After the Villain Lost His Cultivation - Chapter 10

Xi Jianglan touched the cheap pendant earrings and felt completely at ease.

Feng Yu, being someone who never admitted defeat, immediately said coldly, ”Eighty thousand.”

Xi Jianglan was deeply moved. He lifted the bamboo curtain to admire the heroic figure of Young Master Feng Yu, who had just spent a fortune on him. His slender fingers stretched out and fluttered carelessly outside a few times.

Sheng Jiao suddenly pulled on the binding silk with a cold expression.

Xi Jianglan’s hands were suddenly pulled back, the cold Binding Silk brushing against the marks on his wrist again, causing him to hiss in pain. He probably wanted to do something bad but failed, and secretly glared at Sheng Jiao.

Below, the sound of the chime had already rung, but Sheng Jiao showed no intention of bidding further.

It was as if his earlier bid was a whim.

With the sound of three chimes, the Yutang flower went to Feng Yu.

Feng Yu let out a smug chuckle as if he had just won a battle. You dare to compete with me?

At that moment, a beautiful ghost floated back and said, “Just now, when you were bidding, a pair of hands from the third-floor Dharma Hall made a strange gesture…”

She didn’t understand the meaning, so she gestured with her pale hands.

“Help—”

Feng Yu: “?”

The sound of the chime stopped.

Suddenly, Sheng Jiao stood up, and the binding silk on his wrist pulled Xi Jianglan’s hand up as well, leaving him confused as he looked at him.

“My lord?”

Sheng Jiao’s fingers moved slightly, and the binding silk surprisingly unraveled from his wrist, floating in the air.

Xi Jianglan’s heart skipped a beat.

Sheng Jiao handed the Binding Silk to Juan Xunfang and said, “Don’t believe a word he says.”

Juan Xunfang took it hastily, almost swore with gestures, “Rest assured, my lord, I will never be deceived again!”

He had already been fooled by this person’s tears once. If he believed this person’s nonsense again, he wouldn’t be named Juan!

Xi Jianglan supported his chin with his fingers, looking entirely innocent as he said, “My lord, I’ve been wronged!”

Sheng Jiao coldly replied, “If you try to escape again…”

“I wouldn’t dare.” Xi Jianglan coughed and said, sounding unusually guilty, “Those who came to the Gu Chang Temple for the commotion are mostly enemies of me and the Xi family. I have no cultivation, if I were to escape recklessly, I might not survive.”

After thinking it over, although he couldn’t gain his freedom here, at least his life wasn’t in danger.

Xi Jianglan valued his life highly.

Sheng Jiao looked at him indifferently, not sure if he believed him.

He probably truly had urgent matters, leaving without saying a word.

Xi Jianglan rested his chin on his hand, lazily watching Sheng Jiao’s retreating figure.

It was only after the figure had completely disappeared into the corridor that he curved his lips into a gentle smile.

Juan Xunfang watched him cautiously.

Xi Jianglan tilted his head and smiled like a poppy, beautiful and dangerous.

“Master Juan.”

After the bidding is over at Gu Chang Temple, it is often the young monks who take the initiative to deliver the spiritual item to the private room in the Dharma Hall.

Feng Yu frowned while holding the ghost blade. He looked at the little monk leading the way in front of him and couldn’t help but ask, “Who is the flower seller?”

Why is it such a big deal that the buyer has to go there in person?

The young monk said nothing but nodded respectfully to him and pushed open the carved wooden door on the fourth floor.

“Please.”

The fourth floor of Gu Chang Temple is not like the three floors below, which are private rooms separated by screens and ritual implements. The huge Dharma Hall can be seen at a glance, and in the center is a jade Buddha statue of an unknown venerable.

The fragrance of the Yutang flower permeates the air.

Feng Yu has always been fearless, he walked in holding the ghost blade.

But just as he stepped in, several cultivators in the Spirit Transformation Realm appeared like ghosts, and their cold sword blades fell silently on Feng Yu’s neck.

Feng Yu did not take the swords seriously. With his arms crossed and a slightly raised eyebrow, he said with a hint of a smile, “Oh, I thought it was someone important. Turns out, it’s just the Hengzhang people. What a big scene!” 

A series of sounds, like wooden wheels rubbing on the floor, came from behind the screen. A man dressed in a white robe with crane and magnolia patterns sat in a wooden wheelchair. He had a handsome and refined appearance, and several translucent blank jade slips floated around him, bobbing up and down like birds.

It was Heng Yudu.

The first hall of the Tianyan Academy in the Year of the Pig of Tianyan was particularly special because among the small cultivators who enrolled that year, there were actually four with spirit-level innate marks, which shocked the thirteen states.

Xi Jue, Sheng Jiao…

Heng Yudu was also one of them.

Heng Yudu had a gentle and ethereal demeanor, like a blue orchid standing against the wind atop a high mountain. He said calmly, “Feng Yu, what do you want the Yutang flower for?”

“I want it because I want it, and I have the money. Does this violate any academy regulations?” Feng Yu scoffed. “But I’m not your disciple. Even if I buy it just to throw it away, what can you do about it?”

Heng Yudu gently explained, “That’s not what I meant.”

Feng Yu rolled his eyes and thought, ‘Here we go again’.

”Even though the Yutang Flower is a spiritual object, its petals are highly poisonous.” Heng Yudu spoke with motherly concern and gently added, “I’m not questioning you, please don’t misunderstand.”

“Stop explaining, okay? It’s annoying,” Feng Yu said irritably. When I asked you yesterday, you said the Yutang flower couldn’t be found. How come there’s one today, and it’s even being auctioned at Guchang Temple?”

Heng Yudu continued, “Please don’t misunderstand.”

Heng Yudu didn’t know if it was because of his innate mark, but he weighed every word he said, fearing that others would misunderstand him.

Whenever he felt that any word or phrase he used was inappropriate, he would spend a lot of time explaining, supplementing, or patching it up, often starting with, ‘Ah, please don’t misunderstand.’

Feng Yu automatically ignored his tedious explanations and said in surprise, “You’re not planning to use the Yutang flower to bait Xi Jue, are you?!”

Heng Yudu raised his hand.

The guard finally removed the sword from Feng Yu’s neck and immediately disappeared.

”You really met Xi Twelve”. Heng Yudu calmly said, he was so intelligent that he was almost demonic. “You are the most easily deceived of all the disciples in Zhuzingzhai. He must have told you something to make you willingly spend a fortune on the Yutang flower for him.”

Feng Yu: “…”

Feng Yu, who didn’t like talking to him, said impatiently, “Just give me the Yutang flower and I won’t pay.”

Heng Yudu said in a gentle voice, “Tell me where Xi Jue is.”

Feng Yu, having a short temper, turned to leave when the conversation didn’t go well.

Heng Yudu suddenly said, “Stop.”

In an instant, those two simple words carried the weight of a thousand tons. The jade slips fluttered like birds and crashed down, forcibly suppressing Feng Yu’s body and even his innate mark, making him freeze in place.

Feng Yu: “…”

This was Heng Yudu’s spiritual-level innate mark “Changing Moon.” If his cultivation were a little higher, he could scatter someone’s soul with just two words.

Feng Yu shouted angrily, “Heng Yudu!”

Heng Yudu said only two words, and then, as if he had exhausted all his spiritual energy, he covered his lips and coughed a few times before gently saying, “I just want to know where Xi Twelve is.”

“He’s a useless person, if left alone, he won’t have much time left. Why are you looking for him?” Feng Yu asked coldly. “Or do you all think that Xi Jue did it on purpose to kill Rang Chen and vent his anger by breaking his meditation and ruining his cultivation?”

Heng Yudu was silent for a while, then said, “I don’t believe he would intentionally harm Rang Chen.”

“Then you…”

“I just want to know how exactly Xi Twelve lost his spiritual level innate mark.”

Feng Yu frowned: “Everyone knows about that.”

Six years ago, the Xiezhi Sect was under the control of the Qu family in Zhongzhou.

The Qu family had always been at odds with the Xi family. After the Xi family suffered a disaster, the then leader of the Xiezhi clan, harboring resentment, arbitrarily accused Xi Jue of “losing control of his spiritual innate mark and going mad, slaughtering his entire clan,” and subsequently arrested him in the Xiezhi clan.

Xi Jue’s spiritual-level innate mark was destroyed within the Xiezhi Sect.

Heng Yudu shook his head and said, “Do you really believe that?”

Feng Yu didn’t understand what Heng Yudu was getting at. “What else could it be? Xi Jue’s innate mark has indeed been ruined, he barely has half his life left. Is that a lie?!”

Heng Yudu sighed silently.

After sighing, he seemed to be was worried that Feng Yu might misunderstand, so he explained, “I sighed simply because you really are the easiest to deceive, just like Xi Twelve said. If I were him, I would also choose you as an easy target.”

Feng Yu: “…”

Feng Yu’s face turned green.

At that moment, the door was suddenly pushed open.

The newcomer was dressed in black, as if he had stepped out of an inky abyss. As he took a few steps forward, his disguise gently disappeared like a receding tide, revealing a face as cold and stark as snow on a mountain peak.

Feng Yu was momentarily stunned, his expression one of astonishment.

“…Sheng, Sheng Jiao?”

Heng Yudu had already anticipated this and calmly said, “It’s you, after all. You finally found Xi Jue?”

Sheng Jiao did not move his lips, but his cold, icy voice echoed in their ears

“What is it?”

“Hand over Twelve to me.” Heng Yudu didn’t beat around the bush and got straight to the point. “The Tianyan Academy suspects that the Qu family’s troubles are related to Xi Twelve.”

Sheng Jiao looked at him, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

But Heng Yudu, Feng Yu, and Sheng Jiao had been classmates for many years, and he could clearly detected the sarcasm in Sheng Jiao’s eyes.

It seemed to say, “Why should I?”

Heng Yudu leaned on the armrest of his wheelchair, his demeanor calm and unflappable, his every gesture exuding a refreshing elegance.

“A few days ago, someone broke into the Qu Family’s Tianyan Spiritual Vein and slaughtered the elders of the Spirit Transformation Realm who were connected to the spiritual vein, apparently searching for something.”

Sheng Jiao observed coldly.

“What was it?”

“Innate mark.” Heng Yudu said with unwavering conviction, “There are rumors in Zhongzhou that six years ago, the Qu family went insane and extracted Xi Jue’s spiritual level innate mark for their own use.”

Sheng Jiao’s pupils constricted sharply.

Feng Yu said in shock, “Extract… the innate mark?”

Was it like that painting of the innate mark under the Bodhi tree by Xi Qingfeng?

Heng Yudu absentmindedly stroked the jade slips floating around him and said, “The Tianyan Academy just wants to know what Xi Twelve’s innate mark is and how it was damaged, once I finish the questioning, I will naturally send Xi Jue to the Xiezhi Sect.”

Sheng Jiao’s pupils were filled with cold and murderous intent as he turned and walked away.

Heng Yudu slightly parted his pale lips, “Sheng Jiao, stop”

The Changing Moon surged with an overwhelming spiritual power, pressing forcefully against Sheng Jiao’s back like a bamboo being split apart. However, as the spiritual energy swept past Feng Yu, it felt like a gentle breeze under the bright moon, gently brushing against him.

Boom! 

Sheng Jiao abruptly turned around, his eyes as barren as scorched earth. Thunderous patterns crackled around him, and suddenly, a string of one hundred and eight Tianyan beads appeared on his otherwise empty wrist.

The Tianyan Beads floated without any wind, and the dark blue lightning patterns silently wrapped around Sheng Jiao’s body, causing his long hair to fly chaotically.

The two spiritual level innate marks, ‘Way of Heaven’ and ‘Changing Moon’, abruptly collided, engaging in a silent battle within the narrow hall, as if the void had violently shattered.

Clang!

A silent bolt struck down fiercely.

Heng Yudu’s jade slips floating beside him suddenly shattered into powder, scattering down onto his clothing.

Sheng Jiao looked at him coldly.

Even at this moment, he was too lazy to speak, using his spiritual power to project his voice instead.

“If you want Xi Jue, come and take him.”

With that, he waved his sleeve and left.

Heng Yudu sat calmly in his wheelchair, the gentle expression on his face still intact. He covered his lips and coughed a few times, seemingly unfazed that Sheng Jiao would take action against him.

Feng Yu was hiding in the corner, having somehow grabbed a handful of pine nuts, his eyes gleaming as he munched on them.

The clash between two spiritual level innate marks, such encounters were rare in a lifetime.

Feng Yu felt he had finally witnessed a moment worth seeing.

Heng Yudu: “…”

Sheng Jiao, expressionless, concealed the Tianyan bead on his wrist and descended to the third floor.

However, just before he reached the Dharma Hall, he suddenly seemed to sense something, his expression changed, his robe fluttering as he took a few quick steps and forcefully pushed open the carved wooden door.

Less than half a minute after Sheng Jiao had left, the only people visible in the hall were Juan Xunfang and Shang Yuan, both with dazed expressions.

Xi Jianglan had already disappeared without a trace.

Sheng Jiao clenched his fingers so tightly that his fingertips nearly sank into his palms.

“Where is he?”

Juan Xunfang, looking dazed, shuddered at the sight of Sheng Jiao’s cold face.

It was as if he had been under some sort of spell, now, finally realizing what he had done, his face turned ashen.

“Xi Jue said… he, he has been reborn…”

Sheng Jiao: “…”

Reborn?

Heng Yudu was not giving up and followed over to meet Xi Jianglan first.

He was pushed to the third floor by Feng Yu and happened to hear the two words “reborn” at the door. He sighed silently and said, “Such nonsense can only be believed by fools.”

Feng Yu: “????”

Juan Xunfang suddenly fell to his knees with a heavy thud: “Sect leader, forgive me!”

Sheng Jiao looked at him coldly but didn’t say much. Instead, he raised his hand and gently stroked it, and an illusory red rope suddenly appeared on the little finger of his left hand.

It was another Binding Silk binding Xi Jianglan.

The person on the other end of the red rope seemed to be unaware of the existence of this additional Binding Silk and was running extremely fast with great excitement.

The Binding Silk rushed outward, impossible to stop.