Yin Hanjiang had been buried in the snow for over three months, but his genuine Qi didn’t recover much. He emptied his genuine Qi when he used Burning Sky Drum to counter the heavenly tribulation. If he had ignored the people living near the Wanli ice field and forcibly absorbed the heaven and earth Qi he would have been able to recover to seven or eight points but Yin Hanjiang wasn’t able to do it.

He flew slowly in the air, for more than half a month before arriving at the Underworld Blood Sea.

He discovered that he could absorb chaotic Qi when he wreaked havoc in the Underworld Blood Sea a few months ago. If he wanted to recover his strength, it was best to come here.

Yin Hanjiang slowly climbed up the cliff and looked down, the dark red color made his eyes feel dizzy. He sat weakly at the edge of the cliff, with countless Wen Renhe appearing before his eyes, they jumped down one after another, and gently waved at him asking Yin Hanjiang to accompany them down.

“Without Patriarch Yin, this Venerable is lonely.” One Wen Renhe sat beside him and said gently, “Doesn’t Patriarch Yin want to follow this Venerable for the rest of his life?”

Yin Hanjiang looked at Wen Renhe focused expression and shook his head: “My lord, I would like to accompany you down, but I can’t, you didn’t allow it.”

“Now I do.” “Wen Renhe” said.

“This subordinate still has something left to do.” Yin Hanjiang said softly.

He took out the cracked ghost mask from his storage back and looked at it as if he was looking at his past self.

The “Wen Renhe” beside him also looked at it with him.

“Venerable, do you still remember this mask?” Yin Hanjiang asked.

Naturally, no one answered, because the person next to him was just a figment of Yin Hanjiang’s imagination.

“Do you think your subordinate is a loyal person? Not like Zhong Liqian who is a gentleman, but at least he is upright and quiet?” Yin Hanjiang touched the crack in the mask, his voice extremely restrained: “Not…”

How could a child whose whole family was slaughtered at the age of five and who had been lying in a sea of ​​corpses and blood for several days, just to be picked up by Wen Renhe and then ignored for more than ten years, how could he be open and honest and not resentful?

Before the age of eighteen, Yin Hanjiang had been living a very twisted life. He knew he was saved by a very powerful man, with whom he had very little contact. That person wanted him to be a sword cultivator and he understood that he had to please that person if he wanted to live, so he concentrated on sword training.

But Yin Hanjiang had never said he liked swords.

Before he turned eighteen, he wanted to live, wanted to get stronger, and tried to please that man. After he turned eighteen, he returned to his hometown, met the man who had saved him, and learned that he was called Wen Renhe.

He watched quietly as Wen Renhe led the soldiers to guard his hometown, then the feelings of longing, worship and respect appeared in his heart. Yin Hanjiang longed to be a person like Wen Renhe but he could not do it. Eighteen years had already passed and his character had been formed, he was a dark and twisted person after all.

What Wen Renhe didn’t know was that after each battle, the defeated soldiers who had escaped were captured by Yin Hanjiang one by one, and stabbed to death by him.

He found the mass graves from that year and buried his family members who could no longer be  identified by bones and set up monuments. He dragged the bodies of soldiers to the front of the cemetery and burned them one by one, illuminating the whole cemetery.

In the light of the fire, Yin Hanjiang’s expression was dark and even the fiery flames could not warm his body.

After Wen Renhe led the soldiers to drive out the invaders, he drank with many surviving soldiers while Yin Hanjiang secretly hid in the corner to watch him.

All of the people around Wen Renhe were drunk, and he who had sealed his cultivation was also drunk. He drunkenly looked at him who was the only person not drunk and pulled him to drink with him.

Yin Hanjiang blushed after taking a sip of wine from Wen Renhe’s cup, then he fled in confusion. To cover his blush, he took a ghost mask hanging on Wen Renhe’s waist. This was the custom of the border town, to wear a ghost mask to pray for blessings after the battle, to prevent the evil spirits of the invaders from hunting you. During the celebration, Wen Renhe also followed this custom and wore a mask to pray for blessings.

After putting on the mask, Yin Hanjiang suddenly felt relieved that no one could see his expression at this moment and he didn’t have to pretend to be upright anymore.

He hid the mask and secretly wore it whenever he couldn’t fit in.

After pretending for a long time, he really thought that he had become the kind of person that his lord expected him to be and only the presence of this mask kept reminding Yin Hanjiang that he was not.

Now, there was no need to pretend anymore, the person he wanted to hide from had already left.

Yin Hanjiang let go of the mask and the mask full of cracks fell into the sea of blood, turning into nothingness.

He no longer paid attention to the illusion of his lord around him as he summoned the Burning Sky drum, laid down a defensive formation, and sat down on the drum to adjust his breath.

The people of Xuanyuan sect had always thought that the Burning Sky Drum was a top-level immortal weapon, but it was not, it was a divine weapon.

Yin Hanjiang originally did not know this either. Even after cultivating on the Burning Sky Drum for three months he didn’t discover this matter. It was not until the war between the demonic and righteous path when he tried to arouse Wen Renhe’s battle spirit by forcefully drumming the Burning Sky Drum that the Qi in his body was connected with the Burning Sky Drum.

During the 30 years of the sect was closed to outsiders, Shu Yanyan was rewarded with a year of cultivation on the Burning Sky Drum, at the end of that one-year period, Wen Renhe still had no come out of seclusion, and it was Yin Hanjiang that went to the forbidden place to awake the right protector from seclusion and drove her away.

After Shu Yanyan left, Yin Hanjiang jumped into the valley and stood on the Burning Sky Drum, the sound of the battle drums echoing in his ears. He wanted to improve his strength quickly, and cultivated on the drum hoping to hone a more severe sword intent and become the strength of his lord.

Unexpectedly, this time he was unable to improve his strength.

Yin Hanjiang didn’t understand why, when he used the sword cultivation before he was still able to cultivate but now he couldn’t switch to Alkaid sword.

He stared at the Alkaid sword and a voice in his heart seemed to be telling him that this weapon was not right.

Yin Hanjiang knew in his heart that he was not fit to use a sword, killing with a sword was too slow. The triangular bayonet was different, after piercing into the body, the wound would not heal easily and the blood would not stop flowing. It was a weapon he liked.

After he took out the ghost mask and put it on his face, covering his expression, his mind inexplicably opened up and became perfectly integrated with the Burning Sky Drum.

This time, his cultivation speed increased by leaps and bounds, and after ten years of seclusion, the Alkaid Sword transformed into the Alkaid triangular bayonet which truly became a suitable weapon for him. Yin Hanjiang also advanced to the peak of the Mahayana realm.

But the moment he left the Burning Sky Drum and removed his mask, his realm inexplicably fell back to the Void and his original magic weapon also turned back into a sword.

Wen Renhe once said that a state of mind might not be in line with one’s own realm, just like a three-year-old child who has a dragon slaying sword, armed with strong weapons but cannot exert its true strength. Yin Hanjiang knew it clearly, he took off the mask and desperately suppressed himself. His state of mind was completely inadequate to display the power of the Mahayana realm. If he wanted to become stronger he had to give up his concerns.

He didn’t dare, he couldn’t imagine the look on his lord’s face if he saw a triangular bayonet instead of a sword, so Yin Hanjiang decided to leave it as it was for now as he believed it would be fine.

It wasn’t until the altar master Yuan injured him while trying to take away the Burning Sky Drum that Yin Hanjiang had no choice but to put on his mask and use his true power.

This mask was not a special treasure, but just a layer of protection for Yin Hanjiang to resume his true nature.

But now it was useless. First he would do what needed to be done and then he would come back to Underworld Blood Sea to accompany his lord.

After ten months of seclusion, Yin Hanjiang opened his eyes on top of the Burning Sky Drum. Only a god could absorb chaos Qi but with the help of the divine weapon, he fully recovered and even had another breakthrough.

Yin Hanjiang did not know how strong he was now. He vaguely felt as if he had broken through the tribulation period. The heavenly tribulation he encountered a year ago when he was chasing He Wenchao and trying to kill him, were not only because he defied the rules of heavenly dao but also because he advanced realms.

He seemed to become immortal, which was not quite right.

But it didn’t matter and was not important as long as his strength was enough.

Yin Hanjiang put away the Burning Sky Drum and Wen Renhe robes and looked sharply at the Underworld Blood Sea, and then returned to the Xuanyuan sect as a transportable light.

The Xuanyuan Sect was a bit chaotic this year. First, Patriarch Yin and the right Protector joined forces to kill the Altar Master Yuan and then their Venerable was besieged by the righteous path in the Underworld Blood Sea. Patriarch Yin who originally kept a low profile and was like a shadow, broke out, forcing the sect master of Shangqing sect and his direct disciple to hide inside the sect for more than a year after the battle, making the entire cultivation world shocked.

Patriarch Yin disappeared after becoming famous in the battle, leaving the Xuanyuan sect leaderless while the subordinates of altar master Yuan fought desperately for the position of the new altar master. The other three altar masters saw that Yin Hanjiang had not returned for a year, and were also eager to become the new patriarch. Within a month, the three altar masters had fought Qiu Congxue several times and were currently recovering from their wounds and rebuilding their strength for the next battle.

The right protector Shu Yanyan, who was the first to provoke the four altar masters, was sitting firmly in place and not participating in any of the battles of these people. Everyday, she would lazily slumber on her new bed or occasionally tease Baili Qingmiao and Zhong Liqian.

Baili Qingmiao’s soul bound magic weapon was destroyed in the Underworld Blood Sea, so she was seriously injured. After being rescued by Qiu Congxue, she had been recuperating in the Xuanyuan sect. Zhong Liqian was entrusted by Wen Renhe with telling Yin Hanjiang something so important, so he wouldn’t leave until he did it.

The two, together with Xiu Huai, had been guests in Qiu Congxue’s pavilion. Qiu Congxue was very powerful and had few followers, so they lived very calmly.

“The left protector’s pavillon is really cooler than a haunted house.” Shu Yanyan came to “visit” the injured Baili Qingmiao again, and when she saw Zhong Liqin asking Xiu Huai to study she asked: “Where is Protector Qiu?”

“Making an appointment with the three altar masters to fight in the main altar today.” Zhong Liqian gestured for Xiu Huai to stop and got up to greet her: “Long time no see, Protector Shu.”

“It wasn’t a long time, it was just three days.” Shu Yanyan yawned lazily: “She really likes fighting, all of her flesh turned into a skeleton again but she is still fighting.”

Zhong Liqian poured a cup of tea for Shu Yanyan and said gently: “Protector Qiu has a straightforward character, but she is a magnanimous woman. But this is only a slight oversight in the details, thank you for Protector Shu care this year.”

“It’s just a simple matter.” Shu Yanyan waved her hand without taking it seriously.

“Protector Shu came here today, is there something wrong?” Zhong Liqian asked.

“I can’t hide it from you,” Shu Yanyan looked at Zhong Liqian’s face and said: “Master Zhong is a wise man, what do you think I am going to do?”

Zhong Liqian picked up a cup of tea for himself and said without urgency: “The people of Xuanyuan Sect are in turmoil, Protector Shu has the intention to join and is hoping to get Liqian on your side.”

Talking to smart people saves time,” Shu Yanyan looked at Zhong Liqian: “I wonder what Master Zhong thinks? I know you have a better relationship with Qiu Congxue, but she’s brainless and could break up the Xuanyuan sect in less than three days after becoming the sect leader.”

Zhong Liqian said: “My opinion well …… Liqian will advise Protector Shu to wait patiently for a period of time before discussing.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Shu Yanyan felt the Xuanyuan sect mountain protection formation being broken and an extremely frightening force breaking inside the Xuanyuan sect.

Shu Yanyan got up and said seriously: “Is this what Master Zhong was waiting for?”

“Exactly.” Zhong Liqian put down his cup of tea and said to Xiu Huai: “Go and prepare wound medicine and set up the spirit gathering formation. Your master will become seriously injured today.”

Xiu Huai: “……”

 

The author has something to say.

Xiu Huai: you’re all big bosses, as male lead no. 4 I almost have no sense of existence.

 

Edited by: Ninja

Proofread by: Nio

 

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