Chapter Forty-Three: Return to the Sect of Darkness

Huo Tianqing turned his head to look outside the cave and sighed in distress. “Oh dear... the rain is pouring so heavily, and you think we can just leave because you say so?”

“Master, can’t you do anything about the rain?” Xie Yingying looked at him in shock. “What if Bai Shengyun catches up to us?”

She remembered that in the cultivation world, practitioners often had to travel on business, inevitably encountering inclement weather. Yet, in urgent situations, they would have to escape regardless, so there must be ways to shelter from the rain.

Huo Tianqing pointed at the sky, shrouded with dark clouds. As if on cue, thunder broke through the clouds.

“Look at that thunder. Isn’t it terrifying?” Instead of answering her question, he smiled and asked teasingly.

Xie Yingying looked him up and down, confirming that this was indeed the tall, powerful Huo Tianqing she knew. With a complex expression, she asked, “Master, are you afraid of thunder?”

The smile on Huo Tianqing’s face remained unchanged.

“This is heavenly retribution,” he said, his words falling alongside the rumbling thunder.

“Heavenly retribution?!” Xie Yingying drew in a sharp breath.

No wonder Huo Tianqing was unwilling to leave at this moment.

Heavenly retribution targeted those with particularly heavy sins. For an evil cultivator like Huo Tianqing, who had countless lives on his hands, he was precisely the type watched closely by the laws of heaven. If the heavens truly descended punishment for someone, and then saw another villain unafraid of death running about, they would not hesitate to strike him with a bolt as well.

At this thought, Xie Yingying noticed that the beastly roars from earlier had disappeared, and even the chirping of insects was gone.

All was utterly silent, as if every living thing had been cowed into submission by the might of heavenly retribution.

Huo Tianqing raised his hand and pointed at Xie Yingying, teasing, “Only you could sleep so soundly under a sky full of heavenly punishment.”

No sooner had he spoken than the thunder drew nearer and nearer to their hiding place.

Seeing his face change dramatically, Xie Yingying turned to look outside the cave, her gaze seeming to pierce through the mountain forest to the distant horizon.

A playful look appeared on Huo Tianqing’s face. Without warning, he scooped Xie Yingying up and stepped into the air, flying swiftly atop clouds towards the boundaries of the Demonic Sect, lightning crackling overhead.

Xie Yingying was baffled, but then that familiar pain struck her once more.

She turned her head with difficulty, just in time to see Bai Shengyun, immaculate in white, flying straight at them on his sword.

She swallowed hard and hurriedly shouted to Huo Tianqing, “Master, you can do it!”

Huo Tianqing sighed, glancing up at the roiling lightning, then turning to look at Bai Shengyun, who was racing toward them accompanied by thunder and lightning. The usually suave and composed man finally showed a rare trace of helplessness.

“Disciple,” he began, but before he could finish, a bolt of thunder he had long sensed suddenly struck down, forcing him to dodge aside. “The heavens are already watching me and Bai Shengyun. How do you suppose I could go any faster?”

Xie Yingying’s voice was hoarse as she slowly looked up at the thunder that carried the wrath of the heavens.

When two such bloodstained figures collided, the heavens were indeed enraged. The power of this retribution was so overwhelming that Xie Yingying’s bones began to tremble and creak as if about to shatter at any moment.

However, Huo Tianqing was a famed figure in the Demonic Sect, his cultivation not to be underestimated. In no time at all, he had traversed over ten miles and was only a short distance from stepping into the sect’s territory, leaving the reach of heavenly retribution.

Bai Shengyun was no slower; seeing they were about to cross into the sect’s domain, he sped up even more, utterly unfazed by the purple-gold lightning overhead.

At last, Huo Tianqing left the range of the heavenly punishment, stepping into the Demonic Sect’s territory without looking back, waving a careless farewell to Bai Shengyun.

Bai Shengyun was stopped by the great formation that guarded the sect’s borders, forcing him to halt abruptly.

Once Huo Tianqing was inside, the great formation—laid down centuries before by many powerful cultivators—completely shielded his presence, leaving Bai Shengyun unable to trace him at all.

Bai Shengyun narrowed his eyes dangerously, coldly watching the distant figure recede.

Now that they had entered the territory of the Demonic Sect, the main sect itself could not be far away. Soon, the two returned to their sect.

No sooner had Xie Yingying stepped inside than she was surrounded by a crowd of handsome young men and beautiful women.

They were alluring, but unlike the fox clan’s ethereal seductiveness, theirs was more earthy, full of the smoky fire of the mortal world, lacking that cold and distant aloofness.

One among them bared a snowy waist, adorned with countless red markings that made her look all the more mysterious. With each step, the bells at her waist rang crisply.

This made Xie Yingying’s expression turn complicated—she recalled the purple-gold bell Bai Shengyun had given her.

“Senior sister, you’re back!” the girl said brightly. “I missed you so much!”

Xie Yingying quickly dredged up her identity from memory—Silver Bell, her junior sister, naive and pure at heart.

Silver Bell rushed forward, embracing Xie Yingying and nuzzling her shoulder with a mischievous grin. “Senior sister, how did you manage to attract someone like Bai Shengyun? Teach me your ways!”

The other brothers and sisters, hearing this, also clamored:

“Yes, yes, senior sister, teach us your secret!”

“Even someone as difficult as Bai Shengyun fell for you, junior sister—I’m impressed! Tell me your trick, so I can tempt a few like him myself!”

“Junior sister, tell your senior sister too! How did you marry him? What’s it like being his wife?”

...

Listening to the barrage of questions, Xie Yingying felt her head spin. She hurriedly called for them to stop and replied with a wry smile, “I really don’t know why Bai Shengyun is interested in me.”

Silver Bell clicked her tongue, pretending to pout. “Senior sister, you’re such a liar.”

She was about to answer when suddenly more people crowded around, pushing aside her fellow disciples and surrounding her completely.

Xie Yingying swallowed, startled and bewildered.

Among them was a young man with delicate features. Though not strikingly handsome, his voice was particularly pleasant. “Where have you been all this time? Did you really marry Bai Shengyun?”

At his words, Xie Yingying snapped back to herself. Looking closely, her temples throbbed painfully.

She raised her hand to her forehead with a sigh, gently massaging her brow.

These people... were all her harem lovers!

“I... um...” Xie Yingying stammered for a long while before blurting out, “I have a headache. I need to go and rest!”

The young man’s face fell, his worry evident as he asked, “Yingying, are you all right? Do you need me to look after you?”

Her temples throbbed even harder. She shook her head quickly. “No, no, absolutely not!”

Eager to escape the relentless adoration of her fellow disciples and lovers, she feigned a terrible headache, clutching her brow and moaning, “Ah... I was injured on the way back. My head hurts so much, it’s killing me... Enough, I’m going to rest.”

As she spoke, she quickly slipped from the crowd, hoping to put as much distance between herself and them as possible.