Chapter 82: Jinsheng (5)

Zhou Jinsheng.

The Dao Master of the Wuqi Road, a fourteenth-realm ghost cultivator. Heinously wicked, bereft of humanity, ruthless, and highly unpredictable. Likely due to an unhappy life, he was mentally unstable, frequently committing murder, wiping out entire sects, and engaging in deeds that harmed others without benefiting himself. His favorite pastime was luring people onto the evil path—such as those two hapless fools from the Xiangli clan who always fell for it, or He Tingtong, who, under immense pressure during his fifth regression, went half-mad and stepped onto the evil path with one foot.

In a sense, Zhou Jinsheng was once He Tingtong’s old boss. Although He Tingtong was quickly slaughtered by him because his indecisiveness made him incapable of carrying out murder and arson missions.

The Wuqi Road believed in indulging in pleasure, casting off restraints, and doing whatever one pleased. They advocated coexisting with the evil karma of the spirit sea. Most of its disciples were mentally ill, their spiritual consciousness unstable, and entangled in evil karma. Though their cultivation levels were extremely high, they were also highly susceptible to corruptly falling into things that were neither immortal, demon, nor ghost.

Once their spiritual consciousness grew dim, their physical bodies would ultimately collapse, and their sea of consciousness and heart domain would expand into a mass of unconscious, chaotic spiritual energy that wandered everywhere, bringing disaster to all living beings.

Therefore, the Wuqi Road had always been known as rats in the gutter, taking in lunatics whose ideologies were intolerable to secular society. They were not united internally and had always been hiding everywhere to evade the Immortal Alliance’s pursuit and extermination.

Until the appearance of Zhou Jinsheng… He practically emerged out of nowhere. No one knew his lineage or origins. From his very first move, he employed thunderous methods, first killing the old Dao Master of the Wuqi Road, then gathering the evil cultivators, quickly expanding and strengthening this force. Then came the battle at the Wuhua Realm, where he slaughtered an entire sect; the Xiangli clan was erased from the Seven Surnames, and the Wuqi Road gained widespread infamy from then on.

However, that was a matter for several years in the future. Today, the Hanshan Realm remained unbroken, and the Alliance Leader of the Immortal Alliance was still present. With a fifteenth-realm Alliance Leader pressing down from above, all demons and monsters had to temporarily lie low.

Although he had thought he would eventually bump into the Wuqi Road, He Tingtong hadn’t expected to meet this guy face-to-face so soon. What he expected even less was that Xu Jingzhen and Zhou Jinsheng, two people who seemed completely unrelated, actually knew each other.

And were intimately close.

He Tingtong looked at Xu Jingzhen, then at the sickly young man leaning against his shoulder, coughing until he couldn’t catch his breath. Holding back a belly full of questions, he jogged over and helped support the man.

“Brother Zhenzhen, let’s go inside quickly. The wind and sand are heavy here; this brother shouldn’t stay outside for long, his lungs won’t be able to take it.”

Zhou Jinsheng’s fingers were very white and very cold, but they still possessed a human pulse and body temperature. Though frail, he was still alive.

Xu Jingzhen went to close the door, while He Tingtong half-carried and supported the man inside. Just as they passed the courtyard gate, he was gently pushed away. The young man, who looked as if he were about to cough himself to death, supported himself on the table and sat down on his own.

“Th-Thank you.” Zhou Jinsheng coughed, a touch of crimson spilling from his lips.

He Tingtong sat across from him, propping his head up and smiling: “You’re welcome. You’re Brother Zhenzhen’s friend, so naturally, you’re my friend too.”

The young man lowered his eyes and didn’t answer, only continuing to cough.

The main door creaked shut, and Xu Jingzhen walked in. He lit a lamp and looked at Zhou Jinsheng’s agonizing state, his brows slightly furrowing, his tone taking on a rare severity: “Have you not rested at all?”

Zhou Jinsheng half-leaned on the table, somewhat afraid to meet his gaze. He said softly, “I was worried about you, so I couldn’t sleep.”

Xu Jingzhen’s tone carried a rare hint of anger: “Do you not want to live?”

Zhou Jinsheng chuckled softly. “My lifespan is already so short. Sleeping less and seeing more is a good thing for me.”

Then, He Tingtong watched as Xu Jingzhen pulled out a shining golden, supreme-grade Origin-Nourishing Pill from his pocket. He used a small knife to scrape off some pill powder, mixed it with water, and pressed the bowl to the other party’s lips, saying firmly, “Drink it.”

Zhou Jinsheng smiled and shook his head: “You know this is useless for me.”

But meeting Xu Jingzhen’s gaze, he yielded, opening his mouth to swallow the pill water bit by bit.

Zhou Jinsheng looked like he had a mortal body, with not a single trace of spiritual power fluctuation around him. That tiny bit of pill powder was enough to make him dizzy from the pill’s potency. Although his coughing stopped, he was half-conscious, leaning weakly against Xu Jingzhen’s shoulder, eyes closed as if he had fallen asleep.

He Tingtong hesitated to speak, but saw Xu Jingzhen raise a hand to his lips, making a shushing gesture. Then, he watched him scoop the man up horizontally, place him on the bed, and cover him with a robe, before returning to the table and casting a soundproofing spell around the bed.

The bed looked dusty and plain, but in reality, it was likely disguised spirit jade; the mattress and bedding were clearly not ordinary items, though covered with a layer of coarse linen to appear exceptionally simple.

He Tingtong: “…” Young Alliance Leader, oh Young Alliance Leader, do you have any idea who is lying on that bed?

“What’s wrong with you? Why do you look like you swallowed a fly?” Xu Jingzhen poured water to drink, glancing up at him. He suddenly smiled gently and whispered, “If you want to ask, just ask. Why are you hemming and hawing?”

He Tingtong deliberated slightly and asked in a low voice, “Is this Young Master Zhou… your Dao companion?”

Xu Jingzhen suddenly choked and coughed, his earlobes turning red. He wiped his mouth awkwardly and flatly denied it: “Don’t speak nonsense, child. I cultivate the Dao of Ruthlessness; I absolutely will not develop romantic feelings for anyone. My relationship with Ah Jin is completely innocent, without the slightest bit of personal romance. We are merely old acquaintances and close friends.”

He Tingtong: “Old acquaintances? Close friends?”

It’s over.

If these two aren’t a couple now, they will be later.

“Ah Jin served as my attendant when he was young, but later his family declined and they settled in Huazhou. I was forced to be separated from him for many years. Last month, while tracking down an evil cultivator here, I unexpectedly reunited with him… but he doesn’t remember me.”

“It doesn’t matter. The time we’ve been apart is already longer than the time we spent together in our youth. It’s perfectly normal for him to forget me.”

“It’s just that I only now know he hasn’t been doing well. A few years ago, his clan was harmed by villains, and his entire family was wiped out. His foundation was damaged, he fled everywhere, and now he is even more… not long for this world.”

Xu Jingzhen’s tone lowered, heavy as if weighed down by a stone. “Looking at his face, he only has three months left to live.”

On the only bed in the room, the unhearing Zhou Jinsheng curled up quietly. He actually had a tall skeletal frame and clear, bright features, but he was simply too thin—thin to the point of losing his shape, as thin as paper. His loose long hair spilled all over the bed, streaked with strands of silver-white.

The signs of decay were already evident, a picture of sickly dying.

Xu Jingzhen propped his head on one hand. He said, “The cycle of life and death is a common occurrence. I shouldn’t have kept him, but his family’s vengeance remains unavenged, and his sickly body is broken and fragmented; it’s truly pitiful. I heard that there are methods to prolong life and reconstruct the body within the Divine Dynasty Ruins, so I stayed here to try and find them for him.”

“If I can’t find it within three months, then it is his fate, and I will not force it.”

By the faint candlelight, He Tingtong looked at the calm young man before him.

Xu Jingzhen, born into the Xu clan of Yuzhou. His father was the Alliance Leader of the Immortal Alliance, and his mother was Fairy Fu. If the favored children of heaven in this world were ranked, he would belong to the very top tier. Top-tier family background, top-tier innate talent, resources beyond the reach of others, and an extremely stable disposition.

The eldest son of the Xu clan, the Young Master of the Immortal Alliance. With a prominent family background and achieving fame at a young age, growing up in such an environment, he was neither arrogant, haughty, nor smug. He didn’t pick up a single bad habit common among children of aristocratic families. He joined the Immortal Alliance early, starting as the lowest-ranking immortal official and working his way up to the Hall Master of Qingyang, earning everyone’s heartfelt respect.

His growth process was basically the standard model for a promising child of an aristocratic family: like an orchid or a jade tree, like a bright breeze and a clear moon, gentle and kind, without a speck of dust.

Except for talking a bit too much, he basically had no flaws.

He Tingtong quietly recalled.

In those previous dozen or so lifetimes, given his status, he couldn’t have come into contact with Xu Jingzhen at all.

However, at that time, Su Tan, as the Sword Sect’s ruling master, worked in the Immortal Alliance and frequently interacted with him.

He Tingtong remembered Su Tan often seeking him out to complain, “The Alliance Leader is so cold. Cold and silent, he never smiles, like a workaholic block of ice.”

Just from those few words, it seemed there was a world of difference from the person he was now.

And that version of Lord Jingming died in his third year as the Immortal Alliance Leader.

The Immortal Alliance publicly claimed he died saving the Biyun River, fighting to exhaustion against the evil cultivators of the Wuqi Road and perishing together with them.

Su Tan, who had participated in that great battle, secretly told him that the Alliance Leader’s sea of consciousness had withered, and he had committed suicide. His corpse was buried at the Mountain of Hengtian.

Coincidentally, later on, Xie Xuanxiao became the Alliance Leader and organized a thousand sects of the Immortal Alliance to encircle and annihilate the evil cultivators of the Wuqi Road. Zhou Jinsheng also died at the Mountain of Hengtian.

He Tingtong somewhat wanted to pull out a small notebook and take notes.

At this very moment, Xu Jingzhen, sitting across from him, scratched his head, placed one foot on the stool, and half-rested his arm on his knee. This posture was truly somewhat wild and uninhibited.

Seeing He Tingtong staring at him, Xu Jingzhen silently put his foot down and sat properly again. He reminded him, “A person should sit properly and stand properly; don’t learn from me.”

He Tingtong: “…Okay.”

“As far as I know, Meng Zhezhi and the master of the Mirage were deeply in love in their early years. I don’t know why she later became Dao companions with the President of the Silver Moon Ancient Assembly. It might be due to the hatred of having a wife stolen, but these two factions have a lot of friction in their daily lives. They already engage in shady businesses—black markets, casinos, auction houses—and their subordinates frequently brawl in secret.”

“The person who tried to kill you tonight was an elder of the Silver Moon Ancient Assembly, a seventh-realm cultivator. Meng Zhezhi originally wanted to kill you and frame the Mirage, but since you aren’t dead now, they will probably be wary of the consequences and won’t dare to strike again.”

“Also, the Immortal Alliance has its own stance. Don’t act rashly in anything. If Daoist Zhuji doesn’t do something, you shouldn’t do it either. Even if you want to do it, don’t use the names of the Immortal Alliance or the Academy; it’s easy to stir up a lot of trouble.”

“For example, if you want to save that little thief, just take advantage of the dark and windy night to snatch him away. If anyone asks who you are, you just need to make up a name, for example…”

Xu Jingzhen thought for a moment.

He Tingtong added: “The Wuqi Road?”

Xu Jingzhen’s eyes lit up. He clapped his hands and chuckled, “That’s a good one! Anyway, they’re a bunch of conscience-lacking, mentally ill evil cultivators. They do everything, so it’s perfectly normal for them to do a couple more things that harm others without benefiting themselves.”

“In the future, when you do things, just report the name of the Wuqi Road.”

He Tingtong cupped his hands and bowed: “A brilliant idea. This student has been taught.”

On the bed, the soundly sleeping Zhou Jinsheng suddenly turned over and pulled the clothes covering his body up a little, covering his ears.