Former Sweetheart

Chapter 3: “Relying on his appearance, he remained single.”　　

The person who understands you the best is precisely your rival. You Jiang had long figured out Fu Hongye’s principles, ones more stubborn than icebergs from the extreme north.

Thus, he knew: even if it was a matter of life or death, this righteous leader wouldn’t take even the slightest advantage of anyone. So don’t even mention rolling onto a bed with his enemy.

The current Fu Hongye must have lost all his rationality.

However, what You Jiang didn’t understand was why Fu Hongye regarded him as his sword.

The swords used by the Profound Sect disciples were all forged by famous craftsmen. As the Sword Saint’s disciple, Fu Hongye’s sword Fengzhi was an exceptional, godly sword refined by the top spiritual craftsman entrusted by Myriad Treasures Hall.

The Fengzhi sword had been tempered in fire that would never be extinguished. Thus, any scars it left would stay bright-red, never to fade away. 

You Jiang had seen this particular sword many times, but he didn’t think there were any similarities between the two of them. 

Besides, he had entered the immortal way before Fu Hongye had even been born. It was impossible for the brat to have interacted with Jiang Fengzhi, his past self. 

Thus, this baffling transfer of affection between the sword to him was truly quite strange.

However, the most terrible thing was, Fu Hongye had lived for a hundred twenty-eight years. But from beginning to end, he had never looked for a Daoist companion. Reportedly, he hadn’t even touched a female cultivator’s hand before.

Day and light, he stayed with only his sword, and they were inseparable even while he slept. 

Now that Fu Hongye regarded You Jiang as his sword, since waking up, the youth tried tying him to his waist with a rope. Afterwards, Fu Hongye realized that it wasn’t convenient to carry a fully-grown man like this, so he became eager to try and piggyback You Jiang.

The result of this attempt was You Jiang slapping the brat without the least hesitation. Ultimately, Fu Hongye could only hold the demonic leader’s pale hand while knitting his brow. It looked almost as if he was worrying about a major crisis: how his weapon wouldn’t agree to be sheathed. 

A lunatic at the Dispersed Immortal realm wasn’t to be trifled with. In addition, after last night, You Jiang currently felt exhausted. He wasn’t willing to provoke this youth and get tormented again. Thus, You Jiang only pulled away his hand before he began changing his clothes by himself.　

The basis of cultivating was precisely to absorb spiritual energy while eliminating the impurities in one’s body. The higher your cultivation level, the purer and cleaner your body. 

For top cultivators like You Jiang and Fu Hongye, regardless of whether it was their skin or their physique, they had all achieved the pinnacle of humanity. No matter where they go, they would appear like a crane in a flock of chickens1, and one only needed a single glance to see their graceful bearing that sets them apart from normal masses.

You Jiang could not help but admit: Fu Hongye’s body didn’t have even the slightest flaw. It was completely worthy of his Dispersed Immortal cultivation realm.

If the one who had been pushed down wasn’t him, he would have even been able to carefully appreciate it. In fact, You Jiang would have hugged the brat while saying a few, gentle placations.

Now, with how he needed to gasp just trying to get out of bed, You Jiang only had one thought in his mind—this little bastard was as robust as an ox! Serves him right to have no Daoist partner! 

You Jiang was different from Fu Hongye, who emanated a healthy aura from head to toe. Since he cultivated the demonic way, his complexion often had a hint of morbid paleness. 

Because he used a fan as his weapon of choice, You Jiang’s entire combat style also took the graceful route. Thus, just from his outer appearance, he actually had a scholarly flavor. No one would have guessed that during battles, You Jiang would be shrewd, ruthless and cruel.

Of course, that scholarly air only existed before he put on his make-up.　 

You Jiang’s makeup wasn’t the rouge or powder girls used to increase their cuteness factor. Instead, it was a paint created from the evil aura collected from the ghost realm. 

After opening a small box made from a giant clam and sitting in front of the mirror, picturesque black eyebrows were drawn into fierce swords that arched into his temples. The originally handsome eye corners and brow tips were covered with pitch-black demonic motifs. Even his thin lips were painted with a blood-red that made one’s hair stand on end.

In an instant, the scholarly man with pure and slightly melancholic features changed his appearance. Whoever saw him now would think he looked demonic and bewitching, and would immediately curse under their breath—F*ck! The old devil came out again to harm the common folk!　 

You Jiang felt much more at ease with his current face; one brimming with the aura of a demonic cultivator. Casually throwing Fu Hongye’s white robes back to the rotten brat, he changed into his own black robes embroidered with gold and then took out his spare peacock pearl cloak. 

Staring at the striking, flirtatious demonic leader reflected in the mirror, You Jiang finally waved his fan in satisfaction. 

Very good, even he wanted to punch someone dressed like this. How deserving of the demonic way’s leader!　 

If one were to say that the eagle feather cloak he used yesterday still had a somewhat proud and aloof aura, this peacock cloak that made even a demonic cultivator feel intolerable was truly gaudy. 

Fu Hongye had originally been standing blankly in front of the bed. When he turned around and suddenly saw You Jiang looking like this, he couldn’t help but frown. “Fengzhi, did someone steal you to poke a bird’s nest?” 

The qi-deviated righteous leader lost his past kindness and directly conveyed disdain for his old enemy. However, You Jiang became even more satisfied with this reaction. 

He could guarantee, if he hadn’t felt sentimental over old affairs and scattered his demonic energy last night, Fu Hongye wouldn’t be able to bring himself to kiss his face even if he was fed an aphrodisiac!

What did this mean?

When there’s danger in the jianghu, the devil absolutely cannot be kind. The moment you slackened your guard, a righteous cultivator would execute you on the spot!

You Jiang silently reflected on his laziness last night, before he became even more determined to become a dedicated demonic way leader today. He only asked the youth, “Am I pleasing to the eye like this?” 

Fu Hongye replied honestly, “Too strange and bewitching, I don’t like it.” 

After going crazy, this brat lost all his politeness. However, when You Jiang heard his words, he began to laugh, completely ignoring the youth’s complicated expression.

Putting on a wolf tooth earring, he said, “Not bad. To be able to harm the righteous leader’s eyes, this is precisely the most perfect attire for a demonic cultivator.”

Regardless of anything, the unexpected had already happened, and the insane Sect Leader of the Profound Sect was standing here right in front of him. You Jiang began secretly pondering how he could make use of this matter, when the demonic way’s left Protector spoke deferentially outside his door.

“Leader, I just received some news. Fu Hongye disappeared ten days ago. Should we still wait here?”　 

The last major Protector of the demonic way was the demonic lord’s son, Bi Qianren. After he went into seclusion with his Daoist companion hand-in-hand, he sent over his only disciple Cun Jie to succeed his position.

This was actually quite strange. Bi Qianren was the only threat to You Jiang’s position as the demonic leader, but the two have been long-time friends who never argued. Today, Cun Jie actually became one of You Jiang’s most trusted aides. In the demonic way where people never trusted each other, this was a rather fantastical story.　 

The demonic way had three elders, a right and left Protector, and ten envoys. However, for his ambush against Fu Hongye, You Jiang only brought along Cun Jie. It was obvious he had trusted this left Protector the most.

Thus, now that he encountered an unforeseen event, You Jiang didn’t intend to hide it from him. He only calmly replied, “Instruct everyone to remove our trap. This lord has something to tell you, come in.” 

Cun Jie was a child Bi Qianren picked up from the ghost realm, but then he got thrown to the demonic way by his Master straight away. It can be said that You Jiang was the one who raised him till now.

Thus, Cun Jie felt absolute loyalty to the demonic leader, and he copied You Jiang for everything. Although fortunately for him, his aesthetics still followed his Master’s.

With a cold expression, a youth dressed in black pushed open the door and entered the room. A hidden sleeve arrow was tied to his right wrist, while a medicinal pouch hung by his waist. Silver rings circled all five of his fingers, and a wolf tooth hung from his left ear. The youth’s short hair was level with his shoulders while a jiaolong2 was embroidered on his back—this was precisely the attire of the people from the Maritimes.

Generation after generation, the Protectors of the demonic way were all poison experts. In the present era, Cun Jie was precisely the number one person at using poison. Only a single glance from him would make everyone tremble with fear.

However, a ferocious person like this immediately froze upon seeing the scene in the room. 

Last night, the two people had fought fiercely. Since You Jiang had been too lazy to tidy up after he got up, the messy tables and chairs, along with the shredded clothing, made it obvious exactly what had happened.

Cun Jie stared with wide eyes at the righteous leader who was silently putting on clothes because someone came in, and then shot a glance at the calm and unperturbed You Jiang.

He still didn’t dare to believe his own eyes, and could only hum and haw, “Lead……Leader? Fu……Fu Hongye? You guys……” 

The people who were still opposing each other tit for tat yesterday suddenly decided to fight on bed instead. You Jiang himself couldn’t even believe something like this, so he wasn’t baffled that this would be Cun Jie’s reaction. He only glanced at Fu Hongye.

Only after seeing how the righteous cultivator was still blanking out and hadn’t paid attention to the arrival of another demonic cultivator, did You Jiang give his subordinate an explanation. “He had a qi deviation.”　 

Fu Hongye’s righteousness and honesty was known by everyone under the skies, so Cun Jie had long guessed that there was something wrong with the righteous leader right now.

However, he didn’t know the mishap that happened last night. He only thought their demonic leader had used some sort of trick, and thus said with admiration, “Leader possesses remarkable abilities and the experience of a thousand autumns. He will dominate the jianghu!”　 

Just as You Jiang had expected—he and Fu Hongye were enemies for so many years. The moment something happened to this youth, everyone would think he was the one who caused it.

Thus, the moment You Jiang thought about how someone else had grabbed the chance to cheat Fu Hongye to death before he did, he felt even more dissatisfied. You Jiang rolled his eyes at the left Protector boasting about him and said, “Who taught you this nonsense?”

After Cun Jie became the left Protector, he moved into the study to handled paperwork day and night. He was available at all times for You Jiang to call on him, just like a human-shaped pet. 

An honest child like this naturally didn’t understand how he should pander to his boss. He calmly admitted, “If I want to be a good Protector, I naturally need to learn to flatter the Leader!”　 

To be able to say these shameful words with such confidence and force, this guy was truly a talent. But despite sighing like this in his heart, You Jiang thickened his face outwardly and praised, “Not bad to have awareness. However, next time, learn some techniques to flatter me a bit more tactfully.”

Cun Jie cheerfully cupped his hands with respect, “Yes, sir! This subordinate will immediately go to the imperial court to catch a few officials to study from!”　　 

For this lad to be so diligent in being the devil’s henchmen, of course You Jiang felt completely satisfied. 

Unfortunately, there was still someone sitting on the bed who gave him a headache: Fu Hongye.

If he wanted to kill him, well, You Jiang couldn’t even defeat him. Letting him go like this……there was an eighty-percent chance that he’ll become the scapegoat for Fu Hongye’s current state. 

You Jiang being fond of fighting against the righteous way didn’t mean he was willing to be a scapegoat for others. 

No matter who set up this game, his demonic way absolutely wouldn’t be one of their chess pieces. 

When he thought of this, You Jiang decided to investigate everything first before slaughtering both Fu Hongye and the mastermind together. He asked his Protector, “Does Fu Hongye have any enemies in the jianghu?”　 

“You ah, Leader.”

Cun Jie practically blurted out his reply. You Jiang immediately knew that upon hearing something happened to Fu Hongye, everyone would definitely think he was the culprit.

Upon seeing this, he could only clarify in exasperation, “Other than me.” 

This question actually stumped Cun Jie. He seriously recalled all the information pertaining to Fu Hongye, but to no avail. 

Ultimately, he answered again with admiration, “Leader, as the chief demonic cultivator, there’s no one in the world who can be on par with you.”　 

Fine. As the Profound Sect’s Sect Leader, the Heavenly Alliance’s leader, and the best swordsman under the heavens……with the power and cultivation Fu Hongye possesses, the only person who dared to be his enemy and still haven’t died yet was probably just the demonic way’s leader.

You Jiang couldn’t even think of anyone who could harm Fu Hongye himself, so he wasn’t baffled by Cun Jie’s reply. He only instructed him, “Forget it. I’ll give you nine hours. I want to know everything that happened in Mingchuan City.”　 

“Be reassured, Leader! I’ll only need two hours. If I cannot finish this task, this subordinate will come carrying his head3!” 

Young people always handled affairs while brimming with enthusiasm. After getting his order, Cun Jie rushed out of the room with overbearing aggression.

You Jiang watched this youth’s back and suddenly felt Cun Jie was a bit like his own past self. With merely an elder’s order, people like them would even dare to enter a dragon’s lake or a tiger’s cave.

Unfortunately, they weren’t as lucky as Fu Hongye, and weren’t able to encounter the best teacher during the best age.

From the very start, it was already destined for people like them to walk farther and farther from the right path.

Thus, You Jiang had always wanted to see: if Fu Hongye, who had become the righteous leader in such a swimmingly manner, made a mistake……would he still be able to retain his clear conscience and upright appearance?

Just like how Fu Hongye wanted to destroy his demonic heart, what You Jiang wanted to break the most—was precisely the seemingly invulnerable righteousness in the youth’s gaze.