Via the spirit vow, Yin Hanjiang ordered Liu Xinye to see him at midnight, without being discovered by anyone. If she didn't obey, he would snap the jade talisman the vow was recorded on and damage her soul.
Helpless, Liu Xinye could only sneak out while Hè Wenzhao was drinking to drown his troubles. She entered the elixir-making chamber and stared at Yao Jiaping in shock. "H—how do you have my spirit vow?"
"When I went to Xuanyuan Sect, it was obviously to treat people. Since the Left Protector Qiu Congxue was injured, I treated her and she handed this over as payment," Yin Hanjiang said carelessly, tossing the jade in his hands. "I typically give two prices for my treatment. First, something important to the patient, and second... well, you've probably heard."
Tearfully, Liu Xinye made to take off her clothes. "Once should be enough, right?"
Yin Hanjiang: ???
Frantically, he lifted a finger and used spiritual energy to stop Liu Xinye's movements, so she couldn't keep undressing.
Fortunately, Yao Jiaping's skin was reliable and didn't flush or show panic. It felt as if he was wearing a mask, giving Yin Hanjiang a feeling of reassurance. He said steadily, "You think too highly of yourself. I have no interest in you. What I want is the thing most important to you."
"I won't let you take my Nascent Soul, soul, or bonded weapon!" Liu Xinye cried.
" ...I'm not interested in those either," Yin Hanjiang said. "I just need you to complete a task."
As he spoke, Baili Qingmiao wordlessly walked up, holding a transparent talisman in one hand. Wenren È had crafted it using chaos energy. He burned it and dropped the ashes into a cup of water, which he then poured into a jade vase and handed to Liu Xinye.
"Find some way to make Hè Wenzhao drink it," said Yin Hanjiang.
Liu Xinye was afraid to take it. "W—what are you going to do to Wenzhao?"
"At worse, make him fall back to Foundation Establishment. It's not like I'm going to kill him. After all, he's my good 'brother'." "Yao Jiaping" said, smiling. "If you don't agree, I could make you fall to Foundation Establishment instead."
"I'll do it!" Liu Xinye grabbed the vase.
"Liu-shijie, weren't you willing to give up everything for shixiong? You were once willing to destroy your foundation for him, so why are you choosing this now?" It was Baili Qingmiao herself speaking. She had already entered the Path of Indifference and when she saw Hè Wenzhao, her heart was unmoved. She had no objection to Yin Hanjiang's plot to make Hè Wenzhao take the Sect Master's place, either. After all, Elder Qingyue had given his life to save Hè Wenzhao and the Sect Master, and Hè Wenzhao owed the Sect Master a debt for raising and teaching him. As long as Hè Wenzhao was at the right level, then by all reasoning, he ought to be the one to save Qingyue. If Baili Qingmiao was in his place, she would've offered too.
She just didn't understand why Liu-shijie was making the complete opposite of the choice she had once made.
"Heheh, ahahahahaha!" Liu Xinye burst into laughter. Tears flowing from her eyes, she said, "Yes, I love him, I've loved him since I was young. I worked hard cultivating to be with him. I wished so much to marry him!"
Wrapping her hands around the jade vase, her expression slowly became vicious and her voice harsh. "But him? The night after we married, as he embraced me, do you know whose name he shouted? It was yours, Baili Qingmiao!
"He thinks I'm unaware of what he did with Gongxi Jin while he was traveling. He thinks I didn't hear how he said to other people that he liked Gongxi Jin's eyes, because her eyes are a lot like yours.
"We've been married for thirty-three years, but has he ever truly looked at me once? Back... back when we cultivated side by side, he would smile at me, and fight with you to defend me, but now? Has he cared once about what I feel?
"I've seen clearly now. The only thing that matters is being strong on your own."
Her gaze toward Baili Qingmiao was brimming with barely-concealed envy, but Baili Qingmiao didn't mind anymore.
If she had married her shixiong, she probably would've become like this too, blinded by jealousy, unable to think straight, until she became a person she would despise.
She shook her head and sighed softly. "I understand." With that, she retreated, once again being a puppet for Wenren È and Yin Hanjiang.
Yin Hanjiang used a technique, making the jade talisman transform into a streak of light and enter Liu Xinye's body. If she completed this task, the spirit vow would dissolve. If she couldn't, it would destruct her soul and she would instantly die. Looking at her now, it seemed she had no more will to sacrifice herself for Hè Wenzhao.
After Liu Xinye left, Yin Hanjiang looked at Baili Qingmiao and said, "Who taught you the exchange spell and the treatment for Qingyue?"
Wenren È was back in charge now, and he said steadily, "Zhongli Qian did."
Zhongli Qian was like a brick for the Xuanyuan Sect, which could be moved wherever it was necessary, very convenient. Since he knew a little of everything, he had a lot of medicinal knowledge, though not as much as Yao Jiaping. He was the one who had treated Qiu Congxue, and come up with the idea to let Altar Master Shi use his sickness qi on Baili Qingmiao. After knowing him for so many years, it wouldn't be strange if Baili Qingmiao had learned some things from him.
Yin Hanjiang stared at Baili Qingmiao. Putting on a glove, he grabbed her chin and examined her from all angles. He shook his head. "If it weren't for how you acted with Liu Xinye just now, I would've thought..."
He didn't continue, just shooed Baili Qingmiao back to her elixirs. After returning to his room, he thought, It's been just three days and I can't think straight. I miss my Venerable so much I thought Baili Qingmiao was him. How ridiculous.
Yin Hanjiang turned his head to look at an illusion sitting in a chair next to him. He stared for a while, thinking about how his Venerable would use the soul communion technique to treat him when he returned. He looked forward to it, but he was also afraid, worried he would spit blood again upon seeing him, and cause him further worry.
After he let his thoughts wander for a bit, his emotions became unsteady. He quickly recited the Clear Mind Spell again, so he wouldn't reveal any weakness at Shangqing Sect.
As the time for the second soul communion hadn't come yet, Wenren È couldn't meet Yin Hanjiang face-to-face, so he could only borrow Baili Qingmiao's eyes to watch and worry from afar.
After two more days, the elixirs were ready. Wenren È retrieved them, placed them on a tray, and followed Yin Hanjiang out of the room.
Having heard that the medicines were ready, the Sect Master was waiting outside with a crowd of disciples. After exiting the door, Yin Hanjiang glanced at Liu Xinye, who stood in a corner. She nodded slightly. Last night, she had talked to Hè Wenzhao softly, accompanying him in drinking and acting especially warm and considerate. Hè Wenzhao didn't particularly like Liu Xinye, but couldn't resist such tender care and shared a few cups of wine with her, spending a warm night together. He readily gulped down the water that Liu Xinye poured him.
The water had been suffused with chaos energy. It was invisible and traceless, but overnight, it caused Hè Wenzhao to break through to Mahayana.
Yin Hanjiang already knew this from the spirit vow. Everything was prepared. They only needed the last step.
After only walking a few steps with Baili Qingmiao, he heard several of the disciples transmitting gossip about her, saying who knew what Baili Qingmiao and Yao Jiaping could've been doing together in these days they'd spent alone, as well as how she could've won the favor of Wenren È, Zhongli Qian, and Yin Hanjiang, in order to rise in cultivation so fast.
Yin Hanjiang was at a much higher realm, so he could hear the transmissions of anyone Body Unity or under. He wanted to ignore it, but when he heard his Venerable getting dragged in, he was instantly furious. He appeared before a few of the gossiping disciples. A cold light flashed with a wave of his hand, and several tongues fell to the ground.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" Whether or not they were hurt, all the Shangqing Sect disciples began screaming.
"Shut up," Yin Hanjiang snapped.
Everyone instantly covered their mouths, not letting out a peep. With a troubled look on his face, the Sect Master said, "Sir Yao, what are you..."
"If they can't talk properly, they shouldn't speak." Yin Hanjiang gave several of the disciples a frosty look. "Do I need to repeat what you were saying?"
Several of the disciples, with blood pouring out of their mouths, shook their heads frantically. Looking at them, the Sect Master understood that they had spoken carelessly and offended "Sir Yao". Unfortunately, their cultivations were low and the man overheard them.
Yao Jiaping's actions were cruel, but it was still Shangqing Sect in the wrong. The Sect Master called out quietly, "Those who have spoken nonsense should be slapped a hundred times, and have their mouths sealed for ten years."
Several of the disciples nodded and were about to pick up their tongues so the medicinal hall disciples could reattach them, when Yao Jiaping said, "Hold on."
Yin Hanjiang glanced at Baili Qingmiao, looking cheerful. "Pick them up," he said. "They're yours."
Wenren È: ...
He managed to say, "Thank you, Sir Yao, but... Baili doesn't need them."
"How could you not need them?" Yin Hanjiang said, smiling beneath his skin. "They were gossiping about you. You should take these tongues and dry them, then hang them around your neck, so you can always see it and remind yourself to not tolerate rumors in the future, isn't that right?
"Now hurry up!"
His last command made everyone shudder. Wenren È sighed lightly and, taking out a handkerchief, confidently picked up the tongues. "Thanks to Sir Yao for his guidance," he said.
"Do you always treat my shimei like this?" Hè Wenzhao shouted, his eyes burning.
"What if I do?" Yin Hanjiang glanced at Hè Wenzhao out of the corners of his eyes. "Isn't that better than you, clearly knowing she's being insulted yet doing nothing about it?"
Without giving Hè Wenzhao a chance to explain, he turned to the Sect Master. "The elixirs are yours. Eight hours after he takes them, the transfer can start. I'll take that time to put up the array. Besides the transferer, there should also be a high-level cultivator standing guard outside, preferably one with a lightning spiritual root."
He was nominating Hè Wenzhao for the position. Hè Wenzhao was also someone who had been saved by Qingyue, so it was proper that he guard the array.
As they set up the array, the Blood Demon suddenly spoke up in Hè Wenzhao's mind. "Strange, Yao Jiaping never mentioned anyone standing guard in the beginning, so how come he wants one now?"
"He'll be standing outside the door with my shimei at the same time," Hè Wenzhao said, fuming. "He wants to humiliate me by making me watch while she suffers!"
"Hmm. Since he's at Shangqing Sect, he can't start anything big. But, was this Yao Jiaping always so... extreme?"
Hè Wenzhao thought back to when he was a test subject. He hadn't minded much back then, but looking back on it now, he shuddered. "He's normally like this. Master, do you remember how he treated me as a test subject?"
"True," the Blood Demon sighed. "I just thought he was an idiot back then, but now that I look at him, he has the makings of a good demonic cultivator."
"What did you say, master?"
"Nothing. The array is complete, so why don't you go over?" The Blood Demon sank back into his mind.
For some reason, the Blood Demon felt especially tired today, wanting nothing more than to seclude himself and rest.
Hè Wenzhao stood at the spot Yin Hanjiang appointed. Seeing Baili Qingmiao walk by, he reached out and grabbed for her wrist. "Shimei..."
Baili Qingmiao avoided his hand with a flap of her sleeve. "Shixiong, men and women should not be close."
He'd picked that up from Yin Hanjiang. He even needed a glove to touch Baili Qingmiao—who knew what he had learned from Shu Yanyan?