On the day his studies were to begin, Rong Nianfeng woke up exceptionally early. After bidding farewell to the crowd at Lingyun Peak, he packed up everything he needed in his room and departed.
The people of Lingyun Peak silently breathed a sigh of relief as they watched him fly away, sprawled atop his little black cloud.
Although he only ever chased and struck Liu Wen and his lackeys with lightning, hearing sudden claps of thunder out of nowhere was still quite terrifying.
Song Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment when he saw Ye Xingchen in the classroom. When did a lazy bones like Ye Xingchen ever wake up this early?
Propping up his chin, he teased in a tone whose sincerity was hard to discern, “What brings you here in such high spirits today? It could not be to send off Rong Nianxue, could it?”
Ye Xingchen could not figure out his own feelings either. Feeling a bit irritable, he coughed twice, “I just could not sleep, that is all.”
“Right, right, right, you could not sleep.”
Song Xiuyuan saw right through him but chose not to say it. Lowering his head, he pulled a mental cultivation manual out from under the desk, “Then, do you still want me to look into a way to dissolve the Dao companion covenant?”
“Naturally.”
Ye Xingchen replied without the slightest hesitation. He thought to himself that he was merely a little shaken, nothing more.
“Why do you not quietly tell me, do you actually like her or not? Though you always use having someone you like as an excuse to brush us off, you know best in your heart whether that person even exists.” Song Xiuyuan leaned in front of him at some point, asking with a mischievous smirk.
Previously, an astrologer had declared that Ye Xingchen needed to form a Dao companion bond with a cultivator born during the hour of the Rat on the Ghost Festival. The otherwise listless Ye Xingchen had suddenly claimed that he already had a sweetheart from before he came up the mountain at eight years old. Yet, when asked which family the girl belonged to, or what her name was, he knew absolutely nothing.
Immortal Venerable Wuji had narrowed his eyes and made an immediate decision to lock him in his room.
While Song Xiuyuan was still imagining a grand drama in his head, he turned around only to find that Ye Xingchen had already tilted his head and fallen asleep, having very thoughtfully placed a cushion on the desk.
Song Xiuyuan: “…”
A crisp, refreshing scent settled beside them. Turning his head, he saw Xie Si’an actually sitting right next to Ye Xingchen. He wore the crimson robe exclusive to core disciples, its fine beads and tassels shimmering like starlight. His face was as flawless as carved jade, and the vivid red mark between his brows added a hint of eerie glamour to his elegant, noble bearing.
Alarm bells instantly blared in Song Xiuyuan’s mind. His breath hitched for a moment as he knitted his brows, wondering why Xie Si’an would sit right next to the two of them.
The surrounding disciples were equally bewildered, whispering secretly among themselves.
Standing at the entrance, Liu Wen and his group watched, eager for a good show, “I thought Ye Xingchen was going to play the coward, but he actually dares to show up today.”
A little lackey flattered him, “Senior Brother Liu must definitely avenge the hatred of losing your hair!”
Liu Wen’s face stiffened for a moment. He was wearing a wig today. He did not know what kind of rotten luck he had run into; despite applying hair growth serum days ago, it still had not grown back.
It was all Rong Nianxue’s fault!
No, actually, it was Ye Xingchen’s fault. If not for Ye Xingchen, he would not have been targeted by Song Xiuyuan and Rong Nianxue.
A strange gleam flashed in his eyes as he glared viciously at the person sleeping on the desk. Kicking his lackey, he nudged his chin forward, “Go and stick this thing onto Ye Xingchen’s back.”
As he spoke, he handed a barely noticeable talisman to the lackey.
The lackey was somewhat afraid and asked tremblingly, “Senior Brother, this is not some kind of forbidden curse, is it?”
Liu Wen raised an eyebrow and said fiercely, “It is just a Profound Dark Curse. It will not kill him; it will just teach him a little lesson.”
The Profound Dark Curse would only make a person alternate between hot and cold for a while. It was not fatal, but suffering was guaranteed.
The lackey took it from his hand and nodded in understanding, his eyes darkening.
Sharing a tacit, malicious understanding, the group headed toward Ye Xingchen and Song Xiuyuan. Liu Wen intentionally raised his voice, “Song Xiuyuan, is the place where I injured you last time feeling any better?”
The people nearby burst into a chorus of mocking, disgusting laughter.
Song Xiuyuan looked at Liu Wen, deep in thought, “Speaking of which, when I beat you up last time, why did your cultivation fluctuate so drastically? Do not tell me you…”
He paused slightly.
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Liu Wen instantly shrieked, “You are the one who took drugs!”
“Ha,” a smile bloomed in Song Xiuyuan’s eyes, looking exactly as though his suspicion had been confirmed, “I never said you relied on medicinal pills to stack your cultivation.”
Realizing what he had just blurted out, Liu Wen’s face turned a shade of green and purple.
Song Xiuyuan muttered in disgust, “So stupid.”
Pretending it was an accident while no one in the front row was paying attention, the lackey flicked his fingers and attached the Profound Dark Curse to Ye Xingchen’s back.
He raised his hand to signal Liu Wen before sitting down in the front row.
Liu Wen was not angry anymore; he let out a light sneer and walked away.
Song Xiuyuan’s intuition told him that Liu Wen had definitely tampered with something, but seeing that Ye Xingchen was still fast asleep when he turned around, he eased his mind.
The elder in charge of the class entered the room carrying a thick stack of cultivation manuals, starting to analyze sword techniques with a stern face.
The Profound Dark Curse was supposed to take effect after half an hour. When the time came, Liu Wen and his crew turned around with smirked faces, wanting to see Ye Xingchen make a fool of himself. Yet, until the end of the class, Ye Xingchen remained completely motionless.
Right as class was about to dismiss, Ye Xingchen suddenly lifted his head and made a funny face at Liu Wen.
Liu Wen: “…”
He was nearly choked with rage.
Failing to get his wish, Liu Wen’s expression was incredibly foul after class ended. He left the room holding back a stomach full of fury.
Song Xiuyuan did not know what had happened, but seeing Liu Wen suffer a setback made him feel deeply satisfied.
“What kind of trick was he trying to pull just now?”
Ye Xingchen yawned lazily. Getting up, he hooked an arm around Song Xiuyuan’s shoulder and said toward Xie Si’an, “Thanks.”
It was not until he was dragged out the door that Song Xiuyuan snapped out of it, “How do you know him?”
“I do not. He just helped me out.”
Ye Xingchen spent half a minute giving Song Xiuyuan a brief summary of what had happened. Song Xiuyuan had not expected such a twist, “Then this Xie Si’an seems like a pretty decent guy.”
Ye Xingchen rested his hands behind his head, a stalk of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth as he murmured thoughtfully, “Who knows.”
At the Corpse Puppet Pavilion, Rong Nianfeng hovered on his little black cloud, watching the cultivators dressed in black robes floating back and forth below. For a rare moment, he fell into silence.
What kind of bizarre fashion sense was this?!
Compared to everyone else, his trendy women’s clothing was exceptionally eye-catching. However, he had not brought any black robes in his universe bag. After hesitating for a long while, he asked with a trembling voice, “Cloud, can you drape yourself over me?”
The little black cloud shuddered in fright. With a loud clack, it dumped Rong Nianfeng onto the ground and hastily flew away.
Rong Nianfeng: “…”
Damn that little black cloud!
The surrounding cultivators all stopped in their tracks, staring at him with hollow, soulless eyes.
Rong Nianfeng steeled himself and said, “Good, good morning, Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters.”
A gust of ghostly wind blew past, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around himself, shivering.
“Elder Qiu Nian wants you to go to his immortal cave,” someone said, holding two green-faced, sharp-fanged little ghouls in their hands.
Fortunately, it was not far. After being scared out of his wits the entire way, he wanted to cry but had no tears. Ghost knows what he had just seen along the path!
The Corpse Puppet Pavilion was simply abnormal! Every three steps, he would see a little ghoul: headless ghosts holding their own heads in their hands, night-wailing ghosts making agonizing screeches, and ferocious demons with bloody mouths wide open.
For a moment, Rong Nianfeng regretted his choice.
Could he still return to Lingyun Peak with his corpse intact?
Qiu Nian’s voice echoed from within the cave, “Come in.”
The moment the words fell, a surge of spiritual energy enveloped him. Rong Nianfeng was dragged into the cave by invisible, fine threads pulling at his entire body. He heard the rumbling sound of the door closing, and his vision instantly plunged into pitch blackness.
It was so dark he could not even see his own fingers. How was anyone supposed to cultivate here?
“Hehehe.”
“What a fragrant scent.”
“Want to eat, want to eat.”
The shrill voices and slimy sensations made Rong Nianfeng freeze, completely terrified to move. His calves could not stop shaking.
Suddenly, he felt his head grow a bit heavy, as if something was rolling around on top of it. Having adjusted slightly to seeing in the dark, he discovered a little ghoul propping its hands against his forehead. Its long, blood-red tongue was resting against the side of Rong Nianfeng’s face, and a pair of large, bead-like black eyes stared straight at him, making unexpected eye contact.
Rong Nianfeng: “…”
He might as well just die.
“Ahhhhhhh! A ghost!” And then, he fainted.
When he woke up again, candles were lit inside the cave. Rong Nianfeng could now clearly see the little ghoul that had been on his head earlier; it was rolling around on the desk, laughing hysterically, “So fun, so fun!”
There was no need to ask to know it was mocking him.
His cheap master, dressed in a black robe, rummaged through the universe bag in his hand and tossed a set of black robes to him. He said in a raspy voice, “This is yours.”
Rong Nianfeng looked down at the black robes in his hand with some resistance, asking, “Can I choose not to wear it?”
Qiu Nian: “No.”
He refused with absolute decisiveness.
Rong Nianfeng asked again, “Why?”
Qiu Nian paused. Rong Nianfeng thought he had stumped him and was just about to toss the black robe into his universe bag to gather dust, when he heard Qiu Nian say gloomily, “It has style.”
Rong Nianfeng: “…”
He imagined himself floating around the Xuantian Sword Sect in a black robe, and quite swiftly put it on.
Qiu Nian looked at him with quite a bit of approval, “Since you are a man, there is no need to wear women’s clothes anymore. This black robe can also help conceal your identity to some extent.”
“Alright.”
Rong Nianfeng replied subconsciously. Once he reacted to the words, he lifted his head stiffly, “How did you know?!”
Qiu Nian waved his hand, “Your disguise is simply too clumsy. It is just that old scoundrel, Immortal Venerable Wuji, who could not tell.”
Unexpectedly having his cover blown like this, Rong Nianfeng did not know what to say for a moment. He lowered his eyes, his emotions complex.
“Rest assured, no one at the Corpse Puppet Pavilion gossips. Once you wear the black robe, no one will recognize you.”
Rong Nianfeng originally wanted to say “who would believe that”, but remembering the dense crowd of Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters holding ghosts outside the door, he fell silent.
True, if it was the Corpse Puppet Pavilion, the probability was indeed quite high.
“Master, where do we usually study and cultivate?”
Hearing this, Qiu Nian rummaged through his universe bag again for a long time, finally pulling out a thick stack of books, “I will teach you some basics first. You will cultivate with me during the day and read books at night.”
Rong Nianfeng: “No rest?”
Qiu Nian narrowed his eyes, “This is the prime time for cultivation. Cultivate more, take fewer detours.”
At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it, but Rong Nianfeng could not help but feel he was being fed empty promises.
And so, his miserable cultivation life began.
Rong Nianfeng had initially thought Qiu Nian was just joking, but reality proved otherwise. Every day, before the ghosts even woke up, he would be splashed awake by a bucket of cold water. He had to swing his massive black sword a thousand times until his hands felt like breaking, only to be dragged to a pool of clear spring water. Qiu Nian would leave behind a single instruction telling him to try circulating the spiritual energy within his body and use his five fingers to manipulate the water into fine threads, before vanishing without a trace.
He would leave behind only a little ghoul that craved his blood, hovering over the water with wide, round eyes, watching him cultivate.
At night, he still had to light a candle and curl up in bed to read the cultivation manuals. Whenever he dozed off, the long-tongued ghost on his head would lick his face.
Rong Nianfeng: “…”
Whoever wants this life can have it!
Glancing at the little ghoul nearby that was narrowing its eyes and baring its teeth, he thought, Forget it, a miserable life is better than a good death. He would learn.
Finally, looking at Rong Nianfeng who was sporting two massive dark circles like a panda, Qiu Nian’s missing conscience returned a tiny bit. He nodded and permitted him to return to Lingyun Peak to rest for two days.
After packing his bags into large and small bundles, Rong Nianfeng walked out of the cave listlessly.
He thought to himself, why does it always feel like I am being released from prison?
Summoning the little black cloud, with the lazy, sleeping ghoul resting on his head, he yawned his way back to Lingyun Peak.
He wondered if the Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters at Lingyun Peak had missed him.