Lian Yunzhi asked, “What if they roam outside, wounded, to search for the ‘assassin’?”
Mu Cheng fell silent for a moment before asking, “So how were you originally planning to take me out?”
Lian Yunzhi coughed lightly. “Well… do you know about the Demon Beast Bag?”
…
After an incense stick’s time, the disguised Mu Cheng was tossed back into the Demon Beast Bag.
“How does it feel?” Lian Yunzhi patted the bag lightly.
Mu Cheng said in a low voice, “It’s very dark in here.”
Lian Yunzhi was puzzled. “You’re a Blind Man to begin with. Are you complaining that the Demon Beast Bag is dark?”
Mu Cheng: “…”
Mu Cheng’s temper had surprisingly improved. After a brief silence, he explained warmly to Lian Yunzhi, “I’m not blind. My eyes are just damaged—I don’t see complete darkness.”
He could see the direction of spiritual power flow, a hazy gray chaos, and Lian Yunzhi’s figure shining like a radiant orb—not quite a figure, more precisely, the spot where Lian Yunzhi was felt like a void, a white hole pierced into this gray-black chaotic world by a sharp sword.
Lian Yunzhi: “Oh.”
Lian Yunzhi felt there was little difference between “Blind Man” and “eyes damaged.”
But for the sake of his pet beast’s mental health, he poked a hole in the Demon Beast Bag with his finger.
“Now?” Lian Yunzhi asked.
“…Much better now.”
Mu Cheng “looked” toward the world Lian Yunzhi had pierced open for him a second time.
He saw the gray chaotic space, the dazzling white corner representing Lian Yunzhi.
He saw people.
Lian Yunzhi was performing Imperial Sword Flight, peering down through the hole. Below were all sorts of people, but in Mu Cheng’s eyes, they had no flesh or bones—just viscous, ugly Black Mist and the stench of decay.
In this brand-new world, even the air was foul.
Only Lian Yunzhi gleamed purely and radiantly, like a divine miracle.
.
Lian Yunzhi first returned to the Lian Family, delivering the prepared gifts to the elders one by one. He borrowed Fang Tianxin to explain his abrupt departure the day before: “The Qi Refining Bird stopped flying, and Fang Tianxin got stuck at the Xiao Yun Mountain Secret Realm exit, yelling for me to pick him up.”
With the changing circumstances, he no longer planned to tell his family about Mu Cheng’s existence.
His grandfather did not doubt Lian Yunzhi’s words and instead looked curiously at the Demon Beast Bag on his waist. “I heard you contracted a High-tier Demon Beast in the form of a Giant Wolf? Is it in that Demon Beast Bag right now?”
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
Lian Yunzhi hated his past loose lips.
“…Yes,” Lian Yunzhi touched his Demon Beast Bag, “but it’s not in good shape right now. It keeps going berserk and biting people. I’m heading to the Beast Taming Sect Ruins to see if I can find a solution.”
Once back, he would say he found no solution and the beast died in Ten Perils Mountain.
Upon hearing the beast went berserk and bit people, the Lian Family Head lost interest and only cautioned Lian Yunzhi, “Ten Perils Mountain is full of Demon Beasts. Be careful and stay safe.”
“I will, Grandfather.”
Just as Lian Yunzhi prepared to take his leave, the Lian Family Head suddenly spoke again. “You’ve lost your Primal Yang?”
Lian Yunzhi: “…”
Lian Yunzhi stiffened, unsure how to respond.
Of course—cultivators could easily discern if one’s Primal Yang remained, and he had forgotten to conceal it.
The Lian Family Head sighed. “I thought you had no interest in romance and were devoted solely to the Dao…”
Lian Yunzhi bowed his head in shame.
“Since that’s the case…”
The Lian Family Head clapped his hands.
The beaded curtain rustled, bells chimed, and several youths—boys and girls—parted the gauze and filed out.
They were all around seventeen or eighteen, the youngest only fifteen. Male or female, they were all fair-skinned, refined in features, and docile in demeanor.
Before Lian Yunzhi could figure out who they were, his grandfather said, “Do you know how rare cultivator heirs are? After entering Golden Core, producing offspring is even harder. Since you’ve lost your Primal Yang and are about to form your Golden Core, take these girls and sire heirs soon. It will continue the Lian Family bloodline.”
Lian Yunzhi’s mind went blank, but his eyes involuntarily drifted to two of the boys.
…Then why were there males?
Seeming to notice Lian Yunzhi’s confusion, the Lian Family Head explained, “Those two boys have Supreme Yang Bodies and are Human Cauldrons. Dual Cultivation with them will help you break through to Golden Core. Supreme Yin Body cauldrons would suit your wood Spiritual Root better, but Human Cauldrons are hard to come by…”
At almost the same moment, unnoticed in the corner, a hand suddenly shot out from the Demon Beast Bag at Lian Yunzhi’s waist and viciously pinched his side.
Lian Yunzhi: “!!!”
Lian Yunzhi was utterly shocked.
For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether to be shocked that his grandfather kept Human Cauldrons or that Mu Cheng dared to pinch him!
At the same time, a voice rang clearly and abruptly in Lian Yunzhi’s mind for the first time.
【Reject him!】
