ATEG Chapter 52.2

Her voice contained a fine buzzing, forming a wondrous rhythm. The peasant woman’s head spun, and without asking anything, she accepted both the child and the silver ingot, bringing them back into the room.

After sunset, the farmer returned home. Seeing his wife playing with a baby girl, he asked in shock. “Where did this child come from?”

The peasant woman said, “From a passing woman. She needs to go to the county to find someone and asked me to take care of the child for a few days.”

The farmer was suspicious. “Why can’t she bring the child if she’s looking for someone? Besides, with what just happened in the county, who would pick this time to look for someone? Could it be that she didn’t want this child and dumped her on you?”

“How could that be? She gave me a large silver ingot.” As the peasant woman spoke, she took out the silver ingot.

The silver ingot was pitted and blackened, looking almost no different from iron.

“Were you tricked?” the farmer suspected. He took the silver ingot and rubbed it vigorously with a coarse cloth, grinding off a small patch of black marks to reveal some silver brightness underneath. He bit it with his teeth, and without much effort, left some tooth marks on it.

It was indeed good quality soft silver, just that it had been sitting around for who knows how long without proper storage, which was why the surface had blackened like that.

But the farmer’s suspicion only deepened. A woman who could casually give a silver ingot as compensation—why would she travel alone? Such a large silver ingot would be enough to entrust the child to a better household. Why look for farmers like them?

He voiced all his suspicions to his wife and pressed further, “Do you know where she came from? Where she’s going? What her name is?”

The peasant woman’s expression became dazed, as if only now understanding, and suddenly became frightened.

“I… When that woman spoke to me, my head went dizzy and I just took the child back without thinking to ask anything!” Only now did she realize her behavior was different from usual, and fear rose in her heart. “That woman… there won’t be any problem, will there? And this child……”

The two examined the baby girl from head to toe, but this child was indeed just an ordinary human.

The baby girl at first thought the two were playing with her and smiled at them. Later, annoyed by the examination, she pouted as if about to cry.

The peasant woman’s heart softened at the sight. She slowly patted and soothed the child, then hesitantly asked her husband, “How about… we just keep her for now?”

The farmer also hesitantly nodded. 

Though the woman was strange, they only harbored suspicions after all. The child was still an infant—they couldn’t just abandon her because of a little suspicion.

Moreover, if that woman really had problems and came back to find the child gone, wouldn’t that cause even more trouble?

……

Qing Fu hid in the mountain forest, watching from afar as the baby girl was well settled. She withdrew her gaze and turned to look in the direction where another green-black karmic thread extended. The loving gentleness in her eyes gradually transformed into bone-deep resentment.

Insect chirping sounds rose.

That cultivator had killed her and her child, using their blood to refine a pair of green cash bug coins.

She couldn’t defeat that cultivator.

Qing Fu didn’t know cultivation, and after dealing with that man, she had dispersed nearly half her resentment.

But after the resentment diminished, her consciousness was far clearer than it had been then.

She wouldn’t rush over recklessly. That cultivator was in the open, she was in the dark. She could make thorough preparations.

Qing Fu pressed her chest. The resentful, blood-stained karmic thread extended from there.

This karmic thread had been extended by that deity and also contained that deity’s power.

These were all her bargaining chips!

I pray to the divine, aid my revenge!

……

Daoist Feiying was running out of patience.

Though on the surface he appeared no different from usual, still a cultivator of dignified bearing, Shuoyue had followed him for six hundred years. She understood too well what kind of person Feiying was—he had little patience left to wait.

He had searched for six hundred years, only now obtaining a definite target, yet still hadn’t found even the slightest trace of a clue.

Now Feiying had decided she knew something, and that he could endure these few days without forcing her to talk was only for two reasons: she was still useful to him, and he hadn’t gotten hold of Wangyue to threaten her with.

Shuoyue was very clear about how much Feiying valued what he was searching for. The more he valued it, the more unscrupulous he would be to obtain the clues she possessed. But this also meant Shuoyue had more capital to negotiate with him……

“I originally thought you were smart enough…” Feiying entered the room, closed the door, and removed his disguise. His eyes were shrouded in gloom.

Shuoyue looked up at Feiying. She knew Feiying had been waiting these past few days for her to voluntarily confess, but Shuoyue had deliberately dragged it out until Feiying came to ask her himself.

These few days were enough for her to confirm: unless she voluntarily confessed, Feiying had no way to obtain the information she knew from her. He had no better methods, or he would have used them already.

And this was her only bargaining chip to negotiate with Feiying.

“Remove the blood parasite from my body, let me leave, and I’ll give you what you want.” Shuoyue’s dark eyes looked straight at Feiying.

“Of course.” Feiying agreed without hesitation.

“I don’t trust your promises.” Shuoyue said, “I’ve seen you break your word too many times.”

“What do you want to do?” Feiying’s cold gaze fell on her.

Shuoyue didn’t back down, saying, “First remove my blood parasite. I’ll leave the information in someone’s dream in the town. It will dissipate after seven days.”

She had to delay Feiying. Otherwise, even with the blood parasite removed, recapturing her would be as easy as turning over his palm.

During the six hundred years, Feiying had once encountered one of his old sect brothers.

That person shared the same cultivation lineage as Feiying, both cultivating bloody murderous energy, except that person’s cultivation was far inferior to Feiying’s.

Shuoyue had hoped to learn about Feiying’s background from this, but after that person saw Feiying, he was extremely respectful, not daring to say half a word more. In his eyes was fear that didn’t dare show even a trace of resentment.

He thought Feiying would kill him.

But Feiying didn’t do anything to that person, waving his hand to dismiss him like shooing away a fly. That person left as if granted a great pardon, fleeing rapidly.

“Do you want to know why he was so afraid?” After that person left, Feiying smiled nonchalantly at Shuoyue. “If we hadn’t met today, I wouldn’t have known there was still someone alive from the sect.”

Shuoyue felt cold all over at the implications of his words. Feiying, however, quite leisurely conjured a water mirror, watching through it with great interest how that person carefully concealed his tracks, changed his appearance, and examined himself from soul to body, even not hesitating to use techniques similar to sacrificing a tail to survive, terrified that Feiying had done something to him.

Finally, that person believed he had escaped with his life and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Feiying scoffed at that person’s methods. He spoke proudly, but Shuoyue listened nervously.

Feiying was commenting on how that person’s laughable efforts were useless—but wasn’t he also warning her that she couldn’t escape from his grasp?

Shuoyue stared fixedly at the person in the water mirror, as if to carve this escape attempt into her bones.

“Letting him go is nothing…” Feiying lazily watched as that person relaxed and became overjoyed.

The water mirror continued to change. That person who had just exhausted all means and finally relaxed, casually slaughtered several mortals, using their flesh, blood, and vital essence to replenish himself.

“…In the future, this is the most he’ll ever amount to.” Feiying slowly finished the rest of his sentence, his tone carrying condescending contempt.

“But one can never be sure. Who knows what the future holds?” Feiying pointed at the water mirror, and that person who had just been overjoyed instantly turned into a pool of filthy blood.

“When cutting grass, one must remove the roots. Don’t you agree?” He smiled at Shuoyue, the very picture of a dignified and serene cultivator.

From that moment on, Shuoyue knew that if she wanted to escape from Feiying’s control, she couldn’t place even the slightest trust in him.

But to gain the initiative from Feiying’s hands, she had to be prepared to pay a sufficiently large price.

……

Shuoyue looked at Feiying, her gaze unflinching.

Feiying slowly curved his lips, murderous intent striking between his brows. “Do you think I have no way to deal with you?”

He walked toward Shuoyue unhurriedly, stroking her back as before. Where his cold fingers touched, Shuoyue felt pain. The blood parasite churned restlessly inside her body. Shuoyue began to tremble, and in no time her pitch-black fur was soaked with sweat.

“Have you forgotten how I learned about your sister from that snake demon?” Daoist Feiying exhaled coldly by her ear.

After Shuoyue slowly recovered, he continued, “There’s a technique in this world called soul searching.”

Shuoyue’s eyes had already begun to turn red. She stared fixedly at Feiying, saying, “I’m skilled in dream arts and understand the soul best. Before you can search out the results, I’ll destroy this information!”

Feiying smiled, his fingers gently stroking along Shuoyue’s back, saying slowly, “You want to live, and I want to obtain information. These don’t conflict. If the information is gone, I can search again. If life is gone, there’s truly nothing left… Do you think you have the qualifications to negotiate with me?”

“If you die, I can just find another rabbit. She’ll probably also know some dream arts, and probably can stay to help me too.” His low, soft voice threatened and tempted by Shuoyue’s ear. “Six hundred years ago, you should have died in that snake demon’s jaws. It was I who saved you, allowing you to live until now, giving you six hundred more years. Be obedient, don’t play those foolish tricks, and you can continue living—living to the next six hundred years, and the six hundred years after that……”

Shuoyue clenched her teeth, her body trembling slightly beyond her control. “Then you can go find the information yourself!”

Feiying suddenly dropped the slight smile from his face, his gaze sharpening. His hand was about to cast a technique.

Just at that moment, an array formation suddenly lit up, sealing off the entire room.

“Who?!” Feiying rose abruptly.