Pitiful

Before he could get a good look, a large hand appeared before his eyes. The hand had distinct knuckles and long fingers, covered in a thin layer of calluses. Clear veins could be seen along the exposed wrist.

"Come be my disciple!"

Feng Wuhen followed the hand upward with his gaze and froze in an instant. He had never seen anyone so beautiful.

Jet-black hair was bound beneath a jade crown and tied into a neat, high ponytail. His skin was fair, and his raven-feather lashes rested like butterflies over obsidian eyes. His nose bridge was so high one could practically slide down it, while his striking bone structure carried a hint of cold severity. Yet the slight curve of his lush lips softened that chill, lending him a touch of warmth.

As if bewitched, Feng Wuhen placed his hand in Chu Moqing's and called out in a crisp voice, "Master!"

Seeing him like this, amusement appeared in Chu Moqing's eyes. He took Feng Wuhen back to his seat and had him stand at his side.

Although all the disciples had already been chosen, the sect master still had to offer some encouraging words to the newly initiated disciples, so no one could leave yet.

However, before Qin Che could speak, someone else's voice reached everyone's ears first.

Finally, I have time to see what's going on!

Qin Che swept his gaze around the hall, wanting to see who was so bold as to be thinking about other things—and even saying them aloud—at such a solemn moment.

Yet after looking around, he found no one with their mouth open. Only Chu Moqing felt that the voice sounded somewhat familiar. Why did it sound so much like the voice of the little disciple he had just taken in?

He turned to look at Feng Wuhen standing beside him. The boy had his head lowered, staring at the floor tiles, and his mouth had not moved.

When Feng Wuhen noticed him looking, he even turned and smiled at him, obedient beyond measure.

Chu Moqing turned back, thinking that his disciple was so well-behaved that there was no way he would speak out at a time like this.

But the moment that thought arose, it was promptly slapped down. This time, it was not only him—Qin Che and the others also realized who the voice belonged to.

Heavens! For a moment, I don't even know who's more miserable.

Having located the source of the voice, Qin Che looked toward Chu Moqing. Just as he was about to remind Feng Wuhen to be quiet, he discovered something strange.

Feng Wuhen had his head lowered, and his mouth clearly was not moving, yet his voice still rang in their ears.

Song Junning and the other peak masters saw it as well. They all found it unbelievable and even wondered whether there was something wrong with their eyes.

Song Junning leaned slightly toward Qu Lanxin beside her and asked, "Senior Sister Qu, did you hear something?"

Qu Lanxin nodded at the question. "I heard it. You heard it too?"

Song Junning nodded, and the voices of several other peak masters sounded beside her. "We heard it too."

Chu Moqing was the first to react. This might be some sort of fortuitous opportunity that allowed them to hear Feng Wuhen's inner thoughts.

He conveyed his speculation to Qin Che and the others through voice transmission, while also looking at the disciples who had just entered the sect. Those disciples were anxiously looking around as well, clearly able to hear it too.

While he was confirming this, Feng Wuhen's inner thoughts did not stop, continuing to say things that left them dumbfounded.

Shen Ziheng really did it this time. Taking a master and landing himself in such huge trouble—if things go wrong, he'll lose his life.

Shen Ziheng's face turned pale. No matter how steady he was, he was still only a teenager. Hearing that he might die, he was naturally afraid.

But his death calamity isn't difficult to resolve. As long as he's stopped from going to the Clearwind Secret Realm with Qin Leyan, he naturally won't be used as Qin Leyan's shield and die within the secret realm.

Upon hearing Qin Leyan's name in Feng Wuhen's thoughts, Chu Moqing and the others all looked at Qin Che. The Qin Leyan mentioned in Feng Wuhen's thoughts was none other than Qin Che's younger daughter.

At the same time, they realized there was a seventy-percent chance that Feng Wuhen's inner thoughts were true. He had only just entered the sect—how could he possibly know Qin Leyan's name?

No, besides that, I need to remind him to stay away from Qin Leyan. She isn't some innocent junior sister who needs protection. If we're talking about the age of her soul, she's probably several hundred years older than even my master.

Chu Moqing raised his brow at this and looked at Qin Che's dark and livid expression with sympathy.

From the sound of it, Qin Leyan had likely been possessed.

*But the truly unlucky ones are the sect master and Senior Brother Qin Xiaoran, as well as the sect master's wife and the real Qin Leyan.

The current Qin Leyan is a devilish woman the sect master saved during one of his early journeys. The sect master did not know her identity and thought she was an ordinary female cultivator.

Seeing that she was in danger, he saved her. Who knew that one rescue would cause so much trouble?

That devilish woman fell for the sect master when he played the hero and saved her, but the sect master was already married then and deeply loved his wife.

So when the devilish woman confessed to him, he rejected her. That was why she bore a grudge and swore that she would steal the sect master away, then thoroughly humiliate him.

In order to steal the sect master away, the devilish woman did many things, including but not limited to throwing herself at him, drugging him, and sowing discord between the elders and his wife—but every attempt ended in failure.

She even watched as the sect master and his wife gave birth to a son, their family of three living happily and harmoniously.

To destroy the sect master's happiness, the devilish woman paid a great price to find a possession manual within the Devil Race.

This possession manual extracted the souls of both herself and the person being possessed, then fused her own soul into that person's body. Afterward, a secret art was used to merge the soul and body into one, so that no matter how profound one's cultivation was, they would not be able to detect any trace of possession.

Poor little Qin Leyan. She should have had parents who loved her and an older brother who doted on her, yet from the moment she was born, she had to endure the pain of having her soul stripped away. Now, she is even imprisoned within a soul artifact by that devilish woman, forced to watch her family lavish affection on that impostor.

She also has to endure that devilish woman's torture. She's truly pitiful.*

By this point, Qin Che was one hundred percent certain that everything Feng Wuhen said was true. He had indeed once saved such a woman, and that woman had indeed confessed to him and harassed him in countless ways.

He had never told anyone else about this. The only people who knew were his wife and that woman.

Since those things were true, then what Feng Wuhen said about possession was naturally true as well. Thinking of how his biological daughter was being tortured by that devilish woman, Qin Che felt his blood surge violently. With a puff, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The commotion was so great that Feng Wuhen looked up. As an alchemist and a physician, Song Junning and Qu Lanxin hurriedly examined Qin Che when they saw him vomit blood.

His anger had attacked his heart. Spitting out that blood was actually a good thing.