TPMDWTPF CH2

Chapter 2 Rumor Tanghuan

The novel only made brief, passing references to Changhuan Palace.

Deep within a bottomless valley lay the palace, with cliffs soaring thousands of feet high at its edge. Below, rare treasures and fierce beasts roamed. Dense thickets sprawled in every direction, and gurgling streams meandered through the landscape. Upon entry, one would be met with a profusion of vibrant colors that dazzled the eyes.

Even cranes that soared to the Nine Heavens could not leave the Changhuan Palace.

In other words, the Changhuan Palace Master was an old lecher who had abducted a pile of beauties into his lair. The palace’s location was perfect, making it impossible for these unlucky souls to escape.

Out of some perverse whim, the palace master even granted each beauty a cultivation cave named after a flower, like Taohua^[1] Cave, Lihua^[2] Cave, Juhua^[3] Cave, etc…

The implication behind this was best left unthought.

The novel devoted no more than ten chapters to the palace master’s story, so it naturally did not detail all the male concubines of Changhuan Palace. Leaving Yan Fei behind and following the palace attendant to the Taohua Cave, Tang Huan finally realized his current situation, and his steps slowed.

He asked the attendant, whose face was hidden behind a black veil, “Who lives in the Taohua Cave?”

The ‘Tang Huan’ of last month frequently cultivated in Taohua Cave. Although puzzled by the palace master’s question, the servant answered truthfully, “Replying to the Palace Master, it is Perfected Master Jiang Lianzhi of the Luofeng Mountain, who was originally ranked fifth on the Beauty Ranking.”

Tang Huan asked blankly, “When was he… captured?”

The attendant answered quickly, pride evident in his words. “On the second day of last month, the Palace Master had a quarrel with Perfected Master Ye of Lihua Cave and ordered that any beauty be brought back. When Protector Xiao left the valley, he happened to see Jiang Lianzhi buying sugar figurines in the human realm, so he conveniently captured him back.”

“……”

Tang Huan pressed a hand to his forehead.

Good grief. The Changhuan Palace was nothing like a proper cultivation sect. It was practically a bandit camp. What did they mean by ‘conveniently brought him back’?

According to the novel, once a beauty from the three realms was taken by the Changhuan Palace, they would vanish without a trace, neither seen alive nor found dead. Over time, the outside world assumed they had all been drained to death by the palace master. Now, it seemed that many were still alive.

The male concubines were alive…

Tang Huan didn’t know whether to feel relieved or troubled.

They didn’t use escape light on the way, and the attendant didn’t dare ask questions. After walking for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, they could already smell faint traces of peach blossom fragrance.

Ahead appeared to be an ordinary pavilion, but upon stepping into a small barrier, an entirely different scene was revealed. The courtyard had moss and clear water, dotted with several pink peach blossom trees. The sight should have been elegant and pleasant, yet broken branches and fallen leaves littered the ground, and a chilling aura filled the hundred-meter radius.

In the center of the courtyard, a man in pink stood with his back to them. He was questioning a black-veiled attendant, faint blood dripping from the sword in his hand, staining the hem of his robe.

“Speak! Regarding that Yan Fei, is it true that the Palace Master has already…”

In the midst of his furious questioning, the man’s aura suddenly sharpened. His sword shot straight toward the direction of the barrier’s disturbance, and he shouted sharply, “How dare you! A mere mortal dares to intrude into my Taohua Cave?!”

Tang Huan had been an ordinary person for more than twenty years. After suddenly transmigrating into the cultivation world, he hadn’t learned to circulate spiritual qi, but he naturally excelled at concealing his aura. Among the low-ranking laborers of Changhuan Palace, there were also many mortals. Jiang Lianzhi, sensing no spiritual qi, naturally assumed some careless servant had trespassed into his cave.

The Luohua Sword shot out first, and only then did Jiang Lianzhi turn in anger. Upon seeing the newcomer, he was immediately stunned.

“Palace Master…!”

It was already too late to recall the move. The Luohua Sword cut through the air, aimed directly at Tang Huan’s head. The nearby attendant was just about to intervene, but at the last moment, Tang Huan’s body reacted on instinct, tilting his head aside.

The sword strike grazed his cheek, the frigid air leaving a shallow mark on his fair skin. With a tremendous boom, a poplar tree five meters behind them exploded into fragments.

Branches and wood splinters flew everywhere. Tang Huan turned his head, staring blankly and touching his cheek.

“Hss…”

The mortal’s worldview had just suffered a huge impact!

“P-palace Master! A-are you alright?!” Jiang Lianzhi rushed over with an anxious look, but when he was about a meter away from Tang Huan, he suddenly remembered something and stiffly stopped in his tracks.

The palace master’s cultivation was profound, so although the speed of the sword was comparable to a bullet, it felt like merely a tickle when it cut across his skin.

Tang Huan turned his head, about to say he was fine, but just as the words reached his lips, he suddenly heard a thud.

The beauty, radiant like peach blossoms, had knelt before him. His face was ashen, and even his normally rosy lips had lost all color. “P-palace Master… Lianzhi truly didn’t know it was you! I-I thought it was some stinking rat… Palace Master… please forgive me this once… please don’t send me away…”

Upon hearing the first half of the plea, Tang Huan’s mouth twitched. Who was he calling a stinking rat?

By the time he heard the second part, he seriously wondered if his ears were malfunctioning.

Yan Fei was one thing, but Jiang Lianzhi, a male concubine whom the original palace master had just conveniently abducted, didn’t beg for his life but only pleaded not to be sent away?

The figure kneeling before him trembled violently, clearly terrified, and didn’t dare to raise his head even while pleading.

Tang Huan asked in astonishment, “You don’t want to leave here?”

Jiang Lianzhi actually shuddered, and then shook his head like a rattle-drum.

Seeing his reaction, Tang Huan naturally equated ‘admitting his desire to leave’ with ‘being sentenced to death,’ thinking perhaps his host had used some underhanded tactic to make Jiang Lianzhi too afraid to admit he wanted to go.

Although Jiang Lianzhi struck with ruthless ferocity, his figure was as slender as a boy of sixteen or seventeen, and his skin was white as snow. At this moment, a cascade of dark hair fell in front of him, faintly revealing a flushed nose and trembling lips, looking pitiful enough to stir compassion.

Not as exquisite as Yan Fei, but still a rare beauty among a thousand.

The attendant who had led him here had already withdrawn. In the vast Taohua Cave, there wasn’t a single soul in sight.

Tang Huan’s face remained expressionless.

Reason told him that he should maintain his host’s persona for now.

The novel only gave the palace master ten chapters in total, so his screentime was few. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that his appearance always came with a prefix.

【It was rumored that Tang Huan】

It was rumored that Tang Huan, by the age of three, was already licentious. By five, he had mastered martial arts, and from ten onward, his appetite for matters of the bed was never sated.

It was rumored that in order to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, Tang Huan battled hundreds of cauldron for eighty-one days.

It was even rumored that one day, burning with lust, Tang Huan didn’t spare a dog monster that had just taken human form by the roadside…

“……”

While reading the novel, Tang Huan was so baffled by these rumors that he once spent an entire hour analyzing whether his host’s surname might actually be ‘Rumor’ and his given name ‘Tanghuan.’

Otherwise, how could it be explained that for ten whole chapters, ‘Tang Huan’ remained nothing more than a rumor, never once appearing in person?

If he hadn’t died at Yan Fei’s hands, even the existence of ‘Tang Huan’ would have been in question.

In other words, the author probably didn’t even know what his host was truly like, so now Tang Huan could only improvise.

Seeing Jiang Lianzhi kneeling motionless, he braced himself and stepped forward. “Alright, get up first, then we’ll talk.”

Tang Huan didn’t notice that as he approached, Jiang Lianzhi froze completely.

The Changhuan Palace Master never got close to anyone outside of dual cultivation. This detail wasn’t recorded in the novel, and no rumors in the three realms mentioned it. Only those who lived in the Changhuan Palace knew.

When Tang Huan helped him to his feet, Jiang Lianzhi’s mind went blank. Only his mouth continued its habitual pleading. “…Palace Master, Lianzhi truly knows he was wrong. Please don’t cast me out, and please don’t punish me by making me soak in the Xuanbing Pool.”

Tang Huan gave him a sidelong glance. His demands were quite specific.

Xuanbing Pool? That wasn’t in the novel, so Tang Huan had never even heard of it.

He cleared his throat lightly, putting on a dignified tone. “Since you’re ill, this Venerable will let it pass this time. But in the future, you mustn’t hurt anyone recklessly.”

Jiang Lianzhi was stunned, then he suddenly lifted his head. His delicate features transformed from shock to joy, disbelief in his voice. “Did the Palace Master come specifically to check on me?”

Tang Huan actually had to thank him for helping him escape the demon’s clutches, so his tone unconsciously softened a little as he replied, “Yes. The servants said you were sick. Where are you not feeling well? Has someone examine you yet?”

At that moment, Tang Huan had just helped him up and hadn’t stepped back. It was the first time Jiang Lianzhi saw Tang Huan from such close range. His face, which had just been pale from fright, instantly flushed deep red. He felt dizzy, and his divine sense seemed to sink into the primordial sea of chaos.

Over the past century, countless rumors about Tang Huan had circulated throughout the three realms. The Luofeng Mountain was a righteous immortal sect. Before he was abducted by the Changhuan Palace, Jiang Lianzhi, like countless righteous cultivators, would gnash his teeth with hatred at the mere mention of Tang Huan, wishing he could flay the lecher alive, tear him limb from limb, and roast the pieces in the Samadhi True Fire for a hundred years to avenge the innocent souls who had perished at the hands of the Changhuan Palace.

Yet, at the first sight of Tang Huan, all that resolve instantly became a mere illusion.

The Baixiao Pavilion was arrogant and conceited, claiming to know everything about the three realms, publishing numerous rankings. Among them, the Beauty Ranking drew the most attention. Jiang Lianzhi had never seen Yan Fei, but he had seen the previous number one beauty. In his eyes, even a single strand of Tang Huan’s hair outshone that so-called number one beauty.

Rumors were no match for reality. After seeing Tang Huan, Jiang Lianzhi realized that all the colors of the world paled in comparison to this jade tree crowned in splendor.

Sensing his gaze, Tang Huan looked back. His almond-shaped eyes were like a faint crescent of new moon, and his vividly red lips adorned an ethereal face. His beauty was as dazzling as blossoming trees draped in pure snow.

An elegant, cultured gentleman, with pendants of lustrous jade gleaming at his ears. His crown studded with stars like dewdrops, his hair as dark as ink. (1)

His eyes and brows composed three hundred poems, his temples trimmed by the spring breeze. (2)

Author’s Note:
(1) from the Book of Songs
(2) from the Lonely Hill is Not Alone