At the time, I just thought he was too eager for quick success and had gone down the wrong path. I gave him a lecture and that was the end of it.
In the years that followed, he made many mistakes and neglected his cultivation, but he only thought that his mind was not yet settled and that he would get better with time.
Until today, I saw his face contorted, holding a sword and stabbing at Aran, shouting for her to die.
The old sect leader was shocked to realize that his disciple had become someone he no longer recognized.
After Ah Zhen pointed it out, he suddenly understood, and all his doubts and disappointments were explained.
It's not that Haoran has changed.
That's not Haoran at all!
The old sect leader looked at the familiar face before him, and panic, guilt, and fear flashed across his face. The once brilliant and talented young man had become timid and frivolous.
The real Haoran would never show such an expression.
Who is the person inside this skin?
Judging from his various behaviors, he doesn't understand cultivation at all and is most likely just a mortal, the most despicable kind of mortal at that.
How could a mortal with no cultivation possess a highly skilled cultivator and still manage to do so without the cultivator noticing?
Who is helping him?
What is his purpose?
This is all too unbelievable.
Ata said angrily, "Boss, this bastard is denying everything. How can we prove he's not Ling Haoran? Are we supposed to just pull his soul out?"
Qi An said, "We definitely need to find him, but before that, I want him to die knowing why. Proving he's not Ling Haoran is easy, isn't it?"
Fu Gui had already rolled up his sleeves, ready to grab him, when he overheard their conversation and asked curiously, "Sister An'an, what's your way of proving he's an imposter?"
Ling Haoran kept swearing to the heavens, telling everyone again and again that he was Ling Haoran.
But the people present looked at him with increasingly strange eyes, and several of his senior brothers had already quietly gripped the swords at their waists.
The thought that their junior brother's body had been possessed by this wandering ghost from who-knows-where all these years, that his cultivation had been wasted and his reputation tarnished, brought tears to their eyes.
Why wasn't it discovered sooner?
My junior brother has suffered all these years for nothing.
Qi An stepped forward and whispered something in the old sect leader's ear. The old sect leader pondered for a moment and then nodded.
Ling Haoran looked at Ye Ran with a fearful expression.
He didn't know what Ye Ran had said to the old sect leader, but he was afraid.
He had to admit that he was afraid of Ye Ran, afraid of this incredibly powerful female protagonist.
He never won against her.
The old sect leader brushed away the hand gripping the hem of his robe and asked in a deep voice, "You say you are Haoran, then let me ask you, when was your birth date, where do you live, and what are your parents' names?"
Ling Haoran froze, his face turning pale instantly.
He began frantically searching his mind for the original text, hoping to find the answer.
However, this is a female-centric novel with a strong female protagonist, and the entire story revolves around the female lead.
Important supporting characters may be described in slightly more detail, but other supporting characters are only mentioned briefly.
Ling Haoran is a character who only appears a few times in the entire story and has no romantic relationship with Ye Ran, so he can't even be considered an important supporting character.
After Ye Ran left Tianxuan Sect to open up a new map, this character was taken offline, and later the story was even worse, it ended abruptly.
Why would an author waste ink on an insignificant, minor supporting character?
The original text only mentions that he was brought back to the sect by the old sect leader when he was ten years old. He was exceptionally talented, upright and kind, and was the person Ye Zhen liked. And that was it.
There was no mention of his birth date, where he lived, or his parents' names.
Therefore, even with such simple questions, Ling Haoran couldn't answer a single word.
Fu Gui suddenly realized: "Your idea is brilliant, Sister An'an. He could read the book until it was worn out and still not find the answer."
In Ling Haoran's eyes, the characters in novels are all two-dimensional.
But in this world, all the paper figures are living, breathing people.
Everyone has a household registration, parents, and a past.
Just because something isn't written in a novel doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
And these past events are completely unknown to outsiders.
"I...I..."
"No way, no way..." Fu Gui, the conspicuous one, spoke up again.
She said gloatingly, "You're not trying to say you forgot your birthday, where you live, or what your parents' names are, are you?"
Ling Haoran: "..."
"Let me tell you, your parents are still alive. These questions can be easily answered by checking. Don't lie."
Ling Haoran's knees buckled, and he slumped to the ground, unable to utter another word.
Forgetting how to fly on a sword and not knowing how to use one's cultivation is already absurd enough, but to forget one's own parents is something even a fool wouldn't believe.
It's all over.
The suspicion was confirmed, and everyone became wary. Several senior brothers had red eyes and glared resentfully at the person sitting on the ground.
"Who are you, you monster? Hurry up and return my junior brother's body! What have you done to my junior brother?"
In despair, Ling Haoran cried out in anguish, "System, where are you? Come quickly! Take me away! I don't want to stay here anymore! Take me away..."
Are you calling it?
Fugui opened his palm, and the blue ball of light was scorched by the red flames. It seemed to be in extreme pain, struggling violently, but it could not break free of the flames no matter what.
"system……"
Seeing this scene, Ling Haoran's eyes widened in fury.
Everyone looked at the ball of light in Fugui's hand.
Is this the thing that helped this imposter take over Ling Haoran's body?
The last glimmer of hope was extinguished. Ling Haoran, no, Li Jianren, knelt down again and kowtowed to the old sect leader, weeping bitterly.
"I'm sorry, Master. I was wrong. I didn't mean to. The system forced me to do it. Please forgive me, Master. I beg you, please forgive me. I didn't want to do it either."
"Don't call me master, I'm not your master."
The old sect leader trembled with rage, his eyes turning red.
He wanted to slap this imposter to death, but he didn't know if his poor apprentice was still alive and was afraid of hurting him, so he hesitated.
Li Jianren's forehead was bruised from banging his head against the wall. Playing the victim didn't work, so he resorted to moral blackmail and threats.
"You are all cultivators, while I am just a mortal who knows nothing. You cannot kill me, or you will be punished by heaven."
There is indeed an unwritten rule on the Cangyue Continent.
Compared to ordinary people, cultivators are far more powerful.
Therefore, killing mortals indiscriminately violates the laws of nature and makes one vulnerable to being struck by lightning during tribulation.
Only demonic cultivators and evil cultivators don't care about this; most normal cultivators are very wary of it.
The old sect leader sneered. If Haoran were really killed by this imposter, he would kill him even at the cost of karmic retribution.
If someone becomes someone's master but fails to protect their disciple, what face does he have to cultivate immortality?
The old sect leader raised his right hand and drained all the spiritual energy from his dantian.
"So what if it's divine retribution? I, this old man, will use all my cultivation today to drag you, this wandering ghost, out of Haoran's body."
"Master, no!"
Several senior disciples tried to stop it, wanting to take their master's place.
In Li Jianren's terrified eyes, that hand was about to be placed on his head.
Suddenly, a clean, white hand appeared and grabbed the old sect leader's wrist.
The spiritual energy instantly stopped.
Qi An grinned: "Grandpa, let me do it. He owes someone a debt of karma, and I'm going to settle it for him."
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