There is Still Such A Good Thing? - Chapter 17.2

Wu Lingchan did not quite understand, but upon hearing the keyword “open the gate,” he arched an eyebrow. “Only I can open it?”

“Hmm.”

Wu Lingchan said modestly, “Jibber-jabber, the Demon God favors me.”

Chen She: “…”

Seeing that he did not know what kind of danger this would bring and was still being so carefree, Chen She did not say much more. He rose and said, “Father is awake; he wants to see you.”

Wu Lingchan crawled off the bed. Xuanxiang skillfully floated out two illusory streaks of ink to dress him and comb his hair. Upon hearing this, he was stunned. “Ah? Father?”

“Hmm.”

The rain was still falling.

Chen She did not cast a rain-avoidance spell. He held an umbrella and took Wu Lingchan to the Tonglan Hall.

Wu Lingchan was never able to sit still, circling around Chen She, looking at the scenery one moment and the passersby the next. “Didn’t they say Father was severely injured and in seclusion? Is he better?”

The umbrella tilted this way and that. Chen She said calmly, “He is awake for the time being; he will continue his seclusion at night.”

“Oh!”

Wu Lingchan had no impression of Lord Zufushi; he had hardly seen him when he was a child. He asked curiously, “What kind of person is Father?”

Chen She smiled. “You will know when you see him.”

“Alright.”

The Tonglan Hall was far from the Bihan Terrace.

A torrential downpour hit the main city, yet the Tonglan Hall remained in a sea of pure white. A massive magic array operated silently under a thin layer of snow, with intricate talismans carved into the roots, intertwining to weave the most colossal and terrifying restriction in the world.

Chen She escorted Wu Lingchan to the gate of the hall. The stone beast stomped its claws with its fangs bared, and the intricate runes on the heavy gate began to swirl.

Creak, it opened.

Chen She said, “Go, I will wait for you here.”

Wu Lingchan: “Are you not coming in with me?”

“No.”

Wu Lingchan had no choice but to go in by himself, clink-clanking as he went.

The Tonglan Hall was as it had always been—layered palaces, carved beams and painted pillars, and gold-plated cups of fine wine remaining on gilded tables, now covered in a thick layer of dust.

Dozens of people sat or stood, their bodies stiff in place, covered by a thin veil through which their vivid and clear facial features were faintly visible.

Looking around, the entire hall felt eerie and ghostly.

These were living people who had been frozen.

Wu Lingchan had never been afraid of such strange things; he walked along, looking at them with great interest, his light footsteps echoing throughout the vast hall.

With a hiss, the candles were lit.

The hall was spacious. Where Wu Lingchan walked, the candles were lit one by one, trailing all the way to the center of the hall.

Until the last candle was lit, Wu Lingchan stopped and looked up toward the very front.

In the head seat of the hall, the previous Demon Lord, Lord Zufushi, sat on a wide gilded chair.

He looked extremely young, with a figure even taller and more robust than an average demonic being. His white hair was excessively long, draped over a screen that looked like withered branches, and his handsome brows exuded a majesty that could not be looked at directly.

Wu Lingchan met his gaze, feeling as if he had been pierced by something.

Lord Zufushi was dressed in black robes that trailed on the floor. He raised his hand, revealing faintly visible talisman chains, and looked down at Wu Lingchan, seemingly trying to identify this face carefully.

After a long time, the man’s red pupils trembled slightly, and he finally said calmly, “My child.”

Wu Lingchan heard this strange address and stayed stunned for a long while before tentatively raising his head.

Lord Zufushi was still reaching out to him.

Since he had memories, Wu Lingchan had no parents to look after him. Even when he entered the Xiaoduo Peak Sect Master’s sect, he still had to rely on himself for everything.

Seeing his biological father for the first time, his feelings were almost dazed, like a young child, a rare sense of helplessness.

Wu Lingchan did not remember how Lord Zufushi had treated him back then. He hesitated for a moment, then walked forward obediently and sat beside Lord Zufushi.

Lord Zufushi gazed at him, his pupils showing no temperature, yet his hand was gently stroking Wu Lingchan’s head.

Wu Lingchan tilted his head and looked at him for a long time before finally gaining a sense of reality.

His father looked cold and terrifying in his aura, but he also seemed quite…

The Demon Lord flashed a smile, propping up his chin, and said with great interest, “My child, you have returned at the wrong time. Chen She is in power now and has slaughtered many of my old followers. Are you not returning to your death?”

Wu Lingchan: “…………”

He also seemed quite frivolous.

“Your brother is not a good person.” Lord Zufushi supported his knee with his elbow, stroking Wu Lingchan’s head and saying lazily, “This person is ruthless and unpredictable. Your status is awkward; one day, he will handle you.”

Wu Lingchan: “?”

Wu Lingchan countered, “Chen She will not handle me.”

Lord Zufushi said, “Oh? What did Chen She do to give you this illusion, my child? Did he give you candy?”

Wu Lingchan choked and glared at him.

“Actually, you have another adoptive brother above you.” Lord Zufushi did not feel estranged from this child he had not seen for years; he was very casual. “I originally intended for him to be the next Demon Lord, but he was too soft-hearted and lost to Chen She. Finally, as a man, he was given by Chen She to his enemy of those years as a wife.”

Wu Lingchan: “?”

Lord Zufushi said lazily, “As my biological son, and carrying the purest bloodline, guess whether your brother will kill you or marry you off?”

Wu Lingchan: “…”

Wu Lingchan did not want to hear these unfounded, groundless rumors, so he retorted, “Isn’t Chen She your adopted son? I haven’t tried to fight him for the throne, so why would he want to kill me?”

Lord Zufushi fell silent for a moment, seemingly surprised that his own biological son would ask such a foolish question.

Seeing his silence, Wu Lingchan remembered the Fifth Elder mentioning that Zufushi and Chen She had a deep grudge, so he asked directly, “What kind of grudge do you have with Chen She?”

Lord Zufushi thought and thought. “Hmm. Chen She came from humble beginnings, with no father or mother. In his youth, he was a nameless prisoner on death row. I broke precedent and pardoned him.”

Wu Lingchan nodded.

Chen She must be remembering the kindness.

Before he could finish the thought, he heard Lord Zufushi say, “At that time, there were too many prisoners on death row in the Kunfu Ruins. I reckon there were about three hundred of them. I got bored, so I gathered them together to slaughter one another; whoever survived would receive a pardon. Your brother was just a cub back then, relying on a sense of ruthlessness to seize the ‘She’ character.”

Wu Lingchan: “?”

He must be remembering the grudge.

Wu Lingchan frowned. “Is there anything else?”

“I showed him such kindness; isn’t that enough?” Lord Zufushi did not stand on ceremony. “Seeing that he had good talent, I adopted him, personally taught him cultivation techniques, and even sent him to the Tomb of Regret to train and fight amidst the beast tides. Your elder brother was also a striver; he killed for years without dying and even reached the Void Refinement stage. Hahaha, back then, he battled me for three days and severed my life-bound artifact with a single sword. He is worthy of being a son taught by me.”

Wu Lingchan: “…”

Although Wu Lingchan did not fully understand everything, he felt that his father was perhaps a bit too open-minded.

It was only then, however, that Wu Lingchan realized something belatedly.

The Tonglan Hall might not be a residence, but a prison Chen She had built for his father.

Wu Lingchan looked at the talismans surrounding him, his brows knitting tightly together.

Lord Zufushi’s large palm stroked Wu Lingchan’s head. “The Demon race has always been this way; it is merely a matter of victory or defeat. You grew up among the humans and were raised by those self-righteous people, so you have become cowardly and timid.”

This was the first time Wu Lingchan had ever heard someone call him cowardly. He frowned and asked, “Can you leave?”

“Difficult,” Lord Zufushi said. “That brat Chen She holds a grudge quite deeply. I fear he will not let me leave easily.”

After all, if Lord Zufushi were to break free, the first person he would kill would be Chen She.

Wu Lingchan: “But…”

Lord Zufushi reached out and poked Wu Lingchan’s forehead, smiling. “Do not provoke Chen She proactively because of me; otherwise, you will only die faster.”

Wu Lingchan was remarkably calm. “He will not kill me.”

“Have you never heard that the sins of the father are visited upon the son?”

“The father is the father, the son is the son. You have a grudge against him; what does that have to do with me?”

Lord Zufushi’s expression darkened as he looked directly into Wu Lingchan’s eyes.

Wu Lingchan was not afraid of him at all and met his gaze openly and honestly.

Unexpectedly, Lord Zufushi changed his expression again, bursting into loud laughter.

He pinched Wu Lingchan’s chin with his large palm and tilted it up. His red pupils held a smile, and his tone was hard to distinguish, whether it was mockery or a sigh of sentiment.

“That is true. After all, he is different from everyone else.”

Wu Lingchan did not understand these words. He only felt Lord Zufushi’s hand point at his heart like a hook.

Thump.

His heart suddenly skipped a beat, a sharp, dense rush of palpitations. For that one moment, Wu Lingchan almost thought his heart was going to be dug out by Lord Zufushi.

Lord Zufushi’s spiritual power was limited to only a sliver, yet to Wu Lingchan, it felt terrifyingly vast. That thin thread of energy drilled into Wu Lingchan’s heart, entangling the three curse spells in a single instant.

Wu Lingchan’s pupils lost focus, and he slumped weakly onto Lord Zufushi’s knees.

Lord Zufushi clicked his tongue, seemingly disgusted by the crudeness of those three techniques. He nonchalantly pressed Wu Lingchan’s forehead, and his spiritual energy shattered the complex formations along his heart meridian, inch by inch.

As the spiritual energy delved deeper, the flower clusters on Wu Lingchan’s body finally blossomed to their peak and began to wither and decay, one by one.

Thump.

Wu Lingchan gasped suddenly, struggling to press his hand against his chest, only to realize the feeling of being gripped by an invisible hand was gone.

With two heartbeats, the techniques were broken.

Lord Zufushi leaned back lazily against the back of his chair, pouring himself a cup of wine to sip on his own. He said indifferently, “Go on. If there is nothing else, do not come to my place.”

Wu Lingchan looked confused. He stood up slowly, hesitated for a moment, and asked, “Does Chen She really want to kill me?”

Reflected by the candlelight, Lord Zufushi’s handsome face flickered between light and shadow, looking like a Buddha statue or a vicious ghost.

He flashed a smile devoid of either joy or sorrow and said indifferently, “Even if Chen She is restrained by ‘brotherly friendship’ and does not vent his anger on you, he is not like you, having had his brain ruined by the Immortal Alliance.”

Wu Lingchan: “…”

Wu Lingchan had been scolded again, so he turned and walked away.

“My child,” Lord Zufushi called out to him.

Wu Lingchan paused and looked back over his shoulder.

Lord Zufushi sat cross-legged, the red threads around him resembling a spiderweb.

He was looking at him.

Wu Lingchan tilted his head.

Lord Zufushi’s brows carried a gentle smile, his gaze fixed on him. When he saw Wu Lingchan look back, he seemed stunned for a moment, but then the smile grew more intense, and he beckoned gently.

Go on.

Wu Lingchan left, feeling lost, and opened the door.

The vast sleeping hall was silent.

Lord Zufushi remained in his posture, watching the direction in which Wu Lingchan had left, but the smile on his face had dissipated, replaced by a bone-chilling coldness and the malevolence characteristic of a Demon.

Lord Zufushi did not move; he suddenly said for no reason, “When you first met at the Bihan Terrace, did you want to kill him?”

Among the countless shadowy figures on the side, someone walked slowly forward.

In indigo robes, it was Chen She.

Lord Zufushi’s eyes were filled with bone-chilling coldness. “You were only afraid of betting wrong. If you killed him, you would not survive either.”

Chen She lowered his eyes. He did not ask how Lord Zufushi, imprisoned here, knew about the outside world; he only said indifferently, “Father, why be so suspicious of me? You have not fully recovered from your injuries, and the Young Lord’s return is exactly the right time.”

“After so many years, you are still this phony hypocrite, not changed in the slightest.” Lord Zufushi laughed suddenly. “Demons have always advocated for acting on impulse and indulgence, yet you insist on imitating others. You have grown tired of acting out ‘fatherly kindness and filial piety’ and now want to perform a scene of ‘brotherly friendship’?”

Chen She’s expression did not change. “My life was granted by you. I would never let him be harmed in the slightest and ruin your painstaking efforts.”

Lord Zufushi leaned forward slowly, the invisible chains on his limbs emitting a crisp clashing sound.

“If it were not for me, you would have already died, your bones mingling with the sludge.”

Chen She bowed his head. “I will always remember your cultivation over these years.”

Lord Zufushi looked at him indifferently.

In just a few short years, Chen She had grown from someone as fragile as cicada wings into a mountain that even he could not shake. He had always loved to put on an act, always wearing the mask of a gentleman when dealing with others.

Now, with his emotions hidden from his face, he appeared even more unfathomable and hard to predict.

Lord Zufushi could not see through his intentions, but he knew that as long as there were hostages, Wu Lingchan could barely survive under Chen She’s thumb for a time.

He just did not know how long he could survive.

Chen She waited for a while. When Lord Zufushi did not speak again, he bowed politely. “Father, I will take my leave.”

Chen She turned to walk away, but before he reached the door, a jade wine cup flew through the air, accurately smashing at Chen She’s feet, shattering into pieces.

“Chen She.”

Chen She did not even move, just turned to the side. “Does Father have further instructions?”

“Do not harbor other thoughts toward my child.” Lord Zufushi looked at him calmly. “If you devour his blood and bones, you will not be able to become a real human, either.”

Chen She smiled. “Is that so? Thank you for the reminder, Father. Then I will try to see when I have time.”

Lord Zufushi became furious for the first time. “You bastard!”

Chen She gently advised, “Father, no matter how angry you are, do not curse yourself.”

Lord Zufushi: “…”

Chen She did not stop anymore, leaving the Tonglan Hall with an elegant posture amidst Lord Zufushi’s cursing.

The array, which had paused for only a quarter of an hour, rose from the ground once more. Tens of millions of talismans filled the sky, forming a massive cage.

The curse on Wu Lingchan’s body was lifted, but he had still suffered a major blow to his vitality, so he recuperated in the Danjiu Palace all day long.

With nothing to do, the more he thought about what Lord Zufushi had said, the more he felt something was not right.

“Mo Bao,” Wu Lingchan said while lying on the table practicing calligraphy, lost in thought. “Do you think Chen She really wants to eat me?”

Xuanxiang: “…”

Xuanxiang said, “So you were treating everything I said before as wind passing by your ears?”

As soon as Xuanxiang had regained consciousness, he had told Wu Lingchan that Chen She was untrustworthy and to stay away quickly, but Wu Lingchan had not taken it to heart at all.

Wu Lingchan still did not want to believe it. “But he does not look like that kind of person.”

Xuanxiang: “Because he can put on an act.”

“He saved me twice. If he really wanted me to die, he could have just looked on coldly. Why bother finding trouble for himself?”

“Because he can put on an act.”

“Playing the zither, playing chess, tasting tea, loving bamboo,” Wu Lingchan said to himself. “These are all things only a gentleman does. How could a gentleman eat people? Hahaha!”

Xuanxiang: “Because he can…”

Knock, knock.

Someone tapped on the door.

Xuanxiang immediately pretended to be dead.

“Young Lord, Young Lord, are you still alive?”

It was Chi Fuhan’s voice.

Wu Lingchan: “Oh my, the loser.”

“Will you stop scolding me?” Chi Fuhan kicked the door open and sauntered in, annoyed. “I came to see you out of the kindness of my heart; how can you repay kindness with resentment?”

Behind him, Wen Juanzhi and Qingyang also followed.

Qingyang leaped to Wu Lingchan’s side like lightning. After looking him up and down and discovering that Wu Lingchan was safe and sound, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and found a safe, hidden place to hide.

Wen Juanzhi bowed. “Young Lord, are you well?”

Wu Lingchan: “Well, well. Did you two not go to the study hall?”

Chi Fuhan sat cross-legged on the cushion opposite Wu Lingchan. “We skipped class to see the Young Lord. Aren’t you moved?”

Wu Lingchan looked suspicious. “Why are you talking like that?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.” Chi Fuhan took out a stack of books from Fengyu Academy from his sleeve. “I heard Chen She wouldn’t let you leave the house, so Wen Gu and I came over to teach you how to recognize characters.”

Wu Lingchan was unhappy. “What do you mean Chen She won’t let me leave the house?”

That sounded as if he were a child who obeyed his elder brother.

Chi Fuhan raised an eyebrow. “What did Chen She say?”

Chen She had said: “The three curse spells have injured your meridians. You should recuperate well in the Danjiu Palace for the next few days. Once you recover, I will have Xun Ye accompany you out to play, okay?”

Wu Lingchan glared at him. “It is clearly because my injuries have not healed that I am too lazy to go out. As long as I want to, I can go out for eight hundred rounds immediately.”

Chi Fuhan: “…”

Hahaha, why am I bothering with a child who doesn’t recognize characters!

Wen Juanzhi peered at Wu Lingchan’s complexion and said gently, “May I ask, Young Lord, may I take your pulse?”

Wu Lingchan was drawing an ugly little figure of Chi Fuhan on a small scroll; he looked up upon hearing this. “Take my pulse?”

Chi Fuhan said lazily, “Wen Gu is a runner-up in everything else, but his medical skills are not bad. Isn’t your cultivation unstable? Why not let him take a look?”

Wu Lingchan’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly handed over his paw.

Wen Juanzhi was meticulous in everything he did; he took out a small hand pillow and placed it on the table, condensed a snow-white silk thread with his fingertips, and gently wrapped it around Wu Lingchan’s wrist to earnestly take his pulse.

Wu Lingchan asked Chi Fuhan curiously, “What kind of cultivation methods do you two use?”

Chi Fuhan said, “My family has a natural magic eye, so I have practiced by channeling demonic energy through my crown since I was a child; Wen Gu is different. His family has a heritage, and combined with being from a family of medicine, he has as many pills as he wants, treating them like candy beans to chew on.”

Wu Lingchan understood only half of it. It seemed that the cultivation method of channeling through a magic eye was more conducive to improving cultivation.

After a few words, Wen Juanzhi finished taking his pulse and looked at Wu Lingchan with slight surprise.

Chi Fuhan had never seen this expression on him before and hurriedly asked, “What is it? Can’t it be saved?”

“I have seen quite a few cultivators with shattered Golden Cores,” Wen Juanzhi looked at Wu Lingchan with a complicated expression. “For ordinary people, shattering into eight pieces is already the limit.”

Chi Fuhan: “And the Young Lord?”

“Three…”

“Thirty?!”

Wen Juanzhi: “More than three hundred.”

Chi Fuhan: “?”

Hasn’t the Golden Core shattered into star dust?

Wen Juanzhi’s eyes were softer than before, looking at Wu Lingchan as if looking at fragile glass.

Chi Fuhan gnashed his teeth and gasped, looking at him in an indescribable way. “It’s already shattered into star dust! Does it not hurt at all?”

“I am used to it.” Wu Lingchan looked at Wen Juanzhi expectantly. “Then, can my star dust be restored to its original state?!”

Wen Juanzhi: “Difficult…”

Wu Lingchan’s brows drooped.

“Although it is difficult,” Wen Juanzhi said gently, “there is a way, but it requires refining pills to temper the spirit. The herbs needed are peerlessly rare and extremely difficult to find.”

Wu Lingchan’s eyes lit up.

That means there is still hope!