Inside a secluded valley deep in the mountains of Northern You Prefecture, Ye Que and Ye Yunhai stood ten meters away from each other.
"I can choose whatever path to go on, be it the Devil"s Practice or the Orthodox cultivation. What does it have to do with you? Who the h.e.l.l are you? What right do you have to lecture me?" Ye Yunhai was looking at Ye Que with a resentful expression. It was as if he was staring at something filthy. "You keep bringing up the old Ye family. Have you returned to acknowledge your ancestors? Is your name listed in our ancestral records?"
Frowning, Ye Que said nothing.
"I"ve seen the records. The name "Ye Que" isn"t there at all, only my name "Ye Yunhai". That makes me the Young Master of the General"s Manor. You"re just a poor country b.u.mpkin. Even if you became a cultivator through dumb luck, it doesn"t change that fact. You"ll forever be an illegitimate child and a bane. That"s the fate you"re born with."
Ye Yunhai"s every word to Ye Que was neither laced with insults nor curses, but every word carried a deep sense of humiliation.
When he first returned to his youth and met Ye Yunhai for the first time in Luoyang City, the latter had ruthlessly humiliated him. Every time they met afterward, Ye Yunhai seemed to carry an immense hatred for him.
It was as if Ye Que"s existence was his greatest threat.
The truth was that Ye Que had never thought of fighting with him for anything.
His wish was to fulfill his mother"s dream. He simply wanted her to rest in peace. Even if he had truly put his name on the ancestral records, he wouldn"t have obstructed Ye Yunhai and fight him for anything. To be honest, Ye Que wasn"t interested in anything the General"s Manor and Ye Zhengru could give him. He was working hard to comprehend the Natural Law. To him, the vulgar world was nothing but smoke in the air.
While he understood this, Ye Yunhai didn"t and bore a deep grudge against him. His was a subconscious kind of deep hatred and rejection. Since young, he was on the receiving end of all the affection of the General"s Manor household, Ye Zhengru, and Xiao Huating. He was unwilling to share no matter what, not even in the slightest.
"I have never thought of fighting you for anything," Ye Que said serenely as he stared at Ye Yunhai.
"You can"t win even if you want to! You"re a dreamer if you think otherwise!" Ye Yunhai glared at him.
"Do you resent me that much? I have never harmed you." Ye Que felt a little helpless.
"I just don"t want to see you. I"ll never be at ease as long as you"re alive." Ye Yunhai was completely straightforward with his true thoughts.
"I"m living my life and you"re living yours. There"s no connection at all. Moreover, what you will get from betraying all 200,000 soldiers of the Ye Army to the Devil Race? You"ll just lose the General"s Manor. The entire Ye family will die because of this." Ye Que sounded as calm as ever. It was as if he was just an observer.
"We were the ones who feed them. Whether they die or live is my decision. And hadn"t you already seen at the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder what I"d get? You"re a cultivator, as am I. The only difference is that I"m cultivating the Devil"s Practice. You all believe the Devil"s Practice to be evil, but that"s just your ignorance of the Lord"s greatness." He continued, "The world needs to change. For change to occur, blood will have to spill. This is all worth it. The new world will only be better and we will be its pioneers." Ye Yunhai reached out and pointed to Ye Que.
"Now that you"ve seen the truth, you"ll have to die." Ye Yunhai glanced at Ye Que and then shifted his gaze to Red Bean. He smiled. "You should thank me for granting you death alongside your lover."
Ye Yunhai misunderstood Red Bean to be Ye Que"s lover.
"You have quite a good taste. She"s pretty cute. Look at those long legs, large eyes, and cascading hair. What a pity; she"ll have to follow you down to the underworld."
On the basis of his Half-step Formless Realm devil cultivation, Ye Yunhai p.r.o.nounced death sentences for Ye Que and the rest in advance.
The disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder couldn"t escape either. Having just gained power and strong demonic powers at that, his three energies were nearly at their peak. In his eyes, everyone was beneath him now.
Thus, Ye Yunhai remained very calm. His calmness was the calmness of a person who believed that victory was firmly within grasp. He was so calm that he seemed unbridled and egotistical to others. The others thought, "We"re still here standing. Did you think we have already dropped dead?"
Ye Que hesitated. He said nothing and seemed deep in thought. Red Bean, who had been standing behind him all along, spoke instead.
She patted Ye Que on the shoulder. "What does he mean, calling me a lover? Is he scolding me?"
"Why did he call me your lover?"
"Was he commenting on my physique earlier? To humans like you, are such comments considered praise or mockery?"
Ye Que looked awkward after hearing her questions. He didn"t even know how to reply. He opened his mouth, but no words came.
Red Bean gave Ye Que a confused look.
She pointed to Ye Yunhai. "Were you scolding me earlier?"
Ye Yunhai was surprised to find her pointing to him. She was already at death"s door and yet she still had the mood to worry about these things. Didn"t she see that the female disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder were so frightened that their soul had already left their body?
Instead of answering Red Bean"s question, Ye Yunhai gave her a look. The look seemed to be saying, "Are you an idiot?"
"I asked you a question! Were you scolding me earlier?" Red Bean asked again.
Ye Yunhai still wouldn"t look at her. To him, Red Bean was just a pretty girl who happened to be Ye Que"s woman. He wasn"t interested in Ye Que, much less Ye Que"s woman.
There was another layer to that look earlier: "When a man is talking, a woman should keep quiet!"
When Red Bean questioned him for the third time, he began to lose his patience. He frowned and said impatiently, "I"m not scolding you, okay? I"m scolding him. Go to that side. This doesn"t concern you."
"When men talk, women should step aside!"
The moment these words left Ye Yunhai"s words, both Ye Que and Red Bean turned ashen.
Red Bean looked at Ye Que icily before pointing to Ye Yunhai. "Which is it? You can"t defeat him or you don"t want to fight him?"
Without waiting for an answer, she added, "If you can"t defeat him, then step aside."
"If you don"t want to fight him, you should"ve told me earlier."
"I"ll do it for you!"
"I can"t understand human conversations very well; often it sounds right but isn"t. But I"m not a fool."
She paused for a moment before saying in a quiet voice, "And I can tell that he"s not humiliating me, but you. Just because you don"t resist doesn"t mean you don"t care."
Ye Que raised his head, wanting to explain himself, but Red Bean lifted a hand to stop him. "You don"t have to explain anything."
"I"m not interested in listening."
She pointed to a nearby spot and said, "Stand there and don"t move. Watch properly."
"What are you doing?" Ye Que asked in confusion.
"Wanna know? Give me a little smile." To his surprise, Red Bean was still in the mood to joke around at a time like this and tease Ye Que like a female warrior in the stories.
"Give me a little smile and I"ll tell you."
Ye Que gave her a look saying, "You"ve gone mad." He received a glare from Red Bean as she said, "No fun at all."
Then, Red Bean really did as she said and dragged Ye Que to stand behind a boulder several tens of meters away. She also waved at Guan Shuheng, indicating him to carry Lei Tianyou further away.
Ye Yunhai was befuddled. Was this white-clothed girl going to battle him? Even after carefully looking her over from head to toe, he couldn"t feel even a shred of True Energy fluctuation in her. Her manner, however, didn"t seem to belong to a lunatic. Could she truly be some sort of expert? This sparked an interest in him. Besides, all the young disciples who escaped from the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder were in this valley anyway.
He signaled the people behind him with his clasped hands behind his back. They understood him tacitly. Immediately, a few people began to move and blockade the valley entrance.
Ye Que frowned after seeing Ye Yunhai"s arrangements but said nothing. He was more curious to see what Red Bean would do next.
After putting everything into order, Red Bean turned around and slowly walked toward Ye Yunhai. She stopped when she was more than ten meters away from him, stood straight, and took out the large black umbrella that she carried with her everywhere. The ribs of the umbrella had turned long and narrow after the unnatural change it underwent in the ley lines of sovereignty in the Imperial Mausoleum. The canopy was wrapped up neatly around the body of the umbrella. The umbrella that used to be the length of an arm now seemed longer than the typical pike.
Rather than an umbrella, one looking at it from afar would mistake it as a club.
A black club.
She straightened her back and gripped the handle of the umbrella. Even though her gaze was on Ye Yunhai, her finger pointed to Ye Que instead. "You can scold me, but not him."
"I"ll get mad if you scold him."
"Very, very mad."
Ye Yunhai didn"t comment. He shrugged his shoulders in a manner of saying, "What can you do about it?"
"How annoying. I wanted him to carry me for a few more days," Red Bean muttered to herself in annoyance.
Making a light stamp with her foot, she then flung her large black umbrella into the air. Simultaneously, she turned her head to glance at Ye Que. "You"ve carried me for so many days. Let me first repay the interest."
"You probably have your reasons for not wanting to fight him, but I don"t give a d.a.m.n."
"Moreover, I"m not willing to see others humiliate you. It upsets me."
Her long hair used to be draped over her shoulders, but ever since Ye Que gathered them into a strange ponytail, she never changed her hairstyle again. Right now, her ponytail was swaying in the air. Her aura also began to skyrocket in the blink of an eye.
Just moments ago, she was an ordinary girl.
Now, she had leaped over the Pre-celestial Realm to enter the Psychic Realm. After inhaling and exhaling, she entered the Starburst Realm. She stamped her right foot and soared into the sky.
The black umbrella fell into her grasp. The moment her hand touched the handle of the umbrella, starlights scattered and turned formless.
Her hand was tightly wrapped around the handle of the umbrella, whose canopy was surrounded by a string of raging flames. Behind her, True Energy exploded. Out came a gigantic Spiritual Force totem.
The Spiritual Force fluctuated and shifted. When it turned over, it transformed into a Divine Dragon with an entirely black body.
The head of the dragon faced Ye Yunhai while its tail spiraled under Red Bean"s feet.
She used her black umbrella as a club.
She swung it hard downward.
Her attack seemed to hit the air.
However, Ye Yunhai and the ten more devil cultivators in the valley turned pale. They tried their best to rapidly retreat and run far away.
Then, a crack of several meters wide began splitting open the ground at a speed observable by the naked eye. Dust flew everywhere amid sounds of thunder. The black dragon formed out of Spiritual Force behind Red Bean emitted a dragon"s roar and lunged fiercely at Ye Yunhai.
"Is it smoke and fire or firecrackers this time?"
Following Ye Que"s trick earlier, people were indeed doubting the authenticity of this black dragon. However, suspecting was one thing. Who would dare test their theory?
Even if others would test it, they wouldn"t.
What if it was real?
In the blink of an eye, the black dragon swallowed a beginner Starburst Realm devil cultivator with the slowest response. He looked like he was about to meet a violent death.
"Run!"
The word subconsciously left Ye Yunhai"s mouth. Moreover, he set himself as an example and flew out of the secluded valley without looking back. He gnashed his teeth as he ran, muttering to himself, "B*stard! B*stard! Living off a woman? How dare you trick me! D*mned it, you"re relying on a woman and a Formless Realm woman pretending to be a weakling at that! Can"t believe even orthodox cultivators would be this crafty; aren"t you upright cultivators? You can"t just steal our methods!"
He came with swagger.
He left by pathetically running away.
With a single swing of her umbrellclub, Red Bean managed to break the siege, sent all devil cultivators flying, and scared Ye Yunhai off.
The black dragon returned to Red Bean. It emerged from behind her and disappeared in the same spot.
She then turned her attention to the others left on the scene. Nearly all of them were frightened out of their wits. The girl who had seemed so ordinary and delicate just moments ago, who even needed someone to carry her, had transformed into a Formless Realm cultivator in the blink of an eye. Moreover, she was the cream of the crop. Not only did she have high cultivation, but her magic treasure was also strong. Her bludgeoning skill was even stronger.
One swing of her club was enough to split s.p.a.ce!
Her control of True Energy, grasp of strength, and display of Qi were breathtaking!
Ye Que was quite stunned himself. He knew Red Bean possessed powerful cultivation. Back in the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum, she was already in the peak of Starburst Realm and could fight more than ten spirits on her own. Her overall strength wasn"t in any way inferior to Jiang Liuyun. When they were in the underground cave, she wasn"t concerned about obtaining the Divine Tool, the River Soldier. Her goal was the bones of the immortal black dragon. For that, she allowed all of her cultivation to be suppressed until she was nearly an ordinary human.
Based on Ye Que"s observation, he antic.i.p.ated her recovery to take at least fifteen to twenty days. Thus, throughout their journey, he dutifully carried her on his back without a word of complaint.
Guan Shuheng, who stood farther away, was so shocked that he nearly fell to the ground. In a trembling voice, he said, "She"s so powerful! She"s so young but she"s already in the Formless Realm! Her cultivation is one level higher than Eldest Senior Brother"s!"
"That"s illogical!"
The ten more disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder, who stood even farther still, were similarly astonished. "So there"s someone this powerful among our ranks? What am I scared of? I even ran so far away! How shameful! Eldest Senior Brother will surely scold us when he wakes up!"
"This older sister is so cool!" The eyes of one of the female disciples were positively twinkling.
"Judging from her looks, it"s probably more accurate to call her younger sister. For her to enter the Formless Realm at such a young age, she must be a genius disciple from a large and influential sect!" another female disciple said softly.
"I heard that the Eldest Senior Brother of Mount Shu for this generation is called Jiang Liuyun. He"s already at the peak of the Starburst Realm at nineteen and everyone calls him the top cultivator of the current generation. But it seems that he"s nothing compared to this little girl!" a female disciple said, her voice thick with infatuation. "How nice would it be if she"s a male cultivator? I"ll definitely marry him!"
"Stop your delusions. Do you think she"ll be interested in you?"
"What, you think she"ll be interested in you instead?"
Their enemies had just left but the group of female disciples soon began chirping nonstop. The object of their quarrel was none other than Red Bean.
Just one bludgeon.
That was all it took for Red Bean to win the girls" hearts.
Fortunately, she was the one who struck. Who knew what would happen if it was Ye Que? Never mind other things. If the girls came over and fawned over him, he wouldn"t be able to run. They might even start touching him.
Having gotten a fright from Red Bean"s attack, Ye Que took two deep breaths before being able to suppress the discomfort inside him. He slowly made his way to Red Bean, grabbed her hair, and rubbed it with all the force he could muster.
Then he pinched her cheeks, dragging it out with force until it almost turned red.
He only felt better after doing all these.
"How dare you lie to me!" With a faintly furious expression, Ye Que glared at her.
Red Bean opened her mouth, wanting to explain. In the same way she had interrupted him earlier, Ye Que said, "I"m not interested in your explanation. Just tell me why you"re making me carry you even though your cultivation has recovered."
He then added, "Here am I wondering for the past few days why you"re getting heavier and heavier. You were whiling the time away on my back, weren"t you? You had your fun, but what about me?"
"I didn"t!" Red Bean"s eyes widened.
"Open even wider!" Ye Que widened his eyes even more. "Then what was that earlier? You haven"t recovered? Was I blind then? That"s the Formless Realm. You"ve risen a level from the time we were in the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum. You call that not recovered?"
"I just recovered," Red Bean said, looking deflated.
"Just?"
"Who do you think you"re fooling?" Ye Que said impatiently, "I"m telling you, this is wrong. You should"ve..."
Facing Ye Que"s agitated expression and endless scolding, Red Bean lowered her head and looked like she was admitting her fault. However, when he gradually went overboard and made it sound like she owed him something, she began to feel upset. "I"m just asking you to carry me for a bit! Who"s desperate for that? I respect you; that"s why I allowed you to carry me. Why didn"t you think of why I didn"t let others carry me?"
"How dare you say that I"m getting heavier and heavier! You"re the heavy one!" Red Bean thought. "Your whole family is heavy!"
"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."
Ye Que prattled on like a headless fly as if he was nagging his child.
"Enough!"
"Are you not done talking?!"
"I just had you carry me for a few days! Unwilling, are you?" Red Bean lifted her head to glare at him. She even raised a threatening fist at him, acting like she was going to punch Ye Que.
"A few days?" Ye Que was stunned. "You recovered a few days ago?"
"Not a few days! Today!" Red Bean immediately changed her tune.
"I heard you say "a few days"!" He refused to let go of her slip of the tongue.
"Bam!"
She punched Ye Que hard on the forehead. She shook her clenched fist and glared fiercely at him.
"You hit my forehead again!" He returned her glare, refusing to back down.
"Bam!"
He suffered yet another punch on his forehead. It seemed like she put even more force behind her punch this time.
"Trying to climb all over me, aren"t you? I"ll fight back, you know!" Ye Que raised his fist.
"Bam!"
Before he could even finish his sentence, he got hit again...