GB Chapter 34
by VolareDue to the decline of the Demonic Path, the barriers between the righteous and demonic were indeed gradually breaking down. However, in Gou Xing’s era, the two factions were utterly irreconcilable. Even though the Joyful Palace always allowed its disciples to come and go as they pleased, the righteous sects would never tolerate their own disciples marrying and having children with a demonic witch.
After entering the Demonic Path, Gou Xing no longer traveled around. However, one year, feeling very lonely, she decided to go out for a change of scenery. On this trip, she picked up a heavily injured righteous disciple. She hadn’t treated a man in a long time, and that day, she didn’t know if it was because the other person’s pleading gaze was too intense or because she had become more open-minded with age, but she softened her heart and saved him. Who knew that after recovering, the man would follow her around and refuse to leave? As they interacted, they grew familiar, and before she knew it, she had fallen in love. And once she fell in love, her death wasn’t far away.
Looking back now, that man wasn’t bad to her. He gave up his bright future to live in seclusion with her in the mountains, and they were very happy together. Neither of them was wrong, but when two people from different paths came together, what was right became wrong.
Gou Xing never expected that her husband would inform his sect of their hidden location. When the disciples of Diancui Peak surrounded their residence, the man’s expression was still one of shock. He seemed unable to understand why his master would treat him this way. He kept kneeling before Jing Hong Daoren and explaining, “Gou Xing has left the Demonic Path and repented. Even if she has committed various wrongdoings in the past, I beg that you show her some mercy.”
It was that sentence that completely woke up Gou Xing. She finally realized that, in her eyes, this relationship was just about a man who liked her, and she had slowly come to like him in return. So they had settled down and no longer involved themselves in the bloody conflicts of the martial world.
But that wasn’t what the man she had married thought. In his world, he had been saved by a wanted demonic witch. To repay this kindness, he disregarded her identity and led her out of the Demonic Path, sacrificing his own reputation to save her. Yes, just like the people who used to despise and slander her, the man she had fallen in love with also looked down on her. Just because she was a demonic cultivator, a promiscuous woman in the rumors of the martial world, regardless of whether she had actually done those things, she was considered a filthy existence.
Gou Xing had already experienced the horror of public opinion in her youth. She had originally thought that entering the Demonic Path would allow her to escape such suffering, but who knew that even the person sharing her pillow believed those rumors? In the past, he had never asked about her past. She had thought it was because he didn’t care, but it turned out he deeply believed the teachings of his sect and self-righteously chose to forgive her. Sadly, she, a demonic witch, couldn’t bear such goodwill.
She had done nothing wrong and didn’t need to be forgiven by anyone. Even if there were countless rumors, her conscience was clear. Even now, while imprisoned, the Xia Huo Bird still firmly believed this.
At that time, she wanted to ask him, “If that’s the case, didn’t you find it disgusting when you first said you liked me?”
She also wanted to ask him, “Do you think you are great for condescending to be with a demonic witch?”
However, in the end, she could only silently watch that man die in Jing Hong Daoren’s hands without offering any resistance. That was the choice he had made, neither betraying his sect nor abandoning his wife. In his heart, it was a win-win situation. However, Gou Xing wasn’t happy because of this.
She was close to giving birth at the time and was unable to fight. If the two of them had joined forces, they would at least have had a chance to break out, but he did nothing. So, she could only watch as the fire consumed the home she had built with her own hands. She watched as she was swallowed by the flames bit by bit. She tried her best to break the restrictions on her body, but in the end, she could only die in the scorching heat with her unborn child.
Gou Xing, who transformed into a Guhuo Bird, no longer remembered those sweet memories. All she remembered was that when she was dying, her husband had not come to save her or their child. She would never forgive this man. She would never call his name again in this life. She would pretend that she had never met him.
Originally, Gou Xing’s life should have ended when she became a Guhuo Bird. Even she herself had not expected that Qian Ren would find this unknown mountain forest.
At that time, Qian Ren, after learning about the demonic energy within him, began to distance himself from all those close to him. He hadn’t expected that Gou Xing, who had been closest to him as a child, would leave the Joyful Palace because of this. After finding her whereabouts, he had originally only wanted to take a look from afar and then go back. In the end, he only saw ruins.
Later, Qian Ren slaughtered everyone on Diancui Peak amidst Jing Hong Daoren’s curses. In the end, he locked him in front of a pile of corpses and set the mountain on fire. Even after turning into a fire ghost, Jing Hong Daoren couldn’t forget the leisurely look on the black-clad man’s face before he stepped out of the main hall. The man’s hands were stained with the blood of the disciples of the sect, but his expression was indifferent and uncaring. When faced with his question, he had only replied, “No particular reason, I just don’t like you. That’s all.”
Qian Ren didn’t know that outside Diancui Peak, there was a Guhuo Bird whose face was covered in tears and blood. He only picked a bouquet of white chrysanthemums stained red by the blood of the Diancui Peak cultivators and placed it on the ruins of the woman’s small house before setting out on his own bloody path in the martial world.
After the Great Protector had grown up and left, the Guhuo Bird, who was originally filled with resentment, landed before the white chrysanthemums. Now, her bird wings could no longer hold onto anything. She only lowered her head and stroked the blood-stained petals, just as gently as she had once coaxed her child to sleep. At that moment, although there was no taste in the world of the dead, she could still feel a wave of warmth coming towards her. For some reason, the resentment around her faded, and she became the first Xia Huo Bird in the world.
Guhuo Birds were bound by the resentment of losing their children, so they could only steal the children of the living to comfort themselves. But Gou Xing didn’t need to. Although her own child had died before birth, another child had grown up very well. Even if she was trapped in the human realm by her resentment from the time of her death and couldn’t be released, as long as she heard news of that child in the martial world, she could restrain herself and continue to live in the dark mountains.
Later, the Heavenly Dao Alliance issued an order to hunt down all Guhuo Birds. Only she, who never left the mountains, was allowed to go by the Sword Master. However, even after living on this isolated island for so long, facing all the cold-blooded rumors about the Demonic Cult’s Great Protector, she would only laugh them off. The child she had raised was the gentlest in the world. Only this point, Gou Xing had never doubted over the years.
He Huan had never told Qian Ren that Gou Xing was still alive. Now that they met again, seeing the complex emotions on the Xia Huo Bird’s face, Qian Ren fell silent as well.
These memories were actually very old. At that time, he had suddenly encountered a major change in his life and didn’t know how to react. He thought that as long as he remained alone, the people he cared about would be able to live well. Unfortunately, in the end, those he knew still left him one by one. Gou Xing was not the first or the last. By the time he finally became strong enough to protect anyone, the world around him had long changed. Even the familiar faces were only his master and You Jiang. Perhaps after another hundred years, when these two ascended to immortality, he would truly be alone for the rest of his life.
“I act for the Heavenly Dao. As long as the world isn’t a peaceful and prosperous place, I can fight until the end of time regardless of whether I am righteous or demonic. But you cannot. You are motivated by people. So once you no longer have someone to care about, you will not be able to move forward.”
His master’s words of advice suddenly appeared in his mind again. In the past, the stubborn Qian Ren would have chosen to ignore them, but today, for some unknown reason, he glanced subconsciously at Zhuge Qingtian beside him. However, he quickly averted his gaze, because the ever-changing circumstances of the martial world had already taught him not to trust human emotions.
Just like how He Huan had never imagined he would enter the Demonic Path, the young Qian Ren had never thought that he would have a day when he would cut off emotions and abandon love. The former Gou Xing had also never foreseen that she would have such a desolate ending. No one could determine their own life from the beginning. Promises, ideals, and love, in this world, everything would change with time. If one were to bet their entire life on such fickle things, Qian Ren knew that he, with his stubborn mind, couldn’t afford to lose, so he chose not to gamble.
This moment of wavering from Qian Ren was too subtle, and Zhuge Qingtian didn’t know that an opportunity had almost landed on his head but, due to not having one, it had taken a turn and flown back. He only saw that both of them were silent, and curiously asked, “Master, do you know her?”
Qian Ren had now completely matured. Although he was still cold, he wouldn’t pretend to be heartless and hurt himself and others like he did in his youth. Hearing his question, he simply answered truthfully, “She was my nanny when I was a child.”
What? Did Master also need to drink milk when he was little? Wasn’t he supposed to be as cold and hard as a rock since birth?
Shocked, Zhuge Qingtian knew that if he said these words out loud, he would definitely get a beating. So, he enthusiastically stepped forward to greet her, “Hello, nanny! I’m his disciple, and my goal is to become Master’s cultivation partner.”
However, in terms of shocking effects, these words were not much different. Gou Xing, who never expected that the child she had raised would actually be gay, could only look at Qian Ren in shock, “What should I do? I didn’t bring a red envelope…”
Helplessly realizing that no matter what, as long as Zhuge Qingtian got involved, things could not be serious, Qian Ren looked at a certain disciple, “Did you just casually say something about a goal that would get you beaten?”
Of course, Zhuge Qingtian was quite dissatisfied with the term “casually,” “I seriously thought about it for a whole day before making that decision!”
So, he naturally received his master’s sarcasm, “Oh, it must have been really hard for you.”
Throughout their time together, the two had long been used to this kind of interaction, but they forgot that in the eyes of others, this was just one step away from flirting. And for Gou Xing, who had accepted Qian Ren’s heartless persona, it was undoubtedly amusing. She wasn’t a rigid person, but she hadn’t expected that Qian Ren, who everyone said would be alone for the rest of his life, would suddenly find a cultivation partner. For a moment, she could only sigh, “Great Protector, you really have grown up too fast.”
The author has something to say: Zhuge Qingtian: Master, your childhood was too miserable, quickly come and hug me and let me warm your body and mind!
Qian Ren: Your filial piety is commendable, but I refuse.
Author: You, as the bottom, can’t just be teased by the top all day. You have to wait pitifully for him to tease you!
Zhuge Qingtian: The problem is, how can I make a sexually inactive top tease me!
He Ku: Why are you being so indirect? Just push him onto the bed. How can you call yourself a bottom if you can’t even push down a top?
He Huan: ???
Mu Rong: Isn’t it natural to bully the top until he cries before letting him have his way?
Rong Yi: ???
Qian Ren: Disciple, remember, you absolutely cannot grow up to be a terrible adult like them.
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