Nie Shiyun finished his business and instructed Qi Xuan’er and the other disciple to forget that Shen Yan had visited today. Although they didn’t understand the reason, they trusted Nie Shiyun’s words implicitly and agreed without any doubt.
By the time he returned to the reception room, Shen Yan had grown somewhat anxious, hoping only for a definitive answer on whether Nie Shiyun would take the job.
Even knowing the underlying reasons, Nie Shiyun did not back down. As long as Shen Yan kept his mouth shut, repairing a couple of banners wouldn’t have much of an impact on him. However, having been in business for so many years, he understood the principle of taking advantage of a crisis. Thus, citing the "extreme danger of the task," he asked for an additional one hundred thousand spirit stones.
"Fine," Shen Yan agreed immediately.
Seeing how readily he agreed, Nie Shiyun felt he might have asked for too little.
He considered that since Shen Yan had a history of attacking Duan Mingyu, his credibility was hard to guarantee. To be safe, he decided to collect the payment before starting the work. Shen Yan had no objection and decisively produced a storage ring, from which several large spirit stones worth fifty thousand each tumbled out with a clatter.
Immediately after, he took the agreed-upon Cultivation Essence from the storage bracelet on his wrist.
Nie Shiyun connected the dots and pointed out keenly, "Was this Cultivation Essence refined by you personally?"
Shen Yan nodded, making no attempt to hide it. "Indeed."
"..." Nie Shiyun was momentarily speechless. Although he knew that Cultivation Essence was made from the remains of deceased cultivators—otherwise he wouldn't have gone to the black market for it in the past—facing Shen Yan as he handed over the stolen goods still felt a bit like holding a hot potato, emotionally speaking.
Nie Shiyun took it and carefully inspected the quality, finally unable to hide his shock. "This is... you forcefully killed a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core stage while being two levels lower?"
"I only borrowed the power of a killing array, and I suffered significant injuries myself." Shen Yan paused. Since things had reached this point, he didn't want to play a game of question-and-answer with Nie Shiyun anymore and simply described the whole story in detail.
It turned out that Shen Yan had not been a disciple of Soul-Summoning Valley from the start. As a child, he lived with his rogue cultivator parents along the coast of the Eastern Sea. One day, he went out to play alone, only to return home to find his house ransacked and his parents' corpses. At the time, his mother was still carrying his younger brother, who would never come into the world. After discovering that two cultivators from Soul-Summoning Valley had visited that day, Shen Yan set out on a solitary path of revenge.
It was not easy for a rogue cultivator with no background to increase their cultivation. Shen Yan, who was only in the Qi Condensation stage at the time, faced many perils along the way. After finally reaching the vicinity of Soul-Summoning Valley and spending all his savings to gather information about his enemies, he learned that the perpetrators were likely a pair of brothers in the valley, children who were quite favored by a certain Elder.
At that time, those two were already approaching the Golden Core stage. Feeling that he would never catch up to his enemies at his current pace, Shen Yan simply joined Soul-Summoning Valley himself. Ironically, he seemed to be a natural for it. After entering the path of demonic cultivation, his cultivation, which hadn't progressed for years, suddenly advanced at a rapid pace. In just ten years, Shen Yan had moved from the Qi Condensation stage to the Golden Core stage.
Nie Shiyun felt another wave of surprise. He could vaguely sense that Shen Yan was younger than himself. By that calculation, the other man might be even younger than Qi Xuan’er and Du Zhi, perhaps only in his early twenties—a boundless future indeed.
"So you made your move this time and killed those two brothers?" Nie Shiyun asked.
Shen Yan frowned. "Actually, only one was left. Last time in the secret realm, only one of them was present. I had originally planned to find an opportunity to strike. I didn't expect..."
He looked at Nie Shiyun with some dissatisfaction. The latter looked back in confusion, only to hear Shen Yan say helplessly, "I didn't expect you to kill him first."
Nie Shiyun fell silent. It took him a moment to realize that when Shen Yan had seen that Soul-Summoning Banner and rushed in last time, it wasn't out of concern for a fellow disciple. He had seen his enemy's treasure in Nie Shiyun's hands and had come to confront him in a panic.
"I'm sorry for not letting you do it yourself," Nie Shiyun said helplessly.
"Forget it, it doesn't matter anymore." Shen Yan shrugged.
Realizing they had talked for a long time and almost forgotten the main business, Shen Yan took out the two banners and handed them to Nie Shiyun. Seeing Nie Shiyun take them and examine them closely, Shen Yan breathed a sigh of relief. Although Shen Yan had only confessed because Nie Shiyun said he wouldn't take the job without knowing the situation, these secrets had been buried in his heart for years. Revealing them to someone else for the first time made him feel unexpectedly light in body and mind.
"This one is heavily damaged; I might not be able to restore it perfectly, though I can manage to make it usable," Nie Shiyun said, pushing the banner he had previously handed over back toward Shen Yan. "This one is in better condition and should be restorable. This is your own, right?"
Shen Yan nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you."
"Do you only use Soul-Summoning Banners? This artifact is too niche; if it breaks, it's hard to find a spare. Do you want to try some other artifacts?" Nie Shiyun took the opportunity to promote his wares.
Although other weapons weren't as comfortable to use as the Soul-Summoning Banner, Shen Yan did have spare weapons on him. He had intended to refuse, but thinking that Nie Shiyun currently held his banners, he couldn't help but buy into the offer.
Seeing him continuously and readily pour out money, Nie Shiyun finally couldn't help but ask, "This money isn't actually yours either, is it?"
Shen Yan said without batting an eye, "Indeed it isn't. This storage ring is one I took from that guy. He usually did a lot of burning, killing, and looting; his wealth is truly filthy rich."
It made sense. Nie Shiyun thought to himself that if it weren't for a sudden windfall, no one would throw money around so haphazardly.
"Let me think... give me about ten days." As Nie Shiyun spoke, he examined the two banners carefully once more before putting them away.
"That's fast," Shen Yan remarked. He truly lived up to his reputation as the most talented artifact refiner of the younger generation. If the refiners in Soul-Summoning Valley were to refine an artifact, they would delay for months, not to mention their terrible attitudes.
With the terms settled, Shen Yan rose to take his leave. Nie Shiyun asked where he was staying. As expected, Shen Yan didn't dare stay in an inn and planned to keep moving through the forests around the town to avoid being discovered.
After reaching the Nascent Soul stage, the chance for a cultivator to have offspring was almost zero. Having lost the two sons he had managed to have after favoring many cultivation furnaces during his Golden Core stage, that Demonic Nascent Soul Elder of Soul-Summoning Valley was already mad with rage.
Nie Shiyun thought for a moment. If Shen Yan were accidentally exposed, Cloud Clear Pavilion was nearby, and it was hard to guarantee they wouldn't be implicated. Nie Shiyun felt it would be safer to keep the man under his own nose, so he suggested Shen Yan follow him to the back mountain, where he would prepare a place for him to stay temporarily. In any case, only he and Zhai Bairong lived on the entire mountain; there was no safer place.
Hearing his suggestion, Shen Yan was very hesitant, his expression immediately becoming suspicious and undecided.
Nie Shiyun felt that this person seemed unable to accept the kindness of others, so he had to state his true thoughts—that he didn't want to be implicated—and unceremoniously took a bit more money from him. Only then did Shen Yan agree.
The two of them quietly avoided the disciples in the pavilion and flew toward the back mountain on their swords.
Perhaps because his great revenge had been settled, Nie Shiyun felt that Shen Yan's expression looked a bit more relaxed than it had in the secret realm, though it also revealed a hint of aimlessness. He couldn't help but ask on the way, "You entered the path of demonic cultivation just to avenge your parents. Don't you think it wasn't worth it?"
"Was it? I think it was very worth it," Shen Yan said, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile. "You righteous types probably can't understand. But being a demonic cultivator is actually quite pleasant."
"Even if you might one day do the same thing yourself?"
Facing Nie Shiyun's question, Shen Yan looked down and sneered. "Who can say? But if I were to do it, I would never leave such a huge hidden danger behind."
The "hidden danger" he spoke of was likely himself. The two of them weren't close, and Nie Shiyun felt that continuing the conversation might be overstepping. Everyone had their own experiences and ways of living; Nie Shiyun decided not to judge.
However, he couldn't help but wonder. In terms of cultivation, experience, and "uniqueness," Nie Shiyun felt this person could definitely have been arranged as a member of Duan Mingyu's harem.
Yet such a character had never appeared in the original novel. Was it because his values were too warped and didn't fit Duan Mingyu's standards for a partner? Or was there some plot point the original novel hadn't mentioned?
"Speaking of which, do you remember that Duan Mingyu from the secret realm? You stole his spirit fox. What was your impression of him?" Nie Shiyun tested.
Shen Yan recalled for a moment and said coldly, "Oh, that guy with the androgynous features? I only matched the name to him later. He's Zhai Bairong's former lover, right? Your Dao companion's taste really isn't great."
"..."
Nie Shiyun felt that while these words weren't wrong at first glance, they felt a bit off upon closer inspection.
"Ah, I didn't mean it like that," Shen Yan corrected himself without a shred of sincerity.
"It's fine." Nie Shiyun took a deep breath, telling himself he shouldn't bicker with a junior.
"He starts shedding tears before anything even happens to him, and after suffering a loss, he only knows how to let others vent his anger for him. It's a miracle he's made it this far," Shen Yan said, his brow furrowing with displeasure as he thought of the situation in Nie Shiyun's shop. He let out a cold laugh. "He's probably just the type that's completely opposite to me—born lucky."
Nie Shiyun paused and didn't ask any further.
That was probably why Shen Yan couldn't become part of Duan Mingyu's harem.
Just then, the two of them arrived at their destination and landed from their flying swords. Shen Yan looked at the vast mountain. From a distance, the scale of the abode could probably match that of a Sect Leader from other sects, yet only Nie Shiyun lived here alone. Thinking about how the man had still tried to fleece him for
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Transmigrated into a Total Shou Novel as a Cannon Fodder, but Ended Up 1v1-ing the Male Lead | Chapter 106 | A Secret Agreement | Novela.app | Novela.app
