Chapter 561: Chapter 561 : (Extras) Strolling Down Memory Lane (8)
The group of weak cultivators marched past the woods until they reached a cave. Or better said, a protruding hole that opened up to an underground cavity.
Gu Shengxia and Wang Chunli took a deep breath to steady their nerves, while the ones behind them gulped and blinked several times to suppress their raging nervousness.
"We are here."
The two cultivators at the front turned to look at their comrades, who quickly parted like an ocean, until Huang Taichen was fully visible from head to toe.
"Huang Shidi, ah, it’s your turn. You need to coax the beasts out of the cave. We will handle the rest."
As if on cue, the other cultivators quickly spread, forming half a circle around the ground opening.
Huang Taichen gripped his vessel flute and frowned slightly. Hesitation was clearly written across his face.
"I am supposed to go alone?" he asked.
"Otherwise?" Gu Shengxia gave a skewed smile, as if he were not asking his shidi to do something very dangerous.
"It’s dangerous to go alone," the handsome young man next to Huang Taichen suddenly spoke up. "Why don’t we go together?"
The cultivators’ gazes swept over Xie Jianyu. He had a mesmerizing appearance, yet the formidable sword at his waist suggested a strength that contradicted his looks. They unanimously decided that Xie Jianyu would be adequate to serve as Huang Taichen’s companion inside the underground cavity.
"In that case, uhhh, comrade, please help Huang Taichen out inside. We are counting on you," Wang Chunli said after clearing his throat.
After Huang Taichen and Xie Jianyu disappeared past the opening, the cultivators couldn’t help but stick their heads together and murmured, "Who was that again?"
"Wait, I thought that he was one of you!" Gu Shengxia cried out.
"No way, Brother Gu! He stood so close to that shidi of yours, of course we thought that it was another cultivator from your sect!"
They were baffled about Xie Jianyu’s identity, but it was too late to call them out now. No one wanted to step into the beasts’ lair willingly. And so they just waited outside until Huang Taichen managed to coax the beasts outside.
Inside the underground cavity, the air was a thick, cloying blanket of dampness and must. The ground was treacherous, slick with a mossy film. A foul odor, a cocktail of stagnant water and blooming fungus, was so strong it felt like a physical assault. Huang Taichen choked and recoiled from the stench, but Xie Jianyu showed no reaction, his expression as placid as a calm lake.
They could have conjured balls of flames for illumination purposes, but Huang Taichen did not want to attract unknown danger. And so they walked in the darkness, taking one careful step after another while striving not to breathe too loudly.
Huang Taichen was already wondering where the underground cavity ended when one of his feet stumbled upon the edge of a cliff. He accidentally kicked a small pebble down. It disappeared into the ravine below, not even making a sound when it hit the ground below.
Huang Taichen swallowed hard.
From this vantage point, obscured by darkness, who could possibly see anything below? He nervously fiddled with his vessel flute, wondering if he should risk summoning the beast right now.
After weighing the pros and cons in his head and pondering for a long time, Huang Taichen made the decision to do just that. And yet, just as he was about to lift the vessel flute to his lips, a strong hand clasped around his wrist.
"Huang Taichen," a voice came from behind him. It was Xie Jianyu’s, but it was spoken with a chilling authority that seemed to settle on Huang Taichen’s conscience like a heavy weight.
"Why are you even here?"
Huang Taichen opened his mouth, but he wasn’t sure what to say.
He was here to help his two shixiongs capture demonic beasts. And then...
And then, what...?
What did they capture the demonic beasts for?
To take shortcuts in their cultivation, to bypass the difficult steps and get ahead of everyone else.
This was the tacit understanding for even showing up in Yingchun Forest, so why would Xie Jianyu ask such a ridiculous question?
Huang Taichen whipped around and stared at what he thought must be Xie Jianyu’s face, although he could barely see the other person in the darkness.
"Why am I here? Why are you here, then?"
The grip around Huang Taichen’s wrist tightened, almost making the latter cry out from pain.
"You... Xie Jianyu, let go!"
"Is this what you are planning to use this vessel flute for? How is it any different from Discordant Melody then?"
Huang Taichen widened his eyes and shook uncontrollably. Only a few people knew about Discordant Melody. And all those people perished ten years ago!
A soft sigh was heard from Xie Jianyu.
"Huang Taichen, you are unique in your own right. Just because you’re exploring a completely different branch of cultivation, one no one else has dared to attempt, you don’t have to let others dictate what you do.
Beast-taming is a powerful path. You need to keep your head held high and cultivate in your own way. If the Wushan Temple Sect’s teachings no longer serve you, then you should leave and forge your own destiny."
Hearing the words that he secretly wanted to hear for many years, Huang Taichen immediately burst into tears.
"I can’t," he sobbed. "My shizun... My shizun worked so hard to get me a spot in Wushan Temple Sect. If I leave, he will not be able to rest in peace!"
Behind him, Xie Jianyu closed his eyes and sighed inwardly.
"Huang Taichen, will he be able to rest in peace if he sees what you have become now?"
Huang Taichen began to sob uncontrollably.
"No," he wailed. "But I don’t know what else to do! I feel so alone in this world!"
He had just found his shizun, the one person who willingly took him under his wings. He had hoped to dedicate his life and cultivation to his shizun, but then his shizun just had to be killed by the demons!
"I don’t know," he whined again and again.
"Shizun... I really miss my shizun."
Xie Jianyu removed his hand from Huang Taichen’s wrist. Huang Taichen took a deep breath, but a moment later, Xie Jianyu’s hand patted his shoulder in the exact same way his own master had done countless times before.
Huang Taichen’s heart shook violently.
It couldn’t be, he told himself.
It didn’t make sense at all...
And then came Xie Jianyu’s voice, in the same soothing tone he used to placate Huang Taichen many times in the past, "No worries, Huang Taichen. You will do just fine."
