The Beautiful Pariah Thought He Could Be Loved - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Until the break of dawn, he had no choice…

“Is the corpse really in the Li Mansion?”

The youth said nothing, stepping into the room on their left. As he pushed the door open, a waft of decaying stench rushed out. Xin Qishu couldn’t help but bend over and gag, pinching his nose as he scanned the room.

The room was covered in thick dust. With a calm expression, the youth yanked back the bedding on the bed, stirring up a cloud of gray dust.

Beneath the covers lay a rotting corpse, silent and still. The fabric of its clothing twitched slightly as a few maggots crawled out from underneath.

Unable to take it anymore, Xin Qishu ran out the door and threw up until the world spun. He didn’t step foot inside again.

He couldn’t understand it. The middle-aged man was the head of the Li family—why would he lie? If he was so afraid of a ghost seeking revenge, why hadn’t he properly settled the remains?

“Hey, which courtyard are you from? I haven’t seen you before,” a servant asked, walking into the yard.

Xin Qishu’s eyelids jumped. Hearing the voice, the youth stepped out of the room. “We were invited by Master Li.”

The servant’s gaze shifted to Xin Qishu’s clothes.

Xin Qishu asked righteously, “What are you looking at?”

The servant timidly lowered his head.

The youth asked, “What are you doing in this courtyard?”

The servant’s voice was very low. “I… I took a wrong turn.”

“You know there’s a corpse in this room,” the youth said, crossing his arms. “You came specifically to see it. Who sent you? Li Guan?”

Li Guan was a middle-aged man, the master of the Li Mansion.

“No, it was the Third Young Master… before he passed, he told me to look after Master Li. I came today to pack my bags and leave.”

“Wasn’t Master Li always raised outside the house?” Xin Qishu asked.

The servant looked left and right. Seeing no one, he relaxed a bit and started gossiping. “You two should just leave. Master Li won’t come back for the Old Master’s life. Master Li told me himself when he was gravely ill that he didn’t hate Li Guan; he only hated the three Young Masters. He said if he became a ghost, he would only kill the three of them.”

“What did the three Young Masters do to him?”

“Just… those filthy things. Anyway, you should just go. If there’s no ghost to kill him, the Old Master won’t pay you.”

“And after the revenge? Did he say what he wanted to do?” Xin Qishu wanted to find the ghost’s purpose for lingering in the human world.

The servant looked blank. “No… oh, he said he wanted to drink the Water of Forgetfulness with them and reincarnate together.”

Then the servant went into another room, grabbed a bundle, and hurried away.

The sky grew dark, and the horizon was painted with rosy clouds as the sun flashed its final rays of the day.

The youth watched him leave and said, “A spell was once cast on that man’s body to keep it from rotting.”

Xin Qishu recalled the scene from earlier. “The spell has failed.”

“Yes, the caster is dead.” The youth held up a jade pendant. A speck of black energy flickered in the center of the white jade, then turned into a faint trail of black smoke pointing south. It led out of the Li Mansion.

The two exchanged a look. The youth teased, “If you don’t go back tonight, will your husband be angry?”

Ever since his right arm was severed, He Huaqing’s psychology had become somewhat twisted, and he had grown very fixated on Xin Qishu. To this, Xin Qishu had adapted quite well.

Thinking of He Huaqing’s recent behavior, Xin Qishu said decisively, “He will.” The youth stared at him with interest.

Xin Qishu smiled slightly, dimples appearing on his cheeks. “But isn’t it true that things are more exciting when he’s angry?”

The youth’s skin was snow-white and his expression was playful, like a beautiful flower.

The youth touched the corner of his lip, looking at him with an unreadable gaze. “You’re quite an interesting person.”

The two scaled the wall and left the courtyard, following the thin black smoke through several streets. As they rounded a corner, the smoke suddenly vanished.

“Is this… was the corpse swallowed here?” The youth felt discouraged. “A demonic cultivator? Or a demon? Logically, they shouldn’t be here.”

“This place is so far from the Demon Abyss. The demonic energy is thin; it’s not conducive to cultivation either.”

Xin Qishu nodded in agreement. His gaze drifted behind the youth, where a simple porridge stall owner was bending over to scoop porridge. There was a suspicious bulge near his tailbone.

The owner finished serving with a smile and wiped away his sweat tiredly.

The sky was so blue.

He had sold twenty bowls of porridge today; he had earned…

“Eh?!?”

The customer sitting with his back to the stove turned around with his chopsticks in hand. The stall was empty.

He asked blankly, “Where’s the owner?”

The youth and Xin Qishu worked together to tie the “Owner-Demon” up behind a nearby wall.

Xin Qishu pulled out his blade and put on a tough act. “Don’t move. We want to ask you something.”

The youth leaned down with a fake smile. “If you don’t tell the truth, we’ll slaughter you for meat.”

The Owner-Demon trembled uncontrollably.

“Speak! Why did you eat that person’s corpse?”

The Owner-Demon’s hands were tied behind his back. Terrified by the snowy gleam of the blade, he nearly fainted, sobbing, “Wuuu, I didn’t mean to, ying-ying-ying… I was so hungry that day I fainted, and when I woke up, my stomach was full… wait, what did you say? A corpse?”

He let out a scream. Xin Qishu smiled and poked the demon’s pudgy belly with his scabbard, saying without much threat, “Don’t scream.”

“I remember eating a living person!”

Demons generally don’t eat the dead. The youth asked, “What did he look like?”

“He… he looked like a Taoist priest.”

Xin Qishu handed over paper and a pen. “Draw him.”

A face slowly appeared on the paper: a middle-aged man with a diamond-shaped face and slightly drooping eyes, looking very mild-tempered. The inked pupils on the paper seemed to stare back at Xin Qishu. “Which Taoist temple would he be from?”

The youth brushed the dust off his hands. “There’s only one temple around here, the Qingfeng Temple outside of town.”

“Ugh… then can I…” Tears welled in the Owner-Demon’s eyes.

“I’ve already contacted a nearby immortal sect. Until we find out the truth, you’ll be under their watch for a while.”

The Owner-Demon had a long face. He couldn’t understand how these two, who looked like children, could be so cold-hearted.

The two visited the temple head and confirmed that the eaten Taoist was indeed the one invited to the Li Mansion. This Taoist had frequent contact with the Eldest Young Master.

It turned out that Li Guan was rarely home; the Li Mansion had previously been managed by the Eldest Young Master.

The temple head said that the Taoist’s soul lamp went out on the fifth day of the fifth month.

The vengeful ghost died on the twenty-eighth of the fourth month; its seventh day—the night it returns—was exactly the fifth of the fifth month.

The Owner-Demon had eaten him on the twelfth of the fifth month.

Their trip confirmed that the Owner-Demon had accidentally eaten a corpse that the ghost had tampered with, sparing the demon from an immediate death sentence.

After a night of rushing about, the clues at the Li Mansion had hit a dead end.

The two returned to the entrance of the Li Mansion. The youth sat on the steps. “Fine, I’ll watch the Li Mansion tonight. If what the servant said is true, once the three Young Masters’ seventh day passes and they enter reincarnation, everything will be over.”

The sons of the Li family were killed on the fifth of June. Their seventh day would be three days from now, on the twelfth of June.

“Should we go ask the other person what he found?” The “other person” referred to Ye Yi.

The youth curled his lip. “He looks like he just stopped by the Li Mansion to leach some benefits. He’ll stay comfortably for a few days, then leave saying he can’t solve it before patting his butt and walking away.”

The image immediately appeared in Xin Qishu’s mind, and he laughed.

“I cast a divination. On the night of the Young Masters’ seventh day, the ghost is most likely to reappear. Are you coming?” the youth asked.

“Hard to say. If my husband’s arm can’t be fixed, we’ll have to go elsewhere to find a miracle doctor,” Xin Qishu said with a grin.

At daybreak, the two parted ways.

…

Huaqing looked down at the corpse for a moment before pulling the white cloth back over it. “These people were willing to be killed by the ghost.”

Ye Yi stood far away from him, his voice devoid of emotion. “When they come back on their seventh day, can’t you just grab one?”

“What if they don’t come back?” He Huaqing asked.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Ye Yi opened the door. “It’s not that big of a deal anyway.”

The sunset glow filled the room. “Are ghosts ever in short supply?”

“So why did you ask to meet here?” He Huaqing asked. He had originally planned to catch a ghost near the Demon Abyss, but shortly after leaving Xiaoqinghe Town a few days ago, he received a message from Ye Yi asking for a meeting.

“Just curious about your progress. Has he opened his heart to you yet?” Ye Yi glanced disrespectfully at the scars on He Huaqing’s face and the stump of his limb. “You’ve even resorted to the ‘bitter flesh’ tactic (self-harm to gain sympathy).”

“Yes.”

“Then how soon can the mission be completed?”

“Very soon.”

“He Huaqing, you’re just talking nonsense. Xin Qishu isn’t close to his father at all; he can’t even get near the Blood Demon Ring.” The Blood Demon Ring was the symbol of the Palace Master of Xuerong Palace.

This was the second time He Huaqing had heard this. “If that’s the case, why did Xin Sha acknowledge him and bring him back?”

“What does bringing him back prove?” Ye Yi countered. “Your parents abandoned you at the foot of Fayu Temple’s mountain, letting you join the immortal sect and rise to the top. But do they love you?”

Ye Yi’s words were almost an insult. Cultivators rarely discussed each other’s birth families, as most were abandoned and happened upon the path of immortality or demons by chance.

As long as a cultivator reached the Qi Refining stage, they could never forget their past unless an external force intervened.

Huaqing was not provoked; those things happened a long, long time ago. However, the example did change his perspective. “Is it that Xin Qishu cannot accept it?” He hadn’t heard Xin Qishu mention anything related to Xin Sha.

Being abandoned and ignored for several hundred years—given Xin Qishu’s willful nature—would indeed create a rift with Xin Sha. Whatever little fatherly love Xin Sha had would likely vanish again.

“I don’t know. If you’re dead set on starting with Xin Qishu, then put more heart into it. Xin Qishu is like a plant lacking water; he can tell whether the water you give him is real or fake.”

Huaqing said, “I haven’t noticed.”

“It’s just the honeymoon phase right now. Make the most of your chance.”

Ye Yi had felt from the beginning that this wasn’t a good method.

Unlike Yang Li’s perspective, he believed this method was too damaging to Fayu Temple’s reputation. Ye Yi was in charge of diplomacy and was the one who felt the direct impact of the news of He Huaqing “marrying into” the family.

Huaqing said, “You seem to be in a bad mood today?”

At the thought of those eccentric old fogies from the other sects, a fire burned in Ye Yi’s chest. “When did you become so sensitive? Is it because you’ve been with Xin Qishu for too long?”

“Perhaps.” Huaqing stepped over the threshold, looking at the sky with a relaxed air. He felt himself becoming much “warmer” than before. The clouds moved slowly across the sky, and the scent of food wafted from the distance. Because he had invested too much energy into the role of the perfect lover, had some of his feelings been assimilated?

Was this change good or bad?

Ye Yi turned his head and was horrified to find He Huaqing wearing a faint smile. He watched him silently for a moment, various thoughts flashing through his mind. After a while, he asked in a very flippant tone, “You haven’t actually fallen in love with Xin Qishu, have you?”

“No.” Huaqing’s expression flattened, answering instantly. “It’s just assimilation from being together for a long time.”

Ye Yi offered no comment. “A few days ago, the Mo Sect secretly captured several demonic cultivators and got some information regarding the Blood Demon Ring.”

“The Mo Sect is involved now too?” He Huaqing asked.

“The business with the Glass Lamp of the Cheng family in Yunzi River made a fool of them; naturally, they want an explanation.” Ye Yi breathed a sigh of relief. “The demonic cultivators said that the saying ‘The one who becomes Palace Master gets the Blood Demon Ring’ is wrong. The truth is, one must be recognized by the Blood Demon Ring to become the Palace Master of Xuerong Palace.”

“The Blood Demon Ring has its own secret realm; only by passing through the realm is one recognized. Xuerong Palace selects talents every hundred years to send into the realm. We suspect the key to destroying the ring lies within that realm.”

“The realm opens again in two months. You need to hurry.”

Huaqing took two steps, then suddenly asked, “How many lives are on Xin Qishu’s hands?”

“How should I know?” Ye Yi crossed his arms. “What are you planning?”

“Is the Mirror of the Sea of Sins with you? Lend it to me for a few days.”

There are five immortal artifacts remaining in the world, held by five different immortal sects and guarded by elders in rotation. But recently, the Qingrong Flute of the Hutong Sect was lost and its whereabouts remain unknown.

The elders and disciples guarding the flute were all killed; after investigation, it was determined to be the work of the demon race.

The elders unanimously agreed that keeping the Mirror of the Sea of Sins at Fayu Temple was no longer safe, so the sect’s treasure was indeed currently with Ye Yi.

Ye Yi looked at him for a long time before taking the mirror out of his spatial storage and handing it to him.

In the dim, blurry surface of the mirror, a man with handsome but indifferent features stared back at him. Huaqing thanked him. “I’ll return it in three days.”

“Wait for me here at midnight.”

“Are you really going to deepen the marriage bond with Xin Qishu?” Ye Yi leaned against the doorframe behind him, watching him quietly. “After it’s deepened, if Xin Qishu is struck down, he can borrow a portion of your power. It will cause great damage to your spiritual root.”

“…”

Huaqing avoided the question, lightly leaping away and flying from the courtyard.

When he returned home, Xin Qishu had not yet returned. He sat holding the Mirror of the Sea of Sins, waiting; he had an idea he was eager to realize.

He wanted to see Xin Qishu immediately.

The moon moved slowly across the sky, and it wasn’t until the horizon began to whiten that he was forced to admit that Xin Qishu had stayed out all night.