Spectating the Angsty Romance of the Master and Disciple from the Sect Next Door Chapter 159

In this situation, they certainly wouldn’t fight anymore.
For the first time, Li Jin’an smiled happily in response to Jingting Dao Lord’s anger and cold face. She didn’t even bother to bid farewell to Yun Liuguang; she took Xie Huaixue’s hand and turned to run.
Jingting Dao Lord shook her head, too lazy to comment further on Li Jin’an. She stood with her hands behind her back, her gaze swept across the direction of the forbidden ground. “Be prepared.”
“Yes.” Yun Liuguang behind her cupped her hands and respectfully responded.
This was about the Dao Venerable integrating her body with the Dao. The commotion would be significant then and would certainly cause turmoil, so the Dao Sect needed to prepare in advance to respond.
On the other side, Li Jin’an, skipping along the road hand in hand with Xie Huaixue, was incredibly happy, so much so that she didn’t even have time to check what gift the Dao Venerable had given her. Before her astonishing guess, all these could be put aside.
She naturally felt it was a great pity about the Dao Venerable integrating her body with the Dao; after all, that was the Dao Venerable.
But if it could bring back the departed ones…
Li Jin’an looked back at Xie Huaixue and whispered, “Is it bad that I’m a little happy?”
Actually, it wasn’t just a little happy; it was overwhelmingly happy.
But the Dao Venerable had just given gifts to her and Xie Huaixue. In her eyes, she was already one of their own, so naturally, she didn’t want the Dao Venerable to be deceived by the Heavenly Dao into completing the rules.
Especially since she had a strong prejudice against the Heavenly Dao, thinking the Heavenly Dao bore ill will towards them.
Dao Venerable and Yinyue Monarch were both elders she liked. Why couldn’t she have both?
Xie Huaixue smiled gently, without pointing out Li Jin’an’s tangled little thoughts, but spoke of other matters.
“With incomplete rules, one cannot ascend. Tribulation Transcendent cultivators can only hide from the Heavenly Dao’s gaze and choose to slumber, unable to appear before others for thousands or tens of thousands of years.”
“What’s the difference between this and a lightless prison?” Li Jin’an was extremely surprised. After putting herself in her shoes, she could probably understand the Dao Venerable’s choice. “If one can only slumber in darkness, it’s better to retain consciousness and integrate with the Dao. But if it were me, I would definitely spar with the Heavenly Dao before that.”
Even if she knew she couldn’t win, she would still swing her sword and definitely wouldn’t make it too easy for the Heavenly Dao, mainly because she couldn’t stand the Heavenly Dao.
Although it was still far in the distant future, she already somewhat didn’t want to break through to the Tribulation Transcendent stage.
“The path ahead is uncertain, long and arduous, but if we persevere, we shall arrive.” Xie Huaixue gently swayed Li Jin’an’s hand, her gaze soft. “Don’t be afraid. We can just walk together.”
Li Jin’an’s lips curved up, then quickly pressed down. She coughed once and said with a stern face, “Before you lay out all your plans, I’ll ignore your sweet talk. Merits are merits, faults are faults; don’t think about getting away with it by deception.”
Xie Huaixue lowered her gaze and smiled faintly. “Alright.”
Back at Qingxiao Peak, Li Jin’an first froze, then blinked her eyes, looking at Chixin Sword Lord, who seemed to have been forgotten by everyone. “Master, why are you here?”
Chixin Sword Lord, hugging her sword, said testily, “Otherwise, where could I be?!”
Not knowing anything, and with no battle yet, she was spinning around anxiously like a headless fly. Where else could she go? Of course, she came to Qingxiao Peak to catch her disciple.
“Could it be to bring Qi Lingzi, Tan Yanyi, and Ling Qiu, those three children?”
Before the master and disciple could start arguing, Xie Huaixue had already taken her seat and brewed tea. The fragrant steam seemed to soften her clear, gentle eyes.
Li Jin’an immediately abandoned Chixin Sword Lord and sat close to Xie Huaixue.
Xie Huaixue raised a hand and pushed two cups of tea towards Li Jin’an and Chixin Sword Lord, giving them an excuse to cease their hostilities.
“Speak,” Li Jin’an said, after gulping down her tea and setting the cup down, her gaze fixed intently on Xie Huaixue.
Influenced by the atmosphere, Chixin Sword Lord also sat upright.
A faint smile curved Xie Huaixue’s lips.
Ethereal in white robes, her entire being became more serene and ethereal, like jade shrouded in mist.
“Not only can a person’s fate be interfered with, but the world can as well. In truth, Master wasn’t the first to discover the anomaly. It was the Heavenly Dao and various mighty cultivators at the Tribulation Transcendence stage who found the path ahead for the Lancang Continent to be obscured, yet they couldn’t divine any outcome, nor could they find the source of the change. An invisible hand blocked the sky of the Lancang Continent.”
Li Jin’an instantly thought of the Heavenly Tome in her Sea of Consciousness.
“Is it alright to just say it out loud now?”
Chixin Sword Lord looked from one to the other, completely bewildered. Though she was sitting right there, it was as if she hadn’t followed her disciple and disciple-in-law’s conversation from the start. After a moment’s thought, she swallowed her questions.
“Lan Ci and the others are dead, so there’s no issue.”
The predetermined fate was broken, and no one wanted to use the scourge and the Heavenly Tome to stir up trouble anymore. They no longer had to walk on eggshells.
The Heavenly Tome was now like a piece of rotting flesh; it just needed to be removed. As for the flies it had attracted, they had all been swatted dead and could no longer buzz in people’s ears.
“Until the Heavenly Demon Clan besieged Master and my parents at Three Realms Mountain.”
At these words, the expressions of the two sword cultivators present became solemn.
“Master spent a hundred years and finally tracked down some traces of the Heavenly Demon Clan.”
Xie Huaixue truly lacked the talent for storytelling; her tone was calm and unperturbed, and her narration lacked twists and turns. The difficulties and hardships Yinyue Monarch faced were reduced to a single ‘finally’.
That simple sentence immediately reddened the eyes of the other two sword cultivators. One felt her dao companion had worked so tirelessly yet still remembered to protect her, while the other believed Yinyue Monarch had spared no effort for her and Xie Huaixue.
Although Yinyue Monarch wasn’t present, it was enough to make the two sword cultivators utterly heartbroken and sorrowful for her.
Li Jin’an whimpered, and as Xie Huaixue handed her a handkerchief, she noticed something amiss. “Wait! After Yinyue Monarch sensed the Heavenly Demon Clan’s existence, she could implicitly understand and exchange information with Dao Lord, Dao Venerable, and even the Heavenly Dao. But how did you know… about that book?”
She truly couldn’t bring herself to say the Heavenly Tome’s name; it would simply defile her mouth and Xie Huaixue’s ears.
In fact, everything else made sense. Yinyue Monarch, Jingting Dao Lord, the Heavenly Dao, and the mighty cultivators at the Tribulation Transcendence stage had probably long since understood each other tacitly, with a spiritual connection that illuminated everything. They already had a mutual understanding, knowing what to do and when, even without explicit communication. For instance, when attacking the Heavenly Demon Clan, there was no need for prior discussion. They were all outstanding individuals among the clever, and a few vague words would suffice.
The only thing she couldn’t figure out was how everyone seemed to have read the Heavenly Tome, even though it was clearly in her Sea of Consciousness. Surely, no one had peeked into her head to read it!
Chixin Sword Lord, quietly shedding tears and without a handkerchief to wipe her face, once again couldn’t keep up. Her face was full of confusion. “What book?”
Li Jin’an gave her a blank stare. “We’re talking about important matters. Don’t interrupt.”
Oh, her master hadn’t read the Heavenly Tome. She’d almost forgotten.
Chixin Sword Lord gave her unlucky disciple a deadpan look. This was the trouble with teaching a disciple too well: she couldn’t just casually slap her mischievous disciple. What a pity.
“The Heavenly Dao used the power of rules to intercept that book.”
The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Cycle is forty-nine, and humanity escapes with one. The Heavenly Dao is inherently incomplete, and everything has a sliver of hope.
Even ants cling to life, let alone the Heavenly Dao. How could it simply watch the Lancang Continent head towards a dead end? Naturally, it had to rise up in resistance.
“Then what?” Li Jin’an eagerly pressed for more information.
Xie Huaixue lowered her eyelids and continued calmly, “The Heavenly Dao gave that book to me.”
Li Jin’an started in shock, immediately stood up, and stared fixedly at Xie Huaixue. Her heart began to pound fiercely with Xie Huaixue’s words.
“Only the person who obtains that book can change the original story’s progression.” Xie Huaixue raised her gaze, meeting Li Jin’an’s eyes. “It’s just that I thought you would do better than me.”
The Heavenly Tome was energy from outside this realm, and it would revise the timeline. Only the person who obtained the Heavenly Tome could resist this tendency and rectify the plot.
And if one wanted to overturn the Heavenly Tome, there was no one more suitable than Qingxiao Immortal Venerable, who was being pursued by the scourge protagonist.
The Heavenly Dao handed the Heavenly Tome to Xie Huaixue because it believed she wouldn’t refuse. After all, who would willingly see themselves end up in such a miserable state?
In this matter, the Heavenly Dao and Xie Huaixue had a win-win situation. Both It and Xie Huaixue needed to defy fate, change destiny, and turn the tide.
But…
The Heavenly Dao cared about the fate of the Lancang Continent, not a Li Jin’an who was irrelevant to the overall situation. But Xie Huaixue did.
What Qingxiao Immortal Venerable cared about most was the line—”Jijin Sword Sovereign was also a hero of her generation, but unfortunately perished midway, leaving Qingxiao Immortal Venerable without old friends.”
How could they live together and not die together?
My old home knows I am well, but I, a lonely wanderer, am filled with sorrow.
Xie Huaixue and the version of herself in the Heavenly Tome who had lost her beloved looked at each other in silence. After a long gaze, she made a deal with the Heavenly Dao.
Jijin Sword Sovereign and Qingxiao Immortal Venerable should always be mentioned together, existing through time.
The tears she hadn’t shed when Yinyue Monarch was mentioned finally surged out at this moment.
Although Xie Huaixue didn’t lay bare her innermost thoughts, Li Jin’an had already understood—the Heavenly Tome she utterly despised was the best sliver of hope her dao companion could secure for her.
Xie Huaixue handed the one chance to change everyone’s fate to Li Jin’an, who was still oblivious and cursing on Jijin Peak.
Li Jin’an couldn’t say anything. She simply shed tears quietly, her nose red, her phoenix eyes moist. Large, pearl-like tears streamed down endlessly.
Not to mention Xie Huaixue, even Chixin Sword Lord felt extremely pained watching her.
The usually flamboyant, boisterous, and lawless child suddenly cried as if about to shatter. Pale and fragile, her destructiveness more than doubled. It was better if she just continued causing mischief and troubling others.
Xie Huaixue didn’t bother with Chixin Sword Lord, who was still diligently providing a shining example to the juniors. She wrapped her arm around Li Jin’an’s shoulders, took out a new handkerchief, and meticulously wiped away Li Jin’an’s tears.
Qingxiao Immortal Venerable’s handkerchief was very plain and simple, adorned only with auspicious cloud patterns. At most, the material was better, and it was entirely used on the incongruous Jijin Sword Sovereign.
Li Jin’an tightly hugged Xie Huaixue’s waist, burying her face in her neck. She sobbed uncontrollably, her shoulders trembling ceaselessly.
Xie Huaixue didn’t use any hollow words to comfort Li Jin’an at that moment. Instead, she simply held her in a quiet embrace, sharing that complex emotion.
Because they cared for each other equally, they could empathize so deeply.
Chixin Sword Lord, for once, became docile, even restraining her uninhibited posture, acting extremely reserved.
She didn’t know whether to sit or stand, stay or leave. It was the first time she truly realized that Yinyue Peak had indeed been renamed Qingxiao Peak, and it was now the juniors’ territory.
Just as Chixin Sword Lord idly recalled when Li Jin’an had last cried in front of her—whether it was because she had lost to Xie Huaixue too many times or had her candied haws snatched away.
Li Jin’an sniffled her way out of Xie Huaixue’s embrace, her round, red eyes wide. She tried to hold it back but couldn’t help but choke out a sob. “Can Yinyue Monarch still come back?”
After speaking, she looked at Xie Huaixue with grievance and dejection, pretending she wasn’t the crybaby just now.
“Yes.”