Chapter 4963 — A Wretched Past

Qin Chan looked at him deeply. She knew that with Jiang Yuechuan's abilities, he could never have produced a Thunder Profound Pill. Only this legendary Profound-rank alchemist could casually give away a rare pill like the Thunder Profound Pill as a gift, so Wei Zhao could not possibly fool her.

"Um..." At this moment, Qin Chan's face suddenly flushed red. She lowered her head and said weakly, "Master Lin, you called me over here—do you want me to repay you?"

"What?!" Wei Zhao nearly choked on hearing this. What kind of nonsense was this? Did he really look that sleazy?

Could she have guessed wrong? Qin Chan visibly froze at his reaction and secretly began to mutter to herself—or was this Master Lin the kind of hypocrite who did filthy things while still putting on an air of purity in his words?

Wei Zhao frowned at her expression, pointed to the seat across from him, and motioned for her to sit down. His tone was grave as he said, "There's something I've wanted to ask you for a while now. What is your relationship with those two male disciples?"

"Male disciples?" Qin Chan thought for a moment before it clicked, and she said with some surprise, "You mean Qi Dong and Chen Qiang?"

"I don't know their names. I only saw that you were close to them, so I asked," Wei Zhao said flatly.

Although he had only met Jiang Yuechuan once, he felt considerable sympathy for this man so deeply devoted. And Qin Chan's various behaviors before had truly been chilling. Though Wei Zhao had not yet reached the point of righteous indignation—this was, after all, their private affair—in his heart he still felt indignant on Jiang Yuechuan's behalf.

At these words, Qin Chan immediately fell silent. She lowered her head and said nothing for a long time. Wei Zhao could tell she was trying hard to restrain herself, but she could not stop her sobbing. The atmosphere in the room was filled with grief and bitter resentment. It seemed there truly was another story hidden here.

After a long while, Qin Chan abruptly raised her head, wiped the tear stains from her face with her hand, and said with a calm resolve: "Master Lin, if you see Jiang Yuechuan, please pass on a message for me. Tell him that I, Qin Chan, am already dead, and that I have failed him."

"Tell him you're dead?" Wei Zhao's brows knitted even deeper, and he said sternly, "Miss Qin, if there is something going on, say it clearly to my face. If you have difficulties, we can find a way to solve them. Or is it that you truly have done something to wrong Jiang Yuechuan—don't tell me you've been unfaithful to him behind his back?"

"I..." Qin Chan's expression darkened at these words, and with reddened eyes she choked out, "I truly have failed him. I am no longer clean. I am not worthy of him..."

"If you knew it would come to this, why did you do it in the first place?" Wei Zhao shook his head, secretly feeling that it was not worth it for Jiang Yuechuan. It was hard enough that the man had scraped together a Gestation Nurturing Golden Pill by every possible means, and had even gone so far as to entrust a stranger like himself to bring it over—never knowing that Qin Chan was long since no longer the Qin Chan of old. His devotion had truly been wasted.

"I didn't want this either..." Qin Chan wept silently. "I had long ago decided to give my whole life to Ah Hai. Even if it were a hundred years, a thousand years, I would wait for him forever, and never regret it!"

"Then how did you end up like this?" Wei Zhao asked with a frown.

From her earlier behavior, he did believe her words somewhat. Setting other things aside, at least Qin Chan surely still had feelings for Jiang Yuechuan—otherwise, back on the Road of Giants, she would never have asked him to bring pills to Jiang Yuechuan. A Gestation Nurturing Golden Pill plus a Nourishing Essence Pill—what normal person would give away such pills for no reason?

"Because I was..." Qin Chan clearly hesitated and struggled midway through her sentence, but in the end she took a deep breath and gritted her teeth to finish: "I was forced onto by someone."

"What?" Wei Zhao was shocked, staring at Qin Chan in disbelief. After a long while, he asked in a low voice, "Who?"

"Zheng Tianguang." Though Qin Chan kept her head lowered, when she spoke this name, Wei Zhao could clearly feel her gnashing her teeth. This hatred had seeped completely into her bones—after all, it was this man who had destroyed the beautiful life she could have had, forcing her to sink ever deeper until she became what she was now.

"Who is Zheng Tianguang?" Wei Zhao asked with a frown.

"He is a second-generation cultivator in the academy, the son of the academy's second-ranked alchemist, Zheng Dongyang. He used to often mix with Bao Zuoliang and the others—they count as the same crowd." Qin Chan's tone suddenly became unprecedentedly calm, as if she were a bystander recounting it flatly: "From the very first day I came to Chenxing Academy, he had his eye on me. After I refused him three times in a row, he flew into a rage and drugged me, committing that wicked deed."

Wei Zhao said nothing, but he vaguely felt a sense of déjà vu about the name Zheng Dongyang. Though he should never have heard it or seen it before, it felt as though it was somehow connected to someone he had come into contact with.

"I had no background here, no backing. Afterward I didn't know how to resist, much less how to take revenge, so I could only seek death—but several times I was rescued. In the end, I gradually grew numb," Qin Chan said flatly.

"And after that?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Heh heh. After that, I became his plaything, trading my body for the cultivation resources in his hands." Qin Chan's state of mind at this point was truly frightening—she could even smile while speaking of such things, her expression unfathomable. "Later, Zheng Tianguang went to the Profound-rank Sea Region, and I was targeted by several other second-generation cultivators. Since I had no strength to resist, I simply let myself go and used my beauty to play one man against another, trading it for cultivation resources."

Wei Zhao was stunned at her words. He did not know how to judge Qin Chan's choice. To say she did not respect herself would be too callous—yet he could not say she was right either. He could only remain silent.

Qin Chan saw Wei Zhao's expression and shook her head with a bitter smile. "I'm already like this anyway. There was no other way to survive. I actually don't want to live, but I want to do something for Ah Hai before I die—even if it's only saving a few pills and asking someone to bring them to him, it can slightly make up for my guilt. Otherwise, I could not die in peace."

Having said all this, Qin Chan fell silent once more. Wei Zhao looked at her present state—grief greater than the death of the heart—and felt a sigh of emotion rise in him. Though he did not approve of her choices, it was not her fault that she had become what she was. In a place like the Eastern Continent Academy, where the strong preyed on the weak, without powerful backing and deep connections, survival was indeed truly difficult.

By comparison, Wang Xinyan, Huang Xiaotao, and Huo Yudie were far luckier than she was. Setting other things aside, at the very least they all had a strong and protective master!

Whether it was the Divine Nun of the Eastern Sea or Liu Ziqi, in their respective academies they were high-ranking figures among the top three. With their tireless protection, even the most powerful second-generation cultivators dared not touch a single hair on those girls. Take Bao Zuoliang—even though he was the son of the Morning Star City Lord, he had never dared to lay a hand on Wang Xinyan, unless he was prepared to die at the hands of the Divine Nun of the Eastern Sea.