Chapter 6: The Fifth Day After Transmigrating Into a Book

A bronze lotus incense burner on the low table sent up curling trails of smoke.

A short while later, the tea came to a boil. Chu Wuyue had just poured himself a cup when the steaming water streamed from the teapot, spreading a rich aroma through the room.

Yin Shiyan came out of the inner hall, wiping his hands with a cloth. His steps were unhurried as he sat across from Chu Wuyue.

Chu Wuyue was holding the teapot, so he poured Yin Shiyan a cup as well.

“Thank you, Grand Martial Ancestor.” Yin Shiyan smiled warmly. “In all these years, this is the first time you’ve poured tea for me.”

“How badly is he injured?” Chu Wuyue asked.

“The child has no spiritual energy and hasn’t begun cultivating. I examined him carefully. Most of his external injuries came from a beating, and two of his ribs are broken. He’s been enduring it without a word. He’s exceptionally resilient and steady for his age.”

Yin Shiyan’s words held a note of praise. After a pause, he asked softly, “May I ask where you found the child, Grand Martial Ancestor? And what do you plan to do with him?”

The question came at just the right time. Chu Wuyue had been planning to tell Yin Shiyan what had happened in Yucheng, anyway. Since Yin Shiyan had asked about Qin Feiyuan, Chu Wuyue used the opportunity to explain everything.

He looked at Yin Shiyan. “While repairing the seal, I discovered that a group of the Devil Race had already broken through and escaped. The demonic qi around the area was too dense to track them, but Yucheng is the human settlement closest to the Devil Realm. I was worried something might have happened there, so I went to investigate…”

Chu Wuyue lowered his voice. “I was too late. The entire city had been slaughtered. There were no survivors except this child, who was hiding in an alley, so I brought him back.”

“Even with your cultivation, Grand Martial Ancestor, you couldn’t track the escaped devils?” Yin Shiyan asked in surprise.

Chu Wuyue closed his eyes and shook his head, his voice calm. “I could sense the demonic qi, but not the devils.”

Chu Wuyue was puzzled, too. The original book shouldn’t have included a city-wide massacre. He might have arrived late, but what was supposed to happen was Qin Feiyuan making his own way back to Yucheng—not the entire city being slaughtered.

Then there was the empty coffin outside the forest, steeped in sinister demonic qi. Even if the rich young master had dug up the grave to humiliate Qin Feiyuan, the old beggar’s body should still have been there.

And the thick black demonic qi drifting through the air was alarming. How could a single group of escaped devils have produced so much?

Could the butterfly effect caused by his actions really bring about changes this drastic?

After hearing everything Chu Wuyue had to say, Yin Shiyan frowned in thought. “There are too many unanswered questions. I’ll make sure the area around Yucheng is investigated carefully. Please rest assured, Grand Martial Ancestor.”

“Mm,” Chu Wuyue replied.

After a moment of silence, Yin Shiyan asked gently, “Have you examined the child you brought back? Are you certain there’s nothing wrong with him?”

As expected of the Sect Leader. He’d gone straight to the heart of the matter.

Could Chu Wuyue tell him the male lead had a Devil Embryo Physique? No. But was it reasonable that a fourteen-year-old boy was the only survivor of a city-wide massacre? No, it wasn’t.

So it was only natural for Yin Shiyan to be suspicious. Chu Wuyue understood, even if they still didn’t know what had happened in Yucheng.

But Chu Wuyue was certain that the male lead was only fourteen. He was a poor child everyone bullied, so there was no way he’d slaughtered the city. Only the male lead after he turned dark could do something like that.

Still, he had to keep Qin Feiyuan’s identity as a Devil Embryo Physique under wraps.

Chu Wuyue held his teacup. “He’s an orphan with no one to rely on. I saw that he had some talent, so I brought him back. The new disciples we took in recently have only a handful with good aptitude. The Grand Immortal Sect Assembly is coming up in a few years. Fengyun Sect needs a few promising young disciples who can hold their own.”

“The Grand Martial Ancestor has thought this through. I was worrying over nothing,” Yin Shiyan said.

Chu Wuyue let out a quiet sigh of relief. He’d managed to explain away the male lead’s identity. But now that he’d completed the quest to take Qin Feiyuan as his disciple, he needed to get to know the boy better. He might as well try to build a rapport while Qin Feiyuan was still weak from his injuries.

He set down his teacup and stood. “I’ll go see how he’s doing.”

Chu Wuyue went to the inner hall and lifted a curtain beyond the screen.

The room beyond was filled with even richer spiritual energy than the outer hall, enough to make one feel refreshed from head to toe. At its center lay a pool of spirit spring water, wreathed in mist.

This was the healing spring in the Sect Leader’s main hall. Every peak had one—including Bihuai Mountain.

Qin Feiyuan sat in one corner of the spring, wearing only his inner robe. His eyes were closed, his brow furrowed, and sweat beaded on his forehead as he endured the pain. The dirt had been washed from his face, revealing a clean, youthful face—and making the scrape on one cheek stand out all the more.

“The child is stubborn,” Yin Shiyan said in a lowered voice as he followed Chu Wuyue inside. “I asked him to take off his inner robe so I could treat him with acupuncture and ease the shock of the spirit spring, but he refused. He insisted on going into the water fully dressed.”

Yin Shiyan gestured toward Qin Feiyuan, who sat in the corner of the spring. “As you can see, he’s still bearing the pain of the spirit spring treatment without making a sound.”

Chu Wuyue: “…”

For cultivators, the spirit spring caused little more than a slight prickling sensation. But for Qin Feiyuan, who hadn’t begun cultivating, the pain must have been unbearable. How could he endure it?

Seeing the color drain from Qin Feiyuan’s lips, Chu Wuyue couldn’t stand by any longer. He held out his hand to Yin Shiyan. “Tell me how to do the acupuncture. I’ll take over.”

“Yes.” Yin Shiyan took a set of silver needles and a book from his storage pouch and handed them to Chu Wuyue. “The instructions for relieving the pain are on the first page. Just follow the steps and place the needles as directed.”

Chu Wuyue took the items and immediately sent him away. “Go deal with what happened in Yucheng.”

Yin Shiyan understood the urgency. The matter in Yucheng couldn’t wait. The Devil Race were cunning, and he needed to gather people to search the surrounding area as soon as possible. After bowing, he left the inner room to investigate the massacre.

Chu Wuyue walked behind Qin Feiyuan. The boy seemed to sense his arrival and looked back, managing a weak smile.

“Immortal…”

“If it hurts, don’t talk.” Chu Wuyue lowered his eyes to the book. “Take off your inner robe.”

At that, Qin Feiyuan’s pale face flushed. In moments, even his ears had turned red.

Chu Wuyue glanced up and immediately understood the boy was embarrassed. After all, the male lead’s early characterization was that of a sweet, well-behaved young boy.

He found it amusing, but kept his expression blank as he explained, “You have no spiritual energy, so you can’t withstand the spirit spring’s effects. You need acupuncture to ease the pain. Since you wouldn’t let Sect Leader Yin treat you, I’ll do it.”

Qin Feiyuan blushed and silently turned around in the pool. He took off his inner robe, offering Chu Wuyue his back. Chu Wuyue didn’t hesitate. He followed the order in the book, carefully channeled a thread of spiritual energy into a silver needle, and placed it against one of the acupuncture points on Qin Feiyuan’s back.

A while later, Qin Feiyuan’s back was covered in needles, some on the left and some on the right. He looked like a hedgehog. Chu Wuyue glanced guiltily at the book…

Had he misread the instructions and put in two extra needles?

He looked more closely at the line and relaxed. These extra needles wouldn’t affect the treatment. They’d only make Qin Feiyuan’s back look a little ridiculous. It wasn’t as if the boy could see them, and it didn’t count as going out of character.

The pain eased, some color returned to Qin Feiyuan’s face, and he had enough strength to speak. He turned his head and asked Chu Wuyue, “Why did you save me, Immortal?”

“You have good talent and are suited to cultivation. You can join Fengyun Sect and train. You’ll surely accomplish great things one day,” Chu Wuyue said.

For some reason, Qin Feiyuan felt a pang of disappointment. He lowered his eyes. “Are you going to leave me here, Immortal?”

Chu Wuyue sensed that Qin Feiyuan was afraid of being abandoned. This was the perfect chance to bring up the main quest. “If you’re willing, you can become my disciple.”

“Really?” Qin Feiyuan’s eyes lit up, his face bright with joy. If Chu Wuyue hadn’t gently held him by the shoulder to keep him still, he might have jumped up out of the spring.

Qin Feiyuan watched Chu Wuyue’s reflection in the water, his cool, peerless features wavering on the surface. He asked in a daze, “Are you really willing to take me as your disciple, Immortal?”

Chu Wuyue knew at once what that question meant. The male lead didn’t feel secure.

If he was going to be the boy’s Shizun, he needed to make Qin Feiyuan feel safe.

Chu Wuyue lowered his eyes in thought. Unlike other sects, Fengyun Sect didn’t divide its disciples into inner and outer sects. Every disciple belonged to a particular elder’s branch.

An elder gave each disciple under his tutelage a Green Bamboo Jade Leaf as a token. It looked like a bamboo leaf and felt like jade, which was how it got its name.

The Green Bamboo Jade Leaf was formed from the elder’s own spiritual energy. It represented the holder’s identity as a Fengyun Sect disciple and could neither be given away nor imitated.

A direct disciple, however, received a Purple Bamboo Jade Leaf. Unlike the Green Bamboo Jade Leaf, it was more than a token of identity; it was also a protective artifact. Its power depended on the strength of the master who made it, and it could alert the master if the disciple was attacked, allowing the master to teleport to him as quickly as possible.

There were only a handful of people in all of Fengyun Sect who had received a Purple Bamboo Jade Leaf. Chu Wuyue thought it over, then decided to make one for Qin Feiyuan. That would prevent other disciples from bullying the boy after he joined the sect.

In the original book, Venerable Xuanji had given Qin Feiyuan a Green Bamboo Jade Leaf. But the quest only said to take him as a disciple; it didn’t specify whether he had to be an ordinary disciple or a direct disciple. It shouldn’t count as going out of character.

Just as Chu Wuyue had expected, the system didn’t sound an alarm when he raised a finger, gathered spiritual energy, and formed a Purple Bamboo Jade Leaf. The leaf hovered toward Qin Feiyuan, wrapped in spiritual energy.

Chu Wuyue secretly let out a breath. So there were loopholes in the system’s rules after all.

Qin Feiyuan stared at the translucent, exquisite leaf. It shimmered with silver light and gave off a chill as familiar as the man standing behind him. Confusion and uncertainty showed in his voice. “What is this…?”

“Take it,” Chu Wuyue said calmly. “You’re my direct disciple now.”

Direct disciple.

The words made Qin Feiyuan’s heart skip again. He looked at Chu Wuyue’s clear, handsome reflection in the spring and fell into a daze.

He couldn’t help feeling…

Things weren’t supposed to go this way. Qin Feiyuan looked up at the silver-glimmering Purple Bamboo Jade Leaf. He also had the sense that the leaf wasn’t supposed to be purple.

It was supposed to be green.

But…

Why had such a strange thought come to him? Someone was treating him kindly, looking after him, and willing to heal his wounds. He should be happy.

Qin Feiyuan pushed the sudden, inexplicable thoughts aside and reached out to take the Purple Bamboo Jade Leaf. Feeling its cool touch, he smiled with sincere warmth and called out—

“Shizun!”