Chapter 101: Xuanhuan Cultivation BL (XVII)

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Chapter 101: Xuanhuan Cultivation BL (XVII)

It was nearly a month before Miao Lichen saw Hè Liancheng again. There was now a steadier air about him, making the man who already hid behind an expressionless face seem even more reserved. His slit pupils gleamed with the cold indifference and killing intent characteristic of his species, yet when they fell upon Miao Lichen, an almost imperceptible trace of warmth flashed across them as he respectfully knelt at his feet.

“Your Majesty, Hè Liancheng has not failed your expectations.” Hè Liancheng rested a hand over his collarbone, his fingers seemingly brushing casually across the golden phoenix tail feather marking. The black robes that had once covered him completely now deliberately exposed his collarbone, leaving the golden feather emblem on display at all times.

∇ Capture Target Hè Liancheng Favorability: 90.

Hè Liancheng lifted his head slightly, looking steadily at Miao Lichen without ever overstepping the bounds of etiquette. Snakes were venomous creatures by nature, let alone the Scarlet Serpents, one of the Spirit Realm’s most notorious tribes. He possessed considerable resistance to poison, so most of the past month had been spent testing medicines. The true trial had only lasted a single night. During that night, he experienced an entirely different world, his entire body consumed by unbearable heat. He knew that if he merely reached out his hand, Jiang Lingwen would place the antidote he had long prepared into his palm. But how could he ever allow those impure humans and spirits to touch his body?

His life, his body, and everything he possessed had long since ceased to belong to him. Hè Liancheng’s body trembled slightly, as though he could still feel the lingering heat of desire coursing through him, making him long even more desperately to approach the one to whom both his body and heart belonged. The Child of the Phoenix, his Spirit Emperor. He had relied upon the illusion he created himself to suppress the effects of the drug. His reason had returned, but his body still yearned endlessly for that one person.

Jiang Lingwen tightened his grip around his flying sword, lowering his gaze as a shadow flickered across his eyes. Failing to achieve his objective naturally left him in a poor mood, especially after personally witnessing another man cry out the name of the one he loved as he reached climax while completely ignoring the carefully selected men and women Jiang Lingwen had prepared for him. Even when Jiang Lingwen deliberately threw someone at him, Hè Liancheng still had enough strength to cut the person down with a single strike.

It had to be admitted that Hè Liancheng’s feelings for Miao Lichen were far more steadfast than even Hè Liancheng himself realized. That was hardly good news for Jiang Lingwen. Even so, having someone like him by Miao Lichen’s side would allow Jiang Lingwen to leave with some peace of mind. Once the matters at the Heavenly Sword Sect were settled, the only person who would remain beside Miao Lichen would be Jiang Lingwen himself.

Miao Lichen nodded and reached out to help Hè Liancheng to his feet. An adult Scarlet Serpent was far more striking than an immature one. The youthful softness that had once lingered on his face had been replaced with masculine maturity. Although his babyish features had not become rugged, most of their previous delicacy had faded away.

“Thank you for this.” Looking toward Jiang Lingwen with genuine sincerity, Miao Lichen opened his hand. Resting upon his palm was a single golden feather. According to legend, when a phoenix gifted one of its feathers, it was also giving its promise, an unconditional pledge to grant the recipient one request. Of course, phoenixes would sometimes also give their feathers to those closest to them.

“I don’t need any reward, but I’ll accept this feather. After all, it carries A’chen’s scent.” Jiang Lingwen accepted the feather and rested it in his palm, watching the tail feather sway gently in the breeze. His gaze lingered on Miao Lichen’s exquisite features for a long while before a captivating smile curved his lips. His voice, however, carried unmistakable sincerity. “To ease my longing.”

Slowly closing his hand around the feather, Jiang Lingwen turned to leave. His footsteps betrayed little reluctance, but the instant he turned away, his expression became icy. Bai Yuande had urged him countless times to return and enter the forbidden grounds, but he had suppressed the matter each time.

He truly disliked Hè Liancheng. It would be more accurate to say he detested him. Yet this had also been the first time Miao Lichen had ever asked him to do something. Even when Miao Lichen had still been his disciple in name, he had never once made a request. Jiang Lingwen had already promised that whatever Miao Lichen asked of him, he would do with all his strength.

“To ease my longing?”

A faint smile appeared on Miao Lichen’s lips, gentle as a passing breeze. From now on… this feather would be all Jiang Lingwen had to ease that longing.

Watching the smile on Miao Lichen’s lips, Hè Liancheng lowered his eyes, unconsciously tightening his fists.

∇ Capture Target Hè Liancheng Favorability: 95.

Leaving alongside Jiang Lingwen was Bai Yingqi, the young woman determined to help Miao Lichen through her own efforts. She had already bid him farewell the day before and departed with surprising composure. What she did not know was that this departure would be their final goodbye.

As Bai Yingqi examined the storage ring Miao Lichen had secretly slipped into her hand before she left, she glanced sideways at Jiang Lingwen. To be honest, ever since arriving in this world, she had never imagined she would end up traveling so closely with the perverted protagonist. Even stranger was the fact that he seemed rather friendly toward her. It gave her an indescribably odd feeling. The subtle respect he treated her with made her feel uncannily like she had assumed the role of a future mother-in-law.

The thought left Bai Yingqi silent for a moment before she cheerfully began evaluating Jiang Lingwen with the critical eye of a mother-in-law inspecting a prospective son-in-law. By the time she had mentally weighed all of his strengths and flaws, the two of them had finally arrived at the Heavenly Sword Sect. Yet something about the atmosphere felt off. The mountain range, once enveloped in spiritual energy, was now tinged with demonic energy .

The flying sword beneath Bai Yingqi suddenly accelerated, carrying them swiftly to what had once been the Heavenly Sword Sect’s forbidden grounds, now the place where demonic energy was at its densest. Two figures sat cross-legged within an enormous red array. The red light surrounding them resembled a vast pool of blood. The older man was dressed entirely in black, his eyes glowing scarlet as one hand pressed firmly against Yan Yangxi’s head. The dark aura surrounding him was so dense that it instinctively drove others away.

Seeing the scene before her, concern flashed through Bai Yingqi’s eyes. Yan Yangxi had never fallen in love with Jiang Lingwen, yet he was still destined to walk the path of demonic cultivation?

“Qiqi, you’ve returned. That’s good. Your senior brother has always cared for you the most. No matter what, you should at least see him one last time.” Bai Yuande knew his eldest disciple well. Yan Yangxi was rigid and principled. If he realized he had become a demonic cultivator, he would likely choose death to atone before the world. Yan Yangxi had always been his pride, and the pride of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Even in the end, would he still die to protect the disciples of the sect?

“Senior Brother won’t die. At worst, he’ll simply become a demonic cultivator. No matter what he becomes, he’ll still be my senior brother.” Bai Yingqi’s expression became resolute. How could Yan Yangxi possibly die? He might be rigid, but there would always be something in this world he could never abandon. She simply wondered whether this time… it would once again be Miao Lichen. Originally, she had never considered such a possibility, but with so many men now entangled around Miao Lichen, she could not help but think otherwise.

“That’s right. No matter what Yan Yangxi becomes, he will always be my disciple.” Bai Yuande gently stroked his daughter’s hair and sighed.

Righteousness and evil can never coexist. Even if he acknowledges him as his disciple, the Heavenly Sword Sect cannot continue to do so. The sect cannot stand against the entire cultivation world, nor does it possess such strength.

Yan Yangxi tightly gripped a cool jade pendant in his hand. The demonic energy within his body continued to grow, steadily devouring the spiritual energy he had cultivated over more than twenty years until nothing remained but pure darkness. Yet his mind became clearer and clearer. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that his soul was growing stronger. He even felt that if he wished, he could kill the so-called demonic loose immortal before him with a single strike. But he chose not to.

At first, the loose immortal had forcefully poured demonic energy into him, intending to use his control over that power to seize Yan Yangxi’s body. Now, however, the situation had reversed. Yan Yangxi was absorbing the demonic energy to strengthen himself. His Heavenly Demon Physique made everything effortless. The loose immortal had not even realized that the moment the demonic energy entered Yan Yangxi’s body, it had already ceased to belong to him.

The corners of Yan Yangxi’s lips lifted ever so slightly. On his usually expressionless face, the smile was almost imperceptible. Shrouded in black mist, it looked more like an expression of pain than happiness. In the eyes of the Heavenly Sword Sect, however, the image of their senior brother, who had stopped a demonic cultivator’s slaughter, became even more heroic.

Yan Yangxi tightened his grip around the jade pendant. Thinking about it now, becoming a demonic cultivator was not as difficult as he had imagined. Perhaps from the very beginning, he had never truly intended to waste his Heavenly Demon Physique. Otherwise, why would he have kept that bloodstained sword inside his storage ring ? Taking the first step himself had been the hardest part. Once that first step was taken, the rest became simple. He even found himself eagerly pursuing more demonic energy, yearning to become stronger still.

Only then, would he be able to stand on equal footing with Elder Jiang. At first, he had not understood why he felt such intense hostility toward Jiang Lingwen. But after experiencing life and death, everything had become perfectly clear. When death approached, the person he most wished to see was neither the Master who had taught him nor the junior sister he had always wished to protect, but Miao Lichen, someone who had seemed to have so little connection to him. At some unknown point, his feelings toward that man had changed. Perhaps… it had begun from the moment Miao Lichen saved his life. A life-saving grace deserved to be repaid with everything one possessed in this lifetime.

∇ Capture Target Yan Yangxi Favorability: 75.”

The final strand of demonic energy entered his body. Yan Yangxi slowly opened his eyes.

Before the horrified and regretful gaze of the loose immortal before him, he swung his sword. The pure silver blade passed through the spirit body, absorbing even the last trace of its energy. The loose immortal, who had existed for countless years, became nothing more than nourishment for Yan Yangxi.

In the original story, the loose immortal had been suppressed within the Heavenly Sword Sect’s formation for countless years before ultimately falling victim to the protagonist’s scheme, leaving him unable to display his full strength. He had accepted Yan Yangxi as his direct disciple, taught him everything he knew, and finally exhausted every last bit of his demonic power so that Yan Yangxi could survive the Heavenly Sword Sect’s siege. Now, however, because Jiang Lingwen had delayed entering the forbidden grounds, the loose immortal had lost very little of his strength. Yan Yangxi had also appeared before him as a righteous cultivator, causing the loose immortal to attempt to possess his body instead. Yet one thing remained unchanged. The loose immortal’s soul was still utterly destroyed. The path differed, but the ending remained exactly the same.

Rising to his feet, Yan Yangxi gripped the hilt of his sword and looked toward where Bai Yingqi and Bai Yuande stood before kneeling in Bai Yuande’s direction. In the cultivation world, a Master for a day was a father for life. Yan Yangxi would never forget his Master’s teachings. Yet demonic cultivation was perhaps the path he had always been destined to walk. Only by following it could he become strong enough to protect what mattered most.

Of the Heavenly Sword Sect’s two greatest geniuses, Miao Lichen had become the Spirit Emperor, while he himself would leave as a demonic cultivator. He knew what a devastating blow this was to his Master. Yet he felt little regret, only a faint melancholy. His fate with the Heavenly Sword Sect ended here, but he would remember its kindness forever. More importantly, the people Miao Lichen and he wished to protect were still here.

His gaze finally swept across Jiang Lingwen before Yan Yangxi transformed into a streak of black light and vanished from the Heavenly Sword Sect’s forbidden grounds. All that remained behind was the devastated battlefield and the sighs of the sect’s disciples.

Bai Yingqi, however, noticed the direction in which the black streak had disappeared, understanding flashing across her eyes.

‘A’chen… just how many people have you charmed behind my back? And every single one of them is one of the original novel’s psychopaths. If they really start fighting over you… will you actually be able to handle it?’

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