Chapter 55
Translator: Hiohbye
Editor: PlayerProphet
“The Blue Jade Pearl?” Zhou Ying cried out, astonished. His eyes widened. “How could I get something like that? That’s the treasure of our Soaring Cloud Sect! Our Sect Head safeguards it, personally. There’s only one in the world, so it’s impossible for me to have it.”
Of course I know you don’t have it, Bai Yang ridiculed in his mind. However, his face remained unreadable and mysterious. He smiled but didn’t speak.
“If you want the Blue Jade Pearl, you’ve kidnapped the wrong person,” Zhou Ying continued. “I’m just an ordinary disciple from the Soaring Cloud Sect. I’ve only met the Sect Head a few times. How could I possibly have the Blue Jade Pearl?”
Bai Yang smiled. “Just because you don’t have it, that doesn’t mean others don’t.”
“The Blue Jade Pearl really is back at the Sect,” Zhou Ying was quick to explain. He thought that Bai Yang had somehow misunderstood that he had the pearl and kidnapped him to get it, and so he was anxious to clear it up.
“I know,” Bai Yang said.
Zhou Ying was shocked. “If you know the Blue Jade Pearl is with the Sect Head, why did you kidnap me?”
“Don’t you know you’re very valuable right now?” Bai Yang said, caressing Zhou Ying’s cheek. “I believe there are people who are willing to exchange you for the pearl.”
Zhou Ying shook his head. “That’s not true. Even if I have the Dragon Blade, there’s no way the Sect Head would exchange the Blue Jade Pearl for me.”
It wasn’t just because the Blue Jade Pearl was the Sect’s treasure, but also because it represented the Soaring Cloud Sect’s honor.
Bai Yang didn’t bother explaining anything. He stood up and looked to the sky, then muttered, “It’s about time for that person to show up.”
Not long after he spoke, a light blue silhouette appeared in the distance, rushing towards them at the speed of a shooting star. It arrived at the cottage in a flash.
Zhou Ying felt even more shocked. “Zhao Qinger!”
“Correct, it’s her,” Bai Yang said. He grabbed Zhou Ying’s elbow, pulling him out of the room and throwing him roughly to the ground.
In his poisoned state, Zhou Ying was unable to move. He could do nothing about being thrown onto the ground like trash.
In the span of that short moment, Zhao Qinger appeared in front of them.
Just as Bai Yang threw Zhou Ying to the ground, Zhao Qinger cried, “Stop, now!”
Bai Yang summoned the disposition of a villainous boss. He smiled demonically, wrapping his fingers around Zhou Ying’s neck.
Zhou Ying struggled until his face was swollen and red, but his limbs remained limp and immobile. No matter how much he tried to resist, his movements were as weak as a small bug.
Zhao Qinger became enraged.
“Let go of him, now!” she screamed, pulling out her sword and pointing it at Bai Yang.
Bai Yang continued to act as the villainous boss. Not only did he hold on, but he directed a cold smile at Zhao Qinger. “Do you want me to let go of him? That’s fine! But you have to exchange him for the Blue Jade Pearl.”
Zhao Qinger stared blankly at him. After a moment, she said, “I don’t have the pearl. It’s with my father.”
Bai Yang smiled.
Seeing that he had still not released Zhou Ying, Zhao Qinger stamped her feet. “If you want treasures or martial art techniques, I can satisfy you. Change your request to something else!”
Bai Yang chuckled. Then, his face turned cold. “It looks like you won’t be convinced until you face reality.”
He grabbed a black medicinal pill and forced open Zhou Ying’s jaw, throwing the pill into Zhou Ying’s mouth.
After confirming that Zhou Ying had swallowed the pill, Bai Yang released his grip.
Zhou Ying grabbed his throat and began to wretch.
“Zhou Ying!” Zhao Qinger hurried to his side, helping him up.
With great difficulty, Zhou Ying stifled his coughs. “I… I’m fine.”
However, after speaking, his face twisted in great pain. His body twitched and his skin became redder and redder as if he was being roasted alive. He seemed to be in absolute agony.
That was a given. The beast core of the demonic dragon was invigorating for cultivation. Though Bai Yang had refined it into a pill, the Male Lead’s cultivation was only at the Base-Building stage, and thus he was unable to tolerate so much power flooding into him at once.
“Zhou Ying, what’s wrong? Zhou Ying! Answer me!” Zhao Qinger cried, grabbing Zhou Ying and shaking him.
Bai Yang: “…”
Why did female leads always shake the wounded or dying male leads? Didn’t they know that it would cause them to die faster?
Regardless of whether it was the pill or because of Zhao Qinger’s shaking, Zhou Ying’s twitching intensified, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
Bai Yang was unable to bear this scene anymore. He wondered if he should help out.
“Zhou Ying!” Zhao Qinger was too anxious and didn’t know what to do. Tears welled in her eyes, about to fall.
The Male Lead seemed to be enduring great pain. His hands were pressed against his chest. Then, with a loud thud, he fell onto the ground in a dead faint, hovering between the boundaries of life and death.
“What did you give him?” Zhao Qinger was both terrified and angry as she confronted Bai Yang.
Bai Yang placed his hands behind his back. “It’s only a little pill, that’s all. You can rest a.s.sured that he won’t die for now. However, in three days, if he isn’t given an antidote, his intestines will perforate his stomach, and he’ll die.”
Zhao Qinger rushed to his side, her eyes wide. “Give me the antidote!”
Bai Yang ignored her expression of wanting to eat him alive and acted the role of a cold-blooded, ruthless villain brilliantly. “If you want the antidote, exchange the Blue Jade Pearl for him. Remember: you only have three days. I don’t care what techniques you use to retrieve it. If you don’t give me the pearl in three days… Zhou Ying will die.”
Xiao Ling gasped in admiration. “Wow, Sir, you’re amazing! Super villainous, super handsome, yeah~!”
Bai Yang was proud of himself.
Zhao Qinger’s eyes became red. She bit her lip, as if going through a violent struggle in her heart.
“Don’t give it to him… don’t listen to him…”
Zhou Ying suppressed his pain and managed to speak.
Bai Yang admired him somewhat. Taking this kind of pill during the Base-Building stage of cultivation must have caused him extreme pain and suffering, and yet he still retained the faintest trace of consciousness.
“Zhou Ying, are you okay?” Zhao Qinger ran over to embrace him.
Zhou Ying grabbed her hand. With great difficulty, he said, “The Blue Jade Pearl is the Soaring Cloud Sect’s treasure. You can’t! Don’t do something that stupid for me!”
No one at the scene was an idiot. Bai Yang had kidnapped Zhou Ying to force Zhao Qinger to give him the Blue Jade Pearl, they all understood.
“Zhao Qinger, every minute you delay is one minute taken from Zhou Ying’s life,” Bai Yang said. “This pill won’t take his life for now, but his five meridians will burn and cause him immense pain. Can you bear to watch him continue and suffer like this?”
Zhao Qinger’s face twisted in pain. She held Zhou Ying in her eyes, clearly struggling to make her decision.
Bai Yang did not urge her. He knew that the more he tried to push someone to do something, the more they would resist. Since childhood, Zhao Qinger had loved Zhou Ying. She would agree to his terms.
“Sir,” said Xiao Ling, “Your performance as a villain is really impressive.”
“Aren’t I being forced to do this?” Bai Ying replied in his mind. “Hopefully they won’t hate me in the future.”
“I don’t think that’s likely.”
“I don’t think so, either, but there’s no other way,” Bai Yang sighed. “This is the easiest way to get the Blue Jade Pearl. The Demon King has been good to me, so I should try and repay him, or else my conscience won’t be able to rest easy.”
“Why do I feel like you’re trying to explain away your feelings for the Demon King?” Xiao Ling said.
“I don’t like to owe others.”
“You care too much about the Demon King.”
Bai Yang’s emotions tensed. “Do I?”
“Yes!” Xiao Ling’s voice was resolute.
Bai Yang was silent. After a while, he said, “I’ve lived twenty years. Other than my parents and my older brother, no one’s ever treated me so well.”
“He’s not real. He’s only an avatar, so there’s no need to pay him back.”
“I know, but…” Bai Yang furrowed his brows. “He feels real to me, just like a real, living person. Xiao Ling, sometimes I wonder if this world really is virtual. I’ve interacted with so many people here. They’re just like the people in the real world, with blood and flesh, who can laugh and cry. There are good people and bad people with dreams and ambitions… Xiao Ling, is this world really not real?”
“Of course it’s fake!” Xiao Ling said anxiously. “It looks like Zhao Qinger wants to say something.”
Bai Yang turned around. Zhao Qinger had let go of Zhou Ying and was facing him with resolve.
Bai Yang put on his facade. “Have you thought it through?”
Zhao Qinger took a deep breath, then gnashed her teeth. “I agree to your terms. In three days, I’ll bring you the Blue Jade Pearl.”
Bai Yang’s mouth curled up. “It’s a deal.”
Zhou Ying was in so much pain that he’d fainted.
“You can’t tell this to anyone. Don’t even consider bringing other people here. If you bring anyone, Zhou Ying will never have the antidote,” Bai Yang threatened.
Zhao Qinger released a deep breath. “Okay.”
Zhao Qinger knew that she couldn’t bring Zhou Ying with her away. She looked at him, clenched her jaw, and rushed off.
After she left, Bai Yang helped Zhou Ying into the house, then used his cultivation techniques to watch over him.
Though the pill would not harm its user, it would still cause immense pain. Because Bai Yang had used Zhou Ying to exploit Zhao Qinger into retrieving the Blue Jade Pearl for him, he decided that it was necessary to alleviate some of the pain. He mercifully helped Zhou Ying clear his meridians.
With the mediation of Bai Yang’s technique, Zhou Ying’s furrowed brows relaxed.
“Hey kiddo, this is for your own good. What you ate wasn’t poison, but a treasure I acquired with great effort. You better cultivate properly after this.”
Knowing that Zhou Ying was unconscious, Bai Yang was confident enough to tell him everything.
He wasn’t worried about Zhao Qinger playing tricks. In the original novel she was the Male Lead’s first wife, and the woman he loved the most. Zhao Qinger would give everything for Zhou Ying. Her love was vast and deep. If the Male Lead faced any danger, she would not hesitate to come and save him.
Bai Yang suddenly thought of something. “Xiao Ling, I remember in the original storyline Zhao Qinger never stole the Blue Jade Pearl to save the Male Lead. If I do this, will the plot of the story change?”
Xiao Ling said, “I’m not sure about that. Let me ask the Main System.”
Bai Yang was nervous. If the Main System decided that he was a bug and eliminated him, it would be catastrophic.
After a while, Xiao Ling said, “Sir, the Main System says that everything is normal.”
“Everything is normal?”
“Yes.”
If everything was normal, he had nothing to worry about.
Bai Yang sighed with relief.
In the original story, the Male Lead was once captured by someone desiring the Dragon Sword, and Zhao Qinger had quickly rescued him. Another villain had not thought of using Zhou Ying to exchange for the Blue Jade Pearl, but wanted to fatten the Male Lead up and slaughter him later. The Male Lead and Zhao Qinger thought up many ways to wound that villain, so much that the Male Lead even ascended, bringing Zhao Qinger with him.
After four hours, the Male Lead’s meridians were finally unblocked. Bai Yang placed the Male Lead onto the bed, then put a formation around him to ensure that he would not be disturbed by the outside world.
After about three days, the Male Lead had absorbed all of the cultivation and was about to reach the Core Formation stage.
Time pa.s.sed quickly. The three-day deadline was about to arrive, and there was no sign of Zhao Qinger. Bai Yang estimated that three days should have been enough to steal the pearl, but Zhao Qinger was nowhere to be seen. Could it be that something happened halfway, and Zhao Qinger had suffered some kind of setback?
If it was like that, he would have to retrieve the Blue Jade Pearl personally.
If he had to retrieve the pearl by himself, it would alert many people in the Soaring Cloud Sect and send the mortal world into a frenzy. If the sect were to alert other sects and a bunch of elders were sent to deal with him, he would not be able to escape.
Just as he was wondering what kind of method he would need to use to retrieve the pearl, Zhao Qinger appeared.
She seemed fl.u.s.tered. As she rushed to the house, she looked around, as if worried there were people following her.