After The Death Escape and Ascension, The Male Protagonist of Long Aotian Went Crazy - Chapter 10

Clang!

 

A sword flew through the air, blocking Shi Hua’s strike.

 

Wei Shizhou was so shocked he collapsed onto the ground, staring at Chi Qingxuan’s hand gripping the sword, now encased in frost. His mouth hung open.

 

“Master, your hand…”

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

Chi Qingxuan frowned, shattered the frost from his hand, and lowered his gaze to him. “Stay back. Unless I call for you, don’t come near.”

 

“Y-Yes! Yes!”

 

Wei Shizhou couldn’t wait to scuttle eight feet away.

 

That wretched woman again! Every time she appeared, nothing good came of it.

 

The spirit herb curled up in his arms, also trembling with fright.

 

“Scared poor Little Grass to death, wuwuwu…”

 

Only then did Wei Shizhou remember he was still carrying it.

 

His face darkened as he pulled the spirit herb out.

 

“Why were you hiding on me? Nearly got me killed!”

 

The spirit herb only whimpered, hoping to muddle through.

 

If it hadn’t hidden, it would’ve been the one dead!

 

Wei Shizhou couldn’t stand its whining—it grated on his ears. He impatiently flung it aside. “Talk. What’s going on?”

 

The spirit herb steadied itself, swaying its little tuft of red leaves on its head.

 

“L-Little Grass doesn’t know either! After the Immortal Lord ate Little Grass’s leaf, she was hit by spell backlash.”

 

“Backlash?”

 

Wei Shizhou didn’t remember anything like that in the storybook.

 

The spirit herb bobbed its head repeatedly. “Yes, yes, it’s backlash from cultivating both ice and fire techniques!”

 

So that’s it.

 

Back in the flood dragon’s lair, Shi Hua had alternated between ice and fire, plunging the whole place into extremes of heat and cold.

 

He’d thought she was immune to backlash—but she had actually dared to cultivate two mutually opposing elements.

 

Wei Shizhou narrowed his eyes, looking toward the ruins where the two figures stood.

 

Chi Qingxuan was guarding Shi Hua, helping her calm her mind and sort out the rampaging spiritual power in her body.

 

It would take at least one or two hours before the process ended.

 

Wei Shizhou kicked the vain little spirit herb.

 

“Hey! Little Grass, you just spent time with the Immortal Lord—what do you think of her?”

 

The herb was still grieving over the leaves it had just regrown, now burned away again. Caught off guard by his kick, it had nowhere to vent its anger.

 

But under the eaves, the grass had to bow its head.

 

It endured.

 

With obsequious effort, it stretched out a vine to massage his legs.

 

“Of course the Immortal Lord is excellent, excellent…”

 

“Tell the truth.”

 

Xie Annas had a filter when it came to Shi Hua—his words couldn’t be trusted. Wei Shizhou needed an unbiased opinion.

 

He had already noticed some discrepancies between this vicious woman and the storybook.

 

Strange.

 

The spirit herb shrank back, confirming he wasn’t joking, then carefully replied:
“The Immortal Lord… my first impression was that she’s very powerful, someone you can’t afford to provoke… Later, seeing her cultivate both ice and fire, I felt… the Immortal Lord is difficult to understand.”

 

Wei Shizhou squatted down, tugging at one of its tiny tendrils, intrigued.

 

“Oh? In what way?”

 

“Ice and fire are the purest, most domineering forces in the world. Unless forced, no one would cultivate both. The backlash in her body is because of this.

 

Little Grass doesn’t understand human emotions, but it can sense—the Immortal Lord’s strength is something forced upon her, something beyond her control.”

 

Born of heaven and earth, nourished by sun and moon, the herb was sensitive to elemental forces. It could feel how painful the backlash in Shi Hua’s body was, a torment she had no choice but to endure.

 

Tch!

 

Another fool.

 

Wei Shizhou didn’t quite believe its judgment.

 

Forced? Beyond her control? Then why had she tried to kill him?

 

Whatever faintly favorable impression he’d had vanished completely when he recalled the story’s events.

 

“Shizhou, go back first.”

 

Chi Qingxuan’s weak voice floated over.

 

Wei Shizhou smoothed his expression, bowed his head. “Yes, Master.”

 

The spirit herb clung to his leg, wailing: “Take Little Grass! Take Little Grass!”

 

---

 

Chi Qingxuan kept the matter of Shi Hua’s backlash tightly under wraps.

 

He had already warned Wei Shizhou harshly and made him swear an oath of secrecy before he felt reassured.

 

Three days passed since the backlash explosion.

 

Xie An, fully healed, returned only to find his house reduced to rubble. Weeping, he rushed to find his Master, but Chi Qingxuan pressed him down and handed him off to Wei Shizhou, ordering them to live together for now.

 

It was also Shi Hua’s first time suffering backlash this severe.

 

“Huahua, are you feeling better?”

 

Jin Qing asked worriedly. “Here, take these spirit pills. I’ll refine more later.”

 

Qingxuan’s eyes were also full of concern as he discussed remedies with Chi Qingxuan.

 

Aside from the Nine Domain Snow Lotus, no method seemed reliable.

 

Qingxuan sighed. “At least three more years to endure this…”

 

That Sword Dust Sect disciple was still a walking time bomb.

 

Shi Hua knew they worried, so she feigned ease. “It’s just a minor backlash—you’re all so easily frightened. With my cultivation, why would I fear it?”

 

The two Immortal Lords considered. True enough.

 

A tribulation-stage cultivator was a height most could never reach.

 

Only Lingyuan Pavilion’s master might compare.

 

“Enough.” Chi Qingxuan cut off the talk before they noticed anything amiss. The matter of his cultivation drop was best kept secret. “Bixu Palace sent two letters: one of thanks, one of invitation.”

 

Jin Qing tilted his head, tone sardonic. “Well, well, rare that their Palace Master bothers to thank us. I thought she was set on never having dealings again.”

 

“Ahem!”

 

Qingxuan shot him a sharp look.

 

The grudge between Xuan Yin Sect and Bixu Palace went back thousands of years—why dredge it up again?

 

Right now, unity in cultivation was what mattered most.

 

Qingxuan smiled gently. “I wonder what she’s thanking for?”

 

Chi Qingxuan glanced at Shi Hua. “For Immortal Lord Xie Shuyu and the others slaying the flood dragon, avenging her disciple.”

 

The Palace Master’s beloved disciple had died to that dragon—well-known across the sects. But with such old grudges between them, mere thanks was hard to believe.

 

Jin Qing gave a knowing sneer. “And the invitation?”

 

“She invites all who slew the dragon to a banquet of gratitude.”

 

The invitees were obvious.

 

Jin Qing rolled his eyes. “All are our sect’s prodigies. Who doesn’t know Xuan Yin Sect accepted a disciple with a Heavenly Immortal Bone? Clearly that’s her true aim!”

 

Qingxuan disagreed. “Not entirely. With decades of enmity, perhaps it’s time for reconciliation.”

 

Jin Qing still scoffed. “A bl00d feud doesn’t just vanish—”

 

“Enough!”

 

Chi Qingxuan’s sudden roar cut him short.

 

The usually mild man’s face was shadowed.

 

“This depends on Senior Sister’s decision.”

 

Shi Hua raised her eyes.

 

All were waiting for her verdict.

 

She pulled out an electric whip, handing it to Qingxuan. “I remember you lacked a proper weapon. I refined this from the dragon’s tendon.”

 

Qingxuan’s face lit up. He tested its weight. “Excellent, very handy. Thank you, Huahua.”

 

Today, one of the four Immortal Lords was absent.

 

Shi Hua asked about Wuji’s seclusion, but before Chi Qingxuan could answer, Jin Qing burst out laughing.

 

Apparently Wuji had suffered a most miserable ordeal.

 

Shi Hua, who hadn’t cared much for sect affairs, was curious.

 

“Huahua doesn’t know? Wuji’s disciple, who’d been at his side for years, confessed feelings two years ago. Scared him so badly he shut himself away. Just last night, he came out—only to be caught red-handed by that disciple…”

 

Wuji had fled the sect in terror.

 

And that disciple? Bold enough to chase him down.

 

Shi Hua blinked in surprise.

 

She remembered correctly—Wuji’s disciple was male.

 

Qingxuan sighed helplessly. “Enough. If Wuji hears, he’ll challenge you.”

 

Jin Qing didn’t care. Wuji’s cold demeanor always grated—good to see him humbled.

 

Shi Hua shook her head in amusement, then returned to the matter. “It wouldn’t do to refuse the invitation outright. I’ll attend with them…”

 

Qingxuan looked at her. “I’ll accompany you.”

 

Shi Hua paused, then nodded. “Good.”

 

Jin Qing protested. “If you both go, what about me? I’m coming too—”

 

Chi Qingxuan, expression blank, grabbed him by the collar. “You’re staying to help me oversee the sect.”

 

Watching the two bicker as they left, Shi Hua couldn’t help but laugh. But when her eyes met Qingxuan’s, both saw the heaviness beneath.

 

Qingxuan had been in the sect longer than Jin Qing—he knew things the latter did not.

 

The enmity between Bixu Palace and Xuan Yin Sect stemmed from Chi Qingxuan and the previous Palace Master.

 

The current Palace Master was her younger sister.

 

She hated Chi Qingxuan for her sister’s death. After taking over Bixu Palace, she despised Xuan Yin Sect, poaching disciples at every turn.

 

She’d nearly succumbed to qi deviation once, only for Shi Hua to pull her back.

 

This “Hongmen Banquet,” as Qingxuan said, was indeed a chance for reconciliation.

 

Chi Qingxuan himself could not go—only they could take his place.

 

---

 

To show sincerity, Bixu Palace dispatched handmaidens to greet them at the city gates.

 

Their group rode swords to Jingan City’s gates.

 

Within Jingan lived a king, under whose rule the people thrived in peace.

 

The Palace Master of Bixu was his third daughter. She and her elder sister had entered the Palace together. For centuries she had cultivated diligently; had her sister not died, she would not be Palace Master now.

 

Bixu Palace lay in the city’s northwest corner. But this banquet was to be held in the royal palace.

 

At the gates, Xie An squinted upward into a swirl of yellow sand, dust plastering his face.

 

“Why’s Bixu Palace in a desert?”

 

Rumor had it Bixu Palace was a place of eternal spring, the second most beautiful site in the cultivation world. But here—nothing but endless sand, choking winds.

 

Qingxuan frowned, clearly puzzled too.

 

The sand blinded their eyes.

 

The air around the city was so thin and dry, each breath choked with grit.

 

From afar, a procession of women in violet gowns approached. They lined up in two rows.

 

At their head, a veiled woman in a purple turban bowed.

 

“Greetings to Immortal Lord Shuyu, Immortal Lord Qingxuan.”

 

“Please—”

 

Shi Hua inclined her head and walked at the front of the group.

 

Once inside, the sandstorm lessened.

 

Beneath their feet, the ground was soft with sand. Houses on either side were faint shapes half-hidden by blowing dust.

 

Not a single citizen was in sight.

 

[Ding-dong!]

 

The system suddenly came online.

 

【Congratulations, Immortal Lord, for triggering a hidden storyline. Please successfully complete the Wailing of the City plotline. Failure will result in five strikes of heavenly lightning punishment.】

 

Shi Hua halted mid-step.

 

Hidden storyline? Wailing of the City?

 

The system’s original script had never mentioned anything about Bixu Palace…