Shi Li’s sudden change in attitude left Shi Che deeply frustrated.
They had already kissed, and the other party had clearly been satisfied with his age and his genius record of surviving three heavenly tribulations at just five hundred years old. So why did Shi Li have to resort to personal attacks and age-shaming in the spiritual communication talisman?
His frustration lingered until the next morning. In a gloomy mood, he finished off a low-level demon beast, extracted its demon core, and left the secret realm along with the first batch of disciples who had completed their trial.
As he exited, he happened to run into Xue Zhun, whom he hadn’t seen in days.
Xue Zhun was delighted to see him and invited him to join the gathering area for the new disciples’ training. But when they reached a fork in the road, Shi Che headed in the opposite direction.
Xue Zhun called after him, “Brother Che, aren’t you coming to the gathering?”
“What for? Swinging my sword at wooden dummies? That’s just a waste of time,” Shi Che waved dismissively. “I’m going back to sleep.”
“Huh?”
Thirteen disciples had emerged from the secret realm in the first batch, but only twelve were present at the gathering. The instructor, Wei Ran, cleared his throat. “Now that everyone’s here, let’s ”
Before he could finish, an assistant disciple beside him spoke up first. “Senior Brother Wei, we’re missing someone!”
Wei Ran paused and looked at him. “Who’s missing?”
The disciple flipped through the roster in his hand. “It seems to be someone named Shi Che.” He frowned. “That’s strange. I haven’t seen this name in the past few days.”
Wei Ran wiped his sweat. Of course he hadn’t.
Shi Che’s information had only been given to him yesterday, delivered personally by the Young Master.
“Never mind. Just mark him as present.”
“Why should we?”
The disciple standing at the front voiced his dissatisfaction first. “We’re all exhausted from coming out of the secret realm, and we all have to gather. Why does he get to skip it? If I leave now, Senior Brother Wei, will you mark me as present too?”
“You…”
Wei Ran glared, about to reprimand him, when another disciple quickly tugged at his sleeve and whispered, “Senior Brother Wei, that’s Lin Zifei, a junior from Elder Lin’s family.”
Wei Ran took a deep breath, calmed himself, and said gently, “That’s not it, Junior Brother Lin. That fellow disciple asked for leave because he wasn’t feeling well after coming out of the secret realm.”
Lin Zifei immediately clutched his stomach, feigning pain. “Ouch… I got kicked by a demon beast. Ouch…”
Wei Ran snatched the pen from the assistant disciple and marked Lin Zifei as present. “Go back, go back quickly. Don’t let it get worse.”
Lin Zifei straightened up, gripped the sword at his waist, and swaggered out. As he passed Wei Ran, he patted him on the shoulder and grinned. “Thanks for the hard work, Little Wei.”
“…”
Seeing this, another disciple suddenly clutched her head, swaying unsteadily. “Oh no, I can’t take it. My head is splitting from the demon beast’s roar…”
Beside her, another person silently lowered her hand from her head, hugged her arm, and wailed, “It’s broken. I just realized my arm is broken.”
Soon, cries of agony filled the air. Wei Ran wore a kind smile as the assistant disciple reported, “The niece of Sword Venerable Xiang, the grandson of Elder Chu, the cousin of Senior Brother Meng.”
Mark them, mark them all.
In no time, only three quiet, uncomplaining disciples remained in the center. Wei Ran, who had been called “Little Wei” several times, suddenly felt a sense of shared misery and resignation. He decided to just mark all three of them as present.
“Forget it. You must all be tired from coming out of the secret realm. Let’s skip the afternoon training. Go have fun.”
After everyone had dispersed, he sat down in the chair, clutching the wooden figure and muttering to himself, “Look at them high talent, good fortune, just passing through here for a bit. You were only ‘Senior Brother Wei’ for a few days, and now you’re back to ‘Little Wei’ again. Little Wei, Little Wei.”
“What are you doing, Little Wei?”
The leg of the chair was suddenly kicked, and he immediately dropped the wooden figure, standing up respectfully. “Senior Brother Meng!”
Meng Zhuo frowned, looking at the empty training ground. “I told you to gather them. Where are they? Did you just toss them aside?”
“They… they’re sick. They all asked for leave.”
Meng Zhuo shot him a sinister glance. “All of them?”
Wei Ran stood frozen. “Yeah.”
Meng Zhuo stared at him intently, slowly closing in as if trying to see right through him. Wei Ran swallowed hard, not moving a muscle, cold sweat trickling down his back.
Suddenly, a heavy weight landed on his shoulder. Meng Zhuo raised his hand and forcefully shoved him back into the chair, gripping his shoulder tightly as he said in a low voice, “Little Wei, you know how much trouble Master and I went through to bring you here to lead these newcomers. What was it all for? To recruit more people for our Heartless Sword Sect. I told you this morning keep the first batch out of the secret realm for me. I came to check in the afternoon, and now you’re telling me this. Do you want me to have wasted my trip, huh?”
“N-no, Senior Brother,” Wei Ran stammered, feeling as though his shoulder was about to be crushed. Trembling, he picked up the roster nearby and pointed at the names one by one. “This one from Elder Lin’s family. This one from Sword Venerable Xiang’s family. These two your own younger siblings, Senior Brother Meng. And this one, this one… especially this one someone the Young Master personally sent over. If they ask for leave, what can I do?”
Meng Zhuo snatched the roster from his hand. “The one at the bottom someone from Shi Li?”
Wei Ran: “Yeah.”
“Same surname, Shi…” Meng Zhuo narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on the roster as he stared at the name and muttered to himself, “Didn’t the Shi family disappear long ago? Does Shi Li still have relatives here?”
Wei Ran slapped his thigh. “Exactly! I was wondering the same thing, Senior Brother. Where did they come from.”
Before he could finish, Meng Zhuo suddenly tore the roster to shreds, leaped onto the head of the tall wooden figure in the center, and scattered the pieces into the air, letting out a cold, mocking laugh as he watched the paper flutter down.
“Great! Just great! What a fine Young Master, what a fine Senior Brother! So you’re playing this game too! Some stray you picked up I’m not worthy of stepping onto Inquiry Island, not worthy of standing by your side, but he is? What makes him worthy? What makes him worthy? Huh?”
As he shouted, he drew his sword and slashed wildly, gradually shortening the wooden figure beneath him. When he finally landed, amidst the drifting paper scraps and wood shavings, he hung his head, panting heavily. Then, slowly, he lifted his gaze, a wide, twisted grin spreading across his face.
“So they all asked for leave, huh, Little Wei? Where are they staying?”
Behind the gathering area stood two pavilions, temporarily housing newly admitted disciples for rest. Once they were assigned directions and accepted by masters, they would move to live with their respective sects.
Originally, the entire building was empty. Shi Che was sleeping soundly in his room when, before long, a commotion erupted from upstairs.
He really didn’t want to get out of bed. Annoyed, he rolled over, only to hear an angry roar explode beside his ear. “Who’s upstairs?! We just got out of the secret realm can’t you let us rest? Keep it down, will you?!”
Someone was standing outside his window, shouting up at the floor above. Unfortunately, Shi Che’s head was right next to the window, and the noise left his ears ringing. Unable to bear it any longer, he rolled out of bed, yanked the window open, and snapped, “Who are you? Can’t you shout from your own doorway?”
The sudden opening of the window startled Lin Zifei. He took a closer look at Shi Che and said, “Sorry, fellow cultivator. I live next door. I just lay down and heard the most noise coming from your place, so I came over to tell you it’s so annoying! How can anyone sleep like this?”
Shi Che rubbed his head and leaned against the window. “I’ve been sleeping for a while now. The noise from upstairs woke me up, and now you’ve startled me. Isn’t there supposed to be a gathering? Why are you all back so early?”
Lin Zifei sized him up for a moment before suddenly sitting on the windowsill, half his body leaning in. Excitedly, he said, “You’re the first one to ask for leave, right? Impressive, fellow cultivator! How did you know Wei Ran was a pushover?”
“Who’s that?” Shi Che replied nonchalantly, sitting down at the table. “What’s the point of fighting wooden dummies? Might as well come back and sleep.”
Lin Zifei clapped in agreement and climbed right through the window. “Exactly! I’ve been fighting those things since I was a kid, and now I have to do it even after entering the Xuanqing Sect. Anyway, it was decided from birth who I’d learn swordplay from. Might as well catch up on some sleep while I can.”
Shi Che raised an eyebrow and finally gave him a proper look.
Lin Zifei had changed into casual clothes after returning to the building. His deep blue outer robe was made of fine material with intricate patterns, and a delicate piece of jade hung from his waist the very image of a noble young master from a prestigious family. And the wooden training dummies he mentioned fighting since childhood weren’t something just anyone in the main city could afford.
He looked at Shi Che with keen interest, his eyes full of admiration. “I heard Meng Zhuo is coming this afternoon. I thought no one would dare skip it. If you hadn’t asked for leave first, I wouldn’t have been the one to take the lead.”
Just as Shi Che was about to speak, he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure outside the window from the corner of his eye. He subtly withdrew his gaze and curled his lips into a faint smile. “Meng Zhuo isn’t someone to mess with. Aren’t you afraid of him?”
Lin Zifei crossed his arms and leaned against the window frame. “I am a little scared, to be honest. Before I came, my mother told me not to provoke him, saying he has a temper and bites anyone when he’s angry. But now,” he pointed upward, “listen to the noise upstairs. Everyone’s back. Even if he’s in a bad mood, he probably won’t bite me first.”
As he spoke, a chilling sneer suddenly echoed in his ear. Meng Zhuo’s head slowly emerged from the window, tilted to the side, revealing a row of pale teeth as he grinned right in Lin Zifei’s face. “Is that so?”
“Whoa!” Lin Zifei scrambled several steps back into the room. “Senior Brother Meng, are you a ghost or something?!”
Meng Zhuo sneered as he scanned the two people in the room. “Lin Zifei, above-average talent, second level of the Void Realm. Elder Lin is your uncle, right?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
Meng Zhuo shifted his gaze to Shi Che, his eyes burning with intensity. Just as he was about to speak, another burst of noise erupted from upstairs. Meng Zhuo looked up and was abruptly hit on the head by a falling apple.
He clutched his head and shouted upward, “What are you doing?!”
A voice called back from above, “You’re asking for the second time! Aren’t you tired, fellow cultivator? It’s broad daylight, why are you sleeping? We’re just having fun. Want to come up?”
Meng Zhuo breathed heavily, rolling his eyes furiously. He grabbed his sword and stormed upstairs. “Just wait, all of you! Don’t lock the door!”
Lin Zifei, still shaken, pulled a chair over and sat next to Shi Che, whispering, “I heard he’s not all there mentally. How does he remember me so clearly?”
Shi Che stood up, sword in hand. “He is, after all, the head disciple of Sword Master Meng. People only say he’s crazy no one said he’s stupid.”
“That makes sense,” Lin Zifei nodded, noticing Shi Che’s posture. “Are you going out?”
“I’m making a run for it.”
A terrified scream and pleas for mercy echoed from upstairs. Shi Che walked out the door without looking back, leaving the attic behind and deciding not to return tonight.
Meng Zhuo had clearly already figured out that he was someone Shi Li had brought in. The look in his eyes just now was practically like wanting to tear him apart alive.
Just like deep in a certain memory, when Meng Zhuo, right in front of him, had torn himself apart with a fervent, obsessive, and utterly unhesitating madness.
It was only then that he realized just how desperately this junior brother, who often came to provoke him, craved his attention even if it meant becoming a corpse.
He opened the Spirit Communication Scroll and sent a message to the only person listed on it: “Are you there? Can I come sleep with you tonight?”