“...” After a long silence, Jiang Xi almost snorted, but his eyes flashed with fear. “Wang Chuqing, are you crazy? Do you know what you’re talking about?”

     His hands under his sleeves were clenched into fists, and it felt as if a mountain had shattered in his skull, his entire body feeling faint and lightheaded.

     “What can he have to do with me?”

     Although Jiang Xi's attitude was firm, Madam Wang’s words had already made him go from shock to fear, from fear to suspicion, and from suspicion to anger—for so many years he had always thought he was alone and solitary, with no relatives in the world—descendant? Telling him now that Xue Meng was his son? It was simply... ridiculous!

     Madam Wang held back the blood burning in her throat and took a breath. She seemed to feel ashamed, but she still insisted, “Shidi, you are well aware of what happened back then. I would never lie to you about the relationship between you and Meng-er.”

     “...”

     After a moment of silence, Jiang Xi suddenly began laughing, an irrepressible laugh he rarely revealed, with mockery and rage in his eyes.

     His teeth were clenched, and the words were cold.

     "My son? Shijie, if you want to entrust your son to me, you can talk to me about it. But why make up such a ridiculous story? Your son’s nature and appearance, and even his body type and appearance, are not even vaguely similar to me.”

     Perhaps because of the intense unease in his heart, he tried his best to deny it, baring his fangs and brandishing his claws.

     “You and Xue Zhengyong left a mess behind, and you actually want to use such a despicable method to get me to clean it up? How could Xue Meng, Xue Ziming, be my son?!”

     But his heart trembled so violently, and there was a voice in the depths of his consciousness that seemed to say to him icily, Yes, he is your child. Think of his age, think of how Wang-shijie left Guyueye in the first place and ask yourself—the heavens are above, Jiang Xi, please think about it carefully…

     What was there to think about?!

     He bit back like a trapped beast, tearing the rationality in his heart into pieces.

     What proof could he recognize?

     After being celibate for more than twenty years, he was suddenly told that he had a son. That son always opposed him in every way and was born with an appearance that made him extremely disgusted. He had even recognized another man as his father for so long.

     How ridiculous.

     He, Jiang Xi, was not some good-hearted person and would never be a brainless fool. He would never be fooled, would never believe this joke, would never…

     “Xuehuang.”

     All sounds quieted.

     It was as if all light was extinguished at this moment, and Jiang Xi looked around in a daze, as if he were trapped in the darkness of night.

     It was the first time he felt so perplexed.

     Madam Wang looked at him and said, “Xuehuang.”

     “...What do you mean?”

     Madam Wang said softly, “Shidi, you wouldn’t fail to understand.”

     It was truly impossible for him not to understand.

     Xuehuang was his holy weapon. Although others could use it, they wouldn’t be able to unleash the greatest might and power of the holy weapon. It was only possible for his blood relatives to make Xuehuang sincerely submit to them.

     Jiang Xi was speechless for a moment.

     It was at the point where she didn’t even need to try. Since Madam Wang was able to speak to this point, what else was there to say? He was finally forced into a corner.

     He was speechless.

     “...This matter…”

     After a long time, Jiang Xi’s face turned pale, and he spoke in a low voice. After the initial turmoil, he was almost exhausted. “Xue Zhengyong, he… he also knew about this?”

     Madam Wang said, “He has always known.”

     “...”

     When she said this, her gaze was tender and pained.

     When Xue Zhengyong met her, she was seventeen years old, when the lotus flower’s beauty would first bloom.

     That day, he happened to pass by Yangzhou on a donkey with a piece of grass in his mouth and happened to meet Wang Chuqing, who had come to the port to buy fabric. There was a group of Guyueye’s female disciples, a lovely scene of flowering branches swaying in the breeze. But he didn’t look at anyone but Miss Wang in the crowd.

     Xue Zhengyong was a straightforward person, so he went to greet her with a smile.

     The other female cultivators mocked him for being frivolous, but Wang Chuqing was gentle in nature and felt a little embarrassed. She blushed and gave him a few words before bowing her head and hurrying away.

     The girl was gentle and pretty. Xue Zhengyong fell in love with her at first sight and went to Guyueye to look for her every three or four days, for one year, two years, three years, and every Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Lantern Festival. In the end, Guyueye was full of rumors that she had an affair with a little hooligan, and even Wang Chuqing, who had a good temper, couldn't stand it and drove him away in anger.

     Xue Zhengyong was also a little scoundrel at that time and refused to leave.

     Miss Wang said, “Please go away. I will be in a difficult situation if you do this.”

     Xue Zhengyong said, “You don’t have a lover, and neither do I, so I just came to see you. If you get married one day, I will disappear immediately.”

     Miss Wang was speechless.

     Xue Zhengyong laughed. Really, he would definitely disappear faster than lightning.

     He paused before asking with some concern, “You… You don’t already have a lover, do you?”

     Miss Wang’s face immediately turned red. She lowered her head, like a delicate flower blooming in the water, and said softly, “No.”

     But it was not the truth.

     Of course she had a lover, and that man was not only her lover, but also the dream lover of many female cultivators of Guyueye—she liked her Jiang Xi-shidi very much.

     But every disciple of Guyueye knew that Jiang Xi was a scumbag.

     Among his peers, he had the most handsome appearance, the most powerful skills, and the most melodious voice.

     As well as the most unmoved heart.

     This man was eccentric and harsh in his speech, but capable, ruthless, and extremely handsome—a man who could easily win the hearts of young girls. But Jiang Xi treated young girl's hearts as pig's hearts. He never cherished anyone. When women gave him their true love, he grumbled about suspicions of their household, and when men gave him their true love, he scolded them for being perverted.

     Jiang Yechen lived his own life like this, always hurting others without knowing it.

     Like many of her disciple sisters, Wang Chuqing had always secretly liked Jiang Xi, but she knew that she wasn’t stunningly beautiful and was older than Jiang Xi, so she dared not express her feelings boldly. After all, Jiang Xi had never accepted any woman’s good intentions.

     He couldn’t hear other people’s praise and didn’t appreciate others praising him. If others dared to express their love to him, he would scold them so much that they wouldn't even recognize their own mothers and run away crying. In short, those who could reveal their true feelings to Jiang Xi were all heroes.

     Miss Wang did not think of herself as a hero, so she thought that this affection would eventually fade away with her years and finally be sealed in a coffin. However, one day, the sect leader found them both.

     The Sect Leader said, “Guyueye is the sect that specializes in the cultivation of longevity and nourishing the spirit through years of life. A majority of disciples are able to live to be over a hundred years old. Moreover, all the generations of sect leaders have practiced diligently to prolong their lives, hoping to find a way to achieve immortality, so they can live freely in the world without death.”

     Indeed, for the sake of discovering the secret of immortality, the Sect Leader of Guyueye made several such attempts, which naturally included the dual cultivation method left behind by the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens.

     She and Jiang Xi, one of the purest water-attribute spiritual essence and the other of the purest fire-attribute spiritual essence, both of them untouched by others, were best suited to cultivate together. The sect leader found them at that time for them to practice this cultivation together.

     Wang Chuqing was very happy because she had admired Jiang Xi for a long time. Jiang Xi, however, wasn’t happy or unhappy. It didn’t matter. He was devoted to the way and detested any affairs of love, thinking that they were troublesome and useless. He really didn’t know why there were so many idiotic men and women in the world. It was beyond his comprehension.

     “Love is an illness. If there is illness, it must be cured early.”

     These words came from Jiang Xi, the most handsome man in Guyueye. Who knew how many female cultivators’ hearts were broken by these words.

     In Jiang Xi’s eyes, even the Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens’ technique shouldn’t be associated with any emotion; dual cultivation was dual cultivation. Since the Sect Leader had requested it, he didn’t say much and went into seclusion with his shijie to cultivate according to the secret manual of the sect.

     However, the love in the young girl’s eyes couldn’t be hidden, and after a while, Jiang Xi gradually understood how his shijie felt about him.

     This made him very restless and uneasy.

      He cultivated with her only because he was ordered to do so, without a trace of selfishness. Moreover, the secret technique of dual cultivation itself required that one must not have any worldly thoughts. The union of man and woman must be for the purpose of spiritual integration; there was absolutely no room for love or lust.

     Because of this, the matter was seriously brought up between Jiang Xi and his shijie many times. He reminded her to calm her mind and not think about any unnecessary things.

     “If you have distracting thoughts and continue to practice dual cultivation like this, your cultivation might go astray, and your spiritual core may become violent.”

     But how could Miss Wang control her feelings? Finally, one day, after her training, she became unstable, and her spiritual flow was disrupted, her consciousness unclear. It took Jiang Xi a great deal of effort to suppress her fire-attribute spiritual core, and he was enraged with her, asking her why she didn’t listen to his advice and was always thinking nonsense.

     “If you continue like this, you won’t be able to repair it. It will kill you.”

     She was also very sad at the time. She didn’t know where she got the courage, but she actually asked him with tears in her eyes, “Yechen, are you only cultivating because of the Sect Leader’s orders?”

     Jiang Xi’s face was extremely unsightly as he retorted, “What else would it be for?”

     Although he had already known for a long time that Jiang Xi was as cold as spring and as hard as stone, she still couldn’t bear it when she heard him say this, and tears streamed down her face. She felt ashamed and raised her hand to wipe the tears, but they kept falling, making her even more embarrassed. She hurriedly stood up and choked with sobs. “I’m sorry.”

     Then she turned and left, never looking back.

     After that, Jiang Xi didn’t come to look for her for several days. When he saw her on the road, he no longer spoke to her.

     Some of Guyueye’s prettier female cultivators from the younger generation saw the clues and laughed behind her back. “She was so eager that she thought she could get close to Jiang-shige. How could that be possible?”

     “Dual cultivation is just dual cultivation, but she had so many emotions. If she goes astray to the point of going crazy, she will implicate our Yechen-shixiong for no reason. It will truly be harmful.”

     "Forget it. What's the point of dual cultivation? Shixiong does these things with her for the common good. She does these things with shixiong for her own selfish reasons. We all know what kind of thoughts she has in her mind. Heh, I think she only wants to take advantage of shixiong.”

     “Wang-shijie is older than us and really has thicker skin than us as well, oh.”

     These words spread until they reached Xue Zhengyong’s ears, who had come to visit Miss Wang as usual to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Young Master Xue was honest and straightforward, but not stupid. He quickly understood the entire situation after a while and immediately dealt with those chattering girls and ran to find Miss Wang. But when he saw her, he didn’t know what to say and could only stare at her blankly. “You…”

     Wang Chuqing raised her eyes, which were red from crying.

     Xue Zhengyong said in a panic, “Don’t cry. Those people stopped gossiping about you. You, you… I think you’re very good, I…”

     Wang Chuqing stood beside the willow tree and cast her gaze towards the sparkling lake. “I didn’t tell you the truth before. I have someone I like.”

     “...Mm.”

     “Then why aren’t you leaving?”

     Xue Zhengyong scratched his head and said, “But that person doesn’t like you… He doesn’t like you, but I… I can still talk to you. He won’t care about it.”

     “...”

     Seeing that she was silent, Xue Zhengyong hesitated. “Will he care?”

     Miss Wang lowered her head and said softly, “He won’t care.”

     What was she to Jiang Xi? From beginning to end, it was only an order from the Sect Leader and her own wishful thinking.

     Everyone in the sect said Jiang Xi was a scumbag, but Wang Chuqing felt it would be too harsh to judge a man as a scumbag just because he was unwilling to accept the love of others.

     Jiang Xi had never deceived anyone about his feelings and had never given anyone hope. They were the ones who were like moths to the flame, knowing that he was cold and heartless but still chasing after him with their own wishful thinking.

     At this point, she also felt very embarrassed and wanted to let it go. However, unexpectedly, perhaps because the disciple in charge of the medicinal potion was distracted and made a mistake while preparing the medicine one day, or perhaps it was due to some other reason—in short, Miss Wang discovered that she was already pregnant.

     She only felt panicked and helpless. She didn’t know how her fellow sisters would gossip and ridicule her when word of this matter got out, nor what Jiang Xi’s attitude would be. She was at a loss, anxious and restless, and finally decided to go to the Sect Leader.

     But when she arrived outside the Sect Leader’s house, before she could knock on the door, she heard a cold and indifferent voice coming from inside. It was Jiang Xi who was speaking.

     “Shijie’s mortal heart is unstable, and her spiritual core is becoming more and more violent. Now, she is unable to control her spiritual energy when casting even the smallest of spells. If this goes on, I’m afraid it might harm her body. I ask Sect Leader to withdraw the dual cultivation order. I can no longer cultivate with her.”

     “Sigh. Xi-er, why don’t you speak with her again? Perhaps…”

     “There’s no need to say more. I’ve told her many times, but she isn’t suitable for this.” Jiang Xi said, “Chuqing’s mind is too easily swayed. It’s useless.”

     The Sect Leader asked, “...Then what are you going to do next?”

     Jiang Xi said, “If there is no one capable of purifying their mind, then there is no need to cultivate this way anymore.”

     The Sect Leader sighed. “...I understand. You go ahead. Purifying the mind and clearing one’s thoughts is the most difficult hurdle in the path of dual cultivation. I don’t know if Guyueye will ever have someone as focused and free of distractions as you in the next few decades.”

     Jiang Xi didn’t leave immediately. He stood in the same spot for a while before asking, “Is it difficult?”

     “It’s very difficult.” The Sect Leader glanced at him and said, “You have been with Wang Chuqing for such a long time, and you haven’t wavered in the slightest?”

     Jiang Xi asked in confusion, “...Why would I… waver?”

     The Sect Leader stared at Jiang Xi for a moment, not seeing a trace of hypocrisy in the young man’s eyes, which surprised him. He pondered for a moment and asked, “Jiang Xi, what is Wang Chuqing in your eyes?”

     “Eldest Shijie.”

     “What about when you’re practicing dual cultivation?”

     “...Dual cultivation partner.”

     “Nothing else?”

     “Nothing else.”

     Seeing the Sect Leader’s complicated expression, Jiang Xi frowned. “Is there something else?”

     “No.” After a long time, the old Sect Leader, whose hair was already gray, sighed. “After so many years, the disciples who practiced dual cultivation have never been able to pass the love barrier. You are the first… But unfortunately, I don’t know who would be able to accomplish this feat with you.”

     That day, neither Jiang Xi nor the Sect Leader knew that Miss Wang had heard their conversation. If Miss Wang still had any illusions of hope before, then this conversation made her entire body turn cold and caused her to lose face.

     It was too embarrassing. She really didn’t know how to gain a foothold in the sect anymore or how to show her face to others. Her spine was already broken by her fellow disciple sisters, and if it came to light that she had mistakenly conceived Jiang-shidi’s child…

     She was terrified just thinking about it, and she no longer dared to stay in the sect. She fled from Rainbell Isle in the night.

     “...You didn’t run away to elope with Xue Zhengyong?”

     Madam Wang said, “No.”

     Jiang Xi suddenly closed his eyes, not knowing what to say.

     He was indeed a heartless man, who cared about nothing but his own great path. Apart from Madam Wang, he had never touched a woman in his life, and he felt no affection for this eldest shijie back then. But later, when he heard that Madam Wang eloped with Xue Zhengyong and left the island, he still frowned slightly.

     He felt that love in the world really wasn’t even as long-lived as flowers and plants, and that women in the world were really not to be trusted or believed. Even this shijie, who was full of affection toward him, had promptly left with someone else.

     From then on, he became more and more averse to matters of love and even grew a little cold to them.

     Only today, after twenty years, did he finally hear the truth about this past event from his shijie. However, the “Miss Wang” of that time had become “Madam Wang” today, and the best years of their lives had already passed.

     After a long while, Jiang Xi said very stiffly, “Then why… why did you have to leave Guyueye?”

     “I could no longer live under the same roof as you anymore, shidi.” Twenty years later, Madam Wang was finally able to look at him calmly. “Every person has dignity, and I didn’t have the face to stay at the sect anymore.”

     “...”

     “I wanted to end Meng-er's life in my womb, but I couldn’t bear it.” Madam Wang said calmly, “So I traveled to many places alone. Later, I gave birth to our child in White Emperor City. Xue Meng was already a year old when Xue Zhengyong found me and stayed by my side. He knew his identity all along.”

     As she spoke, she coughed up blood again.

     Back then, her cultivation went astray, and her spiritual core became violent. She had been suppressing it all these years and never used her spells. Now, with the Phoenix Heavenly Fire soaring into the sky, her life was coming to an end.

     Madam Wang slowly stopped coughing. Her breathing was a little disordered. She said, “Shidi, the idea that Zhengyong captured me and took me back to Sisheng Peak to get married was something he told the outside world. He was always afraid of embarrassing me… and Meng-er.”

     Her gaze lingered for a long time and finally fell on Xue Zhengyong’s body.

     But it only took a moment to feel the pain.

     She thought of when they got married that year, when Xue Zhengyong said to her with a smile, “Okay, from now on, don’t think about the past anymore. That bad guy caused you to lose face in Guyueye. I won’t.”

     “If you stay with me, I’ll make sure you are grand for the rest of your life.”

     “As long as I’m here, I won’t let you suffer any slightest injustice again.”

     Madam Wang turned her face away as she trembled slightly.

     A gentleman’s promise must be fulfilled.

     Xue Zhengyong had done it. When he was there, she never had to show her face in public, and she was never embarrassed by others. The tears she shed, the humiliation she endured, and the blood that flowed all came after he left.

     “All these years, he didn't care that I was weak and couldn't get pregnant again. He didn't care that Meng-er wasn’t his own flesh and blood. He treated him as his own. Xue Meng... Xue Meng has never suffered much hardship since he was a child…”

     She closed her eyes, and her face paled.

     “We can’t protect him anymore.”

     Jiang Xi stood there numbly.

     “Shidi, you can just regard these twenty years as my revenge against you… Whether you want to resent, hate, or disdain… let it be towards me alone.”

     Madam Wang’s voice became softer and softer.

     “Please help him… Don’t let others harm him…”

     At the end, she murmured softly, “Yechen… I beg you…”

     The Phoenix Heavenly Fire blocked out the sky and sun, and Jiang Xi stood amidst the sea of flames, both the sky and earth burning with the same scarlet. He looked at the woman on the high seat. Her eyes were closed and downcast, as if she were asleep. He felt that she probably still had something more to say, not to mention that she had just promised Xue Meng that mother and son would meet in Frost Sky Hall—so he waited patiently.

     He waited for her to stand up and told himself that it was all a lie, a joke, a farce.

     He waited calmly for a long time, until his face grew more and more gloomy, his heartbeat grew more and more dull, and his blood became colder and colder.

     But she never spoke again.

     Madam Wang and Xue Zhengyong died together.

     She was once a high-ranking female cultivator from a prestigious family, gentle and virtuous. Later on, people said that she was captured by Xue Zhengyong and brought back to become his wife, while others believed that she eloped with Xue Zhengyong and became his wife. There were many different speculations, but no one knew the truth.

     Over the years, many people at Sisheng Peak felt that Madam Wang probably didn’t like her husband very much but, because she was timid, she didn’t dare to complain.

     However, no matter what others said or thought, she had already decided to leave the moment she learned that Xue Zhengyong had died.

     She didn’t know whether it was a sacrifice for love or something else. Perhaps even she herself didn’t understand her thoughts in the end. Whether she was grateful to her husband, whether she loved him, and whether her feelings for Jiang Xi had already long been erased, she actually couldn’t see through it.

     There were many things in the world that had no clear answer.

     In the end, she could only vaguely think of a poem she had read by the window many years ago.

     "I will keep my eyes open all night long to repay that lifelong trouble of your brow."

     At that time, she and Xue Zhengyong were newly married, and she would absentmindedly recall the years she spent as a girl in Guyueye. She looked out the window, and the fog in Sichuan was always so thick, gathering and dispersing as if the ground was scattered with white clouds and no one was sweeping them away.

     She didn’t know about the heavens and earth.

     Someone came over, and she was so lost in thought that she vaguely thought it was Jiang Xi. But when a winter coat was draped over her shoulders, she woke up from the dream.

     Because she knew clearly that Jiang Xi would never know whether she felt warm or cold.

     Madam Wang turned around and saw a candle lit in the west window, lonely in a strange land.

     The young and handsome husband looked at her with a smile and scratched his head. “It’s getting cold. Be careful not to freeze.”

     Loyalty Hall was covered by a thick carpet with pollia patterns, Madam Wang’s favorite flower design. Jiang Xi walked out of the hall full of pollia flowers, his expression still indifferent, and even more wooden than usual.

     With a creak, he pushed the hall door open.

     He was about to leave this place, but the moment he opened the door, he saw Xue Meng, whose face was deathly pale, motionless.