Chapter 18: Why

A short figure darted quickly through the dense forest of Fragrant Ze Mountain.

At first, the figure still looked somewhat human, but after running for a short while, its body shifted into a four-legged bounding form, crunching broken branches and leaves underfoot with chaotic snaps.

At the same time, a streak of white sword light flashed past behind the figure, chasing it at an equally matched speed and nipping at its heels. A childish voice seemed to faintly echo as well.

“Wenren Jing—you stop running!”

Wenren Sheng chased behind Color Kill and shouted at the top of his lungs.

But the sword and the rabbit ran far too fast. At that moment, Wenren Sheng couldn’t easily revert to his original form either, so he could only chase after them desperately on two legs.

Fragrant Ze Mountain was Xiang City’s premier mountain after all, and it had plenty of steep slopes. Once Wenren Sheng charged down one, he couldn’t brake at all. He wobbled unsteadily, on the verge of tumbling down the mountainside.

“Eh eh eh! I’m gonna fall!”

Before he could roll into a ball, someone timely grabbed the back of his collar.

He Mu hovered in midair atop Color Kill. He half-squatted and hoisted Wenren Sheng up, frowning as he said, “Running so fast? I called for you to stop, but you didn’t.”

Wenren Sheng dangled in midair like a little dog, his hands and feet flailing wildly.

Seeing that struggling did no good, he could only shout angrily, “Why didn’t the Mountain God use the Earth Shrinking Technique!”

He Mu remained quite calm. He shook his head and said, “Its range is too small. If I knew where he was headed, I could have intercepted him ahead of time.”

“Uh…”

Wenren Sheng racked his brains for a moment before saying,

“I don’t know where the clan leader and the others are living now, but this direction should be toward Xiang City, right?”

He Mu nodded. “Good. Then we’ll go straight to the foot of the mountain and block him there.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than He Mu tucked Wenren Sheng into his arms. With a burst of Sword Flight, they landed at the base of Fragrant Ze Mountain in an instant.

The mountain foot was some distance from Xiang City’s gates, so the two of them blocked the path there, each hiding in the underbrush on one side.

Wenren Sheng’s heart pounded with tension.

That figure, and that face—he absolutely wouldn’t mistake them.

It had to be the clan leader!

Wenren Sheng didn’t dare blink. He stared nervously toward the mountain entrance, his body and breathing tense, ready at any moment to grab the fleeing clan leader.

Yet after waiting a full quarter-hour, there was still no movement at all.

“…Did we not catch up?”

Wenren Sheng stamped his foot in anxiety and couldn’t help complaining,

“How is the clan leader still so fast at his age!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a fierce gust of wind suddenly whipped over his head, flipping up his bangs.

He looked down and saw that an enormous shadow had blanketed his surroundings at some point. It seemed a colossal creature was passing directly overhead.

In the next second, it plunged straight toward He Mu!

Wenren Sheng’s expression changed in shock. He hurriedly looked toward He Mu.

Only then did he make out that the massive thing was a white rabbit whose body had been enlarged several times over!

Though the rabbit lunged quickly, He Mu was an immortal after all. He shifted his body slightly to dodge, then raised a hand to summon Color Kill. The blade circled behind him and jammed right into the rabbit’s vital point.

“Don’t move!” He Mu barked.

The command scared the rabbit into a full-body shudder. With a “Bang!”, it shifted into human form.

Sure enough, it was that little old man who had been peeking from afar. From Wenren Sheng’s earlier shout, his name seemed to be Wenren Jing.

“Clan Leader?” Wenren Sheng said hesitantly. “You…”

Wenren Jing’s body had been trembling nonstop, but upon seeing Wenren Sheng, he gritted his teeth as if steeling his resolve. He shoved aside He Mu along with Color Kill and rolled once to block in front of Wenren Sheng.

“Ch-Ch-Chen Lian, right?”

Wenren Jing stammered a shout at He Mu.

“I’m telling you—if you dare cause him any more trouble, I’ll, I’ll bite you to death, kill you! I’ll, I’ll th-throw you into the sea to feed the fish!”

He Mu raised a brow and sheathed Color Kill on his back. A glint of light passed over the golden pattern between his brows.

He eyed Wenren Jing obliquely.

“You don’t recognize me?”

Wenren Jing backed up another step, nearly squeezing behind Wenren Sheng.

He bared his teeth in a fierce snarl and bluffed ferociously, “I do! I heard long ago that you bully Wenren Sheng! I rushed back today precisely to, to take you down!”

Wenren Sheng felt a bit at a loss. He hurriedly placed a hand on the clan leader’s shoulder and whispered, “Clan Leader! He’s Fragrant Ze Mountain’s Mountain God, not Chen Lian. Chen Lian is already dead!”

“What?!” Wenren Jing shuddered. “Mountain God? He looks even younger than me!”

Wenren Sheng furrowed his brow, thinking to himself that there weren’t many in the world older than this old rabbit of a clan leader.

It was normal that he didn’t recognize He Mu, though. After all, the statue of Cangyu True Monarch in front of the Divine Temple didn’t resemble He Mu at all—He Mu was far more handsome.

He Mu took a step forward and leaned in slightly, scrutinizing Wenren Jing with his gaze.

“So, you’re the clan leader who adopted Wenren Sheng back then?”

Perhaps He Mu’s gaze was too sharp. Wenren Jing met it for just an instant before his legs began quaking in fear.

He let out a yelp and hurriedly ducked behind Wenren Sheng, his voice trembling as he said, “N-No no no no, I just came to check on the kid. I didn’t plan to do anything else!”

He Mu countered, “Check on the kid?”

Wenren Jing mumbled, “Yeah, Wenren Sheng. I came to see Wenren Sheng. His, uh… birthday… no no, Chen Lian… er…”

Seeing him stammer incoherently, He Mu pulled Wenren Sheng to his side. He tilted his head and quietly asked, “Is he your family from before?”

Wenren Sheng gazed at Wenren Jing with some concern. He nodded and took hold of He Mu’s hand.

He Mu then asked, “Do you want to catch up with him?”

Catch up?

“Ah…”

Wenren Sheng made that extremely conflicted expression again.

Truth be told, he didn’t really want much contact with the clan leader, but he was intensely curious about the Rabbit Clan’s life these past years.

When had they left Fragrant Ze Mountain? Where were they now? Just thinking about it made his heart itch, as if someone were tickling the tip of it with a feather.

Without Wenren Sheng’s protection, Wenren Jing neither advanced nor retreated. He could only snap off a tree branch and point it shakily at He Mu.

“Even the Mountain God can’t… no one can bully him…”

Wenren Sheng thought he looked even older than before. All his hair and beard had gone completely white, and his frame had withered to skin and bones, giving off the sense that his lifespan was nearing its end.

Wenren Sheng pondered for a moment, then finally let go of He Mu’s hand and stepped forward, extending his own toward the old man.

“Clan Leader, are you hungry?” He gazed at the little old man with worry. “How about we go eat something first?”

As instructed, He Mu took Wenren Jing to that teahouse they frequented and ordered the same tea and snacks as last time.

He figured they’d just have a casual bite or two, but who would have thought that Wenren Jing would devour it all like a starved ghost reincarnated? In less than half an incense stick of time, he wolfed down every plate.

Wenren Sheng sat on He Mu’s lap, barely able to reach the table.

He only carefully nibbled a small piece of his favorite pastry, leaving the rest for Wenren Jing to eat. After all, the old man truly looked starved.

“You really are family,” He Mu leaned in slightly and murmured by Wenren Sheng’s ear. “You both love the snacks here, and even after eating so much, neither of you puts on any weight.”

He pinched the flesh at Wenren Sheng’s waist, thinking to himself that he hadn’t skimped on food for the past half year, so why wouldn’t the kid fatten up?

Wenren Sheng was very ticklish. He twisted his body and grumbled,

“It tickles!”

He Mu stopped pinching. He held the child in his arms, and the two of them blinked their eyes, waiting to see when Wenren Jing would finish eating.

After watching for a bit, He Mu couldn’t hold back his impatience. He seized an opening to ask, “Wenren Sheng, when you lived with the rabbits as a child, did you think you were a little rabbit too?”

Wenren Sheng huffed lightly. “I’m not that dumb.”

He Mu asked again, “Did you eat grass like them?”

“I don’t like it. I’d go down the mountain myself to buy steamed buns.”

“Weren’t the rabbits scared?”

“I’m not a rabbit. I don’t know what they were thinking.”

Wenren Sheng was already feeling restless, and He Mu kept chattering on without end, which only made him more irritated. He practically wanted to chomp down on He Mu’s face.

Fortunately, at that moment, Wenren Jing finally seemed to have filled his empty stomach. He grabbed a nearby teacup and gulped down a mouthful, finally swallowing the dry lump of food.

When he looked up, he found two pairs of eyes staring straight at him.

He jolted in fright.

“Oh! Wh-What?!”

He Mu spread his hands. “Now it’s time to talk about your situation, right?”

Wenren Jing swallowed hard and shot a nervous glance at Wenren Sheng.

“…What situation?” he asked, playing dumb.

Given that he was Wenren Sheng’s kin, He Mu patiently asked a second time, “I heard from Wenren Sheng that your entire clan moved away from Fragrant Ze Mountain a long time ago. Why did you come back?”

At those words, Wenren Jing abruptly ducked his head. His eyes darted about evasively, clearly harboring some secret in his heart but hesitating to speak.

He Mu narrowed his eyes, his tone growing a bit firmer. “Not talking? Feeling guilty?”

“N-No no no, I’m not!” Wenren Jing hurriedly shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Then—”

“He said just now that he came back to celebrate my birthday with me.”

Before the words finished, the previously silent Wenren Sheng finally spoke up to interrupt He Mu.

But his expression didn’t look particularly happy. Instead, he pursed his lips, looking like a little bitter melon.

“Is birthday that important?” Wenren Sheng muttered softly. “More than that, I want to know why you all left so suddenly.”

For most people, perhaps a reunion after many years mattered more than dredging up old events. But not for Wenren Sheng.

He simply followed his heart’s first impulse, doggedly fixated on finding out why his cherished family had vanished without a word.

Had he done something wrong? Or had they come to dislike him?

He needed an answer, at least.

At Wenren Sheng’s words, Wenren Jing’s gaze finally steadied. His eyes dimmed, and he turned his face aside to avoid meeting Wenren Sheng’s.

He stammered as he opened his mouth:

“…The Heavenly Spiritual Root. Do you still have it?”