Xie Jiuzhang was startled by these words. He instinctively covered Shen Fu's mouth, whispering nervously, "How do you know there's something in the back mountain?"
Shen Fu, with his mouth covered, was momentarily caught off guard. It wasn't until he saw the suspicion in Xie Jiuzhang's eyes that he realized he'd let something slip.
At this point in time, Xuanji Mountain should still be in an extremely impoverished state—so poor they couldn't even afford welcome gifts for new disciples—which was why they were constantly squabbling with Dongxu Sect over scraps of territory.
Though Xuanji Mountain was vast, counting Shen Fu, there were only fifty or sixty people on the mountain. Most had been rescued by Xie Jiuzhang from some obscure corner of the world, with the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled making up a staggering eighty percent of the population.
The remaining twenty percent of able-bodied individuals were either core pillars of the sect like Jiang Lin, who did all sorts of work, or decorative figures like Shen Fu, who had casually claimed an Elder title but served no real purpose.
In his previous life on Xuanji Mountain, Shen Fu had originally planned to fabricate an identity and leech off the mountain for a lifelong meal ticket. But after arriving, he'd constantly gotten into arguments with the mountain folk over things like who owned the roast chicken or who had rights to the liquor.
Eventually, when the mountain couldn't even keep the pot boiling, Shen Fu was dragged down the mountain to do odd jobs with Xie Jiuzhang just to make ends meet.
Shen Fu had always believed Xuanji Mountain was poor, but since it was the only place in the vast cultivation world willing to take him in, he adhered to the principle of "a dog doesn't abandon its home for being poor." No matter how hard things got, he never thought about running away.
But later, when everyone had left the mountain, he discovered that the entire back mountain was filled with gold and treasure. Unfortunately, he kicked the bucket before he could enjoy any of it.
However, judging by Xie Jiuzhang's reaction, those treasures must have been there long before—and there was a high probability Xie Jiuzhang had hidden them himself.
Grabbing Xie Jiuzhang's hand, Shen Fu found himself unable to explain anything about past lives, rebirth, or revenge. In his panic, all he managed to blurt out was: "I think I've caused you trouble."
Xie Jiuzhang, hearing this, assumed he was so anxious about the Immortal Alliance matter that his old ailment had flared up, and he'd woken up scared enough to want to flee.
He waved his hand dismissively. "What trouble is this? The thing inside you should have been suppressed by that surnamed Ji by now. First, answer my question."
"Go ahead, Senior Brother."
"Did you run into someone from Dongxu Sect that night?"
"…"
"Did you kill someone?"
"……………………"
Shen Fu had wanted to make up a lie to brush it off, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.
Seeing his silence, Xie Jiuzhang's expression turned grave. Shen Fu blinked, staring unwaveringly at Xie Jiuzhang, already bracing himself for a scolding after causing trouble.
But the next second, Xie Jiuzhang asked him: "Did that person deserve to die?"
Shen Fu nodded vigorously, even tugging at his collar to mimic the scene. "He said I had some charm and told me to sleep with him, and he'd let me go."
"Do you know who you killed?" Xie Jiuzhang asked again.
Shen Fu was about to nod, but on second thought, at this point in time he shouldn't know anyone from Dongxu Sect, so he shook his head instead.
"You…" Xie Jiuzhang let out a deep sigh, looking at Shen Fu with an expression of frustration—like a teacher disappointed in a promising student. "You don't even have a spiritual root, so how did you manage to kill Cao Zhenhui? And if you were going to kill him, why didn't you clean up the evidence?"
"Wh-What?" Shen Fu was startled by his words. When he'd infiltrated Xuanji Mountain, he'd played the role of a severely injured hermit master. Even he himself hadn't known he had no spiritual root until many years later. How could Xie Jiuzhang possibly know at this point?
Seeing Shen Fu so shocked he could barely speak, Xie Jiuzhang finally explained: "The moment you stepped through Xuanji Mountain's gates, I could tell there was no spiritual energy fluctuation in you. Later, when I tried to heal your injuries, you couldn't absorb my mana at all. Otherwise, I wouldn't have spent all these years painstakingly finding furnace cauldrons for you."
So he'd known all along? Shen Fu thought. And he'd still taken in this useless waste for all these years?
"Hey hey hey," Xie Jiuzhang interrupted Shen Fu's thoughts before he could get too emotional, "hold back the tears, we're talking business here."
Shen Fu raised his hand to wipe at tears that weren't actually there, playing along. "So what evidence are you talking about?"
"Your mana residue was left on the corpse, and the Immortal Alliance found it using the Spirit-Tracing Technique. That's why they sent people." Xie Jiuzhang explained.
Shen Fu thought back and remembered that he had indeed borrowed quite a bit of Spiritual Qi from the temple that day. Apparently, not all of it had been consumed, leaving traces on the man's corpse.
"But I only dealt with that one. I didn't kill Cheng Ping." Shen Fu defended himself quietly.
"I know. That pathetic skill of yours—I don't know where you learned it—but managing to kill one thug is already impressive. Cheng Ping couldn't possibly have been killed by you."
Though Xie Jiuzhang was speaking in his defense, Shen Fu couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth at the backhanded compliment.
"So, since you didn't kill anyone, why did you run just now?" Xie Jiuzhang said.
Shen Fu didn't know where to begin, and was afraid that any rash move on his part might alert the enemy.
After a moment of deliberation, he gently shook his head. "I was haunted by a nightmare, just talking nonsense."
Hearing this, Xie Jiuzhang finally breathed a sigh of relief—he had actually thought Shen Fu had discovered his secret stash, but it turned out he was just talking in his sleep.
The secret of the stash was safe, and Xie Jiuzhang casually steered the conversation back to the case.
"If only the Dongxu Sect disciples had died, I could shoulder that, but there were also hundreds of innocent villagers who lost their lives at the scene. And with people in the Immortal Alliance like Fengyuan who have ties to Cheng Ping, I'm afraid they won't let this go easily."
As Xie Jiuzhang spoke, something seemed to occur to him, and he shifted the topic to ask Shen Fu, "When you went there, what was the situation? Did you notice anything unusual?"
Shen Fu had wanted to tell him about this before the Immortal Alliance people arrived, but unfortunately, he had been interrupted by Yin Congyue and his group. So he followed Xie Jiuzhang's lead and replied, "When I arrived, there were almost no survivors left in Li Family Village. The Dongxu Sect disciples had set up a barrier, and karmic fire had burned all the villagers to white bones. From the moment I entered until I left, I only saw Dongxu Sect people."
"I figured as much," Xie Jiuzhang said. "Because when I went there, I also noticed the place had been burned, and when I found Ji Yanzhi, he was surrounded by white bones too."
"Then do you think…" Shen Fu lifted his eyelids and looked at Xie Jiuzhang heavily, "Could it have been Ji Yanzhi who did it?"
"No." Xie Jiuzhang asserted. "With Ji Yanzhi's cultivation base, even fighting with his life on the line, his chances of winning wouldn't be high. Moreover, he had been hunted by the Dongxu Sect disciples for days before that—there's no way he could have killed Cheng Ping in such a short time."
Shen Fu's eyes flickered slightly, and he let out a helpless sigh. "But the only ones who went there and came out alive are the three of us. Now that the dead can't testify, if the Immortal Alliance really wants to smooth things over, I'm afraid they won't let me off."
At these words, both of them fell into silence.
Just as they were at their wit's end, Xiao Jinjin crawled out from somewhere, perched on Xie Jiuzhang's shoulder, and said in a calm voice, "The dead can't speak, but their souls can."
Hearing this, Xie Jiuzhang and Shen Fu almost simultaneously looked up at it and said in unison, "What do you mean?"
Xiao Jinjin cleared its throat, gave Shen Fu a meaningful look, and then said, "Illusion arts."
The moment those two words were spoken, Shen Fu's expression suddenly changed.
Xie Jiuzhang had thought Xiao Jinjin had some brilliant insight, but upon hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh. "You little sword spirit sure know a lot. Illusion arts can enter dreams, but ordinary illusion arts can only enter the dreams of the living. The kind you're talking about—that can bring souls into an illusory realm—has been lost for hundreds of years."
After Xie Jiuzhang finished his analysis, Xiao Jinjin didn't argue much, only lifting its eyelids to cast a few faint glances at Shen Fu.
Shen Fu remained silent, and for some reason, a thin layer of cold sweat began to seep from his palms.
After discussing for a long time without any results, Xie Jiuzhang was the first to receive a distress signal from Jiang Lin.
It said that Yin Congyue had been persistently questioning about Shen Fu's matters, and it looked like some details were about to be coaxed out of him. Jiang Lin had no choice but to send a sound transmission to Xie Jiuzhang, asking him to come back.
Fortunately, the matter here had already been resolved. Xie Jiuzhang thought about how Jiang Lin would turn red-faced and stammer at the sight of Yin Congyue, and could only agree to go over first.
Before leaving, Xie Jiuzhang removed the sound-proofing spell, told Shen Fu not to overthink things and that he would handle it, and then straightened his clothes, preparing to leave.
He had just reached the door when Shen Fu called out to him.
"Senior Brother," Xie Jiuzhang's footsteps paused, and then he heard Shen Fu say, "Thank you."
Xie Jiuzhang assumed he was thanking him for coming to help, so he waved his hand and said, "I didn't help much. It was that Ji kid who used his own lifespan to detoxify you. As a furnace cauldron, he's been quite dutiful." With that, he pulled open the door.
Suddenly, a ball of snow rolled in. Xie Jiuzhang stepped back half a pace and looked closely, only to find it was Ji Yanzhi.
He didn't know how long he had been crouching outside the door; a thin layer of snow had accumulated on his flimsy clothes.
Perhaps due to having just burned his lifespan, Ji Yanzhi's face was deathly pale at the moment, and his entire body was frozen purple, looking especially pitiful.
"Oh, frozen like this—hurry inside and warm up. Don't go dying out here, or I'll have to find another one." After saying this, Xie Jiuzhang stepped around him and left Shen Fu's bedchamber.
Ji Yanzhi lay collapsed by the door, not rushing to go in, but instead lifting his face, drained of all color from the cold, to look at the person on the bed.
"Master…"
Shen Fu had just had a nightmare, and now facing Ji Yanzhi's face, he felt a pang of unease. He had intended to tell Ji Yanzhi to go cool off on his own, but Ji Yanzhi spoke before he could.
"Disciple just saw that Master's complexion was very poor. The Sect Leader said this is an old ailment flaring up. Could you transfer the residual poison in Master's body to me to alleviate your suffering?"
As Ji Yanzhi spoke, he reached out a hand red from the cold, grabbed the doorframe, and stood up shakily. "This disciple will kneel outside the hall tonight. If Master needs anything, just call me in."
The snow water melted on Ji Yanzhi's shoulders, soaking a large patch of his clothing. Even just a bit of the cold wind blowing in from outside made Shen Fu shiver. Seeing that Ji Yanzhi still wanted to go kneel outside even in his condition, Shen Fu truly didn't know what to say.
Moreover, with him saying that, Shen Fu was reminded of what Xie Jiuzhang had just said—that Ji Yanzhi had burned his own lifespan to suppress the Blood Trace for him.
If Ji Yanzhi truly wanted to kill him, he could have easily done so just now. Why would he use such a self-destructive method to save him instead?
On one hand, Shen Fu's wariness toward Ji Yanzhi had yet to dissipate; on the other hand, he really couldn't put on a cold face toward someone who had just saved him. So after thinking for a long while, he could only let him come inside first.
Ji Yanzhi stood at the door. One leg had already lifted in excitement, but before stepping in, he seemed unable to believe that Shen Fu had really allowed him entry, so he timidly pulled it back. "C-Can I go in? Would it be too much of a bother to sleep by Master's side?"
The cold wind outside began to blow again. Shen Fu really couldn't bear to watch him freeze like that, so he had to say, "It's no bother. I like having you by my side, alright?"
Ji Yanzhi's eyes lit up. He quickly closed the door and walked toward the bed, moving so fast that he didn't seem at all like someone who had just been frozen stiff.
"This disciple will sleep by the bedside to attend to Master—mmph!"
Before Ji Yanzhi could even reach Shen Fu's side, a thick quilt came flying at his face. "You sleep behind the screen. Tomorrow when I have time, I'll have Senior Brother find you a room."
Ji Yanzhi caught the quilt, visibly disappointed. But only for a moment—he quickly composed his expression and obediently said, "Thank you, Master. This is actually the first time I've slept in a room. Before, they always made me sleep in the cowshed or the stable. Master is really kind."
Shen Fu's head ached just from hearing him talk, so he casually dismissed him. "Alright, alright, go sleep. It's already the middle of the night."
Ji Yanzhi hugged the thick quilt and gave Shen Fu a deep, lingering look before turning and walking behind the screen.
It was a very large screen, enough to completely block the line of sight between the two.
Ji Yanzhi lay on the floor, but didn't find it uncomfortable at all.
The quilt seemed to be the one Shen Fu usually used, still carrying the faint scent of his body.
At first, Ji Yanzhi only pulled up a corner of the quilt to sniff it. But soon, he buried his entire face into it, indulging himself in the lingering scent of Shen Fu that remained on the fabric.
"Master, you smell so good." Ji Yanzhi's slender fingers hooked the corner of the quilt, his fingertips twirling it lightly. His eyes, hidden in the darkness, gleamed with an unsettling brightness.
Shen Fu naturally couldn't sleep. The moment he closed his eyes, his mind was filled with either Ji Yanzhi trying to kill him or Ji Yanzhi trying to come over and kiss him.
Either scenario was enough to make cold sweat break out all over Shen Fu's body.
Not to mention that Ji Yanzhi was currently lying right next to him. What if this person took advantage of him sleeping to come take his life?
Shen Fu was still a little afraid.
Since he couldn't sleep anyway, Shen Fu pinched his own sleeve, confirmed that Xiao Jinjin wasn't there, and then gently turned over.
When Ji Yanzhi had entered earlier, Xiao Jinjin had hidden itself and suppressed its aura. Shen Fu didn't know why, but every time it saw Ji Yanzhi, it could hide itself that quickly.
The room was so quiet that the sound of a pin dropping could be heard. Shen Fu crossed his arms over his chest, pondering how to resolve the situation that had developed to this point.
Earlier, Xiao Jinjin had reminded him that he could use illusion arts. But this illusion art was actually something Shen Fu had stumbled upon in his previous life when he was bored and rummaging through a pile of gold and silver treasures on the back mountain.
At first, he thought he might as well learn it since he had nothing better to do. Unexpectedly, he had managed to pick up some superficial knowledge by sheer luck.
Later, he discovered that illusion arts had significant limitations and consumed a great deal of mana, so over time, he simply forgot about it.
But now, Xuanji Mountain was trapped by Fengyuan's formation. Although the members of the Immortal Alliance outwardly obeyed Yin Congyue, they weren't foolish enough to allow Yin Congyue to let Shen Fu—the root cause of all this—go free.
Moreover, if he also had to bring Ji Yanzhi along, the difficulty would be even greater.
But as Xiao Jinjin had said, unless he personally examined Ji Yanzhi's memories, Shen Fu would never be able to get past this hurdle in his heart.
After thinking it over, it seemed that going to Li Family Village was now an absolute necessity.
Shen Fu counted on his fingers. At Li Family Village, he would not only need to use illusion arts to recreate the scene from that night, but also investigate Ji Yanzhi's memories, and also figure out how to kick Ji Yanzhi back onto the original track of the plot…
Shen Fu, now juggling multiple roles, suddenly felt like he was back to his days as a corporate grunt before transmigrating.
At least back then he had a salary. This time, not only did he have to expend his own mana, but he might also lose his life if he wasn't careful.
Thinking about it this way, it didn't quite feel like being a corporate grunt—it felt more like his intern days.
Recalling his utterly uneventful first half of life, Shen Fu couldn't help but let out a mournful sigh.
He only wanted to protect Xuanji Mountain, and while he was at it, enjoy boundless mana, possess endless wealth, and have a few beauties to keep him company—was that really such an impossible wish to fulfill?
At the thought of boundless mana, Shen Fu sprang up from the bed in a flash.
Wait a minute! Wasn't all that mana just in the back mountain?
In his past life, there had been plenty of treasures hidden there—some of them even things a certain immortal had personally used, leaving behind an abundance of residual mana. Just absorbing a tiny bit would be more than enough for him.
At that thought, Shen Fu was instantly wide awake. He grabbed a blanket off the bed, bundled it up to use as a stand-in for himself, and, crouching low, crept stealthily from the head of the bed to the window.
Ji Yanzhi heard the commotion and abruptly turned his head, but his gaze, carrying a chill, landed in the direction opposite to Shen Fu.