Actually, Yun Chang’an wasn’t angry at Changming and the others.

He was only depressed by his own powerlessness.

Children from influential families, who were used to golden flowers, silver willows, deep purples and bright reds, couldn’t possess the unyielding determination of experienced cultivators.

Golden flowers, silver willows, deep purples and bright reds: luxuries. Silver willow is pussy willow in English.

Let alone him, even Nie Emei had received a great shock. She silently hung her head, holding her sword.

Instead, it was Cong Rong who stretched out her arm and patted him on his shoulder, as if comforting him.

Yun Chang’an’s sobs quieted down.

“How are you?”

Yun Hai was whispering to him in his ear, but to Changming, his voice sounded far away.

He shook his head, having no strength to speak.

After the Sifei Sword returned to its former master, it was slowly restoring his spiritual powers. It seemed that the sword knew as well that Changming couldn’t handle the flow of surging waves of qi, so it was only nourishing his meridians slowly.

Yun Hai looked at him carefully, and his line of sight finally stopped at Changming’s hand.

Although that hand was wrapped with a strip of cloth, it was still bleeding incessantly, and the fabric was already painted red.

And the hand under this fabric was badly mutilated.

Changming’s finger twitched a little, out of his control.

A common person might have as well given up on their hand in such a case, but for a cultivator it was a wound easy to heal.

And this pain wasn’t worth mentioning compared to what was caused by other wounds on his body.

Changming closed his palm and was resting. Softly, the Sifei Sword’s qi came to his hand, soothing the wound and filling his limbs and bones.

He was not sleeping, but he was unconscious.

He felt the piece of cloth being unwrapped from his hand.

Only Yun Hai would do this.

But, if he wanted to kill Changming, now was not the time at all.

And he wouldn’t start by taking off the fabric.

When tickling pain pierced his hand, Changming opened his eyes.

Yun Hai lowered his head and was licking his palm unhurriedly.

He was concentrated and determined.

The dried up blood was licked clean, and the fresh blood was quickly cleaned off.

The hideous wound across his hand was exposed. It was a ghastly sight.

Changming pulled his hand, but it didn’t move.

He coughed: “Let go.”

Yun Hai: “I didn’t find clear water here, and it will heal faster that way.”

His expression was calm and indifferent, just like usual. Changming even thought that he had lost track of new moralities and customs of the world after these several decades. One dynasty, it was popular to wear flowers in hair; another dynasty, wearing threads came into fashion; maybe nowadays cultivators expressed their friendly attitude like this?

He couldn’t help but to look at Nie Emei.

The latter was looking at them blankly. When she noticed Changming’s gaze, she blushed before turning away.

Changming: …

His face was thick as a wall, so his expression didn’t change at the slightest.

“And that’s your attitude towards your shizun?”

“I’ve long since rebelled against my teacher’s sect!” Yun Hai laughed, “He hates you so much. I think your disposition was very different back then, but now everything is upside-down, and even you can get embarrassed!”

He: Yun Weisi, I suppose

To provoke him deliberately, he even lowered his head to lick the bleeding wound again.

Since he had no strength to resist, Changming might as well continue resting with his eyes closed. What remains unseen is deemed to be clean.

“I used to be very strict.”

Yun Hai: “In what way?”

Changming: “I had four disciples. If one of them made a mistake, he had to kneel outside the doors for a whole night. Because my third disciple, Zhou Keyi, was not as talented as you and Sun Buku, after being reprimanded by me several times, he began to cultivate demonic techniques in secret, so in the end I drove him out of my sect. While Zhou Keyi was stubborn and tended to extremes, Sun Buku was a smiling tiger.”

A smiling tiger: a wolf in sheep’s clothing

Yun Hai: “People like this usually get along with others well. Such being the case, why did you expel him, certainly not because he smiled at you too much?”

Changming: “He was pursuing the fame and profits of Buddhist sects, and it was far more important than cultivating for him.”

Yun Hai raised his eyebrows, asking in reply mockingly: “A Buddhist monk, yet obsessed with fame and profits?”

Changming: “Is that strange? These two words, fame and profits, have been shackling people for thousands of years. Cultivators practise painstakingly, and their goal is to ascend one day, which is exactly a profit. Originally, Sun Buku was able to achieve the highest cultivation realm, but was sinking deep in his carnal desires, becoming a slave to them. Those years, I thought I didn’t want to deal with a disciple like this, so I left him to his own devices.”

Yun Hai: “What happened to him later?”

Changming: “He had already obtained the leader of the Qingyun School’s powers behind my back. But I drove him away, ordering him to start everything anew. After that accident on the Sacred Mountain Wan, I’ve had no intentions to inquire about him, so I don’t know what happened.”

Yun Hai thought to himself, no wonder he fell out with all his disciples, Sun Buku must detest his teacher.

“Don’t you have another disciple?”

Changming: “Are you talking about Song Nanyan?”

Yun Hai: “Did you come up with all these names?”

Yun Weisi: Yun ‘not thinking’

Sun Buku: Sun ‘within reason’

Zhou Keyi: Zhou ‘can’

Song Nanyan: Song ‘hard to say’

Changming: “Right.”

Yun Hai: “What does Song Nanyan’s name mean?”

Changming: “He was talking rubbish all day long, and I wanted him to keep quiet.”

Yun Hai: …

He suddenly felt a little compassionate towards these four disciples.

Maybe, the reason they hadn’t killed their teacher after they became famous was simply because he was stronger.

“Then Yun Weisi’s?”

Changming said languidly: “What’s the use of yearning, it’s better not to think. When he came to me to become my disciple, he said he wanted to discard his old name and devote himself to the Dao, so I gave him this name.”

Yun Hai sneered: “Sure enough, you thought about him much more than about others. I really suspect that the other disciples were too jealous and indignant, and thus their deep hatred towards you was born.”

Changming faintly smiled: “Are you picking sourness and eating vinegar? You are my disciple whom I love as well, so this teacher came up with a new name for you. Since Yun Hai is a bit dull and is totally incompatible with your character, isn’t it better to call you Yun Xin’gan?”

Picking sourness and eating vinegar: being jealous

Xin’gan: lit. heart and liver: darling or sweetheart

Yun Hai: …

Looking at this person’s casual nonsense now, he really couldn’t believe that the past Changming was strict, harsh and serious in everything with his disciples.

Yun Hai suddenly smiled, leaning closer to him.

“I don’t want to be called Yun Xin’gan.”

Yun Hai said in a low voice, singling out every word: “But can I be called Yun Nianming? Bearing Jiufang Changming in his mind constantly, wants to see the person if he is alive, and the body if he is dead.”

Nianming: in this case, ‘caring about Ming’, with ‘Ming’ from Changming.

As virtue rises one foot, vice rises ten. Even though Changming was shameless, it still made him shudder.

As virtue rises one foot, vice rises ten: a good person (Changming) is strong (in mocking), but the evil (Yun Hai) is ten times stronger.

Before he finished saying ‘dead’, an arm stretched out to him from behind.

Out of nowhere, silently.

At the same time, Nie Emei screamed in fear.

“Be careful!”

She couldn’t help in time from her position.

Sharp nails were about to touch Yun Hai’s shoulder, when he turned around and attacked with his Chunzhao Sword.

His opponent was forced to show themselves and retreat.

Going many steps back.

“Stop, I didn’t come here to kill you!”

The Chunzhao Sword stopped. Its point was quivering, but its blade didn’t move.

“Talk.”

Yun Hai’s expression was ice-cold, not an ambiguous and teasing one like before.

“I give you three seconds.”

The one in front of them was the demon who attacked Chen Ting and then ran away earlier.

He was entirely different from before, and looked like a common middle-aged man now. Only some red scales on his face and arms betrayed his real self.

“They want to kill me, so I want to work with you! If you are willing to help me, I will tell you many things that you don’t know about!”

Changming: “What things we don’t know?”

The demon: “This massacre in Yuru Town was actually planned to catch souls for a Gathering Souls Pearl. The more dead people, the more grievances, and hence the stronger the Gathering Souls Pearl.”

Changming said indifferently: “We already know this. I hope you can tell us something useful.”

He was sitting on the ground and looked powerless, but the Sifei Sword was trembling and buzzing near him, always ready to protect its owner.

The demon said: “On the Sacred Mountain Wan, they made a lot of sacrifices to summon me and others. They told us that they want to destroy the seal on the Sacred Mountain Wan, to unify the Human and Demon Worlds. From that time, we were free to wander through the Human World with no restrictions. The condition was that we’ll help them to capture souls to refine Gathering Souls Pearls, and break the seal with a Heavens-defying formation.”

Yun Hai ridiculed: “They said this, and you believed them? Too naive indeed.”

An angry look flashed across the demon’s face.

“We had no choice. The Darkest Abyss is a place of hardships, with barren and frigid lands, and even immortals don’t linger there. We all strive for the Human World, and it was the only chance.”

Yun Hai: “Then why do you regret it now?”

The demon: “They need a murderer to blame for the massacre in Yuru Town, and I am precisely this scapegoat. I don’t want to die, but I can’t beat them alone, so I need partners. You managed to survive now partly because I helped you on the sly, killing cultivators among the living corpses. Otherwise, everything wouldn’t have gone as smoothly. I’m sure you understand this deep in your hearts.”

Changming said: “You said ‘they’. Who else apart from Chi Bijiang?”

The demon: “Situ Wanhuo and another one, who was wearing a mask all the time. I don’t know him.”

Changming: “Chen Ting? You collaborated with him earlier, pretending to attack him to lure us outside the city walls.”

“Chen Ting?” he frowned, “I don’t know his name. He announced himself as Chi Bijiang’s messenger, and Situ Wanhuo tacitly approved of this title.”

Changming was silent for a short time, and then asked him unhurriedly: “And what is Your Excellency’s name?”

Asking for the name meant the first step to collaboration, so the demon sighed in relief.

Yun Hai set aside his Chunzhao Sword, and the demon’s posture became more relaxed.

“Cang Tian.”

The author has something to say:

A small theatre not connected to the main plot:

Changming: Yun Xin’gan.

Read: Yun Darling.

Yun Weisi: ???

Yun Chang’an: Your shifu is calling you!

Yun Weisi: What on earth happened while I was asleep?!