Chapter 559: Chapter 559 : (Extras) Strolling Down Memory Lane (6)
Ten years had passed since the war between the Heavenly Realm and the Demonic Realm took place.
Ten years had passed since Bai Ling lost her father and the man she loved.
Ten years had passed since Bai Ling assumed the helm of leadership over the Wushan Temple Sect.
Bai Ling, now no longer the selfish and clueless young woman she once was, sighed as she knelt before their memorial tablets.
"Father, Wei Wei, so many things have happened in the past ten years. Leading a sect is by no means an easy task. I should have been more studious and attentive in the past. Maybe then our sect would not have fallen so far in ranks."
Wushan Temple Sect used to be one of the ten great sects that dominated the cultivation world. After the devastating war, however, many sects were destroyed, and the survivors banded together to form new alliances. In the upheaval, the Wushan Temple Sect was cast out of the top ranks.
Bai Ling heaved a long, heavy sigh.
Naturally, the fact that a certain individual stuck to her sect like a parasite did not improve the sect’s standing at all.
Bai Ling kowtowed in front of the memorial tablets three times. By the time she was ready to leave, another person entered the cave to offer his respect.
It was none other than Huang Taichen, that certain individual.
"Oh, Martial Art Auntie, you are here," he said.
A vein popped up furiously at Bai Ling’s temple.
"Why are you late? Today is the tenth anniversary of your shizun’s death!"
Huang Taichen scratched at the side of his head with a pang of guilt.
"I was... I was practicing," he said. "I am sorry."
Practicing, he said.
"You were practicing swordsmanship, I hope," Bai Ling snapped, knowing that it was far from the truth.
Huang Taichen bit into his lower lip.
"Yes."
"Liar!"
"If you knew that it wasn’t the truth, why do you keep hoping?" Huang Taichen asked, exasperated. "You don’t want to hear the truth, but you also frown upon the lie. What will make you happy, really?"
"If you could be even one-tenth as good as Wei Wei, I would be thrilled!"
Huang Taichen hung his head in dismay.
"Shizun had never even tried to push me toward swordsmanship," he mumbled. "Shizun even told me that I should learn how to use my..."
Bai Ling interjected with a groan.
"Wei Wei is a swordmaster. Since you refer to him as your shizun, you are naturally expected to follow in his footsteps. Anything else is unimportant, really."
Huang Taichen lowered his head so Bai Ling could not see the sour look on his face. Tightening both hands into fists, he then murmured, "Yes, Martial Art Auntie."
He waited until Bai Ling left before he, too, knelt in front of his shizun’s memorial tablet and complained about the past ten years.
Ah, life at Wushan Temple Sect was not as good as he thought.
He had food on the table and a roof above his head, but he could hardly call Mount Wu his home.
His shizun was gone from the world, and his only support, Bai Ling, kept demanding impossible feats from him.
Huang Taichen held out his palms and observed them with great disappointment.
"Why am I so useless?" he mumbled to himself. "If I have even a drop of talent within my body..."
Right now, the Wushan Temple Sect was experiencing a great decline. Day after day, Bai Ling worked the remaining disciples hard, pushing them to improve in the hope of fostering loyalty among them.
Alas, the young cultivators these days were largely disloyal. Although they swore an oath to be loyal to their sect, they could easily be poached by larger, stronger sects.
Bai Ling sowed the seeds of progress, but it was others who reaped the harvest. Knowing this, how could she maintain her jovial mood of the past? Huang Taichen knew that, but he was powerless to help.
The disciples at least had some innate talent.
He had... nothing.
Still, he refused to give up.
His shizun had granted him a spot in the Wushan Temple Sect. He must not waste his shizun’s effort and make it his home.
Even if it meant that he had to somehow awaken his innate talent by force.
As Huang Taichen pondered the best way to do this, two shixiongs from the sect came to find him.
"Huang Shidi, ah, we are here to ask for your help," Gu Shengxia said. Next to him, Wang Chunli nodded fervently.
"Me? What help?"
This was the first time anyone needed him for anything, so Huang Taichen was somewhat surprised.
"It’s like this... you can manipulate beasts into doing what you want, right?"
"To be exact, I can tame beasts and coax them into doing my bidding," Huang Taichen corrected them.
"Yes, same thing. So here’s the thing... we two have found some very powerful demonic beasts in Yingchun Forest. Do you want to come with us to catch them?"
"... What for?"
The last time someone came to Huang Taichen for this kind of help, he ended up taking the blame for something he did not do. It was thus natural for him to get suspicious whenever history threatened to repeat itself.
Gu Shengxia and Wang Chunli exchanged glances briefly before Wang Chunli cleared his throat and said, "Well, isn’t it our job as cultivators to take out demons?"
Huang Taichen furrowed his brows.
"I guess."
They did fight alongside the heavenly realm’s forces against a horde of demons during the last war.
"So, we should go. Come with us."
The two other men were eager to go, but Huang Taichen was reluctant to leave. Something told him that the two shixiongs were hiding something from him, and this something would end up biting him in the ass.
He should not go. It was a bad idea.
"I should tell Sect Leader Bai about it," Huang Taichen decided. By "Sect Leader Bai", he naturally meant Bai Ling. But when he was about to walk away, the two shixiongs grabbed his arms in panic and stopped him from leaving.
"Wait, Huang Shidi! Why would you bother Sect Leader Bai about it? Wouldn’t it be better to catch the demons first and present them to her?"
"... Well..."
"Come on. We guarantee that Sect Leader Bai is going to be very happy about the catch. Do you know that drinking their blood and eating their flesh can prolong your lifespan and improve your cultivation?"
"..."
Gu Shengxia hastily added, "I heard they can also unlock a person’s dormant cultivation talent."
That was all Huang Taichen needed to hear before he agreed to follow the two shixiongs to Yingchun Forest.
The bad idea morphed into an excellent idea. He should go.
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Author’s note :
Do my loyal readers still remember these two shixiongs? :)
