Chapter 29

The Nine Sects' Ice Pool

This was the first time I had been kissed, and it was by my brother...!

I was so embarrassed, I didn’t know how to face him, or how to explain it to my husband in the future... My heart was pounding, and my mind was in a complete mess. I was still hesitating whether to push him away or wait for him to pull back.

But my brother was completely different. He kissed me passionately and intensely. I could hear his deep breaths, and several times he almost pried open my mouth, but he held back in the end.

Because we were under a small hill, the disciples above probably couldn’t see what was happening here. But when he pushed himself up and we looked back, we saw a child with a bun on his head standing on one side. He was holding half-eaten pomegranate, tilting his head and looking at us, with a red mark around his mouth.

I made a “shh” gesture to him, and he nodded, smiling happily and making a “shh” gesture to me as well.

Fu Chenzi pushed himself up from the grass and pulled me up too. The scene suddenly became eerily quiet. I didn’t dare look at my brother, and we walked back to the slope side by side. All the disciples were stunned.

The junior brother scratched his head nervously and said, “It was so dangerous just now. Fortunately, Senior Brother Tian Heng caught Sister Luo Wei, otherwise someone would have gotten hurt... But, Sister Luo Wei, are you okay? Why is your face so red? Did you fall somewhere?”

“I’m... I’m fine.”

I could still feel my brother’s touch on my lips. He was usually so serious and indifferent, he didn’t have any particular cravings for food or drink, and he didn’t have any special obsessions. But at that moment, his face was as usual, but his ears were inexplicably turning red.

The cherry blossoms in the immortal realm were twice as tall as those on earth. Therefore, when the spring breeze blew gently, the cherry blossoms were even more beautiful than falling snow. The petals were pink, and my brother’s hair was black. The pink petals against his neck were like butterflies lingering, adding an infinite charm to him...

In fact, deep down, I knew about my brother’s feelings, but I had always been avoiding them. He had never pressured me, and if it hadn’t been for this accident today, if he hadn’t lost control for a moment, perhaps our relationship would have remained the same brother-sister bond.

I liked my brother, but my feelings for him were only that of a close relative.

Just then, a child’s voice suddenly came from behind, “Sister.”

I turned my head subconsciously, and it was the dumbest thing I had ever done. The little kid who had been eating the pomegranate had followed us, and his face was still covered in red pomegranate juice, as if he had just sucked blood.

He smiled at me brightly and made a “shh” gesture, saying, “Sister, I won’t tell anyone about you and Brother kissing.”

Suddenly, the world seemed to freeze.

Suddenly, the world seemed to freeze, and all sound ceased.

Secrets can’t be kept forever, especially among a group of people like this, one of whom was hopelessly infatuated with Fu Chenzi. When she heard that we had kissed, Rou Li’s reaction was as if she had experienced a catastrophic earthquake and a hurricane. She immediately started crying and shouting.

No matter how much we begged her, she couldn’t calm down. So, she made a big scene all the way from the Law-Abiding Cherry Orchard back to Cangying Gate. None of us forgot the rules that our uncle had repeatedly emphasized, and knowing that this matter would cause a big commotion, we had already prepared ourselves for the worst.

However, I still had a glimmer of hope. That hope was Yin Ze, the Divine Lord. I had already prepared hundreds of excuses in my mind, and I was ready to use all my charm to coax Master into a good mood. As long as he said a word, and we could claim it was an accident, the worst-case scenario would be copying two hundred times.

However, I never would have imagined that waiting for us at the front yard of Cangying Gate would be Master himself. As soon as Fu Chenzi and I were brought up, we saw him standing at the front of a line of a hundred people, his back to us, not even glancing back. He simply threw out a sentence: “Take Fu Chenzi to the Nine Zong Pool, five hundred strokes of the staff, to be executed immediately.”

Everyone gasped but didn’t dare to say a word. The Nine Zong Pool was located at the top of Bai Di Mountain, the beast-taming place of Cangying Sect. Those who entered the pool not only had to endure the extreme cold but also would never heal their wounds, until death. I urged, “Master, this matter doesn’t...” “Silence!” Master had never been so angry before. Even though I couldn’t see his face, his scolding made me break out in a cold sweat. After that, we were both taken to the top of Bai Di Mountain, and Xuan Yue flew over hurriedly as well. Under the orders of the other elders, Fu Chenzi was taken into the ice chamber, while Yin Ze stood expressionlessly at the edge of the mountain.

Hearing the sound of the staff hitting, I ran over and knelt at Yin Ze’s feet, grabbing his pants, “Master, this isn’t Brother’s fault, it was purely an accident! At that time, Brother saved me and even fell off the hill and got injured. We just accidentally...” “Let go.” Yin Ze’s voice was colder than the ice. I was stunned and quietly let go of his hand. This time, Master was really angry. The staff strikes were so heavy, each one felt like it was hitting me. I wanted to rush in, but the ice chamber was guarded, and I was helpless. I could only kneel before Master for a long time.

Finally, after the long five hundred strokes, Master walked past me and entered the ice chamber. I quickly got up and followed. As soon as I stepped into the ice chamber, the extreme cold hit me, and I couldn’t help but hug the furry Xuan Yue for warmth. I, as a water spirit, could withstand the cold better than ordinary immortals, but I couldn’t bear the coldness inside, let alone Fu Chenzi. By an ice pool in the middle, Divine Lord Yin Ze stood calmly, seemingly unaffected by the temperature. He looked sternly at the person in the Nine Zong Pool, who was already injured from the punishment: Fu Chenzi.

Yin Ze said, “Fu Chenzi, do you know your wrong?” “Disciple knows my wrong. Disciple should not have violated the sect rules, been disrespectful to my junior sister, and brought shame to Master.” Fu Chenzi was obviously suffering greatly, his lips and face were completely pale. “But Master, ten years ago, I told you... Luo Wei is my future wife. At that time, you said I was young and didn’t understand what love was... Now I still feel the same way...”

Yin Ze said, “You have no remorse.” Fu Chenzi, dying, said, “Master is a god, and you don’t understand what love is. I grew up in the mortal world, but I am... as vulgar as a mortal...”

Yin Ze turned around and said, “Throw him into the pool.”

“‘Wait!” I rushed over with Xuan Yue.

It was all my fault. Since I was young, I’ve always relied on him to protect me, always asked him to help me clean up messes, but I rarely did anything for him. I looked at my brother, then at Master, and trembled, “Master, it was this disciple who took the initiative.” Yin Ze frowned, “...What?”

Even though my teeth were chattering, I still forced a smile, “It was the disciple who kissed Brother first, it has nothing to do with Brother. You shouldn’t punish him, you should punish me.”

After a short silence, Yin Ze suddenly smiled slightly, “It seems that Master has misunderstood Chenzi. So, you two are in love.” Although Master was scary when he was angry, I knew that when he showed this kind of relaxed smile, it was a truly ominous sign.

I took a deep breath and said, “Disciple is willing to take Brother’s punishment.” With that, I closed my eyes and jumped into the ice pool. The extreme cold was like thousands of tiny knives, cutting countless small cuts in my skin.

Fu Chenzi urged, “Weiwei, come out!”

I ignored him and continued to sink into the pool. Oh, Cangying God, Master, what a painful experience. I felt like I was going to die.

Yin Ze smiled, “Luo Wei, you really surprised me. Since you like the Nine Zong Pool so much, stay in there. Guard her, she can’t come out for seven days.” After saying that, he left one person to supervise us and led everyone else away.

Only after he left did I dare to let out a chattering sound, “Cold, cold, cold...” Seeing that Fu Chenzi wanted to come in, I reached out and pressed his arm, “Don’t, don’t come in, or I’ll cut off our friendship, I’m serious!”

“Weiwei, I’m sorry.” He froze beside the Nine Zong Pool, supporting his injured body, and red blood fell on the ice, “I told myself that I would wait until you could accept it... but I didn’t expect... to involve you...”

“It’s, it’s okay, I’m just, just, cold, cold, cold, it’s better than the pain you’re feeling.” If I continued like this, I would definitely become a stutterer in seven days.

He held my hand and fell to the ground, exhaling thick fog, “Nonsense, your hair is already frozen. I’m the one who’s suffering.”

“I don’t want to be like you, Brother, Brother, Brother, my butt is open, open, open...”

His face changed, “Your butt is open?”

“It’s blooming.”

He squeezed my hand harder and laughed loudly.

To be honest, I didn’t think I was any more comfortable than him. It’s just that when I thought about his dedication and waiting, I felt very sad. Because the liking of ordinary boys is just based on the youthful impulse of early spring, even if I didn’t work, other girls would do, as long as they were prettier than me, they would probably want to change to ten new ones.

But my brother was different. There were many girls who liked him, his future was still bright, and he definitely didn’t have to worry about marrying a beautiful woman, but he carefully and silently waited for me. I think his feelings should be the same as mine, he just wanted to be with me for the rest of his life and never be separated. Just relying on the brother-sister relationship without blood ties, such a wish could never be maintained.

I knew his sincerity, so I rejected the pursuit of other boys, and I had never felt this pain before.

“Weiwei,” he said softly after a long pause, “do you remember when you were little, you would often ask me to sneak out and play with you?”

“I, I remember.”

“I won’t force you to be with me. We can still be ordinary siblings like before. I’ll wait patiently,” he held my hands tightly, as if trying to convey some warmth, “until the day you accept me.”

“Okay.”

Actually, it would be really nice to be with my brother like this forever. What was I hesitating about?

Seven days later, Fu Chenzi and I came out of the ice pool. During that time, thanks to Xuan Yue’s loyalty, it found food for us. Fu Chenzi’s constitution was stronger, and he didn’t suffer much. But for me, it was freezing cold inside and warm outside, and then cold again at night. I was so sick for three days and three nights.

During these three days, Fu Chenzi was very considerate, brewing medicine and porridge for me, rubbing my shoulders and covering me with blankets. If it weren’t for avoiding suspicion, he would have wanted to stay in my room all the time. Yin Ze also sent me spiritual pills and medicines, and asked four maids to take turns caring for me, which was very thoughtful.

I was in so much pain that I was delirious. Every day, I would look out the window at the sunset and sunrise, and I always secretly hoped that Master would come to see me. However, after three days, he never came. But I knew that this was just my wishful thinking. Master was so busy, and it was very likely that he didn’t have time.

I missed him very much. On the first night after I recovered from my illness, I went to his room to find him. Knowing that I had made a big mistake this time, I knelt down honestly before knocking on the door. After a long time, Yin Ze’s voice came out, “What is it?”

“Disciple has come to apologize to Master.”

“No need. Go back and rest.”

Although he couldn’t see me, I smiled at the door, “I haven’t seen Master for ten days, and I feel very lonely. Master, please open the door and let me see if you are well.”

“Master?”

“We can talk about it tomorrow.”

“Oh, okay...”

However, from that day on, I almost never had a chance to be alone with Master. He seemed to have turned back into the Divine Lord Yin Ze that he used to be... No, not Divine Lord Yin Ze, but the Cangying God we knew.

Sometimes I couldn’t understand. When I told my thoughts to the people around me, they all thought I was strange and said that Master had always been like that.

This time, I really reflected on myself. It must be because I made too many mistakes, and he was very angry.

He no longer called me Wei’er, and he called me by my full name in public.

He also stopped going to the Floating Pagoda Sea alone and went to the Divine Realm more often. And that place, the Divine Realm, was a place I could only hear about but never see. I had heard countless legends about it, and I also knew that the endless well that connected Tian Shi City to the Divine Realm was near the Floating Pagoda Sea. I often saw Yin Ze going in that direction with the other gods. He even took Fu Chenzi to the Divine Realm.

But as a spirit, I would never be able to go there. To say I wasn’t envious would be a lie. Just like that, the relationship between Master and me became more and more distant. I wanted to find a chance to make up for it, but he was too proper, so I didn’t know where to start.

Until winter came, a Spring Goddess named Qing Wu also came to the Immortal Realm. However, she did not come to summon spring for us, but came with the God of Darkness to find Yin Ze. Qing Wu was extremely beautiful, with a calm and serene demeanor, wearing a green skirt and a flower crown. Although she was the same color as the butterfly woman that Yin Ze had favored before, the elegant aura of the forest from the Divine Realm made even the noble fairies bow their heads in submission.

When she arrived at Cangying Gate, the disciples were very excited, and the boys were shouting “Goddess, Goddess” like they had been drugged. That day, I heard at least ten stories about her.

Outside the main hall of Cangying Gate, when she met with the God of Darkness, Yin Ze raised an eyebrow, “Ling Yin, has your love-hate relationship with Lü Bu been enough for you to reminisce about for decades?”

The God of Darkness twitched his lips, wanting to scold but not daring to, wanting to endure but unable to. Qing Wu covered her mouth and laughed, “Divine Lord Yin Ze, you’re still so mean.”

And we disciples hid indoors, climbing on the windowsill, and whispering. I heard someone say, “That goddess is the Mistress! She is the Mistress!”

“Mistress?!” I was shocked, “What do you mean by Mistress?”

“Sister, don’t you know what Mistress means? She and the Divine Lord are old acquaintances in the Divine Realm, and they got together three months ago! They will probably get married soon!”

“What? When did this happen? Why haven’t I heard of it?” I thought for a moment and said, “No, that’s not right. Master has so many women around him, not every one of them can be the Mistress, right?”

“We’ve heard of the Divine Lord’s romantic affairs, but this one is serious...”

Before he finished speaking, Qing Wu turned her head and looked at us, smiling, “Look, there’s a water spirit girl over there, she’s so young and beautiful, her skin is as white as jade. She’s really pretty.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly covered my face. Yin Ze glanced over but didn’t comment. The God of Darkness said, “The water spirit girl is indeed beautiful, but youth is fleeting. Qing Wu, you don’t have to worry too much. In two hundred years, she will be old, and you will still be young.” He glanced at Yin Ze maliciously.

Qing Wu blushed slightly, “What are you talking about. I was just complimenting her, where did you get that idea from.”

In two hundred years, she will be old, and you will still be young. In two hundred years, she will be old, and you will still be young. In two hundred years, she will be old, and you will still be young...

Why did this hit me so hard? I really couldn’t understand, and I didn’t want to think too much about it. However, I was more curious than anyone else about whether Qing Wu was really the Mistress.

Fortunately, that night, I learned that he had gone to the Floating Pagoda Sea again, which was a great opportunity to talk to Master directly!

If she was the Mistress, I would try to make the Mistress happy, and maybe I could regain Master’s trust. If she wasn’t the Mistress, I would use all my tricks to win Master over - flattery and fawning. My wit and wisdom were sometimes no less than Master’s.

This time, we hadn’t seen each other for a whole month. On this snowy night in Tian Shi City, I took a brazier and ran over excitedly, ready to serve Master...

However, the scene at the cliff edge of the Floating Pagoda Sea was rather unusual.

It wasn’t just Yin Ze there.

Qing Wu, the Goddess, was standing beside him.

When I reached the giant rock at the cliff edge, she was reaching out her hand high to hold an umbrella for him. And he happened to take off his white fur shawl and put it on her shoulder. I couldn’t see his face directly from where I was, but I could see her tilting her head slightly, with a smile that could melt the snow.

Then, she cupped a small flame in her palm and surrounded them both.

Wherever the flame passed, the snow melted, and then new grass sprouted and flowers bloomed.

Tian Shi City in winter was colder than other places. The light of the bright stars was also taken away by the cold air, turning into a pale color that seemed to reach the sky and the sea.

Around them, however, was a colorful spring. With such a warm contrast, I felt even colder.

Subconsciously, I reached out and patted beside me, wanting to hug Xuan Yue tightly, but I suddenly realized that I had run out in such a hurry that I had even forgotten to call Xuan Yue.

For a moment, I felt like I couldn’t move. Subconsciously, I loosened my grip and accidentally dropped the brazier to the ground, making a loud noise. Goddess Qing Wu quickly looked over and said, “Is someone there?”

“It must be a few of my naughty disciples. It doesn’t matter.” Yin Ze didn’t even look back, “It’s late now, let’s go back to the Divine Realm.”

“Okay.”

With that, they flickered and disappeared into the endless well in an instant. I held my hands, which were frozen purple, and squatted down, warming myself by the extinguished brazier.

Actually, I wasn’t unhappy. Anyone who saw their backs would have praised them, saying they were a heavenly couple.

The Divine Lord and the Goddess were a perfect match.

There were still residual embers in the brazier, but they quickly turned into dim ashes in the heavy snowfall.

Since I first left Su Zhao, I have known that the world is much larger than I thought. I just didn’t expect it to be so big.

I hugged my knees and sat against the rock for a long time.

The star sea mist was a frosty blue, and in the distance, the round moon had also turned cold, shrouded in the misty fog.

People of today cannot see the moon of the past, but the moon has shone on people of the past.

Perhaps, only this moon above Su Zhao remains. For ten years, I have not been without homesickness, but no night has been as intense as tonight.

“In two hundred years, she will be old, and you will still be young.”

It was originally a joke made by the God of Darkness, but now, it stung more than the water in the Nine Zong Pool.”