Chapter 94
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
The memories that were thought to be merely revisited turned out to be skewed from the beginning.
In this illusion, Yuncheng was just a bystander. He witnessed himself practicing in the courtyard, and the newly recruited Junior Brother was sticking to him, smiling like a blossoming flower. After a few days, the Junior Brother said to him, “Second Senior Brother, since I joined the sect, I haven’t seen Fourth Senior Brother.”
“We should go and meet him,” Yuncheng heard himself saying warmly, patting the Junior Brother’s hair. “It seems Second Senior Brother hasn’t seen Fourth Senior Brother in a long time. Today, I’ll take you to meet him.”
When Yuncheng brought Junior Brother to Fourth Senior Brother’s courtyard, he found him with a flushed face, breathing hot air, watering the spirit plants in the courtyard.
Yuncheng immediately noticed he had caught a cold, took Pei Yunshu into the room, checked his pulse, and gave him medicine.
Pei Yunshu’s eyes sparkled. Though he was ill, he was in high spirits. He smiled brightly at Yuncheng, saying, “Senior Brother!”
Yuncheng pinched his cheek, sternly asking, “Why didn’t you take the medicine?”
“I don’t want to. The remaining medicine I have here is extremely bitter. I’d rather endure the illness than eat those bitter pills,” Pei Yunshu replied.
“Nonsense,” Yuncheng chuckled.
Pei Yunshu smiled, leaning into Yuncheng’s embrace. “Senior Brother, give me some medicine that doesn’t taste bitter.”
“Alright,” Yuncheng agreed.
Thinking about the Junior Brother Yuncheng brought, he turned to call him over. However, he noticed Junior Brother staring directly at Pei Yunshu in his arms.
Yuncheng patted Pei Yunshu’s head. “This is your new Junior Brother. You should have heard about him, right?”
Pei Yunshu got up from Yuncheng’s embrace and walked to the Junior Brother. “Little Junior Brother, I am your Fourth Senior Brother.”
Junior Brother pursed his lips, revealing a shy smile.
From that day on, Junior Brother visited him more frequently.
Yuncheng guided him in cultivation, taught him where the spiritual energy was most concentrated during the day, and gradually, they became closer.
After a few days, when they went to the back mountain to pick herbs together, they heard laughter nearby.
Approaching, they found Fourth Senior Brother on a rope between two green trees, and Third Senior Brother was serving as a laborer behind him.
“Third Senior Brother, put more effort into it,” Pei Yunshu laughed heartily, swinging on the rope. “If you don’t please me, I’ll tell Master the secrets you’ve kept from him!”
“Don’t!” Fourth Senior Brother quickly tried to please, sighing deliberately. “It’s difficult to raise both a person and a woman.”
Pei Yunshu glared at him, and Third Senior Brother exerted more force, trying to push him. “My good junior brother, you must keep the secret for me. Within our sect, your favorite person is Master. How can I compete even for second place?”
Yuncheng heard this and couldn’t help but snort. “After traveling for so many years, he comes back and says such things.”
Pei Yunshu thinking the same as Yuncheng, repeated Yuncheng’s words to Third Senior Brother, adding with an elongated tone, “Among Senior Brothers, you can barely rank fourth.”
“So, aren’t I still behind Junior Brother?” Third Senior Brother took out a folding fan and fanned himself. “Alright, I think I know your heartless self. Among your fellow disciples, I guess your favorite is Second Senior Brother, isn’t it?”
Yuncheng suddenly felt that “himself” was clenching his fist, and his chest started beating faster.
He was anticipating Fourth Junior Brother’s response.
Fourth Junior Brother, swinging along with the rope, followed Third Senior Brother’s words and said, “Senior Brother is right.”
A warm feeling appeared on Yuncheng’s face. He involuntarily clenched his fist against his lips and cleared his throat. Thinking about Junior Brother being present, he felt even more embarrassed. He wanted to turn around and go back with Junior Brother but saw the look in Junior Brother’s eyes.
With fierceness and jealousy, brimming with a malicious darkness. However, in the next moment, Junior Brother lightly smiled, eyes full of teasing. “Second Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Brother really likes you.”
The heart that Yuncheng hadn’t explored was shattered once again by this remark. He shook his head with a wry smile and, taking Junior Brother with him, hastily left the scene.
After that, Yuncheng involuntarily began to pay more attention to Fourth Junior Brother.
Fourth Junior Brother liked to smile, was lively in nature, and always had a lot to talk about with Yunman after his return f. He had a particular fondness for spiritual plants and herbs, becoming especially delighted when they blossomed. Fourth Junior Brother also enjoyed drinking tea, particularly spring water tea brewed with morning dew. He would brew numerous pots in the morning and continue drinking until evening.
Yuncheng also noticed that Fourth Junior Brother seemed to be afraid of pain.
Ling Qing Daoist Spiritual Master treated Junior Brother very differently. Junior Brother had a likable personality, and Yuncheng’s eyes frequently lingered on Fourth Junior Brother. Junior Brother noticed this and found a secluded place to ask him, “Senior Brother Yuncheng, do you want to become Dao companions with Fourth Junior Brother?”
Yuncheng remained silent for a long time. When the sun began to set, he finally said, “Don’t speak nonsense.”
He quickly avoided Junior Brother, who commented from behind, “Second Senior Brother, I think Fourth Senior Brother must also have a liking for you.”
That night, Yuncheng found it difficult to focus on his cultivation.
From that day forward, Yuncheng paid even more attention to Fourth Junior Brother. However, he soon realized that as long as Junior Brother was present, Fourth Junior Brother only had eyes for him.
Whether in front of Master or the other senior and junior brothers, whenever Junior Brother was around, Pei Yunshu would only pay attention to him.
Yuncheng’s heart sank bit by bit.
Not long after, Junior Brother got acquainted with disciples from other peaks. After some interaction, Pei Yunshu expressed his desire to go down the mountain and experience the world with them.
When Pei Yunshu mentioned this, Junior Brother’s face turned pale. He coldly rejected Pei Yunshu’s request in front of everyone, speaking harshly. Yuncheng didn’t know what the other senior brothers thought, but he didn’t want Pei Yunshu to leave Wuzhi Peak. He chose to remain silent.
None of the senior brothers spoke. Eventually, Pei Yunshu, with red eyes, insisted, “I want to go!”
Fourth Junior Brother turned and went back to pack, and Yuncheng saw Junior Brother looking at him with a strange expression, face turning grim. Later, Junior Brother entered the master’s room. When he came out, the master locked Pei Yunshu away.
Yuncheng, aware of this, felt a secret satisfaction along with his worry.
Junior Brother was confined in Yuncheng’s courtyard, secluded and away from the influence of others. This was the best way.
After that, even though it was never explicitly stated, the senior and junior brothers seemed to follow an unspoken rule. No one took the initiative to approach Fourth Junior Brother, and no one engaged in conversation with him.
Wearing a stern face seemed to make junior brother afraid, and when they were afraid, they became extremely obedient.
One night after this, Junior Brother came to find him. Yuncheng was drinking, and his tone, whether boasting or complaining, was hard to discern. He said, “Fourth Senior Brother always sticks to me. The way he looks at me seems like he wants to become Dao companions.”
Yuncheng didn’t know when Junior Brother left that night, but he continued drinking until dawn. As the sun rose in the east, casting a golden glow across the land, his eyes were bloodshot, filled with coldness. He stepped into Fourth Junior Brother’s courtyard.
In the illusion bound to his original body, Yuncheng suddenly felt a bad premonition.
This uneasy feeling grew heavier as he approached Junior Brother’s courtyard. Eventually, his heart even stopped, and the pain in his temples became unbearable.
Later on, he understood why this ominous feeling had emerged.
He picked up Junior Brother’s lifebond magical treasure and looked down at his junior brother, who was trying to escape step by step.
Junior Brother’s eyes were filled with watery glints, a mix of astonishment and fear. With a sobbing tone, he pleaded, “Second Senior Brother, I won’t provoke Junior Brother anymore. I’ll leave the sect; please spare me, okay?”
The sealed cultivation of Junior Brother, vulnerable and pitiful, appeared before him.
Yuncheng couldn’t restrain himself. He couldn’t even close his eyes, nor could he pretend to deceive himself. Every time the scabbard landed on Pei Yunshu, Yuncheng felt each whimper, each cry of pain and fear.
It tore a massive hole in his heart.
The cold wind seeped into his bones, starting from the roots, and Yuncheng dared not look into Pei Yunshu’s eyes. He couldn’t bear to see what he was doing.
But he was forced to watch it all. He watched it little by little, felt it little by little. The illusion seemed so real; the feeling of the scabbard hitting his leg was unforgettable.
Fourth Junior Brother had placed him in this illusion for this reason.
Yuncheng’s heartache reached a numbness.
He listened to the hoarse cries of Pei Yunshu in the illusion, recalling the questions he had asked him twice before, “Senior Brother, why did you have to break my legs?”
So, that was what Fourth Junior Brother meant.
***
Not long after Yunjing and Yuncheng fell into the illusion, their faces showed signs of pain, brows furrowed, fists clenched.
Pei Yunshu, however, paid no attention to them. He waited for Zhuyou to defeat the sect leader. Seeing him in this state, the demonic cultivators of Flower Brocade Sect cursed inwardly. After cursing, they began to think about how to survive.
Before they could come up with a plan, their invincible sect leader fell heavily from the sky, and Zhuyou, in a headlong rush, pierced through the sect leader’s chest with his claws.
“…” The demonic cultivators of Flower Brocade Sect were in panic. “Sect Master!”
Pei Yunshu’s eyes brightened. He flew to Zhuyou’s side, leaning over to look at the sect master. “Zhuyou, you killed him.”
Zhuyou, covered in bloody aura and also injured, was breathing heavily. When he saw Pei Yunshu approaching, he turned around, grabbing Pei Yunshu’s shoulders and deeply kissed him, his claws tightly holding Pei Yunshu’s waist, inadvertently crumpling their clothes.
After realizing what was happening, Pei Yunshu’s face turned red and blue. He pressed down on Zhuyou’s head, raising his knee to strike his abdomen.
“You better behave,” Pei Yunshu gritted his teeth, hating to the point of wanting to devour a dragon. “If there’s a next time, I’ll cook and eat you!”
“Eat what?” Zhuyou’s temples were damp with sweat, and his breath was a bit dry. “Eat my dragon root—”
Pei Yunshu covered his mouth.
Afterwards, Pei Yunshu carefully examined the sect master’s corpse, confirming that he was truly dead. He carried Zhuyou away from the scene, leaping to where Bai Lige was hiding.
Upon learning that the sect leader had died, half of the demonic cultivators of Flower Brocade Sect were mournful, and the other half hid their joy. They didn’t linger around and dispersed quickly.
Young Master Qingfeng said, “With the sect leader dead, they don’t need to worry about the poison pill in their bodies anymore.”
Pei Yunshu and the others finally knew that there was a poison pill inside them. Young Master Qingfeng knew that this couldn’t be used as an excuse. He brought them to Flower Brocade Sect to find the method to break the curse. However, the reason for the poison pill was not only due to the curse but also because the Bestowal Divine Painting belonged to the sect leader. Only he knew how to decipher it.
He brought them here hoping to find a way to release them.
But now that the sect master was dead, everything was settled. Saying these things would only be humiliating for him, and no one would believe it. Young Master Qingfeng whispered, “You can choose how to deal with me.”
When he said this, his eyes stared straight at Pei Yunshu.
Pretending not to know, Pei Yunshu lowered his eyes. Beside him, Zhuyou played with his hand, making his fair fingers blush with a tinge of pink.
Bai Lige said, “Let’s not talk about this for now. Hua Yue is still holding the baby. Find a beautiful place here and bury the baby first.”
The others nodded and went to find a suitable location. Pei Yunshu and Zhuyou followed last. Zhuyou, who didn’t know what was going on, breathed heavily. He had just played enough with Pei Yunshu’s hand and found the color pleasing. He decided to take it into his mouth gently.
Pei Yunshu snapped back to reality, pulling his hand out of Zhuyou’s mouth and wiping it on Zhuyou’s clothes. “Why are you acting like a baby now?”
Zhuyou thought for a moment. At this moment, having defeated a strong enemy, he was in a state of excitement. He said, “I am a baby. Can I drink milk?”
Pei Yunshu recalled Zhuyou’s previous nonsensical words and felt a surge of anger. But Zhuyou suddenly bent down, grabbed him, and threw him over his shoulder, leaving the others behind. Holding Pei Yunshu, he ran in the opposite direction.
“Zhuyou,” Pei Yunshu, angry, bit into the flesh on Zhuyou’s shoulder. “What are you doing!”
Zhuyou replied, “People can’t be revived after death.”
Pei Yunshu’s eyes turned red, whether from anger or embarrassment. “Get lost!”
“I’m a baby too,” Zhuyou lowered his head, pressing his lips against Pei Yunshu’s, pinching his cheeks, and making him open his mouth. “You take care of me, treat me well.”
! His blood surged intensely, making him look completely different from usual.
When Zhuyou left, a few strands of silver sparkled with a dazzling light. Zhuyou lowered his head, kissed him on the lips, and finally, when Pei Yunshu acted up, he raised his hand and playfully spanked Pei Yunshu’s buttocks. With flushed eyes, he pressed Pei Yunshu against a tree, tearing apart their clothes, and playfully played the role of a baby, drinking water to his heart’s content.
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
