Jiang Yinghe never suspected that the ‘hunger’ the gray-haired youth he had rescued from a ball of meat spoke of was not strictly referring to the consumption of food.
Qin Jun was lying in a room that was separated in two by a paper screen.
Jiang Yinghe sat together with Yan Caiwei. Many comrades came to express their gratitude to the duo for their assistance and guidance after they finished dealing with the rampant miasma in the area.
During this procession, there was a Primordial God level Zhenren from Yao Wang valley that assessed Qin Jun’s state.
“This person has an outstanding spiritual root that is suitable for immortal cultivation. It’s just that his entire body is permeated with miasma. Once a person has been corrupted by countless spirits like this, without vigilant correction of their meridians,” he sighed, “they would likely succumb to qi deviations and become a resentful ghost cultivator.”
These observations agreed with Jiang Yinghe’s own findings. He nodded slightly and asked, “Is there a cure?”
“To pacify the miasma, an elder of the Weakened Cave stage or above must feed him their spiritual blood. When this child breaks past the Nascent Soul stage by himself, he would naturally be freed from its influence.”
Jiang Yinghe immediately recalled how the other gnawed on his collarbone the day he rescued him. He must have innately wanted to return to the righteous path.
He nodded. Only after bidding farewell to the Zhenren did he turn to meet Yan Caiwei’s gaze, “What does Shijie think?”
In the past ten days, Yan Caiwei comforted many who were hurt and exorcised many evil spirits. Touched by her efforts, the civilians of An Province began praying to her as if she was a deity. These days she has been troubled over how to politely reject their eager offerings.
She sighed, “You need to let him consume your essence every once in a while if he’s taken in by the sect. Will Li Huanhan accept that?”
Jiang Yinghe said, “Then he can become my second disciple.”
Yan Caiwei stared at him incredulously, “It hasn’t even been a century since the first one. The people of the cultivation world will begin vying for a position at your side again.”
Jiang Yinghe looked beyond the paper screen and lightly stated, “This was truly a fated meeting between us. I do not accept those who are ordinary.”
Yan Caiwei thought about all the arrogant yet talented youth who had tried to apprentice under Jiang-shidi in the last thousand years. She then compared their current progress in cultivation to that Li Huanhan with the heavenly demon physique. She finally sighed in admiration for both Jiang Yinghe’s judgement and luck.
“…Is it that birds of a flock fly together?” She shook her head, “No matter who you take in, Zhangmen-shixiong will probably be too pleased to sleep for a night. But these two children, one with the heavenly demon physique, the other corrupted by countless spirits……An outsider would think that you were a humanitarian.
Jiang Yinghe rubbed his tea cup for a while, “It’s more like I’m helping those who cannot help themselves.”
The person in question woke up from his regenerative trance following those words. He shifted slightly.
Jiang Yinghe stood up and went around the paper screen to immediately be confronted by the steel-gray eyes of the youth. His features were sharp and defined, with a calculated edge in his gaze.
He sat on one side of the bed and said calmly, “Come with me to Peng Lai.”
His words were straight to the point with no room for interpretation. Before the other could reply, Jiang Yinghe added, “If you don’t want to cultivate the immortal path, your body will rot in three to five years. Although this road may be hard, it can extend your lifespan dramatically.”
In Jiang Yinghe’s experience, this was the most alluring thing for ordinary people. The ability to shake the heavens and move the earth were too far away to even be comprehensible for them, so concrete examples tend to work best.
But the other showed little reaction to this. The steel-gray eyes continued to stare at him like a wild animal or evil spirit with the intention of toying with their prey.
Jiang Yinghe took his silence as agreement. He looked down and slid his left thumb across his right index finger. The snowy white skin parted immediately to reveal a vibrant red liquid.
He offered his hand to Qin Jun’s mouth and softened his voice, “I was the one who rescued you, so I have no reason to harm you.”
The metallic eyes blinked once they saw the attractive red points. He licked his lips as both his currently weakened spirit and core were transfixed by the fragrance in front of him.
Blood spilled onto his lips as Qin Jun took Jiang Yinghe’s fingertip into his mouth. He had no shortage of dealings with those self-righteous immortal cultivators before his hibernation, but this was the first time that he was attracted in this way.
In his opinion, the inner conflicts of the righteous way were no less vicious and underhanded than those of their counterpart. There was no one as unblemished as the one before him. Others only spoke those pleasant, idealistic words, so how did this person have the courage to actually make them a reality?
Qin Jun’s tongue caressed the wound, secretly enjoying the exquisite beauty of this soul. He suddenly spat out Jiang Yinghe’s finger and shifted towards him.
Jiang Yinghe did not shy away. There was no need to be too cautious with how weak this person was. This was just a civilian who had just endured……
His mind went blank as the other embraced him.
He’s so desperate for comfort. Ever since he was rescued, he hasn’t said a single word about his parents. They were probably killed by the rampaging ghosts. Jiang Yinghe let out a sigh in his heart. If something this tragic happened in the well-adjusted and peaceful modern society, it would be pitiful enough to get government assistance.
Wait, what was government assistance again……? Jiang Yinghe had been in this world for more than a millennium, so some memories had faded with time. He was just thinking ‘this child really is pitiable’ when he was bitten again on his collarbone.
Jiang Yinghe, “Is your zodiac sign the dog?”
The person in his arms was too busy opening a hole over his sternum with his teeth to reply. He savoured and lapped at the blood that oozed out.
Although losing this much blood wasn’t life-threatening to Jiang Yinghe, it still hurt. He furrowed his brows and decided that he couldn’t be bitten in vain. Reaching out a hand, he patted Qin Jun and commanded, “Call me Shizun.”
The movements at his neck paused, and Jiang Yinghe could hear a throaty chuckle. It was strange because the other person’s facial expression never changed the entire time.
Qin Jun slowly looked over at him, thinking deeply about something. It was quite a while before he said, “Shizun saving this disciple’s life is something that Qin Jun will never forget.”
—-
By the time Jiang Yinghe returned to Peng Lai, the An province ghost city had been cleansed by the combined efforts of many righteous cultivators. A great number of resentful ghosts were settled, and the surrounding area gradually became peaceful again.
When the sect master Zhou Zhengping Zheren heard that he accepted another disciple, he was as happy as an old man like him could be. He even personally came for a visit, only to be stared down by Qin Jun’s unnerving gray eyes.
How was this child just like his Shixiong? He looked at Jiang-shidi as if he was a tasty piece of meat while everyone else was met with silent contempt.
Nonetheless, for the sake of building up Peng Lai’s future generation, Zhou Zhengping heaped praises upon Qin Jun. It was only after he had finished that Yan Caiwei deigned to tell him how this new disciple was corrupted by countless spirits and was even more unstable than the other one. Who knows when he’ll succumb to a qi deviation……
Zhou Zhengping looked at Jiang Yinghe who was wearing his usual expression. He managed to force out, “……This child must have other outstanding qualities.”
This was something Jiang Yinghe already knew. He nodded with visible pride.
But with his body that was barely patched together with spiritual energy, not even a shred of toughness or talent could be discerned from the gray-haired Qin Jun beside him.
Zhou Zhengping: “……”
Until he left, the Sect Master could be heard murmuring under his breath with a troubled expression how grim the future of Peng Lai looked……
Then Qin Jun established his foundation in record breaking time and slapped everyone’s face again.
Just two years again, the entirety of Peng Lai grumbled. Just when they thought they could get a few years of peace and quiet now that Li-shixiong was away leading the secret realm training exercise, this Qin-shixiong tripped them all up. Are all these Qing Jing disciples even human?
That last part was true. The disciples of Qing Jing Peak were not human.
Jiang Yinghe thought that this rate of improvement was a given based on the high standards of the system. Right now, he was staring at the second red progress bar, entitled ‘Jun’, slowly rising. Every time he shed his blood to cleanse the miasma in the other’s body, it would jump forward an increment.
Jiang Yinghe thought with satisfaction: it seems that taking care of the health of his disciples was the right way to go.
When he was evaluating Qin Jun’s martial techniques, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by his second disciple.
He normally spoke very little and avoided unnecessary situations. So he must have something to say this time.
Jiang Yinghe raised his head and guessed, “Is your foundation unstable?”
Qin Jun nodded, “Somewhat.”
Jiang Yinghe directed his spiritual energy into his body to surround his core. He soon found dark traces of miasma around it.
No matter how he tried to purify it over the last two years, the ghostly energy seemed firmly entrenched. Like a persistent weed, it grew back each time.
Jiang Yinghe lightly furrowed his brows while patiently extracting the miasma. He thought about ways to strengthen the body of his disciple when a warmth landed on his shoulder.
It was Qin Jun who had leaned over. He stared for a while at Jiang Yinghe’s snow-white throat before saying, “This disciple constantly causes trouble for Shizun. I……”
“Hush.”
Jiang Yinghe focused on guiding his spiritual energy to disentangle the threads surrounding the core. He then followed with, “You don’t need to feel guilty. As long as you behave morally in the future and become a kind person like Zhangmen-shixiong said……”
A kind person…… To someone like Qin Jun it was like an amusing joke. He was entirely focused on Jiang Yinghe as he finally figured out why he was so different from any other righteous cultivator.
Although he seemed cold and distant on the surface, he was mature and warm inside. He had almost infinite patience for others, and was a diehard optimist.
This was all the more apparent when contrasted with someone like himself.
Receiving special treatment from someone like this sent a rush of satisfaction throughout this evil spirit’s body.
He was used to Jiang Yinghe’s scent and comfortably nuzzled closer, allowing Jiang Yinghe to take out the actually negligible amount of miasma present in his body.
At that exact moment, the main doors of the Qing Jing residence opened, letting in the bright outside light and a black-clothed shadow.
Li Huanhan stood at the entrance with a thick metallic scent surrounding him. His clothes were ripped in several places, and blood was freely flowing from his wounds, down onto his tightly closed fist.
“Shizun.” a flash of ruthlessness passed through those red eyes, “……Who is this?”
His blood traced the gaps in his fingers before falling to the ground. The jade sword pendant in his hand was stained crimson.
This was the cold jade mirror stone found in the inner layer of the Tai Xu secret realm, an ancient artifact that had been preserved perfectly until now. When Li Huanhan removed it from the surrounding black ice, the entire secret realm dispersed like smoke.
On the way back, he practiced tying knots countless times until he perfected the sword pendant. Every time he glanced at it, his heart started to beat faster.
His selfish and possessive nature came out to play.
Alas, although it was spring by the time he came back, it felt like Qing Jing Peak was the epicenter of a winter storm.
Author’s Corner
How can I blame you for making a mistake when it’s my fault for giving you too much lenience?
Weather prediction for next chapter: cloudy with a 100% percent chance for drama. The second last sentence translated literally as monopolize and I immediately thought of Li Huanhan as Mr. Monopoly lol.