So from the very beginning, these people were coming after him, all for that so-called, unverified celestial bone?
For the sake of a celestial bone, they confined a woman who had never committed a single evil deed to a small courtyard, subjecting her to endless humiliation until she finally died of malice.
For the sake of a celestial bone, they corroded his spiritual roots and cut open his dantian.
Yin Huizhi’s fingernails dug deeply into his palms. His voice could hardly maintain its stability as hatred and sorrow saturated every single word. “My mother, did she know? Why did she?”
“She knew. If she had not used a secret technique to suppress the celestial bone inside your body, you probably would not have even survived past the age of five.”
“She could not run away either,” Xie Ling said. “Ouyang Xu used your background to threaten her. Your father was the master of the Tianye Sect, Xie Yin, who was despised and hunted by everyone in the cultivation world at that time. Once this matter was exposed, there would be no way out for you.”
It felt like a sudden bolt from the blue.
Yin Huizhi stared at Xie Ling in utter disbelief. “Who?”
“Xie Yin,” Xie Ling said each word with absolute clarity.
Yin Huizhi felt as though his soul had been sucked out by Xie Ling’s words. Even his perception of pain delayed for a beat, and he found it incredibly difficult to breathe.
Xie Ling extended his hand, seemingly wanting to pat his back, but Yin Huizhi slapped it away with an extremely violent reaction, shouting sharply, “Do not touch me!”
Shen Zhihui, who was trailing far behind them, gasped.
Xie Ling looked down at the back of his hand, which had been slapped red, and lifted his eyes with a lukewarm gaze. “Is it useful to direct your anger at me?”
Yin Huizhi felt as if molten iron was being poured into his brain, causing bursts of sharp pain. He bit his lower lip frantically, and deep red blood dripped from the peak of his lip pierced by his teeth, sinking into his collar.
Xie Ling wiped away the bloodstain on his chin for him. “Do you want to know why your sword pierced through the giant python’s lower jaw that day, became lost in the deep pool, but ultimately appeared beside Li Chi’s corpse?”
The wound between his lips grew deeper, and the more Xie Ling wiped, the more blood appeared, so Xie Ling simply stopped trying in vain.
“Because Ji Huixue was not in closed-door cultivation at all, contrary to what you believed. He wanted to completely control you in the palm of his hand, wiping away your final identity and your right to speak. Therefore, he used your sword to kill Li Chi, and ground Li Chi’s corpse into mud, piece by piece.”
“If you had not gone down the mountain at that time, you would have obtained the opportunity to stay through his pleading, only to be imprisoned in the forbidden cave of the back mountain to reflect on your mistakes for three years. During these three years, he would transmit his voice to you every day to comfort you, and occasionally share a bed with you in the cave. You would view him as the most trusted and sole reliance of your life.”
He touched Yin Huizhi’s pale cheek. “Your entire life, from birth to death, has been within his calculations and control. Your mother, your junior sister, and your friends will all die by his hands. Everything you care about will be stripped away cleanly by him.”
Deathly silence followed.
It was a prolonged, heavy silence.
Yin Huizhi suddenly looked up, his eyes completely bloodshot. “No, I will kill him.”
Xie Ling looked at him quietly.
Yin Huizhi’s words were laced with blood. “Even if I have to perish together with him, I will kill him.”
Xie Ling said gently, “I know.”
Yin Huizhi’s lips trembled. “Is that so?”
A cold blade pressed against Xie Ling’s throat without any warning. Yin Huizhi’s voice bordered on madness. “Then do you know that I also want to kill you right now to avenge my mother?”
Shen Zhihui’s pupils contracted in an instant. Just as he was about to rush forward to stop it, he was met with a cold glance from Xie Ling.
Shen Zhihui’s steps froze completely.
Xie Ling smiled faintly and said, “Killing me to avenge your mother, what kind of logic is that, Yin Huizhi?”
Yin Huizhi’s lips trembled violently, but his hand held the sword with extreme stability. As Xie Ling spoke, he forced the blade closer by a few millimeters, drawing a striking line of blood. “Xie Yin, could it be that you are innocent?”
There was not a single trace of surprise in Xie Ling’s expression. He said coldly, “Who told you that I am Xie Yin?”
Yin Huizhi’s sword remained pressed against his throat, not softening in the slightest due to this negative rhetorical question.
Xie Ling simply stated, “I am not.”
“I do not believe you!” Yin Huizhi lifted his eyes, glaring at him fiercely, though his voice carried a sob. “Liar.”
Xie Ling let out a soft sigh and raised his hand to grasp the blade. His palm was instantly cut open, and blood slid along the curve of his wrist into his sleeve.
Yin Huizhi’s hand shook violently. Xie Ling gave him no chance to retreat, directly forcing the sharp edge of the sword to point at his own heart.
“Lord Domain Master!” Shen Zhihui could no longer restrain himself. He wanted to rush forward but was blocked by a barrier.
Yin Huizhi’s hand shook even more violently as he locked eyes with Xie Ling in a wretched state. Xie Ling appeared to be exploring an interesting question with him, asking seriously, “If I were Xie Yin, do you think this strike of yours could pierce inside?”
No, it could not.
Even though Bingpo had already accepted him as its master, no spiritual sword would ever pierce into the heart of its former master.
Yin Huizhi felt a splitting headache. He instinctively wanted to let go, but his hand was tightly gripped by Xie Ling.
His palm held the cold hilt of the sword, while the back of his hand was wrapped in wet, viscous blood. Yin Huizhi heard Xie Ling’s calm criticism, “Yin Huizhi, your heart is too soft. Sooner orlater, you will regret it.”
His arm was abruptly pulled forward. In his field of vision, the glinting blade instantly plunged into the chest.
“Lord Domain Master!”
A loud ringing echoed in Yin Huizhi’s mind, leaving him frozen in place.
The black robes were slowly soaked with a large expanse of bloodstains. After exceeding the amount the fabric could absorb, it began to drop onto the ground, bead by bead like a broken string.
Realizing what had happened too late, Yin Huizhi stumbled forward to cover the wound, but he could not stop it.
There was too much blood.
Xie Ling looked down at him, as if the person stabbed was not himself. “Did you not want to kill me? Why are you crying?”
Yin Huizhi gritted his teeth and looked up, his eyes filled with a misty haze, yet his gaze looked as though he wished he could tear Xie Ling apart alive.
The color on Xie Ling’s face was rapidly draining away, yet he still possessed the strength to add fuel to the fire with his mockery. “Not letting you kill me will not do, and letting you kill me will not do either. Yin Huizhi, you are truly difficult to please.”
Yin Huizhi supported his shoulder, attempting to seal his acupoints with his hand. However, Bingpo was no ordinary sword, and his efforts were entirely futile. He could only turn around in a panic to call for help, “Shen Zhihui!”
The barrier that had been blocking Shen Zhihui disappeared at the sound of his voice.
Shen Zhihui froze for a moment, an absurd thought flashing through his mind.
He did not remove it earlier, nor did he remove it later.
Could this perhaps be the Lord’s pity play?
He had no time to think it through. He flashed over to Xie Ling’s side, only to be startled by the wound on Xie Ling’s heart that almost ran completely through from his chest to his back. The thought from just now vanished into thin air instantly.
Shen Zhihui supported Xie Ling and said quickly to Yin Huizhi, “Please, pull the sword out.”
YIN Huizhi lifted his stiff right hand and forcefully pulled Bingpo out. Xie Ling let out a muffled groan.
Yin Huizhi’s lips trembled in response.
Shen Zhihui immediately channeled his demonic energy to treat Xie Ling’s wound. After a long time, the bleeding was barely stopped. He let out a sigh of relief and could not help but turn his head, his gaze sweeping over Yin Huizhi’s heavily injured lower lip as he advised, “Young Master Yin, can you and the Lord please refrain from fighting at every turn? Even if you must fight, can you please not make both of you so bloodied?”
To be completely fair, he truly did not wish to see either of these two individuals get hurt.
Yin Huizhi felt a bitter taste in his throat and said nothing.
Seeing his stubborn expression, which indicated he had not taken the words to heart, Shen Zhihui had no choice but to shut his mouth. After a short while, he could not help but say to Xie Ling, “Lord Domain Master, can you also stop bickering with a child who is not even seventeen years old at every turn?”
Xie Ling was very agreeable. “Fine, then next time I will let him stab you instead.”
Shen Zhihui had nothing to say to that.
They were two stubborn mules.
He simply shut his mouth, giving up on communicating with them, and focused entirely on treating the wound.
“I am sorry.”
Yin Huizhi’s low and gentle voice of apology suddenly rang out, breaking the silence.
Shen Zhihui was startled. Even though the person apologizing was the seventeen-year-old Yin Huizhi, he still felt very surprised.
Xie Ling had once told him when he made his first mistake that “I am sorry” and “thank you” are the two most meaningless phrases in this world, telling him never to say them again.
He had also never heard these two phrases from Xie Ling’s mouth.
Shen Zhihui restrained the strong urge to turn his head to look at Yin Huizhi’s expression, trying his best to pretend he was deaf.
Xie Ling did not state whether he forgave him or not, only asking, “Have you calmed down?”
Yin Huizhi’s throat choked up slightly. “Yes.”
Xie Ling lifted his hand to clean the bloodstains on Shen Zhihui’s body before speaking to Yin Huizhi, “Next time, think about the consequences before you act. Even if I were Xie Yin, and indeed abandoned my wife and child, leaving them without upbringing, what would it accomplish for you to kill me today to vent your hatred? It would only place you at a greater disadvantage when you face Ji Huixue.”
“Do not rely on my current indulgence of you, thinking I will not do anything to you, to always act willfully and throw tantrums in front of me,” Xie Ling said as he wiped away the injury on Yin Huizhi’s lips. “Nothing remains unchanged forever.”
The stinging pain on his lips vanished, leaving Yin Huizhi slightly startled. Seeing Xie Ling lift his feet to walk away, he hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.
“I am sorry,” Yin Huizhi said once more.
Xie Ling did not turn around. “Are you determined to obtain an ‘it does not matter’ from me?”
Yin Huizhi’s heart felt a slight sting, and he denied it in a wretched state, “No, it is not that. I wanted to say, please punish me.”
Xie Ling finally turned around to glance at him. “Yin Huizhi, under what capacity are you asking for punishment from me right now?”
Yin Huizhi opened his lips to speak, but he heard Xie Ling say, “If you are a ‘subordinate’, then I advise you to save it. If you were my subordinate, the moment you drew your sword against me, you would already be dead.”
Xie Ling said, “Zhihui.”
Shen Zhihui immediately replied, “Your subordinate is here.”
Xie Ling commanded, “Take him back to the Qinyin Palace. Retrieve the Snow Wolf Demon Core and the Nirvana Bone-Transforming Pill, give him one hundred thousand spiritual stones, and let him leave on his own.”
Shen Zhihui was rendered speechless.
If he still could not understand the situation by now, he would have truly followed Xie Ling for all those years in vain.
So it really was a pity play.
This was truly something else.
Shen Zhihui stole an inconspicuous glance at Yin Huizhi, discovering that the other party had actually not noticed anything unusual at all. Instead, the moment the words fell, Yin Huizhi’s lip line tensed up immediately.
Clearly, he was truly nervous because of Xie Ling’s words.
He had no choice but to keep his eyes open and play dumb. “As you command. Young Master Yin, let us return.”
Xie Ling pulled his sleeve out from Yin Huizhi’s grasp. Yin Huizhi called his name in a panic, following closely behind his steps. Only when he realized that Xie Ling truly ignored him anymore did he completely freeze.
He stopped, standing silently in place for a short while, before suddenly dropping to his knees toward that figure. “Master.”
His voice was not particularly loud, yet it carried no hesitation or lingering attachment whatsoever.
“Your disciple was foolish and stubborn in the past, trapped within Guanguan, unable to obtain, unable to let go, and unable to see clearly.”
“Fortunately, I have received Master’s compassion.”
“Disrespecting Master today, your disciple willingly accepts punishment.”
The moment Yin Huizhi called out the first word of “Master”, Xie Ling halted his steps, though he never turned around from beginning to end.
Only at this moment did he turn around, walking back toward Yin Huizhi step by step. He looked down at Yin Huizhi and said, “Your words are quite beautiful. You do not even know who I am, yet you dare to acknowledge me as your master?”
Yin Huizhi fell silent for a moment, keeping his head lowered as he replied respectfully, “Your disciple.”
Xie Ling amplified his tone, “Yin Huizhi.”
Yin Huizhi took a deep breath, casting aside his false front, and raised his head once more. “Then did you ever harm my family?”
Xie Ling replied, “No.”
“Did you ever harm the people I care about? For instance, Huiyi, or those who showed me kindness and assistance within the Guanguan Sect.”
Xie Ling stated, “No, either.”
“Then, when you said you wanted to protect me from danger, allowing me to be joyful and successful, was that a lie?”
Xie Ling locked eyes with him for a few seconds, saying slowly, “Not exactly.”
“Therefore, it is not important,” Yin Huizhi smiled faintly. “If Master is willing to speak, then speak. If you are unwilling, your disciple will no longer ask. Master, take me home.”
Xie Ling’s gaze fell upon his obedient features, and he extended a hand.
He reminded in a calm voice, “Yin Huizhi, you had better think it through clearly. Regardless of whether you are sincere or insincere today, as long as you make this decision, there will be no chance to change your mind.”
Shen Zhihui thought to himself that it appeared, perhaps, it looked like their Lord was not giving the person any time to think it through clearly either.
Yin Huizhi extended his hand. Instead of placing his hand into Xie Ling’s palm, he firmly grasped Xie Ling’s knuckles and hand. “Yes.”
“Master.”
He slowly tightened his grip, looking back into Xie Ling’s eyes, repeating each word deliberately, “Once the decision is made, there will be no chance to change one’s mind.”
Standing diagonally behind them, Shen Zhihui silently wiped away the fine sweat forming on his forehead.
This scene truly placed quite a bit of psychological pressure on a person.
He sighed in his heart, unable to help but begin to worry. Their Lord had tricked someone into acknowledging him as a master today. When Yin Huizhi eventually realized that something was wrong in the future, the Qinyin Palace would probably be turned upside down.