“Are you questioning Zhenren Lingzhi?” Xie Longyu stared in absolute disbelief at this audacious punk. “Your theft is a minor offense, but your illicit rendezvous is a major one! If your Shizun hadn’t taken the blame upon himself for your sake, you would have been cast out of the mountain long ago!”
Xie Longyu thought with a sour twinge of jealousy: Exactly what about this brat was superior to him? Why on earth did Zhenren Lingzhi insist on taking Mo Rubai in as an inner disciple?
“Hmph, what are you staring at? Hurry up and move!”
“My Shizun…” Mo Rubai wanted to ask something, but upon meeting Xie Longyu’s eyes, he promptly shut his mouth.
Still, a lingering discontent churned in his heart. The Sect Master hadn’t actually pursued the matter regarding him and Yun Xiawen; it was only because Xie Longyu and his cronies had fueled the flames that it became impossible to keep it under wraps any longer.
How did Xie Longyu dare to spread this gossip so recklessly throughout the Cangqiong Sect? Someone must have been pulling the strings behind the scenes.
As for who that person might be, Mo Rubai could only think of Zhenren Lingzhi.
How could such a bizarre person exist in this world? He looked high, pure, and ethereal at first glance, yet acted completely inconsistently behind closed doors.
And yet, back down in “The Third Level,” Zhenren Lingzhi had clearly treated him with utmost care and protection.
“What on earth are you thinking with that expression? Truly sickening,” Xie Longyu shoved him away with a look of disgust. “Here we are. The punishment the Sect Master handed down to you is five days of confinement in the dungeon.”
Xie Longyu felt deeply resentful; the hearts of the Sect Master and Zhenren Lingzhi were wildly biased. If ordinary disciples like them committed even one of these offenses, they would have been expelled from the sect entirely.
And look at Mo Rubai—merely confined for a few days.
What brought Xie Longyu a measure of comfort was the fact that every single disciple in the Cangqiong Sect now knew Mo Rubai was in trouble.
All in all, Mo Rubai’s reputation was thoroughly ruined! From now on, those female cultivators wouldn’t just have eyes exclusively for Mo Rubai, right?
“Many thanks for your trouble.”
Without sparing Xie Longyu even a glance, Mo Rubai turned on his heel and strode straight into the dungeon, nearly driving Xie Longyu apoplectic with fury.
“Putting on airs, bah!” Xie Longyu scoffed. So what if he was an inner disciple? Wasn’t he still locked up in the dungeon by his own hands? Having this task fall into his hands was simply Mo Rubai’s just retribution!
Mo Rubai paid no mind to Xie Longyu’s petty scheming. The moment he stepped inside the dungeon, a figure dressed completely in black approached and snapped a Spirit-Binding Lock onto him. Those individuals draped entirely in black from head to toe belonged to the Cangqiong Sect’s Secret Gate division.
Members of the Secret Gate had their tongues severed the moment they learned to speak, and they were drilled in wielding hidden weapons the moment they could stand…
With these people stationed here, absolutely no one could ever hope to escape the Cangqiong Sect’s dungeon.
Leaning back against the damp, cold stone wall, Mo Rubai let out a sigh and raised a hand to examine the marking that had materialized on his wrist.
A pitch-black flower was blooming across his skin—a Soul-Spirit Flower.
This was truly an unnecessary redundancy, Mo Rubai thought with a bitter smile. Zhenren Lingzhi had gone to so much trouble for nothing; as an elder, and with himself being merely a lowly disciple, could he possibly offer any resistance anyway?
In truth, that flower originally did possess a certain utility.
It was simply that the sudden crisis involving the demon race had left Shen Zhiwei completely preoccupied, rendering him unable to spare attention for it.
Shen Zhiwei’s expression remained dark and unreadable. [Sanba, was the incident with the demon race your doing?]
Shen Zhiwei hadn’t expected a response, as the entity inside his head rarely seemed constantly present.
Yet this time, Sanba answered.
[To you, this world is merely cold text on a page. What, feeling a pang of sympathy for the people of the Cangqiong Sect?]
Shen Zhiwei: [What are you trying to say?]
[For both you and me, this world is nothing more than a shackle. If you wish to return, you mustn’t tie yourself down with hesitation.]
Glancing briefly at Yuan Jiangning beside him, Shen Zhiwei replied, [I know. I don’t need you to tell me.]
Sanba’s implication was already crystal clear; that incident was indeed connected to him.
“Zhiwei, you don’t look so well,” Yuan Jiangning remarked, deliberately lingering behind to match pace with Shen Zhiwei once a brief strategic meeting concluded. “Are you harboring some worry? Someone spotted you and Ah Bai down at the Lexian Pavilion, and you two…”
“I simply had him help me pick up a few items,” Shen Zhiwei replied with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Senior Brother, you certainly know a lot.”
Yuan Jiangning sighed softly. “Zhiwei, Senior Brother is only concerned about you.”
“Save your concern, Senior Brother,” Shen Zhiwei waved a hand dismissively. “Go tend to your duties.”
Walking away without a backward glance, Shen Zhiwei had no spare time to decode the underlying meanings behind Yuan Jiangning’s words. Right now, his body was burning with an intense, raging heat—the exact same state Mo Rubai had exhibited back when he was afflicted by the aphrodisiac!
Shen Zhiwei cursed under his breath. He had drawn a portion of Shen Ming’s poison over simply intending to research what sort of concoction it was, never anticipating that he would end up crashing his own car.
After a strenuous search, he finally located a bone-chilling cold pool, gritting his teeth as he dove straight in with a cold expression.
As for the method of testing poison upon oneself, he decided he would never try it again in this lifetime.
However, the piercingly cold water didn’t seem to have much effect on Shen Zhiwei. A belated realization dawned on him: he should possess an ice spiritual root.
Because he hadn’t encountered many situations requiring spiritual energy since arriving in this world, he had managed to forget even something this crucial.
Perhaps Shen Ming could still be saved?
No, it wasn’t that simple. If all the poison could simply be drawn away, why would the original body have insisted on needing Mo Rubai at all?
There had to be some other underlying catch to this.
“Unnnh—”
Distracted for a split second, Shen Zhiwei couldn’t suppress a low groan, and quickly rushed to regulate his breathing and clear his mind.
Unbeknownst to Shen Zhiwei, someone stood right behind him, staring unblinkingly at his figure.
“So… so breathtaking…” Murong Buli felt as though he were suffocating.
He prided himself on being the number one handsome man; even though he had never ventured far from home before, he knew well that his appearance was peerless.
Yet Shen Zhiwei’s present appearance completely eclipsed him.
Compared to his own delicate softness, that litous, flexible physique was true absolute beauty!
Murong Buli watched in a daze, feeling as though some corner of his heart was collapsing in a frenzy…
Naturally unaware of what his sole male harem member was up to, Mo Rubai stared in silent speechlessness at the scantily clad young woman standing before him.
Why on earth would a young woman suddenly appear inside a dungeon? What in the world were the guards of the Secret Gate doing?
“Young Master… Young Master Mo… I am Chu’er,” the girl looked at Mo Rubai nervously. “I came here specifically to serve you.”
Mo Rubai said in a deep voice, “Do you even know what place this is?”
“This is the dungeon,” Chu’er summoned her courage to meet Mo Rubai’s eyes. “You are an inner disciple, so naturally you are entitled to this privilege. Don’t be afraid, Young Master Mo; I’m still a maiden, I’m clean.”
Mo Rubai: “…Do your parents know you’re doing this?”
Chu’er froze in place. Why was this Young Master Mo putting on such a righteous act? She had gone through immense difficulty just to earn the qualification to enter the dungeon and serve an inner disciple. As long as she could become a warm-bed companion to an inner disciple, she wouldn’t have to remain at the absolute bottom as a lowly servant anymore.
“Young Master Mo~” Chu’er’s tears sprang forth instantly. “This humble servant… wait, who’s there?!”
Her expression twisted abruptly. “I came here first! What do you think you’re doing?”
Following the direction of Chu’er’s gaze, Mo Rubai’s expression shifted instantly…
“Ji Chu, what are you doing here?!”
The person who had arrived was none other than a middle-aged woman well past fifty. A pink flower was stuck askew in her hair, and her face was coated in so many layers of powder that it felt as though a shower of dust would shed with every step she took.
Upon seeing this woman, the fierce, vicious look on Ji Chu’er’s face vanished instantly. “Mother… why are you here?”
Mo Rubai watched the pair with cold eyes. Was the Cangqiong Sect’s dungeon a place just any stray monster or ghost could wander into?
Having arrived late and entering the inner sect without any senior brothers or sisters to guide him, Mo Rubai naturally knew nothing of the unspoken perks, nor did he realize that “confinement” was viewed as a rather “enjoyable” affair for inner disciples.
The Cangqiong Sect wasn’t solely populated by cultivators; there were also numerous ordinary mortals who voluntarily entered as servants, solely for the chance to spend a passionate night with an immortal elder—with the ultimate dream of siring a child gifted with spiritual roots.
Under normal circumstances, they had zero access to the sect’s disciples, save for when inner disciples were locked away in confinement.
Hooking up with even one of them meant stepping straight into heaven in a single bound.
Ji Chu’er naturally knew what her own mother had come for.
“Mother,” Ji Chu’er’s face flushed a deep crimson, the skin around her eyes burning red as she looked utterly pitiful. “I beg you, please give me this chance~”
“Hmph! Little seductress,” the older woman spat a glob of saliva onto the ground before turning around to flash a ingratiating smile at Mo Rubai. “Young master, my name is Mother Ji. Although this girl of mine has decent looks, she has an elder sister whose looks are top-tier, and whose character is first-rate in every way! On top of that, she’s actually attended village school. Would you consider her instead?”
Ji Chu’er’s face went pale. She knew it—the moment she secured a chance to approach the dungeon, word would inevitably reach her mother’s ears.
Her mother’s favoritism was so skewed it tilted off the edge of the earth, doting exclusively on her older sister while forcing even their household slave registry status onto her alone.
Anyway, as long as only she and her mother remained on the slave registry, Shuangshuang could remain behind in the Cangqiong Sect as a free commoner.
“You’re Shuangshuang’s mother?” Mo Rubai’s gaze shifted back and forth between the two of them. “I have no need for anyone to serve me. Both of you, head back.”
“My, you know our Shuangshuang?” Mother Ji was overjoyed. “If you know her, isn’t this even easier to arrange? Shuangshuang is truly top-tier! Young master, let me betroth her to you!”
It was Mo Rubai’s first time being fought over like this, and he couldn’t help finding it slightly absurd.
Naturally, he knew of Shuangshuang—or rather, practically no outer disciple didn’t know of her. Despite clearly not being a member of the Cangqiong Sect, she clung to the place shamelessly and refused to leave, while maintaining ambiguous, flirtatious ties with multiple men at once.
“Return to where you came from!” Mo Rubai’s expression darkened. “The dungeon is no place for you to roam about. Leave.”
Mother Ji suddenly sensed something was amiss. Since when was the dungeon not a place they were allowed to come?
Weren’t they the ones responsible for delivering meals and cleaning every single day?! Since this kid was so completely clueless about the rules of the dungeon, there was only one possible explanation…
“So you’re not even an inner disciple after all!” Mother Ji sneered. “No wonder you managed to let this stinking hussy steal a march on me. Bah!”
Mo Rubai wasn’t a stranger to shrewish behavior, but now, holding the status of a personal disciple to Zhenren Muzhi, to be insulted so brazenly… Heh.
Right at that moment, a bizarre anomaly occurred!
A jet-black shadow pierced straight through Mother Ji, leaving a massive, gaping bloody hole blasted right through her chest!
With a series of wet, squelching sounds, Mother Ji’s body disintegrated into several mangled, bloody chunks of flesh, spilling pools of crimson across a vast patch of the floor.
“Ah!” Ji Chu’er let out a blood-curdling shriek, abruptly swerving to stumble past the pool of gore before collapsing unconscious straight into Mo Rubai’s arms.
“Uhn—”
Staggered by the sudden impact, Mo Rubai caught Ji Chu’er in a full embrace, the plush softness pressing against his chest making his expression shift instantly.
Carefully easing the girl aside onto the floor, Mo Rubai looked down at the Spirit-Binding Lock still fastened around his body, then back out at the carnage littering the ground…
This was a dungeon exclusively reserved for inner disciples, yet it lacked even a single guard, and the Secret Gate operatives were nowhere to be found.
Mo Rubai took a deep breath. Originally, he had wanted to keep hidden the fact that he had planted a hidden weapon on Zhenren Lingzhi, but circumstances now forced his hand.
With a dead commoner inside an area where only he resided, he, Mo Rubai, would find himself entirely unable to clear his name.
Just as Shen Zhiwei emerged from the cold pool, he watched as a piece of his inner tunic spontaneously dissolved into fine powder, winding and twisting itself into a string of legible characters:
Junior Uncle, the dungeon, come quickly!
“Since when did I get so close to Mo Rubai?” Shen Zhiwei thought in disbelief. “He actually dares to order me around?”
“Murong Buli, show yourself.”
Missing an inner tunic made Shen Zhiwei feel distinctly out of sorts, and his tone was exceptionally sharp as a result.
“H-How did you know I was hiding here?” Murong Buli emerged from the shadows as expected, his face—previously caked in white powder—now flushed a brilliant, burning red.
Shen Zhiwei cast a puzzled look at Murong Buli’s flushed complexion, though he skipped asking questions and merely stated, “Accompany me somewhere.”
“Oh.”
Murong Buli pouted in dissatisfaction. He had figured it out: he must have completely misunderstood Shen Zhiwei earlier. This guy clearly wasn’t a practitioner of the same sex at all; otherwise, how could he possibly remain completely unresponsive to a peerless beauty like him?
What annoyed Murong Buli even more was that he—a breathtaking, peerless beauty admired across the world—might actually be turning into someone who liked men.
Women all across the world would probably weep their eyes out.
Yet the man responsible for turning him into a bent lover remained completely oblivious, failing even to dress himself properly.
“Your sash isn’t tied right.” Murong Buli walked up with a frown and tied a neat knot for Shen Zhiwei. “There, all fixed.”
Shen Zhiwei gave Murong Buli a strange look. Why was everyone so chronically dissatisfied with his belt today?
“Where are we going?”
Meeting Murong Buli’s sparkling gaze, Shen Zhiwei felt as though he were staring at an energetic puppy.
“Why ask so much? Just follow along.”
Go see whom? Naturally, to go see your future husband.
The moment they reached the dungeon entrance, a wave of heavy, pungent blood stench drifted out to meet them.
Shen Zhiwei’s expression shifted slightly. What on earth had Mo Rubai been up to in here?
Unexpectedly, upon catching sight of Murong Buli standing right behind Shen Zhiwei, Mo Rubai’s expression darkened even further.
Murong Buli let out a high-pitched gasp. “Darling husband~ Why is this place so filthy? What am I going to do if it stains my pristine white robes?”
Shen Zhiwei said expressionlessly, “Then take them off.”
“I won’t~” Murong Buli licked his lips, lowering his voice. “Darling husband, carry me across, won’t you?”
Shen Zhiwei looked at Murong Buli with the deadpan gaze one reserves for a corpse.
Murong Buli’s expression stiffened, and he muttered with displeasure, “Fine, if you won’t carry me, then I’ll carry you, alright?”
Shen Zhiwei couldn’t fathom it. Murong Buli had been behaving normally just moments ago—why did he completely change his personality the instant he laid eyes on Mo Rubai?
Was he trying to provoke Mo Rubai’s attention? Well, it appeared to be working, because Mo Rubai’s eyes looked as though they were about to spit actual fire.
Shen Zhiwei let out a light laugh, tilting his head. “Alright then, carry me across.”
“Really?”
“No way!”
Mo Rubai was so startled his voice nearly cracked with a pitch break. “Junior Uncle, how can you, an elder, engage in such behavior in front of a junior?”