Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
What did he mean by ‘how this young master died’?
The young man may be sickly but Lin Jin shouldn’t be cursing him.
However, Tan Xun knew things might not be as simple as he thought. There must be astonishing secrets involved.
And so he perked his ears up to listen carefully.
The young master looked flustered, as if someone had just exposed his darkest secrets. But the butterfly monster remained calm, knowing that they couldn’t deceive Lin Jin.
“It’s like this, Appraiser Lin…” the butterfly monster began.
She had been cultivating in hiding somewhere inside the North Continent and wasn’t the type to harm others. A little while ago, the young master happened to be nearby due to his travels.
He had ended up falling off a cliff by accident and fell to his death.
Under normal circumstances, this would be treated as a missing case. Officials might not even find the body of this missing young master for centuries. Yet, the cliff the young master had fallen off just happened to be the butterfly monster’s cave.
So that meant he practically fell to death right in front of her door.
To the butterfly monster, this was as if trouble had fallen out of the sky. If she left it be and someone found out, she couldn’t possibly clear her name.
But if she did something about it… How should she do it?
Send the corpse back?
It would be difficult for her to explain things too as people might assume that his death was her doing.
Back then, the young master’s pet died from the fall as well. For a moment there, the butterfly didn’t know what to do so she stayed beside the corpse to mull it over.
When she noticed how handsome the young master was and figured that his family must be worried if he just died without warning, she suddenly felt sympathetic.
After thinking it through, she decided to use taboo art to ‘save’ this young master.
Of course, she couldn’t actually save him as the dead couldn’t be brought back to life. The butterfly had used a taboo art, similar to ‘controlling corpses’, and stored the young master’s soul inside her body. It was like a form of blood contract to maintain the other’s ‘life’.
In nature, some butterflies could use a sort of venom to control the corpses of other insects, and this butterfly monster had this sort of ‘talent’.
Hence, that explained the young master’s sickly appearance. Because he was actually a living dead.
This was Lin Jin’s reason for sending the young master’s family away. No parent could easily accept such a situation.
Lin Jin didn’t think this was wrong at all. The butterfly had done a good deed, in a sense. At least she caused the family to grieve less.
Also, she never took anything, nor was she scheming for anything. All this while, she had only been sacrificing in silence.
She even left her cave for the sake of this young master and traveled all this way to Jade Dragon City.
Everyone knew what kind of place Jade Dragon City was now, and still, she bravely took the risk despite it all. This just proved how clear her conscience was.
“Appraiser Lin, Cai Die truly means no harm and meant to hurt no one. Mr. Zhou and I later had feelings for one another so now I only hope to stay with him. Please let us be together.” Having said that, the butterfly lowered her head to prostrate.
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But Lin Jin shook his head.
This immediately annoyed Mr. Zhou. “Appraiser Lin, we have no grudge against you so why must you give us trouble?”
Lin Jin smiled, “If I was trying to give you trouble, I would have killed this butterfly monster and been done with things. Why should I even listen to your story?
Mr. Zhou went stiff.
The butterfly quickly said, “Sir, please don’t do this. Appraiser Lin is a living deity so we mustn’t be rude!”
Mr. Zhou felt listless.
Lin Jin didn’t have a good impression of this young master. The lad wasn’t competent but liked causing trouble.
If this brat had known better, he wouldn’t have fallen off that cliff. But he was lucky enough to have met this butterfly or he would have turned to bones by now.
Lin Jin was very satisfied with the butterfly’s conduct so he had no intention of giving them trouble.
“You two can relax. I’m not a nosy person nor am I pedantic. If you want to stay together, I can’t force you apart, nor can I be bothered anyhow. Only, this reincarnation spell has a flaw and I’m sure you’re both aware.”
Upon hearing Lin Jin’s words, the butterfly nodded. “You’re right, Appraiser Lin. At first, Mr. Zhou was just like a normal person. But as time passed, his health began to deteriorate and no spell I cast worked.”
“Isn’t that a given? He’s a dead man and you’re only using a corpse manipulation spell to store his soul. But a method like this can’t last, and in about a year at most, his body will give out,” Lin Jin said. Mr. Zhou visibly shuddered, looking frightened.
That was normal. Anyone getting informed that they only had one year to live would lose their composure too.
But the butterfly wasn’t surprised. Lin Jin then realized that she must be aware and had already prepared herself for this.
“Trying to reverse death is an act of going against heaven. Even beings as powerful as the immortal emperor and his fellow officials had to perish for acting against heaven’s will. I do not assume that I can go against heaven and control life and death. I only hope to treasure what’s left of this one year,” said the butterfly as she looked at Mr. Zhou with a tenderness in her eyes.
Lin Jin understood now.
It was difficult to make sense of romantic relationships and the butterfly had clearly been mentally prepared for their eventual farewell. After all, all beings would eventually die, and the only difference was how one faced it.
Lin Jin wouldn’t get involved in this case. Just as the butterfly said, who could defy nature?
No one.
No one could, not even unfettered immortals. They couldn’t live as long as the Earth either. In fact, even the Earth would one day collapse.
No being could escape this law.
What surprised Lin Jin was something else. Just now, the butterfly had mentioned the immortal emperor and his officials. She even said they had gone against heaven.
No average person would know about this. Also, when Lin Jin pierced her with a needle earlier, he had learned of her origins, so he said, “You’ve had it tough as well. You were only a butterfly in the immortal empress’ garden in the Nine-Heaven Realm. After gaining enlightenment from the immortal empress, you finally had a cultivation core. Then, the immortal tragedy happened and you escaped the Nine-Heaven Realm to hide in the mortal world and continue your cultivation. You’re lucky to have been able to get out alive.”
Upon hearing this, the butterfly turned pale.
As if she was looking at a demon, her eyes were filled with disbelief.
She had never told anyone this secret of hers. No one but she could have known, and yet, Appraiser Lin had exposed her so easily.
And this gave birth to intense fear and shock inside her.