Love turned to hate, then twisted into depravity

[Whew!] Tang Yan let out a heavy breath, his entire worldview nearly shattered.

[What else? I refuse to believe there's anything more outrageous than collecting those things.]

The purple star sea shook with laughter. [Hahaha, host, you simply haven't seen enough of the world. Take a look yourself.]

With that, the contents of the crystalline blue screen refreshed again.

Tang Yan focused on the screen.

An unconscious murmur rose in his mind.

[Han Zhongjin also likes dressing as a woman in private, making himself look stunning to lure the male disciples he's picked out?]

[Good grief, another cross-dressing expert in the Ten Thousand Swords Sect? Martial Uncle Ye wears women's clothes to commemorate his beloved who died young. He's never hurt anyone or bothered anyone else. But Han Zhongjin actually does it to lure male disciples.]

As Tang Yan read, he couldn't resist another inward jab.

[Wait, Martial Uncle Ye and Han Zhongjin are both from Artifact Peak. That place really has a lot of weirdos. Does everyone on Artifact Peak have some bizarre kink?]

The Artifact Peak disciples nearly coughed up blood at that accusation.

Especially when the disciples from the other peaks shot them scorching looks, both openly and discreetly, as if they really did have some unusual fetish.

The Artifact Peak disciples couldn't even voice their grievances. Every last one of them wailed inwardly.

We don't! We're not like that!

Junior Brother Tang, don't go making things up! o(一︿一+)o

Fuck!

If anyone ever dared call that demon Han Zhongjin virtuous and respected again, the Artifact Peak disciples would fight them to the death!

The other peaks' disciples wore innocent expressions. Wasn't it you people from Artifact Peak who put Han Zhongjin on that pedestal?

The Artifact Peak disciples: ... coughed up blood and dropped dead! (｡í _ ì｡)

Meanwhile, in the void where Fu Shouci and the others were gathered.

Bai Wuxia suddenly appeared before Fu Shouci.

He had rushed over after his precious niece Wei Lianyi alerted him, intending to watch from the shadows first.

But the moment he plunged into the void, he saw Fu Shouci, Xu You, and the others' faces turn red, then orange, then yellow...

Then they cycled through every color before finally turning pitch-black—a black somehow full of colors.

Bai Wuxia released Wei Lianyi from his wide sleeve and asked curiously.

"Senior Brother Sect Leader, what funny gossip did you hear?" What could make your faces change colors like that?

The thought only made Bai Wuxia more curious.

Even Wei Lianyi watched her father and martial uncles with interest.

Jiang Mei rubbed her face, unable to bring herself to say it.

"Senior Brother, don't ask. The gossip we heard today dealt an unprecedented blow to our innocent souls."

Xu You nodded numbly. Even now, his head was still buzzing.

And he felt chilly all over.

Their reactions instantly made Bai Wuxia and Wei Lianyi even more curious about what they had missed.

They hurriedly sat down, hoping to hear some juicy gossip.

Tang Yan didn't disappoint them. His incredulous thoughts exploded in everyone's ears.

*[Huh? After Han Zhongjin lured those male disciples out of the sect,*

*he revealed his true colors and violated them? And then he castrated them afterward?!]*

[Holy shit! What kind of grudge could possibly justify that?]

Bai Wuxia and Wei Lianyi, whose souls had just suffered a violent shock: ???

Han Zhongjin cas—castrated what? Did that mean what they thought it meant?

A chill gripped Bai Wuxia's heart, and his expression turned every color too.

The profound shock in the disciples' eyes below had yet to fade.

Holy crap!! How awful! First that happened to them, and then that happened too.

The male cultivators who had secretly purchased Butt-Guarding Talismans and those butt-guarding formation patterns earlier felt rather smug.

See? Protecting our chastity couldn't wait!

Look at that! Not only were there perverts outside the sect, there was even a sick freak inside it lusting after male cultivators!

And he was right beside them!

Oh, right! The important part was that he was after them, the male cultivators!

So now, absolutely, definitely, without question, they had to protect not just their butts, but their... too!!

After inwardly sympathizing with the missing disciples for quite a while, Tang Yan asked another question.

[Han Zhongjin couldn't have suddenly become like this, could he? Was there a reason?]

The crystalline blue screen refreshed again, and Tang Yan's expression grew complicated.

[So Han Zhongjin doesn't like women—he's attracted to men! He fell for his close friend and confessed, but the man turned him down, saying he already had someone he loved.]

*[Then Han Zhongjin's love turned to hate. He actually tricked his friend and his friend's beloved into a small secret realm, intending to kill that female cultivator right in front of him.*

*That way, his friend would give up on her for good.]*

After reading it, Tang Yan went, *[...]* His feelings grew even more complicated.

Everyone else listening intently for gossip felt just as conflicted.

It was just... utterly insane.

The female cultivators who had once admired Han Zhongjin thought, So that was why he was kind only to male disciples and cold toward female disciples.

[Fucking hell, talk about an eye-opener.]

Meanwhile, Han Zhongjin suddenly noticed that the disciples below were stealing increasingly strange looks at him.

He abruptly grew restless.

But when he frowned and looked toward the disciples studying him, they turned their eyes away.

Han Zhongjin was utterly confused.

He had sensed something wrong, but couldn't put his finger on it.

In the arena, Liu Yunsheng and Jiang Xiao had lost all interest in competing. The disciples who had sealed off their five senses, however, remained unaffected and enthusiastically forged magic treasures and spirit artifacts for the competition.

In the void.

With a grave expression, Fu Shouci addressed Bai Wuxia, whose face looked equally grim.

"Since you're here, I intend to find a suitable opportunity shortly and use some excuse to lure Han Zhongjin out."

"Then we'll strike together. We must capture that monster."

Bai Wuxia, Jiang Mei, and the others promptly agreed. "Don't worry, Senior Brother Sect Leader. We'll coordinate with you."

Fu Shouci's cultivation was at the peak of Void Insight, exactly the same as Han Zhongjin's.

Since Artifact Peak had only one Peak Master, Ye Sheng, and no Deputy Peak Master, Ye Sheng had wanted to promote Han Zhongjin to Deputy Peak Master a few years earlier.

But Han Zhongjin had refused, claiming that he was aloof by nature and disliked dealing with too many affairs.

Fu Shouci had genuinely believed he was simply aloof.

Looking back now, he had probably refused the position so he could hide himself better and prey on the sect's male disciples.

After all, like the Peak Master, a Deputy Peak Master's every move was generally watched by the elders and disciples.

And Han Zhongjin possessed an escape technique renowned not only throughout the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, but across the entire Southern Region.

Fu Shouci had asked them to coordinate so each could seal off a section of the void, preventing Han Zhongjin from escaping if he realized things were going badly.

Below, Tang Yan took a sip of wine, steadied himself, and continued reading the gossip about Han Zhongjin.

[Whoa! Good grief! Han Zhongjin suffered an accidental injury in the secret realm, leaving him impotent—a damned eunuch?]

[So that's why he became such a pervert?] Tang Yan felt he had discovered the truth.

Everyone blinked.

Why did that feel so satisfying? Hehe!! Served him right!

Tang Yan read on, only to be shocked again.

[Huh? I vaguely heard that an Artifact Peak disciple with considerable talent for artifact refining went missing. It really was connected to that pervert Han Zhongjin!]

[And those disciples who went missing before were connected to him too!!]

[The one who disappeared recently is currently locked up in Han Zhongjin's secret hideout. I just don't know whether he's still alive or has already been killed.]

[Hiss! How am I supposed to alert Master about Han Zhongjin and the missing disciples?]

Tang Yan pondered this in silence, then tugged on Xiao Jixue's sleeve beside him.