Chapter 30: Are You a Good Person? He Thought, I’ll Trust One Last Time.
In the apricot forest, light and shadows danced through the sparse leaves. The youth’s appearance was so pale he seemed to glow, yet his body was shrouded in swirling black mist, thick as splashed ink. The lotus jade pendant at his waist scattered a glittering, crystalline light.
At that time, Xiao Jianming only felt unlucky. He had finally found a moment when that old man wasn’t around, yet before he could even escape, he looked up and bumped right into a hypocrite.
The children locked up with him heard the noise and swarmed over, pushing him to the back.
“Brother, save us!”
“Wuwu, Immortal, please let us out! We don’t want to be sold…”
“Please, Immortal Lord!”
Xiao Jianming watched his younger self standing at the very back, gazing indifferently at everything before him. He still remembered his thoughts at that moment.
He thought: Don’t beg. This hypocrite won’t save you.
But Ji Buhuan, in a flurry of panic, began to comfort them: “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Tell me first, why are you locked up here? And who wants to sell you?”
The children spoke all at once, and Ji Buhuan finally understood their tragic plight.
He couldn’t help but be filled with righteous indignation: “To think such things happen!”
He immediately promised: “Rest assured, I will definitely save you all!”
After speaking, Ji Buhuan revealed a troubled expression.
He thought to himself that he had barely managed to sneak out from home. He had come here because he ran out of spirit stones, so he tagged along with some fellow cultivators he met on the road to sneak into the Hundred Flowers Banquet held by the Changqing Sect for a free meal. He didn’t have a single attendant with him.
But on his own, it was impossible to quietly take away so many children. He had to go back and find help.
Little Xiao Jianming watched coldly as he finished coaxing the group of brats and left in a hurry.
After Ji Buhuan left, he tried to break the iron window leading to the ground. But the bars were made of Mystic Iron, and they were fed Spirit-Dispersing Pills every day. Without spiritual power, he couldn’t break them at all.
Running out of strength, he simply sat in the corner, enduring his hunger to sleep fitfully.
Xiao Jianming didn’t look at his past self. He turned to follow Ji Buhuan, watching him take wrong turns and wind through paths until he was spotted by a young disciple of the Changqing Sect. Only then was he led back to the banquet, where he found the companions who had come with him.
But when his companions heard his words, they laughed loudly: “Did you not know that we came to this banquet precisely for these high-quality cultivation vessels?”
“Brother Ji, stop joking. The Changqing Sect Master is a Divinity Transformation cultivator. Forget saving people; be careful you don’t throw your own life away.”
“Exactly! Isn’t it better to just enjoy yourself?”
“If you don’t like this sort of thing, you can just leave.”
Ji Buhuan looked at them in horror, turned around, and ran out of the banquet.
He ran all the way to a secluded pond before stopping. Fear and hesitation flashed across his face, but mostly, he looked lost.
After a long while, a look of determination appeared in his snow-clean eyes. Avoiding the patrolling disciples, he returned to the apricot forest.
Xiao Jianming hadn’t known this part of the past. In his memory, the youth from back then seemed much taller than him, like a celestial being.
Only now did he realize that the youth was only a little older than him.
He, too, could feel lost and afraid.
Thanks to the tracking powder he had scattered earlier, Ji Buhuan didn’t get lost this time.
Xiao Jianming hadn’t known he was directionally challenged and found it amusing.
Ji Buhuan nervously knocked out the disciple guarding the prison door. Unable to find the key, he used his spirit sword to hack open the black prison’s lock, releasing the children one by one.
The children cheered and poured out like fish. Xiao Jianming saw his green and tender self walking at the very end, not as excited as the other kids, but silently watching the youth, calculating how to evade his gaze and escape later.
Ji Buhuan welcomed them with a smile, burying all his worries deep in his heart.
If he weren’t in Ji Buhuan’s memory illusion right now, Xiao Jianming wouldn’t have known he wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared on the surface.
Just as the youth expected, not long after they escaped, they were caught by the Old Sect Master of the Changqing Sect.
Xiao Jianming saw that while Ji Buhuan appeared calm on the surface, his pupils constricted sharply, his heart crying out in alarm: How did he come so fast!
The young Ji Buhuan was only at the Foundation Establishment stage; naturally, he couldn’t defeat the Old Sect Master. But he had been born well.
As the Young Master of the Ji Family, one of the Four Great Noble Clans, his conspicuous white hair allowed the Old Sect Master to recognize him at a glance, making his beard twitch with anger.
Because he feared the Ji Family, no matter how disgruntled he was, the Old Sect Master could only glance at the “goods” behind the youth with a livid face, pinching his nose to begrudgingly let the youth go:
“Since Little Friend Ji is a noble of the Ji Family, if you are willing to stop now, this old man will pretend nothing happened and let you leave. Otherwise, do not blame this old man for accepting the search warrant broadcast by the Ji Family Head across the Seven Continents and Four Seas, and sending Little Friend back bound and tied.”
Ji Buhuan’s entire body tensed. Hearing the Old Sect Master’s words, he realized his father had already issued the order, and he would soon be captured and taken back.
Xiao Jianming stood behind him, feeling a wave of desolation rise in the youth’s heart.
But he didn’t recall what kind of person Ji’s father was. His intuition told him this man was the key. He urgently wanted to see that person, but the memory illusion was not under his control.
Several people followed behind the Old Sect Master—the very cultivators who had come to the banquet with Ji Buhuan. Hearing this, they were all shocked by his true identity. It seemed they checked their Spirit Communication Tokens on the spot and saw the search warrant posted to the entire world, offering a reward of ten million spirit stones. Their gazes toward him faintly revealed greed.
They followed up with persuasion: “Yes, Brother Ji, come back and drink with us. What is there worth saving about these lowly commoners?”
Someone else secretly transmitted a message: “Brother Ji, stop meddling. Why do you think the Changqing Sect dares to do this business? They have great noble clans standing behind them too. Distant water cannot put out a nearby fire. If you persist, aren’t you afraid the Old Sect Master will act out of anger and make you suffer?”
The children behind him tugged at his hand in fear, sobbing softly: “Brother…”
Ji Buhuan took a deep breath. Xiao Jianming heard him constantly comforting himself in his heart: Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid…
The next second, just as in the past, Ji Buhuan smiled calmly and said: “Since the Sect Master knows my identity, why not do me a favor? Gift these children to me, and form a good karma with the Ji Family. How about it?”
The hypocritical smile on the Old Sect Master’s face vanished: “Young Master Ji, my Hundred Flowers Banquet has been held peacefully for over ten years. If I give everyone to you today, I won’t be able to hold it anymore. Please do not make things difficult for me.”
Unfortunately, Ji Buhuan was determined to save them, so naturally, the negotiation failed.
But he had plenty of life-saving and escape items on him. It was just that the Ji Family Head had placed tracking spells on all of them to prevent him from running away. The moment he used them, his location would be exposed.
In the end, Ji Buhuan used the magical artifacts in his storage bag to cause a huge chaotic scene at the Changqing Sect, successfully rescuing all the children. The fire at the Changqing Sect burned all night.
But thinking of his inescapable fate of being captured, Ji Buhuan couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
However, saving these poor children means I didn’t escape in vain.
Xiao Jianming felt the bitterness rising in his heart and was inexplicably moved.
Perhaps Brother Buhuan was innocent. It’s possible.
Ji Buhuan never expected that the first to find him wouldn’t be the Ji Family, but the Yue Family, the noble clan behind the Changqing Sect.
He had just sent the children who had homes back one by one when he bumped into the law enforcement elder sent by the Yue Family to investigate the Changqing Sect Master’s cause of death halfway.
Ji Buhuan fled everywhere with the remaining children. To avoid cultivators, they had to trek through desolate deep mountains and old forests. His clean clothes turned into rags, yet he didn’t feel sad at all. He even flourished a sword flower and laughed: “Look, do I look like those wandering swordsmen in the storybooks?”
“You do!”
“Brother Buhuan looks the best!”
“Brother Buhuan is the best-looking swordsman I’ve ever seen!”
A group of half-grown kids coaxed the youth until he was elated, the smile on his face refusing to fade.
Xiao Jianming watched all this, then turned to look at his own self sitting alone on a withered log. He wished he could replace him and go talk to the youth too.
He was so solitary back then that Ji Buhuan naturally noticed his lack of fitting in. While the other kids discussed how to make the roasted fish more fragrant, he quietly came to his side, asking with a light smile: “What’s your name? Why didn’t you come over to play just now? Are you shy?”
Little Xiao Jianming’s face was cold: “No name. Don’t want to be with idiots. No.”
Ji Buhuan had no self-awareness of being scolded and smiled even happier: “You are so cute.”
After saying that, he pondered for a while. Unfortunately, Ji Buhuan was useless at naming, so he asked: “Having no name won’t do. what name do you want to take?”
Xiao Jianming kept his small face cold. Worn down by his pestering, he impatiently told him his name.
He paused, then couldn’t help asking: “You clearly could have walked away. Why drag us along?”
He couldn’t understand. The hypocrite could hardly protect himself, yet he was willing to bring along their group of burdens.
Ji Buhuan reached out to pat his head but was dodged. He froze for a moment, then laughed: “Because Big Brother is a god from the heavens, and gods must protect you all!”
Xiao Jianming: “Nonsense. You are only at the Foundation Establishment stage.”
Ji Buhuan was truly stunned this time. He couldn’t help pursing his lips in a smile, marveling: “You actually understand this? Is there a cultivator in your family too?”
Xiao Jianming didn’t want to talk about this, so he kept his mouth shut.
Later, Ji Buhuan would come to harass him from time to time. He wanted to eat roasted fish with him, pick pretty flowers on the road to give him, and even show him a slightly peculiar stone.
Xiao Jianming was annoyed beyond measure and wanted to say he was leaving. But seeing him tired, the youth would involuntarily carry him on his back, letting him sleep there, even though he himself was sweating profusely from walking.
The words at his lips couldn’t be spoken.
He thought for half the night and still wanted to leave.
Once everyone was asleep, he quietly got up and ran away in the dark.
Xiao Jianming watched the small figure go far away, unable to stop himself from mocking in his heart: Idiot.
Unsurprisingly, Little Xiao Jianming accidentally startled a beast in the forest. Chased until he fell into a limestone cave, he broke his leg.
He stayed in the cave for a day and a night. Just as hallucinations began to appear in his eyes, he saw Ji Buhuan at the cave entrance, who had been anxiously searching the mountains for him.
Those snow-like eyes overflowed with anxiety and worry. After finding him, he breathed a sigh of relief, then revealed uncontrollable heartache.
The cave was too deep. Ji Buhuan flew down on his sword, only to hear him ask abruptly: “Are you a good person?”
Ji Buhuan laughed angrily, still joking as he picked him up: “Of course I’m not a good person. I’m here to eat you!”
But he saw the child, who always had a cold face, show his first smile in all these days: “Liar.”
He huffed: “Bad guys never say they aren’t good people.”
Xiao Jianming hugged his neck, and suddenly, he didn’t want to leave anymore.
He thought, I’ll trust one last time.
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