Yin Xuanlin was in a fury.
He searched the entire sect for Xie You, overturning every corner, until at last he found him beneath the most secluded trellis of climbing roses in the back garden, blocking his path outright.
“What do you mean by this?”
Xie Chen froze for a moment.
“Who told you to go spouting nonsense to Second Miss Du? Saying that my heart already belongs to someone, since when has my heart belonged to anyone?!”
Xie Chen looked at him, his expression faintly strange. His dark eyes, deep as a still pool, were obscure and shadowed beneath the mottled dusk, as though suppressing some surging, unspoken emotion.
After a long while, he slowly lowered his gaze and pressed his lips together. “Senior brother… could it be that you wish to form a marriage alliance with her?”
What?
“Senior brother, I thought… we have been together day after day, doing all manner of intimate things…”
He paused, his voice dissolving softly into the evening breeze. “I thought the way senior brother treated me meant that you liked me… that you wanted to be with me.”
“Otherwise, given senior brother’s nature, you would never do such things with me, nor would you even deign to.”
The air seemed to freeze.
Yin Xuanlin felt his mind crackle loudly, as though something inside it had split apart. He stood there in a daze for a long time before finally managing to retrieve his voice, dry and strained. “Then what about you?”
“If, as you say, doing those things counts as liking someone, then haven’t you accepted everything without resistance? What have you ever resisted? These past days, can you really say you haven’t been immersed in it? That you haven’t enjoyed it? Xie Chen, then what are you supposed to be?”
Xie Chen slowly lifted his eyes, looking at him deeply.
A long time passed, so long that Yin Xuanlin thought no answer would ever come, before he finally spoke, his tone extraordinarily calm, each word soft yet unmistakably clear:
“I, of course, also like senior brother.”
The wind seemed to fall silent, leaving only the faint fragrance of roses lingering in the air.
Yin Xuanlin froze, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. “What?”
“I also like senior brother,” Xie Chen repeated. His voice was not loud yet every word was distinct. “I have always liked you.”
Blood rushed to Yin Xuanlin’s head in an instant, only to drain away just as quickly, leaving behind a numb, dizzy emptiness.
He stared at Xie Chen in disbelief, unable to move, his chest aching as countless turbulent, indistinguishable emotions surged and clogged within it.
Xie Chen gazed back at him, gently taking his slightly trembling hand and pressing the palm against his own warm cheek, rubbing against it with a quiet, almost childlike attachment.
“So everything senior brother has done to me… I have accepted willingly.”
“Whether it is good or bad, as long as it is given by senior brother… I like it all.”
Yin Xuanlin’s throat tightened, his voice unbearably hoarse. “Since when?”
“You say you like me, since when did it start?”
Xie Chen fell silent for a moment before finally answering honestly. “A long time ago.”
“I liked senior brother a long time ago.”
He lowered his gaze. “Thinking back now… it was probably from the very first time we met. Only at that time…”
Pa!
A crisp slap cut off the rest of his words.
Xie Chen’s head snapped to the side, his cheek instantly flaring with a burning, stinging pain.
He lifted his dark eyes, only to see Yin Xuanlin standing there as if driven mad, his eyes bloodshot, his expression twisted with something raw and unbearable, as though he had been viciously wounded. There was absurdity in it, bitterness and even… anger.
Xie Chen was momentarily at a loss. Almost instinctively, he took a step forward but in the very next instant, Yin Xuanlin clenched his teeth and staggered several steps back, shouting hoarsely, “Don’t come any closer!”
“You say it started from the very first time we met…? Heh!”
“Junior Brother Xie, have you perhaps forgotten how you treated me back then? You never paid me any attention, never trusted me, never spared me a second glance or even half a word!”
“Hah! I remember very clearly just how much you despised me in those days! And now… now you actually dare to shamelessly claim that you like me?”
“Too late!!!”
Yin Xuanlin violently shook off the hand that had tried to hold onto him. He didn’t dare turn back, his nose burned, his expression disheveled and unsightly, too humiliating to be seen.
He bit down hard, his voice choked yet resolute:
“What’s the point of saying all this now? Just go! Your injuries are already healed anyway, pack your things and get out of the Golden Toad Sect at once. I never want to see you again!!”
The “Shadowsource Labyrinth Valley” was the origin of the Memory Stones.
At the heart of the valley lay a core of stone essence capable of reflecting the deepest, most hidden memories of living beings, replaying fragments of the past again and again.
For this reason, throughout the ages, countless cultivators who had lost those they loved or were burdened by unshakable obsessions had wandered that mist shrouded valley like restless spirits. Time and again, they indulged themselves in the past, until the very last trace of their mind and spirit was exhausted.
Deep within the valley, the mist grew so dense it was almost tangible.
Xie Chen leaned dazedly against a massive, cold, jet black boulder. The jagged ridges pressed painfully into his back yet he seemed utterly unaware of it.
He no longer knew how many days and nights he had spent here.
Endless, chaotic scenes surged and rewound before his eyes, threatening to swallow the last shred of his consciousness. Exhausted beyond measure, he slowly opened his palm. Resting quietly within it was a smooth, rounded gemstone, radiating a soft, warm orange glow.
He had not come here to wallow in the past or seek his own destruction.
It was only that… his senior brother now despised him, had even said he never wanted to see him again.
And he himself, clumsy with words, had wanted to explain properly but failed to express himself. In the end, he had only made his senior brother even more furious.
With no other choice, he could only gather up that shattered, bleeding affection in his heart and obediently, dejectedly roll out of the Golden Toad Sect.
On the first day after leaving, all that remained was longing.
He stumbled aimlessly, unable to taste food, his mind circling over a single thought again and again, what else could he do to coax even the slightest bit of happiness from his senior brother?
But pleasing Yin Xuanlin was difficult.
The young master of the Golden Toad Sect possessed wealth beyond measure; there was little in this world that he could not obtain.
After much thought, Xie Chen could only recall one trivial matter.
The last time they had gone west together on a trading journey, they had once seen, in the palace of a small kingdom, a gemstone proudly displayed by its king, a national treasure known as the Shadow Orange Jade.
At the time, Yin Xuanlin had indeed glanced at that stone a few extra times.
After they left, he had even remarked, “The color is rather unique,” and, “A pity it’s a national treasure of another country. Otherwise, buying it and setting it into a fan would surely look quite nice.”
Xie Chen had silently committed that to memory.
Later, after consulting ancient texts, he learned that the gemstone originated from the Shadowsource Labyrinth Valley. Formed over countless years beside the core stone marrow, only one or two such rare orange gems would occasionally condense.
Perhaps fortune had favored him. After enduring countless hardships to reach the deepest part of this valley, he had truly managed to find one.
Only now, with the gem in his hand, it seemed he had already exhausted all his strength and could no longer walk out of this heavy, suffocating mist.
A crushing drowsiness surged over him like a tidal wave.
Once again, he closed his eyes, powerless to resist.
Countless fragments of the past surged toward him once more, dragging him deeper into the vortex of memory.
This time, he saw himself as he had once been, small, frail, within the halls of Xianyue Pavilion.
Snow lay thick across the courtyard and the north wind howled with a biting chill.
The child was thin and slight, his worn cotton clothes utterly unable to keep out the cold. He trembled uncontrollably yet still staggered step by step through the icy snow, stubbornly repeating the practice of the most basic techniques over and over again.
As a child, Xie Chen’s spiritual roots had been slow to awaken.
His body felt hollow and empty; even the simplest of spells was as difficult for him as ascending the heavens.
Meanwhile, the Pavilion Master of Xianyue had many wives and concubines and countless children. The little fatherly affection he possessed was reserved only for those who were gifted and exceptional. Toward someone like Xie Chen, a “waste”, there was only undisguised disdain and utter neglect.
Worse still, Xie Chen had no mother to protect him.
Growing up alone, he endured hunger and cold year after year, while being suppressed and trampled upon by his siblings, mocked and bullied without mercy.
In those shadowed illusions, he was shoved into the snow, robbed of the little food he had, locked inside a damp, freezing woodshed. His body was covered in bruises and welts from beatings.
Most of the time, he could only curl himself into a tiny ball, hiding in some deserted corner, silently weeping to himself.
Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes within this labyrinth valley, Xie You would have already forgotten…
That as a child, he had once cried so much.
It was only after falling into the demonic path that Xie Chen came to know the truth of his origins.
His mother was of the demon race.
Back then, she had schemed meticulously to approach the Pavilion Master of Xianyue, who was destined to possess overwhelming fortune and entered into a fleeting union with him, all for the purpose of bearing a half demon child.
From the moment Xie Chen was born, he had already begun to silently siphon away much of his father’s fortune. At the same time, he was able to perfectly conceal his demonic aura, lying dormant within the righteous path, waiting for the right moment in the future.
As he grew older, the dormant demonic core within him gradually began to awaken.
Yet because of his mixed blood, what manifested outwardly appeared instead to be a once mediocre spiritual root finally revealing its potential.
At last, the Pavilion Master of Xianyue noticed this long forgotten son. His siblings, who had once bullied and scorned him, suddenly changed their attitudes, approaching him with flattering smiles. The servants grew respectful and even the usually dignified and indifferent mistress of the house began to show him a gentle, warm smile, often asking after his well being.
During those half a year, Xie You experienced, for the first time in his life, what it meant to be treated kindly.
He had a brazier for warmth, new clothes that fit him properly and a spacious room that no longer let in the wind.
He had grown up without ever being loved.
Deep in his heart, he had always longed for even the slightest bit of warmth and care.
In that half year, the mistress’s seemingly meticulous concern, the innocent closeness of his younger siblings, all of it left him overwhelmed with gratitude, filling him with a tender, blossoming affection.
But not long after, one night, the mistress rewarded him with a bowl of sweet custard, delivered personally by his favorite younger sister, who skipped and hopped as she brought it to him.
That bowl of custard was so sweet.
Fragrant, smooth and delicate, melting the moment it touched his tongue, it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted in his life.
He ate it carefully, one small bite at a time, treasuring every mouthful. A feeling close to happiness even began to rise within him.
But only moments later, a searing pain struck without warning.
Blood poured from his seven orifices as he collapsed onto the cold ground in agony, his vision gradually blurring.
Only later did he learn that it had been Fenye, a notorious poison in the cultivation world, one that could completely destroy a cultivator’s dantian and foundation, causing unbearable suffering before death, with almost no cure.
No one had ever survived Fenye.
And yet, he had been the exception.
Perhaps it was because the demonic core within him, quietly awakening, possessed a vitality far beyond that of ordinary people, he had, by sheer force, clawed his way back from the gates of death.
Afterward, with just a few casual words, the mistress easily shifted all the blame onto an unfavored concubine. Fearing that he might seek revenge, she even took her own children and kept them far away from him from that day on.
She did not know that he did not actually hate her.
He only felt an unbearable emptiness, as though a piece of his heart had been hollowed out.
The despair of being briefly warmed, only to be abandoned once again, cut far deeper than the agony of the poison itself.
Later, a catastrophic calamity befell Xianyue Pavilion, wiping it out entirely.
Everything happened far too quickly. Before his eyes, countless familiar faces screamed as they fell, one after another, their blood staining the pavilions and terraces crimson.
Under such overwhelming shock, the newly arrived Xie Chen at the Tangdi Immortal Sect grew even more silent and withdrawn, to the point of near muteness.
Fortunately, in this new sect, no one looked down on him.
To Xie Chen, the Tangdi Immortal Sect was utterly different from Xianyue Pavilion, so different that the contrast was like heaven and earth.
At Xianyue Pavilion, what he received was always leftovers and scraps; at the Tangdi Immortal Sect, fellow disciples brought him spiritual fruits, magical artifacts and small gifts every day.
At Xianyue Pavilion, when his cultivation faltered, others would only take the opportunity to mock and trample him further; but at the Tangdi Immortal Sect, senior brothers and sisters would enthusiastically come to guide and assist him, teaching him everything they knew without reservation.
Even his silence was treated differently. In Xianyue Pavilion, people mocked him as a “dull mute.”
Yet in the Tangdi Immortal Sect, even when he did not speak, there were always senior brothers and sisters willing to gather around him, chattering cheerfully, telling him all sorts of amusing stories.
It was only much later that he finally came to understand.
Within the Tangdi Immortal Sect, there had long existed a “public enemy” whom everyone envied and resented.
And his appearance had, by chance, provided those who dared not openly oppose Yin Xuanlin with an outlet to suppress his influence. That was why he had been treated like the center of attention, elevated and doted upon as though he were something precious.
But at that time, still young and naive, how could he possibly have understood any of this?
All he knew was that the food his senior brothers and sisters gave him was warm, delicious and free of poison.
It seemed that they genuinely cared about his daily needs, sincerely hoping for his well being and rejoicing wholeheartedly at every bit of progress he made in his cultivation.
They even kindly warned him to be wary of “Senior Brother Yin, who is jealous and holds grudges.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Once a chosen one of heavenChapter 2 · Why didn’t you crawl in the shadows?!Chapter 3 · They would rather fight each otherChapter 4 · I’ll do a handstand and run naked three times!Chapter 5 · So what if I’m showing off!Chapter 6 · If you look again, I’ll gouge your eyes out!Chapter 7 · The young couple is fighting again.Chapter 8 · I’m back at the Jinchan SectChapter 9 · Sour, sourChapter 10 · To seize credit for someone’s workChapter 11 · The Golden Toad Sect has come to our aid to annihilate the Demon LordChapter 12 · Sect Leader’s HusbandChapter 13 · The stone, fox, tree, and scarecrow are named XuanlinChapter 14 · My junior and I have had sweet moments in private!Chapter 15 · The truth behind their first falling out back thenChapter 16 · Hate lasts longer than loveChapter 17 · Xie Chen was actually the Demon LordChapter 18 · Slaying the Demon LordChapter 19 · From resistance to enjoymentChapter 20 · Xiao Xie’s perspective begins!Chapter 21 · Only because it was Yin XuanlinChapter 22 · Xie Chen was not a foolChapter 23 · The End