Translator: Vivi from dummytranslations

Editor: Kerillian 

Chapter 43

 The shapeless remnant soul could not speak, it was truly a case of dying without evidence. Anyway, the dead body was still in the Hidden Realm so even if the murderer did not do anything to destroy the body, the cultivator’s corpse would already have been eaten by the wild beasts, it’s impossible to extract any clues from the body.

The next reopening of the Hidden Realm would be ten years later and the changes during this period of closure were completely unpredictable. When a decade has passed, how was it possible to find anything related to ten years ago?

Fragmenting a soul, this kind of thing has not been seen in the cultivation world for a long time. They were unable to obtain any useful information from interrogating Jiang Tan who was now said to be locked up in the sect’s dungeon.

When the people from the Zhong Xuan sect first took him away, Shen Wang quickly pulled the cold-faced youth that was beside him away, seeing that he looked ready to fight.

Honestly, when faced with such a case where there was no evidence for the cause of death, even if the material evidence was in front of them, they would not care. The identity of the person who died was extremely sensitive, if he were to retaliate, it would involve the entire sect.

Moreover, even though they were in the same sect, Shen Wang also did not believe that Jiang Tan was innocent. After all, the evidence was right in front of their eyes. His usual impression of him was a quiet child of few words with a cold expression all day long, just like his master. Basically, a kid with such a personality was really unpleasant.

Using the reason that it would affect the entire sect, Shen Wang just managed to hold the youth back from retaliating on the spot. Afterward, he was unable to pull him back from going to Zhong Xuan Sect.

Worrying about what his junior disciple brother might do, Shen Wang could only follow the other person there.

In the past, he had thought that this disciple brother of his did not care about Jiang Tan but now, he strongly believes that his disciple brother just chose not to show it.

“In consideration of our sect and the fact that you are here, even if they are unable to obtain anything useful from the interrogation, the Zhong Xuan sect will not take extreme measures against Jiang Tan…” Shen Wang said something that could hardly be considered a consolation. Convicting and punishing him for a crime was one thing, they did not necessarily have to force a confession out of him.

The splitting of a soul cannot be done by ordinary means. Tracing back its origins, this method was in fact, said to have been passed down from the Demon race. However, since hundreds of years ago, all the sects in the entire cultivation world had united together to fight against the Demon race for a whole year. Slaughtering and forcing those who entered the human world back to the abyss of the underworld, the cultivation world hadn’t seen a trace of them since.

The various entrances and exits of the abyss to the human world had been sealed up. The major sects in the cultivation realm would take turns to send people to reinforce these seals each year. These layer of seals have all the while been impregnable and showed no signs of loosening.

The wicked method of splitting the soul was uncommon and have been deemed taboo in the cultivation world. However, the method has still been circulated and he did not know when Jiang Tan had learned about it… Perhaps it was the month where he had left the sect.

After he finished speaking, Shen Wang saw that the youth was still silent as he turned towards the sect in front of them.

“I will not do anything that will affect the sect.” Gu Yan’s words stopped whatever the person behind him was going to persuade him with and continued to walk towards the main hall.

“Little disciple brother…you… ah… ” Believing that the youth will uphold his words, Shen Wang no longer tried to persuade him.

If this younger brother was going to the main hall to plead with them, he was afraid that he will only be disappointed and return. Looking at the retreating figure, Shen Wang shook his head.

He also extremely doted upon his own disciple. However, if his disciple had done something wrong, no matter how much this Master loves him, he will also be unable to shield him. There will always be a time when he will be unable to protect his own disciple, just like how his junior disciple brother is now.

However, the development of events still far exceeded Shen Wang’s expectation.

On the other side, in the dark and dreary dungeon, the dungeon was extremely cold. This environment had no effect on Jiang Tan, only the heat in the palm of his hand gave him a little warmth.

The dark-haired child’s eyes were darker than his surrounding. He clenched the spirit sealing bottle in his left hand, wondering when the youth would come to see him.

In the situation where there were no evidence and the only murder weapon was found on him, the fact that the summoned remnant soul of the dead person followed him made it so that even if he tried to defend by telling them that he had lent his dagger to Li Rong, when comparing the identities of the two, the other was her Senior brother. Such a ridiculous excuse was simply a joke in the eyes of the others.

Apart from those involved in the incident, nobody else knows. The other person can even claim that he did not meet Ye Yuan in the hidden realm but he was unable to because the physical evidence was on him.

“Master…” Jiang Tan thought about it when the youth came to see him, he had to give him the thing in his hands.

When the youth said that he believed him, he no longer cared about the opinions of the others. Compared to being spurned, Jiang Tan cared more about whether his Master would have to endure other people’s peculiar gazes because of him.

  Waiting for a long time, nobody came. The dungeons were very dark and the only source of light came from the flame of a candle. It was difficult to tell the time in such an immutable environment but Jiang Tan still knew that it had been a few days.

His Master did not visit him. The dark-haired child creased his eyes brows. There were no handcuffs but only the formless spiritual shackles were on his body. At this time, keeping his head down in the prison, he looked almost like a pitiful and abandoned cub.

“Screech–” Suddenly, there was a loud sound and light penetrated the room.

Someone had come. Staying in the dark for a long time and being extra sensitive to light, Jiang Tan squinted his eyes and looked towards the place where the light was coming from.

It was not the person he was hoping for. Jiang Tan retracted his gaze and looked away. Afterward, two people walked to the front of his prison cell, he recognized one of them.

It was the peak master of the Heavenly Sword Peak, Shen Wang. The other person who had entered was wearing robes similar to the Zhong Xuan Sect.

Jiang Tan just wanted to ask the person he had recognized when he heard the sound of the door being unlocked and froze. The iron door made of a special material opened in front of him. The person who had opened the door motioned for him to leave.

The spiritual shackles were also removed. Jiang Tan stepped out of this prison but could not understand what the person of the Zhong Xuan Sect was doing.

Letting him leave?

Using a life to compensate another, this kind of logic, Jiang Tan knows. Only one person believed that he was wrongly accused. Even if he was truly innocent, a life still had to be paid.

“Peak Master …” Jiang Tan tried to speak.

Shen Wang steadied the person who looked like he was about to fall and knew what the other person wanted to ask. However, he was still unable able to accept that fact and could only shake his head: “Don’t ask anything first, I promised my younger disciple brother that I would take you back. Whatever you want to ask, you can ask when we get back.”

Hearing this, Jiang Tan tightened his grip and stopped talking. Realistically speaking, it was only right to take his life as compensation. Now that these people not only did not convict and punish him, they even let him go…

 It was impossible to have such a good thing.

He was led out of the dungeon. During this period, Jiang Tan kept silent and followed Shen Wang. When the latter took out his flying sword to take him away, a white-haired elder stopped them.

Shen Wang furrowed his eyebrows. “You want to go back on your word?”

His disciple brother had already paid the price that both sides had agreed on. If the other side broke their agreement, it would be too much.

“Of course not.” The Zhong Xuan Sect’s Elder said. “However, Jiang Tan has stolen something from my disciple and I have come to get it back.”

Some people can flip the truth and confuse the black and white to such an extent. Furrowing his brows, Jiang Tan tightened his grip before he slowly released and handed the thing in his left hand to the elder.

The item was quickly taken away. Without its warmth, his hand suddenly felt cold.

“Let’s go,” Shen Yan said. He had promised his younger brother that he would bring this person back. He would see to it.

So this was the feeling of having his important item taken away. Jiang Tan stared at his empty hand. The gift he had been preparing to give to the youth had been taken away…

If only he had enough power, this would not have happened.

Returning to the Guan Lan Sect, Shen Wang sent Jiang Tan to the Heavenly Peak and looked at the other, wanting to speak but hesitated. In the end, he did not say anything.

The people of the Zhong Xuan Sect could not possibly let him leave for no reason and as he approached the main hall, Jiang Tan actually faintly thought about the reason. This made him afraid to imagine what he might see after he pushed the door.

When he finally opened the door, he saw the youth who he had been thinking of……sitting in a wheelchair. The handsome and cold face was pale but still filled with a hint of pride. However, the most important thing was, from a cultivator’s perspective, the youth sitting on the wheelchair was like a normal person, without a hint of spiritual energy.

“… Master.” His hoarse voice was almost unable to speak, only managing to squeeze out the two syllabus, Jiang Tan did not know how he had crossed the distance between them to hug the waist of the youth on the wheelchair.

Touching the corner of his eye with his index finger then lightly swiping it, Gu Yan wiped away the clear traces of tears and softly murmured, “Qiuqiu, be good.”

There wasn’t any sound, but the Taotie cub was actually sobbing. What had originally been buried in the young cub’s heart, an overwhelming darkness suddenly took root and grew…

Until it finally consumed his entire heart.

T/n: Okayy this was kinda sad :((
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