Scripture of Days Past

”Don’t worry,” Chu Qiguang said in a reassuring voice. ”I’m willing to pretend that I don’t know anything and continue to regard you as Lei Yushu.”

”Why?” ”Lei Yushu” asked in surprise. ”You already know that I’m a fiend!”

”You seem to be really fixated on the distinction between humans and fiends,” Chu Qiguang remarked with a faint smile.

Lei Yushu turned her head to the side to avoid Chu Qiguang’s gaze. She felt as if he could see right through her, and it was a very unsettling feeling.

”There’s no fundamental difference between fiends and humans,” Chu Qiguang said. ”They are merely concepts invented by some people to make it easier for them to control others. All it takes is a little trick to convert humans into fiends and vice versa.”

”That’s impossible!” Lei Yushu yelled vehemently. ”You’re lying! Fiends are fiends, and humans are humans! How could they possibly be the same?”

”If you don’t believe me, then I’ll just have to show you the reality of this world,” Chu Qiguang said with a grin.

In the next instant, Lei Yushu felt a hand grip her shoulder, and she began racing through the air as Chu Qiguang dragged her toward a nearby settlement.

The Hibiscus Brocade Manor was the most prosperous manor in the entire Shu Province, and there were many bustling streets even outside the manor city.

In the blink of an eye, Lei Yushu found herself in a small courtyard containing an old and rundown mud house.

Chu Qiguang led Lei Yushu straight through the front door as he continued, ”Beneath the exterior, humans and fiends are fundamentally the same. In fact, there is an inextricable blood connection between the two.”

The family of three lying on the bed inside the house had been awakened by Chu Qiguang’s unannounced entrance. Among them, a thin, dark-skinned middle-aged man stepped forward and shielded his wife and son behind him as he asked anxiously, ”Who are you? What do you want?”

With a few casual flicks of his finger, Chu Qiguang knocked all three of them unconscious.

”What are you going to do? Are you going to kill them?” Lei Yushu asked with tightly furrowed brows.

”I detest senseless slaughter,” Chu Qiguang said. ”Even those who are considered bottom-feeders of society have their value, and I won’t take their lives for no good reason.”

Meanwhile, Qiao Zhi had already sprung onto the bed and fed the man a vial of mixed blood, following which Chu Qiguang began flicking his finger through the air in rapid succession.

With his current physical prowess, he didn’t even have to physically administer the blows required for the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique. Instead, he was able to launch small blasts of air with each flick of his finger to achieve the same effect.

The unconscious man on the bed spasmed involuntarily from the blasts of air, while Lei Yushu looked on with a puzzled expression.

All of a sudden, her eyes widened in shock as she watched feathers emerge from the man’s pores and cover his entire body.

”Now, he’s a fiend,” Chu Qiguang said. He then continued flicking his fingers through the air, and the feathers quickly retracted beneath the man’s skin again.

”And now, he’s back to being human.”

The man remained unconscious and oblivious the entire time, but once he awakened, he would be delighted to discover that his physical constitution had improved significantly thanks to the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique.

”The line between humans and fiends has always been very blurry,” Chu Qiguang said. ”However, countless people are convinced otherwise, and they willingly allow themselves to be segregated. What I need you to understand is that whether you’re a human or a fiend makes no difference to me at all.

”In fact, even the name Lei Yushu is just a convenient moniker for me to refer to you by. What’s important is how you choose to live your life going forward. Will you continue to follow the masses and believe a lie, or follow me and look beyond the boundaries between humans and fiends?”

”Can... Can I live like a human as well?” Lei Yushu asked, feeling deeply unworthy and inferior.

”You can,” Chu Qiguang replied affirmatively.

As if to demonstrate his point, he adopted his feline form, transforming into a massive silver cat. He then rested a paw gently on top of Lei Yushu’s head and said, ”Someday, I’ll create a world in which all fiends can live like humans, not just you.”

Chu Qiguang’s words struck Lei Yushu like a heavy blow to the chest, and an unprecedented sense of excitement welled up in her heart. It was a feeling that she found impossible to describe with her inadequate vocabulary.

If she had to put it into words, then at that moment, she felt that Chu Qiguang resembled some kind of deity of freedom.

She didn’t know exactly what following Chu Qiguang would entail, but at that moment, she knew with unwavering conviction what she wanted to do.

”I want to help you create such a world!”

Annnd he’s managed to swindle another one, Qiao Zhi said to himself.

Unbeknownst to Lei Yushu, her decision to follow Chu Qiguang would have enormous implications.

***

Inside the Palace of Eternal Life, the Yong’an Emperor was conducting divination with a bewildered look on his face.

He was channeling the Five Origin Earth Song with all his might, drawing upon the power of spirit veins from all over the entire empire, and he could sense that the fortune of the Great Han Empire had waned ever-so-slightly yet again.

What happened? Where is the change coming from this time? Shu Province?

***

On the grasslands, the Heavenly Immortal Dao Master was observing the changes in the constellations in the night sky with a stunned expression.

The flesh on his face was peeling away layer by layer, but he remained unfazed as he continued looking up at the night sky, as if he were trying to glean the secrets of the universe.

It’s become even more certain that the fiends will overcome the humans, but why has the fortune of the Great Qian Empire waned slightly?

***

The next day, Chu Qiguang, Chen Gang, Hao Xiangtong, Zhang Jitian, and Lei Yushu left the Hibiscus Brocade Manor, but instead of traveling to the Ba Manor, where Chu Qiguang was set to serve in his official position, they went to the All Passage Manor, which was home to Zhao Lingxiao’s clan.

Throughout the entire journey, Lei Yushu eagerly served Chu Qiguang like a diligent maidservant, and this shift in her attitude did not escape Zhang Jitian’s notice.

As a veteran patron of brothels for over a decade, he could tell that there was something different about the way Lei Yushu was looking at Chu Qiguang.

All of a sudden, he recalled seeing Chu Qiguang lead Lei Yushu into the forest the previous night, and a stunning realization began to take shape in his mind.

Could it be that Chu Qiguang isn’t just into women, but men as well. Boys, at that?! What a depraved scoundrel he is! The longer I’m with him, the more of his depravity he reveals to me, and the more leverage I’ll have to use against him! He thinks I’m completely at his mercy, but in reality, keeping me by his side is the biggest mistake he’ll ever make!

All of a sudden, Chu Qiguang placed a hand on Zhang Jitian’s shoulder, snapping the latter out of his reverie.

”Did you not hear me? We’ve arrived at the inn, and I need you to pay for our rooms.”

”Right away, Brother Chu!”

Not long after Chu Qiguang’s group left the Hibiscus Brocade Manor, a group of a dozen or so horseback riders arrived, led by none other than Liu Yao of the Heavenly Melody Manor.

”Go and find out if anyone around here has seen Chu Qiguang,” he ordered.