Cultivators could use the power of heaven and earth to travel a thousand miles in a flash. In less than half a day, the group had arrived at a small town near Shangqing Sect. This was with Wenren È lowering his speed to wait for Yin Hanjiang; otherwise, he could've arrived in fifteen minutes.
Cultivation stages in this world were split into nine stages—Qi Gathering, Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation, Body Unity, Void Boundary, and Mahayana. Each stage had nine levels. After you broke through the ninth level of the Mahayana stage, the heavens would send down a tribulation, and if you passed that you could ascend to the immortal realm. It's said that immortals were also split into Wandering Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Golden Immortal, Great Golden Immortal, Immortal Lord, and Immortal Emperor. After breaking through the Immortal Emperor stage, one could ascend to the divine realm. The divine realm was also split into countless stages, but no matter how much an ascended god cultivated, they could not surpass the primordial gods, born alongside the cosmos. No matter how strong a cultivator was, they were only borrowing the power of the cosmos. For the primordial gods, the cosmos was their home, while the ascended gods were just lodging temporarily. The difference between them was vast.
Wenren È, the Lord of Demons, was already recognized as the strongest among the demonic sects, but he was only at the sixth level of Mahayana. In the female lead's past life, she had been infinitely stronger than anyone else who appeared in the book. Yet she had actually given up her divine essence to be with Hè Wenzhao. You couldn't blame Wenren È for thinking she had some issues in the head.
He would even suspect Hè Wenzhao had cast some sort of sorcery on her soul to control her, but the sorcerous arts of the cultivation world, no matter how strong, would all shatter the moment Baili Qingmiao became one with her divine essence. They would be like a drop of poison in the ocean, or a wisp of toxic gas in a hurricane. In the face of absolute power, all the sorcery of the world amounted to nothing.
Wenren È, sitting on the second floor of a tea house, sipped the tea Yin Hanjiang had brought him as he pondered.
"This subordinate's powers are weak, and has wasted the Venerable's time." Yin Hanjiang didn't sit, instead standing at Wenren È's back.
"No matter." Wenren È indicated the seat next to him. "Sit."
Yin Hanjiang obediently sat next to Wenren È. Without a command from the Venerable, he wouldn't sit, and if he was commanded, he wouldn't say empty words like "This subordinate doesn't dare." If Wenren È ordered it, even if Yin Hanjiang didn't dare, he had to do it.
"Act natural, hide your aura. Right now, we're just two warriors from Wulin who know some martial arts," Wenren È said, seeing Yin Hanjiang's stiff back.
If Wenren È spoke once, Yin Hanjiang moved once. He relaxed his ramrod-straight back, though his muscles were still tense.
Yin Hanjiang was very rarely face-to-face with Wenren È. He hardly lifted his head, holding his teacup and watching the steam rise off it without drinking.
He was almost like a marionette, with no thoughts of his own. If Wenren È commanded, he acted.
Yin Hanjiang was only at the first level of Body Unity, yet at Xuanyuan Sect he ranked above all but one man. The weakest of the Altar Masters, Altar Master Yuan, was at the ninth level of Body Unity, and the other three were at the top of Void Boundary. Right Protector Shu Yanyan was also at the sixth level of Void Boundary. Of the six in Xuanyuan Sect who served directly under Wenren È, Yin Hanjiang was the weakest.
Sensibly, there's no way he should be the Left Protector. The only reason he had such a high position was because Wenren È trusted him, and he was dedicated to Wenren È.
When Wenren È pulled him out of a pile of corpses, he was barely breathing and half his body was necrotic. No one would've thought he was alive, and even if they knew he was still breathing, they wouldn't have tried to save him.
Wenren È had a keen sense of life and death. When he walked past, he discovered Yin Hanjiang, lying there and waiting for death with dull, staring eyes.
Wenren È, who at the time was the leader of a small demonic sect, used his foot to move the corpse on top of Yin Hanjiang's body. Looking down at the child, he said in an impassive tone, "I need a sword."
The tiny Yin Hanjiang somehow worked up the strength to raise his small, thin arm and grab Wenren È's shoe.
From then, Yin Hanjiang became an emotionless sword, only swung for Wenren È.
He improved at breakneck speed and in only a few decades, achieved Body Unity stage, advancing many times faster than Wenren È himself had. But after reaching Body Unity, Yin Hanjiang couldn't raise his level no matter how he cultivated, stagnating for a hundred years.
Wenren È originally thought Body Unity stage was Yin Hanjiang's natural limit, but the book clearly stated the Ghost Mask was at the peak of Mahayana.
This was also why Baili Qingmiao never would've guessed Yin Hanjiang was the Ghost Mask. The first reason was how Yin Hanjiang always treated her so well that there was no way she could've doubted him. The second was that even though Yin Hanjiang had chanced upon some ways to increase his cultivation while protecting her, he was still only at the ninth level of Body Unity. Who would conflate him with the Mahayana stage Ghost Mask?
By the latter parts of Abusive Romance, the Ghost Mask's power already ranked number one in the cultivation world. If he wasn't obsessed with refining Baili Qingmiao into lamp oil, he could've long since broken through the final level and ascended.
Baili Qingmiao really did get thrown into a furnace to be refined, but her luck came through at the last moment and she merged with the divine essence, releasing a burst of devastating power at that instant that killed Yin Hanjiang.
Yin Hanjiang was at Body Unity, but the Ghost Mask was at Mahayana, two stages above.
Wenren È looked at his most trusted subordinate's face and said, "Hold out your hand."
Yin Hanjiang offered his hand and Wenren È took hold of his wrist, sending a stream of energy into his meridians. After a moment of investigation, he confirmed Yin Hanjiang really was at the first level of Body Unity, without any hints otherwise. And he had gathered a large volume of spiritual energy in his dantian that he was unable to transform, over a hundred years of cultivation. He had probably forcibly gathered this unbearable amount of energy in order to break through, and had been suffering all this time.
Were it not for the book, Wenren È would never be able to understand his situation, and would've only assumed his talent was insufficient.
It seemed many plotlines in the book that looked unreasonable at first sight actually had reasonable explanations behind them.
"How long has this gone on?" Wenren È said.
Yin Hanjiang avoided the question, instead saying, "This subordinate will put all efforts toward making a breakthrough."
Looking at him, a distant memory came to Wenren È's mind. When he took Yin Hanjiang back to his sect, his first priority was eliminating his enemy sects, so he left him at home to grow up and casually tossed him a cultivation manual for him to study on his own.
Ten years later, when he returned to his sect, Yin Hanjiang had already grown into a tall youth, and was hacking away with the sword again and again on the mountainside. The assignment Wenren È had left him ten years ago was to split a waterfall, so he had been swinging at it for ten years.
Dedication, resolve, loyalty. These three words outlined everything about Yin Hanjiang.
"Don't push yourself so hard," Wenren È said. "You can take things slowly. This Venerable is already plenty strong."
He thought that would reassure him, but a flash of pain showed in Yin Hanjiang's eyes, like he was being abandoned. "Does the Venerable no longer need this subordinate?" he said hoarsely.
Honestly, he was not very necessary. Back then Wenren È wanted to unify the demonic sects and urgently needed talents under him. Now Xuanyuan Sect had great power and influence, all the demonic sects were under Wenren È's heel, and the Sect Protectors and Altar Masters were loyal to him. Wenren È long since had no need for a personal guard at the Body Unity stage.
The sword known as Yin Hanjiang had no chance to be unsheathed.
Wenren È didn't answer him. He retrieved that brick of a book from his Qiankun sleeves and opened it to a certain page.
That was when Yin Hanjiang was protecting Baili Qingmiao from Shangqing Sect's pursuers. Baili Qingmiao said gratefully to him, "Mister Yin, you've done so much for me."
Yin Hanjiang held his sword in his lap, the firelight reflecting on his faintly smiling face. "You are the only person the Venerable needs a sword to protect."
The first read, one would think that Yin Hanjiang had feelings for Baili Qingmiao, using loyalty as an excuse. But reading through again, Wenren È noticed the word "sword".
Wenren È had left this sword, Yin Hanjiang, unused for too long. Only for Baili Qingmiao's safety did he finally pick it up again. Why was Yin Hanjiang smiling? It wasn't that he loved Baili Qingmiao, but that he was needed once again by Wenren È.
Wenren È replaced the book. Looking at Yin Hanjiang, a bitter, nameless feeling rose in his heart.
"This Venerable doesn't need a sword," he said in a cold tone.
The light in Yin Hanjiang's eyes died somewhat. He withdrew his hand resting on the table and tightly gripped the sword at his waist.
The book often described Yin Hanjiang as holding a sword. Once a cultivator reached Foundation Establishment stage, they could store their bonded weapon inside their bodies. Even at the Qi Refining stage, they could use Qiankun bags and other storage items. There was no need to hold their weapons all the time, yet Yin Hanjiang always had his sword in hand.
Unknown to Wenren È, his gaze had softened. He continued, "But this Venerable needs Yin Hanjiang."
Yin Hanjiang's hand on his sword relaxed a bit. He heard the next words from Wenren È. "Back when we had just met, this Venerable did not trust anyone on earth. This Venerable only trusted Yin Hanjiang."
"Venerable..."
Yin Hanjiang's words were hardly out of his mouth when he was interrupted by a woman in a thin white robe and a pipa in hand. She had walked up to the second floor, strumming the pipa and beginning to sing.
Wenren È: ...
Yin Hanjiang: ...
This woman was Shu Yanyan. The two had gotten used to seeing her in revealing clothes, and this proper and pitiful Shu Yanyan like a white lotus flower that trembled in the wind looked really out of place to them.
There were a good number of guests with them on the second floor. Shu Yanyan was the tea house's songstress. After she finished her song, she began to sell flowers.
She was trying to be self-sufficient, not charging for songs, just selling flowers after singing. The income from the flowers had to be split thirty-seventy with the tea house's owner, thirty for her, seventy for him. She really was as pitiful as you needed her to be.
Wenren È took out a ten-tael silver piece and casually tossed it into the flower basket in front of Shu Yanyan. Shu Yanyan picked up the flower basket and slowly walked up to Wenren È. "Honored guest, this maiden is not selling songs, but flowers," she said in a soft voice. "One basket is only ten copper coins. There's no need to pay this much."
She had ten baskets of flowers at her feet. Even if she sold all of them, after splitting it with the owner, she would only have thirty coins for herself. If she saved for half a month, she could afford a taste of meat, and the other days she could only eat steamed buns.
Wenren È didn't look at Shu Yanyan. He glanced at Yin Hanjiang and mentally transmitted to him, "Call me brother."
Yin Hanjiang looked dazed, like he was in a dream. He spoke his lines woodenly from the script Wenren È had given him. "The Ve— my brother gave it to you, so take it. Don't be ungrateful."
When he said the word "brother", Yin Hanjiang's ears turned bright red.
"This one appreciates these honored guests' generosity, but it's not right for me to accept silver. This maiden isn't willing to do so." Shu Yanyan reached out her slender and ice-cold fingers, retrieved the silver piece from the basket, and placed it on their table, bowing to them respectfully.
What Wenren È was supposed to do was stuff the silver piece down the front of Shu Yanyan's robes and tell her, "Take it out right here and I'll accept it back", making her cry helplessly in the middle of the tea house. But he really didn't know how to do that sort of thing, and Yin Hanjiang didn't have any interest in that either, so the two of them only sat drinking their tea, ignoring Shu Yanyan.
Shu Yanyan grew anxious at their lack of response. If they didn't humiliate her, how was she supposed to play the next part? She had already made plans for her subordinates to play the act, but the Venerable wanted to participate in the action, so she called off her subordinates and gave the main role to him.
She thought men all had these base urges; wouldn't any be happy to play this kind of role? But as it turned out, the Venerable wasn't that sort of person at all, and had no interest in bullying the weak.
Aren't you a demonic cultivator? Can't you act a bit like one?
Shu Yanyan saw Hè Wenzhao and Baili Qingmiao had already arrived outside the tea house. The audience had taken their seats, but the stage wasn't set yet; this wouldn't do at all. She winked furiously at the Venerable until she was going cross-eyed.
"You do it," Wenren È transmitted to Yin Hanjiang.
He had decided to delegate more things to Yin Hanjiang in the future, to try and help his "if the Venerable doesn't need me, I can just die" attitude.
Yin Hanjiang, hearing his order, thought back to the script Shu Yanyan gave him, and stared numbly at the beautiful young woman. He was supposed to... pull open her robes, and shove the silver piece down her bosom? In front of the Venerable?
He felt extremely awkward, but the Venerable had given him an order!
"You can go according to your own judgment. No need to follow Shu Yanyan's script," Wenren È transmitted, sensing Yin Hanjiang's distress.
Gaining his approval, Yin Hanjiang's expression immediately relaxed. With a frosty and toneless voice, he said, "If you insist on being ungrateful, then don't blame me for what I'm about to do."
With that, he picked up Shu Yanyan with one hand and tossed her down from the second floor, having her fall directly in front of Baili Qingmiao and Hè Wenzhao.
Shu Yanyan: ...
Hè Wenzhao saw a human figure fall from the sky and wanted to help, but Baili Qingmiao was right next to him. He had just had a fight with Baili Qingmiao back at the sect about his Liu-shimei and didn't want to provoke her temper again. Seeing this figure was a woman and not seeing her face, he decided not to act.
On the other hand, Baili Qingmiao saw a person fall from the second story and immediately leapt forward to save her. Shu Yanyan's plan was falling to pieces. She couldn't let herself be saved by Baili Qingmiao! The one who saved her should be Hè Wenzhao, embracing her in front of Baili Qingmiao!
So Shu Yanyan, hardening her resolve, used her spiritual energy to speed up her fall, so that Baili Qingmiao's outstretched hand could only brush a corner of her clothes before she hit the ground. She even stealthily used her spiritual energy to wound herself, acting like the fall had seriously injured her.
Baili Qingmiao's fingers only clutched a piece of white fabric before she saw that frail woman slam into the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
She jumped down, kneeling by the woman's side, and propped her up. "Maiden, are you alright?" she said with concern.
When the woman turned her head, she discovered it was someone she knew. "Miss Shu?" Baili Qingmiao said in shock.
Hè Wenzhao only then arrived. Seeing it was the poor girl he'd saved several days ago and still felt goodwill for, he regretted not being there to save her.
Shu Yanyan, who had taken the name Shu Lian, shed a single tear in her heart as she was held in Baili Qingmiao's lap. This wasn't how it was supposed to go!
Going by her script, she was supposed to have been humiliated by one of the guests, so that Hè Wenzhao couldn't watch anymore and had to help, and then subsequently took off his outer robe to cover her threadbare and insufficient clothing. Baili Qingmiao, when seeing another woman wearing her sweetheart's clothes, would be so jealous she couldn't think and have a fight right then and there with Hè Wenzhao, pushing Hè Wenzhao to Shu Yanyan's side. Hè Wenzhao would escort her home, she would cry, Hè Wenzhao would hold her to comfort her. One thing would lead to another, and things would get out of hand. Men, right?
Why did it end up like this?
Baili Qingmiao took out a medicinal pill. She carefully pried the dying Shu Yanyan's mouth open and gave it to her. Normal people couldn't take the strength of the spiritual pills that cultivators used, so Baili Qingmiao could only give her some medicine to strengthen her heart and internal organs. She would have to recover from her outer injuries and broken bones herself.
After swallowing the pill, Shu Yanyan's deathly pale complexion improved significantly, and she couldn't go on pretending to be unconscious. She despondently opened her eyes. Staying in character, she said tearfully to Baili Qingmiao, "Thank you, Miss Baili."
While falling, Shu Yanyan made sure to protect her face, only letting her forehead be struck so a drop of blood ran down it, to maintain the image of an injured beauty. That, combined with her expression, tugged at people's heartstrings. Too bad that currently, her face was being seen by Baili Qingmiao, and Hè Wenzhao was standing behind her.
Baili Qingmiao had grown up at Shangqing Sect and was taught to oppose bullies and support the weak. Even if she usually had a temper toward Hè Wenzhao and had previously raised a fuss over him paying too much attention to Shu Yanyan, when it came to important matters, she could keep a level head.
And she would never allow a frail woman to be hurt in front of her!
With one arm around Shu Yanyan's waist, she leapt to the second story. After setting Shu Yanyan down on a chair, she glared at Wenren È and Yin Hanjiang. "Were you the ones who threw her off?"
Shu Yanyan didn't dare to look at the Venerable and started pretending to cry.
Wenren È put down his cup and looked at Baili Qingmiao.
In the book, the first time Wenren È met Baili Qingmiao was after he had encountered a problem in his cultivation, and also run into the combined forces of the righteous sects, attacking the Xuanyuan Sect under the leadership of the Shangqing Sect. He sustained serious injuries in reckless battle and collapsed in a river. Baili Qingmiao, alone after being forced out by the rival female characters, found him. She didn't recognize Wenren È and thought he was a fellow cultivator from an allied sect, so carefully tended to him.
Wenren È, awakening, saw a ray of sunlight fall across Baili Qingmiao's face. Her body seemed to be shrouded in divine light, a beautiful sight out of this world. His heart was captured in an instant, and from that moment on, he'd protect and cherish this kind-hearted girl in every way.
Right now, without being injured and in an unsteady frame of mind, without the debt of his life being saved, when he met Baili Qingmiao in an ordinary situation, he wanted to see just what would happen.
Baili Qingmiao was furious, her long hair fluttering with her spiritual energy. Wenren È examined her, and found her body was shrouded in a faint layer of divine light.
Huh?
Wenren È blinked, used his spiritual energy to see clearly, and still saw that light.
When the book described Baili Qingmiao from Wenren È's perspective, it would always use words like "goddess" and "holy". He thought it was just figurative, but it turned out it wasn't just a description—she was actually surrounded by divine light!
He glanced at Yin Hanjiang and Shu Yanyan out of the corner of his eyes, but they didn't seem to see any light.
Wenren È thought furiously and suddenly realized—he cultivated the Path of Slaughter. He set out on this path three hundred years ago, in the midst of war.
What was Baili Qingmiao's role in her past life?
She had been in charge of disasters, sending plague, war, and death to humankind. Baili Qingmiao was currently eighteen years old, which was to say, her heavenly tribulation in the divine realm was eighteen years ago.
Thus, that war three hundred years ago that had led Wenren È to enter the Dao had been caused by Baili Qingmiao's past incarnation. Effectively, Baili Qingmiao was the reason Wenren È had awakened to the Dao, and she could be considered half Wenren È's master.
If Baili Qingmiao hadn't reincarnated, Wenren È wouldn't have had to repay this karmic debt until he ascended to the divine realm. But she ended up reincarnating and meeting Wenren È. Unbeknownst to him, there was a debt of gratitude he had to pay to his teacher in order to pass his heavenly tribulations.
So, that was it.