My Brother Practices Forbidden Arts - Chapter 2

My brother drifted about, leisurely watching the show.

“It’s not that I won’t help. The old man used to be my master. If I make a move, he’ll recognize me. I have a better way to get us out of this.”

I gritted my teeth and cursed him a hundred times in my head. “What way?”

He swept out an arm. “Kneel! Cry!”

“The old man’s bark is worse than his bite. Cry hard enough and he’ll let you off.”

He’d better be right.

I looked up at the imposing sect master, steeled myself, and dropped to my knees. Tears poured down my face.

“Sect Master, I only wanted to save my brother. We’ve depended on each other since childhood. He died saving me a few years ago. When I heard this lotus seed could make him a new body, I had no choice but to risk coming here.”

“Without my brother, I wouldn’t be alive today. Please take pity on my desperation to save him and give me the seed!”

When the sect master didn’t react, I drew my sword and made to stab myself. “If my brother’s gone, I don’t want to live either!”

The sect master grew alarmed. “Wait! You were willing to take this risk for him. I can grant the wish of such a devoted heart. But where did you learn the password?”

I made something up on the spot. “When my brother died, a young man happened to pass by. He said the Poxiao Sect master’s treasury held a lotus seed that could bring my brother back, and he told me the password.”

The sect master landed in front of me, urgency in his face. “Was he dressed in black, with his hair tied in a high ponytail, and a rather frivolous manner?”

“I… I think so.”

“So he guided you here. Very well. Since he planted this cause, I’ll accept its consequence.”

Not only did the kind sect master let me take the lotus seed, he gave me a compass too.

“The seed alone isn’t enough. This compass can help you find the soul you seek. But a soul breaks into pieces after death. You might search your whole life and never gather all of his.”

What a good man!

On the way back, I stared at the compass. “Bro, could it be that the sect master’s guard was never lax? Maybe he just let you come and go from his treasury whenever you liked.”

He gave a stubborn snort. “He’s not that generous.”

Before I reached my room, someone stopped me.

He wore flowing white robes and had a face as fine as carved jade. Yet a trace of frost seemed to veil his eyes, making him look like an immortal untouched by the world.

Everyone in the Poxiao Sect knew him: Jiang Shixi, the sect master’s only direct disciple now.

He’d once helped me teach Zhang Kaiyuan a lesson. He was a good person.

My brother fell unusually quiet and turned away, unwilling to look at him.

Jiang Shixi spoke with polite humility. “Sorry to hold you up. I went to borrow something from Master just now, only to learn he’d given it to you. May I borrow the compass? I’ll return it at once when I’m done.”

Surely lending it to him for a moment would be fine. It had belonged to his master in the first place.

I handed it over. “Please, Senior Brother.”

Jiang Shixi took it and channeled spiritual power into it. The needle spun rapidly, and the light in his eyes gradually faded.

“The compass only responds to the souls of the dead. I haven’t heard from my senior brother in three years. So he really is gone…”

My brother seemed to realize something. “Oh no. He’s looking for me! Stop him!”

Too late. The compass needle swung straight toward me.