Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

Chapter 2 – Temptress of Xuanyuan Sect

Yin Hanjiang figured out what Wenren È was about to say, that he was asking him his thoughts on love. Honestly, Yin Hanjiang also didn’t understand.

As a child, he was picked up out of a mass grave by Wenren È and taken back to Xuanyuan Sect. From the beginning, the Venerable’s command was his will, and he had never expressed his own opinions. Even though Wenren È hadn’t finished the question, Yin Hanjiang bowed his head and said, “The Venerable’s preferences are this subordinate’s beliefs.”

If the Venerable liked stories, Yin Hanjiang would collect all the stories on Earth for him. If he liked men or women, Yin Hanjiang would bring all the people he liked before him. The Venerable’s wishes were Yin Hanjiang’s command.

Wenren È stared at Yin Hanjiang kneeling before him and recalled the novel filling his brain for the past few days.

Judging by the novel’s account, Yin Hanjiang really did act according to his words.

Yin Hanjiang was Abusive Romance: You are the Unchanging One in My Heart‘s love interest number four, trusted subordinate to number two Wenren È. He was habitually silent and reserved, faithfully protected Baili Qingmiao, and tended to her every need. When Wenren È couldn’t watch over Baili Qingmiao himself, he would send Yin Hanjiang to guard her. Yin Hanjiang took blows for her, got poisoned for her, got injured for her, and nearly lost his life, all without a word of complaint. He never even confessed to her. The most revealing words he’d ever expressed was when, while the two of them were facing danger, Baili Qingmiao told him to escape first. He replied in a hoarse voice, “Either we both survive, or I die to protect you.”

What girl could resist such devoted, honest, and heartfelt words? In the earlier parts of the novel, Yin Hanjiang’s popularity exceeded Wenren È’s at some point. Even Baili Qingmiao, still crazy for Hè Wenzhao, once told Yin Hanjiang in tears that she couldn’t repay her debt to him if she spent her life trying.

All the readers, including Wenren È, thought Yin Hanjiang was deeply in love with Baili Qingmiao, but after Wenren È died for her, Yin Hanjiang…

Wenren È thought back to the storyline he had reread four or five times. He asked Yin Hanjiang, “While this Venerable is here, you certainly are wholeheartedly loyal. But what if, someday, this Venerable is no longer here?”

Listening to Wenren È’s words, a shudder ran through Yin Hanjiang’s body, and the arm propping him up trembled slightly. It seemed as if he could hardly endure even thinking about the possibility of Wenren È’s death. He didn’t want to imagine, but Wenren È had asked the question, so he forced himself to consider it. In a few moments, a cold sweat had broken out on his forehead and it seemed he was at his limit.

After a long while, he forced an answer out through gritted teeth. “This subordinate will die before the Venerable.”

Wenren È absently wiped away the sweat on Yin Hanjiang’s forehead with a brush of his sleeve. His actions were warm, but his words were uncaring. “What if this Venerable had unfinished business, and didn’t allow you to die?”

Yin Hanjiang’s pupils trembled, and he switched to kneeling with both knees, pressing both hands against the ground, lowering his head deeply. “This subordinate doesn’t know.”

He didn’t know, but Wenren È did.

In the book, Wenren È ordered Yin Hanjiang to protect Baili Qingmiao before he died, thinking that Yin Hanjiang also liked Baili Qingmiao, and would certainly protect her just as he himself intended. And Yin Hanjiang indeed carried out his order, never leaving Baili Qingmiao’s side.

But at the same time, a man in a ghost mask inexplicably appeared in the story. He seemed to be inescapable, using every method he could think of to harm Baili Qingmiao. After Baili Qingmiao was injured, he sprinkled bone-melting powder on her wounds. After Baili Qingmiao passed out, he threw her into the Thousand Snake Pit. When Baili Qingmiao was alone, he hung up a cauldron and tried to refine her into lamp oil. With each of his appearances, he became more and more depraved.

The entire time, the readers had been trying to guess exactly which wicked female character was disguising herself as the Ghost Mask. Even though he was described as a man, in the cultivation world, there were many ways for a woman to pretend to be a man.

But no one could’ve guessed what happened when, at one point, Baili Qingmiao and Yin Hanjiang hid in a cave as they fled from the Ghost Mask. Baili Qingmiao had said quietly, “Mister Yin, I’m so lucky you’re here.”

“Really?” Yin Hanjiang had said.

Baili Qingmiao was exhausted, about to doze off against his back, when she saw that a corner of a bundle that Yin Hanjiang had been carrying the whole time had fallen open. What she glimpsed inside was the very same sight that had made her jerk awake from countless nightmares, the ghost mask!

After Wenren È died, Yin Hanjiang finally acted against his orders. He wanted to kill Baili Qingmiao after subjecting her to every torture, he wanted to send her down to accompany Wenren È, he wanted to refine her soul into an everburning lamp, to light Wenren È’s path in the afterlife.

All the ways he had taken care of her in the past weren’t because he loved her, but because this was what Wenren È had ordered. Because of that, he made Baili Qingmiao’s safety his priority. After Wenren È died for Baili Qingmiao, Yin Hanjiang only wanted to hurt her in a thousand different ways.

While reading, Wenren È didn’t understand Yin Hanjiang’s motivations. Only after coming out and asking him did he realize how much pain Yin Hanjiang must’ve been in. His first point of confusion in the book was now solved.

“You can get up,” Wenren È said.

Yin Hanjiang, after wiping his bottom lip with his sleeve, got steadily to his feet. Wenren È caught his arm and smelled a tinge of blood on his sleeve.

Forcing him to imagine the Demonic Lord’s death actually caused Yin Hanjiang this much pain. Even Wenren È, who cultivated the Path of Slaughter, was a bit moved.

Right now Wenren È hadn’t fallen in love with Baili Qingmiao like the him in the book, so he didn’t think there was anything wrong with what Yin Hanjiang did. Among those who cultivated the demonic paths, who could be considered selfless? If you can’t have something, destroy it. If you die, take your enemy with you to the afterlife. This was all perfectly normal.

Wenren È just wanted to tell the book’s Yin Hanjiang, “Not bad!”

And while he’s at it, he’d like to beat up the book’s Wenren È. The female lead at least had something wrong with her head. What Wenren È really couldn’t accept was that he himself had abandoned everything for the sake of love. That was totally impossible.

Why would he be pulled under and become completely unable to free himself? And why would Baili Qingmiao be infatuated with Hè Wenzhao until she lost herself, still wanting to be with him after being injured so many times? Why would the jealous female villains frame an innocent girl because of Hè Wenzhao?

There was too much that Wenren È didn’t understand.

Yin Hanjiang had cleared up one point of confusion for him, but there were many more questions facing the Lord of Demons. 

Wenren È rested a hand against Yin Hanjiang’s chest and sent a stream of energy into him to help him heal. Yin Hanjiang put up no resistance, allowing Wenren È’s oppressive energy freely enter his dantian[1] and help suppress his spiritual essence, in turmoil from his unsteady mental state.

After casually fixing up Yin Hanjiang, Wenren È commanded, “Tell the Right Protector to come to the meeting room.”

Yin Hanjiang obeyed, taking out one of the Venerable’s commanding talismans and sending a summons to the Right Protector.

The two came to the meeting room and waited a while, until a woman in purple clothes arrived leisurely. What she was wearing could less be called clothes and more a strip of purple gauze wound about her body, barely covering any vital areas, and instead outlining her alluring figure, capturing people’s attention.

Unfortunately, the two in front of her were blind and had hearts of ice. The Right Protector, Shu Yanyan, had long gotten used to this kind of reaction from them. She made a suggestive bowing motion to Wenren È, and after being allowed to rise, said impatiently, “Venerable, do you need me to go beat up those two-faced hypocrites of the righteous sects? This subordinate has been itching to do it.”

She covered her mouth, while revealing a bashful smile.

Wenren È well understood this subordinate of his. “Are you itching to punish them, or to harvest their yang to supplement your yin[2]?”

“Aren’t those the same?” Shu Yanyan fluttered her eyelashes at Wenren È. “Venerable, you know me. I follow the path of desire. I wouldn’t miss the chance to kill two birds with one stone.”

Wenren È raised a hand. Shu Yanyan, receiving his permission, walked to the seat on his right and sat down, languidly stretching out her long legs, every movement displaying irresistible feminine charm.

Wenren È ignored the seduction she had inadvertently released and said unhurriedly, “Do you know the chief disciple of Shangqing Sect, Hè Wenzhao?”

“Oh, him? Now that piques my interest.” Shu Yanyan sprawled lazily across the chair, without a hint of proper posture. Propping her chin with one hand and batting her eyes, she said, “Venerable, didn’t you send us out three months ago to investigate the righteous sects’ plans? I disguised myself as a frail and pitiful songstress and pretended to be mistreated in a restaurant before some young disciples of Shangqing Sect. Hè Wenzhao was the one who came to my aid. That guy…”

Stopping there, Shu Yanyan licked her lips, as if savoring a taste, and paused for a moment before continuing. “His true yang was quite satisfying.”

Wenren È knew exactly what she was thinking about.

In the book, Hè Wenzhao’s true yang was indeed taken by Shu Yanyan, and he had lost a lot of his cultivation. Shu Yanyan locked him up in her cultivation grounds and just about sucked him empty, and in the end it was Baili Qingmiao, as always, who risked her life to save him. In addition, to help him replenish his true essence, she went to the Thousand Mile Ice Plains to find the elixir known as the Snow Flame. She then helped Hè Wenzhao absorb it, increasing his cultivation immensely.

Shu Yanyan was essentially the number one villain of the first part of the story. She wasn’t in love with Hè Wenzhao but simply coveting his yang energy, a temptress in all aspects. And due to Shu Yanyan being a wicked person trying to harm Hè Wenzhao, Baili Qingmiao, for the first time, forgave him for having dealings with another woman.

The temptress of Xuanyuan Sect practiced the art of seduction, and her power was far above that of Hè Wenzhao. If she wanted to do something, Hè Wenzhao had no way to resist. He was the victim here.

What Baili Qingmiao didn’t know at the time was that there would be a second occasion and a third, and innumerable occasions beyond that when Hè Wenzhao was being “coerced”, expecting her to understand.

“Tell me what happened then,” Wenren È said.

Going by the book’s word count, the current plot should only have advanced 70 or 80 thousand words in, which was also the only happy portion of the book. After Baili Qingmiao entered Shangqing Sect, falling in love with Hè Wenzhao at first sight, the two of them cultivated for over ten years, spending time together as innocent children. Hè Wenzhao showed every consideration to his little shimei[3]. The two often secretly stole out to pick flowers and watch the moon, or practiced techniques with each other in the dead of night, never going further due to propriety. Their affections toward each other were as sweet as honey, enough to give one cavities.

There were also some female disciples who stirred up trouble, but back then everyone was young and innocent and none of them did anything improper. Hè Wenzhao was also an upstanding young hero, the sect’s beloved prodigy, and yet to take on any heavy responsibilities.

The temptress Shu Yanyan was the first conflict between them.

“Who remembers that much?” said Shu Yanyan. “All I was thinking about was that man’s yang energy. As I’m sure the Venerable knows, my cultivation level has remained stagnant for many years. If this keeps up much longer, I’m going to get wrinkles.” While talking, she brought out a mirror and inspected her face, which looked no older than a sixteen-year-old girl’s, and after finding it satisfactory, continued. “Hè Wenzhao’s yang energy is unusual. He has a lightning spiritual root, and there also seemed to be a deeper, mysterious power inside him. I’m certain that if I can take his essence, I’ll be able to raise my cultivation!”

Among cultivators, there were five different kinds of normal spiritual roots—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—and five kinds of variant spiritual roots—wind, lightning, ice, light, and land. Ordinary people mostly had mixed spiritual roots of three, four, or five elements. People with dual element spiritual roots were already considered naturally gifted. A normal pure spiritual root was one in a million. A pure variant spiritual root was a heaven-blessed genius which might not be encountered even once in ten thousand years. Yet Hè Wenzhao possessed a pure lightning spiritual root.

Did this lightning spiritual root come from the heavenly lightning he was struck by in his past life? Wenren È muttered to himself, deep in thought.

And that mysterious power was naturally his divine power. Hè Wenzhao was an ascended god in his past life and kept his acquired divine essence with him in reincarnation. Baili Qingmiao possessed a primordial divine essence which was born together with heaven and earth. Unlike Hè Wenzhao’s, it could not follow her into a mortal body.

If Shu Yanyan stole Hè Wenzhao’s essence, his divine power would certainly increase her cultivation significantly.

“Why didn’t you take action against him three months ago? His level of strength can’t stand up to yours,” Wenren È said.

“Ah,” Shu Yanyan sighed, “I wanted to take him, but the power in him is very unusual. If he isn’t willing to be with me, I can’t force him. He has a sweetheart, a little girl whose looks aren’t worse than my own. She’s very sharp too, and was suspicious of me the whole time, always keeping an eye on her man. I couldn’t even find a chance.”

“Oh?” Wenren È raised an eyebrow slightly. “They have to be willing?”

The book hadn’t mentioned that. It was written from Baili Qingmiao’s point of view, and when Hè Wenzhao told her that Shu Yanyan drugged and abducted him, Baili Qingmiao believed it.

“Venerable, don’t you know me at all?” Shu Yanyan said, pouting. “In these matters, I always pay attention to mutual consent. If a man performs particularly well and I like him, I’ll pay him back a little while cultivating and help replenish his lost essence. Aside from my enemies, those sweethearts at my cultivation grounds have all received benefits. Sometimes I get tired of someone and try to shoo them away, but they aren’t even willing to leave.”

‘I actually never knew that. It seems what this Venerable doesn’t know amounts to a great deal,’ Wenren È thought.

“But I won’t let Hè Wenzhao off lightly,” Shu Yanyan said faithfully to Wenren È. “His Shangqing Sect was the ringleader in the last assault on Xuanyuan Sect. How can I show mercy to the chief disciple of an enemy sect? Don’t worry, Venerable, I’ve already had secret contact with Hè Wenzhao behind that little Baili Qingmiao girl’s back for several days, while pretending to be an innocent maiden. He pities me and kept sneaking out to bring me gifts. He’ll be mine soon enough.”

Wenren È hesitated for a moment. “No, it’s not necessary,” he said.

“What isn’t necessary?” Shu Yanyan said, blinking her large, pretty eyes.

“It’s not necessary to ruin him,” Wenren È said, tapping a finger on his armrest. “Do what you’re accustomed to. Draw it out for a while. He indeed has a unique power within him, which will be of benefit to you. No need to do anything extreme.”

“Huh?” Shu Yanyan stared in shock. Is this the same Venerable Lord who would eradicate his enemies root and branch and not show a shred of mercy?

She furrowed her brows. “He’s Shangqing Sect’s most favored chief disciple, pillar of the righteous sects. Should we not deal with him while he’s young, and instead leave him to become a problem in the future? If I repay him while cultivating with him, his power will rise even more quickly. This might benefit me, but it wouldn’t be a benefit to Xuanyuan Sect.”

As Shu Yanyan spoke, her expression became vicious, all signs of her gentle, charming manner gone.

These words pleased Wenren È greatly. 

If you asked Wenren È, this was how a cultivator should be. The great Dao is emotionless. Rather than cling to passions, better one uses them for their own benefit. And one must stand firm, lest in a moment of weakness they bring about their own demise.

Seeing Shu Yanyan’s farsightedness and Yin Hanjiang’s efficiency, then remembering the him in the book, so blinded by love he was willing to abandon the Xuanyuan Sect for Baili Qingmiao, Wenren È felt deeply that he wasn’t much above his two Sect Protectors.

A normal person would probably try to stay away from Baili Qingmiao in the future, to avoid the possibility of being entrapped, but Wenren È was a person who faced problems head-on. He was determined to meet Baili Qingmiao and Hè Wenzhao, to harden his heart and not be moved by any emotion!

Thinking that, he ordered, “Shu Yanyan, we must think more long-term. You need to sabotage Shangqing Sect.”

Shu Yanyan thought for a moment and clapped her hands, eyes lighting up. “Venerable, this subordinate understands your intention. What I must do is use the guise of a poor, honest woman to lure astray the future pillar of the righteous sects, break down his defenses and have him wrapped around my finger, letting him believe that I’m a good-hearted woman who went down a wicked path, but inside still wishes for redemption. I should get him obsessed with me, captivated by my beauty, captivated by the power he can gain from me. And afterward, if one day I plead to him, ‘save me,’ he’ll happily divulge information regarding his sect that he doesn’t see as very important. Even better if he can take leadership of the sect in the future. I can slowly lead him onto the demonic path, until he finds himself in too deep and unable to turn back.”

Shu Yanyan got more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, wanting to immediately head out to play damsel in distress. Playing the long game was the right way to go!

Wenren È: …

He just wanted Baili Qingmiao to see clearly that Hè Wenzhao was willingly together with Shu Yanyan, so let Shu Yanyan hook Hè Wenzhao. But as it turned out, Shu Yanyan thought more deeply than him, and elevated it from a matter of a relationship to being about the Great Sect War. 

His Right Protector actually was a woman with high aims. In the past, Wenren È hadn’t even known. 

“Your plan is functional. But keep two points in mind. First, do not harm Baili Qingmiao. Second, do not be entangled by love yourself,” Wenren È said.

“The Venerable indeed has keen foresight. Leaving Baili Qingmiao alone and letting her cause trouble will only push Hè Wenzhao closer to me, the good and obedient one. She’s certainly more useful alive than dead,” Shu Yanyan said, nodding. “As for Hè Wenzhao, there’s no need for concern. Your subordinate is a seasoned veteran; she can see though all the two-faced men in the world.”

After saying this, Shu Yanyan turned and left the meeting room, leaving the two silent men with the image of her slim back.

“Protector Yin,” Wenren È said after a long while. “This Venerable is not much better than the Right Protector.”

He was referring to the him in the book.

Yin Hanjiang said, “The Venerable is the most farseeing man in the world. The Right Protector is not worth a thousandth of the Venerable.”

“Ah, you…” Wenren È shook his head and changed the subject. “Leave the mountain with me. I want to meet this junior from Shangqing Sect.”

He wanted to see, now that Shu Yanyan wouldn’t steal Hè Wenzhao’s essence, just how Hè Wenzhao was going to explain himself to Baili Qingmiao, and whether or not she would forgive him as she had in the book.

The Lord of Demons was quite curious.