Vindicated After a Wrongful Death - Chapter 38

At first, Xiang Zhongjing didn’t understand what Gu Congxu meant. He thought the dragon was simply driven mad by the crushing realization that he was likely the reincarnation of his master. He was about to let out a cold laugh and retort when he suddenly remembered a conversation they had when they first left the secret realm.

“According to the plot of a common mortal novel, the master you’re looking for is probably me.”

“How could that be?! If you were my master, I’d bite the tip of my tail and swallow myself whole!”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Xiang Zhongjing looked strangely at the evil dragon, who had lowered his head and fallen silent after that outburst. After a long while, he let out a chuckle and asked, “Is the tip of your tail really that delicious?”

Gu Congxu’s personality had reached its limit with that admission. Not knowing how to respond, he simply gripped Xiang Zhongjing’s wrist tightly, refusing to let go.

Seeing him with his eyes shut tight and lips sealed, Xiang Zhongjing offered a helpless smile. He didn’t bring up the soul fragment again, saying softly instead, “I can’t walk anymore.”

Gu Congxu didn’t know how painful it was to fuse with a soul fragment, but it certainly couldn’t be pleasant. He hurriedly looked up at Xiang Zhongjing and saw that his face was indeed deathly pale, looking as though he might collapse at any moment.

He tightened his grip on Xiang Zhongjing’s hand and asked muzzily, “Where does it hurt?”

Xiang Zhongjing released the strength that had been forcing him forward, and he swayed, nearly falling into Gu Congxu’s arms. He closed his eyes gently, still managing a smile despite his ghostly pallor.

“My head hurts, my waist hurts, and even my throat hurts,” Xiang Zhongjing said. “It’s all from being angered by you.”

Seeing that his anger seemed to have cooled, Gu Congxu breathed a secret sigh of relief and said hesitantly, “Then, let me carry you.”

Xiang Zhongjing wasn’t about to make things harder on himself. Why use his own legs when he had a mount? He nodded immediately.

Night had fully fallen, and the Netherfire continued to light the way ahead. Xiang Zhongjing leaned against Gu Congxu’s back, eyes closed, listening to the sound of his footsteps.

The surroundings were dead quiet, as if the only two people left in the world were the two of them.

After entering the dense forest, Xiang Zhongjing listened to the rustle of leaves by his ear. For some reason, he suddenly spoke softly. “My very first memory was being trapped in a narrow box, with the never-ending sound of rushing water in my ears.”

Gu Congxu, who had been lost in his own thoughts, hummed. “Hmm? You were abandoned in the Luochuan River?”

“Yes.” Xiang Zhongjing dropped a bombshell. “I was only a month old then.”

Gu Congxu froze and stopped in his tracks. “A one-month-old child can remember things?”

“I can,” Xiang Zhongjing chuckled. “I even remember the peculiar scent of the person who picked me up out of that box. Qu Xing raised me, and because he thought I was too young to remember, he was always telling me things like, ‘If not for us, you’d be a lonely ghost by now,’ and ‘You damned criminal’…”

Hearing this, Gu Congxu felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

Xiang Zhongjing murmured, “Gu Congxu.”

This was the first time Xiang Zhongjing had called him by his full name.

Gu Congxu whispered, “What is it?”

“If I really am your master’s reincarnation…” Xiang Zhongjing’s voice grew lower and lower, asking with a self-deprecating chuckle, “Then just how heinous were my crimes in my past life for me to end up like this in this one?”

Gu Congxu stood frozen, not knowing how to answer him.

When his master fell, Gu Congxu was just a little dragon who had hatched only a few years prior. Back then, there were only he and the Immortal Lord in the Three Poisons Secret Realm, surrounded by the light of shark-tallow candles that seemed as though they would never go out.

At that time, Gu Congxu was about the age of a seven or eight-year-old child and didn’t remember much. A thousand years had passed, and the memories of his time with the Immortal Lord had long been washed away by the river of time, becoming extremely blurred.

Gu Congxu didn’t even remember what his master looked like.

The remains in the Soul-Settling Coffin were his only anchor, yet they had been destroyed by Qu Weixian.

Gu Congxu couldn’t answer Xiang Zhongjing’s question because he had no idea why his master had been alone in that desolate secret realm, or why he had been attacked by so many people before his death.

The Immortal Lord seemed to be regarded as a criminal condemned by thousands. Standing alone before countless cultivators who drew their swords against him, his expression had been one of loneliness and sorrow.

The little dragon had obeyed his master’s words, hiding obediently behind a massive rock, looking on in confusion at the Immortal Lord’s thin back, having no idea what was happening.

That scene in his memory was exactly like the one just now when Xiang Zhongjing was being slandered. Gu Congxu had come out to defend Xiang Zhongjing as if he were protecting the thing he wanted to protect in place of his younger, ignorant self.

Gu Congxu wanted to say something, but he found that Xiang Zhongjing had already fallen asleep. His breathing was steady, his face pale, and there seemed to be a hint of moisture on his lashes.

Gu Congxu stood in a daze for a long time before shifting him into a more stable position on his back and walking slowly toward the Qu Yi Sect.

Xiang Zhongjing’s head felt as if it were splitting open. Calling it sleep was an understatement; it was more like he had lost consciousness. After losing awareness, he felt as if he were sinking into a swamp, with countless hands reaching out from all directions to drag him down.

“Destroying the spiritual pulse of the land is a heinous crime! He must be executed!”

“What kind of ‘Immortal Lord’ is he? Just because he’s about to ascend, he tries to sever the spiritual veins and cut off our path to the Dao? Hypocrite!”

“Kill him!”

The cursing echoed in his ears like hard silver needles stabbing into his brain.

He didn’t know how long he drifted in that swamp before someone finally grabbed his hand and forcibly pulled him up.

Xiang Zhongjing opened his eyes slowly. The vicious cursing had faded, replaced by the sound of pained, ragged gasps.

In the darkness, a tiny flame the size of a bean flickered. A small black dragon was curled up in a pool of blood next to the light, its body struggling to form a circle around several crystal-clear dragon bones stained with blood.

The dragon bones looked as if they had just been extracted from a body, and a fragment of a soul was trapped within each one.

The small dragon was on the verge of death, its vertical pupils devoid of light as it watched the dimming flame before it.

The tiny light finally flickered out. The small dragon struggled to lift a claw, wanting to use Netherfire to relight the last lamp, but its claw could not reach the wick no matter how it tried.

The candle flame suddenly flared up, burning the last of its wax, and then went out completely.

In the pitch blackness, only the small dragon’s faint, barely audible sobbing could be heard.

Xiang Zhongjing stepped back in a daze and suddenly stepped into thin air, instantly waking up from that eerie dream.

He gasped for air, staring blankly at the unfamiliar bed curtains. It took a while for sensation to return to his limbs.

Xiang Zhongjing was certain Gu Congxu would bring him to a safe place, so he didn’t check his surroundings immediately. Instead, he noticed that one of the Netherfire clusters usually nestled in his earrings seemed to be missing.

Frowning, Xiang Zhongjing propped himself up and looked around. The remaining blue Netherfire rubbed against his brow as if trying to tell him something.

After a moment of hesitation, Xiang Zhongjing sank his consciousness into his sea of knowledge.

The vast spiritual space was brilliantly lit. Upon entering, Xiang Zhongjing scanned the area and found the other cluster of red Netherfire, along with… Gu Congxu, who was using the Netherfire as a torch.

Gu Congxu was sitting with his back to him, cross-legged, using the red Netherfire to carefully relight the extinguished lamps.

Once a lamp was lit, he acted as if he had completed a major mission, gently letting it float away before grabbing another extinguished lamp to relight.

Xiang Zhongjing stood there watching for a long time before he suddenly laughed and said, “What kind of mess are you making in my sea of knowledge?”

Focused intently on lighting the lamps, Gu Congxu was so startled by the sudden voice he nearly shifted into his dragon form. Looking like a thief caught in the act, he turned his head stiffly to look at Xiang Zhongjing.

Xiang Zhongjing stood amidst the lanterns, looking at him with gentle eyes.

Gu Congxu’s face suddenly flushed. He gave a dry cough as he stood up, tossing the red Netherfire, which was whimpering after being manhandled, back to its master. “I wasn’t making a mess. Do you still feel unwell?”

Seeing that he didn’t mention the lamp-lighting, Xiang Zhongjing breathed a quiet sigh of relief and said, “Much better. Where are we now?”

Gu Congxu replied, “The quarters arranged by Qu Weixian. Let’s go outside and talk.”

He was about to leave with Xiang Zhongjing, but the latter simply sat down, catching a floating lamp with his finger. His eyes reflected the warm yellow light, looking as though flames were burning within them.

Xiang Zhongjing’s eyes were full of mischievous laughter. “It’s quite nice here. If we leave, won’t all your hard work lighting all these lamps go to waste… mmmph.”

Before he could finish, Gu Congxu lunged over and clamped a hand over his mouth, refusing to let him say another word about the dragon’s embarrassing behavior.

Gu Congxu practically dragged Xiang Zhongjing out of the sea of knowledge. After stumbling back a few steps, the heat on his face still hadn’t faded.

Xiang Zhongjing opened his eyes and shot him a half-smiling glance. Seeing that the dragon was on the verge of erupting in embarrassment, he stopped teasing him and sat up to stretch, feeling his bones creak and pop.

Sensing something was off, Xiang Zhongjing asked, “How long have I been asleep?”

Gu Congxu picked up a set of clothes prepared by Man Qiuxia from behind the screen and tossed them onto the bed before running back to crouch by the screen. He said muzzily, “Three days. Man Qiuxia said you were fusing with the soul fragment and it took too much energy, so you need to rest and recover.”

Xiang Zhongjing pulled off his thin inner garment and looked through the new robes. He remarked casually, “Recover from what? He’s just afraid I’ll look so terrible I’ll blind him. Sangeng, there’s an undergarment missing.”

Gu Congxu went “Oh, oh, oh” and hurriedly searched behind the screen, quickly finding the inner trousers mixed in with the other clothes. Holding the edge of the fabric with a red face, he walked into the inner room to hand them to Xiang Zhongjing.

But the moment the pure-hearted evil dragon entered, his gaze fell upon Xiang Zhongjing’s bare body.

Gu Congxu: “…”

Gu Congxu froze, and the garment in his fingers drifted to the floor.

Xiang Zhongjing hadn’t seen the sun in too many years; his body was excessively pale. His unbound dark hair fell over his shoulders, creating a stark, striking contrast between the pure black and the snow-white skin.

He glanced at the dazed Gu Congxu, who was as still as a wooden post, and unconcernedly stepped off the bed with a smile. He walked over to pick up the clothes from the floor and said lazily, “What, haven’t you seen this before? Are you just now learning how to be shy?”

Without a hint of self-consciousness, Xiang Zhongjing changed into the clothes right in front of Gu Congxu. By the time he tied the final sash and turned around, Gu Congxu was nowhere to be found.

Xiang Zhongjing let out a chuckle. Given Gu Congxu’s personality, he probably wouldn’t show his face for quite a while.

Xiang Zhongjing was used to the silly dragon’s ways. He put on his veil, intending to find Qu Weixian and ask about the location of the other dragon bone, when he felt his wrist being grabbed.

This time, Xiang Zhongjing wasn’t startled. He looked back and saw that Gu Congxu, who was supposed to be in self-imposed isolation, had actually appeared. He looked down and said nothing, looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out.

Xiang Zhongjing asked, “What is it?”

Gu Congxu said muzzily, “Are… are you still angry?”

Xiang Zhongjing arched an eyebrow and said lazily, “No.”

“You are,” Gu Congxu said with certainty. “You must still be angry about what happened a few days ago.”

Xiang Zhongjing was amused. “Oh? Tell me about it.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things back then…” Gu Congxu muttered. “If you weren’t angry, so many of your lamps wouldn’t have gone out.”

Xiang Zhongjing: “…”

Xiang Zhongjing asked in surprise, “What does my being angry have to do with my lamps going out?”

Xiang Zhongjing himself didn’t know the lamps in his sea of knowledge served such a purpose. After all, he didn’t exactly check the lamp count regularly.

Gu Congxu continued, “And if you weren’t angry, given your personality, you’d definitely make me… mumble mumble.”

Xiang Zhongjing didn’t catch it. “What?”

Gu Congxu didn’t know how to say it. It felt as if saying it out loud was like volunteering to perform a circus act.

Seeing this reaction, Xiang Zhongjing guessed what Gu Congxu was being awkward about, and he found it quite hilarious.

“Fine.” Xiang Zhongjing was no longer in a rush to find Qu Weixian for the other dragon bone. Instead, he sat leisurely on the soft couch and pointed to the table beside him, saying faintly, “True Dragon Lord, begin your performance.”

Gu Congxu: “…”

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