PID Chapter 86

(4/5)

ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

 

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At night, the sea breeze near the shore was strong enough to keep the trees on the island rustling continuously. The group set up protective barriers to block the wind outside. After Yue Ming and several disciples finished disciplining their overly amused sectmate, they ended up laughing themselves. They lazily leaned back on their hands, sitting in relaxed and sloppy postures.

 

In this carefree atmosphere, one disciple kept glancing toward Xiao Mo and Chu Jinglan before finally gathering enough courage to approach Xiao Mo. Though embarrassed, he steeled himself and asked hesitantly: “Mo Lan, how did you meet Little Martial Uncle? Could you tell us about it?”

 

Xiao Mo and Chu Jinglan simultaneously turned their gazes toward the disciple.

 

The disciple scratched his head nervously, clearly uncomfortable but determined: “I’ve been thinking about spending my life with someone someday. But it seems like sword cultivators often struggle with relationships… I just wanted to hear some advice.”

 

How did I meet Chu Jinglan? Xiao Mo thought to himself. I fell from the sky—bam—and became his inner demon.

 

Xiao Mo replied calmly: “Our meeting story probably won’t be of much help to you.”

 

And rightly so—whether in this life or the last, their connection had always been extraordinary and unconventional. Moreover, they weren’t truly Dao companions but rather close partners. Sharing their story as relationship advice would only mislead others.

 

Nearby disciples immediately perked up with curiosity. One of them leaned closer with bright eyes and asked: “Is it really like the rumors say? You met during Little Martial Uncle’s lowest point—when his dantian was injured—and stayed by his side through thick and thin?”

 

Several other disciples discreetly leaned in to listen as well—both male and female—proving that gossip was universally appealing.

 

It was true that Xiao Mo had stayed by Chu Jinglan’s side when his dantian was destroyed, but saying it aloud now felt oddly out of place. Choosing a more diplomatic response, Xiao Mo said: “We’ve walked through some difficult paths together.”

 

The nearby disciples gasped softly: “Wow!”

 

Their expressions practically screamed “Tell us more! We want to hear the whole story!”

 

Xiao Mo hesitated under their expectant gazes: Everyone… I meant for that sentence to end the topic!

 

Yue Ming shoved away a disciple who had come too close for comfort while listening in on the gossip. He scoffed disdainfully: “Don’t drag sword cultivators into this mess! Chirp! People say sword cultivators are emotionally dense blocks of wood—but aren’t plenty of romantics also sword cultivators? Chirp! Go figure out your own problems! Chirp!”

 

Compared to other disciples’ altered appearances from curses, Yue Ming’s chirping sound was undeniably the most entertaining feature. However, this time it didn’t distract anyone—their attention remained firmly fixed on Xiao Mo.

 

Xiao Mo rubbed his flute thoughtfully as he tried to figure out how to deflect—or rather—smoothly steer past this conversation without giving too much away. To his surprise, Chu Jinglan spoke up for the first time during the discussion.

 

“If you have someone in your heart,” Chu Jinglan said calmly to the questioning disciple, “you don’t need to ask others about their experiences. Instead, learn how they act—understand what your beloved likes or dislikes—and make them happy.”

 

Chu Jinglan successfully shifted all attention onto himself. Under the varied gazes of the disciples, his expression remained calm and composed, showing no signs of fluctuation.

 

Learning from the harmonious actions of one’s partner or even from storybooks—both were valid approaches.

 

The other disciples couldn’t help but think: As expected of someone with a Dao companion—his words make perfect sense. Only Xiao Mo nodded in agreement, thinking to himself that Chu Jinglan’s response was excellent. It was a universally applicable principle, and more importantly, it successfully redirected the topic away from the two of them. A perfect answer.

 

The disciple who had asked the question glanced at the glowing spiritual light surrounding Xiao Mo, then at the food box beside him, and finally at Xiao Mo’s attire and artifacts—all treasures, with even his magical tools being heaven-tier.

 

The disciple seemed to have an epiphany, murmuring: “I think I understand now.”

 

Though no one knew exactly what he had “understood,” the topic was effectively closed. No one pressed Xiao Mo for more stories.

 

With protective barriers in place and Divided Spirit cultivators standing guard, the group continued chatting until late into the night. Some disciples began meditating while others simply dozed off for a short nap. Chu Jinglan chose to meditate with his eyes closed.

 

However, since one of his hands was still clasped with Xiao Mo’s, he couldn’t adopt the usual posture for circulating spiritual energy throughout his body. Instead, he had to settle for a small circulation technique.

 

Xiao Mo noticed Chu Jinglan adjusting his posture and realized he was preparing for his usual meditation routine. After some thought, Xiao Mo shifted closer to him to prevent Chu Jinglan’s position from becoming too awkward. He then lifted their clasped hands and rested them on Chu Jinglan’s knee.

 

Chu Jinglan’s fingers paused briefly.

 

Xiao Mo retrieved a storybook from his storage device and casually flipped it open with a single hand. Without looking up, he said: “This way it’ll be more convenient for you.”

 

Meditating while holding someone else’s hand—Chu Jinglan truly was one of a kind. He nodded slightly as their prolonged hand-holding had blurred any distinction between their palm temperatures. Chu Jinglan tried his best not to let this distract him and closed his eyes to gradually enter meditation.

 

Meanwhile, although Xiao Mo appeared to be engrossed in reading the storybook, he had actually split part of his spiritual consciousness to delve deep into his mind and work on unlocking the chains on the iron door of his memories.

 

Recently, he had naturally recovered quite a few memories. Additionally, forcibly pulling at the chains to extract memories had become faster—likely due to improved adaptability or perhaps because the East Clear Pearl had fully stabilized his spiritual consciousness. Either way, he now pulled at the chains without hesitation or restraint.

 

In tonight’s memory fragments, Xiao Mo saw several scenes from before he transmigrated into the book in his past life.

 

It turned out that the orphanage where he had lived in his previous life had indeed been in terrible condition. Some of the teachers there didn’t deserve to be called teachers—their behavior was excessive and inappropriate. Eventually, the orphanage was shut down following an investigation, and Xiao Mo was taken in by a kind elderly woman.

 

The elderly woman lived alone and wasn’t particularly wealthy but managed to get by. She became one of Xiao Mo’s rare family members and even supported him through school. Unfortunately, after Xiao Mo finished middle school, she fell ill.

 

The elderly woman had naturally hoped Xiao Mo would continue his studies, but Xiao Mo chose to drop out of school to care for her when she could barely move.

 

He chose what was most important to him at the time, and he never regretted it.

 

At sixteen, the elderly woman passed away, leaving Xiao Mo alone once again.

 

Following her advice, Xiao Mo resolved to keep living, to live well, and to see the world. Yet, when he looked ahead, he found himself unsure of which direction to take or how to fulfill her expectations.

 

It was at this moment that a voice from the system of the Great World appeared, telling him he had the qualifications to become a Corrector and asking if he was willing.

 

With no clear path forward and no familial ties left, Xiao Mo didn’t hesitate.

 

After being chosen, Xiao Mo’s consciousness gained access to the Great World’s database. He spent a year immersed in its wealth of knowledge, studying tirelessly and learning various subjects. At seventeen, he received his first mission: to travel to the cultivation world.

 

And it was here that he met Chu Jinglan.

 

Emerging from his memories, Xiao Mo returned part of his spiritual consciousness to the present. The storybook in his hand had been flipped through symbolically—he hadn’t actually read a single word.

 

He closed the book entirely and lifted his gaze to stare at the stars above in a daze.

 

The surroundings were quiet now, accompanied only by the night breeze and the distant stars. Xiao Mo fully understood why he had wanted to stay in the cultivation world in his previous life.

 

It was because he had nowhere else to return to—and this was still true for him in this life.

 

Even if he were only completing his mission as an inner demon without any other complications, after experiencing so much alongside Chu Jinglan, Xiao Mo would still willingly choose to live in this world.

 

As he pondered further, a thought suddenly struck him.

 

He called out to the system: “System, tell me—what happened at the end of my past life? And… is my lack of familial ties in this life something I chose for myself?”

 

With his memories gradually returning, he had begun to suspect as much.

 

Sure enough, the system replied: “Yes, you chose it yourself.”

 

“The old Heaven’s Will collapsed as chaos energy emerged, preparing for the creation of a new Heaven’s Will. However, the old Heaven’s Will refused to accept its demise—it wanted to devour the chaos energy and seize control of the new Heaven’s Will. You protected the chaos energy but were discovered too early by the old Heaven’s Will and fell into a desperate situation.”

 

“But in the end, you killed Su Baimo—and this world was restarted by the old Heaven’s Will.”

 

Xiao Mo froze for a moment. “Because Su Baimo died… the old Heaven’s Will restarted the world?”

 

How absurd.

 

The system confirmed: “Yes. And this wasn’t its first time doing so. Its repeated attempts at restarting this world attracted attention from the Great World—that’s why you were sent here on a mission.”

 

This world was born from a book—a cultivation world originally intended as a comparative story.

 

The original story featured two protagonists: Chu Jinglan and Su Baimo.

 

Chu Jinglan was a favored son of heaven with extraordinary talent. Despite experiencing life’s hardships and enduring long nights of loneliness with shallow connections among friends and family, he still ascended to greatness;

 

Su Baimo started with little talent but became universally adored—a crowd favorite surrounded by people who showered him with resources and admiration. Through these connections and privileges, he too rose to prominence as one of the cultivation world’s elite.

 

After the world was born, the characters in the book truly came to life—but there was a flaw in the formation of Heaven’s Will.

 

In the original story, Su Baimo’s extensive connections with other characters meant his narrative received far more attention than Chu Jinglan’s. When Heaven’s Will took shape, it determined that Su Baimo had contributed the most to this world’s existence and thus developed a bias toward him.

 

However, once the book’s characters became real people, they gained their own independent thoughts and desires. Beyond the foundational plot points that couldn’t be altered, many no longer wished to remain entangled in Su Baimo’s overly dramatic relationships.

 

Su Baimo still carried luck and fortune, living a relatively good life compared to others—but it wasn’t as idealized as it had been in the original story.

 

This upset Heaven’s Will deeply. It began directly altering people’s fates and even their thoughts. Crossing boundaries further, it transmitted messages to Su Baimo, letting him know he was under its protection.

 

At that moment, Heaven’s Will had already lost its integrity.

 

Once Su Baimo realized Heaven’s Will favored him and promised him an even better future, he became emboldened. As he began reaping the benefits of this favoritism, his behavior grew increasingly reckless and unrestrained.

 

His reputation flourished, his relationships became tangled with multiple outstanding individuals, but none of this involved Chu Jinglan.

 

Until one day, Mo Zhi dragged his broken body to kneel before Chu Jinglan.

 

Yan Chun and Chu Xia had been killed by Su Baimo.

 

Chu Jinglan had ascended from the Lower Realm to the Middle Realm with the goal of establishing a sect. To meet the requirements for founding his sect, he needed four disciples. However, after searching extensively, he could only find three suitable children. Unable to delay further, he paid for a fourth person to fill the quota—a mere formality to meet the conditions for sect formation and obtain disciple status.

 

Chu Jinglan didn’t bring that person to the Middle Realm; they parted ways after completing their transaction.

 

Over the years, Yan Chun, Chu Xia, and Mo Zhi—though nominally his subordinates—had become his closest companions.

 

Carrying his sword, Chu Jinglan killed Su Baimo to avenge Yan Chun and Chu Xia.

 

One child of fortune killed another—the one most favored by Heaven’s Will. The corrupted Heaven’s Will went mad on the spot.

 

It disregarded everything else and spent vast amounts of power to restart this world. This action finally attracted attention from higher dimensions. Xiao Mo was sent into this world with a system to intervene through transmigration into the book.

 

Xiao Mo gasped: “Su Baimo killed Yan Chun and Chu Xia!?”

 

Why? Those two children were so kind-hearted and had nothing to do with Su Baimo’s tangled relationships!

 

Xiao Mo’s grip on Chu Jinglan’s hand tightened abruptly. However, since their hands were already bound tightly by the curse, Chu Jinglan—still meditating—didn’t notice.

 

The system explained: “Under the protection of the old Heaven’s Will, Su Baimo acted recklessly. He sought out Chu Xia to help refine a specific medicine. When Chu Xia refused, he killed them both.”

 

“An eye for an eye,” Xiao Mo said coldly as he thought of those two children’s faces. “Chu Jinglan killed him for revenge—and rightly so. That thing dared interfere in mortal affairs; it is unworthy of being called Heaven.”

 

In his past life, Xiao Mo had only one person who truly cared for him—the elderly woman who adopted him. Similarly, Chu Jinglan had few meaningful connections in his life—just those few people worth his attention. Such a grudge naturally had to be avenged.

 

“So, we can’t let it seize the qualifications for the new Heaven’s Will and successfully evolve.”

 

After the old Heaven’s Will restarted the world, part of its essence remained tied to Su Baimo. It had no choice but to keep Su Baimo alive to maintain its own integrity. When Xiao Mo killed Su Baimo, the old Heaven’s Will was forced to expend all its power to restart the world again.

 

Using the power of Heaven’s Will, Su Baimo had killed Chu Jinglan. In the final moments, Xiao Mo tricked both Su Baimo and the old Heaven’s Will into underestimating him, allowing him to kill Su Baimo.

 

The system explained: “At the time, you were on the verge of death. If you had accepted mission failure and returned to the Great World, you wouldn’t have been able to come back. So, you chose to transmigrate into a small world to repair your body and complete this mission.”

 

Each world could only dispatch a Corrector once. As a novice, Xiao Mo shouldn’t have been assigned such a difficult task—one that involved opposing Heaven’s Will itself. However, the Great World was short on manpower at the time, and there was no one else available to take on the mission. That was how it fell into Xiao Mo’s hands.

 

Xiao Mo hadn’t wanted to leave a mad Heaven’s Will free to torment mortals—or Chu Jinglan.

 

The system continued: “At that time, you said—”

 

[“System, give me an identity with weak familial ties. That way, when I leave, no one will be sad for me.”

 

“You’re asking if it’ll be hard? It’s fine—I can handle hardship.”]

 

Hearing this, Xiao Mo couldn’t help but turn his head slightly toward Chu Jinglan.

 

Chu Jinglan sat with his eyes closed, his side profile illuminated by spiritual light—handsome beyond compare, like a jade statue carved by divine hands. He seemed like someone who belonged high in the clouds, untouched by mortal dust.

 

…So that’s why I was so determined to return to the cultivation world—I’ve truly come to see wherever Chu Jinglan is as my home.

 

Xiao Mo pressed his hand against his chest. This time, the East Clear Pearl didn’t just radiate warmth—it churned violently within him, making his heart ache.

 

The pain swelled with an almost overwhelming wave of bittersweet emotions that seemed ready to overflow. Even Xiao Mo’s eyes began to feel uncomfortable.

 

If he were an ordinary person, he might have shed a few tears from this sour ache in his heart—but an inner demon had no tears to shed.

 

He wanted to stay in this cultivation world where Chu Jinglan lived. He wanted to complete his mission so that he and Chu Jinglan could eventually live in peace together. But Chu Jinglan had already suffered once because of his mission—this time, Xiao Mo didn’t want to drag him down again.

 

So that’s it—I’m afraid.

 

This was Xiao Mo’s task—it was his responsibility alone. He didn’t need Chu Jinglan to get hurt again because of him.

 

A person needs something to hold onto—a thread—to find their way home.

 

For Xiao Mo now, that thread was Chu Jinglan.

 

Lowering his gaze to their clasped hands, Xiao Mo felt his plan solidify completely in his mind. He had already begun taking steps toward resolving Chu Jinglan’s inner demon tribulation.

 

Chu Jinglan trusted him too much—so much so that he hadn’t noticed anything yet.

 

For Xiao Mo, there had only been one difficult part of this plan: deciding what kind of message he should leave behind for Chu Jinglan.

 

But now he knew. The last bit of hesitation he’d felt was gone.

 

Once the inner demon tribulation was over and he was reborn, Xiao Mo would first distance himself from Chu Jinglan. He would handle everything on his own before returning peace and stability to Chu Jinglan’s life.

 

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1 Kofi = 1 Extra Chapter