Silence Part 3

He nudged Ning Huaishan. "Could it be... High Immortal Tianxiu?"

Ning Huaishan was also stunned by this answer. After a long while, he said, "That's possible... If High Immortal Tianxiu really did come, and it wasn't like what Sang Yu and the others guessed, then he really couldn't show weakness, otherwise..."

But he quickly became even more confused. "That's not right. High Immortal Tianxiu was able to come to Quebuluo. If it wasn't as Sang Yu and the others guessed, then it must have been a clash between immortal and demon, right? A clash between immortal and demon would have to injure one of them. Wouldn't half of our Quebuluo have collapsed? Would it look as perfectly intact as it does now?"

Fang Chu also became more and more confused the more he thought about it.

They stopped whispering and fell into deep thought. Only then did they suddenly sense that something was wrong.

Because it wasn't just their two auras in the room...

Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu were startled. They spun around to see Wu Xingxue leaning against the door, his ink-black eyes watching them quietly. It was impossible to know how long he had been listening.

He had killed many people that night and expended a great deal of Qi. Only after returning to Quebuluo did he relax.

And because his Qi was depleted, some things that had been tightly concealed were now slightly exposed...

And so, Fang Chu and Ning Huaishan caught a whiff of an aura that did not belong to their City Lord.

They froze for a moment, finally realizing that it was... Tianxiu's immortal essence, slowly emerging from Wu Xingxue's body.

At that very moment, Fang Chu had a sudden epiphany. Perhaps the reverse scale Sang Yu and the others had touched wasn't "demanding a secret method," but "spreading the news that High Immortal Tianxiu had been to Quebuluo."

The instant this thought flashed through his mind, Wu Xingxue, who had been leaning against the door, was suddenly in front of them.

Fang Chu was startled and blurted out, "City Lord, I won't say anything!"

Wu Xingxue's raised hand paused.

Fang Chu pulled Ning Huaishan and said hurriedly, "This matter about the Tribulation Period, we won't breathe a word of it!"

But Wu Xingxue's hand still fell.

Before they closed their eyes, they faintly heard the sound of a bell.

***

Wu Xingxue was woken by the sound of damp rain outside the carriage, coupled with the carriage giving a slight jolt as it passed through a Restriction.

The last scene he saw in his dream was his own fingertip hooking the Dream Bell, freezing Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu. The last words ringing in his ears were Fang Chu's exclamation: "This matter about the Tribulation Period, we won't breathe a word of it!"

Amidst that lingering sound, he opened his eyes and saw Xiao Fuxuan's profile in the dim lamplight.

It wasn't a Spirit-Dispelling Lamp, so it wasn't glaring. It swayed slightly with the carriage's movement, and the warm yellow light fell from the other's brow bone and high-bridged nose, settling into the line of his lips.

Wu Xingxue hadn't yet shaken off his drowsiness. He watched lazily with narrowed eyes for a while, then suddenly pursed his lips.

As if sensing something, Xiao Fuxuan happened to turn his gaze over at that moment.

He was still for a moment, suddenly remembering the phrase "High Immortal Tianxiu" mentioned by countless people in his dream. By the time he reacted, he had already hastily withdrawn his gaze from under Xiao Fuxuan's nose.

"City Lord is awake?"

"City Lord."

The voices of Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu rang out, almost seamlessly connecting with the lingering sounds from his dream.

Wu Xingxue was stunned for a moment before he remembered that they were currently in a carriage on the way to Fallen Flower Terrace.

Xiao Fuxuan's gaze was still on him, visible in his peripheral vision. He sat up and randomly picked a question to ask the three opposite him, "Are we there yet?"

To his surprise, Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu didn't speak. It was actually Xiao Fuxuan who answered in a light tone, "We're here."

Wu Xingxue was taken aback. "We're here?"

Only then did he realize that after the slight jolt in his half-asleep state, the carriage had made no further movements. It seemed they really had arrived.

Wu Xingxue sat up, puzzled, his gaze still on the other side of the table. "If we're here, why aren't you moving?"

High Immortal Tianxiu's low voice added, "Those two didn't dare to wake you."

Wu Xingxue: "..."

'Did I ask you to answer? Usually says nothing for half a day, but now he's saying one sentence after another.'

After Xiao Fuxuan spoke two sentences in a row, it would be too much to keep staring straight ahead at the other three. So he...

He looked down at himself. When he had fallen asleep earlier, he was only wearing a thin inner robe and holding a hand warmer. Now, upon waking, he was covered with a thick felt blanket for some reason.

The moment he sat up, the thick blanket slipped down a little. Cold air seeped in through the gap, and Wu Xingxue subconsciously held the blanket, pulling it up. "This blanket..."

This time, Ning Huaishan and Fang Chu were still hesitant to speak, but Yi Wusheng answered quickly, "I saw earlier... that the young master's knuckles were turning blue. You must have been a bit cold."

'A bit cold is an understatement,' Wu Xingxue thought to himself.

Just as he was about to nod his thanks to Yi Wusheng, he heard the other say, "The High Immortal covered you with a blanket."

Wu Xingxue: "..."

He finally glanced at Xiao Fuxuan after all.

As luck would have it, Ning Huaishan chose this moment to start stammering, "City Lord, you might not be aware. Our constitutions are special. Every so often, some—"

He had probably wanted to say something like "resentful spirits devouring the body." The shape of the word "resentful" was already formed by his mouth, but he glanced at Xiao Fuxuan and silently swallowed it back, saying, "—some situations..."

Fang Chu added from the side, "During that time, the body's cold becomes unbearable. The more powerful one is, the harder it is to endure, uh..."

With an immortal present, they couldn't be too direct. But they were also afraid that Wu Xingxue wouldn't remember anything and something would happen when he couldn't bear it later. The two of them were so anxious they were practically scratching their heads.

Wu Xingxue clutched the blanket, watching them with a wooden face, and thought: 'Stop talking. As it happens, I know. Instead of putting on a monkey show here, you'd be better off getting out of the carriage.'

The two fools got up to exit the carriage, still gesturing as they spoke, "Anyway, there are just those times, mmm—"

They mumbled a few times before High Immortal Tianxiu's deep voice rang out, completing the word for them: "Tribulation Period."

Wu Xingxue's eyelashes trembled. He almost smothered the man's face with the thick blanket in his hands.