Chapter 45

"Big Brother ..."

The aggrieved and mournful voice rang out quietly in the room. The rest of the voice trembled a few times, like a puppy that was mumbling.

Zong Zi Heng lay on his bed, eyes closed with attention. In fact, he wasn't asleep, he knew Zong Zi Xiao knew he wasn't asleep either, but he wasn't going to pay any attention to him.

"Big brother, I'm so tired, my legs are numb."

"Xiao Jiu is so hungry ah. I've come all the way here, so tired and hungry. I just wanted to see big brother, yet you scold me and punish me."

"I touched the Chunyang Sect's barrier and almost got hurt, you don't feel sorry for me at all do you?"

"When I was little you were so concerned about me. You worried about my bumps and bruises, now you punish me so frequently. Am I not your brother anymore when I grow up?"

Zong Zi Heng could not stand it anymore and sat up, looking at Zong Zi Xiao who had been crouching in a horse stance for half the night and hanging his head. He was angry and amused: "You still dare to speak. Who allowed you to run out without permission?"

"Who told you to leave me alone. Besides, I'm twelve years old. When a cultivator reaches that age, he should go out on his own for training. He doesn't need anyone's permission."

"Then you can go wherever you want and don't come looking for me."

"If I don't come looking for you, you'll have to go looking for me everywhere, won't you? I'm trying to save you the trouble, and you don't even appreciate it."

"Still talking back."

Zong Zi Xiao bristled and wailed, "Big brother, my legs are numb, really numb."

Zong Zi Heng glared at him for a moment, "Come here."

Zong Zi Xiao's body relaxed and he nearly fell to his knees.

Zong Zi Heng subconsciously reached out his hands to help, and then retracted, still looking at Zong Zi Xiao in a pretend serious manner.

Zong Zi Xiao rubbed his leg before he swung over, "Si ... it hurts like hell, I might not even be able to get out of bed tomorrow."

"You only squatted for 4 hours. You're getting more and more petulant." Zong Zi Heng twisted his ear.

"You try squatting ah."

"Why should I squat? I didn't do anything stupid." Zong Zi Heng's remaining anger was still fresh, "Running all by yourself from Daming to such a faraway place and having to touch Luojinwu’s barrier. Do you know how dangerous it is?"

"I didn't know there was a barrier either."

"It's more than just the problem of the barrier." Zong Zi Heng thought of the Lion Alliance and how they had nearly lost their lives at the hands of the core hunters back then, and even after three years had passed, he still had lingering fears. How did this brat dare to run around on his own? He's always been so arrogant and conceited. What will happen when he grows up?

Zong Zi Xiao sensed his big brother's worry: "Big brother, are you remembering that year when we were attacked in Gutuo Town?"

"Since you know, yet you are still not alert."

"But you also left the palace when you were twelve. There will always be bad people, you can't just give up eating for fear of choking*."

"You should have at least waited until you were a little older and had the strength to defend yourself. Today is not like the old days, our cores ..." Zong Zi Heng stopped abruptly.

Zong Zi Xiao stayed with him in silence for a moment and said, "Big brother, is it really the Empress who wants to harm us?"

Zong Zi Heng glared at him, "Who did you hear that from?"

"I overheard what Consort Shen and my mother said."

Zong Zi Heng's mouth was opened and speechless. He did not want to instil such unfounded conspiracies in his young brother, for fear that a child might not be able to hold his tongue and cause trouble, but if he directly refuted it, would he not be saying that his own mother was talking nonsense? After considering, he said, "Xiao Jiu, there is no evidence to prove that the Empress had anything to do with this matter. Mother is saying this because she is eager to protect her son and is overwhelmed with worry when she sees that I am injured. In fact, these are words said in a fit of anger, do you understand?”

Zong Zi Xiao looked at his elder brother, his thin eyelids gently opening and closing as he said calmly, "But, Consort Shen's speculation is not baseless."

Zong Zi Heng was startled in his heart.

"However, I also hope it is not the Empress." Zong Zi Xiao said, "Second brother has been quite good to me."

"Well, your second brother also loves you."

"But second brother is stupidly gifted and doesn't think ahead. In the future, if the Daming Zong Clan wants to gain a foothold in the immortal cultivation world, it still has to depend on us."

"You, who taught you all this? Do you know ..." Zong Zi Heng heard until his cold sweat came down.

"I know." Zong Zi Xiao said without changing his expression, "I know all that. But I wasn't wrong, was I?"

Zong Zi Heng’s expression sank, "Such words must not be said again, regardless of if you're in front of anyone, do you understand?"

"Of course I only said it to you."

Zong Zi Heng realized at this moment that this youngest brother had also grown up, and he suddenly felt some reluctance in his heart, and even a bit of trepidation grew.

He calmed down for a moment, "Well, let’s sleep*."

"Didn't Xu Zhi Nan find out about Chen Xing Yong's trail? When are we going to catch them?"

"That's not for you to worry about, you stay honestly in Luojinwu. Wait for me to send a letter back to Daming tomorrow and ask Huang Hong and Huang Wu to come and pick you up."

"I don't want to be picked up. I'm not going back!" Zong Zi Xiao shouted, "I want to take revenge personally."

"No fooling around. Those core hunters are very dangerous. They escaped both times when they were captured."

"So, wouldn't it be better to have an extra man?"

"You're still ..."

"If I can't even defend myself, why should I join the Jiaolong assembly? Does big brother despise me that much?" Zong Zi Xiao was also annoyed, "I'm not a child anymore. You were as young as I was when you were traveling around the world, subduing demons and eliminating evil spirits, how am I any worse than you?"

Zong Zi Heng remembered that when he was twelve years old, he was also very ambitious and traveled around Jiuzhou alone without the slightest fear, but when it was Zong Zi Xiao’s turn, he could not help but worry.

"Besides, with so many cultivators around, the Lion Alliance would only be able to scurry off like a frightened rat, which is not at all the same thing as the attack on Gutuo Town at that time."

"Having said that ..."

"Anyway, I'm not going back, I'll go wherever big brother goes from now on. You send me back, I have legs, and I'll be out again." Zong Zi Xiao glared stubbornly at Zong Zi Heng.

Zong Zi Heng sighed. Perhaps he just had to slowly accept that his younger brother had grown up and would become more and more assertive in his own way; if he were older, he might be even more difficult to control, but he could not keep the fledgling from spreading his wings*.

When Zong Zi Xiao saw that Zong Zi Heng had obviously loosened up, he immediately wrapped his arms around his neck and pouted, "Big brother, my leg hurts, can you rub it for me?"

"You clingy bastard." Zong Zi Heng said helplessly, "Why are you so clingy?"

"I'm only clingy to big brother." Zong Zi Xiao tilted his head at Zong Zi Heng's hollow part of the shoulder, a silly smile spread across his face, "I'll cling to big brother for the rest of my life."

Zong Zi Heng squeezed his leg and softened his tone, "Big brother is doing this for your own good, do you understand?"

"I do."

"What do you understand?"

"I understand that you are worried about me."

"The attack on Gutuo Town three years ago was the most frightening time in big brother's life." Zong Zi Heng whispered, "They couldn’t even spare you. If something really happened to you, what would big brother do?"

"I will never let you worry again, I am now much stronger than before, even if I encounter a high-ranking cultivator, I think I can at least escape."

Zong Zi Heng glanced at his brother and smiled lightly.

"Really, if I really run into danger, I will run and definitely not hold you back anymore."

"Okay, it's a deal."

---

The next day, several people discussed their next actions together. This time they would join forces with the Cangyu Sect to besiege Chen Xing Yong in Yan City, and having learned from their experience from the previous two times, they have sent many men this time.

In order not to alert the enemy, they would split up into several groups, entering Yan City at different times, and they cannot use their sword to fly. They changed out of their conspicuous cultivator’s clothes, dressing as ordinary Jianghu people, and mounted their horses.

It was at least a four-day journey from Jingzhou to Yan City. The two brothers traveled with Xu Zhi Nan and Cheng Yan Zhi.

On the way, Zong Zi Xiao asked curiously, "Brother, are all the people of the Cangyu Sect neither masculine nor feminine?”

"I haven't had much contact with them either. This sect is very mysterious, but it's true that there are more female cultivators."

"Haha, isn't that the exact opposite of the Chunyang Sect."

Xu Zhi Nan laughed.

"I heard that they also bragged of being the guardians of the Shen Nong Ding, but Shen Nong Ding has been there for a million years. What does it have to do with them, and what rights do they have to charge protection fees?"

"This point is indeed criticized by people. But the Cangyu Sect is in Kunlun and has a geographical advantage. If they are offended, there is no guarantee that the quenching process will not be interfered with."

"Hmph, when Father gives me the quenched sword, I'll see how difficult they will be."

Using the Shen Nong Ding to refine any divine object would cause a shock in the immortal cultivation world. After all, that was the lifelong aspiration of all cultivators, and upon hearing this, both Xu Zhi Nan and his junior brother turned their heads in surprise to look at Zong Zi Xiao.

Zong Zi Xiao said proudly, "Yes, Father promised me that when I win the championship at the Jiaolong assembly next year, Father will quench a rare divine sword for me with Shen Nong Ding."

Xu Zhi Nan, who came from a merchant family, was smart and accommodating, and was very good at reading people's expressions. He swept a glance at Zong Zi Heng without a trace and said with a light smile, "Congratulations, Your Little Highness."

On the contrary, his junior brother, Cheng Yan Zhi, was much more straightforward, and his gaze immediately fell on Zong Zi Heng's sword.

As the eldest son of Emperor Zong, Zong Zi Heng's sword was far too ordinary and far from worthy of his origins. It seemed that all the outside rumours about this eldest prince not being favored were true.

Zong Zi Heng felt the gaze mixed with surprise and disbelief, despite his eyes looking ahead. His face instantly burned a little.

A sword to a sword cultivator is not just a weapon, but also a companion in life and death, a status, a face, and usually a good sword could accompany a swordsman for the rest of his life.

And he only had an ordinary sword.

A good sword is lightly priced at a thousand gold, but heavily priced at ten thousand gold. His mother was an orphan girl, and without a strong family to back her up, they could not afford to buy a good sword with just the palace share of their mother and son.

Emperor Ning Hua had wanted to present him with a good sword at the Jiaolong assembly, but he had missed out.

Hearing his youngest brother talk in such a smug and light-hearted tone about the sword made from the Shen Nong Ding, and then looking at his own sword, he was never a vain person, but he could not help but feel uncomfortable.

Xu Zhi Nan changed the subject at the right time, "Yan Zhi, is there a town in front of us?"

Cheng Yan Zhi took out his map and looked at it, "Up ahead should be Green Willow Town, let's stop here for tonight."

 

 ----

give up eating for fear of choking*[因噎废食]---refrain from doing what one should fear of running a risk

let’s sleep*[睡觉吧]---SQC had a typo in her original novel, she typed it as 谁叫吧 (who’s calling)

fledgeling from spreading his wings* [雏鹰展翅]--- It is an analogy of young people starting to live and work independently.

 

Edited on 24 Mar. 21 (Emzie)

 

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