Chapter 32: Red Birthmark Shen Shiyi, Give Back My Hard-Earned Money!!!
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Shen Gurong’s heart was calm like still water.
Shen Gurong saw through the worldly affairs.
His second senior sister, Su Xiyan, had a gentle temperament, despite being biologically male, he favored feminine attire. It was said that in his childhood, he had gone to seek Lord Nan Yang, pleading with their master to give him a new name.
Su Xiyan hailed from a tainted place of the demon race, and Lord Nan Yang had named him “Xiyin,” hoping he would cleanse himself of worldly ink stains and wholeheartedly pursue the Dao. Little did he expect that he would dislike this name.
“What would you like to change it to?”
Su Xiyan shyly replied, “How about Su Xiyin?”
Note: Su Xiyin means joyful and beautiful but also a bit flashy and vulgar.
Lord Nan Yang: “…”
Lord Nan Yang was momentarily stunned by the name “Su Xiyin.”
Since childhood, Lord Nan Yangn had been highly cultured and refined, finding even a hint of vulgarity distasteful. He named his disciples with names that indicated their exceptional abilities, far from ordinary men.
Like his third disciple, Xi Guxing, his fourth disciple, Jing Zhuchen, and his fifth disciple, Zhao Jiuxiao.
The tenth disciple was somewhat special. Perhaps tired of naming, Lord Nan Yang simply named him “Lou Bugui” when he saw that the tenth disciple always forgot to return home after gathering herbs.
Even though “Lou Bugui” was casually named, it sounded much better than the proposed “Su Xiyin” from his second disciple.
Fortunately, Lord Nan Yang’s temperament back then wasn’t as bad. He patiently asked, “Why do you want to be named this?”
“Su Xiyin” replied, “It sounds like a girl’s name, and I like it.”
Lord Nan Yang asked calmly, “Then why do you want to be called by a girl’s name?”
Su Xiyan blinked and replied, “I’ve always felt like a daughter since birth.”
Lord Nan Yang: “…”
Su Xiyan, born male, had always identified as female from an early age. As he grew older and learned about gender distinctions, he remained steadfast in his belief.
Despite his deep, masculine voice, his tone was soft and gentle, and every expression and smile exuded a captivating grace.
Over time, all the senior brothers on the Liren Peak called him Second Senior Sister, and he didn’t find it embarrassing or shameful; instead, he gracefully accepted it.
After gently setting down Shen Gurong, Su Xiyan bent slightly and asked softly, “Shiyi?”
Shen Gurong was still caught in the shock of his beautiful senior sister turning into a senior brother. He looked up at Su Xiyan’s unmistakably feminine face, struggling to accept it for a moment.
He painfully stuttered, “Second Senior… Sister.”
Su Xiyan smiled and said, “I brought you some little trinkets from Youzhou. I’ll give them to you once we repair the Boundary Spirit Stele.”
Shen Gurong replied reluctantly, “Okay.”
Su Xiyan patted his head gently, then turned and floated away.
Shen Gurong ran back to Fanjiang Residence in embarrassment and frustration, feeling like his teenage heart was about to shatter.
Dressed in red robes, Su Xiyan floated gracefully towards the Boundary Spirit Stele on the Liren Peak, where Xi Guxing and Lou Bugui were already waiting.
They both greeted her, “Second Senior Sister.”
Su Xiyan nodded slightly.
Xi Guxing raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did you see Shen Shiyi?”
Su Xiyan smiled brightly, “Yes, and he’s really different now. When he saw me, he even fell off a tree in fright.”
Xi Guxing teased mercilessly, “Hahaha, after getting into trouble with his cultivation, he’s become much more timid than before.”
Lou Bugui added quietly from the side, “Shiyi was timid even before. Once, when he encountered a fire, he was so scared that he cried.”
The three of them were talking when Wen Liubing, holding the Lanting Sword, approached slowly up the thousand-layered stone steps of Liren Peak. His sword was dripping with glaring blood, trickling down slowly.
He walked forward, the tip of the sword lowered in a respectful salute. “Martial Uncle, the demons and monsters below the mountain have been completely cleared, without any omissions.”
Su Xiyan looked at the blood on him and sighed softly. “Sanshui, you’ve been killing for three days. But who knows how many of those elusive demons are still lurking in the shadows.”
Wen Liubing looked up in confusion. “But there are no more demonic or evil cultivator auras on Liren Peak.”
Su Xiyan just sighed. “You underestimate the allure of artifacts.”
In this world, amidst countless pains and distractions, having an artifact meant having the opportunity to defy fate and escape the cycle of reincarnation. Even rumors of an artifact could drive countless people to desperate measures.
Su Xiyan turned and walked to the Boundary Spirit Stele, lifting his slender fingers to lightly tap on the moss-covered stone. A dense array of red characters suddenly appeared, swiftly crawling into Su Xiyan’s body along his fingers.
He gently closed his eyes, absorbing the inscriptions into his spiritual veins. Suddenly, the silent surroundings erupted with a terrifying roar that shook the heavens and the earth.
After a moment, Su Xiyan pressed his palm against the Boundary Spirit Stele. The spiritual energy flowed back, and a complex array on the massive stone monument flashed and disappeared without a trace.
With the reappearance of the characters on the Boundary Spirit Stele, a gentle blue spiritual power slowly formed a new boundary, completely replacing the shattered one.
Outside the boundary, countless malicious spirits were torn apart by the spiritual power from the stele, turning into ashes and dissipating in the air.
Wen Liubing was somewhat stunned.
All those broken and dispersed things… were they the ghost cultivators that had hidden in Liren Peak these past few days?
So many of them?
Su Xiyan breathed a sigh of relief, slowly opening his eyes.
Xi Guxing stood patiently aside, waiting. When Su Xiyan withdrew his hand, he finally asked, “Senior sister, how many more days can you stay here?”
Su Xiyan shook his head. “This time, I won’t leave again for a short while. The spiritual veins of Liren Peak are inherently unstable, and more people will come to break the formation in the future. If I leave for too long, the barrier may be easily breached.”
Xi Guxing finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that Liren Peak finally had someone reliable.
He was about to discuss important matters of Liren Peak with Su Xiyan and ask for his advice, but he finished setting up the formation and turned to leave.
Xi Guxing hurriedly called out to him, “Senior sister? Where are you going?”
Su Xiyan replied, “To find Shiyi to play.”
Xi Guxing paused, at a loss for words.
Before he could stop them, Su Xiyan and Wen Liubing quickly left.
Lou Bugui exclaimed, “Ah,” and slowly said, “Senior sister finally repaired the Boundary Spirit Stele.”
Xi Guxing remained silent.
At Fanjiang Residence, Shen Gurong was lying on the window sill, mourning his shattered teenage heart. His gaze inadvertently swept past and caught sight of Mu Zhe, carrying a book, walking towards the side courtyard.
Since becoming a child, Xi Guxing, Lou Bugui, and even Wen Liubing had carried him. Now even Senior Sister could effortlessly pick him up. Almost everyone seemed to be trampling on Shen Gurong’s dignity and shame.
The only comfort he found was that Mu Zhe never tried to pick him up.
—— Because he can’t.
Shen Gurong quickly called out to Mu Zhe, “Mu Zhe.”
The footsteps outside stopped abruptly, and after a while, Mu Zhe opened the door of Fanjiang Residence and bowed to Shen Gurong at the door.
“Master.”
Shen Gurong didn’t care about feeling embarrassed in front of him, waved to him, and in a childish voice asked, “Do you have candy today?”
Mu Zhe: “…….”
Silently sighing in his heart, Mu Zhe approached and stretched out his hand through the window.
In the palm of Mu Zhe’s hand lay a piece of candy wrapped in colorful wax paper.
Shen Gurong was about to reach for it when he suddenly seemed to realize something and asked in confusion, “Why don’t you come in?”
Mu Zhe lowered his eyes slightly and said softly, “Eldest Senior Brother said Master needs rest and doesn’t want us to disturb Master.”
Shen Gurong tilted his head, surprised to learn why he hadn’t seen his two young disciples in these past few days—it seemed Wen Liubing was trying to monopolize his attention and keep them away.
“Ignore him.” Shen Gurong didn’t take the candy but gently tapped Mu Zhe’s palm with his soft fingertips, tilting his head. “As long as you want to come, you can come find me anytime.”
Mu Zhe stiffened at his touch.
Shen Gurong urged, “Come on in.”
Mu Zhe’s heart skipped a beat and he mumbled an acknowledgment, entering the room with the candy in hand.
As soon as he entered, Mu Zhe saw his little Master sitting lazily on the soft couch in striking red robes, leaning against the window sill and looking outside. He wasn’t wearing shoes, his small feet tucked under his robe, occasionally swaying.
If Mu Zhe didn’t know this person was his Master, he would have mistaken him for a real child.
Shen Gurong, one hand supporting his head, reached out with the other hand for the candy.
Mu Zhe was accustomed to lowering his head in front of him. Just as he handed over the candy, he suddenly felt a warm little hand holding his fingers.
Mu Zhe instinctively tried to pull his hand back, but Shen Gurong held on tight. In his attempt to free his hand, Shen Gurong’s slight body leaned forward, almost falling off the couch, but Mu Zhe hurriedly steadied him.
Once Shen Gurong was settled, he squeezed Mu Zhe’s fingers and asked, “Why do you always keep your head down?”
Mu Zhe froze, unable to speak.
Shen Gurong got off the couch, sat on the floor with his knees hugged, and tilted his head slightly to look up at him.
“Well? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Mu Zhe’s voice seemed to have been stolen away. He struggled to speak for a while but couldn’t utter a single word, and because of his anxiety, his forehead was starting to sweat.
Inadvertently looking up from his instinctively lowered head, Mu Zhe’s eyes met Shen Gurong’s puzzled light-colored eyes.
Mu Zhe stood in stunned silence for a long time, then took a deep breath and softly muttered, “Ugly…”
Shen Gurong didn’t hear clearly. “What?”
Mu Zhe’s voice trembled slightly, like a cornered small animal, yet unwilling to leave due to a glimmer of hope. He hesitated, “Because of the birthmark on my face… it’s very ugly.”
Shen Gurong was taken aback for a moment, then said in a strange tone, “So what if it’s ugly? Master is blind anyway.”
Mu Zhe: “…”
Mu Zhe looked at him in confusion, seemingly not expecting his Master to say such a thing.
Shen Gurong realized his mistake after speaking and coughed lightly, trying to maintain the dignity of a Master. He said, “The body is just a vessel. Practitioners need not concern themselves too much with appearance.”
Mu Zhe asked, bewildered, “Is that so?”
Shen Gurong nodded, “Indeed.”
Mu Zhe tried to activate his spiritual power and heard his Master’s voice in his mind saying, [Of course, everyone in the world is like this, except for Master.]
Mu Zhe: “…”
Mu Zhe felt unsure of what to think and left in a daze.
After finishing the candy, Shen Gurong found that Su Xiyan had indeed come to bring him a little something.
“This is something many children in Youzhou like.” Su Xiyan took out a paddle drum and gently shook it, making a crisp sound. Softly, he said, “It is said that the two sides of the drum are made from the soft leather of the Youming beast’s jaw, which doesn’t decay for a thousand years.”
Shen Gurong: “…”
Jaw… leather…
Shen Gurong awkwardly said, “Senior Sister, I don’t play with these things.”
Su Xiyan then pulled out a pile of toys typically played by children, all made from bones, skin, or molten blood of demonic beasts, each one more gruesome than the last.
“You don’t have to play with them. You can give them to your two little disciples,” Su Xiyan said softly. “The immediate priority is still to restore your body. Lou Bugui and I have discussed several methods. We’ll try them out tomorrow.”
Shen Gurong tentatively said, “W-We don’t need to see Fifth Senior Brother, right?”
He was really afraid of that dragon.
Su Xiyan chuckled, “No need.”
Shen Gurong finally relaxed.
Su Xiyan then brought out a piece of ice silk and said, “This is a new ice silk I got from your Sixth Senior Brother when passing through Xianyun City. He said he made it specifically for you. Why don’t you try it on?”
Shen Gurong, who had been frightened by the toys made of bones and blood, became interested upon seeing the new ice silk. He took off the ice silk from his eyes and tied on the new one.
However, once the new ice silk was tied on, his vision didn’t seem as clear as before, and he felt a peculiar sensation.
As Shen Gurong was getting used to it, suddenly a group of malevolent ghosts with hanging necks appeared before him, their faces contorted in anger as they shouted at him.
“Pay back the money!”
“Three years, two months, and seven days ago, you came to me for medicine. When are you going to pay up?!”
“Shen Shiyi, give me back my hard-earned money!”
Shen Gurong: “…”
Shen Gurong: “Ah—”
Shen Gurong screamed in terror, his legs weak with fear. He quickly tore off the ice silk and threw it away forcefully.
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