My cultivation is gone.
The news that Jiang Huai, the Senior Brother of Tian Xuan Sect, had his cultivation crippled by an Evil Cult, spread throughout the Eastern Region in just three days, coinciding with the sudden blizzard.
Jiang Huai was the youngest Heavenly Dao Golden Core cultivator in Tian Xuan Sect’s history and the sole personal disciple of the Eastern Region’s foremost female Sword Immortal.
When he was sixteen, Jiang Huai’s master, who had always been cold and aloof, uninvolved in worldly affairs, personally arranged a marriage for him. The wedding was set for his twentieth birthday, where he would wed Luo Qingyu, the only daughter of the Sect Master of Qing Xuan Sect, the top sect in the Eastern Region’s Moon Wave Continent.
It was rumored that Luo Qingyu, the sole daughter of the Qing Xuan Sect Master, inherited her mother’s great beauty. When she first appeared at the Eastern Region Grand Competition at the age of fifteen, she stunned all the young disciples present. Her cultivation and sword techniques were unfathomable. With a slender sword, she defeated many of the heavenly proud disciples, only to lose to Jiang Huai of Tian Xuan Sect.
Once, everyone believed it was a foregone conclusion that Jiang Huai would become another Ninth Realm Immortal Venerable of the Eastern Region.
Countless young cultivators envied his good fortune. At the age of six, he was found by a Sword Immortal traveling the world and brought to the sect. To make matters worse, upon commencing his cultivation, it was revealed that he possessed the Innate Dao Body, a talent rarely seen in a thousand years. What was truly infuriating was that this fellow had an excellent reputation among most disciples. It was said that Jiang Huai, Senior Brother of Tian Xuan Sect, was approachable, generous, and often personally taught junior brothers and sisters sword practice and cultivation. He even stood up for disciples who were bullied, upholding justice.
When Jiang Huai was sixteen, his master mentioned finding him a Dao Companion. Reportedly, countless paper kites carrying messages from female disciples flew to his peak. Jiang Huai spent an entire night sorting them, replying to each one to decline. Every refusal letter was written in his own hand, and many female disciples still treasured them.
At seventeen, Jiang Huai obtained the sect’s only Heavenly Way Spiritual Qi in a Grotto-Heaven Secret Realm that opened only once every five hundred years, successfully forming a Heavenly Dao Golden Core, causing countless disciples’ eyes to turn red with jealousy.
Some speculated he would become an elder of the sect, and there were even rumors that the Sect Master intended to groom him as the next Sect Master of Tian Xuan Sect. Jiang Huai’s life for the past decade or so had been spent under the envious and jealous gazes of countless ordinary disciples, until his nineteenth birthday.
For a preposterous reason that no one could have foreseen, he was crippled.
…
The story begins with a sect mission that Jiang Huai accepted.
Tian Xuan Sect was the second-largest cultivation sect in the Moon Wave Continent of the Eastern Region, only slightly inferior to Qing Xuan Sect, which ranked first. Like Qing Xuan Sect, disciples of Tian Xuan Sect also received sect missions every month, such as eliminating demonic beasts for the common folk, investigating the whereabouts of Evil Cults, or finding Spirit Medicine for the sect.
In the month of his nineteenth birthday, Jiang Huai, along with several other junior brothers and sisters from the sect, accepted a mission to investigate the traces of Evil Cults around Xuan Shui City.
These types of missions were generally a bit more dangerous. Jiang Huai, accompanied by three fellow disciples, journeyed to Xuan Shui City. After gathering sufficient information, they discovered that the Evil Moon Sect, which had been hiding in the Eastern Region, had quietly set up an altar there. They had captured young boys and girls and were using them in a blood sacrifice ritual for cultivation through evil methods.
According to the intelligence gathered, the altar set up by the Evil Moon Sect this time had at least one cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage, while the highest cultivation level in Jiang Huai’s team was his own, at the mid Golden Core stage.
According to the sect’s established practice for such missions, the four of them should have immediately returned to the sect. Once at a sufficient distance, they should have used a Thousand-Mile Transmission Talisman to notify the Sword Bearers within the sect who could handle such matters, thus completing their mission.
However, Jiang Huai refused to leave.
Under interrogation by the Law Enforcement Hall later, all three accompanying disciples insisted that they had all advised Senior Brother Jiang Huai. One female disciple had even tightly hugged Jiang Huai’s arm, declaring that if Senior Brother Jiang Huai didn’t go, neither would she. Jiang Huai had knocked her unconscious and entrusted the remaining two male disciples to escort her back to the sect first. He then charged into the altar alone, confronting the late Nascent Soul stage Evil Cultivator.
This was because he worried that too much time would be wasted and it would be too late.
That day, snow covered the mountains. When the sect’s Sword Bearers received the message and rushed to the altar, all the Evil Cultivators there were dead. Jiang Huai, however, was surrounded by a group of rescued children. He had built a bonfire in the blizzard to keep the children warm and was making funny faces to amuse a crying little girl.
But at this point, his meridians were shattered, his Qi sea was broken, and the Heavenly Dao Golden Core that countless disciples had envied to madness had also exploded.
His master invited the best physicians in the Eastern Region to treat him, but when they left, they could only shake their heads in pity.
In the Law Enforcement Hall, Jiang Huai knelt in the center of the hall, enduring the Sect Master’s scolding. It was said that the Sect Master was so enraged that dark clouds covered Sky Xuan Mountain, and thunder rumbled. The Sect Master questioned him, “Why couldn’t you just be calmer? Why couldn’t you be more sensible? Even ten thousand boys and girls are not worth one of your hairs. You are the one destined to lead the entire Tian Xuan Sect, the infinitely bright future of Tian Xuan Sect, why… why act so foolishly like this?”
Only then did everyone realize the truth of the rumors: the Sect Master truly intended to groom him as the next Sect Master.
According to the rumors among the female disciples, on that day, Senior Brother Jiang Huai simply knelt there quietly, his face slightly pale. His eyelashes drooped, and he softly admitted his mistake. His innocent peach blossom eyes were still as gentle as ever.
But what use was admitting fault now that things had come to this?
Finally, his master arrived at the Law Enforcement Hall and took him back to the sect to recuperate. The furious Sect Master left the sect and, overnight, massacred the entire Evil Moon Sect. It was said that even many other Evil Cult sects were implicated. Many Evil Cultivators complained bitterly, suffering this unwarranted disaster even though they had not provoked Tian Xuan Sect.
And all of this had happened three months ago.
…
Deep winter, fine snow fell incessantly.
Jiang Huai had been confined to his sickbed for three months.
For the first month of these three months, his sickbed was visited daily by fellow disciples, making it quite lively. In the second month, some elders from the sect would come, hoping for some miracle in his Qi sea and meridians.
Regrettably, no miracle occurred.
In the third month, former admirers among the junior sisters would occasionally bring him winter clothes or some handmade pastries. However, after one visit, many of them never returned.
And now, besides his master’s occasional visits, no one came to his bedside daily.
Therefore, Jiang Huai eagerly anticipated this time each day because his immortal master would visit him punctually.
Jiang Huai’s master was named Chu Xianning.
Chu Xianning was an Eighth Realm Mahayana cultivator, the foremost female Sword Immortal of the Eastern Region. Her age was a secret that could not be asked. However, Jiang Huai guessed that his master was nearing six hundred years old.
Indeed, no matter how cold a woman was, she became sensitive about her age when she got older.
Jiang Huai was brought back by his master at the age of six. The reason she picked him up was that he looked pleasing to the eye, much like selecting a puppy one liked at a pet market. Over the years, Jiang Huai had diligently fulfilled the role of a “puppy,” finding various ways to please his master daily.
It had taken him over a decade to make his consistently cold master occasionally smile like a flower when they were alone. But ever since his cultivation was crippled, his master’s expression had become cold again.
Jiang Huai understood that his master was unhappy.
The door was gently pushed open.
The woman who entered the room wore a white palace dress, its hem spreading like flower petals. Her figure was slender, her delicate curves hidden beneath the palace dress. Her jet-black hair cascaded like a waterfall to her waist, and her features were as beautiful as a painting.
The dim light from outside fell on the delicate clavicle protruding from her chest. Her icy skin and jade-like bones seemed to possess the texture of jade, and the faint glow made Jiang Huai think of a shimmering stream under the moonlight.
In her hand, the master held a medicine pot. As she approached the bed and sat down on the chair, Jiang Huai merely sniffed and a fragrance like flowers wafted towards him.
The Sword Immortal Chu Xianning possessed the Flower Spirit Physique, yet her title was the Flower-Plucking Fairy. It was rumored that the Flower Spirit Physique exuded a faint fragrance all over their body, and even their saliva was as sweet as nectar. Jiang Huai had always been curious if this was true, but the moment he asked, he was met with his master’s cold gaze. She thought he was deliberately being flirtatious and made him practice sword techniques until midnight that very night.
“Do you still need to drink medicine?” Jiang Huai looked at his master, a hint of distress appearing in his brows.
“The last pot,” Chu Xianning replied calmly.
Her voice was as crisp as a plucked string, not at all soft, but Jiang Huai loved this indifferent tone. It always made him feel a tickle in his heart.
Jiang Huai certainly did not dare to defy his master’s wishes. A disobedient puppy would be punished by its owner. If he dared to say “no,” his master would likely feed him by sticking a funnel into his mouth.
So, he obediently picked up the medicine pot, held his nose, and drank it down in one gulp. The bitter taste instantly spread across his taste buds. This medicine was only to repair his damaged meridians; his Qi sea would likely never recover in this lifetime.
Fortunately, after the medicinal liquid had all gone down, there was a slight sweetness like nectar on his tongue.
Though it was likely Jiang Huai’s hallucination.
Jiang Huai finished everything in the medicine pot and even deliberately turned it upside down to show Chu Xianning. Chu Xianning merely gave him a faint glance and said, “I have something to tell you.”
“Mm, I’m listening.”
“You are going to be jilted.” Chu Xianning’s brows were calm, but her voice seemed colder than before.
“Mm, I understand.” Jiang Huai nodded gently.
Chu Xianning’s gaze never left Jiang Huai’s face. She tried to read a hint of disappointment, anger, or even annoyance from his eyes, any bit of regret would have been good, but he showed none. He simply nodded calmly, his expression as gentle as ever.
“Why are you staring at me, Master?” Jiang Huai suddenly looked up, meeting Chu Xianning’s gaze.
Their eyes met, and it was Chu Xianning who averted her gaze first.
In recent days, this unfilial disciple had become increasingly restless, his peach blossom eyes always gazing at her. Since his cultivation was crippled, he had become much quieter. But these past few days, his expression suggested he was getting over his pain quickly.
“I remember you quite liked the marriage I arranged for you.”
“That’s true. Although the Saintess of Qing Xuan Sect is a bit dull, she is indeed beautiful and well-endowed. She looks like she would be good at bearing children.”
Jiang Huai’s gaze flickered over the slender, delicate clavicle at the neckline of Chu Xianning’s palace dress. He dared not look too long; a quarter-second more might result in Chu Xianning smashing his head with the medicine pot.
They say that when you can’t see your toes when looking down, you are a consummate beauty.
But it was true, his master’s figure was… she didn’t look like she would be good at bearing children, but she was slender, graceful, and had an elegant temperament.
“I remember you used to give her many gifts and teach her sword techniques.”
“Yes.”
“It’s rare to see you so proactive with a woman. Now, hearing that you’re being jilted, do you have any regrets?” Chu Xianning’s eyes fell on his face, and she didn’t know what she was expecting.
But Jiang Huai only smiled helplessly, his voice soft, yet it rippled like pebbles dropped into a lake.
“No regrets.”
