novelraw Chapter 63 : We Should Spend More Time Together After This
Chapter 63 : We Should Spend More Time Together After This
Chapter 63: We Should Spend More Time Together After This
By dusk, the rain had stopped once again.
Having finished his good deed of helping improve Canglan Mountain’s mountain-protecting grand formation, Fang Chang leisurely wandered back toward the bamboo forest behind Huangmei Courtyard.
As he passed Cui Wenxi’s thatched hut,
he discovered a chaotic trail of footprints upon the stone ground before the entrance.
The incoming footprints were heavy, seemingly carrying anger. Mud splattered all around them, suppressed yet explosive.
The departing footprints, however, were light and brisk. The anger had vanished entirely, with only a few soft steps remaining.
The courtyard gate was half-open, revealing the interior in disarray once again.
Fang Chang knocked twice. Without waiting for a response, he pushed the door open.
He saw Cui Wenxi bent over cleaning the courtyard, several fresh injuries added to her face.
“How’s the cultivation going?”
Fang Chang leaned lazily against the doorframe as though he saw nothing unusual.
Cui Wenxi lifted her eyes and saw it was him. Her expression barely changed as she lowered her head and continued tidying.
“The same as always. As the turbid aura grows stronger, my soul has been somewhat restless lately... You ask every day. Why are you more concerned than I am?”
“I passed the technique to you. It’s like raising a newly adopted puppy — naturally I’d worry whether she’s adapting properly these past few days.”
“Peh.”
Cui Wenxi spat lightly at him. “You’re the puppy.”
Fang Chang smiled.
“That person was called Cui Shuyu, right? Your younger sister?”
Cui Wenxi immediately fell silent, her gaze drifting aside.
Seeing she did not respond,
Fang Chang continued, “You’re just going to quietly endure this?”
Cui Wenxi sighed.
Helplessly, she said:
“There’s nothing I can do. I can’t beat her right now. Otherwise, I’d already have beaten her up.”
“You were once the senior sister at least. Doesn’t your Cui Family do anything about it?”
“I won’t be bullied by cultivators with outside surnames. Even cultivators from the other branches — the First Branch, Fourth Branch, and Fifth Branch — still treat me politely. But Shuyu is different... she’s my biological younger sister.”
“So your mother just doesn’t care.”
Fang Chang sneered and shook his head. “Cold-hearted enough.”
A trace of loneliness appeared in Cui Wenxi’s expression.
“Mother has always been domineering and unwilling to stand beneath others. After Father passed away from illness, she only became worse. Later, after becoming an elder and handling matters for the Cui Family, she naturally became even colder.”
“I don’t care to interfere in your family affairs. If you’re willing to take beatings, no one really cares... Just be careful your little sister Shuyu doesn’t push her luck too far. One day, if things go especially poorly for her, she might just come at you with a sword.”
“Shuyu’s temper has become worse, but she would never go that far. You’re overthinking.”
Fang Chang chuckled softly without commenting further.
Then he abruptly changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, what exactly is the format of the Direct Disciple Trial?”
“The third-generation patriarch, Cui Ya, once possessed a Five Elements Dojo. After the patriarch ascended and passed away, the dojo, the remaining four Five Elements Treasure Seals, and Canglan Mountain’s mountain-protecting grand formation fused together and escaped into the void. Through maintenance by successive generations of cultivators, it now exists stably attached to Canglan Mountain. The Direct Disciple Trial is held within it.”
Fang Chang nodded.
It matched some of his impressions of Canglan Mountain from memory.
——Although he had never joined this sect, it was still one of the Twelve Orthodox Paths. It naturally played a major role in the storyline.
As for this Five Elements Dojo,
it was somewhat similar to the Nine Heavens Secret Realm in White Egret City of Yan Kingdom — a remnant left behind by a powerful expert’s dojo.
The difference was that no one managed the Nine Heavens Secret Realm, while the Five Elements Dojo was actively maintained.
Though as for the ending... heh heh heh.
Exactly the same damned outcome.
“As for why the trial is held there, it is because Canglan Mountain’s sect treasure, the Five Elements Treasure Seals, originally came from that Five Elements Dojo. Trial disciples must obtain acknowledgment from those four treasure seals within the dojo before they can become direct disciples.”
So that was how it worked.
No wonder they accepted four at once.
Fang Chang smiled. “Still, opening it for the first time after fifty-five years... isn’t that a little absurd?”
“There are naturally internal reasons within the sect...”
“Heh heh.”
Cui Wenxi looked somewhat embarrassed.
What she could not openly say was that the delay stemmed from the Cui Family disciples of recent decades being rather disappointing and lacking sufficient competitiveness.
She wiped her face. Beneath the sunlight, her eyes sparkled brightly, carrying a curved smile.
“No one should mock anyone else! Earlier, you were still pretending and asking whether I could win a direct disciple position if my cultivation hadn’t been crippled. And now? You haven’t even entered the sect properly, yet the Direct Disciple Trial is about to begin already!”
Fang Chang looked at her smiling face and found himself smiling as well.
It seemed Cui Wenxi had regained hope in her heart.
Even after being used as an outlet for Cui Shuyu’s anger and beaten up, she no longer cared much.
That heavy gloom and bitterness were gone, and the bright, gentle smile from the game — the one that seemed to carry its own soft glow — had returned once more.
She had never cared much about the direct disciple position in the first place.
“Junior Sister Cheng was probably tricked by you the same way, wasn’t she? I’ve never seen her mention someone like that before.”
“Your Junior Sister Cheng possesses a clear Dao Heart and few worldly desires. How could she possibly remember someone like me?”
“That’s true. Junior Sister Cheng has always been someone who can’t remember people.”
Fang Chang took out another box of ointment for her from the Black Tortoise Square Cauldron.
He casually tossed it over and pointed at her face.
“It wouldn’t look good if it scarred.”
“There’s no one here to look at me anyway.”
“So I’m not considered a person now? You’re tiny, but your insults are pretty vicious, Little Cui.”
“I’m only small in stature. In actual age, I’m older than you. If anything, I should be calling you Little Fang.”
Cui Wenxi laughed nonstop.
After a pause, she suddenly added:
“But you should be an exception.”
“What?”
“I mean, even with Junior Sister Cheng’s clear Dao Heart and lack of worldly desires, it wouldn’t be strange for her to remember you.”
“To be honest, very few girls can forget me after seeing me. My specialty is character design.”
Fang Chang chuckled.
Cui Wenxi laughed and spat lightly at him again.
Her eyes remained fixed upon him, her gaze flowing softly.
“Ever since my cultivation was crippled, aside from Junior Sister Cheng, you’re the only person who approached me with kindness. Not only that, you gave me 《Five Turbid Nurturing Lock》 and gave me hope...”
“......”
“Perhaps you deliberately brought this technique for me, or perhaps not. But to me, you’re a good person, Fang Chang. Truly. I’m very grateful to you.”
Another good person card.
Seriously.
You senior sisters are taking turns handing me these cards...
Cui Wenxi brushed the hair beside her temple behind her ear.
The evening light slanted across from behind her.
She slightly raised her delicate and elegant little face, and the light happened to slide along her faintly trembling eyelashes.
The sunlight lingered around the curve of her ear, illuminating that slight blush until it became nearly translucent.
“I was thinking... since you also plan to stay here behind Huangmei Courtyard from now on, perhaps we could spend more time together in the future... After all, we’re neighbors!”
Fang Chang stiffened for a moment.
The emotions in his heart suddenly became somewhat more complicated.
The NPCs in 《Fallen Immortal》 valued etiquette greatly. When a girl said she wanted to spend more time together afterward, what else could it mean?
But in reality, this was merely the feeling born from taking advantage of someone’s emotional vulnerability.
Cui Wenxi had suffered a tremendous upheaval, and he had simply catered to her needs. Nothing more.
This was not to say she had already fallen in love with Fang Chang, but judging from this, she at least possessed some affection toward him and also wished to continue interacting with him.
Fang Chang smiled.
When drifting through the jianghu, there were three principles one absolutely had to follow.
——Never take the initiative, never refuse, never take responsibility.
He patted the girl on the head and casually brushed the matter aside.
“Did you forget? I’m your cousin.”
Dissatisfaction flashed through Cui Wenxi’s eyes, though she did not pursue the matter further.
She slapped Fang Chang’s hand away and laughingly scolded him:
“So you’re one of those opportunistic climbers too.”
That was indeed true.
Her guess was correct.