The shack dissolved around the two cultivators to reveal the true appearance of the wood node. A mature peach blossom tree sprouted into being behind the wood spirit. Green motes of light floated towards the wood spirit. Landing on his body, a green glow suffused the wood spirit's body and gave his pale face a rosy flush. A thin, nearly transparent barrier formed between Shi Qiongtian and the wood spirit. Feeling invigorated, the wood spirit regained his wooden expression, but his eyes still held a fearful gaze as he watched the vengeful demon in front of him. A bit hesitant at first, the wood spirit firmed his resolve. Cupping his hands, the wood spirit made his declaration to the furious Immortal.
"I am merely a humble servant that follows his master's instructions. I am bound to this trap formation and the instructions my master left behind. The words that I have said before still stand true. The purpose of this formation is not to harm anyone… This formation is installed here to locate you."
Squinting slightly, Shi Qiongtian withdrew his oppressive aura, regaining his Immortal-like, unfazed demeanor. Seeing this, the wood spirit heaved a sigh of relief inwardly.
"I've lived for many years. Your master should know this. If I meet your master and I'm not satisfied, I will make sure that you can't enter the cycle of reincarnation. Don't think that you can fool me and get off easily."
Smiling awkwardly, the wood spirit hastily replied to Shi Qiongtian's threat.
"I- I can't guarantee that. But I'm sure my master will be prudent when she meets the Immortal master."
"She?"
Shi Qiongtian started sorting through his memories. Although he had made many enemies, most of them had already drunk Meng Po's soup and passed through the Yellow Springs. Of the remaining ones, the number of women could be counted on his hands. Thinking of this, Shi Qiongtian was intrigued and commanded the wood spirit.
"Lead the way."
"No- no need. My master will be here soon. She wouldn't be so audacious as to demand you meet her."
The wood spirit nervously responded, carefully observing Shi Qiongtian's reaction.
Hearing the wood spirit’s words, Shi Qiongtian reached out to his side with his right hand. The wood spirit flinched at Shi Qiongtian’s sudden movement and the green barrier between them solidified. Conjuring a wooden chair out of thin air, he placed it amidst the rubble and elegantly sat down. Seeing this, the wood spirit heaved a sigh of relief, and the green barrier became transparent once more.
Calm was restored to the village temporarily as the two waited awkwardly in the rubble. With the power of the wood node being freed up, the shack's surroundings started to glow. All kinds of plants and grass flourished. The rubble was quickly buried in thick greenery. Peach blossoms, shrubbery, and grass filled the surroundings. A wooden table and chair grew in front of Shi Qiongtian. The surroundings were lush and presented a comfortable atmosphere. Seeing the chair facing Shi Qiongtian, the wood spirit reached out to grab the chair back and sit down.
Just before he could grab the chair, a green barrier appeared and repelled his hand. A bit stunned, the wood spirit stared at the green barrier awkwardly. Amused, Shi Qiongtian commented.
"If you take a seat, where would your master sit?"
Quickly realizing the truth in those words, the wood spirit retreated a step back to stand slightly to the right of the chair. When he settled into his spot, ethereal laughter filled the lush landscape. Glass-like shards appeared on the chair and slowly pieced together to form a humanoid figure spilling out an extremely bright light. As the shards set and the bright light receded, the figure was revealed with the appearance of a woman in her early 20s. Her jet-black hair was tied back into a ponytail with a piece of blue silk. She wore modest blue and white silk robes with gold engravings, holding a white folding fan that covered her lower face. Painted on the fan were cranes flying with clouds streaking by as if they were truly alive. Peeking over the leaves, the emerald-green pupils watched Shi Qiongtian with a playful expression. With a mischievous tone, the lady questioned Shi Qiongtian.
"Qiongtian, do you still need to guess who it is?"
Maintaining his demeanor, Shi Qiongtian replied with a disinterested tone.
"It seems you've changed your way of dressing… Senior Sister."
Delighted to see that he recognized her, the lady folded her fan and asked hurriedly.
"What gave me away? Was it my heroic demeanor or my impeccable fashion sense?"
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Shi Qiongtian seemed to noticeably age as he heard his senior sister shamelessly praise herself. Intent on crushing these delusions, he replied ruthlessly.
"It was neither. It is simply that there is no one else that calls me Qiongtian."
"Aww. You're no fun, Ming'er."
Shi Qiongtian's eyes turned sharp as he retorted with a hint of anger.
"Qin Ming is no more. He passed away when Eldest Brother passed away. Don't speak of this anymore, elder Sister Mei."
Hearing his response, Han Mei displayed a pouty face, but her eyes held a hint of sadness. Deliberately ignoring her expressions, Shi Qiongtian spoke up.
"If there's nothing else, I'm going to leave now."
As he said the cold, heartless words, Shi Qiongtian stood up from the chair and started to walk away. Exasperated, Han Mei shouted at the retreating figure.
"You are a cold and heartless man, Qin Ming!"
Shi Qiongtian stopped in his steps for a second and responded with his back to Han Mei.
"My heart has only the Dao. You know this, Senior Sister."
Saying these words, he took another step before he was stopped by the sound of the folding fan being slammed on the wooden table. Han Mei slammed her folding fan on the table in frustration while standing up. The painted cranes were spooked as they started flying around aimlessly on the fan leaves. With venom in her voice, she yelled at Shi Qiongtian.
"You've been gone for 10,000 years! Do you know how much I missed you? Do you… do you not remember your promise to Eldest Brother?"
After a slight hesitation, Han Mei shouted the last sentence louder than the first two. Hearing the words that Han Mei had shouted, Shi Qiongtian's face turned black and turned around. His demeanor had fully collapsed. Han Mei seemed to have touched his reverse scale as he turned around in a silent rage. His lips trembled as he stared at Han Mei. A hint of fear could be seen in her eyes as she endured the fierce glare, but her body language radiated confidence as she held on. With rage-filled words, Shi Qiongtian growled at Han Mei.
"Senior Sister, we may have sworn to be sisters and brothers together with Eldest Brother, but I will not tolerate you using him for your own devices! That promise was one between him and me!"
Having said his words and seeing the fear in his senior sister's eyes, his gaze softened. He apologized in a soft tone.
"I'm sorry for losing my anger, Senior Sister."
Han Mei continued to press on.
"Where have you been all these years? You said you would take care of me in Eldest Brother's stead until the very end, but you left after a thousand years! I even joined a Sect so that they could help me find you."
Shi Qiongtian replied softly.
"I may have not been by your side, Senior Sister, but you have always been safe. It might not be in the way that you want me to, but I would be at your side the moment your life was in danger."
Hearing these words, Han Mei's face flushed red. She spoke up with a soft and dispirited voice.
"So, you've known… For how long have you known?"
Smiling wryly, Shi Qiongtian replied.
"I've known for a long time… I wouldn't say that I knew the whole time, but I've known ever since the 9 Realms' Talent Tournament."
Embarrassed, Han Mei stuttered in response.
"I- I didn't think I was so obvious at that time…"
Shi Qiongtian smiled lightly.
"Although there were some points before when I had suspicions, the 9 Realms' Talent Tournament confirmed those and more. Unlike what you think, I'm not one of those useless protagonists."
Hearing this, Han Mei retorted aggrievedly.
"If you knew, why didn't you accept my advances?"
Shi Qiongtian was speechless at her forward behavior. When he came back to himself, he chuckled lightly before speaking.
"I'm the youngest, who am I to take a step that Eldest Brother hasn't taken yet?"
Now it was Han Mei's turn to be speechless, but it didn't take long before she refuted Shi Qiongtian's words.
"What does Eldest Brother have anything to do with our private relationship?"
"As the youngest, I must naturally give way to my Eldest Brother."
Han Mei snorted at the response and curtly replied.
"Eldest Brother's reincarnation is already married."
Shi Qiongtian's smile froze. He started calculating with his fingers. His expression dropped as his eyes held a hint of loneliness.
"Mountains will become valleys. Same scenery, but different people. Even the greatest of heroes eventually return to the earth as dust in their tombs."
Han Mei walked over and embraced Shi Qiongtian. Embroiled in his sorrow, he didn't push her away and let Han Mei embrace him as he dwelt in his thoughts.
This entire time, the wood spirit stood silently behind the wooden chair. His mind was overwhelmed with numerous emotions. Behind him was a lump of smoldering coal, a crystal clear puddle, a small boulder, and a lump of black iron looking out of place amongst the immense greenery.
"Aiya. This is some juicy gossip I'm hearing. I didn't know that Master had a lover."
This mischievous voice seemed to come from the boulder.
"You four should just reveal your true forms. You're not fooling anyone."
The wood spirit had recomposed himself and turned around to address the out-of-place figures.
"Tsk."
Four humanoid figures appeared from the out-of-place items: a young man in his 20s with flame-kissed hair and glowing red jade spectacles wearing red-gold scholarly robes, a boy about ten years of age wearing green silk robes and wearing a turtle shell-shaped brown hat, a lady in her late twenties wearing silver robes holding a sheathed sword, and a little girl about fourteen years of age wearing light blue robes that seemed a bit too big for her.
"Master has a lover…?"
The little girl looked toward the boy and posed her question. With a mischievous grin on his face, the boy responded with certainty and pride.
"Didn't you hear what they said? It's obvious that they're close. If they aren't together now, they certainly will be in the future. Who could resist our master?"
"Don't speak so impudently. This isn't your place to talk."
The wood spirit addressed the little earth boy harshly.
"Peh, you're the youngest out of us, Han Mu. Don't even begin to talk."
Physically recoiling at those words, the wood spirit started to feel a bit dejected.
"Don't bully Han Mu with your age, Han Tu. You're still the second youngest; you shouldn't be talking."
Speaking up in defense of Han Mu, the scholarly young man adjusted his spectacles.
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with what Han Tu said. Our master is the best."
The heroic lady in the silver robes spoke up on the side of Han Tu.
"Well, of course, you wouldn't find anything wrong. Metal for brains."
The scholarly young man said in a snarky tone.
"What did you say, you scholarly prick?!"
The lady became furious and drew her sword, placing it in front of the scholarly man's throat.
"You want to fight, old hag?!"
The scholarly man conjured a red and gold pen in his right hand and held a black and gold book in his left.
"Han Huo, Han Jin! Cut it out, both of you!"
The young girl in blue silk robes stepped in between both of them and a blue aura encompassed both the scholarly man and the silver-robed lady, calming them down.
"Sorry, Han Shui."
Both the scholarly man and the silver-robed lady said dejectedly. The blue-robed girl sighed and exclaimed in a disappointed manner.
"What will I ever do with you… why did Heaven make me the eldest? We're honorable formation spirits and you two are ruining our master's image right in front of her lover!"
Watching the bickering clowns, Shi Qiongtian's gloomy aura had disappeared, and the corner of his mouth started to twitch.