The youth sat on a tree branch no thicker than a thumb.
The pine branch didn't bend in the slightest as his green robes swayed and his long hair fluttered in the breeze.
He rested one hand on his knee while the other held a gray wine gourd.
After speaking, he took a sip, his voice sounding like a banished immortal under the moon.
Xu Xian spat mentally.
'What a poser!'
On the surface, however, his lips curled into an interested smirk as he teased, "Oho, if it isn't Nephew Qingshan. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night? Drinking the cold wind for fun?"
"Tch—" The youth scoffed lightly, his expression cold and aloof, radiating a sense of pride.
"Sharp-tongued as always."
Xu Xian was displeased and snapped back, "What's with that attitude? Have some respect! Is that any way to talk to your Martial Uncle?"
"Martial Uncle?" Li Qingshan sneered. "Please. With a Martial Uncle like you, I, Li Qingshan, can't afford to lose that kind of face."
Xu Xian gave a fake smile. "Would it kill you to stop acting so pretentious?"
With a light tap of his palm, Li Qingshan drifted down like a ghost. With a flick of his long sleeves, he tucked his robes and sat across from the boy with effortless elegance.
He clicked his tongue. "What do you know? This is called poise."
Xu Xian chuckled. "Everyone in the Wendao Sword Sect knows you have three loves, Li Qingshan: wine, swords, and showing off. You'd better be careful, or a bolt of lightning might come down from the heavens and strike you dead one day."
Li Qingshan didn't back down and retorted:
"Even if I am showing off, I still care about my dignity. Unlike you, whose skin is so 'thin' it's about as thick as a city wall. If anyone's getting struck by lightning, it's you."
"Who's the shameless one talking to?"
"The shameless one is talking to you!"
Xu Xian deliberately drawled his response. "Oh—so the shameless one is talking to me."
Li Qingshan felt something was off. He had the wine gourd at his lips before he realized he had been played. His face alternated between flushed red and pale white.
"Hey, why is your face turning red?"
Li Qingshan: "..."
"Oh my, why is it turning white again?"
Li Qingshan said in a low voice, "That's enough!"
"Tch."
Xu Xian scoffed, his eyes full of disdain.
Li Qingshan took a sip of old wine and wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, beginning to lecture:
"A sword cultivator should treat his sword like a comrade-in-arms. You must respect it, and more importantly, cherish it. Using an immortal sword to roast meat like you do..."
"Stop!" Xu Xian hurriedly interrupted, annoyed. "I have no interest in hearing your grand theories. If you don't know how to have a normal conversation, just keep your mouth shut."
Li Qingshan pressed his fingers together like a sword and pointed at Xu Xian.
"You..."
"You what?" Xu Xian raised his voice. "Call me Martial Uncle!"
"I..."
"I what? You'd love to use an immortal sword to roast meat, but do you even have one?"
Li Qingshan trembled with rage, his finger pointing at Xu Xian repeatedly, but he couldn't squeeze out a single word.
He took a huge gulp of wine and nearly choked himself to death.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Xu Xian's eyes were filled with triumph as he chuckled. "Alright, we both know who we are. I might be shameless, but you're not much better. A grand Great Ascension sword cultivator and a Peak Master, yet you kidnapped a kid. What are you trying to act all high and mighty for?"
Li Qingshan rolled his eyes and remained silent out of guilt; he really didn't have a leg to stand on regarding that matter.
Xu Xian pushed his luck, continuing to chatter as he flipped the roasting meat.
"I'm telling you, it's only because I'm tough. If I had died in Yecheng, you'd be drowning in guilt for the rest of your life. All for a measly hundred thousand merit points? That's only a thousand spirit stones. Do you, Li Qingshan, really lack a thousand spirit stones? Be satisfied. If I were you, I'd find a place to burn incense and thank the heavens..."
The words were a bit harsh, but the logic was sound!
As Xu Xian spoke and Li Qingshan listened, the latter's anger actually subsided quite a bit.
Xu Xian's voice continued, accompanied by the sounds of the wind and the crackling fire, as he complained incessantly.
"Think about it. You kidnapped me and brought me back, then you just ignored me. You didn't give me any merit points or spirit stones. I worked myself to the bone just to reach the foundation establishment stage. Then, I go out on a mission and run into that disaster, nearly losing my life..."
"Look at other sects. Which of their geniuses doesn't have several top-tier dao protectors following them, guarding them openly or from the shadows? But for me? Nothing. I have to rely entirely on my own stubborn willpower to carve out a path. What, am I not worthy?"
"Foundation establishment at seventeen. My talent isn't bad, right?"
"An epiphany at the sword stele—I'm the first in history, right?"
"Obtaining an immortal sword from the Sword Mound—there are only a few in the entire Wendao Sword Sect who've done that, right?"
"And as the Little Grand-Uncle, my status isn't lacking either, is it?"
"Talent, background, potential—which of mine isn't top-tier?"
"Well... I'm asking you, am I worthy or not?"
"Answer me!!!"
"And yet you have the nerve to come here and interrogate me."
"The only reason I'm not coming after you is because I have a good character, do you understand?"
Xu Xian spoke in a non-stop torrent, leaving Li Qingshan stunned and unable to get a word in for a long time.
Not only was he speechless, but he actually found himself agreeing. He couldn't help but feel a sense of self-reproach, his guilty gaze darting away, unable to look Xu Xian in the eye.
Xu Xian really had been wronged during the trip to Yecheng.
But...
Some things were hard to explain.
Xu Xian's acquisition of the immortal sword had led to Ye Xianyu swindling all of his merit points. Seeing that the rent for his immortal abode was due, he had no choice but to take a mission to earn points.
Li Qingshan hadn't expected it either.
Xu Xian, who usually refused to even do a bit of work, had actually taken a mission—and one related to demonic cultivators at that.
Reasonably speaking, based on the reports afterward, two Nascent Souls, one Core Formation, and one Xu Xian should have been able to walk through the Yecheng region without fear.
Who could have predicted that Yecheng would defect?
And who could have predicted that remnants of the Seventy-Two Demon Caves were hiding right within the Wendao Sword Sect's territory?
But...
No matter how many excuses he had, they couldn't change the established facts.
He had indeed been careless!
What Xu Xian said was true; after all, the boy hadn't come to cultivate of his own free will. Li Qingshan had kidnapped him. On that point alone, he was destined to lose any argument with Xu Xian.
Unless he also abandoned his shame.
But clearly, the thing Li Qingshan cared about most in his life was his face and reputation.
Seeing that he couldn't win the argument and that Xu Xian showed no signs of stopping, Li Qingshan quickly changed the subject.
"Is the meat done?"
"What for?"
Li Qingshan stared intently at the meat. "Give me a piece."
Xu Xian was speechless, but he wasn't a stingy person.
He pulled out a short blade, cut off a piece, impaled it on the knife, and handed both the knife and meat to Li Qingshan.
"I guess I owe you. Try not to choke to death."
Li Qingshan took it, smelled it first, then took a bite. His long eyebrows arched as he savored it.
Xu Xian blew on his own piece and took a bite, speaking with a full mouth.
"Let's get this straight. You can eat the meat, but if you want my merit points, no way."
Li Qingshan said impatiently, "Just shut up. You're more talkative than the old ladies at a village entrance."
"You're eating my food, yet you can't say anything nice?" Xu Xian said with disdain.
Li Qingshan turned a deaf ear and chewed his food, remarking with a sigh,
"I have to say, meat roasted with an immortal sword really does taste different."
Xu Xian rolled his eyes, his gaze landing on the wine gourd. "Give me a swig of that wine?"
Li Qingshan glanced at Xu Xian and tossed it over.
"Take it."
Rate on N.U.
