Heavenly Soul 53 Welcoming Committee

It had been decided early on that Chen Xiande would be staying there with Hei NingYu since it would be more convenient to easily enter the Spirit Bewildering Forest, and much more easier than constantly using transportation arrays to transfer back and forth between the Heavenly Peak Sect and the forest every day.

The forest where Chen Xiande met Hei NingYu for the first time was situated at the border of the demonic faction's territory, and as it extended and curved along the border, it eventually melded into the Spirit Bewildering Forest. Thus, it could be said that the Spirit Bewildering Forest was situated relatively close to the demonic faction.

Though technically the closest place to the Spirit Bewildering Forest was the Lightning Sky Sect, Chen Xiande personally preferred to stay at a place where he didn't have to fear being suddenly struck down by errant lightning without warning. Also, he was extremely curious to see just what kind of place Hei NingYu lived in.

And so, the both of them traveled for several days, heading towards the place Hei NingYu called home―the Nine Gems Sanctuary.

Nine Gems Sanctuary was the name of the abode of the demonic faction's sect leader and the place that housed the entire faction's core members, so even Chen Xiande had heard of it. Just by the fact that Hei NingYu lived there, Chen Xiande could already deduce how important his position must be in the demonic faction.

With various such thoughts swimming in his mind, Chen Xiande absentmindedly walked beside Hei NingYu.

The ignored Hei NingYu tried to gain his lover's attention by starting a conversation. "Little Sheep, tell me something. What exactly do you see in that master of yours? Why do you respect him so much?"

This should be enough to divert his attention and pique his interest, right? Hei NingYu hoped.

And sure enough, hearing mention of his master, Chen Xiande immediately snapped to awareness. Frowning, he carefully sorted through memories long past before slowly replying, "It started a long time ago, when I was still a child."

Hei NingYu happily asked, "And? What happened?"

After hesitating a bit, Chen Xiande finally began speaking again, "Even before I was born, my father―who was the previous sect master of the Heavenly Peak Sect―wanted me to someday attain the same position as him. I don't know what means he used, but he made the current sect master promise him that he'd take me in as his head disciple so that I'd have a chance at succeeding to the sect master's position. And to make sure that I got along well with my future master, my father told me of his various exploits. I grew up hearing of the legendary beasts Master vanquished and the spectacular feats he accomplished."

As he spoke, Chen Xiande's eyes grew distant and he smiled with remembered excitement.

"Master has saved so many people and is one of the most powerful cultivators of current times. He is admired and revered by many. He is kind and generous and so valiant! There was this one time when he personally led a few of us disciples to battle this demonic beast that was terrorizing a town and he was so magnificent as he fought it and…"

Chen Xiande thus went on and on as he extolled upon the various virtues of his great master, his attention once again diverted to something other than his lover.

At the side, Hei NingYu sighed, then smiled ruefully.

After Chen Xiande finally wound down, he saw Hei NingYu's expression of affectionate exasperation and couldn't help but ask embarra.s.sedly, "What?"

Shaking his head in amus.e.m.e.nt, Hei NingYu quickly replied, "Nothing."

Then seriously looking ahead, he commented, "We're already past the border. It will only be a few more hours till we reach the Sanctuary, so let me go ahead for a bit and explain the situation so that no one bothers us later."

Chen Xiande didn't understand the necessity of doing so, but rationalized that his beloved would obviously know better than him about what needed to be done.

So, reluctantly, Chen Xiande nodded. "Okay then, I'll stay here by the path, under this big tree. Come fetch me when you're done."

Hei NingYu nodded and bent to place a peck on his little sheep's forehead before he walked away, vowing to return as soon as possible.

Watching his lover's back getting farther and farther away, Chen Xiande had to stop himself from chasing after him.

Chen Xiande morosely settled himself under the tree to wait as he kept trying to rea.s.sure himself.

He'd come back. Of course he'd come back. There was no way Hei NingYu would leave him here alone for long. There was no way he'd abandon him…

But buried as it had been in loneliness for centuries, Chen Xiande's heart remained anxious. Reason and rationality meant nothing when the notion that he was unwanted, that he would always be an unneeded existence, was embedded so deeply into his psyche.

He had been excluded from other people's lives for so long. In the face of his past experiences, all his hopes were like so much smoke, dissipating into nothingness.

Clenching his hands into fists, Chen Xiande tried to persevere.

No, his lover was different. He would come back. He said he would!

A faint rustle sounded and Chen Xiande immediately snapped his head up, eagerness and expectations rippling in his heart.

But the person who stood in front of him was not Hei NingYu.

"Oh, dear, it seems we have a surprise visitor," said a young woman clothed in black and purple, her hair a waterfall of pure, snowy white. "And who might you be?" she asked Chen Xiande as she curiously sized him up, her black eyes glittering like gems.

Another man emerged from the side, joining the young woman. He was extraordinarily buff, his clothes straining to contain his bulging muscles. In a stern, displeased tone, he queried, "Is it an intruder?"

"Woah, he's a righteous cultivator!" exclaimed yet another person—a young man who seemed to have leapt down from somewhere above. His eyes sparkled with interest as if he'd found a rare treasure.

Chen Xiande gulped. Who were these people?

"Sister Bai, can I take him apart?" the young man excitedly asked.

The woman wordlessly reached out with a hand and smacked the young man over the head without a change in her expression. "You idiot, did you forget? We can't go around killing people," she spat with irritation.

The young man pouted and rubbed the back of his head. "But I didn't say I'd kill him," he cried, looking wronged. Then he grinned eerily, "I only said I wanted to take him apart."

With a pale face, Chen Xiande shrunk back against the tree behind him, trying to minimize his sense of existence.

Not caring about him, the woman turned and frowned at the young man. "No," she said simply.

The young man's spirits visibly drooped.

Then he turned and blinked his eyes pitifully at the other man. "Brother Tian, can't I? Please?"

The stern expression on the muscular Brother Tian's face twitched as if it would crack and fall off. "Xiao Fu…you know we can't. The sect leader's rules state that―"

Not giving him time to finish, the excitable Xiao Fu whined, "But Brother Tian~ I'll take him apart and put him back together in no time, the sect leader won't even know! Plus, it's not like he's here these days anyway!"

Brother Tian looked like he was on the verge of being convinced.

The woman called Sister Bai scowled. "Stop it, you both! And Brother Tian, do you think we can afford to keep secrets from the sect leader? Do you not remember what happened to Elder Suishan and the others? Do you need me to remind you what the cost of going against the sect leader is?!"

Brother Tian seemed to have remembered something terrifying as he gave a fearful s.h.i.+ver. "Sister Bai is right. We should just throw this righteous cultivator out and not get involved any more than that."

Not satisfied, Xiao Fu pouted and puffed his cheeks, looking like a squirrel with a mouth stuffed full of nuts. "But I don't wanna let him go~ I don't wanna~ Don't wanna~"

Sister Bai let out a breath in annoyance at the brat's whiny, singsong voice, but Brother Tian looked conflicted.

Then, as if putting in the final nail on Chen Xiande's coffin, the bratty Xiao Fu looked at Brother Tian and blinked his eyes softly, two streams of clear tears slowly rolling down his rosy cheeks as he asked in a pitiful voice, "Brother Tian… Please, can't I?"

It seemed that Brother Tian had at last reached his breaking point, for he sighed and finally gave in. "Okay, but let's make it quick. Don't forget to put him back together properly."

Raising her hands as if giving up, Sister Bai spat out, "You both can just do what you want, but I will not risk angering the sect leader."

And then she turned around and left in a huff, her figure swiftly fading away.

As the two remaining men looked at Chen Xiande with predatory gazes, Chen Xiande wailed in his heart: Sister Bai, please come back and take me along with you! Your two martial brothers are too scary!

But his heart's cries remained unanswered.

Striding towards him with slow and deliberate steps, Xiao Fu let out a short, spine-chilling laugh as he said, "h.e.l.lo there! Let me show you the wonderful hospitality of the demonic faction's welcoming committee. I hope you enjoy our extra special treatment~"

Chen Xiande's heart almost leapt up into his throat. The very thought of facing pain at these demonic cultivator's hands spurred him to act quickly.

Without waiting for the duo to make their move, Chen Xiande pressed his palms against the ground and sent out a pulse of energy, commanding his element to gather around him.

And the earth swiftly responded.

Thick walls of soil rose up out of the ground and enveloped Chen Xiande, rapidly forming into a st.u.r.dy dome of hardened earth.

A vague shout of surprise mixed with frustration came from the other side of the earthen walls, m.u.f.fled by the thick layers of soil. Uncaring of the situation outside, Chen Xiande sent another command to the earth, opening up a tunnel into the ground.

After these last few months of intense training, he was at the pinnacle of fourth realm and on the verge of breaking through to fifth realm. His control over his element and his skill level had also greatly improved. And unlike the last time when he was so easily captured by Hei NingYu, this time, Chen Xiande was far calmer, his actions more decisive. He remembered his junior brother's teachings―never panic, always leave yourself a way out, and never be predictable.

Jumping into the mouth of the long tunnel that had opened by his feet, Chen Xiande slid down. Dirt and loose mud rubbed over his knees and elbows as he made his power push apart the earth in front of him while trying to avoid any roots or animal burrows as it dug in. As an earth-wielder, Chen Xiande was thankfully resistant to claustrophobia and thus didn't mind squeezing through the narrow underground tunnel at all.

And as he went deeper into the ground, Chen Xiande rapidly closed the tunnel's mouth and the rest of the pa.s.sage behind him. The earth dome might not last long enough, so he took precautions by hiding his escape route just in case.

The farther in he went, the more of the tunnel he closed, until he reached the other side and completely blocked it off, leaving no sign of the tunnel or its mouth on the flat ground.

He had made the tunnel's exit to be quite a way off from the dome, so breathing a sigh of relief, Chen Xiande took a few minutes to relax. His pursuers must have lost his trail by now. Unless he did something to give away his location, he should be safe.

Thinking this, Chen Xiande cheerfully took a step forward, only to walk into a strand of spiritual awareness someone had left behind.

Chen Xiande froze for a moment in incredulity. His luck really couldn't be this bad, could it?

But facts proved that it indeed was.

Fearing that he might have alerted his pursuers of his location, Chen Xiande swiftly leapt up, wanting to leave by stepping on the branches of nearby trees to hide his trail and avoid any further mishaps. But before he could get far, a formation lit up underneath him, triggered by the strand of energy he had just pulled.

Chen Xiande tried to speed up, but thick green vines shot up out of the ground and wound around him. His escape thwarted, Chen Xiande struggled furiously, but the vines only tightened around him.

Feeling his breath slowly being squeezed out of his chest, Chen Xiande gasped. He felt his bones aching and grew desperate.

No! He didn't want to hurt! He didn't want to feel pain!

Despite his training these past months, Chen Xiande had still not let go of his fear of pain. But with his richer variety of experiences, he was now better equipped to deal with it.

On top of that, Chen Xiande could sense that though these green vines had spiritual energy running through them, they were not alive, they were merely plant-based constructs, so he had no qualms about hurting them.

Therefore, Chen Xiande unhesitatingly summoned sharpened rocks to fly out of the ground and attack the thick vines that had almost completely wrapped him up by now. The rocks sliced and cut at the green vines, slowly injuring them and breaking them apart until they eventually snapped.

Feeling his bindings loosening before finally giving away, Chen Xiande took this chance to immediately leap down, aiming his landing outside the formation.

Panting for breath, Chen Xiande rested for a moment on the ground. Then getting up, he hurriedly ran.

Since this location was already made known to his pursuers due to the triggered formation, they might show up here at any second now.

Just as soon as he thought that, he felt a whoosh pa.s.s by his cheek. Chen Xiande halted instinctively. Embedded in the tree trunk in front of him was a large axe, its body still faintly quivering from the force of the throw.

From behind him, he heard the eerie singsong voice of that young man called Xiao Fu. "Now, now, don't run away~ Stay here and let's play, play, play~"

Nervous sweat beaded on Chen Xiande's brow as he slowly turned around.

The two men, Brother Tian and Xiao Fu, were standing just a few meters behind him. It seemed that he had not escaped in time after all.

Afraid that Chen Xiande would somehow slip from their grasp again, Brother Tian quickly jumped towards him, his leap too fast to be seen by the naked eye.

By instinct, Chen Xiande jumped to the side, but he still failed to evade the two muscled arms that clamped onto his shoulders with force.

Before he knew what happened, Chen Xiande was pinned to the ground by Brother Tian, his strong hands restraining Chen Xiande's slender arms and his powerful knees pressing down his legs.

Rendered immobile, Chen Xiande could only watch with wide eyes as Xiao Fu slowly walked towards him, a broad, creepy grin stretched across his face.

Xiao Fu waved his hands and more green vines wriggled out of the ground, forming into bands around Chen Xiande's wrists and ankles. His work done, Brother Tian got up and moved to the side to supervise, retrieving his axe from the tree on the way.

Chen Xiande tried to command the earth once more, urging it to tear apart the vines binding him. The earth answered his call and he felt the soil under him lightly beginning to s.h.i.+ft―

A sudden, sharp pain shot through Chen Xiande's stomach and shattered his concentration.

"AHHH!" Chen Xiande couldn't help letting out a scream of agony at the burst of biting pain eating at his nerve endings.

As he strained to jerkily look down, he saw that Xiao Fu was stepping on him, the heel of his shoe digging into the lightly muscled abdomen as he ruthlessly crushed the organs within.

"Are you done yet?" Xiao Fu asked with a giggle.

Chen Xiande couldn't focus through the pain to get anything out.

Giving a satisfied huff, the young man maintained this position as he took out a roll of leather from his spatial storage. As he opened it, neat rows of glinting tools could be seen, each one carefully tied to the stretch of leather. Choosing a gleaming scalpel from among them, Xiao Fu lightly held it up as if admiring it.

In a casual tone, he asked, "Tell me, Mister Righteous Cultivator, how do you feel knowing that this little piece of metal will soon be going deep inside you? Do you think it will be cold? How do you think it will feel when its tip oh-so-lightly scratches the walls of your organs? Hey, tell me, won't you?"

Xiao Fu looked at Chen Xiande expectantly, his eyes bright and s.h.i.+ning, his wide smile brilliant enough to be blinding.

Hearing Xiao Fu's words, Chen Xiande felt his breaths speeding up in panic. He was beginning to hyperventilate due to the impending horror that he knew would befall him. His vision was slowly darkening at the edges.

This was more than he could handle, he was about to faint.

But Chen Xiande felt that it was a good thing, because he didn't want to be awake for whatever was going to happen next.

He didn't want to remember the feeling of someone cutting into his body and poking at his innards. He didn't want to drag around the physical or psychological shadow such an experience would cast over him.

And so, he chose to sink into the peaceful darkness that was slowly enveloping him as his awareness began to blur and fade.

Chen Xiande closed his eyes, preparing to welcome the loss of consciousness.

He felt the foot on his stomach s.h.i.+fting as the young man bent down. He could almost feel the cold emitted by that glinting blade as it neared his skin…

And then the world screeched to a halt.

The entirety of their surroundings seemed to fall into a frightened hush. A heavy presence pressed down, like the boundless, unbearable weight of the ocean. The air itself seemed to thicken and crackle with barely suppressed fury and violent intent.

Feeling that something had changed, Chen Xiande blearily opened his eyes and struggled to focus his sight even as his chest heaved up and down in rapid, panicked motions.

The foot pressing him down suddenly retreated, but the pain in his stomach did not abate. As silent tears brimmed in his eyes, drawn out due to the pain and fear, Chen Xiande turned his head to see a familiar figure striding towards him.

Hands with strong, slender fingers reached down and lifted him up, the vines wrapped around his wrists and ankles pa.s.sively falling away. The familiar scent of rain-dampened earth enveloped him as Chen Xiande felt himself being cradled against a warm chest. Silky strands of hair fell from above and slid over his cheek, tickling him lightly, softly.

"Xiande?"

Hearing that familiar voice calling his name, Chen Xiande let his tears spill out of his eyes as he buried his face in that black-clothed chest.

"You came," he spoke hoa.r.s.ely, a faint hint of complaint detectable in his voice.

The strange pressure in the air finally lifted, disappearing.

Now that he was back in Hei NingYu's arms, the fear retreated like waves of the ocean pulling back. Chen Xiande forced himself to retain his consciousness and push back the beguiling darkness. He didn't need to hide from the pain anymore. His beloved wouldn't let him be hurt.

"Little Sheep, are you alright?" Hei NingYu asked in a gentle tone, as if he were afraid of breaking him by speaking any louder.

"It hurts," Chen Xiande grumbled, closing his eyes.

A smooth, round pill was pushed against his lips and Chen Xiande trustingly opened his mouth and took it in. As he swallowed the pill, he could feel an intense warmth spreading through his body. Slowly, all his aches and pains faded away, including the throbbing brought on by his bruised abdomen.

Letting out a breath of relief at finally being freed from the pain, Chen Xiande snuggled in closer. He needed this, needed to feel the warm care and concern of his beloved, he needed to feel cherished.

And as if sensing his thoughts, Hei NingYu placed his warm lips over his forehead and brushed little kisses against his cheeks soothingly, affectionately.

Chen Xiande murmured in contentment.

Then his eyes snapped open as he suddenly remembered—this was not the time to be cuddling! There were still threats nearby!

With anxious eyes, Chen Xiande looked around, his gaze finally settling on the two figures of Xiao Fu and Brother Tian…

…who were kneeling submissively, prostrating meekly with their foreheads pressing against the ground.

What happened to them?

As if sensing Chen Xiande's gaze, Xiao Fu snuck a peek towards him, then loudly proclaimed, "Please, forgive us! We didn't know you were Sect Leader Hei's lover!"

With a cold snort of disdain, Hei NingYu spoke, "Are you saying that if he were not my lover, you wouldn't feel remorse for your actions?"

Xiao Fu's face paled, his creepy grin nowhere to be found. "O-Of course not! Th-That's not what I meant at all! Please, may Sect Leader have mercy, we know our wrongs!"

Hearing Xiao Fu address Hei NingYu like that, Chen Xiande's mind was spinning chaotically.

Did he hear that right? Did that young man really just call his lover the Sect Leader?!

Chen Xiande's mind went blank for a moment.

Then reaching out, Chen Xiande pulled at Hei NingYu's sleeve, motioning for him to bend down.

Realizing that his little sheep had heard their words just now, Hei NingYu was greatly antic.i.p.ating his reaction to this revelation, and so he eagerly bent down to see what Chen Xiande wanted to tell him.

Knowing that he was the sect leader of the entire demonic faction, how would his little sheep react?

Not sensing the expectation in his lover's gaze, Chen Xiande asked in a whisper, "Why are they calling you their Sect Leader? Is the Sect Leader your twin or something?"

"…"

Hei NingYu was flabbergasted.

In his aggrieved heart, he thought: Am I not majestic enough? Was my arrival not imposing enough? Why do you not even consider the possibility that they're referring to me?!

Not knowing his beloved's thoughts, Chen Xiande continued, "Well, whatever. It's good that they're mistaking you for their sect leader. If you play it up, we can easily get out of this situation."

Chen Xiande sent his speechless lover an encouraging look.

Hei NingYu suddenly felt that this game of hiding his ident.i.ty was not fun at all!