Chapter 198 Crying isn't a big deal...

"Are you Brother Xiaopeng?"

Si Yao was beautiful from a young age, with red lips and white teeth. Everyone in the village praised her for her beauty, and her mother would comb her hair with a red ribbon every day.

The children in the village all loved playing with Si Yao. When she was little, she had many playmates. Back then, she wasn't some senior sister who needed to care for her junior brothers and sisters. She was just a carefree little girl who chased after the older children in the village, calling out, "Brothers and sisters, wait for me!"

The other person's gaze fell on Si Yao. "You're still alive? How did you survive back then? Where have you been all these years?"

“My parents hid me in a water vat back then. Later, a cultivator passed by and took me back. All these years, I have been cultivating in the Heavenly Sword Sect.”

"So you've become an immortal. No wonder you have such a different demeanor."

Xiao Peng looked at Si Yao and sighed, then began to recount his own experience: "That day, I climbed a tree to steal bird eggs and accidentally fell down. My parents scolded me, and in a fit of anger, I ran up the mountain to hide. When I came down the mountain the next day, I found that the village had been burned down."

It was burned to the ground, leaving nothing behind.

While speaking, Xiaopeng was crying so hard he could barely breathe.

Just like always, he ran to a secret spot on the mountain to hide, planning to come down the mountain the next day. He even thought that his parents wouldn't scold him then.

But I never expected that after going down the mountain this time, everything was gone.

Nobody knows what happened or why there was such a big fire.

He was separated from his parents forever.

"If I hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened." Xiao Peng couldn't help but wipe away his tears.

Si Yao shook her head. "This has nothing to do with you."

If he hadn't run away, there would have been another innocent corpse. Perhaps Xiao Peng's parents are also relieved that he escaped this calamity.

Si Yao walked forward and stopped in front of her family's courtyard. She saw a windmill in the yard that was half burned; it was the one her father had made for her.

As she walked into the courtyard, memories of the past flooded back. Si Yao picked up the windmill, which had been exposed to the elements for over a decade and crumbled easily with the slightest force.

As the windmill landed, Si Yao seemed to sense something.

Spiritual energy overflowed from her fingertips, and something seemed to emerge from the ground beneath her feet, carrying spiritual energy as it flew over the entire village.

Wherever they went, figures appeared one after another.

After the villagers were burned to death, their souls were trapped here and did not reincarnate.

With the appearance of those people, Si Yao's memories of them became clearer.

Xiao Peng stumbled and rushed towards the two people, calling out, "Dad, Mom."

But he missed, passing right through the two of them.

"how so?"

“These are just their souls; you can see them, but you can’t touch them,” Si Yao explained.

“A-Yao”.

Si Yao heard her mother calling her name and turned to look. Her mother and father were standing not far away, watching her.

And the uncles, aunts, and other relatives in the village were all standing there watching her.

They died tragically and for no reason, their souls unable to enter the underworld or be resurrected, forced to remain here as bound spirits, reliving the scene of their deaths over and over again.

Si Yao burst into tears. She never imagined that she would see her parents again.

"Father, Mother."

“Ah Yao has grown so much.”

The mother wanted to come over and hug Si Yao, but was so blinded by the light emanating from her that she had to stop.

“Ayao has done a great deed; we should be happy for her,” Father said, standing beside Mother.

Si Yao quickly suppressed the light emanating from her body and grasped her parents' hands.

"Is it really our little Ayao?"

Si Yao nodded vigorously. After receiving the goddess's inheritance, her emotions and desires seemed to be fading, but when she saw her parents, she couldn't help but want to shed tears.

How could she abandon her feelings for her parents?

"Father, Mother, it's me, Ayao."

She had never returned to visit in all these years. Naturally, she had no idea that her parents' souls had been trapped here for so many years.

If she had come back earlier, would she have found out?

Si Yao looked at her parents, her eyes brimming with tears. She saw the times she used to spend with them, times that could never be relived.

"Father and Mother, I am doing well now. I will send you to be reincarnated, so you don't need to worry about me."

They had been trapped here, their spirits bound by the local customs, and their souls were already very weak. If she hadn't come here today, I'm afraid that my parents' souls would have disappeared from the world sooner or later, and would never have had the chance to be reincarnated.

Seeing that their daughter was doing well, the couple had nothing to worry about and prepared to be reincarnated.

The entire village died mysteriously, and people were probably unwilling to leave like this, which is why they are trapped here.

Now that he has learned that the village was burned down because of a fight between irresponsible immortals and demonic cultivators, he is immediately furious.

Some even said they were going to find those immortals and demonic cultivators to settle scores with.

Upon learning that Si Yao had killed the man and avenged the villagers, everyone cheered, their spirits almost dropping to a whisper.

"Father, Mother, and all my uncles and aunts, I have avenged you. You can leave in peace now."

Her hands formed a mudra, tears blurred her vision, yet she still chanted the Rebirth Mantra to help everyone find peace.

Watching her parents' figures disappear before her eyes, Si Yao tried her best to remember their faces clearly before ending the ritual.

She sent everyone's souls into the cycle of reincarnation.

By the time it was over, it was already dark.

When Xiao Peng saw Si Yao, he noticed that she was still radiating golden light, so he didn't dare to approach and disturb her.

Only after Si Yao opened her eyes did she dare to approach.

"A-Yao, are you going back to the immortal sect?"

As a disciple of an immortal, he certainly wouldn't stay in the mortal realm. Xiao Peng said he was lucky; he was taken in as an apprentice by a carpenter, married the carpenter's daughter, and inherited his master's craft.

Si Yao gave Xiao Peng a few amulets, saying, "Brother Xiao Peng, take care of yourselves too. We probably won't see each other again in the future."

Xiao Peng laughed, "You should also take care. Those monsters kill without blinking an eye, so be careful. When you're fighting, don't be stupid and rush forward."

As Si Yao took flight, Xiao Peng waved at her until she disappeared from sight, then left with the talisman.

Si Yao didn't go too far. She stood on the mountain, looking at the location of the village, and felt a sense of emptiness in her heart.

She felt herself being hugged, warm like when her mother hugged her when she was a child.

Cry if you want to. Crying isn't a big deal; it might even make you feel better.

Si Yao finally burst into tears.

Just like when she first met her senior, she cried until she was exhausted before stopping.

After crying, Si Yao sat in the village for a long time, during which time she received several telepathic messages from Lin Ye.

Now everyone in the cultivation world is looking for her; apart from Lin Ye, no one knows where she is.

Liao Shuo and his companions intended to return to the sect elders to report the news of Chongming's death. However, they encountered the sect leader, who had come looking for them, on the way.

Through their accounts, people in the cultivation world soon learned that Chongming had died at the hands of his former disciple, Si Yao.

According to them, Si Yao's evil deeds were numerous and unforgivable. Not only did she betray her sect, but she even dared to kill her former master.

They also learned from Wen Yin that Si Yao's cultivation level was now vastly different from what it used to be.

The Heavenly Sword Sect quickly united with other sects to plan how to defeat Si Yao.

Lin Ye was arranged by City Lord Lin to take her brother's place. Seeing that everyone believed Liao Shuo and the others, she couldn't help but frown.

Chongming was Siyao's enemy. Siyao acted according to the facts, killing him without implicating any innocent people. Lin Ye did not think Siyao had done anything wrong.

“I think these people’s one-sided accounts cannot be fully trusted. After all, apart from them, no one else saw Si Yao kill Chongming Daojun with her own hands. It is also possible that this group of people conspired to kill Chongming Daojun and then framed Si Yao.”

"What reason do we have to kill my master?" Liao Shuo asked defiantly.

"Since you witnessed Si Yao killing people, she wouldn't be stupid enough to leave you alive. She would just kill you all and make it look like a great demon was responsible. Then who would know that it was Si Yao who did it?"

"This..." Liao Shuo didn't know what to say for a moment.

He looked at Wen Yin, and then suddenly felt confident, "Junior Sister Wen Yin saw it with her own eyes, how could it be false?"

Lin Ye covered her mouth and laughed, her gaze falling on Wen Yin. "If I'm not mistaken, this female cultivator has no spiritual root; she's just an ordinary person. If she really saw it with her own eyes, wouldn't it be easier for Si Yao to kill her? Now everything is based on her words; who knows whether it's true or false?"

Everyone listened and agreed that it made a lot of sense.

The life lamp of Daoist Chongming has indeed gone out, and he must be dead; there is no doubt about that.

Young Master Lin's analysis makes sense. Since it was murder, and someone witnessed it, how could they not silence them?

"Fairy Wenyin, please tell the truth about what exactly happened back then."

"Exactly, they can't just make fun of us for no reason."

Even the sect leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect looked over, "Wen Yin, tell the truth, what exactly happened? How exactly did Junior Brother Chongming die?"

A cultivator with three spiritual roots, the most promising genius of the Heavenly Sword Sect to ascend to immortality, died so mysteriously. Not only would the sect master of the Heavenly Sword Sect not allow such a thing to happen, but the elders of the sect would also be determined to get to the bottom of this matter.

“It was Si Yao who killed him.” Wen Yin glared at Lin Ye, who interrupted. These people had already been persuaded, but this person had steered the conversation away from the topic.

Chongming was killed by Siyao; no matter how you investigate, that's the case.

Since Si Yao obtained the goddess's inheritance, it will surely demand that Si Yao relinquish it. What right does she have to obtain the goddess's inheritance? She's just a mere human.

“But I don’t think what you said is very credible,” Lin Ye said, looking at Wen Yin.

The Wen Yin before her was completely different from the one she had seen in Lincheng.

"Sect Master, I am not lying. It was Si Yao who killed Master. Please believe me. She was able to use a fake spiritual root to deceive us. She must have harbored extreme resentment towards Master for a long time, which is why she did such a vicious thing to him."

The sect leader had initially believed it, but after hearing Lin Ye's words and Wen Yin's remarks, he was now somewhat hesitant.

Si Yao had indeed been missing for a long time. He had heard the rumors in the tabloids and had also vaguely asked his junior brother Chongming if he had killed Si Yao.

Unexpectedly, his junior brother Chongming said, "Si Yao acted viciously, and she deserved to die."

So he always suspected that he might have really killed Si Yao.

So he somewhat agreed with Lin Ye's words.

After all, they had no evidence whatsoever, yet they claimed that Si Yao did it.

As for the fake spiritual root, the sect leader knew about it. He disagreed when the spiritual root was taken, but Junior Brother Chongming was like a demon, insisting that Si Yao give the spiritual root to Wen Yin.

He even severed his master-disciple relationship with Si Yao because of this.

Si Yao has a single mutated water spirit root. Her talent may not be as good as Daoist Chongming's, but the child has high comprehension and can form a core at a young age. Given time, she will surely achieve great things.

The sect leader never expected that the master and disciple would end up like this.

After Lin Ye said that, the sect leader suddenly calmed down.

"Sect Master?" the elder beside him asked anxiously.

The sect leader raised his hand to stop the elder from continuing. He stood on the steps, looking at the disciples standing there, and felt that it would be better to investigate further.

We absolutely cannot let our junior brother Chongming die in vain.

The others had read plenty of those gossip tabloids and knew how much Daoist Chongming doted on his youngest disciple, Wen Yin, according to those tabloids; he practically showered her with all his favoritism. For Wen Yin's sake, he even dug up the spiritual root of his eldest disciple, Si Yao, and killed his second disciple, Li Huang.

Those who were initially indignant have now calmed down. If Si Yao really did kill Chongming, it's not entirely incomprehensible. It's hard not to hate a former master who dug out one's spiritual root.

Seeing the hesitation in everyone's expressions, Wen Yin became anxious and cursed Lin Ye for meddling in her affairs.

"I love my master so much, how could I have killed him? It was clearly Si Yao who did it."

The person in question personally admitted to falling in love with their master, which surprised everyone. Gossip tabloids are full of truths and lies, and except for some major events, few people take such things seriously.

But even after admitting it in person, things are still different.

Everyone almost forgot why they came here, and they all looked at Wen Yin with curiosity. Seeing that the topic was about to go astray, Si Yao, who was hiding in the shadows, couldn't stand it anymore and threw a stone down.

The sound of the stone hitting the ground caused a great commotion.

"Who? Who's there?"

"It's a magic stone, it must be a demonic cultivator, everyone must be careful."

Si Yao reached into her sleeve and realized she had picked up the wrong stone; the one she had thrown down was the magic stone she had left over from before.

That single demonic stone was enough to put the entire cultivation world on high alert. Cultivators drew their swords and looked around warily. At this moment, even if someone was truly a demonic cultivator, they would be mercilessly cut into a bloody mist.

Si Yao threw out the remaining magic stones. When the cultivators saw something flying over, they immediately swung their swords and smashed the magic stones to pieces.

Seeing that the time was right, Si Yao threw Luo Yang out of her storage ring.

"Wait, it looks like a person." Someone was about to wave when they were quickly stopped.

Once he saw what the person looked like, the Heavenly Sword Sect Master couldn't stay still any longer and rushed forward to confirm.

"It's Luo Yang, it's actually Luo Yang."

This demon was weak in cultivation but cunning. The former sect leader spent a lot of effort to subdue him, and no one knew what method he used to escape from the Demon Suppression Tower.

They actually dare to show up here now; this is a blatant provocation against them.

Just as the Heavenly Sword Sect Master was about to make a move, Luo Yang woke up and saw someone raising their hand to slap him. He quickly dodged to the side.

When he came to his senses and saw that he was surrounded by cultivators, he couldn't help but curse Si Yao in his heart. She deliberately threw him here so that she could use these cultivators to kill him. What a despicable woman.

Luo Yang was well aware of his reputation among cultivators, and he didn't think they would let him off the hook.

Seeing that the cultivators were about to attack him, Luo Yang's eyes darted around, and he quickly shouted, "Everyone, although I am a demonic cultivator, I have something to say here. Don't you want to know what despicable things that seemingly upright Daoist Chongming has done in private?"

"Shut up! My junior brother is already dead. How dare you, a demonic cultivator, slander him here?" The sect leader immediately stood up and said.

Luo Yang never expected that Chongming would actually die. If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion, he would have liked to laugh out loud.

Facing the anger of the Heavenly Sword Sect members, Luo Yang showed no fear whatsoever. "You're in such a hurry, do you also know about the disgraceful things Chongming has done? Or is it that your Heavenly Sword Sect is in cahoots with the heavens, covering for him? If so, you are truly unworthy of being a reputable sect, a bunch of hypocrites! Bah!"

Si Yao watched from the shadows with her arms crossed. Luo Yang's mouth was indeed sharp, making the sect leader and headmaster of the Heavenly Sword Sect turn ashen-faced with anger.

Unfortunately, they couldn't come up with any rebuttal. They knew more or less what Chongming had done, and if word got out, it would indeed damage the sect's reputation.

What they weren't sure about was what Luo Yang knew about Chongming.

Luo Yang kept babbling on and on, not a single kind word coming out.

The Heavenly Sword Sect couldn't bring themselves to use foul language; they were only good at intimidating their disciples. Luo Yang, however, was shameless and utterly unafraid of them.

Just as the Heavenly Sword Sect Master was about to make a move, Lin Ye stopped him, saying, "Wait a minute, Sect Master Chen, let's hear what he knows."

"That's all nonsense," Sect Leader Chen said angrily.

"Whether it is true or not, we will only know after hearing it. Sect Leader Chen, please don't get excited. If it's false, I think none of you here will let him off the hook."

"Yes, Sect Leader Chen, don't get excited. Let's see what kind of nonsense he has in store for us."

Some people felt that the reason why the people from the Heavenly Sword Sect were so agitated was because something must have happened.

"Besides his ambiguous relationship with his disciple, what else has Daoist Chongming been involved with?"

“That’s right. The fact that this demonic cultivator is not afraid of being caught and is causing trouble here means it’s no small matter.”

Seeing the commotion below, Lin Ye spoke directly, "You demonic cultivator, how dare you! Do you know what kind of price you'll pay if you lie?"

Luo Yang swallowed hard, glancing at Si Yao's hiding place out of the corner of his eye. Realizing who was standing there, cold sweat broke out on his back. Faced with absolute power, his underhanded tricks were completely useless.