As the female lead of the novel
, Baili Qingmiao appearance was almost impeccable. She was dressed in the long goose yellow uniform dress of the female disciples of Shangqing Sect. Her long hair, which was simply pulled up and tied into a bun with a common multicolored band, was adorned with fresh peach blossoms.The peach blossoms in her hair and the few loose strands of hair on the forehead gave her face a clean and refreshing look. She only wore a pair of light yellow beaded earrings, which made her face look young and beautiful.
Wen Renhe was attracted to Baili Qingmiao's divine light, so he didn't notice what the woman looked like at all. In the eyes of Yin Hanjiang, who was holding his sword, Baili Qingmiao, who dared to act hostile towards Wen Renhe, was already considered dead.
He Wenchao finally rushed upstairs. He and Baili Qingmiao had been together for more than ten years, so no matter how beautiful she was, he was already used to it. So after coming upstairs, his attention fell directly on Shu Yanyan. He spent some money to ask the waiter to invite a doctor to check the injuries caused by her fall, and then squatted beside Shu Yanyan's chair and said, "Lady Shu, rest assured, I will get justice for you!"
Shu Yanyan: "..."
No way! Was she the only one who found that this Baili Qingmiao was actually very beautiful? Were all three men here blind? What more, it was already clear that Baili Qingmiao had come to seek justice, why was He Wenchao so lively all of a sudden?
Despite all the doubts in her heart, Shu Yanyan, who was extremely ambitious, did not forget her mission – to seduce He Wenchao – so she reluctantly put her pale hand in his broad palm. Her eyes were full of affection as she said, "This little girl's life is thinner than a piece of paper. It already took three lifetimes of luck to meet Brother He today. Sister Baili, don't hold any grudges against others just because of me."
Even if you hold a grudge, you won't be able to beat them! Shu Yanyan muttered in her heart.
Baili Qingmiao was still young and was at Qi Foundation stage. He Wenchao, who was a bit older, was at the early Golden Core stage. Needless to say, Yin Hanjiang didn't even need to unsheathe his sword, he could kill these two junior members of Shangqing Sect with just one finger.
After listening to Shu Yanyan's words, Baili Qingmiao got angrier and felt remorseful. Today, He Wenchao was going to visit Lady Shu. He said that he and some of his sect's junior brothers met Lady Shu in a small town a few days ago and helped her. Although it was accidental, they should be responsible till the end. If they saved Lady Shu but failed to keep her safe till the end, this karma would be attributed to them and their heavenly tribulations would be harder in the future.
They were supposed to come much earlier, but due to Baili Qingmiao's jealousy, she had a quarrel with her elder martial brother about junior sister Liu, which delayed them until now. Elder martial brother was highly skilled, and he was much better than her in deducing the heavenly design. Maybe today he had been in a hurry because he vaguely felt that something was wrong. If only they had come earlier, then Lady Shu might not have.....
When the guilty Baili Qingmiao heard Shu Yanyan's pitiful words, she got even angrier. She stretched her arms and a windless silver ribbon that didn't match the color of her clothes appeared. This magic weapon, which reflected the mysterious frost of the moon, was crafted by her after establishing her Qi Foundation. It looked like a silver light shining in the moonlight, very beautiful.
"Junior Sister!" He Wenchao was deeply in love with Shu Yanyan, but he also cared for Baili Qingmiao as they had been together since childhood. Seeing that his younger martial sister used her soul-bound weapon, he was afraid his martial sister would get hurt, so he rushed in front of her. His long sword came out of its sheath and floated in the air, the tip pointing towards the two men.
Shu Yanyan cried, "Don't get hurt because of me!"
The guests in the restaurant had been scared away as soon as Yin Hanjiang threw Shu Yanyan downstairs. At this moment, only the few people involved in the confrontation were left on the second floor.
Yin Hanjiang's expression sank. Since the other side was already using weapons, he would also....
"Hanjiang!" Wen Renhe raised his hand and pressed down Yin Hanjiang's hand that was holding the hilt of the sword. He pressed it heavily and stopped him from killing the female lead and the male lead with a single move.
Before he was found, the young Yin Hanjiang had been lying in the pile of dead bodies for several days and the corpse Qi had already entered his body. No matter how much he cultivated, his limbs and bones were always frozen, and his hands were always cold.
Wen Renhe's cultivation came from blood and war. His blood temperature was much higher than that of ordinary people. The palm wrapped around Yin Hanjiang's hand was hot, passing the heat to him.
When Wen Renhe touched him, Yin Hanjiang did not dare to move. At this moment it seemed that even the touch of a fingertip against Wen Renhe's palm would be too daring.
Yin Hanjiang's hand was very cold. He seemed to have some internal injury which should be related to his childhood experience. This was also the reason why Yin Hanjiang's cultivation advanced so slowly. The way to treat this was to find the snow flame growing in the ice fields of Wanli, as recorded in the novel.
Yes, it was the snow flame that Baili Qingmiao had nearly lost her life to find in order to help He Wenchao.
Wen Renhe had no interest in participating in the adventures of the male lead and the female lead. Currently, he was the most powerful person in the cultivation world, and he didn't need those opportunities. However, Yin Hanjiang really needed the snow flame.
He had been indifferent to Yin Hanjiang for so many years, treating him like an ordinary subordinate. If he hadn't read the book, he would have still ignored him. Recalling Yin Hanjiang's crazy and paranoid appearance after his death in the book, Wen Renhe's heart was moved and he couldn't help wanting to be better to Yin Hanjiang.
"It seems that you two are cultivating immortals with a great amount of Qi, so why bother with a lowly woman?" Wen Renhe didn't want to be Baili Qingmiao's enemy, so he took the initiative to give them a way out.
"What did you say?" His words only made Baili Qingmiao angrier. She wanted to attack him, but was stopped by He Wenchao.
At that moment, Baili Qingmiao had not been abused by the plot yet. She had a pure and unsophisticated character, so she couldn't grasp the agenda of these two men. He Wenchao had experienced the world of mortals several times, and he could see that Wen Renhe's cultivation was not low. These two people were so calm and steady, then shouldn't they already be experts at Nascent Soul stage?
His palms were sweating as he carefully sent a message to his younger martial sister, "Younger Martial Sister, they are not easy to deal with. I'll stop them, you go to the sect and ask for help quickly."
In his heart, Baili Qingmiao was his favorite younger martial sister. He had to protect her. Even if he died, his beautiful and lovely younger martial sister couldn't be hurt.
"Senior Brother......" Seeing that her martial elder brother stopped her, Baili Qingmiao knew that they had met an expert, she felt both afraid and grateful.
The two of them thought they were secretly transmitting messages, but they did not know that the three people next to them heard them clearly due to their cultivation.
Hearing the messages, Wen Renhe was puzzled and took a step back. How did the atmosphere become even more tense? How did it end up like this? How did he handle such situations in the past? It seemed that.... He killed? He couldn't even remember the looks of the people who had clashed with him.
Fortunately, Shu Yanyan was here. As the Lord's Right Sect Protector she immediately understood Wen Renhe's thoughts. She dragged her body between the four of them and grabbed the silver on the table with a shaking hand. She cried, "Brother He, Lady Baili, don't get hurt because of me. This master is right. I'm just a lowly woman."
With that, she took the initiative to tuck the silver into her skirt and choking with tears she said, "Thank you very much for the reward, this honorable guest."
During this performance, Shu Yanyan did not forget to transmit a message to Wen Renhe, "Lord, I beg you to say, 'I think you know the truth. For the sake of giving Shangqing Sect face, I won't dispute with you two,' and then leave. I am sure my performance will hook up this amorous man."
Hearing this, Wen Renhe nodded and following the script said, "I think you know the truth. For the sake of giving Shangqing Sect face, I won't dispute with you two."
As soon as the words fell, he pulled Yin Hanjiang and disappeared. He Wenchao and Baili Qingmiao couldn't catch up with them.
"Lady Shu!" He Wenchao hurriedly picked up Shu Yanyan, who could not stand because of the fracture. He was very distressed. It was his fault. He was too weak and couldn't defeat the two experts who he suspected were at Nascent Soul stage. He made such a miserable but strong and independent woman suffer a humiliation for him.
Seeing He Wenchao holding Shu Yanyan whose legs were bleeding, Baili Qingmiao immediately said, "I'm afraid that ordinary doctors won't be able to cure Lady Shu. I'll go back to the sect and ask senior brother Yao to save her."
"Alright, I'll take her home first." He Wenchao nodded.
After Baili Qingmiao left, he took the weak woman to her shabby thatched house.
The dilapidated house was clean and tidy. There were some delicate embroideries on the walls, enough to show that the owner was a poor but virtuous woman.
He Wenchao carefully put Shu Yanyan on the bedding made of weeds. Shu Yanyan had lost too much blood and was dying. Her breath was getting weaker but she did not faint. Shu Yanyan struggled to lift her bloodstained fingertips and said softly, "Brother He, I am poor and humble. I should have died long ago. You don't have to..."
The moment her cold fingertips touched He Wenchao's face, Shu Yanyan successfully fainted, leaving a bloodstain on his face.
"Lady Shu!" When He Wenchao felt Shu Yanyan's pulse, it was extremely weak. He was very anxious. He was afraid he could not wait for his younger martial sister to find younger martial brother Yao.
He gritted his teeth and said, "I have sinned!"
With that he untied Shu Yanyan's clothes, and an ingot of silver fell from them. Seeing it, his heart felt even more painful and he no longer cared about the proper conduct between women and men. He put his palm on Shu Yanyan's chest and injected his Qi into her, taking out a pill at the same time.
It was true that ordinary people couldn't bear the power of cultivators' medicine or take it directly. But if the cultivator was willing to use his Qi in a suitable power and inject it into the body, the medicine could be absorbed.
During the process, the cultivator would lose some of their cultivation, so very few cultivators would waste their hard won cultivation progress for ordinary people. Younger martial brother Yao had drugs that helped ordinary people absorb medicine and were usually taken by younger martial brothers and sisters who had just entered the sect and had failed to inject Qi into their bodies. But now he couldn't wait.
He Wenchao's Golden Core cultivation was pretty good. After stabilizing the yin and yang energy in Shu Yanyan's body, he fed her medicinal pills mouth-to-mouth and helped in absorbing them.
In the time it took to burn an incense stick, Shu Yanyan's wounds healed and He Wenchao, who was hugging her felt a bit relieved.
It was not until then, that he realized what kind of soft and warm jade he was holding in his arms, which ...
They still hadn't come!
Shu Yanyan pretended to be dizzy and transmitted a message to her subordinates, "You guys, stop Baili Qingmiao for me. I will be done in a few minutes, don't let her find this senior brother Yao and spoil my plan!"
"There is no need to send subordinates. I have already stopped Baili Qingmiao." A familiar deep voice sounded in Shu Yanyan's ear.
Shu Yanyan: "..."
Lord, why did you do it yourself? This subordinate didn't want to bother you, this couldn't be good!
Although she was crying in her heart, Shu Yanyan calmly opened her eyes and found herself lying in He Wenchao's arms with her clothes still.... She let out a light cry and blushed.
On the other side, Baili Qingmiao once again activated her weapon, the windless silver moon ribbon, with a dignified expression, confronting Wen Renhe and Yin Hanjiang.
Yin Hanjing lifted a finger and the windless silver moon ribbon, Baili Qingmiao's soul-bound weapon, obediently returned to her body and she could no longer use any Qi.
At this moment, Baili Qingmiao finally understood how strong they were. She grew up in Shangqing Sect and never went down the mountain to practice. She always thought that she was strong, but she never expected to meet such hidden experts among the ordinary people at the foot of the mountain.
Her elder martial brother had rich experience, so he must have seen the strength of these two people back then, but was firmly determined to protect her. Elder martial brother was so kind to her that he was willing to give up his life. She always had a small temper and doubted her elder martial brother. It turned out that she had really wronged him.
"If you want to kill me, then go ahead. If I back out now, I will not be worthy of being a disciple of Shangqing Sect!" Baili Qingmiao said firmly.
When Wen Renge heard her, he thought he really didn't understand Baili Qingmiao's brain circuit. He said peacefully, "Don't misunderstand, Miss Baili.... This Lord was trying to get acquainted with you. I really need something from you."
As soon as he slightly raised his hand, three elegant chairs appeared in the barren mountain. These three transparent chairs were neither stored in his storage space nor made of his Qi, but they were condensed from mountain Qi. At Mahayana stage, cultivators reached a state when they could communicate with heaven and earth at will. Often, they didn't use their soul-bound weapons easily but relied on the Qi of heaven and earth to attack others.
Wen Renhe made a gesture of "please" to Baili Qingmiao and when he saw Baili Qingmiao sit on one of the spirit chairs trembling, he also sat on another one.
Usually, he would sit first, but in front of Baili Qingmiao, his half master, he had to show some respect, so he could only invite her to sit first.
One of the three chairs was for Yin Hanjiang, but he didn't sit down. He quietly stood behind Wen Renhe and didn't express any opinion.
In front of Baili Qingmiao, Wen Renhe didn't force him and said to the female lead, "Miss Baili, you should be able to see that with our strength, there is no need to embarrass some mortal. It was just to attract your attention, that we dropped an object downstairs."
Baili Qingmiao was very angry, but the person in front of her was too strong. So she clasped her hands, restrained herself, and said, "It was a person, not an object!"
"Was it?" Wen Renhe moved his finger and an ant crawling on the ground was blown to Baili Qingmiao's knee by the wind. He said indifferently, "What is the difference between the two?"
The little ant was crawling on Baili Qingmiao's leg. She picked it up with one hand, put it on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "It is not the same, but both the woman and the ant are innocent."
"Has Miss Baili ever eaten bloody food in her life?" Wen Renhe asked.
Baili Qingmiao didn't speak. Cultivators could only start fasting after achieving the Qi Foundation stage. Afterwards they supplemented their strength by absorbing the Qi of heaven and earth. She reached the Qi Foundation stage one year ago, and in her first 17 years, she grew up eating food.
"That's not the same," she could only protest weakly.
"You are a cultivator, so you should understand that all things in this world have the same goal, and that they have spirit in them, which is no different from human being." Wen Renhe continued, "Do you know how many creatures can be created by the Qi of heaven and earth which is absorbed by us cultivators? Shangqing Sect has been occupying Lingshan Mountain for many years. Do you know how many rare and exotic animals lived in the mountain in ancient times? Why do they no longer live here? Because the humans of Shangqing Sect were cultivating and seizing all of their reiki. Lingshan Mountain lost its ability to produce its innate reiki any more."
It was too early for Baili Qingmiao to refute what she had just heard, and it confused her mind. She felt that all of her previous ideas had been overthrown, her Qi was out of control, and her internal organs were in so much pain that she felt like she was being cut with a knife.
Wen Renhe could not watch her suffer Qi deviation, so he said, "You don't have to blame yourself for this. It was those sacrifices that helped the human race to become the pinnacle of many things. In the ancient times of gods and demons, the human race suffered a lot. Any birds, animals, spirits and plants that could be used by the human race were consumed as food. The human body could be used to refine weapons and absorb reiki. It is just a matter of luck that the human race is superior now."
After hearing this, Baili Qingmiao's expression became a little better. His words seemed to have cleared the confusion in her heart leaving her mind quite calm.
She closed her eyes and meditated. A quarter of an hour later she opened her eyes, got up and saluted Wen Renhe, "Thank you for your advice."
Wen Renhe waved his hand. "It's just a small thing. I just casually mentioned some of the ways of heaven. You could understand it, because you were born to cultivate the merciless path. When you practice in the future, don't deviate from the right path."
Baili Qingmiao had just grasped the truth of heaven and earth, and her eyes were completely different from those of the innocent girl from before. The eyes under her long eyelashes were merciless yet compassionate. Her eyes seemed to fall on the ant, as if she didn't see anything.
Wen Renhe was very satisfied with this, but in the blink of an eye, Baili Qingmiao's eyes brightened again, and she said as if speaking to herself, "Elder martial brother and Lady Shu are still waiting for the medicine!"
The eyes of the goddess brightened again and the appearance of a girl in love was restored.
"Don't worry, that woman will be fine," Wen Renhe said. "I came to you because I need you to get something for me."
"Elder just instructed me on the ways of heaven and I am very grateful. If I can help this Elder, I will certainly do anything," Baili Qingmiao said.
"I want the snow flame to heal an old wound of my subordinate's.... friend's," Wen Renhe said.
Yin Hanjiang was slightly surprised and looked at Wen Renhe.
"I heard from my master that the snow flame was born in the ice field of Wanli, but in thousands of years there has been no trace of it. Also, it's a matter of life or death for cultivators below the Golden Core stage to enter the ice field of Wanli. These Elders have such a high level of cultivation, how can Baili help this Elder?" Baili Qingmiao asked puzzled.
Wen Renhe: "The snow flame is an opportunity given to you by heaven, so no one else can have it. We can only use it with your permission. Everything has its own destiny, so not everything can be obtained through advanced cultivation."
In fact, as long as they followed Baili Qingmiao, they could rob her after she got the snow flame, which was also the way of the merciless path. However, Wen Renhe didn't want to do such despicable things, like seizing other people's opportunities, he just needed to slightly alter them.
"I can help you cultivate and become a god, and give you what you want in exchange for the snow flame."
Wen Renhe came up with such a way to repay his master's kindness and help Yin Hanjiang in order to satisfy both sides. He nodded secretly at his own wit, but he didn't know that Yin Hanjiang, who stood behind him, had slightly red eyes.
Yin Hanjiang bowed his head to not let others see his eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "Venerable..."
Hearing that, Wen Renhe cut off Yin Hanjiang's words with his hand covered by a long black sleeve embroidered with golden threads, and said, "What I am willing to give you, you must not refuse."