Tianji Zi rode his little white cloud far ahead of everyone else, soaring upward against the streams of light and leading the great procession toward the Esoteric Sect.
Scholar Xiao was doing a few quick calculations and had just opened his mouth when several sharp whistles of displaced air sounded behind him.
He turned in surprise, then stared.
“Teacher? You’re coming too?”
Wen Tianxia had both hands clasped behind his back, his expression perfectly composed.
“What? You’re allowed to go, but I’m not?”
“Of course that’s not what I—”
Scholar Xiao stopped mid-sentence.
Behind Wen Tianxia, the heads of the other three schools had appeared as well, all following along.
For once, he was speechless.
Looking farther back, he saw that every cultivator at Four Books Academy who had reached Nascent Soul or above had joined them.
His expression shifted slightly.
He couldn’t help taking an extra look at the head of the Chess School.
Amid this great display of unity and determination, the man stood out spectacularly. Even fully armed and with a bamboo hat concealing his face, he still radiated the unmistakable aura of someone who had absolutely no desire to keep living.
Scholar Xiao fell silent for a moment before his usual smile returned.
“Even the head of the Chess School has come out. It really does seem like a major battle is upon us.”
Wen Tianxia chuckled.
“What, did you seriously intend for just the few of you to challenge the ancient number-one sect with a true immortal presiding over it?”
“You have a sect behind you. When it’s time to use it, use it.”
“Hiss—I actually forgot about that.” Scholar Xiao smacked himself on the forehead in regret. “At a time like this, naturally we should use every trick in the book.”
“Even if I have to act cute and wheedle all of you the way Brother Yu does with his master, I ought to at least try dragging you along.”
“Huh?” Hearing his name, Yu Qingtang turned around in confusion. “You brought this many people?”
“We were originally planning to sneak in.”
Chi Yantian pointed at Tianji Zi, who was charging along at the very front.
“He just set off fireworks big enough for half the Nine Provinces to see. How are we supposed to sneak in now?”
Yu Qingtang sighed heavily.
“That’s why I said originally.”
“As for now, we can only...”
Ye Chenyan turned to look at him.
Yu Qingtang blinked innocently.
“Don’t look at me. How would I come up with a plan? Ask the strategist.”
He pointed at Scholar Xiao.
Scholar Xiao pointed at himself with his folding fan.
“I’m the strategist? Since when?”
“Just now.” Yu Qingtang looked solemn. “A great battle is imminent, so all appointment ceremonies have been simplified. You only get a verbal appointment.”
“Oh—” Amusement filled Scholar Xiao’s eyes as he looked at Ye Chenyan. “Master of this realm, does that appointment count?”
“Anything he says counts.” Ye Chenyan laughed, happily playing along. “Why don’t you come up with an impressive title for yourself while you’re at it?”
Scholar Xiao looked thoughtful.
“Hmm—”
Chi Yantian cut in.
“Call him Fire—”
“Hey—!” Scholar Xiao hurriedly stopped him. “Nothing with ‘fire’ in it!”
“Fire could work.” Yu Qingtang looked completely sincere. “For example: ‘Strategist Whose Next Publication Is Guaranteed to Be a Hit.’”
Scholar Xiao: “...”
Inspiration poured from Yu Qingtang like a spring.
He clapped his hands.
“Or forget the fire part. How about ‘Strategist Sincerely Soliciting Manuscripts from Lovers’? Spread that title around and you’d accomplish two things at once.”
Scholar Xiao silently closed his eyes.
Wen Tianxia gave them a strange look.
“You people...”
Scholar Xiao glanced over helplessly, about to explain, only to see Wen Tianxia nod.
“There is a little cleverness to it.”
“Right?” Yu Qingtang grinned proudly.
“But when it comes to bad ideas, you’re still the expert.” Wen Tianxia turned toward Scholar Xiao. “Come up with one yet?”
“What bad idea?” Scholar Xiao sighed helplessly. “It’s nothing more than splitting into two groups and luring the tiger away from the mountain.”
“One group makes a huge scene at the Esoteric Sect and challenges Bu Yetian. The other takes the opportunity to rescue Ji Ruxue.”
Ying Wujue frowned slightly.
“That simple?”
“They should be able to anticipate...”
“Tch.” Chi Yantian folded his arms and looked at him. “Don’t doubt him. He may be unreliable, but he’s smart. If he says it’ll work, then there’s no way the other side will expect it!”
Scholar Xiao laughed.
“It’s rare for Brother Chi to have such faith in me, but unfortunately, they probably will expect it.”
“Huh?” Chi Yantian stared at him in shock.
“Both sides know perfectly well what the other intends. It comes down to how much strength each side can bring to the contest.” Scholar Xiao lifted his eyes with a smile. “If you can catch the Esoteric Sect off guard and hit them harder than they expect, we’ll naturally find an opening to rescue the holy maiden.”
“Oh!”
Whether Chi Yantian had actually understood all of that was impossible to say.
But at least he knew what he was supposed to do.
The Esoteric Sect’s gates were already close ahead.
He slammed his fists together.
“Got it! I’ll make a huge mess!”
Scholar Xiao looked deeply pleased.
“Exactly. You follow Brother Ye and make as much trouble as possible.”
For once, Yu Qingtang volunteered himself.
“I’ll go with you to rescue Ji Ruxue!”
Ye Chenyan’s head snapped around.
“You—”
“I can actually be useful, and I swear I have no ulterior motives whatsoever. I am absolutely not going because she’s beautiful.” Yu Qingtang gave him a finger heart with an utterly serious face. “Besides, Ying Wujue is obviously going with us to rescue Ji Ruxue. With him there, I...”
“No.”
Ying Wujue closed his eyes, his expression resolute.
“I will go with them to hold off Bu Yetian.”
“Huh?” Yu Qingtang stared. “You went through hell to save her and worked so hard to gather all of us. Now that success is finally in sight, you’re just handing the fruits of victory over to us?”
Ying Wujue lowered his eyes.
“I want to save her. Not because I hope doing so will make her fall in love with me.”
“I asked all of you to come and place yourselves in danger. Naturally, I should stand beside you.”
He cupped his hands toward them.
“Though I possess only the bones of an ordinary mortal and cannot compare with geniuses such as yourselves, I...”
“Oh, come on.” Tianji Zi couldn’t help turning around. “Look what the Esoteric Sect does to children!”
“I told them such an obedient kid should never have been taken back there. They deserve to recruit people like me and suffer for it.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow.
“Now that you mention it, I’m curious. When they tried teaching you all this stuff back then, what exactly did you learn?”
“Hahaha.” Tianji Zi showed not the slightest embarrassment. “Naturally, I listened to none of it.”
“Whatever they said, I kept asking questions until they couldn’t answer anymore.”
He looked unbearably pleased with himself.
“Back then, Bu Yetian even honored me with a four-character evaluation.”
Ying Wujue froze.
“My junior sister once received the evaluation ‘Heaven-Blessed Talent’ from Bu Yetian. Could it be that Senior also...”
Tianji Zi proudly pointed at himself.
“Mine was ‘Hopelessly Incorrigible.’”
Ying Wujue looked genuinely impressed.
“Did... did Bu Yetian truly say that himself?”
“Of course.”
Tianji Zi raised his head toward the Esoteric Sect’s gates.
They truly hung within the Nine Heavens themselves—towering white-jade palace gates suspended high in the clear sky.
A hint of nostalgia appeared on Tianji Zi’s face.
He descended from his cloud, patted the little white puff beside him, then stuffed it beneath one of the pillars supporting the white-jade gate.
It fit perfectly.
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened slightly.
“Don’t tell me...”
“Exactly.” Tianji Zi pointed at the little white cloud with a grin. “I swiped this cloud from the Esoteric Sect back then too.”
“Now that I’m back, it’s back as well. Hahaha!”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
You really don’t leave so much as a feather behind when you pass by, do you?
Their enormous group had made no attempt whatsoever to hide its approach.
Naturally, the Esoteric Sect disciples guarding the gate noticed them immediately.
Seeing so many people arrive, one disciple froze.
Yet instead of panicking, he shouted angrily,
“Who dares disturb the peace of the Esoteric Sect?!”
Tianji Zi slowly raised his chin and clasped his hands behind his back, putting on the air of an unfathomable expert.
“Disciple, he’s the first one.”
“Go.”
Ye Chenyan lifted his demonic weapon and gave him a long look.
Then he shot forward like lightning—
—but not before smacking Tianji Zi with the butt of his spear on the way past.
“Ow!” Tianji Zi exploded in outrage. “You rebellious disciple! Why are you starting with me?!”
“Well, you are an abandoned disciple of the Esoteric Sect.” Wen Tianxia smiled without smiling, plainly enjoying the spectacle. “Starting with you seems reasonable.”
Tianji Zi was just about to point at him when Wen Tianxia turned and followed Yu Qingtang instead.
“I’m going this way.”
“Oh—” Tianji Zi immediately understood. “You want to see the Heaven-Questioning artifact.”
“Not only that.” Wen Tianxia remained perfectly calm. “He’s more interesting than you.”
Tianji Zi froze.
His expression became complicated.
“When you put it like that, I have to admit I feel somewhat defeated.”
“Bu Yetian! Get out here!”
Ye Chenyan’s low roar rang out.
Wen Tianxia looked over and shook his head in amusement.
“Keep an eye on your disciple.”
“Don’t let him actually get beaten to death.”
“It’s fine. He’s hard to kill.” Tianji Zi sounded utterly unconcerned, but in reality, he had already flicked his horsetail whisk and floated after him. “I’ll go watch the fun.”
“Haaah!”
Riding a blaze of fire like a burning chariot, Chi Yantian roared straight through the Esoteric Sect.
He sent several disciples flying along the way and cracked countless paving stones beneath his feet.
At a glance, anyone could tell he came from money.
Not once did he appear to consider who would be paying for the repairs afterward.
Yu Qingtang watched him go with complicated emotion.
Scholar Xiao tugged him.
“Inside.”
Yu Qingtang hurriedly ducked down and followed him into a building where Ji Ruxue was supposedly being held.
People of the Esoteric Sect loved dressing in white. Many of them also had youthful faces with crane-white hair, their hair and beards alike snowy white.
Even the buildings were white.
After a while, the sheer amount of white became a little exhausting to look at.
This building, however, had quite a bit of black mixed in.
Yu Qingtang was just wondering what it was when Scholar Xiao spoke.
“Dried blood.”
Yu Qingtang instantly snatched his hand back.
“Holy mother of—”
Wen Tianxia couldn’t help turning to look at him.
Yu Qingtang awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Sorry. Lost my composure.”
“It’s fine.” Wen Tianxia nodded agreeably. “You lose your composure in very entertaining ways.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He really did come just to watch the show.
“Who is it? Senior Brother Ying?”
Ji Ruxue’s slightly hoarse voice sounded from deeper inside.
Everyone turned toward it.
At the center of a bloodstained white-jade cage, Ji Ruxue was kneeling on one knee.
She looked weak and pale, though there were no obvious external injuries. She simply seemed drained.
Combined with that breathtaking face of hers—the kind that made it difficult to look away—her condition was all the more distressing.
“Holy Maiden?” Scholar Xiao cupped his hands in greeting, then warily scanned the surroundings. Surprise entered his eyes. “They truly left you completely unguarded?”
“This has the distinct feel of an invitation to walk straight into a trap.”
Yu Qingtang did not move recklessly.
When smart people were present, it was best to defer to the smart people first.
He looked from Wen Tianxia to Scholar Xiao.
“So what do we do?”
Wen Tianxia smiled kindly.
“Step inside and find out.”
“Oh.”
Yu Qingtang answered obediently.
Then he remained exactly where he was.
“I’m not stupid!”
Scholar Xiao’s eyes curved with laughter.
“That certainly is straightforward. But...”
“No.” Ji Ruxue spoke quietly.
She closed her eyes for a moment, looking faintly guilty.
“They know I will not leave with anyone else. That is why they did not bother posting guards.”
“Everyone, I came here willingly...”
Yu Qingtang immediately put on a solemn expression.
“No, you didn’t.”
“They just raised you to believe this way and never gave you any other choice.”
“You do not have to die.”
“And even if you truly choose death, then at the very least you should understand exactly what you are dying for. There should be people in this world you personally want to protect badly enough that you would face death without fear.”
Yu Qingtang stared straight into her eyes.
“All they’ve done is praise you for being noble and coax you into dying.”
“You can’t listen to them.”
“Wanting to live is human nature.”
“It isn’t selfish.”
Ji Ruxue’s lips parted slightly.
Her gaze wavered.
After a long silence, she gave him a faintly helpless look.
“Yu... Qingtang.”
“You already told me all of that before.”
“And I thought about it very carefully.”
“I’m not refusing to leave because I want to die.”
“It’s because I still haven’t obtained Bu Yetian’s secret incantation.”
“I...”
Her eyes flickered.
“Someone told me something.”
“If they intend to have me control the Heaven-Questioning artifact, then for once in my life, I might as well be selfish.”
“I won’t ask for the formula of the Heaven-Mending Pill.”
“I’ll ask...”
“For a way to break this deadlock without sacrificing so many people.”
She lifted her eyes.
Compared with when they had first met, there was noticeably more life in them now.
“So thank you.”
“But I cannot leave with you yet.”
“I still want to save the world.”
“I just don’t necessarily have to do it with my life.”
Yu Qingtang looked embarrassed.
“Oh.”
“So that’s what you meant.”
And here he had gone above and beyond, delivering such a remarkably sensible speech.
Ji Ruxue lowered her head as if embarrassed herself, a tiny smile appearing on her face.
“Still, I’m very happy that you came to save me.”
“Just as I was happy when Senior Brother Ying came to save me.”
“Perhaps this is happiness I should not have. Proof that I am weak and afraid of death. But I...”
She raised her head slightly, a trace of hope in her eyes.
“Perhaps... I can already count all of you as friends?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He had not made friends this formally since graduating from kindergarten.
It was making him weirdly embarrassed.
“Ahem.” Scholar Xiao hurriedly cleared his throat as a reminder and gave him a nervous look. “Brother Yu, Brother Ye is still fighting for his life outside. You need to stay strong!”
“If you two keep staring at each other like that, even I’m starting to get touched...”
Yu Qingtang paled in horror.
“Don’t say dangerous things like that!”
“Ye Chenyan probably can’t bear to hit me, but I’m pretty sure he’ll have no problem hitting you. You’re the one who needs to stay strong, Scholar Xiao!”
“Ahem.” Scholar Xiao immediately became solemn. “Naturally, my resolve is unshakable. I merely meant that your friendship was rather moving.”
“Very entertaining.” Wen Tianxia calmly watched the three of them. “So what now?”
Yu Qingtang swept out one hand with great confidence.
“We rescue her anyway.”
Ji Ruxue froze and was about to object when Yu Qingtang waved her off.
“Don’t worry.”
“I know the secret incantation.”
Ji Ruxue repeated incredulously,
“You know it?”
Every eye turned toward him.
Yu Qingtang blinked innocently.
“D-do I have to say it right now? It’s a little embarrassing.”
Scholar Xiao immediately asked,
“Why?”
“I told you. It’s a terrible old joke.” Yu Qingtang’s mouth twitched as he looked toward the ceiling. “The Heaven-Questioning artifact can ask anything of any existence across all time—past and present, heaven and earth, ghosts and gods.”
“Whosever name you call is the one you’re asking.”
He winked meaningfully at Ji Ruxue.
“Do you know who the person who knows everything under heaven is?”
Ji Ruxue thought for a moment.
“Some ancestor of the Esoteric Sect? Or perhaps a senior from Four Books Academy?”
“That doesn’t sound right.” Wen Tianxia narrowed his eyes, then abruptly realized something. “You once said this world was a book.”
“In that case, the one who knows everything about it would naturally be the person who wrote the book.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Yu Qingtang clapped excitedly. “See? I knew you looked like the smartest one here!”
He pointed at Ji Ruxue.
“When you use the Heaven-Questioning artifact, all you have to do is shout...”
When he stopped, Scholar Xiao leaned forward curiously.
“What is that person’s name?”
Yu Qingtang gave two dry laughs.
“I-it’s a pen name. You people at Four Books Academy should understand those, right?”
“It just... doesn’t sound much like a person.”
“Of course.” Scholar Xiao laughed. “I’ve seen plenty of pen names that don’t resemble proper names at all. Brother Yu, go ahead.”
Yu Qingtang muttered under his breath,
“It’s not that it doesn’t sound like a person’s name.”
“It doesn’t sound like a person.”
He cleared his throat and rattled it off as quickly as possible.
“Carefree Like a Dog.”
The entire room fell silent.
Ji Ruxue’s eyes went blank.
She seemed unsure whether she had heard correctly.
“...What?”
Yu Qingtang closed his eyes and surrendered himself to fate.
Drawing a deep breath from his dantian, he shouted at the top of his lungs,
“CAREFREE LIKE A DOG!”
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