A Brief Respite (2)

Shen Yuxi had just finished teaching.

The disciples who had spent most of the lesson listening to "The Eldest Senior Brother Praise Chronicle" had long since been sitting on pins and needles, suffering inwardly. The moment the dismissal bell rang, it was like a signal of liberation. In the blink of an eye, everyone scattered like birds and beasts, and the vast lecture grounds instantly became cold and empty.

Watching their hurriedly departing backs, Shen Yuxi could not help but sigh. "Sure enough, no matter what world it is, students not liking class is the norm."

He was just about to turn around and return to Spirit Pool Peak to enjoy some leisurely peace and quiet when someone came running toward him. Like an agile monkey, he shot to Shen Yuxi's side with a whoosh and casually slung an arm over his shoulder.

Lin Huaixu wore a brilliant smile, his enthusiasm seeming capable of setting the surrounding air ablaze as he warmly greeted him. "Yo, Second Senior Brother, just finished class?"

Shen Yuxi remained expressionless. Faced with his Fifth Junior Brother's excessive familiarity, he neither responded nor pushed him away. After spending so much time together, he had long grown used to the other man's fiery, boisterous temperament.

Lin Huaixu did not care in the least about Shen Yuxi's indifference and simply opened the floodgates himself. "I heard this Outer Sect Grand Competition was really lively? Too bad I missed it. Second Senior Brother, hurry and tell me—while I was gone, did anything interesting happen in the sect?"

Shen Yuxi was speechless inside. ...Didn't you ask me? Is there no one else in this huge Profound Heaven Sect?

Though he said nothing aloud, he continued the conversation in his heart. What could possibly be interesting? You successfully missed the college entrance exams, kid. Does that count as interesting?

Hearing Shen Yuxi's Heart Voice, Lin Huaixu was thrilled, and a trace of cunning flashed through his eyes. Something like this actually existed!

"But I came back at just the right time. If I had returned a few days earlier, I would have had to teach people all day like you lot, with no way out of it. Thinking about it, this isn't so bad after all."

Shen Yuxi fell silent, and his Heart Voice vanished completely without leaking a single trace. Yet Lin Huaixu seemed to catch a faint disdainful look in those calm, utterly unreadable eyes—a subtle expression of getting an advantage, then acting innocent.

He immediately changed the subject with quick wit, pretending to speak casually. "Oh, I heard Eldest Senior Brother successfully broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm? Sigh, people truly cannot be compared. I was only gone for a while, and Eldest Senior Brother has already improved his cultivation again. It really makes one admire and envy him."

Shen Yuxi inwardly agreed. Isn't that so! But he is Eldest Senior Brother, after all. He's one of the Heavenly Dao's favored sons. Isn't comparing yourself to him just asking for trouble?

One of them?

Lin Huaixu keenly caught that key phrase. In that case, Eldest Senior Brother was not the only person deeply favored by the Heavenly Dao and blessed with extraordinary fortune?

Though he thought this, he said aloud, "With Eldest Senior Brother's talent and aptitude, even across the entire Nine Domains, he must be as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, seen once in a blue moon."

Heh, you've never seen the monsters of the Four Clans and Three Monarchies. Every last one is a freak among freaks. They've practically blocked off every road and left no path of survival for anyone else. The Nine Domains are still far too vast.

Wow. Lin Huaixu marveled inwardly.

The Four Ancient Clans and the Three Imperial Dynasties were not unknown in the cultivation world. The Nine Domains were divided by domains, and Lingshu Heaven Domain, as the central region of the Nine Domains, was filled with sects and great lineages. Among them, the Profound Heaven Sect possessed the longest inheritance and shone the brightest.

Yet the history of the Four Ancient Clans was even older than that of the Profound Heaven Sect. The countless miraculous secret arts they possessed made innumerable cultivators yearn for them and envy them beyond measure.

Not to mention the Three Imperial Dynasties. Within the Nine Domains, each of the Three Imperial Dynasties occupied a domain of its own and even named that domain after its dynasty. Their flamboyant bearing was obvious for all to see.

However, the environments of the different domains varied enormously, and crossing domain borders was fraught with difficulties. For the vast majority of cultivators, other domains were like hazy legends.

Yet his Second Senior Brother clearly knew a great deal about the other domains. That was not something simple precognitive ability could explain.

Lin Huaixu pretended to ponder, then asked and answered himself, "Not necessarily. The Nine Domains are so vast, especially with the mysterious Four Clans and Three Monarchies. For thousands of years, few people have known what goes on within them. It would not be strange if there were people with talent comparable to Eldest Senior Brother's. It is only that those people and matters are too far removed from us. Perhaps even after exhausting an entire lifetime, we may never have the chance to see them."

Shen Yuxi looked utterly calm as he dropped another bombshell. Not exactly. Third Junior Brother's marriage alliance partner who ran away from the wedding is a descendant of one of the Four Clans.

Holy shit! A tempestuous sea surged within Lin Huaixu's heart, and he clicked his tongue inwardly. I hooked a big one!

Although few people in the sect knew of this matter, Lin Huaixu naturally knew it like the back of his hand.

Third Senior Brother Feng Yue had a marriage alliance partner. Back then, even the wedding procession had been carefully prepared, with all things ready save the east wind, waiting only for the newlyweds to tie the knot. Who could have expected the other party to flee without warning while the procession was on its way to receive the bride?

Fortunately, this marriage had been arranged by the lineages out of various considerations from the start, and Feng Yue himself had not invested much feeling into it. Thus, he had not seemed overly bothered by the incident.

Yet only now did Lin Huaixu hear for the first time that the person who had fled the marriage came from one of the Four Ancient Clans.

Shen Yuxi thought to himself, But speaking of Third Junior Brother and that one from the Nian Clan... ah, my stomach hurts. I hope Third Junior Brother's life is tough enough. Amitabha.

Lin Huaixu: ??? Senior Brother, we cultivate the Dao.

So they were a member of the Nian Clan...

The Four Ancient Clans—Ling, Bai, Ye, and Nian. Among them, the Nian Clan lived in seclusion within the Misty Shadow Domain. This domain lay in the northeastern part of the Nine Domains, filled with dense forests and sprawling swamps. It was shrouded year-round in thick, ink-black mist, carrying an air of unfathomable mystery.

It had always been said that the Ancient Clan Nian was the most unwaveringly faithful in matters of love, their devotion even becoming a cherished tale in the cultivation world. Yet who would have thought that a member of the Nian Clan would now flee from a marriage...

Thinking of this, Lin Huaixu could not help but chuckle. He decided that he had to find an opportunity to tease Third Senior Brother properly.

As he thought this, Feng Yue's possibly somewhat ferocious face upon being teased surfaced uncontrollably in Lin Huaixu's mind. It was as though he could already hear Third Senior Brother coldly asking, "So what—"

Mm... Lin Huaixu immediately sobered up. For the sake of his own little life, he decided it would be better not to make this joke and quickly discarded the thought.

Though Lin Huaixu's heart still itched to pry more shocking news from Shen Yuxi, this one-sided method of catching Shen Yuxi's Heart Voice and asking and answering his own questions could only uncover limited intelligence.

He knew that if this continued, he would probably arouse Shen Yuxi's suspicions.

"Let's not talk about that. There are geniuses everywhere under heaven; there's simply no end to comparing oneself with them, and thinking too much about it is useless." Lin Huaixu wore a perfectly measured smile, as though their previous topic had merely been inconsequential small talk, and deftly changed the subject.

"When I came over, I ran into Sixth Junior Sister. Second Senior Brother, you have no idea—Sixth Junior Sister has started acting lovesick again. All the way here, she kept muttering in my ear, 'When will I meet my fated true love?' My head was about to explode. She annoyed me to death."

As Lin Huaixu spoke vividly, he even rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner, as though Lin Mumu's rambling was the most headache-inducing thing in the world.

Hearing this, Shen Yuxi could not help feeling helpless. Wait another ten years. The one she keeps thinking about is probably still an unhatched egg right now.

Lin Huaixu's eyes lit up at once.

Wow, that's exciting.

He had not expected his casual probing to draw such explosive news from Second Senior Brother. One absurd yet amusing image after another appeared in his mind. Whenever he imagined his Junior Sister's expression after learning this, he could not help secretly delighting in it.

At the same time, he quietly took pride in his own formidable gossiping skills. See? Digging up juicy secrets is something only I can do!

"By the way, Second Senior Brother," Lin Huaixu tilted his head slightly, his peach-blossom eyes rolling as he looked at Shen Yuxi with a bright smile. "I've been talking nonstop all this time. You weren't not listening to me at all, were you?" He deliberately added a touch of suspicion to his tone, as though trying to uncover some flaw in Shen Yuxi.

Shen Yuxi turned his head slightly, slowly withdrawing his gaze from the distance and settling it steadily on Lin Huaixu. He merely said two simple words. "I was listening."

Lin Huaixu found the situation immensely amusing. His Second Senior Brother's thoughts clearly surged like roaring tides, yet whenever he opened his mouth, his words were always so concise.

"Then what did I just say?" he pressed relentlessly.

Shen Yuxi was speechless inside. ...You're already this old, yet you're still so childish.

In the end, he did not answer. A trace of disdain simply leaked into his eyes unconsciously. Naturally, Lin Huaixu caught it. Yet rather than getting angry, he seemed to have found some great amusement and laughed so hard that he bent forward and backward, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

After finally laughing enough, Lin Huaixu suddenly darted before Shen Yuxi like an agile little beast. His face was full of ingratiating smiles as he fawned, "Second Senior Brother, I finally managed to come back this time. It would be unreasonable not to hold a welcome-back feast for me, right? Everyone must be looking forward to it. You absolutely cannot refuse."

Seeing that Shen Yuxi did not immediately reply, he hurriedly added, "Don't worry, we aren't inviting anyone else. Just us fellow disciples getting together. Wouldn't it be great to have some lively fun?"

Shen Yuxi gave him a helpless glance but ultimately said nothing, which counted as tacit agreement.

Afraid Shen Yuxi might slip away if he was not careful, Lin Huaixu insisted on dragging him along. Not only that, he directly cast a spell, transforming it into silk cords and tightly binding their wrists together as though they were prisoners.

Shen Yuxi was speechless inside. ...What handcuff play is this? Broad daylight, under the bright sky, in full public view—two grown men tugging and pulling at each other. What kind of sight is that?

By chance, a passing disciple heard this. Although he had no idea what "handcuff play" meant, he could not help grumbling inwardly, If you know it's inappropriate, why do you ship people all day long? You don't care about their gender or their age—you ship anyone you catch!

It was not that Shen Yuxi truly had no way to deal with the spell-formed silk cord. With his abilities, breaking free would not have been difficult if he truly wished to do so. It was simply that, in his view, making a huge fuss over such a trivial matter was entirely unnecessary. So he let Lin Huaixu have his way.

Feng Yue's Pineview Pavilion was the closest residence to this place.

As soon as the two approached, they could clearly hear bursts of air-rending sounds coming from within the courtyard.

Looking up, they saw thirty-six water swords suspended in midair, responding to one another as they interwove into an exquisite sword formation. The black-clad youth stood firmly at the heart of the formation, his hands rapidly forming seals as he concentrated on controlling the swords' paths through the air.

Under the sunlight, the water swords reflected rippling glimmers, like flowing mercury. They were a splendid sight.

"Third Senior Brother's Surging Waves Sword Art has become ever more exquisite." As Lin Huaixu praised him, he casually raised his hand and tossed a pebble he had picked up along the road. The stone streaked through the air like a meteor and struck the tip of the outermost sword with perfect accuracy.

In an instant, the smoothly operating sword formation seemed to lose its backbone and collapsed like a fallen galaxy. Seeing this, Feng Yue flipped nimbly through the air and steadily caught his falling sword. When he landed, a faint, barely noticeable irritation had appeared between his originally cold brows.

He had practiced this sword formation for a long time, yet had never reached the point of perfection. Though he knew Fifth Junior Brother had always possessed a sharp eye, having the formation's core spotted so easily still stirred a trace of frustration in his heart.

"What is it?" Feng Yue raised his eyes toward Lin Huaixu, his tone holding a hint of inquiry.

"Come gather at the bamboo pavilion behind Spirit Tempering Peak tonight at the third quarter of the hour of the dog." Lin Huaixu smiled. Feng Yue was just about to refuse when Lin Huaixu immediately added, "Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother are coming too!"

Feng Yue paused slightly, his gaze unconsciously passing over Lin Huaixu and landing on Shen Yuxi, who was indeed standing close behind him. After hesitating for a moment, he finally nodded and agreed to the invitation.

For the rest of the journey, Shen Yuxi watched Lin Huaixu weave ceaselessly among the Senior Brothers and Junior Sisters like a tireless little spinning top. Whenever he met someone, he repeated the same speech without changing even a filler word, yet he somehow truly gathered all the fellow disciples together.

Following silently behind, Shen Yuxi could not help marveling inwardly at Lin Huaixu's performance. ...Is this what an extrovert is? Starting with nothing but a mouth—terrifying indeed.

In the end, everyone was gathered in one place. Though those present were all fellow disciples who knew one another well, such a sudden gathering of many people with no serious reason instantly awakened Shen Yuxi's memories of team-building events from his previous life, triggering his social anxiety on the spot.

Leaving aside everything else, for one thing, he had no topics to discuss with this group of fellow disciples!

This was not merely because of his persona. Over the years, he had spent most of his time cultivating diligently on Spirit Pool Peak and rarely went out. On the occasional trips for training, he either traveled with highly cultivated inner sect disciples or went alone.

They might be called fellow disciples, but in truth, they saw one another only a handful of times throughout the entire year!

Being alone with one person was fine. But now, with such a massive gathering all at once... Shen Yuxi felt a little unable to cope. Just imagining it made his head spin and even brought waves of nausea.

Before long, he found an excuse and quietly left.

Chu Shihan had not been particularly interested in attending this gathering to begin with. Seeing Shen Yuxi leave first, he promptly found an excuse as well and slipped away with him.

Lin Huaixu had never expected those two to happily join everyone else anyway, so he simply let them leave. After all, everyone had different temperaments, and such things could not be forced. Rather than compel them, it was better to let them do as they wished and leave everyone at ease.

Once those two had left, Feng Yue also became somewhat restless. The two Senior Brothers above him were both cultivation "grind kings." If people stronger than him were racing against time to cultivate, how could he possibly slack off?

The moment he made a move to leave, Lin Huaixu swiftly stopped him. "Third Senior Brother, don't go. I worked so hard to dig up some interesting information from Second Senior Brother."

At Lin Huaixu's words, everyone's interest was immediately piqued. Yet Lin Huaixu deliberately insisted on keeping them in suspense.

Only after everyone had poured him tea, brought him pastries, and waited on him until he was thoroughly comfortable did he slowly open his folding fan, clear his throat, and say, "Ahem. First, Sixth Junior Sister, let's talk about the matter of lifelong importance that you've been thinking about day and night—"

"!! You actually found out? Hurry, tell me!" Lin Mumu instantly became excited, her eyes shining with impatient anticipation.

Lin Huaixu had not lied. He really had run into Lin Mumu when he went looking for Shen Yuxi. However, it was no coincidence. Lin Mumu had deliberately sought him out and asked him to investigate, even promising quite a few benefits.

Lin Huaixu deliberately lowered his voice in a mysterious manner. "The other party seems not to be human."

"!! A cross-species romance? That's a little exciting." Lin Mumu's mouth fell open in surprise, her face full of astonishment and curiosity.

"Second Senior Brother also said that the other party is still an unhatched egg." Lin Huaixu continued revealing secrets, a crafty glint in his eyes.

"??? An older-woman-younger-man relationship?? Ah, this... isn't that a little too outrageous?" Lin Mumu's eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief.

"We are dignified cultivators. An age gap of twenty or thirty years is practically the same as no age gap at all." Lin Huaixu earnestly consoled her.

"That's true, but..." Lin Mumu was briefly at a loss for words. Her mind was filled with bizarre images of herself falling in love with an egg, leaving her completely dazed, as though she had been struck by a Body-Fixing Spell and frozen where she stood.

Lin Huaixu lightly waved his folding fan and leisurely said, "Second Senior Brother also mentioned the Four Clans and Three Monarchies. From his tone, he seemed to know quite a lot about them."

"The Four Clans and Three Monarchies... the Four Clans and Three Monarchies I'm thinking of?" Zhou Wan frowned slightly, a trace of confusion flashing through her eyes.

Lin Huaixu snapped his folding fan shut, his expression resolute. "Could there be another Four Clans and Three Monarchies in the cultivation world?

"You all know Second Senior Brother's circumstances. He has never taken even half a step out of Lingshu Heaven Domain, yet he knows the affairs of other domains like the palm of his hand. I am truly curious—what kind of fortuitous encounter could let him know all matters under heaven?"

Once these words were spoken, everyone sank into thought, each wearing a contemplative expression.

Watching everything silently from the shadows, True Person Yu Qing shook his head helplessly. He had restraint, but not much.

Qingyang truly had some skill and knew exactly how to draw people into conversation. He was of the same generation as Shen Yuxi and naturally familiar in manner, so he would not easily provoke Shen Yuxi's inner resistance. Thus, he could smoothly obtain information from Shen Yuxi.

Moreover, he understood moderation and knew when to stop. He could always end a topic at exactly the right moment before Shen Yuxi became suspicious.

Previously, True Person Yu Qing had only felt that Lin Huaixu's noisy, excitable way of doing things was rather troublesome. But now, an idea suddenly struck him. Perhaps he could make use of Lin Huaixu's sharpness to probe into information concerning the Profound Heaven Sect's future?

The more True Person Yu Qing considered it, the more feasible the plan seemed. Seeing that everything here appeared to be proceeding smoothly, he silently turned around and returned to Clear Parasol Hall.

Nine Domains Encyclopedia:

○ Four Clans and Three Monarchies

This referred to the renowned Four Ancient Clans and Three Imperial Dynasties of the cultivation world.

The Three Imperial Dynasties each occupied a domain and named it after themselves, wielding immense power. Imperial dynasties differed from sects and great lineages; they were not cultivation forces. Ordinary civilians made up the majority within the dynasties, but the imperial fortune gained from sheltering the people of a region was far beyond ordinary spiritual energy.

The Four Ancient Clans, by contrast, were not ostentatious. For a long time, people had heard only their names but never seen their members.

The Four Clans were heroic lineages that had saved the Nine Domains a thousand years ago. Yet the battle of that time exhausted their accumulated strength, and nearly all their clan elders perished. Thereafter, the Four Clans were gravely weakened and retreated into seclusion one after another.