Chapter 42

He Xiangsheng had once asked his master such a question when he had entered the Heavenly Dao Palace.

“I heard that a hundred years ago, the world was full of turmoil, and the major families and sects fought both surreptitiously and openly, the cultivation community was full of bloodthirst. However, everything is peaceful now due to a lot of the Heavenly Dao Palace’s efforts. But, how was all of this achieved?”

His master said, “The world became one.”

Not “unified”, but “one”.

All the incredibly strong powers and secret spells were concentrated in the hands of the Heavenly Dao Palace to control the development of other sects and forces.

Without hope, there also would not be any desires. Likewise, there would be no battles.

“There will always be someone who bears the name of the wicked.” His master said, “Xiangsheng, do you know what the human realm looked like thousands of years ago? The underworldly ghosts and demons evoked chaos, yet those priests and cultivators fought to death over their own petty desires. Do you know how innocent the ordinary people were?”

“Then what happened?”

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“R… R esd’v jdso.”

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Xdzu cu xyjkdt vbl osaze clnsxl sdl, nswze vblu nsdvasz yzz yxckvksdp yde pvawttzlp.

He Xiangsheng practiced cultivation for a long time in the Heavenly Dao Palace.

He witnessed countless people who were proficient in the art of Blood Burning being used as weapons that could expel the underworldly demons, being drained till the last drop of blood fell from their bodies. Finally, in the back mountain, a grave was left for them with a gravestone erected that detailed their honor.

This clan that had been rare from the beginning, died out at an alarming rate, leaving only a small group to be raised in the dungeons as the inheritors of the bloodline.

But no one wanted to live like this.

Living in a place where you couldn’t even see your five fingers, with chains bound on your arms and thighs, watching your beloved relatives and friends leave one by one, every piece of flesh and blood burned like coal until their last bit of value was used up.

Other than the memories in their minds, nothing was left behind.

The dead had not lived well, and the living would become the tools to pass on their inheritance.

After leaving behind a bloodline that could be continued on, they would repeat the same life that their deceased ancestors had gone through.

After living like this for so long, living became a painful thing.

Their people died one by one. Some were depressed and unable to live on, and some did not want to continue living in humiliation and chose to end their own lives.

Endurance to an extreme would definitely create an eruption.

Finally one day, the survivors wanted to escape and broke through the shackles and launched a resistance. The flames burned over the Heavenly Dao Palace for three whole days with countless casualties; it was a tragic scene.

Shen Wanqing’s mother escaped.

She became the only one left alive from that battle.

But there had never been anyone in the world who could not be found by the Heavenly Dao Palace.

Back then, He Xiangsheng was in the middle of capturing Shen Wanqing’s mother. Even till now, he could still remember the scene of that day very clearly.

In the Heartless Valley, the woman who always looked thin and quiet walked up to the elders, neither overbearing nor servile. Her body was covered in fresh blood, but she still held her back up straight.

She told them that they were doomed to fail.

The elder said: “The Heavenly Dao Palace and your ancestors can put down their personal interests and choose self-sacrifice in exchange for peace in the world, do you younger generations want to put shame to their history?”

The woman suddenly laughed, obviously smiling, but her expression looked so sorrowful.

The elder said that it didn’t matter whether she lived or died, the Heavenly Dao Palace would not allow those with dissent to stay. What the Heavenly Dao Palace wanted was her daughter.

The daughter who had been highly regarded since birth, and was likely to be able to compete with the demon who had slaughtered the human world a hundred years ago.

“You can’t take anyone with you,” she said.

The elder: “In this world, there is no one who cannot be taken away by the Heavenly Dao Palace.”

She looked at the great amount of people without the slightest turbulence in her eyes. After a long time, she smiled and said in a calm and composed tone, “Really?”

In the next second, she pushed up her spiritual power, creating a huge sword, and without the slightest hesitation, she pierced it through her heart.

Those amber eyes didn’t seem to shirk away at all.

She had never been afraid of death.

Rather, she was afraid that her child would live to die just like her for the rest of her life.

“That was the most powerful Blood Burning Technique I had ever seen.”

When He Xiangsheng said this, he stared straight at Shen Wanqing: “That was your mother, she used her life and her completely burnt soul that meant she would never be able to reincarnate to cause utter destruction. Apart from me, there were only three people who survived. Later reinforcements came from the Heavenly Dao Palace, but when they arrived, they searched for days and nights, but found no trace of life left, so they were certain that you too had died from the Blood Burning Technique.”

“After the people who possessed the secret Blood Burning Technique went extinct, the Heavenly Dao Palace could not bear to allow their crimes that had led to the cessation of the Blood Burning Technique to be revealed, so they wanted to seal the mouths of all the survivors. No one could keep such a secret better than the dead, so I escaped. With one breath left, Xiu Niang picked me up on that mountain.”

He Xiangsheng’s tone was calm, but he could still feel the despairing scene from more than ten years ago.

Ji Feichen didn’t speak, just raised his hand, put it lightly on Shen Wanqing’s shoulder, and silently stood in front of her: “Don’t worry, your brother is here.”

Shen Wanqing had always wondered what kind of origins this body possessed. But after suddenly knowing all this, she did not know how to react.

She was just a person who had transmigrated into this body. Logically speaking, the past should have nothing to do with her.

But she didn’t know if it was because she could always see the scenes of the past, she was not able to separate herself from this as she had imagined to, her chest felt stuffy.

After being quiet for a long time, she suddenly asked a question she, herself, couldn’t even understand: “What’s my mother’s…name?”

“I’ve never heard her name mentioned,” He Xiangsheng paused, “but her fellow clan members would call her Ah Zhao.”

Zhao.

That probably meant light.

For some reason, Shen Wanqing felt very sad.

Sadder than she had imagined.

Xie Wuyan turned to look at her, within his unwavering eyes that did not falter, it was filled with emotions that one could not understand. He reached out his hand and seemed to want to touch her, but midway through, he retracted it.

Feng Yaoqing looked at Shen Wanqing worriedly, as if she was afraid that she would be upset, so she stretched out her hand to hold hers, then turned to look at He Xiangsheng: “So, Cultivator He, are you going to tell the Heavenly Dao Palace about this news?”

“No,” He Xiangsheng said, “I am no longer a disciple of the Heavenly Dao Palace, I told Miss Shen because I have a request.”

“What request?”

He Xiangsheng’s expression became menial in an instant. In a pleading tone, his voice was hoarse: “I know that the Blood Burning Technique can sense the soul and hear and see things that others can’t. So I want to know… Xiu Niang, did she have any words to say to me?”

“Words?”

Shen Wanqing lifted her gaze, as if recalling.

When she had touched the soul of Xiu Niang, the scenes flooded into her brain like a revolving lantern, piled up in a mess, making it difficult to accurately capture the content.

But there was one voice that gradually became clearer, stripping away those blurry scenes and noisy sounds.

“I have something to tell him.”

Xiu Niang’s voice was as gentle as a stream in a mountain, penetrating through.

“He should leave and go to a farther place, to be free and without restraints. Stop living in painful memories in order to save me.”

When the last word fell, He Xiangsheng was already weeping.

He cried for a long time, his hair was sticking to his face. He was a mess all over, no longer exerting the bright appearance that a cultivator should possess.

After a long time, he straightened up his back, closed his eyes, and leaned back slightly.

“Wait, is he…”

He Xiangsheng’s soul seemed to gradually separate from his body, his spiritual power rolling around within his body, and his soul dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Xiu Niang’s soul has stayed in the Soul Locking Jade for too long, and she even gave up the nourishment from the living souls. Out of the three immortal souls and seven mortal forms, she is missing one part of her soul, it will be very difficult to reincarnate.” Ji Feichen frowned, “He is taking his own soul to fill the missing soul in Xiu Niang.”

When the soul completely left his body, He Xiangsheng opened his eyes, looked over the crowd, and stared directly at Xie Wuyan.

Xie Wuyan also stared at him.

He Xiangsheng laughed softly, a bamboo tube rolled down from his body and slid all the way to Ji Feichen’s feet.

“This is……”

“The whereabouts of the Solitary Light Sword.” He Xiangsheng closed his eyes, was quiet for a long time, and suddenly said, “But the ancestors of the Heavenly Dao Palace once said that there is only one force of power that can kill that person.”

“What power?”

He Xiangsheng opened his eyes, stared at Shen Wanqing, and was quiet for a long time.

Although he didn’t say a single word, everyone around him understood what he meant.

After a while, his soul completely dispersed, turned into a few scattered bright specks, and was gradually swallowed by the night.

“Wanqing.” Ji Feichen turned around, leaning down in front of Shen Wanqing. He put a hand on her shoulder, and said solemnly, “Don’t worry, I will never hand you over to the Heavenly Dao Palace.”

Shen Wanqing was a little moved.

But before she could express her gratitude, she was scared out of her wits by the next sentence.

“We will find the Solitary Light Sword as soon as possible, and then eradicate the demon head, so that the Heavenly Dao Palace will give up the idea of using you as a sacrifice.”

Then Ji Feichen raised his head very boldly and asked Xie Wuyan: “Brother Xie, what do you think?”

Xie Wuyan: “…” I’m fine with anything, you can do whatever you want.

Shen Wanqing awoke from her sorrows instantly, grabbed Ji Feichen’s arm and interrupted their conversation: “Sister Feng looks seriously injured, Brother Ji, you should take her back to the Governor’s residence for treatment as soon as possible.”

Ji Feichen thought that it was reasonable.

Considering that he was also injured, he decided to divide them into two groups, he would leave with Feng Yaoqing, and Xie Wuyan would take Shen Wanqing.

After watching the loving couple fly away in front of them while embracing each other, Shen Wanqing turned her head and exchanged a long stare with Xie Wuyan beside her.

She felt guilty.

After all, Xie Wuyan had just helped her, and then He Xiangsheng immediately pointed at her and said, “Look, Xie Wuyan, this is the person who may kill you in the future”.

…She suspected that He Xiangsheng just wanted her to die.

Looking back carefully, Xie Wuyan’s ending in the original book was just being sealed again and not killed, so it seems that He Xiangsheng’s words carried some credibility.

Wait, did the system choose this body because it knew that it really had the power to kill Xie Wuyan?

Shen Wanqing suddenly carried mixed feelings.

She wasn’t happy possessing such a powerful skill.

She didn’t want to kill Xie Wuyan.

Not at all.

Xie Wuyan said lightly, “You…”

“…I won’t!” Before Xie Wuyan could finish speaking, Shen Wanqing, who was panicking, raised her hand to interrupt, “You can rest assured that I am a cowardly person and I never kill. I have already decided to give up the Blood Burning Technique, it hurts the body too much, whoever uses it is an idiot.”

Xie Wuyan glanced at her, then silently crossed his arms, tilting his head and looking at her with an expression that translated to ‘Have you burned your brain’ while asking: “You never kill?”

“It’s not important.” Shen Wanqing said very forthrightly, “What matters is my upright attitude.”

“You’re quite good at twisting words and forcing logic.”

Xie Wuyan chuckled, turned around, and did not recite any sword incantation, but the sword at his waist suddenly unsheathed and floated mid-air.

Shen Wanqing immediately jumped back and covered her neck.

Wait, are you going to kill me so decisively to avoid future troubles?

She decided to struggle a little more: “I think I still have some uses actually…”

Xie Wuyan glanced at her: “What uses?”

Shen Wanqing racked her brains and discovered that she really was useless.

So she started to babble: “…For example, I can be used as a pillow. And my stomach has grown some fat recently, it feels even better to touch, how about you consider it again?”

When you need to be cowardly, you should be.

When Shen Wanqing was cowardly, she was like a hamster, trying to hide herself and pretend to be dead.

Xie Wuyan looked at her for a long time, then spoke suddenly, with a cold voice: “Come here.”

Shen Wanqing took a deep breath, and dawdled towards him as if all hope was lost, drooping her small head, with a tragic expression that said ‘Do it, I’ve accepted my fate”.

Xie Wuyan pursed his thin lips tightly and stretched out his hand expressionlessly.

Then he gently raised his index finger and flicked her forehead: “Aren’t you a fool.”

Shen Wanqing covered her head, raised it, and stared at his eyes with a pair of watery ones: “Huh?”

“You believe whatever he says? Are you so easy to deceive?” Xie Wuyan laughed, then turned around, paused for a moment, and said lightly, “And it’s your own business if you want to kill me, what does it have to do with me.”

“…?”

Such a strange logic that feels wrong but seems right.

Xie Wuyan was too lazy to continue talking about this matter: “I will count to three, if you don’t come over, you can walk back to the Governor’s residence by yourself. Three—”

“Wait, wait, I’m coming~~.”

Before even a syllable could be counted, Shen Wanqing very promisingly rushed to Xie Wuyan. She lowered her head to look up and down before holding onto both his arms.

Then, she put herself in his arms, nestling in his body so he could carry her in his arms, and rested her head on his chest very comfortably: “Okay, let’s go.”

Xie Wuyan went silent.

As soon as he lowered his head, he happened to meet Shen Wanqing’s eyes staring at him, her big eyes blinking innocently.

It even seemed to carry some doubt that said: “Driver, why hasn’t the train started yet”.

Who is the one who has issues?

Xie Wuyan’s voice was somewhat restrained: “Get down.”

 Shen Wanqing choked up, hugged his shoulders tightly and didn’t let go: “You can’t go back on your words, didn’t you say you’d count to three…”

“See that sword?”

 “I see, I understand, I understand, it’s there to warn me, right?”

“This is for you to stand up and use the sword to fly.” Xie Wuyan gritted his teeth, “Shen Wanqing, I wasn’t going to hug you.”

Shen Wanqing: “…” This is very embarrassing.

The author has something to say: Shen Wanqing: What’s wrong with hugging, you little stingy.