Chapter 340: The Origin of Cause and Effect, Bai Wuchang

In the Demon Realm, survival is for the strong.

At the dawn of the realm's creation, the founding Demon Lord suffered through long-lasting hardships and resented the unfairness of the heavens; already possessing a fractured soul and incomplete spirit, he became twisted by his rage and established this rule, which has remained unchanged for thousands of years.

The origins of the living beings in the Demon Realm are chaotic, a jumble of Demon Beasts and spirits; because their souls are incomplete, they must break others to make themselves whole. Living long in such an environment, they are all fierce and skilled in battle, and over time, this has created the kill-or-be-killed status quo of the Demon Realm.

However, there are exceptions to everything.

Among the demon creatures, there is no shortage of those who originated from the human race. When they were abducted to the Demon Realm, their souls were still whole and their minds clear, so their descendants are mostly more intelligent than others, and they harbor more complex thoughts.

The most prominent among them is Bai Wuchang.

Although Bai Wuchang has the body of a tiger or leopard, his ancestors were human, so when he visited Tumi Xianzi back then, it was not solely to invite Mo Zun Boyan back.

His status as a member of the Demon Race has always been a source of pain for Bai Wuchang; he hoped to use Tumi's hand to shed his demon form and return to the Human Realm.

During the initial turmoil in the Demon Realm, Mo Zun Boyan, then still a prince, was heavily injured and on the verge of death, yet Tumi Xianzi was actually able to save him.

Upon hearing this, Bai Wuchang became convinced that Tumi was his only straw to grasp to return to the Human Dao.

Thus, Bai Wuchang schemed every step of the way, first helping Boyan return to the position of Demon Lord, then exploiting his unrequited love and using his words to provoke Boyan's jealousy, which led to the catastrophe at Yuanqing fifteen years ago.

But no one expected that Tumi Xianzi would take her own life during that chaos.

Bai Wuchang ended up with nothing, and the Demon Lord, having been struck by Tumi Xianzi's witchcraft, found his physical body withered but uncorrupted, and he was unable to use his martial arts or cultivate his Qi.

When news arrived at the right time that the three great families of Chenjian who exterminate demons had obtained the Life-Prolonging Pill, Bai Wuchang pinned his hopes on those three pills; then, with the Lu Family head offering his allegiance, one thing led to another, resulting in the tragedy of the three families.

Naturally, all of this had been discussed beforehand between the heads of the three families and Tumi Xianzi, but at the time, no one knew what the reason behind it was.

At that time, Tumi Xianzi advised the head of the Lu Family to hide the Life-Prolonging Pill in the dowry of the Qiao Family's daughter who was about to be married, while the other two were presented to Mo Zun Boyan by Guihua and Shanglu, so Bai Wuchang's schemes fell through once again.

By then, Bai Wuchang was at his wit's end, but he did not expect that thirteen years later, he would receive news of the Life-Prolonging Pill from the Taishang Sect.

Upon learning that the Life-Prolonging Pill had come from Lingxiang's hands, he locked his target onto her.

To probe Lingxiang's true strength, Bai Wuchang set a trap for Liu Yaoyi and released the news, luring Lingxiang to Liangcheng.

As he had expected, Lingxiang indeed still had pills in her possession.

At that moment, Bai Wuchang's heart was surging, but he could not fathom Lingxiang's background and dared not act rashly for fear of alerting the enemy, so he sent Xin Yi to follow her in secret.

According to the information Xin Yi obtained, Lingxiang's residence was actually in Guyang City, and Guyang City was within a stone's throw of Yuanqing's Jiuque Mountain.

With such a coincidence, Bai Wuchang deduced that Lingxiang must have an inseparable connection to Yuanqing, and thinking back to how Tumi Xianzi seemed to have had a daughter many years ago, he concluded that Lingxiang must be Tumi's daughter.

Upon learning this news, Bai Wuchang was both shocked and terrified. He was shocked because the Demon Lord had clearly seen with his own eyes that the child had died in the arms of another child; he was terrified because Tumi Xianzi had actually succeeded in refining a medicine to bring the dead back to life?

Wouldn't that mean his lifelong wish was within reach?

Bai Wuchang's hope was reignited, but at that time he did not know if Lingxiang still had any Life-Prolonging Pills, which is why he lured Alv to the City Lord Mansion and, taking advantage of Lingxiang being out, sent Xin Yi to search Youran Abode.

However, things did not go as planned; Youran Abode did not contain what Bai Wuchang sought.

Yet Bai Wuchang was not annoyed; he knew well the rarity of the Life-Prolonging Pill, as Tumi Xianzi had not refined many of them back then.

At this point, Bai Wuchang dared not act rashly, fearing that his last hope would vanish, so he sent Xin Yi to infiltrate the Kunwu Sect. But he did not expect that Xin Yi would eventually turn against him.

Bai Wuchang was at a loss for a moment, and as the Second Martial Exercise happened to be taking place, he had no choice but to find the isolated Huiwu and plant a demonic obstacle in his heart, intending to use him later.

Who would have thought that Huiwu was incapable of being used; he was supposed to lure out Lingxiang, but instead, he was caught by Lingxiang, and in desperation, Bai Wuchang had to appear at Yuanqing once again to rescue Huiwu.

After all, with Xin Yi's betrayal, he had no one else to use at the moment.

However, this action had already alerted the enemy, but Bai Wuchang was not at the end of his rope.

Previously, to avoid encountering a situation like the one with Tumi again, Bai Wuchang had long since informed the Demon Lord about Lingxiang's affairs. After all, given the relationship between the Demon Lord and Lingxiang that was difficult to explain in a few words, a little provocation would be effective.

Sure enough, upon hearing that Lingxiang was Tumi's daughter, the Demon Lord sent Guihua out.

Bai Wuchang knew what Lingxiang was looking for, and as it happened to be what he also sought, he made plans early, arranged for Guihua to be at the Kunwu Sect, and set a trap to lure Lingxiang there.

Bai Wuchang naturally knew of Guihua's resentment toward Tumi, and he was even clearer that she would blame all of this on Lingxiang, but based on his understanding of Lingxiang during those days, Bai Wuchang predicted that Guihua would fall into her trap.

Lingxiang's cleverness was exactly the same as the Tumi Xianzi that Bai Wuchang knew.

Bai Wuchang released the news about Yunmeng Marsh, betting that Lingxiang would certainly go looking for it, at which point he could abduct her to refine pills for him.

But he had not expected that there would be such a formidable person by Lingxiang's side.

Bai Wuchang spent his days imitating the ways of mortals, yet he forgot the old mortal saying: "There is always someone better, and a mountain higher than the one you see."

There are countless people in this world who live in anonymity, simply because they have no desire for the chaos of the mortal world.

Bai Wuchang's self-proclaimed cleverness ultimately led to his own destruction.

"Are you saying that all of this was the handiwork of Bai Wuchang?"

After hearing what Ghost Face said, Lingxiang finally understood everything; so she had been pushed along by others all this time?

Although Ghost Face wore a mask, his tone seemed quite interested: "He said his name was Bai Wuchang?"

Lingxiang was full of questions: "What? Is that not his name?"

Ghost Face gave a scoffing laugh: "When I first knew him, I heard people call him Qingmian Hu. But not all members of the Demon Race are worthy of having a name, and he was merely an exception."

Oh, so he was imitating the ways of mortals again.

Imitating mortals in everything and naming himself Wuchang, yet he never learned the truth that "worldly affairs are impermanent, and life is as fragile as an ant."

Lingxiang lowered her eyes, not knowing what she was thinking, and only after a long while did she raise her eyes to look at Ghost Face.

"Counting it all up, it's been nearly three years since I came to this Demon Realm. Since you have only invited me here now, is it just to tell me about these past events?"

During the battle at Yuanqing more than two years ago, Lingxiang had been full of curiosity about this Ghost Face; at the time, she was in a rush and did not catch the meaning in his words, but thinking back on it later, this person must have been an old acquaintance of her mother.

Although Lingxiang had remained calm and composed for over two years, she was certain that the person before her definitely knew more, and for these two years, she had been waiting for his explanation.

And she had never seen this person remove his ghost mask...

There must be a connection here!