Chapter 480 – My Master Is Not Human – Don’t Die! (26)
After Bai Tang left, the disciples of Dianxing Sect finally felt the overwhelming pressure disappear and struggled to their feet one by one.
The Sect Master had lost Pei Boyi, the promising disciple from Le’an Immortal Sect, and had also lost his junior martial brother. Although he knew this group was innocent, he still couldn’t help directing his hatred toward them.
Yes, he was taking his anger out on them. So what? If they hadn’t been so aggressive and relentless, Xiao Tang could have returned and lived peacefully at Medicine Peak. Could it be that he and his fellow brothers wouldn’t have been able to look after Xiao Tang? So what if he was a demonic cultivator? His Xiao Tang was kind-hearted and had saved countless people. Why hadn’t anyone mentioned that the Soul-Returning Jade Pill had been made by a demonic cultivator when they accepted it a few months ago? Every single one of them had swallowed it faster than anyone else and had been more than happy to take it.
“Mai Wen, lock all of them up,” the Sect Master ordered. Today’s events absolutely could not leak out, otherwise Bai Tang truly would never return.
“Yes.” Fu Maiwen was already furious. He shared the Sect Master’s opinion completely. Their soft, obedient, and incredibly well-behaved junior brother had been driven away by these people.
Wen Leng raised his chin slightly, signaling Yin Chun to handle the matter.
Accepting the order, Yin Chun struck Ling Zhiye with the sheath of his sword until he was barely conscious. There was no way he would be allowed to escape back to his sect and report what had happened.
Le Xiyin was even angrier. Their junior brother had finally returned, and he was supposed to become a key figure in resisting the demonic forces’ attacks on the righteous path in the future. How could he so easily fall into demonic cultivation? Maybe he had been framed by these people.
The Great Elder, who had fallen from midair, had no one to catch him. He hit the ground with a loud thud. Though Bai Tang had destroyed his dantian, a small amount of cultivation remained, which he used to cushion his fall. He did not die, but he was seriously injured.
Even a powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake. The Dianxing Sect disciples fought back with everything they had, but how could they possibly defeat the Sect Master of Siyuan and the others? After they had all been imprisoned in a dungeon that had not been used for hundreds of years, the Sect Master finally turned his thoughts toward creating favorable conditions for Bai Tang—preferably something that could persuade Bai Tang to return on his own.
“Sect Master, just say the word. Sword Peak will give its full support,” Wen Leng said, as taciturn as ever, but her stance was clear. She stood on Le’an Immortal Sect’s side.
The female protagonist of this world was extremely protective of her own people. No matter how many mistakes Bai Tang had made, that was still a family matter. Le’an Immortal Sect could deal with it themselves, but outsiders had no right to scheme against him.
After much discussion, the Sect Master publicly announced that the Dianxing Sect had come to Le’an Immortal Sect as guests but had secretly stolen Le’an Immortal Sect’s cultivation techniques. After being discovered, they had even tried to turn the accusations around. As a result, all of their disciples had been detained.
He also sent a message to Dianxing Sect: this matter was far from over. If any rumors or slander about Le’an Immortal Sect spread outside, it would undoubtedly be the work of the escaped Dianxing Sect disciples.
Le’an Immortal Sect was a major sect. This move of spreading lies and striking first had nearly infuriated Daoist Jiayi, who had remained behind at Dianxing Sect, to death.
They had harmed his daughter, imprisoned his elders and disciples, and now they were slandering them on top of it all. They had gone far too far. Even worse, Le’an Immortal Sect had an excellent reputation among the righteous sects. Since they had spoken first, almost no one in the cultivation world doubted them. Some smaller sects that wished to curry favor with Le’an Immortal Sect had even openly sided against Dianxing Sect.
No, he couldn’t just sit around and wait for disaster. He had to think of a way to expose Le’an Immortal Sect’s scheme, avenge Zhenzhen, and restore Dianxing Sect to the ranks of the top-tier sects.
Meanwhile, Bai Tang fled into the remote wilderness with Pei Boyi.
He found a cave and scattered beast-repelling powder and concealment powder around the area before carefully laying Pei Boyi down.
Having taken two full-force strikes from the Great Elder, Pei Boyi had already fallen unconscious. His face was deathly pale, his body temperature frighteningly cold, and his pulse beat only once after a long interval. He looked almost indistinguishable from a dead man.
“Don’t die… please hold on. You absolutely can’t die.”
Fresh tears streamed down Bai Tang’s face, running over the dried tracks left by earlier tears. He dumped all the pills from his small pouch and fed Pei Boyi every medicine he could think of that might help his injuries.
Pei Boyi consumed quite a few pills, but there was still no improvement.
Bai Tang lit a fire and sat in front of it, holding Pei Boyi’s cold body in his arms.
“It’s not cold, not cold at all. Once we’re by the fire, it won’t be cold anymore. I’m holding you too, so it won’t be cold. You won’t be cold at all…”
Bai Tang murmured softly, unsure whether he was comforting himself or comforting Pei Boyi, who could not hear him.
“You’re my servant. You said you’d be loyal to me. You still haven’t made lots and lots of fried pine nuts for me. If you break your promise… then I’ll marry someone else.”
In his daze, Bai Tang seemed to see a young man saying something similar to another man:
“If you’re not good to me, then I’ll marry someone else. I’ll find somebody else.”
That was him… that was him and A-Yi…
Tears blurred Bai Tang’s vision. He leaned against Pei Boyi’s shoulder, just like the two people in those fragmented scenes that occasionally surfaced in his mind.
“When are you going to wake up? I’m tired. It’s my turn to rest now.”
“It’s so cold here. I want you to hold me while I sleep.”
“I’m all alone… I’m so scared.”
“If the people from Dianxing Sect come after us again, I won’t be able to escape while carrying you… so wake up, okay?”
“Listen… there’s wind outside. Do you think they’ve found us?”
“I miss you, A-Yi…”
Bai Tang said nothing more.
Only the occasional crackling of the fire echoed through the cave. He let Pei Boyi lean against him, and whenever Pei Boyi’s body temperature dropped too low, he transferred some of his cultivation energy to him so his body could continue circulating it and absorb the medicinal effects of the pills.
Don’t sleep… don’t sleep…
Day and night continued to alternate outside, but Bai Tang seemed unaware of exhaustion. His eyes held only Pei Boyi.
He didn’t know how much time had passed. Eventually, all the pills meant to strengthen the body’s foundation and restore vitality had been used up. Bai Tang’s spiritual energy was also nearly exhausted, and his eyelids grew heavy.
Before losing consciousness, he gently touched Pei Boyi’s face, which was no longer deathly pale, and whispered in a voice so soft only he could hear:
“You’ve slept for so long… now it’s my turn to sleep. It’s time for you to wake up…”
The last piece of firewood burned down completely, and with no one tending it, the fire died out.
Cold wind poured in through the cave entrance, lifting the corners of their robes and bringing the season’s first snowfall onto their bodies.
Pei Boyi woke from the cold.
Something was pressing against his left arm, and remaining in the same position for so long had made his entire body stiff.
He circulated spiritual energy through his body to drive away the cold. Once he could move again, Bai Tang’s body tilted and fell across his lap.
“Tang Tang!”
Pei Boyi checked Bai Tang’s pulse and discovered that his spiritual energy had been completely exhausted. If he had woken up even a little later, they probably would have both frozen to death here.
Pei Boyi retrieved some flammable materials from his storage space and relit the fire. He removed Bai Tang’s outer clothes, held him tightly in his arms to warm him, and transferred spiritual energy to him.
Bai Tang’s condition was much better than Pei Boyi’s had been. He simply needed enough time to recover his vitality.
Three days later, Bai Tang woke up.
The moment he opened his eyes, he threw himself into Pei Boyi’s arms and burst into tears.
“I thought… I thought you didn’t want me anymore…”
“How could that happen? Even if I died, my soul would still stay with Tang Tang.”
“N-No… don’t say things like that…” Bai Tang covered Pei Boyi’s mouth.
Right now, he couldn’t bear hearing the word death. Death, injuries—everything related to them could go to hell.
“Okay, I won’t talk about dying. We’ll both live well. I still want to become cultivation partners with Tang Tang.”
Pei Boyi spoke gently, his eyes filled with affection as he looked at Bai Tang. As long as Tang Tang was happy, everything else was fine.
When it came to spoiling his wife, Pei Boyi had become more and more shamelessly indulgent. Bai Tang’s happiness always came first.
A thought suddenly flashed through Bai Tang’s mind. Struggling to sit up straight, he looked directly at Pei Boyi with complete seriousness.
“Let’s become a pair.”
Who cared whether someone was a demonic cultivator or not? Bai Tang only knew one thing—he didn’t want to lose Pei Boyi.
With the bond of becoming cultivation partners, their lives would become linked. If something happened to Pei Boyi, Bai Tang could even give half of his own lifespan to him.
Pei Boyi looked into Bai Tang’s clear, almond-shaped eyes, a smile spreading across his lips.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Forming a partnership had always been something between two people. Only in the current cultivation world, if both parties were influential figures, would they hold grand ceremonies and publicly announce it, symbolizing an alliance between the forces behind them.
Bai Tang didn’t care about such things, and Pei Boyi only cared about having Bai Tang by his side.
With heaven and earth as witnesses and their souls as oath-bound testimony, they swore:
Lifetime after lifetime, they would never part. Whether in the Yellow Springs or the highest heavens, they would remain together, accompanying one another forever.
Bai Tang and Pei Boyi used the oldest partnership formation to seal their vows.
This was a formation that ordinary cultivation partners would never activate. Becoming cultivation partners was generally for the sake of better cultivation, and if one partner died, the other usually would not choose to follow them into death—unless they loved them deeply enough.
There was another benefit to becoming cultivation partners: they could practice dual cultivation techniques.
This was not a harvesting art that drained one person for another’s gain, but a cultivation method where two people whose hearts and minds were connected cultivated together and improved while sharing both physical and emotional pleasure.
Pei Boyi prepared an exquisitely decorated wedding chamber.
Holding Bai Tang, who was also dressed in wedding robes, he carried him to the bedside step by step and gently laid him down.
“Tang Tang, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The red curtains fell, and articles of clothing were discarded one by one by their owners, floating in the air for a few seconds before drifting slowly to the floor.
Sounds that seemed like pleasure and cries alike drifted out from behind the curtains, but they could not pass through the barrier Pei Boyi had set up.
Little did they know that outside, the people searching for them had already gone mad.
Back at Le’an Immortal Sect—
The Sect Master Siyuan’s carefully concealed secret had still leaked out.
They had only thought of controlling people like the Great Elder who knew Bai Tang’s identity, but they had overlooked the fact that some demonic cultivators also knew who Bai Tang was.
When Daoist Heyi of Le’an Immortal Sect willingly abandoned the righteous path and fell into demonic cultivation, Daoist Jiayi seized the opportunity and produced evidence that confirmed the rumors.
The disciples of the righteous path were immediately filled with anger at being deceived.
They had trusted Le’an Immortal Sect so deeply, trusted Sect Master Siyuan so completely—and this was how Le’an Immortal Sect repaid that trust? By covering for a demonic cultivator?
A demonic cultivator was still a demonic cultivator. A cultivator who had fallen into demonic cultivation was proof of an unstable character and an extreme mindset—someone destined to bring harm to the world.
If demonic cultivators were not eliminated, chaos would engulf the world.
Some people also took advantage of the situation to stir up trouble.
Every day, people came to Le’an Immortal Sect demanding explanations. Daoist Jiayi led people into the sect’s dungeon and rescued the Great Elder and Ling Zhiye, who looked barely human after their ordeal, along with the Dianxing Sect disciples, who appeared exhausted but were otherwise in relatively good condition.
For the moment, Daoist Jiayi had become the victor. Public opinion and the favorable tide of sentiment had shifted toward Dianxing Sect.
With evidence in hand, Le’an Immortal Sect stood accused of harming fellow cultivators.
Dianxing Sect officially declared war on Le’an Immortal Sect.
They would demand justice, and they would fight Le’an Immortal Sect to the bitter end.