"Lady Caizhi revealed to me that her master, the Leader of the Abyss Guild, had met you before you joined our Sect," Han Xuhan said, trying his best to simplify his encounter with that insidious woman.
The very first sentence he uttered made Mu Ran stand straight up at lightning speed, his countenance growing dark. In a murderous tone, he said, "Tell me everything she told you. Don't leave any details out! I want to see exactly how many lies she's fed Yaya over the years! She must have spouted the same garbage to you!"
Trying not to snort, Han Xuhan proceeded to do the exact opposite of what he was ordered to do.
"She told me that her master discovered at that time that you were an evil scourge who wanted to use Sister Ya as a cultivation tool. She did her best to protect Sister Ya from your evil clutches. In the end, although she had half a mind to kill you, she spared your life out of kindness and focused solely on protecting Sister Ya after you had taken away her 'special physique' somehow..."
Mu Ran barked out a vicious laugh as he trailed off.
"Sparing me out of kindness? She really said that? Hahaha! That bitch tried to poison my damned soul! Her definition of kindness is truly one of a kind!"
"What actually happened at that time, martial brother?" Han Xuhan asked curiously. "As you can clearly guess, I don't quite believe her account of your history with Sister Ya. Could you clear up my confusion?"
Mu Ran's laugh faded, replaced by a solemn face.
"A great number of secrets are intertwined in this matter, and I can't reveal many of them to you because of....reasons."
With a deadpan expression, Han Xuhan said, "At least give me a basic outline that proves your innocence in the matter. We'll definitely meet Lady Caizhi and her master again in the future. It's best that I have some ability to counter some of the defamatory words harming your reputation."
Mu Ran chewed on his tongue for a few seconds before beginning to explain his own version of the story.
"I've known Qing Ya since as far back as I can recall, and even during my earliest memories, I used to feel a sense of great... 'hunger' towards her, a hunger that was neither physical, nor lustful.
By the time I could read, the secrets of the world of immortality opened up to me through the merit of a secret tome belonging to my dying clan. I discovered the concept of Physiques at that time, guided through its intricacies by my older brother."
"Wait, you had an older brother?" Han Xuhan asked, somewhat alarmed.
Since when did xianxia protagonists have brothers?
"Yes, I did, and I still do now. He was the one who procured the admission invitation to the Crimson Snow Sect for me. He lives back in my hometown, looking after our ancestral land. Anyway, back then, I tried to test out what kind of special physique Qing Ya possessed with the help of my brother. The result wasn't surprising. Her special physique seemed to be tailor-made to complement mine! It explained why my awakened physique would make me feel so desperate to be near her all the time!
But right when we were about to conclude the test, something unexpected took place. If I divulge anything about the incident, it might bring you a calamity to face. Let's just...say that we realized that the special physique she possessed was not exactly a blessing. If she really ended up blooming into the full potential brought by it, absolute misery would shadow her for the rest of her life.
Obviously, someone as righteous as me could not let that scenario play out! With my brother's assistance, I sped up the maturation of her physique and used the problems created by such early maturation to convince her family to let me separate her from her physique."
"You can do that? Is separating someone from their Physique easy?" Han Xuhan interrupted him midway, his eyes aglow.
"Not really," Mu Ran replied. "Or I would have suggested the same for your physique, under- I mean, martial brother. I used the attraction between our two complementing physiques to separate it from her. That wouldn't work on you. If, someday, you stumble upon a physique that perfectly complements yours, then I'll be more than happy to help, even if the other party doesn't agree to be a part of the process!"
"...Oh." Han Xuhan's enthusiasm waned. He doubted he could find such a match made in heaven. Instead of worrying about such far-fetched possibilities, he focused on the matter at hand and asked, "What did you do after that? Was the problem solved? Did Sister Ya become free from this...potential disaster awaiting her in the future?"
Mu Ran nodded, proudly adding, "That's right. But that bitch from the Abyss Guild was convinced that I was trying to destroy Yaya's fortune. So she tried to attack me and... let's say that did not go well for her, hehehe."
Han Xuhan mentally took note of the fact that Mu Ran had expertly avoided saying what he did with the separated physique. According to Lady Caizhi, he had absorbed it himself. It also supported the memories he had seen where two separate blessings, the Twin Devil Physique and the Dragon Reverend Physique had been fused together to form Mu Ran's new physique.
Both parties in this incident were hiding part of the truth, adding pinches of lies, and desperately trying to prove themselves as the selfless savior.
What a tangled web of schemes!
"With that out of the way, shouldn't you be explaining how or why your conflict with that powerful senior has any connection to my past?" Mu Ran asked suddenly, remembering why they were having this conversation in the first place.
Han Xuhan was quick to answer.
"Of course! Where was I? Right, back there in the ship, Lady Caizhi asked me to backstab you over two justifications. Firstly, it would be a favor to the Abyss Guild if I managed to save Sister Ya from your hands. Secondly, she promised to assist me with the technique that would allow me to retain my future as a cultivator. In fact, I might even be able to surpass my current potential with the help of that technique!"
Grief-stricken, Mu Ran replied, "So you sacrificed your future for me, Xuhan? You refused to accept her offer?"
Han Xuhan nodded emphatically. "What else do you expect me to do? Accept the deal? Impossible! I won't betray my brother!"
Lips tightened, Mu Ran seemed to think of something.
"Wait here for a moment," he said as he sprinted back into Xiao Wu's hut. He returned outside soon with a slim iron-wrought crown in his hand.
"I don't have anything to express my gratitude at the moment. But this treasure should be enough as a token. I promise I'll do my best to look for a method that can help you keep cultivating, Xuhan!"
Han Xuhan didn't really want to take it. He knew it was the crown Mu Ran had gotten while traveling through the void-zone behind the spatial rifts.
"Brother Ran, it's not necessary-"
"Take it. I won't be able to sleep peacefully without at least returning a token of my gratitude. It's not much, I know. Don't kick up a fuss over a small gift."
Han Xuhan slung it on his waist and was about to continue his tale. But Mu Ran hit a spot of the story he was hoping to avoid, saying, "Xuhan, how exactly did that woman request that you betray me? What's the process of this betrayal plan?"
"...Well, it's not exactly a direct betrayal, to be honest. She wanted me to trick you. Firstly, I would come begging on your door for the Blessing Robbing Technique that you used on Sister Qing Ya. Someone as magnanimous as you would obviously be moved by my begging and give me the technique so that I can go rob someone else's Physique."
Mu Ran scoffed. "What idiocy! Only someone who has no special physique can attract another random cultivator's physique. My case was special because of my connection to Qing Ya. It's so apparent that she was trying to trick you into getting something that you'd have no use for."
"I didn't know that at the time," Han Xuhan said with a shrug. "Anyway, after I tricked you into giving the technique away, she wanted me to hand it over to her. At the same time, she would use other means to test you, the aim of which would be to force you to agree to a deal."
"What deal?"
"To return Sister Ya's Physique to her. They would ask you to do it to prove that you truly love her. They'd also try to manipulate you into thinking that Sister Ya would be willing to marry you if you make such a huge sacrifice-"
"Bullshit! Is she not willing to marry me now?! Why would I need to prove my love with something that would actually endanger her? Screw their deal!" Mu Ran jumped to his feet and began pacing around the yard like an enraged predator, muttering curses under his breath.
For some reason, a trace of guilt surfaced on his contorted face as his eyes darted around wildly, avoiding Han Xuhan's narrow gaze.
Han Xuhan chose this exact moment to strike with his ace card.
"Brother Ran, I haven't yet explained what connection all of this has with my decision to ambush Leng Qing."
Mu Ran's gaze jumped back to his face, his restless rage muted by a curiosity of greater volume.
"True, true. But is it important?"
Han Xuhan wasn't deterred by his disdain.
"Do you remember Leng Qing bragging to me about his nonsensical prediction? The day we invaded his sect, he had predicted that there would be nine of us. But in everyone's eyes, there were only four. However, you know of my cultivation technique more than others. So you can tell that if we count Zhanxian, Tun Shi Tian, Hai Yin Zhe, and my newest project, we'd make a team of eight members. So who's the ninth? Or is it a miscalculation on Leng Qing's part?"
Mu Ran's countenance grew heavier, his pacing slowing down as Xuhan continued.
"When Lady Caizhi was trying to convince me to betray you, she showed me some... memories. These memories belong to her master, the woman who came between you and Sister Ya all those years ago. In one of those memories, I found out that you have a foreign soul inside your body just like how I house Zhanxian and the other minions!"
Mu Ran completely went still as a statue, shock and fury overtaking every other emotion on his face as his biggest secret was revealed.
"Obviously, I realized at that time that the ninth member traced by Leng Qing was the foreign soul hiding inside you! My own cultivation method is no big secret, but I could guess that your case is special! You've never even told me, your closest confidante that you carry around a minion like I do! It must be one of your most guarded secrets! So what could I do, except silencing whoever had discovered such a massive secret of my martial brother? He left me with no choice! Even if I had to take a risk, I had to do my best to hide my biggest benefactor's secret!"
"Lady Caizhi revealed to me that her master, the Leader of the Abyss Guild, had met you before you joined our Sect," Han Xuhan said, trying his best to simplify his encounter with that insidious woman.
The very first sentence he uttered made Mu Ran stand straight up at lightning speed, his countenance growing dark. In a murderous tone, he said, "Tell me everything she told you. Don't leave any details out! I want to see exactly how many lies she's fed Yaya over the years! She must have spouted the same garbage to you!"
Trying not to snort, Han Xuhan proceeded to do the exact opposite of what he was ordered to do.
"She told me that her master discovered at that time that you were an evil scourge who wanted to use Sister Ya as a cultivation tool. She did her best to protect Sister Ya from your evil clutches. In the end, although she had half a mind to kill you, she spared your life out of kindness and focused solely on protecting Sister Ya after you had taken away her 'special physique' somehow..."
Mu Ran barked out a vicious laugh as he trailed off.
"Sparing me out of kindness? She really said that? Hahaha! That bitch tried to poison my damned soul! Her definition of kindness is truly one of a kind!"
"What actually happened at that time, martial brother?" Han Xuhan asked curiously. "As you can clearly guess, I don't quite believe her account of your history with Sister Ya. Could you clear up my confusion?"
Mu Ran's laugh faded, replaced by a solemn face.
"A great number of secrets are intertwined in this matter, and I can't reveal many of them to you because of....reasons."
With a deadpan expression, Han Xuhan said, "At least give me a basic outline that proves your innocence in the matter. We'll definitely meet Lady Caizhi and her master again in the future. It's best that I have some ability to counter some of the defamatory words harming your reputation."
Mu Ran chewed on his tongue for a few seconds before beginning to explain his own version of the story.
"I've known Qing Ya since as far back as I can recall, and even during my earliest memories, I used to feel a sense of great... 'hunger' towards her, a hunger that was neither physical, nor lustful.
By the time I could read, the secrets of the world of immortality opened up to me through the merit of a secret tome belonging to my dying clan. I discovered the concept of Physiques at that time, guided through its intricacies by my older brother."
"Wait, you had an older brother?" Han Xuhan asked, somewhat alarmed.
Since when did xianxia protagonists have brothers?
"Yes, I did, and I still do now. He was the one who procured the admission invitation to the Crimson Snow Sect for me. He lives back in my hometown, looking after our ancestral land. Anyway, back then, I tried to test out what kind of special physique Qing Ya possessed with the help of my brother. The result wasn't surprising. Her special physique seemed to be tailor-made to complement mine! It explained why my awakened physique would make me feel so desperate to be near her all the time!
But right when we were about to conclude the test, something unexpected took place. If I divulge anything about the incident, it might bring you a calamity to face. Let's just...say that we realized that the special physique she possessed was not exactly a blessing. If she really ended up blooming into the full potential brought by it, absolute misery would shadow her for the rest of her life.
Obviously, someone as righteous as me could not let that scenario play out! With my brother's assistance, I sped up the maturation of her physique and used the problems created by such early maturation to convince her family to let me separate her from her physique."
"You can do that? Is separating someone from their Physique easy?" Han Xuhan interrupted him midway, his eyes aglow.
"Not really," Mu Ran replied. "Or I would have suggested the same for your physique, under- I mean, martial brother. I used the attraction between our two complementing physiques to separate it from her. That wouldn't work on you. If, someday, you stumble upon a physique that perfectly complements yours, then I'll be more than happy to help, even if the other party doesn't agree to be a part of the process!"
"...Oh." Han Xuhan's enthusiasm waned. He doubted he could find such a match made in heaven. Instead of worrying about such far-fetched possibilities, he focused on the matter at hand and asked, "What did you do after that? Was the problem solved? Did Sister Ya become free from this...potential disaster awaiting her in the future?"
Mu Ran nodded, proudly adding, "That's right. But that bitch from the Abyss Guild was convinced that I was trying to destroy Yaya's fortune. So she tried to attack me and... let's say that did not go well for her, hehehe."
Han Xuhan mentally took note of the fact that Mu Ran had expertly avoided saying what he did with the separated physique. According to Lady Caizhi, he had absorbed it himself. It also supported the memories he had seen where two separate blessings, the Twin Devil Physique and the Dragon Reverend Physique had been fused together to form Mu Ran's new physique.
Both parties in this incident were hiding part of the truth, adding pinches of lies, and desperately trying to prove themselves as the selfless savior.
What a tangled web of schemes!
"With that out of the way, shouldn't you be explaining how or why your conflict with that powerful senior has any connection to my past?" Mu Ran asked suddenly, remembering why they were having this conversation in the first place.
Han Xuhan was quick to answer.
"Of course! Where was I? Right, back there in the ship, Lady Caizhi asked me to backstab you over two justifications. Firstly, it would be a favor to the Abyss Guild if I managed to save Sister Ya from your hands. Secondly, she promised to assist me with the technique that would allow me to retain my future as a cultivator. In fact, I might even be able to surpass my current potential with the help of that technique!"
Grief-stricken, Mu Ran replied, "So you sacrificed your future for me, Xuhan? You refused to accept her offer?"
Han Xuhan nodded emphatically. "What else do you expect me to do? Accept the deal? Impossible! I won't betray my brother!"
Lips tightened, Mu Ran seemed to think of something.
"Wait here for a moment," he said as he sprinted back into Xiao Wu's hut. He returned outside soon with a slim iron-wrought crown in his hand.
"I don't have anything to express my gratitude at the moment. But this treasure should be enough as a token. I promise I'll do my best to look for a method that can help you keep cultivating, Xuhan!"
Han Xuhan didn't really want to take it. He knew it was the crown Mu Ran had gotten while traveling through the void-zone behind the spatial rifts.
"Brother Ran, it's not necessary-"
"Take it. I won't be able to sleep peacefully without at least returning a token of my gratitude. It's not much, I know. Don't kick up a fuss over a small gift."
Han Xuhan slung it on his waist and was about to continue his tale. But Mu Ran hit a spot of the story he was hoping to avoid, saying, "Xuhan, how exactly did that woman request that you betray me? What's the process of this betrayal plan?"
"...Well, it's not exactly a direct betrayal, to be honest. She wanted me to trick you. Firstly, I would come begging on your door for the Blessing Robbing Technique that you used on Sister Qing Ya. Someone as magnanimous as you would obviously be moved by my begging and give me the technique so that I can go rob someone else's Physique."
Mu Ran scoffed. "What idiocy! Only someone who has no special physique can attract another random cultivator's physique. My case was special because of my connection to Qing Ya. It's so apparent that she was trying to trick you into getting something that you'd have no use for."
"I didn't know that at the time," Han Xuhan said with a shrug. "Anyway, after I tricked you into giving the technique away, she wanted me to hand it over to her. At the same time, she would use other means to test you, the aim of which would be to force you to agree to a deal."
"What deal?"
"To return Sister Ya's Physique to her. They would ask you to do it to prove that you truly love her. They'd also try to manipulate you into thinking that Sister Ya would be willing to marry you if you make such a huge sacrifice-"
"Bullshit! Is she not willing to marry me now?! Why would I need to prove my love with something that would actually endanger her? Screw their deal!" Mu Ran jumped to his feet and began pacing around the yard like an enraged predator, muttering curses under his breath.
For some reason, a trace of guilt surfaced on his contorted face as his eyes darted around wildly, avoiding Han Xuhan's narrow gaze.
Han Xuhan chose this exact moment to strike with his ace card.
"Brother Ran, I haven't yet explained what connection all of this has with my decision to ambush Leng Qing."
Mu Ran's gaze jumped back to his face, his restless rage muted by a curiosity of greater volume.
"True, true. But is it important?"
Han Xuhan wasn't deterred by his disdain.
"Do you remember Leng Qing bragging to me about his nonsensical prediction? The day we invaded his sect, he had predicted that there would be nine of us. But in everyone's eyes, there were only four. However, you know of my cultivation technique more than others. So you can tell that if we count Zhanxian, Tun Shi Tian, Hai Yin Zhe, and my newest project, we'd make a team of eight members. So who's the ninth? Or is it a miscalculation on Leng Qing's part?"
Mu Ran's countenance grew heavier, his pacing slowing down as Xuhan continued.
"When Lady Caizhi was trying to convince me to betray you, she showed me some... memories. These memories belong to her master, the woman who came between you and Sister Ya all those years ago. In one of those memories, I found out that you have a foreign soul inside your body just like how I house Zhanxian and the other minions!"
Mu Ran completely went still as a statue, shock and fury overtaking every other emotion on his face as his biggest secret was revealed.
"Obviously, I realized at that time that the ninth member traced by Leng Qing was the foreign soul hiding inside you! My own cultivation method is no big secret, but I could guess that your case is special! You've never even told me, your closest confidante that you carry around a minion like I do! It must be one of your most guarded secrets! So what could I do, except silencing whoever had discovered such a massive secret of my martial brother? He left me with no choice! Even if I had to take a risk, I had to do my best to hide my biggest benefactor's secret!"
