We said we’d grow old together, but you quietly went bald
The brawl around the underground palace that night finally came to an end with good triumphing over evil, and Wei City and Yaoguang Peak claiming a decisive victory.
Demon Lord Ninglu had suffered severe injuries and damage to her dantian. Her strength was bound to take a serious hit, and even several years of recuperation might not be enough for her to make a full recovery. The demonic cultivators hiding in the caverns had been almost completely wiped out. Only a few survivors remained, fleeing for their lives after tossing away various body parts—arms, legs, and the like—and squeezing through the encirclement behind Ninglu’s retreating carriage.
Demonic cultivators had always been sly, especially those famous Nascent Soul ancestors. Their HP bars were absurdly thick. Some of the more troublesome ones could still crawl all over the ground even after their heads had been chopped off.
Compared with their previous clashes, this battle had stripped Ninglu of most of her forces. The results could only be described as bountiful.
Shu Fu couldn’t help sighing. “I’ll give him this: Xiao Hanyi’s two ounces of flesh really did make a contribution. For such a great achievement, we should sweep up the scraps from his crotch, then burn some incense for him later to express our gratitude.”
Mink Gu: “…”
What in the world was this little girl talking about?!
Liu Ruyi was still reluctant to let the battle end. Plucking at her qin, she sighed, “I still need to work harder and advance to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm as soon as possible. If Sir hadn’t come to our aid, I would have been somewhat lacking in this confrontation with Ninglu.”
“There’s no need to rush. At Ninglu’s age, she could be your great-aunt. Why are you competing with her? I think Shu Fu has led you astray. All you think about now is leaping straight to the top.”
Jiang Xuesheng remained as calm as ever, his face impassive. His smooth, steady voice did not betray the slightest ripple.
After experiencing a fierce battle through the body of a Divine Separation cultivator, he should have been terribly drained in spirit. Yet he still looked utterly serene and unruffled, as though he had merely gone out for a stroll after dinner and murmured to the person beside him, “The moonlight is beautiful tonight.”
After the demonic cultivators fled in disarray, the cultivators of Wei City, who were thoroughly trained, quickly entered the mountain and took over Demon Lord Ninglu’s abandoned lair under Wei Zhi’s command.
Her many beauties had long since scattered. Wei City had no intention of investigating them too closely. After all, they had either been victims or cowards who had survived by pleasing her with their looks. Once they had confiscated all the treasures and rare materials the demonic cultivators had not had time to put away, Wei Zhi personally summoned a ball of spiritual fire and burned the entire cavern complex to the ground, vaporizing the demonic aura that had accumulated beneath it as well.
In a corner deep within the cavern, beside Demon Lord Ninglu’s bedchamber, they also found the legendary “bathing pool.”
Only then did they learn that the “fragrance” Ninglu used when bathing was neither flower petals nor medicinal herbs, nor one of the beauty treatments popular among female cultivators, such as milk or pearl powder. It was the blood of countless handsome young men.
A layer of horrifying scarlet floated across the surface of the enormous pool. The air was tinged with a faint smell of blood, and here and there, one could faintly hear the desperate wails of a lingering soul.
To die with one’s eyes open—there could be no better example.
In a corner of the cavern, they found several cultivators’ robes in various colors. The mottled bloodstains on their collars had already turned black. The robes would have to be sent to the various sects for identification, so the dead could return to their roots.
If Shu Fu had not arrived in time, Ye Shusheng would probably have joined them before long.
Thinking of that, she couldn’t help secretly wiping away a cold sweat on behalf of her old friend.
Please, Ye Shusheng! Stop spreading that damned charm of yours to demons and monsters!!!
After Ninglu’s palace had been reduced to ashes, Shu Fu naturally did not forget to lead Wei Zhi and the cultivators of Wei City into the rift she had cleaved open. There, she explained to them in detail the past life and present circumstances of the Flower Children.
Having witnessed the tragic scenes inside the underground palace with their own eyes, everyone was horrified and no longer harbored any doubts. They lamented the tragedy that had taken place a thousand years ago and felt deeply ashamed and remorseful over the sins of their ancestors. Wei Zhi solemnly promised that she would report the entire matter to her mother, persuade her to demolish the Flower Children Temple and build an ancestral shrine in its place, and pass down the great crime committed by Wei City’s ancestors in their ignorance so that future generations might take warning.
With that, one old matter could finally be laid to rest, and a long-standing injustice brought into the light of day.
As for how to deal with—or, more accurately, “send off”—the souls lingering within the Flower Children Temple, that was what they would have to consider next.
“Ninglu consumed us completely. In the end, she drained our blood to bathe in and nourish her youthful appearance. To her, we were nothing more than ‘fertilizer’ from beginning to end. She alone was the only flower.”
Throughout the journey, Mink Gu had remained close behind the group, explaining the situation with lingering fear. “After I learned the truth, I was always looking for a chance to escape. That was how I discovered the secret passage leading to the underground palace.”
“This time, she ordered me to keep Lady Ye—Brother Ye—company. I guessed she would soon grow tired of me, so I planned to grab some valuable gold and silver and make a run for it. Who could have guessed that I would run into you and accidentally show you the right path?”
At this point, he puffed out his chest with unmistakable pride. “Ninglu wanted a man who would obediently warm her bed. I wanted a life—or rather, a mink life—of fine clothes and good food. Just as she said, we were simply exchanging goods for money. I owe her nothing. Now, I’m free again!”
Well, this mink certainly had a philosophy when it came to clinging to powerful patrons.
Speaking of which, where had “Brother Ye” come from?
“Who would’ve thought you actually had dreams of your own, little mink?”
Shu Fu gave him a teasing sidelong glance. “So, what are you planning to do now? Which wealthy woman are you going to latch on to next? Want to come work at Yaoguang Peak? We won’t give you pocket money, but at least you’ll have food and lodging. You won’t starve.”
“Bah! Who wants to work for you?”
The mink stuck out his tongue at her dismissively. “You’re all right, I suppose, but look at that snake spirit next to you. He looks like he might strangle someone at any moment. I’m not staying by his side.”
Shu Fu sighed. “Sir isn’t a snake spirit… Never mind. Where do you want to go?”
Mink Gu did not hesitate for even a moment. He leaped onto Ye Shusheng’s shoulder and excitedly rubbed his two little forepaws together. “I want to stay with Brother Ye!”
“With me?” Ye Shusheng stared blankly, completely unaware of his own damned charm. “Are you sure?”
The mink nodded so vigorously it looked as though his head might fall off. “I’m sure! Brother Ye, wherever you go, Gu Xiaoqiao will follow you!”
Shu Fu: “…”
Qiaoqiao, that name is a little too cute and girlish for you.
This was the first time Ye Shusheng had ever encountered such an enthusiastic male demon. Thinking his luck had finally changed and that he had at last made a true friend—a companion with whom he could develop a pure same-sex friendship—he said, “All right. Since you’re so determined, come with me to Thousand-Lantern Temple to cultivate in seclusion. We can exchange pointers and improve together!”
Mink Gu: “………………Huh?”
What temple???
“Thousand-Lantern Temple. You don’t know it?”
Seeing that his gaze had gone blank, Ye Shusheng assumed the demon cultivator was unfamiliar with the human sects, so he kindly and enthusiastically explained, “Thousand Lantern Temple is the largest Buddhist sect in the cultivation world. It faces the sea and rests against the mountains, built atop a sheer cliff thousands of meters high. Ordinarily, the masters all retreat in caves barely three feet across, enduring wind and rain with nothing but their flesh and blood. Once night falls, you can see thousands of lanterns glowing from afar along the cliff face, shining brilliantly across the mountainside. That is how it came to be called ‘Thousand Lantern Temple.’”
The mink: “…”
No, that doesn’t sound like a temple at all! Isn’t it just a bunch of cavemen living on a mountaintop?!
And why is it a temple? Look at you—thick hair, a sturdy build. You’re perfectly qualified to be my top!
This time, Ye Shusheng understood the confusion in his eyes. He raised a hand to scratch the back of his head and gave an embarrassed little smile. “To be completely honest, I still have one unresolved worldly tie. I must go to Qingqiu to seek out a certain ‘Fox Girl’ and fulfill my mother’s dying wish. If we are fated to be together, then so be it. If not… my mind is made up. I intend to shave my head and become a monk at Thousand Lantern Temple, taking refuge in Buddhism.”
The mink: “??????”
What was wrong with these dense, hopelessly straight men?! She’d been made to spit twice in a single day!
People like you can basically say goodbye to romance!
Shu Fu really couldn’t stand by and watch any longer. She had just been about to stop Ye Shusheng and explain a few things when he suddenly perked up, tucked the mink under his arm, and leaped into the air. “Time is precious. Let’s find somewhere and start body-tempering together! I have to hurry up and train. I’m going to make a spectacular impression at the Flower Festival and get the Fox Girl to notice me!”
Pinned beneath his arm and unable to move, the mink’s heart raced. He cautiously ventured, “Um, Brother Ye, when you say ‘body-tempering,’ you mean…”
Ye Shusheng cheerfully replied, “Don’t worry. I’ve already made arrangements with a fellow cultivator to be our sparring partner. His name is Bai Tian, and he specializes in the Five Elements spells. I’ll have him summon a few bolts of heavenly lightning to strike us. The power will definitely be sufficient. I guarantee the more we’re struck, the tougher we’ll become.”
The mink: “………………”
Some mink might look calm on the surface, but secretly, he had already begun exerting all his strength, trying to wriggle free from beneath Ye Shusheng’s arm.
“Oh, right, Brother Mink, what do you think of Thousand Lantern Temple? If you’re thinking of joining the temple, why not shave your head and become a monk with me? No, wait—you’d have to shave your fur. Your coat is so thick; you must get awfully hot in summer. Shaving it all off would be much cooler.”
“Brother Ye, nooooo!!!!”
…
While Ye Shusheng enthusiastically promoted the temple and the mink protested in horror, Shu Fu suddenly heard the rustle of clothing behind her. She turned around and saw Master Huaigu, who had collapsed after being poisoned earlier.
Old Master Gu truly lived up to his reputation as a master of alchemy. He had quickly found the appropriate pill and taken it, temporarily easing the poison Ninglu had injected through his face and suppressing the black qi that continued to spread.
Yet in the brief interval during which no one had seen him, Shu Fu could no longer recognize him at all.
At that moment, Master Huaigu’s forehead was dark with qi, his eyes vacant, and his expression so haggard and dispirited that he looked like an old man whose life was flickering out like a guttering candle. In the blink of an eye, all the hair on his head and face had turned completely white, like withered weeds in winter, fluttering softly with every rise and fall of his shoulders and chest.
Even more astonishingly, when a cool night breeze swept past, Master Huaigu’s white hair—resembling a clump of dried grass—rose into the air. One strand after another, lock after lock, it abandoned his thin scalp and drifted away on the wind, as though an invisible hand were plucking out his hair.
Before long, he went from a full head of white hair to a patchy bald spot, then to a receding “Mediterranean,” then to a few sparse strands, and finally…
Before the stunned eyes of everyone present, a smooth, gleaming bald head appeared—shining just as brightly as the masters of Thousand Lantern Temple. Not a single hair remained.
“…”
Shu Fu had heard plenty of tragic stories about people going gray overnight, but “going bald overnight” was an ancient marvel she had never witnessed in either her previous life or this one.
Who would have thought that, before the overworked corporate slave Master Qiu, it would be the supposedly retired-and-contented Master Huaigu who went bald first?
“Were you just talking about Thousand Lantern Temple?”
Master Huaigu weakly raised one hand and rubbed his smooth, egg-like scalp. His expression dazed, he murmured, “I… have decided to go with you. My entire life has been filled with empty illusions. Now I only wish to become a monk at Thousand Lantern Temple, escape into the Buddhist path, and spend my remaining years beside green lamps and ancient Buddhas.”
“Oh, give it a rest. Don’t start with the crying, fussing, and dramatic head-shaving routine.”
Shu Fu wasn’t buying any of it. She showed him none of the patience she had displayed toward Ye Shusheng. Rolling her eyes, she stiffened her expression and said coldly, “You can spend your remaining years at the Jiuhua Sect just as easily. You can even burn yourself up and contribute the last bit of warmth you have to everyone else.”
“Stop treating Thousand Lantern Temple like a trash can for escaping reality. All of you are making things difficult for the masters.”
