Chapter Eighty-Eight: Love and Faith

Zhan Bai had truly changed, and the change filled Qin Feng with an indescribable bitterness.

“Speak. What is this really for?”

At that moment, Qin Feng’s face was faintly twisted with anger as he shouted at Zhan Bai.

Zhan Bai’s transformation had utterly shattered the last thread of hope Qin Feng had for Sword Mountain of Shu, turning that hope instead into hatred.

“Qin Feng, go back. People all go through certain things and change because of them. To borrow your words, the art lies in the heart. Though I have comprehended the Ghost Sword method, that does not mean I will use it to bring ruin upon living beings. My own matters, I will settle myself. You do not need to worry about them.”

Though Zhan Bai’s expression was cold, Qin Feng still caught a trace of reluctance in his eyes.

After all, the two had once stood shoulder to shoulder through life and death, and each knew some of the other’s secrets. They were brothers who could trust one another’s backs.

Qin Feng knew that Zhan Bai did not want to drag him into certain matters.

But was Qin Feng the sort of man to back down?

“Zhan Bai, I believe you. But you must tell me the reason. Is it because of Fang Xinyi?”

Abruptly, Qin Feng mentioned Fang Xinyi, and Zhan Bai’s body also gave a sudden tremor.

So it was true.

“Zhan Bai, if you still take me as a friend, then tell me!”

Qin Feng’s face darkened like iron, looking as though he could kill someone on the spot. Zhan Bai sighed, and at last said, “I owe Xinyi. I do not have the ability to save her.”

Tears slid down the face of the once unyieldingly strong man before him, and yet Qin Feng felt a little relief in his heart. At the very least, Zhan Bai was still the Zhan Bai he knew. Though he had entered the demonic path, his heart remained kind after all.

Still, to break such a strong man down, this was clearly no ordinary matter.

“Doesn’t Sword Mountain of Shu have a method for treating damage to the soul? Wasn’t Li Haoran’s soul injury cured? If Li Haoran could be healed, then why not Fang Xinyi? Unless...” Thinking of one possibility, Qin Feng’s heart suddenly lurched, and his face filled with deep remorse. “Zhan Bai, was it because of Li Haoran that Fang Xinyi could not receive the treatment she deserved?”

Zhan Bai suddenly lifted his head, staring at Qin Feng in utter disbelief.

“Out of everyone in Sword Mountain of Shu, only four people know about Li Haoran’s soul injury. How would you know?”

It was as Qin Feng had thought.

From Zhan Bai’s expression, Qin Feng had already found his answer.

“I’m sorry, Zhan Bai. I was the one who injured Li Haoran. Here is exactly what happened...”

On Ghost Sword Cliff, Qin Feng recounted everything Li Haoran had done in Luoyang Town, in full detail, including how he had used the soul of his mutated bloodline to wound Li Haoran’s soul.

After hearing Qin Feng’s account, Zhan Bai let out another long sigh.

“It was fate.”

Who would have imagined that things could be such an accident of timing?

Yet Zhan Bai did not have the slightest intention of blaming Qin Feng. Instead, he changed the subject and said bitterly, “Qin Feng, there is no need for you to feel guilty over this. Even if Li Haoran’s soul had not been injured, Xinyi and I still would never have obtained the Seven Spirit Immortal Lotus.”

Those words struck like a thunderclap.

Qin Feng knew of the Seven Spirit Immortal Lotus: a wondrous immortal herb from antiquity. Its marvel lay in its ability to nourish the soul. Not only that, it could also survive within a human body for a period of time, slowly merging completely with the soul. In doing so, it would not only strengthen spiritual power, but also greatly improve one’s aptitude for cultivation.

Though the improvement of aptitude was merely an incidental effect, even a slight increase might allow a cultivator of originally excellent talent to rise to an unimaginable height in the future.

Thus, one could well imagine how precious this herb was.

“Why?” Qin Feng’s gaze was full of confusion.

“Because this Seven Spirit Immortal Lotus was originally prepared by my master and mistress for their only son, Li Haoran!” Zhan Bai suddenly burst into laughter, though the laughter carried helplessness.

This Seven Spirit Immortal Lotus was something Li Xingjian had discovered by chance during an outing for training. You surely understand how precious it is. Even the master himself could not bear to use it, all so he could leave it for his only son, Li Haoran.

Haoran—his given name meaning righteous and lofty integrity between heaven and earth. It was the name Li Xingjian and Qin Xinyue had chosen together for Li Haoran. One can imagine how much hope the two had placed in this son.

Compared with that, what were Zhan Bai and Fang Xinyi?

Zhan Bai was better off, being the leader of the Seven Cloud Swords among the younger disciples of Sword Mountain of Shu, and could barely be considered a figure of some standing. But Fang Xinyi? She was nothing more than a maidservant. Though nominally there was a master-disciple relationship, in truth she was at best just a girl kept around Qin Xinyue to run errands and be ordered about.

The two of them had no backing at Sword Mountain of Shu; all they had was their love for the sect.

But that sincerity of theirs had been mercilessly shattered by reality.

Before Li Haoran returned injured, Zhan Bai had gone to beg at the door of his master’s residence, kneeling there for three full days and nights. Yet from beginning to end, Li Xingjian and Qin Xinyue had never given him even the slightest hope.

Only cold faces, only evasions.

Their lives might have been humble, but Zhan Bai had never imagined that his master and mistress could be so heartless.

What was more, Qin Xinyue had poured salt in the wound, urging Zhan Bai to give up Fang Xinyi and promising to find him another decent companion as compensation for his spirit.

But can love be compensated?

At that moment, Zhan Bai’s heart turned cold, cold to the very bottom.

Several days later, Li Haoran returned wounded.

At last, they had a perfectly righteous excuse to shut Zhan Bai out.

If one were to put oneself in the master’s place, with one side a disciple and the other one’s own son, whom would one choose?

Thus Zhan Bai did not hate his master. He only hated himself for lacking strength, for lacking an illustrious background, for being such a fool that he did not even know his own origins, and for not knowing how to protect the woman he loved.

Because of this matter, Zhan Bai’s heart had utterly frozen.

He knew that even if Li Haoran had not been injured, his master still would never have been willing to part with the Seven Spirit Immortal Lotus to save Fang Xinyi. Li Haoran’s injury had only, at the proper moment, given that cold and indifferent couple a reason to refuse him.

Thus, after that, Zhan Bai’s temperament changed completely.

He became distant, terribly distant.

As for entering the demonic path, Zhan Bai cast his gaze toward the Heavenly Mystery Boundless Sword, yet for a long time he said nothing.

Qin Feng knew this might involve another secret.

Without pressing him, Qin Feng turned his own gaze to the Heavenly Mystery Boundless Sword. After a flicker of purple light in his eyes, killing intent suddenly surged within them.

“It’s the Blood Corpse! He’s not dead?”

Zhan Bai must have known about this. Could it be that the Blood Corpse had controlled Zhan Bai and led him into the demonic path?

No. Inside the Heavenly Mystery Boundless Sword, the Blood Corpse’s fragmentary clone was extremely weak and simply could not pose any threat to Zhan Bai. Then why...?

“Most likely, it was for Fang Xinyi.”

Qin Feng sighed.

When he had first brought Fang Xinyi back, Qin Feng already knew that if this woman could not be healed, she would become a lifelong inner demon for Zhan Bai.

Now it seemed that the unfortunate guess had been right.

What did this mean? Most likely the Blood Corpse had taken the initiative to appear and speak with Zhan Bai, and the two had reached some sort of agreement. At the root of it all was still the question of how to save Fang Xinyi.

Before that, belief no longer mattered.

Love was everything.

Qin Feng did not expose it.

Everyone has secrets; Qin Feng was no exception.

Though each person chooses a different road, each road has its purpose. For Zhan Bai, the struggle between love and belief had already become a kind of endless torment of the spirit...