Regarding the world Duan Junyi had once lived in, Sang Hua had heard him speak of it beforea world that transitioned from prosperity down to a state where nothing remained save for endless despair.
Monsters devoured humans, humans devoured humans; an era of extreme madness and extreme frigidity, ultimately reduced to ashes within a roaring blaze, wiping out hundreds of millions of living souls so that they ceased to exist from that day onward.
Grasping Duan Junyi’s wrist with powerful force, Sang Hua spoke with grave, unyielding solemnity: “A-Yi, I can allow you to act out in mischief, and I am willing to bear the burden of the past massacres you committed alongside you to seek atonement. The fact that you suffered grievances during those seven years in seclusion while I failed to protect you was my fault—you can vent your anger and direct your grievances straight at me. Sealing my cultivation and keeping me prisoner, I can overlook all of it. But if you utter such world-destroying, apocalyptic words merely out of a desire to exact revenge upon me, I can never tolerate it.”
Throughout his many days at the Dome, no matter what Duan Junyi did, nor what excruciatingly humiliating remarks he hurled at Sang Hua even destroying right before Sang Hua’s eyes the square-victory knot tassel he had cherished for years, Sang Hua’s reactions had consistently remained mild, devoid of true fury.
Yet at this moment, Duan Junyi knew that the man was genuinely enraged.
“Jing Li, clear the area.”
A sideways glance from Duan Junyi’s eyes sufficed for Jing Li to instantly grasp his intent; working together with Chong Huai, they forcefully cleared everyone out of the ready-wear boutique, including the shopkeeper and workers. In a split second, the entire boutique was left with only the two of them.
Now that the room contained solely the two of them, Duan Junyi cast aside all remaining restraint. Capitalizing on the fact that Sang Hua’s cultivation and inner qi remained sealed, coupled with the fact that he had grown taller than Sang Hua over the years, Duan Junyi countered by gripping Sang Hua’s wrists, shoving him back against the corner of the wall, and pressing his body forward in an overbearing lean.
Their bodies drew exceedingly close. Leaning down to press directly against Sang Hua’s ear, Duan Junyi murmured in a dark, chilly tone: “This seat did take a fancy to the Immortal Venerable’s fine pelt, that much is true. But the Immortal Venerable must not assume that because this seat shows you leniency time and again, I view you as that foolish disciple of mine. Keeping you alive until this very moment is solely to let you witness everything you hold precious transform into smoke and dust.”
“Remember this: you are merely this seat’s prisoner. Provoking this seat into displeasure will bring no benefit whatsoever, neither to you nor to anyone else.”
Pinning up Sang Hua’s chin, Duan Junyi lightly nibbled and bit down upon his lips. Sang Hua offered zero resistance, experiencing a sensation that felt simultaneously familiar yet strangely unfamiliar.
They had shared such intimacy on more than one occasion in the past, yet never once had Duan Junyi behaved with such raw roughness.
It wasn’t until Sang Hua’s breathing grew unstable that Duan Junyi finally released him, a finger brushing lightly across the lips he had ravaged into a bruised, vivid red.
Straightening out Sang Hua’s bamboo-hat veil once more, Duan Junyi gripped his wrist with forceful assertion and prepared to lead him outside, but this time, Sang Hua refused to comply.
Stopping in his tracks with a look of surprise, Duan Junyi turned back to see Sang Hua standing dead in his tracks, neither uttering a sound nor moving an inch, resembling a puppet doll stripped of its soul.
Realizing he had genuinely pushed the man too far into anger, Duan Junyi looped an arm around Sang Hua’s waist once more, leaning close to his ear to whisper: “This seat knows the Immortal Venerable cares deeply for the common folk. Why not play a little game with this seat, then?”
“If the Immortal Venerable wishes to save the common world, then do this kill this seat.”
Sensing the distinct stiffening of the body within his arms, Duan Junyi offered gentle, pacifying reassurance: “Rest assured, Immortal Venerable; you still have three years to consider it. At the very least, within these three years, this seat shall commit no world-destroying acts.”
Echoing endlessly within Sang Hua’s mind was that single sentence uttered by Duan Junyi: Kill him.
He found himself increasingly incapable of comprehending what Duan Junyi was truly aiming to achieve.
Slaughtering cities? Destroying the world? And demanding that he kill him what hidden secrets lay buried behind all of this?
Before Sang Hua could puzzle it out, another gentle kiss descended through the veil, landing upon his lips as Duan Junyi urged: “If we don’t leave now, we’ll miss the Xuan Yin Pavilion’s dharma assembly, and you won’t get to see Chang Lin.”
Sang Hua had not forgotten that the primary objective of this excursion was precisely to confirm Chang Lin’s safety.
The workers and shopkeeper of the ready-wear boutique had been waiting nervously outside the shop for the two men to emerge. Having been abruptly driven out earlier by Jing Li and Chong Huai—two youths brandishing a heavy broadsword and a longsword respectively—the ordinary, law-abiding common folk dared not provoke cultivators in the slightest.
Fortunately, the men inside appeared to harbor no malicious intent; they merely needed privacy to exchange private words. Knowing they could not afford to offend them, the staff wisely and sensibly waited outside for the two to finish.
The moment they stepped outside, Sang Hua spotted the grievance-stricken boutique staff blockaded outside their own shop by Jing Li and Chong Huai. Pulling on Duan Junyi’s sleeve, Sang Hua said: “You disrupted the shopkeeper’s business for half a day; you ought to offer compensation.”
Upon hearing this, Duan Junyi froze momentarily before breaking down entirely into a low, helpless chuckle.
“What are you laughing at?” Sang Hua failed to understand why Duan Junyi was laughing so unprovoked.
“Nothing.” Reining in his smile, Duan Junyi instructed Jing Li to hand over a generous amount of compensation to the shopkeeper. Yet owing to Duan Junyi’s earlier fierce, menacing aura, even though the silver was pressed into his hands, the shopkeeper lacked the courage to accept it.
Observing this, Sang Hua reached out to take the pouch of silver from Jing Li’s hands, pressing it directly into the shopkeeper’s palms while offering repeated apologies: “Forgive us, shopkeeper; our prior actions were unruly, causing you trouble.”
Among the entire group, only this veiled gentleman appeared exceptionally gentle. Thus, when Sang Hua handed over the money pouch, the shopkeeper felt significantly less terrified, repeatedly bowing in deferential assurance as he accepted the apologies.
Witnessing this scene, Duan Junyi once again struggled unsuccessfully to suppress his laughter.
Try as he might, Sang Hua could not fathom what on earth Duan Junyi found so amusing.
In truth, Duan Junyi was simply recalling the very first time Sang Hua had brought him down the mountain. Craving pastries while having lived his entire life atop Fuweimen, Sang Hua was entirely ignorant of the fact that mundane mortal transactions utilized gold, silver, and copper coins; consequently, Sang Hua had attempted to purchase pastries using spiritual stones instead. How could ordinary mortal common folk possibly recognize what a spiritual stone was? The result was that both of them were mistaken for swindlers, sparking no shortage of humorous spectacles.
The Xuan Yin Pavilion had established a local branch office right inside Yangzhou City, and today marked the inaugural dharma assembly held by the Xuan Yin Pavilion in the city, drawing massive crowds of spectators from every corner of Yangzhou.
Having lost considerable time at the ready-wear boutique, Duan Junyi and Sang Hua arrived outside the Xuan Yin Pavilion to find the assembly already concluded; what remained was the active recruitment of disciples.
The streets outside the Xuan Yin Pavilion were packed shoulder-to-shoulder with throngs of people, rendering visibility virtually zero. Refusing to linger among the bustling crowd, Duan Junyi simply pulled Sang Hua into a nearby teahouse, securing a private second-floor room whose windows afforded a direct, unobstructed view toward the Xuan Yin Pavilion.
While standing amidst the crowd downstairs would have yielded nothing to look at, gazing down from the elevated vantage point of the tall building allowed them to spot Chang Lin’s figure peering out from a window across the street within the Xuan Yin Pavilion complex in mere moments.
Chang Lin had remained stationed upon the pavilion’s upper floor all this while, keeping a watchful eye on the bustling throngs below. The instant Sang Hua appeared despite being wrapped head-to-toe in a concealing bamboo-hat veil, Chang Lin recognized him with absolute certainty.
Watching Sang Hua being led into the teahouse by Duan Junyi, an anxious Chang Lin nearly bolted straight out of the Xuan Yin Pavilion, only for Mu Jin to intercept him just in time: “Calm yourself. Neither of us is a match for Duan Junyi; rushing up there right now won’t save the Immortal Venerable it’ll be no different from marching to your execution.”
Knowing Chang Lin worried intensely over Sang Hua’s safety, Mu Jin lowered his voice to persuade him: “The fact that Duan Junyi brought the Immortal Venerable out into the open here at least proves we can verify that the Immortal Venerable is temporarily safe in his hands. Right now, even if I were willing to sacrifice the entire Xuan Yin Pavilion, I have zero certainty of wresting the Immortal Venerable away from Duan Junyi. If we want to save him, we must plan carefully and bide our time.”
Ever since Duan Junyi betrayed the sect, Chang Lin had clashed with him on numerous occasions, acutely aware that should Duan Junyi genuinely wish him dead, he would stand zero chance of survival.
Frowning with heavy distress, Chang Lin muttered: “My primary worry is that Junior Brother simply cannot bear to part with that little beast… On the day Junior Brother was taken away…”
The scene of Sang Hua hurling himself onto Duan Junyi’s sword blade back at Fuweimen remained vividly etched in Chang Lin’s memory, not to mention the subtle romantic undercurrents they had occasionally observed back on Yujin Peak.
While Chang Lin had previously chosen to turn a blind eye to their past relationship, the situation had fundamentally changed now, Duan Junyi had evidently fallen into the demonic path, and Chang Lin worried that Sang Hua would allow himself to be manipulated and led astray by lingering affection.
Inside the teahouse, Duan Junyi also noticed Chang Lin glaring daggers at him from afar.
Long accustomed to being cursed and glared at by others, Duan Junyi paid it no heed, pouring a cup of tea and pushing it toward Sang Hua: “As the Immortal Venerable can see, this seat did nothing to Chang Lin; he is currently an honored guest of the Xuan Yin Pavilion. Can the Immortal Venerable finally rest easy?”
Yet the moment confirmation of Chang Lin’s safety settled in, Sang Hua’s gaze shifted immediately toward Mu Jin standing beside Chang Lin.
After a brief period of observation, Sang Hua’s thoughts pivoted back to Duan Junyi: “Mu Jin used to be a disciple of the Wanfa Sect, didn’t he? The Wanfa Sect disciple you rescued from the Frozen Ice Cave that was Mu Jin, am I right?”
Duan Junyi paused momentarily, taken aback that Sang Hua would pivot to this topic. Sipping his tea calmly, Sang Hua continued: “Mu Jin specializes in the arts of sonic illusion. Had you not deliberately held back, he could never have snatched Chang Lin Senior Brother away from your hands. If there were no prior ties of friendship between you, you would never have shown such leniency.”
“The Immortal Venerable thinks far too much. Your little disciple’s acquaintances are the last thing this seat cares to know. Letting Mu Jin rescue Chang Lin was simply because this seat wishes to keep them around to make the game all the more entertaining.”
“Your so-called game is it world destruction? Or killing yourself?” Gritting his teeth, Sang Hua suppressed a surge of rising fury. Whether Duan Junyi spoke in earnest or jest, Sang Hua found both utterly unacceptable.
Applying excessive force, the teacup shattered under the pressure of Sang Hua’s grip with a crisp crack, shards piercing directly into the flesh of his palm and causing bright crimson blood to trickle down onto the table.
A mere scattering of crimson droplets proved sufficient to pierce straight through Duan Junyi’s composure.
“You…”
Catching Sang Hua’s wrist, Duan Junyi forced his palm open, pulling out a handkerchief to meticulously cleanse the shards of porcelain embedded within the wound.
“It’s merely a scratched skin; it doesn’t even count as an injury.” Yanking his hand away from Duan Junyi’s grasp, Sang Hua kept the bamboo-hat veil firmly in place, concealing his facial expressions from Duan Junyi’s view. Yet the toneless, emotionless cadence of his voice left Duan Junyi feeling inexplicably panicked.
Yet alongside that panic, a bitter sense of triumph surged within Duan Junyi’s chest.
“Your Immortal Venerable has finally grown angry with you? Let that anger fester into hatred, then until hate consumes you utterly. The deeper the hatred, the less hesitation you will feel when the time comes to slay me three years from now.”
“Is the Immortal Venerable angered already? We’ve only just begun.”
Even as Sang Hua pulled away, Duan Junyi forcefully recaptured his wrist, cleaning away the tiny porcelain fragments from his palm, applying medicine, and wrapping it in bandages before finally releasing him.
Gazing out at the bustling sea of humanity outside the Xuan Yin Pavilion, Duan Junyi addressed Sang Hua: “Just look at how clever Mu Jin is. The Xuan Yin Pavilion lacks high-level immortals of your caliber, yet he manages to establish a foothold across the world simply by broadly recruiting disciples. Even individuals possessing impure, fragmented spiritual roots face immense cultivation hurdles; yet once their spiritual meridians are unlocked—even as mere physical practitioners their baseline strength vastly surpasses ordinary mortals. Gathering these fragmented spiritual roots together creates a force that cannot be underestimated. True, any casual disciple of the major immortal sects possesses innate talent vastly superior to those gathered by the Xuan Yin Pavilion. But if you tally up the total number of cultivators across all immortal sects combined, does it match even half of what the Xuan Yin Pavilion commands today?”
“So you brought me here not to let me witness Chang Lin Senior Brother’s safety at all.”
It was at this exact moment that Sang Hua finally caught on, Duan Junyi’s true target all along had been the Xuan Yin Pavilion.