Wenren Sheng hadn’t yet reached the age where he could hide his emotions, and He Mu quickly noticed his abnormality.
He turned his face sideways to look behind him. That fluffy head was leaning against his lower back, both hands tightly clutching his clothes, body trembling.
He Mu frowned slightly and subconsciously reached out to touch his head, but he hesitated midway and withdrew his hand.
“Wenren Sheng,” he asked instead, “what’s wrong with you?”
Wenren Sheng pursed his lips and didn’t look up. He just said softly, “I think I’ve been here before.”
Return to One Sword Sect—Wenren Sheng had come here three years ago.
Of course, it wasn’t by his own choice. He had been kidnapped by Chen Lian. If Wenren Sheng hadn’t run away in time back then, he would have almost been refined by Chen Lian into a pill to cleanse his Spirit Root.
He had been too young at the time, so Wenren Sheng didn’t remember the specifics clearly. The deepest impression was Chen Lian grabbing his tail and cursing him several times as a “Stray Dog.”
Wenren Sheng hated that term a lot, but every time he heard it, he couldn’t help feeling sad.
He really didn’t have a home, no one to back him up—Chen Lian wasn’t wrong about that.
He Mu glanced at Chen Lian, who was kowtowing on the ground, and asked in a low voice, “Did people here bully you?”
Wenren Sheng nodded, then shook his head.
“Only Chen Lian bullied me.”
He Mu stroked his chin and thought for a moment before probing, “Only him? Did no one else know?”
Wenren Sheng answered honestly, “I don’t remember.”
After hearing Wenren Sheng’s account, He Mu felt a trace of displeasure rise in his heart. He tsked darkly and shot a murderous glare at Chen Lian, seemingly pondering how much merit he could gain from chopping this trash to death.
Such a vicious hand against a child—if it had been before, He Mu’s sword would already be at Chen Lian’s neck.
Wenren Sheng didn’t notice He Mu’s gaze. He took two deep breaths, as if trying hard to suppress his fearful emotions.
The Mountain God was here, so nothing would happen.
He told himself silently.
He Mu had just said personally that he was from Fragrant Ze Mountain, one of his people, under his protection.
Wenren Sheng didn’t want to give up the family he had finally found, so he would try to overcome this little fear.
The moment he thought of “family,” Wenren Sheng’s negative emotions vanished instantly. He looked up at He Mu and proactively hooked his pinky finger.
“I’m fine now.”
He flashed a brilliant smile at He Mu, his eyes squinting into happy crescents. He tried to steady his breath and said,
“Whatever you need to do, I can accompany you. We’ll fight side by side.”
Hearing this, He Mu retracted his killing intent from Chen Lian and shifted his attention to Wenren Sheng.
Come to think of it… he had felt something was off earlier.
Back on the snow mountain, he had at least revealed his Divine Graven, so why wasn’t this kid afraid of him at all?
His magical power was so weak it was almost cute.
Hiss… could it be that he was hiding his true strength?
Was he actually the reincarnation of some colleague from the Heavenly Court, possessing an even more powerful Divine Graven, which was why he showed no fear?
!
He Mu’s expression turned stern. He immediately scanned Wenren Sheng with scrutinizing eyes, looking him up and down.
Thinking about it this way, it really was strange.
Wenren Sheng’s skin was smooth and fair, clearly like that of a child raised in a wealthy family, yet his clothes were tattered beyond belief, suspiciously disguised.
And that tail shadow behind him had never been hidden properly. He kept insisting he was “human”—what kind of demon was this stupid?
Too suspicious.
The more He Mu thought, the stranger it seemed. He frowned, reached out to grab Wenren Sheng’s collar, preparing to interrogate him.
But he only got halfway when he met Wenren Sheng’s gaze.
The innocent child’s face was full of harmlessness, completely unaware of his thoughts. He just blinked at him, pure and untainted light blooming in his eyes, nearly blinding He Mu.
“……”
Forget it, probably impossible.
He Mu looked at Wenren Sheng’s dirty little face, withdrew his hand, and rubbed his forehead with a sigh.
“What am I randomly thinking…”
Wenren Sheng waited for a good while beside him, but He Mu made no further moves.
He tilted his head in confusion, about to open his mouth to ask something, when He Mu in front of him suddenly wiped a smudge of dirt from his cheek.
“You look too much like a beggar,” He Mu frowned and said. “I’ll take you to change clothes later.”
Ah, he was being mocked!
Wenren Sheng’s eyes widened as he looked down at his apricot-yellow cloth shirt.
Was it that bad?
He did want to look a bit more pitiful, but not to the level of a real beggar!
“Not even a little like.”
Wenren Sheng muttered unhappily.
He Mu chuckled and casually ruffled his hair.
The texture was surprisingly nice, like petting a fluffy ball.
While the two talked, Chen Lian had fainted again from excessive blood loss.
The cultivators in the sect finally noticed the commotion at the door and turned their gazes over.
Seeing this, Wenren Sheng quickly coughed lightly twice and straightened his tattered clothes.
He would enter the Immortal Sects to cultivate in the future too, so meeting his fellow disciples in advance naturally required some formality, just like the Mountain God…
Thinking this way, he sneaked a glance up at He Mu.
But unexpectedly, the Mountain God wasn’t as serious as he imagined.
He stood with arms crossed, his cloak half-dragging on the ground behind him. He leaned lazily against the doorframe, looking like he didn’t even want to open his eyes.
Wenren Sheng was shocked.
How could this be!
Before he could recover from the shock, a blue-robed cultivator with his hair tied up came rushing from inside the sect. He respectfully saluted He Mu and asked,
“Fellow Daoist, what matter do you have with the Sword Sect?”
Wenren Sheng felt a bit unhappy. This person only saluted He Mu and hadn’t noticed him standing beside He Mu.
Could it be… a problem with his posture?
So Wenren Sheng mimicked He Mu by crossing his arms, forced his mouth corners down, and desperately tiptoed to get the cultivator’s attention.
Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain—he was just too short, tiny as he was.
He Mu did notice his little actions. Instead of answering the cultivator directly, he looked at Wenren Sheng with a half-smile and tilted his head toward him.
“Hm?”
Only then did the cultivator follow his gaze and see Wenren Sheng beside him—
And Chen Lian on the ground, covered in blood and unconscious.
“Ah!” The cultivator’s face turned ghastly pale as he cried out in shock. “Th-this-this… isn’t this Junior Brother Chen Lian?”
Only then did He Mu slowly state his purpose. “I’m looking for his master, Wu Di.”
The cultivator squatted down to support Chen Lian while anxiously demanding, “Who injured him like this? Was it you?! Why hurt someone so badly!”
He Mu leaned down, placed a hand on Wenren Sheng’s shoulder, and asked with a beaming smile,
“Do you think he did it?”
Only then did the cultivator’s gaze fall on the innocent-looking child.
“What a joke, this kid—”
Halfway through, the cultivator stopped abruptly and re-examined Wenren Sheng.
No, upon closer look, why did this kid’s expression look so vicious? Could it be that he was jealous of Junior Brother Chen Lian’s great progress in cultivation, so he deviated into Qi Deviation, his body regressing to a child’s form, but his heart remaining as venomous as a scorpion, waiting for a chance to take revenge on his junior brother?!
The cultivator instantly imagined Wenren Sheng’s identity, his expression changing drastically.
“Y-you-you…” He pointed at Wenren Sheng’s nose and stammered, “You villain! So vicious!”
Wenren Sheng let out a light hum and said coolly, “I’m not a fool, I’m a smart person.”
The cultivator jumped at his response, quickly backing away to protect Chen Lian’s head. His panicked gaze darted between He Mu and Wenren Sheng.
“M-Master!”
Finally, the cultivator hugged Chen Lian’s head and shouted toward the training ground.
“Someone’s broken in! Little junior brother is about to die!”
About to die?
Wasn’t he still alive just now?
Wenren Sheng looked puzzled and was about to go check Chen Lian’s breathing when a force pulled him back.
“Dirty, don’t touch him.” He Mu frowned and shielded Wenren Sheng behind him. “Stay behind me.”
Wenren Sheng nodded slowly and gripped one of He Mu’s fingers.
The Sword Sect people arrived quickly. Wenren Sheng roughly glanced around—the leader was a middle-aged man in the same Daoist robes as the cultivator, with thick eyebrows slanting upward, striding exaggeratedly like an angry rooster.
The rooster saw Chen Lian’s injuries, his eyes bulging in disbelief. He looked at Wenren Sheng, then at He Mu.
“Who are you people?!”
This cultivator had called him master earlier, so was he that “invincible elder”?
He didn’t look very invincible—nowhere near as handsome as the Mountain God.
Wenren Sheng let out a light hum and proudly straightened his posture a bit.
He Mu wasn’t angered by their rude questioning, nor did he show much respect. He continued leaning against the doorframe, his gaze casually falling on Wu Di.
“You’re his master, Wu Di?”
Wu Di glared and rebuked, “Brat, we have no grudge. Why hurt my disciple?”
He Mu ignored the “brat” comment. He switched legs and continued, “Your disciple injured my person first. How do we settle this account?”
Hearing this, Wu Di quickly glanced at Wenren Sheng, a flash of guilt in his eyes.
He Mu immediately caught his gaze and exposed him directly. “Why look at him? I said he was the one injured?”
Wu Di’s eyes widened even more as he raged, “Not him, then why bring him here?”
“I-I-I… Let me tell you, don’t stir up trouble here! The Sword Sect isn’t a place for loose cultivators to trespass!”
The cultivator beside him chimed in, “Yeah, take your son and get lost!”
He Mu wanted to retort about the “loose cultivator” label, but then thought that he currently had no sect or faction, so being called a loose cultivator wasn’t wrong.
So he pulled Wenren Sheng’s shoulder instead and explained calmly, “He’s not my son. We’re comrades-in-arms.”
Wenren Sheng lifted his chin and repeated, “Comrades-in-arms!”
The cultivators exchanged stunned looks upon hearing this.
“……”
“……Who asked?”
“Doesn’t matter if he’s your son or not. Loose cultivators without a name aren’t welcome here—scram!”
The cultivators immediately erupted in chatter like a pot boiling over. More people gathered at the sect gate, nearly filling half the training ground.
The group spontaneously united in hostility, their voices buzzing around Wenren Sheng’s ears like wasps.
Wenren Sheng listened for just a few sentences before his head started spinning and his body grew weak.
Oh no!
Wenren Sheng thought it was bad.
He was about to faint from hunger!
His stomach growled nonstop, making it hard to concentrate.
He touched his belly, wondering where to get some food later, when his nose caught a whiff of meaty aroma, seemingly coming from the training ground.
He followed the scent and saw, not far away, an old dog with a small plate beside it containing several steaming hot buns.
Wenren Sheng couldn’t help swallowing.
They were talking anyway, so sneaking one to eat… shouldn’t be a problem, right?
To become a great hero and learn powerful spells, how could he do it without filling his stomach?
He slowly let go of He Mu’s hand and silently stepped over the Sword Sect’s threshold.
The moment the warmth left his finger, He Mu noticed Wenren Sheng’s movement.
With his peripheral vision, he saw Wenren Sheng staring at the buns nearby, eyes gleaming, practically drooling.
…Still a gluttonous little Wolf Demon.
He Mu sighed silently.
But this made things easier.
He didn’t stop him aloud, just glanced casually before drawing Color Kill from his waist.
The cultivators saw his movement and immediately clamored again.
“Ooh ooh ooh!”
“He’s drawing his sword!”
“Quick, cover junior brother and the el—”
Pfft!
Before the cultivators could react, with a sword cry, Color Kill pierced Wu Di’s left shoulder in a blink.
!!
Wu Di’s meridians were instantly paralyzed. He glared furiously and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
“Cough cough!”
He barely lifted his neck, staring at He Mu in disbelief.
“You…!”
That strike, in both power and speed, was clearly superior—no one could react.
This “loose cultivator’s” realm was definitely beyond the Soul Formation Realm.
For a moment, everyone held their breath, the training ground falling deathly silent.
“I said, I don’t have time to waste with you all.”
He Mu’s expression remained unchanged as he leisurely drew his sword and shook it off.
“I came here to ask just one thing.”
He Mu turned his head and glanced at Wenren Sheng again. The child finally shuffled with cautious steps to the plate of buns nearby.
His movements were extremely cautious, like a clumsy little dog that had done something bad.
He Mu withdrew his gaze and looked toward Wu Di and the group of cultivators. The base color of his pupils slowly turned reddish-gold.
“That child’s spirit root is damaged. I checked his pulse; half of it had been cut out by someone.”
He spoke indifferently, but a sinister killing intent like slithering serpents slowly surged around him, leisurely coiling around the necks of the crowd.
“Which one of you did it?”
