Chapter 47: Hit

“Jiaoren? It couldn’t be the kind of jiaoren I’m thinking of, could it?” Bian Chunzhou racked his brain for the few ancient poems he knew. “Under the bright moon on the vast sea, pearls shed tears; in the warm sun of Lantian, jade engenders smoke^[1]. Do jiaoren^[2] really weep Moon-flowing Pearls under the moon?”

Wen Xu shook his head. He did not know, so he turned to look at Chen Zui.

As for Chen Zui, he actually knew. “The Moon-flowing Pearl is the most precious treasure of the jiaoren race. Rumor has it that a jiaoren will only shed a Moon-flowing Pearl when they fall deeply in love yet experience absolute heartbreak.”

“Don’t tell me your mother told you that too?”

Chen Zui nodded. “Of course. It’s not like I’ve ever been to the Hanhai Region.”

The Hanhai Region. That was so far away. The distance to the Hanhai Region was so great that a round trip there was equivalent to traveling to the Suitian Sword Sect and back. “What a pity. I’m injured and can’t leave the mountain, otherwise I’d go see a jiaoren.”

A jiaoren! A mermaid! Although it might be a bit impolite, he really wanted to see one.

“How about we go on an adventure to the Hanhai Region together once we reach the Golden Core realm?”

Chen Zui gave Bian Chunzhou an odd look. “If you insist on going, I can accompany you.”

“…You sound so reluctant.”

Wen Xu had already flipped to the section introducing the Hanhai Region. Ever since his master mentioned that the Sui Family of Hanhai used to be royalty, he had sought out the Records of the Four Regions to read. “He isn’t being reluctant. He’s risking his life to accompany a friend.”

“Yes. Human cultivators are forbidden from entering Jiaoren City in the Hanhai Region.”

“Huh?” Bian Chunzhou’s eyes widened. “Why? Is their sense of beauty different from ours, and they think two-legged humans are hideous?”

“No, jiaoren can also manifest legs when they come ashore.” Wen Xu read out the introductory details about the jiaoren from the Records of the Four Regions. “It’s because of a blood feud.”

Hearing this, Bian Chunzhou’s shoulders slumped. “I get it. Giving up eating for fear of choking. But if that’s the case, then… how did the jiaoren half-demons come about? Why do the jiaoren practice double standards? Or is it a love-hate relationship?”

What was going on? This was actually getting a bit exciting.

Wen Xu and Chen Zui fell silent. Clearly, this question had entered everyone’s blind spot of knowledge.

After a moment of silence, Bian Chunzhou continued reading the rest of the message on the communication talisman. “Senior Sister Xia Ying says that City Lord Xia has contacted the city lord of Jiaoren City. The jiaoren race will send someone to fetch… Miss A’qing back in a few days. Senior Sister says once she recovers from her injuries, she will return to Yonglu Mountain and bring us thank-you gifts.”

“Oh, that’s so embarrassing. We’re all disciples of the same sect, helping each other is only natural.” After finishing his polite remarks, Bian Chunzhou squinted his eyes. “Ah, this is the first time I’ve ever received a gift from a girl.”

Wen Xu: …

“Wen Xuxu, you’re definitely not like that, right? You’re so handsome, in the past, did you…”

“No. The Mortal Realm is not the cultivation world. Girls there value their reputation highly.” Even if there were occasionally more unconventional women, they wouldn’t fancy poor scholars like them.

Oh, right. This is an ancient setting. If Wen Xuxu were in modern times, he would definitely be the school hunk and a straight-A student, a total campus legend.

At this moment, Chen Zui actually raised his hand. “Why did you two accept the matter of a half-demon transforming into a jiaoren so quickly?”

For a moment, Bian Chunzhou did not understand what he meant. “Is it possible that someone else transforming into a demon is their own business, and has nothing to do with us?”

Wen Xu, however, understood. Because of his master, he knew a bit about the cultivation world’s past attitude toward half-demons. Half-demons were born different. Before his master transformed into a dragon, the demon race highly ostracized half-demons, believing their bloodlines were impure and that they did not deserve to stay in the ancestral lands. Therefore, before his master’s time, the vast majority of half-demons lived in places populated mostly by human cultivators, including his master in the past.

Thus, when half-demons reached their mature Differentiation Phase, some fame-seeking human cultivators believed that half-demons should feel a sense of belonging to humanity and choose to become true humans rather than transforming into demons.

Back then, half-demons who chose to transform into demons were called “ungrateful wolves.” It wasn’t until his master burst onto the scene and used brute force to beat those gossiping human cultivators into submission that the status of half-demons in the entire cultivation world was changed, practically single-handedly.

Of course, Chen Zui was just purely curious. “My mother said that a half-demon will only choose to transform into a demon if they are extremely resistant to becoming human.”

“Why? Shouldn’t it be a fifty-fifty chance?”

“Apparently, the process of transforming into a demon is extremely painful. It burns away all the human bloodline within the half-demon’s body. Only when the bloodline is completely burned away can they truly transform.”

Bian Chunzhou leaned back in tactical shock. “That brutal? Does ‘burn’ mean what I think it means?”

“Probably. That’s what my mother said.” Chen Zui was clearly only half-informed himself.

“That’s just…”

Bian Chunzhou was speechless. Just what had the eldest miss of the He family gone through to make her prefer enduring such pain over remaining human?

Speaking of which, what was the relationship between that evil cultivator and the villa master, He Gan?

*

It was only several days later that Wen Xu learned the evil cultivator they had confronted was named Madame Shen. She was originally a rabbit demon who, because her cultivation had stalled completely, strayed onto the wrong path and became an evil cultivator.

She was four hundred and ninety-one years old this year. In the demon race, this age was actually still quite young. However, most rabbit demons had low talent, and very few could cultivate at all. Someone like Madame Shen was actually considered outstanding among her kind.

But humans do not stop at their desires, and neither do demons. Once she tasted the sweetness of evil arts, she began to run rampant without restraint. Of course, she quickly kicked a steel plate. That time, she was severely injured, and her cultivation fell directly from the Golden Core realm to Foundation Establishment. Over the years, she had run around everywhere, yet had only managed to stabilize her cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

She desperately yearned to return to the Golden Core realm. A demon’s thirst for power was sometimes even more frenzied than a human’s.

Thus, she searched everywhere for “unorthodox methods” and finally obtained an extremely insidious technique from another evil cultivator: feeding on the eggs of transforming half-demons to strengthen one’s bloodline power.

Rabbit demons naturally had thin bloodlines. If she could strengthen the demonic blood within her body, breaking through to the next realm would naturally be easy.

But half-demons were hard to find. Especially after the rise of the Divine Dragon Venerable, the various demon tribes had become much more tolerant of half-demons. This resulted in almost no half-demons wandering outside. Madame Shen, however, possessed a fair bit of cleverness.

She had done something incredibly wicked.

Normally, while romance between humans and demons wasn’t strictly cracked down upon, it was still a niche affair within the demon race. Madame Shen, however, went around preaching racial equality and freedom of love. Since she was a demon herself, she had played matchmaker for at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, human-demon couples.

She had even boasted, “There is no match in this world that I, Madame Shen, cannot make!”

When Wen Xu read up to this point: …

“Hahaha, this evil cultivator was actually quite interesting. Had I known, I would have waited a bit longer before killing her.”

Madame Shen traveled far and wide matchmaking humans and demons. Once they had offspring, she would ignore them if they were demons, but if they were “human,” she would secretly steal them away and send them elsewhere to be raised. She also loved getting married herself, only to leave behind a child and fake her death. As it happened, He Gan of Tinghe Villa was one of those unlucky bastards.

Of course, He Gan was no innocent man either. His death could only be described as self-inflicted.

“So, Miss A’qing is not actually Villa Master He’s biological daughter.”

Venerable Chengwei rested his chin on his hand. “Why? Do you want to help her find her biological parents?”

Wen Xu knew he was no saint, so he shook his head. “Your disciple has simply realized something.”

“What is it?”

Wen Xu couldn’t help but glance at his master. It was a subconscious gesture, as he couldn’t actually read any emotional shifts from other people’s faces. “Miss A’qing has transformed into a demon.”

Venerable Chengwei reached out and gave his disciple a light smack. “What’s going on in that head of yours? Are you making fun of your master?”

“Your disciple would not dare.”

“Dare not, or want not?” Venerable Chengwei naturally knew about the rumors surrounding his own background. Some said he had lost all hope in humanity, which was why he chose to transform into a dragon out of sheer resentment. But in truth, if he were truly utterly disappointed in humans, how could he have become the “mascot” of Yonglu Mountain?

Those outsiders simply thought too poorly of him. He clearly liked humans very much, and he had even taken on a new disciple. Why did no one believe he was just a peace-loving dragon?

Wen Xu: “…Your disciple would not dare.”

So he was thinking it. His young disciple was quite bold. Venerable Chengwei squatted down happily. “Go on, tell me. I grant you amnesty.”

Wen Xu fell silent for a moment. “I heard from a friend that the process of a half-demon transforming into a full demon is a pain beyond description.”

The relaxed, easygoing smile on Venerable Chengwei’s face suddenly froze, but it quickly widened again. “Oh my, it seems I’ve taken in a soft-hearted disciple. But that’s not quite the case.”

Wen Xu looked up. He couldn’t make out the expression on his master’s face, only hearing his voice. “A’xu, do you know the saying, ‘The light boat has already passed ten thousand mountains^[3]‘?”

“Doesn’t it sound beautiful?” Venerable Chengwei wagged his index finger. “But I don’t think so. I have passed ten thousand mountains now, not because my mental state has reached some high realm, but…”

“But because I have long since ceased to be a light boat, and have instead become a massive ship that no one can sink.”

Wen Xu felt as if he had been struck by a sharp arrow. Rumor had it that his master could read minds. He had been skeptical before, but now he believed it completely.

It wasn’t some innate talent or divine ability, but rather that his master possessed an incredibly strong heart.

Wen Xu felt ashamed of his past hesitation when becoming a disciple. Compared to his master’s strength and open-mindedness, he indeed had so much more to learn. If he continued to cultivate with his previous mindset, no matter how high his talent, he would likely never achieve true enlightenment.

Returning to the Mortal Realm for revenge was indeed important, but his own cultivation was even more vital. He could not force himself to cultivate relentlessly just because he couldn’t let go of his hatred.

Perhaps his master had seen through him long ago, but had only now pointed it out.

“Your disciple thanks Master for the guidance.”

Ah, smart disciples were the best, one hint and they understood everything. Venerable Chengwei felt that being a master wasn’t difficult at all. “Speaking of which, that friend of yours with the Water-Fire Spiritual Root is quite interesting. It seems you’ve made a very good friend, A’xu.”

Before Wen Xu could even praise his friend, he heard his master continue: “To fight to such an extent for a friend’s chastity, how could that not be a bosom friend?”

Wen Xu: …