Sheng Muxue devoured three baskets of steamed buns in one breath and finally felt full.
However, he now faced a difficult problem: he had no money to pay for the teleportation array.
Waiting for the System to provide funds tomorrow was not a safe bet. Moreover, he had already promised the System that he would leave as soon as he finished eating. It seemed the System was even more anxious about whether they could escape than he was.
Forced by necessity, Sheng Muxue had no choice but to ask a passerby to borrow money.
“Um, that.”
“May I ask.”
“This person.”
For the record, he did not suffer from social anxiety; he just had a thin skin. As a result, he hesitated by the roadside for a long time without locking onto a target, unable to bring himself to strike up a conversation.
Seeing that it was already half-past noon, Sheng Muxue was still standing in the middle of the street, calculating how to ask a stranger for money.
Until a man’s voice sounded behind him: “Little brother, have you encountered some difficulties?”
At first glance, the voice sounded somewhat weak and listless.
Sheng Muxue turned his head and saw a young man sitting in a wheelchair, with an attendant following behind him.
The man was dressed in an ancient blue robe, and a silver bracelet on his right wrist caught the eye immediately. Because the silver bracelet did not look new and was covered in rust, it appeared very cheap and mismatched with his otherwise expensive-looking attire.
However, the person himself was quite handsome, fair, and delicate, with a soft, effeminate temperament. In any case, he was pleasing to the eyes of a beauty-obsessed person like Sheng Muxue.
Unfortunately, he was a cripple. And somehow, he felt a bit familiar.
“How do you know I am a little brother?”
Sheng Muxue believed his cross-dressing was seamless; if he did not speak, he should not be seen through at a glance.
The man replied with a smile: “The way you walk and your mannerisms do not resemble those of a young girl, so I guessed you were a man.”
Nonsense. If he actually looked like a young girl, he would truly be hopeless. Wait, that was not right. According to what he said, he must have been observing him for a long time.
A pervert?
Sheng Muxue scrutinized the man again and finally remembered where he had seen him. He was Xie Wuyai’s youngest son, Xie Jinghong, the unlucky fellow who had his spiritual bones gouged out by the Demon Lord and became a useless person.
The so-called spiritual bones were the three vertebrae at the base of the spine. Once lost, not only could one no longer cultivate, but one would also never be able to stand again for the rest of his life.
No wonder he was a cripple. It turned out he was harmed by the original host, the great villain. That was why, on the Heavenly Punishment Platform that day, his father had angrily clamored for Yun Zheng to kill him immediately.
Sheng Muxue had been very well-behaved since entering this body; he had never committed any evil deeds. These were all done by the original host and had nothing to do with him, including the matter of digging out Xie Jinghong’s spiritual bones. But who would believe him if he said so? The world had already changed, and he was left holding the bag for everything.
Fortunately, he did not recognize his original identity. He seemed to be a kind-hearted young man who enjoyed helping others. And since he was the young master of the Xie family, he surely carried many spirit stones. Asking him to borrow money was perfectly appropriate.
Seeing that Sheng Muxue did not reply for a long time, Xie Jinghong thought he had been too abrupt and quickly apologized: “If I have said anything that offended you, little brother, I apologize.”
Sheng Muxue was brazen: “No need for apologies, just pay the money.”
He had originally intended to borrow it, but since a leek had delivered itself to his door, he might as well harvest it.
Xie Jinghong actually took a storage bag from his waist and handed it to Sheng Muxue: “Is this amount of money enough?”
The attendant behind him, Gu Qing, quickly tried to stop him: “Ah Hong, it is obvious he is trying to extort us.”
Xie Jinghong gave him a look, and Gu Qing had to shut his mouth.
Sheng Muxue felt something strange in his heart. This Xie Jinghong did not seem like someone lacking intelligence; surely he could tell he was being extorted. It was not like losing his spiritual bones also caused him to lose his intellect, right?
Although he thought this way, he still took the storage bag. Upon opening it, he found a bag full of spirit stones; low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade ones were all present.
Xie Jinghong quickly smiled warmly: “I just wanted to make a friend with you, little brother. Could I trouble you to tell me your name?”
Sheng Muxue had taken someone’s property, so it was only natural for him to be a bit more compliant. However, since he could not use either of the names on his two ID cards, he improvised: “My name is Xiao Xue.”
“So, it is Young Master Xiao,” Xie Jinghong said politely. “My name is Xie Jinghong.”
The Xie family was the most famous cultivation family in the entire world of cultivation. Their ancestors had once been personal guards under the Nine Heavens God Emperor; they could be called founding-level legends. Even after ten thousand years of changes, the Xie family had changed countless family heads. Whether they were strong or weak, they remained a great family feared by everyone in the cultivation world.
Therefore, the names of Xie Wuyai and his two sons were very prominent in the cultivation world; almost everyone knew them.
Sheng Muxue had intended to pretend he did not know them, but that would seem too intentional, so he changed the subject: “Mm, I know you. You are the famous second son of the Xie family.”
Xie Jinghong smiled and admitted: “That is correct.”
“Then may I ask, Young Master Xie, with such a status, why do you wish to befriend me?”
“I just feel that you are very special.”
Xie Jinghong answered very sincerely, his gaze lingering subtly on Sheng Muxue’s eyes, a continuous smile on the corners of his lips.
“How am I special? Especially good-looking?”
Don’t tell me he’s another old pervert.
“Your dress, your behavior, and your temperament—they are all very special.”
Sheng Muxue suddenly had nothing to say. If he did not know better, he would have thought he was insulting him. He had not used a single dirty word, but it sounded strange and awkward. He felt that Xie Jinghong was also not quite right. There was not a single normal person in this world.
So, having taken the money, he offered a brief “thank you” and hurried away.
After Sheng Muxue had walked far away, Gu Qing muttered again: “Where on earth is he special? Isn’t he just a man dressed as a woman?”
Xie Jinghong revealed a smile with an inscrutable meaning. The gentleness in his eyes faded, replaced by an unfathomable abyss.
After a long time, he said: “Push me back to the manor.”
With a large amount of spirit stones, Sheng Muxue no longer had to worry about not having money for the teleportation array. But he did not rush toward the nearest one; the more anxious he appeared, the more suspicious he would look. He strolled leisurely as if he were out for a walk.
The System, however, could not help but urge him: “Big brother, are you not in a rush?”
“Not in a rush.”
“Why not? I am almost worried to death! If you are caught by Yun Zheng again, he might do more than just force you into marriage!”
Sheng Muxue analyzed it with the System in a leisurely manner: “First of all, if the poison was too mild and posed no threat to Yun Zheng, he would not have let me escape the Cloud Palace and remain silent for so long.”
“Secondly, in the current situation, I estimate he does not have the energy to pursue me in person. Therefore, he will certainly order his subordinates to seal all the teleportation arrays in Luoyun City, first trying to lock me within the city.”
“Ah?” The System was so anxious it almost jumped. “Then what should we do!”
“However, that is not entirely certain.”
Although Sheng Muxue looked lazy and casual on the surface, he had already observed all the pedestrians around him.
“I see that some of them are carrying many goods toward the suburbs, and the goods are near their expiration date. Presumably, the teleportation arrays have not been completely sealed.”
“Perhaps he sealed the most conspicuous ones, left a few more remote ones, and then sent more people to guard those remote ones to block me.”
“Then we should not go to the teleportation array now. Let us take the city gate or think of other ways.” The System was already breaking into a sweat.
“No, of course we must go.” Sheng Muxue smiled cunningly and said to the System: “Do you have any pills that can change one’s appearance?”