Wen Shunian found it hard to believe his own face could make such an expression. He gritted his teeth, unable to stop Lou Shuangzui from continuing his performance through the thick space between them.
Just as he was taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, Xi Ming’s angry shout exploded in his ear, “What’s so good about Wen Shunian’s fox-like face? Look, look! You guys are actually mesmerized!”
The sect leader of Shiyang looked even more frustrated than Wen Shunian. He watched his disciples on the water mirror, all starry-eyed, and couldn’t help but slam the table in front of him. The stone table cracked instantly, the fissures spreading from his fist like a spider web.
“These little brats!”
Hearing this, Wen Guyue wasn’t pleased. He cast a spell to shield Wen Shunian from the shattered stone and dust, and glared at Xi Ming, “My senior brother is indeed good-looking, that’s a fact!”
Xi Ming couldn’t be bothered with him. The sect leader of Shiyang seemed on the verge of breaking down. He watched the scene on the water mirror, his fists clenched tightly, the sound of his knuckles cracking clearly audible.
Under the dense shade of the trees, the pink-haired beauty looked tearful, making many of Shiyang’s disciples stare in a daze. Only Ying Qi, being a blockhead who didn’t understand romance, showed no reaction and uninterestedly shifted his gaze away.
The dappled shadows of the trees fell on the beauty’s charming face, and under the sunlight, his light purple eyes were misty. Even Li Jiyun felt like comforting him, but Ying Qi had no such thoughts. He frowned, pondering for a moment.
“How did you avoid my detection? You were so close, and I only just realized someone was behind the tree.”
Lou Shuangzui was thinking about how to bluff convincingly while lowering his head and raising his eyes to make his expression look more innocent. “Because I have a wood spiritual root… it’s easier to hide in the forest with a wood spiritual root.”
“Wood spiritual root?” Ying Qi’s eyebrows relaxed, suddenly interested. He seemed to be asking, yet also talking to himself, “Do you know healing spells? Never mind, it’s simple enough. If you don’t, you can learn quickly.”
“In any case…” His tone was fierce, leaving no room for refusal, not negotiating at all. “Come with us. The resources we share with you won’t be less than what you can get alone. Stay and be our healer.”
Lou Shuangzui paused, lifting his eyes to glance at Ying Qi, then softened his voice, “But I have an appointment with a friend to meet upstream at the Sheji Canal. I can’t break my promise…”
“I said you can, so you can!” Ying Qi laughed sinisterly, looking at Lou Shuangzui with his phoenix eyes raised at the corners, his expression full of aggression. “Your friends are probably also rogue cultivators? Rogue cultivators can’t give you much, but I can. Besides, it’s survival of the fittest; you have no right to refuse.”
The first disciple of Sword Peak fell silent, and Xi Ming, who was closely watching the situation from outside, also fell silent. He trembled, “Ying Qi, you blind fool! Do you think you’ve recruited a harmless healer? You’ve provoked a venomous snake!”
Wen Shunian leaned back in his chair, expressionless, letting out a light snort, “Serves you right!”
The clouds were blown by the wind, blocking the sunlight, casting half of Lou Shuangzui’s face into shadow. After a moment of silence, the beauty curled his lips into a light smile and said, “You better not regret it.”
Ying Qi didn’t catch the sinister tone in his voice. The senior brother of Shiyang crossed his arms, lost in thought, and even had the mind to comfort Lou Shuangzui, “Don’t worry, even if we find a more suitable healer on the way, you’ll still get what you’re promised. I guarantee we won’t go back on our word.”
The pink-haired beauty didn’t say anything more, just curled his lips ambiguously, hiding the fleeting shadow in his eyes.
—Alright, just wait for me to teach you a lesson about not bullying others with your strength.
Though Lou Shuangzui was more skilled in using poison, his healing spells were indeed quite good. He didn’t refuse to heal, instead quietly treating the injured disciples, which made Ying Qi very satisfied.
However, Li Jiyun seemed to have noticed something. He often watched Lou Shuangzui in deep thought and gradually tried to separate Lou Shuangzui from the Shiyang disciples, though with little success.
After all, Lou Shuangzui was using Wen Shunian’s face, enchanting and graceful, with eyes that seemed to hold a fleeting glimpse of the sky and a ripple in the water. Even just for the sake of pleasing the eye, the disciples were happy to chat with Lou Shuangzui.
Finally, on the first day of entering the Hongxiu Forest, Li Jiyun couldn’t help but come to talk to Lou Shuangzui.
At that time, Lou Shuangzui was by the stream, treating the wound of an outer disciple. He methodically cut away the shredded flesh from the Qimeng Bird’s attack, cleaned the wound, applied a healing spell, and finally wrapped it with a clean bandage.
Healing spells aren’t omnipotent, and even though Lou Shuangzui could achieve full recovery, he couldn’t show it. After all, Wen Yuyao was just a rogue cultivator with mixed spiritual roots, and a rogue cultivator’s talent and power couldn’t fully heal wounds.
The young outer disciple was still chattering by Lou Shuangzui’s ear, “Miss, you’re amazing!” He shyly lowered his head, but his eyes sparkled when he looked at Lou Shuangzui. “After the secret realm ends, would you like to try joining Shiyang? With your skills, you should have no problem entering the outer sect! If not…”
He hesitated for a while, swallowing the rest of his words, but smiled brightly at Lou Shuangzui, “Miss Wen, do you need any specific spiritual herbs or fruits, or beast hides? I’ll keep an eye out for you these days!”
Lou Shuangzui turned his head, giving him a meaningful look. The white bandage in his hand fell into the stream, the blood spreading like silk in the clear water.
He curled his lips, putting on a gentle and considerate demeanor, “There’s nothing specific I need. As long as you can give me the agreed reward, that’s enough. Hongxiu Forest is dangerous, and you’ve already worked hard these days, no need to trouble yourself for me.”
The outer disciple looked extremely touched, nodding vigorously at the sight of the pink-haired side profile, “Don’t worry, Miss, I’ll do my best!” With that, he rolled up his sleeves energetically and hurried off to the resting team, planning to hunt a few more times before nightfall to save time.
After he left, Li Jiyun emerged from the nearby woods.
The chief disciple of the sub-peak had changed into a purple outfit today, adorned with black phoenix patterns. Combined with his somewhat decent-looking face, it gave him a unique charm.
Lou Shuangzui pretended not to have sensed him earlier, only turning around when he got closer, showing a transition from surprise to concern, “Senior Brother Li, are you injured and need my help?”
Li Jiyun looked at him meaningfully for a while, then deliberately leaned closer to Lou Shuangzui’s cheek, “Miss Wen, you weren’t very willing that day. Why are you so compliant these past two days?”
“You don’t need to test me. With my abilities, how could I escape from the Shiyang disciples?” Lou Shuangzui sighed, his tone carrying a hint of resignation and acceptance, “Accepting my fate means I can get more resources, I can understand that.”
Li Jiyun stroked his chin, neither confirming nor denying his belief, just drawing out his words like a spoiled child, “Sounds so pitiful, Miss Wen.” Then he suddenly changed the subject, asking abruptly, “Are you really a rogue cultivator?”
A muffled laugh couldn’t be suppressed, and Lou Shuangzui slowly wrung out the white cloth in his hand—this was something Ying Qi had changed out of, as everyone’s storage bags had been confiscated, and the resources provided for the competition were quite limited.
That laugh seemed like an illusion, as the pink-haired beauty turned back with a look of grievance, red spreading around his eyes, looking particularly pitiful, “Senior Brother Li, if I really had such abilities, I wouldn’t have been brought into the Hongxiu Forest by you like this, would I?”
His voice choked, “If you regret it, it’s still not too late to let me go now. If we go any deeper, I won’t have the courage to leave alone.”
Before Li Jiyun could speak, the bushes behind him suddenly rustled, and Ying Qi came over quickly. The young man frowned, his expression not looking too good, “Meng Yu, I know you’re suspicious, but we can’t do without a healer right now.”
Meng Yu was Li Jiyun’s courtesy name. Caught by Ying Qi in the act of probing, Li Jiyun was momentarily stunned, then couldn’t help but give Lou Shuangzui a deep look. However, he was rational enough to immediately abandon his previous plan. He noticed Ying Qi’s somber mood and realized something unexpected had happened.
“Did something happen, Senior Brother?”
Ying Qi ground his teeth in frustration, speaking in a low voice, “Come with me and take a look.”
Li Jiyun quickly followed Ying Qi’s pace, leaving Lou Shuangzui behind, watching their backs with a half-smile.
—How could he not know what’s over there? It was the poisonous vines he hadn’t had time to clean up when he left in a hurry. Ying Qi must have seen the desolate scene of withered plants and fallen feathers.
They wouldn’t drive Lou Shuangzui away anymore because Shiyang’s team lacked wood attribute spiritual roots this time. The healing spells used by immortals of other attributes would be even less effective than those of rogue cultivators. Given the current dangerous situation, even if they had to endure someone with ulterior motives, Li Jiyun would likely choose to keep him.
And because Shiyang wouldn’t let him leave, delaying until now, it was already four or five days since entering the secret realm, making it impossible to reach the Sheji Canal in time. So Lou Shuangzui planned to stick it out.
Sure enough, just as Lou Shuangzui had predicted, Li Jiyun never brought up his suspicions about Lou Shuangzui again after returning.
The night was deep, and small red lights rose in the inverted forest. Lou Shuangzui sat in front of the temporary camp, watching the outer disciple eagerly return with many soft tree roots.
The red ones were the roots of the Hongxiu Tree. If used well, with runes carved on them, they could be used as temporary protection tools to block miasma.
These were essential tools for entering the center and obtaining the Luoxia Drunken Fruit.
“Miss, miss, let me weave one for you! I’m the best at weaving, and I’ve been in charge of weaving tasks these days. I’ll make you the prettiest one!”
Looking at those eager puppy eyes, Lou Shuangzui’s gaze inadvertently swept over the pile of tree roots, silently apologizing in his heart.
But on the surface, he still curled his lips into a gentle smile, “Thank you very much, Senior Brother.”
The starlight twinkled like an upside-down dream, and the sound of the Qimeng Bird was just a series of intermittent, hoarse sighs through the barrier.
The moon rose and set, and night had fallen.
Author’s Note:
You’re in trouble! You’ve provoked the little snake!
A bit late today, but it won’t happen tomorrow. Had a lot to do today, filling out forms for the start of school.