Chapter 48: Neither Believe Nor Spread Rumors

"No, nobody from Peach Blossom Shrine has been here, so I wouldn't know." Xiao Yunwei shook her head slightly, her expression tinged with exhaustion.

Hearing this, Lin Chen could not help but smile bitterly. Wasn't this precisely what he had hoped for?

Yet, a ripple of emotion stirred in his heart. If not for these words, would Senior Sister Su have come to see him?

Lin Chen let out a long sigh, shook his head, and murmured to himself, "It is all in the past; let bygone things drift away with the wind! A brand new chapter is about to begin."

Tap, tap, tap!

Suddenly, a knock on the door broke the quiet atmosphere, sounding exceptionally abrupt.

Wondering if Fox Mei'er had returned, Lin Chen's face instantly lit up with anticipation.

Taking three steps in two, he strode quickly toward the door, his eager steps seeming to express the longing deep within his heart.

However, when he opened the door, the person standing there was Mei Xiulan.

"Junior Brother! Are your injuries any better?" Mei Xiulan forced a smile, her eyes filled with deep concern.

"They are practically healed. Come in quickly, Senior Sister; it's chilly outside." Lin Chen hurried to invite her inside.

Once inside, Mei Xiulan cut straight to the point. "Junior Brother, now there is only Master and me left in the Taoist temple. I would like to take Li Baoping as my disciple. Is that acceptable?"

"Will Liu Ruohan make things difficult for her?" Lin Chen paused, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Not at all. Master is just stubborn by nature. She used to think highly of Qin Hao, but now that Qin Hao is dead, she might actually be pleased to have another promising talent like this," Mei Xiulan said.

"That's true. Liu Ruohan values talent above all else; aptitude and potential outweigh everything in her eyes," Lin Chen pondered for a moment before saying calmly, "Still, from now on, you must teach her proper moral values. I certainly don't want Li Baoping to turn into a second Qin Hao."

"Don't worry, Junior Brother. Such a situation will never happen," Mei Xiulan guaranteed with righteous indignation.

"Very well. When she wakes up, ask for her opinion. Right now, Peach Blossom Shrine is indeed a good place to offer her shelter." Lin Chen gave his consent; once he nodded, persuading Li Baoping would only be a matter of time.

"Naturally. We will wait for her to wake up," Mei Xiulan smiled.

"Senior Sister, Senior Sister Su..." Lin Chen stopped midway, hesitating.

Mei Xiulan did not speak; she merely nodded. The expression on her face spoke volumes.

Lin Chen lifted his head, fighting back the tears threatening to fall. "What a pity!"

"Junior Brother, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Try to look at the bright side," Mei Xiulan gently comforted him.

Mei Xiulan clearly felt little attachment, but Su Xiangling had cared for Lin Chen ever since he first entered the Taoist temple.

She had poisoned him, causing him to lose his sight, and their relationship had deteriorated ever since.

Looking back now, the greatest beneficiary of Lin Chen's blindness was Qin Hao, so the mastermind behind that incident must have been him as well!

Lin Chen remembered that from that time on, his Dao roots had slowly begun to fracture, and his cultivation realm had plummeted.

He had once naively believed it was related to the poison, but now it seemed he had severely underestimated Qin Hao's treacherous methods.

After Li Baoping woke up, Mei Xiulan eagerly approached her to state her intention.

However, Li Baoping agreed straight away, perhaps having already understood Lin Chen's concerns.

The headache, though, was that upon arriving at the temple, Li Baoping refused to perform the formal master-disciple bowing ceremony.

She insisted she had only one master, and that was Lin Chen. Left with no other choice, Mei Xiulan could only settle for being her martial aunt.

Actually, she found this arrangement quite agreeable. This way, her junior brother remained her fellow sect member, and whether the girl was officially a disciple of Peach Blossom Shrine no longer mattered.

Through relentless flattery, Liu Ruohan eventually became Li Baoping's rightful grand-master.

Yet Lin Chen, currently residing in Xining Town, remained completely unaware of all this.

He had set out on the road to Nanyang City. With his remaining lifespan steadily dwindling, he wanted to resolve these matters as quickly as possible.

He had simply given his courtyard to Old Huang, planning to head straight for the Myriad Demon Mountains if he managed to escape unscathed.

In the tavern, a storyteller was speaking with great passion, spouting saliva as he recounted the tale of the fox demon battling various major sects.

Naturally, the story had been heavily exaggerated and distorted, claiming that Peach Blossom Shrine had aided and abetted the evildoer, alongside that seductive enchantress from the Joyism.

It was said that all the major sects had united as one to drive the she-demon out of human territory.

The crowd below was in an uproar, listening with rapt attention.

"Splendid! Truly the fine sons of our human race!" Someone cheered three times in succession, his voice exceptionally loud and brimming with excitement.

This prompted the surrounding crowd to applaud and cheer, making the entire scene extraordinarily lively.

Lin Chen glanced briefly at the storyteller, found a corner seat in the tavern, and sat down.

After a long while, he gently massaged his brow and burst into a loud laugh. "What a magnificent piece of inverted black and white, high-sounding nonsense!"

His remark instantly provoked public outrage. In a flash, a sea of distorted, angry faces turned toward him.

"Such rebellious and outrageous words—how do you even have the shame to speak them?" someone gnashed their teeth and cursed.

"You must be one of those demons in disguise, daring to slander the heroes of our human race!" another echoed, eyes filled with disgust.

"Damn it! Why waste so much breath? A scoundrel like this deserves to be hacked into a thousand pieces!" A burly man carrying a large saber barked fiercely.

Hearing the endless stream of curses around him, Lin Chen remained utterly calm. "Rebellious? Heroes? How many of you witnessed any of this with your own eyes?"

The room instantly fell dead silent. Indeed, none of them had anything more than hearsay.

Even so, someone still refused to yield and questioned defiantly, "Nonsense! Regardless of anything else, you are a human being. Speaking up for the demons makes you a shameless traitor who bites the hand that feeds you."

Lin Chen drank his wine in silence, remaining mute for a long time. Cup after cup of wine went down, as if he intended to wash away the gloom in his heart.

Seeing this, the unbearable insults grew increasingly fierce, with spittle flying everywhere.

Bang!

With a sharp crash, Lin Chen slammed his palm down, shattering the table before him into countless fragments.

Wood splinters flew in all directions, and the surrounding people were startled by the sudden outburst.

Instantly, the crowd fell as quiet as cicadas in winter; not a single person dared to utter another sound.

Lin Chen walked step by step toward the storyteller, and with a crisp slap, he struck the man across the face.

Simultaneously, a mixture of blood and teeth sprayed several feet into the air.

Coldly, Lin Chen said, "Do not stir up trouble here again. Otherwise, I will beat you every single time I see you. Remember: do not believe rumors, and do not spread rumors!"

Trembling, the storyteller dropped to his knees and begged for mercy with slurred speech, "Understood, I'll never dare again, I'll never dare again..."

Turning his head, Lin Chen glared at the group of people from earlier and asked with an icy expression, "Does anyone else have an objection?"

After a long while, still no one dared to speak. Lin Chen tossed a few broken silver pieces to the tavern keeper and dropped a cold parting remark: "A pack of cowardly rats who bully the weak and fear the strong!"

Not until he vanished entirely from their sight did the crowd resume their quiet, angry cursing behind his back.

As he stepped out of the tavern, a woman clad in battle armor followed closely behind him.