Proofreader: HappyBubbles (Everyone welcome Bubbles to the team~)
There are many reasons why He Huan left his seclusion early; first, he needed to let the other Enforcers know about He Ku’s identity, in order to avoid having his Yuan Ying poisoned to death one day by his student. The second reason was because the Jianghu would not remain peaceful for too long. It’s quite likely that the moment he crossed the Calamity Crossing stage, the ones outside will have planned a series of traps for him to step into. It’s best to rectify the Palace from the inside out first, just in case.
Taking care of these schemes was truly an irritating matter. In the past, he didn’t bother with things like this, he simply waited for his opponents to make their move first before quashing them down with sheer power. But now that He Ku was beside him, he had to think about all the possible dangers and plan ahead. It had been a while since he thought this much for another person.
However, compared to the days where there was nothing to do except for cultivation, this also had its own fun. If He Ku was in his position, He Huan wondered how startled the youngster would be.
Remembering He Ku’s frightened expression at QingYun Hall, the weariness that came with Jianghu disputes dissipated from He Huan’s heart. His lightened mood brought a smile to his face, and his tone of voice when speaking to his subordinates finally returned to normal. “You Jiang, go and check; if you find any suspicious disciples, just deal with them however you want. There is no need to ask me for confirmation.”
“Understood.”
With He Huan’s personality now, it was already a miracle that he was even directing affairs, there was no way he would follow up on everything. After thinking he’d intimidated them enough, he passed the task on to You Jiang. Just when He Huan’s thoughts were flying out the window, he heard Qian Ren ask, “Palace Master, how should we deal with these two?”
Turning around, He Huan realized the two righteous sect boys were still trapped in front of the Hall. The one wearing white saw He Huan and immediately cried out, “Release us now if you know what’s best for you! Otherwise, when my shifu arrives, that will be the end of you!”
Just based on this personality, which was even more rash than Yun Ce’s, He Huan wouldn’t really believe that the righteous sect had sent two fresh-into-Jianghu kids against him. They’re probably some family’s headstrong disciples who came to make trouble before even knowing the true extent of who they were dealing with. Anyhow, he wasn’t interested in giving face to his enemies. Plucking off two bamboo leaves, he flung them with a flick of his wrist, exactly landing on the two boys’ dantian. He’d instantly sealed their cultivation with all the effort of raising his hand.
The two boys were finally slightly scared, just this unthinking action demonstrated the strength difference between them. Although their elders had long warned them that the Palace of Bliss wasn’t a place that they could afford to offend, during the time they’d stayed here undercover, these demonic cultivators all seemed to be either extremely gentle or in a drunken stupor half the time. Where could they see the famed savage cruelty and ruthlessness? However, it was only after seeing He Huan’s strength that they finally registered that the one in front of them was a real Demon Lord. It was unlikely that they would be let off with just a peaceful death.
Sure enough, right after sealing their cultivation, He Huan weighed his now almost bare bamboo stick and offhandedly tossed it to Xiu Niang. In an indifferent tone, he said, “Although this Master had always pitied untempered youths, but since they’ve cursed at and scolded me, then just give them to the Palace’s female disciples as a reward. Let them have a taste of something new.”
“Thanking Palace Master for this gift!”
As expected, after hearing his verdict, Xiu Niang was unable to contain her joy. After catching the bamboo stick, she made her way over to the two youths, sticking close to their bodies. Looking at their handsome appearances up close, she grew increasingly satisfied. Coyly, she used the bamboo stick to trace patterns over their chests, her words flowed out of her mouth like honey, “Little brothers, don’t be scared, these older sisters will thoroughly love you to pieces.”
The righteous sect’s rules were extremely strict, never had these two been faced with such unrestrained behaviour. They immediately blushed. The white-clothed youth was even more angered from the embarrassment, he even forgot his elders’ careful instructions, unthinkingly shouting, “I am a Xuanmen Righteous Sect disciple, you demonic cultivators dare to touch me?!”
The moment this line exited his mouth, the Heaven’s Library Pavilion disciple instantly panicked. Just as the desire to remind him arose, he saw He Huan who was seated at the throne slowly straighten up and smile coldly, “Xuanmen Righteous Sect?”
Seeing He Huan’s face gradually getting colder, every Palace of Bliss member stared at that Xuanmen Righteous Sect disciple with an open gaze of worship. Not only had a Xuanmen Righteous Sect disciple dared to enter the Palace of Bliss, but to also have the guts to admit his affiliation in front of the Palace Master, could this be the so-called blind courage spoken about in legends? Or was it that those righteous cultivators all sought death like this? Them death-avoiding, cowardly demonic cultivators truly felt that they weren’t up to par…heh.
Sure enough, what He Huan said next had the Xuanmen disciple scared frozen, “Take him away and reward him to the male disciples.”
If they landed in the grasps of female disciples, it would just be a tale of romantic affairs, at most there would be slight PTSD. However, if it were changed to male disciples, then the ways they could play suddenly increased. Even later on, if this somehow managed to make its way into the Jianghu, he wouldn’t be able to get a footing anywhere. Silently knowing that this Xuanmen disciple had touched He Huan’s reverse scale, there were many disciples who pitied him, there were also some who were eager to try him, but none of them dared to say anything at that moment.
Seeing the Hall so silent, He Huan knew it was because they were afraid of becoming collateral damage. It’s just—whenever he hears that Sect’s name he would inevitably feel irritated and stuffy. Even as he continued to look at that youth, he increasingly felt those white clothes were becoming an eyesore. Right as he was planning to take care of such unsightly matters before He Ku woke up, He Ku did just that. At that moment, a half-asleep half-awake voice sounded through He Huan’s spiritual awareness, “He Huan? Are you here?”
Why did he wake up so soon?
He Huan frowned slightly. At this time, He Ku still didn’t have any cultivation and was also locked up in his dantian, it should have been impossible to be able to hear anything that was happening outside. It’s just that this timing was too coincidental, wasn’t it? Could it be that he was stirred just from the mention of the Xuanmen Righteous Sect, these four words?
He quickly looked at what was happening. That Xuanmen Righteous Sect disciple was currently being dragged off by a couple of robust demonic cultivators, instantly paling, his voice contained a sobbing tone, “Release me! I don’t want to! Shifu, save me! Da Shixiong1, save me!”
As if echoing the cry for help outside, He Ku’s voice also became a little panicked, “He Huan, why can’t I see anything? Why is it so dark?”
Knowing that He Ku’s spiritual awareness was not strong enough to be able to perceive what was happening outside, He Huan pressed his glabella to soothe his headache. Yet He Ku’s frantic shouts still circled around his spiritual awareness, not dissipating in the slightest. “He Huan, where on earth am I? Let me out!”
The first one to discover He Huan’s anomaly was Qian Ren, who was the closest to him. He immediately leaned closer and whispered, “Palace Master? What’s wrong?”
It was only after He Huan heard this questioning that he realized he’d actually revealed his discomfort. Without hesitation, he wore a smile again, “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that this Master’s conscience just woke up, currently it’s making a fuss.”
Hearing this, Qian Ren completely blanked. He swept his gaze over that lightly smiling face and couldn’t help but think—You still have a conscience?
He Huan didn’t expect that even without the memories of their time in this dimension, He Ku still contained such a longing for the Xuanmen Righteous Sect. However, when thinking about it objectively, it has never stopped being his own obsession either.
“He Huan, are you not here anymore? I’m scared…”
As the voice sounding in his spiritual awareness gradually got quieter, He Huan inexplicably felt his heart clench in pain, as if someone had used a needle to poke it. It wasn’t anything big, only something that could be forgotten with just the blink of an eye, but for a person who hadn’t felt pain for so many years already, it was very hard to ignore.
He Huan laughed self-deprecatingly. With his strength, if he didn’t want to hear, all he had to do was block off his connection to his spiritual awareness. At worst, he just needed to come up with some kind of excuse when facing He Ku. However, that wasn’t what he wanted to do. Instead, he peered at the crowd gathered outside the Hall and languidly announced, “The purpose for gathering everyone here today was originally because this Master had something important to declare, but now, this Master has decided it seems best to let you witness it for yourselves.”
“Palace Master, you mustn’t!”
The first to react to what he was about to do was Qian Ren, and yet he still wasn’t fast enough to stop him. He could only look on helplessly as the green-clothed Palace Master lightly closed his eyes, by the time he reopened them, that ungraspable smile had already disappeared. The worn depths hidden in his eyes were also nowhere to be found, instead he just kind of blankly stared at the crowd before him, then, as if he’d been caught off guard, he reflexively let out, “Holy fuck, what is this setting?!”
He Ku really hadn’t fully understood what was going on. Just a moment ago, he woke up only to find himself surrounded by darkness; he couldn’t feel anything around him and his feet weren’t touching the ground. There was an icy undercurrent flowing around him, a feeling that was like constantly being at the top of a roller coaster and falling down, the sense of weightlessness really did scare him.
Perhaps it was because he was only familiar with He Huan in this world, so he subconsciously called his name. It was only now that he felt it was quite embarrassing. As he scolded himself for being scared so easily, he took in this unusual scene and shivered.
Being a palace made from white jade, it should have been white and without any imperfections. He didn’t know whether this was just a designer choice, but every piece of jade from the roof beams to the jade slabs covering the ground, all contained thin patterns of red lines. It made the whole thing look like blood veins. Although he knew that this was probably the very precious chicken blood jade2, he still felt that the overall atmosphere generated from this place was very eerie, it seemed even the jade throne he was sitting on emitted a chill that found its way into his bones.
He returned his gaze to the people below him. Everyone was separated by gender. On the male disciples’ side, the one at the very front seemed to have a darkened expression as he gazed coldly towards him, the rows of daggers lining his waist and legs alone screamed that he wasn’t a friendly character. However, the person behind him was even worse, not only was he covered from head to toe in black, but he was also dripping blood from his fingertips! Clearly, he’d just conducted some kind of silencing. Not only that, but at the center, surrounded and held down by a horde of strange-looking buff men, was a white-clothed youth, just off to the side was a scholarly looking young man currently being held by a peerless beauty as he practically quaked.
What kind of scene did he just walk into? Although they didn’t seem rich with the way they were dressed, probably just outer court or guard disciples, but from their expression, they clearly weren’t willingly in this situation.
Fuck! What did He Huan do while he was asleep?
To find himself in this strange place the moment he woke up — surrounded by murderous, and probably somewhat pyrophilic, demonic cultivators — for a while, He Ku really wasn’t able to react to what he was seeing. What was He Huan thinking, throwing him out at this time? It couldn’t be that if he said one thing wrong, these people below him were going to hack him to death, right?
Luckily his volume wasn’t small when he said this line, so everyone was also trying to analyze why their Palace Master would say such a thing.
While everyone was unable to make heads or tails of the situation, looking at each other in dismay, at the center, Yun Ce suddenly clapped his hands as he wore an expression as if he suddenly realized something, “I know, Palace Master experienced a qi-deviation again!”
Seeing a familiar face, He Ku’s frantic heartbeat was slightly soothed. However, for both his expression as well as his intonation to have such a stark difference to the real He Huan, it was completely impossible to fool the Enforcers. You Jiang quickly assessed him, knowing in his heart that this wasn’t the Palace Master. Could it be a case of possession? At once, he turned towards Qian Ren and asked, “Who is this person?”
But who expected Qian Ren to have long known something like this was going to happen? With a darkened face, he replied, “The Palace Master’s conscience.”
Hearing this, You Jiang was instantly angered, “Bullshit, we demonic cultivators never had a conscience to begin with!”
His voice was very loud, all the disciples were instantly confused. This… did the Palace Master really experience a qi-deviation? Also, what was their Second Enforcer going on about?
The ones who were the most uncomfortable were probably the horde of male disciples gathered at the center. Seeing that the Palace Master was angry, the Second Enforcer ordered for the most grotesquely built disciples with extremely heavy tastes to come and carry out the sentence. Firmly making sure that this kid wouldn’t be having a good time at all.
These men were already quite pitiful to be labelled as ‘grotesquely shaped’, they even felt hopeless in getting any kind of pretty girl to dual-cultivate with. Now that the Palace Master has said this, then… should they do it or not? This sort of affair, to have been prepared to tear off their clothing, they were now being told to hold it?
Awkward. Extremely, extremely awkward.
Following You Jiang’s shout, an abrupt silence fell over the area. All of the disciples’ gazes gathered towards the person sitting on the jade throne above. He Ku felt himself becoming increasingly out of sorts with the uncomfortable atmosphere, not knowing what to say at all. He could only suppress his voice as he said, “He Huan? Are you here? I’m scared…”
“Don’t be, I’m right behind you.”
The moment He Huan’s calm voice sounded in his head, He Ku’s panic instantly settled down. Fortunately, He Huan was still here, so he wouldn’t have to be afraid of anyone here since they weren’t able to beat him.
It’s just that, he never learned how to be the demonic Palace Master to a demonic sect ah. He was momentarily at a loss as he asked, “What do I do?”
“Do whatever pleases you. Remember, you are He Huan, there is nobody in this world capable of forcing you to do something you don’t like.”
“Really? But if I just spout bullshit, wouldn’t they rebel?”
“They won’t dare to.”
Receiving He Huan’s guarantee, He Ku felt as if he were entering an exam with the answer key, instantly booming with confidence. But after further contemplation, although he decided it was best not to be too over the top since he wasn’t that familiar with demonic customs, he also didn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of He Huan’s eyerolls again!
Thinking this, he decisively addressed the most irksome cluster at the center, “What are you doing under such public scrutiny? Compose yourselves!”
End of Chapter 10
shixiong (师兄) – senior martial brother, so Da Shixiong is Eldest senior brothe