Transmigrating into the world of Jade Dynasty, I was targeted by the female lead in a reverse romanc

"The Immortal Master is not dead! The Immortal Master is still alive!"

"Heaven has eyes! Heaven has eyes!"

"Young Immortal... thank you... thank you so much for saving my life!"

The old man with the missing arm knelt down with a thud, tears streaming down his face, and kowtowed repeatedly with his remaining hand.

"No! Get up!" Jiang Xiaochuan was also startled and tried to help him up, but his legs went weak and he almost knelt down himself.

Several villagers rushed forward to help him up.

"Immortal Master, you are injured. Please sit down and rest."

A forty-year-old man said with red eyes.

Someone brought over a stool, but Jiang Xiaochuan didn't sit down.

He looked around at the dense white sheets covering the ground, and listened to the weeping all around him, his heart filled with a myriad of emotions...

"I'm sorry... I'm late... I couldn't..."

He bowed to those around him.

"Immortal Master, please don't say that! If you hadn't desperately blocked our way... none of us... none of us would have survived! We all saw it! You... you were..."

The man couldn't continue speaking and turned away to wipe his tears.

"Yes, Immortal Brother, it was you who chased away that evil monk! We all saw it! And then... then you were really amazing! You sent that evil monk flying with just one punch!"

A teenager said that he still had snot on his face.

Jiang Xiaochuan was taken aback.

It seems, perhaps, is...

Wait, could it be...?

The villagers started talking all at once, their words incoherent.

But pieced together, it probably goes like this: after he "died," he suddenly stood up, became incredibly powerful, and beat the terrifying sorcerer monk so badly that the sorcerer monk was powerless to fight back, and in the end, the sorcerer monk escaped.

With a wave of his hand, he sent all the villagers present into the woods behind the mountain, saving their lives.

Jiang Xiaochuan listened silently, his heart churning with turmoil.

"Young Immortal, are you...are you really alright?"

An old woman asked cautiously, her eyes constantly glancing at the bloodstains on his abdomen.

"It's nothing, just a superficial injury. We cultivators recover quickly."

Jiang Xiaochuan forced a smile and changed the subject.

"What are the casualties in the village?"

The atmosphere instantly turned somber upon mentioning this.

The one-armed old man wiped his face and said in a hoarse voice, "One hundred and thirty-three are dead. More than fifty are injured..."

Jiang Xiaochuan's heart sank. Caomiao Village only had 250 people in total, and more than half of them died overnight.

His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something comforting, but he found that any words would be pale and powerless.

"Are all the survivors here?" he asked.

The old man with the missing arm nodded and then shook his head.

"Some are still in the woods behind the mountain; people have already started looking for them. Also..."

He paused, then looked towards the west end of the village.

Jiang Xiaochuan followed his gaze.

There were a few relatively intact houses over there, and under the eaves, two small figures sat side by side.

It was Lin Jingyu and Zhang Xiaofan.

Both of them were dressed in mourning clothes and stared blankly in this direction, their faces expressionless, like puppets whose souls had been taken away.

Jiang Xiaochuan felt a pang of sadness again. He recognized the two houses: one was Lin Jingyu's house, and the other was Zhang Xiaofan's house.

Now it's...empty inside.

He took a deep breath and strode toward them.

The villagers automatically made way for him and watched him silently.

As they approached, Lin Jingyu raised his head first. His eyes were red and swollen, but there was still a hint of stubbornness in them.

Upon seeing Jiang Xiaochuan, his pupils contracted, and his lips moved, but he still didn't utter a sound.

Zhang Xiaofan kept his head down, his shoulders trembling slightly.

"Jingyu, Xiaofan." Jiang Xiaochuan squatted down in front of them, his voice as gentle as possible.

Lin Jingyu glanced at him, then at his blood-stained Taoist robe, and quickly looked away, staring at the ground.

"Brother Jiang... Brother Jiang, you... you're not dead."

"He's tough; he didn't die." Jiang Xiaochuan smirked.

Zhang Xiaofan suddenly raised his head, his face covered in tears, his eyes swollen like peaches, his gaze filled with sadness, confusion, and a hint of...fear?

He looked at Jiang Xiaochuan, opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and tears fell in large drops again.

Jiang Xiaochuan reached out to pat him on the shoulder, but stopped halfway through.

He didn't know what to say.

My condolences. Take care.

That's all nonsense.

"Brother Jiang..." Lin Jingyu suddenly spoke, his voice low and trembling with suppressed emotion.

"Yesterday...yesterday that wicked monk...you know him, don't you?"

Jiang Xiaochuan's body stiffened slightly.

He looked at Lin Jingyu.

The boy's eyes held not only sadness but also a stubborn searching.

"Yes, he is the Venerable Master Puzhi of Tianyin Temple."

Jiang Xiaochuan did not hide anything.

"A divine monk?... " Lin Jingyu screamed.

"He killed so many people! He killed Uncle Wang, Aunt Li, and... my parents!" He practically screamed it out at the end.

"He's been possessed by a demon, corrupted by evil spirits, and his mind is clouded," Jiang Xiaochuan said in a low, weary voice.

"Does being out of one's mind mean one can kill?" Lin Jingyu suddenly stood up.

"He's a divine monk! How could he... how could he..." He couldn't finish his sentence, his fists clenched tightly.

Zhang Xiaofan just looked at him, tears streaming silently down her face.

Jiang Xiaochuan remained silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry... if I..."

Lin Jingyu interrupted him.

"It's not your fault, Brother Jiang. Yesterday...yesterday...if it weren't for you, we would have died too..."

Just then, Zhang Xiaofan suddenly reached out and grabbed Jiang Xiaochuan's sleeve.

"Brother Jiang...I...I have something I want to tell you."

Jiang Xiaochuan looked at him and said, "Go on."

Zhang Xiaofan looked around. Although the villagers were far away, their eyes kept glancing in their direction.

He grabbed Jiang Xiaochuan's sleeve, stood up, lowered his head, and walked towards a quiet, deserted place behind the house.

Lin Jingyu glanced at them, but didn't follow. He sat down again, holding his head in his hands.

Zhang Xiaofan stopped by the woodpile behind the house, turned around, and looked up at Jiang Xiaochuan.

"Brother Jiang..." He sniffed.

"That monk Puzhi from yesterday, he... he came to the village."

Jiang Xiaochuan's expression remained unchanged: "Hmm."

"He...he was fine at the time, he even talked to me, and then...then I met him outside the village, along with a man in black. They...they started fighting."

Jiang Xiaochuan listened quietly.

"The Venerable Master Puzhi... He couldn't defeat that man in black, he was injured and vomited blood, and then he talked to me a lot, and... he also passed on a cultivation technique to me. He said that I must not tell anyone, including... including the people of Qingyun Sect."

Jiang Xiaochuan looked at him without saying anything.

Zhang Xiaofan's tears welled up again: "He also gave me a bead, a deep purple one, and told me to find a deep valley and throw it away... I... I..."

He choked up and couldn't continue.

Jiang Xiaochuan reached out and placed his hand on the boy's thin shoulder, which was trembling incessantly.

"Is that bead missing?" Jiang Xiaochuan asked.

Zhang Xiaofan nodded frantically, his face filled with fear and guilt: "It's gone! I... Brother Jiang, is it... is there something wrong with that bead? Is it because of it that Monk Puzhi became like that? Am I... the one who harmed everyone?"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, and in the end he was almost questioning himself.

Jiang Xiaochuan pressed down hard on his shoulder.

"Xiao Fan, listen to me." His voice was very steady.

"That bead is called the Bloodthirsty Bead. It is an extremely vicious and evil object. Puzhi was corrupted by it and became possessed by a demon, which is why... This is not your fault."

He paused, then looked at Zhang Xiaofan.

"That cultivation technique was passed on to you by Puzhi; it was his choice. Now you have two choices."

Zhang Xiaofan stopped crying and looked at him with wide eyes.

"First, forget about it, as if you never heard of it, and in the future... perhaps live an ordinary life, living a simple and uneventful life."

"Secondly, cultivate it. This cultivation technique has an extraordinary origin. If you have the opportunity, it may lead you down a completely different path. But this path is destined to be difficult and lonely. Moreover, once you start cultivating it, this matter must become your biggest secret. You cannot tell anyone, including Lin Jingyu... including the Qingyun elders who may take you under their wing in the future."

Zhang Xiaofan was stunned.

He didn't expect Jiang Xiaochuan to say that.

Forgotten? Or still cultivating?