Tainted Heart | Cultivation World Series 3 (BL)

C H A P T E R 4 3

— • —

Chapter 43

Horrifying cries, along with the sound of the spark of the burning houses, were heard from the capital of the Yun Sect. Even though the three of them were only three steps late from the incident, the damage caused by the panic of the sect disciples and the citizens was enough to destroy half of the town in Yun Sect. Lian Ren glanced at Shao Ling; his brows were frowning from the screams of the citizens.

From the corner of Shao Ling's mouth, he heard him lowly mutter, "It's all my fault. All my fault."

Lian Ren's eyes widened, his feet stomped down the ground as he heavily walked to his Shizun's side. "Shizun, snap out of it! It's not your fault, okay? None of this is your fault. Shizun, calm down. Please."

Shao Ling was no longer listening to him. His long and ivory hands were trembling, and his sooty black eyes were glancing left and right, up and down, to the point that it's uncontrollable where he would look. Lian Ren grabbed Shao Ling's chin; his hands were also trembling, and thoughts of blaming himself started surfacing inside his mind. Lian Ren heaved a heavy breath and stared at Shizun's afraid eyes. He raised his left thumb up to his Shizun's eyes, then gently closed down his lid. He whispered, "It's okay, Shizun. You're with me. Everything is fine."

As he closed Shao Ling's eyes, free from witnessing the suffering of the very people he protected and sheltered, he started to calm down. Lian Ren let out a sigh of relief and turned to Xianglo Luo. "You brought us here in a hurry, so I assume you have a plan, yes?"

Xianglo Luo, who was staring at the chaos, shifted his gaze in Lian Ren's direction. "Who do you think I am? I'm not assigned as a Messenger of Heaven Realm for nothing."

Lian Ren didn't answer and kept his hands covering Shao Ling's ears. "The Yun Sect Elders started this chaos. They spread the rumor that the Demon King resurrected and showed a dead corpse embedded with the demon king as evidence. I disguised myself as a Yun Sect citizen to fish out more information. According to some people from the barns, the Yun Sect Elders visited the small oprphanage in the North Town of Yun Sect. A total of fifty children were offered as sacrifices, and half of the sacrifices were beggars from the streets and mortal criminals who were detained by the Yun Sect."

Lian Ren gritted his teeth and glanced at Shao Ling, who was staring down at the ground, bewildered and in a daze. If Shao Ling heard what Xianglo Luo said, he would certainly be out of control. Lian Ren knows it better because he knows how much Shao Ling cares about mortals, to the point that instead of expanding the land of Yun Sect, he used the empty plains to build a town for the homeless instead. Lian Ren gave Xianglo Luo a meaningful moment as he gently guided Shao Ling in the opposite direction to the Yun Sect main gate. They were just about to start leaving when a mixture of a man and a woman's voice echoed from behind.

"Shizun!"

"Lian Ren Shidi!"

Lian Ren turned around, followed by Shao Ling. They noticed two figures from afar wearing the embroidered cloud pattern of the Yun Sect robes. These figures were running towards them, until their faces slowly became familiar as they approached Lian Ren and Shao Ling's direction.

"Shizun, you've arrived!" Jian Jie said as he let out a quick breath of relief.

"Shizun, Shidi, I think we need a lot to talk about what happened, but Shizun's safety is more important to this. I'm sure I can entrust this to you, right, Shidi?" Xin Mei said with a half smile.

Lian Ren was just about to answer when he felt Shao Ling's hand roughly shake his hand on his ears and spoke in a disapproving expression. "No matter how important I am to the Yun Sect, it is very undignified for a master to flee while his disciples sacrifice their lives."