Bai Fanlu had a dream, or rather, several dreams. But he could hardly remember them, except for the last one.

Surrounded by impenetrable darkness, an endless void, there was a voice—both strange and familiar—murmuring words he couldn’t understand.

The voice said, “I once thought that dying was the hardest thing in the world, and living was easy. But now… I find that living for you is much harder.”

“So, if one day, you no longer wish for me to live, I will gladly comply with your desire.”

“However, you must do it yourself, only then will I be at peace.”

“Otherwise… I will die with regret.”

Bai Fanlu suddenly opened his eyes. Those last words, “die with regret,” echoed in his mind, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

He turned his head in confusion and saw Ling Qingzi sitting by the bedside.

Bai Fanlu wanted to speak, but his throat was dry and tight, and he couldn’t make a sound.

Ling Qingzi looked down at him, raised his hand, and gently touched his forehead. A cool sensation flowed down his throat, like a refreshing rain after a long drought.

But even after casting the spell, Ling Qingzi didn’t withdraw his hand. Instead, he smoothed Bai Fanlu’s hair at the edge of his forehead, continuing to gently pat him.

Ling Qingzi’s hand was neither warm nor cold, and the soft, rhythmic pats were as gentle as a breeze, carrying a calming force that reminded Bai Fanlu of his grandmother soothing him to sleep.

The fear Bai Fanlu had brought back from the dream miraculously disappeared. He couldn’t help but look up at Ling Qingzi, whose slightly lowered eyes were as warm as his touch. When Ling Qingzi gazed at him, it inexplicably made Bai Fanlu feel at ease.

“Master,” Bai Fanlu called softly.

Ling Qingzi’s eyes flickered, as if surprised, before he responded, “Yes, I’m here.”

Looking past Ling Qingzi, Bai Fanlu saw the furnishings of the room and realized that he was not in his own room but in Ling Qingzi’s Sanmu Residence.

But how had he returned to Tianshu Sect?

He only remembered…

As he recalled, the blood drained from Bai Fanlu’s face, his newly calmed heart once again grew restless, his chest heaving violently as he sat up on the bed.

Ling Qingzi quietly watched him, his hand moving from Bai Fanlu’s forehead to his back, gently patting him.

Bai Fanlu hugged his knees, burying his head in them. After a long while, he said, “Master, I…”

He hesitated, but Ling Qingzi understood. He said, “I’ll step out for a while. You should rest.”

Bai Fanlu responded with a muffled sound.

After the door closed, Bai Fanlu lifted his head and looked at himself. He was dressed in his clean white disciple robes, just as he had been before he left the mountain.

But Bai Fanlu knew, everything was entirely different now.

This Sanmu Residence was not a place he should be. His mind was blank, and without thinking further, he decided to return to his own small pond. He would deal with everything else later.

Bai Fanlu got down from the bed and pushed the door open.

After he left, Ling Qingzi’s figure appeared, watching Bai Fanlu’s unsteady steps for a long time.

To return to his own place, Bai Fanlu had to pass through other disciples’ residences. In his daze, he forgot that he could teleport, so he walked as if in a trance.

A few people in the courtyard saw him and began whispering, “Hey, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“That Tianshu Sect’s senior disciple is actually a demon.”

“What? Then how can he still be here? Doesn’t Immortal Ling Qingzi care?”

“Shh, of course he does. He must be protecting him…”

“But no matter how protective he is, he can’t shelter a demon, right? Our master was killed by a demon, yet he still keeps a demon here. Isn’t he afraid the other immortal sects will be displeased?”

Are they disciples from Chengying Sect?

Bai Fanlu stopped in his tracks, and those people immediately fell silent.

Although he wasn’t fully conscious at the time, one scene remained in his memory. He had been hovering in the air, looking down at the collapsed houses below. His only thought was to cast a barrier for the people under the eaves. At that moment, demonic energy indeed surrounded him.

But he had demonic blood in him all along. He had always known this day would come, so it didn’t matter. As long as he could control himself, he would still be him. What did it matter what others said?

Bai Fanlu continued walking, but those people behind him were not smart enough to stop their chatter.

Still talking? Fine, he had been looking for a target to vent his anger, and here they were, volunteering to be his punching bags.

Bai Fanlu let out a light hum, and with a flick of his fingers inside his sleeve, several cries of pain echoed behind him. Those people immediately clutched their mouths and fell to the ground, rolling around like balls.

No harm done, just a few days of toothache, unable to speak.

This little venting made Bai Fanlu feel much better. His steps became lighter as he neared his residence, but suddenly he encountered three more inconsiderate individuals.

Once again, they were disciples of Chengying Sect.

Facing him directly, these few were utterly ungracious, even starting to mock Bai Fanlu to his face.

“Some people really have thick skin. Even the Immortal couldn’t get rid of him.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Is he even human? Clearly, he’s a demon.”

“It’s not thick skin; it’s shamelessness. If I were him, I’d go back to the demon cave as soon as possible. Otherwise, when both sides reject him, where will he go?”

Bai Fanlu clenched his hand inside his sleeve. Now he understood why he had woken up in Sanmu Residence and not his own room—because this place was full of buzzing flies.

Killing flies with bare hands—disgusting!

Bai Fanlu was about to teleport when he suddenly heard a youthful voice approaching from afar.

“You people, my senior brother was clearly framed by the demon lord and accidentally went astray in his cultivation. He’s already recovered, so how can you speak of him this way?”

It was Yun Yi, accompanied by a female disciple of Tianshu Sect.

So, they had publicly claimed it was a case of demonic possession?

Bai Fanlu was pondering this when the two of them landed in front of him. Yun Yi’s words were somewhat polite, but the female disciple, who was about his height, was much more outspoken.

She put one hand on her hip and pointed at the group, shouting loudly, “How dare you slander my senior brother! I’ll beat you all back to that wretched Chengying Sect of yours, which is the real demon cave! Every one of you came from a demon cave!”

The group was caught off guard by this and stood there, wide-eyed, not daring to retort.

Yun Yi whispered excitedly, “Senior Sister Jinghong, well done!”

Bai Fanlu couldn’t help but smile. Just as he was about to tell them not to be so aggressive, the group, who had been silenced earlier, now found their courage again. Perhaps they saw Yun Yi’s youth and Jinghong’s lone status as a female, and they dared to talk back.

“Our sect was attacked by the demon clan; we are not a demon cave!”

“How funny!” Jinghong sneered sarcastically, “All the other sects are fine, so why was yours destroyed? Oh, I get it, it’s because you’re incompetent!”

“Exactly!” Yun Yi added, “You couldn’t protect your land, and now you’re being sheltered. You should know your place and keep quiet. Do you know what it means to be a guest and not make a fuss? You’re embarrassing yourselves, and I’m ashamed for you!”

With his senior sister leading the charge, Yun Yi grew bolder. He spoke fluently without stuttering, and after finishing, he pulled down his eyelids to make a face at them.

Jinghong was both surprised and pleased, patting Yun Yi’s shoulder and proudly lifting her chin at the group.

“How our senior brother is has nothing to do with you! I advise you to watch your mouths. If you dare speak ill of him again, I’ll cut out your tongues and throw you out of Tianshu Sect! Let’s see how you cry when you encounter a real demon!”

The group’s faces turned red with anger, but they couldn’t respond.

“You… you all!”

One of them still resisted, shouting hysterically, “He is a demon! My senior brother saw it with his own eyes! He even killed people! He killed many people!”

Yun Yi was about to retort, but Bai Fanlu pulled him back. He stepped forward, fixing his cold gaze on the speaker, and smiled coldly.

“Oh? Which eye did your senior brother use to see me kill? The left or the right?”

The man next to him trembled and took a step back.

Bai Fanlu noticed.

He didn’t care if they called him a demon because he was one. But accusing him of wanton murder was a different matter.

After all, he remembered something. Among the people he had saved from the collapsing buildings, there seemed to be someone from Chengying Sect.

Unfortunate. If he had known, he would have just sent them on their way to the afterlife. What was the point of saving such ungrateful and slanderous people?

Bai Fanlu, still smiling, walked closer. “So it was you, huh? Were these the eyes that saw me kill?”

The man, who had initially been mesmerized by Bai Fanlu’s smile, snapped out of it and realized the danger. His eyes widened in fear, and he shook his head frantically.

“I… I… I didn’t…”

“Didn’t see it? Or didn’t what?”

Bai Fanlu took another step forward, and as his smile widened, a faint breeze began to stir around them.

The man, unable to bear the pressure of Bai Fanlu’s spiritual energy, collapsed to his knees with a thud. His head shook even more violently, as if it might fall off.

Bai Fanlu frowned in disgust. He had thought the man would have more backbone.

The man, now groveling on the ground, couldn’t even look Bai Fanlu in the eye, babbling incoherently, “I didn’t… didn’t see… No! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me who spread the rumors!”

Yun Yi, furious at what he heard, rushed over and kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying.

“So it was you spreading rumors behind my senior brother’s back! Slandering him! If I don’t teach you a lesson today, I’m not Yun Yi!”

This was probably the harshest threat Yun Yi could muster.

Bai Fanlu, seeing Yun Yi’s face turn red with anger and his breath quicken, couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle his hair. “Don’t get so worked up. It’s not worth it for someone like him…”

“But…”

“But he deserves to die.”

The sudden cold statement made Bai Fanlu turn around in surprise. It was Wang Chongyu who had spoken.

“And he should be blinded too.”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Wang Chongyu’s sword flashed, and the man kneeling on the ground suddenly clutched his eyes, writhing in agony.

In the next instant, his figure dissolved into black mist, with demonic energy swirling around him before condensing into fragments of dark crystals amidst the surrounding immortal energy.

Everyone present was shocked, including the Chengying Sect disciples who had lost their teeth earlier.

“Did you all see clearly? This is what a real demon looks like.” Wang Chongyu’s gaze swept across the Chengying Sect disciples.

Bai Fanlu, his expression complex, looked at Wang Chongyu, who met his gaze and nodded slightly.

With a flick of his wrist, the sword light that had just been revealed made it clear that it was Ling Qingzi’s “Icicle.”

This meant that Ling Qingzi had sanctioned this action.

The Chengying Sect disciples exchanged glances and eventually bowed their heads in silence.

Wang Chongyu’s voice rang out, loud and clear, “This matter concerns the reputation of Tianshu Sect’s disciples. The alliance of the four mountains has already reached a conclusion. If anyone dares to spread false rumors again, don’t blame Tianshu Sect for being unkind.”

The group muttered their agreement, not daring to lift their heads as they slinked away.

“Look at them. The situation outside is so chaotic, and all they do is hide like turtles. Aside from gossiping behind others’ backs, what else can they do? Master is truly too kind. If it were me, I’d throw them out right now and let them fend for themselves!”

“Senior Sister Jinghong, I never realized you were so good at arguing!”

Yun Yi looked up at her with admiration, and Jinghong blushed, knocking him on the head and tugging at his topknot.

“You’re the one! You always stutter when talking to Senior Brother, but today you were as fluent as anything. It seems you stutter for him and speak fluently for him too!”

Yun Yi, embarrassed, straightened his hair and turned to see Bai Fanlu staring at them absentmindedly. He quickly asked, “Senior Brother, are you okay?”

He couldn’t have been angered, right?

“Are you feeling unwell?” Wang Chongyu asked as well. “You’ve been asleep for three days, and it might be uncomfortable now that you’re awake. Let me help you back.”

Bai Fanlu felt a mix of emotions. They were all so caring and protective of him, but in reality, he was indeed a demon. And that scene had been witnessed by many people. Even if he hadn’t harmed anyone, it didn’t change the fact that his demonic energy had awakened.

Thinking about this, Bai Fanlu suddenly realized that when he had used his spiritual energy earlier, he hadn’t noticed any demonic energy leaking out. Strange.

“I… I also want to help Senior Brother back.” Yun Yi was reluctant to leave.

Jinghong teased him, “Oh, come on, Brother Chongyu is here. It’s just a few steps. Are you still worried? Come with me to pick herbs!”

She had taken a liking to bullying Yun Yi and pretended to hit him on the head again.

This time, Yun Yi dodged quickly, grinning as he ran away, waving back at Bai Fanlu and Wang Chongyu. “We’re going now!”

Watching their lively figures, Bai Fanlu felt a sudden wave of inexplicable melancholy, as if this moment was incredibly precious, and he might never see it again, making him want to keep watching a little longer.

He wasn’t the original Bai Fanlu, but for some reason, these junior disciples felt like they truly belonged in his life.

And Tianshu Sect, with its drifting clouds, immortal cranes, mountain breezes, and singing springs… everything…

Bai Fanlu thought he was too greedy.

And as long as Bai Fanlu stood there, Wang Chongyu stayed with him. When Bai Fanlu finally came to his senses, Wang Chongyu was still there, waiting patiently. Seeing Bai Fanlu look his way, Wang Chongyu said softly, “Let’s go inside.”

“Okay.”

Bai Fanlu didn’t refuse Wang Chongyu’s help, and after sitting down by the bed, Wang Chongyu also sat down beside him.

Bai Fanlu actually had many questions, but he didn’t know where to start.

In the end, Wang Chongyu chose for him, going straight to the most piercing question that Bai Fanlu didn’t want to face.

He said, “It was Yun Zhan who brought you back.”