Sixteen-year-old Ning Chengheng was being hunted by the Chongzheng Alliance everywhere. On the way, he was rescued by Yan Jinzhou, and soon after changed his name to Ning Buwei.
The two words “Buwei” fully embodied Yan Jinzhou’s sincere hope that he would honestly stay out of trouble, but obviously Ning Buwei could not do so.
The entire Ning family had been destroyed overnight. He wanted to find out what happened more than anyone else – was it revenge, internal strife, or something else? He urgently needed to find a reason to fill the grief of his family’s destruction.
Completely contrary to Yan Jinzhou’s expectations.
Yan Jinzhou was a willful and hot-tempered person. Ning Buwei was a privileged young master who knew nothing of the world’s hardships. They would argue at the slightest provocation, and conflicts erupted again within a few months.
Yan Jinzhou said if he continued investigating the Ning family’s matters, he should get lost.
So Ning Buwei promptly left.
He carried the Suzaku knife left by Ning Xingyuan, which he could not tame and was like holding a piece of scrap metal. Yet this piece of scrap metal was a bright target, seeming to wave at the Chongzheng Alliance members:
“I am the Suzaku knife! Come and catch the person holding me who has the surname Ning!”
Without Yan Jinzhou’s protection, the sixteen-year-old Ning Buwei was chased until he was exhausted, many times coming close to death. Yet for some reason, whether by luck or something else, he always managed to survive.
He wandered everywhere, unable to cultivate. His spiritual power was depleted, his dantian was exhausted. He often went days without a proper meal, constantly on edge, afraid of being discovered by the Chongzheng Alliance members, while also trying to investigate the truth behind his clan’s destruction. The string in his mind was about to snap.
Wen Zaiye kept sending him messages. He never responded. But when he passed through the town under Yunzhong Sect Mountain, he could not help but reply to one letter.
He originally just wanted to borrow some spirit stones, but when facing his friend’s sincere worried gaze, when Wen Zaiye pulled him towards Yunzhong Sect, he wavered.
He thought: I’ll rest for a bit, I just want to sleep properly. After waking up, I’ll leave immediately.
Then because of his own foolishness and selfishness, he implicated Wen Zaiye’ life.
Wen Zaiye was crushed by the mountain-protecting grand formation, using his life to give Ning Buwei a chance to survive.
The nerve that had been taut finally broke. He went to Xiaoqiu Mountain and sat on the mountaintop, blowing cold wind all night. The Suzaku knife was raised to his neck several times before being lowered.
Ultimately, he was still unwilling to give up.
In the month he turned seventeen, he encountered Yan Jinzhou, who had disappeared for a long time.
Ning Buwei wore a tattered gray robe, his hair messily tied back. He was crouching by the roadside, holding the Suzaku knife, gnawing on a dry flatbread while slapping a low-quality hemostatic talisman on his arm that had a large gash.
Someone walked towards him slowly.
Ning Buwei bit the flatbread nonchalantly while secretly reaching for the Suzaku knife.
Although he had not fully tamed this broken knife, it would be enough to kill an ordinary cultivator.
But when he looked up, he saw Yan Jinzhou, who had been missing for nearly a year.
Yan Jinzhou looked even more miserable than him. Her clothes were covered with blood clots and dust. Her boots were half-rotten, her feet covered in mud and dry grass. She had no spiritual power, and three swords of varying lengths hung at her waist, one of which was rusted.
She looked like someone who had escaped from somewhere.
“Hey, lend me a flatbread,” Yan Jinzhou sat down next to him on the steps, unabashedly snatching the remaining half of his flatbread.
Ning Buwei kept a straight face and said nothing. When she stared at the other flatbread in his hand, he hesitated for a moment before handing it to her.
“Thanks,” Yan Jinzhou wolfed down the flatbread, wiped her mouth boldly, stood up, and exhaled, “Let’s go.”
Ning Buwei sat on the steps and did not move.
Yan Jinzhou slapped his head. Although she was a female cultivator, gentleness had nothing to do with her. Ning Buwei nearly choked on the half flatbread he had just eaten.
“Are you coming or not?” Yan Jinzhou asked impatiently.
Ning Buwei stared at her expressionlessly, silent.
“The Chongzheng Alliance members are in the next street. If you don’t come with me, I’ll report you,” Yan Jinzhou said with her hands on her hips.
Ning Buwei pressed his lips together and accepted her threat. “Coming.”
Yan Jinzhou, though looking more miserable than him, had traveled through the seventeen states for years and had far more skills and knowledge, especially in formation techniques. She had basically never lost to Chongzheng Alliance members.
So Ning Buwei could not understand how she had ended up in such a sorry state.
Every time he tried to probe for information, Yan Jinzhou would see through his attempts.
“Adults’ matters are not for children to know.”
Ning Buwei said, “I’m seventeen, not a child.”
Yan Jinzhou rolled her eyes, “Sixteen and seventeen-year-olds are the most annoying, thinking they’re invincible and causing nothing but trouble.”
Ning Buwei always thought she was talking about him, but later, every time Yan Jinzhou returned from somewhere looking haggard, she would mutter about something. He began to suspect Yan Jinzhou had another troublesome disciple elsewhere.
“Do you have another disciple?” Ning Buwei placed the medicine bottle down heavily, his expression tense.
Yan Jinzhou clicked her tongue and then mercilessly kicked out, “Damn it, you alone make me want to hang myself every day. Another one would kill me! You little bastard! Wicked disciple! You’ll be the death of me!”
Ning Buwei ran and dodged, but no matter how he tried to provoke her, Yan Jinzhou remained tight-lipped.
He gradually became accustomed to Yan Jinzhou disappearing for periods of time every two years.
He followed Yan Jinzhou, wandering and cultivating through the seventeen states, learning her arrogance and ruthlessness to perfection. From being chased by Chongzheng Alliance members to turning the tables and suppressing them, he even unknowingly learned how to provoke and threaten, becoming a troublemaker that gave the Chongzheng Alliance headaches.
Yan Jinzhou would sometimes look at him with a worried expression and sigh. “If your brother knew that his righteous, virtuous, and kind younger brother was turned into a little demon by me, would he rise from the grave to stand by my bedside?”
Ning Buwei kicked away the head that rolled to his feet, speaking coldly, “Then we’ll tie him up and properly ask him what really happened to the Ning family.”
Yan Jinzhou first sighed, then dramatically rubbed her arms, “Ning Buwei, you’re so vicious. You’ll definitely be a disciple who betrays his master and disrespects his ancestors in the future.”
Ning Buwei stared at her gloomily.
Yan Jinzhou laughed heartily.
He had long been used to Yan Jinzhou’s secretive attitude about the Ning family’s matters. He would not ask, and she would not mention it. When he secretly investigated, she would pretend not to see. This way of getting along avoided most of their arguments.
And so, they muddled through twenty years.
When Ning Buwei was thirty-six, Yan Jinzhou said she wanted to return home.
“My sister and my former fiancé are getting married,” Yan Jinzhou said, crossing her arms, “Although that Yan Liuguang is not worth a single hair of our family’s Mingsan, I’m still very unhappy.”
Ning Buwei’s mouth twitched, “Zen Master Mingsan is a bald donkey, with no hair.”
Yan Jinzhou slapped the back of his head, “He’s still the most beautiful bald donkey in the world! How dare you call him a bald donkey!”
After hitting him, she leaned back, smiling wickedly, “Hehe, I’ll definitely get him someday…”
Ning Buwei handed her a handkerchief.
Yan Jinzhou raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Ning Buwei said seriously, “Wipe your drool.”
“Ning Buwei, you bastard, are you tired of living!”
Yan Jinzhou chased him all the way to Li City.
Ning Buwei played with various formations, competing with his master, and arrived in Li City half a step before Yan Jinzhou.
“Not bad, you’ve made progress. You can now graduate,” Yan Jinzhou nodded satisfactorily, “Even if I die now, you can already wander the seventeen states on your own.”
For some reason, when Ning Buwei heard this sentence, a bad feeling surged in his heart. Before he could retort, he was bumped on the calf.
He looked down and saw a thin, dirty child looking up at him, emanating a strange odor.
Ning Buwei instinctively wanted to cover his nose and step back but, out of respect, he didn’t move.
Unexpectedly, the child’s eyes lit up. She grabbed his sleeve and shouted clearly, “Father! You’ve finally come back!”
Ning Buwei and Yan Jinzhou were both stunned. Then Yan Jinzhou burst into laughter.
Ning Buwei, embarrassed by his master’s laughter, looked coldly at the dirty little beggar and said, “Let go. You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not your father.”
The little beggar rubbed her eyes, turning red-eyed and speaking softly, “My father wears black clothes, is tall and thin, and is the most handsome man in Li City. You are.”
Yan Jinzhou laughed and said, “Although my disciple is indeed very handsome, he is not yet married. How could he possibly have a son your age?”
The little beggar shook her head, “I’m not a son, I’m a girl.”
Yan Jinzhou was taken aback, looking at her dirty face, “Oh, I’m sorry, little friend.”
At this moment, a passerby spoke up, “Two honored cultivators, you don’t need to pay attention to this little fool. She got brain damage from a fever when she was young. Someone told her that her father wears black clothes, and now she grabs anyone in black and calls them ‘father’. You should quickly leave.”
“Ah Ling is not stupid!” the little beggar angrily lunged to attack the person. “Father said Ah Ling is the smartest child in Li City!”
“Go away! Scram!” The person pushed her to the ground. “Not only is she stupid, but she has a bad temper too. Little bastard!”
After saying this, he ignored her and spat before walking away.
The girl named Ah Ling crawled up from the ground, not caring about her scraped palm. She grabbed Ning Buwei’s hand again, “Father, Ah Ling doesn’t want to stay in Li City anymore. Can you take me away?”
Ning Buwei pulled his hand away, his face expressionless and his tone harsh, “I’m not your father.”
He then strode forward.
“Hey, disciple!” Yan Jinzhou quickly caught up.
“Father—” Ah Ling chased after him, but tripped after just a few steps, taking a while to get up. She then happily shouted at a passing black-clothed man, “Father!”
“It’s you again, you crazy one. Get out of the way. Don’t block my path.” The man kicked her to the side and walked forward quickly.
Yan Jinzhou looked back, sighed, and quickly caught up with Ning Buwei.
“Alas, poor little child,” she nudged Ning Buwei. “Your Heartless Dao is indeed very heartless.”
