Xue Ranmei landed on a tree along with Su Xiaonan. He sat down on a thick branch, panting hopelessly.
At the same time, under the tree, a rustling noise startled the two. A flash of white light swept the distance and two other people also in cyan robes appeared out of thin air. Xue Ranmei instinctively got up and crouched on the branch.
'Uh-oh.' Xue Ranmei held his breath, not daring to make a move. Su Xiaonan gripped his still-unsheathed sword tightly, preparing to counter-attack.
"This should be about the place that the signal was found, Sect Leader, should w--"
"Quiet." Qing Qingxian closed his eyes as if he was carefully listening to something.
'Oh no, he can really detect breathing like those people in my scripts?!' Xue Ranmei blocked his breathing passage with his right hand. He glared at Su Xiaonan, who did the same.
It seems that it was too late and Qing Qingxian was already suspicious of something up in the tree.
'At least there are leaves to cover us and it's as dark as hell up here, he won't detect us, right...?'
Xue Ranmei carefully slid himself closer and closer towards the center of the tree, when he felt something slippery. He quickly grabbed onto another branch with his hand, but the rustling and shaking was enough to confirm that someone was hiding in the trees. Su Xiaonan quickly tried to pull up Xue Ranmei, but he didn't have enough strength and ended up pulling on his left hand. The branch that he held on was too thin and snapped in half.
Xue Ranmei fell through the tree and onto the grass. He landed right next to Qing Qingxian's feet.
To make matters even more awkward, the sharp branches ripped open Xue Ranmei's robes. A part is front chest was now exposed through the loose collar.
And there wasn't any darkness to cover things up this time, since the special beads on the cultivator's swords was like a natural one hundred-watts lightbulb.
"Heh...uh, hello!" Xue Ranmei greeted awkwardly. 'Maybe he doesn't recognize my appearance?'
Qing Qingxian muttered in shock, "Xue Ranmei? Xuelei Sword Master...?"
Qing Qingxian, 'Isn't he supposed to be a ferocious demon? Is this a joke? He just plopped down from a tree in front of me...like this?!'
Qin Conglin looked away awkwardly. 'Poor you...Sect Leader...you have to see this.' He prayed for Qing Qingxian in his mind.
Xue Ranmei's heart sank too, as he realized that he couldn't just pretend to be someone also searching for Xue Ranmei, but it seems that this original owner was really hated by so many, to the extent that people memorized his appearance just to recognize and kill him at first sight!
Nonetheless, he wasn't going to give up without trying, "Brother...I mean--Childe, I-I think you recognized the wrong person..."
'Did he turn stupid after some days not seeing him? First, he fell in such a pretty way and now, he actually believes that I wouldn't recognize him?! He invaded Qingmeng and almost wiped out my entire sect! Did he really think that one year would wipe out those memories from me?!'
"Good..." Qing Qingxian clenched his teeth. "Since you have sent yourself to my door, then it's time to teach you a lesson!"
A flash of killing intent shot out from Qing Qingxian's eyes. He gathered a large bundle of spiritual energy in his right hand that was enough to disable a person and leave that person in pain for months.
Xue Ranmei realized that he would be done for if that landed on him anyhow.
"Wait!" Xue Ranmei grabbed onto the hem of Qing Qingxian's robes.
'*Sigh*...here comes some shameless begging for forgiveness.' Xue Ranmei hated to do it too, but he kept reminding himself and justifying it by repeating the words, 'Life is the most important, life is the most important...'
"I'm really really really sorry for my past actions," Xue Ranmei stated like he was reading off of an instruction manual.
Su Xiaonan quickly landed on the ground too, his sword finally unsheathed. "Sect Leader Qing! Please have mercy on our Sect Leader! It was me who deluded Sect Leader to do those things, including demonic cultivation! Please punish me if you have too!"
Qin Conglin shot Su Xiaonan a glance. 'Humph! You...little kid deluded him? Who are you trying to deceive? Someone as naïve as you?'
Xue Ranmei nodded, "Please! That little brother is right-I mean no! This has nothing to do with him, don't punish him!"
This was just way too much for everyone.
Xue Ranmei's heart pounded voraciously. He didn't know if this wild card was going to save him or just speed up his death. Su Xiaonan had totally sunk into a self-blaming state. 'It was all my fault. I shouldn't have brought Sect Leader to this forest!'
The two people from Qingmeng Sect...they held onto their loathing towards Xue Ranmei while uncovering from the shock. Xue Ranmei was totally not himself! Before, the words that were thought of along with his name were full of power and cruelty and now, if anyone saw Xue Ranmei like this, they would only think, 'This was a straight up little good-for-nothing hooligan!'
Because of the obvious contrast, Qin Conglin even warned Qing Qingxian earnestly, "Sect Leader, be careful that they might have some trick up their sleeves!"
Qing Qingxian was disgusted almost to the degree of throwing up. What trick?! In front of him was a purely, genuinely, perfectly shameless bastard.
'After not seeing you for quite some time, you resorted to cultivating shamelessness? Where did you get the guts to beg me to forgive you now?'
"Xue Ranmei...are you telling me that you are begging me for mercy...now?" Qing Qingxian said with contempt and disbelief.
Xue Ranmei adjusted himself to a 'more convincing' tone and kept on with his apology, "Childe...uh, thinking back about what I did...I am truly very, very sorry. But I promise! From now on, I will wash my heart and change my mind[1]! I will start anew and never do bad things again! I can...uh...do community service-pei! I mean, I can be your personal servant...and uh...you can order me to do anything that you want! Please please please, give me a chance!"
Qing Qingxian, "..."
Qin Conglin, "..."
Even Su Xiaonan, "..."
It was clear that there was only one thing in their minds, 'What. The. F*beep*. Hell.'
Three seconds passed and somehow, Qin Conglin was the first one to manage to speak up. "Sect Leader..." He turned into a whisper, "Perhaps...just perhaps...we could spare him a life...seeing that he has already gone crazy like this? I mean, after all, he didn't actually kill anyone and Old Sect Master was very agonized by his defection and wanted to see him again before his passi--"
"Enough." Qing Qingxian put up a hand. "Don't taint Father's tombstone. Just...kil--!" He sighed coarsely in frustration. "Just throw him in the Dark Yard along with this subordinate."
'The dark yard?!' Qin Conglin screamed in his mind. 'Sect Leader is really a ruthless one! That is tens of thousands worse than death!'
Xue Ranmei suppressed his smile, not having any idea what he will be faced with. 'Hahahaha! At last, victory! Even if it was out of scaring him dumb...one more day of life means one more chance!'
Su Xiaonan helped Xue Ranmei up. Xue Ranmei himself didn't even realize that he was so absorbed in his act that he was still sitting on the grass the whole time. "Sect Leader...you actually didn't have to...endure such humiliation. This disciple is always willing to slash a path for you[2]." He whispered.
"Hm!" Qin Conglin moved his head slightly to signal for them to follow along.
Xue Ranmei, of course, wouldn't dare to do anything to ruin this life that he spent such effort retrieving back. "Don't say anything like that in the future. Friends are equal. Let's go." He replied as he finally remembered to properly tie the collar of his robes again.
Qing Qingxian seemed to hear Xue Ranmei's words and his right eye twitched slightly.
For some reason, Qin Conglin had a tiny smirk on his face, eyeing back and forth between Xue Ranmei and Qing Qingxian. 'Quite a fate...' He laughed in his heart.
[At the Dark Yard]
An eerie steel door faced three young men. Tall stone walls covered everything that the eye could see and black crows perched themselves on the top of the wall. To Xue Ranmei, this place was like the Cold Palace where consorts and concubines who were out of favor and framed by 'the new woman' were thrown into by the Emperor (from the scripts that he wrote and the dramas that he watched himself). Absolutely creepy and unsanitary. One minute feels like an hour here. Qing Qingxian said that he had more important matters and walked his separate way to his the Qingmeng Sect's carriages. Qin Conglin was left to teleport them to the Dark Yard. A smack on his palm in the air with a spell and they ended up here.
"Go in, are you waiting for servants to come out and welcome you?" Qin Conglin chuckled. There wasn't any unfriendliness in his tone, and it was obvious that he was only joking.
"Heh..." Xue Ranmei felt something off. 'Maybe death would have been a bit better—pei! What am I thinking?! Of course this is better than dying!' He turned back to Qin Conglin, and tried his best to imitate one of those salutes that people in ancient times did, "Thank you...uh, Child for speaking for us in front of your respected Sect Leader...Zaixia doesn't know if there is anything that Zaixia can do to repay you in the future..."
Su Xiaonan also saluted sincerely. In this young boy's simple mind, all that mattered was that this person helped saved their lives, so of course he would hold genuine good feelings towards him.
"Hm. Sure, but you might not want to thank me after spending a day or two in here." Qin Conglin muttered to himself.
Xue Ranmei, "Sorry?"
"Oh nothing. Zaixia is Qin Conglin of Qingmeng. If you have anything to report that's related to Sect Leader, then you can find me. To thank me...uh...that's not very necessary..." Qin Conglin paused. 'Sorry Martial Uncle for getting you in here...but I really think that it would be immoral if I asked you to thank me when I threw you two in the Dark Yard!'
Xue Ranmei saluted again, "In that case, Zaixia will...uh, go take a look inside the yard." He pushed open the steel door and walked in.
Qin Conglin was just about to leave when Su Xiaonan spoke again, "Childe Qin!"
Qin Conglin turned back, seeing the teenage boy with a pitiful face and large pupils.
"Thank you very much." Su Xiaonan kneeled down on one leg and saluted.
Qin Conglin quickly grabbed his saluting arms. "No need!" He quickly retracted his hands.
'Ah! This is really too extreme, I didn't really do a good thing! This young boy...he is too friendly and gullible! If anyone else does something like me, it would be enough for him to be so grateful and sincere!' Qin Conglin couldn't help feeling bad for Su Xiaonan in his mind.
"Just don't create any more trouble. Sect Leader is not in a good mood lately." Qin Conglin left after he was done saying the words.
Su Xiaonan went into the Dark Yard too, and found Xue Ranmei holding onto a pillar, his head dizzy.
"Sect Leader!" He rushed over to check on him. "Sect Leader, what is it?!" His face was full of terror.
"Nothing..." Xue Ranmei covered his nose and mouth for a moment. "The air…ventilation..."
Su Xiaonan didn't understand at first. He looked around at the dark atmosphere, probably filled with dust, and immediately waved his hand around. "Sect Leader, are the surroundings too dusty?"
"Too good!" Xue Ranmei exclaimed. "So much oxygen...in fact...too much oxygen. I didn't expect the dark yard to have even better air than the outside." Actually, it wasn't that strange. In the forest, many campers start fires and burn things, releasing lots of carbon into the air, creating carbon dioxide. In this remote place, no one has lived here for hundreds of years, which means that the air was unused like a clean piece of white paper.
"Oxygen?" Su Xiaonan was confused.
Xue Ranmei joked, "I might even need a carbon dioxide bottle..."
"Carbon dioxide?"
"Never mind. We should get to work here. I'll get used to it." Xue Ranmei rubbed his hands.
Su Xiaonan, "Sect Leader...Sect Leader Qing didn't send us here to work...you forgot what the Dark Yard was for?"
'Dark Yard? Humph! I've written so many scripts, what is so special about a yard that's dark? I--!' Xue Ranmei suddenly came to a sky shaking realization. He was now in a script that he wrote himself! 'Damn it, I wrote so many in two years that I don't remember anything! Haha, thinking about it, this was actually quite a popular one in 2020...can't believe that I would come here...and as Xue Ranmei. The person next to me...Su Xiaonan! That's right, my favorite little brother that I wrote about! Sorry I forgot about you...hehe!'
"Sect Leader?" Su Xiaonan stared at him attentively.
"Uh-huh?" Xue Ranmei didn't notice that he was grinning widely. But that grin soon disappeared after he came to another realization. The Dark Yard was indeed something to be afraid of. It was a yard plagued with wronged ghosts! In addition, people who were sent here have no food or water, but were forced to remain as a zombie-like existence! Also, in winter, it gets so cold that even polar bears will freeze to death! People who come in here will be tortured so badly that they dream about death!
Xue Ranmei pressed on his temples, and he felt like fainting again. He even thought that, maybe, just maybe, he might faint and wake up to find that this was all just one bad dream. But that seems more and more unlikely.
Xue Ranmei instructed Su Xiaonan like a little kid, "Go sit somewhere, Xiaonan. And also, from now on, just call me An." It was his name before he died. "I have some matters to take care of."
"Do you need any assistance?" Su Xiaonan was unwilling to sit around and watch his Master do the work.
"Nope. You can't anyways, no offense." Xue Ranmei started to look around.
"Okay, do summon me if you need anything." Su Xiaonan sat on the staircase leading to an abandoned main hall of an ex-mansion.
What Xue Ranmei was looking for was the root of those wronged ghosts. Now, the wronged ghosts weren't here for vacation. Rather, they were attracted here by some object. No one else, literally no one, in the story was actually supposed to know about this, not even the female protagonist Bai Qian'e. Of course, the person who made everything up letter by letter in front of the keyboard, Xue Rui, would remember.
The object was actually something that no one would even expect. The director even scolded Xue Rui for putting such an object useless to the plot, but it was kind of Xue Rui's literary style to leave a peace of secret for the audiences only. And it was quite an idea, since netizens always comment things like 'I love how Stone Tomato[3] left that mystery for the characters!' and 'Hahahaha! So the truth was like that! It's so exciting that all the people are fooled in the end!' Honestly, Xue Ranmei would read comments of the latter kind and perceive the commentator to be a psychopath.
Anyways, the object was...
'What was the object...?' Xue Ranmei's mind panicked. 'God, don't do this to me! I can't stand being one minute excited and the next scared to death! Now what's that object!'
'I'm so damned! Why did I have to be so quick-handed[4] and make up something that I don't even remember?!' Xue Ranmei couldn't blame everything onto himself, since this show was already last year's hot topic and he wrote new scripts faster than chicken laying eggs.
Su Xiaonan saw Xue Ranmei going from smiling to frowning, and was quite worried about his mental state. "Sect Leader...are you sure you don't need assistance?"
"No..." Xue Ranmei smiled painfully. 'Haha...I might never need assistance again...'
Out of nowhere, a nauseating and lurid purple figure zoomed across the yard, leaving the atmosphere more and more murky and misty. Judging from the sharp and pleased cackle, it was a female ghost. Not. Good.
'My ancestor[5]! It's that crazy Ghost Queen, Nage Aila!'
Nage Aila was another product of Xue An's infinite bastard-ness. A ferocious female ghost. Hates all men (and probably all women too) after being sent into the Cold Palace and bestowed a cup of poisonous wine by some sh*beep* king of a small tribal kingdom. Great. She was actually supposed to be someone who 'taught and leveled up' Bai Qian'e with her Nage Clan's special spiritual powers or something.
'Haha...now it seems that she's just supposed to be someone to end me.' Xue Ranmei cursed himself to death in his mind.
Su Xiaonan unsheathed his sword again and pointed it towards the fast zooming figure, "Who are you?! Quit trying to hurt Sect Leader!"
'Little Brother, what are you thinking about? She's Nage Aila! You really think she's going to value your words more than sh*beep*? You tell her to stop and she stops? I wish!' Xue Ranmei quickly started thinking about weaknesses. Every character, no matter how strong and scary, had their weakness. At least one, but that one is enough to use against them. 'Ah...at least the work needs to come to the real god here...'
Nage Aila's cause of ferociousness was also her weakness. Strange, isn't it? Not very.
'She loved that bastard king, and because he used and betrayed her love, she became like this. Her weakness...was also on the question of love. When people become ghosts, especially a crazy ghost like her who hasn't been spiritually tamed by the female protagonist yet, their intelligence is...not used to the best extent. Maybe...she wouldn't notice if I pretended to be that bastard king. If she got what she wanted, then she will either transform into a peaceful spirit staying quietly in nature, or return to whatever place for actual dead people, something like heaven...anyways, she won't be here trying to rip our intestines out!'
"Aila." Xue Ranmei imitated the speech of another young man, with the accent of his own tribe's language.
Nage Aila slowed down, which was a good sign. She gradually flew towards Xue Ranmei, her two tearful eyes staring deep into his soul.
'Ancestor, you don't have to be so creepy! Is this how you look at that bastard king? No wonder why he jilted you in the end, no one can stand that level of obsession! Pei! I'm sorry, that bastard king was still a bastard, he still shouldn't have done that to you!'
[1] Wash the heart and change the mind (洗心革面) is a Chinese saying that someone who was previously a bad person will start new and be good.
[2] Slash a path (杀出一条路) just means that SXN was willing to fight for XRM.
[3] Stone Tomato (石头柿子) was XR's pen-name.
[4] Quick-handed is not the original term (手欠), but it basically just means that a person can't think it over before doing stupid hotheaded things.
[5] My ancestor (我的祖宗啊) is like 'My God!' in English.