Chapter 14.
You look like a man, he looks like an immortal

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This man walked up to them slowly, and stopped at the right distance for them to see his appearance clearly.

“Greetings.
A chance encounter is fate; I wonder if you can let me warm by your fire.
I intend to spend this night here and enter the town during the daytime as well.”

His manners corresponded to the ones in Changming’s memories, and this voice was just as in his memories, without the slightest deviation.

But his smile and bearing were not what they should have been.

Changming maintained his composure and did not answer.

Xu Jingxian was first to speak: “Of course you can, gentleman, please, sit where you wish.
But I would ask you to provide us your name and origins.”

Changming couldn’t help but look at her, You’ve just been on guard with all your heart, why are you taking the initiative with such enthusiasm now?

Xu Jingxian raised her sleeve and quietly whispered in his ear.

“He is so handsome, he really doesn’t look like an evil spirit.”

Changming: …

No matter good or bad, you are also a famous cultivator, can you not voice such ridiculous thoughts?

Changming: “I am good-looking too, why don’t you have such implicit faith in me?”

Xu Jingxian: “It’s not the same.
You look like a man, he looks like an immortal.”

Changming: And you look like a dog?

Dog: is an all-purpose curse in Chinese.
In this case, it’s roughly ‘a flatterer’, I suppose.

The man saw them talking in whispers, but didn’t pay attention, nodding and cupping his hands in greeting.

“Your humble servant’s surname is Yun, name is Hai, I am a roaming cultivator.
I’ve heard about an unusual treasure that has appeared in the Nine Layers of the Abyss, so I came here to take a look.
Is it the same for you two?”

He was talking with ease, but a cultivator who could get through that dense mist must surely have had some skills.
Although he gave Xu Jingxian a good impression of himself, she didn’t dare take him lightly either.

“What unusual treasure?”

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“One day in the first third of the month, purple rays of light soared to the sky on the Sacred Mountain Wan, and they didn’t disperse in a month.
Some people say that an impressive spiritual weapon appeared here, which caused this reaction from the heavens.
Others say that something has happened in the Nine Layers of the Abyss, and evil spirits are wreaking havoc.
This led to a controversy, and many people used the chance to enter the Nine Layers of the Abyss, looking for fortunate opportunities.”

Yun Hai finished speaking and felt Changming’s gaze on himself.
He turned towards him and nodded lightly.

“May I know your honorable names, daoyous?”

Xu Jingxian smiled: “My surname is Xu, name is Jingjing, it’s fine if you call me Jing-er.
He is a daoyou who happened to travel with me, his name is Changming.
But we are not really close.”

Jingjing: she’s lying, and this name sounds more cute.

-er: a non-syllabic diminutive suffix.

Changming: …

Yun Hai: “Daoyou Changming seems a bit familiar, have we met before?”

Changming said profoundly: “Maybe, in our dreams.”

Yun Hai laughed: “We’ve seen thousands and hundreds of dreams, who knows, maybe we actually did.”

Xu Jingxian: ???

These two have only just met, why was this dialogue so odd?!

In order not to become the third wheel, she forcibly changed the topic.

“We entered this place by a mistake, and now can’t think of a way out, so we just keep going forward.
Maybe daoyou Yun is acquainted with this area?”

Yun Hai said: “I only know that although people call the Nine Layers of the Abyss unfathomable, it is not barren, and people live in towns here just like in the human world; it’s only that there are less ordinary people here.
Those who live here either have nowhere to go outside the Nine Layers of the Abyss, or are very strong and skilled cultivators.
In short, whatever you see or hear here, shouldn’t surprise you as it is perfectly normal.”

His words were limited to generalities, and Xu Jingxian was bored.
She managed to endure it without interrupting him through a great effort.

“Daoyou Yun talks with ease and confidence, he must have a card up his sleeves.
We both have just finished our apprenticeship, and are just novices.
Can we travel together with you tomorrow so that we can take care of each other?”

Yun Hai: “Of course we can.”

Xu Jingxian: “Daoyou Yun is a good person indeed! When we get out of here, I will certainly invite you to my family’s residence as a guest!”

Yun Hai: “Where does daoyou Xu live?”

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Xu Jingxian answered in a blink: “My family lives on a mountain in the east.
You can see clouds tinged with sunset hues, and a sea stretching away to meet the sky from there.
My home is much more beautiful than this gloomy place.
There is also…”

She opened her mouth and started talking right away, without her face blushing or her heart beating faster, so Changming had almost believed her words.

But Yun Hai was obviously more interested in Changming.

“And what about daoyou Changming? Do you also live there?”

“I feel at home anywhere and have no definite residence.” Changming said.

“Have daoyous really never been to the Nine Layers of the Abyss?” Yun Hai asked.

“We haven’t for sure.
Why does daoyou Yun ask?”

“I saw how calm and composed the two daoyous are, and felt that you don’t look like those who enter this place for the first time, so I thought that I would feel more secure under your protection.” Yun Hai smiled, his bearing so casual and elegant that others were unable to avert their gazes.
“I’ve heard that Xu Fenglin also came here a few days ago.”

Xu Jingxian focused her attention on his last words: “Xu Fenglin from the Donghai Sect? That genius in sword cultivation?”

Yun Hai: “Exactly.
I’ve heard that he is traveling with a young woman, so I believed it was you two.”

Xu Jingxian gasped: “We are just venturing from our thatched hut for the first time, and have no knowledge or skills, how can we be compared to Xu Fenglin? But everyone says that he is formidable like a great master.
Although I’ve never seen him, I am a bit unwilling to accept this.
There are many capable people in the world, but you can’t become a great master just because you want to.
I can’t imagine his abilities to surpass those of the greatest well-known masters.”

Venturing from our thatched hut for the first time: young and inexperienced.

Yun Hai: “I’m not quite sure about it.
However, Xu Fenglin was able to match evenly with the Master of the Celestial Abode Shenxiao in the hundred rounds at the Qianlin Assembly.
He was praised by a few masters, so he should have some skills.”

Xu Jingxian: “Xu Fenglin already has such a terrifying spiritual weapon as the Fuyun Sword, why would he come to the Nine Layers of the Abyss?”

Fuyun: touching clouds, Yun Hai’s ‘yun’.

Yun Hai laughed: “When it comes to outstanding spiritual weapons and cultivation techniques, who would hate to have too many of them? Didn’t you come here looking for such an opportunity as well?”

Xu Jingxian used this chance to start a conversation with Yun Hai, partly because she drooled over his good looks, partly because she wanted to learn the details of his background.
But, even though they were chatting for half a day, Yun Hai controlled his speech perfectly, but the fact that Xu Jingxian was a demonic cultivator was soon uncovered.

When it came to understanding this ‘Yun Hai’, Changming dared to claim the first place, and there might not have existed a person to take the second place.

Changming only needed to take one glance to figure out that this person’s name was never ‘Yun Hai’.

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His real name was Yun Weisi.

This person who used to ascend to heaven or descend to earth with him, but later fell out with him and became his enemy; his first disciple that pledged to kill him, Yun Weisi.

Ascend to heaven or descend to earth: to go everywhere.

Under the bright fire, he could clearly see Yun Hai’s appearance, his every frown and smile—he was that person, but at the same time didn’t look like him.

Yun Weisi smiled rarely.
If he started doing something, he would even immediately forget about himself, neglect his sleep and food, until he would bring that issue to its successful close.
It could be said that Changming had strict demands towards him back then, but the most strict demands came from Yun Weisi himself.
He used to accomplish every matter successfully—even if later it was his dedication to chase and kill Changming.

He was really a person of outstanding ability, and even though Changming accepted three more disciples, he always felt that they were lacking compared to Yun Weisi.

But, unless Yun Weisi had been possessed by a demon, there was no way for this cheerfully and wittily talking Yun Hai who was feeling at ease in front of his eyes to be him.

Was someone deliberately creating an illusion, or did Yun Weisi encounter an unforeseen event that had changed his character so much?

Since he had met Xiao Yun at the back of the mountain in the Qixian Sect, and till he met this Yun Hai, Changming always felt like his every movement was under someone else’s control.

That was a feeling that a bug glued to a spider web felt—every little movement could let the hunter notice him.

“Daoyou Changming, you are looking at me all the time.
Are you thinking of that person who visits your dreams?”

Yun Hai’s words interrupted Changming’s pondering.

“I do actually have this old friend.
But, although he resembles you, at the same time there is nothing in common between you.”

The sea breeze raised Changming’s hair and quickly carried away his words.

The Nine Layers of the Abyss was like the human world, and the sea here was not much different from seas outside.

But Changming didn’t expect that he would be able to meet a person looking exactly like Yun Weisi one day, and peacefully talk to him near a fire at night.

Yun Hai: “If I resemble him, how can there be nothing in common?”

Changming: “The resemblance is appearance, and what is different is character.”

Yun Hai: “These words are even more confusing.
We are strangers coming together by chance, how can daoyou understand my character with one glance?”

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Changming: “When you walked out from the mist just now, water was dripping from your hands; that means, you’ve just washed them.
Your clothes have red stains, they must be blood and water that haven’t been washed away.
You’ve just killed someone, yet you didn’t want to stain your attire.
From time to time, your hand pulls at your dirty sleeve awkwardly.
This is not like that friend’s behaviour at all.”

Yun Hai heard Changming’s words about him killing someone, yet he didn’t retort and even smiled happily.

“That old friend of yours has never killed people?”

Changming: “He did as well.”

Yun Hai: “Oh?”

Changming: “But when he killed, he just killed, and didn’t mind all these insignificant details.”

Yun Hai laughed: “Who doesn’t bother about trifles will accomplish much.
Sounds like your old friend is an important person.”

Changming: “He was homeless and miserable in his childhood.
He had faced both luxuries with fame and all kinds of hardships, so he paid no attention to mere worldly possessions.
Friends, enemies—he really didn’t care.
Many people thought he was heartless and ruthless, but in fact he just understood there are too many things that are too easy to lose, while a person’s powers are limited.
That’s why he always gripped his attention on one thing and didn’t notice others.”

Yun Hai sighed: “He was born to be a cultivator, to pursue immortality.
So to say, did he become an immortal?”

Changming: “He didn’t.
But I believe that if he continues to insist on advancing in cultivation, that day will come sooner or later.”

Yun Hai: “Daoyou Changming, your friend possesses the power to ascend, then why are you in dire straits?”

Changming asked in reply: “Am I in dire straits?”

Yun Hai nodded: “In dire straits to the point that I…”

Before he could finish talking, a loud noise came from afar!

The three of them turned their heads in the direction of the sound.
Above the First Layer of the Abyss, flames soared to the sky, lighting it up in an instant.

In the midst of this gleaming light, purple flames intertwined with the energy of a powerful spiritual sword.
It was an impressive scene.

Tn:

Just in case, Xu Jingxian and Xu Fenglin have different surnames.

‘Xú’ & ‘Fènglín’ are lit.
‘gentle’ & ‘forest where phoenixes live — fairyland’; 

‘Xǔ’ & ‘Jìngxiān’ are lit.
‘promise’ & ‘calm immortal’.
As you can see, names have nothing to do with personalities.