Chapter 97.1
Editor: Sahloknir
At the top of Qing Jian Peak, Shang Lu and Qiao Lingyu carefully hid behind a tree, poking their heads out.
Ahead of them, Rong Jue, who was dressed only in a single layer of clothes, knelt in front of the door.
Qiao Lingyu stared at him with concern in her eyes. “Er-shixiong, Da-shixiong has been kneeling for an entire day… Could something have happened?”
Shang Lu also looked at Rong Jue several times with some hesitation, “Well, Da-shixiong is only a mortal now, so kneeling for an entire day should be quite uncomfortable. But he seems to be fine judging by his appearance.”
Although the two of them were discussing in whispers, they did not dare to go forward to beg for mercy for Rong Jue, who seemed to have made a mistake.
After all, when they did so before, Shizun didn’t show any reaction from inside his room. It was actually Rong Jue who bluntly said he had made a big mistake.
Despite their Da-shixiong constantly being punished by Shizun before, he was not the kind of person to confess to something he hadn’t done.
So when Rong Jue admitted fault, the two of them could only suppress their worries about his health and quietly keep watch.
This way, if something happened to Da-shixiong, they could still help carry him away.
In reality, Rong Jue was no mortal. He could hear Shang Lu and Qiao Lingyu’s conversation even if he was kneeling in the courtyard, he just didn’t react in the slightest.
The demon lord’s eyes were downcast. His younger martial siblings couldn’t see it, but he was using his demonic energy in the form of a whip to strike himself.
From early morning until now, Rong Jue had been punishing himself in his own way.
But what did this method serve to accomplish?
He had suffered too much in his last life. Even though the demonic energy lashing was painful on the outside, it did not make Rong Jue feel any better inside.
He was able to keep a clear head at the beginning last night, but he slowly lost all reason on the cloud bed. It wasn’t until he sat up in the morning that he saw what he had done.
It all seemed like a dream.
When he felt Shizun’s soft arm unconsciously lying by his side in a vulnerable position, Rong Jue couldn’t tell if this was a daydream or a nightmare.
After discovering the truth, after witnessing all Shizun had done for him…
He made a move on Shizun.
Again.
The only words that remained in Rong Jue’s mind after he was completely awake were: I am not worthy of being human.
For a moment, the demon lord even wanted to kill himself.
But soon, he remembered that Shizun needed him as the antidote to the Charm Pill. Without him, Shizun would die of shock from the pain.
Rong Jue didn’t even dare to die.
He wanted to atone for his sins, but he did not know what to do.
He could only kneel here numbly, letting his demonic energy whip his body again and again, using the pain to clear his mind.
—Squeak.
The door opened.
The supreme elder stood there, tightly wrapped in many layers with only his jade-white face peeking out.
He was actually fine. After all, he and Rong Jue had dual cultivated. Rong Jue’s cultivation was higher than his, so Shi Qing obviously benefited more from their union.
Furthermore, Rong Jue had still maintained a faint sense of propriety after giving in to his desires. He served Shi Qing carefully with 12,000% patience.
As a result, Shi Qing’s cheeks had a rosy flush, and he looked much healthier.
But in Rong Jue’s eyes, he could only see how much weight Shizun had lost in just one month.
And Shizun’s wearing so many layers…
That’s right.
Rong Jue’s eyelashes trembled from his internal turmoil.
Shizun cared so much for his appearance, but I left so many marks on his body. Of course Shizun had to cover them up.
When he thought of how he had even used his demonic energy to deliberately humiliate Shizun before, causing red marks to adorn Shi Qing’s fair skin for more than three months… How Shizun could only cover them up by wearing more clothes with such an embarra.s.sed manner…
Rong Jue wanted to stab himself a few times.
“Shizun…”
He heavily kowtowed on the ground. “This disciple doesn’t dare to seek Shizun’s forgiveness. Shizun, please punish this disciple.”
The supreme elder glanced at the kneeling man on the ground. He narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Get up. There’s no need to be like this. I have brought this on myself. It has nothing to do with you.”
Every one of his slightly breathy words tore at Rong Jue’s heart. He was in so much pain that his kneeling body trembled minutely.
Even now, Shizun loved him too much to blame him.
He had even taken all the blame himself for Rong Jue’s sake.
Shizun…
How could he be such a good person?
Rong Jue’s head jerked up, revealing his bloodshot eyes. His deep voice was hoa.r.s.e. “Don’t say that, Shizun! This disciple is responsible for everything!”
The supreme elder, however, clearly thought otherwise.
With a bit of self-deprecation, he laughed bitterly, “It was because I placed too much faith in the art of deductions. You have every reason to hate me.”
“It seems that you have not been affected by past events despite knowing the truth. Instead, you feel repentant. It would seem like that deduction was wrong. This master foolishly believed in it, leading to everything that happened until now.”
He let out a soft sigh, “These twenty years have also been hard on you. I thought I had to do what I did, but your pure and good nature remained after learning of the truth. All the things I did to you in the past twenty years were indeed my fault.”
Rong Jue knew what Shi Qing meant.
He had never even hinted at the truth. No matter how much the demon lord had humiliated him, Shi Qing had maintained his silence for fear of completely turning Rong Jue to the dark side after he learned of how he slaughtered his own family. He was afraid of Rong Jue going on to destroy the entire cultivation world as predicted by that deduction.
That was why Shi Qing was so anxious when he entered the Wei Xu Secret Realm and saw the spirit mirror.
He was afraid that Rong Jue would go mad after seeing the truth and end up destroying the entire cultivation world.
But nothing had happened.
Therefore, the supreme elder felt that he had made the wrong choice
However, Rong Jue knew that Shizun was not wrong.
In his previous life, he had indeed gone all the way towards that foretold ending.
Even before he was reborn, Rong Jue, who just became the demon lord, had already set his sights on the cultivation world.
At that time, he had only one thought in mind.
He would find Shi Qing, skin him alive, rip out all his tendons and make him die from the pain.
For a hundred years, Rong Jue had always used those thoughts to fuel himself when he felt like he couldn’t go on. Thinking back on it now, he wanted to slap himself silly.
He clenched his fist so tightly that blood threatened to spill.
Rong Jue almost couldn’t bear to imagine what he would’ve done had he not been reborn…
The him in the past, the him that hated Shizun with all his heart, what would he have done to Shizun?
As soon as he thought of this, it was as if the demon lord had gone back to fifty years ago, when he had soaked in an icy lake for three days and nights in order to raise his cultivation.
On the last day, all the blood in his body seemed to be frozen. He couldn’t move at all.
“Shizun, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was this disciple’s fault. It was this disciple who disrespected you. Shizun, please punish me, I’m begging you…”
Rong Jue heavily kowtowed again and again, his forehead slamming into the ground.
He had deliberately withdrawn the current of demonic energy protecting his body, so the impact was quite severe. Very quickly, that handsome face grew bruised and bloodied.
The supreme elder’s heart quickly began to ache.
He could not bear to see this child that he had raised in such a miserable state.
Turning his face away, he quietly said.
“I don’t blame you.”
Rong Jue’s head paused. He looked up at his Shizun with equal parts of surprise and joy.
Shi Qing spoke slowly, “Rong Jue, my wrongs were the catalyst for this incident. You don’t need to be so hard on yourself. Since everything has been resolved and your cultivation is far higher than mine, it is time for you to leave Qing Jian Peak.”
Rong Jue’s face, which showed a few traces of joy moments before, paled.
For a moment, he almost thought he had hallucinated hearing those words.
But as if stimulated, his violently beating heart reminded him again:
—Shizun is disgusted with you.
—After what you did to Shizun, of course he doesn’t want to see you again
But he…
But he wanted to stay by Shizun’s side.
His guilt or the love that had snuck into his heart prevented Rong Jue from leaving Shi Qing.
“Shizun…Shizun, please don’t drive me away.”
The demon lord could no longer think of anything else. All he could do was drag himself on his knees to his Shizun’s feet and beg him desperately.
“Shizun, please don’t drive me away. You can beat this disciple and punish me any way you want. But don’t drive me away Shizun…”
In his desperation, his blank brain finally remembered something else.
Swallowing dryly, Rong Jue looked up from where he was kneeling at the supreme elder, whose brows were slightly furrowed with concern. He stammered, “Shizun, t-this disciple cannot leave. The Charm Pill is still in your body. If this disciple leaves, what will you, what will you do…”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Rong Jue realized that his words just now could be taken as a threat. He hastily continued, “Don’t misunderstand, Shizun. This disciple is only saying this out of concern.”
With that, Rong Jue raised a trembling hand to cautiously grab the hem of Shi Qing’s robes.
The big bear carefully lowered his head and bitterly pleaded.
“Shizun, this disciple knows he did wrong. This disciple is willing to be punished. How about this, you can expel this disciple from the sect! But please let me remain on Qing Jian Peak. I can work as a handyman, as a servant… Anything as long as you don’t chase me away.”
“Shizun, Shizun, this disciple begs you…”
Shi Qing, however, remained firm.
Although his expression was somewhat heartbroken, he still avoided the pleading gaze of his eldest disciple.
“That Charm Pill…”
His cheeks became tinged with red, but he pressed on, “Although there isn’t a permanent cure for the Charm Pill, I can refine an antidote if you leave some of your blood before you go. It will be able to temporarily halt the aftereffects. If you give me some blood every fifty years, I will be able to endure.”
Perhaps it was because of how pitiful Rong Jue looked with his black and blue forehead covered in dried blood, but Shi Qing couldn’t help but elaborate, “This master isn’t chasing you away because of disgust. I am not very talented, and I only took you as my disciple because there was no other choice. Now that you have become a demonic cultivator and your cultivation is much higher than mine, it would be improper of me to hold you back any longer.”
“Furthermore, I am an immortal cultivator while you are a demonic one. The cultivation world and the demon realm are like fire and water, and no paper can wrap up fire forever. If you stay in Chi Yun sect, others will find out about you sooner or later. That wouldn’t be good for you, or for Qing Jian Peak.”
What Shi Qing said was reasonable and justified. Even though Rong Jue’s heart was full of reluctance, he had to admit that Shizun was right.
Chi Yun sect going after him if he was discovered was fine.
But if certain people caught wind that Qing Jian Peak was hiding a demonic cultivator, it would definitely harm Shizun’s reputation.
Rong Jue immediately thought about destroying his own cultivation.
Since a demon cultivator couldn’t stay at Qing Jian Peak, shouldn’t he just become a mortal?
But then he remembered that Shizun would need his blood every fifty years to make the antidote.
How many fifty year periods could a mortal live?
It didn’t matter if he died, but what would become of Shizun without an antidote?
The handsome man kneeling on the ground, his hair dishevelled and his forehead covered in blood and bruises, slowly closed his eyes.
In the end, Rong Jue let out a breath and heavily kowtowed one last time.
In a voice so quiet that it was almost inaudible.
“This disciple…will do as Shizun wishes.”