Genuine cultivators tapped into the power of heaven and earth to travel thousands of miles in a flash, so in only half a day's time, they arrived in a small town near Shangqing Sect. Wen Renhe had even reduced his speed in order to wait for Yin Hanjing, otherwise he would have arrived within a quarter of an hour.
In this world, the realm of cultivators could be divided into nine stages: Qi Enlightenment, Qi Refinement, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Soul Combination, Void stage and Mahayana. Each stage was further divided into another nine layers. Breaking through the ninth layer of Mahayana, a heavenly tribulation would occur and then the cultivator would cross over into the immortal realm. It was said that there were realms such as Scattered Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Golden Immortal, Great Principle Golden Immortal, Immortal Lord, and Immortal Emperor in the immortal realm. Once a cultivator broke through the Immortal Emperor realm, they would cross over into the divine realm. The divine realm was also divided into countless stages, but no matter how acquired gods cultivated, it would be impossible for them to surpass the innate gods. Innate gods coexisted with heaven and earth, whereas, acquired gods could only tap into the powers of heaven and earth. The former regarded heaven and earth as their home, while the latter could be regarded as temporarily residing on heaven and earth. All in all, it did make a massive difference.
Devil Venerable Wen Renhe had already been officially recognised as the top cultivator of the devil path, but his current cultivation was only at the sixth layer of Mahayana. The female lead in her previous life had been many times stronger than all the people who appeared in the book. However, in order to follow He Wenchao, she had given up her divinity. It was no surprise that Wen Renhe thought she had a few screws loose somewhere.
He even suspected that He Wenchao had used some devilry to control the spirit of the female lead, but in the genuine cultivation world such sorcery, no matter how strong it was, would be useless on Baili Qingmiao, whose divinity had already infused her body. It was like a drop of venom dissolving into the ocean, a wisp of poisonous smoke being pulled into the storm. Being put against a much stronger force, all sorts of sorcery would simply be useless.
Wen Renhe was sitting on the second floor of the tea house and sipping on the tea Yin Hanjiang had served him, as he furrowed his brows deep in thought.
"This subordinate is low in cultivation and has wasted the Lord's time." Yin Hanjiang did not sit down and just stood behind Wen Renhe.
"It doesn't matter," Wen Renhe said, pointing to the seat next to him. "Sit down."
Yin Hanjiang then obediently sat down beside Wen Renhe. If his Lord hadn't ordered it, he would not have sat down; If his Lord gave the order, he would not say hypocritically, "Your subordinate doesn't dare". Under Wen Renhe's command, even if he didn't dare to, Yin Hanjiang would still do as ordered.
When Wen Renhe noticed that Yin Hanjiang was all rigid, he ordered, "Act more naturally and normalise your breathing. Both of us are now just martial artists who know a little bit about cultivation."
For every instruction he gave, Yin Hanjiang only made a movement. The previously stiff back gradually relaxed, only leaving his muscles taut.
Yin Hanjiang seldom had eye contact with Wen Renhe, to the point where he practically did not lift his head up. He just held a teacup in his hands and stared at the tea which gave a light fragrance, but did not take a sip.
Like a wooden marionette, he did not have any thoughts of his own. He only moved each time Wen Renhe said something.
Yin Hanjiang's cultivation was only at the first layer of Soul Combination, but in Xuanyuan Sect he had thousands under his command. The weakest out of the four major altar masters, Yuan Tanzhu, was at the ninth layer of Soul Combination, while the other three masters were at the peak of the Void stage. The Right Protector, Shu Yanyan, was at the sixth layer of the Void stage. Amongst the six who worked directly under Wen Renhe, Yin Hanjiang was the weakest.
Technically, he, in any case, should not have been a Left Protector. It was only due to his utmost loyalty and Wen Renhe's trust in him, that he was able to attain such a high position.
When Wen Renhe found him in a pile of corpses, Yin Hanjiang was barely alive. He had been poisoned and half of his body was festering badly. No one would have regarded him as a living person, and even if they knew he was still breathing, no one would have saved him.
It just so happened that Wen Renhe was passing by. With his keen sense of life and death, he found the dull-eyed Yin Hanjiang, who was quietly waiting to die.
At that time, Wen Renhe, who was still a master of a small sect of the devil path, used the tip of his toes to kick Yin Hanjian's body, then looked down at that child to say emotionlessly, "I need a sword."
Little Yin Hanjiang raised his little arms to grab Wen Renhe's shoes with such strength no one knew where it came from.
Ever since then, Yin Hanjiang had become an emotionless sword, only for Wen Renhe to brandish.
His cultivation had been developing at a rapid pace; in just a decade, he had advanced to the Soul Combination stage, which was even several times faster than Wen Renhe. Who would have known that after reaching the Soul Combination stage, no matter how hard Yan Hanjiang practiced, he just couldn't advance any further. Hence, his realm had remained stagnant for one hundred years.
Wen Renhe initially thought that Yin Hanjiang had reached his peak when he had advanced to Soul Combination, but the book clearly stated that Ghost Face's cultivation was at the peak of Mahayana.
This was also one of the reasons why the female lead never guessed that Yin Hanjiang was Ghost Face. Firstly, in the beginning, Yin Hanjiang had been so kind to her, that she wouldn't have doubted him at all. Secondly, even though Yin Hanjiang had gained some luck from protecting the female lead, his cultivation was clearly at the first layer of Soul Combination. Hence, who would have guessed that Ghost Face, whose cultivation was at Mahayana, was Yin Hanjiang?
At the later stage of this abusive love story, Ghost Face was already the most powerful person in the cultivation world. If it was not for his obsession with using Baili Qingmiao for refinement, he would have long been able to break through and cross over into the immortal realm.
Baili Qingmiao had really been thrown into a cauldron by Ghost Face for refinement. It was a wonder how lucky she had been, as she had managed to fuse with her divinity right at the most critical moment, causing a terrible force to break out, which had then killed Yin Hanjiang instantaneously.
Yin Hanjiang was at Soul Combination stage, but Ghost Face was at Mahayana stage. There was a difference of two realms between both of them.
Wen Renhe looked at the side profile of his most trusted subordinate and said, "Hold out your hand."
Yin Hanjiang held out his hand. Wen Renhe then locked onto the meridian point on his wrist and transferred some true Qi into his body, straight to the meridian point in his heart. After a round of examination, he was certain that Yin Hanjiang really was at the first layer of Soul Combination, without any adulteration. In addition, there was a massive amount of unconvertible soul force in his Dantian, which remained there after cultivating for one hundred years. It must have been for breaking through the cultivation realm, that he had forcefully accommodated this unbearable soul force there. It must have been really painful.
If it wasn't for that book, it would have been impossible for Wen Renhe to understand Yin Hanjiang's situation and he would have deemed Yin Hanjiang as not having enough talent.
Apparently there were still many seemingly bizarre plot points in the book, but in actual fact there were reasonable explanations behind them all.
"How long has it been like this?" Wen Renhe asked.
Yin Hanjiang did not answer the question but instead said, "This subordinate will try his best to breakthrough."
Looking at him like this, some distant memories appeared in his mind. After he had brought Yin Hanjiang back to his sect, he had solely focused on defeating the rival sect, so he had just thrown him into the sect to be raised and casually left a cultivation method for Yin Hanjiang to practice on his own.
Ten years later, he returned to the sect and found that Yin Hanjiang had grown into a tall straight young man, who would swing his sword again and again at the back of the mountain. Ever since Wen Renhe had left Yin Hanjiang with the task of cleaving the waterfall apart with his sword ten years ago, he had been practicing it for the past ten years.
Persistence, firmness, and loyalty. These three words were enough to describe Yin Hanjiang.
"Don't push yourself too hard," said Wen Renhe. "Just take your time. This lord is strong enough."
He thought this was a consolation, but who would have known that a trace of abandonment and grief would flash through Yin Hanjiang's eyes as he asked hoarsely, "Does the Lord no longer need this subordinate?"
Actually, he was not really needed. At that time, Wen Renhe wanted to unify the demon path, so there was an urgent need for talents. Now that Xuanyuan Sect's power had increased, the entire devil path had been coerced into submission by Wen Renhe. The four major altar masters, as well as the Left and the Right Protectors of the sect were all very loyal to Wen Renhe. Hence, he did not need someone, who was only at Soul Combination stage, to protect him.
This sword, Yin Hanjiang, had no chance to be unsheathed.
Wen Renhe did not answer his question, but instead took out a book that was even thicker than a brick from his Qiankun sleeve and flipped to a certain page.
It was the point where Yin Hanjiang was protecting Baili Qingmiao from the pursuit of Shangqing Sect. She said gratefully, "Brother Yin, you are too good to me."
As Yin Hanjiang held his sword in his hands, the firelight revealed his smile. He said, "You are the Lord's only one who requires a protector."
At first glance, one would have thought that Yin Hanjiang was using his loyalty as an excuse to hide the feelings for Baili Qingmiao in his heart. When Wen Renhe looked at it again, he noticed the word "sword".
Wen Renhe had left this sword, Yin Hanjiang, idle for far too long now. To ensure Baili Qingmiao's safety, he had decided to use this sword again. Why was Yin Hanjiang smiling? It was not due to him liking Baili Qingmiao, but because he was once again needed by Wen Renhe.
Wen Renhe put the book away and once again looked at Yin Hanjiang. An unfamiliar slightly sour feeling arose in his heart.
"This lord doesn't need a sword," he said coldly.
Yin Hanjiang's eyes gradually became lifeless, as he withdrew his hand from the table and firmly grasped the sword on his waist.
In the book
, the phrase "holding a sword" was used numerous times to describe Yin Hanjiang's actions. When cultivators reached the Foundation Building stage, they would be able to put away their soul-bound weapons in their body. Even at Qi Refinement stage, there were storage devices such as Qiankun (heaven and earth) bags, so there was no need for cultivators to hold their weapons in their hands. However, Yin Hanjiang was always holding his sword.
Wen Renhe didn't know his eyes had softened, as he continued, "But this lord still needs Yin Hanjiang."
Yin Hanjiang loosened his grip on the sword in his hand as he heard Wen Renhe say, "When this lord first got to know Yin Hanjiang, this lord's name was not widely known yet. This lord didn't trust anyone in this world but Yin Hanjiang."
"My Lord..."
Before Yin Hanjiang could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a woman, who was wearing a thin white dress, with a lute
in her arms, walking up to the second floor while singing and playing the lute.
Wen Renhe: "..."
Yin Hanjiang: "..."
This woman was actually Shu Yanyan. They were used to her wearing revealing clothing and just couldn't get used to this new woeful look, as if she was a little white lotus trembling in the wind.
There were quite a number of guests sitting on the second floor. Shu Yanyan was a singer at the tea house and began selling flowers once she finished a song.
She had taken the path of being self-reliant and independent. She did not charge for singing, but she would start selling flowers after her performance. The income from selling flowers would still be split between her and the owner of the teahouse, whereby seventy percent would go to the owner of the teahouse and the remaining thirty would go to her. It was indeed very pitiful.
Ren Wenhe held twelve silver taels between his fingers and casually them into the flower basket that was right in front of Shu Yanyan. With her basket in hand, she walked slowly to Wen Renhe and whispered, "This guest, this little lady doesn't sing for a living, but does sell flowers. A basket of flowers only costs ten copper coins. You don't need to spend so much money."
There were ten baskets of flowers at her feet. After selling all of them and passing the boss his share, she would only be left with 30 copper coins for herself. She would only be able to have some meat to eat after saving up for half a month, whereas for the rest of the days, she would have to spend them eating only steamed buns.
Wen Renhe did not turn to look at Shu Yanyan, but he squinted his eyes at Yin Hanjiang and whispered, "Call me big brother."
Yin Hanjiang looked dazed like he was still dreaming. Following the script given to him by Wen Renhe, he recited the lines emotionlessly, "My L.... My big brother told you to accept it, so you'll accept it. Don't be so unappreciative of others!"
The moment the words "big brother" came out of Yin Hanjing's mouth, his ears became all red.
"Thank you both for your kindness, but I shouldn't take your money. This little lady won't accept it." Shu Yanyan extended her long, cold fingers to take out the silver from her flower basket, placed it on the table and then politely bid them goodbye.
Technically, Wen Renhe could have thrown the silver back into Shu Yanyan's lapel saying, "If you dare to take the taels out in front of everyone, I will take it back," and make her cry helplessly at the tea house. However, this was not his forte and Yin Hanjiang was not interested in doing so. Hence, they could only drink tea in silence, ignoring Shu Yanyan.
When Shu Yanyan saw that they did not react, she became a little anxious. If they were not going to bully her, then how was she supposed to continue acting? She had already made arrangements for her subordinates to act out this play. Who would have thought that her Lord had come to watch the show, so she ordered her subordinates to wait for her orders and passed the highlight of the show to her Lord to perform.
She thought that men were scoundrels by nature. To act in such a show, wasn't it pleasurable for them? Who would have thought that her Lord was not like that at all and had no interest in bullying the weak.
Weren't they practising the devil path? Wasn't it good to do something that the devil path should do?
Shu Yanyan noticed that both He Wenchao and Baili Qingmiao had arrived at the teahouse. Even the audience had arrived, yet the stage had not been set up. This would not do. She was so anxious that she blinked crazily at her Lord, to the extent that her wonderful eyes became glassy.
"You go for it," Wen Renhe secretly transmitted a message to Yin Hanjiang.
He decided to give more orders to Yin Hanjiang in the future, so as to prevent him from feeling that "the Lord doesn't need me anymore, so I can just die".
Yin Hanjiang recalled the script given by Shu Yanyan and upon hearing his Lord's command, he looked blankly at the beautiful Shu Yanyan. He.... had to pull apart Shu Yanyan's clothes and shove the silver taels to her chest? And do it in front of his Lord?
He was in a very difficult position, but this was his Lord's command!
"You can decide for yourself. You don't have to care about Shu Yanyan's plan," Wen Renhe transmitted his instructions when he noticed Yin Hanjiang's distress.
With Wen Renhe's permission, Yin Hanjiang's expression relaxed immediately and he said coldly, "Since you don't know how to be grateful, then don't blame me for being rude."
With that, he picked up Shu Yanyan with one hand and threw her from the second floor, right in front of He Wenchao and Baili Qingmiao.
Shu Yanyan: "..."
He Wenchao noticed a figure falling from the sky and wanted to help, but Baili Qingmiao was right by his side. He had just quarrelled with Baili Qingmiao about the incident with junior martial sister Liu from Shangqing Sect, so he didn't want to make her angry again. Hence, even if he noticed that the figure was a woman whose face he couldn't see, he still didn't make a move.
Instead, it was Baili Qingmiao who flew forward to save the person, when she saw someone falling from the second floor. Shu Yanyan's plan went to pieces, but no matter what, she could not let Baili Qingmiao rescue her. If a rescuing was to take place, it should be He Wenchao embracing other women right in front of Baili Qingmiao!
As a result, Shu Yanyan made up her mind and used her Qi to speed up. She had to forcefully make herself fall before Baili Qingmiao could even touch the edge of her clothes. She had also deliberately used her Qi to hurt herself, pretending to have been seriously injured from her fall.
Baili Qingmiao could only catch a piece of white cloth before she noticed that the weak woman had already fallen heavily on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
She landed down, half knelt in front of the woman to help her up, and said worriedly, "Lady, are you alright?"
When she turned her face around, it unexpectedly turned out to be an acquaintance. Baili QingMiao gasped, "Lady Shu?"
He Wenchao arrived late and saw that poor lady who had been saved just several days ago. He still had a soft spot for her and regretted in his heart that he hadn't been able to save her in time.
Using the alias name of Shu Lian, Shu Yanyan was pulled into a half hug by Baili Qingmiao. She shed a tear in her heart. It shouldn't be like this!
According to her script, she should be bullied by the guests, so that He Wenchao would not be able to stand by and watch. Then, he would come forward to help her and remove his robe to place it on the weak Shu Yanyan, whose clothes were disheveled. When Baili Qingmiao saw that she was wearing her sweetheart's clothes, she would be blinded by jealousy and start an argument with He Wenchao. This would push He Wenchao to her side and he would then send her home. When he saw her shedding tears, he would hug her in order to comfort her. One thing would then lead to another and wouldn't it be as easy as that? Men, ah!
Why did it turn out like this?
Baili Qingmiao took out a healing pill and gently opened her jaw to feed it to the dying Shu Yanyan. Ordinary people usually found it difficult to tolerate the effect of spiritual medicine, so Baili Qingmiao could only give Shu Yanyan some medicine to protect her heart meridian and internal organs. As for her external injuries and bone fractures, they would have to heal on their own.
After taking the medicine, Shu Yanyan's pale complexion improved a lot, so she could no longer pretend to be dizzy. She opened her eyes in despair and continued to put up a facade.
She then looked at Baili Qingmiao with tears in her eyes and said, "Thank you very much, Lady Baili."
As she was falling down, Shu Yanyan had specifically protected her face. She only allowed herself to hit her forehead to have a bleeding wound, in order to maintain the image of a frail beauty.
Coupled with her expression, she would look all the more lovable. Unfortunately, this expression was wasted on Baili Qingmiao, so He Wenchao, who was standing behind Baili Qingmiao, couldn't see it.
Baili Qingmiao grew up in Shangqing Sect and was taught to fight against the strong and help the weak. On a regular day, she would throw a tantrum at He Wenchao. Previously, she had an argument with him because he had been too attentive to Shu Yanyan. However, when it came to the issues of right and wrong, there were absolutely no discrepancies.
When a weak woman was hurt in front of her, Baili Qingmiao simply would not let it be!
She placed one of her arms around Shu Yanyan's waist and flew up to the second floor. She then placed Shu Yanyan on a chair and glared at Wen Renhe and Yin Hanjiang. "Was it both of you who threw her down?"
Shu Yanyan no longer dared to look at her Lord. So, she turned her head and pretended to cry.
Wen Renhe placed down his cup and looked at Baili Qingmiao.
In the book, he had first met Baili Qingmiao, when he had encountered an issue with his cultivation and also come across the previous leader of Shangqing Sect leading the other sects to attack Xuanyuan Sect. He attempted to forcefully fight against them but was gravely injured and fainted at the river. He was then rescued by Baili Qingmiao, who had been ostracized by another female cultivator. She didn't know Wen Renhe, so she thought he was just a like-minded cultivator from another sect who had been injured. Hence, she took good care of him.
When Wen Renhe woke up, he saw a ray of light shining on Baili Qingmiao's face. Her body seemed to be shrouded in a layer of divine light. She was just so beautiful and mysterious! His heart immediately caved in and from then on, he would take care of this kind-hearted woman.
Now, Wen Renhe wanted to see how it would turn out when he met up with Baili Qingmiao again under normal circumstances, without the factor of being injured, mentally unstable and the gratitude of having his life saved.
Baili Qingmiao was so furious that her long hair started floating due to the Qi she had released. Wen Renhe studied her and saw that she was shrouded with faint divine light.
Huh?
Wen Renhe blinked his eyes and used his soul force to check it, but he could still see that divine light.
Each time the book described Baili Qingmiao based on Wen Renhe's perspective, words such as "goddess" and "sacred" would be used.
Wen Renhe only regarded them as rhetorical, but who would have known that it was not just a description, but actual divine light!
He then looked at Yin Hanjiang and Shu Yanyan from the corner of his eyes, but he could not see any light.
The wheels in Wen Renhe's head started turning. He suddenly thought that the cultivation method he had been practising was Path of Slaughter. He had entered the devil path 300 years ago and it had been due to a war.
What were Baili Qingmiao's responsibilities in her previous life?
She was in charge of adversity, where she was responsible for the release of diseases, wars and death in the mortal world. Baili Qingmiao was eighteen years old this year, so this would mean that the divine world's heavenly tribulation happened eighteen years ago.
In that case, the war that had caused Wen Renhe to enter the devil path 300 years ago, was led by Baili Qingmiao in her previous life.
That would be equivalent to the fact that Baili Qingmiao was involved in Wen Renhe's enlightenment, so would that mean that she could be considered his half master?
With this kind of karma, there would be no need for Wen Renhe to repay Baili Qingmiao if she did not reincarnate before Wen Renhe ascended to the divine realm. However, she just had to reincarnate and even come across Wen Renhe. He was inexorably doomed to repay the gratitude for her guidance, in order to survive the heavenly tribulation.
So that's what it was.
The author has something to say:
Shu Yanyan: "Has any of you ever taken my feelings into account??!!!"
Wen Renhe: "Never."
Yin Hanjiang: "Never."
Shu Yanyan: "Men are no good!!"