Vindicated After a Wrongful Death - Chapter 10

Xiang Zhongjing tapped his wooden stick with a steady clack, clack, clack. With a faint, knowing smile, he asked Gu Congxu, “True Dragon, sir, shall we tame it now?”

Gu Congxu wasn’t as thick-skinned as Xiang Zhongjing, he couldn’t just flip his attitude so shamelessly.

Inside the vast sea of consciousness, he gave his tail a flick and transformed into a tiny dragon. He curled up atop a bright lantern and drifted toward the sky as the lantern swayed, pointedly ignoring Xiang Zhongjing’s smug, triumphant look.

Seeing this reaction, Xiang Zhongjing knew the answer. The corners of his mouth curled up instinctively.

Yi Junting looked as though he was still caught in a dream. “Senior,” he stammered, “are you really going to help me… tame a beast?”

Xiang Zhongjing nodded. He had always been one to settle his debts clearly.

Yi Junting felt an instinctive surge of wild joy, but he quickly remembered something. He looked timidly at Xiang Zhongjing’s limp left hand. “Sword Sovereign, I heard that back then, you… “

That his left hand was ruined and his cultivation base was entirely gone.

Xiang Zhongjing played dumb. “What?”

Yi Junting choked on his words. He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “It’s nothing.”

Xiang Zhongjing gave him a smile.

Yi Junting glanced at the man’s left hand again and noticed that the tattered cuff seemed much darker than the one on the right, as if it were soaked through with blood.

The young boy pursed his lips, having a vague idea of what Xiang Zhongjing had gone through in the Path of Infinity.

He was so badly injured, his left hand was immobile, his cultivation was gone, and even his eyes were damaged by the sun. On top of that, Jin Chuling and Su Cansheng were still sending people to hunt him down. In a few days, the wanted posters would likely be plastered all over the Nine Provinces.

In this vast world, only Man Qiuxia could heal his injuries.

He doesn’t mean any harm, Yi Junting thought secretly. He must be at his wits’ end, which is why he’s lying to me about being able to tame beasts.

The boy had been pampered since childhood and hadn’t experienced much of the world. He had even snuck into the Three Poisons Secret Realm on a whim. He was quite simple-minded. Even though he suspected Xiang Zhongjing was tricking him to use him as a shield against his pursuers, Yi Junting didn’t feel hurt or disappointed.

He even whispered considerately, “Senior, it’s fine if we don’t go to the Beast Taming Ceremony. I don’t really like fighting and killing anyway.”

“It’s fine,” Xiang Zhongjing replied, missing the hidden meaning. He said quite seriously, “I happen to like fighting and killing.”

Yi Junting: “…”

Gu Congxu, lying atop the lantern, took the chance to huff, “Who could you possibly beat right now?”

Xiang Zhongjing didn’t get angry. He just smiled and said, “A dragon bone.”

Gu Congxu: “…”

Gu Congxu went silent.

Right then, the white jade Linglong Tower in the distance shot another pillar of light into the sky. The cultivators who had been waiting nearby began moving toward the tower’s entrance in unison.

Yi Junting stood up quickly. “Senior, the Linglong Tower is open. Let’s go.”

Xiang Zhongjing maintained a forced composure. Gripping his broken wooden stick, he stood up and began tapping his way forward slowly, looking every bit the blind man.

The group of teenagers traveling with Yi Junting were already waiting at the tower entrance, waving them over on their tiptoes.

Xiang Zhongjing’s vision was still prone to bouts of darkness, so he walked very slowly. Yi Junting wasn’t in a rush and remained extremely patient.

Seeing the half-blind man stumble over small stones several times, Yi Junting finally couldn’t help himself. “Let me help you,” he whispered.

“No need,” Xiang Zhongjing shook his head.

On the surface, Xiang Zhongjing appeared unkempt and carefree, but he was more prideful than anyone. Even knowing Yi Junting meant well, he refused to let anyone else control the only hand he could still move.

Soon, the Linglong Tower stood right before them.

It should have been late spring, but as Xiang Zhongjing approached the tower made of white jade, he felt a bone-chilling cold seeping into his frame, colder than the mountain sunrise at dawn.

Frost nearly formed on his eyelashes. Yi Junting ran ahead to speak with the other boys and soon returned with a jade plaque, handing it to Xiang Zhongjing.

“Senior, this is the jade plaque for the Path of Infinity.”

Xiang Zhongjing took it.

The plaque seemed to be made of warm jade. It felt hot to the touch, as if he were holding a small flame in his palm, dispersing the cold instantly.

Xiang Zhongjing was a bit surprised, but he didn’t let it show. With a calm expression, he held the plaque and followed Yi Junting and the others into the white jade tower.

Once inside, Xiang Zhongjing finally understood what the Linglong Tower actually was.

The massive structure was filled with dense, complex formations. Even the white jade walls were carved with dizzying runes that glowed faintly.

Following the stairs down, one could see a stone door at the end of the formation in the center of the tower. The door was open, but inside was a void that looked like a river of stars.

This Linglong Tower was actually a massive, complete teleportation array.

No wonder Yi Junting said they could reach the Path of Infinity in half an hour.

Xiang Zhongjing felt a sudden wave of emotion. During the sixty years he had been trapped in the secret realm, the outside world had changed so much that he felt somewhat out of place.

The world changes, and the person returns to find everything foreign, he thought.

As the group descended the stairs, Yi Junting continued, “The Beast Taming Ceremony starts in a few days. The towers in the city are packed, so we have to use this one outside the city.”

Xiang Zhongjing nodded. To a “country bumpkin” like him, it made no difference whether they were inside or outside the city.

Yi Junting and his friends seemed to be regulars here. They showed no curiosity toward the starry stone door, spinning their jade plaques and laughing together as they walked.

Xiang Zhongjing watched them silently, a complicated look in his eyes.

Before long, it was their turn.

“Let’s go, Senior,” Yi Junting said.

Xiang Zhongjing tapped his stick and followed. When the person in front stepped into the stone door, they vanished into the swirling, starry void.

Everyone else seemed to be just walking through an ordinary door, their expressions unchanged, but Xiang Zhongjing felt a pang of fear.

He was afraid that behind the stone door, there would still be that darkness he feared most.

Yi Junting had already followed the other boys into the portal, leaving Xiang Zhongjing standing frozen on his own.

Gu Congxu arched an eyebrow. “Scared?”

Rarely, Xiang Zhongjing didn’t say a word.

Gu Congxu sneered, “Look at you, how pathetic.”

When Xiang Zhongjing had been terrified jumping off the spirit tree, Gu Congxu thought he was afraid of heights. Now he realized the man was actually afraid of the dark.

Seeing him standing there stiffly, his knuckles white as he gripped the wooden stick, Gu Congxu let out an impatient “tsk.”

Xiang Zhongjing was trying his best to convince himself to go in.

It’s just a door. Even Yi Junting went through. Am I really less brave than a child?

Despite the logic, he still couldn’t move.

Just then, his left sleeve twitched slightly. Gu Congxu, who had been behaving himself, had transformed back into a tiny dragon at some point. The tip of his tail was now wrapped around Xiang Zhongjing’s pale, slender wrist.

Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes flickered.

“Let’s go,” Gu Congxu said awkwardly. “What’s there to be afraid of?”

Xiang Zhongjing looked at the tail wrapped around his wrist and suddenly laughed. He stopped hesitating and stepped into the stone door without blinking.

The sensation within the teleportation array was unpleasant. Xiang Zhongjing felt as if his soul was being torn apart. Countless ghost-like shadows swarmed from all directions, clawing at his spirit and trying to pull it away.

Piercing shrieks threatened to burst his eardrums, yet Xiang Zhongjing felt a strange sense of intoxication.

Only pain could truly make him realize he was still alive.

He had made it out of that sunless secret realm alive.

After an unknown amount of time, fresh air rushed into his mouth. Xiang Zhongjing gasped for breath, his eyes slowly fluttering open.

Unlike the small town outside the spirit tree, it was pouring rain here. The misty air swirled around him, and it felt like he was breathing in pure water vapor.

They had arrived at the Path of Infinity.

Whether it was the change in atmosphere or the aftereffects of the teleportation array, Xiang Zhongjing stood frozen for a moment before suddenly clutching his chest and leaning over to retch.

He hadn’t touched a drop of water in sixty years. Even if he threw up his very lungs, nothing would come out.

He felt weak and exhausted, as if he had lost half his life.

Gu Congxu frowned. “Is your soul unstable?”

There was no one else around, and Yi Junting’s group was nowhere to be seen. Xiang Zhongjing stumbled over to a rock and sat down listlessly. “Didn’t you know that already?”

“I knew, but I didn’t know it was this bad,” Gu Congxu said. “Back in that array, your soul almost shattered.”

Xiang Zhongjing’s face was paper-white, but he still managed a weak, playful smile. “Your master’s soul shattered too. Maybe I am your master.”

Gu Congxu: “…”

“Pah,” Gu Congxu spat.

He went back to ignoring him.

Xiang Zhongjing waited a moment until he felt a bit better. He was just about to use his stick to push himself up and find Yi Junting when a fierce beast’s roar echoed nearby.

Xiang Zhongjing froze.

Accompanied by a series of screams, Yi Junting and his fellow disciples came sprinting toward Xiang Zhongjing.

Xiang Zhongjing frowned. “What happened?”

Yi Junting’s face was covered in tears. He shouted from a distance, “The Linglong Tower in the Path of Infinity is broken! We’ve been teleported into a nest of monsters!”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

As if in response to Yi Junting’s words, the sound of trees snapping came from the dense forest nearby. Through the torrential rain, a black spiritual leopard, nearly as large as Su Cansheng’s snow wolf, leaped toward them with its fangs bared.

“Aaaaah!” Yi Junting shrieked as he ran, grabbing Xiang Zhongjing’s sleeve. “Sword Sovereign! Run!”

Xiang Zhongjing was yanked along, dazed. His soul hadn’t fully stabilized yet, so he didn’t react immediately and simply stumbled along with them.

Seeing Xiang Zhongjing actually running away, Gu Congxu yelled angrily, “Xiang Zhongjing! It’s just a tiny cat! Why are you running? Don’t run! I could make it kneel with a single look!”

Xiang Zhongjing was dizzy and nauseous, barely understanding a word Gu Congxu said.

Upon hearing the name “Sword Sovereign,” the other disciples finally realized all the odd things about Xiang Zhongjing they’d seen along the way. They all gasped, nearly fainting on the spot.

“Don’t faint yet!” Yi Junting yelled. “Faint after we escape!”

The disciples had no choice but to stay conscious through their tears, sprinting ahead while giving Xiang Zhongjing a wide berth.

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