Chi Dan immediately panicked. The flames attached to the ice block flared up intensely, vaguely revealing the silhouette of a Vermilion Bird.
“It’s over, it’s over. It must be that my brother’s internal ice poison wasn’t fully cleansed last time, and now this time.”
After a moment of panic, he noticed something. “How do you know?”
This person only had a faint trace of spiritual energy fluctuation, how could he possibly know more than Chi Dan did?
Xiao Nian passed by the two brothers and said casually, “I guessed.”
Chi Dan let out a sigh of relief. “How can you say something like that so carelessly!”
The next moment, a heavenly thunderbolt struck down from the sky, hitting the ice-bound Ling Guang square on, freeing him from the ice.
Chi Dan, not far away, felt a pang of fear it had almost struck him just now. Good thing he dodged quickly.
Xiao Nian turned around to glance at them, then quickened his pace forward.
That person’s black aura wasn’t seeping out anymore, but he still had the look of death written all over his face.
Chi Dan, who rushed over afterward trying to make amends, also noticed something was wrong. His brother wasn’t speaking and had gone stiff. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that even his spiritual energy had stopped circulating.
This was bad. Chi Dan was so frantic he’d try anything, dragging his brother over to grab Xiao Nian. “Fellow cultivator, he’s really about to die. Please, save him.”
Xiao Nian was about to shake him off, but his eyes darted around as if an idea had struck him. His originally impatient tone softened a few degrees. “You’re asking the wrong person. I can’t save him. The Tianyan Sect is just ahead go find them. They’re more professional.”
Chi Dan hesitated. Because of his brother, he wasn’t welcome at the Tianyan Sect either.
Xiao Nian urged him on. “Hurry. The earlier the treatment, the better.”
The black aura on the man lying on the ground was actually dissipating. If they didn’t go soon, he might just recover on his own.
Chi Dan hoisted his brother onto his shoulders and stopped hesitating. “Thank you, fellow cultivator. I will repay you handsomely another day.”
Xiao Nian tugged at the collarbone chain around his neck. “Not another day. How about now? Do you have the ability to snap this thing?”
Chi Dan took it with confusion. “It looks simple enough.”
Then he gave it a hard yank. It didn’t break.
Chi Dan: “Let me try again.”
Refusing to accept it, he channeled spiritual energy into the pull. A ring of silver light rippled across the chain, sending Chi Dan and his brother on his back flying dozens of meters away.
Xiao Nian’s face darkened. “Forget it. I’m leaving.”
Chi Dan picked himself up off the ground, retrieved his brother, and shouted from behind, “Fellow cultivator, I’ll come find you later!”
Xiao Nian remained unmoved. Someone even more useless than him wasn’t worth seeing again.
When Shu Chen came out, he happened to run into Chi Dan, who was bravely charging into the sect with his brother on his back, muttering something in fragments. But Shu Chen had no interest in that. The male lead had just tried to tamper with his work again, and now he needed to make him understand the current situation.
Xiao Nian was exasperated by Shu Chen’s sudden appearance. “Bored again, so you came to toy with me?”
Shu Chen: “You made the first move.”
Xiao Nian: “Ha. When did I make a move? How come I didn’t know?”
Shu Chen pointed at his neck with a serious expression. “You tried to do something underhanded to it. I could sense it.”
After days of getting along, Xiao Nian’s boundaries with Shu Chen had been steadily lowering. Now he could suppress his temper to the stage of only using words, not fists.
“You sensed wrong.”
Shu Chen tilted his head slightly, about to retort, when the male lead stepped closer, the corner of his mouth curling into a sarcastic arc. “What I wanted to do something underhanded to isn’t it it’s you.”
Mutiny.
Xiao Nian, before Shu Chen could explode, slung an arm around his shoulder like a good brother, enjoying the pleasure of being half a head taller. “Just kidding. I’m your underling. Why would I ever think of something like that?”
With that posture, he looked more than qualified to be the big brother.
Shu Chen: “You really never learn your lesson.”
The male lead was trying to subtly change the dynamic between them through his actions, but unfortunately Shu Chen’s heart was as firm as a rock, unswayed by such tricks.
“You’re not my underling. You’re my book boy. You should belong to me completely.”
Xiao Nian, whose plan had failed before it even started, wasn’t discouraged. “Whatever. It’s not like I can shake you off anyway.”
Shu Chen turned his head at that and stared at him for a few seconds.
Xiao Nian immediately seized the opportunity, saying in a lazy, teasing tone, “What are you looking at your big brother for?”
Before the smile could even fade from his face, a large gulp of cold wind rushed into his mouth.
Shu Chen was holding the male lead by the collar at a height high enough to kill a man from the fall. “You’re really heavy. You should just go down.”
With that, he made as if to let go.
Xiao Nian blurted out a single-syllable curse and had no choice but to actively cling to the little freak before he fell to his death. “So young, but killing people isn’t a good look on you.”
Shu Chen lowered his head, expressionless. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t shake me off? Why are you clinging to me on your own?”
Xiao Nian felt that even holding onto his waist, he was still sliding down. Forced into a corner, he grabbed Shu Chen’s shoulder and hauled himself up, resting his head against Shu Chen’s shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the fair, clean ear, and gritted his teeth. “Fine. You win this round.”
Shu Chen looked at the male lead, who was completely tangled around him in submission, and felt secretly pleased. He decided to go down the mountain to help the male lead sort out his livelihood problems.
At first, Xiao Nian just lay on Shu Chen’s shoulder, but as they flew, the howling wind stung his nose until it turned sour, making it hard even to breathe. After cursing “little freak” in his heart, he simply buried his head in the crook of Shu Chen’s neck.
The overly close breath made Shu Chen extremely uncomfortable, so he could only speed up toward their destination.
In just a quarter of an hour, they had flown out of the Tianyan Sect’s territory and arrived at a small town next door that specialized in goods for the cultivation world.
Xiao Nian got off Shu Chen’s back and found himself in a completely unfamiliar place. “You want to buy something? Isn’t there a town right below the sect?”
Shu Chen lifted his chin. “Not good enough.”
Xiao Nian: “So picky.”
Then he added, “It’s a wonder you managed to grow up at all.”
He had seen Shu Chen’s original form before, and that comment was definitely not a compliment no matter how you looked at it.
Shu Chen changed his mind on a whim and said calmly, “Follow me.”
Xiao Nian clicked his tongue in annoyance, but still walked behind with his hands clasped behind his back, like some old master.
Shu Chen had a father who was known as the wealthiest city lord, and a mother who loved collecting treasures, so he was filthy rich himself. Whatever caught his eye, he’d pay for on the spot, then toss it to the male lead behind him to carry.
He had a storage pouch, but he simply refused to use it.
Before long, Xiao Nian was covered in bags of all sizes.
He had every reason to suspect that the little freak was getting back at him again.
When Shu Chen enthusiastically walked into yet another shop, Xiao Nian couldn’t take it anymore. “Young master, would you care to turn around and see how much stuff you’ve bought? I can’t carry any more. Are you going to hold the rest?”
The shopkeeper was a young man who was extremely good at reading people. Upon hearing this, he smiled and walked up to Shu Chen, introducing, “No need to worry about not being able to carry it all, sir. We have the sturdiest and finest storage pouches here any capacity you desire.”
Xiao Nian’s face darkened. He remembered the little freak had one of those too.
Shu Chen glanced at the storage pouches hanging on display, then looked away. “No need. I have one.”
Xiao Nian: Damn it!