It took the Nightfall Emperor Mo Zhiyuan ten long years to wreak havoc upon humanity, turn the cultivation world upside down, and destroy the delicate balance that persisted between the human realm and the demon realm.
During his tyrannical reign, innocent human beings were trampled under the spiky boots of beasts and demons alike. Their blood screamed out from the red soil beneath a mountain of corpses, demanding justice for their wasted lives.
Upon Mo Zhiyuan's dethronement, it took Grandmaster Shen Ruizhe of Seven Sky Pillars Sect nine years and nine months to rebuild the human realm from scratch, re-establish the ten great cultivation sects, and send the demons back to their wretched origin.
The first joyous event that marked the end of this great endeavor was a wedding banquet that took place at Mount Baiyue, the seat of Baiyueshan Sect. This wedding banquet, celebrating the union of the new sect leader with his betrothed of three years, was attended by the prominent figures of the nine other sects, including, of course, Grandmaster Shen Ruizhe.
The Baiyueshan Sect Leader was a young man of twenty-two years old, while his bride was only twenty years old.
The sect itself was flattened to the ground during one of Nightfall Emperor Mo Zhiyuan's destructive campaigns, leaving only a handful of survivors who fled the mountain in panic. If not for Grandmaster Shen Ruizhe, who personally took the sect leader's only surviving son under his wings and raised him for the past nine years and nine months, the Baiyueshan Sect would never have revived.
Therefore, it surprised no one to have Grandmaster Shen Ruizhe sitting in the seat of honor during the wedding, usually reserved for the parents of the groom.
The grandmaster was a widely acclaimed hero who freed the human realm from demon clutches, but not everyone thought of him highly.
A certain inner disciple of Baiyueshan Sect, surnamed Wang, was especially bitter about his sect's unreasonable deference toward said grandmaster. After downing several cups of wine in sequence, he lost all ability to suppress his thoughts.
"Revered Grandmaster, your head! Savior of humanity, your foot! Can everyone stop licking Venerable God Shen's esteemed ass and just speak frankly for once? If not for his failure as a teacher, would Mo Zhiyuan even have the chance to rise to the top and lay waste to the human realm???"
The words were spoken with a drunken slur amongst the cacophony of celebratory chatters, but they still drew the attention of the ones who sat close to said disciple. He
A younger martial-art brother to Disciple Wang, surnamed Su, quickly rose to his feet and clamped both of his hands over Disciple Wang's mouth.
"Wang Shixiong, you should not speak of such things during this wedding!" Disciple Su hissed, his eyes darting around in panic, as if expecting a group of people to come and seize this drunken elder martial-art brother.
Disciple Wang did not appreciate his younger martial-art brother's good intention at all. He wriggled free from the latter's grip and babbled further.
"Hic... you are all nothing but puppets. You don't have your own opinion. Shame on you. Shame on all of us. You do not have a drop of honor in your body. Hic..."
His drunken state prompted him to sway to the side and bump against another guest before falling to the ground..
This guest was quick to react. With one fluid motion, he dragged the drunk disciple by his arm and helped him back to his chair.
"Be careful," he said, his voice soft and his tone gentle.
"Wang Shixiong!" the distressed Disciple Su cried out. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Disciple Wang did not hurt himself at all from the fall. He was just dead drunk.
"Many thanks, Sir!" Disciple Su bowed his head many times in front of the guest before he lifted his head and took a good look at said guest.
It was a man in his twenties, with a face as handsome as a god's and a bearing as refined and elegant as a prince. His almond-shaped eyes were inky black, with vivid red color highlighting the tail of his eyes. They stood in contrast to his fair, almost translucent skin. The elegant curve of his nose, a flawless arch, descended to meet the delicate pallor of his lips.
Despite the mild weather outside, the man was bundled in a thick outer robe with fur trim draped around his neck.
"..."
It was probably only Disciple Su's imagination, but this guest appeared somewhat sickly. Additionally, there were some hints of exhaustion in his face, making him look older than he actually was.
"Um, Sir, are you alright?" Disciple Su couldn't help but ask.
The guest shook his sleeves and offered him a weak smile in response.
"Yes, thank you for asking."
Just then, Disciple Wang was roused awake and he began speaking nonsense again.
"I challenge you to speak the truth!" he grabbed his little shidi by the collar and showered the latter's face with spittle. "Be brave, Shidi, be brave! Who does that Shen guy think he is???"
"Shixiong, I beg you, please stop." Disciple Su was close to tears. If he did not take their many years of comradeship as disciples of the same sect, he might stay as far as possible from Disciple Wang. Nobody wanted to get caught with a drunken person while the latter was busy badmouthing the sect leader's adoptive father. "I will help you back to your bed chamber. Come, come on..."
But Disciple Wang turned to the guest and grabbed his sleeve hard, prompting the guest to lean closer.
"What about you? Do you also think that Shen Ruizhe is a hero?" Disciple Wang asked, his bleary eyes twinkling with disdain.
"No," the guest replied without blinking.
His answer delighted Disciple Wang so that the latter smacked him on the back and began to guffaw heartily.
"You are right! In fact, our former sect leader's death was all Shen Ruizhe's fault! If only he had taken better care of Mo Zhiyuan, prevented him from going berserk, and guided him properly in the path of righteousness, none of this would have happened!"
Sadness flickered across the guest's eyes, but he said nothing in reply.
Disciple Wang, who did not notice the subtle passing of emotion, draped one arm around the guest's shoulders and patted him like he would an old friend.
"I like you a lot, Brother. You are as courageous as you are honest. Your dazzling future awaits you. From now on, we are bosom friends. No, we are sworn brothers. Did you hear me? Eh?"
The guest smiled and said nothing in return.
Disciple Su was horrified.
"Sir, please don't mind my shixiong," he begged, all the while prying Disciple Wang's fingers off the guest. "And please don't report him to our sect leader."
He had no idea where this guest came from, but he knew for sure that the guest was not some random, low-class cultivator who wandered across the realm. He had to at least occupy an important position in one of the ten great sects to be invited to this wedding.
Disciple Wang had just badmouthed Grandmaster Shen openly. Although his uncouth behaviour could be attributed to wine, not everyone could accept it. This guest might seem amicable on the surface, but who knew what was really inside his heart?
"I won't," the guest said, again with the weak smile hanging on his lips. "No worries."
Just as Disciple Su was about to thank the guest again, another prominent guest made his appearance in the outer garden. Dressed in a dark blue robe with leaf-green trim, his sturdy frame secured by a thick, lion-headed belt, and crowned in gold, the man radiated an undeniable aura of authority.
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Author's note :
Welcome, everyone, to my newest work, the aforementioned non-ABO, strictly cultivation novel that I have been ruminating on for the past months.
It's not that I am being lazy, I swear, but novels like these are difficult to start, huhuhu.
Anyhow, happy reading!
Protagonist : Mo Zhiyuan, formerly Nightfall Emperor, currently mud under Shen Ruizhe's foot, LOL.
ML : Shen Ruizhe, shizun of the wayward disciple Mo Zhiyuan, savior of humanity, the one who rebelled against his gong xDDDD...
Just in case you peasants (jk don't hate me T_T) need some help with the terminologies, this author is more than happy to help.
Shidi = junior martial-art brother
Shixiong = senior martial-art brother
Shimei = junior martial-art sister
Shijie = senior martial-art sister