Duan Yuyang immediately laughed with a haha and smiled, “It’s good enough that we were able to keep our lives, why bother with the minor details…….ai, honourable me thought my respectable life would be left here.”
As Duan Yuyang spoke, he paused, then said, “Where’s Tianhen?”
Lin Xuanzhi cast a glance at Duan Yuyang and said, “Get down first, I’ll go look for Ah Hen.”
Duan Yuyang could only helplessly dismount the horse and watch the elegant receding figure of Lin Xuanzhi as he rode the horse away. When he recalled Lin Xuanzhi’s series of natural and smooth movements as he had let Yan Tianhen go, he couldn’t help but be envious and thought, if only honourable me could have such a considerate brother, how great would that be!
But it was a pity that whenever he thought of Duan Yuhao’s face, he felt like wilting.
Yan Tianhen didn’t actually get too far. He had been stopped midway by someone who was wearing a huge black cloak and a metal ghost mask that covered his face.
When Yan Tianhen had been pulled off his horse, he thought that he was going to die.
“Kid, do you know that this body of yours is actually of the Mingyin type?” Ghost Masked Man asked with great interest.
Yan Tianhen crawled up from the ground, retreated back a few steps, leaned on the tree behind him and had his guard up as he looked at this man who was emitting an eerie, ghostly Qi. He bit his lower lip, “Don’t come near me, my Dage will be here soon, and he’ll definitely kill you!”
“Yo, looks like you still have a Dage? What a coincidence, just you alone won’t be enough for me to pick my teeth with. Now that there’s another Dage of yours, the two of you together should be just enough for one meal.” Ghost Masked Man laughed.
Yan Tianhen was so frightened by his words that he shuddered. He plucked up the courage to look at him and sincerely said, “I think you should just eat me ba, my meat is more tender than his and my bones are crunchier too, so I’ll definitely be a more delectable meal. Really. I’m not lying.”
Ghost Masked Man: “…….”
Is this kid joking or is he serious?
Ghost Masked Man was very amused by Yan Tianhen’s childish speech. He tilted his head to one side and spoke through his mask, “Kid, you’re pretty devoted to that Dage of yours. But, does he treat you the same way?”
Yan Tianhen grit his teeth. His eyes twinkled as he thought of a way to escape.
These thoughts of his weretoo easily seen through by the Ghost Masked Man. Ghost Masked Man couldn’t help but laugh, “Kid, no matter what, Benzun is a profound-level demonic cultivator. Killing you would be easy as killing an ant for me. You should just save those crooked thoughts of yours ba.”
Yan Tianhen immediately looked like he was facing his greatest enemy, “You’re actually a demonic cultivator?”
“Why, are you scared now?” Ghost Masked Man didn’t seem to think of it as a humiliation but rather an honour. He lifted his chin, “Kid, I can tell that you have a natural talent for demonic cultivation. Why don’t you leave with Benzun; I can guarantee you that after three to five years, you’ll be able to beat up those righteous cultivators until they wail to their mommies, and everyone who sees you will shudder at your sight and beg for your forgiveness as they surrender to you and call you their master.”
Yan Tianhen uttered a pei and stared at the Ghost Masked Man with eyes full of hatred. He was so angry his whole body was trembling as he said, “All you demonic cultivators are degenerates! You’re all bastards! You guys are the ones who killed my Dad, you’re all my enemies!”
Ghost Masked Man was astonished, “Rascal, how do you know that it was a demonic cultivator who killed your Dad and not a so-called righteous cultivator like yourself who was pretending to be one of us!” Although Yan Tianhen’s memories of that day had been mostly erased, he could still vaguely recall a few memorable scenes that had been engraved into his mind, such as the cultivators who wore ghosts masks, and the extremely poisonous Yin demonic cultivation techniques.
Ghost Masked Man sneered and said disdainfully, “I really wonder who’s teaching a rascal like you; I can’t believe you’re still counting pennies for the people who sold you off.”
Yan Tianhen pursed his lips as he looked at him.
Ghost Masked Man continued, “That Dage of yours is probably dead by now. In the end, you’ll still have to leave with Benzun anyway.”
“Pei, shut your crow mouth!” Yan Tianhen roared at the Ghost Masked Man.
“Tsktsk, your temper’s not too good, is it. If Benzun was in a slightly worse mood today, I would have turned you into a furnace by now.” Immediately after the Ghost Masked Man spoke, he heard the neighs of a horse.
The Ghost Masked Man stared at Lin Xuanzhi, then narrowed his eyes, “Kid, do you know that the little one behind you is someone who’s a natural genius at demonic cultivation?”
Lin Xuanzhi suddenly thought of the Yan Tianhen in his past life who had cultivated the demonic path, and his gaze immediately turned cold as he said, “Jiadi must walk the righteous path, he definitely would not cultivate the demonic path.”
“Hehe, ignorant fool.” Ghost Masked Man sneered. His scorching gaze fell upon Yan Tianhen, scaring Yan Tianhen so much that he instinctively grabbed the edge of Lin Xuanzhi’s sleeve and hid further behind him.
Ghost Masked Man said, “This Didi of yours was born with a Mingyin physique and has been injected with a huge suppression array. Coupled with the intense medicinal pills and poisons within him, if you were to just leave him be, he definitely wouldn’t even be able to cultivate. But if he cultivates the demonic path, things would be very different for him.”
Yan Tianhen looked at his own hands in shock.
There was actually an array within his body?
But Lin Xuanzhi’s expression remain unchanged. He stared at the Ghost Masked Man and questioned, “How do you know all that?”
“There’s nothing I don’t know in this world. Kid, from the looks of it, you probably wouldn’t let him leave with Benzun. But, Benzun can bet you that sooner or later, he will cultivate the demonic path. That is his destiny, and it is the will of the heavens, you can’t prevent it.”
After the Ghost Masked Man finished talking, he laughed and disappeared on the spot.
Yan Tianhen hung his head down low and didn’t utter a word.
Lin Xuanzhi looked at the top of Yan Tianhen’s head, then berated that Ghost Masked Man thoroughly in his heart and greeted all eighteen generations of his ancestors. He spoke patiently and gently, “Ah Hen, don’t listen to his nonsense. You won’t be like him in the future.”
When Yan Tianhen heard this, he raised his head and rubbed his hands together as he said, “Dage, I wasn’t overthinking anything. I just thought that his laughter at the end sounded particularly creepy. Look at all my goosebumps.”
As he spoke, Yan Tianhen even showed the back of his hand to Lin Xuanzhi.
Lin Xuanzhi, “……..”
Ok, now he felt like he had worried too much.
After dealing with the people earlier, the rest of their journey was relatively smooth-sailing.
They entered Qing city before nightfall. Lin Xuanzhi and Duan Yuyang parted ways in front of the Duan residence.
When they returned to the Lin residence, Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen washed off the dirt that had accumulated during their travels, then Lin Xuanzhi whipped up some dishes for the both of them. Those who should rest rested, and those who should meditate meditated.
That night, Yan Tianhen tossed and turned in his bed as he tried to sleep.
There were still two tiger cubs nesting in his room. He looked at those two heartless beasts enviously as they lay on the nest that he had set up for them. They slept with their bellies up. Yan Tianhen suddenly felt like being a human wasn’t as nice as being a tiger.
The words of the Ghost Masked Man still lingered in his ears.
Throughout their entire journey, it had always been Lin Xuanzhi who was thinking of all sorts of ways to protect him. When they had encountered danger, Lin Xuanzhi had also made him escape first.
Yan Tianhen’s chest felt very heavy, as if there was a large rock crushing his heart and it made it difficult for him to breath.
He was just a burdensome fraudster.
But his Dage didn’t seem like he was willing to let him cultivate the demonic path.
Yan Tianhen sighed, then crawled up from his bed and sat cross-legged as he began to meditate.
After two hours had passed, the surrounding spiritual Qi seemed to be blocked by something in his body, so he made zero progress.
Yan Tianhen knew that the magic seal that he was using to refine Qi was definitely the best magic seal that Lin Zhan could find for him.
If some random cultivator had used this seal, they would’ve seen considerable progress in their cultivation.
“Ai–” Yan Tianhen sighed bitterly again. He turned around and fell asleep as he grieved.
In the middle of the night, Yan Tianhen vaguely felt like someone was shaking his body.
Yan Tianhen opened his eyes in a daze and saw a ghastly pale ghost mask appear in front of his face.
Yan Tianhen almost cried out in shock. He immediately jumped up and ruthlessly tried to smash the ghost’s head.
A “dong–” sounded. Yan Tianhen hugged his throbbing hand and jumped up from his bed.
Ghost Masked Man quickly sealed Yan Tianhen’s mouth.
Yan Tianhen sat on his bed with teary eyes and stared at the Ghost Masked Man accusingly.
Ghost Masked Man smiled and said, “Little rascal, don’t be angry~ I’ve mentioned before that you’re a genius demonic cultivator; if you cultivate under my guidance, you’ll become more amazing than your Dage sooner or later.”
Yan Tianhen’s shot him a look that said ‘I don’t care, I don’t wanna, I’m ignoring you’.
“Tsk, are you still a man?” Ghost Masked Man released Yan Tianhen’s acupoints as he spoke, “If you dare scream, I’ll kill that Dage of yours.”
Yan Tianhen naturally knew that this Ghost Masked Man shouldn’t be underestimated. To be able to sneak into his room without being discovered by anyone naturally meant that his cultivation far surpassed that of everyone else.
At the very least, Lin Xuanzhi wasn’t his opponent.
Yan Tianhen calmed himself down. “Why must you force me to cultivate under you?”
“Benzun has already said that you’re most suited to demonic cultivation. I’ll be honest with you, Benzun’s time is nearly up, so I’m looking for a successor to obtain my inheritance. Coincidentally, you’re the most suitable candidate.” Ghost Masked Man looked at Yan Tianhen.
“I don’t want to.” Yan Tianhen said.
“Why not?” Ghost Masked Man asked, “Actually, demonic cultivation is merely one of the many paths of cultivation. Additionally, the method that I’ll be teaching you doesn’t look any different from that of a righteous cultivator until you reach a certain level.”
Yan Tianhen shook his head, “I can’t, my Dage won’t allow me to.”
“Your Dage, your Dage, the only person you talk about is that kid. That kid is your brother, not your father!” Ghost Masked Man almost rolled his eyes up into the heavens.
Yan Tianhen seriously pondered over it for a bit, “I listen to my Dage’s words more than I listened to my Dad’s.”
Ghost Masked Man, “……”
Yan Tianhen emphasised again, “Anyway, I won’t do anything that my Dage doesn’t allow me to do.”
Ghost Masked Man sneered, “There are a lot of things your Dage doesn’t allow you to do. Besides, not everything he says or does is necessarily right.”
Yan Tianhen looked at the Ghost Masked Man like his words were a matter of course and said, “In any case, it’s impossible for me to not believe in my Dage and believe in you instead.”
Ghost Masked Man: “……”
Ghost Masked Man appeared to truly want to accept him as a disciple, and perhaps it was also due to his naturally good temperament, but even though he was rejected this many times, he didn’t lose his temper.
“You’re such a stubborn bastard!” Ghost Masked Man said resentfully.
Yan Tianhen turned his head, “Hurry and leave ba. You don’t seem like a bad guy to me, but my Dad said before that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. You can take my body, but not my heart, so I would advise you to not seize me by force.”
The edges of Ghost Masked Man’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch. Why is it that the more he listened, the more it sounded like he was forcing this rascal, whose hairs weren’t even fully grown, to marry him?
Ghost Masked Man rolled his eyes, “You’ll be begging me sooner or later.”
“Then we’ll talk about it when I’m begging you ba.” As Yan Tianhen spoke, he saw Ghost Masked Man turn around to leave. He thought for a bit, then called out to him, “By the way, I do think you’re pretty strong. Why not you quote a price and I’ll reluctantly become your disciple, and in exchange you’ll become my Dage’s bodyguard?”
Ghost Masked Man paused, then looked at Yan Tianhen with a profound gaze for a long while. Yan Tianhen just kept smiling at him with his ugly face.
After a while, Ghost Masked Man finally laughed, “I just knew it. How could his son be an innocent and foolish idiot.”
Yan Tianhen’s expression changed. He asked eagerly, “You know who my birth parents are?”
T/N: Whew new character!!! And an important one too ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
YTH’s so eloquent I just can’t………I love how he turns everyone around him speechless so easily………….
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