It didn’t matter how displeased Chu Lian was, Ye ShengGe’s grand scheme to accept a disciple was settled. Then, they proceeded to seal the horn of that heavenly demonic beast together and left this little town, leaving behind only a promise to return two years later.
The Spring left and the Autumn came around. The mute woman held the infant in her arms and silently waited the entire time.
Wen Xuan quietly watched her anticipatory figure, until the day she passed away. He wasn’t sure how many days passed, but he never saw Ye ShengGe’s return.
In the snowy landscape, Wen Xuan slowly opened his eyes.
Jian Yi squeezed his palm: “Shixiong.”
Wen Xuan didn’t reply immediately, as if his thoughts were still immersed in that illusory world. After a moment, he finally slowly returned to reality. Blinking both eyes, he sighed softly: “So it was like that.”
Of course he didn’t see Ye ShengGe’s return, because Ye ShengGe already fell 50 years ago, within those two years.
This piece of the past made Wen Xuan understand many things.
Why the half breed son of a demonic beast would become a Water Cloud Sect disciple in the end. Why Chu Lian accepted him as his disciple despite clearly hating him. Why he would have the divine remnants of someone in his body. As well as why he clearly had the blood of a heavenly demonic beast, yet he didn’t have any demonic beast energy. He received all of these answers from that illusory world.
The origin of everything came from that one person, Ye ShengGe.
Wen Xuan pressed his lips together, feeling a dull ache in his heart. Daoist Master Ye ShengGe. He heard of this name many years ago and once felt sorry for this person’s death, but this was the first time he felt such deep pain over this.
He once thought that this was a person very unrelated to him. He never imagined they were once so close. He never imagined they were almost destined to become teacher and disciple. The seal on his demonic beast energy. The creation of his cultivation method. All of these were things Ye ShengGe did for this future disciple of his.
Yet, Ye ShengGe never managed to return to this little town. This teacher-disciple destiny, in the end, could only be described with an ‘almost.’
“So that’s what happened.” Wen Xuan sighed again, as if he was trying to use this repeated lament to take away the sorrow in his heart.
After that, he moved off of Jian Yi’s shoulder and stood up.
“Shixiong, are we going back now?” Jian Yi asked him.
Wen Xuan nodded.
Seeing him like this, Jian Yi couldn’t help but worry: “Are you okay now?”
Wen Xuan smiled, turning his gaze towards the direction of the small town: “The only reason I didn’t want to return before was because I didn’t know how to face them.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
When he had thought about the heavenly demonic beast’s blood left in his body, the guilt and shame would suffocate him, making it hard to breathe. But now the emotions he felt towards those townspeople were no longer just that.
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Luckily, he didn’t have to face this question. Because what old man Qian had said before wasn’t actually all true.
Although those townspeople did take their anger out on his mother, and also detested Wen Xuan, this demon spawn, they weren’t the cause of his mother’s death.
Ye ShengGe wanted to take Wen Xuan as his disciple. Before he left, he naturally took the lives of the mother and son into consideration. He once gave Wen Xuan’s mother a small fortune, and also asked those townspeople to let go of their hatred and treat them kindly. In the eyes of those townspeople, the two cultivators who eliminated that heavenly demonic beast were like gods. Therefore, even if they weren’t very willing, in the end, they still suppressed their hatred and never caused the death of anyone.
The truth was more simple than what Wen Xuan had imagined, yet also more ironic.
The reason for his mother’s death was actually because of the money that Ye ShengGe left. Only she and her two older brothers knew about this money. Those two older brothers were filled with greed at the sight of that money. At first, they were still afraid that Ye ShengGe might return anytime. After holding back for a period of time, they finally couldn’t endure it any longer and joined efforts to cause her death.
Recalling how his mother died in the end, Wen Xuan still felt his heart turn cold. Most people are kinder than his imagination, but there are always some people who are one hundred times more malicious. At least his hatred here can be clear-cut and distinct, without any complexity mixed in.
“Those two people,” Wen Xuan asked: “What happened to them?”
Jian Yi immediately understood what Wen Xuan was asking and shrugged his shoulders: “They died.”
Wen Xuan turned his gaze over and looked at Jian Yi’s face: “If you asked anyone in town, they’d know.” Jian Yi told him: “Not long after all, they must have felt a guilty conscience or something. Grabbing all that money, they ran into the mountain and ended up dying, somehow”
“Somehow?”
“It’s rumored,” Saying these words, Jian Yi paused for a moment, then continued: “the female ghost demanded their lives.”
The corners of Wen Xuan’s mouth promptly curved upward: “If it was really like that, then great.”
Yet if that were the case, then the hatred that just started burning in Wen Xuan’s heart would have nowhere to go. He couldn’t help but sigh again: “Can’t even give me an opportunity to get revenge.”
“That just means she didn’t want you to waste your time on revenge.” Jian Yi also got up and walked next to Wen Xuan. He accompanied Wen Xuan to gaze at that little town together: “Shixiong, your mother definitely wished you could live more carefree and happy.”
Hearing these words and recalling that figure who protected him all the way until the very end, Wen Xuan felt a wave of warmth flow across his heart. Lifting his hand, he patted Jian Yi lightly: “Thank you, Jian shidi.”
Done speaking, Wen Xuan started walking, bringing Jian Yi together with him to the direction of the little town.
Now that everything was clear, Wen Xuan only felt guilt towards these townspeople. Although it still felt suffocating, at least he knew how to face it.
“This time it’s all thanks to you.” Wen Xuan said along the way: “The past that you let me watch was really very important to me. Really, I can’t thank you enough.”
Jian Yi lowered his head and smiled bashfully.
“But you shouldn’t do this kind of thing in the future.” Wen Xuan’s following words were these.
Jian Yi looked over in surprise.
“When I barged into your room this afternoon, you were doing this, right?” Wen Xuan turned his head and met his gaze: “This affects your body greatly, doesn’t it?”
Jian Yi shifted his line of sight and avoided his gaze: “It’s…… not bad……”
When he spoke these three words, in the end, his voice was extremely quiet, almost inaudible.
“Don’t do this anymore.” Wen Xuan said firmly, not accepting any disputes: “This is the only time, no other exceptions.”
Jian Yi couldn’t win against Wen Xuan, so he only scrunched his face: “I understand.”
As they talked, they arrived at the little town. At this time the sun was rising. There was a faint white light at the edge of the horizon. Some of the townspeople that got up early were already heading off to the fields.
Meanwhile, that cultivator Sun, who traveled together with them, just discovered that they were both gone. Rushing out of the house in panic, he didn’t even have a chance to start searching around in the town when he saw them walk over together from the road.
Cultivator Sun let out a breath of relief. He was just ready to head over and greet them when he was suddenly startled by the atmosphere he saw between the two people.
It was an indescribable atmosphere. The two people were clearly only walking together side by side, but it made him feel like there was something circulating between them, soft and sticky, not permitting others to step in.
This strange feeling made Cultivator Sun remain stunned for a moment, until the two people already walked up to the front of the house and started greeting him.
After Cultivator Sun nodded in response, the two people finally separated and headed to their own rooms. Cultivator Sun felt somewhat bewildered and thought maybe that the strange feeling before was his misconception. Yet when he turned his head to look again, the two people were smiling at each other, using their eyes to say goodbye to each other.
He didn’t know how to describe that interaction. In any case, it gave Cultivator Sun the goosebumps.
Cultivator Sun recalled how Jian Yi lost control before when Wen Xuan disappeared in the snow, and slowly became aware in the aftermath– that wasn’t a normal response between shixiong and shidi at all. He rubbed at the goosebumps on his arms and hastily avoided the two people, returning back to his own room.
Meanwhile, after Wen Xuan returned to his room, he rested for a moment before leaving the building.
He went to find that old man Qian from before. At this time, it was still very early in the day. However, despite his age, old man Qian already got up.
“Cultivator, what else do you need?” He felt a little unexpected by Wen Xuan’s second visit, but not surprised. His gaze swept over Wen Xuan twice: “Was there something unclear in what I told you yesterday?”
Actually, with a careful examination, it was easy to find that although he was rather courteous towards Wen Xuan, his tone completely lacked all respect and even carried a sharp sense of ridicule.
Wen Xuan didn’t answer, only silently looked at this elderly man for a while.
He had a conjecture. Since Ye ShengGe had let the townspeople know ahead of time before he left, these people should have been aware of the fact that Wen Xuan would be taken away to become a cultivator. Therefore, in face of a cultivator who suddenly appeared to investigate the past, this old man in front of him perhaps already knew his identity.
Wen Xuan didn’t ask any questions to confirm this guess. He only stood there quietly for a while, then bent his knees, knelt down, and kowtowed once.
Extremely shocked, old man Qian smacked his palm on the armrail of his chair, almost like he was about to jump out of his chair. Yet about one second later, he settled down again and sat back steady in the chair, calmly accepting this kowtow without any attempt to stop him.
Just like how Wen Xuan knelt wordlessly, he also looked on wordlessly.
Until Wen Xuan said his goodbyes, they didn’t have any interactions at all.
After leaving old man Qian’s house, Wen Xuan went to another neighboring residence. This time, he didn’t knock on the door and bother the family. Instead, he just stood in the street facing this household, knelt down similarly, and gave a kowtow.
Then, the next household.
Just like this, Wen Xuan walked from the beginning of town to the end of town. There were about over 100 households in this town. Most of the people didn’t even know who he was and how he was related to this town. Some didn’t even know what happened in this town 50 years ago. Yet Wen Xuan still walked over, kneeling before every household, visiting every residence, not leaving any behind.
From morning to afternoon, everyone saw this cultivator’s strange actions. In response, they pointed and gestured, discussing heatedly. Pretty much no one knew what Wen Xuan was doing.
But what does that matter? As long as Wen Xuan knew himself, that’s fine.
After kneeling for the last family, Wen Xuan felt some pains in his knees even with a cultivator’s body. He let out a breath of air, finally finished with all of this, and slowly walked towards where he was staying.
Unexpectedly, on his way back, he encountered old man Qian again. Holding onto a cane, old man Qian stood in the middle of the road, looking like he was taking a walk, or perhaps waiting for Wen Xuan.
“Was it meaningful?” Old man Qian squeezed that cane tightly: “Did doing this make you feel satisfied? Happy? Liberated?”
Wen Xuan nodded and cupped his hand in courtesy at him, not replying at all.
“Do you think doing this would compensate for your wrongdoing?” Old man Qian slammed his cane heavily on the ground and raised his voice loudly: “Do you think you’d be forgiving just like this?”
Finally, Wen Xuan lifted his head and said one thing.
“I did nothing wrong.”
Thank You for the chapter (๑•͈ᴗ•͈) ♡♡♡
Wen certíssimo
Can I just say that I absolutely love the character development in this so far 😭 I binged read till this point in one day and it’s amazing how much they changed
Once again thank you for the wonderful chapter
Seconded!!
I’m amazed at that last sentence. Wow.
He did nothing wrong stupid man
Hell right! Oh, my baby wuwuwuwuwuwuwu