I, the transmigrated villain, please wait, gentle master.

Chapter 160 The Xiang River Breaks and the Jade Mountain Collapses (9)

When the two first met, the Tenth Prince presented Xue Rendong with an ancient zither.

This was an ancient artifact he had found in the Ruins of the East Sea. He had originally kept it hidden away in Xiaoxiang, but when he heard that the Northern Sea Merfolk had a connection with this zither, he readily agreed to do them a favor and generously gave it away.

The Merfolk are descendants of Emperor Zhuanxu, who was a master of music and skilled in using musical instruments. He used four different instruments in his lifetime:

The first is the floating golden bell, the second is the sunken bright chime, and the other two are the zither and se that he abandoned in the vast East Sea.

When Emperor Zhuanxu severed the connection between heaven and earth, he exhausted his divine power and perished in the mortal realm. These four musical instruments were also left behind in the lower world.

His descendants found only three of them, which they regarded as treasures passed down through generations of the Merfolk, and were guarded by their leader for generations.

Xue Rendong had always kept the Floating Gold Bell and the Deep Bright Chime in Xuanwu City, and he never showed the five-stringed zither that could not be played on its own until he found a twenty-five-stringed se that could harmonize with it, at which point he took it out and tried playing a tune.

His only audience was His Highness the Ghost King, who was neither friend nor foe to him.

When the music ended, it was like hearing heavenly music.

For the first time, the Ten Kings felt that it was a real pity that such a good thing was being left to gather dust in their possession.

It's better to give it away.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch, and the Ten Kings demanded a return gift from Xue Rendong.

Xue Rendong, with a cold face, blew a bubble at him.

The bubble floated and floated, then poked his nose and popped into foam with a "pop".

A deep, ethereal chant struck the very depths of the soul.

"I've already given it to you."

The Ten Kings wiped their noses. What an amazing way to communicate.

Xue Rendong is a fish, and he is born with a love for blowing bubbles. Since the language of the mermaids is incomprehensible to outsiders, he hid a trace of spiritual power in the bubbles. Touching them allows one to understand them directly, eliminating the need for verbal communication.

The voices of the mermaids are melodious and pleasant, smoother and softer than the most luxurious silk in the world. Their voices are natural musical instruments, and just listening to them speak is delightful and intoxicating. Such a sound is rarely heard in the human world.

The Ten Kings secretly pinched themselves to avoid being swayed by his voice.

He shrugged and stated bluntly, "But I haven't received anything."

Another bubble floated towards him. "You were completely absorbed in that song just now, weren't you enjoying it?"

The Merfolk inherited Zhuanxu's extraordinary talent in music.

Xue Rendong was one of the best among them.

Tuning the strings and playing music was the highest form of courtesy he could show.

He rarely played the zither or lute specifically for anyone else.

No one else deserves it.

The Ten Kings laughed and said, "So it seems I was the one who didn't know how to appreciate your kindness."

Xue Rendong looked impatient, his unspoken words twitching in his eyes: "Otherwise what? What other demands do you have?"

The Ten Kings thought for a moment, "Not for now, but maybe in the future. You can owe it to me for now."

Xue Rendong was silent for a moment, then exhaled a super large bubble: "You may not know, but fish have bad memories. You'd better figure out what you want before I lose my memory, otherwise I will forget my promise to you, and don't blame me for turning my back on you then."

The Ten Kings asked in surprise, "Amnesia? You can have amnesia? Why is that?"

Xue Rendong waved his hand, another big bubble forming: "I don't know. Anyway, I often forget a lot of things, the kind where I can't remember anything at all. But don't try to use this weakness to fool me, I'm just forgetful, not that I've lost my mind."

The Ten Kings, realizing that he had guessed their thoughts, gave an awkward smile and asked, "Is there anything you will never forget?"

Xue Rendong: "Of course. I will always remember that I am a fish and have a bad memory."

Ten Kings: "..."

"This problem must be a bother for you, right?"

"What if you forget all the important people or things?"

Xue Rendong: "I will engrave important people and events on the scales."

The tenth prince, quick as a flash, lifted his clothes. "Let me see, how many have been carved?"

Xue Rendong kicked this presumptuous fellow ten feet away.

The Ghost King's snake tail curled into a coil of mosquito-repelling incense.

“Brother, we’re both men, what are you afraid of? I’ll show you my snake belly in exchange for a glimpse of your fish tail, okay? I’ve never seen what a merman looks like in his true form, so please satisfy my curiosity.”

"I can satisfy your curiosity, or I can send you to your death. It's your choice."

The merman was enraged, and his voice became unusually shrill. The Ten Kings picked at their ears and said:

"I'm already dead, so I choose the one in front!"

The result was that the two of them went to war!

As a fish, Xue Rendong usually takes revenge on the spot if he has a grudge.

Otherwise, you won't remember it the next day.

The fight was extremely intense, and the Ten Kings were beaten so badly they questioned their existence!

One piece is blue, the other is purple.

One piece in the east, one piece in the west.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't find the dead man's spirit core, Xue Rendong wouldn't have stopped after just dismembering him into eight pieces.

That's too lenient on him.

……

The two met for the second time at an exchange conference held regularly by the ten major immortal sects in the cultivation world.

Since this is a meeting of cultivators, the Ten Kings of Reincarnation and the Lord of Xuanwu City naturally would not be invited.

They infiltrated to gather intelligence and cause trouble.

The two weaved through a line of pure white people.

Looking back suddenly, we bumped into each other!

Big bumps swelled up on his head.

How can I bear this?

They started pushing and shoving each other right there!

His identity was exposed on the spot!

They were immediately surrounded and intercepted!

Xue Rendong and the Ten Kings fought their way out of the encirclement back to back.

By the way, the one who fought the fiercest with the two of them was Mei Shiyu from the Hidden Sword Peak of the Dao Xuan Sect. Back then, he was truly a man who hated evil as if it were his enemy, and his love and hatred were clear. His master and senior brother were still alive, he had lost less, he had few regrets, his beliefs were stronger than they are now, and he longed for many more things than he does now.

After escaping, the Tenth Prince gritted his teeth and brought up old grievances with Xue Rendong: "You dead fish, you're so arrogant, daring to show your face in front of me?! Do you remember last time you beat me, you beat me to a pulp?!"

It made him search the ground for his teeth, his eyes, and his arm.

And then there's the tail, it's connected in three whole segments!

It took piecing things together to finally make it look like a person.

Xue Rendong looked at the "Frankenstein's monster" that had revealed its true form.

He popped up and asked, "...Who are you?"

After another battle, they finally figured out what had happened.

In order not to forget this blind man, Xue Rendong carved his name on the scales.

What was your name when you were alive?

"I don't remember, but I do remember... my surname is Xue."

Xue Rendong angrily sprayed seawater in his face: "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

The tenth prince wiped his face, shook the water off his hands, and jumped up and down, saying, "No, my surname really is Xue!"

“Go and take a stroll in the mortal world. My name, ‘Lord Xue of the Tenth Palace,’ is written on the memorial tablet! So what if my surname is Xue? It’s not like I share your surname.”

"I've eaten more salt than you've walked roads. If we were from the same clan, I could be your ancestor! So, you should take my surname."

So Xue Rendong carved the words "My son Xue Shi" on the scales.

"Damn it—" Ten Kings angrily picked up a brick, then calmly put it down again.

Under the piranha's threatening gaze, the Ghost King revealed a friendly smile: "I'm worried about shortening your lifespan."

……

The Ghost King extended an invitation before their third meeting.

He invited Xue Rendong to visit his territory, saying he had prepared a generous gift for him.

The message talisman was signed Xue Shi, with an additional note: I am your grandpa!

Xue Rendong couldn't remember who his uncle was.

But he didn't need to look at the scales to know who Xue Shi was.

It is his son.

This is a matter of male dignity; he'll remember it for the rest of his life.

The invitation from the outer regions reached Four Symbols City, which was a rather complicated matter.

Xue Rendong originally wanted to tell Li Tingyun.

But he really didn't know what Li Tingyun and Mei Shiyu were doing all day long in the Taiji Hall!

He staked out the palace gates for three days and three nights, but he couldn't catch either of them!

As for the rest of the Four Symbols City...

For some reason, Xia Changfeng, the lord of Suzaku City, almost never sets foot in the territory or Yongjie Town.

Ye Juechun, the city lord of Qinglong City, is elusive and even more difficult to find than Li Tingyun.

Lin Qiutan, the city lord of White Tiger City... It's better not to mention him.

Xue Rendong and he have an inextricable knot.

So they didn't tell anyone.

He went to the meeting alone.

Li Tingyun was lax in managing his subordinates, showing no concern for them, allowing them to associate with whomever they wanted.

This undoubtedly created a chaotic situation in the Taiji Hall where "everyone was disaffected and acted independently."

At this very moment, in Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

The ten kings harbored deep resentment, their foreheads were dark, and evil spirits gathered on their heads.

A blister soaked the back of his head: "Didn't you say you had a big gift prepared for me? Where is it?"

"Come with me." The Ten Kings' heavy footsteps creaked on the wooden floor. "I've saved the best items from this charity sale for you. Look at my 'repaying evil with kindness' virtue—I'm such a philanthropist! As for you, you're more suited to be the King of Hell than I am. Perhaps I should consider abdicating and passing the throne to a more worthy person."

Xue Rendong scoffed, "Just now, the Black and White Impermanence sent away hundreds of people at once. Wasn't that at your behest? All crows are black, and you have the nerve to compare who's whiter with me here?"

The Ten Kings retorted, "Your heart is black, so everything you see is black. When I had Little Black and Little White 'send off the guests,' I meant exactly what it said—to send them directly out of the market and ensure their safe departure. You should know that I am the most kind and amiable of all the Yama Kings! Your Lordship once received a favor from me..."

Xue Rendong didn't believe any of his nonsense.

The two walked down the last step of the long staircase, and after turning the corner, a new and beautiful view appeared before them.

Xue Rendong spotted the pipa player sitting gracefully in the center of the brothel at a glance.

Her fingers danced swiftly across the strings, sometimes plucking, sometimes vibratoing, her fingering precise and skillful. No matter how complex the picking and strumming techniques, she could do them with ease. Experts could tell at a glance that she had a profound foundation, far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Xue Rendong was well-versed in famous songs from all over the world, and he was naturally very familiar with the piece "Spring River Flower Moon Night" played by the musicians.

He heard not only the sound of the pipa strings, but also grasped a vague and elusive artistic conception.

"Is this the 'grand gift' you were talking about?"

Xue Rendong admired her superb skills, but he was far from interested in her as a person.

The ten kings used only four words to double his interest—"top-grade furnace cauldron".

The Ten Kings said with ulterior motives, "I heard that your Palace Master has been longing for the 'Supreme Furnace,' so I'm giving it to you. You can use it to curry favor."

Xue Rendong did not show the expression that the Ten Kings wanted. "...It's a bit of a pity."

The Ten Kings asked him what he meant by that, and Xue Rendong shrugged and blew out a string of bubbles: "If I bring her back to the Taiji Palace, I'll only end up like a 'burning zither and boiling a crane' (a Chinese idiom meaning to destroy something in a bad way). The Palace Master needs a furnace, not for dual cultivation, but for alchemy. He has no shortage of women around him, and women will only affect his speed in drawing his sword—although I've never seen him use a sword."

"That's because you don't understand your Palace Master enough!" The Ten Kings smiled mysteriously. "You only see the surface. Li Tingyun is searching everywhere for top-grade furnaces, not for dual cultivation, nor for alchemy, but purely for her. Do you know who she is?"

Xue Rendong turned his gaze to the pipa player again. Well, she must have been quite beautiful, but her gaudy makeup was really hard to compliment. He recognized her immediately; she was someone he had never seen before.

Seeing him shake his head, the Ten Kings revealed the answer directly: "Her name is Yun Feiyan. You haven't heard of her, that's alright, you must have heard of her father's name, the famous stud in the cultivation world, Yun Songhe."

Yun Songhe is a disgrace to cultivators and a laughing stock for demon cultivators. The Ten Kings do not believe that Xue Rendong has not heard of this man's clichéd love story with a nine-tailed fox: she loved him, but he did not love her; she bore him children, but he turned around and killed her.

Xue Rendong now understood.

Yun Feiyan is Yun Songhe's illegitimate daughter. Her real name should be "Si Wuyou". She is Si Wuxie's younger sister.

Si Wuxie was originally a messenger of the underworld. After Yun Songhe's death, he was recognized and taken back to succeed him as the sect leader.

Si Wuxie's sister is actually a top-grade furnace cauldron?

He kept it a secret really well; not a single word leaked out. Otherwise, Li Tingyun would have already caught wind of it and come knocking on his door.

"You just said that the Palace Master is looking for a top-grade furnace cauldron purely for her sake—what do you mean by that?" You can't completely believe the Ten Kings' lies, but you can't completely disbelieve them either. He made a point: although Xue Rendong is a member of the Taiji Palace, he doesn't really "understand" their Palace Master at all.

Heroes come from all walks of life, and the many people in the Taiji Hall are all strangers to each other.

They were able to mingle together entirely because birds of a feather flock together and they shared the same wickedness. They were all desperate people, wicked, born bad, crazy, and not accepted by the world. None of them were easy to deal with, and their gathering was like raising a cult, more chaotic and disorderly than the ghost realm of Fengdu.

This is the consequence of a crooked upper beam.

A scroll suddenly appeared in the hands of the Ten Kings. The edges of the scroll were yellowed. When they opened it, a heavy sense of history from a long time came out. To be precise, it smelled musty.

Xue Rendong looked at the woman in the portrait.

Then he glanced at Si Wuyou on the platform.

"Look like?"

"...not like."

Aside from their similar figures and both playing the pipa, their appearances and temperaments are worlds apart.

The person in the painting is graceful and charming, with a red spider lily blooming on the other side of the River of Oblivion painted on half of her face with bright red cinnabar. The makeup is exaggerated and bold, yet not jarring, and her alluring and enchanting temperament almost overflows from the painting.

Yet, with her eyes lowered and her expression somewhat timid, she seemed like a demon yet not one, possessing a myriad of charms, but never vulgar.

Putting everything else aside, her skill of "playing the pipa backwards" by placing the pipa behind her shoulder was enough to slightly move even someone as arrogant and stingy with praise as Xue Rendong.

"Well, I have to tell you, you've misjudged them, they're the same person."

The Ten Kings spoke thus.

He blew on the portrait, and the figure in the painting came to life. At the same time, two lines of elegant and unrestrained calligraphy appeared in the blank space: "Clouds yearn for her clothes, flowers yearn for her face; the spring breeze brushes the railing, and the dew is heavy."

The painting is excellent, and the calligraphy is excellent, especially the handwriting, which is truly beautiful. Every stroke is placed perfectly, showcasing the free and unrestrained personality of the person holding the brush.

But Xue Rendong's pupils constricted sharply upon seeing this.

He was very familiar with this brushstroke.

It's Li Tingyun's handwriting!

Could it be that their temple master and this woman... really have some kind of connection?