Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

The problem is, Yunping discovered that Hu Xiaolin's transformation into a god wasn't a gradual progression, but rather...

It has regressed.

Someone else might not have been able to see the difference at all, but Yunping could see it at a glance.

Hu Xiaolin was once a powerful expert in the Kaiyuan stage!

Due to some special reason, he has reached the peak of the Transcendent God stage.

Before Yun Ping could speak, Yu Bai Niao, who was standing next to Hu Xiaolin, exclaimed in surprise.

"Uncle Hu, you weren't part of that Snow Shadow team before, were you?"

Ye Yuchan looked at her curiously, "Bai Niao, do you know about the Snow Shadow Team?"

Yu Bai Niao nodded, her pretty face slightly cold. "The Snow Shadow Team, in terms of reputation, is indeed much smaller than the Judgment Team..."

"How did you know that?"

“I’ve had contact with the Snow Shadow Team before…” Yu Bai Niao turned to look at Hu Xiao Lin, “Uncle Hu, you should know that I don’t have parents, right?”

Hu Xiaolin nodded blankly, "That's true, Bai Niao, you..."

Yu Bai Niao's gaze suddenly became incredibly complex, and she lowered her head.

“I’ve always said that I’m an orphan, that I was born without parents—but I’m sorry, Uncle Hu, that was a lie.”

Hu Xiaolin was startled.

He had already guessed what Yu Bai Niao was going to say next.

That's why he was trembling all over—this powerful figure, who was once at the Kaiyuan stage and is now at the peak of the Transformation God stage, was afraid.

Her voice was flat.

"In fact, my parents were killed by the Snow Shadow Squad..."

Yu Bai Niao spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"If my father hadn't risked his life to protect me and send me out of the inner palace, I probably would have died there too."

"Because the Snow Shadow Team... is an assassin organization that directly serves the Palace Master of the Northern Ice Palace."

……

Time stood still.

Yu Bai Niao's face looked so unfamiliar for the first time.

Hu Xiaolin stood frozen in place, suddenly unsure how to face the girl before him.

He suddenly remembered, on a certain cold night. Yes, it was a night of howling winds and raging cold...

He carried out his mission as always, reaping lives as always, and, as always, wielding his blade amidst the cries and pleas of his targets.

However, he did not kill the little girl who was protected by the law and was hiding in the closet, trembling with fear.

why?

Hu Xiaolin didn't know.

He smiled bitterly, speechless for a moment.

"Fate...?"

Hu Xiaolin let out a long breath; he had no more desires now.

He looked at the Jade Bird with a guilty gaze. He had never felt such intense fear towards the Jade Bird before, even though his cultivation level was countless levels higher than the Jade Bird's.

He was terrified, and didn't even dare to meet her innocent gaze.

"Yes."

Hu Xiaolin finally spoke up.

He did not face Yu Bai Niao, but rather Yun Ping and the others.

“My benefactor, I am the previous captain of the Snow Shadow Team.”

"Hu Yingluan".

87. Atone for your sins, Lao Hu.

Yunping silently watched the middle-aged man in front of him.

His beard seemed still stained with a bright red liquid called life, and his hands appeared to be soaking in a pool of blood with a pungent stench—

Hu Xiaolin may have killed more people than the man who opened Zuiyanglou, and even more than Feng Tangwen.

Yunping didn't know what to say. He had no feelings for people like Hu Xiaolin. If he had to say anything, he could only blame Hu Xiaolin for not choosing the right career back then.

The Snow Shadow Team... such an assassin organization is easy to get into, but difficult to get out.

Even if one escapes unscathed, one can never atone for the sins committed.

To put it bluntly, it's just killing for someone called the Palace Master...

Yu Bai Niao didn't speak; she simply gazed quietly at the man before her, the man she loved with all her heart.

She didn't know if Hu Xiaolin had killed her parents; she didn't know, and she didn't dare to know.

Yu Bai Niao had returned to her childhood in her dreams more than once, surrounded by her parents, the couple that everyone envied. During the day, they would take her for walks in the streets and play in the snow. At noon, the three of them would sit together and eat lunch made by her mother. At night, she could listen to her father's clumsy stories and fall asleep to her mother's soft but off-key singing...

That was such a beautiful, yet unattainable dream.

It was because of that person, that guy dressed all in black who called himself the Snow Shadow Team...

These fantasies and dreams, for Yu Bai Niao, will always remain just dreams.

She didn't know whether Hu Xiaolin had killed her parents.

Perhaps, she didn't dare to know.

"You're not in control of your own destiny, are you?"

Yunping suddenly spoke up.

His words made Yu Bai Niao and Hu Xiao Lin, who had been keeping their heads down, suddenly raise their heads.

Yunping laughed, a mocking laugh, but the object of his mockery was neither Hu Xiaolin nor Yu Bainiao; rather, it seemed as if he was mocking someone from the past.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Yunping said with a faint smile, playing with the peanuts in his hand. "Isn't that how it is? You're doing something you don't want to do, but you have to. The only consequence of doing so is that you bring more pain to yourself and others."

"Whether you kill someone or save someone, it's all the same—you're just caught in the middle."

Hu Xiaolin couldn't help but chuckle bitterly; how could he not understand this principle?

He had wanted to quit the Snow Shadow Team more than once, but joining the Snow Shadow Team was easy, but quitting was incredibly difficult.

His brothers, like him, had once been terrified and even driven mad by the nightmares that had penetrated their hearts and the invasion of their dreams by the souls of the dead they had killed. Which of them didn't want to go back?

Nobody wants to stay in that godforsaken place.

But they can't go back, they simply can't go back.

Several tried to escape, but almost all of them died at the hands of their own people…

Even Hu Xiaolin escaped back then only because the palace master had successfully changed hands.

“My benefactor, I was indeed forced into this situation, but no matter what, the sins I committed cannot be forgiven…”

"so what?"

It wasn't Yunping who spoke.

Instead, it was the girl who stood to the side, watching Hu Xiaolin's dejected face.

Zhang Ruoxue.

She stared at Hu Xiaolin. "So you're planning to carry the resentment of these dead people and live in their shadow for the rest of your life?"

"...I don't know." Hu Xiaolin shook his head. "Perhaps so. I can never atone for these sins. Perhaps the deaths of my wife and daughter are my retribution..."

"Retribution my ass."

Zhang Ruoxue slammed her hand on the table, causing her to bounce up.

This startled not only Hu Xiaolin, but even Ye Yuchan.

She gets angry so easily... Her mood swings are too fast.

Zhang Ruoxue's icy eyes were filled with flames as she said in a deep voice without any mercy, "Uncle Hu, if that's really what you think, then your life is truly over. Although I haven't lived long and haven't seen much, I at least know that you have to fight for your dignity while you're alive. Blaming fate or retribution for everything... Uncle Hu, do you think saying this will allow you to go back to the past? Do you think you can make those things never happen?"

“…No.” Hu Xiaolin had no way to refute this.

Zhang Ruoxue shrugged and said, "That settles it then."

"But……"

“What do you mean by ‘but’?” Yun Ping took over the conversation, took out a flask of wine from his storage ring, filled the wine cup in front of him, and pushed it directly in front of Hu Xiaolin. “I think Ruoxue is absolutely right.”

“What’s done is done. You’re dwelling on painful memories all day long, no wonder you always have a sour face.”

Hu Xiaolin stared at the wine glass in front of him, momentarily at a loss for words.

He had considered these principles before.

But how could the pain in my heart be erased by just a few words?

If that were the case, their Snow Shadow team wouldn't have ended up in this predicament.

"What you've done in the past is absolutely irreversible, so all you can see now is the future."

Yunping seemed to sense the change in Hu Xiaolin's emotions and said to him.

Hu Xiaolin forced a smile. "My benefactor, I truly don't think I have any future left. If it weren't for you, my benefactor, I'd probably be dead already..."

Qianxun Novel Free Transfer Group 255595300 "So you think it's better to die, to end it all, is that right?"

……

Yunping's words sent a shiver down Hu Xiaolin's spine.

That's exactly what he thought.

"Don't you think that's too irresponsible?" Yun Ping looked meaningfully at Yu Bai Niao, who was about to cry next to Hu Xiaolin. "Death is such a simple thing. If you die, can everything in the past be erased? No, it can't. It's just that you are erased on your own. It's just that you don't have to bear the sins anymore. It's just that you don't have to suffer anymore."