Jun Yanzhi calmly took hold of Wen Jing’s hand. “There are five to six hundred people of the sword sect waiting for our help. Shidi, you have to consider the bigger picture. Please don’t lose your bearings because of Big Turtle.”

Wen Jing endured his tears and nodded.

“Eldest Shixiong, are there any of the wounded among our martial brothers?” asked Jun Yanzhi then to Liu Qianmo.

Liu Qianmo hurriedly responded, “There are Gui Xinbi and Li Shu. They’re now resting down in their rooms.”

Jun Yanzhi immediately pulled Wen Jing’s hand and took their leave, “Eldest Shixiong, please move Big Turtle inside Jing-Shidi’s room for now. We’re going to take a look at Gui-Shidi. After that…we’ll go back to see Big Turtle.”

Wen Jing’s hands were clenched so tightly that their joints turned white.

Jun Yanzhi told him warmly, “We’re now going to save your Gui-shidi and Li-Shixiong first, okay?”

Holding back his tears, Wen Jing again nodded heavily.

Jun Yanzhi tightly intertwined his fingers with him, softly speaking, “Be patient…”

That half a finger with the jade ring was gripped in Wen Jing’s hand, “Shixiong, do you recognize whose finger is this?”

Jun Yanzhi answered lightly, “It’s Zhao Ningtian’s of the Hong Xiu Peak…I’m afraid he’d already run far by now.”

When they arrived at Gui Xinbi’s room, he was sitting in front of a table, writing something with a depressed and downcast face, looking truly miserable. It was a first for Mo Shaoyan to see him so afraid of death. He tried to hold himself back from asking yet failed. He whispered, “Gui-Shixiong, are you writing your last words?”

Gui Xinbi answered him dazedly, “En… I’m writing it…”

Mo Shaoyun was rendered speechless, “...Gui-Shixiong, you actually still have two months left, you know this, right?”

Gui Xinbi replied in choked sobs, “You think two months are too long, aren’t you? How could you be so cruel?”

“You won’t die.”

“You don’t have to console me. I’m more aware of my own illness. No one has ever survived from this spell.”

“...”

Jun Yanzhi lightly coughed from his position near the doorway, “Gui-Shidi, I’m here to heal you.”

“Heal? What do you mean?” Gui Xinbi stretched his neck out to find Jun Yanzhi, someone he had a rather deep grudge with. The entanglement in his heart rose once more, and his cheap mouth couldn’t stop itself from adding a sentence, “So you can do healing aside from crying?”

Mo Shaoyan ruthlessly kicked him, “Such integrity, aren’t you?”

Jun Yanzhi sat down without commenting.

Although Gui Xinbi had a cheap mouth, he was not truly ignorant of the ways of the world. He only said that one sentence before shutting his mouth. It’s just a pity that he had been so physically and emotionally exhausted from Jun Yanzhi’s torments these past three years that he couldn’t even relax in this critical conjecture. He lay down full of wariness in the bed, staring straight as he let Jun Yanzhi heal him.

The healing was extremely exhausting for Gui Xinbi’s physical strength. After Jun Yanzhi expelled the demonic qi out of him, Gui Xinbi’s condition improved a lot. Yet he failed to muster any strength. He collapsed on the bed to rest with his body covered in sweat.

Jun Yanzhi looked up to glance at Wen Jing, yet he saw him dazedly looking out the window with what seemed to be heavy thoughts in his mind. He inquired softly, “Are you thinking about Big Turtle?”

“I’m not…” answered Wen Jing with a lowered head, not daring to have their eyes met.

Jun Yanzhi fell into a short silence. He gripped his hand and said, “Let me slowly talk with you after I’m finished with this matter.”

Wen Jing nodded.

Jun Yanzhi told Mo Shaoyan, “Go inform Elder Yun Xi to have all the wounded disciples moved to Qingxu Main Hall. I’ll rush over immediately after healing Li Shu.”

“Alright!” replied Mo Shaoyan as he promptly left.

Wen Jing coldly spoke, “What about Zhao Ningtian? We can’t just let him go, can we? Do we need to chase and kill him?”

Jun Yanzhi stared at him profoundly, “We don’t have to chase and kill, for he’ll be sending himself over to our door.”

–

The Qingxu Main Hall was brightly lit. It was extremely lively despite already being deep into the night. Hundreds of disciples were orderly lined up. They were whispering among themselves while bowing their heads awaiting Jun Yanzhi’s help.

“So, that means Sect Leader was the one who ruined the Heng Yang Palace?”

“Then, why did Zhao Ningtian run away?”

“When all is said and done, is Jun Yanzhi a demonic cultivator?”

“Yes, he is. But it seemed that the things happening in these three years were not caused by him.”

“So our injuries this time weren't because of him?”

“Seemed so.”

“Then who was to blame for this? Isn't the Sect Leader already dead?”

“I don’t know, how should I know?”

“I just want to know what attitude I should have when meeting Jun Yanzhi later.”

“He’s going to heal you, can’t you think for yourself what attitude to use?”

“How about cursing him? I think you can go straight to hell and ask the Sect Leader himself then.”

“...”

“And who is that disfigured person beside Jun Yanzhi?”

“You forgot, didn’t you? It’s that one who entered the Immortal Punishing Pagoda three years ago!”

“He didn’t die from the Immortal Punishing Pagoda? How did he escape?”

“I don’t know, how should I know?”

“He didn’t die, then does that mean the Sect Leader has not necessarily died yet?”

“...What a mess. Can people still have peaceful lives?”

Since Jun Yanzhi got expelled by the Sect Leader three years ago, he had been at the receiving end of countless criticisms and eye-rolls. Almost all of the disciples present had ever spoken ill of him behind his back.

Yet rivers flowing from the East for thirty years will flow from the West for the next thirty. Now that the fake-benefactor-real-hypocrite had become the real savior, and that the disciples became the ones who received that saving, it honestly was a somewhat hard fact to digest. Their information channel wasn’t as vast as the peak masters, nor was it as precise. Thus, many of them still held a lot of hostility toward Jun Yanzhi.

The atmosphere in the main hall was as tense as if it was ready to explode against the slightest poke.

Yet Wen Jing’s mind was not here. His gaze again drifted outside the hall.

Jun Yanzhi had always stopped him from seeing the big turtle, the meaning couldn’t be clearer. He was afraid to even think about it now. The image of a big turtle lying bathed in blood, rubbing its head on his hand with droopy eyes, had been appearing in front of him at the drop of a hat.

It was their last interaction.

Even if he dared to go back and see the big turtle, what sight was waiting for him? An ice-cold carcass?

Wen Jing's complexion slightly paled, his body trembling.

That stable, sluggish thing had always been present in his life, never requested nor demanded anything. It would forever comfortably lay on the empty spaces or the bed, becoming one with the room, also becoming one with his life. It would never suddenly leave as if it would always accompany him like so for a lifetime.

After it disappeared, will the day ever be the same?

Time passed by in his trance, and only subtle noises were heard from all around. Suddenly, Jun Yanzhi’s tender voice sounded beside his ear, “Shidi, let’s go out to take a breather?”

He used a single sentence to bring him back to reality.

Wen Jing turned his head to see the hall full of disciples, then cool-headedly spoke to Jun Yanzhi who was crouching by his side, “No need. You should continue healing them.”

Jun Yanzhi muttered to himself but did not respond. He pulled him to the side of Elder Yun Xi who was reading a book in the front of the hall, serenely inquired, “Elder, when Sect Leader Xi had me heal people back then, he didn’t let me rest even once in a whole month. How many times will you let me rest?”

Elder Yun Xi set his book down at once, twirling his beard, and laughed, “Whenever you want to rest, just rest.”

Li Qingyun who was standing by the side quietly spoke, “Peak Master Lu and Peak Master Shao were both harmed by the demonic spell, Shizun. They were still untreated. Shouldn’t you let Yanzhi go to…”

Elder Yun Xi laughed, saying, “So they don’t get in the line for healing but want to wait for Jun Yanzhi to personally send himself to their door? Let them die untreated. That’s their lives, they have the final say. The Sect Leader is about to change, and it’s not a bad idea to change to some younger peak masters too.”

The surrounding immediately quietened down, and not a single sound was heard.

The Sect Leader is about to change, to whom?

Yet Elder Yun Xi composedly left the topic at that, he smilingly waved his hand, “Yanzhi and Wen Jing should go rest. These lots were waiting to get checked up, that you even heal them is very good of you. I’ll be treating you to a drink later on.”

Jun Yanzhi replied, “Thank you, Elder.”

Wen Jing followed him out without saying a word or raising his head. His face was as cold as pieces of ice. He used to blush every time everyone had their eyes on him, yet now he felt not a single thing.

Jun Yanzhi was flying in front, his clothes fluttering.

Wen Jing followed him, traveling back and forth on this quiet night. In his trance, he didn’t take note of the route they took, just following him until they reached a cliff edge with very beautiful moonlight. Jun Yanzhi nimbly landed, used his sleeves to pat clean a boulder on the cliff edge, then said with a smile, “Let’s sit down.”

That boulder was flat and wide as if just the perfect place for people to sit down and have a deep heart-to-heart talk. Wen Jing crossed his legs and sat down on the right side of Jun Yanzhi. One of his hands propping up his cheek while he was preoccupied dazing out.

Jun Yanzhi let out a sigh, feeling a little sad. After Wen Jing’s face got disfigured, he had subconsciously only been showing his right face to him. He also seemed to continuously brooding as if there was something that gnawed on his mind. Now that he didn’t even care about this matter, it only served as prove to how big of a blow the Big Turtle's death had given him.

Jun Yanzhi embraced his shoulders, saying softly, “Are you tired?”

Wen Jing felt his heart souring, but there was still no expression on his face.

“Shidi, I’m going to tell you a story tonight. Listen carefully, will you?” said Jun Yanzhi as he hugged and pulled him to lie down. He let Wen Jing rest his head on the crook of his arm and pulled his long leg over to have it wrapped around himself.

Wen Jing still kept his silence, acquiescing to Jun Yanzhi’s arrangement.

Jun Yanzhi hugged him tightly, whispering, “Shidi, after Zhang Liu Pin imparted all his life-knowledge to his disciple, he then ascended to the Upper Spirit Realm. Do you know what happened after that?”

Second Part of the NW
2800+ Chinese characters

That thing about river flows was just saying 'conditions change, nothing is permanent'