86 6.10

Vaguely aware of what those hoarse moans indicated, Wenren ShiShi lowered the hand that had been poised to knock and dug her nails into her already bloody palms, her whole body shaking in disgust.

She'd tolerated that wretch touching her shifu last night, she'd endured that filth receiving her shifu's care on the way to this city, she'd stood by and watched that ingrate command her shifu to carry him as if he was a horse, but there was no way she could allow the scum to defile her noble shifu like this. She absolutely couldn't hold back anymore.

Thus, having resolved in her heart to get rid of that contagion at any cost, the girl left with determined strides back to her room, where she plucked out a complicated talisman from between her robes and traced the runes with her blood.

Back inside the suite, Chen Yu eventually fell asleep from the relaxing massage, leaving the two shamefully stained men on either end of him to erase the wetness their covert activities had left on his skin and transfer him to the connected room which they'd also been given. Of course, with only one Ning He to go around, neither of them could bear to entrust him to the other in an enclosed space, so, had they not dirtied these sheets, they would've persisted in pretending that there was only one room available.

In any case, after the boy had been settled on the clean bed, without even requiring a discussion, Moqi Lirong delicately manipulated a bar of unalloyed gold from his storage space into a small choker using his bare hands, then Moqi Baihui inscribed a tracking spell into the metal and attached a unique jewel-like artifact that could relay images of the wearer's surroundings. Once they confirmed that the collar appeared to be a mere trinket, Moqi Lirong settled it right below Ning He's Adam's apple, pinching the ends closed, and Moqi Baihui added a last detail to his script, making it irremovable.

With that, they could at last completely release the tension that had been weighing them down since they'd witnessed the scene of a group of aggressive teenagers confronting their shizhi. Despite the fact that the youth's arm was currently unblemished thanks to Moqi Lirong's treatment, the memory of the burn mark on that tender skin had persisted in their minds, fueling their restlessness and, although they had hidden this anxiety from Ning He, their nerves had remained somewhat strained due to the fear that had the group become violent, they would been too late to protect him. But with this necklace, they were satisfied that they should be able to prevent such a thing from happening again.

Reassured, the duo carefully wrapped the blankets around the cutely mumbling boy and walked back into the other room in a good mood.

But this cooperative spirit deteriorated rather rapidly. As soon as they were out of the sleeping child's hearing, Moqi Lirong demanded that his brother hand over the Celestial Perception Mirror which would reflect the information transmitted by the jewel pendant he'd fastened onto Ning He's collar, and naturally, Moqi Baihui refused to relinquish this tie to his shizhi, sparking a furious argument.

For the past two days, the hostility that had been developing between the pair hadn't been able to find an outlet, and this was an excuse to finally erupt and vent their frustrations, which the mature peak leaders didn't hesitate to seize. Before they immersed themselves in their anger, however, they didn't forget to draw a formation around the suite to block entry to anyone not invited inside by Ning He and, a brief consideration later, to restrict the youth from exiting. Then, filled with bloodthirsty urges, the brothers shoved each other out the door toward the open ground behind the inn, where they would be able to brawl without worrying their sensitive shizhi.

In this way, the evening twilight found two tall men confronting each other on one of Liu An City's empty fields, grappling savagely as if they were fighting to the death. Both Moqi Lirong and Moqi Baihui, who'd clearly continued to cultivate his martial arts alongside his research, exerted all their energy to defeat the other, because the underlying agreement was understood to be that whoever lost could no longer pursue Ning He.

Surprisingly, this was in fact the first issue over which the twins had genuinely clashed. While they had been abandoned at birth, according to their deceased shifu, who'd raised them like a father, they'd always behaved independently but compatibly, as if they'd been created to each hold one half of a single person's character.

Although the two were quite different on the surface—Moqi Baihui was keen on books and Moqi Lirong on training, the former maintained a refined air and the latter a crude bearing, the elder brother hid his feelings while the younger one displayed each emotion, so on and so forth—at their core, they shared the same cold, stubborn personality that obsessively fixated on certain matters. It was just that until now, no subject had caught the interest of both men, and they'd therefore never had to compete against each other.

Regardless, the snarling pair, aware of the stakes, adjusted to this new dynamic without a qualm and mercilessly wielded their most straightforward, lethal strikes rather than flashy maneuvers. Nonetheless, due to the innumerable years of sparring history between them, the twins were too well versed in their opponent's weaknesses and strengths, so that the battle dragged on without any signs of stopping.

Ignored by the peak masters, the disciples who'd gathered around them gaped silently at the amazing scene in front of them, barely managing to endure the residual pressure from their exchanges. Alerted by their friends' absence, a steady stream of teenagers also joined them from the inn, and news of the duel spread. When the excited murmurs reached Wenren ShiShi, who had been heading toward her shifu's suite, she wavered for several moments.

Why would her shifu be fighting with his brother? He was such a gentle person, surely it was that snake who'd incited the conflict. Should she delay her plans and go down to support her shifu? Perhaps he would require some soothing...

At the thought of the ways in which she could console him, a faint blush rose on her cheeks, but soon, she shook her head and pressed onward. Although she was sorry that she couldn't be there for her shifu, there was something else she had to do for his own good. Indeed, this might work out better than it would have otherwise, since now there wouldn't be any risk of incurring his resentment.

Having settled her thoughts, she crisply knocked on the suite door, her expression fixed into a dignified, elegant mask and her lines prepared. Yet, despite waiting for a long while, there was no answer, nor was there any sound of movement when she pressed her ear against the door. Instead, the slams of doors closing downstairs disrupted the hush, agitating her into imagining that she heard people on this floor shifting around as well. Damn it, was that lazy good-for-nothing sleeping? Every moment she stayed here increased the odds of her being observed!

Inside the room, Chen Yu, who had been awake for some time, was actually rolling around on the bed, idly tugging on the necklace the perverts had apparently collared him with and enjoying the increasingly impatient undertones in the girl's rapping. Hng, where was this the fairy of the Ten Stems Hall, what kind of fairy had such a quick temper?

Only once he felt he'd annoyed her enough did he open the door, drowsily rubbing his eyes and yawning, "What do you want?!"

Implied in the question was a threefold blow to Wenren ShiShi's ego: a complete ignorance of her status, a total lack of interest in discovering her identity, and a pure indifference to her looks, all of which were perfectly conveyed to the touchy girl. But she wasn't called the impassive flower for nothing. While her mouth twitched at being greeted so rudely, Wenren ShiShi swiftly recovered, haughtily nodding at the boy and spitting out, "I've been charged by my shifu to deliver a talisman for your protection."

Unexpectedly, however, when she pulled out the seal and tried to surreptitiously scratch the boy's hand as she passed it over, for some reason, the dog stepped backwards to avoid her entirely. What was going on? Did he suspect something? No, he should've lowered his guard once she told him that this was from her shifu...

Her puzzled consternation was so obviously displayed that it incited Chen Yu's pity, he kindly demonstrated how stupid she was by disgustedly twisting his brow and pointing his finger at the bloodstains on the charm. "This young master dislikes such foul things, who knows whose blood that is? Take it away!"

Although Wenren ShiShi wished that she could slap this idiot, then explain that this talisman was a prized heirloom her cultivator family had entrusted to her before she'd entered the sect and also that the blood on it had been sacrificed by a beautiful girl like herself, she suppressed her rage by reminding herself that since this apparently wouldn't end in a simple transfer, she first had to escape the hallway, where she could be spotted at any moment.

For this purpose, she scoffed in a deliberately disdainful tone, "What, the great Young Master Ning can't appreciate what an invaluable item this is? This talisman is a treasure crafted by one of the greatest cultivators in the past thousands of years! The fact that my shifu chose to retain it in his spatial ring when he has vaults upon vaults of famous artifacts, is proof of how rare it is."

Exactly as she'd hoped, the moron was tempted by the exaggerated words, he immediately pulled her into the room, muttering, "What, of course I recognized it, I was just testing you!"

But Wenren ShiShi couldn't hear his lies anymore, her mind had blanked when she'd discerned the ambiguous red marks on the back of the boy's neck, which were revealed by the drooping collar of his loosely tied robe. Were those gifted by her shifu? Had this wretch seduced him into falling so far? The man who'd evaded even a brush of her hand had voluntarily, passionately created those stains?

At that thought, she was unable to restrain her fury. Without prolonging her act, she caught the boy by surprise and viciously sliced his hand with a dagger she always kept hiding in her sleeve, then dripped his blood onto the talisman to activate the transportation function which would put the spoiled weakling directly in the path of the demonic beast stampede, never to dirty her eyes again.

Gleefully awaiting how the coward's face would distort in terror when he felt the force abruptly sucking him away, Wenren ShiShi's triumphant expression froze when she discovered that instead, he was curling his lips and casually mouthing the words, "See you soon." In her shocked state, she even forgot about the seal, which Chen Yu snatched at the last second, and simply stared at where he'd been standing.

While the girl had admittedly been startled by the eerie smile on the freak's face, her need to escape grounded her, so that she promptly turned around and attempted to walk out. Yet it was like there was an invisible wall that hadn't been there when she'd entered, she could only stagger back again and again until she had to acknowledge that she was trapped, she wouldn't be able to claim she hadn't been here.

Indeed, Wenren ShiShi's repeated blows to the formation had alerted both of the Moqi twins who had still been fighting with each other, and they instantly abandoned the field to rush toward the suite. They hadn't interfered when they'd sensed Ning He bringing someone into the suite lest he got angry at being restricted, but their shizhi was clearly trying to get out desperately now. What could have happened? Had his guest attacked him?

Unfortunately, when they hurried in, the only thing inside the room was some girl on the floor, their Ning He was gone! The brothers simultaneously turned to the sole potential witness, one yanking her up by the hair and the other threateningly gripping her neck as they asked in sync, "Where is he?"

Terrified by the murderous glare her shifu was directing at her, Wenren ShiShi couldn't do anything except mutely shake her head, her back drenched in cold sweat. This was all that scum's fault, contaminating her shifu! Master Moqi had always treated everything mildly like an immortal, he'd never exposed such fierce emotions before. The way he was hurting her now was as if he didn't even realize that she was his disciple...

In actuality, Moqi Baihui really hadn't perceived that detail, since he hardly paid attention to his assistants. Or rather, even if he had remembered that she was one of them, he wouldn't have spared her on that account, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

But, not seeing any indication that the girl would regain enough of her wits to provide a useful clue in the foreseeable future, the men soon dropped her haphazardly to the ground and ignored her, with Moqi Baihui turning to study the reflection on the Celestial Perception Mirror while Moqi Lirong brushed off his rusty knowledge of spells to trigger the necklace's tracking abilities. Having grasped where their shizhi was at the same instant, the twins stared at each other in dread. It seemed that Ning He had somehow been dropped in the middle of the animal horde...

Crumpled limply in a corner of the room, Wenren ShiShi's heart sank at the sight of that mirror, recognizing what a precious artifact her shifu had wasted to guard the piece of trash. He was more infatuated than she'd expected.

She wasn't afraid that Ning He would tattle on her, since no matter how swiftly they located him with this tool, the weakling was simply too useless to last even a minute against the beasts. But from the depth of emotion her shifu had shown for the trash, he would mourn the wretch's death for a long time. So when would he recognize how much of a better match she was for him?

Meanwhile, because the majority of the disciples who'd joined this trip had been observing the peak leaders' duel, they had instinctively followed the pair when they'd suddenly dashed away. They were therefore standing outside the open doorway as the two men learned that Ning He had gone missing and, discerning their intention to immediately find him, they enthusiastically pulled out their ever-present swords and prepared to accompany them, riled up from the fight they'd been viewing and eager for more excitement.

At the sight of her shifu's disappearing back, Wenren ShiShi also braced her trembling limbs to chase after him, encouraged by the fact that Moqi Baihui wasn't blocking her. In reality, if she hadn't followed of her own will, she would have been dragged along, since both of the men wanted her to be at hand. That way, they could start carrying out her punishment the instant that Ning He confirmed that she was responsible for him being endangered.

Despite their haste, it still took the Moqi brothers a couple hours to close in on Ning He due to the difference in their modes of transportation, and it took yet another beat to find him amidst the mountains of beast corpses. But with the choker's functions, they finally managed to pinpoint their shizhi proudly standing on the back of a huge carcass and shooting flames precisely through each animal's weakest body part. It seemed that the reason it had taken so long to catch up to him was that the boy had somehow managed to overwhelm the beasts so rapidly that he was near the back of the stampede. In fact, he'd gotten so far that the newly widening chasm, which had caused the animals' panic to begin with, could be seen behind him.

Of course the men were delighted that their shizhi had accomplished such an amazing feat, but they didn't dare to take any chances by letting him continue the battle alone, he was safest when he was between them. Thus, unable to wait, they leapt down from hundreds of feet in the sky directly to the ground without a sound and sprinted towards the boy, briskly sweeping through the frenzied pack of beasts in order to reduce the burden on him as soon as possible.

When he noticed the approaching pair, Chen Yu grinned at the Moqi brothers as if bragging about his skill, then turned to peer up at the stunned Wenren ShiShi, wagging the talisman she'd given him behind his back so that only she could see it. Although the blood had dried, there was no doubt that the peak masters would have some way to link it to her, so this was a piece of evidence she had to retrieve if she didn't want her scheme to be discovered.

And she didn't disappoint him, in the next second, before anyone could react, Wenren ShiShi flew dangerously quickly down on her sword and plucked the boy up, then flung him into the abyss.