Chapter 65: Thousand Knots

Xu Qianlan was intimately familiar with Jiang Che’s body, having even made precise calculations of the slightest subtle changes.

At this moment, she noticed a slight unexpected change in Jiang Che’s body. Immediately, she reached out and lifted Jiang Che’s chin to face her.

“Qinchuan, did you just cultivate?”

Jiang Che’s mouth twitched. Was this person even human? How could she sense that?

If his Yang Qi were any weaker, would it be just as easy to detect?

The thought sent chills down his spine.

“No… no, I didn’t.”

Jiang Che denied it vehemently.

“Really?”

But Xu Qianlan leaned her face closer to Jiang Che’s, the scent of alcohol hitting his face.

“I… just tried to guide Qi into my body, that’s all.”

Xu Qianlan glanced at Jiang Che meaningfully. It seemed like he did have a slight change.

Too bad it wasn’t because of her. She felt happy but also a twinge of jealousy.

“If you want to cultivate, you can tell me. Even though you lost your Spiritual Root, I will definitely find a way to help you deal with the Shi Ling Gu inside your body.”

As she spoke, Xu Qianlan reached toward Jiang Che’s abdomen.

But at that moment, Jiang Che’s mood suddenly shifted.

“Don’t touch me!”

Jiang Che suddenly pushed Xu Qianlan’s hand away and sat up.

“What I’m dealing with has nothing to do with you!”

His jaw clenched involuntarily. Whenever Linggen and the Shi Ling Gu were mentioned, he inexplicably felt agitated.

In his eyes, Xu Qianlan had no intention of truly solving the Shi Ling Gu problem; instead, she was using it to bind him.

Xu Qianlan looked puzzled. Had she said something wrong?

“Chief Xu, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me these past few days, but what exactly are you trying to do? What do you want?”

Jiang Che’s words were blunt, directly piercing Xu Qianlan’s heart. She couldn’t understand why Jiang Che thought that way.

But Jiang Che’s heart had long since changed.

From the moment Lin Yin stopped trusting him, Jiang Che realized that he simply could not treat these centuries-old cultivators as normal people.

He suspected that it was because of this that he ended up in such a state.

This was also why Jiang Che longed to be an ordinary person, to stay away from them.

Xu Qianlan was frustrated. Fueled by alcohol, she stood up, grabbed Jiang Che’s hands, and pinned him down.

Jiang Che’s wrists ached from her grip, but he didn’t make a sound.

He thought his suspicion was correct: Xu Qianlan, like Lin Yin, was a monster. The mind of a monster was not something he could guess at as if she were an ordinary person.

“Jiang Che!”

Xu Qianlan shouted angrily. Jiang Che was taken aback; this was the first time he had heard Xu Qianlan so angry.

“Jiang Che… can’t you feel my sincerity after all I’ve done for you these days?”

Xu Qianlan bit her lip, confused. She only wanted to keep Jiang Che by her side.

“…”

“I’ve stayed by your side without leaving, brewed medicine for you, tended to your health, and looked for ways to solve the Shi Ling Gu!

Yes! I have a purpose—I want you to stay here forever!”

Jiang Che replied, “But I don’t want to stay here! I just want to be an ordinary person! I’m not the Jiang Che I used to be!

I just want to go back. I don’t want to stay here.

Besides, you have no obligation to do any of this!”

Jiang Che was telling the truth.

This place carried too many memories for him. Because of that, these past few days he had been dreaming, reliving those times.

But what a ridiculous time it was. Looking back, he wanted to laugh—only it was a mocking laugh, mocking himself.

Pathetic.

Xu Qianlan’s lips trembled, and finally, she let go of his hands and got off him.

“I can’t let you leave. If you go, you’ll die. Just stay here quietly.

In a few days, I’ll hold the Shou Tu Da Dian ceremony and formally accept you as my Zhen Chuan Disciple.”

After saying that, Xu Qianlan headed toward the door.

She didn’t forget to glance back at Jiang Che’s expression.

She saw that Jiang Che’s face was still much the same as before.

But he was probably sad.

Jiang Che lived a hard life, burying all his painful memories deep within his heart, believing that if he didn’t think about them, the pain wouldn’t exist.

But those pains were like threads tangled together.

Eventually forming countless knots.

You might pull the right thread and untie the knot.

But if you pull the wrong one, it only tightens the knot. In the end, even the thread that should be the solution cannot be untied.

Xu Qianlan stood outside, looking up at the night sky.

“Qinchuan, do you remember before? Many people said I was unfit to be a First Seat because I moved away from Danding Wu, drank all day here, and acted nothing like a First Seat.

Only you saw me and said I was beautiful…

I asked you why beautiful, and you said it was because cultivators have no taboos. They do what they like, as long as they’re true to themselves and don’t harm others—that’s beautiful.

Since then, I waited every day to drink with you. Of course, I also took good care of my Xuandan Peak disciples. But I always wanted to tell you this: you can’t only care about others. If you cared more about yourself, maybe you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

Xu Qianlan was drunk.

Only when drunk did she seem most like herself.

But what about Jiang Che? Was he still himself?

Inside the room, Jiang Che was not as calm as he appeared. His current mindset was very different from before.

He couldn’t trust Xu Qianlan. But was everything she did a lie?

Jiang Che couldn’t tell anymore.

His chest ached again. It was a manifestation of his self-defense.

……

Shenxiao Sect.

At dawn the next day, the bustling voices outside the woodshed woke Hu Qiao’er and Wang Hao.

Though a woodshed, there was a simple bed inside where Servant Disciples rested.

Hu Qiao’er slept on the bed; Wang Hao slept on the floor.

Throughout the night, Wang Hao had been dreaming of Jiang Che taking him as a disciple, the activation of the Bai Shi System, gaining a powerful booster, and overturning the world.

As for what Hu Qiao’er dreamed of… it was only known that when she woke up, her face was flushed…

“My heavens…”

Wang Hao’s mouth dropped open, his eyes wide.

Pushing open the door, they saw that the narrow mountain path was already packed with people, like a massive python forcefully stuffed and slowly slithering upward.

Hu Qiao’er and Wang Hao moved with the crowd, climbing higher.

Among the crowd, some wore fine clothes, while others, like Wang Hao and Hu Qiao’er, wore coarse hemp garments—just ordinary people.

But ordinary people were always the minority.

“Qiao’er, why are there so many people?”

Wang Hao was surprised. He expected a crowd but didn’t imagine it would be this many!

There were several hundred, maybe nearly a thousand!

“What? Weren’t you confident on the way here?

But Shenxiao Sect has a heritage spanning over ten thousand years; it’s only natural that many come.”

Hu Qiao’er’s reaction was fairly calm, though she still wanted to be accepted into Shenxiao Sect.

Seeing that Hu Qiao’er was not nervous at all, Wang Hao’s heart became complicated.

“Qiao’er, I’m not lacking confidence! Watch, I’ll definitely make a splash!”