The mere thought of Mu Jiyuan’s thwarted expression made Jiang Youbai’s heart blossom with joy. Every single word he spoke nowadays was exacting revenge for his past life.
The Son of Heaven was nothing more than this.
Standing at the entrance of the courtyard on Yuling Peak, Jiang Youbai looked at Shen Changchuan, who was already waiting for him. This man was always punctual; whenever he said they would study after a lecture, Shen Changchuan was guaranteed to be waiting in the courtyard by the time he returned.
He stepped inside, approached the banished immortal favored by the falling blossoms, and called out, “Shen Changchuan.”
Shen Changchuan merely glanced at him and asked, “Bad mood?”
Jiang Youbai looked at him in confusion. He was clearly in a great mood. Not only had he seen right through Mu Jiyuan’s little schemes, but he also no longer allowed the other to twist the narrative. Everything went according to his own wishes, so where on earth would a bad mood come from?
Shen Changchuan cleared up his confusion. “The corners of your mouth are turned down, and there isn’t even a provocative smile. Is it because of the matter of taking on a disciple?”
Jiang Youbai blinked, the curve of his lips reforming with a hint of danger. “You seem to understand me even better than I understand myself. Shen Changchuan, are you always this perceptive of people’s hearts? Or is it because your jade token is inside my body?”
Shen Changchuan did not explain this; he simply looked at him, waiting for Jiang Youbai’s answer.
Jiang Youbai pressed his lips together, looking as though he had given up all pretense of caring. “Who is Mu Jiyuan? Why take him as a disciple?”
Shen Changchuan gave him a deep look. “Tang Ci found Mu Jiyuan at the mountain gate, claiming he was pursued by the demon race, covered in injuries, and seeking the protection of the Qingqing Sect. Seeing that his talent was not bad, Tang Ci brought him to Yuling Peak to inform me.”
Jiang Youbai raised an eyebrow. Mu Jiyuan was the Son of Heaven, so casually making up a background meant no one would dig deeply into it. He cared more about another question. “Then why did you take him as a disciple?”
Shen Changchuan’s gaze grew slightly profound. “You said it yourself, we are not true master and disciple.”
Jiang Youbai acted like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on, instantly leaping up. He walked right in front of Shen Changchuan and raised his head. “You are going to teach me how to crack your jade token, yet you split your energy and give it to someone else. Are you certain you can teach me properly?”
Shen Changchuan watched him for a long moment before saying, “I kept him because there is something inside him identical to what is inside you.”
Jiang Youbai raised an eyebrow, the scarlet tear mole beneath his eye twitching. “What thing? Demonic energy? Demonic qi? Or your jade token?”
Taking in the playful mockery in Jiang Youbai’s eyes, Shen Changchuan raised a hand to tap the other’s glabella, pushing him back a few paces. “It is your innate companion ability, controlling minds.”
Jiang Youbai rubbed his brow, his pupils shrinking upon hearing this. “What do you mean?”
Every demon beast’s innate ability was completely unique. Putting aside the fact that Mu Jiyuan was not a demon beast at all, even if he were, it was impossible to be born with the companion ability of mind control.
Shen Changchuan had already walked over to the side and sat down. Adjusting his robes, he sat upright like a meticulously polished sculpture. “It has not been fully investigated yet, which is why he needs to remain in the Qingqing Sect. I also want to find out what is truly going on.”
Understanding dawned in Jiang Youbai’s heart. He walked over to sit opposite Shen Changchuan, picked up an empty teacup, twirled it by the rim with his fingertips, and asked again, “Then will Master teach him personally?”
Watching Jiang Youbai push the teacup toward his direction, Shen Changchuan lifted his gaze to look at the other, picked up the teapot, and poured Jiang Youbai a cup of tea. “No. There is still a difference between registered disciples and personal disciples.”
The corners of Jiang Youbai’s lips curved upward. He took back the teacup, propped up half his face with one hand, and murmured. “So he is only a registered disciple.”
Mu Jiyuan’s mouth was truly formidable; he had made a mere registered disciple sound like a personal disciple, even talking about learning the apprenticeship ceremony. Registered disciples didn’t have any formal apprenticeship ceremony, as it was just offering a cup of tea to the master.
Shen Changchuan drank his tea, put down the teacup, and said, “Since you are in such a good mood, let us begin today’s cultivation.”
Imitating his actions, Jiang Youbai downed the tea in a single gulp. The ceramic cup made a crisp clinking sound against the stone table. He stood up, dusted off the creases on his robes where he had folded them while sitting, and said. “Come on, Master.”
Guiding qi into the body and cultivating demonic qi shared the same underlying principles, so it wasn’t particularly difficult for Jiang Youbai. However, the moment spiritual energy gathered inside him, the pacified demonic qi awoke like a dog smelling meat, surging forward along his meridians.
He frowned slightly, a flash of resentment crossing his eyes. Damn Xie Qingli! If not for this demonic qi, he wouldn’t have been constrained by Shen Changchuan and forced to stay in the Qingqing Sect. Once he went to the Demon Realm in the future, he would definitely slaughter Xie Qingli.
He poured all his focus into the newly condensed spiritual energy, trying his utmost to suppress that vicious dog of a demonic qi. But because he was a beginner at spiritual energy, his power was too weak to resist the demonic qi, and his entire body began to tremble again.
“Focus your mind and calm your spirit; guard your spiritual platform tightly.”
Shen Changchuan’s cold, clear voice sounded by Jiang Youbai’s ear, followed immediately by. “Relax.”
Listening to Shen Changchuan’s words, Jiang Youbai slowly relaxed his tense body. The next second, a wisp of spiritual energy resembling winter’s first snow entered his body through his palm, wandering through his limbs and bones to suppress the demonic qi.
He could feel the temperature of the hand pressed against his palm. Unlike the owner’s aloof and detached nature, it carried wisps of warmth that brought an exceptional sense of tranquility.
Before long, the demonic qi within Jiang Youbai was completely suppressed, and Shen Changchuan’s spiritual energy withdrew from his body. Opening his eyes, he locked gazes directly with Shen Changchuan’s deep, distant-mountain-like eyes.
For a split second, Jiang Youbai lost his focus. Allowing someone else’s spiritual energy to enter your body in such a relaxed state was equivalent to placing your life directly into the other person’s hands. He used to trust this person boundlessly; to think that even now, his subconscious still trusted that Shen Changchuan would not hurt him.
Yet, after all, he had trusted the wrong person.
Regaining his clarity in an instant, Jiang Youbai’s expression turned cold. “Am I going to suffer through the erosion of demonic qi every single day when I cultivate from now on?”
Shen Changchuan nodded in response. “Only through combat can you counter it.”
Jiang Youbai understood that Shen Changchuan wanted him to fight the demonic qi himself, thereby gaining the ability to keep all those various forces inside him in check.
Looking at Shen Changchuan, he slowly conjured up a smile once more, carrying a dangerous pull that made people involuntarily fall into it. “You are right.”
Before his voice had even faded, the hand pressed against Shen Changchuan’s palm condensed spiritual energy, reversing along the path Shen Changchuan’s spiritual energy had just used to probe his body, thrusting back into the other man.
“Hiss.”
It happened in the blink of an eye. Jiang Youbai’s brows furrowed, the smile at the corners of his lips vanishing instantly. As if jolted by electricity, he pulled his hand away from Shen Changchuan’s palm and hurriedly shook it.
When he withdrew it, he saw a layer of frost and snow covering his palm, the fair skin turning a bright crimson after brushing away the frost.
He cradled his palm and blew on it lightly, but seeing it had little effect, he thrust it right in front of Shen Changchuan and deliberately complained. “Master, you are so cruel.”
Clearly in immense pain, yet still wearing a smile on his face?
Without batting an eye, Shen Changchuan looked at him and raised a hand to cover Jiang Youbai’s palm. The frostbite caused by the spiritual energy vanished without a trace in an instant. “If you want to kill others, you must first prepare yourself to be killed.”
Jiang Youbai didn’t mind in the least, even chuckling. “Master told me to try more. I have always been eager to learn and love practical application.”
“Master.” Tang Ci’s voice drifted in from the entrance. Leading Mu Jiyuan, he stopped at the courtyard gate, looking inside in slight astonishment.
The pear blossoms in the courtyard were still falling endlessly, like frost and snow drifting down from the nine heavens. Shen Changchuan and Jiang Youbai stood beneath the falling blossoms, their bodies covered in pear petals, hands overlapping at an extremely close distance.
Jiang Youbai swept a glance past Tang Ci and landed on Mu Jiyuan. The latter looked somewhat dazed, clearly not expecting him to be so intimately close to Shen Changchuan.
He twitched the corners of his lips, pressed his hand forward against Shen Changchuan’s, and smoothly wrapped his arms around the man’s arm. “Master, the apprenticeship ceremony is imminent. I will go listen to the lectures tomorrow. Can I skip a day of teaching?”
Shen Changchuan glanced at him, his gaze falling on Jiang Youbai’s hand holding his arm. “Yes.”
Jiang Youbai chuckled, let go of Shen Changchuan, and cast a half-smiling gaze toward the entrance. “Does Senior Brother have business with Master?”
Only then did Tang Ci walk inside. “Master, I was wondering where Junior Brother’s residence has been arranged? Yuling Peak or Lingyun Peak?”
Lingyun Peak was the disciple lecture hall. Aside from attending classes, disciples normally cultivated and lived there as well, and only personal disciples lived on the same peak as their master.
Before Shen Changchuan could speak, Mu Jiyuan spoke up first. “This disciple has just arrived and is not yet very familiar with the two Senior Brothers. Could I stay on Yuling Peak with Senior Brother for a while?”
Before Shen Changchuan could open his mouth, Jiang Youbai let out a light laugh. “Does Senior Brother not even know where registered disciples are supposed to be housed? Do you have to come and bother Master over such a trivial matter?”
Mu Jiyuan’s face turned pale. Jiang Youbai appeared to be reprimanding Tang Ci, but in reality, he was scolding Mu Jiyuan for not knowing his place.
Tang Ci wasn’t annoyed at being lectured by his junior brother, maintaining his good-natured tone. “Since Master made an exception to accept Junior Brother as a personal disciple, I thought it best to come and ask.”
Before Shen Changchuan could speak again, Jiang Youbai interrupted once more, this time directing his words at Shen Changchuan. “Shen Changchuan, you’ve handed so much authority over to Senior Brother, why is he still so timid and overly cautious? Why don’t you give his position to me? I can help you manage all the affairs of the Qingqing Sect. How about it?”
Tang Ci and Mu Jiyuan felt a jolt of shock in their hearts, not because of what Jiang Youbai said, but because the way Jiang Youbai was speaking to Shen Changchuan right now, whether in demeanor or tone, was completely natural and familiar, looking less like a master and disciple and more like longtime friends.
Both of them simultaneously looked at Shen Changchuan.
Tang Ci was waiting for Shen Changchuan’s command, while Mu Jiyuan was watching to see whether this Jiang Senior Brother of his was merely acting lawlessly or if he truly held such indulgence from Shen Changchuan.
Taking in all of Jiang Youbai’s expressions, Shen Changchuan said indifferently, “If I really handed the Qingqing Sect over to you, it would probably turn into chaos.”
Although this joking proposal was rejected by Shen Changchuan, there was not the slightest trace of blame toward Jiang Youbai for his insubordinate words.
Looking at Tang Ci, he said, “Just handle it according to the rules.”
Acknowledging the order, Tang Ci said nothing more. Beside him, Mu Jiyuan stared fixedly at Jiang Youbai, his eyes seemingly churning with a thousand layers of tumultuous waves.
Jiang Youbai returned the gaze, the coldness in his eyes condensing like frost.
In his past life, he hadn’t wanted to leave the Qingqing Sect, so he learned human vices and tried to please them. But this time, he had shed so many emotional ties, and even if Mu Jiyuan was the Son of Heaven, he wouldn’t let him step on his head ever again.
After Shen Changchuan left, the other two relaxed noticeably. Tang Ci approached Jiang Youbai and asked softly. “Xiao Bai, since when did you become so close to Master?”
Jiang Youbai looked blank. “This also is considered close?”
The kind of closeness where he wanted to kill Shen Changchuan every waking moment?