Upon hearing this, Ye Huaiyao was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.
Cheng Yuan had never imagined he would react like this. His gaze suddenly sharpened, though the corners of his lips curled into an amused smile. “What are you laughing at?”
Ye Huaiyao laughed. “I’m already a cripple. Why bother coming over to make fun of me, Cheng-shixiong?”
Cheng Yuan said, “I’m merely stating a fact. Otherwise, why would Yan Jin take his anger over the Illustrious Sage out on you?”
Ye Huaiyao: “Oh?”
“There was once a famous painter whose skill was extraordinary, and whose portraits were considered masterpieces. Many beauties dreamed their entire lives of having him paint their likeness.
Yet after seeing the Illustrious Sage, the painter felt that no matter how much effort he put in, he could not capture even a fraction of his appearance. After five years of failing to do so, he actually blinded himself, simply so that he would no longer be distracted by the sights and sounds of the world and could devote himself entirely to painting that one man.”
Cheng Yuan gave a cold laugh. “And during those five years before he went blind, Ji Lanying, a disciple of the Daoyan Sect, also sought out that painter and asked him to paint his portrait—”
The moment Cheng Yuan began telling the story, Ye Huaiyao sensed that something was off. The more he listened, the more familiar it seemed. It was not until Cheng Yuan mentioned the name “Ji Lanying” that he suddenly remembered. That was the protagonist’s name.
A protagonist who was adored by everyone naturally had plenty of followers around him. Even the Illustrious Sage, whom Cheng Yuan had just mentioned, had been peerlessly magnificent in life, yet after his death, his Dao companion had quickly fallen in love with Ji Lanying.
And this Third Young Master Yan was one of his many admirers.
The plot in the book had gone like this. Ji Lanying asked the painter to paint his portrait, but the painter refused, saying that for the rest of his life, he wished to paint only the Illustrious Sage.
Yan Jin and the others, wanting to please Ji Lanying, had therefore pressured the painter. Instead, they angered him, and he responded by insulting them.
He said that Ji Lanying possessed nothing but a pretty face and no bearing whatsoever, that he was hideously ugly, and that he did not possess even a fraction of the the Illustrious Sage’s beauty.
The painter’s judgement naturally carried authority. Once those words were spoken, Ji Lanying lost a great deal of face. He had originally become famous for his appearance, and after this incident, he was frequently mocked.
By the usual conventions of novels, a protagonist suffering a temporary setback naturally meant that he would soon return the humiliation with an even more spectacular blow.
Sure enough, the incident provoked the fury of many of Ji Lanying’s admirers.
Ye Huaiyao had a habit of skipping chapters when he read, so he had no idea what happened afterwards. In any case, the result was that Yan Jin had discovered that Ye Huaiyao resembled the Illustrious Sage, and, unable to afford to offend the latter, had decided to take his anger out on Ye Huaiyao instead.
“So now you should understand that everything I did was for your own good.”
After finishing his account of the past, Cheng Yuan took two steps forward, subtly drawing closer to Ye Huaiyao. His tone sounded both sincere and seductive. “Your opponent in the grand competition was originally someone else. If I hadn’t found a way to put you in the same group and cripple your cultivation so that Yan Jin could vent his anger, you would probably already be dead.”
Cheng Yuan continued, “And now Yan Jin has suggested to the sect leader that you go with the other disciples to Ghost Wind Forest to exterminate the demons. That’s why I’ve come.”
Ghost Wind Forest was no ordinary place. Its environment was exceptionally harsh, with resentful spirits everywhere and demons in abundance. An ordinary person would not make it three steps before losing their life.
Just a few days earlier, Xuantian Tower had issued a call for action, joining forces with the cultivation sects near Ghost Wind Forest to send their disciples there to exterminate the demons.
The mission was extremely dangerous even for ordinary people, let alone Ye Huaiyao, whose cultivation had essentially been crippled. For the sect leader to send him along was tantamount to sending him to his death. Cheng Yuan had heard about this and come to warn him.
He patiently explained the advantages and disadvantages, finally revealing his true purpose. “There isn’t much time. Someone may come to take you up the mountain shortly to test your spiritual power. Don’t pay any attention to them. Hide yourself first, and I’ll deal with the rest.”
Cheng Yuan’s tone was sincere and moving, as though he genuinely had his friend’s best interests at heart. Ye Huaiyao, just as expected, fell silent for a moment, appearing almost swayed.
Cheng Yuan remained calm and composed, even wearing a faint smile, but inwardly he was already utterly confident.
His delicious prey had unknowingly stepped into the carefully woven trap. The next step was simply to close the net and enjoy the spoils.
“Sigh.”
At last, Ye Huaiyao sighed as though troubled, though a mischievous smile flickered through his eyes.
“Cheng-shixiong, you’ve said so much. If I don’t say a few heartfelt words in return, I’d seem terribly cold.”
Cheng Yuan paused. He suddenly had a feeling that these “heartfelt words” might not be anything good.
Immediately afterwards, he heard Ye Huaiyao ask him bluntly, “Cheng-shixiong, are you in love with me?”
The question was so abrupt that it completely exceeded Cheng Yuan’s expectations. A thousand calculations flashed through his mind, and he decided it would be best to admit it outright.
Cheng Yuan said, “Yes. You—always knew?”
“No, I only guessed just now. It wasn’t difficult to work out.”
Ye Huaiyao clasped his hands behind his back, looking utterly at ease.
“Yan Jin wants to kill me to avenge Ji Lanying. Cheng-shixiong could have warned me in advance, but you didn’t. Instead, you insisted on taking matters into your own hands, interfering in the grand competition and ‘helping me’ in your own way so that you could achieve your objective.
You saved my life, crippled my spiritual meridians, became the only person in the entire Chensu Sect I could rely upon, and then offered me the help I needed most.”
As Ye Huaiyao accurately identified his intentions one by one, Cheng Yuan’s expression changed subtly.
“Shixiong, you’ve certainly made a good plan…”
Ye Huaiyao raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down, his eyes filled with interest. “Unfortunately, I refuse.”
Cheng Yuan said, “You know perfectly well that everything I’ve done was for your sake, and that you can only rely on me now, yet you would still reject my feelings?”
His face remained calm, but his voice carried the ominous atmosphere of a storm about to break. “Do you know what you’re saying?”
Ye Huaiyao paid no attention to the danger in his tone. He rubbed his chin and said, “To be honest, quite a few people have liked me from childhood to adulthood. You’re merely one of them.”
Cheng Yuan: “…”
“Some people admire my sense of humour, some admire my upright character, and as for obvious reasons such as my handsome appearance and extraordinary bearing, there are plenty who like me for those.”
Ye Huaiyao paused, raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Cheng-shixiong, think about it. If everyone who liked me plotted to cripple my spiritual meridians and take away my freedom, if you were in my position, would you be able to stand it?”
Cheng Yuan stared at Ye Huaiyao and discovered, for the first time in his life, that he too could be rendered speechless.
It was not that he had realised his actions were excessive. Rather, Ye Huaiyao’s attitude had completely departed from what Cheng Yuan had expected.
At that moment, Ye Huaiyao’s handsome young face still carried the innocence that belonged to an eighteen-year-old, yet his whole person was calm and untroubled, carefree and self-possessed. He gave Cheng Yuan the strange impression that there was nothing in this world capable of restraining him, like the bright moon high in the heavens, beautiful yet impossible to reach.
It was as though the person standing before him was simply not worth Ye Huaiyao’s attention, nor worth his concern.
Naturally, Cheng Yuan could not possibly have imagined all the twists and turns Ye Huaiyao had experienced. By this point, their conversation had reached an impasse.
Just as the two stood facing each other in silence, two inner disciples dressed in dark-patterned Daoist robes suddenly hurried over from the other side and came directly before them.
They saluted Cheng Yuan, after which the disciple on the left said to Ye Huaiyao:
“The sect leader has ordered that all disciples willing to take part in the extermination of the demons in Ghost Wind Forest are to proceed to Xinhe Hall on the main peak to have their cultivation tested. Ye Huaiyao, hurry along.”
With Cheng Yuan standing beside him, they did not dare to say anything particularly offensive, but an air of natural arrogance nevertheless showed in their manner.
Although they could not help being dazzled by his appearance, no matter how handsome he was, he was still nothing more than a cripple. There was no need to pay him any attention.
Ye Huaiyao seemed not to notice at all. With a smile at his lips, he cupped his hands and acknowledged the order, his manner calm and composed, neither servile nor overbearing.
His behaviour caused all of Cheng Yuan’s calculations to fall through.
Anger surged within him, but when he turned and saw Ye Huaiyao’s handsome, jade-like face, with several strands of hair falling beside his cheek and seeming to make him shine like a luminous pearl, he simply could not let him go.
—Some people only learn to recognise reality after suffering a proper setback.
Cheng Yuan said in a low voice, “I’ll go with you.”
The two disciples naturally did not dare object. Ye Huaiyao smiled indifferently, and the group headed towards Xinhe Hall together.
As they made their way up the mountain, the warmth of spring filled the air, flowers bloomed in profusion, and the birdsong was like the sound of flutes. The scenery was exceptionally beautiful.
A fallen flower was carried by the breeze onto Ye Huaiyao’s sleeve. He picked it up and returned it to the tip of the branch. With a gentle flick of his hand, the half-open flower bud somehow bloomed anew upon it.
The flower branch swayed lightly, as though nodding in thanks, and a voice sounded in Ye Huaiyao’s mind:
“They know perfectly well that you can’t use your spiritual power, yet they still want you to take part in the test before the hall. They simply want to prove in front of everyone that you are now a worthless cripple. Boy, your death is fast approaching.”
Ye Huaiyao smiled brightly. “That’s right.”
The voice said, “A true man ought to have some backbone. Those people look down on you, so you should retaliate fiercely and vent your anger. Now… is there anything you need to ask me to do?”
The speaker was called the Universal Illuminating Mirror*.
True to his name, his original form had actually been a treasured mirror. He had taken human form several thousand years ago and was a genuine senior expert of his generation.
However, several hundred years ago, an upheaval had caused the Universal Illuminating Mirror’s physical form to be forced back into its original form as a mirror. His primordial spirit, however, had survived, drifting aimlessly with nowhere to reside.
It was only this time, when Ye Huaiyao had been injured and fallen unconscious, that the Universal Illuminating Mirror had entered his consciousness and helped him recover his missing Ying Po and Li Po*. Once his soul had become complete, Ye Huaiyao finally remembered his former identity as the Illustrious Sage of Xuantian Tower.
(*TN: In traditional Chinese cosmology, the hun and po are complementary aspects of the soul. The hun is associated with the ethereal, spiritual aspect of a person, while the po is associated with the corporeal, physical aspect. A person is traditionally believed to possess multiple hun and po, each associated with different aspects of the self. Ying Po is associated with vitality and spiritual essence, while Li Po is associated with physical strength and power. In this story, Ye Huaiyao had been missing these two po, leaving his soul incomplete until they were restored.)
At the same time, the Universal Illuminating Mirror simply decided to remain temporarily within Ye Huaiyao’s primordial spirit.
Their relationship was both adversarial and friendly. On the one hand, he had helped Ye Huaiyao enormously, and the two would chat whenever they had nothing else to do, getting along exceedingly well.
On the other hand, the Universal Illuminating Mirror was constantly trying to coax Ye Huaiyao into voluntarily begging for his assistance. That way, he could seize the opportunity to take over his body.
—Unfortunately, the boy was far too cunning and had never once fallen for it.
Ye Huaiyao said, “Ah, yes. There is indeed something important I’d like to ask you to help me with, Senior.”
The Universal Illuminating Mirror’s spirits lifted. “Go ahead!”
In a solemn tone, Ye Huaiyao said, “The pine-nut sweets you gave me last time were very sweet and delicious. I’d like another two pounds. I wouldn’t feel right asking for anything else…”
The Universal Illuminating Mirror: “…” Damn this kid.
He was the Universal Illuminating Mirror! The great demon whose name had once inspired fear throughout the world, an unparalleled figure of several thousand years ago, whose single promise was worth a thousand pieces of gold. And now this boy was treating him as a source of snacks and stuffing himself to his heart’s content!
Hadn’t he asked for two pounds only three days ago???
The Universal Illuminating Mirror could not refuse. He still needed to use his sweet words and treats to win Ye Huaiyao over and get him to ask for his help as soon as possible.
He could only swallow a mouthful of old blood and say resentfully, “Two pounds of sweets. Aren’t you afraid they’ll make you sick to death?”
Ye Huaiyao laughed. “It doesn’t matter. Once I’m dead, this body will be yours. Wouldn’t that be exactly what you want, Senior?”
Knowing that the other party had designs on him, Ye Huaiyao had never been remotely soft-hearted about exploiting the old man.
In any case, as long as the Universal Illuminating Mirror sent dreams to his followers, he could obtain whatever offerings he wanted.
As for how a celestial spirit managed to ask for something to eat every single day, Ye Huaiyao felt that it was hardly a problem. He merely had to make his skin a little thicker.
“A dignified the Illustrious Sage, and yet such a glutton. Truly an eye-opener.”
The Universal Illuminating Mirror had no way of dealing with him and could only vent his frustration verbally.
“This old man will be very interested to see how you’ll be laughed at after you suffer a crushing defeat in the test later!”
Author’s Note: [Yaoyao has rejected Cheng Yuan’s invitation to star in the “Domineering Immortal Lord’s Forced Love” script.]
There is no system. There is, however, an old man for Yaoyao to tease and who keeps snacks ready for him. He doesn’t have many scenes.
The male lead already appeared in Chapter 1, hahaha. Of course, it isn’t Cheng Yuan.
