Vindicated After a Wrongful Death - Chapter 15

Su Cansheng’s sword hadn’t even cleared its scabbard by half an inch, his hand only just brushing the hilt, when the sleeping Xiang Zhongjing suddenly snapped his eyes open. The gaze that had been impossible to rouse just moments ago was now perfectly clear.

The ghostly fire in his earring surged out, spiraling like a swimming dragon along Xiang Zhongjing’s raised right arm. As he closed his fingers, the fire landed perfectly in his palm, transforming into an ethereal longsword wrapped in flames.

Before Su Cansheng’s blade could reach Gu Congxu, Xiang Zhongjing had already pushed himself halfway up. With an expressionless face, he pointed the tip of the flaming sword directly at Su Cansheng’s throat.

Su Cansheng froze.

While Xiang Zhongjing looked perfectly alert, his mind was actually a chaotic mess. He stared indifferently at the murderous man before him, his head filled with thoughts like, Who is this? What am I doing?

The two men stared at each other.

Soon, Xiang Zhongjing regained full consciousness. Recognizing Su Cansheng, he didn’t even stop to think. With a flick of his wrist, he swung the flaming sword downward with a vicious, merciless slash.

Su Cansheng’s pupils constricted. His protective spiritual energy manifested a split second before the blade struck, shattering Xiang Zhongjing’s unformed fire sword into a shower of sparks.

Xiang Zhongjing knew the extent of Su Cansheng’s cultivation and hadn’t expected to kill him with that single blow. As the sword shattered, clusters of fire drifted down, which he dispersed with a wave of his hand, letting them settle back onto his shoulders as ghostly flames.

He rose from the bed, standing tall and elegant, his eyes cold as he looked at Su Cansheng.

“Su Cansheng, you are now the dignified Sovereign of the Three Realms,” Xiang Zhongjing said, eyeing the sword still held in the other man’s hand. He sneered, “Breaking into a bedroom in the dead of night to stage a sneak attack like some petty thief is a bit beneath your station, isn’t it?”

Su Cansheng frowned. “I didn’t intend to hurt you.”

Xiang Zhongjing gave a half-smile. “Then were you planning to use that sword to trim my nails?”

 Su Cansheng said in a low voice, “Just now, I saw that…”

That dragon was up to no good with you…

Before he could finish, Su Cansheng realized belatedly that the dragon coiled around Xiang Zhongjing had vanished without a trace.

Su Cansheng was speechless. Even if he had eight mouths, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself, let alone the fact that he was never good at defending his actions. His brows were knit tight, at a total loss for words.

Seeing him like this, Xiang Zhongjing became even more convinced that this man had come to silence him.

Xiang Zhongjing’s own sword wasn’t with him. Relying on ghostly fire and a body devoid of spiritual energy, he had no way to escape Su Cansheng’s grasp. However, he didn’t flee in a panic, refusing to let his enemy see him in such a pathetic state.

He brushed away a flicker of fire that had drifted toward his face and reached out to grab a wine jar from the small table, taking a long drink.

Because Xiang Zhongjing acted so naturally, Su Cansheng became the one who felt awkward and constrained. He sheathed his sword, wanting to ask about the dragon but not knowing how to start.

A man of few words, Su Cansheng struggled for a long time before managing to squeeze out, “I came from Linjiang Peak.”

Xiang Zhongjing was waiting for Su Cansheng’s next move, so he hadn’t expected such a non-sequitur. He frowned and asked, “And?”

“Yi Junting said your left hand is still injured.”

Xiang Zhongjing was puzzled. “Wasn’t my hand personally ruined by the Sovereign himself back then? Don’t you remember?”

Su Cansheng’s expression became incredibly grim. His lips trembled slightly as he said with difficulty, “Don’t call me that.”

Whether it was the coldness in Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes or the distant way he addressed him, Su Cansheng felt so humiliated he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

“Oh.” Xiang Zhongjing simply assumed the man disliked his sarcasm and smoothly shifted his demeanor.

Xiang Zhongjing flashed him a bright smile, a look that mirrored his expression from sixty years ago, as if time had never passed. He called out to him familiarly, “Cansheng.”

Though he was smiling, there was no warmth in the depths of his eyes.

It only made the mockery feel more biting.

Su Cansheng froze, his face turning even paler than before. He closed his eyes, unable to endure Xiang Zhongjing’s taunting gaze any longer.

“You don’t need to go looking for Man Qiuxia,” Su Cansheng said softly, “I will disperse the lingering sword intent in your wound for you.”

He knew how much Xiang Zhongjing struggled to handle Man Qiuxia’s excessive obsession. He also knew that unless absolutely necessary, Xiang Zhongjing would never come to Wujin Building to endure Man Qiuxia’s pestering.

Xiang Zhongjing was stunned for a moment before he chuckled. “There’s no need to trouble the Sovereign. I happen to value my life quite a bit.”

Su Cansheng’s eyes snapped open in disbelief. “You think I…”

It was only then that Su Cansheng finally understood. Xiang Zhongjing wasn’t avoiding him out of pure hatred, but out of fear that Su Cansheng would try to kill him again, just as he had sixty years ago.

Su Cansheng’s heart clenched painfully. The words “I never intended to take your life” were on the tip of his tongue, but the moment they were about to be spoken, the image of a blood-soaked Xiang Zhongjing being sealed into a stone coffin sixty years ago flashed before his eyes.

In an instant, all his excuses died in his throat.

Su Cansheng’s heart sank further, nearing despair. Having been imprisoned alive for sixty years, wasn’t it only natural for Xiang Zhongjing to fear and resent them? If he put himself in those shoes, he would have struck out with a sword the moment he saw his captor.

In fact, the moment Xiang Zhongjing had recognized him earlier, he had struck out with a sword, showing no mercy.

Su Cansheng didn’t want Xiang Zhongjing to misunderstand him further, but he even more so didn’t want Xiang Zhongjing to know that the reason he had suffered for sixty years was entirely due to the blindness and ignorance of himself and Jin Chuling.

It was then that Su Cansheng realized that while Xiang Zhongjing looked at him or the wine, his peripheral vision never left the sword at Su Cansheng’s waist.

Though he sat by the table in a seemingly relaxed posture, his waist was taut and ready for action. Two clusters of ghostly fire on his shoulders were faintly guided by his will, as if the moment Su Cansheng’s sword moved, the flames would lunge forward to burn him to ash.

Xiang Zhongjing was armed with the wariness one reserved for a mortal enemy, and the disgust in his eyes when he looked at him was impossible to hide.

Su Cansheng felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Just then, the sound of sneaky footsteps came from outside the door. One listen was enough to know it was Man Qiuxia coming to check on Xiang Zhongjing.

Xiang Zhongjing moved with incredible speed. No longer willing to endure the disgust of playing nice with Su Cansheng, he raised a hand. The ghostly fire instantly lunged at the door, incinerating the wood into ash in a flash.

Man Qiuxia, who had been hunched over and about to push the door open, froze. “…”

Man Qiuxia was about to explain himself when he caught sight of the frigid Su Cansheng out of the corner of his eye. He immediately scurried like a rabbit to stand in front of Xiang Zhongjing, shielding him. He shouted sharply, “What are you doing here in the middle of the night? Do you think you can just barge into my Wujin Building whenever you please?!”

Xiang Zhongjing clutched his aching left hand, his eyes full of loathing.

Stung by that look, Su Cansheng stumbled back half a step. After a long silence, he said with great difficulty, “Your sword… is in Shuangxian City.”

Xiang Zhongjing frowned, not understanding what he meant.

Su Cansheng didn’t elaborate and practically fled the scene.

Seeing him leap down from the high tower, Man Qiuxia quickly summoned his subordinates to reinforce the barriers of Wujin Building. He then grabbed Xiang Zhongjing, checking him over multiple times until he was certain he was unharmed before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Xiang Zhongjing sat expressionless in his chair, drinking wine, looking extremely displeased.

Man Qiuxia couldn’t stand seeing him like this and tried to coax him, “Don’t be angry, give me a smile.”

Xiang Zhongjing said coldly, “If it were you who almost got killed, could you smile?”

Man Qiuxia replied, “If the person who wanted to kill me was you, I’d go to the yellow springs with a smile on my face.”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

He couldn’t help himself and leaned his head on his hand, laughing.

Man Qiuxia’s eyes went wide. The pain in his eye from where Su Cansheng had grazed him earlier vanished instantly. He wanted nothing more than to glue his eyes to Xiang Zhongjing’s face.

Xiang Zhongjing tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and the nearby flames mimicked his movements, jumping back and forth.

Su Cansheng was acting strange this time. If he truly wanted to kill him, he could have simply manipulated the sword intent in Xiang Zhongjing’s left hand to shatter his meridians. But he hadn’t moved, and he even looked as though he had suffered a great shock.

Xiang Zhongjing took a few more sips of wine, feeling a bit lightheaded. He leaned over the table, his eyes drooping as he fell into thought.

While Man Qiuxia tidied Xiang Zhongjing’s messy hair, he asked casually, “Do you need me to help you?”

Xiang Zhongjing chuckled, perhaps because he’d had too much to drink. The alcohol caused a misty veil to cover his pupils, and with a light blink, a teardrop slid from the corner of his eye.

He said lazily, “I will settle my own debts.”

Man Qiuxia was dazed for a moment before saying, “You can’t beat him right now, how will you get your revenge?”

As if drunk, Xiang Zhongjing laughed to himself for a while before pushing himself up. With a flick of his finger, the ghostly fire on his shoulder zoomed under the bed and soon dragged back something fluffy.

Man Qiuxia looked closely and saw it was the snow wolf that was always by Su Cansheng’s side.

The snow wolf had likely been ordered not to harm Xiang Zhongjing. Even though it was bound by ghostly fire, it remained in its half-human-sized spirit form, looking quite pathetic. Seeing Xiang Zhongjing, it actually let out a placating “woof.”

Forgotten here by its master, it was actually trying to suck up to Xiang Zhongjing.

Man Qiuxia had never seen this arrogant snow wolf act so sycophantic. Surprised, he asked, “Is this… Su Cansheng’s snow wolf?”

Xiang Zhongjing curled his lips into a smile. “It won’t be his for much longer.”

Man Qiuxia: “…”

Seeing Xiang Zhongjing place his hand on the silly wolf’s forehead, Man Qiuxia seemed to realize what he was planning and immediately tried to stop him. “It has already formed a Life-and-Death Pact with Su Cansheng. Unless the pact is dissolved, it cannot acknowledge a second master. If you force a bond, your sea of consciousness will be backlashed.”

Xiang Zhongjing turned a deaf ear.

Man Qiuxia grew anxious. Seeing that he wouldn’t listen, he quickly grabbed his wrist. “Are you crazy? If your sea of consciousness is backlashed, you could die, or at best, become a fool. You…”

Man Qiuxia didn’t finish. It was as if he suddenly realized something, and the anxiety on his face vanished, replaced by genuine interest. “Actually, if you really did become a fool, wouldn’t you be at my beck and call?”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Xiang Zhongjing said eerily, “What if I truly shatter the pact between it and Su Cansheng?”

“Then Su Cansheng’s sea of consciousness would likely be heavily damaged,” Man Qiuxia said casually. “But do you think that’s possible? With Su Cansheng’s cultivation, if he actually had his spirit beast stolen, he’d be the laughingstock of the Three Realms for a hundred years.”

Xiang Zhongjing laughed.

Man Qiuxia let go of his hand. Instead of stopping him, he urged him on, “Quick, go shatter the pact.”

Man Qiuxia was eagerly looking forward to a “beautiful fool” who would belong only to him and wouldn’t resist. His eyes were shining with anticipation.

In the sea of consciousness, Gu Congxu said in an exasperated tone, “Is there not a single normal person around you?”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

For once, Xiang Zhongjing didn’t argue. Ignoring the crazed Man Qiuxia, he said, “San Geng, come.”

Gu Congxu gave a cold snort. “My name is not San Geng.”

That said, he poked half his head out from the sleeve. The pressure of a True Dragon surged out like a tide, crashing mercilessly toward the snow wolf that was still wagging its tail.

The snow wolf stumbled, its four paws slamming flat against the ground.

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