Chapter 20: Making Overtures

December 27th, 2022

Although everyone here had seen plenty of dead people before, the state of Ding Qian’s death was really too tragic. More than a few people’s faces paled as they felt nausea well up in their throats.

After a long time, someone cautiously spoke up, breaking the dead silence. “Could B-Brother Ding have encountered a demonic cultivator?”

Only a demonic cultivator would inflict this type of cruel and fearsome death, right? Everyone immediately quivered…… There weren’t really demonic cultivators nearby, were there? No way!

Just when everyone was in the midst of panic and unease……

A cold, crisp voice said, “It wasn’t a demonic cultivator.”

The crowd’s gazes followed the sound of the voice, discovering that at some point, Ji Fangfang had leapt down. The young woman’s features were heroic and charming, her expression calm and collected as she knelt down. As she looked over the corpse, she turned it over so that the side that was torn to shreds was facing the crowd and pointed to the bloody wound. Impassively, she said, “This type of wound is clearly from being ripped apart by a beast.”

Everyone, “……”

Oh, good thing it wasn’t a demonic cultivator……

As Ji Fangfang turned the corpse over, she pulled off its tattered robes, revealing the bloody gash on its back, and frowned as she analyzed with concentration, “The demonic beast should have attacked him from behind. Ding Qian was only killed because he had been caught off-guard, but the demonic beast only ate half of his corpse, so it might still be wandering nearby.”

The crowd, “!!!”

Everyone only felt a cold chill rise up from the bottoms of their feet, unable to help looking toward the thick clusters of trees around them. It felt like the demonic beast was just within, eyeing them like prey, and they immediately felt unwell.

As a Golden Core expert, Ding Qian had been rather well-known in Xining county, but even he couldn’t escape with his life. Now there was only a Ji Fangfang here, which definitely wasn’t enough to ward off the beast’s rampage!

The two Night Sky disciples were also a bit nervous, but they still reassured the others, saying, “Don’t panic, we’ll immediately send word to Elder Sect Brother Xue and tell him that there are traces of the beast here.”

After hearing that, although still anxious, everyone temporary calmed down a bit and warily looked around.

Fang Li’s entertained gaze swept past Ji Fangfang, and the corners of his lips rose. He suddenly said in a lazy voice, “Why was Brother Ding here by himself?“

The crowd was still caught within the unease of the beast’s attack when they unexpectedly heard someone speak. Seeing it was that tactless brat again, they immediately felt their teeth ache without end…… But thinking it over again, what the brat had asked really was a bit suspicious.

Before setting out, Night Sky Palace had instructed over and over that the demonic beast was dangerous and vicious, and no one should act on their own, so why had Ding Qian died here alone?

After about an incense stick’s time, one team received the message and rushed over. They were the closest to this place, and they happened to be Ding Qian’s teammates. Seeing Ding Qian’s tragic appearance, each of them felt endless terror in hindsight.

Someone asked Fang Li’s earlier question, and the teammates answered, “Brother Ding said he had to relieve himself, so he left on his own and had us go ahead first without waiting for him. He said he would catch up very soon, but he didn’t return for a long, long time. We went back to look for him, but we weren’t able to find him. Who would’ve thought that Brother Ding, he……”

So that was how he’d wandered off……

He was really far too unlucky!

Very soon, several more teams trickled in, including Night Sky Palace’s head disciple Xue Qingyuan’s team. Seeing that more and more people were gathering, the crowd’s anxiety was soothed quite a bit.

Xue Qingyuan wore a suit of gold-trimmed white robes, handsome and graceful, steady and collected. Although he was quite young, he was like a supporting pillar for everyone present. He calmly investigated the corpse, saying, “It does indeed look like what happened to the villagers before. This should have been caused by the beast.”

Now that Xue Qingyuan had made the final judgment, everyone’s doubts were settled. So it really was that demonic beast.

Although they’d known earlier that the beast was vicious and had harmed countless people, because it was speculated to be the auspicious Cloud Swallowing Beast, they’d suspected that the Night Sky Palace might’ve exaggerated their words for the sake of recruiting people to help. A small number of people even guessed in their hearts that those disasters had been fabricated by the Night Sky Palace…… but now, it looked like the beast truly was extremely ferocious. Not only had the Night Sky Palace not exaggerated even a bit, but on the contrary, they had understated things a bit.

This trip was more dangerous than they’d anticipated……

Xue Qingyuan pondered for a moment, then said, “The beast might be hiding nearby. Let’s station ourselves here tonight. But we’ll need to arrange people to take turns keeping watch.“

Indeed, they shouldn’t split up anymore. Everyone approved of Xue Qingyuan’s arrangements, nodding one by one to indicate their agreement.

Except, when it came to the matter of keeping watch, if the beast really attacked, the perimeter would be the first to suffer attack. For a while, nobody spoke up.

Fang Li squeezed forward from the back, raising his hand with a smile. “I’m willing to keep watch.”

Huh, who would’ve thought this brat who made you choke up as soon as he opened his mouth actually had some sense of responsibility. Even Fang Li had spoken up, so several people volunteered in succession. Very soon, ten people were arranged into five pairs to take turns keeping watch nearby.

Xie Huai and Fang Li were arranged into a group.

Fang Li peeked at Xie Huai with a bit of surprise. He hadn’t expected that Xie Huai would actually come along too, but thinking it over, it wasn’t actually that strange for Xie Huai to do so. As a righteous cultivator who eliminated demons to defend order, he couldn’t possibly allow a devil like Fang Li to go off on his own, so this was Xie Huai feeling uneasy and specially coming along to keep watch over him!

He had already lost his own freedom, and he was still worrying for others. One would expect no less of the glory of the righteous path, the protagonist shou!

Fang Li took his sweet time arriving outside the encampment. This part of the mountain woods was exceedingly peaceful. Compared to being within that group of people, Fang Li felt more content here. He freely adjusted his posture, leaning comfortably against a tree.

Xie Huai had always been silent and taciturn. He wasn’t a good partner for chatting with.

At nightfall, a cool breeze fluttered through the woods. Fang Li’s fatigue made him yawn, and just as he was feeling a bit bored, his eyes lit up.

The thicket of trees before him rustled slightly. A gray rabbit was nosing through the dirt. Fang Li suddenly felt a little hungry.

He narrowed his eyes and closed his fingers around a stone. With a whoosh, it flew out, and the rabbit fell to the ground with an answering thump. Fang Li walked over elatedly.

As expected, it was nice and plump.

He decided to roast some rabbit.

The first thing to do was to remove the skin and fur. Fang Li went at it for half a day, getting blood all over himself and looking incredibly wretched, but he still hadn’t gotten the rabbit clean. With a completely miserable appearance, he creased his brow in distress. Who would’ve thought that roasting a rabbit wasn’t actually as easy as he’d imagined……

If only Wu Yimei were here at a time like this.

Fang Li shook his head and sighed. He could only blame himself for not having any wilderness survival experience. His goals were lofty but his skills were low. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to have roast rabbit tonight……

Just when he put down the rabbit a bit sorrowfully, a slender, jade-like hand suddenly reached out from beside him and picked up the rabbit.

Fang Li turned his head, startled.

That was when he saw Xie Huai lift the rabbit expressionlessly, his fingertips white as jade nimbly flying up and down. In just a few movements, a rabbit that had been skinned clean was put on the flame to roast.

Fang Li watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed, then was immediately overcome with immense respect.

His impression of Xie Huai was a celestial who didn’t partake of mortal fare. He was a young cultivator who could survive on morning dew. Such a perfect, immaculate, lofty, unsullied protagonist shou actually knew how to do this kind of mundane work?

You really couldn’t judge a book by its cover.

From start to finish, Xie Huai’s clothes remained clean and spotless. Only his fingertips were stained with a bit of blood, but those were quickly wiped clean, in distinct contrast to Fang Li’s miserable state. He looked at Fang Li’s astonished expression, his expression dimming minutely.

He had also had his youthful, frivolous, rebellious years. When he was young, he’d thought that his mother and father were overly strict, and he’d secretly snuck outside to play……

It wasn’t strange for him to know how to do these kinds of things.

But sooner or later, people had to grow up. They couldn’t always live in the past.

Xie Huai closed his eyes.

When the day came that no one was around to be strict with him…… He was all alone and was brought back by the Ming Yin who had coincidentally passed by, and he was accepted as Ming Yin’s disciple because of his innate Dao physique. Ming Yin had high hopes for him, and he became Cloudbank Keep’s Eldest Sect Brother, vowing to use his sword to cut down all evil and demons in the world.

He began to do things in accordance with his position, becoming a model for the righteous path, shouldering the responsibilities that he was supposed to shoulder.

This was the path he’d chosen for himself.

Since there were those in this world who fell to the demonic path, then there had to be those who would protect the common people, or else if everyone let themselves fall, there would be no more peace in the world.

What about you? What did you experience, for you to make a decision like this?

Xie Huai pursed his lips.

Before Hollow Ridge had attacked, he had heard plenty of things about Yan Sui. No one knew where Yan Sui came from, but he was just a youth with an unknown name. Before anyone knew to expect it, he used thunderous force to unite the demonic sects. The only trick that he used to make that horde of reckless and willful, lawless and immoral demonic cultivators submit to him was to slaughter until they knew fear. This person tread upon mountains and mountains of bones to stand in his current position. WIthout question, he was cold-blooded and cruel.

But the person before him was always gentle and easygoing, tranquil and carefree, to the point that he had compassion in his heart…… Xie Huai had never seen him personally kill a single person again.

These were two utterly contradictory faces, yet they just had to meet within the same person. Why?

But in the end, Xie Huai still didn’t ask, because he knew that Fang Li wouldn’t answer.

Fang Li’s eyes were fixed on the rabbit. Although he’d eaten his fill of fine delicacies, this was something Xie Huai had cooked himself! In the whole world, he was the only one who would get to eat it.

Even if he told anyone about this kind of treatment, no one would believe it.

Because of what happened last time, the System hadn’t appeared for some time. There was really nothing to say; even if it spoke, it couldn’t win against the host…… But looking at the two cheerfully roasting meat in the wild, it truly couldn’t hold it in any longer.

【 The System reminded tactfully: Host, don’t you feel like this is a bit inappropriate? 】

【 Fang Li: Huh, what’s inappropriate? 】

【 System: Just, what you’re doing right now, do you think you two look like enemies? 】

【 Fang Li: Don’t we? 】

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【 System: You don’t. 】

【 Fang Li: Oh. 】

Fang Li lowered his eyes. Actually, even if the System hadn’t spoken, he’d also felt it.

That Xie Huai wasn’t giving him a cold face was strange enough, but earlier, he’d even pleaded leniency with him for the sake of the others. Today, he’d even personally helped him roast a rabbit. They really didn’t seem like things Xie Huai would do.

When things were out of the ordinary, something had to be afoot.

He frowned in contemplation. Based on his own previous actions, if one were to say that Xie Huai had forgiven him just like that, that was completely impossible.

Xie Huai sure wasn’t the type to be blinded by love. Strictly speaking, he was the only one in this book who wasn’t blinded by love; he was a qualified stone-hearted cultivator—a straight man made of steel that nobody could bend.

So it was impossible that Xie Huai was acting this way because he liked him.

Then the only possibility left was that Xie Huai wanted to lull him into complacency.

Although he was an emotionless cultivator who abhorred evil as if they were his own foes, he wasn’t a hot-blooded fool. On the contrary, he was a very cool-headed, rational person who could bow and bend and only acted when he had a plan in place. He knew how to make the most favorable choices possible in circumstances that were unfavorable to him, just as he’d patiently endured and bided his time in the book until he’d recovered his cultivation and killed Yan Sui.

Nowadays, Fang Li had replaced Yan Sui and changed the plot. His relationship with Xie Huai had been alleviated quite a bit, and they weren’t as at odds as fire and water anymore. On the contrary, they’d reached a superficial harmony, so for Xie Huai to express some goodwill and make use of his favor to make him let down his guard or achieve some other purpose…… That was completely possible.

Everything was completely within reason!

Getting along with a smart, rational person really was easy. If it were someone who cried and made a fuss all day and kept trying to kick the bucket, he would actually feel more awkward, but Xie Huai was the complete opposite.

Thinking up to here, Fang Li put down his worries, retrieving the cooked rabbit without any qualms.

Oh, it was roasted just right.

Fang Li was completely satisfied, his eyes curving in a smile. “Don’t worry, on the merit of this rabbit, this lord won’t bicker with those people.”

I don’t mind at all if you keep making use of me like this. As long as it’s not a question of principle, I can agree to anything you want.

I hope that until the mission is complete, we can maintain this friendly, mutually beneficial relationship.

Xie Huai looked at the man beside him. Although his appearance had been changed, those eyes were still gentle and clear, with a trace of craftiness and delight, as if saying to him…… Look, I’ve compromised so much for you.

Hah, it was clearly your own decision, yet you keep insistenting on dumping the blame on me……

But Xie Huai had no way of feeling even the slightest bit of loathing, so much that he didn’t want to expose him.

He recalled again that night when this person had suddenly barged in, helpless and startled and at a loss. Then, this person had let him control him, presenting himself like an offering, that posture of letting him take as he pleased……

The love parasite obviously wasn’t in effect, and that unfamiliar feeling didn’t exist, but Xie Huai knew clearly that that thing was still in his body.

Feng Yin had said in his letter that the Entangling Threads Love Parasite was the Hehuan Sect’s secret treasure, and it could be used to control others’ lust…… Looking at it now, Fang Li had never used it again. Perhaps that day had scared him.

Liking, huh……

Do you know what liking someone means? Did anyone teach you how to treat someone you like?

Just snatching them isn’t enough.

Only a child would believe that as long as you snatch the things you like, they’ll belong to you.

The human heart isn’t a thing…… But, perhaps you just don’t understand that, that’s all……

Xie Huai pressed his forehead, covering up the complicated expression in his eyes. He looked at the youth eating roast rabbit beside him. With that focused and satisfied appearance, it was impossible to tell that this was an infamous devil…… Who would think that the existence that everyone in the world feared, to the point that they were afraid to even say his name…

Sometimes, was even purer than a child?

Fang Li let out a satisfied sigh. Now that he was full, his mood was also better. He turned his head and found that Xie Huai’s eyes were lightly closed, and he felt a bit embarrassed.

After all, it was Xie Huai who had roasted the rabbit, but he hadn’t even had a bite.

Forget it, he could count as having given payment, right?

Fang Li lifted his head and looked at the sky. It was already past the zi hour.1 In two more shichen, it would start to get bright. The corners of his lips hooked up.

Although he’d promised Xie Huai not to make things difficult for those people, teasing them a bit shouldn’t be breaking his promise, right?

………………………………………

Under the Night Sky Palace disciples’ guidance, the crowd quickly set up camp. They had all been searching in the mountains for several days, and they were all a bit tired. Plus, with the scare they’d suffered earlier that day, by now, most people were already resting. The encampment was completely still, the moon bright and the stars sparse, and there was only the occasional sound of the wind blowing past.

In the midst of the tranquility, a sharp sound suddenly arose, tearing through the peace in a split second.

Everyone rushed out of their tents in a panic and saw a youth covered in blood, staggering over in a hurry.

That, that looked like that brat from the Heavy Snow Sect who could choke you to death just by opening his mouth. What was going on, had he been attacked by the demonic beast?

Everyone looked behind Fang Li warily, quickly assuming defensive stances.

A couple of Night Sky Palace disciples rushed over, hurriedly asking Fang Li, “What happened? Was the beast the one who attacked you? Is it pursuing you?”

Fang Li shook his head, his face white, saying in a voice that sounded like his panic had yet to settle, “I-It wasn’t the beast…… The one who attacked me was, was a demonic cultivator!”

What?!

A demonic cultivator?!

So, not only is there a ferocious demonic beast here, but there really are demonic cultivators? Wasn’t this too unlucky, too nonsensical! Some people started to regret coming. Although it was said that wealth was found amidst danger, you still needed your life to possess it.

The Night Sky Palace disciple’s expressions changed slightly, and he said in a heavy voice, “Did you see the person who attacked you clearly? How can you be sure it was a demonic cultivator?”

Fang Li said, “That person looked extremely ugly and unusually fierce. It must be that devil from Hollow Ridge!”

The Night Sky Palace’s face turned black, and he yelled angrily, “Don’t talk nonsense. If it really was that devil, how could you come back alive?”

“It should be that he let me come back on purpose. They say that that devil likes nothing more than to play tricks on people. He probably thought it was no fun to kill me right away……” Fang Li paused. His eyes held a meaningful look, but his voice was completely innocent as he slowly said, “Besides, you were all saying that this is a scheme of that devil from Hollow Ridge. Didn’t you already expect that demonic cultivators would appear? Why are you so surprised?”

The scene immediately fell silent.

A-Although that was the case, we were only running their mouths! Who knew that demonic cultivators would really show up!

It’s not like if we say that Yuyi-jun is here, Yuyi-jun would really immediately show up? How come a brash little brat like you just can’t understand how to adapt to the circumstances!

But Fang Li seemed unable to perceive everyone’s alarm, adding in a nervous voice, “Besides, I, I saw that demonic cultivator heading towards this encampment, so I gave it my all to come back and report. Did any of you see any traces of that demonic cultivator?”

What? He was heading over here?!

Everyone’s faces drained of color in fright. But they clearly hadn’t seen anything at all!

Fang Li looked left and right all around him, his expression grave as he said, “It can’t be that that devil is hiding among us?”

The crowd: …… We’re begging you, stop talking, that’s even scarier!

Xue Qingyuan arrived at the scene a step late. As soon as he arrived, he heard Fang Li say that a demonic cultivator had come, and seeing the crowd reveal terrified, wavering expressions, he frowned. He crossed through the crowd, his tone gentle and calm as he reassured, “No need to panic, everyone. A defensive array has been set up around the encampment. As soon as someone enters, it will immediately be triggered. There’s no way it wouldn’t have been discovered. Perhaps this young brother was mistaken.”

But Fang Li still shook his head, refusing to give in. “I definitely wasn’t mistaken. He really did head in this direction.”

Xue Qingyuan’s expression was solemn as he said, “You experienced a fright, and you came back in a hurry. It’s not impossible that you saw incorrectly. Right, where’s your partner?”

Fang Li narrowed his eyes.

Xie Huai was standing silently to one side. The clothes that had still been clean when he’d been skinning the rabbit were currently covered with bloody handprints.

Fang Li pretended not to see, turning his eyes to the side.

Xue Qingyuan looked at Xie Huai and muttered to himself for a second, then slowly spoke up. “This Dao friend over here, did you also see that demonic cultivator?”

………………………………………

The Author Has Something to Say:

Fang Li: Do you know what the so-called straight man’s thought process is?

Xie Huai: ……

………………………………………

1About midnight (~11-1)

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