Chapter 106: Shame

　　“If you have other arrangements, just pretend I didn’t…”

　　“All right.” Huan Zhong looked at her. “Even if it is one year, two years, all right.”

　　Kong Hou stilled. A moment later, she reached up to cover her face. When Huan Zhong looked at her like this, she would feel as though she was his entire world.

　　“No need for so long.” Kong Hou told him how Master wanted her to stay on the mountain to cultivate, and how she felt they would accomplish more if they were cultivating together.

　　“This is good,” Huan Zhong said. “I am a boring and lonely person. Without your company, all places are the same.”

　　“How can you think that?” Kong Hou disagreed. “You are good all over.”

　　Huan Zhong wanted to say something but stopped. Then, he said, “With you accompanying me in universal paired cultivation, my spirit platform will recover faster.”

　　“Then will you recover completely without those medicines?” Kong Hou’s eyes lit up. She turned and walked backwards, saying to Huan Zhong. “They all say you are a rare genius. If your spirit platform recovers completely, will you go through Mind Dividing Stage to reach Transcendental Stage?”

　　“Silly girl, it is not so easy.” Huan Zhong laughed. Seeing her occupied with speaking to him and unaware she was about to hit a tree, he reached to grab her arm and pulled her towards him. “Careful.”

　　“Ah?” Kong Hou turned and saw a tree trunk. She stood docilely and didn’t dare to walk backwards again.

　　Some disciples of other sects on the neighbouring path saw this scene, and silently took a few steps back, pretending not to have seen anything. No wonder Radiance Sect liked to randomly send things to Splendid Cloud Sect. It was because their disciples were in love.

　　If they had known something like this was occurring, they wouldn’t have walked in this direction, so as to avoid any awkwardness.

　　With these two people together, they didn’t know whether to praise Celestial Kong Hou for her greatness or Spirit Master Huan Zhong for his. No one in three generations of Splendid Cloud Sect had married—but Spirit Master Huan Zhong was able to get a female disciple of Splendid Cloud Sect to fall in love with him. What skill was this?

　　The sword cultivators of Radiance Sect wouldn’t easily fall in love. Their greatest love was their sword—but Celestial Kong Hou could make him forget his sword and focus completely on her. What skill was this?

　　A few days after these disciples left, rumors that Spirit Master Huan Zhong and Celestial Kong Hou were in a relationship spread. Many people knew the rumor, and only the two concerned and Splendid Cloud Sect didn’t know.

　　It seemed that everyone knew the principle that gossip should not reach the people concerned and concealed their own thoughts well.

　　##

　　A few days after the ceremony, the guests from the various sects made their farewells. Splendid Cloud Sect knew they could not keep the guests and set up a farewell banquet. Almost all the guests from the sects came. It could be seen that the banquets of Splendid Cloud Sect were very attractive to everyone.

　　After the meal, Heng Yan said, “Everyone has come a long way, and this one has nothing good to give in return. We coincidentally obtained a lost sword method recently. This lowly sect and Radiance Sect have inspected it and confirmed these is nothing wrong with this sword method. We have printed it. If everyone does not mind, take a copy with you.”

　　At his words, a disciple came out with a thick pile of books. Wu Chuan gifted the representative of each sect with a copy.

　　“Sword of Heaven and Earth?” Ling Yue received the book. Looking at the four words on the cover, she almost didn’t believe her eyes. Even so, she couldn’t bear to blink and slowly opened the book.

　　The contents were true, and it could be seen the creator understood the sword path very well.

　　The “Sword of Heaven and Earth” was a famed method from a thousand years ago. Supposedly, the last cultivator who knew this method had already ascended. Later people attempted to recover some of the contents of the Sword of Heaven and Earth. But in the end, because the material they had wasn’t sufficient, they could only give up.

　　In these years, rumors about the “Sword of Heaven and Earth” would appear occasionally. Today, a person discovered a secret manual that might be the “Sword of Heaven and Earth”. Tomorrow, a successor to the skill appeared. But the conclusion to all those rumors was they were false.

　　Now Splendid Cloud Sect obtained this sword method and printed it into books to send to the major sects. They could be said to be very virtuous. Even the people present who were not sword cultivators felt very grateful to Splendid Cloud Sect.

　　Shuang Qing held the “Sword of Heaven and Earth” and felt complicated. As the sect master of Primary Luck Sect, his greatest dream was to push Primary Luck Sect into the top ten. When he was very young, he had heard elders of the sect speak of this sword method. According to the elders, this sword method was both powerful and mysterious. If a sword cultivator learned this, their power would increase greatly and they would have a chance of finding a chance to ascend.

　　These words made him have some dreams about the “Sword of Heaven and Earth”. Yet he didn’t even think he would obtain the secret manual he had dreamed about from Splendid Cloud Sect.

　　When you take from someone… you owe them.

　　As the banquet ended, everyone returned to their residences and prepared to depart tomorrow morning. Song He, as the peak master of Radiance Sect, arranged for the disciples to tidy up the luggage as he observed his shizhi‘s face.

　　He looked normal and didn’t even seem to be packing up. It appeared he did not bear to part with Miss Kong Hou.

　　“Shidi, if you do not pack now, you will be in a flurry tomorrow.” Cang Hai helped Song He pack and started to do his own packing. “I know you do not want to part from Miss Kong Hou, but this matter will not be resolved soon. How about returning to the sect with us, and when they come to Radiance Sect to attend the conference next year, we can discuss again.”

　　“Shishu, Cang Hai Shixiong, I will not be returning with you.” Huan Zhong sat on the meditation mat elegantly, swirling a teacup in hand. “I will have Lin Hu go with you.”

　　“If you don’t go, you want to hang around Splendid Cloud Sect for a lifetime?” Cang Hai hadn’t expected his shidi to have this kind of thought. Thinking about how Shidi had stood beside Miss Kong Hou at Path Friend Cheng Yi’s Mind Manifestation ceremony a few days ago, he said delicately, “Do not be too obvious. If Splendid Cloud Sect goes mad…” He feared even Radiance Sect could not survive.

　　“Shixiong, you misunderstand.” Huan Zhong put down the teacup and smiled at Cang Hai. “Miss Kong Hou invited me to spend this half year to perform universal paired cultivation with her. I consented.”

　　Cang Hai: “…”

　　Was something wrong with his eyes? Why did his shidi have such a smug smile?

　　It was universal paired cultivation, not paired cultivation—did he have to be so smug? Cang Hai would not damp Huan Zhong’s spirits and asked, “How long will you stay at Splendid Cloud Mountain?”

　　“I will return before the formal start of the conference next year.” Huan Zhong stood and bowed to Song He and Cang Hai. “Shizhu, Shixiong, please tell my master of this matter.”

　　“I fear I cannot tell your master about this temporarily,” Song He said. “Ever since you and Miss Kong Hou were able to perform universal paired cultivation, Sect Master’s mental state was rapidly opened, and he went into seclusion a few days ago. Maybe when you return, your master will have reached Transcendental Stage.”

　　Jin Yue had been stuck at Mind Dividing Stage for four centuries. This time, he had suddenly seen through some matters, and his mental state had changed. This was a good time to attempt a breakthrough.

　　When Zhong Xi had become Sect Master’s apprentice, Sect Master had Mind Dividing cultivation. Right now, Zhong Xi already had Mind Dividing cultivation, but Sect Master was still the same. Some people jealous of Radiance Sect laughed at Sect Master behind his back for this. Fortunately, the sect master was not one that cared about his reputation and ignored these people. Otherwise, he feared these minor things would affect the trust between master and disciple.

　　“I dragged Master down.” Huan Zhong sighed. If Master hadn’t put all his energy into nurturing him in these years, how would he have stayed so long in Mind Dividing Stage?

　　Master had a hard time to teach and raise him, but both his mental state and spirit platform had problems that caused Master to worry even more. Now that Master could finally see through all this, Huan Zhong felt both happy and guilty.

　　“You are more than three hundred years old—why would you still think this?” Song He said. “Back then, Shixiong‘s cultivation did not stop because he was raising you. He found his cultivation reached a bottleneck and then had the time to take you back to the sect as an apprentice.

　　“When the news that you and Miss Kong Hou could perform universal paired cultivation reached the sect, Sect Master was very happy and had a mental breakthrough.” Song He patted Huan Zhong’s shoulder. “Since Miss Kong Hou is keeping you as a guest, then stay here. Over in the sect, we will take care of everything.”

　　In any case, even when you were a peak master, you did not manage the matters of the sect.

　　##

　　Kong Hou still didn’t know that Huan Zhong’s sect was in full support of him remaining at Splendid Cloud Sect. She remembered she hadn’t received her allowances for these months and went to Five Elements Hall. On the way back, she heard the sound of sword swings on the mountain.

　　She landed below the clouds, pushing aside the branches, and saw it was the shidi called Gui Ling.

　　She touched her own arm suspiciously. This was real. She wasn’t dreaming. There was a disciple in Splendid Cloud Sect who secretly practiced the sword in the middle of the night and worked hard? Looking at the sweat on the young shidi‘s forehead as he swung the sword in dull and repetitive moves, Kong Hou couldn’t help but wonder—had this shidi joined the wrong sect?

　　Single spirit base talent, hard worker and able to endure hardship. He could go to any sect like Radiance Sect, Nine Phoenix Sect, and Clear Dawn Sect—why did he join Splendid Cloud Sect?

　　She released her hand, and the branches creaked. Hearing the sound, Gui Ling hurriedly put away his sword, turned and saw the young girl dressed in a pink dress up in the tree. After a momentary daze, he bowed to Kong Hou and said, “Greetings Shijie.”

　　“No need to be so polite. You do not have to be in such a hurry to cultivate.” Kong Hou looked at the young shidi‘s face. Such a good-looking face. If he was bogged down by a lack of height, it would be a regret.

　　“Thank you, shijie, for your concern. I will take good care of myself.” Looking up at the young girl on the branches, Gui Ling’s face flushed slightly. He was about to say something when he saw the white-robed Spirit Master Huan Zhong fly through the air.

　　“Kong Hou.” Huan Zhong seemed not to see Gui Ling, stopping beside Kong Hou from the air.

　　Gui Ling could clearly see this ethereal man had glanced at him coldly.

　　This glance seemed to see through him, and made him embarrassed and wanting to hide.

　　Translator Ramblings: Huan Zhong’s sect members have the best internal voices … Huan Zhong appears very much to be the “baby” of the sect, even though he is “technically” of the older generation. No responsibilities, does whatever he wants, and has all the old generation babying him.