Qize Mountain was spring-like all year round, with various vegetation nourished by immortal energy, all surviving in their most perfect state. Looking out, it was lush and green, holding a unique charm of its own.
Phoenix trees paved the path in a blazing red, and as the two of them, one person and one feather, walked among them, it was quite fitting for the scenery.
To prove its usefulness, Little Feather didn’t say another word and led him right out.
Walking along the path, it finally remembered to ask, “Why are we going to find the protagonist?”
Before Li Jingsheng could even speak, it answered itself, “Oh, I know! Taking advantage of the fact that he is still weak, we should go add fuel to the fire, bully him a bit more, and let him increase his hatred a little further. That way, we can finish our task very quickly!” Feeling that its guess was spot on, it happily praised itself, “Wow, Host, you are so smart!”
After finishing the last bite of his pastry, Li Jingsheng freed up a hand and gave it a knuckle rap. Although the feather didn’t have a head, Little Feather still clutched its tail feathers and complained to Li Jingsheng, “Why did you hit me? Wasn’t what I said right?”
Li Jingsheng was practically amused to death by its stupidity. He let out a cold laugh and said, “The protagonist is already injured so badly. If I go add fuel to the fire right now, he might lose his life altogether. What if I mess up the plot? How am I supposed to go back?”
Although Mo Yu was the protagonist, Li Jingsheng’s words weren’t false, because he remembered that the protagonist supposedly awakened his Heavenly Spiritual Root at the age of fifteen, and had always possessed a defective spiritual root prior to that. If he remembered correctly, this year was precisely the protagonist’s fourteenth year.
Therefore, the protagonist was currently just an ordinary person, an ordinary fourteen-year-old child who had taken sixty whips; death couldn’t be far off if he didn’t die now.
Even though he had transmigrated into a villain, his heart remained that of a righteous and good socialist citizen. Coupled with his past profession as a teacher, he simply couldn’t bear to watch children suffer.
The little feather didn’t have a brain; it was just a feather, and many things were too complicated for it to figure out, so it simply stopped thinking about it and said dejectedly, “Fine, whatever.”
Qize Mountain was planted full of phoenix trees, and all the way down Li Jingsheng’s walk, his vision was filled with a blazing red.
When the Waking of Insects begins, all things grow.
As an authentic cultivating world, the variety of life here was truly immense. Along the way, Li Jingsheng had already seen three patterned snakes, six species of beetles whose breeds he didn’t know, and a number of mosquitoes the size of his pinky finger. If he wasn’t mistaken, the large bumps currently on his hand were bitten by those very mosquitoes.
Walking all the way down, Li Jingsheng could only think: It is so far!
Just who on earth arranged for the protagonist to live this far away?
As he thought about it, he recalled that it seemed to be himself who did it. Never mind, at least it was still on Qize Mountain.
However, once he arrived at the protagonist’s living quarters, he didn’t think that way anymore.
Under Little Feather’s guidance, Li Jingsheng wound his way through turns and twists until he arrived in front of two broken grass huts.
Without exaggeration, they truly were broken grass huts.
Du Fu would probably want to write another poem like My Thatched Hut Damaged by Autumn Wind upon seeing this shack.
The grass hut was surrounded by bamboo. The base of the mountain was damp and gloomy, and the hut looked as though it had been thoroughly soaked in water, appearing dripping wet. The body of the house was built with wood, looking somewhat like Baldy Qiang’s cabin from Boonie Bears, and a gust of wind could probably blow it down.
Sigh, sure enough, the protagonist’s life in the early stages was always miserable.
Living in a place like this, when on earth would those injuries ever heal?
Li Jingsheng didn’t rush in blindly. He hid beside the house, and to avoid being discovered by others, Little Feather had already turned into a red-and-white patterned bracelet worn around Li Jingsheng’s wrist.
The youth’s wrist was fair, and the red-and-white bracelet actually added a hint of an immortal, transcendent disposition.
Mo Yu’s injuries were far too severe, to the extent that the two of them took quite a bit of time just descending the mountain.
After reaching the foot of the mountain, Chu Wen immediately set about treating Mo Yu’s injuries.
The bamboo forest was quiet, yet it could not block the surging turmoil within Mo Yu’s heart. The wounds on his back burned with a searing pain, and with every single wave of pain, the frost in the depths of his eyes grew a layer deeper.
He repeatedly chanted a single name in his heart: Li, Jing, Sheng.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed with his eyes closed, Mo Yu’s face was deathly pale, as if he might pass out at any second. With his back turned toward Chu Wen, Chu Wen cautiously used a towel to wipe away the fresh blood that could be managed on his back.
As he wiped, he began to cry again: “Zi Gui, why on earth did you have to be so stubborn with him? Senior Brother already told us we could leave, why did you have to take those extra three whips?”
Mo Yu could least bear seeing him cry. His voice raspy, he softly explained, “Mengfeng, do you still not understand him? If I hadn’t taken those three whips today, he might use those three whips as an excuse later on, and in the future, it could turn into thirty whips.” He drew a breath and continued, “It might even implicate you in today’s plea for mercy. Therefore, not a single one of these sixty whips could be spared today; we absolutely cannot leave him with any leverage.”
Chu Wen kept wiping while crying: “Senior Brother is far too ruthless with his blows. We don’t even have decent medicinal ointment, and scars are definitely going to be left behind after this.”
Mo Yu comforted him: “It’s fine. Once Master comes out of seclusion, we can ask Master for medicine.”
Chu Wen’s hand paused imperceptibly before nodding again.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Chu Wen emerged from inside. The youth was dressed in a pink outfit, looking tender and cute, but at this moment he wore a troubled expression, his pair of almond-shaped eyes red and swollen, making him look pitiable.
Li Jingsheng could guess why he was crying even with his eyes closed, but he still brazenly sneaked over to his side while Chu Wen was changing the water.
“Junior Brother, what are you doing?”
Startled by the appearance of that flash of red robes, Chu Wen immediately prepared to kneel and pay his respects. Li Jingsheng couldn’t handle him kneeling like that; he hurriedly went to support the other person and pressed his index finger against his lips, signaling him to keep quiet.
Seeing this series of actions, though still shaken, Chu Wen summoned his courage and asked with curiosity, “Why has Senior Brother come here?”
Acting as though he felt somewhat embarrassed, Li Jingsheng scratched the back of his head. A trace of a blush crept up his fair cheeks, and he said in a low voice, “Well… just now, when I hit… Zi Gui, my blows were too heavy. After you guys left, I thought about it and felt that, as a Senior Brother, how could I beat my Junior Brother? And hit him that hard, too! They say an elder brother is like a father; I feel extremely regretful after finishing the beating, so I wanted to make up for my faults.” With a cheeky smile, he took out the bottle of Hemostatic Dew and Jade Condensation Ointment, handing them to Chu Wen. “This is a tiny token of my sincerity, considered as an apology to Junior Brother.”
Meeting Chu Wen’s suspicious gaze, he sighed inwardly.
Being a person truly shouldn’t make you too bad. Now look at this, even when trying to do good, nobody believes you.
While speaking, right in front of Chu Wen, he poured out a bit from both bottles of medicine and smeared it onto his own hand.
“Rest assured, there’s no poison.”
After saying that, he added, “Right, don’t tell Zi Gui that I sent the medicine.”
Chu Wen nodded. He also knew that if he told him, Zi Gui certainly wouldn’t use it. And yet they were indeed severely lacking in good medicine, let alone top-tier ointments like Hemostatic Dew and Jade Condensation Ointment.
Although he didn’t want to use it, Zi Gui’s situation was critical right now, and they truly had no better medicine available.
Seeing him hesitantly accept it, Li Jingsheng hurried away. What if the protagonist saw him and broke his character settings?
The return trip was uphill, making it much more arduous than the journey down.
He felt the bugs by the roadside were even more annoying, and even the bright little flowers he had seen on the way down now appeared somewhat dim.
On the way back, he reaffirmed his thought from just a moment ago.
He definitely had to find an opportunity to move the protagonist and his companion up the mountain; he remembered there were still three or four empty rooms on the mountain where nobody lived, which would be just right to settle them into.
Climbed this mountain a couple more times like this, and he felt his legs were about to break.
Climbing mountains was annoying enough, but Little Feather added fuel to the fire: “Just a moment ago, the protagonist’s hatred value increased by another five percent, and the hatred value is now at ninety-five percent. Host is so amazing, you didn’t even do anything and the hatred value went up!”
Hearing this, Li Jingsheng wanted to roll his eyes. I climbed up and down to deliver medicine for you, and behind my back, you quietly add hatred for me.
Even though increasing the hatred value was a good thing, he still couldn’t swallow his anger. Panting heavily, he came to a halt, looked up at the sky, and gave a long howl: “Ungrateful wretch!”
Meanwhile, on the other end, Mo Yu, who was currently treating his wounds, suddenly let out a sneeze.
Chu Wen leaned forward and asked, “What’s wrong? Is the water too cold?”
Enduring the pain in his back, Mo Yu comforted him, “It’s nothing. It’s probably just too damp here.”
It was indeed damp here, coupled with the fact that the sun was about to set, leaving only a chill behind.
That damp chill seeped deep into the bones, as uncomfortable as being devoured by ants.
Chu Wen took out the Hemostatic Dew and poured it onto Mo Yu’s wounds. Perhaps because the Hemostatic Dew’s potency was too strong, Mo Yu felt as though his back was being ripped apart; not a single spot didn’t hurt.
Unable to bear the pain, he collapsed face-down onto the bed, his jet-black hair like satin scattering across the mattress. He breathed heavily, feeling the tearing agony on his back.
The stray locks of hair across his forehead had already been dampened by sweat, sticking stickily to his face.
Chu Wen crouched beside him to wipe away his sweat with a look of worry. Mo Yu originally wanted to speak out to comfort him, but upon catching sight of the sticky black mist bubbling up behind the youth, he closed his mouth instead. It was fine if he couldn’t see it, but once he saw it, he was filled with total incomprehension.
Mo Yu possessed a Glazed Heart, which he had only discovered last year.
Legend had it that the Glazed Heart was the purest thing in the world and could peep into human hearts.
Mo Yu had consulted countless ancient texts without finding any method of how this peeping worked, but he had discovered certain patterns of his own: whenever someone held goodwill toward him, the mist behind them would be red, while those harboring malice toward him would have black mist.
Having seen countless people, almost everyone was a mixture of red and black, even the Eldest Senior Brother was no exception; it was merely a question of the proportions of red and black.
Only two people were purely black toward him: one was his Senior Brother Li Jingsheng, and the other was the person before his eyes, Chu Wen.
He had once suspected that something was wrong, but the Glazed Heart would not deceive him.
That left only a single fact.
The person before him hated him to the core.
After climbing to the mountain peak, Li Jingsheng lay in his room for half a day, taking the opportunity to let Little Feather explain the basic situation here.
There was school here too, and classes started at the hour of Chen.
Back in the day, he never wanted to wake up for early morning classes, but who would have expected things to be even more cutthroat here!
Moreover, he discovered that his spellcasting seemed to have muscle memory. That afternoon, he practiced the moves given by Little Feather for a bit and didn’t expect to succeed on the very first try.
Right now, he was using spellcraft to pour a cup of tea over, nibbling on melon seeds while listening to Little Feather explain things there.
The youth’s eyes were like glittering stars, his facial features exquisite, and his ink-black hair draped over the bedside. A set of red robes set off his skin as white as snow, and his well-defined fingers gesticulated as he manipulated the magic.
Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened. Li Jingsheng lit the candles, and as the red candles flickered, the indoor space grew bright.
At this moment, the evening glow painted half the sky, and the pink-purple mist reflecting onto the blazing red phoenix trees added an extra layer of splendor to Qize Mountain.
As dusk gathered, Li Jingsheng had spent half the afternoon eating snacks, so he wasn’t particularly hungry. Furthermore, since he didn’t know how to cook, he simply decided to tidy up and go to sleep, because after all, he still had early morning classes tomorrow, and he certainly didn’t want to be late on his very first day of school.
Who would have known that right as he lay down, someone would knock on the door.
Irritated, he got up, preparing to open the door and shout, “Who is it? In the middle of the night, aren’t you going to sleep?”
Mo Yu’s low, deep voice carried a hint of weakness: “Senior Brother, Zi Gui has come to serve you to sleep.”
Hearing this voice, Li Jingsheng felt a jolt run through his entire body, his hand that was about to open the door freezing halfway in the air.
Holy crap, the protagonist coming to serve the villain in the middle of the night, isn’t this obviously a weasel paying respects to a chicken with no good intentions?!
Though he resembled the weasel more.
In his own mind, he conjured up a horror movie scenario of a dark and windy night for murder without a trace, and in the end, he simply decided not to open the door.
He asked Little Feather, “What should we do now? Isn’t the hatred value not full yet? How come the protagonist wants to make a move so soon?”
Little Feather comforted him, “Don’t worry, you’re still a long way from dying. He’s simply here to serve you; you were the one who demanded this in the first place.” Then it contradicted itself, “No, wait, it was the previous you who demanded it.”
Li Jingsheng understood. In short, this protagonist had been bullied by the villain into becoming an ox or a horse, even doing menial tasks of serving people. No wonder the villain’s ultimate end had been so miserable.
Having comforted himself, he took a deep breath and opened the door. It was so cold outside; leaving someone hanging out there all the time didn’t seem right either.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw a youth dressed in black standing at the doorway. He possessed an exceptionally fine build, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Although he was only fourteen or fifteen years old, his graceful posture was already starting to show. He had sword-like brows and star-like eyes, a high-bridged nose, and though his lips were somewhat pale, the disheveled misery of the morning was entirely gone. No matter how you looked at him, he was a handsome young man.
Recalling the other person’s pale appearance from the morning, Li Jingsheng once again mentally condemned the villain in his heart, ruining a perfectly good child like this.
Seeing him stand there without speaking for a long time, Mo Yu lifted his gaze to look at him. Li Jingsheng locked eyes with those pitch-black pupils, which held confusion, but even more resentment.
Momma mia, so fierce!
Snapping abruptly back to his senses, Li Jingsheng put on his villainous facade, feigned fierceness, and said, “Come in, and remember to shut the door.”
Seeing the other person’s tone remain as usual, Mo Yu understood in his heart: those actions during the day were truly fake.
Once inside, Mo Yu didn’t stop either, heading straight and familiarly toward the washroom without glancing around at anything else.
Though puzzled, Li Jingsheng didn’t dare to speak up; after all, he was essentially a fake impostor, and what if he accidentally blurted something out and got discovered?
He certainly didn’t want to trigger the butterfly effect.