Chapter 43: Meng Fuguang: “Fool!”

Xie Tongchen’s greeting had been carefully chosen.

First, he did not ask, “Have you eaten?” because Wen Tingshu had never cared about food. Asking that would make it seem as though he did not understand his own brother.

Second, they had not seen each other for more than ten years, yet Wen Tingshu’s hair had somehow turned white. Xie Tongchen had no idea how drastically the outside world had changed, so he did not dare ask, “Is everyone doing well?” lest he receive some devastating truth without warning.

Only the subject of a “Dao companion” seemed relatively safe and unlikely to touch upon anything painful.

After all, Wen Tingshu had devoted his heart to heaven and earth and had always been indifferent toward mortal emotions and desires.

Having a Dao companion would be joyful, but not having one would not be tragic.

Most likely, he did not have one.

When Brother Wen asked, “Why do you ask?” Xie Tongchen could naturally use the opportunity to bring up the Dao De Jing.

Blunt the sharpness, untangle the knots, soften the radiance, and become one with the dust.

Heguang tongchen—to temper one’s brilliance and blend with the world. The meaning would be understood without being spoken.

Brother Wen would surely be willing to sit down and discuss the Dao with him. Once he quoted the Dao De Jing, with Brother Wen’s wisdom, he would immediately understand Xie Tongchen’s attitude toward resolving the conflict with the Demon Sect—and his… feelings for Meng Fuguang.

Xie Tongchen felt somewhat ashamed.

Before leaving, he had confidently promised to help Brother Wen resolve the predicament that bound him to Hengxue Mountain.

He had accomplished nothing and had instead forced Brother Wen to travel thousands of miles to rescue him.

Wen Tingshu lacked the root of romantic feeling and advocated stopping violence with violence. Xie Tongchen worried that he might suddenly attack Meng Fuguang.

His gaze drifted toward Fengxing Sword in Wen Tingshu’s hand. Without a suitable weapon of his own, he could only stand upright and imposing before Wen Tingshu.

Facing Brother Xie, whose face and heart remained unchanged, Wen Tingshu replied with a single word.

“I have.”

Xie Tongchen said, “You have?”

Wen Tingshu had actually developed mortal feelings?

From their youth onward, Aunt Wen had loved arranging marriages for the two of them. Wen Tingshu always refused, saying, “My heart is devoted solely to cultivation, not romance.”

He had guarded that Dao heart for over five hundred years, rejecting countless extraordinary people until he became the saint of Hengxue, unmatched by anyone.

Xie Tongchen became intensely curious about what kind of divine being his sister-in-law was.

Still, this was good. Since Wen Tingshu had a Dao companion, it would be easier for him to put himself in Xie Tongchen’s position.

It was time to reveal everything.

Xie Tongchen said, “Brother Wen, in truth, Meng Fuguang is not—”

Not entirely selfish.

When Xie Tongchen first found Meng Fuguang, he told him that the secret realms were unstable. Every year they pressed further downward, gradually merging with reality and threatening to cause a great calamity. It was only because Wen Tingshu carried the burden of the heavenly pillar that disaster had not yet struck.

He plainly expressed his hope that Meng Fuguang would consider all living beings and cooperate with Hengxue Sect in clearing the secret realms.

Meng Fuguang listened and sneered.

“Wen Tingshu choosing to sacrifice himself for the world is his concern. Don’t think you righteous cultivators can drag me into it.”

Xie Tongchen found him completely unreasonable!

Without Brother Wen struggling to hold everything together, how could Fuguang Sect continue earning endless wealth?

Meng Fuguang had accurately grasped Wen Tingshu’s willingness to sacrifice himself for righteousness. Even if Meng Fuguang refused to cooperate, Wen Tingshu could do nothing to him. Instead, by pure accident, an immensely powerful weapon had been trapped on Hengxue Mountain, benefiting the Demon Sect’s expansion.

Meng Fuguang refused to listen, but Xie Tongchen refused to give up. He followed him wherever he went.

Because of Xie Tongchen’s relentless interference, Meng Fuguang repeatedly failed whenever he opposed Hengxue Sect’s attempts to clear secret realms.

Growing furious, he tricked Xie Tongchen into going to Xiling Mountain, intending to imprison him inside a secret realm.

It should only have taken Xie Tongchen some time and effort to escape.

Unexpectedly, this secret realm was far stronger than any he had encountered before.

When Meng Fuguang entered alone to investigate, he had only seen a boundless, empty expanse. It seemed perfect for imprisoning Xie Tongchen.

But after he tricked Xie Tongchen inside with him, the heavens suddenly changed. The endless white mist transformed into impenetrable walls of bronze and iron. For the first time, the Silver Kite fell silent and could no longer guide Meng Fuguang outside.

Xie Tongchen and Meng Fuguang sat there idly for two days.

Meng Fuguang explored everywhere. On the third day, he returned and spoke candidly with Xie Tongchen.

Meng Fuguang asked, “At the beginning of life, is human nature inherently good or inherently evil?”

Xie Tongchen said, “Human nature is inherently good.”

Meng Fuguang said, “I’ll make a wager with you concerning human nature. If you win, I’ll clear the secret realms. If you lose, you’ll return and meditate with your Brother Wen, and stop pestering me.”

Xie Tongchen asked, “What wager?”

Meng Fuguang lowered his eyelids, concealing the shimmering light within them, and spoke softly.

“In truth, during these days, you have appealed to both reason and emotion. It isn’t that I was completely unmoved. It is simply that over a thousand members of Fuguang Sect rely on secret realms to support themselves. Once that source of income disappears, with our poor reputation, we will no longer be able to survive in the cultivation world.”

“Although I am the Sect Leader, I cannot make such a decision alone. I cannot bear to do it.”

When the great demon spoke of being unable to bear it, his expression looked somewhat dejected and sorrowful.

Xie Tongchen’s heart grew heavy. Something within him quietly loosened.

Meng Fuguang continued, “There are too many elderly people in the sect. I cannot make this decision, but the next generation can.”

“If the next Fuguang Sect Leader decides to clear the secret realms and restore Wen Tingshu’s freedom, I will have nothing to say.”

Xie Tongchen frowned. “You have a child?”

Meng Fuguang answered simply, “No.”

Xie Tongchen said, “…Then will you appoint someone?”

But inside this secret realm, there were only the two of them, and they could not send any messages outside.

Xie Tongchen vaguely understood the nature of the wager.

It concerned the character of the next Sect Leader.

Meng Fuguang said, “I won’t appoint anyone. Fuguang Sect recognizes only my bloodline.”

Xie Tongchen was utterly confused.

Wasn’t that a dead end?

Meng Fuguang said something astonishing.

“I can give birth. I’ll have a child with you, and we’ll see whether our child is righteous or wicked.”

“Hero Xie, would you call that fair?”

His beautiful, arrogant face suddenly drew close. Xie Tongchen was startled, and helplessness appeared for the first time on his righteous and heroic features.

Meng Fuguang nearly sat on his lap.

“What? Hero Xie is unwilling to wager his own descendant for his brother’s sake? Are you afraid the child will become a demon and damage the Xie family’s reputation? Afraid I’ll devour your entire Xie family? Didn’t you say human nature is inherently good?”

Xie Tongchen was rendered speechless.

Demons truly were bold and wanton. They dared wager absolutely anything.

It was not that he feared those things.

It was only that…

Forming a bond with another person required proper matchmakers and formal betrothal gifts. It could not be handled carelessly.

More importantly—

“Sect Leader Meng, we have no way to escape yet. I cannot bear for our child to be born and remain trapped inside this secret realm.”

“Don’t worry. I have already investigated it. This secret realm is unusual—it only imprisons two people. A third person should have little difficulty leaving. Once I give birth, I’ll use the Silver Kite to send the child outside. My sect members will naturally raise him.”

Xie Tongchen said, “This Xie does not understand. What benefit would that bring you?”

He had lived for more than five hundred years. He could not be bewitched by a few words from Meng Fuguang and believe that the man’s nature had suddenly transformed.

“Benefit?” Meng Fuguang smiled.

It seemed Xie Tongchen was not stupid after all and had not been blinded by beauty.

“The benefit is… I can no longer leave this place. Without the Silver Kite guiding the way, no one will discover it. Even if Wen Tingshu clears every other secret realm, he will never find this completely empty one.”

“Unless I use the Silver Kite to send our child outside. Once he grows up, the Silver Kite will guide him here through the workings of fate so he can rescue us.”

“For your freedom and your Brother Wen’s freedom, does Hero Xie dare?”

Xie Tongchen fell into a long silence.

He still felt that it would be unfair to the child.

While he remained silent, Meng Fuguang said from beside him, “If you want me to agree to clear the secret realms, this is the only possible path.”

Xie Tongchen stared at his face.

Meng Fuguang’s expression was as proud and self-assured as ever. Perhaps because he had carelessly trapped himself somewhere from which no one could hear his cries, the demon appeared somewhat frustrated.

Yet the frustrated demon had immediately devised a method of escape. He might have to wait ten or twenty years, and he was desperately persuading his sworn enemy in order to get out, but still…

He was rather adorable.

Perhaps Meng Fuguang was using the future child as an excuse to express words that were half true and half false.

Perhaps he truly had considered abandoning the secret realms, but as a self-proclaimed demon, he could not lower his pride, so he claimed he would leave the decision to the child instead.

Meng Fuguang bent his legs and rested his pale, beautiful chin upon his knees. His voice was low.

“Hero Xie, I want to get out.”

Xie Tongchen’s heart shook as though heaven and earth had overturned.

“After the child is sent outside, can he be brought to Hengxue Mountain and entrusted to Wen Tingshu?”

If it were Wen Tingshu, Xie Tongchen trusted that his brother would care for the child properly and teach him attentively, making up for the fatherly affection the child lacked.

He would rather not send the child to the Xie family. The Xie family was vast, with many branches and descendants. He did not want his child to grow up feeling like a guest dependent upon others.

Wen Tingshu was all alone. He was suitable.

Meng Fuguang immediately discarded his pitiful appearance. “No. That would be cheating.”

Xie Tongchen said, “Wouldn’t entrusting the child to your sect members also be cheating?”

Meng Fuguang lifted his eyelids slightly. “I’m the one giving birth. What’s wrong with me cheating a little?”

Xie Tongchen: “…”

Meng Fuguang continued, “Besides, the Silver Kite only knows the route back to Guiye City. You trust Wen Tingshu. I don’t. I trust only my own confidants.”

Xie Tongchen said, “My Brother Wen possesses virtue as lofty as a great mountain, with a heroic and righteous heart—”

Meng Fuguang said, “Shut up.”

***

Seeing Wen Tingshu now, Xie Tongchen had countless things he wanted to say.

He wanted to ask Brother Wen whether the child he had with Meng Fuguang—the little Sect Leader of Fuguang Sect—was doing well.

He should be sixteen or seventeen now, right?

Had he come into conflict with Hengxue Sect over the years?

When they fought, had Wen Tingshu noticed the jade cicada on the child and spared him?

Xie Tongchen did not know whether Wen Tingshu would understand the meaning behind the jade cicada.

Originally, he had wanted to leave a flame mark as well. But he and Meng Fuguang had disappeared simultaneously. If Meng Baixu also bore the flame mark, anyone with eyes would immediately understand who his other father was.

Unfortunately, the secret realm was extremely strict and absolutely refused to allow even the smallest clue concerning the two trapped people to escape.

Any flame mark he placed vanished instantly. Only a token belonging to an unrelated person was permitted to remain.

“Brother Wen, I—”

Meng Baixu emerged from the thick mist and saw an unfamiliar man.

Judging from the way he spoke, this had to be Xie Tongchen. He looked extremely righteous.

Although both belonged to the righteous path, their temperaments were different. Wen Tingshu resembled a cold, aloof banished immortal, while Xie Tongchen possessed the air of a wandering hero.

“Wen Tingshu, is this your Brother Xie?”

Meng Baixu deliberately used a fault-finding tone, intending to drive a wedge between the two leaders of the righteous path.

Imagine being rescued only to immediately receive cold looks and sharp words from your brother’s Dao companion. Naturally, one would begin distancing oneself from that brother.

To strengthen the effect, Meng Baixu wrapped his arms around Wen Tingshu’s arm. The moment he did, he vaguely felt Wen Tingshu’s body stiffen.

Meng Baixu glared angrily at him.

What? In front of your righteous-path brother, did you suddenly remember that your disciple was a demon?

When Xie Tongchen saw Meng Baixu, he was startled. He wondered whether spending more than ten years looking only at Meng Fuguang had caused him to see traces of Meng Fuguang in everyone.

“This is our first meeting. You must be Brother Wen’s Dao companion. Sister-in—”

Xie Tongchen faltered.

For some unknown reason, the word “sister-in-law” was difficult to say.

“You’re hesitating because you’re dissatisfied. You’re not as good as Jia Liance,” Meng Baixu declared quickly, sensing that Shizun was about to cover his mouth.

A brotherhood among three people was already too crowded. Comparing one against another would make the situation even worse.

Xie Tongchen thought he simply had not yet adjusted to the fact that the unwavering Wen Tingshu now had a Dao companion.

He attempted another greeting.

Bang!

A stone struck him directly in the back of the head, accompanied by a furious shout.

“Fool!”

Meng Fuguang had only just emerged from seclusion and opened his eyes when he heard their conversation.

Fool!

The person who had brought Wen Tingshu inside could only be the Fuguang Sect Leader!