The Beautiful Pariah Thought He Could Be Loved - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: The Forgetfulness Pill

Xin Qishu sometimes wondered why he had to be so guarded no matter where he went.

The bold recklessness of his youth had long since vanished; what remained, growing and living within him now, was merely a shell.

The warm sounds of other people’s conversations drifted into his ears—a woman and a man walking together, beaming with smiles. The bright moon hung in the sky, yet its cold light seemed to shine only upon him. Xin Qishu clenched his fists and kept walking, not daring to stop for a single moment.

He didn’t know if there were any powerful masters in the vicinity. He didn’t dare expose his demonic qi, so he could only flee on foot.

Who was following him? The face of the person weeping behind their hands in the second-floor partition flashed through his mind. Then, he dismissed it—if it were that person, he would have been able to shake them off.

The fiery red lanterns hanging from the tavern’s eaves since New Year’s Eve had faded after enduring wind and rain. Faint candlelight flickered through the fabric as the lanterns swayed slowly with the wind, their yellow light merging into a glow that illuminated the entire street.

The crowds were dense, most people chatting as they walked at a leisurely pace. Only a pale pink figure moved with great strides, sleeves fluttering. Far behind him, a grey figure followed shadow-like in pursuit.

The footsteps behind him were light, yet they sounded like a death knell ringing constantly in his ears. Xin Qishu’s expression grew grim. He walked faster and faster, nearly breaking into a run.

“Hey, Daoist, would you like to come in and look at some spiritual tools? You’re here for Immortal Contention, aren’t you…”

A youth suddenly popped out from the side, blocking Xin Qishu’s path and peddling his wares with great effort.

A string in Xin Qishu’s mind snapped taut. His eyes flashed with cold light as he ducked to the side. Unexpectedly, the youth shifted nimbly as well, still blocking him, and shouted: “You’re not here to compete? Well, you can still come in and look! Buy something for your seniors to thank them for…”

Xin Qishu’s face turned pale. He tried to dodge again, but the footsteps behind him were growing clearer. A pair of eyes had locked onto his back with precision; a dangerous aura enveloped him.

Dammit.

Before the youth could finish his sentence, the person in front of him vanished. The crowd was bustling; he scratched his head from front to back and back to front, muttering gloomily, “How did that person run off so fast?”

He let out a long sigh: “Sigh, business is getting harder and harder these days!” Then, his eyes lit up again as he moved to block the next person.

…

Xin Qishu was forced to sit in a chair. Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and a few stray strands of dark hair clung to his face. His eyes, shimmering as if filled with water, looked “affectionate” but were actually watching the two people before him with intense vigilance.

Downstairs, the storyteller was still talking grandly. He was no longer discussing the Blood Vessel Palace, but had moved on to worldly gossip. The cheers of the customers were endless. By contrast, the atmosphere in the upstairs partition felt frozen.

Three people were distributed around a square table. Xin Qishu sat on the left; on the right sat the guest who had been weeping earlier, and behind that guest stood a burly man.

It was this burly man who had been stalking him just now. In the blink of an eye, he had been brought back to this teahouse. Xin Qishu’s gaze swept over the burly man; since the man possessed such strength, why bother playing cat-and-mouse from the start?

The pink curtains by the window were drawn, ensuring no one could see what was happening inside.

“Who are you people?” Xin Qishu asked coldly.

“Your Excellency is a member of the Law Rain Pavilion here for the Immortal Contention, I presume.” The feminine-looking guest opposite him spoke. His voice was clear and his tone gentle. It was a man.

Since he was wearing the disciple uniform, there was no denying it. Xin Qishu said, “I am not competing. Answer my question: Who are you?”

He couldn’t see clearly downstairs, but now he could tell the man in the chair had no cultivation; he looked like a slick businessman. With the Immortal Contention approaching, it wasn’t impossible for merchants to gather. But why kidnap him?

Judging by their behavior, they likely hadn’t recognized his true identity. If they brought him here, was their target actually the Law Rain Pavilion? They probably wanted to negotiate something.

“I am the steward of Han Shuang Villa, Ye Qing. To ‘invite’ the Young Lady here in such an offensive manner was a move of desperation. I was simply afraid that after today, I would never find you again.”

“I have neither fame nor great strength; I am just an ordinary cultivator. What do you want with me?” Xin Qishu’s nerves were taut. He couldn’t afford a single lapse in focus while talking to this man, or he’d be trapped.

Ye Qing lowered his head and gave a low laugh. His swaying hair obscured his dark eyes. As if he had heard a joke, he asked back: “Ordinary? …An ordinary person wouldn’t possess ‘Tree Spiritual Power,’ a thing of the underworld.”

Tree Spiritual Power?! Xin Qishu suddenly realized. It was the energy he had traded from Li Mu back when he was planning to deepen the marriage contract. He had almost forgotten about it.

“Surely you heard just now—the Villa Master has only this one child and dotes on the Young Master dearly. Before he left, a celestial artifact was placed on his person for protection, yet no one expected the Young Master would still perish in the Demon Abyss.”

“The Villa Master now washes his face with tears every day. I want to ask for your help to bring back a remnant of the Young Master’s soul to see the Villa Master one last time.”

“Months have passed. He should have been reincarnated long ago. You won’t find him,” Xin Qishu said decisively.

“You don’t understand. A small sliver of Ye Zijing’s soul was separated at birth and kept in a jade pendant the Villa Master carries. With an incomplete soul, he cannot reincarnate. He must still be wandering in the underworld.”

“I hope the Daoist can lend a helping hand.”

The storyteller’s voice downstairs suddenly spiked in pitch. Inside the room, the air felt as though someone were plucking lute strings, the vibrations expanding and striking the three of them.

Ye Qing lowered his head slightly, his eyes gleaming with a hint of eeriness as he stared at Xin Qishu. “Although my identity is the steward of Han Shuang Villa, this matter is a personal plea for help. It has nothing to do with the Villa, only with a grieving family.”

“Daoist, feel free to mention any requirements. If it is within my power, I will certainly not refuse.”

Xin Qishu tapped his finger on the table. He didn’t know how to summon souls, but he continued to probe: “Unrelated to the Villa? Has the Villa Master not thought of finding a soul-summoner? Why are you the one looking for someone?”

Ye Qing hid the earlier eeriness, his smile tinged with bitterness. “As an outsider trying to climb to a high position in a family villa that prizes bloodline, one naturally has to be observant and know their place.”

Xin Qishu looked at the man, questioning his words. With no cultivation, could one reach a high position in Han Shuang Villa solely by being socially savvy?

A gust of cold wind blew through. Ye Qing coughed a few times, and the burly man lit a charcoal brazier. As the temperature in the partition rose, Xin Qishu pulled at his collar uncomfortably. He suddenly caught an indescribable scent of vegetation—slightly fragrant, like the smell of a certain pill.

Xin Qishu didn’t want to get sucked into the whirlpool of Han Shuang Villa and didn’t intend to ask further. “But I am not a Spiritual Cultivator; I don’t know how to summon souls. You should find someone else.”

“I can provide you with a manual for Spiritual Cultivation.” Ye Qing took a scroll from his spatial ring and placed it on the table with a bright smile. “I’ve had this idea for a long time and have kept it with me, and it just so happens I ran into you.”

“This is the first volume. You can look at it. If you have the talent and can master the fifth style before the finals of the Immortal Contention, I will give you the second volume. At that point, please don’t make any more excuses,” Ye Qing said with a smile.

“And if I have no talent?”

“If you have no talent, then return the first volume to me. I’ll find someone else.”

Xin Qishu stared intently at his face, not letting a single shift in expression escape. Was there really such a good deal in this world?

A Spiritual Cultivation manual… Xin Qishu wasn’t very interested. He pushed the manual back. “I don’t want to be a Spiritual Cultivator. You can look for someone else now.”

Xin Qishu stood up, but the burly man blocked him. The sheer height difference exerted a sense of pressure.

Ye Qing chuckled, his voice suddenly turning cold as if coated in a layer of thin ice. “That isn’t for you to decide.”

“Xiao Wu, take her back to my place. I will personally supervise your cultivation.” Ye Qing stood up and brushed off his robes.

Xin Qishu looked at him in shock, his beautiful eyes losing their color, the silver tassel earring on his lobe swaying violently. “What do you want to do? Do you think the Law Rain Pavilion is made of air?!”

“A mere bystander disciple… even if you vanished, how much of a wave could it possibly cause?” Ye Qing said nonchalantly.

Xin Qishu forced a strained smile. “That’s not certain. Why don’t you go to the Law Rain Pavilion and ask around? See who I am.”

Ye Qing caught a hint of something unusual in his expression. After a moment, he gave a meaningful wave of his hand and was the first to leave the room.

Xin Qishu was pushed back into the chair by the man. He slumped, supporting his head with one hand, and looked down at the street. The customers on the first floor had thinned out. Ye Qing left, followed by a tall man who stood up, paid his silver, and prepared to depart.

Xin Qishu’s gaze grew cold. He had seen that man on his first day at Han Shuang Villa; he held a position similar to a guard. That man was there to monitor Ye Qing. Combined with Ye Qing’s theatrical act of drawing the curtain to weep…

Han Shuang Villa was quite the stage!

In that case, he might as well get on stage and act out a few scenes. Though it was risky, there might be unexpected rewards.

…

A short while later, Ye Qing returned with a beaming smile. “I had long heard that Elder He remains aloof from women. It turns out his lover simply never showed her face!”

“I apologize for the offense earlier.” He bowed very respectfully.

Xin Qishu supported his head with one hand and turned to smile at him, his eyes bright. “Do you still want to ‘personally supervise my cultivation’?” He intentionally mimicked Ye Qing’s earlier tone to tease him.

Ye Qing’s gaze gradually deepened. In the moment they locked eyes, something indefinable flowed between them.

Ye Qing paused, then chuckled. “Of course not.” He handed the manual to Xin Qishu. “If you need anything, you can find me through Xiao Wu.”

“It’s getting late. Daoist, please rest early.” Ye Qing and Xiao Wu left.

Xin Qishu took a sip of the tea on the table. From that exchange of glances, he felt clearly that Ye Qing wasn’t acting out of the goodness of his heart. There must be things he didn’t know…

Xin Qishu rubbed his thumb over the scroll, casually glancing at the content. When his eyes caught certain words, he froze. An idea formed in his mind.

The essence of Beast Taming was using spiritual power to bridge the gap and communicate with spiritual beasts, establishing a new flow of energy. This Spiritual Cultivator’s manual was about using spiritual power to bridge the gap between the living and the dead, communicating with ghosts, allowing possession, and even bringing ghosts back to the world of the living.

He stroked the paper of the manual. If he just modified it slightly… this manual would be of great use to him.

As for bringing Ye Zijing back to the human world, that was something Xin Qishu would absolutely never do. Ye Zijing had seen his face; he would definitely recognize him.

He wasn’t worried about Ye Qing getting angry. The existence of Tree Spiritual Power at most suggested he was easily tainted by yin energy; it didn’t help much. He didn’t believe Ye Qing couldn’t find a better candidate.

To let a novice with only half a month of training do such a thing—perhaps from the very beginning, Ye Qing never intended for Ye Zijing to return to the human world.

Xin Qishu finished his tea and left. This time, no one followed him. He wandered all the way back to Han Shuang Villa.

The night wind blew in gusts. Many cultivators were heading out in groups to see the competition grounds for the next day. Xin Qishu wanted to avoid He Lüqing, so he headed that way as well.

In the vast plaza, nearly twenty square stages, ten meters long and wide, had been built. The contestants had already drawn their lots; the results, match times, and other information were posted on the bulletin board.

Xin Qishu followed the crowd to take a few looks before wandering off. Behind the plaza was a forest, the bare branches pointing toward the sky. He heard the sound of cheerful flowing water.

He walked a few steps into the forest and saw someone sitting cross-legged at the base of a tree, a blue cloth spread out in front of them. Despite being at the Golden Core stage, Xin Qishu couldn’t see the person’s face clearly.

Was their face intentionally concealed?

The female cultivator (Xin Qishu in disguise) raised a thin eyebrow. Her fair face glowed faintly like fresh snow under the moonlight. She approached in a good mood. “Daoist, why choose to set up a stall here? Business must be sparse.”

The person’s voice was indistinguishable between male and female. “I don’t set up this stall for wealth. I only sell to those with whom I have an affinity.”

“It seems you and I have quite an affinity. Daoist, see if there is anything you need.”

Several white porcelain bottles sat on the blue cloth.

Xin Qishu leaned down, casually picking up one with his fingers to admire it. “What is this?”

“This medicine allows one to gather spiritual power more quickly, thereby rapidly increasing cultivation. The price is five hundred middle-grade spiritual stones.”

“So expensive. Is it definitely effective?”

“Rest assured. Even an ordinary mortal without any spiritual roots could enter the Qi Refining stage after consuming this pill!”

Xin Qishu was amused by the exaggerated claim. He had once looked into pills that might allow mortals to cultivate, hoping to find a “cure” for himself, but the result was that none of those pills ever worked.

He pulled out the wooden cork, and a white pill rolled into his palm.

His nose caught a familiar scent of vegetation. Ye Qing smelled like this, yet Ye Qing had no spiritual power. Xin Qishu smiled casually; this was another traveling swindler.

He poured the pill back, intending to leave. “Too expensive.”

“Do you want to buy his pills?” Xin Qishu turned back in surprise. The speaker was Yang Li, whom he hadn’t seen in a while.

It wasn’t his imagination—Yang Li looked thinner, with dark circles under his eyes. Xin Qishu gave a polite smile. “This is a disciple of the Lingxiao Hall; they aren’t easy to come by. The pills made and sold by Lingxiao Hall are all high-quality, though the pill in your hand isn’t suitable for you.”

Lingxiao Hall? Xin Qishu had indeed heard the name. It was said that the disciples there were all Medical Immortals.

The disciple laughed loudly, admitting: “That’s true. This pill is only suitable for those with deficient souls. It was too dark; I didn’t see clearly just now.”

Xin Qishu narrowed his eyes slightly.

Seeing this, the disciple laughed even harder. “Don’t worry, I don’t care about your business, hahaha.”

Yang Li also leaned down, his breath brushing against Xin Qishu’s earlobe as he asked, “Do you have any pills he can use?”

“I do,” the disciple said, propping their chin on one hand, still sounding amused. “But it was bought a few days ago.”

“How can you say you have it if it was bought?” Yang Li frowned.

“Because that pill will eventually end up in this cultivator’s mouth.”

“Is there nothing else?” Yang Li asked unwillingly.

Xin Qishu gave him a light push. “If there’s nothing, let’s go. Stop asking.”

“Hee hee hee, if the cultivator leaves now, you’ll regret it later.” The disciple’s hand swept over the blue cloth, and two new porcelain bottles appeared.

He said in a mysterious tone: “The one with the red stopper… you’ll use it within the next year. At the moment of life-threatening peril, at the time when everything is being rebuilt, you will need it. The one with the purple stopper will be for a bit later…”

“Life-threatening peril… everything is being rebuilt…” Xin Qishu repeated in a low voice, his thoughts unreadable.

That tone again—Duan Shi possessed a similar talent, but Duan Shi had never mentioned the future to him. Was this disciple even more powerful than Duan Shi?

Xin Qishu was intensely curious. Ever since breaking the engagement with Xu Qiyao, the future had become a vague and ethereal thing to him. He didn’t even know if he had a future. “What do these pills do?”

“I can’t tell you about the red-stoppered one; I’m afraid you’ll use it too early. I can’t go into that place…”

“The purple one is fine?” Yang Li asked.

“The purple one is a Memory-Loss Pill. The shortest duration is five hundred years; the longest is a lifetime. When you use it and who you give it to will result in different futures.”

“There is one thing you must remember: this Memory-Loss Pill only works if it’s administered when the person’s heart and mind are in a state of complex turmoil.”

Xin Qishu didn’t know who he would give this pill to in the future. “‘I can’t go into that place’—where is ‘that place’?”

The disciple rubbed their chin, their smile mysterious. “Eh, it’s a very dark place.”