Chapter 58: The Temptation of Six Million

Lian Chengyue woke up.

He was awake but not fully conscious, curling up in the carriage with a dazed and wary look, his expression muddled.

His pale little face was flushed from the fever while his half-open eyes showed both fragility and an unguarded gloom.

Ren Miao said, “He doesn’t seem to know why he’s here.”

Forget why he was there, he barely even knew who he was.

Got it, the little troublemaker was completely delirious from the fever.

Ning Mingmei said, “It’s about time for his medicine. Did you give it to him?”

On the way here, Ning Mingmei had only fed him medicine once. The rest of the time, the disciples and Ren Miao had taken turns doing it.

Ren Miao looked a bit embarrassed. “I just tried to give it to him, but he wouldn’t take it.”

Not only did he refuse, but he struggled so much that he nearly knocked the medicine over. Considering how weak he looked, Ren Miao had no idea where Lian Chengyue found the strength.

Honestly, it would have been easier if he had just stayed unconscious. Kids are much easier to take care of when they’re passed out.

Ever kindhearted, the girl had that thought as a faint dark aura unknowingly seeped from her back.

Gui Ruoxue frowned and glanced at her. As her former granny (in a way), he couldn’t help but feel that after just a few days with Ning Mingmei, the once simple and honest girl was starting to seem a bit… strange.

Ning Mingmei knew Ren Miao was an honest kid. If she said ‘almost knocked over,’ it probably meant he had already knocked it over and she’d had to pick up the spilled medicine one by one.

“Alright, you go. I’ll handle it,” Ning Mingmei said.

No need to make things difficult for the girl.

He took the paper packet from Ren Miao, glanced at it, and got into the carriage himself.

The packet was about one-fifth empty, meaning Ren Miao had at least managed to get some of it in.

Lian Chengyue was so weak that he didn’t even notice someone approaching.

Ning Mingmei didn’t waste time. He tore open the packet, grabbed the boy, and started forcing the medicine down.

He pinned him down, pried his mouth open, and pressed down his throat. His rough movements made it seem more like he was trying to kill the kid rather than feed him medicine.

Finally, the entire packet was successfully forced down.

The boy gagged and rolled his eyes, looking as if he had been revived purely out of sheer disgust. “Cough, cough, cough… disgusting!”

Ning Mingmei: “You dare spit it out?”

Lian Chengyue: …

Surprisingly, he actually didn’t dare spit it out.

He scrambled to the side and glared at Ning Mingmei with seething resentment, looking for all the world like a stray dog getting bullied in the rain.

Ning Mingmei reached out, only to see the boy flinch and dry heave from the bitterness.

…?

Could it be that Lian Chengyue refused to take medicine simply because it was too bitter?

Lian Chengyue: “Ugh!”

“Don’t you dare throw up,” Ning Mingmei said, pressing a hand to his face and pinning him against the carriage wall. “This medicine is expensive. If you puke it up and slow me down, I’ll make you eat it all over again.”

Lian Chengyue: …

The little brat’s eyes turned red. His chest heaved, half from the bitterness of the medicine, half from sheer outrage at being bullied by Ning Mingmei.

Seeing the boy glaring daggers at him, Ning Mingmei said, “You keep staring like that?”

The little brat kept glaring, trying to look fierce but utterly lacking in threat.

Ning Mingmei raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

The boy kept glaring… until he teared up.

For once, the brat, who always tried too hard to act like an adult, stopped pretending. He looked small, vulnerable, and even a little childish.

He had actually been bullied until he cried.

Too bad there was no camera. If there were, Ning Mingmei would have definitely captured this moment so that one day, a hundred years later, when Lian Chengyue returned as the fearsome fiend and tried to kill him, he could play this scene on repeat along the boy’s path of carnage.

Ning Mingmei never believed that he and the original novel’s protagonist could ever reconcile.

As long as the sword bone remained in his body, as long as Lian Chengyue sought to break through the Heavenly Gate, he would inevitably come for him.

Because they were all purely rational beings.

What was the point of acting respectful and friendly toward Lian Chengyue? Was he supposed to let him take the sword bone and then bring him back to life afterward? Perhaps that was indeed a possibility.

But Ning Mingmei refused. He wasn’t the type to endure any unnecessary suffering.

That being said, watching the brat break down, get flustered, and try to curse at him was far more satisfying than when he put on that fake mature elegance.

Facing the teary-eyed, furious little protagonist, Ning Mingmei was about to pull his hand away when he felt a slight movement under his fingers.

He said, “If you dare bite me or curse at me, I’ll make you throw up the medicine and then force you to eat it again.”

His fingers left Lian Chengyue’s mouth.

The boy’s teeth chattered, but he didn’t actually bite down.

Even in his feverish state, his instincts for sensing danger were still intact.

In other words, he truly believed that Ning Mingmei would do exactly what he said.

Ning Mingmei clicked his tongue.

It looked like Lian Chengyue had really lost control this time. Wasn’t he the one who prided himself on being a refined gentleman, the type who despised childish behavior like this?

In the end, he was just a wild little stray dog.

Ning Mingmei shook out his hand. His pale fingers had pressed so hard against the boy’s mouth that his fingertips were slightly pink. As he flicked his wrist, he glanced at Lian Chengyue.

The boy had curled up as far away from him as possible, still glaring with all the hostility he could muster.

Ning Mingmei said, “Why are you glaring at me? Only puppies refuse to take their medicine. Are you planning to bite me now, little pup?”

Lian Chengyue: “…Woof!”

Ning Mingmei: …

Looked like the little fiend lord had really been driven mad. He actually barked as a way to vent his frustration and humiliation while attempting to display his unyielding courage and rebellious spirit.

“Pfft.”

But instead of getting annoyed, Ning Mingmei let out his first genuine laugh in days.

Lian Chengyue had managed to amuse him.

The moment he smiled, the little boy slowly stopped barking.

When Ning Mingmei looked again, the boy had gone completely blank, though still gloomy, as if dazed.

Ning Mingmei couldn’t be bothered to analyze whatever was going on in the stray pup’s mind. He lifted the carriage curtain and stepped out.

Before leaving, he turned back and said, “Starting tomorrow, someone else will feed you your medicine. Be nicer to them.”

With that, he walked away.

Outside the carriage, disciples returning from their mission had formed a loose circle around, all peeking and whispering, eager for gossip.

Ning Mingmei simply said, “What are you looking at? We need to reach Ye Province before descending the mountain. Understood?”

No one dared speak. The disciples quickly pretended nothing had happened and got back to their tasks.

***

As they neared Ye Province, the ground gradually took on a dark red hue. The dry, cracked soil looked almost rusted.

“There are so many maple trees on the mountain,” Ren Miao said, leaning against the window.

After the incident with feeding Lian Chengyue, the seating arrangement in the carriage had changed. Now, Ning Mingmei, Gui Ruoxue, and the two children shared one carriage, while the fifteenth and the sixteenth disciples drove the carriage outside. The other disciples took a separate carriage.

The mountains were indeed covered in maple trees.

It was spring and normally, maple leaves would be a fresh, vibrant green.

Yet even now, the maple leaves in Ye Province remain orange and yellow.

It was hard to imagine what a breathtaking sight it must be in autumn when the entire mountain was bathed in blood-red leaves.

Strangely enough, while the land was red, the river running through the region was an eerie shade of green; so deep and dark that it seemed unnatural. The contrast of the green water against the orange maple leaves and the fiery sunset sky made for an incredibly eerie scene.

Seeing Ning Mingmei gazing out the window, Gui Ruoxue transmitted a message to him, “Now you understand why this place is called Ye Province.” |24|

It was named after those fiery maple leaves and the crimson soil.

Gui Ruoxue continued, “But do you know why the soil here is red? According to legend, a long time ago, Ye Province’s soil didn’t look like this.”

Ning Mingmei replied, “Silica leaching and iron-aluminum enrichment.”

Gui Ruoxue: …

“Ye Province is naturally fortified, positioned as a strategic gateway before reaching the heart of the Central Plains. Before the mortal realm expanded its territory, this land was a battleground fiercely contested by all sides,” Gui Ruoxue explained. “With demons, fiends, ghosts, and even human civil wars, this soil has been soaked in blood time and time again.”

Ning Mingmei said, “Hmm. A bit of fantasy elements, but acceptable.”

Therefore, in the past, especially during the Third and Fourth Eras, when the human race was in decline, there were never any large-scale city-states in this land. Even if there were settlements, they were only small, scattered villages.

Ning Mingmei focused on one thing. “The human race was once in decline?”

Judging by how arrogant Fang Wuyu acted, he had assumed the human imperial family had always been as untouchable as celestial dragons.

Gui Ruoxue let out a light scoff. “Yes, in the past. Back then, any mortal with a spiritual root would leave the mortal realm to cultivate in the immortal realm. At the time, even humans themselves believed that those without spiritual roots were doomed to live in ignorance and darkness, and that was simply the way things were.”

The departure of the strong left a power vacuum.

Moreover, cultivators adhered to the principle of severing mortal ties.

So what if many cultivators emerged? The mortal realm remained weak and impoverished.

The rise of the mortal realm happened in the Fifth Era. The land itself hadn’t changed, but a certain emperor by the surname of Fang had appeared.

He was a true iron-fisted ruler, skilled in diplomacy and warfare, who expanded human territory and elevated the mortal realm to a status equal to that of other worlds. He became the Human Emperor, but an iron fist is always stained with blood and history’s judgment of him remains divided.

For instance, from his reign onward, the fates of the human and immortal realms became truly intertwined.

Yet no one in the world dares to look down on a true powerhouse. After him, the Fang imperial family produced both empresses and emperors, but one thing remained unchanged; the Fang lineage continued to this day. As a prince of that bloodline, Fang Wuyu naturally remained formidable.

Ning Mingmei remarked, “But Ye Province is a large city.”

Gui Ruoxue replied, “Ye Province only rose to prominence after the Royal General was granted his title. Before that, its history was full of twists and turns. Have you ever wondered why so many fiends and demons roam near Ye Province? It’s because Liuyue Lake is a Feng Shui treasure land and it’s close to the demon realm. In the past, this place was home to a large number of demons.” |25|

Yet, despite the frailty of human life, humanity always finds a way to endure. Even during the darkest and most chaotic times of the Third Era, small villages still existed here. When the Heavenly Gate collapsed, frail mortals clung to life while waiting for the dawn.

During the Third Era, there was a legend in Ye Province.

Gui Ruoxue asked, “Have you ever heard of the human shamans? They existed long ago. Most of them had no spiritual roots, so they sacrificed parts of themselves, like their souls and their health, to pray to the heavens for power. But even then, it only made them slightly stronger than ordinary people. That tiny ember of power was barely enough to deal with minor demons.”

Against powerful demons, they stood no chance.

And in the end, they all paid the price with shorter lifespans, their souls withering away after death, making reincarnation difficult.

During the Third Era, the demon race coveted Liuyue Lake for a long time. They invaded Ye Province multiple times and massacred villages. The people there formed a deep hatred for demons that persists to this day.

But then, the demon invasions suddenly stopped.

Gui Ruoxue said, “Some say it was because a great demon arrived here. Demons are highly territorial creatures. Knowing they couldn’t defeat the great demon, most chose to leave. That brief period was one of the few moments of respite in Ye Province’s long, bloody history.”

That peace lasted until the Fourth Era. In the Fifth Era, demons began invading in small numbers again. Then, during the demon concubine’s rebellion, the thousand-year cycle of war in Ye Province erupted once more.

This time, it was a battle between humans and demons, and between humans and rebels.

Once again, blood soaked the land of Ye.

It was during this period that Ye Province’s great hero, the Royal General, emerged. Holding a torch high, he led his brothers out of the chaos and restored order to the imperial court.

At a time when people suspected he might seize power for himself, he instead requested to retire. His only demand?

That Ye Province be granted to him as his fiefdom so he could return there with his men.

At the time, Ye Province was a barren wasteland. The Emperor readily agreed and even gifted him a longevity pill.

Gui Ruoxue said, “That pill was a rare treasure obtained from the Brilliant Blossom Valley. It could prolong life and preserve youth for four or five centuries with no issue. But I heard that for the past ten years, the Royal General’s health has been poor. The Emperor is deeply worried and even wants to ask the Brilliant Blossom Valley to send someone to check on him. But the Royal General refused.”

By ‘someone,’ he naturally meant people from the Brilliant Blossom Valley. Given his past position as the Deputy Valley Master, Gui Ruoxue still had connections there.

Suffering from illness?

Ning Mingmei said, “But in the note the Royal General sent us, he claimed Ye Province was haunted and asked us to exorcise the ghosts.”

Why would a war hero with unparalleled achievements, someone who had restored the imperial family and stood as a beacon of righteousness, fear ghosts?

Moreover, the people living with him in Ye Province were his old comrades, those who had fought alongside him in life-and-death battles. Every one of them had taken the lives of a hundred enemies at least.

They had never feared killing in their youth, so why would they fear ghosts now, just because they had grown old and refused medical treatment?

Ning Mingmei looked at the blood-red ground and the emerald-green water.

The six million mission was interesting.

As they spoke, the immortal carriage had already moved past the mountain roads and onto the main avenue. The setting sun was as red as blood. The disciples driving the carriage looked ahead at Ye Province in the distance and sighed, “What an impressive sight.”

Indeed, it was impressive as the only city-state on the great plain within the valley. Under the sunset, the tall and thick city walls seemed gilded in gold, shining brilliantly.

As the carriage moved along the road, they began to see more and more residents walking about. They all seemed to be people of Ye Province.

But Ning Mingmei frowned.

He told the disciple driving the carriage, “Slow down.”

The fifteenth disciple asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ning Mingmei said, “The residents here… are strange.”