Without thinking about it, Yin Changge said, “No.”
Naturally, he didn’t want to, but several teenagers beside him all booed at him one by one. No one knew how much darkness there was in the hearts of these old family disciples.
People outside knew nothing about what was going on in this evil spirit array. Even if he was humiliated and told someone, no one would believe him. Moreover, even if they were discovered, their identity alone would be more than enough to suppress such a trivial matter.
The complexity and filth of the human heart would always be magnified infinitely when privileges were concerned.
Yin Changge’s resistance was very strong, and eventually the other teenagers also developed bad thoughts.
Yin Changge was dragged into the cave and stripped off his clothes, despite crying out and begging to them. But those people acted deaf and were spurred on by lust.
Just before it started, Shen Congrong appeared at the cave entrance like a god falling from the heavens. While holding a sword in hand, he said, “You people are just as bad as animals. Don’t you see that he’s unwilling? Let him go.”
Yin Changge never knew that there was another person in this evil spirit array.
Shen Congrong just came in and saw this scene before he could understand the situation.
When a good thing was interrupted, these young masters naturally refused. The Wan disciple said, “You guys continue. We’ll take care of this short-sighted boy first.”
Someone made the move to kill him first, and Shen Congrong naturally wasn’t going to stand there and take it. In this way, the two sides started attacking one another, and the group of young masters who were used to bossing people around were all killed.
Shen Congrong put his clothes over Yin Changge, who was shivering in the corner of the cave. “They were too much, right?”
Yin Changge was red-eyed, looking like a frightened rabbit. He blankly said, “But am I not a man? They can do this kind of thing to men?”
Shen Congrong was stunned, then smiled lightly. “Where are you from? Men and men are not uncommon in this world. In fact, men can be happy with each other, but those people were really despicable.”
Yin Changge was obviously frightened. Along the way, he followed Shen Congrong, and soon changed to addressing him from Fellow Shen to Shen Dage.
Shen Congrong never mentioned those people again.
A few days later, they found a way to leave.
Before leaving, Shen Congrong said to Yin Changge, “After you go out, don’t talk to me anymore. Those people had good identities and all died in the evil spirit array. Their people will surely investigate. I’ll do things by myself and take care of them. Just pretend you don’t know anything.”
Yin Changge shook his head. “I don’t want to.”
Shen Congrong seemed to be coaxing a child, saying, “Good boy, even if I don’t enter the sect, I still have a place to go. You’ve come all the way from home. That probably took a lot of effort!”
Yin Changge was silent, then said, “You saved me, how can I abandon you?”
He went on to say, “Oh, moreover, you think I’m a pretty troublesome person, easy to get into trouble, and you still think you should stay away from me.”
Yin Changge appeared very calm, but his voice inexplicably sounded like he had a few grievances.
Shen Congrong’s facade was seen through, and he was mentally shocked. When Yan Tianhen looked at this scene, he couldn’t help thinking that Shen Congrong must really want to ask Yin Changge how he knew these thoughts.
However, Shen Congrong didn’t ask. His eyes sank and he said, “It’s good that you know.”
That was the end of the recording.
Everything was now clear.
Yan Tianhen returned the crystal jade to Yin Changge. “Those people really deserved to die. I didn’t expect them to be so crazy and do such nasty things.”
Yin Changge nodded. “In fact, even without Shen Congrong, I would not have been bullied by those people like this. If Shen Dage had arrived later, they would still be dead. Since I hurt him, I take responsibility for him to the end.”
Yan Tianhen always felt that this wording sounded strange.
Yan Tianhen asked, “Why did you tell me such an important thing?”
In fact, he was not familiar with Yin Changge at all and they had only spoken a few words to each other from beginning to end.
Yin Changge gazed at Yan Tianhen with a pair of gray-blue transparent eyes, looking very pure.
“Because you have the purest heart, and I like to be with people with pure hearts. Although you always think about how to obtain another man, you’ve never thought of forcing him.”
Yan Tianhen was dumbstruck.
It was like he’d been stripped naked and was running around bare in broad daylight.
“What did you say?”
Yin Changge continued, “You miss him in your heart. He is the person you love most in your life, but you can’t see his face clearly. You forgot what happened between him and you, but you always feel that he had already…”
“Don’t say it. Don’t say it. This matter, this person — don’t mention these again.”
Yin Changge nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Yan Tianhen took a deep breath and calmed down slowly. “You can read minds.”
Yin Changge nodded. “Yes, but it consumes a lot of spiritual energy. Under normal circumstances, I would not use it easily.”
Yan Tianhen had only heard that some people were born with the skill of reading minds. This skill couldn’t be cultivated just after a day, so it could be regarded as the Dao of Heaven’s love.
Unexpectedly, he was able to see a mind reader with his own eyes today.
“It’s terrifying,” Yan Tianhen murmured. “The art of reading the mind is really too heaven-defying.”
No matter what he thought, this mind-reader could easily detect and discover the deepest secrets in his heart, which made Yan Tianhen feel extremely insecure.
Yin Changge also read this, and he had already found the dark corner in Yan Tianhen’s heart that he was unwilling to ever mention.
Yin Changge regretted letting Yan Tianhen know about it.
As a matter of fact, there was no one who knew that he could read minds except for his father. Even Shen Congrong was amazed at his sensitivity to the human heart, but he would never suspect that he could read minds.
But somehow, he wanted to tell Yan Tianhen.
Probably because Yan Tianhen’s heart was too pure and good, and he could read the good and evil of people’s hearts. Naturally, he also knew that Yan Tianhen was a man who could keep a secret, so he couldn’t help but let him know about it.
Of course, there were other reasons.
Yan Tianhen asked, “Why do you want to tell me such an important thing? Aren’t you afraid I’ll betray you?”
Yin Changge’s eyes were dim as he said, “People’s hearts are changeable. I really can’t guarantee that your heart will be so clean in the future, but I do believe you now. Moreover, my father said that everyone needs to talk. If you keep so many heavy secrets by yourself but have no outlet, and no one can understand your pain, then something will go wrong one day.”
There was something sad in Yan Tianhen’s eyes. Looking at Yin Changge, he said, “Some things do make me feel painful when I think of them, but I think I can adjust myself well. I hope you don’t mention it again in the future. If others don’t mention it, I won’t easily think about it.”
Yin Changge nodded. “If you want to talk about it someday, I am willing to listen to you.”
Yan Tianhen wanted to pull up a smile, but he was in a bad mood now, so he didn’t want to show any enthusiasm.
Yin Changge also mentioned, “Your cultivation is much higher than mine. I have to spend a lot of effort and spiritual energy to listen to inner thoughts, but I can do it. If you want to listen to what your sweetheart thinks, I can help you.”
Yan Tianchen’s heart moved, but it was just a moment’s hidden movement. It was unknown, but it made his heart itch again. “Forget it. He would not like others prying into his mind like this.”
What was more, even if one day he wanted to know what Lin Xuanzhi was thinking, he would rather Lin Xuanzhi tell him himself.
Yin Changge changed the subject with great perceptiveness.
“Which Courtyard do you want to enter?” Yin Changge asked.
“East Courtyard.”
Yin Changge nodded. “There is no other way to Penglai. The East Courtyard is the nearest place to Penglai Island. It is reasonable for you to choose this.”
Yan Tianhen had a headache and he held his forehead. “Would you please stop talking about this matter?”
Yin Changge raised his lips in a vague way. “You like him, but you don’t want him to know.”
“You don’t understand.” Yan Tianhen shook his head. “It’s not that I’m unwilling. It’s that I can’t.”
Yin Changge said, “If I were you, I would definitely let the person I like know, and then try my best to make him belong to me.”
Yan Tianhen listened to his words and couldn’t help thinking of the past.
“I used to be as indomitable and fearless as you. But then I found out that many things in this world can’t be achieved by fearlessness alone. And then one will become more cowardly. So cowardly that they don’t even understand themselves anymore.”
The day of the written examination came as scheduled.
6,400 examinees walked uniformly towards the square of the Myriad Dao Academy, which could accommodate tens of thousands of people to listen to the lectures at the same time.
The desks had been set up. On the square small table, there were writing brushes and test papers. Behind the table, there were futons for candidates to cross their legs and sit.
Walking around the area were academy inspectors who were divided into ten teams to monitor the disciples in different regions. They were afraid that these candidates would cheat restlessly.
The examinees sat down in their own positions. Once the bell rang and the sun rose, the examination began.
Yan Tianhen scanned through the topics, and indeed included everything from divination to deduction, from alchemy to crafting, from birds to animals. It included all manifestations of nature.
In fact, these were not too difficult for Yan Tianhen. For example, some rare materials and spiritual herbs may be unheard of for children from ordinary families, but they were not so rare among the Divine Clans.
Therefore, for a long time, the probability of a disciple from the aristocratic families being admitted to the Myriad Dao Academy was much higher than that of children from ordinary families.
It seemed unfair, and in reality it indeed was unfair.
Only in this world, where was there such a fair thing?
The examination lasted for two hours, and Yan Tianhen quickly finished most of the questions.
He didn’t read a lot of books, so there were many rare and even unheard of magic weapons like medicinal pills and demonic beasts that he didn’t know. He racked his brains and couldn’t write them at all, so he simply gave up.
It was easy for Yan Tianhen to successfully pass the written examination. The tense atmosphere in the past few days were just created by most of the candidates.
Soon, Yan Tianhen turned to his last question.
After reading the question, Yan Tianhen had a better understanding of Myriad Dao Academy. It asked, “Do you think sparrow spirits should be owned by one family?”
A family who owned it. This was pointing to the Yan family.
Yan Tianhen was surprised and appalled. How pure and refined Myriad Dao Academy was that they’d dare write such a question on the 6,400 papers in the entrance examination.
