his eyes.
"And I had a childhood sweetheart, named Liu Ruyue."
He paused, his fingertips lightly tracing the edge of the jade pendant, as though some lingering warmth still remained there.
"We grew up together from a young age. She always liked to wipe my sweat with a handkerchief damp with morning dew while I practiced swordsmanship."
His voice gradually softened, as if sinking into distant memories.
"She had a cinnabar mole on her hand, like a plum blossom petal fallen on snow. I always teased her, saying it was a mark she owed me from a previous life."
"When we were five hundred years old, we pledged ourselves to each other, vowing never to marry anyone else. I also promised her that once I achieved the Saint Realm, I would take her as my Dao companion."
The flickering lamplight cast shifting shadows across Jiang Che's profile.
"Later, I began attempting secluded cultivation to break through to the Saint Realm."
His voice suddenly turned cold.
"And it was precisely at the critical moment when I was comprehending the Heavenly Dao."
He raised his eyes, a cold gleam flashing within them.
"Guess who broke through the formation and barged in?"
No one answered.
"It was Liu Ruyue."
Jiang Che let out a soft laugh that sent a chill down one's spine.
"And my… dearly respected senior brother."
After speaking, he glanced meaningfully at Xiao Chen. Seeing his own senior brother's worried expression, Jiang Che inexplicably felt his heavy mood lighten somewhat.
As a result, though he was recounting a tragedy, his voice became oddly brisk.
"She rushed in covered in blood, shouting for me to be careful, saying that senior brother wanted to kill me."
His fingers slowly tightened.
"I naturally believed her without question, forcibly interrupted my cultivation, reached out to pull her over, and shielded her behind me."
"And then she stabbed me viciously from behind with a dagger coated in Soul-Slaying Powder."
Jiang Che's voice was frighteningly calm.
"And at the same time, my senior brother's sword pierced through my scapula."
"Why?"
Jiang Che suddenly laughed, his eyes utterly icy.
"I asked her that."
"How did she answer at the time?"
He tilted his head slightly, as if recalling an amusing joke.
"She said—'Senior Brother Jiang doesn't really think I'd like a fool who only knows how to cultivate, right?'"
"And senior brother added: You still don't know, do you? The fiancée you couldn't even bear to touch has long since become mine."
"So that's how it was. She had already become my senior brother's Dao companion long ago."
His fingers lightly tapped the tabletop.
"They plotted for many years, all for the Ziwei Heavenly Dao Profound Sect's Mystic Heaven Sword Canon, and… my innate Sword Bone."
"Senior Brother Jiang…"
Chen Xingcai's eyes reddened.
This senior brother usually appeared the most carefree and unrestrained, yet who could have imagined such a tragic past hidden behind him.
For some reason, Chen Xingcai felt that if she wrote a book with Senior Brother Jiang as the subject, it might be just as popular as those storybooks she had read before.
"Then I was killed by them together."
Jiang Che's voice was so light it seemed as if he were not talking about himself at all.
"My natal sword was crushed inch by inch beneath their feet."
"But thanks to this jade pendant—Candle Yin Jue."
He untied the ancient jade glowing with a cyan light from his waist and looked toward Lin Wan.
"By the way, back then I also owe thanks to Martial Aunt Lin Wan, for pulling me back out of hell."
Lin Wan smiled and shook her head.
"It wasn't me who saved you. You saved yourself."
"Martial Aunt is right."
Jiang Che chuckled softly, then gathered his thoughts and continued.
"At the moment of self-destruction, it protected my final wisp of true spirit."
"After that, I drifted in the Ghost Domain for a thousand years, listening to wandering souls talk about the grand wedding of the new Saint Son of the Ziwei Heavenly Dao Profound Sect. I listened as they said the bride wore an immortal sword refined from the former Saint Son's Sword Bone…"
The candlelight gradually dimmed, leaving his features indistinct.
"But…"
Jiang Che's voice suddenly returned to its usual roguish tone. He stretched lazily, his manner so relaxed it was as if the person who had just recounted a sea of blood and hatred was not him at all.
"When I came back to my senses, I was already the Jiang Che of today."
He looked at Xiao Chen, then swept his gaze across Lin Wan, Han Yu, Ji Lingxiu, and finally settled on Chen Xingcai, who was tilting her head at him. He suddenly grinned broadly.
"Once again having a senior brother who truly cares about me, good brothers who would share life and death—and of course… pretty and adorable junior sisters."
"You brat…"
Xiao Chen immediately rubbed his arms with a look of disgust.
"Don't be so cheesy next time!"
Han Yu's mouth twitched.
"Who's your brother in life and death?"
Chen Xingcai and Ji Lingxiu exchanged smiles.
Lin Wan pressed her forehead helplessly.
"…Embarrassing."
Yet in everyone's eyes, there was a faint glimmer of light.
Jiang Che leaned back against the chair with a grin, casually picking up the teapot on the table to pour himself a cup of tea.
"In short—"
His tone then turned serious once more.
"If Martial Aunt is going to the Upper Realm, you might as well take me along. That place… I'm fairly familiar with it."
…
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