Metaphysics Master (8) Jin Yuansheng’s eyes were red. The demonic qi around his body suddenly condensed and blasted toward him. Even though he wasn’t known for agility techniques, he knew perfectly well that he could dodge it.
But in that instant, he thought of many things.
Demonization wasn’t irreversible. If he and Weiwei demonized together, wouldn’t it become much harder for the two of them to be separated?
Weiwei trusted him, relied on him, and liked him. And Weiwei should also be very clear that he was determined to have her—no substitutes, no compromises—yet she had never given him a direct answer.
He didn’t want to keep hovering in ambiguity. Of course, he didn’t want to force Weiwei either. But what if, by some twist of fate, Weiwei had no other choice but him?
He hadn’t forgotten that unclear, indescribable exchange of looks between Weiwei and Gu Yu.
So when the demonic qi bore down on him, he chose to go with the flow. Even now, after regaining his clarity, he felt no regret.
At the same time, not only did he not resent Jin Yuansheng, he even wanted to properly thank him for the assist… when the time came, he’d just strip Jin Yuansheng’s luck down to the bone.
He walked slowly out of the bathroom and made an “all good” gesture toward the large glass window in the room. At this hour, his master should have received the news and arrived by now.
Speaking of which, after he, Weiwei, and Gu Yu were all tainted by demonic qi and collapsed together, the hospital’s vice director—though only at Qi Refinement Level One—was a “professionally trained” insider and well-informed. Upon recognizing the demonic qi, he immediately contacted the authorities.
Director Zhang from the Special Affairs Department and Vice President Zhao from the Association personally arrived. After confirming that all three had indeed been contaminated by demonic qi, they made a decisive call and took all three to the Ancient Martial Research Institute for close observation by researchers.
It wasn’t that anyone who came into contact with demonic qi—whether demonized or not—would automatically have their freedom restricted.
The severity of demonization was still far from a “better kill by mistake than let go” level. Mild demonization could now be treated, so for the moment, the three of them merely needed to stay temporarily at the institute.
Chao Lan wasn’t worried about his own safety. He estimated that Weiwei was probably still unconscious and was already planning what he should say once she woke up.
At the same time, in the room opposite his…
Gu Yu was locked in an inner struggle.
After listening to the specialist explain what had happened, Gu Yu remained dazed for a long while before asking whether he could make a call for help.
The specialist sought approval from higher-ups, then told him he could.
The call connected, and Gu Yu nearly burst into tears of joy. “Dad, save me!”
When Qin Jingzhou received his cheap son-in-law’s call, Director Zhang and Vice President Zhao were just preparing to take their leave. Qin Jingzhou didn’t mind speaking in front of them. “Wait there.”
He lowered his head and asked his daughter, who was clinging to the edge of his pocket, “Do you still want him?”
Jin Ziyun looked puzzled. “Dad, he was dragged into this by my brother. Dumping him now wouldn’t be very nice, would it?”
She was more than willing to listen to her father, but that didn’t mean she could switch her brain off. And right now, her father was clearly asking for her opinion.
Qin Jingzhou thought it over and agreed. At this point, the male lead Gu Yu and the female lead Su Weiwei had only met once, and Gu Yu hadn’t done anything yet. The so-called “cheating suspicion” had already been cleared up, so his cheap daughter naturally wouldn’t give up on Gu Yu so easily.
So he asked Gu Yu, “To what extent have you been contaminated?”
Gu Yu replied, “I’m staying in a private room at the institute, under observation… I don’t know the specifics either.”
Qin Jingzhou gave an “mm” of acknowledgment, then turned to Zhang and Zhao. “My son-in-law—I’ll handle him.”
Zhang and Zhao answered frankly, “We’ll report upward. You’ll have a response today.”
Qin Jingzhou then said to Gu Yu, “You heard that?”
Gu Yu immediately replied, “Thank you, Dad.” Then, more restrained, he added, “Thank you, my wife!”
Jin Ziyun burst into giggles.
What else could Qin Jingzhou say? After seeing off Zhang and Zhao—whose heads still faintly smelled of singed hair—he took his daughter back to the guest room to have a proper talk with Jin Yuansheng, who had already woken up.
…
The Jin Yuansheng who had awakened now had red eyes. He stared at Qin Jingzhou in disbelief. “You… you’ve also been reborn!”
Hearing this, Jin Ziyun suddenly looked up at her father. Dad was reborn… that wasn’t a bad thing at all!
Qin Jingzhou didn’t respond directly. Releasing a bit of his realm pressure, he asked, “You can’t communicate with the other you?”
Demonic cultivator Jin Yuansheng was very good at reading the room. If he couldn’t bend or yield, he wouldn’t have survived long enough to reach any level of cultivation.
Even though the overwhelming aura flashed by in an instant, he was still chilled to the bone and answered honestly, “No. In my sea of consciousness, I can see the other me… sleeping like a log.”
Qin Jingzhou placed a hand on Jin Yuansheng’s forehead and checked.
The original son was fine. The demonic cultivator son hadn’t done anything to his “former self.” The only remaining issue was… a rather complicated mood.
Jin Ziyun tugged at her father’s clothes again. “Dad, how about letting the two of them talk too?”
She was taking both “a parallel-world brother crossing over” and “Dad might be reborn” remarkably well.
Dad being reborn—even though he was pretty dismissive of her—actually spoiled her a lot. And a reborn dad was absurdly strong; she was thrilled about that. As for the “other brother,” the first thing he did after arriving was try to save her. Even if it was her original brother who did the bloodletting… she herself lost nothing, but it was really unfair to the original brother!
So she added, “Let brother decide for himself.”
Qin Jingzhou nodded. “His body, his choice.”
He took out several spirit stones from his sea of consciousness and set up a simple soul-stabilizing formation. The function was self-explanatory—he deliberately reinforced both sons’ souls together.
What cultivator didn’t respect the will of heaven?
The mission required him to protect a pair of children. Very likely, that also included this demonic cultivator son that fate had kicked straight into his arms. He took a look—this demonic son had quite a few bodies on his hands, but his karmic burden was so faint it was almost negligible. In other words, the people he had taken down mostly deserved it.
In less than three minutes of the formation running, the original son woke up.
Feeling his soul grow even more solid, the demonic cultivator son stared at Qin Jingzhou for a long moment.
Seeing that both sons had recovered enough to communicate calmly and civilly, Qin Jingzhou pocketed his daughter and withdrew. “You two discuss it yourselves. Making someone vanish without a sound—I’m quite good at that.”
The two sons: …
—
After leaving the guest room, his daughter floated out of his pocket and tried sitting on his shoulder. Seeing that her father didn’t react at all, she tilted her head and laughed. “Dad, you really confused them.”
Qin Jingzhou smiled and reminded her, “If you really want to deal with an enemy, you should make them vanish completely—soul and all—clean and final. Don’t underestimate the stepbrother your stepfather brought, or the backing behind him.”
In the original story, Jin Yuansheng sought revenge for his sister against Chao Lan. As the darling of the Taixu Sect, Chao Lan would never be handed over just because of a mortal—even if he was completely in the wrong for stealing someone else’s luck first.
Now that demonic cultivator Jin Yuansheng had “air-dropped” in, deliberately releasing demonic qi and provoking Chao Lan and the Taixu Sect behind him… Qin Jingzhou was content to wait for Taixu Sect to come probing. Of course, even after confirming his Core Formation realm, Taixu Sect wouldn’t retreat.
To understand how arrogant and greedy Taixu Sect was, one only needed to look at how they had raised Chao Lan.
Moreover, on the surface, Huaguo only had ten Foundation Establishment peak cultivators, and Taixu Sect alone accounted for forty percent of them. They would only bow to the authorities—and even then, not wholeheartedly. So if a Core Formation cultivator suddenly appeared and Taixu Sect wasn’t curious about his fortuitous encounters or eager to snatch his techniques and resources, that would be strange.
Additionally, with Qin Jingzhou shielding his two children, whose luck was already not low, their fortunes would only climb higher.
After years of maneuvering, Chao Lan had established “luck-harvesting channels” on Jin Yuansheng and Jin Ziyun. There was no reason for him to see his carefully raised pigs finally ready for slaughter and just let them go. For the next stretch of time, both Jin Yuansheng and Jin Ziyun would be staying by their father’s side—and Qin Jingzhou was actually looking forward to how Chao Lan would try to “break the game.”
…
In the first guest room on the west side, the two Jin Yuanshengs candidly laid everything out to each other.
The original Jin Yuansheng recounted how their father had appeared to save their sister, and how he had demanded that Jin Yuansheng resign and learn the family craft together with his sister.
The demonic cultivator Jin Yuansheng listened and emphasized again, “He… should also be reborn.”
Then he talked about his own experiences: how he discovered that his sister’s accidental death was Chao Lan’s doing; how Chao Lan hadn’t spared him either; how he swore revenge—revenge at any cost.
Unfortunately, in the end, he died completely. His sister’s son was effectively exiled. Gu Yu and Su Weiwei married and had children. Chao Lan suffered heartbreak, but happened to break through his emotional tribulation, his power surged, and he became another pillar-level Supreme Elder of Taixu Sect.
Not long after, Gu Yu also learned of Chao Lan’s actions—and actually pulled off a “smile and let bygones be bygones.” Gu Yu and Su Weiwei’s child even acknowledged Chao Lan as godfather…
The original Jin Yuansheng was furious. “I’ll never share the same sky with Chao Lan!”
The demonic cultivator Jin Yuansheng said, “That’s why the moment I arrived, I sent him a strand of demonic qi.”
With a common enemy before them, the two souls quickly reached an agreement: to coexist properly.
…
After Qin Jingzhou infused Jin Ziyun with a strand of pure wood-element spiritual qi and returned to the living room, he saw Jin Yuansheng sitting on the sofa waiting for him, his eyes an entirely ordinary deep brown.
Qin Jingzhou asked, “Come to a decision?”
The original Jin Yuansheng said, “I take Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. He takes Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sundays depend on the situation. Tomorrow’s Monday—so it’s me.”
Jin Ziyun had expected the two brothers to coexist peacefully, but this kind of schedule…
She was a little speechless. “It’s like split personalities, switching every day… If you’re happy with it, fine.”
Jin Yuansheng gave a bitter smile, then finally looked at his father. “I… caused you trouble.”
Qin Jingzhou lit a cigarette and laughed. “You’re worried that if the other one releases demonic qi, I won’t be able to clean up after him? He has more faith in me than you do. I cultivated all the way to Core Formation just so my kids could mess around however they want.”
The siblings: …they were so touched they didn’t know what to say.
The demonic cultivator Jin Yuansheng, being harder-hearted, didn’t react much.
—
The next day, Jin Yuansheng went out as usual to buy breakfast. Because his other-world self was hanging out in his head and reminding him from time to time, he indeed spotted the personnel assigned to keep an eye on him.
He deliberately smiled at them.
They didn’t mind being discovered at all and even waved back.
Jin Yuansheng smiled as well and muttered to his other self, “So this is what it feels like to have backing, huh?”
He returned home with several bags of breakfast and wasn’t surprised to find guests had arrived… after all, it was already past nine when they woke up.
Zhang and Zhao were there again, but this time they were subordinates. The one in charge was their superior.
After repeated examinations confirmed that Gu Yu’s demonization was negligible, he followed the heads of the Special Affairs Department and the Association to Qin Jingzhou’s place.
Chairman Xie of the Ancient Martial Association was himself at Foundation Establishment peak. He almost instantly confirmed that the person before him had a solid realm, so he got straight to the point. “Senior mentioned that demonic qi—and even demonic cores—can be resolved through accumulating merit. May I ask how this is done?”
Qin Jingzhou pointed at Gu Yu, who was sitting obediently. “The Gu family will do. Their old residence should be haunted right now.”
Gu Yu was shocked. “What? I didn’t know!”
Qin Jingzhou beckoned to his son standing by the door. “Eat breakfast first.”
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