After Xie Shiyi left, the suffocating, ice-cold pressure retreated like the tide.
Everyone stood amid the peach blossoms, dazed. Once they left that feeling of terror behind, their emotions slowly returned to their bodies.
Their heads were dizzy and their limbs strengthless. They looked blankly at the place before them where Xie Shiyi’s figure had disappeared. Beneath the peach trees, a cold fragrance still seemed to linger, like a hazy dream.
There were many people within the mountain valley. At the beginning, their cultivation levels had been different, along with their personalities. But as soon as Xie Shiyi arrived, their status became unimportant.
In the presence of absolute power, they were as insignificant as the ants in the dust. Even their breathing and their words were ignored and governed.
Springturn Sect was a small sect. This was the first time the people here had realized the difference between the heavens and the earth, and the order of the weak and the strong in the cultivation world. This was the first time they saw the man who was truly distant beyond reach, the number one cultivator in the world. When he walked over in snowy robes, holding his sword, he never took a real look at anyone.
The only ones who were barely able to hold a discussion with Xie Ying were the three Great Ascension elders who came from the nine great sects.
Oh, and…Yan Qing.
When they thought of that love-struck, good-for-nothing lunatic, everyone had a complicated expression.
After Xie Ying left, Chengying recovered his cold expression. Just now, he had spent all of his energy shouting in front of Xie Ying, presenting an incomparably ugly appearance. He was in a terrible mood. He didn’t want to stay here for another moment.
Chengying said, “Young Sect Master, we don’t know how long the Cultivation Alliance will continue this formation for. Let’s find somewhere to stay.”
Yin Wuwang’s face was still pale. As stiff as a puppet, he nodded toward Chengying. He was the young sect master of Lightstream Sect, but he had countless outstanding brothers and sisters ahead of him, and countless excellent disciples in his sect. In the Southluster continent, it seemed all he had was his status.
His parents gave him treasures from all over the realm and unique martial arts, but no matter what they did, his cultivation refused to rise.
He was sick of the gazes those arrogant noble sons threw at him.
The heavens knew how much he wanted to become Xie Ying.
If he had Xie Ying’s aptitude, ability and status, then…then…
Then the people who looked down on him before would kneel before him, humbly prostrating themselves.
“Young Master? Young Master?” Chengying found he was in a strange mood and frowned, calling out to him.
Yin Wuwang was pouring with sweat. He came back to himself and smiled at Chengying, but the trembling hand in his sleeve clenched tight.
Chengying was at the Great Ascension level, so he could see at a glance that Yin Wuwang’s Dao core was unstable. He sighed and said, “Young Master, there’s no forcing cultivation. Each person has their path. There’s no need to envy Xie Ying. In the last two hundred years, he’s the only person who’s achieved Soul Formation in all of the cultivation realm.”
Yin Wuwang looked down and said, “Yeah.”
Chengying shook his head and said, “There’s even less need for you to envy his current position. The seat of Azurejade Palace Master cannot be taken by having merely high cultivation alone.”
Yin Wuwang couldn’t focus on listening to any of this. The golden diamond between his brows turned red, and he said irritatedly, “Alright, I know.”
Chengying gave him another look and sighed internally, but didn’t take it to heart. As long as the young master didn’t go seeking death with Xie Ying, there was nothing much for him to worry about.
“Let’s go and find a place to stay.” Chengying took Springturn Sect to be his own territory, bringing Yin Wuwang and a flock of Lightstream Sect disciples to Springturn Sect’s main hall.
Yan Qing helped his father up, since his legs had gone limp and he had kneeled on the floor, and said, “Dad, let’s return to the palace for now.”
Xie Shiyi had sealed this place off. Before he exited the secret realm, no one here could leave.
Huaixu’s legs were trembling. He was able to stand only with the support of Yan Qing’s arm. He looked at his son with disbelief, his voice quivering. “Yan-Yan Qing, what happened just now? Why would you, why would you…”
Yan Qing thought for a moment and said, “It’s a long story.”
Lissome Palace, Springturn Sect.
Everyone sat together, looking at each other awkwardly.
Only now did Yan Qing know that the round-faced disciple from Desireless Sect was called Heng Bai. He looked like he had a cute face, but his cultivation was already at Great Ascension level. He was one of the peak elders of Desireless Sect.
Ever since Xie Shiyi had said his words, Heng Bai’s attitude toward him had changed by a hundred and eighty degrees. He had looked down on him in the beginning, but now he was curious and afraid.
Yan Qing couldn’t stand how Heng Bai kept glancing his way. He let out a dark sigh and said, “If you want to ask me something, just ask it.”
Heng Bai instantly jumped down from the windowsill and said imperiously, “What relationship do you have with Xie-shixiong?”
Yan Qing looked at him seriously, and said incredulously, “How could you ask such a question? Aren’t you the one who knows best what relationship we have? You’ve said it many times.”
Heng Bai choked, and gritted his teeth. “Shut up! That was because I was upset with Chengying, so I wanted to scare him!”
Yan Qing said, “Oh, then you were right to scare him.”
Yan Qing shook the red thread on his wrist and smiled. “That’s right, I’m your Xie-shixiong’s future cultivation partner.” After he spoke, he raised the bat who was lying belly-up, snoring, and said, “Look, this is my and your Xie-shixiong’s love token.”
Trouble was sleeping sweetly, a bubble of snot coming from his nose.
“......”
Heng Bai’s face was cold. “Speak, what love potion did you give our Xie-shixiong?”
Yan Qing threw Trouble on the ground and smiled. “I, a loser at the third level of Qi Refining, gave your Xie-shixiong, the top name of the Bluecloud ranking, a love potion? I think you’re the one who’s swallowed a potion.”
Heng Bai: “...........” He was so angry he flew back onto the windowsill.
Looking at him, Tianshu put his forehead in his hands and sighed. He sat down by Yan Qing and said, “You knew Duwei from before?”
Yan Qing blinked and said without a change of expression, “No.”
Tianshu smiled bitterly. “Today was my first time seeing a reaction from Duwei like that.”
Yan Qing was curious. “Why? Because I offended him, but he didn’t kill me?”
Tianshu shook his head, the look in his eyes complex. “No. It’s my first time seeing someone who could offend him.
Yan Qing: “......”
Yan Qing: “Ah?”
Tianshu said, “Duwei never lets anyone near him, nor does he give anyone the opportunity.”
Yan Qing choked, and said, “He may have seen that I was an ordinary man, and let down his defenses around me, so that he didn’t react in time.”
Tianshu shook his head again. “You’re wrong, Young Master. Duwei would never make such an elementary mistake.”
Yan Qing: “What do you mean, Elder?”
Tianshu said, “What kind of man do you think Duwei is?”
Yan Qing was amused. What kind of man? Harsh, proud, stubborn and blue-blooded.
If he counted Xie Shiyi’s faults, he’d be able to write a book. But now, he was facing Tianshu’s expression, which said, “You’re too naive.”
Yan Qing lips hooked up, his peach-blossom eyes curving, and he said softly with a smile, “Venerable Duwei is like the clear moon in the wind, with a heavenly air. Everyone looks up to him.”
Tianshu’s expression changed to “Sure enough, that’s the way it is.” Then he said conclusively, “You don’t understand Duwei.”
Yan Qing pretended to be surprised. “Ah? Why?”
Tianshu said, “It’d be fine if Duwei were only the head disciple of Desireless Sect. But he just had to take over the Cultivation Alliance and become its head. Young Master, you know of the Cultivation Alliance, don’t you?”
Yan Qing really didn’t know much about it.
In his last life, he had just started to make his difficult way through the human realm with Xie Shiyi. They’d walked everywhere through the dust and smoke of the lowest professions, but they didn’t understand anything of the upper world.
Once they reached the upper realm, all they dared to do was look for opportunities in the Saintrest continent.
For them in the past, the Southluster continent was like a distant fairytale. They could only catch a glimpse of its beauty from the storyteller in the tavern.
He hadn’t thought that after so many years, Xie Shiyi would reach such a position.
Tianshu said, “The nine great sects created the Cultivation Alliance for the sake of eradicating demonseeds. It’s located in the Cloudream territory of the Southluster continent, and its main palace is Azurejade Palace. Even for disciples of the nine great sects, the requirements for entering the Cultivation Alliance are highly exacting. Those who are able to enter are all firm of heart and high in cultivation. In order to show their loyalty, once they enter the Cultivation Alliance, they’ll drink a deadly poison, breaking off their connection with the mortal world and entrusting their lives to the Alliance leader.”
Yan Qing: “......How scary. Why enter?”
Tianshu laughed. “It is scary, but Cultivation Alliance disciples hold great power. In order to uphold the peace of the realms, the nine sects and three families created a strict procedure. Especially in the Southluster continent, they set down a command not to harm the innocent or injure the common people. But the Cultivation Alliance disciples are excluded from this. They hold a power over life and death that has no bounds and needs no reason.”
Once he finished listening, Yan Qing almost laughed out loud. This was the “Do not harm the innocent or injure the common people” of the Southluster continent? Just what Chengying was? Just this?
The disdain in Yan Qing’s eyes was perfectly obvious. Tianshu saw it clearly, smiled, shook his head and said, “Yes, the cultivation realm is too broad. Even with the nine great sects watching over it, they can’t guard all of the Southluster continent. Wherever you go, you can see cultivators killing people and robbing them of their treasures. The Cultivation Alliance is terrifying, but it’s for the sake of facing off against the nine great sects.”
“Because no matter who the Cultivation Alliance kills, the nine great sects can’t interfere and protect them. They can’t harbor dissatisfaction, raise an argument or take revenge in the dark.”
Only now did Yan Qing stop smiling in scorn, his expression becoming a little more grave.
—They couldn’t interfere and protect them, harbor dissatisfaction, raise an argument or take revenge in the dark.
Tianshu said, “When a phantasm has yet to awaken, no one knows whether or not they’re a demonseed. A phantasm can appear in anyone. Powerful cultivators are a dime a dozen among the noble families and the sects. There’s a complicated relationship between the friends in a sect. So there needs to be a sword that’s separated from the mortal world in order to make a judgment between life and death, and uphold order. The Cultivation Alliance is that sword.”
Yan Qing pursed his lips and didn’t say anything.
Tianshu smiled and said, “I told you about the history of the Cultivation Alliance, so you should know Duwei’s current status. He’s the master of Azurejade Palace. If all he knew was cultivation, he could never have survived until today.”
Yan Qing played with the red thread in his hand, looking down in silence.
The demonic realm was different from the cultivation world. The demonic realm would never have these sanctimonious rules. There, it was full of evil disciples who had escaped from the upper realm over the last ten thousand years. Might made right, and death repaid death.
If the Cultivation Alliance really had this power to decide life and death in the cultivation realm, then there must be boundless danger awaiting the Alliance head, along with countless eyes coveting his position.
Yan Qing abruptly asked, “Can the Cultivation Alliance really kill anyone it wants?”
Tianshu said, “Yes.”
Yan Qing: “Before the Cultivation Alliance kills someone, won’t they first verify whether or not they’re a demonseed? Won’t they use a spiritual artifact to search for a phantasm?”
Tianshu was startled. Then he lost his smile and fell into silence, before softly saying, “Young Master, you’re still too naive. Searching for phantasms isn’t as simple as you think.”
“There’s many spiritual devices in the cultivation world that can find phantasms. At the yellow level are the sagecloud mirror, the soul-showing score and hundreds of others. At the black level are the pearlbeam zither, the blackstrange book and dozens of others. At the earth level are nine kinds of spiritual devices, divided according to the forbidden territories of the nine great sects. And there is only one kind of phantasm-finding spiritual device at the heavenly level. It’s in the hands of the Cultivation Alliance, and is called the “thousand-light lamp.”
“Phantasms are curses formed from the shattering of the demon god. There’s differences in strength between them, and the higher the cultivation of the person hosting them, the stronger the ability of the phantasm. For example, a yellow-level spiritual device like the sagecloud mirror can only discover a phantasm hiding within the consciousness of an ordinary person. Guess what cultivation level of consciousness the Cultivation Alliance’s thousand-light lamp can discover a phantasm within?”
Yan Qing paused, then carefully gave an answer. “Soul-Soul Formation?”
Tianshu paused as well, and wiped away his sweat. “You actually dared to say it. The thousand-light lamp needs the blood of a Soul Formation cultivator to activate, but it can only find a phantasm within a Great Ascension cultivator’s consciousness.”
The system of cultivation levels within the current world was: Qi Refining, Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Great Ascension, Void Comprehension and Soul Formation.
Tianshu said, “What’s more, phantasms are naturally tricky and strange. They hide in the consciousness, changing in thousands of ways. No one can guarantee that someone isn’t a demonseed.”
Yan Qing reached for the red thread in his hand again.
Tianshu said, “Forget it, you won’t understand this even if I lecture you. Once you reach the Southluster continent, you’ll understand.”
When a phantasm awoke within an ordinary person, the greatest change was just that their strength increased, they were irritable and easily-angered, and they devoured people.
But when a phantasm awoke within a cultivator, that could be a disaster.
They could destroy a city at the turn of a head, and kill a kingdom’s worth of people.
As soon as there was a hint of awakening, one must destroy it.
This world seemed peaceful, but in secret, winds were rising and clouds were surging.
Tianshu gave Trouble another glance; he was lying on the floor where he had been thrown, having changed position so that he wrapped himself in his wings while he slept. He thought at heart, “He seems like a normal bird. The phantasm within him doesn’t seem to be able to cause much of a disturbance, so that’s why Xie Ying hasn’t bothered to deal with it.”
Yan Qing pulled at his red string over and over again, almost snapping it in half. He felt Tianshu’s gaze on him, and the corner of his mouth pulled to the side.
He was even more curious as to what exactly Trouble was…
Trouble’s mind didn’t hold a phantasm, but his stomach did. And it was the phantasm of a phoenix demonseed that had caused the destruction of Zixiao, a Void Comprehension cultivator?
Trouble had simply swallowed it, and was living alongside it even now? Without the slightest effect?
…He was pretty damn impressive.
In fact, when he thought about it carefully, when they were in the Serene Prison a while ago, he himself was able to deal with the phoenix demonseed with only his Qi Refining cultivation level. Perhaps the most important element was that Zixiao had already dedicated his life to fighting with the demonseed. It was on the verge of death, so it didn’t have much remaining cultivation.
Yan Qing’s soul thread was able to enter the mind of any demonseed, regardless of strength, bind and destroy the phantasm. But he himself couldn’t ignore the cultivation level of the demonseed… After all, if the cultivation gap was too great, and he met someone like Xie Shiyi, how would the other party give him the opportunity to extend his thread into their mind?
His current cultivation—if you said it was strong, then it was strong, but if you said it was weak, it was weak.
If he was given the chance to sink his thread into someone’s mind, then he would be able to kill even a Soul Formation cultivator.
But cultivators above Nascent Soul would never let a Qi Refining cultivator get near them.
It was fortunate that this soul thread was a divine artifact, and anything related to the gods took on a little of their majesty. When he encountered danger, it was a pretty good device for preserving his life. He hadn’t fallen to the point where every step he took in the cultivation was a difficult one—not to mention he still had a heap of odd talismans and arrays.
Yan Qing was a little depressed. “I still have to cultivate more.”
In fact, Yan Qing wasn’t worried over the host’s mess of a spiritual root.
Once you truly reached Void Comprehension, and were at the final step before Soul Formation, you would find that the physical body, the spiritual root and the aptitude were all meaningless.
***
“S-Senior, what exactly is going on?”
Huaixu finally summoned enough courage to walk over.
Tianshu was well-known for his approachability. He looked across everyone in the hall and their respectful, curious eyes, stroking his white beard with a smile.
He gave them the story behind everything one piece at a time.
“A year ago, our supreme elder, Zixiao, traveled to the Saintrest continent in order to capture a phoenix demonseed. On his return journey, the demonseed wounded him, causing turmoil in his spiritual energy and bringing on a premature tribulation. At that time, he came here, and opened up the space above Springturn Sect’s valley, creating a void realm and going into closed cultivation. Who could expect that he would fail his tribulation? In his last moments, the elder hid in your Serene Prison, imprisoning the phoenix demonseed there, and silently waiting for his death. Afterwards, he met our friend Yan Qing.”
Tianshu smiled and said, “In fact, when a Void Comprehension cultivator fails their tribulation, it’s natural for their cultivation to vanish with their death. But Yan Qing still hurried back and forth, even finding the siftrain flower for the elder’s sake. A siftrain flower is an earth-level treasure, and blooms only once in a century. He was able to find one in a place like this, and even gave it selflessly to a stranger. One can see the kindness of his heart.”
“Elder Zixiao was grateful for his kindness, and gave him the token the sect ancestor had passed down to him. Anyone with this token can order Desireless Sect to do any one thing. Afterwards…”
Once he finished speaking, he looked at Yan Qing with a complicated yet gratified gaze. “I didn’t expect that Yan Qing would hold our Elder Duwei in such high esteem, loving him so deeply that his one request was to become his cultivation partner.”
Everyone in the hall: “......”
How could that boy be so shameless?
Yan Qing: “.......”
Why was this damn story so long?
After saying all this, Tianshu’s mood was completely different from before. When Xie Shiyi said “my future cultivation partner,” it simply made him feel like he had a new lease on life, and was even halfway to becoming an immortal.
Right now, Tianshu didn’t feel like someone had pushed their troubles onto him in the least. On the contrary, he felt like he was Desireless Sect’s eternal benefactor.
He’d found such a wonderful partner for Xie Ying. There was no way the sect leader wouldn’t reward him with his own peak!
He couldn’t wait to get back to the sect and see everyone’s faces when they heard about this.
Tianshu stroked his beard and didn’t let his spirit float away. He smiled and said, “It’s fortunate that Duwei isn’t irritated by our little friend either. This is truly a fated match and a beautiful story.”
This time, when everyone in the hall looked at Yan Qing, their expressions were mixed. Every emotion was there.
Yan Qing: “.......”
Yan Qing already knew how these people were mocking him at heart for being shameless. Ah, it was fine if he was being mocked. Back when he remembered the plot, he’d mocked himself as well.
Just then, a timid voice sounded. “Senior, did Venerable Zixiao have a violet sword on him, and a scar below his eye?”
Tianshu looked over and saw a boy who had a frail figure and was robed in white, with makeup so heavy that he seemed like a girl.
Tianshu smiled kindly. “That’s right.”
The one who spoke was Bai Xiaoxiao.
Yan Qing suddenly received an incredulous gaze. He looked over, and saw it was Bai Xiaoxiao. In fact, before, when he was in Cumbrant City, he hadn’t seen Bai Xiaoxiao. This young man from the Bai family had a weak constitution, and usually never left home.
Yan Qing smiled at Bai Xiaoxiao, but in the depths of his eyes there was only a cold, measuring gaze. Yan Qing didn’t really care about this marriage that was more like a farce. He was just quite curious about Bai Xiaoxiao. He was curious as to how this young master Bai had returned to Springturn Sect.
But in Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes, this look became a completely smug, scornful stare.
Bai Xiaoxiao’s fingernails pierced into his flesh. He glared at him, his clear eyes filled with shock and disbelief. His mind went blank, and he stood stock-still.
The token!
The token!
The token!
—Everything that happened today was because of that token?
But that token—had clearly been his.
He was the one who had saved Zixiao.
So Xie Ying’s cultivation partner…should be him as well.
It shouldn’t be Yan Qing, the one who everyone was praising at the moment shouldn’t be Yan Qing!
Bai Xiaoxiao swayed, feeling like he was about to faint. He felt so wrong a trace of tears glimmered in his eyes.
“Xiaoxiao, what’s wrong?”
Yan Jianshui, who had been silent and pale from the moment this farce started, was startled when he saw his fiancé’s expression. He reached out and took Bai Xiaoxiao’s hand.
Bai Xiaoxiao felt suffocated in his chest.
Just then, he suddenly heard Springturn Sect’s leader speak.
Once he heard the whole story, the sect leader was no longer angry. Beaming, he said, “Ah, Yan Qing it turns out that you went to such trouble to steal the siftrain flower in order to save someone’s life. Why didn’t you clear things up sooner? We wouldn’t have been so angry with you if we knew. After all, our Springturn Sect is named for how we can turn approaching winter back into the freshness of spring in a dying patient. There’s nothing more important than a human life.” He laughed. “Don’t mention the siftrain flower, we wouldn’t mind even if you took the entire pharmacy.”
Yan Qing laughed twice as well. He really had to bow to this man’s shameless attitude.
The siftrain flower.
Bai Xiaoxiao stood still.
The siftrain flower, it turned out all this was because of the siftrain flower…
In fact, he’d only seen Zixiao twice. Yin Wuwang hated Yan Qing too much, so he gave the siftrain flower to Bai Xiaoxiao in passing. He didn’t know what the siftrain flower was. All he knew was that it was a medicinal herb for treating wounds, so he casually gave it to Zixiao as well. From beginning to end, he never spent much effort.
It turned out that everything was because of the siftrain flower that Yan Qing stole…
—But what did that matter!
The one who saved Zixiao was clearly him!
The token was his as well!
Yan Qing felt Bai Xiaoxiao’s gaze once more. The corner of his mouth pulled back, and he turned and said to the crowd with an unhurried smile, “In fact, there’s a misunderstanding here.”
Yan Qing said, “When I stole the siftrain flower, it wasn’t for Venerable Zixiao’s sake, but for Yin Wuwang.”
The sect leader: “......”
Huaixu: “......”
Everyone else: “......”
Tianshu: “What?’
Yan Qing turned to Bai Xiaoxiao with a bright smile and said, “The one who truly saved Venerable Zixiao was this little shidi from our sect. Come along, little shidi, tell your story.”
***
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***
cela's notes:
2 hours and 40 minutes.
I'm afraid I have to give everyone some bad news. I hate to be the kind of person who drops a book, but as it is, on the 11th, I had the worst manic episode I've ever had. It was, by any measure, the worst night of my life, and I ended up going to the hospital. Afterwards, I had to reevaluate a great deal of things in my life. The fact of it is, my Chinese is at a level where translating a webnovel isn't much of a challenge. I'm not making any money, and I'm broke. I also don't even like this novel. I've been growing less interested in webnovels and fanfiction for a while now, and as it stands, Mistakenly Saving the Villain is the only webnovel out there that I would have loved deeply enough to translate. This happens every time I translate a novel. A dozen chapters in, it begins to bore me. The only thing that kept me going before was dogged willpower to finish my commitment, but if mere duty is the only thing keeping me going, that really isn't valuable enough to take up such a significant portion of my meager time. In the following year, I'm going to be very busy with work opportunities. So sorry folks, but this is where it ends. I've translated up to the twenty-first chapter, and I'll be uploading the remaining chapters in the next few weeks.
If you appreciate this translation, please consider encouraging me on Ko-fi! 💛
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