The Awakening of the Feminine Within

With the death of Perfected Hunyuan and the departure of the purple-clad woman, this prolonged farce finally came to a true end. Although many people cast unusual glances at Ye Shu because of the purple-clad woman's final remarks, they still swallowed their thoughts in the presence of Jian Wuhen.

After all, no one wanted to get beaten up in broad daylight.

"The disciple recruitment ceremony officially begins now!"

As Li Daoyuan's resonant voice rang out, the youths below suddenly realized that the ceremony was just starting. Everything that had happened earlier was merely an appetizer.

Passing the three thousand steps meant they had already entered the sect.

What remained was to choose their preferred peak lineage.

Currently, the most popular was naturally the Xuantian Sword Lineage's recruitment booth. Everyone crowded around the small stall set up by Chu Jinghong, while the other peaks were deserted with only a scattered few people.

As for Zixiao Peak and Qingluan Peak, they had absolutely no one.

After all, who wouldn't want a reasonable and fiercely protective eldest senior brother?

Ye Shu and Jian Wuhen stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the plaza, watching Chu Jinghong in the distance. Chu Jinghong was grinning so hard his mouth was almost crooked, forcefully dragging Lu Shouzhuo to act as a mascot for his advertising.

"Senior Brother..." Ye Shu suddenly spoke.

"Speak," Jian Wuhen said indifferently.

"Were you really aiming to hack Perfected Hunyuan to death just now?"

"Yes. If I didn't do that, he definitely wouldn't have exposed himself. And I only had one chance. Once the Sect Master realized what was happening, he would inevitably intervene to stop me," Jian Wuhen nodded.

Hearing this, Ye Shu's expression became extremely colorful. Sweating a bit, he wiped his forehead. "I'm saying what if, just what if."

"What if I was lying at that time?"

"What if I misjudged, and Perfected Hunyuan wasn't actually from the demonic path and hadn't hidden his strength? With that sword strike of yours... wouldn't it have caused a massive disaster?"

"What if... you hacked the wrong person."

He rambled on for a while, just feeling weird. He felt that his eldest senior brother acting like this made him seem no different from those female leads.

"Then I would pay him back with my life," Jian Wuhen said indifferently, his expression as relaxed as if he had just eaten thirty small bread rolls for breakfast.

Ye Shu was stunned. "But what if..."

Before he could finish, Jian Wuhen had already interrupted him.

"There are no 'what ifs'. Is Perfected Hunyuan from the demonic path?"

"Yes."

"Then, were you lying?"

"No."

"Then isn't that it?" Jian Wuhen shrugged, finished weaving the broom in his hand, stood up, and walked toward the plaza.

"..."

Ye Shu stared blankly at his back, speechless for a moment.

Is this the feeling of being trusted?

It made his cold heart feel a little warm.

After recovering from his brief moment of being moved, Ye Shu began to ponder another problem.

He glanced at Xiaobai on his shoulder and gritted his teeth.

"Then, our lovely Lord Xiaobai, could you please explain to me why the Demonic Saintess called me her husband? Moreover, in the images you showed me, shouldn't the demonic path have a Saint Son? How did he become a woman?"

"Uh... well about that..."

Xiaobai, who had been sitting silently on his shoulder trying to act cute to get away with it, stiffened and laughed awkwardly.

"This is a very profound question."

"According to my guess, it's very likely that this and this happened, and then that and that happened, which finally led to this."

After hearing this, Ye Shu touched his chin with a suspicious look.

"You mean to say that the Demonic Saint Son was actually a woman all along, but she had always been cross-dressing as a man. Because a Saint Son can intimidate scoundrels better than a Saintess, she chose to present herself as a man to maintain her status."

"Over time, she really started considering herself a man."

"In her eyes, whether men or women, they were all nothing but livestock."

"As a result, in the memory designed by the system, I single-handedly slaughtered my way through the entire demonic path, and even she was cut down by my sword. Thus, this highly arrogant Demonic Saint Son, on the verge of death, finally awakened her inner femininity."

"So after being reborn and returning, she no longer hid her identity and directly chose to show herself as a woman, right?"

"Exactly." Xiaobai nodded. "Right now, this seems to be the only explanation."

She proudly raised her head, her eyes full of starlight.

"Don't you think it's very romantic? A Demonic Saint Son who lived her whole life as a man finally found a man who could completely conquer her heart at the moment of her death."

"Romantic my ass!" Ye Shu couldn't help but curse.

"Don't just cram every trope in there, hey! It's already messy enough, okay?" At the thought of a Demonic Saintess obsessing over him, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

The words demonic path were not a good thing.

Judging from their brief encounter just now, that purple-clad woman was not one of those pure, innocent white lotuses from fantasy romance novels whose bad deeds were all framed by the righteous path.

She was a truly ruthless member of the demonic path.

True enough.

If the demonic path wasn't evil, would it still be the demonic path?

If the righteous path were all hypocrites, and the demonic path were actually heroic, righteous, and loyal true men, then this world would be as absurd and ridiculous as the chosen one being a villain.

In this world, there are only wrong names.

There are never wrong nicknames.

Ye Shu regarded this principle as truth.

In short, the absurd disciple recruitment ceremony came to an end. Zixiao Peak and Qingluan Peak harvested nothing, while the Xuantian Sword Lineage welcomed a large batch of fresh blood. Even knowing they had countless debts, it couldn't stop the people's enthusiasm.

On the way back to the mountain, Ye Shu felt rather embarrassed.

He rubbed his hands, looked at his senior brothers, and smiled apologetically. "I caused everyone to come into conflict with Zixiao Peak and Qingluan Peak. I'm afraid they won't give us any good looks in the future."

"We were never close to them anyway."

Chu Jinghong waved his hand indifferently.

Anyway, he couldn't leave the courtyard on normal days, so forming a grudge with any peak was completely meaningless to him.

As for Lu Shouzhuo.

He hugged his sword and looked straight ahead, not caring in the slightest.

"Actually, there's one more thing I haven't told everyone..."

Ye Shu hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Besides Qingluan Peak and Zixiao Peak... I also hacked to death the spirit beast belonging to Su Qingyun, the daughter of the Spirit Beast Peak's master."

Who knew that Chu Jinghong would just let out a cry of towering loyalty.

"Oh, this Spirit Beast Peak dares to bully our Junior Brother Ye. At worst, when their spirit beasts are breeding this spring, our Xuantian Sword Lineage just won't go help them mate."

"Junior Brother Ye, let me be frank."

"Don't be afraid of causing trouble. We've never been afraid of trouble. We're only afraid that you won't dare to cause trouble no, I mean, we're only afraid of you getting bullied."

"If the sky falls, Eldest Senior Brother will hold it up."

Even Lu Shouzhuo nodded, a rare sight.

As for Jian Wuhen, he didn't return to the mountain and was still sweeping the floor at the disciple recruitment ceremony plaza.

The three of them walked side by side.

The distant mountains drew closer. Just as they arrived at the courtyard, Chu Jinghong suddenly pointed into the distance and smiled. "Look, Junior Brother Ye, someone is waiting for you."

There in the courtyard, the shadows of the trees danced gracefully.

A figure clad in a pink dress stood beneath the tree, one hand resting against its trunk, gazing over here from afar.