The Second Senior Brother Was a Transmigrator in a Book (2)

At the third quarter of the Tiger hour, atop Spirit Sword Peak, a vast sea of clouds drifted leisurely as a hazy sliver of dawn quietly emerged. Just as all creation lay silent, a flash of cold light suddenly burst forth, tearing apart the curtain of morning mist.

In an instant, the stillness shattered. Birds roosting all across the mountain flapped their wings in alarm, their cries slicing through the silent forest and echoing through the empty valleys for a long while.

Below the Sword Trial Platform, more than a dozen disciples had already gathered. Yet the smooth bluestone steps seemed to radiate an invisible majesty. Though their hearts brimmed with anticipation, not one dared rashly step onto them.

A gentle breeze brushed past, lifting the wide pale-blue sleeves of a young man. The sword in his hand danced, and wherever its edge passed, the morning dew seemed delicately carved into scattered petals that drifted down. As Sword Qi crisscrossed through the air, the bronze wind chimes beneath the eaves were stirred into ringing, as though playing an ethereal morning song.

Some disciples raised their heads and stared entranced at the pale-blue sleeves fluttering across the Sword Trial Platform, so mesmerized that they failed to notice their own sword seals had long since become a mess.

The young man lightly turned his wrist, and his sword movements shifted with dazzling agility, too swift for the eye to follow. One moment, he was like a flood dragon breaking through water, his blade cleaving the air with a shrill howl as though it would pierce the nine heavens; the next, he was like a spirit snake winding through the grass, his figure light and elusive, his sword techniques fantastical and unpredictable enough to dazzle the eye.

Every swing of his sword contained immense power without losing a trace of elegance. Each move and stance was displayed to perfection.

Such exquisite swordsmanship should have earned thunderous applause. Yet when he sheathed his sword and swept his frost-like gaze over the crowd, everyone's hearts chilled. That look was colder than the blade itself. It was as if he did not see living people of flesh and blood, but lifeless ice sculptures.

In daily life, this young man was as cold and distant as lonely snow upon a mountain peak, difficult for anyone to approach. When speaking to others, he treasured words as if they were gold, rarely uttering more than ten characters, as though one extra word would be a needless waste of strength.

An aura that kept others a thousand miles away naturally surrounded him, as though he had built an indestructible invisible wall between himself and everyone else, resolutely unwilling to grow too close to anyone.

His face seemed covered in frost and snow that never melted all year round, carrying a chill that pierced to the bone. His expression was as indifferent as a deep pool without a ripple. The world's clamor and turmoil were nothing more than passing clouds to him, incapable of stirring even the slightest ripple in his heart.

In everyone's memory, they had never seen him laugh heartily and freely release the joy within him. That bright laughter seemed never to have sounded from his lips. Nor had they ever seen even a trace of gentleness on his face, or the softness hidden deep in his heart. It seemed his heart was tightly wrapped in thick, solid ice, beyond anyone's reach.

—At least, that had been the case until a month ago.

Speaking of Profound Heaven Sect's Second Senior Brother, Shen Yuxi, he truly was an interesting fellow.

He was born into a distinguished family, a descendant of the Shen Family, one of the Eight Families. Yet he had been born to an unfavored concubine. From childhood, he had struggled to grow beneath the shadows of a deep manor, with only his birth mother using her frail body to shelter a tiny patch of warmth for him.

That had been the only comfort of his bleak childhood. In his immature understanding, his birth mother's embrace had been the sturdiest support in the world, granting him endless warmth and protection.

But fate was unpredictable. Before the youth had fully grown, before his wings had hardened, that patch of warmth suddenly vanished. In an instant, his world collapsed and fell completely into an abyss of darkness and despair.

After that, he could only struggle alone to survive within that cold, prison-like manor.

The legitimate children around his age regarded this bastard son entirely as a toy they could bully at will. Whenever they had leisure time, tormenting him became their favorite amusement.

Their mockery and ridicule were like poisoned silver needles, mercilessly leaving wounds upon his tender heart. Over the years, those wounds festered and never healed.

Seeing humanity's ugly face too early turned into a nightmare beast that lurked within his sea of consciousness, leaving him instinctively guarded against all human relationships from then on.

After that, he gradually came to dislike speaking with others, and his personality grew ever more withdrawn. Like an injured little beast, he tightly sealed off his heart and hid among thorns, every inch of him bristling with sharp spines. He buried all his sorrow and joy deep within, allowing loneliness to spread wildly through the darkness until it covered heaven and earth.

At the age of twelve, unwilling to waste away his life in that cramped rear courtyard, Shen Yuxi resolutely left home.

In the blink of an eye, two years passed. Later, the youth arrived at the mountain gates of Profound Heaven Sect covered in frost and snow. Within the Ninefold Trial Formation, bloodlight and cold gleams became indistinguishable. His thin back stood ramrod straight, and when his stunning sword strike cleaved open the ninth barrier, blood from his split tiger's mouth mingled with rust from his broken sword—yet his eyes still shone like stars.

Such heaven-shaking talent and such unyielding resolve moved Sect Master Yuqing True Person to make an exception and accept him as a disciple.

Yuqing True Person cared for him with utmost devotion, as both master and father. Not only did he impart all his lifelong skills without reservation, helping Shen Yuxi advance rapidly along the path of sword cultivation, but he also attended to every detail of his daily life.

He added clothes on cold nights and personally tended to him when he was ill. Drops of warmth melted ice like a spring breeze, nourishing Shen Yuxi's heart, which had been dry for so long, and quietly beginning to melt the fortress of ice within him.

The youth's expression remained calm, his joy and anger never showing on his face. Yet every morning during cultivation, he would gently place spirit tea before the table and patiently warm it until it was pleasantly hot, letting its curling fragrance drift through the air and add a touch of worldly warmth to the tranquil ancient temple;

Then, before dusk, he would walk to the Sword Pavilion with a soft cloth in hand and wipe each of the three thousand azure blades one by one, until their bodies gleamed brightly and their cold light reflected his lowered brows and eyes.

He was not good with words, so he could only pour all his gratitude toward his master into these silent yet meticulous gestures.

The bronze wind chimes hanging beneath the eaves of Profound Heaven Sect gave clear, pleasant rings whenever the wind rose. To him, that was the most wonderful melody in the world.

Compared to them, the painted beams and carved rafters of the Shen Family had once been more splendid, yet they could never give him as much peace of mind as these wooden beams and bronze bells.

His diligence and hard work were even more widely known. Every day at the third quarter of the Tiger hour, when night was still deep and all creation silent, the Sword Trial Platform lay shrouded in silver frost, while Shen Yuxi already stood there upright, his cold sword light shattering the remnants of the night;

When the midnight bell rang and moonlight spilled across the Scripture Pavilion, ancient books and secret scrolls covered the long table beneath a green-jade lamp. The youth sat before it, intently studying obscure scriptures. At times, he frowned in thought; at others, he lifted his brush to make annotations, every stroke filled with focus.

Years of frost and snow tempered his bones; the turning of cold and heat honed his edge.

His wooden sword became cold iron, and the youth grew into a young man. Years upon years of persistence finally forged the Unshakable Sword Heart that soared above all his peers. It also allowed him to swiftly distinguish himself within the sect, his brilliance fully revealed as he became the focus of everyone's gaze.

In the cultivation world, where the strong devoured the weak and strength reigned supreme, the powerful always drew attention. Shen Yuxi's exceptional strength naturally made countless people wish to form good ties with him.

Yet the young man was quiet and reserved, with a stern face that seemed veiled in frost that never melted all year long. A cold aura that kept people a thousand miles away pervaded his entire body, making anyone who approached feel awe and hesitate to act rashly.

For that very reason, he appeared ever more mysterious and unattainable in everyone's eyes, like a pure snow lotus blooming alone atop a mountain peak—something to be admired from afar, never lightly profaned.

—And yet, who could have imagined that all of it was nothing but an illusion?

The real Second Senior Brother was actually a madman who cracked jokes whenever he opened his mouth and spouted flirtatious nonsense whenever he closed it.

Second Senior Brother lived on Spirit Pool Peak and had his own exclusive training ground, but he had never used it.

Every morning, he came to the Sword Trial Platform on Spirit Sword Peak to practice alongside the many inner sect disciples. Among all the personal disciples, only Second Senior Brother behaved this way.

At first, the disciples had thought this was the unique way their usually inarticulate Second Senior Brother expressed his desire for closeness. Yet the truth truly made their jaws hit the floor—

"Are you kidding me? If a whole crowd practices together, then even if it's just so the junior brothers and sisters won't look down on me, I have to grit my teeth and keep going. If I practice alone, I can't even crawl out of bed, okay? Who taught you cultivators to get up in the middle of the night instead of sleeping just to train? Who are you trying to grind to death?"

The disciples who heard those thoughts were instantly dumbfounded, each of them silently complaining, "...Where's the aloof, abstinent senior brother we were promised? Who is this idiot?"

In less than ten days, the image of Second Senior Brother they had once held in their hearts had completely shattered and scattered across the floor. Every brother and sister in the sect fell into deep self-doubt, beginning to suspect that the Second Senior Brother they had known before was fake.

The real Second Senior Brother was no aloof man of few words. He was simply far too lively and optimistic, and he was also passionate about playing matchmaker among his fellow brothers and sisters.

That was right—matchmaker.

Who would have thought that beneath the solemn, unsmiling appearance Second Senior Brother showed every day hid the heart of a rabid shipper?

He delighted in pairing up the brothers and sisters around him two by two within his own fantasies. Whenever two fellow disciples had the slightest quarrel, Second Senior Brother would think, "Mortal enemies, loving and killing each other. What a ship."

If two fellow disciples seemed a little closer, Second Senior Brother would get excited again. "Cuddling is good. Cuddling is exactly what we need. What a ship."

And if someone bore resentment toward someone else, Second Senior Brother would become even more excited. "Whoa, love turning into hate, hate turning into love, love that cannot be had—so heartbreaking. I ship it."

This entire series of antics frightened all the inner sect brothers and sisters badly.

Now, whenever everyone interacted, they neither dared act too close nor dared easily start any disputes, lest they stumble upon Second Senior Brother's favorite shipping material again. Who knew which careless little action of theirs might set off his endless fantasies?

Strangely enough, in terms of results, this situation unexpectedly made the entire inner sect more harmonious.

But even so, every inner sect disciple only wanted to scream inwardly, "Second Senior Brother! Please stop shipping! Find something better to consume!"

You asked why everyone did not simply avoid Second Senior Brother? What a joke. There was only one Sword Trial Platform on all of Spirit Sword Peak! After all, Profound Heaven Sect had the greatest number of sword cultivators, with inner sect disciples living on Spirit Sword Peak while outer sect disciples lived on Spirit Martial Peak.

Inner sect disciples were not as free as personal disciples. After practicing their swords, they could not miss a single lesson they were supposed to attend. If they went to practice on another peak, never mind the long journey—even imagining the disgusted looks from those peaks' disciples was enough to make them hesitate.

They could not exactly shamelessly seize the outer sect disciples' practice grounds, could they?

Besides, although Second Senior Brother's obsession with being a matchmaker had already sunk into his marrow, incurable even by medicine, his overflowing love for gossip and his astonishing talent for snark had won everyone's hearts.

The gossip that erupted from Second Senior Brother's mind was absolutely no ordinary stuff. It was all explosive material so thrilling that, after hearing it, one would not even dare focus too hard on cultivating at midnight.

After all, everyone possessed a heart for gossip. Faced with such an alluring fountain of gossip, who could refuse? Had no one noticed that the elders had been appearing at the Sword Trial Platform more and more often lately?

The disciples would even gather in twos and threes after Second Senior Brother left the Sword Trial Platform, eagerly discussing what gossip he had revealed that day and what witty, entertaining remarks he had made.

Unfortunately, Second Senior Brother's way of thinking had always been as unconstrained as a celestial steed soaring through the sky, wildly unpredictable. No one could tell when he might suddenly throw out a piece of earth-shattering news, or when he would truly focus wholeheartedly and without distraction on sword practice.

Take today, for instance. From the very beginning, Second Senior Brother had seemed low-spirited and uninterested. With a solemn expression, he smoothly completed two entire sword forms in one go, then leisurely flicked his sleeve, turned, and left without looking back.

The disciples sighed in relief, but they could not help feeling a little regretful as well.

Second Senior Brother had trained them into the kind of people who felt uncomfortable all over without gossip to hear.

Second Senior Brother! We can't live without you—and your gossip! Second Senior Brother—Second Senior Brother! How are we supposed to live without you—and your gossip?!

Naturally, Shen Yuxi knew nothing about any of this.

At the summit of Spirit Pool Peak, pear trees stood lush and verdant. Their thick branches resembled iron-forged brushes, stretching and crossing freely beneath the sky to sketch a natural painting of ancient simplicity and vigorous strength. Mountain winds drifted past, carrying threads of coolness and the fresh fragrance of grass and trees, stirring the stillness among the branches.

Shen Yuxi's slender figure was hidden amid the flourishing leaves as he sat peacefully in meditation upon a thick branch. His aura seemed to merge with heaven and earth, as though he had transcended the mortal world and become part of nature itself.

His blue-black hair ribbon swayed softly in the wind, while his ink-dark hair fell in disorder, tangled across the branches. Several strands gently brushed over his stern face, adding a touch of uninhibited ease to his coldness.

The young man's gaze rested quietly upon the floating clouds at the summit, which seemed close enough to reach out and touch. Against the backdrop of the clear blue sky, the clouds constantly shifted shape as they drifted leisurely onward.

If an uninformed observer watched from afar, they would surely believe that this handsome young man was immersed in comprehending the mysteries of the great Dao of heaven and earth. The solitary aura around him seemed to seal away all the world's noise and troubles, leaving only him intertwined with this tranquil landscape.

Yet beneath that calm exterior, Shen Yuxi's heart was churning with waves. "Fuck! Heavenly Dao, you little bastard, you really love stirring up trouble."

The mountain wind blew the loose strands over his forehead into a messy curtain, and his thoughts quietly drifted back.

Before the age of twelve, his life had seemed covered beneath a bleak haze, devoid of hope or light. He had believed with all his heart that he would waste away his entire life in such mediocrity.

On the day of his twelfth birthday, he had crouched beside the courtyard gate, clutching a leftover steamed bun stolen from the back kitchen. Like a starving wild beast, he wolfed it down.

Crumbs from the bun scattered across the ground. In no time, dense swarms of ants crawled over them, quickly carrying away and devouring every last tiny crumb.

At that moment, Shen Yuxi stared at the busy ants on the ground, and his hand suddenly stilled. A powerful sense of resonance rose within him. He felt that he was no different from those ant-like creatures—just as tiny and insignificant, as though anyone in this world could treat him however they pleased while he had no power to resist.

As this thought arose, an immense, profound terror filled his heart in an instant like surging tides. That force was so urgent, like a merciless whip driving him to make a choice that would determine his fate.

He made his choice.

He resolutely left the manor that had trapped him for so many years and set out for Profound Heaven Sect. Through his own efforts, he successfully passed the sect entrance trial and joined this place filled with hope and opportunity.

From then on, the care and warmth of his master and fellow disciples melted the thick ice around his heart bit by bit, like the warm sun of spring.

Though Shen Yuxi never spoke of it, deep inside, he was immensely grateful for their affection. That gratitude was like a seed buried deep in his heart, quietly taking root and sprouting beneath the nourishment of warmth.

Compared with superficial, hollow words, he was more accustomed to using practical actions to express his feelings and attitude. Whenever his fellow disciples faced difficulties, he would always silently offer a helping hand—either patiently guiding them in cultivation or stepping forward in moments of danger, using his own strength to ease their worries and solve their troubles.

For that reason, although his fellow disciples did not dare approach him lightly because of his icy demeanor, deep down, they all held profound respect and admiration for this quiet yet dependable Second Senior Brother.

If nothing unexpected had happened, Shen Yuxi's life would have continued along this path: cultivating diligently day and night, constantly improving his strength, serving the sect in the future, becoming one of its pillars, and dedicating his life to it... Until three months ago, Shen Yuxi had believed exactly that.

Nine Domains Encyclopedia:

○ Eight Families

The eight great aristocratic families of deep foundation within Lingshu Heaven Domain. Their power did not rival that of the great sects, but they were still far beyond ordinary mid-sized sects.

○ Sword Trial Platform

Located two-thirds of the way up Spirit Sword Peak, it was an exceptionally spacious platform built from bluestone. Wooden puppets used for sparring were placed at each of its four corners. The puppets' strength could be adjusted freely, though it was generally recommended to set them one minor realm higher than oneself.

The puppets were only for sparring. Disciples at the Nascent Soul stage and above were forbidden from using them.