Chapter 65 – Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me

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Chapter 65 – Screwed over by the Ancestor

Chu Yu was a little worried about his own future.

However, he did not worry for long, as a new wave of rumors directed at the Chu family emerged.

According to the rumor, there was a forbidden area in the Falling Maple Leaf Valley of the Chu family. The remnant of the Demon Lord Yan Heng’s soul was said to be confined in the middle of this restricted area, waiting for the day he would be released. He would then join forces with the demonic cultivators from the inside to trounce the righteous path cultivators in a pincer attack and seize their territory.

Being labeled as such was a different matter from the previous riveting mud-slinging of their reputation. The previous incident could be used as a topic of conversation at the dining table, but when it came to these four words – “the righteous path’s traitor” – even the melon-eating masses¹ would begin to stir.

Outsiders would not have known about the Chu family’s forbidden area, but since news of it had spread – and in such a believable way at that – then it could only mean that there was a mole.

After ascertaining that there were no issues with Lu Qingan, Chu Yu sent off a voice transmitting talisman and prepared to rush back to Falling Maple Leaf Valley. After all, this was a Chu family’s matter and it was not really appropriate for outsiders to interfere, especially since it had not escalated out of control yet. Xie Xi originally meant to set off with Chu Yu, but he was pulled back by Lu Qingan.

Other than Chu Yu, the only other person Xie Xi would listen to was Lu Qingan. He pursed his lips as he tightened his grip on Chu Yu until his fingertips turned slightly white.

Chu Yu was standing at the entrance of the barrier. He lowered his head to look at Xie Xi’s hand, and could not help but coughed dryly. He swept his glance over the two humans – and one soul – in front of him.

Shen Nian stretched his neck, wanting to continue to watch the show, only to be hoisted up backhandedly by Lu Qingan and yanked away. Seeing his own backer leave, Third Shidi did not dare to tempt fate and stay on to watch the show either, and thus he also slipped away silently.

Chu Yu gave a sigh and stroked Xie Xi’s back, “Alright, this is nothing. I’m only going back to deal with this traitor. After I’ve resolved it and discussed it with my brother, I’ll come back to accompany you, never to leave again.”

Xie Xi remained silent.

Chu Yu continued, “If anything happens, I’ll transmit a message to you.”

Xie Xi’s face darkened. All of a sudden, he pinched Chu Yu’s chin forcibly and lifted it as he lowered his head to kiss his soft lips fiercely. His moist, black eyes burned with an intense fire as he bit and licked like a little beast possessed. Chu Yu felt slightly smothered. He hesitated for a moment, then instead of pushing him away, he extended his hands to hug him back as he stretched out his tongue and took the initiative to deepen the kiss.

It was a long time before Xie Xi finally released his hold on Chu Yu and said softly to him, “I’ll wait for you to return.”’

“Mhm”

“We’ve agreed, if anything happens, you can’t take risks on your own; wait for me.”

“Mhm.” After saying this, Chu Yu solemnly nodded his head, then followed up with a smile, “ Alright, you should cultivate well these days. Don’t keep bullying Third Shidi.”

After a pause, Chu Yu waved to him, rode Xun Sheng, and left Yuan Chen Peak.

It was nearing the end of winter, but the sky was still overcast and gloomy. Chu Yu felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding and carefully mulled over those ‘hot off the press’ rumors.

Demon Lord Yan Heng was a name he knew of.

Or rather, Demon Lord Yan Heng was a household name among both the righteous and demonic cultivators.

In the history of demonic cultivators, he was the most powerful, most insane, and most terrifying cultivator. Before his downfall, he was in the late cultivation phase of the Demigod stage and was just a step away from advancing to the Immortalization stage. After the great battle of the ancient cultivators, heaven and earth seemed to have lost all connection with each other, and since then, no one had ever reached the Immortalization stage and ascended into the legendary immortal world.

Even after so many years, those who could reach the middle cultivation phase of the Demigod stage were few and far in between; the fact that the Demon Lord Yan Heng was able to rise to the late phase was proof of his immense talent. Yet, this prodigy was bloodthirsty and cruel, maniacal and reeked of blood. It was said that he was only in his mid-teens when he annihilated his entire clansman with his own hands, leaving bloody footprints in his trail every step of the way. As time passed, his insanity worsened, until he reached the point where he would go berserk if he did not kill every single day.

It did not matter whether it was a righteous or demonic cultivator, he killed them all. The demonic cultivators, who initially saw him as their pride and honor, could no longer laugh after three sects were massacred consecutively. And thus, scared out of their wits, they scrambled to reach an agreement with the righteous path cultivators to join forces and take down the Demon Lord Yan Heng. But the power gap between them was just too big, and everyone who went up against him, whether alone or in a squad, perished.

Just when the righteous and demonic cultivators’ hair were all turning white with distress over this killing machine, Demon Lord Yan Heng unexpectedly had a case of qi deviation and died suddenly. However, he did not die in peace, and his spirit begun to stir up trouble all over the place even before everyone had time to rejoice.

Later on, it was said that someone had him sealed in an unknown location, although no one knew exactly who, or exactly where. It had happened so many years ago, and many of the details had already been lost.

But, the frightening thing was that not only was the spirit of Demon Lord Yan Heng full of murderous and malicious intent, he also had a magic weapon—

Soul Summoning Banner.

This thing had spawned many imitations in the later generations, for example, the Soul Furnace which Xie Xi used to draw out and seal the soul of the original owner of this body in the original story.

The quality of the Soul Summoning Banner outshone that of the Soul Furnace many grades over. Every time Demon Lord Yan Heng killed a person, that person’s soul would be absorbed into the banner, and it would still more or less retain that person’s power while they were still alive. But then, Demon Lord Yan Heng killed people as if he was scything flax² and there was no telling how many souls had met their ends unjustly under his hand; there was simply too many souls with grievances trapped in the Soul Summoning Banner. Demon Lord Yan Heng died before he had the chance to wield it and test its might, thus no one knew just how powerful this thing was.

Then again, nobody wanted to know either.

The resentment of this thing was so strong that it was feared that even a simple wave of it would cause a bloodbath and countless deaths. In addition, this thing would still be able to continue to absorb souls and strengthen itself, its power far exceeding the limits of which the cultivation world could bear.

Even if someone coveted the Soul Summoning Banner, they would not dare to voice it out for fear of getting drowned in spittle.

The years had flown by, and the matter of Demon Lord Yan Heng had been gradually forgotten, and now he was mentioned again out of the blue by this person smearing the reputation of the Chu family. This kind of perceptive and sensitive character was no trivial matter; the Chu family indeed had a mysterious forbidden area, one that prohibited outsiders from entering.

Unless they allowed the entire melon-eating masses of the cultivation world to go on a sightseeing excursion at the Chu family’s forbidden area.

But even the members of the Chu family had no idea what treasures were kept in the forbidden area. To let these every single one of these outsiders take a look was equivalent to stripping bare this big a clan and expose them naked to the world for all to see. The impact of this rumor was far worse than the malicious rumor of Chu Sheng committing patricide. If the Chu family was unable to endure this indignity, then even if they exposed the rumor-monger, people would still point fingers at them behind their back. As everyone knows, three men can make a tiger³; a lie, if repeated often enough, could and would be accepted as a fact.

Regarding this issue, Chu Yu’s attitude was — Let them see.

It’s not like we are afraid of them.

All the members of the Chu family, other than Chu Shuanghe, were essentially honest and upright righteous path cultivators; their ancestors would not have left stuff like “the remnant soul of Demon Lord Yan Heng” around to screw with their descendants.

However, the other members of the Chu family would not be as open-minded as Chu Yu. As someone who came into this family midway, Chu Yu’s attachment towards the Chu family was naturally not as deep-seated as the other members; the notion of these people was that they could die for the family, but they would absolutely not suffer this humiliation.

The purpose of this trip was therefore to persuade the people of the Chu family. Even if they do not open the door for the entire cultivation world, they could, at the very least, allow a few reputable cultivators to slip in and prove the innocence of the Chu family.

It looked simple on the surface, but it was hard to put into practice.

Chu Yu gritted his teeth, doubled up his efforts, and managed to rush home in only a day and a night.

The good thing was that the rumor was still a rumor, and so for now, nobody dared to strike a plea deal⁴ with the Chu family and the Falling Maple Leaf Valley was still as tranquil as ever.

Chu Yu knew the score and went directly to the forbidden area at the back of the mountain. Upon entering the main hall, he saw Fu Chongyi sitting on the steps with a fox in his arms, sighing deeply.

This dude hasn’t left yet?

Chu Yu was taken aback for a moment, but as he thought of this person’s reputation as a miracle doctor in the original novel, he was still more than happy to interact with him. Thus, he descended to the ground and cupped his hands in a greeting, “Lord Fu.”

Fu Chongyi seemed to deep in thought. Chu Yu’s sudden voice startled him, and it was a while before he returned to his sense. With a pale face, he pulled up the corners of his mouth, ” Third Lord Chu, you’re back.” After a pause, he pointed to the inner part of the main hall and said, “Your elder brother is waiting for you.”

Chu Yu nodded his head. He noticed his expression was off and asked with uncertainty, “Lord Fu, what’s the matter?”

Fu Chongyi furrowed his eyebrows. It looked as if he was struggling internally about something important. After a moment, he asked in a low voice, “Third Lord Chu, what would you do if something happened to your elder brother?”

Chu Yu was walking into the main hall when he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned back to stare at Fu Chongyi for a moment, his sense of uneasiness growing, “……For instance?”

“For instance, he……”

“Little brother!”

A gentle voice cut off Fu Chongyi’s words all at once. Hearing Chu Sheng’s voice, Fu Chongyi immediately held his tongue. Without waiting for Chu Yu’s reply, he nodded his head at him before turning around to leave.

Chu Yu was baffled. He turned around to fix his eyes on Chu Sheng and looked him over carefully.

Aside from his pallid complexion, he looked normal.

Chu Sheng would be fine.

If anything happened, he would take the blows for him; it was not a bad idea to flirt with danger while the protagonist’s invincibility mode was still in effect.

Having decided, Chu Yu stepped forward and said, “Big brother, as I’ve told you, it can’t be my Shizun.”

Chu Sheng laughed feebly and sighed; it was as if he was extremely weary.

Chu Yu patted him on the shoulder, ” Where is he?”

“He self-destructed.” Chu Sheng raised his hand to smooth down the layered strands of hairs on Chu Yu’s sideburns. He has had a long period of time to prepare himself mentally, so he was no longer that dejected even after finding out the truth. He dropped his eyes and said lightly, “Xu Keqing was caught red-handed by me when he sneaked into the forbidden area the second time. Before I could ask him anything, he self-destructed his own nascent soul.”

Chu Yu shook his head.

Actually, it was not really that hard to guess.

Chu Sheng had mentioned before, Xu Keqing had been previously captured by the demonic cultivators. No one knew what had happened after he was taken captive by the demonic cultivators. Whether he was coerced or lured with the promise of gain was a moot point; in any case, he had a change of heart. After he was rescued back to the Chu family by Chu Shuangtian, he began to lurk and lie in wait.

It could even be speculated that it was impossible for Chu Shuangtian and his wife to run into Chu Shuanghe by coincidence when they went to set up the barrier, so perhaps it was Xu Keqing who leaked their whereabouts to Chu Shuanghe, repaying their kindness with ingratitude.

Even though it was only a guess, it was not without merit.

In any case, nine times out of ten it was the demonic cultivators behind this smear campaign against the Chu family. As for exactly what the demonic cultivators were plotting was anyone’s guess.

Chu Sheng said, “These days, I have been trying to access the forbidden area, but…… I couldn’t enter.”

Chu Yu gave a start.

Chu Sheng had a complicated look in his eyes as he said, “Little brother, you should have already heard those rumors making their rounds outside.”

Chu Yu intuitively felt that a big secret was coming up next. He went silent for a spell and then nodded his head.

Chu Sheng walked slowly towards the main hall. The maple leaf emblem on the ground indistinctly glimmered with brilliance. Chu Yu caught up with him and looked down, and the vague memory of the original owner flashed through his mind again.

Chu Sheng said, “Little brother, in fact, there was indeed a connection between the Chu family and Demon Lord Yan Heng.”

Although he had guessed some of it, Chu Yu was still floored. Did the Chu family ancestor really leave such a thing behind to screw his descendants over?

“One of those who sealed Demon Lord Yan Heng was an ancestor of the Chu family.” Chu Sheng stroked the mysterious and unusual motif patterns on the gate of the forbidden area. He turned back and saw the odd look in Chu Yu’s eyes. “Out of all those who participated in the sealing, the only one with any descendants left is the Chu family. Little brother, do you know how our ancestor sealed Demon Lord Yan Heng’s soul?”

Chu Yu pondered over it for a moment, “……By perishing together?”

Chu Sheng shook his head, “Our ancestor spent years of painstaking efforts to refine a new immortal weapon. He paid the price for it and sealed the soul. I’m afraid it’s the immortal weapon inside the forbidden area. According to the words handed down by the ancestor, only the Chu descendant who has the most predestined affinity with him will be able to enter the forbidden area and get the immortal weapon.”

And then, when Demon Lord Yan Heng re-emerged, this person would have to pay the price again to subdue him.

Chu Yu was speechless.

If he remembered correctly, he had entered this forbidden area before.

Welp, he was young and still wet behind the ears then…… He even allowed the protagonist to wreak havoc in there……

But if put this way, then this so-called predestined descendant was actually the original owner? If this plot on Demon Lord Yan Heng was bound to materialize, then after Xie Xi killed the original owner in the original novel, what did they rely on to subdue the remnant soul of Demon Lord Yan Heng and the Soul Summoning banner when they appeared?

The protagonist’s halo?

That was not right. No matter how he looked at it, this Demon Lord Yan Heng was not the type of character who would be easily eliminated by a halo, even more so when he possessed that Soul Summoning Banner which was jam-packed with innumerable resentful souls with grievances. Chu Yu thought about it and felt that something was not quite right. Taking advantage of the span of time Chu Sheng was staring blankly at him after he had finished his speech, Chu Yu hurriedly pinged the system.

The system played dead, supine and unresponsive.

It was not convenient at this moment to put all his energy into jabbing the system awake, so Chu Yu could only curse a few times in his heart. Just as Chu Yu was thinking of sharing his insights as the predestined descendant with Chu Sheng, a voice transmitting talisman suddenly floated in from outside the main hall.

Chu Yu grabbed it in passing and extended a finger to point at it.

An anxious voice resonated in the spacious main hall:

“My Lord, there are hundreds of cultivators assembling outside Falling Maple Leaf Valley, asking to be allowed access into the forbidden area so that they can see for themselves whether or not the Chu family is innocent!”

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Reika’s Notes:

• This chapter is by Lianyin.
• Updates to this project will be irregular this month since I am busy irl with my mom’s kidney surgery on the 15th. I hope that regular weekly updates will resume next month.
• Please let me know if there are any errors and thanks for reading.

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1. 吃瓜群众 literally melon-eating masses, referring to spectators who are just interested in watching the show without getting involved, like an audience munching popcorn while watching a drama.
2. 杀人如麻: lit. killed people like scything flax, i.e. he killed them like flies.
3. 三人成虎, literally three men make a tiger. i.e. three people spreading reports of a tiger would make one believe that there is really one around. Basically, a repeated rumor becomes a fact.
4. 坦白从宽 refers to getting someone to confess their crimes in return for leniency or a lighter sentence. Here, he assumed that the other cultivators are already convinced that the Chu family is already guilty of the crime.