Chapter 15 Late at Night
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After narrowly escaping the jaws of the snake, the young disciple remained shaken and filled with fear. His legs trembled uncontrollably, forcing him to seek support from a nearby tree trunk, desperately trying to regain his composure.
Pei Jing felt happy upon seeing Chu Junyu. He waved at him and, as he approached, asked, “Where did you go? I’ve been searching for you for a while.”
Chu Junyu explained, “Something happened.”
Pei Jing persisted, “What happened?”
Chu Junyu didn’t respond. Instead, his gaze fell upon the pale-faced young disciple.
His eyes lacked depth, and when he looked at people, there was always a touch of cold detachment.
The young disciple felt a tingling sensation on his scalp under Chu Junyu’s gaze and exclaimed with a distressed tone, “Br-br-brother Chu.”
Chu Junyu extended his hand towards him and said in a cold voice, “Give it to me.”
The young disciple was puzzled, “What? Give you what?”
“The thing you took near this snake’s body.”
The young disciple couldn’t hide anything under his intimidating gaze, so he took out a palm-sized spiritual mushroom from his sleeve and handed it to him with trembling hands. “It’s this one. I picked it myself. The snake wasn’t anywhere near. It only chased after me after I had walked a while.”
Pei Jing was momentarily perplexed, then found it both funny and frustrating. “Brother, isn’t this like robbery? If we wanted it, we could have picked it ourselves. We already have someone to do the legwork for free.”
Chu Junyu ignored him.
Pei Jing leaned in closer and, upon clearly seeing the appearance of the spiritual mushroom, his smile faded.
The spiritual mushroom lying in Chu Junyu’s palm looked strange. It had a purplish-red color, which appeared even more vivid against his pale skin. The patterns on the spiritual mushroom were black, seeping into it like dark energy flowing through flesh and blood.
Pei Jing asked the young disciple, “You dared to pick this?”
The young disciple was even more confused. “Why can’t I pick it? Don’t all spiritual mushrooms look like this?”
Pei Jing: “…Sure.” As long as you’re happy.
They were chased by that snake for half a day but couldn’t escape the Yunlan Mountain Range. They were still in the middle region.
The sky gradually darkened, and it would be evening soon. The thick fog made it difficult to find the way. The young disciple went to scout alone but ended up going in circles and stumbling back.
Feeling hopeless, he put down the compass. “It’s getting dark, and we won’t make it back today. Senior Brother will definitely scold us.” He cast a resentful glance at the other two and sadly realized that it seemed like he was the only one concerned about this.
Chu Junyu, finding the ground dirty, sat on a tree branch. He held a black book in his hand, his expression cold as he made strokes on the pages.
Zhang Yiming went even further, he was actually roasting the spiritual mushrooms!
The young disciple walked over and asked, “What are you doing?!”
Pei Jing had just arranged dry twigs to start a fire and casually replied, “I’m hungry. Getting dinner ready.”
The young disciple couldn’t believe it. “But it’s our mission. Are you really planning to eat them straight away?”
Pei Jing responded, “We’re practically starving. Who’s even thinking about the mission?”
Frustration filled the young disciple. “Did you even ask for Chu Junyu’s opinion?”
Pei Jing smiled mischievously, holding the stick with a string of spiritual mushrooms, and shook it in Chu Junyu’s direction. He called out, “Chu Junyu, do you want to eat them?”
Chu Junyu didn’t even shift his gaze and calmly replied, “No.”
Pei Jing shrugged his shoulders. “Well, then I’ll eat them myself.” He turned his head to the astonished young disciple and said, “See? He doesn’t mind.”
“…….”
The young disciple reached his breaking point and lunged forward, attempting to snatch the stick from Pei Jing’s hand.
Pei Jing nearly lost his balance and almost fell backward when the young disciple pounced on him. “What are you doing?!”
The young disciple ground his teeth. “Give me back the spiritual mushrooms!”
Gripping Pei Jing’s sleeve, he was determined to engage in a fight with him.
The young disciple’s relentless behavior was wearing down Pei Jing’s patience.
Eventually, Chu Junyu climbed down from the tree and spoke up, coming to his rescue.
“Let him roast them.”
The young disciple, clutching Pei Jing’s sleeve, turned back with a mixture of despair and anger. “Please, Chu Junyu, I spent the whole day collecting these!”
Chu Junyu entered the scene, his dark attire blending in with the night.
The faint red glow of the fire illuminated Chu Junyu’s increasingly pale and cold face. His eyes, as shallow as glass, devoid of any emotion, glanced at Pei Jing with sarcasm. “No need to worry. Let’s see how long it takes for him to roast it.”
The young disciple was still quite afraid of Chu Junyu. After hesitating for a moment, he let go of Pei Jing’s hand.
Pei Jing finally managed to retrieve his clothes and thought to himself that this kid truly had a quick temper.
He placed the spiritual mushrooms on the fire and slowly rotated them. Dismissing Chu Junyu’s comment with a disdainful snort, he said, “With my grilling skills, in half an hour, you’ll be able to smell the aroma.”
And so, half an hour passed.
Nothing happened.
“…….”
The flames roared, but the purplish-red spiritual mushrooms remained unchanged.
After grilling for such a long time, the surface of the mushrooms remained cold.
The young disciple gloated, “Where’s the fragrance?”
Pei Jing: “…”
He knew this spiritual mushroom was mysterious. Originally, he wanted to use his alchemical fire to see if he could discover any secrets. But he never expected it to be so resilient, not even the alchemical fire of a Golden Core cultivator could harm it in the slightest.
……It must have become sentient.
Pei Jing remained calm and casually said, “Have you ever smelled a fragrant ripe spiritual mushroom? I was just making a comparison. I don’t have any common sense. I can tell from its reddish color that it’s already ripe and ready to eat.”
Chu Junyu said, “You eat it.”
Pei Jing thought to himself, “Eat it? No way.” This thing felt as hard as a rock. Taking a bite would break his teeth.
Pei Jing took the spiritual mushroom off the stick and said, “Who said I wanted to eat the spiritual mushroom? It’s just for flavoring. What I really want to eat is this stick. I peeled and shaved it before grilling. It’s the main course.”
The young disciple burst into laughter without giving any face.
Chu Junyu praised with a mysterious tone, “Well, you’re really something.”
“Just average,” Pei Jing broke off a crispy branch that had been tempered by alchemical fire and handed it over, trying to change the subject. “Are you hungry? Would you like a bite?”
In the instant he handed it over, a gust of demonic wind swept through the forest.
As the wind passed by, a chorus of spooky giggles echoed in the air.
The young disciple sat frozen in place, shivering. “What was that?!”
The wind howled relentlessly, but it didn’t approach their location. Instead, it circled around the bonfire. The sharp and eerie laughter of the infant ghosts continued without pause. The moon in the center of the sky turned a deep red, as if shrouded in a veil of blood mist. The firelight also took on a faint red hue. Within the mist, faint and blurry figures of several short red shadows could be seen. Holding hands, they formed a circle and bounced like balls.
Pei Jing could discern their appearance clearly. ᴛʜᴇʏ ʜᴀᴅ ɴᴏ ᴡʜɪᴛᴇꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴇʏᴇꜱ, ᴏɴʟʏ ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ ʜᴏʟʟᴏᴡꜱ. ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ꜰᴀᴄᴇꜱ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ꜱᴡᴏʟʟᴇɴ, ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ꜱᴋɪɴ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ-ʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʀɪɴᴋʟᴇᴅ, ʀᴇꜱᴇᴍʙʟɪɴɢ ɴᴇᴡʙᴏʀɴ ɪɴꜰᴀɴᴛꜱ. However, they were now low-intelligence evil spirits, posing little harm. They typically took advantage of people’s fragmented spirits when frightened, and then parasitized their bodies.
What weighed on Pei Jing’s heart, however, was whether all these infants had died here.
As one of the little spirits jumped, it accidentally hit a tree, ᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪᴛꜱ ꜱʟᴇɴᴅᴇʀ ɴᴇᴄᴋ, ᴀ ꜱɪɴɢʟᴇ ɪᴍᴘᴀᴄᴛ ᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇᴅ ɪᴛꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ꜱɴᴀᴘ ᴏꜰꜰ. Carried by the wind, it rolled to the feet of the young disciple. ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ꜰʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ ʜᴏʟᴇꜱ ɪɴ ɪᴛꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅ, ᴇᴍᴀɴᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴀ ꜱᴛʀᴏɴɢ ᴘᴜᴛʀɪᴅ ᴏᴅᴏʀ. The eyeless eyeballs stared straight ahead.
The young disciple screamed in fright, “Aaah, aaaaah, aaaaaaaah!” ʜᴇ ᴋɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴꜰᴀɴᴛ’ꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴀᴡᴀʏ and ran behind Pei Jing, covering his ears in panic. He exclaimed, “What are these things?!”
Pei Jing calmly added some firewood to the bonfire. “You’re a cultivator, and you’re afraid of ghosts?”
The young disciple replied, “When a head suddenly falls in front of you, can you not be scared?”
Pei Jing said, “Yes, I’m not afraid.”
At that moment, a gust of fierce wind arose, accompanied by the laughter of the infant ghosts, “hee-hee-hee.” Amidst the moonlight, behind the circle of red-skinned infants, several women’s figures suddenly appeared. Their hair was disheveled, their faces pale, and they wore peculiar smiles.
The young disciple collapsed once again, “Are we going to die here?”
Pei Jing kindly reassured him, “No, they should be afraid of fire and won’t dare to come near.”
The young disciple let out a sigh of relief, his head hanging low, filled with despair. “That’s good then. Let’s wait for daybreak. Senior Brother should come to find us.”
Pei Jing wore a troubled expression and said, “Daybreak? That might be a bit difficult. We don’t have enough firewood to last.”
The young disciple’s eyes widened and looked down, realizing that the firewood was almost burned up. “What should we do then?!”
Pei Jing thought it was amusing to tease him. After pondering for a while, he said, “Instead of waiting for death here, it’s better to take the initiative. They are just low-level demons. We can definitely defeat them. How about sending someone to test the waters? If we can’t beat them, we’ll figure out another plan.”
“Then… who should go and try?”
Pei Jing said seriously, “You should go, the most handsome one should go.”
The young disciple shook his head vigorously, crying out, “No, no, no! It should be you, Brother Zhang!”
Now he even called him ‘Brother’.
Pei Jing asked, “Why me?”
The young disciple was driven crazy by him. Since he didn’t dare to talk to Chu Junyu, he could only close his eyes and flatter, “Among the three of us, you are the handsomest. No, I can’t find anyone in the entire Yunxiao who is more handsome than you. You’re good-looking, so you should go!”
Pei Jing felt satisfied and refreshed. After being made fun of by this young disciple earlier, he finally got his revenge.
He stood up, brushed off the grass from his body, and had a particularly smug expression on his face. “Always bothering those of us who are good-looking. Can’t you ugly ones be a bit braver?”
Chu Junyu, who witnessed the whole process: “……”
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