Up until the moment Lou Zixiao broke down crying and knelt to beg Lou Xuan not to marry, Gu Baiqing’s heart was violently shaken. That bright and cheerful girl, driven to such despair by the news that her Master might marry someone else, she looked even more shattered than when she had been rejected. Gu Baiqing understood, and he believed Lou Xuan understood as well.
Lou Zixiao’s love for him was real, there was no confusion, no mistake. She truly loved him alone, passionately and wholeheartedly.
But all feelings collapsed the instant Lou Xuan decided to marry someone else.
Lou Xuan gave no response. Perhaps he truly had never been moved, truly only regarded Lou Zixiao as a child or junior he had raised.
Watching Lou Xuan leave, Lou Zixiao finally collapsed to her knees, crying as she curled herself up, trembling uncontrollably. That sound of anguished sobbing was like a saw pulling back and forth across the listener’s heart. Gu Baiqing couldn’t bear it and wanted to step forward, but Mo Xuanli, his face dark, moved ahead of him, raised his hand, and lifted Lou Zixiao into his arms.
Watching Mo Xuanli’s resolute back as he carried the shivering Lou Zixiao, then turned and once again passed by him in silence, all his emotions hidden beneath his long lashes, Gu Baiqing’s heart suddenly ached.
Not for the sobbing, broken Lou Zixiao, but for Mo Xuanli, whose expression was calm yet tinged with faint sorrow.
These past few days, Mo Xuanli had been having a small spat with him, nothing like the obedient, restrained disciple he used to be in front of him. He was so vivid that Gu Baiqing felt unfamiliar, yet couldn’t help having his own emotions tugged along. He had coaxed him several times, neither improving nor worsening. It really looked like a provoked household dog that wanted to vent its anger but still had to dutifully follow along. Although Gu Baiqing didn’t quite agree with him treating a newly made friend this way, it was indeed rare to see Mo Xuanli not suppressing his emotions.
So instead, Gu Baiqing felt that it was rather nice, full of youthful spirit.
But now… he had turned back into the Mo Xuanli Gu Baiqing was familiar with, emotions suppressed deep in his eyes, not revealing even the slightest bit. This was the Mo Xuanli Gu Baiqing couldn’t stand the most, it would make him lose his rational judgment.
Mo Xuanli carried Lou Zixiao back to the courtyard, sent her to her room, and told her to rest well.
Although this wound wouldn’t heal easily, it could only be left to Lou Zixiao herself.
When Mo Xuanli came out, his expression was still somewhat dazed. It was as if he had seen a possible future of himself in Lou Zixiao… pouring everything into a confession, laying bare his affection, whether the other person believed it or not, and in the end, Master turning around and possibly marrying someone else. He thought he wouldn’t be as humble as Lou Zixiao, because her Master had never given her hope, she could only be humble. But Mo Xuanli was different. Everything his Master did unconsciously would only drive him mad, out of control.
Like right now, Master was following him step by step, as if knowing he was in a bad mood, using this method to comfort him, all of it Master’s unconscious behavior.
It was kindness toward him, and also cruelty. Plucking at the strings of his heart, yet leaving him unable to accuse Master of not loving him. Clearly not loving him, yet treating him so well, so well that it led to misunderstanding.
Mo Xuanli stopped walking and looked straight at Gu Baiqing, but Gu Baiqing instinctively shifted his gaze away. He didn’t know why he was following him either, yet there was an anxious voice in his heart reminding him that he should be staying by Mo Xuanli’s side right now.
“You were right. Lou Xuan won’t give Lou Zixiao even the slightest chance,” Mo Xuanli suddenly said in a low voice. That night, watching Lou Zixiao confess to Lou Xuan, how he had wished she could succeed, so the person beside him would take a good look but she failed. Not only did she fail, the person beside him kept denying it again and again, as if his own feelings were being denied along with hers. But what had Master done wrong? It was only that his illusion had been pierced, and he was angry and humiliated yet unwilling to admit it. He just wanted Master to give him a little hope, even if through the mouth of a false identity. But in the end, aside from powerless sulking, he had nothing.
Gu Baiqing recalled their strange argument that day. “Because Lou Xuan’s liking for Lou Zixiao isn’t that kind, so—”
“Right, it isn’t,” Mo Xuanli gave a self-mocking smile, like that red seed, proving things clearly and unmistakably. “Then will it never be, in the future either?”
Gu Baiqing froze for a moment. “He’s about to get married.”
“Leaving aside how strange this marriage feels,” Mo Xuanli said lightly, his gaze sweeping from Gu Baiqing’s face up toward the high sky. The sky stretched endlessly, a sight that should have lifted one’s spirits, yet Mo Xuanli asked, “Just tell me, is it possible that these Masters one day fall in love with their own disciples, yet don’t realize it themselves? Because maybe they’ve also confused their own feelings.”
By the time he said this, Mo Xuanli almost wanted to laugh. He had probably been praying every day for Master to like him and had gone completely obsessed, to the point of coming up with such a possibility. In truth, he was only reversing Gu Baiqing’s reasoning but in his heart, he held no hope at all. How easy could it be to move someone like Master? What’s more, they were both men, and Master had said he couldn’t accept that.
In fact, he was worse off than Lou Zixiao. At least Lou Xuan knew Lou Zixiao was of mixed blood; she had no such concern and dared to express herself boldly. But for him, even expressing was a luxury. He only dared to sulk covertly under Master’s disguise, and only in that situation could he ignore the lofty, untouchable status of “Master” and fully vent his pent-up frustration. Watching Master take the initiative to care about him just to placate him, he could obtain a pitiful bit of comfort from it because once their identities were revealed, he wouldn’t even have the right to throw a tantrum. He could only look up, endure, and restrain himself.
But reality proved that all of this was ultimately an illusion like a fish caught in a net, struggling in vain. Just like Lou Zixiao: her Master could turn around and marry someone else without a second thought, never caring about her feelings at all.
After saying that, Mo Xuanli didn’t look at Gu Baiqing again. He turned and walked forward, as if he were merely sighing in passing.
Yet it was like a bolt from the blue, exploding through every hidden corner of Gu Baiqing’s mind, leaving him feeling utterly exposed, with nowhere to hide.
Gu Baiqing slowly blinked once, pressing down the countless tangled thoughts in his heart, yet it was as if he heard pounding sounds coming from outside the door of his heart, as though someone were kicking at it nonstop. That final kick, whether to kick or not, and which door it should land on, he had no idea. He only felt a surge of panic and unease.
The two walked out one after the other, each harboring their own thoughts, and happened to run into Yuxin.
Yuxin greeted them with a bright smile. Mo Xuanli naturally stepped in front of Gu Baiqing, blocking him.
Yuxin asked, “That little girl is crying, isn’t she? I said it long ago, make your move early, don’t leave yourself with regrets. Now she didn’t even get a bite before someone else claimed him. Such a pity, such a pity. I’ll go comfort her.”
Mo Xuanli reached out to stop her, glanced at Yuxin, and said, “She needs to be alone.”
“Aren’t you afraid she might do something rash?” Yuxin asked.
Gu Baiqing frowned slightly, but Mo Xuanli said firmly, “She won’t. Her life was given to her by her Master. No matter how much pain she’s in, she’ll cherish her life.”
Hearing this, Gu Baiqing’s heart steadied a little as well.
Yuxin gave a bored smile, then looked at Gu Baiqing and said, “There aren’t many days left on the island, Young Master Bai. Still not considering dual cultivation with me?”
Mo Xuanli answered for him in a serious tone, “Not considering it.”
Yuxin raised an eyebrow at Mo Xuanli. Her eyes flickered, and she suddenly let out a snort of laughter. “I see now, you’ve taken a fancy to him. No wonder you’re always competing with me.”
As soon as those words came out, both of them changed expression.
Mo Xuanli flew into a rage instantly, spiritual power blasting out. Yuxin quickly jumped away and said fearlessly, “What? Is it a secret? Why so embarrassed and angry? Don’t be shy, this kind of thing, my eyes are very accurate. Want me to provide you with a dual cultivation technique suitable for male–male pairs?”
“Courting death!” Mo Xuanli immediately summoned God Nine Transformations, but Yuxin had already leapt away a few times and vanished without a trace.
Mo Xuanli withdrew God Nine Transformations and awkwardly looked back. Sure enough, Gu Baiqing’s expression had already changed, and he was looking up at him. Mo Xuanli immediately shifted his gaze away.
“She was talking nonsense.”
“Oh.” Gu Baiqing responded lightly, but his mind had been stirred. Originally, being in the midst of it, he hadn’t noticed, but after Yuxin pointed it out, Gu Baiqing suddenly realized that Mo Xuanli treated “Young Master Bai” very differently indeed, far beyond the closeness shown to an ordinary newly acquainted friend. Which of Mo Xuanli’s brothers hadn’t gone through many trials, and only formed friendships after the other side took the initiative? Yet now, it was always Mo Xuanli taking the initiative to approach “Young Master Bai.”
Gu Baiqing felt unsettled. All kinds of conjectures began to surface in his mind.
Because of the sudden upheaval in Immortal Medicine Valley, the trio of protagonists naturally had to make corresponding preparations.
Before leaving, they informed Gu Baiqing, clearly hoping that he would stay in the room and accept the protection of the barrier array.
Watching the direction Mo Xuanli left in, it seemed to be toward the Divine Tree. They had seen Three Bean in that area earlier, so he was probably going to look for them.
And once Mo Xuanli left, Gu Baiqing naturally seized the time to investigate what he wanted to investigate.
He was familiar with Mo Xuanli’s arrays and barriers. Just as he was about to use spiritual power to slip out, he discovered that Ji Chuling and Li Xiuran were still next door.
That made things troublesome. If they didn’t leave, it wouldn’t be convenient for him to leave either. Gu Baiqing could only extend his spiritual sense outward, paying attention to the movements nearby. Gu Baiqing’s cultivation was very high. When his spiritual sense was released, others wouldn’t notice, while he himself could heighten his five senses to the utmost.
They happened to be discussing tonight’s operation. Piecing things together, he got a general understanding: they suspected that a fragment of the God-Slaying Sword was in Lou Zihan’s possession, and planned to take advantage of the Immortal Medicine Valley disciples gathering tonight to discuss the hastily arranged wedding to conduct a night reconnaissance of Lou Zihan’s courtyard.
They would be setting off shortly and would rendezvous with Mo Xuanli then.
As for what was over at the Divine Tree, they didn’t say, probably something that also needed investigating, so Mo Xuanli had gone ahead alone.
They then mentioned that Li Xiuran was about to break through. As expected of the male lead, his speed was fast. Looking at Mo Xuanli’s progress, it was fast as well, mainly thanks to the conditioning Lou Zixiao had done for them these past few days, plus the abundant spiritual energy on the island, which made their cultivation progress extremely rapid.
Thinking that if Mo Xuanli broke through smoothly he wouldn’t demonize, Gu Baiqing really wanted Mo Xuanli to fully learn Lou Zixiao’s conditioning methods, so that in future breakthroughs he wouldn’t have to fear sudden demonization.
Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard Ji Chuling say unhappily, “Don’t you think Mo Xuanli is getting more and more excessive? He said before he was just treating him as an ordinary friend, what kind of friend acts like this? Sulking, cold wars, always paying attention. He’s clearly very different toward Big Brother Bai. Could it be that he’s… really transferred his affections?”
“This… maybe they just get along well.”
“Not at all. He clearly cares a lot about Big Brother Bai. I’m not blind, that feeling is clearly liking him. And here I was supporting him pursuing Big Brother Gu before. It’s not that I don’t like Big Brother Bai; I just hope Big Brother Gu can have a good ending with Mo Xuanli,” Ji Chuling said seriously.
Li Xiuran had a headache and could only placate her. “This is a personal feelings issue, we can’t really say much. It all depends on what Mo Xuanli himself thinks. Actually, if he happens to hit it off with this Young Master Bai, maybe it proves that his previous infatuation with his Master was mistaken. That would be a good thing. After all, look at that master–disciple pair in front of us. Wanting that kind of relationship to be mutual really is quite difficult.”
“But—”
“Alright, we should set off.”
Not until there was completely no movement next door did Gu Baiqing withdraw his spiritual sense. He sat there blankly for a while, the expression on his face changing several times.
He had heard Yuxin say such things during the day, and now he’d heard these two say the same.
Gu Baiqing could only sift through the tangled thoughts and come up with two possible explanations for this awkward situation.
The first thing that came to his mind was that Mo Xuanli already knew who he was. If that were the case, then being so close to him and all those abnormal behaviors would suddenly make sense, and the way he kept bringing up the relationship between Lou Zixiao and her Master from time to time felt even more deliberate.
The second possibility was the one they had mentioned: Li Xiuran, Ji Chuling, and even Yuxin all thought that Mo Xuanli had feelings for this “Young Master Bai.” All his friendliness might simply be because he had taken a liking to this newly acquainted Young Master Bai. At this thought, Gu Baiqing instinctively wanted to refute it, not because this was his disguise, but because he genuinely didn’t understand what there was about this Young Master Bai that would be worth his disciple falling for. Such an ordinary person, why would he like him?
Just imagining that the outstanding disciple he had painstakingly raised might like the ordinary person he himself had fabricated made Gu Baiqing feel stifled. And he couldn’t imagine Mo Xuanli being this attentive and considerate toward anyone other than himself.
This somewhat bizarre sense of possessiveness made Gu Baiqing anxious. At this moment, he actually understood that in his heart, he hoped more that it was the first possibility, even if, during this period, Mo Xuanli had been deceiving him and putting on an act.
Not to mention, if it were the second possibility, then all those times he had watched Mo Xuanli sink into a low mood because of the Lou Zixiao master–disciple matter, thinking it had something to do with himself, would truly have been unbearably self-indulgent.
After crossing out the second possibility tens of thousands of times in his mind, Gu Baiqing finally calmed himself, chased away the chaotic thoughts, and reminded himself that the matter at hand was urgent, opportunity would not come again. He stood up and flew toward the alchemy room.
The trio of protagonists had gone to Lou Zihan’s courtyard; Lou Zixiao was shut in her room, heartbroken; Lou Xuan was off arranging his future wedding. The alchemy room would be empty for a long time, this was the best time to infiltrate it. His purpose in entering was to investigate the secret behind Lou Zixiao’s mixed-blood concealment, to see whether it could help Mo Xuanli’s future. After all, entrusting all hope to the God-Slaying Sword made Gu Baiqing a little uneasy; he wanted to ensure his disciple had a way out.
Although there were many arrays and barriers inside the alchemy room, in the face of a cultivator whose strength completely crushed them, those things had limited effect. Gu Baiqing entered the alchemy room smoothly and searched around, only to find nothing suspicious on either the first or second floor. That was strange.
Gu Baiqing could only use his powerful spiritual sense to probe. The moment he closed his eyes, he discovered something astonishing, beneath this alchemy room, he could sense spirit crystals, and there was also a large area enclosed with demonic aura.
Gu Baiqing was full of confusion. What kind of bizarre structure was this, spiritual energy and demonic aura coexisting? They weren’t devouring each other?
Still, it was clear that there was space beneath the alchemy room. It seemed the secret was hidden down there. But how to get down?
Gu Baiqing searched around and suddenly spotted something familiar: a red braided cord, very similar to the one Lou Zixiao wore on her wrist, hanging from a candlestick. After a moment’s thought, Gu Baiqing went to manipulate the candlestick. Sure enough, he heard the sound of a mechanism turning, and soon a staircase leading downward appeared in the floor.
Gu Baiqing had already confirmed that there was no one underground, so he entered openly. But as soon as he went in, the mechanism behind him closed. What appeared before him was a dazzling array of formations and barriers, more than ten times as many as on the two floors above. This… even Gu Baiqing couldn’t guarantee that he could move without making any disturbance.
Gu Baiqing was really sweating profusely, but he didn’t act rashly. At worst, he could retreat, it would just take some time to find the reverse mechanism to open it again.
This underground space was equivalent to a basement level. There were no lamps, yet it was suffused with a bright purple glow that looked somewhat dreamlike. This was because of the spirit crystals, while the demonic aura he had sensed earlier came from a small patch of black flowers planted in the ground, flowers from the Demon Realm. Both were maintained by formations, thus forming a state of coexistence.
These two things were placed in the most conspicuous positions. Around them, on both sides, were rows upon rows of bookshelves, densely arranged and filled with books. Looking farther in, there was a desk covered with many sheets of paper. The wall behind the desk was also coated with many half-finished formations. They looked extremely complex, and Gu Baiqing felt they were likely related to the secret he was seeking.
As he thought and searched for a way out at the same time, he suddenly heard the sound of a mechanism by his ear.
No way, someone came down?
Gu Baiqing hadn’t expected to be this unlucky. He hurriedly looked for a place to hide. Because of the complex barriers around, there were limited places he could hide, at most, the bookshelves closest to the entrance. Gu Baiqing could only run to the innermost part of the shelves, using the tall books to block the line of sight. Although an invisibility talisman wasn’t very effective in the eyes of someone with cultivation, it could still be used temporarily. He would seize the chance to dash out later, though it would arouse suspicion, at least they wouldn’t catch him.
Just as he was thinking this, a familiar glow suddenly flashed.
Gu Baiqing’s expression changed. He saw a silver-white brush fly out from the entrance, spinning in the air.
That was one of the forms of the God Nine Transformations, specifically meant to deal with formations.
D*mn it, it was Mo Xuanli.
Wasn’t this guy supposed to be over at Lou Zihan’s place?
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