As night fell, Lou Zixiao was still sitting on the roof, staring blankly at the road in front of the courtyard. If Lou Xuan returned, he would definitely pass by there.
Even though she knew Lou Xuan wouldn’t be in danger, Lou Zixiao was still very worried. What if the person he tracked down was someone within the valley who would be difficult to deal with? Her Master wasn’t good with words, what if he was put in a difficult position?
Lou Zixiao didn’t want her Master to come into conflict with others because of her, especially since she herself wasn’t well liked on the island.
As she was watching, she saw Yuxin come out of the room and glance up at her.
Lou Zixiao immediately climbed down. Since Yuxin was a guest staying in her courtyard, it was only natural to ask, “It’s so late, where are you going?”
Yuxin raised her brows and smiled. “Naturally, to go see a new friend.”
Seeing the ambiguous smile on Yuxin’s face, Lou Zixiao found it hard to continue asking and could only say awkwardly, “Recently the medicine people outside have been rather unstable. It would be better to…”
“Aren’t those medicine peoples targeting you? We don’t have any danger. Someone wants to kill you.”
Lou Zixiao’s expression instantly stiffened as she looked at Yuxin somewhat awkwardly.
Yuxin looked at Lou Zixiao with a pitiful expression. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. Do you want big sister to comfort you?”
Lou Zixiao took a step back. “No, no.”
Yuxin snorted and said, “Oh right, remember what I told you. Confess your feelings to your Master early, otherwise life will be full of regrets. Cut through the mess quickly, the sooner the better. Isn’t he busy with your matters today? Take advantage of tonight when he comes back and be proactive. Men have no resistance to proactive women.” At this point, Yuxin seemed to recall some unpleasant memory and added, “Even if he resists, use the method I taught you to take him down. Turn raw rice into cooked rice. Being able to sleep with the person you like, one happy night is still a happy night. Then force him to take responsibility. Who cares whether he likes you or not? As long as you like him, that’s enough. Tie him to your side first; feelings can be cultivated later.”
Lou Zixiao’s worldview was once again shattered by Yuxin’s words. There was no way she could do such a thing, and she could only awkwardly see Yuxin off. If she listened any longer, her face would burn up.
Yuxin, in her red dress, departed in a carefree manner.
At this moment, the few people preparing to go out also happened to overhear everything.
It was the first time Ji Chuling and Li Xiuran had heard something like this, and their expressions were shocked.
Mo Xuanli silently swept a glance at Gu Baiqing.
Gu Baiqing coughed lightly and said, “Aren’t you going to the martial training ground to cultivate? Hurry and go. Yuxin also had something to do and already left, so I won’t go with you. I’ll stay and keep Lou Zixiao company. If something happens again, two people shouting for help are louder than one.”
Mo Xuanli wanted to say something, but couldn’t find a suitable reason. In the end he could only say, “If Yuxin comes back, you should return to your room. There’s a barrier in the room, it can hold out for a little while.”
The way he said it made Yuxin sound like some kind of flood beast. Even Gu Baiqing felt awkward hearing it, and he nodded and said, “Thank you.”
So the four of them walked out together. Although Gu Baiqing was set up as an ordinary person, he was the kind of ordinary person who was a martial arts master, so he directly flew up to the eaves to chat with Lou Zixiao. Hearing that the other three were going to the martial training ground, Lou Zixiao didn’t say much. After all, cultivators also needed real combat for training.
But in fact, the reason the three of them were heading to the Immortal Medicine Valley’s martial training ground was that in the afternoon Ji Chuling and Li Xiuran had sensed something there. When Li Xiuran’s sword approached, the fragment on it reacted strangely. Because there were many people around during the day, it wasn’t convenient for them to investigate further, so they went at night.
Along the way, Ji Chuling couldn’t hold back her curiosity and gossiped, “Mo Xuanli, you didn’t seem surprised at all when you heard it earlier. Did you already know?”
“Only about half a day earlier than you,” Mo Xuanli said innocently.
“My god, she actually likes her own master. That’s really…” Ji Chuling was in the middle of exclaiming when Li Xiuran jabbed her. Ji Chuling immediately reacted and cautiously looked at Mo Xuanli.
Mo Xuanli gave a dry laugh and said, “Yes, actually daring to like her own master. Truly outrageous.”
“Well, actually it’s not that exaggerated. I’ve only just entered the cultivation world, but I’ve read quite a few storybooks, and there are lots that depict master and disciple relationships.” Ji Chuling was smiling apologetically when she suddenly felt something was off and immediately said, “Hey, Mo Xuanli, you’ve been very strange these past couple of days. Why are you treating Big Brother Bai so well, so well that it’s a bit too much. I didn’t explain that many things to you, but now it feels like you’re even more familiar with him than I am.”
Li Xiuran thought of how Mo Xuanli had rushed over in a panic using the Void Spirit Space the moment he heard a sound before, and he was also quite surprised.
“Isn’t he a new friend? Is it not okay to be friendly to a new friend?” Mo Xuanli said naturally.
Ji Chuling looked at Mo Xuanli suspiciously and said, “No, something’s not right. I feel… I feel like you like him.” She had already accepted the fact that Mo Xuanli liked Gu Baiqing, so when it came to men liking men, Ji Chuling now treated it as normal gossip.
“Probably not,” Li Xiuran said dryly. He felt that Mo Xuanli should be the kind of person who stayed devoted to one love.
Mo Xuanli looked at Ji Chuling with some surprise. “Did you get it wrong?”
As soon as Mo Xuanli refuted it, Ji Chuling immediately became excited. “I didn’t get it wrong at all. After getting to know him, your gaze has basically been stuck on him. The expression on your face when you look at him is obviously different. No matter what happens, he’s the first person you think of. You take meticulous care of him. And tonight, because we cultivators don’t need to eat, Lou Zixiao also forgot to prepare food for him. You even ran off yourself to prepare it for him. I thought you were going to the kitchen to look for something, but you directly made it yourself and delivered it to his room for him to eat. And it was local specialty food. With all these actions, I don’t believe it’s just friendship. Why don’t you treat Li Xiuran like this!”
Mo Xuanli froze, then suddenly gave a helpless bitter smile. “Really? Am I like that?”
Everyone else could see it clearly, yet the person involved couldn’t see it at all, and was even doubting his own feelings.
“Aren’t you supposed to like Big Brother Gu? Or was that really a misunderstanding, and now your heart is moved by Big Brother Bai instead? That wouldn’t be very good,” Ji Chuling said anxiously.
Li Xiuran coughed. Fine, he couldn’t object either. Could it be that his brother was a playboy, falling in love with everyone he met? Or was it that…
“Big Brother, did you take Young Master Bai as a substitute? Come to think of it, although this Young Master Bai looks fairly ordinary, he does resemble Elder Luofeng a bit. If that’s the case, that wouldn’t be good.”
Mo Xuanli smiled. “Maybe it’s precisely because he resembles him that I treat him a little better. I don’t have any other thoughts. Don’t worry, handling proper matters is more important.”
After Mo Xuanli finished speaking, they happened to arrive at the martial training ground. Although the other two were worried, it wasn’t appropriate to continue prying into someone else’s private affairs.
Once they stepped onto the martial training ground, Mo Xuanli finally understood what Li Xiuran meant.
He pressed his hand against the restless God Nine Transformations.
This wasn’t a reaction to a fragment. There was a formation suppressing the power of the God-Slaying Sword fragment.
Ji Chuling didn’t know that Mo Xuanli had three fragments, so he spoke vaguely, saying that there was a suppressive formation present. Li Xiuran immediately understood.
“You and Chuling spar to cover for me. I’ll see where the center of the formation is. Since such a formation exists, there must be a fragment.”
Hearing Mo Xuanli’s analysis, the two of them immediately breathed a sigh of relief. They had thought it would be another wasted effort, but fortunately this time they had found traces of a fragment.
The three of them immediately worked together. Very quickly, Mo Xuanli determined that the center of the formation was in the nearby cluster of courtyards. This should be the area where the main figures of Immortal Medicine Valley lived.
The three intended to go find the courtyards to confirm who lived there, but discovered that there were many medicine people over there and the guards were strict. It wasn’t convenient for them to approach, so they could only wait for an opportunity.
Soon, they saw someone come out of the courtyard gate. It was Lou Xuan, who had previously chased after the medicine people. Immediately after, a little maidservant chased out, saying something, and in the midst of her words they heard the name Lou Zihan.
The three exchanged glances. It seemed that this was Lou Zihan’s residence.
Mo Xuanli had seen Lou Zihan from afar once. The Valley Master’s only granddaughter, she could be considered the most precious woman on the island. She was weak and sickly, not long for this world, and was also quite hostile toward Lou Zixiao.
Mo Xuanli roughly explained the situation to the other two. Everyone couldn’t help but speculate. If the fragment had simply been collected as an ordinary stone and ended up in this young lady’s courtyard, that would be far too coincidental. It was very likely that the other party knew of the fragment’s existence. And if one were to say who on the island could possess such a fragment, aside from the Valley Master, it would be the Valley Master’s most cherished granddaughter. So the fragment was very likely in Lou Zihan’s hands.
If that was the case, it would be very troublesome. Immortal Medicine Valley would certainly have received the collective decree from the cultivation world as well. If someone possessed a fragment but did not hand it over, then if they wanted to take it away, conflict would be inevitable.
The three of them were discussing how to deal with this situation.
At that moment, a fierce quarrel broke out inside the courtyard residence.
The Valley Master slammed his palm down, shattering the jade stone table in front of him.
“Zihan, what exactly are you doing? I gave you so many medicine people to protect you. After all, there are many people on the island right now, and who knows what might have sneaked in. I didn’t give them to you so you could misuse them to kill your fellow sect members. What on earth are you thinking? What did that Lou Zixiao ever do to provoke you, that you keep attacking her again and again!” It was rare for the Valley Master to lose his temper with his own granddaughter.
Lou Zihan had originally been embroidering. Hearing her grandfather’s questioning, she suddenly raised her head, her eyes splitting with rage. “How did you know?”
“Wasn’t it because the medicine people you sent out were caught by your little martial-uncle.”
“He knows it was me?” Lou Zihan immediately asked fiercely.
“Of course. Didn’t this all get reported right in front of me? Tell me, you, why are you competing with his disciple? You—”
Before the Valley Master could finish speaking, Lou Zihan went mad, violently pushing away the sewing basket in front of her and shouting, “Then why didn’t he come directly to question me? Why! Was he in a hurry to go back and comfort his disciple?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? It’s precisely because he can’t bear to reproach you that he came to speak to me. This matter will be kept confidential from the outside. That means he’s not blaming you. In his heart, you’re certainly more important than that little girl.” The Valley Master hurriedly soothed her. “Zihan, listen to Grandpa, all right? Don’t do this kind of thing again. If you dislike Lou Zixiao, then when your body gets better, drive her away. But you absolutely cannot lay a hand on her now. Absolutely not!”
“Why can’t I kill her? I hate her. She stole my Lou Xuan. Lou Xuan cares about her more than me. I just want her dead. I can’t wait until after I die and let her be with Lou Xuan. Before I die, I must kill her first! Lou Xuan belongs to me alone.” Lou Zihan’s expression became deranged once more.
In fact, in the past, Lou Zihan hadn’t been to the point of wanting to kill Lou Zixiao. It was only recently, as her health worsened and she realized she didn’t have many days left to live, that she became deranged, insisting on taking Lou Zixiao with her before she died.
The Valley Master sighed, then said solemnly, “Since that’s the case, Zihan, I’ll have people keep watch over you. In any case, nothing can happen to Lou Zixiao. Don’t make things difficult for us. When the time comes later… you’ll understand.”
The Valley Master truly had no way to deal with Lou Zihan, and could only temporarily restrain her. Lou Xuan said that just these few days would be enough, that they couldn’t afford to fail at the final moment.
After saying this, the Valley Master turned and left, leaving Lou Zihan alone in the room to go mad, eventually throwing herself onto the bed and crying.
While she was crying, she suddenly sensed that there was someone in the room. Lou Zihan abruptly grabbed a pillow and hurled it over. “Get out! All of you, get out!”
“Is that so? I came to tell you the reason why Lou Xuan cares about Lou Zixiao. Don’t you want to hear it?”
A strange voice startled Lou Zihan on the bed. She suddenly sat up and saw that a strange, beautiful woman had silently appeared in the room.
This woman had a pair of bright red eyes, like her fiery red dress.
Perhaps because death was constantly drawing near, when she saw someone with obvious demonic clan traits, Lou Zihan wasn’t frightened, but instead asked, “What did you say?”
“I’ll tell you this secret. In exchange, you must also satisfy my wish.” The woman giggled as she moved closer, bringing with her a stench of decay, and softly whispered a sentence into Lou Zihan’s ear.
Lou Zihan’s gaze instantly changed. Invisibly, a strand of dark black mist also drilled into Lou Zihan’s ear, but Lou Zihan was already shocked by the newly learned information and didn’t notice it at all.
At this moment, the three people guarding outside almost simultaneously sensed that something was wrong. There was demonic clan aura, but it quickly disappeared again.
The three of them turned pale. The demonic clan was closer to the fragment than they were. The situation was urgent, they had to force their way in. But they were naturally blocked by the protective formation and the medicine people. Just at that time, the Valley Master came out. Seeing the three of them, he immediately scolded them.
Mo Xuanli stepped forward directly and said, “My deepest apologies for the disturbance. I once studied some techniques under a master from Wuxiang Temple, so I’m more sensitive than ordinary people to the presence of the demonic clan. Just now, I sensed demonic clan aura within this courtyard, which is why I acted impulsively.”
Although the Valley Master looked at them suspiciously, he didn’t continue to blame them. Instead, he had the maid inside pick a flower and bring it out.
A black flower.
Ji Chuling exclaimed in surprise, “A flower from the Demon Realm. Why would you—”
“Although it’s a flower from the Demon Realm, it’s also a type of material used to make immortal pills and spiritual medicine. These flowers are planted here, and occasionally demonic qi will drift out. You were probably misled by that. Leave. Even though everyone in Immortal Medicine Valley is a medical cultivator, it’s not as if we can’t deal with the demonic clan and still need you outsiders to take action.” The Valley Master said, “This is the place where my granddaughter recuperates. I don’t want outsiders to disturb it.”
With the other party’s attitude being so forceful, the three could only withdraw for the time being.
However, they didn’t leave completely. Once they reached a place where they couldn’t be observed, the three immediately hid themselves.
“What should we do? That old man is lying. What we sensed was a demonic clan’s aura, not demonic qi. Does he take us for fools?” Ji Chuling said speechlessly.
“There are two possibilities. First, he didn’t sense the presence of the demonic clan. Even if cultivation levels are similar, medical cultivators and sword cultivators still differ greatly when it comes to distinguishing demonic clan presence. Second, the rumors are true, Immortal Medicine Valley may indeed still have dealings with the demonic clan. That’s the worst-case scenario. But no matter which it is, we can’t openly reveal our identities anymore,” Li Xiuran analyzed.
“I think the first possibility is more likely. If they truly have a fragment and didn’t hand it over, they also wouldn’t hand it to the demonic clan. That would be openly betraying the cultivation world. As a whole, they still belong to the righteous path.” Mo Xuanli said. “I think a demonic clan member managed to sneak in. Their target might be the fragment, or it might be the spirit-gathering formation. There are Ao Hang and the others watching over the spirit-gathering formation. As for the fragment here…”
“How about Chuling and I stay behind to keep an eye on things for a while? Chuling senses the demonic clan more quickly.” Li Xiuran said. “You can go check on Lou Xuan. Lou Xuan should be the medical cultivator with the highest cultivation on the island. I think there’s more about him worth investigating. He might know about both the spirit-gathering formation and the fragment.”
Ji Chuling also nodded in agreement.
Mo Xuanli was also worried about leaving Gu Baiqing alone over there, so he followed the arrangement and prepared to go back. However, when he passed by this courtyard along the rooftop, Mo Xuanli’s steps involuntarily paused. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but when that black flower had been brought close earlier, he had felt a familiar aura. That familiarity seemed to come from the red seed Senior Sister Yunyue had given him back then.
Could it be that the seeds Senior Sister Yunyue created also contained components of this kind of Demon Realm flower?
The moment he thought of that red seed, Mo Xuanli couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable inside, as if an old wound had been torn open. There was nothing worse than clearly knowing that the person you loved didn’t love you at all.
On this side, after Lou Xuan returned, Lou Zixiao immediately flew down and chased after Lou Xuan to talk to him. Lou Xuan only said that nothing had been found and then prepared to go back to rest, but Lou Zixiao stubbornly followed him. Seeing the two head toward Lou Xuan’s courtyard, Gu Baiqing, who was on the rooftop, began to scheme.
Now that Mo Xuanli and the others were not around, Lou Xuan and Lou Zixiao were surely discussing today’s events and wouldn’t have the time to pay attention to outside matters. It was the perfect time to sneak into the alchemy room.
Gu Baiqing immediately flew over to the alchemy room and quietly observed for a while. Just as he was confirming it was safe and about to sneak in, a figure suddenly landed behind him, startling Gu Baiqing into stiffening all over.
Someone who could approach him so silently could only be—
“Young Master Bai, what are you doing here?” Mo Xuanli’s voice came from behind him.
He really came back at the wrong time. Gu Baiqing awkwardly adjusted into a comfortable sitting position and, while stretching his limbs, said, “Enjoying the moon. The view here is good.”
This wasn’t Gu Baiqing talking nonsense, because the alchemy room was a two-story building, the tallest in this area, and indeed a good place to enjoy the moon.
Mo Xuanli raised an eyebrow and directly sat down along with him. “Then I’ll accompany you.”
Gu Baiqing was speechless inside. Anyway, once Mo Xuanli arrived, he definitely couldn’t use any spells. Naturally, he couldn’t do anything at all and could only sit there awkwardly, staring at the moon.
As for Mo Xuanli, he let out a sigh of relief in his heart. He could naturally tell that Gu Baiqing wanted to enter the alchemy room to investigate, probably also suspecting something about Lou Xuan. But he couldn’t ask about it, and could only temporarily stop his Master’s actions. After all, he had seen the dangers inside before, unless Master caused a huge disturbance, it would be difficult to break through.
The two of them both stared at the moon in a daze. The starry sky was quite beautiful. After watching for a while, Gu Baiqing suddenly laughed and pointed to a spot, naming a constellation.
Mo Xuanli froze for a moment, then suddenly recalled the beautiful night on the floating island of Taixu Hall. His gaze flickered, and based on his memory, he followed the direction of Gu Baiqing’s finger and began counting constellations.
Gu Baiqing was completely dumbfounded, staring at Mo Xuanli in shock, his mind full of thoughts about how he knew this.
“You—”
Mo Xuanli smiled faintly, turned to look at Gu Baiqing, his gaze deep. “My Master taught me. On a night that I originally thought would be the happiest night of my life, but it turned out to be my Master’s drunken impulsiveness.”
Gu Baiqing immediately reacted, realizing that Mo Xuanli was talking about that accidental confession. Seeing Mo Xuanli’s dejected expression, Gu Baiqing felt a bit breathless.
Just as he was about to speak, movement suddenly came from below. It was Lou Xuan and Lou Zixiao arriving. The two of them also knew that using moon-viewing as an excuse for appearing here wouldn’t be sufficient, and unconsciously both hid themselves in concealed positions, planning to leave after the two entered the alchemy room.
As it turned out, Lou Zixiao directly stopped Lou Xuan on the walkway below.
Seeing Lou Zixiao repeatedly gathering her courage, both Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing remembered what Yuxin had said to her earlier and thought to themselves that she wasn’t about to confess, was she?
But Lou Zixiao didn’t do it. As soon as she opened her mouth, she directly shifted to another topic: Young Master Bai’s bodily abnormalities, Big Brother Mo’s medical skills, Big Brother Mo checking her body. What she talked about the most was Mo Xuanli. Probably because she was more familiar with him, she was completely acting like a fool desperately trying to find things to say.
Then Lou Xuan suddenly spoke. “Xiaoxiao, your relationship with this Young Master Mo seems quite good. He has protected you again and again. Could it be that he has feelings for you, or that you have feelings for him?”
Lou Zixiao was startled, raised her head to look at Lou Xuan, and immediately shook her head. “No, neither. We just met by chance. He was just kind-hearted. Why think that way? I… how could I possibly…”
Lou Xuan withdrew his gaze and said indifferently, “As your master, I just think that if you young people have intentions, I could examine him a bit. If his character is good and his cultivation is high, then in the future, after the blessing of the Divine Tree ends, perhaps you could leave together with them. Whether traveling or broadening your horizons, you should leave Xiayang City and go outside to take a look.”
Mo Xuanli was stunned silly and immediately turned to look at Gu Baiqing. Gu Baiqing was also involuntarily looking at him at that moment, his gaze blank. Mo Xuanli’s heart tightened, and he quickly shook his head, blinking innocent eyes to show that he knew nothing at all and was completely innocent.
Gu Baiqing turned his head back, not knowing what he was thinking, and continued watching below.
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