Chapter 7 Part 1

Lian Yunzhi offered no response to his apology. He simply stared fixedly at Mu Cheng and asked in a hoarse voice, “If… you encountered a Tier 5 Demon Beast with red wings, green eyes, a pig-like nose, elephant-like tusks, and a hugely swollen belly that looked pregnant—what would you do to deal with it?”

Mu Cheng paused for a moment before answering honestly, “The best way to kill that kind of Demon Beast is to chop off its head.”

Yes, Mu Cheng had previously decapitated the beast in three moves.

Lian Yunzhi’s lips twitched oddly, and he asked again, “…What if I pierced its pregnant belly?”

Something flashed rapidly through Mu Cheng’s mind, and his face suddenly paled. “…It wasn’t pregnant. Its belly was swollen because it stored a fatal yellow mist inside. Once you puncture its belly, the Demon Beast dies, but the yellow mist… covers the attacker, drains their spiritual energy, leaves them paralyzed on the ground… and attracts other Demon Beasts to devour them.”

Lian Yunzhi sneered coldly. “When did you learn about this?”

Mu Cheng: “One year ago.”

Lian Yunzhi had seen him kill that kind of Demon Beast in the Water Mirror half a year prior.

“Slap!”

Lian Yunzhi delivered another vicious slap across his face!

This time, he channeled the spiritual energy he had barely recovered. Mu Cheng’s head snapped to the side from the heavy blow, and Lian Yunzhi himself spat out a mouthful of blood with a “wah”!

Mu Cheng remained in his half-kneeling position, silent.

Only when Lian Yunzhi choked on his own blood and broke into violent coughs did Mu Cheng turn his head, lift Lian Yunzhi’s slipping body slightly to prop him half against the wall, offer him water from the flask at his waist, and wipe the sticky blood from his lips and the hollow of his neck with a dampened cloth.

But Lian Yunzhi showed no gratitude. After two sips of water, he slapped Mu Cheng’s hand away with a “pa” and spat hatefully, “Cough cough… You… How could your mind be so filthy! You knew full well not to touch that Demon Beast’s belly, yet you deliberately said those misleading words! You did it on purpose, didn’t you? You wanted me dead!”

“No,” Mu Cheng rasped. “I didn’t know that person was you. I didn’t know the one spying on me was you…”

Yes.

Half a year ago, when he killed the Yellow Mist Demon Beast in the time-limited Jinglin Small Secret Realm, Mu Cheng had sensed someone spying on him.

He had been in a foul mood at the time.

When he casually sold the Demon Beast’s hide, someone maliciously twisted his words, claiming he was covertly mocking “Lian Yunzhi hiring people to boast about himself in teahouse storytelling.” Even after he explained himself, the rumors persisted relentlessly.

Mu Cheng’s mood had soured to the extreme. Fearing Lian Yunzhi would despise him even more, he went to see him.

He appeared silently and familiarly in Lian Yunzhi’s courtyard, but he still hadn’t decided whether to meet Lian Yunzhi face-to-face and earnestly explain the rumor, or simply peer through the window at Lian Yunzhi as usual and leave (he wasn’t a pervert, nor did he harbor any illicit intentions toward Lian Yunzhi. He frequented the place purely because Lian Yunzhi smelled good; staying in the courtyard for a while calmed his mind. He truly wasn’t a pervert. After age twelve, he never sneaked into the room again to lie by the bed and sniff Lian Yunzhi).

…

In any case, that day he arrived at the courtyard and peered through the window. When he saw Lian Yunzhi, the latter was packing his things to move to the Spirit Mountain Cave Mansion while muttering to himself—

“What a pity… Mu Cheng didn’t die in the secret realm and even formed his Golden Core… May he drop dead.”

…

His mood soured even further. Harboring the desire to kill a hundred Demon Beasts to vent his frustration, Mu Cheng headed to the Jinglin Small Secret Realm, only to be told by his clan that he must bring his younger cousins for training.

Fine, he brought them. But the group was so incompetent that they chattered and charged at every Demon Beast they encountered. Not only did they fail to kill any, they only dragged him down. He had no choice but to shield the fools while battling the beasts alone.

After clearing the nearby Demon Beasts, he led the idiots to a safe but barren cave, tricked them into gathering Spirit Capturing Grass, and ventured alone into more dangerous territory to slay beasts.

The moment he encountered the Yellow Mist Demon Beast, he sensed a faint trace of spying.

Who?

No cultivator aura lingered nearby, so where did this spied-upon sensation come from?

In that instant, Mu Cheng thought of many things. He recalled his sudden coma in the Mu Mansion and the blood loss-induced dizziness upon waking—he hadn’t known then that it was all his “grandfather’s” doing; he only suspected some vast power targeted him.

Was the spying force the same one plotting against him?

What a pity—they couldn’t find him, nor kill him.

That momentary distraction allowed the Yellow Mist Demon Beast to strike him, inflicting a significant wound.

With chilling fury to vent, Mu Cheng decapitated the Tier 5 Demon Beast in three moves.

Before leaving, he glanced down at the mangled corpse and tossed out a malicious, offhand remark—

“You shouldn’t have been merciful at the start. The best way to kill this kind of Demon Beast is with one sword to its pregnant belly…”

…

Mu Cheng closed his eyes.

“Who was spying on you!” Lian Yunzhi denied loudly, pulling Mu Cheng from his recollection. “I just happened to glimpse a Water Mirror and inexplicably saw you inside it!”

His emotions ran too high; after shouting, he broke into coughs, his entire face flushing red.

Mu Cheng immediately patted his back lightly and lowered his gaze in admission of fault. “Yes, it was all my fault. My heart is too wicked.”

Lian Yunzhi: “…”

Lian Yunzhi knew deep down that he was being somewhat unreasonable and displacing his anger—after all, even if Mu Cheng had said those words deliberately, he hadn’t known the spy was him.

But he was still furious.

Yet with Mu Cheng so forthrightly admitting fault, his rage lodged in his throat, neither rising nor falling.

So Lian Yunzhi gritted his teeth and spat hatefully, “It’s all your fault! You’re the one who got me into this mess!”

Mu Cheng: “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. Punish me as you see fit.”

Lian Yunzhi: “…”

Lian Yunzhi pursed his lips. After a moment, he said, “I want to bathe.”

Mu Cheng soaked a clean cloth in water. “Let me wipe you down, alright? We can’t bathe right now.”

Lian Yunzhi: “But you won’t get me clean. I stink right now.”

Mu Cheng brushed his nose against the hollow of Lian Yunzhi’s neck. “You don’t stink.”

Lian Yunzhi leaned back, shoved his face away, and said with utter disgust, “What happened to your face? Why is it so ugly?”

Mu Cheng fell silent for a beat, then shifted his face back into the shadows. “It’s temporary. It’ll heal once I apply the Scar Healing Ointment.”