Yan Hui just belatedly realized she had been overlooking many issues.
The most basic and important of those issues was that she had Tian Yao's neidan and Heart Protection Scale. But how did those two things get into her? They wouldn't have flown into her body after Tian Yao sent them flying away. There was nothing that coincidental in the world.....
"Tian Yao, did you know...." Yan Hui sat on the bed. Tian Yao rolled up her pants and helped her pick out the shards piercing her knees. He raised his head to look at her upon hearing her despondent voice after reading the letter.
"Your neidan, Heart Protection Scale, and even my life were saved by my shifu." She continued, "20 years ago, it was him who placed your neidan and Heart Protection Scale in me when I was about to be abandoned by my mom. He saved my life. He had a moment of compassion, and he saved my life...."
She said whatever came to mind. Her thoughts were a mess, but it didn't stop Tian Yao from understand her.
"20 years ago, you fought against Su Ying and Qing Guang. Qing Guang kept up the formation, and Su Ying severed your body. You tossed away your neidan and Heart Protection Scale. Ling Xiao was also there. Qing Guang ordered Ling Xiao to find them, and he did. However on his way back, he came across me, born with a heart defect and nearly abandoned by my own mother. He used the Heart Protection Scale to repair my defective heart and the neidan to maintain my life....."
Yan Hui suddenly remembered way back in the past when she was little. Her alcoholic dad kept harping on that "she was blessed and had good luck." At that time, Yan Hui didn't understand. She just knew that having such an alcoholic dad was unfortunate.
But now she understood that what her dad said was right. She was blessed. She did have good luck.
Because when she was clearly about to die, a xian cultivater came along and bestowed upon her a great favor by chance. Then 10 years later, Ling Xiao came back to her village to deal with a demon and saved the clueless her.
He saw as she grew, Tian Yao's neidan started to seep out a demon's aura. He had another moment of compassion and took her in as his disciple. He taught her xian techniques, constrained the demon aura within. In those 10 years that she lived in Chen Xing Mountain, Qing Guang never saw through her origin, never dug out her heart, and gave her a miserable death.
Ling Xiao prevented her from drifting about, homeless and miserable. He protected her and took care of everything.
All that he said he would do, he achieved.
He wounded Zhenren Qi Yu because he wanted to save her life.
He plotted to start a xian-demon war because he wanted to hinder it from within.
He whipped her 81 times because cultivating the demon pathway caused the demon neidan within her to recover. Dragon aura had started to seep out. Su Ying and Qing Guang would kill her when they saw that, and Ling Xiao feared he wouldn't be able to protect her...
He knew how hurt Yan Hui would feel after knowing about this. That's why from beginning to end, he kept silent. He always had mercy in his heart even with dealing with demons. He always had gentleness hidden in his heart. Even until his death, he shouldered it all on his own.
Yan Hui tightly clenched her hands into fists until her fingernails dug into her palm. Blood flowed out.
Tian Yao had just finished silently wrapping her knees when he looked up and saw her bloodied palms. Then he looked further up and saw her despondent, ruined gaze. He couldn't say any comforting words. He wanted to wanted to wrap his hands around hers, to give just the tiniest bit of warmth. But then he realized.....he couldn't hold her hand.
He was ashamed to touch her because he had never felt such deep frustration before.
The frustration stemmed from his helplessness when he wanted to fight against Qing Guang. It also stemmed from the current situation where he couldn't reach Yan Hui's heart.
Even though Tian Yao was right in front of Yan Hui, compared to her shifu who silently did so much for her, Tian Yao felt completely incapable and....
Despicable.
Yes, despicable.
From the start, the one who conspired for Yan Hui's Heart Protection Scale and neidan was him. The one who used Yan Hui as a tool to break the formation and get her blood was him. The one who deceived Yan Hui into thinking she only had the Heart Protection Scale was him. The one who tricked Yan Hui into learning demon techniques was also him.
This entire time, he schemed against her, used her, landed her in the middle of extremely life-threatening situations.
However, Yan Hui always saved him, protected him, and defended him with no second thoughts.
He didn't do anything for her. Even now, he stupidly couldn't say even one comforting word.
How did someone like him be even qualified to touch her....
"Tian Yao...." Yan Hui buried her face in her hands. "Let me be alone for awhile."
Yes, he should let her be alone because even if he was by her side, he still wouldn't be able to do anything.
Tian Yao left the room and quietly closed the door. Right before the door completely closed, Tian Yao couldn't help peeking into the room. He saw Yan Hui, who didn't cry despite the extreme hoarseness betraying her voice, cover her face. All alone in the room, her shoulders shook.
The door closed with a click. Tian Yao looked down. For a moment, he loathed his powerless self. His loathing far surpassed when he was betrayed 20 years ago by Su Ying.
Tian Yao clenched his hands into fists. His figure flashed and reappeared outside of Qing Qiu's palace, right in front of the enormous tree entrance. The fox demon guards blocked Tian Yao from entering. However, before the guards could open their mouths, the door to the palace creaked open. The voice of Qing Qiu's king floated out: "Let him in." The voice wasn't the least surprised. It was like the king foresaw Tian Yao coming to seek him out.
Tian Yao saw the king sitting on the throne when he entered the room. Sunlight shined down on the king, making his facial features slightly indistinct. In that pool of sunlight, it was like the king could ascend to become an immortal at any moment.
Tian Yao got straight to the point: "50 years ago, you fought against Qing Guang. How was his strength?"
The Qing Qiu King didn't avoid the question. Rather he directly answered: "Without a neidan, you are no match."
Tian Yao clenched his hands: "Aside from that, is there another way? Perhaps we could jointly....."
This time the king lightly waved his hand and broke off Tian Yao's words. He got up and slowly walked towards Tian Yao: "Do you know why the demon clans retreated to the southwest behind San Chong Mountain 50 years ago?"
Tian Yao fell silent at the king's words.
50 years ago, the rumor was Qing Qiu's king and Qing Guang were equally matched and both suffered in the battle. However, the truth was....
To the victor goes the spoils, the loser gets nothing.
"In that battle 50 years ago, Qing Guang was also seriously hurt. The cultivation sects also didn't have the strength to continue on. Thus the mountain was split, and there was a stand still. We had a temporary peace for 50 years." The Qing Qiu King continued, "I heard that in those 50 years, Qing Guang used neidan to cultivate. He was also supplemented by Chen Xing Mountain's spirituality. It can be assumed that his skill has surged far ahead. On the other hand, Qing Qiu lies in the southwest with scarce spirituality. Although 50 years isn't a long time to me, it is enough to cause a large gap in terms of cultivation."
The king paused and turned to look at Tian Yao: "Qing Guang needed a lot of neidan in thse past 50 years to reach his desired cultivation level. However to reach the final layer, he needs an extremely powerful neidan to cultivate successfully. Do you know why Qing Guang was willing to take the risk to get your neidan but never once fought you?"
50 years ago, Tian Yao never took part in the xian-demon war. However if Qing Guang wanted to find him, it wasn't that Tian Yao couldn't be found. But then why did Qing Guang choose to provoke Qing Qiu instead of seeking just him out...
Tian Yao looked down and remembered back to the day when he briefly fought against Qing Guang. His gaze slightly shook: "His wuxing affinity is wood. He cultivates wood techniques."
Tian Yao's natual wuxing affinity was fire. After cultivating for a millennium, his vast dragon aura was scorching hot. He was Qing Guang's natural enemy.
"There is no one else in this world more suited for fighting Qing Guang than you," said Qing Qiu's king. "If it wasn't for Guang Han sect's blizzard technique binding you, then you would have definitely beaten Qing Guang 50 years ago."
However back then, Tian Yao wasn't interested in participating in the world's battles. He had been cultivating for 1000 years. There was no fight nor struggle that he hadn't seen before. At that time, he was merely dedicated to cultivating, waiting for that one day to soar into the heavens. He knew what was happening in the world but had no interest.
"Dragon demon Tian Yao." The king stood in front of Tian Yao and lightly pointed at his heart. "For this, you'll need your neidan."
Tian Yao looked down: "This is..... the only thing that I can't do."
The king silently took back his finger.
"Any other method will do."
Qing Qiu's king remained silent, but then he finally spoke: "If you don't have your own neidan, then use someone else's as a substitute. South of here lies many monsters' lairs. Among those lairs is a clan of snakes. They weren't willing to submit to me 50 years ago. Since then, my clan has gone on many punitive expeditions to that rocky forest. All who didn't submit were dealt with. To this day, only the Snake King Gou lives in that maze of lairs. His neidan ought to match yours."
Tian Yao didn't hesitate to nod in agreement: "I'll get it."
"That snake king is cunning and evil. If even my sons couldn't capture him, then it's even more dangerous going into the nest. You don't have a neidan, so you might not be able to win against him."
Tian Yao turned to leave and left only a quiet declaration: "If I can't win, then there's no need to return."
Qing Qiu's king looked at Tian Yao's back: "You should fully heal your leg before going." Then the king disappeared.
Tian Yao paused before exiting. There was a tearing pain in his lower leg. The pain had been there ever since returning from Central Plains. It was from that day when Zhenren Qing Guang pressed him down onto the ground and broke his bones. Magic had twisted around the wound ever since Zhenren Qing Guang injured him.
These past few days, Tian Yao had been accompanying Yan Hui and completely forgot about his wound. And other people had forgotten to pay attention to him.....
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Tian Yao is going through a crisis moment with no Yan Hui to tell him he is needed. Poor dragon demon. Also I think he is too harsh on himself.