Chapter 5: The Release

At the Rebirth Company:

“You really can’t contact Mister Villain?” Liu XiaoDai was sprawled on his office desk as he listlessly muttered, “If that Halo has a problem, I reckon it’ll be about time for me to pack my bags and leave……”

Wang Wei crawled out of his half-assembled transmigration machine before wiping the sweat off of his face. “I still can’t detect any fluctuations. What’s wrong with wearing the wrong Halo? Automatic white-washing, right? Isn’t that pretty good too?”

“That Halo was being debugged! We don’t even know if there are any side-effects!”

“Ha ha ha what kind of side-effects would a white-washing Halo have? Don’t tell me it’ll turn the user into an albino?”

Liu XiaoDai gave Wang Wei a withering glare.

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Wang Wei bowed his head in embarrassment. “Oh, so the side-effects might actually be albinism, ah…..?”

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“This time’s Customer Self-Experience Service has now concluded. Respected customer, you still have two more opportunities to use this service.”

Yin BiYue snapped out of his daze when he heard the mechanical and electronic voice in his head.

During his interaction with the protagonist, his fragmented memories regarding his time in the Academy were almost completely repaired. It seemed like he needed to be in contact with the relevant characters in order to ‘activate’ those memories.

Thus, Yin BiYue had been so preoccupied with watching those memories, he hadn’t even cared about the expressions he had made or the things he had said under the Halo’s influence.

But despite watching everything, however, Yin BiYue was still quite confused. That was because, regarding the memory of the original Yin BiYue’s graduation night, the teenager only drank a few cups of wine before returning to his room and sleeping early.

So what was with Luo MingChuan’s expression before he left? That confused, pained, and regretful look……Could it be? Had Luo MingChuan borrowed some money from the original Yin BiYue and never returned it?

Can’t be. Then, did Luo MingChuan ended up sleeping with the original Yin BiYue’s crush?

Cang Ya Mountain was particularly concerned with practicing abstinence and resisting one’s lust. If one had already experienced their spring night that young, even entering the Sect would be quite difficult.

Or maybe the word ‘Qiongzhou’ was something one could use against the protagonist? Maybe it was some kind of dark past, so saying it would make the protagonist feel guilty?

Yin BiYue honestly didn’t understand. Furthermore, his head was still spinning.

However, this should be considered as successfully duping the protagonist, right?

In any case, he had no other choice but to believe that Little Halo Assistant for the time being. Thinking that, Yin BiYue sat down beside the wall once more. After adjusting himself to a comfortable position, he continued to try and dig into the original Yin BiYue’s scattered memories.

On the bright side, his current world didn’t have any light. Thus, it greatly improved the quality of his sleep.

In a flash, seven days passed.

Today, the skies were clear and the weather was great. Even the breeze was harmonious and calm.

Before Yin BiYue was released from his prison cell, a guard gave him a spacious and black cloak. It was only with the help of that cloak’s hood did he not go blind from the sunlight.

Whether one raised their heads high or lowered them, they would see overflowing green and smell nature’s purity. If they gazed far into the distance, they would see continuous hills in the colour of jade-green.

Four Cang Ya Mountain disciples who studied restraining spiritual arts came to meet the dungeon guards. Then, with two standing in front of Yin BiYue and two standing behind him, they began escorting him toward the mountain top.

They were bringing him to the palace hall of the main peak, Qing He Peak, to attend the public trial.

In the past, Yin BiYue had poor relationships with other people because of his haughtiness and gloominess.

Now, after being pinned with the crime of harming disciples of his own Sect and with how everyone claimed his thoughts weren’t upright, his ‘vicious behaviour’ made everyone spurn him even more.

All the disciples who were escorting him had disdain written on their faces. There was even one who had coldly snorted.

Yin BiYue mentally sighed before thinking, a large and influential Sect was truly different! The people here had really good upbringing. After all, none of them started cursing him out.

Yin BiYue’s body hadn’t moved much for a long time, and currently, his cultivation had been sealed. Furthermore, perhaps the unique properties of Cang Ya Mountain’s dungeon had also been stressing him. In any case, after walking a couple of steps, Yin BiYue felt his waist become sore and his legs turn into jelly, and no matter how he tried, he couldn’t raise his spirit.

Suddenly, without prior warning, someone pushed him from behind. One of the escorting disciples impatiently said, “Hurry up!”

Immediately following that, however, an angry shout rang out like a clap of thunder. “Stop!”

Yin BiYue was currently engrossed in pondering over his public trial. Thus, with his train of thought abruptly interrupted by that yell, he blurted out the first thing that ran through his mind. “It doesn’t concern them. I was walking too slowly.”

Then, finally reacting, Yin BiYue’s heart tightened. This voice……it was Luo MingChuan!

Looking afar, he noticed an agile speck of white in the distance. Though that speck was far away in the middle of a forest, after bouncing and jumping a few times, Luo MingChuan landed in front of him.

Yin BiYue mentally sighed. Tut tut tut, this pretty protagonist face became even more handsome under the broad daylight.

However, the person in front of him only stared at him in a daze. His gaze was very sincere, and it looked as if he had thousands of words stuck in his throat.

Luo MingChuan didn’t react even after the escorting disciples saluted him and called him ‘Martial Uncle Luo’.

Now it was Yin BiYue who felt a bit stupefied. In the end, was the protagonist short-sighted, or did he have a flower on his face?

After Luo MingChuan left the dungeon that day, he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep for the whole week. The moment he closed his eyes, his brain would flip through the different expressions that youth made in the prison cell. His innocent smile, his madness, his indifference……

Thus, he began to meditate instead in an attempt to recover his composure. However, bit by bit, memory fragments of his life in the Academy began flashing past his eyes.

Eventually, it stopped on his memories of that night, where the moonlight scattered over the Lotus Water Pavilion. There, he had knocked over his wine cup, dirtying those wide, white sleeves.

That year, his junior-apprentice brother had unexpectedly believed the words he had said when he was completely drunk. Words he believed until now…..

That was right. Even if junior-apprentice brother was intelligent and talented, that year he had been so young. He hadn’t yet understood the ways of the world. He had been pure and innocent like a newborn child. That Yin BiYue had been so simple and naive.

It was Luo MingChuan who had previously promised something, before turning back on his words.

He had broken his promise while offering no explanations. His junior-apprentice brother was so haughty, so how could he allow himself to come and ask Luo MingChuan for an explanation? The youth had no other choice but to repress his emotions.

After repressing those emotions for a long time, his personality began to greatly change as obsession was born in his heart.

Only then, did Yin BiYue decline to the state he was today. Everything that happened these years now had an explanation.

It was he who had harmed his junior-apprentice brother.

Before he came today, Luo MingChuan thought he had completely sorted out his thoughts. Ultimately, the matter that occurred in the Secret Realm had happened because of himself. Thus, he was willing to take responsibility.

As for his junior-apprentice brother’s deep, obsessive feelings, although Luo MingChuan could not return them, he was ready to patiently guide him. He could lead Yin BiYue out of his current confused state, and help him relinquish his anger.

However, when he really saw that delicate youth stagger because of a hard push, back straight despite his weakness, his heart couldn’t help but freeze. Luo MingChuan didn’t even notice that he had used such a severe tone, one he had never used before.

After all, it had only been seven days since he had last seen Yin BiYue, but the teenager seemed to have wasted away even more. Now, he was so thin, his body probably only contained his bones and his skin. It seemed as if a gust of wind would be able to blow him away.

Those cold eyes were hidden under the shade of his hood. The only part of his face that was revealed was his delicate chin and his thin, bloodless-pale lips.

Luo MingChuan couldn’t help but wonder: had Yin BiYue suffered any injuries within the Violet Heaven Secret Realm? If he had been wounded, with how his cultivation had been sealed and with how he had been shackled and thrown into a prison cell, how difficult had the last few days been for this youth?

The four disciples sent to escort Yin BiYue were still saluting Luo MingChuan. When they saw how Luo MingChuan didn’t reply, none of them dared to get up.

The four of them thought back to what had just happened and couldn’t help but ponder. Martial Uncle Luo had always been gentle, lenient and benevolent. In the past, had he ever used such a sharp tone to speak?

But then, unexpectedly, they heard a cold voice. It was serene and contained no ripples of emotion as the youth explained, “It doesn’t concern them. I was walking too slowly.”

Yin BiYue actually made an excuse for them? This person……why was he different from the rumours?

Luo MingChuan’s heart was filled with a hundred different and complicated emotions. After a long time, he asked in a rough voice, “You……are you alright?”

It was only then did he remember there were other people still saluting him. Thus, he lightly coughed before saying, “Rise.”

The four disciples spontaneously retreated to one side.

The youth was silent and did not say anything. Instead, he turned his head away.

Luo MingChuan’s heart tightened. Had junior-apprentice brother misunderstood and thought he came here to mock him? He immediately took two steps forward before anxiously explaining, “Don’t worry, I have a plan!”

On the other hand, Yin BiYue kept feeling as though Luo MingChuan was acting quite strange. He seemed a bit too eager and proactive?

But then he was quickly relieved. The Holy Mother-like personality activating now was great, ah!

He could now depend on Luo MingChuan for the public trial! It was alright if he was evicted from the Sect, but preserving his cultivation was the most important, ah!

At this moment, coincidentally, an eastern wind blew past. Deep in the mountains, the leaves of the forest trees began rustling like an ocean wave, echoing endlessly.

The breeze blew and lifted up Luo MingChuan’s cloud-like, swaying clothes. It also managed to blow away the black hood from Yin BiYue’s cloak.

Suddenly, Luo MingChuan exclaimed. “Junior-apprentice brother, your hair!”

As the youth faced the wind, three thousand strands of silver silk covered him in a disorganized manner, looking like glistening pure snow under the sunlight. Free of any restraints, they began to fly in the breeze.

Yin BiYue’s gaze swept his surroundings before he mentally screamed ‘oh no’.

In the dungeon’s complete darkness, he hadn’t been able to pay attention to his appearance. Thus, he had no idea when he had become like this.

Was it a side-effect from when the original Yin BiYue tried to force open the seal on his cultivation? Or was it from when he had transmigrated, a side-effect because his soul did not completely adapt to this body? How was he supposed to explain this kind of uncommon warning sign for cultivation deviation1?!

Wait, why was he worrying about this? Luo MingChuan didn’t use the Spiritual Pupil Arts on him, so all he had to do was maintain his character disposition.

Thus, Yin BiYue said in a cold and detached tone, “It doesn’t matter.”

The implication of his words was, it didn’t concern him.

Luo MingChuan felt as though the youth’s indifference was like a fine thorn. It gently stabbed into the most delicate and soft part of his heart, and even simply breathing made his chest hurt faintly.

He would much rather his junior-apprentice brother hate him and begin cursing him out. He would rather the boy display something similar to when he had visited the youth in his prison cell, something vivid and emotional. Luo MingChuan didn’t want to endure this kind of indifference, as if to Yin BiYue, he was just an insignificant stranger.

The four escorting disciples were also startled. How did this person’s fine black hair turn white? Could it be that he had a case of cultivation deviation?

And then, the four of them saw Luo MingChuan’s reaction……why was this once again different from the rumours?!

Don’t tell them, this was some sort of secret, one that couldn’t be voiced?!

Facts had determined that a proper Sect was full of gossipers. The escorting disciples lowered their heads and pretended to withdraw from the scene. However, their ears perked up as their eyes started flashing with light.

This was something quite rare! The secret affairs between Cang Ya Mountain’s succeeding disciple and Xi Hua Peak’s genius!

Unfortunately, the two leading roles of that drama were destined to disappoint these escorting disciples. Yin BiYue faced one of those escorting disciples before speaking up in a cold tone. “Let’s go, we cannot be late.”

“Ding——the villain’s expression ‘gaze like a knife’ has appeared! The conditions are fulfilled, so the Halo has activated!”

Hearing that voice once more, Yin BiYue was startled before he practically blew his top.

He only gave that disciple a casual glance!!

Where did the knife come from?! Where??!!

Halo, you couldn’t even let a passerbyer’s hatred slip by! Wow, you were so hard working!!

Being glanced at, Cheng Xi only saw two pools of a cold spring pond staring at him. His heart suddenly tightened. He was a disciple who practiced restraining cultivation arts. Yesterday, he accepted a job, ‘to escort Yin BiYue’. Like others, he had long heard of this Martial Uncle’s full name. The Academy’s top student, Xi Hua Peak’s rarely seen genius. For a little disciple like him, Yin BiYue was naturally an existence he would hope to see, but could never actually meet.

However, no matter who he was, the crime he commited was unforgivable.

He had always believed the rumours and thought that this Martial Uncle Yin had a narrow-minded and gloomy personality. But now, Cheng Xi no longer dared to make any further inferences.

That thin youth was just standing there. It was like he was the pines closest to heaven on a mountain summit, the ones submerged in clouds and covered in unchanging snow all year round.

Cold and lofty, an existence that could not be reached.

Yin BiYue wanted to harm Martial Uncle Luo because he was jealous of him? Did this person even have Martial Uncle Luo in his eyes? He completely didn’t, ah.

Martial Uncle Luo’s reaction was strange as well……Cheng Xi was currently lost in thought as he pondered these things. Unexpectedly, however, Yin BiYue glanced at him before he coldly urged them to leave.

This youth was actually considering what would happen to them, the escorting disciples? He was afraid that if they were late, they would be punished?

Would a person like this really try to harm people of his own Sect? For the first time, suspicions began festering in Cheng Xi’s heart.

He pretended to cough lightly before he saluted Luo MingChuan and said, “The public trial would be after chen2. We also request Martial Uncle Luo to not make things difficult for us.”

The other three disciples saluted him as well.

Luo MingChuan still wanted to say something, however, Yin BiYue had already turned around and left. The four escorting disciples began to hurriedly catch up to him.

Only the image of a tenacious, tall and straight back was left behind. Three thousand strands of white hair glistened brilliantly under the sunlight, draping over his ink-black robe. It looked like the ice and snow of a mobile, moving mountain.

jj Evidently, Yin BiYue was walking toward an unknown punishment. However, it looked as if he was walking on a path to a wonderful future. There wasn’t a single trace of fear in his movements.

For a moment, Luo MingChuan was dazzled by this scene.

He watched the youth step onto the stone steps before walking up with a moderate pace. Step by step, Yin BiYue began disappearing into the sea of jade-green, hidden from view.

Under the vast, blue sky, with the thousands of layers of mountains, nothing was able to trap him.

1. Cultivation deviation, also called qi deviation in other novels, is pretty much a burnout of the cultivator’s cultivation. It easily leads to death as it becomes easier for a cultivator to fall prey to their Internal Demons in this state. A lot of times they end up exploding, lol.↩

2. Chen is equivalent to 7-9AM.