Chapter 64 Part 2

The pill shop was Tianling Sect’s hidden outpost at the Lakeside Market. Gao Chunqiu was filled with doubts and had too many questions he wanted answered. Though he knew the Tianling Sect Master wouldn’t leave any message for him in such a place, he still wanted to try.

The shopkeeper was a Golden Core Cultivator who introduced himself as surnamed He. Upon seeing Gao Chunqiu, he smiled and asked what the Senior needed.

Gao Chunqiu flashed his Identity Token quickly before He Cultivator’s eyes. He Cultivator looked surprised, then beamed with smiles. “So it’s a big customer. Please, come to the private room inside.”

He Cultivator led the way ahead, ushering Gao Chunqiu into a corridor behind the shop. He had Gao Chunqiu enter the private room first, then turned to fetch tea.

The tea cabinet was on a low side cabinet in the private room. When He Cultivator touched the tea tray on the cabinet, the next second, Gao Chunqiu felt his hairs stand on end. His whole body tensed like a startled bird, and his power surged violently!

In an instant, He Cultivator’s figure seemed like a puff of clear wind as he reached the door, poised to flee. But Gao Chunqiu was even faster than the wind. His fingers abruptly elongated into a massive bird claw—long and slender, sharp, and wreathed in flames.

He clamped down deadly on He Cultivator’s neck and snarled in fury, “Why did you activate the formation to harm me?!”

He Cultivator couldn’t speak with his neck gripped. Due to the vast disparity in cultivation, He Cultivator soon rolled his eyes back.

In shock and rage, Gao Chunqiu directly slapped a palm on He Cultivator’s forehead, roughly sifting through his recent memories.

As a Tianling Sect duty cultivator stationed at the Boundary Gate, He Cultivator was naturally extremely vigilant. A month ago, he had received a sect message stating that a certain sect disciple holding this Identity Token had already fallen, and anyone presenting the token at sect outposts was a murderer to be eliminated on sight. If unable to kill, report back to the sect immediately.

Though Pei Jiye had beaten Gao Chunqiu earlier, and despite being a Soul Transformation cultivator, his outwardly displayed aura now felt only like Nascent Soul Stage.

He Cultivator, a Golden Core Stage cultivator, was theoretically a full major realm below Nascent Soul Stage and wouldn’t seek death on his own. Unfortunately, Gao Chunqiu had stepped right into the pill shop’s built-in formation trap.

One plus one minus, He Cultivator figured he had the advantage and could give it a try. If successful, he might even get transferred back to the sect as an inner deacon.

Once Gao Chunqiu understood the cause and effect, he felt utterly unwell.

What did it mean that the disciple holding this Identity Token had already fallen? That anyone with the token was a murderer?

Had his dear Shizun been certain he would die at Pei Ji’s hands? Or was everything Pei Ji said true, and in his Shizun’s mind, the moment he saw Pei Ji, he would inevitably turn traitor and become an enemy?

Gao Chunqiu was dazed for a long time, then felt like a joke and a clown.

He laughed lowly, his eyes bloodshot, plunging into extreme rage.

After a while, Gao Chunqiu looked down at the half-dead He Cultivator and barely regained his senses.

He took a deep breath, grabbed He Cultivator, and followed the formation-dispelling method from He Cultivator’s memories to leave the trap cage.

Gao Chunqiu’s face was wooden as he softly emitted a few pleasant low chirps. He Cultivator’s eyes glazed over, and he soon fell into a coma.

To be safe, Gao Chunqiu plucked a feather, crushed it into fragments, and used a secret art to implant it into He Cultivator’s Purple Mansion, blurring his memories of the day.

As long as no strong stimulus occurred, He Cultivator wouldn’t recall anyone visiting that day.

Unsure how long it would last, Gao Chunqiu left the pill shop expressionless, gripping his fingers tightly.

Standing on the bustling Lakeside Market street amid the crowds and lively hawking calls, Gao Chunqiu suddenly felt everything before him extraordinarily unreal. An intense loneliness and alienation welled up from the depths of his heart.

All his past cultivation years had been illusions and lies—what was left for him to persist in?

Pursuing the Great Dao? He had no particular obsession with it.

Ascending to immortality? He had become a demon race member; ascend to be someone’s mount?

Seeking revenge? Hahaha, ridiculous. He couldn’t even figure out who his enemies were anymore.

Gao Chunqiu’s body swayed twice. In the sunlight, his fingers were fair and slender, but he couldn’t forget the slender, scale-covered bird claw form that had abruptly extended when he lashed out earlier.

Why, why had he chosen to activate his Demon Race Bloodline and turn from a human cultivator into a demon race cultivator?!

“Yo, hit pretty hard, huh.”

A low, raspy voice filled with mockery rang out.

Gao Chunqiu snapped back to attention and whipped around to see a exquisite, beautiful yet venomous and deadly black bird perched on one leg, gripping a boat oar leaning against the gunwale. It preened its feathers while eyeing him mockingly with scarlet eyes.

“…Are you here to mock me?”

“No, I’m here to mock that fool from Tianling Sect.”

Pei Jiye said softly, “I told you, that fool hides his innate emotional deficiency behind the banner of cultivating the Emotionless Dao. He never believes the people around him, that they could truly hold trust and respect for him because of his protection, care, teachings, and gifts.”

“He doesn’t know, or can’t, how to weigh immeasurable human hearts and sentiments on a scale. So once he deems something untenable, he abandons it first.”

Pei Jiye’s voice seemed to emerge from the depths of the Underworld.

“Like with you. He doesn’t believe you hold a respectful master-disciple bond toward him, that this emotion would override your obsessions with family and revenge. He thinks you’ll definitely act against him for kin’s sake, so he discards you first.”

“What you care about—even your bond with him—means nothing in his eyes.”

Gao Chunqiu’s face paled to near transparency, all hope extinguished.

Pei Jiye laughed.