"Bai Gege, they led me to the Mist Valley and tried to kill me. Senior Brother Bo Pengfei and Senior Sister Liao Ling are the ones who planned everything. They said they will feed my body to the celestial beasts in the valley."

…

"What?"

Bai Shijue separated himself from Han Shun. He stared at Han Shun's eyes, thinking that Han Shun was just joking.

But when he saw Han Shun's sadness and hopelessness, he knew he wasn't joking. 

Bai Shijue's blood drained from his head to toe. He was so weak that he took a few steps back and leaned on the tree trunk to collect himself. 

"How could this be…." Bai Shijue mumbled. He was absolutely shocked and heartbroken. "To think that my disciples— the children I raised and trained until they're powerful enough, actually want to kill Han Shun? Why?"

Han Shun acted sad as he approached Bai Gege and sat on the ground. He lowered his head shamefully and continued his narrative, "I asked Senior Brother Peng why they would plot to kill me? Did I do something wrong? And they replied that I am poison to you, Bai Gege."

"A poison?" 

"Yes, they said my presence will only confuse you, Bai Gege. They said that I was nothing but a nuisance. After killing me, Bai Gege would be free from me and return to be their omnipotent god once more," Han Shun said, adding more spice to his narrative. "They tried to attack me at once, but then, an ultra-powerful celestial beast in the form of a giant centipede suddenly attacked us all. The giant centipede killed all the sect elders, but I managed to escape with a lot of wounds, and I also drained my qi just so I could reach the edge of the valley before losing my consciousness."

Bai Shijue was still trying to swallow the bitter pill. It was too much for a sect leader like him. He stared at Han Shun, trying to find a strain of lies from him.

But Han Shun lowered his head even more so that Bai Shijue couldn't see his expression, acting so ashamed, "I'm sorry, Bai Gege, I should've tried to save them. But I'm not strong enough! I'm also afraid of death. I don't know if I can survive alone, let alone save someone else!"

Bai Shijue saw tears start dropping to the ground. He felt even sadder now. 

Bai Shijue kneeled and hugged Han Shun, this time with gentleness, "Don't cry, Han Shun. I know that you're trying your best to stay alive. I love my disciples, but they've strayed too far if they think killing you will make me return to my old self."

"Bai Gege, am I a poison for you?" Han Shun asked. 

"Never!" Bai Shijue refuted instantly. "There is never an old self of me. I'm the same Master Bai Shijue, their Master. I just happen to find you and want to take you as my favorite disciple. There is nothing wrong with that. Every master has their favorite disciple." 

Bai Shijue tried to calm Han Shun. He didn't want Han Shun to feel guilty for the deaths of all sect elders. He was devastated, but he knew that Han Shun was even more devastated than he was.

Because Han Shun got betrayed by his senior brothers and sisters, they plotted a devious plan to kill him!

"Han Shun, I need you to rest for now, okay? Don't say this to any of the disciples. I will take a few senior disciples and train them to be the new sect elders," Bai Shijue said. 

"You're not mad at me, Bai Gege?"

"No, I'm not mad at you, Han Shun," Bai Shijue replied. "I just… need time to let everything sink in. Just take a rest in your courtyard today. I will send you a few bodies strengthening pills soon."

"Bai Gege, why are you so good to me? Am I worthy of being exchanged for all of your sect elders?" 

"There is no exchange here, Han Shun. If I could save them all, I would. But it had happened, so I will focus on you and recruiting new sect elders for now."

Bai Shijue gently patted Han Shun's head a few times, pacifying the young man, and murmured, 'don't cry' a lot of times.

Little did Bai Shijue know, Han Shun was smirking behind his back because everything was according to his plan. 

'Now Bai Gege would never accuse me of killing those bastards. I got his love solely for me and got rid of those pesky sect elders! This is killing two birds with one stone! Hahaha!'

'Hahaha! Good job, kid. I know that you can do this!' God Han Ye also cheered for him inside his head.

**

Things got really busy for Bai Shijue after that. Since the position of sect elders was incumbent, he needed to select at least four senior disciples to personally train and appoint them as the new sect elders. 

He also took care of Han Shun, who was still recovering. He refined pills, searched for many rare ingredients in the immortal realm alone, et cetera.

He was an immortal who didn't feel any physical exhaustion, but he was mentally exhausted, at least as Bai Yunyu, not Bai Shijue. 

Despite not needing to sleep, Bai Yunyu really wanted to take a deep sleep right now, so he lay on his bed after finished training the new batch of sect elders. 

Pupa floated in front of him and asked, "You need to take a rest. I've seen that you got less and less focused each day."

"I guess I should," Yunyu agreed. He closed his eyes slowly and gradually got drowsy. But he didn't fall asleep immediately. Instead, he was thinking about something that had been bugging him for a while now;

"Pupa, is it wrong for me to treat Han Shun special? Did I do something wrong when I taught him as a kid?"