At that moment, Wu Guanyue and Wenren Ying were sitting side by side on a long bench, their backs against the edge of the table. Wenren Ying had removed his conical hat, revealing a pair of deep, unfathomable eyes.
He always liked to keep his eyes hidden. If he went outside without his hat like this, perhaps more than half the people who knew him would fail to recognize him.
Yet he was willing to let down his guard before her. The first time she had asked him to take off his hat, he had truly removed it for her to see.
At the thought, Wu Guanyue felt her heart brim over.
Tilting her head, she looked at Wenren Ying. She was much shorter than he was, so from where she sat, she had to look up at him. From this angle, she could clearly see his Adam’s apple moving faintly...
Wenren Ying’s muscles seemed a little tense. He stared fixedly at her, and yet those deep eyes glimmered with a trace of scarlet, lending him a strange, cold inhumanity.
Like... an animal. Like some deadly predatory beast lying in wait.
It was the first time Brother Ying had looked at her that way... Wu Guanyue gave a tiny shiver, and even her twin ponytails trembled.
Wenren Ying immediately closed his eyes. “Sorry. Did I scare you? When I’m in a bad mood, I become like this.”
The most distinguishing trait of blood-poison demon cultivators was that, whenever their emotions fluctuated, their eyes would turn scarlet. That was why Wenren Ying always wore the conical hat.
Wu Guanyue tilted her head.
Brother Ying... was so nervous...
He really was. Ever since Master Chongxu had uttered the words “blood-poison demon cultivator,” the tension in his muscles had never eased.
After explaining everything, Master Chongxu had hurried away. The Blood Demon Ancestor could awaken at any time, and he had to maintain the illusion that nothing had been openly discussed. Otherwise, if the Blood Demon Ancestor hiding within his sea of consciousness noticed anything amiss, there was no telling what he might do with Master Chongxu’s body.
Once Master Chongxu had left, only Brother Ying remained in the inn. Usually, he was such a relaxed person... but today, he was terribly tense.
Wu Guanyue pondered for a moment. Then she suddenly reached out and tugged at the corner of Wenren Ying’s robe, muttering, “Brother Ying, don’t be nervous—don’t be nervous. That Blood Demon Ancestor... we’ll take him out together!”
As she spoke, she made a particularly sinister slicing gesture across her throat.
Wenren Ying burst out laughing.
Little Yue... Little Yue...
He knew that Little Yue was a very good girl.
Though she always liked to throw... well, square-shaped pieces of dung at people, that was only when dealing with enemies. And when it came to enemies, surely no method was too excessive, was it?
Actually... the reason he was nervous was because... he did not want Little Yue to be afraid of him.
No one knew better than he did what kind of reputation blood-poison demon cultivators had. Besides, even he himself believed that people like them were indeed very dangerous.
His spiritual reservoir had been shattered for years, yet he still often felt those uncontrollable urges toward cruelty...
But Little Yue seemed utterly unaware, as though she had no idea what that title meant.
Of course she didn’t know... From the very first day he had met her, Wenren Ying had noticed how lacking she was in common sense.
He opened his mouth, seeming as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he swallowed the words back down and merely rasped, “The Blood Demon Ancestor... This is dangerous. I’ll handle it.”
But Little Yue shook her head, her twin ponytails bouncing with lively energy. She declared righteously, “How could I let you do that? This is obviously a player quest!”
There might not have been a side quest prompt, but if the player said it was one, then it was one!
Hmm... Let the player sort this out.
The matter of the Blood Demon Ancestor could be called complicated, but it could also be called simple. And yet, even if it seemed simple, it was complicated in its own way.
The key lay with Master Chongxu.
Master Chongxu had already explained everything clearly today. For someone in his position to reveal his greatest secret in its entirety meant that he had made up his mind.
He had decided that even if it meant becoming a cripple with a shattered spirit abode, even if it cost him his life, he would not regret it.
But no matter how resolute he sounded, he truly could not die.
There was no mistake: he was a cultivator of blood-poison demonic arts. Brother Ying had told him how to resolve the problem long ago, but at the time, he had been unable to make up his mind. Now, even though he had finally reached that decision, it was already too late.
Once a cultivator’s spirit abode was shattered, their sea of divine consciousness would shrink, making it impossible to accommodate another person’s primordial spirit. The Blood Demon Ancestor would never allow him to do such a thing. The moment he entertained the idea, the Blood Demon Ancestor would immediately seize his body completely.
But Brother Ying could not make a move either.
Master Chongxu was not merely Master Chongxu. He was also a direct disciple of Cuiyun Grotto-Heaven and a member of the Meishan She clan. If one of their own had his spirit abode destroyed by someone else... They would have to be out of their minds not to demand an explanation.
This wouldn’t work... and that wouldn’t work either...
Wu Guanyue wore an extremely troubled expression.
As she made that face, Wenren Ying sat with his head tilted, watching her... watching her grow so worried over his affairs...
Wenren Ying suddenly found himself unable to stop the corners of his lips from curving upward again. He noticed that Wu Guanyue’s hair was a little tousled and reached out, wanting to smooth it for her, but hesitated slightly...
Just then, Wu Guanyue suddenly sprang to her feet with a whoosh!
Her eyes sparkled, and her entire person seemed to shine. She announced loudly, “I know what to do!”
What they were really lacking was the authority to define the nature of the matter.
Even if they managed to kill the Blood Demon Ancestor, Cuiyun Grotto-Heaven could never acknowledge that they had rid the world of a great menace. Doing so would be tantamount to slapping themselves in the face—the Blood Demon Ancestor had been hiding inside one of their disciples’ divine consciousness for so many years, and they had failed to notice. Were they really going to admit that it had taken rogue cultivators from outside to deal with him?
So they had to deny it. Even if Master Chongxu came forward and spoke for them, it would be useless.
But resolving the problem itself was easy enough—just make it impossible for them to deny!
As for how to accomplish that...
The Little Shopkeeper Wu planted both hands on her hips and stood there with an imposing air. Then she suddenly broke into an extremely sinister grin and began to go, “Heh heh heh heh~~”
Wenren Ying: “...”
Wenren Ying: “...?”
A question mark slowly appeared above Wenren Ying’s head.
...He had a feeling someone was about to have a very bad day. Was that just his imagination?
***
Of course, it was not his imagination!
In fact, Wu Guanyue had set her sights on an old friend of hers!
—She Wenjie!
That’s right, She Wenjie himself!
She Wenjie was Master Chongxu’s younger brother and a member of the She clan of Mount Mei. Some time ago, he had come to the inn looking for trouble with Wu Guanyue, only to be caught by Chu Yingfeng. Not only had he made a complete fool of himself, but he had also lost his chance to enter the inner sect.
However, things weren’t quite as bleak as they seemed. Although he hadn’t made it into the inner sect this year, he could still try again next year. There were plenty of disciples from the She clan, but it was obvious that Verdant Cloud Adept wouldn’t mind taking on one more. Besides, his elder brother was a personal disciple, so he was still surrounded by a crowd of young masters, and his life wasn’t much worse than before.
A man who spent all day doing nothing, luring cats and teasing dogs, and bullying men and women could only be called a good-for-nothing.
But if Little Shopkeeper Wu put She Wenjie to use, then he could be said to be making use of waste.
As for how to communicate with Master Chongxu, that was easy enough. Although the Blood Demon Ancestor could monitor everything that happened around Master Chongxu, he had one fatal weakness:
He couldn’t read!
That was what he got for being uneducated—a country-bumpkin demon.
And so, on this day, She Wenjie finally got to see his brother after a long while.
A young attendant led him to his brother’s secluded retreat, the “Plum Pool Bamboo Lodge,” where Master Chongxu was standing in front of the plum pool.
A breeze swept through the bamboo grove, lifting the sleeves of his snow-white robes.
She Wenjie approached and cupped his hands toward his brother’s back. “Big Brother.”
Master Chongxu’s expression remained indifferent. “You’re here.”
She Wenjie grinned ingratiatingly. “Big Brother, it’s been so long since we last saw each other... The other day, when I came to visit you, your attendant kept saying you weren’t here.”
Master Chongxu: “...”
Not wanting to see this younger brother of his was perfectly understandable, wasn’t it?
Still, today, knowing that his younger brother was about to suffer, Master Chongxu’s meridians felt considerably more at ease. Even his brother’s idiotic remarks didn’t irritate him quite as much as usual.
After enduring three stupid comments from She Wenjie, Master Chongxu interrupted him. “Deliver something to Chu Yingfeng for me.”
She Wenjie: “...Huh?”
Master Chongxu said coolly, “You don’t want to go?”
She Wenjie: “Yes, yes, exactly!”
Master Chongxu smiled but said nothing.
She Wenjie asked cautiously, “...Do I really have to go, Big Brother?”
Master Chongxu replied kindly, “You don’t have to. You can stay here and enter seclusion. This time, make it three years.”
She Wenjie: “...”
She Wenjie drooped his head. “All right...”
Master Chongxu said indifferently, “Good. Go.”
She Wenjie came out carrying the item, unable to figure out why his brother had made him handle this errand. But he had no choice—when his brother lost his temper, he really would lock him up here for three years of secluded cultivation!
And Chu Yingfeng lived at... uh... the Inn with the Too-Long Name!
At the thought of the inn, at the thought of Wu Guanyue, and at the thought of what Wu Guanyue had done to him, She Wenjie’s face twisted uncontrollably!
That woman... That woman...!
Damn her... One day, sooner or later, he would get back every humiliation he had suffered, with interest!
As for exactly which day that would be... uh... he would worry about it later.
Actually, deep down, She Wenjie was still a little... afraid of that inn.
After all, he really had been in a miserable state that day. Not only had Wu Guanyue pulled off an enormous scheme against him, but Chu Yingfeng and Wenren Ying had also taken turns giving him a tag-team beating...
She Wenjie: “...”
She Wenjie shuddered.
The inn was already right in front of him, yet She Wenjie suddenly found himself hesitating, too timid even to step inside.
No! What was he afraid of?
He hadn’t come to cause trouble! As a member of the She clan of Mount Mei, he was merely here to apologize to the disciples of the Xuantian Sect over their earlier disagreement. It was a perfectly aboveboard visit. What was there to fear? What was there to fear!
It wasn’t as though they could beat him up again!
She Wenjie decided that his reasoning made perfect sense. He immediately lifted his chin and strode into the inn, shouting, “Where is Chu Yingfeng?”
At that moment, a fishing rod suddenly whipped out from the corner. Its thin line instantly wrapped around him.
“Excellent! We caught him!”
Little Shopkeeper Wu, who was holding the fishing rod, said this with satisfaction.
“Good! Now drag him to the back courtyard and make him turn the mill! She Wenjie, from this moment on, you’re my nuclear-powered donkey!”
She made the announcement in a grand and imposing voice.
None
