The Beautiful Pariah Thought He Could Be Loved - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Xin Qishu Said Word by Word: “This is…”

“Li Mu’s mother was a lady from a respectable family. Years ago, her family was moving and passed through Xiaoqinghe Town, staying for three months. By chance, she met Li Guan. Li Guan coveted her beauty and treated her with every possible care. Gradually, the lady fell in love, believing she had found her true love.”

“Li Guan already had a wife at home, and the lady was unwilling to be a concubine. He coaxed her, promising he would divorce his wife, and asked her to wait. The lady was truly blinded by him; before they were even wed, they consorted together, and she became pregnant with Li Mu.”

“She was terrified when she found out she was pregnant, but she didn’t tell Li Guan. She stepped back, willing to be a concubine. But Li Guan told her that when he married his wife, a contract was signed stating he could never take a concubine.”

“Only then did she realize that Li Guan never intended to give her a status. But she was a devoted woman and refused to give up hope.”

“Later, her family left town, but she stayed behind, waiting for Li Guan to change his mind. But she never saw that day. After giving birth, she was plagued by illness and passed away within a few years. Before she died, she used the last of her strength to let Li Guan know about his son, Li Mu.”

“Li Guan raised Li Mu outside the house, occasionally providing money. Although his birth was somewhat scandalous, Li Mu was a good child—diligent in his studies and very handsome.”

“The teacher at the lecture hall said he would surely ‘leap over the dragon gate’ and find success.”

“But tragically, he caught the eye of his own brothers.”

“The Third Young Master went mad the moment he saw Li Mu and forcibly dragged him back to the mansion. It’s lamentable—the first time Li Mu ever stepped foot into the Li Mansion was for such a reason.”

“Afterward… sigh… a long entanglement I won’t describe in detail.”

“Li Guan fell ill and returned home to recover, only then discovering Li Mu’s situation. After the truth came out, the Third Young Master still insisted on marrying Li Mu. Li Guan was furious, and in the heat of the argument, another old secret was revealed: it turned out the Third Young Master wasn’t actually Li Guan’s biological son. The Li Mansion was quite a spectacle for those few days.”

“Everyone thought it would end there. But to everyone’s surprise, the Third Young Master suddenly married another man. Shortly after, news spread that Li Mu was dead.”

The waiter finished his story and withdrew.

Xin Qishu seemed to realize something. He lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes fluttering. His red eyes lacked focus as he nibbled absently on his chopsticks.

Huaqing brushed his sleeve and placed a piece of food into Xin Qishu’s bowl. The red string on his wrist flashed momentarily. He spoke timely: “The person is already dead. Their story has reached its final period. Don’t invest too much emotion into it.”

Xin Qishu sighed. “Li Mu once said he would enter reincarnation after killing the three young masters; he has no further desires. The medical cultivator cast a divination—tonight might be the last chance to see him.”

Huaqing touched his hand and said, “Tonight at midnight, you go and talk to the ghost.”

“Me?” Xin Qishu was slightly surprised, his eyes widening. For a cultivator to speak with a soul, they must suppress half of their vitality, entering a state of being half-alive and half-dead to hear a ghost’s voice.

He only had a Foundation Establishment cultivation. Suppressing half of his vitality made it easy for ghostly energy to invade his body and destabilize his soul. At best, he would be weak and ill; at worst, he might never wake up.

Huaqing was different. Having him speak to the ghost was the optimal choice.

“I will protect you.” Huaqing continued, “I have a magical treasure. You won’t need to suppress your vitality; you can speak to the ghost through it.”

Huaqing produced a bronze mirror. “Just drop your blood onto the mirror surface and introduce a sliver of ghostly energy. You can then talk to him through the mirror without harming your body.”

“I can help with the ghostly energy.”

On the surface of the mirror, Xin Qishu’s beautiful features were blurred. He had heard of such treasures but had never seen one. Thinking further, he felt it wasn’t necessary to go to such trouble. “Why don’t you just talk to the ghost directly? That way we can obtain spiritual power faster.”

Whenever they were together, Xin Qishu subconsciously followed He Huaqing’s lead. Previously, when He Huaqing was betrayed and lost his arm, his vulnerable side had been magnified in Xin Qishu’s eyes, briefly stimulating Xin Qishu’s desire to take charge.

Now that He Huaqing was powerful again, Xin Qishu’s desire naturally receded.

Huaqing didn’t look angry; he simply looked at Xin Qishu with a soft gaze.

Huaqing’s features were light in color. Even with his unusual eye color, a normal person’s first impression wouldn’t be of his facial features, but of his untouchable, lofty aura.

“What’s wrong? I remember you weren’t like this a few days ago,” He Huaqing teased, seeing through his psychological shift. His eyes were soft, his expression as if reminiscing. “You weren’t like this before, either. It seems that since we parted at Lychee Mountain, your personality changed when we met again.”

On that day, after the disciples reported back, the two in the hall immediately descended the mountain on their swords.

Thousands of mortals lived at the foot of Fayu Temple. Under its protection, disasters rarely occurred, and people lived in peace. When He Huaqing arrived at the foot of the mountain that day, the streets were empty.

Xin Qishu did not come out to meet him. Only Fei Jia walked toward him, while the other elders of the Xuerong Palace stood in the shadows, their gazes unfriendly.

In the ensuing negotiations, Xin Qishu never showed his face once. It was only on the day He Huaqing relented that Xin Qishu appeared for the first time from behind a door.

It was indeed the youth who had spent five days with him on Lychee Mountain.

The fantasy in his heart had completely shattered. Even though a hundred years had passed, He Huaqing remembered the feeling of his heart feeling like it had been scalded by boiling water.

At that time, his eyes were blinded by emotion, and he hadn’t observed Xin Qishu carefully.

Only after arriving at the Demon Abyss did he notice the change in Xin Qishu—he spoke less, was more reserved, and was no longer as clever. Could this be related to Xin Sha?

Xin Qishu lowered his head to avoid his gaze, his bangs hiding his eyes.

He Huaqing said slowly, “Do you remember the first time we met? I was chatting with Yang Li in the room. You kicked the door open and barged in, a large wound on your head and gauze wrapped around your arm, carrying a bag of meat pies and asking Yang Li to help you get revenge.”

“That’s because someone bullied me,” Xin Qishu said in a low voice, sounding slightly aggrieved.

Huaqing laughed softly. “I didn’t stop Yang Li from helping you, did I?”

Huaqing squeezed his hand. “Did Xin Sha say something to you?”

After half an hour, Xin Qishu tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, revealing his snow-white, soft profile. “After returning to the Demon Abyss, I felt like an outsider. They wanted me to stay quiet and behave. I wanted their approval, so I went along with them on many things… and slowly, I became like this.”

“It’s mainly because of my cultivation, I suppose. I’ve gotten older, but my cultivation hasn’t grown. To grow… one must kill.”

Huaqing remained expressionless. “But you are only at Foundation Establishment. Xuerong Palace surely has mid-tier cultivation methods that don’t require taking lives.”

In fact, there is a difference between the Demon race and Demonic cultivators. As long as a Demon practices orthodox methods and maintains a righteous heart, they won’t go berserk or succumb to inner demons, and their advancement doesn’t require human lives. However, over time, mixed-blood Demons and Demonic cultivators lived together, and their techniques gradually blended, making many mixed-blood techniques require killing.

But Xuerong Palace would definitely have a mid-tier technique that didn’t require killing.

“They have them, but I can’t practice them.” Xin Qishu looked up, his large light-brown eyes filled with a touch of sorrow. “Do you know about the Blood Demon Ring?”

He Huaqing nodded.

“Before I was born, Xin Sha made a contract with the Blood Demon Ring. One clause states: “As his offspring, if I want to raise my cultivation after Foundation Establishment, I must enter the secret realm of the Blood Demon Ring.”

“Xin Sha refuses to let me enter the ring.” Xin Qishu’s eyes flickered; he didn’t look very sad, but his mood was off.

Huaqing stopped the conversation and stood up, pulling Xin Qishu onto his lap. “If the cultivation can’t be solved for now, let’s start by changing your mindset.”

He turned his head and kissed Xin Qishu’s forehead a few times. “Tonight, you take charge, okay?”

“I will always be by your side.”

Smelling the scent on him, Xin Qishu felt much more at ease. He softened in the man’s arms and gave a low “mm.” Perhaps it was a chance look, or perhaps the proximity, but their lips were soon pressed together again.

Outside the window, a bird took flight. Huaqing was the first to pull away. Their foreheads rested against each other, their body heat and breath intermingling.

Huaqing lowered his gaze, his long lashes trembling as he watched the slightly dazed Xin Qishu. Xin Qishu’s face was flushed, his eyes shimmering with moisture, the corners of his eyes tilted upward.

He looked at him with an alluring gaze.

This was his cultivation partner.

Just thinking about it filled his heart with joy, as if several birds were flapping their wings in his chest.

Huaqing chuckled low. His grip on the person in his arms tightened, and he couldn’t resist leaning in for another kiss.

…

Late at night, the moonlight was eerie. The Li Mansion was brightly lit, and the sound of funeral music filled the air. The scent of incense and the smoke from burning joss paper wafted out, hitting one’s senses directly.

The two scaled the wall into the mansion. The mourning hall was set in the main hall; they hid in a dark corner.

Xin Qishu watched from afar. Funeral couplets were pasted on both sides of the hall, and white cloth banners hung from the pillars. A crowd of people in funeral clothes knelt before the offering table, their wailing incessantly.

The light of the fire in the brazier reflected Xin Qishu’s eyes. Three pitch-black coffins lay there, a shocking sight.

He had seen plenty of mortal deaths. The old man who had picked him up and cared for him as a child went into the mountains and never returned; when Xin Qishu went to find him, he only found the old man’s terrified head in a tiger’s den.

There were the mortals stabbed to death by demonic cultivators on Lychee Mountain.

And the old farmer at the foot of Fayu Temple who used to share food with him, who had closed his eyes peacefully on the land he had tilled his whole life. His body was buried under a mound of earth, forever watching over that land.

A dark energy tinged Xin Qishu’s red eyes. In his vision, a youth in white appeared in the mourning hall. He wasn’t very old and stared at the names on the spirit tablets with a blank expression.

Xin Qishu looked around; only this one person had appeared. Was he Li Mu?

Li Guan was wailing and kowtowing at his feet.

Will you kill Li Guan?

Huaqing lightly patted his shoulder. The two exchanged a look, and Xin Qishu nodded slightly. Huaqing stepped out of the corner. His body became semi-transparent, glowing with a faint green light. He walked through the kowtowing crowd and arrived behind Li Mu.

Li Mu seemed to feel something and turned his head. His expression was numb as he opened his mouth to say something.

Xin Qishu discerned his words: Are you here to destroy me?

Huaqing stood with his back to Xin Qishu; it was unclear if he gave an answer. His right hand glowed with green light, and with a swipe next to Li Mu, he caught a wisp of black energy in his palm.

Huaqing returned and took Xin Qishu away from the Li Mansion. On the dark mountain, a black mirror surface warped Xin Qishu’s reflection. Xin Qishu pricked his finger.

A drop of blood fell. The moment it touched the surface, a massive force gripped his heart. Xin Qishu’s face turned deathly pale instantly, his pupils shrinking to a point. A scream escaped his throat uncontrollably, the broken end of it echoing across the mountain top.

His legs gave way, and he was about to collapse. A pair of hands caught him just in time. Huaqing pulled him into his arms, sweat rolling down his cheeks, as he comforted him with a rare soft voice: “It’ll be over in a second, just a second, Little Qi.”

Xin Qishu rested his face against the man’s shoulder. Huaqing hurriedly looked at the Mirror of the Sea of Sins. The person in his arms was shaking continuously, making small, unintelligible sounds from his throat.

Huaqing’s hand holding the mirror trembled, and his voice was horribly unstable. “Endure it, Little Qi, it’ll be over soon.”

“Just this once… just this once.”

Xin Qishu whimpered in pain. Huaqing held him tightly.

Under the bright moonlight, fragments began to flash across the mirror. There were glimpses of Ye Yi, Yang Li, Fei Jia, Xin Sha, Xu Qiyao… they were sitting or lying, with various expressions. The colors of the aura surrounding them on the mirror were all different, but not a single moment carried the aura of blood (the mark of a killer).

Huaqing breathed a sigh of relief. After half an hour, the flickering stopped, and a rosy-pink glow appeared on the bronze mirror. The pink light, like a spotlight, shone on He Huaqing’s sharp facial features, revealing an expression that could almost be called terrified.

With whom did Xin Qishu have such heavy karma? Would he have that person’s life on his hands?

The pink light faded, and an image surfaced on the mirror.

In a dimly lit straw hut, a man wore white clothes made of coarse fabric. His left arm, barring the view of the observer, had its sleeve rolled up high. Beneath the white fabric at his waist, a rose-pink bloodstain was faintly visible.

The perspective was slightly low. The man turned his head to look at the mirror with concern. His eyes were stunning—a glass-like pale green.

It was He Huaqing himself.

The one Xin Qishu cared about most, the one most deeply entangled with him, was only him.

He Huaqing was suddenly moved. The heart in his chest beat rapidly; it was as if a corner of the glacier in his heart had been shaken down. Before he could say anything, the person in his arms struggled and suddenly turned his head. He Huaqing’s eyes widened as he reached out to stop him, “Don’t—”

But Xin Qishu had already seen the image in the mirror. In that instant, He Huaqing’s heart felt as though it had been tossed into the high sky, only to crash down violently when Xin Qishu, pale-faced, stared at him.

Xin Qishu said word by word: “This is the Mirror of the Sea of Sins. Hi Huaqing, you lied to me.”