After Becoming the Villain’s Black Moonlight - Chapter 7

“Bang!”

Xie Ling was slammed hard against the wall, and a sharp pain radiated through his shoulder blades. He looked down at Yin Huizhi, who was deathly gripping his collar, and said with a note of regret, “Not welcoming me?”

“You killed Li Chi, didn’t you? Xie Ling!” Yin Huizhi’s lips trembled. His knuckles were white against the spot where Xie Ling’s family crest was embroidered on his robe.

How could the Xie family have a guest elder capable of freely entering and exiting the Guanlan Sect’s training grounds? If his suspicions were merely doubts before, the appearance of this man in the dungeon now solidified his conjectures. Or perhaps the other party had not bothered to hide it at all. After all, how many Foundation Establishment stage demonic cultivators of this age were there in the Tianye Sect?

“You guessed it so quickly; it seems I will not be getting any golden sore ointment from you.” Meeting Yin Huizhi’s gaze, which seemed ready to devour him whole, the smile in Xie Ling’s eyes faded and was replaced by a chilling tone. “Young Immortal Yin, you truly have such impeccable manners.”

Yin Huizhi stared at him with bloodshot eyes, his breathing ragged. Xie Ling methodically pried the other man’s fingers open one by one and straightened his own collar.

“You think I killed that disciple just to frame you?” Xie Ling asked.

Yin Huizhi countered with a hateful hiss, “If not you, then was it me?”

Xie Ling burst into laughter, seemingly amused, and spoke with exaggerated magnanimity. “Young Immortal, why speak such words? I know that in your heart, a shred of trust remains for me. After all, I did save you.”

“Otherwise, I would not have been able to escape the Great Desolate Ridge so quickly, would I?” Xie Ling added leisurely.

Yin Huizhi’s expression turned utterly hideous.

“As for why you are still so angry and aggrieved, let me guess.” Xie Ling tilted his head, looking down at him with a smirk. “Is it because the person you risked your life to save did not say a single word for you, but instead suspected you and threw filth your way? Is it because,” Xie Ling crouched down before him, whispering softly into his ear, “because you know there are people in this sect who despise you, who would go as far as murdering the innocent just to frame you and drive you away?”

Yin Huizhi’s chest heaved violently, and he shoved Xie Ling away. “You seem to have forgotten another possibility: that you did all of this yourself!”

Xie Ling chuckled, looking at Yin Huizhi as if he were an incredibly foolish ant. “If I wanted to kill you or ruin your reputation, I would not need such a circuitous and troublesome method. Yin Huizhi,” he paused, “you think too highly of yourself, do you not?”

Yin Huizhi fell silent. His hands slowly dropped to his sides as he sat back on the floor, drained of strength. Xie Ling brushed a hand against his cheek, like an elder pitying a lost and frustrated junior. “How pathetic.”

Yin Huizhi turned his face away. “Don’t touch me.”

As requested, Xie Ling stopped. Suddenly, Yin Huizhi asked, “Was it really not you?”

Xie Ling replied, “It was not. Do you want me to swear an oath? On the souls and bodies of the entire Xie clan?”

Yin Huizhi’s lips twitched. “Then what are you doing here? It cannot possibly be for golden sore ointment.”

Xie Ling nodded, acknowledging the point. “Indeed, I do not need your ointment. Yin Huizhi, do you want to run?”

The transition between the two halves of his sentence was so abrupt that Yin Huizhi’s breath hitched, but he quickly pressed his lips thin and remained silent.

“If you stay here, your cultivation will inevitably be destroyed. Yin Huizhi, do you want to be a useless person again?” Ignoring the resistance, Xie Ling forced Yin Huizhi’s chin up, making him meet his gaze.

Yin Huizhi’s eyes widened at the word “again.”

Years ago, the immortal sect that had adopted him was reduced to dust, and his cultivation had been destroyed once before. Only Ji Huixue and Master Linyin knew of this. How did Xie Ling know?

But he had no mind to think deeply on it, as he was quickly dragged into a darker spiral of emotion by Xie Ling’s next words.

“To be stepped on, to be cursed and insulted, kicked around like a dog without any power to resist, is that what you want? Being framed feels terrible, does it not? You rushed to save someone, only for that person to say behind your back that you are a low-born mutt, an illegitimate child born from a slave who crawled into a master’s bed. And afterward, to be called a person of ill intent, a cold-blooded murderer.”

“Shut up.”

“You want to be a good person, desperately trying to avoid becoming the image they paint of you. Unfortunately, as things stand now, out of all the peak lords in the Guanlan Sect, not one is willing to believe you. Not one thinks you are a good person. After such a massive incident, your master has shown no intention of coming out of seclusion. Oh, that is right; he never acknowledged you as his disciple to begin with. Being kicked off the mountain actually suits his wishes perfectly. Yin Huizhi, do you not think staying at the Guanlan Sect makes you look ridiculous and pitiable?”

“Stop talking!” Yin Huizhi’s fingertips shook uncontrollably. He had to clench them into fists to stop the trembling. He turned his face sharply to the side, as if that could block out Xie Ling’s voice or maintain his last shred of dignity.

Xie Ling let out a low laugh. “What, do you feel ashamed? Young Immortal Yin, you”

Xie Ling’s voice cut off abruptly. He stared at the water droplet falling from Yin Huizhi’s chin, and his gaze suddenly became terrifying. Yin Huizhi buried his face in his knees and covered his ears.

Xie Ling watched this act of self-deception expressionlessly. For a moment, the dungeon was excessively quiet. He had thought he never forgot a single memory or feeling. Yet, until this moment, he realized he had almost forgotten one thing. It turned out that at sixteen, his sense of grievance had been even stronger than his hatred.

Then let there be more hate.

He crouched down and gently stroked Yin Huizhi’s head. “Yin Huizhi, do you want to go with me?”

Yin Huizhi did not respond.

From that day on, Xie Ling appeared in the cell punctually every night. At first, Yin Huizhi would ask, “What are you doing here?” or “Why are you here again?” Eventually, he stopped speaking altogether, treating Xie Ling as if he were air.

On the first day, Xie Ling tried to persuade him with great patience. On the second day, Xie Ling waited with his arms crossed. On the third day, Xie Ling stood in the corner, staring at him gloomily. On the fourth day, Xie Ling stood in the empty dungeon, looking at the untouched food on the floor while murder flickered in his eyes.

It was not until nightfall that Yin Huizhi was thrown back inside like a piece of trash. His empty dantian and empty stomach tore at him with a twin, gnawing pain. Yin Huizhi slowly and painstakingly crawled back to his simple, damp bedding and curled into a ball.

It was the same spot and the same window. Only this time, it was moonlight shining through, which did not sting his eyes as much. A black hem of a robe entered his vision, silently blocking out the moonlight. Yin Huizhi toyed with his fingertips, acting as if he had not noticed.

But when the figure approached again, he looked up. His lips were covered in dry, mottled blood, yet a faint smile played on his face. He stared at Xie Ling and asked softly, “Do you still want to take me away now?”

“Awake?”

Yin Huizhi sat up from the bed, his smooth, neat long hair falling over his shoulders. He froze for a moment, looking down at his clothes, which had been completely changed. The familiar Wenjian Peak uniform had been replaced by soft, pink silk that clung to his skin, tracing the contours of his muscles clearly.

Yin Huizhi’s face stiffened.

Xie Ling raised an eyebrow. “Relax, I did not do it. She changed you.”

The woman who had been standing silently to the side bowed slightly, a faint smile appearing on her pleasant face as if to confirm Xie Ling’s words.

Relax?

Yin Huizhi tried to process the word. Remembering the rumors about the Xie family’s young master having certain unusual preferences, his face turned pale and flushed by turns. He pursed his lips and said unnaturally to the woman, “My apologies for the trouble.”

Xie Ling let out a soft laugh, the sound ambiguous. Yin Huizhi looked up sharply, catching the lingering traces of amusement in the corners of Xie Ling’s eyes and mouth.

As the saying goes, one does not strike a smiling face, but Xie Ling’s smile was impossible to like. It was not just because of his identity as a demonic cultivator. It was because that smile always carried a sense of mockery and because of those heart-stabbing, meticulously cruel words in the dungeon. When those beautiful, slightly curved peach-blossom eyes looked at him, the depths seemed to hide an abyss capable of swallowing souls. His intuition told him this man was dangerous.

Yin Huizhi lowered his eyes to avoid Xie Ling’s gaze. However, as he looked down, he saw the light crimson thin shirt again. His brow twitched, and he could not help asking Xie Ling, “Are there no other clothes?”

Xie Ling readily raised a palm. “There are.”

The woman at the foot of the bed took the hint and turned away. Before long, she presented a stack of light, soft garments. Peach pink, willow green, and deep purple; the colors were eyesores.

Yin Huizhi looked at Xie Ling in silence. Xie Ling was no longer wearing his previous outfit either. He had changed into a moon-white robe. Layers of snow-silk and shark-satin overlapped, shimmering with a faint blue glow. It was cinched tight above his hips by a silver-gray belt the width of a palm, highlighting a lean and handsome waistline. Setting aside his behavior, this attire made him look more like a dazzling immortal lord than a malevolent one.

Looking back at the pile of gaudy things, Yin Huizhi realized Xie Ling was doing this on purpose. He did not bother wasting more words and said coldly, “No need to change. This is fine.”

From his standing position, Xie Ling reached out and scratched Yin Huizhi’s chin. “You certainly speak with an air of authority. Are you not afraid I will kill you?”

Yin Huizhi frowned and leaned back, avoiding the gesture as if he were a cat or dog being toyed with. “If I were afraid, I would not have let you spirit me away from the mountain.”

Xie Ling did not comment on the statement itself but said unhurriedly, “I am starting to like you more and more.”

Yin Huizhi said nothing. He looked into Xie Ling’s frivolous eyes, trying to guess what the man’s goal truly was. Call him ungrateful or calculating, but after learning Xie Ling’s true identity, he could not fully trust him, even if the life-saving favor was real. When Xie Ling clarified he had nothing to do with Li Chi’s death, Yin Huizhi only half-believed him. In fact, after Xie Ling forcibly took him down the mountain, he was even more convinced that Xie Ling had an ulterior motive.

But what exactly was that motive?

Yin Huizhi asked, seemingly casual, “Xie Ling, where is this place?”

The waiting woman did not even blink. Xie Ling found this clumsy probing interesting and said slowly, “My place. The people are mine too. It would not even matter if you called me ‘Young Master’ directly.”

Yin Huizhi was not surprised his intentions were seen through. Since Xie Ling chose to take him away after his cultivation was destroyed, there was no way he would be granted freedom.

He asked directly, “Are we going to stay here forever?”

“No, but we will depart later.” Xie Ling looked down at Yin Huizhi’s heart. “Your meridians were too deeply damaged by the Spirit-Devouring Gu. You need to nurture and regulate them.”

Yin Huizhi’s body stiffened. His dantian had been destroyed back at Guanlan Sect. How did Xie Ling know a Spirit-Devouring Gu had been planted in him?

Why was it that no matter how much he practiced, day and night without rest, he made no progress? Why, despite reading so many sword manuals and memorizing so many mental techniques, did he remain stuck at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment?

It was because when he was eleven, the immortal leader who took him in did not just drain his spiritual energy; he also planted a Spirit-Devouring Gu in his dantian. As long as he cultivated, the Gu would act like a bottomless pit, swallowing every bit of spiritual energy he absorbed. That catastrophe had not just destroyed half of his spiritual roots; it had turned him into a useless person who could never break through the Foundation Establishment stage. His talent and sharpness had vanished completely.

If one were to call that immortal leader cruel, the man had not used a method to shatter his dantian, but merely drained his energy. If one were to call him merciful, he had still found a way to plant the Gu. He had left Yin Huizhi a sliver of possibility, only to let him watch that sliver be ground down repeatedly and continuously.

Perhaps by chance or fate, when Ji Huixue brought him back to Wenjian Peak and asked Master Linyin to check his dantian, Linyin had simply shaken his head and said one thing: “If the dantian is not destroyed, it cannot be removed.”

If the dantian was destroyed, the Spirit-Devouring Gu would naturally be rendered useless as well. But those words also meant a lifespan shorter than a mortal’s, and the near impossibility of ever cultivating again in this life. Ji Huixue could not agree to that, and Yin Huizhi, in a stable state of health, had not been decisive enough either.

So Yin Huizhi lived in a daze until he was sixteen. Covered in filth he could not wash off, with Ji Huixue in solitary confinement, only Xie Ling, a demonic cultivator with unknown intentions, had offered to help. He had deliberately waited until the execution. It was a desperate gamble at a dead end and a silent rebellion against Xie Ling.

You want to take me away? Then I will become a useless person with no value to you. Do you still insist on taking me?

Xie Ling’s actions exceeded his expectations. What was even more surprising was that the man knew everything: the Gu that once lived in his dantian, the fact that it was now gone, and of course, his intentions.

Yin Huizhi’s mood sank to the absolute bottom. The only son of the Tianye Sect Leader of the Eastern Qianyin Territory, even if he were not the tyrannical, pampered playboy of the rumors, should not be this ghost-like figure who knew him inside out and could enter the Guanlan Sect at will. Where did it go wrong?

Yin Huizhi guessed his expression must be terrible, because Xie Ling flashed that uncomfortable smile again. “What is wrong, Young Immortal?”

At this point, subtle probing was meaningless. He asked bluntly and rudely, “You really do know a lot about me. Master Xie, what exactly is your purpose in approaching me?”

Xie Ling pondered for a moment and said slowly, “If you really want to know, I can tell you. I am just afraid you will not believe me.”

Yin Huizhi said, “Whether I believe it is up to me.”

Xie Ling was amused by his tone again. “Fine, then listen well. My purpose in approaching you is to save you from crisis, to make your heart joyful, to reform you, and to warm you.”

Yin Huizhi was silent. He indifferently turned his head back, no longer looking at Xie Ling. He got off the bed and took the outer robe from the rack to put it on.

Xie Ling’s footsteps followed close behind. “See? I told you, and you did not believe me.”

Yin Huizhi turned. “Master Xie, could you at least make up an excuse that does not sound so completely unbelievable?”

Xie Ling smiled. “I am afraid not. I would be worried you might actually believe it.”

Yin Huizhi was almost angered into a laugh, thinking that not a single word from this man’s mouth could be trusted. As he looked down to tie the gaudy belt, he said, “Master Xie, I am a semi-cripple now. I am afraid I will only be a burden to you.”

Xie Ling stepped closer and carefully wound the belt for him. “I do not mind. I can nurse you back to health.”

“I can do it myself,” Yin Huizhi said.

Xie Ling backed off smoothly. “I thought you did not know how to tie this kind of belt.”

Yin Huizhi indeed did not. The Wenjian Peak uniform was elegant and white, but the style was very simple. The waist was just a palm-width white silk cord. He quietly put some distance between himself and Xie Ling. “Finished.”

Xie Ling turned his back to him and waved a hand slightly. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To find something that can nurse you back to health.”

Once outside, Yin Huizhi realized they were in a brothel-like establishment. Unsurprisingly, his clothes had been sourced locally. Many gazes were frequently cast his way along the road.

Actually, the outer robe of the clothes was quite decent and structured. The light crimson round-neck robe held a certain youthful spirit. However, Yin Huizhi’s features were too refined and beautiful. The combination of black hair, snowy skin, and the maple-red hair ribbon and belt added an unintended touch of vividness to his purity. When passersby looked at the well-dressed, wealthy-looking Xie Ling, they immediately assumed they were an “indescribable” pair.

This scrutiny became even more blatant once they reached the entrance of a casino. The looks were filled with unabashed lewdness, causing Yin Huizhi to frown repeatedly.

“Put it on.” The person walking ahead suddenly stopped, handing him a silver openwork mask with a pale, slender hand. Xie Ling did not turn around when handing it over, so Yin Huizhi could not see his expression. He could not tell if it was his imagination, but the moment the voice spoke, the surrounding gazes darted away as if warned by something.

Yin Huizhi took it and said in a flat tone, as if just a casual remark, “Everything that should and should not have been seen has already been seen.”

He was not sure who this act was for. Hearing this, Xie Ling raised a hand and conjured a water mirror before him. Yin Huizhi saw himself in the mirror and froze. The person in the mirror only bore a thirty-percent resemblance to his original appearance, yet every detail seemed to have evolved from his true self. The coldness and refinement had almost completely vanished from his face, replaced by a naive, foolish innocence and an excessively delicate beauty. Paired with the pink clothes and slender waist, he looked even more androgynous.

Realizing something, Yin Huizhi looked down at the jade pendant hanging from his waist. Xie Ling had tied it there while helping him with the belt. He had tried to secretly remove it several times to no avail. It was clearly a soul-bound dharma treasure. Since his cultivation was destroyed, he could not sense its purpose directly.

Now it was clear; Xie Ling never intended for his identity to be exposed. Yin Huizhi pursed his lips tightly, embarrassed by his previous assumption and frustrated by his current unseemly appearance. He quickly put the silver mask over his face and said muffledly, “Fine, let’s go.”

Xie Ling glanced at his reddened ear tips, said nothing, and led him deeper. Their destination was clearly more than just a casino. Once Yin Huizhi put on the mask, most of the nauseating gazes disappeared. As for why it was only “most,” it was because a portion of the gazes did not move away. Instead, they recklessly fell upon Xie Ling. These gamblers clearly had much more courage than the people outside, and the lust in their eyes was even more blatant and crazed than before.

Xie Ling wore no mask and had not changed his form. His pale, sharp, handsome face was exposed to the air. His snow-colored robes swayed slightly with his steps. There were no Xie family crests on them. Those peeking at him clearly did not recognize him; those who did kept their heads down and remained silent, terrified of bringing disaster upon themselves.

Yin Huizhi thought to himself that he actually felt a slight sense of schadenfreude. Xie Ling suddenly turned his head and gave him a half-smile. Hidden behind his mask, Yin Huizhi simply pretended to be blind and ignored him.

After passing through the noisy first floor, they finally stopped at a mysterious entrance leading underground, above which hung a plaque. The plaque itself was alive, pulsating and wriggling. It was made of the skin, flesh, and hair of unknown creatures, pieced together to form three pitch-black characters.

“Taoyuan World.”

Due to Xie Ling’s presence, Yin Huizhi had not had the chance to ask where they were. Only now, seeing those three characters and the half-human, half-ghost attendant at the door, did he suddenly understand. “Taoyuan World” had a more direct and sharp name in the Upper Cultivation Realm: The Ghost Market.

The Ghost Market was located outside the border of the Southern Qianyin Territory, nearly touching the border of the Upper Cultivation Realm. Further north was the territory of the Tianye Sect in the Eastern Qianyin Territory. Given such a complex location, few dared to definitively say which power was behind it, but the most common rumor pointed to the Lord of the Southern Territory, the Shen family of the South Sea Palace. But recalling Xie Ling’s earlier words, Yin Huizhi thought to himself that rumors were indeed mostly false.

Just as he was about to follow Xie Ling down, a shrill scream pierced through the winding corridors from the casino on the first floor.

“Ah!” “My eyes! My eyes! My eyeballs are gone!” “Help!” “The dealer! Where is the dealer? I cannot see! It hurts!”

Scream after scream rang out. Yin Huizhi turned his head and saw Xie Ling standing under the plaque, eyes slightly lowered and dark lashes casting shadows, looking very peaceful and harmless. Except for the corner of his mouth, which was hooked into a pleasant curve, a curve that deepened as the number of screams increased.

Xie Ling’s slender, pale fingers tapped against his arm rhythmically, as if counting the beats to the rising and falling wails. Yin Huizhi felt a chill run down his spine and a creeping numbness spreading across his scalp.

He was a lunatic. This man was a lunatic.