ILDV Chapter 70

Shen Muxuan slowly traced the outline of the infant in the swaddling clothes with his gaze. At first glance, the child bore little resemblance to Feng Jiangcheng.

He bent down and scooped the bundle into his arms. The infant, separated from his mother’s embrace, bit his finger, his bright black eyes rolling around. Suddenly he giggled and reached out to grab the strands of hair that fell across Shen Muxuan’s chest.

Qin Yue anxiously extended her hand, but this handsome Immortal Lord didn’t grow angry at the infant’s actions. His gaze wandered back and forth across the baby’s face, especially lingering on the eyes. He then leaned down and sniffed lightly. “A disgusting scent.”

After saying this, he suddenly reached out and beckoned with his hand through the air. Before Qin Yue could understand what was happening, amid howling winds, a figure suddenly crashed onto the empty ground before them—wearing standard robes, it was the eldest senior brother from those who had been pursuing and trying to kill them.

At this moment, his face was full of panic but he couldn’t move. The white-robed Immortal Lord pointed a finger at the center of his brow. After a long moment, he opened his eyes and frowned slightly. “…Looking for a husband?”

“!”

Soul Search technique…

Qin Yue instinctively shrank back. “You—you’re also a demonic cultivator?!”

Shen Muxuan didn’t answer. He casually knocked the eldest senior brother unconscious, erased this portion of his memory, and tossed him aside. Then a jade slip appeared before Qin Yue. Shen Muxuan gave a concise command, “The appearance of ‘Shan Cheng’—carve it out.”

Hearing that name, Qin Yue’s lips trembled uncontrollably. She pulled her shaking hands back even tighter. “You… what do you want to do?”

Shen Muxuan was still smiling, but in Qin Yue’s eyes he seemed even more terrifying than the most vicious demon of the Northern Demon Territory. He forcibly stuffed a life-sustaining pill into Qin Yue’s mouth. “Naturally, to help the lady find her husband. Why is the lady trembling? Am I so frightening?”

Qin Yue wanted to refuse, but the smile at the corner of Shen Muxuan’s lips gradually faded. He said flatly, “I don’t like bullying women and children who have no ability to resist. It would be best if the lady were sensible and didn’t force Shen to use the Soul Search technique on you.”

After Qin Yue finished carving the image with trembling hands, Shen Muxuan waved it into his grasp and looked closely.

The person depicted wore clothing and hairstyle following local customs in the fashionable Northern Demon Territory style. His cheeks were somewhat thinner, but this didn’t prevent Shen Muxuan from recognizing ‘Shan Cheng’s’ identity at a glance.

——Feng Jiangcheng!

He closed his eyes, imperceptibly adjusting his breathing frequency until he ensured that the emotions he displayed externally had not a single flaw. Only then did Shen Muxuan open his eyes and casually crush the jade slip. “So it’s him.”

Qin Yue’s eyes suddenly lit up as she asked cautiously, “You… know him?”

Shen Muxuan had wanted to say ‘Isn’t he my esteemed Shizun, the Sword-Wielding Elder of Taihua Sword Sect?’ But catching sight of Qin Yue’s expression containing hidden hope, the words on his lips changed to: “How did you two meet?”

Qin Yue explained the whole story.

Shen Muxuan nearly burst out laughing with schadenfreude on the spot. Before the Sect Master had entrusted him to come find this person, he could never have imagined that this esteemed Sword-Wielding Elder would be reduced to such a state—it was ten thousand times more amusing than the most unfortunate scenario he’d imagined!

…It was just pitiful for this unfortunate Young Sect Master Qin.

Shen Muxuan was in quite a good mood. He casually pinched Shan Xun’s tender little face and handed back the child along with healing pills and a pitch-black unnamed pill.

“I do know the person, but I don’t recommend you go seeking death at his door. The one who has recovered his memories will absolutely never acknowledge having any connection with a demonic cultivator. Your best option right now is to consider your husband Shan Cheng dead in that fire. Go back to the Northern Demon Territory. Zhongzhou doesn’t welcome demonic cultivators. Obediently take the medicine. After enduring all this, you should understand what can be said and what cannot.”

Qin Yue held the black pill that was ninety-nine percent certain to be a control pill. Her lips trembled, but she didn’t know what to say.

After going through that ordeal, Qin Yue understood how rare it was to encounter a good-tempered fellow cultivator on Zhongzhou’s territory. Not only did he give her medicine, he was even willing to kindly remind her—she really had no reason to demand anything more. But…

She quietly requested, “I just want to know who he is… I promise! I’ll just look from afar, I absolutely won’t approach him!”

Shen Muxuan was silent for a moment, then turned his head and said flatly, “Don’t do such meaningless things. With his status and cultivation level, you have no possibility of getting close.”

With that, he gave Qin Yue no further chance to plead. He watched her swallow the pill, then waved his hand casually. Qin Yue’s vision went black. She instinctively held her son tighter, and when she could see clearly again, her feet had already landed at the edge of the white fog.

“…Ah Yue? Is that you?”

A familiar call suddenly came from beside her ear. Qin Yue looked up in delight. The face she saw day and night came into view. Under the intense stimulation, she completely forgot the demonic cultivator’s instructions to disguise her identity and ran over happily in small steps. “Shan Lang!”

Only when she drew near did she discover that the clothes ‘Shan Cheng’ wore were no longer those from his time at the Corpse Puppet Sect. Pure white brocade with golden sword patterns embroidered on the sleeves and hem—solemnly inviolable.

She instinctively stepped back two paces and lowered her head, suddenly feeling that even touching those pure white robes would be defiling him. She called out timidly, “Shan Lang… you’re still alive, that’s wonderful…” She forced the corners of her lips into a smile and stepped back two more paces. “Seeing that you’re well, I’m relieved… Don’t worry, I won’t pester you. You go back and live your life well. I… I just came to see if you’re doing well…”

By the end, tears filled her lashes and her words became incoherent.

“Ah Yue!”

She turned to leave into the white fog, but the person behind suddenly strode forward, one hand firmly pressing on her shoulder. “Where are you going?”

Qin Yue didn’t look back. “To go keep my parents company. I was young before and always causing trouble. Now I have time, I should spend more time with them.”

“…Ah Yue.” The person behind stepped forward and embraced her, softening his voice. “How did you escape? When I came back from catching fish, I only saw a sea of flames and thought you had also perished there. Under the great shock, I spent several months in a daze before awakening my past memories. It wasn’t—it wasn’t intentional that I didn’t search for you.”

Qin Yue looked down at the child in her arms, feeling this strange and stiff embrace. Her eyes couldn’t help but sting as she began to cry softly. She intermittently told him about her life after the massacre, feeling the body holding her gradually relax.

Just as she was calming her emotions, wanting to tell Shan Lang that she had borne him a child, her chest suddenly erupted in severe pain.

Qin Yue’s eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the blood-red dagger that had pierced through her chest.

She opened her mouth. Large amounts of fresh blood gushed from the corners of her lips. Her body went limp uncontrollably, her life force rapidly draining away as she fell straight to the ground.

“Hmph.”

The person behind removed his outer robe to wipe his hands, disgustedly tossing the garment aside. “Disgusting.”

If not to extract information from this woman and confirm that she didn’t know his true identity and had no possibility of exposing him, he would have cut her into a thousand pieces the moment he first saw her!

He raised his hand to completely annihilate Qin Yue’s body, leaving no trace. But just as his hand was raised, someone behind him called out, “Shizun!”

Feng Jiangcheng instinctively changed his hand gesture, casting an illusion to make the ground appear empty, then turned around warmly. “You’re here? Qilan just told me you went to search in another direction. Your evasion techniques have become even more refined over these years.”

“Shizun praises me too much.” Shen Muxuan imperceptibly avoided Feng Jiangcheng’s reaching hand, his expression far less cordial than his tone as he turned his back to the immortal sect members.

The matter with Qin Yue wasn’t yet handled. Feng Jiangcheng instinctively wanted to refuse. Shen Muxuan lazily lifted his eyelids. “Since Shizun’s whereabouts have been found, let’s quickly return to the sect. Having wandered outside for so many days, Shizun must have suffered considerably. It’s best to return early, and it will also save Senior Brother and Senior Brother Sect Master from nagging in my ears every day. Don’t you agree, Shizun?”

“…Naturally.”

After the group of disciples led by Lu Changfeng also arrived and the immortal sect members finished counting to confirm everyone was present, they immediately set out on the return journey.

Not long after they left, someone emerged from the white fog cursing. Ignoring the illusion, he walked straight to Qin Yue’s corpse and, pinching his nose, turned over her cold body.

The soft, young infant slept sweetly in the small world his mother’s body had created for him. The newcomer scratched his head for a long time, awkwardly picking up the child. The infant drowsily opened his bright black eyes. When he saw his mother’s corpse, he stared blankly while sucking his finger, then burst into wailing tears without warning.

The person holding him panicked. “Aiya, my little ancestor, don’t cry… When we get back, won’t that one surnamed Yin skin me alive…”

He reached out to wipe the infant’s tears, but his rough fingers brushing against the tender skin only made the baby cry even louder. The man’s head instantly swelled like a drum. He quickly buried Qin Yue’s body, then holding this fragile little baby, flashed into the white fog to find reinforcements.

The distant memories transformed into white fog and slowly drifted away. The young man now renamed Qin Xun lightly raised his eyes. When he looked at the red-dressed woman before him, his eyes held an icy coldness.

“What does Young Miss Yan want by blocking my path?”

Yan Shu’s eyes were full of resentment, though not directed at Qin Xun. She lowered her voice. “These traitors are blocking me and won’t let me leave. Quickly think of a way to let me in to see my father.”

Qin Xun glanced at the Jiuyou Court demonic cultivators slowly surrounding them and said flatly, “Young Miss Yan has found the wrong person. I don’t have the ability to fight my way out through seven or eight cultivators of the same rank with someone in tow, nor do I have any need to do so.”

Yan Shu stamped her foot anxiously and said bitterly, “Didn’t your master tell you? My father intends to form an alliance with your Eighteenth Hell to jointly resist the Supreme Palace. Since we’re allies, if you don’t care about me now, be careful—I’ll complain to my father when I get back and have your master punish you!”

Qin Xun’s eyes moved slightly. “I indeed haven’t received any message from my master. What proof do you have?”

Yan Shu raised her chin matter-of-factly and spoke in an astonished tone, “My father is the Third Venerable of the Northern Demon Territory, a peerless great power at Tribulation Stage Great Perfection. If not for these ungrateful wretches betraying him, and my father temporarily having no one useful at hand, with that meager foundation of your Eighteenth Hell, how could my father possibly look favorably upon you?”

Her words carried a sense of superiority, as if bestowing a favor—as though Yan Guihe mentioning Yin Lang would naturally result in grateful acceptance.

Qin Xun fell silent, couldn’t help but reach up to rub his temples. Even the anger in his chest was diluted somewhat.

He truly felt sorry, but in all his years, this was really the first time he’d encountered someone who seemed to have a disease of the brain.