That night, Yin Xuanlin tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. In the end he simply got up and went out to patrol the grounds.
Demonic energy hung thick in the air and unease had spread everywhere. Many disciples were too frightened to sleep and some had secretly gathered together to gamble away the night.
Unfortunately for them, the door was suddenly kicked open and they were caught red handed.
The disciples were terrified out of their wits, convinced they were about to face severe punishment.
But Yin Xuanlin merely cast them a cold, sideways glance.
Then, without another word, he strode over, planted himself at the banker’s table with his legs spread wide in an imposing posture and bluntly asked:
“What are the odds right now?”
It turned out the group had been rather shamelessly betting on how many days it would take Xie Chen to emerge from the Purple Crystal secret realm.
Some had bet on three days, some on five, others on ten and a few even wagered on an entire month.
Yin Xuanlin remained silent.
Why was there no option for “die outside”?!
Only when the sky in the east began to pale with the faint color of dawn did he finish his patrol and start heading back, feeling sleepy.
Unexpectedly, halfway along the path he heard a familiar sound.
“Cluck, cluck.”
A little yellow chick came wobbling after him.
Yin Xuanlin couldn’t help but sneer.
“What’s the matter, little one? Did your master not even have time to take care of you before leaving?”
“You’ve gotten thinner. Hah. If he doesn’t come back, sooner or later you’ll end up as a pot of chicken soup.”
“With dried mushrooms, goji berries, gorgon fruit and ginger, slowly simmered until it smells delicious.”
After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Yin Xuanlin bent down and scooped the chick up.
“Your master’s useless now.”
“But since you’re still somewhat cute, I’ll take you back with me. From now on you can live well and eat well.”
However, after settling the little chick in a safe place, Yin Xuanlin still ended up descending the mountain.
The junior disciple who received the sect leader’s token from him looked completely bewildered.
“Huh??? Senior Brother Yin… me?”
At the entrance to the Purple Crystal secret realm, demonic energy surged wildly. Black mist coiled through the air as if it wanted to swallow everything in its path.
Yin Xuanlin swallowed hard.
Suddenly, his mind cleared.
His life was more important, wasn’t it?
“What the hell am I thinking, coming here to look for him… Whether he’s dead or alive, what does that have to do with me? The reputation of the immortal sect, the fall of a genius… what does any of that have to do with me? I’m leaving, I’m leaving!”
Yet his feet felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead.
He simply couldn’t move.
“Fine… I’ll just wander around the mountain for a few days. That way when I go back, I can at least say I tried.”
“I’ll just linger nearby, not go inside… Hmm? Why would there be someone here in such a dangerous place? And that person’s back, why does it look like Bai Shuangcheng?”
“…It really is Junior Brother Bai! You’re so weak, why aren’t you staying safely on the mountain? Who allowed you to come down here to throw your life away?”
Several days later, the entire immortal sect buzzed with rumors.
“Have you heard?”
“It’s said that Senior Brother Yin attacked Junior Brother Xie inside the secret realm! Even Junior Brother Bai was almost dragged into the disaster!”
“Is that true? He’s always been somewhat extreme in his behavior but surely he wouldn’t, especially with such a great enemy before them, ”
“What do you know? In chaotic times like these, danger breeds wicked intentions most easily! Fortunately, Senior Brother Bai happened to carry a recording stone with him. It clearly captured the evidence of Yin Xuanlin committing the attack!”
“Hahaha! Finally, caught red handed!”
“Oh? You’re asking why he would do such a thing? Haven’t you noticed all these years? He’s been jealous of Junior Brother Xie the entire time! Ever since Xie Chen entered the sect, Yin Xuanlin has targeted him at every turn!”
“Of course he’d lose his mind now! This time Junior Brother Xie was entrusted with such an important mission, even entering a Purple Crystal secret realm alone to accomplish a great feat. Yin Xuanlin must have panicked and lashed out!”
“Yin Xuanlin has always been narrow minded and vindictive. This is exactly the sort of thing he would do.”
“Poor Senior Brother Bai… He risked his life to bring out that recording stone but he was beaten until his flesh was torn and bloodied. Even now he still hasn’t regained consciousness.”
“After Junior Brother Xie regained consciousness, he has not spoken a single word… he must be utterly heartbroken. After all, even though the two of them had their disagreements in the past, he had always repaid grievances with kindness. He even entrusted the sect leader’s token to Yin Xuanlin, believing he might turn over a new leaf but who could have imagined…!”
“And that’s not all. That Yin Xuanlin has even committed treachery against his own master and ancestors…”
“With the evidence so clear, he still refuses to admit his guilt. He even dared to strike at the elders!”
Before long, a public trial was convened within the sect.
Inside the solemn and imposing great hall, Yin Xuanlin was tightly bound by demon binding ropes, forced to kneel in the center. His face and body were covered with wounds and bruises yet his back remained as straight as ever.
The sect leader’s voice rang out sharply.
“Yin Xuanlin, do you acknowledge your wrongdoing?”
“Cough…” Yin Xuanlin stubbornly lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. “You can ask me a hundred times… and I’ll give you the same answer every time. I went there to save that useless Xie Chen. He was the one who was bewitched by illusionary mist and fell into demonic madness, attacking me first! I only fought back to defend myself!”
“Impudent wretch! Even now you dare to spout such nonsense! You and he have always been at odds, why would you suddenly risk your life to save him?”
“That’s right! Everyone knows that if not for Xie Chen, you would have had a chance to compete for the position of the next sect leader!” the elder of the Medicine Sect added from the side, fanning the flames.
“Yes,” Yin Xuanlin sneered coldly, baring his teeth. “If he weren’t around, perhaps I could compete for the sect leader’s seat but even if you weren’t here, the position of Medicine Sect elder would never, in eight lifetimes, fall to your useless son. Speaking of which, I’d like to ask you something, Elder of the Medicine Sect. Bai Shuangcheng can’t even tie up a chicken with his bare hands, so what exactly was he doing entering that Purple Crystal secret realm?”
“Can’t answer that, can you? Most likely, Xie Chen falling into demonic corruption was your father and son scheme all along!”
“Y…. you, you… you slanderous dog! Sect Leader! You personally went down the mountain yesterday to examine that secret realm. There was no trace of any illusionary technique and the recording stone clearly captured everything. The evidence is undeniable yet Yin Xuanlin still dares to twist the truth, he clearly is, ”
The argument continued but Yin Xuanlin remained defiant and unrestrained, speaking wildly without any sign of submission.
At last, the sect leader had no choice but to order the disciplinary disciples to forcibly administer a dose of Truth Dew.
The Truth Dew acted directly upon the soul. Once consumed, the person who drank it would temporarily lose the ability to lie and could only speak their genuine thoughts.
Everyone believed that this time Yin Xuanlin would have no way left to argue his innocence.
But to everyone’s surprise,
“Bah!”
Under the influence of the medicine, Yin Xuanlin only became even more arrogant and unrestrained.
“I, Yin Xuanlin, sit upright and walk straight. I never lie in the first place! But since all of you are so desperate to hear the truth today, then fine, I’ll let you hear it properly!”
“Let’s start with this Tangdi Immortal Sect. On the surface it appears detached from the mortal world but in truth it’s no different from the world below, everyone hiding their own schemes, calculating against one another, envying the capable, jealous of the talented, a nest of snakes and rats!”
“And then there’s you, Elder Bai! You secretly had relations with a woman down the mountain without even a proper marriage arrangement, producing your precious son Bai Shuangcheng. His talent was too poor, so he had no choice but to secretly cultivate forbidden techniques. Would you like me to announce that to everyone as well? And last year when the Medicine Sect made its purchases, how do you explain those so called thousand year fire mushrooms that were actually inferior goods?”
“And you, Elder of Discipline! On the surface you claim to be fair and upright but how many ‘filial offerings’ have you privately accepted? And you’re not much better, Elder of the Artifact Hall. That invisibility talisman your nephew used to cheat during the last secret realm examination, where did it come from and who helped cover it up?”
The more he spoke, the more exhilarated he seemed. His gaze swept across the entire hall, filled with naked ridicule.
“And all of you, so called enlightened elders, who know perfectly well what is right and wrong yet choose to pretend deaf and mute just to preserve your own safety!”
“Do you feel no shame at all?”
For a moment, the great hall fell completely silent. The candle flames flickered and one could almost hear a needle drop.
Yin Xuanlin panted heavily, his chest rising and falling. Then his gaze shot past the crowd and locked onto a figure standing in the distance.
Xie Chen had only just regained consciousness from his severe injuries. His face was pale, almost bloodless.
“And now, let’s talk about Junior Brother Xie.”
“Junior brother has always had a pure and kind heart. He once told me… that as an orphan, he was fortunate to be nurtured by the sect, to receive the friendship of his peers and that within this immortal sect… he had finally found a place he could call home.”
“But have you ever seen the lesson of my own past?”
“You think the elders treat you kindly yet you don’t realize they don’t truly care whether you live or die. You’re only valuable to the sect’s reputation right now and the moment someone surpasses you, you’ll be discarded like worn out shoes!”
“And those fellow disciples who flatter and praise you, who knows how deeply they envy and resent you in their hearts? The day you fall from the clouds, they’ll be the first to trample you without mercy!”
“And yet you still risk your life again and again for these people, throwing yourself into danger and giving everything you have.”
“Junior brother, when will you finally see the truth? Everything you have trusted and cherished these past few years is nothing more than an illusion, a fleeting mirage.”
“Yin Xuanlin!” The sect leader’s voice rang out with severe authority. “You envy the worthy and the talented and you have harmed your fellow disciples and now you still dare to spread wicked words to deceive the masses!”
“Deceive the masses with wicked words?”
“Heh. All these years, who exactly has been deceiving the masses and envying the worthy? Who twisted things so that the entire sect despises my lowly birth yet envies my talent? Who spread rumor after rumor, unable to bear the sight of me succeeding?”
“Mm!”
His mouth was abruptly sealed shut by a binding spell, leaving only muffled, furious sounds of protest.
“He’s gone mad! Completely mad!” The sect leader slammed his palm down upon the table, his anger shaking the hall. “Yin Xuanlin, you came from the background of a beggar yet the sect has treated you generously and still, driven by jealousy, you have recklessly harmed your fellow disciples time and again. You refuse correction despite repeated warnings, your heart deserves condemnation!”
That night, Zhou Xuanle tossed and turned restlessly.
The candlelight on his desk flickered uncertainly as he revised the small newspaper draft again and again.
“Senior Brother Yin was once a prodigy as well, a brilliant talent destined for greatness. If not for Xie Chen’s dazzling rise and later surpassing him, Yin Xuanlin should have walked a smooth immortal path and brought glory to the sect.”
“But no matter how desperately a sparrow flaps its wings, it can never compare to the roc that soars thousands of miles across the heavens. Year after year of jealousy, unwillingness and resentment eventually brewed into poison, eroding his once unyielding pride until he fell into the abyss of envying the talented and harming his fellow disciples.”
But… was the truth really so simple?
The accusations Yin Xuanlin shouted in the great hall earlier that day had shaken Zhou Xuanle deeply yet when he flipped through the black and white records written over the years, Yin Xuanlin’s “crimes” were simply too numerous.
One incident after another.
Looking at them all together, it seemed far more believable to say he had gone there to harm someone than to say he had gone there to save someone.
Everyone had underestimated just how reckless and mad Yin Xuanlin truly was.
That very night, despite his grievous injuries, he forced his way out of prison.
His methods were still as sharp and calculating as ever. After escaping, he did not flee immediately. Instead, he once again plundered the private vaults of the various elders, swallowing every top grade pill he could find, those capable of temporarily boosting cultivation.
Without hesitation, he burned his own meridians and life essence, forcibly exchanging them for a brief and explosive surge of spiritual power.
“Since all of you already curse me as a traitor who betrays master and ancestors… then instead of bearing a false reputation, I might as well make it real!”
The night was as black as ink. Brilliant explosions of spiritual fire tore through the quiet stillness of the Tangdi Immortal Sect.
Yin Xuanlin’s eyes were completely blood red, like a demon from hell itself, as he charged straight toward the elders’ residences.
The elders rose one after another to meet him in battle but their strength had already been greatly depleted after the bitter struggle in the Purple Crystal secret realm and for a moment they were actually suppressed by him.
Their furious shouts of “traitor!” and “rebellious disciple!” mixed with shock and panic as they were steadily forced backward.
But Yin Xuanlin seemed to have truly descended into madness. Every strike he unleashed was meant to kill.
When the Nine Radiance Flowing Light Fan in his hand carved a blazing formation of flame through the air, the elders’ sword formation shattered layer by layer like thin ice cracking apart.
The Medicine Sect elder was thrown violently against his alchemy furnace by the shockwave. Bai Shuangcheng, desperate to protect his father, rushed forward without hesitation, only to meet the fan bone already aimed at his throat.
At that critical moment,
A clear, cold sword light descended like moonlight spilling across the earth, cutting between them.
In the quiet of the night, beneath a fine drifting rain, Xie Chen’s figure appeared, standing firmly in front of them.
“Senior brother.”
It might have been better if Yin Xuanlin had not seen him.
The moment he did, the crimson fury in his eyes deepened even further.
Raindrops hanging in the air seemed to freeze into sharp points. The bloodstained fan bone moved closer to Xie Chen’s throat.
“You damned Xie Chen! Since you’ve already awakened, why didn’t you tell them the truth? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what really happened inside the secret realm!”
“I remember.”
Xie Chen paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was lowered so only the two of them could hear.
“Senior brother… if I tell them that everything was my fault…”
“Would you be willing to stop here and turn back?”
The edge of Yin Xuanlin’s fan trembled.
In the very next instant, it sliced across Xie Chen’s neck, tearing open a thin line of blood.
“…Turn back while there’s still time?”
He seemed to have just heard the most absurd joke in the world. Turbulent waves of grief, fury and disbelief surged within his eyes.
The next moment, he showed no mercy.
The fan bone struck heavily into Xie Chen’s waist and abdomen. The force was so brutal that the faint, dreadful sound of bone cracking could almost be heard. Immediately afterward came a savage knee strike that drove forward without restraint. Xie Chen let out a muffled groan and staggered backward, a thread of blood spilling from the corner of his lips.
The two of them plunged fully into combat.
Spiritual power collided violently between them, crashing against each other in chaotic bursts.
Blazing flames erupted and intertwined in the air, exploding outward and leaving devastation in every direction. The surrounding buildings were battered and torn apart, collapsing into wreckage beneath the storm of power.
The scene quickly spiraled beyond control.
Unable to withstand the oppressive pressure radiating from the clash, Bai Shuangcheng cried out in terror from the side.
Just then, Yin Xuanlin casually swept a streak of white flame sword energy outward. Seeing it racing toward Bai Shuangcheng, Xie Chen hastily shifted the trajectory of his sword to intercept it.
But the change came too suddenly.
His sword technique had never been particularly suited for defense to begin with. The defensive blade light he conjured, rushed and unstable, transformed into a fierce counterstrike instead.
And it turned straight back toward Yin Xuanlin.
“Shhk!”
The sound of tearing flesh rang out with chilling clarity.
Yin Xuanlin had no time to dodge.
A deep wound instantly split open above his left eye, so deep that bone could almost be seen beneath it.
Blood surged out in thick streams, immediately staining half of his face a horrifying red. It flowed down along his jaw, dripping heavily, blooming across the front of his robes in large spreading blossoms of crimson.
The violent pain caused his body to stagger before collapsing down onto one knee.
At that very moment, thunder exploded across the sky.
Rain poured down in torrents.
The heavy downpour washed across his face, rinsing the blood from his skin yet no amount of rain could wash away the glaring, shocking red that clung stubbornly to him.
“Senior brother…”
Xie Chen’s expression instantly turned blank.
His hand holding the sword trembled slightly as he stood there, stunned and motionless for a long moment.
Another flash of lightning tore across the heavens.
Only then did he seem to awaken from a dream. He stepped forward quickly, intending to examine Yin Xuanlin’s injuries.
But suddenly, a cold sensation pierced through his chest.
Xie Chen lowered his head.
With the last of his remaining strength, Yin Xuanlin had driven the shattered fan bone straight into his body.
The broken blade was embedded deep within his chest.
Xie Chen stared at the fragment buried inside him. Slowly, he lifted his gaze again and met Yin Xuanlin’s remaining right eye.
There was no trace left of the bright vitality that had once shone there.
What remained now was only a bone deep hatred, cold and merciless, soaked through by blood and rain.
The falling rain gradually blurred his vision.
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
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← PreviousNext →
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