Chapter One Hundred and One: Difficulty in Distinguishing Right from Wrong

  As soon as the voice rang out, not only Murong Ziyin was startled, but also those few small Huaiyao. The people and demons standing in front of the Nest Temple all turned their heads at once. When Huaimi and several other little demons saw that it was him, their eyes suddenly sparkled with excitement, as if they had found a leader, and they shouted out in unison: "Meow~ Mr. Shen!"

  Shen Bailian met the gaze of those few people, but his footsteps faltered, and the smile on his face was also retracted a lot. He did not respond to Huai Mi's call, but quietly raised his head, his eyes passing over the other few people, colliding with the two gazes that shot out like electricity from directly in front of him.

  Murong Ziyin stared at Shen Baiying, his cold face rarely showing such a stiff expression. The phoenix eyes first flashed with joy, but instantly turned into full of incredulity and confusion. He even doubted his own eyes, if not for the familiar face, he almost asked out loud, was the young man in red clothes with loose hair really the same person as the jade-like gentle one in his impression? How could the lifelong bosom friend appear in such a demonic place, and still be so calm and composed?

  Shen Bailian saw the expression on his face, and her heart sank. She secretly sighed: This day has finally come. He took a step forward, forcing himself to maintain the faint smile on his lips, and cupped his hands together in greeting: "Ziying, it's been a long time..."

  "Shen, Bai, Ling!" The originally silent and expressionless young man's face became even more complex when he heard that Shen Bai Ling dared to call out to him like that. However, the emotion was quickly hidden behind a mask of coldness. He cut off Shen Bai Ling and asked bluntly, "You... why are you here, and what are you doing with these demons?" As he spoke, his eyes flicked towards the demons hiding behind Shen Bai Ling's robes, including Huai Mi, and a glint of cold light flashed in his eyes. Except for Huai Mi, who puffed out her small chest and stared back at him, the other little demons were even more frightened and hid further behind Shen Bai Ling.

  "…to be in league with demons?" Shen Bailian let out a soft sigh, but the corners of his mouth slowly curled up a few more degrees, revealing a hint of bitter smile. "I am a demon myself, not being in league with demons, would I then be in league with humans instead?" The paths of humans and demons are different, perhaps you think so too?

  His simple sentence fell into Murong Ziyin's ears, but it was no different from a thunderbolt. The cold-faced young man suddenly heard the news, his eyes suddenly widened, and he stared at Shen Baiying in shock: "What did you say?"

  His face grew even more bitter, gradually spreading to his eyes: "I said I was a demon, didn't you understand? This Juexu country is where I was born, if not here, where else should I be?" He lowered his eyelids and secretly asked himself in his heart: apart from this place, what other place would accept this half-human, half-demon with a body full of sin?

  Murong Ziyin stared at him incredulously, her heart filled with shock and anger. It was as if a voice in her mind was shouting, starting off softly but growing louder and louder, like thunder rumbling in her ears: So that's how it is! So that's really how it is! No wonder he always beat around the bush when she asked him about his past, no wonder she always felt like he was hiding something from her. She had thought that this person had some unspeakable sorrow, but it turned out that he simply didn't have any true feelings for her! What a joke, what a farce - their deep friendship, their bond, all just a game to him! Murong Ziyin, you've spent your whole life searching for someone who truly understands you, but in the end, it was all just your own one-sided fantasy, and you were played like a fool.

  "Good, good!" Murong Ziyin's anger turned to laughter, and her eyes, looking at Shen Baiying, gradually condensed a layer of solid ice that separated people from thousands of miles away. "It was I, Murong Ziyin, who was blind to the truth and failed to recognize you! Shen Baiying, from now on, our friendship is severed, and we will have no more dealings with each other! Those few demonic creatures behind you once harmed people outside Shouyang City, and now they are lurking at the bottom of the lake, waiting for an opportunity to drag people down to drown. Today, I will definitely slay them with my sword. If you refuse to step aside, then don't blame me for being impolite!" As she spoke, her long sword quivered, and suddenly pointed towards Shen Baiying.

  Shen Bailian shook her head and sighed, "I know you've always been deeply disgusted with the demonic creatures, but Huai Mi and the others are just orphans who have lost their parents. They're lucky if they don't get hurt by people, let alone harm anyone. Since they came to my country, I naturally want to protect them. Moreover, what you said about dragging people down is a misunderstanding. Every now and then, whirlpools appear in the lake, pulling in fishing boats that come and go. What does this have to do with the demonic creatures in our country? The demons in the city often lend a helping hand to push the fallen civilians back to the shore..."

  "Don't try to justify yourself anymore!" Murong Ziyin angrily swung her sleeve, "If you insist on being my enemy, then come and fight!" With that, she no longer listened to Shen Baiying's explanation, and with a thrust of her sword tip, she stabbed straight at his leg.

  Shen Bailian was about to summon the Spring Water Sword to defend himself when a figure suddenly appeared, standing right in front of Shen Bailian and the five small Huaiyou. The man had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, with a straight back that made him look very upright, but his messy black hair was like a bird's nest, which didn't match his clean blue-white Taoist robe at all. He smiled foolishly and said, "Ziying, I don't understand what you're saying... But isn't this person your friend? You can't kill your own friend."

  "Friend? He deceived me and lied to me, how can he still be my friend? He's a demon, a demon that everyone should slay! Can humans and demons really be friends?"

  Behind that disheveled young man, Shen Bailian's whole body trembled. It was like this again, indeed it was like this again... Those disciples who knew they were demons back then, didn't they have the same contemptuous and cold expression? Ah, she really shouldn't have hoped anymore...

  "Ziying, calm down!" Another clear voice also advised, "This person... this demon doesn't seem to be a bad one. Among humans, there are evil people, and among demons, there may be kind ones too. Moreover, we have other important matters to attend to here, so it's better not to act rashly. What do you think, Mengli?"

  Only a few notes of the guqin's sound, the tone seemed to be the resonance of the guqin, then a somewhat cold voice gently said: "... Ziying, I don't know that friend of yours, but Huai Mi and the others I have known for a long time. They are still young, having been killed by you is already very pitiful, and they have never done anything evil, why not spare them?"

  "Right, right! What Lin and Meng said is not wrong, you can't kill them for no reason!" The disheveled young man heard that the other two women who came with him were standing on his side, seemingly having gained a bit more confidence, and spoke with his head held high.

  Murong Ziyin's face had already turned iron-green at this time. He looked at the disheveled youth, then at the other two girls, his eyes filled with disappointment and anger: "Fine, fine! I didn't think even you would try to stop me... since our paths are different, let us part ways here!" After saying these final words, he fiercely sheathed his sword. In an instant, a purple light flashed, and in the blink of an eye, his figure had vanished from the ground.

  Seeing Murong Ziyin turn and leave, the three people who came with him seemed to be somewhat hesitant, unsure whether to chase after him or stay. On this side, the five small Huaiyou let out a sigh of relief, Huai Mi jumped out from behind Shen Bailian's legs, and brought several younger brothers to walk towards those few people again, rubbing against their feet, showing great affection. Shen Bailian watched with her eyes, feeling that these five little demons' attitude towards these three people was completely different from their attitude towards Murong Ziyin, the contrast between their previous hatred and current enthusiasm was really striking.

  The disheveled young man standing in front of Shen Bailian finally turned around, scratching his head and stammering to Shen Bailian: "...... That is, sorry, Ziying he isn't a bad person, he just...just..." He couldn't get the words out no matter how hard he tried, so he looked pleadingly at the two girls on the other side.

  "He's just a bit stubborn, he'll come around when he wants to." One of the petite girls couldn't help but jump up and slap him on the back of his head, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Can't even say a word, what a foolish savage!"

  Shen Bailian only lowered her eyes and sighed softly: "You all don't need to persuade me anymore, I know he's extremely angry this time. You can still get his forgiveness, but... I'm afraid it's absolutely impossible for him to consider me a friend again. The difference between humans and demons is a principle that I deeply remembered many years ago." By the last sentence, her expression had become very dismal.

  That girl was taken aback, just wanting to persuade a few more words, but heard the disheveled boy next to her lower his head and say to several small Huai Yao: "Huai Mi, sorry...... You are my friends, Ziying is also my friend, he wants to kill you, I want...

  "Stop it, if you want to avenge him, I will stop you too."

  "Meow~ Friends are still friends, and enemies are still enemies! We'll take care of our own revenge, it doesn't concern you." Huai Mi nodded and spoke reasonably, the feathers on her back swaying with each word. "You once helped me and my brothers, I won't forget that in this lifetime. Mr. Shen also said, people can be bad or good, when we grow up, we'll never bully good people!"

  The girl heard Huai Mi say that, and there was no happy expression on her face. Instead, she muttered in a low voice: "Alas, how did it become like this..."

  Shen Bailian heard it in her ears and couldn't help but secretly sigh. Ah, how did things end up like this?

  From the day he met Murong Ziyuan, he knew that this young man had a stubborn idea in his heart that monsters were born evil. He never revealed his own life to avoid trouble. He thought it was just a fleeting encounter, but unexpectedly became friends and even had a common enemy. The more they knew each other, the more they understood the hot heart under the young man's cold face. Such an old-fashioned, loyal, and righteous young swordsman should have been the best person to befriend in his life. However, the deeper their friendship grew, the more uneasy he felt. He was afraid that if the young man knew the truth he had deliberately hidden, he would see disgust and contempt on his face when the truth came out. He was afraid that the young man would no longer care about him, and the affection they shared would disappear. He had planned to quietly change the young man's stubborn views on monsters, and then reveal his true identity as a half-human, half-monster. But unexpectedly, the young man suddenly appeared in Jūnghénguó, and suddenly shattered everything...

  After a long silence, Huai Mi suddenly asked: "Meow ~ by the way, how did you come to Ju Chao country?"

  The little girl suddenly remembered and said, "We heard from the fishermen by Chaohu Lake that recently there have been monsters creating strange whirlpools on the lake to harm people, so we came to investigate. Who would have thought... Alas, we were originally going to find Kunlin, but now Ziying is..."

  "Meow~ Dragon scales?" Huai Mi looked at her brother with a puzzled expression, "We seem to have heard Mr. Shen mention it before... isn't it the scales of a big fish?" Huai Zhi and several small Huai demons nodded repeatedly in affirmation.

  The little girl's bright eyes lit up a few more degrees, and her pretty face also showed a few degrees of joy: "Really? You know Kunlin? That..." Turning her head to see Shen Bailian with his head down, thinking about something, she turned her eyes a few times, and simply took a few steps forward, opening her mouth to call out, "Hmm... Mr. Shen?"

  Shen Bailian came back to her senses, raised her head with a slight lift of her eyebrows: "...... What's the matter?"

  The petite girl finally saw his face clearly, and was stunned for a moment. Her face seemed to have turned red for an instant, and after a brief pause, she opened her mouth. Her voice seemed to be softer than before: "Mr. Shen, have you ever seen something called Kunlin?"

  "I've seen it." Shen Bailian nodded, "That's a scale of the Northern Mi Da Kun, born with cold air that forces people back, not something that ordinary flesh and blood can touch. Your several people's Taoist skills are not deep..." As she spoke, her gaze swept over the three people, but when she saw the short-haired young man's appearance, she suddenly paused, even forgetting to continue speaking.

  He stared at the familiar face of the short-haired young man, his heart full of astonishment. The young man wore a Qinghua Sect disciple's robe, with a clear and handsome face, a pair of eyes that were black and white, clear and transparent to the bottom, if not for the messy hair on his head, he would have looked almost identical to Yun Tianqing!

  "What... what's your name?" Shen Bailin asked in a trembling voice.

  The disheveled young man looked at him blankly, then looked at the two girls beside him who were equally perplexed, scratched his head and replied: "Me? My name is Yun Tian He."

  Yun Tianhe, Yun Tianqing... only one word difference, yet their faces are so similar... Shen Bailian hurriedly asked: "Do you know Yun Tianqing?"

  The young man was taken aback and asked foolishly: "How did you know my father's name?"

  Shen Bailian only felt a dizziness in his mind, unsure whether it was shock or joy. He had been searching for so many years, and all he knew was that Yun Tianqing and Su Yu were already deceased. He never expected that they would leave behind a son, and this young man had actually appeared before him!