To Raise a Soul 55.2

Yin Le wasn’t able to hear what Yin Yan had secretly communicated to Yu Zhen, but he saw Yu Zhen turn his head when he replied. Thinking that Yu Zhen might have been talking to him, Yin Le uncertainly asked, “Yu Ge, what did you say? I didn’t hear it clearly.” At the same time, he leaned closer and attempted to break away from the claw grip of Yin Yan’s hand on his shoulder.

Yu Zhen smiled at him and shook his head, indicating there was nothing to say.

Yin Yan saw through his intention and pulled Yin Le back while also stepping forward to hide Yu Zhen behind his back. He cut off Lin Zouwei’s line of sight, then ignored the boy and addressed the teacher. “Hello, I’m Yin Le’s brother, Yin Yan.”

The teacher quickly replied to the greeting and gave a self-introduction, then explained the incident simply. He expressed that it was due to his negligence as a teacher which allowed the children to start a fight at school and sustain injuries.

Yin Yan indicated that it was alright. Then he asked, “Did you call the police?”

Shocked, the teacher asked, “What?”

“A red ruby was used to make the pendant on my brother’s peach wood sword, so its value is quite considerable. If it was an ordinary fight between students, there would be no need to call the police. But since this dispute involves money, it would be better to involve the police.”

Yin Yan’s reasonable words made the teacher break out in cold sweat.

R-red ruby. I thought that pendant was just a red glass bead. The teacher had confiscated the peach wood sword, that star of the disaster which Yin Le had insisted was fake and Lin Zouwei had insisted was real. And now it’s in my pocket.

I suddenly feel like my pocket weighs a thousand jin*.

^{*1000 jin = 500kg = 78 stone 10lb}

He quickly put his hand into his pocket, carefully lifting the sword out, and finally handed it to Yin Yan. “Here’s the peach wood sword. Please take a look at it first. If Student Yin happened to have made a mistake, then…”

Lin Zouwei shouted, “Of course he’s wrong! If that red gem is fake, then I’ll be run over by a car when I leave.” Appearing angry, he coldly spat, “I dare to swear on my life! Would you lot dare?”

Yin Le was so angered he was about to spit some harsh words back, but Yin Yan pressed down on his shoulder, helping him calm down.

“The ruby is real.” Yu Zhen spoke up suddenly. He picked up the peach wood sword from the teacher’s hand and rubbed the body of the sword. Then he added, “But the wooden sword has been switched out. It’s a fake.”

Lin Zouwei’s expression fell and he shouted, “You lot had better not be looking for trouble where there’s none! One second it’s that ‘I’ve stolen the peach wood sword’, the next second, ‘the ruby is real and the sword is fake’. Do I have nothing better to do? Why would I not take the ruby, but take the wooden sword and then rack my brains for a way to swap in an exact replica? This family! Are you done yet?! Is it fun to wrongly accuse someone?! Scram! I’m going home! If you want to call the police, then call the police! I’d like to see what you can find out with the police!”

It was a magic item made by a cultivator. It didn’t matter if the sword contained something special within it ^[1], it would look like an ordinary block of wood to regular people. Even if the police were to conduct a search, they wouldn’t be able to notice a thing. 

Looking at Lin Zouwei’s confidence in his own suggestion, Yu Zhen’s hands tightened into fists.

He did that on purpose. He obviously knows what’s special about the peach wood sword. That’s why he would give up the more valuable gem while switching out the wooden sword. If the switch hadn’t been discovered, if that magical tool was discovered by others, it could cause serious suffering. And if that happened, I could only bitterly keep my silence.

Lin Zouwei is unscrupulous. He thought that Yin Le would be dumb enough to miss that something was wrong with the peach wood sword. Or he didn’t think that anyone in the Yin family knew about cultivation techniques, so no one would do anything to him over a piece of wood. 

However, it was also true that the Yin family were given the label of people who were bullied and trapped by their grandfather and uncles to hand over their goods. In short, they looked easy to bully.

Intuition told Yu Zhen that the boy before him was the son of his own currently faceless father. It was reasonable to assume that the boy had some cultivators’ knowledge as he was taught by the adopted son of a Taoist priest. That’s why he doesn’t want the gem, but he wants the wooden sword instead. 

Noticing his gaze, Lin Zouwei stopped shouting and turned to look at Yu Zhen. Meeting Yu Zhen’s deep, bottomless gaze, panic grew in his heart. A cool feeling brushed by his neck as if something terrifying had fixed its gaze there.

Yin Yan suddenly stepped between them and pushed Yin Le in front of Yu Zhen. He picked the peach wood sword out of Yu Zhen’s hand, then turned it over in his own a couple of times. “Yin Le’s wooden sword was made by someone in the family. It has a hollow interior, and the word “Le” is inscribed on the inside. In addition, it is filled with silver sand. But this one…”

Ka.

With a squeeze of his hand, Yin Yan broke the sword in half. He picked up one of the broken halves and showed it to the people nearby, adding, “It’s solid. The wood used to make the sword was also valuable. Lin Zouwei, give your father a call. The police will be here shortly. You might need a guardian to help you.”

Lin Zouwei’s expression froze and he stared at the two broken halves of the peach wood sword. He was like a duck with something stuck in its throat, unable to make a quack.

Everyone was shocked by the turn of events.

The swords are not the same, so doesn’t that mean that Lin Zouwei really did steal Yin Le’s stuff? He also deliberately used a substitute?

The teacher was also stunned. A complicated look was in his eyes as he glanced at the two broken halves of that solid wooden sword. He then glanced at Lin Zhouwei and frowned. Sighing, he turned around and dispersed the students and security personnel who were enjoying the drama, and then he invited Yin Yan to the conference room on the administrative floor. 

With the way things had developed, Yin Le was essentially able to vent his anger. When the police and Lin Zouwei’s family’s elder arrived, he deliberately said a few words of provocation to Lin Zouwei. The boy’s expression was dark throughout the situation. Although Lin Zouwei was very angry about being mocked, he held his tongue. Occasionally, he pulled out his phone and tapped on it, sending messages to an unknown recipient. 

Yin Yan found an excuse to bring Yu Zhen out of the conference room. Then, standing at a corner, he fed Yu Zhen a pill and swept over Yu Zhen’s body using spiritual energy.

Yu Zhen resisted the feelings brought on by the sweeping spiritual energy, and he quietly explained, “Don’t worry Lin Zouwei had no effect on my taoist heart ^[2].” 

Yin Yan felt the pulse at his wrist and replied, “The elders of Lin Zouwei’s family will be here soon.”

Yu Zhen’s eyelashes trembled and he returned Yin Yan’s hold on his hand.

“Yu Zhen.” Yin Yan held Yu Zhen’s hand tightly. He hooked Yu Zhen’s chin up and looked into his eyes. “If you don’t want to face them, you can wait for me in the car. Don’t worry too much, I’m here.”

As Yu Zhen looked into his calm and inviting gaze, the heaviness in his own heart lifted. He relaxed and hugged Yin Yan, burying his head in the crook of Yin Yan’s neck. After a long sigh, he replied, “It’s not that I don’t want to face it. I just… just can’t accept it in a short amount of time. How can they be so terrible…? It doesn’t matter, I’ll take it slowly. I just need some time to process all this news.”

It was a moment of vulnerability, where he exposed the softest parts of his heart and sought out the comforting hold of his sweetheart. Since confirming their relationship, it was their first time holding each other without an ambiguous air around them.

Yin Yan’s heartstrings were tugged on. Seeing Yu Zhen leaning against him, full of trust, Yin Yan wrapped his arms around Yu Zhen and then planted a kiss on his forehead.

When Yu Zhen had sorted out his state of mind and returned to the conference room, the police and Lin Zouwei’s parent had arrived. Zou Chengjing, Lin Zouwei’s father, looked like a virtuous and educated middle-aged man. He was also someone from B City, but since most of his business was international, he didn’t have dealings with the Yin family.

Between the father and son pair, one’s surname was Lin and the other’s was Zou. It was very obvious that Lin Zouwei hadn’t used his father’s surname.

Seeing Yin Yan and Yu Zhen return, Zou Chengjing pulled his clearly unhappy son forwards. His face was filled with apology and guilt for failing to teach his son properly. After a self-introduction, he said, “Mr. Yin, my apologies. I didn’t teach my child well. He has already confessed to me. He did indeed switch out the peach wood sword. At first, he only wanted to tease Yin Le a little. To tell you the truth, he has some interest in the young miss from the Bu family. Seeing her with Yin Le made him feel bitter, so he did something foolish.”

After speaking, he didn’t wait for a reply before pulling Lin Zouwei forward and scolding, “Hurry up and apologize. And return the wooden peach sword too. You’re already an adult, why do you act so unruly and childish?”

Lin Zouwei looked unwilling to do as asked. Half-heartedly, he lowered his head to the two people in front of him and said, “Sorry.” Then he fished out an unadorned wooden sword and handed it over. 

Immediately, Yu Zhen felt that the wooden sword was real. However, it was tainted with something else, something bad.

His fingers tightened. Nothing amiss could be gleaned from their expressions. The duo appeared to be a willful son and a father dealing with a headache-inducing child. Yu Zhen raised his hand, pretending to touch his forehead, but he secretly rubbed spiritual energy onto his eyes and looked at the seemingly ordinary Zou Chengjing.

Using Clear Discernment, a world full of warm, drifting lights appeared. A red-black energy surrounded Zou Chengjing’s body, making him stand out.

Those are sins. Those are evil’s consequences. It’s his true nature that can’t be hidden.

He even bears lives on his shoulders.

If Lin Zouwei was a sapling that grew at a crooked angle, Zou Chengjing would be a ghost tree that was completely rotten from the root up.

And from the red-black shroud surrounding the man, a red string led from that man’s chest to Yu Zhen’s.

That day when we came to pick up Yin Le, the person of great evil that I saw at the school gates was Zou Chengjing. And this person is my father. My biological father. The person who passed his blood on to me.

Why is he such a person?

Grandpa was such a nice person, how could he have this kind of adopted son? 

Yu Zhen forced his eyes shut and dispelled Clear Discernment. He pressed down on the hand Yin Yan reached out to retrieve the sword, then he picked up the sword himself. As he did so, Yu Zhen didn’t look at Lin Zouwei who was handing him the sword, but at Zou Chengjing instead. Like Yin Yan, he snapped the sword in half.

As the sword broke, the spiritual energy on it dissipated, as did the wisp of black-colored, evil energy. The silvery sand within the sword quickly turned black and it flowed out of the cavity and spilled onto the floor.

“It’s dirtied.” He heard himself speak. There was an unprecedented calm and cold detachment within himself. It carried a slight semblance to the way Yin Yan normally talked. “We from the Yin family never use what has been dirtied by others.”

Zou Chengjing, Yu Jincheng.* 

^{*Yu Jincheng = Zou Chengjing = Yu Zhen’s father. He changed his name.}

You dare attach evil energy to the sword that you’re returning? You couldn’t obtain it, so you destroyed it. Plus you tried to do harm at the same time. Very well, I’m very satisfied by this gift received on the first meeting between father and son.

Yu Zhen’s words and actions caught Zou Chengjing’s attention, and he finally paid attention to Yu Zhen.