Teaching Ah Yin

Teaching Ah Yin

In a small mountain village stood a simple shed.

A tall man and a sharp-faced man lounged in chairs with their legs crossed, each holding a bowl of wine. Two women knelt beside them, fear written across their faces as they poured from wine jugs.

The two men acted like lords, enjoying themselves immensely.

All three hundred or so villagers knelt obediently before them. Two corpses lay on the ground, while inside one household, several young women lay naked on the heated bed, bruised in many places and curled up beneath the blankets, sobbing after being violated.

"Ah!"

After downing a large bowl, the tall man's face turned displeased. This little village was truly awful. Even its best Wheat Wine tasted bland, and those women were nowhere near as beautiful as the fairy he had seen in the forest that morning.

"Behave yourselves. Once you've served us to our satisfaction, all of you can live. Stay on your knees. If anyone dares sneak off to the city to report us, those two corpses on the ground will be your fate!"

"Lord Soul Master, dinner is ready."

The village's old chief emerged from a house with smoke curling from its chimney and spoke respectfully.

The tall man waved his hand. "Bring it out!"

Two men then carefully carried over a long table. On it were three roast ducks, some vegetables, radishes, potatoes, a roasted suckling pig, and a wooden bucket of white rice. This was not coarse grain but precious refined rice, something these farmers generally ate only during the New Year. They barely ate meat a few times a year, yet they had brought it all out this time.

"What a poor place!"

The tall man looked at the dishes with disdain. He was a Soul Elder and received a Soul Master subsidy of one hundred Gold Soul Coins every month from the Spirit Hall Branch. These dishes did not even cost two Gold Soul Coins, so he did not think much of them.

The old village chief wore a bitter expression. These ingredients were already the best the village could provide.

Disdainful as they were, the tall Soul Master and the sharp-faced Soul Master still picked up their chopsticks. In the end, they did not dare make too much trouble. If their wanted bounty rose too high, more people would come after them.

After enjoying themselves in this small village for a while, the tall man and the sharp-faced man would have to move somewhere else again to evade pursuit.

"How can you do this?!"

An extremely furious voice rang out. The tall man and the sharp-faced man looked up, their eyes widening in shock, because Qian Xunji and Ah Yin had returned to the village.

Ah Yin was utterly furious. She had kindly spared the two men, yet they had harmed the villagers like this!

To make Ah Yin understand just how naïve she was, Qian Xunji had stopped at the village entrance and had Ah Yin use the Blue Silver Domain to investigate the village. Thus, she knew all about the two corpses in the village and the several violated girls.

Upon seeing Qian Xunji and Ah Yin, a vicious glint flashed through the tall man's eyes. He used Martial Soul Possession, dragged the old village chief in front of him, and roared, "Don't come any closer! I'm warning you, don't force me!"

"Idiot. You grabbed him. What does that have to do with me?"

Qian Xunji lashed out with a whip of light. With one strike, the old village chief, the tall man, and the sharp-faced man were all blasted apart.

"No!"

Ah Yin cried out and wanted to intervene, but Qian Xunji's immense Soul Power pressed down on her, binding her in place.

After killing all three, Ah Yin demanded, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"You could clearly have saved that old man. Why did you kill him?! Why wouldn't you let me act?!" Seeing Qian Xunji's expressionless face, utterly devoid of guilt, tears streamed from Ah Yin's beautiful eyes. She seemed heartbroken. "You lied to me too. You lied to me too. You, Tang Hao, and Tang Xiao all lied to me! You're no different from them!"

"If that's what you think, then I have nothing to say. Just remember not to cry later."

Qian Xunji did not explain. He simply turned and headed out of the village.

Seeing Qian Xunji leave without looking back, Ah Yin watched his figure disappear from the village, tears falling continuously. It felt as though her heart were being torn apart. Qian Xunji's patience toward her over the past month, his gentleness toward her—it all shattered like an illusion, all of it false.

Liar! Liar! They were all liars!

Ah Yin felt that she would never believe in love again.

After wiping away her tears, Ah Yin wanted to apologize to the villagers. But when she turned around, her watery eyes were filled with confusion. The villagers were all glaring angrily at her as if she were some harbinger of disaster.

Some of the more hot-tempered children even threw stones at her. "Bad luck star, get out of our village already! It was all because of you that those two came to our village!"

A woman pointed at Ah Yin and said furiously, "Witch, it was all because of you! If it weren't for you, my husband wouldn't have died, and my daughter wouldn't have been raped!"

"No... I didn't..." Ah Yin did not understand. She truly did not understand why these people were blaming her when she had done nothing at all.

"If you hadn't brought those men here, we wouldn't have suffered this! You're a Soul Master too, aren't you? Just you wait. I'll report you to Spirit Hall and have you arrested!"

The entire village was filled with outrage. If Qian Xunji had not kept Ah Yin from revealing her soul rings earlier, and if Ah Yin had been an ordinary person, someone would likely have already smashed her with a hoe.

"Why... Why..."

Ah Yin began doubting her life once more, tears overflowing from her beautiful eyes again.

Just as Ah Yin was about to break down, Qian Xunji's voice sounded beside her ear. "When the strong are angry, they only draw their blades against those stronger than themselves. When the weak are angry, they draw their blades against those weaker than themselves. I told you that you were foolish, yet you refused to accept it. Do you understand now?"

When the villagers saw Qian Xunji return, they immediately fell silent, trembling with fear. The ruthless scene of Qian Xunji blasting apart the old village chief along with the others with a single whip strike was still fresh in their minds.

Qian Xunji had no intention of wasting time on these villagers. He took Ah Yin and flew away. His Spiritual Power had detected those five Soul Masters; when Ah Yin had foolishly acted out of kindness, he had already foreseen all this happening.

Qian Xunji brought Ah Yin to a patch of grass where fireflies drifted through the air. The sun had already set, and the evening glow dyed the sky a dark red.

"If you want to cry, then cry. Don't hold it in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ah Yin threw herself against Qian Xunji's shoulder, crying as she asked why this had happened. She had only wanted to ease the relationship between soul beasts and humans. She had never done evil, so why was she being blamed like this?

Qian Xunji sighed. "Stop doing such foolish things with that goal in mind. You are a transformed soul beast, and more importantly, the Blue Silver Emperor among soul beasts."

"Everyone in this world needs to eat. To ordinary people, Blue Silver Grass roots are a daily staple. By healing those villagers, you are helping them live longer and kill more Blue Silver Grass. So, as the Blue Silver Emperor, you are extremely unqualified."

"As for mediating the relationship between humans and soul beasts, your idea is even more futile. Soul Masters need to hunt soul beasts to obtain soul rings. That is an unchanging principle. On that point alone, the relationship between humans and soul beasts cannot be reconciled. No matter how hard you try, you cannot stop Soul Masters from wanting to climb higher. At most, they might kill a little less. Soul Masters will never hold back from killing soul beasts for soul rings because of anyone."

Ah Yin looked up, tear tracks still on her face, pitiful enough to melt anyone's heart. "Is it really impossible to reconcile humans and soul beasts? Has everything I've done been pointless?"

Qian Xunji nodded slightly. "It is impossible to reconcile them. Even if Soul Masters did not need to hunt soul beasts for soul rings, it would still be impossible. This is a world where the strong prey on the weak, a world built like a pyramid. Even among humans, those at the top show no mercy when exploiting the common people below, and they will devise ever more ways to exploit them. How much less mercy would they show soul beasts of a different race?"

"The same is true among soul beasts. The food chain cannot be changed. At most, you lack the intelligence to do what humans do. Even if every soul beast gained intelligence, after thousands of years of evolution, assuming you did not go extinct and defeated humanity, the final result would only be a repeat of what is happening among humans now."

Ah Yin asked, "Then should I do nothing at all?"

"It's not that you should do nothing. Protect your Blue Silver Forest. That is your responsibility. Let everything else take its course, and listen to me."

Qian Xunji reached out, lifted Ah Yin's chin, and leaned closer, the corner of his lips curving slightly. "Are you ready?"