After talking with Li Chenyuan for a little while, Qiu Yunru felt a little calmer.
However, that image had stained his mind to the point that he couldn't help but feel just a little wary with this kid in the same room as him.
After all, the more he thought about it, he couldn't find a reason for that blacksmith to lie. As for Cai Mingzhu...well, she was another story. Perhaps he could approach her later and try to see if she had an ulterior motives.
In the end, it was simply just that his brain was a brain, and brains remember fear well.
Li Chenyuan easily caught on. After asking Qiu Yunru fifteen times what was wrong and getting only an "Ah, I must still be in shock," he grew sullen and stopped asking, but refused to leave the room.
"What if that woman comes back?" He muttered when Qiu Yunru suggested he go back and get some rest. "I don't trust her."
So, Qiu Yunru was unable to get rid of this kid that now made his blood run a little cold.
It wasn't as if he could say outright, "Well, see, I'd like to be left alone, because you might go and kill a million cultivators in the future and crush my skull. So you see, I'd be more comfortable without you here..."
Instead, he swallowed down his discomfort. This was his shidi, after all. There was no way he was going to do as that blacksmith said and kill him; who knew what kind of bad karma and how many thousands of negative Reputation Points such an action would generate? But he certainly could keep a good relationship with this kid.
That way, if all those horrible things came true...maybe he could be on Li Chenyuan's good side! Hahahahaha...
Qiu Yunru could still feel a numbness in his torso. Maybe it was a good idea to suck up to this kid. Then, he might be able to narrowly avoid being cut in half!
After talking a while, Qiu Yunru suddenly looked around, bewildered.
"Did I even get a sword at the Sword Ceremony? I don't remember one..."
Li Chenyuan raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember? You floated up onto the shore holding one. It's there."
Laying against the side of the bed was indeed a sword. It was, to say the least...
The plainest sword he had ever seen in his two lives.
Even a generic NPC in a webtoon would have a more elaborate sword than this thing!
It was long and slender, but besides that, it had no defining characteristics. With a simple wooden hilt and a plain steel color, it was truly unremarkable!
Qiu Yunru felt his heart bleed a little in self-pity. In just how many little ways could this game spit on him?
However, as he reached out to touch it, the game menu suddenly popped open, listing a series of statistics that must be for this sword:
ACCURACY: +3,500%
DAMAGE: +1270%
DURABILITY: 1000%
And so on. Qiu Yunru's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Suddenly, he felt a little bad for wanting to kick the game menu as soon as it appeared. Even if it was a plain sword, these stats were better than anything he had ever pulled when he was alive! In fact, they were legendary--something that only whales could buy with thousands of dollars! What incredible luck!
But then, he remembered realistically that the game menu had fucked him over a thousand other ways, and decided not to thank it too much. Gingerly, he patted the sword with relief.
"It's a good sword," He remarked.
"I guess," Li Chenyuan grumbled. "It's kind of ugly."
"Li-shidi..." Qiu Yunru sighed tiredly. "You shouldn't say that kind of thing out loud..."
"Why not? It's true..."
"Even so, you'll hurt my feelings."
"Oh." Li Chenyuan's face went red. "It looks good."
Qiu Yunru couldn't help but laugh a little.
This kid--naive to his own blunt cruelty, and yet so considerate when corrected.
Was he really the kind of person who could grow up to slaughter an entire generation?
This was the question Qiu Yunru was stuck with for a few days. He Yongliang insisted he stay inside the infirmary until his shock was completely diminished (or rather, until he had sorted out some affairs). One morning, He Yongliang came to visit with a tired, but gentle smile.
"I have spoken to Cai Mingzhu," He told Qiu Yunru. "There is no need for you to worry about this situation anymore--I will handle it. I only wish you hadn't been involved. Did you know earlier of Chenyuan's inherited demonic cultivation?"
Qiu Yunru shook his head. "No...Well, I knew about his--about Li Guiren's ability to manipulate minds, but I didn't know it was hereditary."
"Oh? How did you hear about that?"
Qiu Yunru coughed internally. He couldn't exactly say he'd been messing with ghosts and diving into their memories in the Lan Bing caves when he was supposed to be training, could he? "Ah...I heard about it through word of mouth."
"I see. Well, it is true. I was....Li Guiren's sworn brother. I did indeed kill him at the height of his power." He Yongliang's face was strangely calm for the words coming out of his mouth, though his knuckles were white on his fan. "Indeed, Chenyuan has the same ability. Since the Li family made an exchange with a demon lord millenia ago, this ability has been passed down. However, it's not as Cai Mingzhu told you."
He Yongliang's face darkened as he went on: "Even though it's true that more than one member of the Li family has done terrible things with their ability, and some have even lost their minds, about half of them never committed a heinous act. Chenyuan's grandfather was one of these people; I knew him, and he lived a peaceful life as a sect master until..." He trailed off. "He died. This shizun wants you to know that it is absolutely not true that Chenyuan will ultimately become a danger to the cultivation world, given proper training and support."
Qiu Yunru nodded. His throat felt dry. For some reason, it seemed like He Yongliang was speaking more to himself than to his disciple, and this made Qiu Yunru's stomach drop.
"Shizun, Senior Blacksmith in the Sword Lake showed me what he called a vision of the future. In it..." Qiu Yunru swallowed, feeling a numbness in his body again. "I saw Li Chenyuan..."
He trailed off, unwilling to complete the sentence. He Yongliang sighed
"I have spoken to Cai Mingzhu about this. Though Senior Blacksmith can see the future, it isn't that he can see the true future. Think of it as being able to climb all the branches of a tree and see where they end. A future shown to you by him is...certainly a possibility, but it isn't guaranteed."
Qiu Yunru felt immense relief at hearing this. It made far more sense to him than the idea that he'd been shown a false image. If it was one of many possibilities, then it wasn't something he should worry about too much, was it? After all, the future was infinite!
"It is true that, if even Cai Mingzhu is concerned, that future possibility has...a higher likelihood than is preferable," He Yongliang added wearily. "Say, about fifty percent."
Qiu Yunru's heart seized again.
About fifty percent?!
So he could flip a coin, and his shidi might become a murder machine?!
"Ah," Was all he could say.
"As for ensuring that future doesn't come to fruition, Yunru need not worry about it. It was wrong of Cai-jie to put such pressure on a disciple of mine." He Yongliang open and closed his fan while looking out the window. His regal face was deeply serious. "She will not physically interfere; as she is a god, it is not in her right to interfere so directly with the affairs of mortals. I will take care of it and mentor Chenyuan more closely. And if I fail..." He closed his eyes, seeming pained. "Then I will take care of matters with my own hands."
Qiu Yunru got his meaning immediately.
If he failed to train Li Chenyuan out of a destructive future...
Then he would kill his own disciple himself.
"..." Qiu Yunru didn't know what to say.
After all, in the end, wasn't he just an interloper in this world? He wasn't even meant to be here. Brought here by dumb chance and a dumber death, his goal had been to just reach Nascent Soul and live a peaceful, solitary life as an immortal.
And yet, now, all of these harrowing events were unfolding around him. He supposed it was only natural; if he was considered the Player in this setting, of course quests would revolve around him. But he really couldn't understand why the plot was unfolding like this, centering so heavily on an NPC. This really wasn't how Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits normally functioned.
It was almost as if he wasn't the main character, but rather, Li Chenyuan was!
Perhaps that was a good thing. Being more in the background means less personal problems, no?
It seemed he would just have to dodge all of this mess going forward.
The best path is be to be kind to Li Chenyuan, but to not get too close, he thought solemnly. If I get too close, we might be cursed to fight like He Yongliang and Li Guiren, and face some sort of tragic story. If I'm unkind, I'll be a target if he loses it. Anyways, wasn't my goal not to get too close to anyone to start with? Isn't that the way to peace? Yes, that's it--I'll keep him at an arm's length, focusing on myself but still being kind. Good thinking!
He gave himself a pat on the back.
"Does your back hurt?" He Yongliang mused, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement.
"Ah...no...I mean...sure...ah...it's good now..."