Li Fei fell silent. After a moment, she said softly, “Knowing the truth is better than being kept in the dark. At least now I know his purpose and who he wants to kill. I can prepare in advance.”
“Prepare for what?” Lei Xiuyuan laughed mockingly. “Will you be like me, constantly on guard, unable to sleep peacefully or enjoy your meals, only to end up falling into this forbidden area with you all?”
She had no response. With such a vast difference in power, no preparation would be effective.
“Don’t think about telling the truth to other teachers at the academy, or even to Master Zuoqiu. They won’t interfere with personal grudges. If the academy gets involved, it becomes an issue between sects. Those in positions of authority have far more concerns than we do. Moreover, the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit is an enormous temptation. The more people who know, the more dangerous it becomes for you. Do you think any immortals wouldn’t be moved by the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit?”
He spoke as if he was certain that Li Fei had hidden Ri Yan. Li Fei steeled herself and said coldly, “I have no idea where the Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit is! Zhen Yunzi is just making baseless suspicions!”
Lei Xiuyuan let out a soft “Oh” and smiled without speaking. Li Fei felt extremely annoyed: “What do you mean by ‘Oh’? You were ordered by Zhen Yunzi to follow and observe me. If he’s coming to cause trouble, it must be because you lied to him!”
He just smiled, his voice very gentle: “There’s no need for me to tell him anything. Your attitude is poor, yet after entering the academy, your performance has been brilliant. How do you think Zhen Yunzi would interpret that?”
Li Fei looked at him suspiciously: “You’re talking as if you didn’t tell him anything.”
Lei Xiuyuan said calmly, “I’m just tired of it all. Whether you have the Nine-Tailed Fox or some unheard-of monster, what does it matter to me? We should be strangers with no connection.”
There it was again, that expression. When he suddenly left her before, he had worn the same expression. His words said he was bored, but his demeanor suggested he was tired of everything and wanted to get far away.
Li Fei looked at him silently. There was still a question in her heart, unrelated to Zhen Yunzi and Ri Yan, only about him.
“Lei Xiuyuan, you had many opportunities to get me out of the academy. Even being suspected by Chang Yue wasn’t a big deal. You could have denied it to the end. Why did you eventually let go so cleanly? Why did you leave alone without saying anything?”
He smiled quietly: “Yes, why indeed?”
Li Fei looked at him for a while, then suddenly asked in a low voice, “Why did you agree to work for Zhen Yunzi? You… aren’t the same kind of person as him.”
Lei Xiuyuan raised his eyebrows in surprise: “What kind of person am I?”
“I don’t know. You said it yourself, everything you told us before was false. But you’re different from Zhen Yunzi. I can’t say exactly how, but you’re different.”
Lei Xiuyuan was lost in thought for a moment. After a while, he said, “Zhen Yunzi is… half my master, I suppose.”
Master? And only half a master? What does that mean? Li Fei looked at him in confusion.
“I’m not the biological son of Minister Lei from the Ministry of Rites of Gaolu,” he said calmly. “I was adopted when I was about six years old. I have no memory of anything before that. I was adopted because I had spiritual roots. Just like how this young prince has many cultivator companions, I was adopted to be a study companion for the Third Prince, Ye Ye.”
“…So you’ve met Ye Ye before?” Li Fei was somewhat surprised. No wonder Ye Ye and Chang Yue suspected he was Minister Lei’s child from Gaolu. They must have met before.
“Yes, I’ve met him, including the Baili sisters. But at that time, Ye Ye was the noble Third Prince, and the Baili sisters were daughters of aristocrats. Who would remember a mere study companion like me? Later, when Gaolu fell, Minister Lei had me impersonate the Third Prince and offered me to Wu Gou to preserve the royal bloodline. In Wu Gou’s camp, surrounded by many cultivator disciples, I was powerless to resist and was about to be beheaded on the spot. It was Big Brother Lu who saved me.”
Big Brother Lu? Li Fei was stunned again. Hadn’t he said that the story about Big Brother Lu was false?
Lei Xiuyuan slightly narrowed his eyes, lost in memories: “Big Brother Lu was a disciple of the Star正 Hall. He happened to pass by and discovered that I had great talent. He couldn’t bear to let me die just like that, so he secretly rescued me. Wu Gou somehow got information that I was a fake. Minister Lei’s family was exterminated because of this exposure, and Wu Gou’s pursuit of me gradually eased. After I was rescued, although Big Brother Lu was busy with his cultivation, he often made time to take care of me.
He also taught me fist and sword techniques. He always lamented that his cultivation level was low and he had no status in the sect, so he couldn’t introduce me to the Star 正 Hall. He was a good person, but unfortunately, good people often don’t live long. During a trip to hunt demons and make magical weapons, he was severely injured by a demon. On his deathbed, he entrusted me to his master, Zhen Yunzi. Zhen Yunzi saw that I had high talent and intended to take me as a disciple, officially bringing me into the Star 正 Hall.”
“However, just at that time, he suddenly got reliable information about the Nine-Tailed Fox’s whereabouts, so he put my matter aside temporarily. I waited at the foot of the Star 正 Hall’s mountain for nearly half a year. When he finally came, his face was full of reluctance. It turned out that because the Nine-Tailed Fox had suddenly disappeared, he suspected it was related to a little girl. But that girl had been sent to the preliminary selection venue of the Fledgling Phoenix Academy by True Person Dongyang, and he had no chance to make a move. Coincidentally, I hadn’t yet become a disciple of the Star 正 Hall, and I was young enough, so he asked me to do him a favor and enter the academy to follow and observe that girl.”
“Zhen Yunzi is Big Brother Lu’s master, and perhaps he’ll be my master in the future. I was also quite bored at the time, so I agreed. I thought of countless ways to approach you, but Ye Ye and the others were by your side, and they would likely discover my true identity sooner or later. After much consideration, I decided to disguise myself as a beggar boy and tell you a mixture of truths and lies about my background.
I originally planned to make a move on you in Huaguang County, but the academy had secretly sent people to protect the selected disciples, so I couldn’t find an opportunity. I had no choice but to let you enter the academy. Afterward, Zhen Yunzi waited not far from the academy, and I communicated with him through messenger birds. The birds delivered messages on that small floating island covered in red flowers until Baili Chang Yue discovered my flaw—that’s how the whole thing went.”
Li Fei was once again dumbfounded by what she heard. So this was the reason behind everything. No wonder she encountered Lei Xiuyuan on that island several times, and no wonder he was affected by the word spirit nightmare technique. The academy’s terrain was treacherous and communication was impossible, and Zhen Yunzi couldn’t possibly sneak into the academy without regard for his status. So they communicated through messenger birds.
However, given Zhen Yunzi’s caution, it was hard to imagine that he would tell Lei Xiuyuan everything about the matter. After all, he wasn’t a confidant, just an unfamiliar child.
As if seeing through her doubts, Lei Xiuyuan said, “He didn’t tell me everything, just part of it. I know that he’s been trying his best to track down a powerful demon for years, and I only learned by chance that it was the Nine-Tailed Fox. It’s no secret that he has reached a bottleneck in his cultivation. As for the matter of True Person Dongyang and the fox spirit’s disappearance, you told me that yourself. I’m just making an educated guess based on the information I have, but it should be eight or nine-tenths correct.”
To be able to deduce so much from some fragmented information—what he said was already the complete truth. Li Fei couldn’t help but feel some admiration in her heart. This child was truly clever; who knows what kind of talent he would become when he grew older?
“Is there anything else you want to ask?” Lei Xiuyuan looked at her.
Li Fei thought for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Has Zhen Yunzi taught you anything about cultivation?”
Lei Xiuyuan seemed surprised by her question and was stunned for a moment: “Not yet, I’m not officially his disciple.”
“Then what kind of half-master’s favor is that? Do you know what a true master is? A master teaches you the principles of being a person, the principles of cultivation, and takes care of you—that’s a real master! He’s using you and then wants to kill you afterward. What kind of master is that? Even Big Brother Lu is more worthy of being your master!”
Lei Xiuyuan suddenly smiled. He looked at her and said softly, “Perhaps you’re right. I wanted to repay Big Brother Lu’s kindness, but in the end, I became a despicable person. Now that he’s dead, there’s no way to repay him anymore.”
From the time she met this child until now, he had hardly spoken any truth. She didn’t know if what he said this time was true, but she didn’t want to think that this time he was lying. Words can deceive, but eyes cannot. Although he spoke of Big Brother Lu very calmly, his eyes had never been so gentle before.
Maybe Ri Yan was right, his heart wasn’t bad.
“Why did you suddenly stop? You knew in your heart that Zhen Yunzi would kill you to silence you, so why did you defy him?” She asked the same question again.
Lei Xiuyuan said softly, “Why do you ask this?”
Li Fei was stunned for a moment: “I don’t know, I just asked.”
He tilted his head and smiled: “I don’t know why either, I just defied him.”
This was truly a cunning answer in Lei Xiuyuan’s style. Li Fei shook her head, but the misgivings in her heart towards him began to gradually dissipate.
“Do you hate Ye Ye and the others?” she asked in a low voice.
He was adopted by Minister Lei, but in less than a year, he was sent to die in Ye Ye’s place. From Minister Lei’s standpoint, it was loyalty to the country and protection of the royal bloodline, which wasn’t wrong in terms of righteousness. But from a human perspective, it was truly disheartening, almost as if he had been adopted just to die. With Lei Xiuyuan’s talent, he could have lived very well without being adopted by anyone. Any immortal sect would have fought to have him.
He shook his head: “Hate is too strong an emotion. Often, it’s because too much emotion was invested and then betrayed that one hates a person. I have nothing to hate. Gaolu has fallen, everything is in the past.”
Li Fei couldn’t help but fall silent. Suddenly, Lei Xiuyuan said, “I’ve said so much, and you’ve learned the whole truth, but all you’ve gained is trouble and hopelessness. Do you regret it?”
She was lost in thought for a while, then murmured, “I don’t know, but being kept in the dark is never good. At least I know that the person behind this is Zhen Yunzi, and I know what he’s after. I won’t always remain an entry-level disciple in the academy. One day I’ll become strong enough to guard against him and protect my friends.”
Lei Xiuyuan said calmly, “After this incident, the academy will likely be able to guess eight-tenths of the truth with a little deduction. To avoid internal strife between sects, they will certainly choose to suppress it and not mention it. However, they will strengthen their defenses within a year. It won’t be so easy for Zhen Yunzi to send messages or enter himself.”
“Are you saying that the danger will begin a year after joining an immortal sect?” she asked.
He didn’t affirm or deny, only saying indifferently, “You will have a long time, maybe even a lifetime, of feeling like you have thorns in your back. He may not move against you, but you will be jumping at shadows. Even if he can find other demons to refine into magical weapons, he won’t forget that you might have a Nine-Tailed Fox. As long as he’s alive, you’ll never have a day of peace.”
Li Fei bit her lip and remained silent for a long time. Finally, she said in a low voice, “I’m not afraid.”
“What about your friends? Baili Chang Yue being silenced is only a matter of time.”
“What about you?” she asked in return.
He was silent for a moment: “It won’t be so easy to kill me.”
And he says she speaks in platitudes. Isn’t he the same? What does he mean by “it won’t be so easy to kill him”? Who was it that almost fell off a cliff after being affected by the nightmare technique earlier, and who fell again while flying on a sword just now? If it weren’t for the thick and viscous miasma here, the three of them would have been smashed into meat patties long ago. How would they have the leisure to discuss the truth here? Her master was right indeed—no matter what kind of strange personality a man has, a loving face and pretending to be a hero are common flaws.
“It’s too early to think about these things now, and thinking about them is useless. We should make good use of this year to cultivate. I will tell Chang Yue everything. She has always been clever, and Ye Ye is also resourceful. They won’t die so easily,” Li Fei said.
Lei Xiuyuan seemed unwilling to continue this topic. He took out a water flask and some dried food from his bosom and shared some with her: “After we finish eating, I’ll go out to see if there’s any water.”
Li Fei was starving, so she ate while saying, “Let me go instead. I’m not afraid of this miasma.”
“Is it because of the Nine-Tailed Fox?” Lei Xiuyuan suddenly threw out a question, startling her into coughing repeatedly, just like Ji Tongzhou earlier.
“Don’t, don’t talk nonsense…” Li Fei coughed until her neck turned red. “What Nine-Tailed Fox! If I had such a powerful demon, why would I still be in the academy!”
He let out another soft “Oh” and smiled without speaking. Li Fei found his smile annoying, so she stuffed the remaining dried food into her mouth, dusted off her hands, and left the cave.
As soon as she left, the miasma in the cave began to press in again, like suffocating, viscous water. Lei Xiuyuan’s sharp eyes noticed that there seemed to be a faintly glowing string of something on Ji Tongzhou’s wrist, which looked like the beads Li Fei had been wearing on her hand before. It was the evil-repelling fragrant beads given to her by True Person Dongyang, right? No wonder this young prince could sleep so easily until now.
He walked over and sat down beside Ji Tongzhou. Sure enough, the pressure from the miasma immediately lessened. A casual glance revealed that Ji Tongzhou’s eyelashes were trembling slightly, obviously awake. His face immediately darkened, and he said coldly, “Since you’re awake, why are you still pretending to be asleep?”
Ji Tongzhou slowly opened his eyes, his expression seeming somewhat uncomfortable. His face alternated between red and white, and there was even a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. This strange expression made Lei Xiuyuan somewhat surprised.
After a long while, Ji Tongzhou finally said in a low voice, “Um… I… I think I drank too much water earlier…”
Lei Xiuyuan suddenly understood: “You need to relieve yourself, right? Just go here, I’ll support you.”
Support him? Right here?! Ji Tongzhou’s neck also turned red, and he said tremblingly, “No, no need! Find a secluded place, you… you go away! Don’t look!”
This young prince, usually so arrogant and domineering, was shy about such a strange thing. Lei Xiuyuan helped him up, looked around, and saw that there seemed to be another section behind this cave. He simply picked Ji Tongzhou up on his back and walked towards the depths of the cave.