From the moment the clouds above the QingYun Hall began to billow, the disciples of the Palace of Bliss knew—their Palace Master had exited seclusion.
Just look at this grandeur, clearly he’d managed to step foot into the Calamity Crossing stage. From here on out, their Palace of Bliss didn’t need to fear anyone except for that old man in the Xuanmen Righteous Sect. Moreover, their Palace Master was even younger than him by approximately 200 years, who wins and who loses was still hard to say.
And so, in the beginning, the entire Palace of Bliss entered into a festive mood, disciples of every level pulled out their secret treasures as they prepared to hold a celebration in the main courtyard. That was, until they heard He Huan’s order to gather at the Main Hall. Suddenly, everyone froze.
M-Main Hall?
If they remembered correctly, within these hundred years, He Huan has only entered the Main Hall three times, right?
The first time was He Huan announcing that he’d be taking over the Palace of Bliss, slaughtering all those who’d dared to oppose him. Since then, the demonic side had never doubted his status.
The second time was when the newly established Palace of Bliss was being besieged, He Huan had stood guard at the front gates. If one came, he killed that one; if two, he’d kill a pair. Single handedly killing every one of the enemy side’s experts, hailing the Palace of Bliss’ current hundred years of joviality and prosperity.
If one were to say that the first two instances were He Huan’s youthful conquests, then this third time wasn’t that far off. Many years ago, the demonic faction experienced a rise in new sects who were dissatisfied with He Huan’s current attitude of nonchalance with regards to the righteous sects, only caring for his own pleasure, and so they banded together to challenge him. The result was, without a doubt, complete defeat. Even the leader of the rebellion, You Jiang, had sold himself to become the sect’s Second Enforcer.
Thinking carefully, these few times that the Main Hall had been in operation, it was the last time which was the only case of He Huan’s newly mellowed temperament ending things peacefully. The first two times, the people on the Jianghu would have trembled in fear just from the mention of those two events. Now, to once again open the Main Hall, could it be that He Huan was going to do something big?
While the disciples were still discussing spiritedly, the three enforcers had long arrived at the Main Hall. It was just that, even they didn’t have a clue as to what He Huan’s plans were.
As the most anticipated up-and-coming demonic cultivator, You Jiang was visibly more excited at these prospects. The moment he set foot in the Main Hall he began spiritedly, “These few years those righteous bastards have become more and more restless, could it be that the Palace Master is finally going to lead us in toppling the Three Great Sects?”
After signing a blood contract with He Huan, You Jiang had always done things with scrupulous attention to detail, it was rare for him to reveal his original personality when walking the Jianghu. Peering at him a few times, Xiu Niang sweetly opened her mouth, “You Jiang, why are you always thinking of such violent affairs, what if it’s just that the Palace Master took a fancy to some large sect’s young master or little miss and wants to bring them back as a wife, huh?”
“Nonsense, how would the magnificent Palace Master—number one amongst demonic cultivators—do something so trivial and tasteless?” Glancing at her, You Jiang had always believed that as a successful demonic cultivator, they should persevere and combat the righteous path. To have love affairs with a righteous woman was absolutely off-limits! Righteous men were off-limits as well!
Knowing that the moment fighting was mentioned to this person, he’d become completely useless in the head, Xiu Niang decidedly stopped arguing with him. Waving her handkerchief, she harrumphed, “Is marriage not a big enough deal? I really don’t understand you uncultured men, everyday thinking about killing this or killing that, it’s no wonder the both of you don’t have any wives.”
Qian Ren, who’d originally been standing to the side and wondering what was going on with He Huan, never thought he’d be shot while lying down. At once, his face darkened, “Talk amongst yourselves, why pull me into it?”
Knowing that he cared a lot about this matter, Xiu Niang actually didn’t dare to say more. She only laughed a little, and asked, “Then, what would you say Palace Master wants to do?”
No one had ever been able to discern anything from He Huan’s actions. When everyone thought that he would massacre the Jianghu, he stayed in the Palace of Bliss, drinking and indulging in other pleasures, as if he’d completely forgotten the past; when everyone thought that he wouldn’t move against the righteous sects because of old affections, he clearly killed those righteous cultivators without even the slightest hesitation.
After thinking for a while, Qian Ren was also unable to grasp what his shifu’s intentions were and deeply sighed, “I only know that once the doors to the Main Hall are opened, then someone in the Jianghu is bound to get hurt.”
Afterall, He Huan was still the most powerful demonic cultivator, usually jokingly chatting with him was fine, but once official business cropped up, no one dared to act like that anymore. Soon, the entire Palace of Bliss was gathered in the Main Hall and stood according to each’s affiliation, such seriousness didn’t contain even the slightest trace of their earlier frivolity. And yet it was He Huan who unhurriedly stood in front of his mirror, combing through the majority of his meridians before arriving on at the Hall on a fuckingcloud. Seeing that the crowd cupped their hands in greeting, he nodded before slowly sitting down on the master’s seat.
When he’d left his QingYun Hall, he was too lazy to change into a more formal set of robes, let alone put on any sort of elaborate hair accessories. Instead, he’d randomly draped a green coloured robe across his shoulders and picked up a bamboo stem on the way to hold up his hair. And yet, even with this unconcerned get-up, from when the Palace Master descended from his cloud to the moment he sat down, all the disciples felt as if their hearts had skipped a beat, silently thinking, sure enough, looking beautiful is the true way. Even if their Master has a random bamboo stem sticking out the top of his head, it was as if the bamboo stem had gained spirituality, why did it make the Palace Master seem so alluring ah?
In accordance with his position, the person closest to He Huan was the Head Enforcer Qian Ren. As he saw him arrive, he promptly came up and greeted him, “Palace Master…”
As if having long anticipated that he’d sensed his problem, He Huan didn’t wait for him to talk, directly smiling, “The matter I told you about before my tribulation, it’s done.”
Not expecting He Huan’s outrageous idea to have actually succeeded, Qian Ren immediately froze. Then, according to this, the Palace Master that he’d suspected to be having problems before, was really…
Qian Ren stood to the side, his thoughts tumultuous. He Huan knew that he usually worried a lot, yet didn’t say anything. Sweeping a glance at the people below, he leaned unhurriedly on the throne and smiled, “These past few days, while this master has been in seclusion for my tribulation, it seems your vigilance has relaxed quite a bit, hasn’t it?”
With this expression, the Palace Master’s smile felt like it was made of knives.
Knowing this meant he wasn’t happy, and that whoever replied would possibly be out of luck, the front row of disciples became anxious. None of them dared to make a sound. Xiu Niang attempted to signal Qian Ren to help them out, but didn’t expect this great murderer to actually space out at this moment. She could only lower her head and curse hatefully in her heart; sure enough, there was not a single reliable man in this world!
Seeing them all keep silent, He Huan’s smile slowly faded away. He unhurriedly pulled out that bamboo stem as his spiritual energy started to roll off of him like a blanket of fog. Lightly, he slashed in the direction of the Hall’s exit and all of that fog instantly spread, charging directly to the ends of the lines. Out of the three enforcers, You Jiang had the highest level of cultivation. He instantly saw that the Palace Master’s attack was aimed at those outer court disciples and immediately had a bad premonition.
Sure enough, without giving them any chance to react, that light fog instantly dragged out two outer court disciples. Appraising their get-up, He Huan lifted up his bamboo stem and tapped it a few times on top of You Jiang’s head, coldly opening, “For ‘Miracle Hand’ Kong Kong to be able to sneak into my QingYun Hall yesterday, that can be said to be the failure of the guards. Now please remind me, how come this Master wasn’t informed that even our outer court disciples looked so elegant?”
Even though He Huan didn’t use an ounce of qi in his movements, it was exactly this which caused You Jiang to be even more nervous, to the point where his entire body had a layer of cold sweat. It was only now that he knew that despicable thief snuck in again. He looked to those two youths without even the slightest bit of wear or dust on them, they clearly weren’t demonic cultivators. For two righteous cultivators to have been allowed entrance, he knew his subordinates had been negligent. He didn’t make any excuses, directly kneeling on the ground, “This subordinate knows his crimes.”
He Huan didn’t really care to chase after the matter of ‘Miracle Hand’ Kong Kong’s infiltration, for him to be able to earn the title of the best thief in the Jianghu, naturally his abilities weren’t just for show. It was just, no matter what, being forced out of seclusion ahead of time was still something unpleasant, which was why he even bothered to complain about it briefly. Just thinking about what it would be like to attract the hatred of someone with an earnest personality like You Jiang’s, it could be imagined that Kong Kong’s days won’t be pleasant for much longer.
Not saying anything else, He Huan raised his eyes to check out the two infuriated youths currently trapped in his cultivation sealing fog and addressed one of them, “Golden Core cultivation, according to your educated and refined appearance, you’re from the Heaven’s Library Pavilion?”
There were many scholars and literary men in the Heaven’s Library Pavilion, consequently, the disciples that came out of there were more similar to scholars than the typical chivalrous heroes of the Jianghu. Of course, they also inherited a scholar’s stubbornness and were very obstinate. Sure enough, just casually saying this one line caused the youth to explode in anger, “Demon, I’m ready for anything you can throw at me; we Heaven’s Library Pavilion disciples will never bow down to you scum!”
“This Master has said in the past, before anyone can enter the Palace of Bliss they must register under one of my Second Enforcer’s subordinates. Who was responsible for letting these two sneak into the Palace, stand out.”
After confirming his identity, He Huan’s gaze swept over the crowd standing behind You Jiang. His tone was calm, but everyone could tell that at this moment, their Palace Master’s mood wasn’t good.
“Well? Unless you want this Master to do this personally?”
Everyone knew, those that made He Huan personally address them, not one of their endings were good. When his voice fell, a fat man weakly fell into a kneel, crying as he begged for forgiveness, “Palace Master have mercy, this subordinate was tempted by them, it was just a moment of carelessness ah!”
He Huan looked at him, this man joined the Palace twenty years ago as a wandering cultivator. He was born with an ugly appearance and an abnormal amount of fat. One day, he’d passed by a manor, and it had just so happened that the mistress of the house had encountered a flower thief1. The cultivators who’d followed the mistress’ cry for help instantly believed that he was the criminal. Unreconciled with being framed, he killed all of the cultivators along with everyone belonging to the manor. Ever since then, he and the righteous side could never see eye to eye again, so he turned to the demonic path. At the time, You Jiang had pitied the man and seeing that he was literate, brought him into the Palace as a registration manager.
This person had a naturally impulsive personality, it was no wonder that even two children new to the Jianghu could manipulate him.
Hearing his wail, the Heaven’s Library Pavilion disciple was instantly angered, without thinking, he distinguished, “Nonsense! It was clearly you forcing yourself onto Lady Li and even generating lewd thoughts towards our disguise as servants! Brother Lin and I are honourable, why would we ever try to seduce your disgusting kind?”
“The Li family’s lady?”
Not knowing that there was also this occurrence, He Huan raised his brows only to see that person’s sweat coming down like buckets. The man trembled as he defended, “She was just a married country bumpkin, this subordinate…this subordinate…”
His expression already explained everything. He Huan reached out his hand to lift up that face that had become increasingly ugly due to his now glistening coat of sweat, but it was as if he hadn’t noticed the other’s appearance at all as he sighed, “That year it was others who had wronged you, but this time, it can’t be considered that you were wronged.”
With that one touch, the veins on the man’s face bulged as the amount of his tears and snot grew. “Master, this subordinate couldn’t take it anymore! Even if I had washed myself anew and acted righteously, no one would believe this subordinate to be innocent! S-since such was the case, I would rather have become a real villain—”
“This Master has never forced anyone to become the villain.”
Coldly interrupting his sentence, He Huan’s face didn’t have any signs of anger, he just calmly watched him, as if he’d already seen through him. “These few years, it wasn’t as if there were no female disciples who were willing to dual-cultivate with you, but it was you that looked down on them for not being from a good background. Now look, your insistence has made you fall into the tricks of outsiders. You’ve cultivated for so many years already and yet you still can’t get over your heart demon. Someone like you, even among villains and scum, won’t have a long path to walk.”
He didn’t continue to waste time with him. Using a bamboo leaf to wipe his hands, He Huan indifferently ordered, “I’m afraid that Li family is just the bait, You Jiang, check its position, when you’re finished with this piece of garbage, throw him over there.”
“Palace Master, spare me!”
“Shut up, trash.”
That person had wanted to continue to beg for forgiveness, but You Jiang had already sent a punch over before that. At once, all his meridians were broken. You Jiang ordered his subordinates to lock the man up in the dark prison, apparently preparing to first interrogate him thoroughly and then kill him.
His cries were miserable, but no one paid him anymore attention, only becoming more reverent of the person sitting on the throne. Rather, it was Xiu Niang who’d spat in the direction he was being escorted out of, “What kind of beauties does our Palace not have? To be unable to control oneself at the sight of a married country woman, and even bringing back two spies. Embarrassing thing.”
Using his awareness to take a sweep over the entire Palace and confirming that there were no more unfamiliar auras, He Huan finally relaxed a bit. It’s just, although He Ku had done things fairly cautiously, it still wasn’t enough to defend against some of these old foxes’ schemes. Thinking of this, he turned to the people and warned, “Since you’ve decided to stay in the Palace of Bliss and are under this Master’s protection, then remember well, this Master doesn’t like looking at things that make me unhappy. Righteous cultivators need a grand purpose in order to kill someone, but this Master is a demonic cultivator. When I kill people, I don’t need a reason.”
After just seeing one of the Second Enforcer’s most valued subordinates get taken away, how would any of them dare to be wordy? They immediately bowed their heads to express they understood.
And yet, there were always those few people who wouldn’t be able to sense the mood. Seeing that the matter got taken care of, Yun Ce who was standing in the middle group didn’t heed Sai Guanying’s endless hints to not draw attention to himself and unrestrainedly opened his mouth, “Palace Master, then what types of things make you unhappy when you see them?”
It was fortunate that He Huan knew this child’s straightforward personality and so didn’t bother to get offended. He mysteriously smiled, “Think a little harder, guess.”
Good, this reply, even Yun Ce understood it. He sighed savouringly, “As expected, very unreasonable.