Chapter 27

“If there is something you want, you can tell me directly. There’s no need to use such tactics,” Tan Ye said gently, his expression calm. He blinked lightly, as if carefully considering his words.

“Such tactics… are truly not upright.”

By now, how could Su Heng not understand? “You think I’m seducing you?” Tan Ye lowered his eyes, the deep black pupils still filled with a soft light, a soft light that covered his eyes, making it unclear to see his true expression at the moment.

“Since we’ve entered the mortal world, we should walk the righteous path.”

His words were as soft as warm water enveloping her, but beneath this gentleness was a sharp rejection.

Su Heng had a strange expression. She didn’t have that intention, she just wanted to drink a little more.

“I don’t know what you were like before. Have you used such tricks on other men in the past?” Tan Ye maintained his earlier gentleness as he asked softly.

His face was sculpted to the pinnacle of stern handsomeness, yet his voice was naturally gentle. That stern face, under his intentionally crafted soft smile and flowing gentle voice, also appeared especially harmless.

“…” Su Heng looked at that soft face that made one’s heart move, and became alert all over. She didn’t know why Tan Ye was asking this and had no interest in caring, but seeing his face made her wary.

Tan Ye took a small half-step towards her, still maintaining that earlier gentle demeanor, harmless to the point of making one let down their guard.

“Since that’s the case, don’t do such things in the future. I don’t know if you’ve succeeded with this before. But from now on, don’t use this trick again. The people in this world are far more complex than you think.” His voice was clear to the extreme, but instead gave rise to a sense of coldness.

“Since it’s unintentional, don’t use such tactics. Otherwise, if something happens, I’m afraid you alone will have to bear the consequences.” He shook his head as if helpless, a faint sigh on his lips. “Not everyone can be provoked by you, and you can’t always bear the consequences.”

Su Heng was inexplicably subjected to this lecture from him. She frowned slightly and lowered her head to look at his still bleeding hand.

Tan Ye’s self-healing ability was frighteningly high, much stronger than many cultivators. Last time when he was caught off guard and severely hit by Dao Zhen’s palm, he mostly recovered in just two or three days.

Difficult internal injuries were like this, let alone external wounds. How come it still hasn’t healed by now?

Fresh blood flowed from the wound, dripping down along his palm.

The smell of blood made her very agitated, just not as much as at the beginning. At least after drinking a little, some of the craving was relieved.

“Don’t be like this. Doing this, besides pulling yourself and that person into the devil’s path and sinking deeper into it, has no benefit for anyone,” he stepped closer to her imperceptibly. They were not far apart to begin with, and now he was right in front of her. “Understand?”

Su Heng looked at him. Her lips moved, but before she could speak, Tan Ye had already turned around and continued walking forward.

Su Heng pinched a lock of her long hair, swaying it left and right. She stared at Tan Ye’s back.

It seemed that after experiencing all the storms before, walking along this path was completely calm.

Su Heng felt the heavy spiritual power pressing down on her body getting heavier and heavier. She frowned a little uncomfortably.

“Slow down, I’m tired of walking,” she said to the person in front.

Tan Ye happened to be brushing aside a tree branch blocking his path. After pushing it aside, a faint sunlight shone through from behind the branch, illuminating both of their faces.

“…This isn’t sunlight.” Su Heng took a few steps to reach behind those branches. Feeling the light shine on her body, she felt a lot of warmth all over, a vigorous vitality rising from deep within.

“I want to bloom,” she suddenly said.

Tan Ye looked over in surprise. Seeing his shocked expression, Su Heng found it a bit amusing and proud. “I was originally transformed from plants and wood. Isn’t it natural for me to bloom? It’s just that I took human form, so it’s not apparent.” As she spoke, she felt that powerful life force blossoming inside her body. The heavy spiritual pressure weighing on her had now completely disappeared, replaced by a vast vitality.

“This should be the Concealed Heaven Formation.”

Su Heng felt the generative power surging within her. A flower bud emerged from her fingertip, slowly blooming under that powerful life force, emitting a faint fragrance from its petals.

Tan Ye looked at the flower blooming from her fingertip in complete astonishment. Even though he had seen many demons, he probably hadn’t encountered her type before. Thinking this, she felt even prouder. She was about to pluck the flower from her fingertip.

Her extended hand was suddenly grabbed by the wrist by Tan Ye.

“What are you doing?”

“Picking the flower.” Su Heng stared at his hand grasping her wrist, completely baffled. “There are no bees here. Even if I bloom, I can’t bear fruit. I’m picking it to give to you.”

“Won’t something happen to you if you pick it? After all, it grew from your flesh.”

“Many will fall off with the wind anyway, what’s the big deal.” As she spoke, she felt the grip on her wrist still not loosening.

She gently blew on her fingertip. The flower there drifted down and she caught it with her other hand, holding it out to him.

“Take it,” she smiled. “This is still the first time I’ve bloomed since taking human form. It’s for you.” Tan Ye took it with one hand. The flower was white with layered petals, its variety indiscernible, but the fragrance was rich, penetrating one’s heart and soul just by holding it.

“Keep it safe.” She looked around. “The life force here is too strong.” This area was a large expanse of grasslands and woods. Although no birds or beasts could be seen, it was entirely filled with exuberant vitality.

“So this is what the Concealed Heaven Formation looks like.”

She exclaimed in admiration.

“It looked so perilous earlier, I thought it would be some dangerous place. I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

“Since it can sustain the operation of a small world, naturally it’s not a place of life and death.” He glanced at the soil underfoot, completely covered in vegetation.

Over there, Su Heng rubbed against the ground. More flower buds emerged from her fingertips.

“How are you…”

Tan Ye saw the flower buds on her fingers. “The yang energy here is too strong.” Yang energy nourishes wood. The wood energy here was rich. Su Heng was originally a plant and wood spirit. No matter what form, she was ultimately of the wood element. Affected by the yang energy and wood energy’s generation, she also exposed her plant nature.

In all these years, this was a first for Su Heng. She curiously looked at the flowers on her fingertips, plucked them and tossed them into her pocket.

Tan Ye sensed the lush vitality and vast earth energy in this area.

Everything seemed normal, without any peculiarities.

Tan Ye turned his head and saw Su Heng lying on the ground, rubbing against the soil.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Tan Ye came over and saw her rub against the ground a couple more times.

“I’m going to take root,” Su Heng suddenly said.

Tan Ye subconsciously looked at her long hair. Everything in the world was composed of the five elements, humans being no exception. Hair belonged to wood. He saw that her long hair had grown a lot and seemed to have developed a consciousness, trying to burrow into the earth.

Su Heng heard Tan Ye inhale lightly.

She felt languid all over, wishing she could immediately take root here. The moist scent of the soil made her feel very comfortable.

She just wanted to keep growing here.

However, in the next moment, her entire body was lifted into the air. Her long hair that had burrowed into the soil was forcibly pulled out.

“Huh?” She opened her eyes and saw Tan Ye’s face in front of her.

Her long hair had entered the earth. As she was held up, the hair seemed to want to pull her back, exerting a force against Tan Ye, dragging her towards the soil.

Su Heng’s scalp immediately tightened. The next instant, she heard the sound of a sword and felt her scalp suddenly lighten.

She looked back and saw a section of her long hair had been cut off.

“What did you do!” Su Heng let out a sharp scream, her hands grasping his shoulders.

Tan Ye didn’t answer her. He summoned his long sword and leaped onto it, carrying her as he charged outward riding the sword.

The fierce wind blew against her face. Su Heng impatiently used Tan Ye to block the wind.

After a while, the fierce wind stopped. Tan Ye also put her down.

Su Heng’s feet touched the ground. She lowered her head to look at her hair. It had been cut by Tan Ye, hanging there unevenly.

In all these years, this was the first time she had been in such a sorry state.

She was about to protest when she suddenly felt something sticky on her fingertips. Looking down, she discovered that long, sharp nails had grown from her hands at some point, with blood on them.

She saw bloodstains on Tan Ye’s shoulders, right where she had grabbed earlier.

“Your true nature was incited by that place,” Tan Ye said, not minding the blood on him at all.

Su Heng looked at her uneven long hair and the nails that had grown very long. Her face changed.

The water and wood energies there were too rich, almost causing her to truly take root and remain there.

“Let’s go.”

Tan Ye walked forward.

Ling Mao and the other disciples had already been recuperating outside for a while, but even now they still hadn’t recovered.

“Senior Brother, are you alright?” Ling Mao clutched his chest. Hearing this, his face changed slightly. Opening his eyes, he saw that at some point, Tan Ye had already stood in front of him.

Ling Mao was the only one besides Tan Ye who had persevered inside. He had already experienced how perilous it was inside. He didn’t expect Tan Ye to have actually come back alive.

“The matter Master instructed has been settled,” Tan Ye crouched down to check on the condition of Ling Mao and the others. “Now, I will first take Senior Brother and Junior Brothers to find a place to rest. When Senior Brother’s condition improves a bit, I will explain to Senior Brother in detail.” Right now, everyone was not doing well. Ling Mao could only nod.

Tan Ye took everyone out, found a town, and located an inn to settle down.

Not long after Ling Mao and the others had settled into the inn, they all fell into a deep sleep.

By the time the sky had completely darkened, Tan Ye returned to the room.

“You’re back?” Su Heng held a small pair of scissors, snipping at the candle flame on the table.

After Tan Ye arrived at the inn, something happened with Ling Mao right after. Tan Ye only had time to tell her to stay put here, before rushing off to deal with Ling Mao and the others.

She rested her elbow on the table, her chin propped on it. With the scissors in her hand, she took a cut at the rising flame, extinguishing one side of it.

The hair that Tan Ye had cut for her hung behind her, slightly messy, clearly not tidied up at all.

Tan Ye took out an oil paper package and gently placed it on the table.

“It’s still hot.” She sniffed.

“I bought it right before closing time. It’s the flavor you usually like best.” The pastry was red date cake, but different from what she had eaten before. There was also a milky aroma in the red date cake. Her natural sense of smell was keen, and not the slightest change could escape her.

The pastry was mixed with cow’s milk, and when combined with the unique flavor of red dates, it was exceptionally delicious.

“This is prepared for you.” Tan Ye took out a comb for her.

The comb was made of the red sandalwood she was accustomed to using. When she was at Chaoyun Sect, she gave him a hard time, and everything she used was the best she could think of. When she left, she didn’t bring anything.

“My apologies for today’s offenses.”

Tan Ye glanced at her hair.

“It’s fine, I can wave my hand and it will grow back.” As she spoke, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The hair that had been cut horribly began to slowly regrow at a visible speed. Before long, it was completely the same length as before.

“What do you plan to do with those fellow disciples of yours?”

She picked up the red date cake he had bought and brought it to her mouth with one hand, her eyes on him.

“You saw it too. Your fellow disciples, one more unscrupulous than the next in their conduct. When nothing’s happening, they ignore you or give you the cold shoulder. And now you still want to take care of them?” Tan Ye sat down and poured a cup of tea. The tea at the inn was not good, exuding a smell of years. He brought over some plain water and poured it for her, so she could eat the pastry with tea and not get uncomfortable with it stuck in her throat.

Su Heng gave a cold laugh.

“Actually, when I first came to the sect, Master and Senior Brother took good care of me. It was only later that there was a misunderstanding, leading to this situation.” Tan Ye saw the cold smile at the corner of her eyes. “I have no reason to insist on their deaths.” Tan Ye noticed Su Heng directly stuffing a whole pastry into her mouth. He pushed the water closer to her hand. “Slow down, these are all yours. This water should be spring water carried down from the mountain, clear, sweet and cool to drink.”

“You actually look down on them, right?” Su Heng gulped down that cup of water.

Tan Ye smiled without answering.

He watched as she finished eating that entire package of pastries.

“We left in a hurry today, so make do for now. Tomorrow I’ll go prepare whatever you need.” Su Heng took a sip of the spring water. It was indeed as he said, very sweet and cool to the throat.

“I have something to say to you. Didn’t have a chance to say it in that formation. I’ll say it to you now.”

She ate and drank her fill, then leaned against the bed by the window. “I won’t be interested in you.” Su Heng felt that Tan Ye seemed to have misunderstood something. It was better to make some things clear early on, so there would be no misunderstandings later.

“I was born cold-hearted and indifferent. There are few things in this world that can interest me, almost none. Especially people.” She lounged lazily by the bed, feeling it a bit stuffy inside the window. With a slight push of her finger on the window, she opened it.

“So you don’t need to worry.”

“I won’t cause you any trouble.”

It happened to be raining outside at this time, as it was the rainy season. The rain was heavy, raindrops pattering noisily on the ground. Water nourishes wood, and the moisture outside was also to her liking. She simply opened the window all the way. Outside, it was pitch-black with no one in sight.

“No matter who I fall for, I won’t fall for you.” She thought for a bit and made her words even more absolute.

“So you can rest assured. I have no such intentions towards you now, and won’t in the future either. This morning, it was because of something else, not that I wanted to seduce you.” These righteous sects feared entanglement with seductive demonesses like her the most, and also looked down on the ways of such demonesses. She simply stated it in no uncertain terms, lest he think she had ulterior motives.

It was better to make it clear.

After she finished speaking, the room fell into an eerie silence. The only sound was the pitter-patter of rain from outside the window.

Su Heng waited for a while but did not receive any response. She frowned in confusion and looked over at Tan Ye.

There was only one lamp lit in the room, the light dim. His tall nose bridge was illuminated by the faint candlelight, with most of his face sunk in shadow.

“What’s wrong?”

Su Heng waited for a long time, only to see him sitting there quietly, with no intention of speaking at all. Su Heng went over what she had said in her mind and didn’t detect anything amiss.

“You’re afraid I’ll make improper advances on you, right? I’ve made it very clear to you.” After speaking, she waited again. Tan Ye sat there silently, still not responding to her at all.

Su Heng recalled the injuries he suffered during the day. Those were just flesh wounds, which she didn’t take to heart. Now seeing him quiet to the point of being eerie, not reacting no matter what she said, she couldn’t help but suspect that he might have suffered some other injuries.

Su Heng couldn’t sit still anymore. She sat up. “Are you injured?” Her mind went through all sorts of worst-case scenarios. “Are you poisoned?” Although cultivators had no fear of poisons, who knew what strange and unusual things might exist in those ancient places?

Tan Ye still gave no response. His entire being had completely sunk into an uncanny silence.

Now Su Heng’s mind was filled with thoughts that something had gone terribly wrong.

Could it be that she actually guessed correctly?

Su Heng no longer cared about the rain outside that pleased her. She jumped down from the bed and went right in front of Tan Ye, anxiously wanting to check where exactly he was hurt and how serious it was.

Tan Ye grabbed her extended hand.

“I’m fine.”

His voice was gentle as always, but this gentle tone amidst the sound of rain sent chills down one’s spine.

“It’s late. You’re tired too. Rest well. I’ll come see you again tomorrow.”

“Hey, where are you going? Aren’t we staying in the same room?”

To avoid arousing suspicion, Tan Ye had not prepared a separate room. Naturally, the two of them were staying together.

“Men and women should keep their distance. It’s improper after all. You rest well here.” Su Heng heard the rain outside growing even heavier than before. “But it’s raining outside?”

Tan Ye’s gentleness carried a sense of keeping others at a thousand miles’ distance. “It’s nothing.”

Su Heng said from behind, “You’re angry again?”

Tan Ye rarely revealed his emotions. He was truly able to not show joy or anger on his face. Especially with his usually gentle demeanor, no one could tell what he was really thinking.

But now she always felt that he seemed unhappy.

“No,” Tan Ye turned around. His entire figure was sunk in dimness. “Senior Brother still needs someone to watch over him. I’m going to take care of Senior Brother and the Junior Brothers. You rest well here, don’t overthink.”

Overthink what?

Before Su Heng could ask, Tan Ye had already left.

Su Heng plopped back onto the bed. The window was still open. At this time, there was still a slight chill, mixed with a heavy moisture wafting in from the window.

“I say, your Divine Lord is so difficult. His moods are so unpredictable. One moment he’s talking and laughing, the next moment he’s angry for unknown reasons. With someone so difficult, no wonder you all need to find someone.” As she spoke, she swung her legs under her skirt. “This is such a difficult task. You found the right person in me. If it were someone else, forget about helping him overcome tribulations, they probably would have been driven away by him before even reaching him. So, you must give me other benefits when the time comes.” After saying that, just like countless times before, there was still no response in her mind.

She scoffed. “I knew it.”

So she was smart and knew to make it up to herself. She didn’t know if these beings from the Divine Realm had been there too long, thinking that people of the lower realms were all willing to work diligently for the Divine Realm.

She glanced at the rain outside and directly opened the window wide.

Ling Mao and the others were still in a state of deep sleep.

Tan Ye had diagnosed them. Their souls had been suppressed. No matter how much medicine of this type they took, it would have no effect. They could only be left to sleep. There was no other way.

Tan Ye came to Ling Mao’s bedside. He gazed at the person on the bed. “Senior Brother.”

Ling Mao had completely sunk into deep sleep, totally unaware of and unresponsive to the outside world.

Tan Ye sneered. He stood by the bed, looking down at Ling Mao from above, without the slightest intention of viewing him as a living being.

He had long known of Dao Zhen and Ling Mao’s despicable nature. He regarded this master-disciple pair like a pair of clowns. Limited by their innate talents, even if they exhausted all means in this life, this was all they could amount to.

What awaited them was not ascension to immortality, but a long process of their oil running dry and lamp burning out. Mortals only had a hundred years, but cultivators had more than just this time.

After a long, long time, what they ultimately faced was still the same ending as mortals, inevitably.

He knew in his heart that he pitied this master-disciple pair.

His current place of shelter was partly thanks to Dao Zhen’s effort. So no matter how this master-disciple pair treated him, he endured it.

It did not mean his nature was like this.

He was well aware of this master-disciple pair’s character, so he rarely had thoughts of resistance.

But tonight was different.

He stood by the bed, looking down at the person lying there.

“Senior Brother’s soul is damaged. Without sleeping for a few days and nights, I’m afraid he won’t wake up. Senior Brother and Master think day and night, hoping that one day they can transcend the physical body and attain immortality from then on. But from what happened today, I’m afraid Senior Brother will never see such a day.”

“Pitiful and lamentable.” He closed his eyes and sighed lightly. “How about I send Senior Brother on his way? After all, a long life of a hundred years is so hard to endure. In the end, death is inevitable. It’s truly too pitiful.”

His palm reached out. “Come to think of it, it’s laughable. Senior Brother thinks he’s not inferior to me in every way, but in the end, his life and death are in my hands.”

His palm stretched out, stopping above Ling Mao’s neck.

Tan Ye’s cheek twitched a couple times. He abruptly withdrew his hand. His chest heaved erratically.

Anger kept surging in his heart, clamoring to be vented. The anger roiled, inciting an even fiercer murderous intent.

He struck his own chest with one palm. A sweet, coppery taste permeated his mouth.

Tan Ye staggered a couple steps. He had shown himself no mercy with that palm strike. Pain spread from his chest cavity. As the pain diffused, it suppressed the turbulent murderous intent.

He sat down, leaning on the table.

After a long time, that murderous intent gradually subsided.

He had lost control.