When a Fanfic Protagonist Transmigrated into the Original Novel

Zhangsun Zijun’s sword was broken, and his state of mind was too. In front of Yu Ying’s Prison of Sword, he didn’t defend himself at all and stood there like a training dummy. Although Yi Xichen quickly launched his sword against the thousands of golden rays, it got swallowed by the golden light almost immediately. But he still blocked in front of Zhangsun Zijun, refusing to move! 

Zhangsun Zijun finally reacted. He picked up Yi Xichen and quickly stepped back, but the golden lights had already landed, forming a prison made of swords. Anyone who attempted to attack while inside would receive powerful backlashes from the surrounding sword aura!

Zhangsun Zijun looked up towards Zhenren Yu Ying, whose eyes also seemed to be raging with fire. He said word by word, “I didn’t set this Heaven’s Flame.”

Behind Yu Ying and the elders, there were dozens of disciples who had already gathered. The strong temperament from Zhangsun Zijun made many of them shiver.

“Not you? In the entire sect, in a thousand-mile radius, who else can summon Heaven’s Flame except for you?!” Zhenren Yu Yin continued angrily, and hundreds of sword shadows appeared by his side, ready to attack Zhangsun Zijun again any second. “Yi Xichen! Move out of the way!”

“It’s not him!” Yi Xichen said while trembling, “He didn’t summon this Heaven’s Flame! The murderer is someone else!”

Yu Ying’s sword aura grew stronger, “You’re shielding this traitor?”

In Heavenly Sword Sect, killing disciples would result in an eviction from the sect, but attacking one’s master? Immediate execution!

“I can swear on my life, it’s not him!” Yi Xichen tried to hold down the blood that was coming out of his throat, “If in a thousand-mile radius, only he could summon Heaven’s Flame, is he the only one who could summon it in all six realms?”

“If someone that powerful came into the sect, how come not a single person noticed?” Lin Zhen said, “Yi Xichen, your lies should have a limit!”

Yu Ying didn’t allow for any more arguments. He said sternly, “Everyone listen! Take down Zhangsun Zijun!”

Ping!

Countless swords all came out of their scabbard in sync, and the sound of metal vibrating shook the whole mountain! This was an order from the sect leader; in the entire sect, no one dared to disobey! 

Zhangsun Zijun’s sword was already broken. His face was pale, his state of mind was in pandemonium, and his breathing was uneven. He almost had 0 defense capabilities at the moment.

Explain? Yu Ying, who was extremely self-contained, would definitely not listen. Catch the murderer? They were the ones being thought of as “murderers”. Revenge? Where do they even start…? 

Zhangsun Zijun looked down at Yao Budu on the floor not too far away. The Heaven’s Flame had already slowly sunk away, and the light on Yao Budu was getting dimmer and dimmer. But there was not a single bit of life left on Yao Budu’s body.

He wanted to walk over and gently wake him up, Master, this has to be a joke right? Please, wake up…

Yi Xichen’s sword was also trembling. He continued to force himself in front of Zhangsun Zijun and said quietly, “Zijun, let’s leave and go to the Realm of Void.” 

Zhangsun Zijun’s reaction was extremely slow. It took him a bit before finally turning around to look at Yi Xichen.

The thousands of rays of sword aura attacked them, and Zhangsun Zijun used his spiritual energy to form a barrier, protecting him and Yi Xichen.

“Yi Xichen, come back!” Yu Ying was still only targeting Zhangsun Zijun, and tried to call Yi Xichen back, “Get yourself together and stop believing his lies!”

But the two turned a deaf ear to what he said. Zhangsun Zijun muttered, “Realm of Void?”

“Yes, I’ll explain it to you after we leave here.”

“Okay.”

After the rays of sword aura were bounced away by the barrier, Zhangsun Zijun picked Yi Xichen up, then they hopped onto Yi Xichen’s sword, and flew towards the sky.

Zhenren Yu Ying and the elders all immediately went up to stop him. On the waists of all the elders, their command token turned red as well: This was the sect leader’s sign to eliminate someone. All the disciples would seal off the entire mountain, preventing the evil from escaping!

No matter how much Qiu Jian loved Zhangsun Zijun’s talent, in front of a vicious disciple who killed his master, he couldn’t let him go. With Yu Ying in the center, the three elders beside, and countless disciples as support, a giant array with thousands of swords was quickly being formed.

Sword aura from all four sides surrounded them, making it hard to even breathe for Yi Xichen. He turned to look at Zhangsun Zijun, whose face was just as pale. His sword has already broken, so he couldn’t really use much of his sword aura, causing his combat power to be significantly weakened. With a thousand years worth of history, Heavenly Sword Sect has already developed into quite a strong power. Even if it was a sect leader at this moment, it would be hard for him to escape from this Thousand Sword Array, let alone these two little disciples!

Seeing their chances of escaping growing smaller and smaller, Yi Xichen grew desperate.

But suddenly, a ray of red light appeared in the sky again, and countless rays of Heaven’s Flame landed! All the disciples near it immediately ran for their lives, instantly messing up the array.

Qiu Jian said with shock, “Zhangsun Zijun! Are you crazy?!” He was still doubtful about whether or not Zhangsun Zijun killed Yao Budu, but now, he witnessed Zhangsun Zijun attacking other disciples with his own eyes!

These rays of Heaven’s Flame were indeed summoned by Zhangsun Zijun. He said coldly, “Since all of you are convinced that I’m a traitor, a murderer, then a lot more blood is going to be shed today!”

Although Yu Ying was furious, he didn’t dare to act rashly. This heaven-defying power of Zhangsun Zijun’s Heaven’s Flame was way too scary. If Zhangsun Zijun really went crazy, then although he wouldn’t be able to escape in the end, many people would die in the process of trying to kill him. Yu Ying was the sect leader after all, he couldn’t gamble his disciples’ lives.

Yu Ying gritted his teeth, and said without putting away his sword, “Fine, I can let you go today. From now on, you’re not a member of my Heavenly Sword Sect anymore. And your heinous crime today will be known to the world!” 

Zhangsun Zijun felt too lazy to go argue with him. But just as he was about to leave, Yu Ying had already continued, “You can go, but Yi Xichen must stay!”

In such a depressing situation, this almost made Yi Xichen laugh. He has such good eloquence, but at this moment, he was too lazy to speak much. He only said, “I’m not sure what made you think I’m so special, but today, I will leave with Zijun.”

Yu Ying found his decision quite unbelievable, “Even if I accept you as my disciple?”

“I don’t care.”

“I can help break your seal!”

“We can too.”

“You……” Yu Ying was both shocked and disappointed, “You’d rather stay with an unforgivable traitor? If you leave Heavenly Sword Mountain today, you’ll have to carry the crime of a traitor as well!”

Yi Xichen has never wanted to talk less, he was basically repeating himself over and over again. Without another word, he controlled his sword and flew outside with Zhangsun Zijun.

Yu Ying was still hesitant to stop him, but the other elders had already put away their swords — this matter was no joke, and no one wanted to risk their or their disciples’ lives.

The two successfully escaped from the Thousand Sword Array and flew away from the mountain. But just as they were about to leave, they were stopped, by Lu Ziyao and Xiao Kui.

Just now, not all the disciples went to Yao Budu’s cabin. After receiving the sect leader’s order, all the disciples went to seal the exits of the mountain. And this area, was where Lu Ziyao and Xiao Kui were supposed to guard.

The four of them looked at each other for a moment, and it turned into an awkward scene. Being able to summon Heaven’s Flame was not a simple task. Zhangsun Zijun’s spiritual energy was almost used up, his state of mind was in total chaos, and his sword had already broke. At this time, he was not ready to fight at all.

“Please, just let us go,” said Yi Xichen.

Lu Ziyao looked at the two in shock, ‘What did you guys do? How come…”

Yi Xichen shook his head. He must leave here as soon as possible, and the situation was too complicated to explain. He could only say, “We didn’t do anything. Brother Lu, Brother Xiao, if you guys insist on blocking, we’ll have no choice but to fight.”

Lu Ziyao knew that they were in a hurry, and that if he stalled time right now, there would be reinforcements coming. He thought for a second, and then let out a way, “I believe you guys.”

Then the three looked at Xiao Kui, who was taken back and was at a loss. Lu Ziyao said, “Brother Xiao, I’ll take full responsibility for this matter, I won’t bring you into this.”

Xiao Kui just gave an “mm”, he was still at a loss.

Without further ado, Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun flew away on the sword. Xiao Kui was still confused in-place, and didn’t follow.

The two finally left Heavenly Sword Mountain successfully. Yi Xichen desperately controlled the sword to go faster and faster, wanting to leave as far as the mountain as possible. After a long time though, his sword suddenly lost control and the two fell from the sky!

Zhangsun Zijun quickly caught him and helped both of them to land safely.

They were in an empty valley with weeds everywhere. It was quiet here, and very far away from Heavenly Sword Mountain. There shouldn’t be anyone chasing up to them at this place. Yi Xichen was already at his limit and couldn’t fly anymore. They came to a banyan tree and sat down, and their faces looked blank and sad.

“To the Realm of Void…” said Yi Xichen, “I heard that the Sect Leader of Void Sect could summon Heaven’s Flame.”

At that time, Yi Xichen’s parents were killed by Heaven’s Flame. But after so many years, he still didn’t know who murdered them. He once did research and learned that summoning Heaven’s Flame was an incredibly secret move. In the six realms, no more than ten people knew such a technique. But this was only used by people to describe how hard and rare such skill was, not implying that only ten people knew it. Legends had it that this skill was invented by Ancestor Huo Yun1Literal translation: Fire Cloud and only passed it onto a few people. The Sect Leader of Void Sect happened to be one of Ancestor Huo Yun’s disciples. It was said that he was one of the few people that knew how to summon Heaven’s Flame.

But Realm of Void was not a place anyone could day. One couldn’t reach there just by flying, as there was a Void Sea surrounding the Realm of Void. On the Void Sea was a barrier formed by immense spiritual energy, making it almost impossible to pass through.

Fortunately, the Void Sect Leader would accept disciples once every ten years. At that time, he would open the barrier. Any disciples who wanted and were strong enough to pass Void Sect Leader’s qualifications, could become his disciple and learn from him. Yi Xichen didn’t want to be his disciple though, he just wanted to meet the Void Sect Leader and ask him who knew how to summon such a flame. And, who appeared in his house ten years ago, and who could be the person that killed Yao Budu at Heavenly Sword Mountain. Such a secret move was very hard to learn, and the number of people who knew it was minimal. It shouldn’t be too hard to find the real culprit.

Fortunately for them again, Void Sea would open in just a few months! Yi Xichen knew that his cultivation was too low and that he wouldn’t make it. He planned to train hard for another ten years before going there. But now, he couldn’t wait anymore.

“First, we’ll get you a new sword, then we’ll immediately head to the Realm of Void.”

“But your seal…” said Zhangsun Zijun.

“Don’t worry about that for now. The Treasures of the Heaven and the Earth will take a while to find, and the Void Sea only opens once per ten years. If we miss this chance, we’ll have to wait another ten years.”

Zhangsun Zijun didn’t reply, which meant that he would acquiesce to Yi Xichen’s arrangement.

After planning, the two sat with their backs to each other. They were still feeling empty and at a loss. After all, they were only teenagers. After experiencing such traumatic events, it would be hard for anyone to recover quickly.

So the two decided to just sit there in a daze, and wait for their state of mind to return to normal before facing reality.

Zhangsun Zijun remembered the world in his mind. Although in that world, he got everything he wanted easily, but it was absurd, boring, and ridiculous. Ever since he left that world, he never thought of going back, because he loved this lively world much more. Yet now, he started to miss that place. At least there, his master was still alive.

Suddenly, Yi Xichen felt that someone in his bag moved. He untied the bag and looked inside, and was taken back. It was the pill refining cauldron Yao Budu had made for them.

“Little brats! TIME TO EAT YOUR PILLS!” Yao Budu said loudly. His humorous voice echoed throughout the valley.

Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun looked at the two pills that the cauldron spat out. They stood there in a daze for a long time, before each picking one up and eating it.

It had the same taste as before: bitter and puckery. So bitter that it would make one’s hair curl. So puckery that it would make one’s intestines tie into knots.

So bitter that it made their tears drop.

After the two tried to calm themselves down, they left the valley and headed for the nearby cultivation town, Xia Lin.

There were many cultivation towns in the world. Like sects, where these towns were located were also places of high spiritual energy and good sites of fengshui.2Feng shui, also known as Chinese geomancy, is an ancient Chinese traditional practice which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. But sects usually had higher requirements, for example, good geography that made it hard to be attacked. If it was an open place, then it would eventually turn into a cultivation town. Anyone could come and leave here.

Also unlike sects, cultivation towns were more lively. Here, there were people of all types. Most were wandering cultivators and also sect disciples who were in practical training. There would even be Demonic Cultivators and Ghost Cultivators here. Of course, fights also appeared often. In the town, there were markets and stalls where cultivators sold and traded spiritual materials and pills. There was much more stuff here than the markets underneath the foot of Heavenly Sword Mountain.

When Yi Xichen and Zhangsun Zijun arrived at Xia Lin, it was already very late. They first bought some clothes for wandering cultivators, then found an inn to rest for the day. They wanted to wait until tomorrow to find a good sword for Zhangsun Zijun.

When they got to the inn, they immediately changed out of Heavenly Sword Sect’s disciple clothes. In the deterrence of Heaven’s Flame, Yu Ying let them go temporarily. But after such an event, Yu Ying definitely wouldn’t just end it there. In a few days, their vicious acts would be known throughout the entire cultivation world.

Although most cultivators liked being alone and rarely cared about others’ businesses, but towards Devil Cultivators and traitors, the entire cultivation world would try to help get rid of them. Therefore, before they can get revenge for Yao Budu, they could only try and keep themselves hidden.

Zhangsun Zijun casted a fire spell, and a small ball of flame appeared on his fingertips. He reached for their old disciple uniforms and wanted to burn them, but he hesitated for a long time.

As for the Heavenly Sword Sect, Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen didn’t care too much. But after all, they cultivated there for all these years. The people, the events…

Seeing Zhangsun Zijun’s hesitation, Yi Xichen said, “Let’s keep them for now.”

Zhangsun Zijun put out the flame on his finger and folded the uniforms away.

Yi Xichen sat down by the table and took out their Qiankun Bags to count their valuables. Because they left in such a hurry, they didn’t get to pack up, and many things were left on the mountain. It was fortunate that Yi Xichen always carried his spirit stones with him at all times.

After opening their bags, Yi Xichen dumped everything out onto the table. But with a loud “thud”, a big gray egg was dropped onto the table, scaring both of them.

“What!” Yi Xichen said with astonishment, “This guy… how did it end up in my bag!”

This big gray egg was none other than the one Yi Xichen saw in the grass the other day. That day, he “shoo”-ed the egg away, and never saw it again. He definitely didn’t just put it in his bag!

Zhangsun Zijun leaned over and took a look, and frowned. He didn’t seem to be very happy, “Fat Chirp?”

“Fat Chirp?” Yi Xichen was even more surprised, “You know this guy?”

Zhangsun Zijun nodded. In fact, in his memory, Yi Xichen gave this pet this name. After this egg hatched, it would be a gray and furry tit. Because it chirped in a high pitch, that’s how it got its name.

Yi Xichen poked the egg. From the previous interactions, this spiritual beast should have done some cultivation already. But for some reason, it still decided to stay in its egg.

“Hey, wakey wakey!” Yi Xichen poked the egg around on the table, but it didn’t move at all.

Yi Xichen found this matter strange. Last time it was rolling everywhere, how come it turned into a normal egg now?

“When did you get into my Qiankun Bag? If you don’t come out I’ll break your shell!”

But when facing Yi Xichen’s threat, the egg still refused to move. As if it was still immature and didn’t reach the extent of spiritual consciousness yet.

Of course Yi Xichen wouldn’t really break its egg. If a spiritual beast’s egg broke before it matured, it would be very vulnerable to death. He never had any grudges with Fat Chirp, so there was no need to hurt it like this.

Facing an egg that appeared all of a sudden, they found that it wouldn’t talk or budge and couldn’t do anything about it, so they just put it aside and continued to account for their property.

After finishing, Yi Xichen sighed. Although they just profited quite some spirit stones from Xiao Kui and Grand Black Sect, they still had to purchase a bunch of supplies before entering the Realm of Void. Aside from the sword that Zhangsun Zijun needed, Yi Xichen also had to replenish quite some spiritual materials since most of their spiritual objects were left in the sect. So, with these spirit stones, they could only pick between Zhangsun Zijun’s sword and Yi Xichen’s spiritual materials.

After searching through every valuable item they had with them, Yi Xichen’s eyes went back to the egg. He couldn’t hold back the urge to sell this egg in exchange for some spiritual materials. Although it looked ordinary, it still had to be a spiritual beast of some type.

“Zijun, which elder had this egg as a pet?”

“It’s a wild egg.”

“Wild?” Yi Xichen couldn’t believe it, “I picked it up back in the Heavenly Sword Mountain, and it was outside the sect leader’s Fengqi Temple. Which spiritual beast would lay its egg there?”

Zhangsun Zijun shrugged. In his memory, Yi Xichen and he found the egg in a Qiankun bag after they left the mountain, and it wasn’t any of the elders’ property.

Yi Xichen got excited, “Awesome! How much can this egg sell for?”

Zhangsun Zijun looked uninterested, “It’s just a gray, fat bird. Who would want that?”

Yi Xichen scratched his hair in distress. Since it was a spiritual beast, he thought that it had to be at least a nine-tailed celestial fox or a fire lion. Is it really just an ugly gray bird? He really wanted to break it open right now to check.

Zhangsun Zijun glanced at the lifeless egg. He didn’t want to keep this thing with them at all. Even if it was worth one spirit stone, he would still gladly sell it. If this wasn’t worth a spirit stone, then he’d rather just throw it away. “If I don’t say it, no one would know what’s inside. We can even say that we got it from a Celestial Fox’s den.”

“You’re right!” Yi Xichen said while touching his chin, “But Celestial Foxes don’t lay eggs, they are mammals.” 

Zhangsun Zijun: “……”

Celestial Foxes don’t lay eggs, Fire Lions don’t lay eggs, and nor do Black Wolves. After thinking about it, it seemed that the most valuable spiritual beasts just have their children come out as a whole, only birds and turtles had eggs.

“Can we say it’s a Thunder Turtle? Wait, but Thunder Turtle’s eggs are transparent, this obviously isn’t it… then, it seems like we can only claim this as a bird egg.” Yi Xichen said with frustration, “Birds… Rainbow Crane is rather rare, but crane eggs are just as white as their feathers. What about an eagle? No, an eagle’s eggs are black as iron…”

“Ahh!” Yi Xichen laid on the table, “How I wish this is a phoenix egg, then we’ll be rich!”

“Haha,” laughed Zhangsun Zijun.

Yi Xichen was only just saying it for fun. Zhangsun Zijun already told him that it was a gray bird inside. Even if it wasn’t, no one would believe that a phoenix egg could be so ugly.

Without a better idea in mind, Yi Xichen could only return this beast egg back into his Qiankun Bag. “Let’s try to sell it tomorrow on the market. If no one wants it, we’ll see what we can do then.”

It was already late into the night, and the sky outside seemed to be painted with ink. The two were more than exhausted, so they put out the candle and rested. In Xia Lin, the inns cost spirit stones as well, so to save some, Yi Xichen only requested for one room. After getting on the bed, the two slept down together.

Zhangsun Zijun couldn’t fall asleep. Using the dim moonlight, he looked at the person beside him in a daze.

He has been thinking, in the absurd world in his mind and the current world he was in, what was similar, and what were just illusions? And what kind of logic flowed in between? Yao Budu has already died in Heaven’s Flame, which made him think. In that illusionary world, he could easily get everything he wanted. And those that he cherished, he wouldn’t lose them. It was a funny and soft world, but here, it was pretty yet cruel.

Zhangsun Zijun reached out his hand and gently stroked Yi Xichen’s hair. He felt a little sad, as he said softly, “How come I’m the only one who remembers these things.”

Yi Xichen suddenly held his wrist.

“Zijun,” he said, “I… I’m not sure how to put it, but you don’t know how important you are to me.”

“I know.”

Zhangsun Zijun put his hand behind Yi Xichen’s head and gently pinched the back of his neck. He understood what Yi Xichen meant. Yi Xichen didn’t want their relationship to change, he wanted this to stay for eternity. If he was Yi Xichen, he probably wouldn’t want anything to change either. 

Well, I guess I’ll just continue getting along with Yi Xichen like the way he’s used to. Either way, as long as we are together, as long as in a thousand years, we can still sit together under a banyan tree and smile to each other, that is enough.

But at this moment, Zhangsun Zijun misunderstood what Yi Xichen meant. Yi Xichen wasn’t thinking that much. Now, he only has Zhangsun Zijun left. What he wanted to say was: “You’re really that important to me. So important that… no matter how much you change, I’ll still be with you.”

The next morning, the two left early for Xia Lin’s market.