“Ah Che, why is your face so pale? Have you not been eating properly?”
“……”
Jiang Che lowered his head.
There was a hint of reproach in Hu Qiao’er’s tone, and Jiang Che didn’t know how to answer.
If he said he didn’t want to eat the food Lin Yin gave him, would Hu Qiao’er say he was being unreasonable? That he didn’t know how to take care of himself?
Hu Qiao’er saw that Jiang Che was silent and spoke up:
“I understand, Ah Che. Wait here for me a moment.”
Then Jiang Che heard the sound of Hu Qiao’er jumping down to the ground, followed by a cry of pain.
Jiang Che knew whose voice that was—it must be Wang Hao.
It seemed Wang Hao had just been used by Hu Qiao’er as a stepping stone.
The window of Lin Yin’s room was still a bit high—just now, Jiang Che hadn’t reacted in time.
Once again, Wang Hao had become a part of the scene, and Jiang Che suddenly found him rather amusing.
He wondered if he should compensate him with something.
But being his Master in such a situation would be too awkward.
Jiang Che perhaps didn’t realize that this moment’s hesitation nearly produced a domineering protagonist.
At that moment, a fit of coughing interrupted Jiang Che’s thoughts.
“Zongzhu, I figured you would come looking for me.”
“Heh heh, as expected of this old man’s grand-disciple. You’ve dabbled in swords, pills, runes, and formations in the past. Could it be you’ve even learned this old man’s art of divination?”
Yun Yan walked in from outside the door.
He looked at Jiang Che with a beaming smile. Jiang Che’s thoughts of staying or leaving had always wavered, and Yun Yan was certain Jiang Che had intentions of leaving.
Xu Qianlan couldn’t get a handle on Jiang Che either.
Now that the straightforward Lin Yin had returned, Jiang Che probably wouldn’t be able to leave.
Though it might aggrieve Jiang Che, Yun Yan was very confident in his own tongue and believed he could surely calm Jiang Che.
“Zongzhu, you overpraise me. It’s not divination. It’s just that after so much has happened, it would be strange if you didn’t come to see me.”
“Uh… heh heh.”
Yun Yan gave a stiff smile.
The two fell into silence.
“No? Don’t you have any questions to ask this old man?”
Yun Yan raised his brows.
“Do I? If I really ask, would you answer?”
“That depends on what the question is.”
Yun Yan stroked his white beard, his expression a bit mysterious.
“Then tell me, when will the Shenxiao Sect be finished?”
“For your question, this old man doesn’t need to divine. If the Shenxiao Sect, with its thousands of years of inheritance, ended in my hands, how would I ever face the Zongzhus of past generations?”
“Oh.”
It was a pity he couldn’t manage it, otherwise Jiang Che wanted to roll his eyes at Yun Yan.
“Then tell me, why do you want so badly to keep me in the sect?”
Hearing this, Yun Yan immediately denied it.
“What do you mean by ‘this old man’? Obviously it’s you who can’t bear to leave that girl, and your Master wouldn’t let you go anyway, right?”
“She’s not my Master!”
Jiang Che gritted his teeth.
“Alright, alright, she’s not. But in a few days, she will be. I’ve already arranged a grand Shou Tu Da Dian for you! At that time, all the First Seat Elders will be present, as well as many Family Clans with ties to the Shenxiao Sect.
Tell me, as the first Zhen Chuan Disciple of our Shenxiao Sect’s Qingluan Sword Immortal Lin Yin, do you have anything to say?”
The moment these words were spoken, Jiang Che’s fists clenched tightly.
“Hahaha…”
Jiang Che’s laughter sounded hoarse and dry.
“You people recruiting a useless person as a Zhen Chuan Disciple, don’t you find it ironic? Even going so far as to change names to cover things up.
What? Are you so afraid of those things from the past? I don’t think they’re anything shameful.
In any case, you all believe it was me.
If I just die, won’t that settle everything?”
Jiang Che’s breathing grew heavier.
At times like this, he simply couldn’t control himself.
Yun Yan put a hand on Jiang Che’s shoulder.
He spoke in a serious tone.
“Child, this old man knows how hard things have been for you all these years, but you shouldn’t give up on yourself.
You must believe in yourself. In the future, you’ll definitely have an opportunity…”
Yun Yan always trusted his own judgment. Back then, when the core of the Secret Realm was willing to entrust the Sect Inheritance Codex representing the Shenxiao Sect’s legacy to Jiang Che, it definitely meant there was something in Jiang Che he hadn’t noticed.
He could already sense that the Sect Calamity of the Shenxiao Sect was drawing near.
But he still had no clue at all.
Whenever his mind was about to explode from thinking, he always wanted to string up Zhao Zi’ang for an interrogation!
“By the way, that Xie Xiu you encountered on your way down the mountain—what exactly happened? What do you know?
Why did that person target you?”
Yun Yan finally remembered the purpose of his visit.
He had learned about the Xie Xiu from Xu Qianlan, and later asked Hu Qiao’er, the person involved, but Hu Qiao’er said she fainted and didn’t know the specifics.
As for Xu Qianlan, she said: “Why are you looking at me? I don’t know either. The person’s been brought back for you, so you can interrogate him yourself.”
Naturally, Yun Yan would do just that, but he’d already assigned the task to Jiang Yan.
Thinking of Jiang Yan, that child was still innocent at heart.
It seemed he had put a lot of pressure on her.
Her talent and hard work had been overshadowed by Jiang Che, and Jiang Che also knew Formations and Runes.
And as for Alchemy, though he always kept a low profile, Yun Xing knew that Jiang Che could probably already refine Fifth-grade Pills.
A child like that should be cultivated as a future Zongzhu.
He himself once thought that way.
When he went to see how Jiang Yan was progressing with the interrogation, he only found her sitting helplessly at the dungeon entrance.
The reason was that Qin Zifeng had already gone mad and couldn’t even speak coherently.
He was already drained of almost all his vital energy, his cultivation dissipated by more than half, and should have died, but Xu Qianlan’s Elixir had barely saved his life.
What a pity.
They didn’t get anything out of him, only found a copy of the Soul Search Technique on his body.
That Soul Search Technique made Yun Xing draw a sharp breath.
Because he understood why Jiang Che had been targeted. It was for the same reason as the previously dead Yang Xiong.
In response to Yun Xing’s inquiry, Jiang Che thought for a moment and replied, “That person was a Registered Disciple I recommended back then.
At the time, he was a lonely old man determined to avenge his family, so I helped him.
I never expected things to turn out like this.”
Jiang Che paused, then continued, “But he was always hiding in the shadows. He didn’t really want to take action—he said someone forced him.”
Yun Yan nodded.
“Alright, this old man won’t disturb you further.”
“Uh… It’s nothing.”
Yun Yan paused. Jiang Che wanted to bring up the matter from before, about Xu Yan slaying the Xie Xiu but not reporting the truth, but on second thought, he decided to let it go.
Seeing Jiang Che unwilling to speak, Yun Yan said nothing more.
At the same time, Jiang Che actually wanted to ask if there was some secret in his own body.
But if Yun Yan was willing to say, he would have said it long ago.
At this moment, there were some rustling sounds outside.
“Qiao’er-jie… do we really have to do this again? But you’re really heavy… Ow, I’m sorry, Qiao’er-jie…”
It was Wang Hao’s voice.
Wang Hao looked utterly miserable.
He was born for thankless work, and even thought maybe Yun Fan should do it instead.
After all, everyone could see that Yun Fan treated Jiang Che a bit differently, just nobody pointed it out.
“Ah Che! I’m back!”