Mistaken Era – Chapter 6
Offended by Qin Lingxiao’s words, the smile constantly adorning Cui Xiaoxiao’s face vanished, and she coolly told him, “Since the demonic creature has been dealt with, if you have no other business, Sect Leader Qin, please feel free to leave with your disciples.”
Saying so, she paid no heed to the expressions of the powerful cultivators from the Nine Profundities Sword Sect. She walked directly towards the demon lying in the green pus, gently brushing aside its disheveled long hair as it gasped faintly.
The demonic nature seemed to have mostly dissipated from the creature as it neared its last breaths. Its face had shed, appearing more human – more like a woman’s visage.
When it slightly lifted its head, half of the face could be seen covered in old burn scars.
Cui Xiaoxiao examined its wounds, realizing there was no way to save it.
She removed her smoke-scented coat, leaving only a loose shirt on. After using clean water from another barrel to wash away the smoke water on her face and neck, she waited until the smoke scent on her body had mostly faded before approaching the creature again and squatting down beside it.
“I only recently joined the Talisman Sect, so I’m not proficient in much else. But I have mastered the purification incantation, so allow me to guide you on your final journey. I’ll resolve the vexations in your heart and give you ultimate peace…”
She took out a talisman painted with a flower petal and placed it on the woman’s forehead, then began murmuring the incantation.
The woman’s expression was initially ferocious, but gradually the murderous aura in her eyes dissipated. She seemed to awaken from a long dream, her eyes filled with profound dazedness.
She muttered painfully, “I was framed by that bastard Bai Youde…I did not violate my marital vows…”
At this, Jiang Nanmu and the others were stunned.
For they recalled the casual gossip Cui Xiaoxiao had exchanged with the gatekeeper over their meal about local family matters.
To speak of Bai’s wife, one must first mention the man Bai Youde. It was said that he was originally the son of the Bai family, a wealthy silkworm farmer in the county.
Or rather, he was a stepson who entered the Bai household when his widowed mother remarried into the family. Before changing back to his original surname Jin, he was indeed called Bai Youde.
Unfortunately, the sole biological son left behind by the Bai family’s late wife was sickly and passed away soon after Youde’s stepmother remarried into the family, leaving behind a pregnant wife.
It was rumored that the pregnant wife was unchaste and had improper relations with her young stepbrother-in-law, casting doubt even on the unborn child’s parentage.
After the ugly affair was discovered, the old master of the Bai family naturally would not stand for it. But then the daughter-in-law mysteriously burned to death in the woodshed, so the matter was dropped.
When the old master planned to deal with the stepson, he suddenly fell deathly ill himself and passed away.
This stepson Youde had long been assisting his stepfather with the family business, installing his maternal relatives in key positions to essentially hollow out the Bai family’s operations.
After the father passed, the lord Jin took advantage of his official connections to brazenly split off from the Bai household, reverting to his original surname and establishing a separate business.
“Alas, all that was left of the Bai family was an empty shell that withered away. But the Jin family’s business flourished, becoming the local tycoons.”
So this demonic creature was actually the legendary burned wife of the Bai family!
Little Xiao gently probed, “You didn’t actually die in the fire back then, did you? You escaped. But why did you then turn demonic and start killing people?”
The Bai wife gasped painfully, looking at the girl’s clear eyes, her heart seemingly calmed as she said brokenly, “I…killed people? I don’t know anything, only that a black-robed masked person saved me. They said if I wanted to heal my burns, I should swallow a medicinal pill. After that…I…I can’t remember anything…”
Tears streamed down her face as she continued in a shaking, bewildered tone, “I…killed people…I thought it was all just a dream…not real…”
It seemed she was gradually recalling the memories of her demonic rampages and descending into immense anguished self-reproach.
Xiaoxiao knew the woman had been too deeply demonized before, her original consciousness likely devoured. Now nearing her final breaths, some of her human nature had resurfaced.
She placed the purification talisman petal on the woman’s forehead and said softly, “I understand. Rest well. The demon that committed those evil acts was not you. I hope in your next life, you won’t encounter any deceitful people and can live in peace…”
But the woman continued weeping upon hearing this, “I’m so full of hatred…I hate…”
Having been so deeply demonized, and now further wounded by Qin Lingxiao’s sword qi, she would definitely experience excruciating spiritual backlash in her final moments.
However, Xiaoxiao’s purification petal talismans were left behind by her master and would grant her ultimate peace.
The petal talisman soon melded into the woman’s forehead, and the furrows on her brow smoothed out, the anguish leaving her face as she slowly closed her eyes.
Yet even in her last lingering moments, tears still hung in the corners of her eyes, carrying a world of resentful unwillingness.
Qin Lingxiao had not left, standing behind Cui Xiaoxiao until the creature breathed its last, before asking, “How is it? Did you know this demonic creature?”
Cui Xiaoxiao stood up, retrieving her coat from the ground and putting it back on. Lowering her eyes, she took a deep breath and said, “I’ve heard rumors that the former owner’s daughter-in-law was locked in the woodshed with smoldering tobacco leaves and burned alive. The smoke scent lingered heavily for days. The woodshed where the incident occurred is not far from this silkworm field. And coincidentally, this silkworm demon greatly loathed the smell of smoke, which made me wonder. My master said evil demons often arise from the malicious resentful thoughts of people. Humans and demons are but a fine line apart. So I pondered whether this demon that appeared in the silkworm field for no reason could be related to that mysteriously missing Bai daughter-in-law. Now, hearing her words, it seems my guess was correct.”
Only then did Qin Lingxiao understand why Cui Xiaoxiao had insisted on stopping him from killing the demon.
However, he did not think he was wrong. Did this Cui Xiaoxiao really believe there was a way to save someone who had turned demonic?
Thinking this, he stated, “She has already committed murder, an unforgivable evil. If you show leniency towards demons out of pity, you will eventually be devoured by them in turn.”
Cui Xiaoxiao dismissively said, “Different sects have different ways of dealing with demons based on their laws. Sect Leader Qin can simply follow the methods of his own righteous sect.”
As she spoke, her gaze lingered on the closed eyes of the ill-fated woman.
Initially, no body was found at the fire scene, likely because this woman had managed to escape the blaze. But as she was pregnant at the time and exposed to smoke and flames, she probably lost the child.
If her guess was correct, the so-called “medicinal pill” was actually that tainted demon pearl. Someone must have deceived this cloistered woman into consuming the demon pearl, purposefully nurturing the pearl within her to trigger her demonic transformation, before then cultivating her as a demon.
The sinister plot behind this was truly insidious!
Thinking of this, she suddenly turned to Qin Lingxiao and asked, “Sect Leader Qin normally stays far removed from secular affairs. Why did you personally come to deal with this demon?”
Qin Lingxiao’s thoughts were exceptionally lucid. He naturally perceived Cui Xiaoxiao’s probing intention – could she be suspecting that he, the esteemed sect leader of the Sword Sect, would exploit a feeble woman to nurture a demon?
His brow furrowed in displeasure at this thought.
Prior to this demon subjugation incident, he likely would not have paid any mind to a rootless maidservant like her.
Who in the cultivation world did not know that the Sect Leader Qin was aloof and disdainful, arrogantly keeping to himself?
However, this young female sect leader from a minor sect was insightful and able to extrapolate broader implications, proving she was no fool.
When Qin Lingxiao was in an obliging mood, he was willing to provide some explanation to the astute: “This demon pearl was forged two hundred years ago by the demon patriarch Wei Jie from the seven emotions and six desires he had cultivated. Unfortunately, it was sealed within a giant rock on Mount Jiulu. Not long ago, that rock shattered, and two of the demon pearls it contained slipped into the mortal realm. I was once Wei Jie’s disciple myself, so I feel responsible for eliminating the evils he left behind. After a long search, I finally tracked down the whereabouts of one of the demon pearls.”
The previous master he spoke of was none other than Wei Jie, the demonic scourge who unleashed bloody chaos across the land two centuries ago.
The mention of Wei Jie made many modern cultivators grit their teeth in hatred, while also inwardly lamenting his wasted genius.
If one were to use the phrase “heavenly prodigy,” Qin Lingxiao himself could hardly be considered worthy compared to Wei Jie.
After all, Qin only stole his master Wei Jie’s cultivation to cross the final threshold as a shortcut into the upper realms.
The only one in the past seven hundred years who had reached the pinnacle of attainment through his own strength was Wei Jie.
The young Wei Jie was truly a prodigy! At a tender age, he single-handedly forced his way into the Broken Soul Serpent Cave, slaying the twin-headed giant vipers with his bare hands.
Though he was severely poisoned, enduring immense torture as a result, this allowed him to comprehend the dao of channeling true qi to suppress the venom, forming his own unique cultivation method of refining the elixir from there.
However, it was also the constant torment of the serpent’s poison that drastically altered Wei Jie’s temperament, compounded by a deep blood feud he harbored. He then later went on a solitary massacre through the preeminent Sword Sect’s Lingyunge, challenging that sect’s leader to a duel while slaughtering the entire disciple population.
Over the subsequent decades, as Wei Jie’s demonic power deepened, he strayed further down the path of fiendish evil with grandiose visions of standing unrivaled by slaying all other cultivators!
By the time Wei Jie’s demonic powers reached perfection, the serpentine poison had seeped into his marrow, transforming him into a serpentine humanoid – his entire body covered in massive python scales, his features twisted into a ferocious, cruel visage.
And the once sole surviving young sect leader Qin Lingxiao from Lingyun Pavilion endured humiliation, concealed his identity, and became Wei Jie’s disciple under his mortal enemy. From then on, he laid low, biding his time to strike.
Finally, taking advantage of the chance when Wei Jie entered seclusion every ninety-nine years to renew his qi circulation and refine his elixir, Qin Lingxiao launched a sneak attack, shattering Wei Jie’s primordial spirit.
Such a righteous deed naturally won him widespread acclaim in the orthodox cultivation world – if not for Qin Lingxiao, the realm would still be plagued by the toxic scourge of the demon patriarch Wei Jie.
After hearing Qin Lingxiao’s explanation about the demon pearl’s origins, Cui Xiaoxiao expressed some understanding.
So this demon pearl was actually forged from the contaminated energies that the demon patriarch Wei Jie cultivated before his death.
Truly a demon was a demon – even a hundred years later, the foul stench lingered for eternity.
After Xiaoxiao performed the rites to peacefully release the woman’s soul, she instructed the servants hiding outside the silkworm field about Making the proper funeral arrangements, before leaving with Ji Wuqi and the others.
Being so slim made her large eyes appear especially bright and lively. The red mole beside her left eye lent her smile a charming roguishness. Especially when she fully smiled, her whole being exuded an indescribable grace that inadvertently drew people’s gazes to linger on her enchanting expression.
However, she had kept a solemn demeanor earlier, emanating an aloof, chilly air that made others hesitant to approach.
The beautiful woman Ling Zhishan standing beside Qin Lingxiao also silently watched Cui Xiaoxiao’s departing back.
Though petite in stature, Cui Xiaoxiao carried herself with an unrestrained, graceful bearing as the long ponytail swaying at her waist seemed to beckon like a swishing fox’s tail…
Ling Zhishan couldn’t help turning to glance at Qin Lingxiao, noticing his gaze still fixated on the young woman’s retreating figure. She unconsciously bit her lip.
Ling Zhishan was the current palace master of the Yin-Yang Palace in the Yougu Valley, renowned in the world for their alchemical and qi-cultivation arts, a gathering place for female cultivators.
She had also once been a disciple under the demon patriarch Wei Jie. Later, she betrayed the demonic master alongside her senior brother Qin Lingxiao, abandoning the evil path to establish the Yin-Yang Palace specializing in alchemy and qi cultivation. She had fully supported Qin Lingxiao’s founding of the Nine Profundities Sword Sect.
Although Qin Lingxiao had never promised to become her dual cultivation partner, the disciples of both sects assumed she was his betrothed, expecting them to eventually ascend together after marriage.
But Qin Lingxiao’s overly focused gaze towards Cui Xiaoxiao made Ling Zhishan feel a slight discomfort in her heart.
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