Yu Yi knew what Mu Nanxiao wanted to ask, and hurriedly recounted everything he knew.
“Since Master returned from the Immortal Venerable’s palace that day, he has been preparing for the Immortal-Demon Assembly. The Immortal Venerable surely knows that Master has held his position for many years, and there have always been Demonic Cultivators in the Demon Abyss who refuse to submit to him. This disciple suspects that Master fell into a trap set by those people while he was out punishing evildoers, and something went wrong during his cultivation afterward, he suffered cultivation deviation and lost part of his memories.” Yu Yi voiced his speculation.
He looked respectfully at the Immortal Venerable, continuing to recall the recent anomalies in the Sect Master’s hall of the Hehuan Sect: “Master’s temperament became violent. At first, this disciple assumed it was because Master had experienced killing out there and killing intent had taken root in his heart, which was why he differed from his usual self. But after Master returned, this disciple never once heard him mention the Immortal Venerable. This disciple was too foolish to notice anything amiss, which led to the present situation.”
“At today’s Immortal-Demon Assembly, Master set out early with the sect’s elders and the juniors participating in the assembly. While this disciple was cleaning Master’s courtyard, he discovered traces of the Immortal Venerable’s Spiritual Power outside the Formation, along with words that had been shredded by the Formation until only fragments remained. Only then did this disciple realize that Master must have fallen into a trap during those two days he was away.”
Mu Nanxiao’s slender brows furrowed slightly, and the fingers hidden beneath his wide sleeves rubbed together gently. He asked, “Is that truly so? Bai Shen’s strength, few in this world know it as This Venerable One does. Those capable of harming him are few and far between. He was merely punishing evildoers, and no accident has occurred in thousands of years. Why would it happen precisely this time?”
“Of all times, this time…” Mu Nanxiao murmured again.
Losing his memory just as the two of them were about to have offspring could such a coincidence truly have been foreseen by those people?
Mu Nanxiao felt something was off, yet he could not puzzle it out.
He instinctively looked toward Bai Shen across from him, meeting eyes filled with anger. His expression unchanged, he gave Bai Shen a slight nod, then said to Yu Yi, “Go stay by Bai Shen’s side. Speak to him of old matters often perhaps his memory can be restored.”
Yu Yi: “Yes.”
Having finished speaking with the Immortal Venerable, he prepared to return to his master’s side.
But the moment he turned around, he saw his master glaring furiously at him. Yu Yi began to ponder deeply what he had done wrong, and after much thought, could only conclude that his private conversation with the Immortal Venerable had displeased his master.
Now that his master had lost his memories of the Immortal Venerable, he still showed displeasure toward him, yet valued the Immortal Venerable so greatly. His master’s deep and devoted affection for the Immortal Venerable such devotion truly filled Yu Yi with admiration.
“Master.”
Bai Shen gave a cold snort by way of response.
Yu Yi continued, “Master and the Immortal Venerable have been Cultivation Partners for over two thousand years. The grand feast held back then remains a celebrated tale between the two realms to this day, and there are many storybooks in the mortal world about Master and the Immortal Venerable. If Master does not believe it, he need only make inquiries in the mortal world to learn the whole story.”
But so much time had passed, where in the Human Realm could anyone still be found who knew everything about the two Venerables?
Even he had only heard about it from others afterward. At first he had not believed it either, but later, upon witnessing with his own eyes how the two Venerables treated each other, he finally believed it.
Bai Shen: “Were those words taught to you by the Immortal Venerable? It seems he truly is deeply infatuated with This Venerable One. If This Venerable One ever learns who the Immortal Venerable’s Cultivation Partner is, I will surely flay him alive, let Bone-Devouring Ants burrow into his body, and leave him unable to live or die. Once the Immortal Venerable’s Cultivation Partner has been slowly tortured to death, This Venerable One can smoothly form a Soul-binding Covenant with the Immortal Venerable.”
“Even if the Immortal Venerable comes to fear and loathe This Venerable One because of it, This Venerable One will use the Immortal-Binding Rope to form the covenant with him all the same.”
As he said this, he looked at Yu Yi, as if the tortures he described had already played out once on Yu Yi’s body.
Yu Yi’s body trembled not from fear, but from admiration.
So what if his master had lost his memories of the Immortal Venerable? Even after losing his memories, his master still adored the Immortal Venerable so deeply in his heart, a love even more overwhelming than before the amnesia.
If his master knew that the person he wanted to flay and torture was himself…
Yu Yi was still thinking about his mission regarding the Immortal Venerable, and continued speaking to Bai Shen: “There is a hidden chamber within Master’s sleeping palace. Everything related to the Immortal Venerable has been carefully stored away there by Master. If Master simply enters the chamber and takes a look, he will know that the Immortal Venerable’s Cultivation Partner is truly you.”
Bai Shen’s tone grew even more arrogant: “A hidden chamber? Would This Venerable One not know whether there is a hidden chamber in his own sleeping palace? You all claim the Immortal Venerable is This Venerable One’s Cultivation Partner, yet This Venerable One has never once remembered forming a covenant with him. Today is our first meeting could it be that you are all doubting This Venerable One? Since you’re willing to play along with the Immortal Venerable’s little act, why won’t you call him Master’s-wife? Is it unwillingness, or is everything you’ve said a lie?”
“It is not that this disciple is unwilling, it is that the Immortal Venerable is unwilling.” Yu Yi had bitterness he could not voice. Before the amnesia, his master had been such a formidable and worthy of respect person, how could he, after losing his memories, refuse to believe anyone’s words?
Could amnesia really change a person this much?
Besides… who would dare call the Immortal Venerable “Master’s-wife”?
And this wasn’t even his master’s first meeting with the Immortal Venerable.
The Immortal-Demon Assembly was held once every ten years, and for thousands of years, the Venerables of both sides had never changed.
Just how many memories of the Immortal Venerable had his master lost, that he had no recollection whatsoever of their meetings at past Immortal-Demon Assemblies? Then who did he remember presiding over the Immortal Realm’s side at those assemblies?!
“Bai Shen, when does the Immortal-Demon Assembly begin?” Mu Nanxiao’s voice, laced with Spiritual Power, spread across the entire canyon, rescuing Yu Yi from Bai Shen’s interrogation.
Red eyes like a beast’s swept over Mu Nanxiao with full aggression, and then he said: “Naturally, now.”
With both Venerables having spoken, the crowd, which had long been silent as cicadas in winter, quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
The Demon Venerable in the midst of his anger was simply too terrifying. His intense spiritual pressure was not directed at any one of them, yet it kept them all from lifting their heads.
The Immortal-Demon Assembly was a grand martial tournament, selecting the strongest among the younger generation, using this grand event as a springboard to fame.
On the arena, the younger generation displayed their skills. Among them were not a few Holy Sons and Holy Maidens, cultivated by their sects with lavish resources, as well as Rogue Cultivators who had ventured forth alone, formidable in strength and resolute in spirit.
Techniques that seemed incredibly powerful to the younger cultivators were, in Mu Nanxiao’s eyes, merely a few ripples of Spiritual Power.
From time to time, when a young cultivator lost control of their technique, he would intervene to preserve their life.
Not only for those of the Immortal Realm, when a young cultivator of the Demon Realm fell into danger, he would likewise preserve their life.
While everyone’s attention was fixed on the arena, Mu Nanxiao’s Divine Sense lingered around Bai Shen, and he saw Yu Yi, head hanging low after being harshly reprimanded.
He also saw Bai Shen looking completely different from before.
In past Immortal-Demon Assemblies, Bai Shen would stand there with the bearing of an immortal, his gaze gentle. Whenever their eyes met, he would always send over a message, and the two would discuss which promising talents had appeared at that year’s assembly.
But now, he stood there, even deliberately using his Spiritual Power to make his robes billow. His red eyes were darker than ever, tinged with considerable ferocity.
Bai Shen was the Demon Venerable. The Bai Shen of the past had been gentle, easygoing, and magnanimous more like an Immortal Venerable, in fact. The Bai Shen of now was far more befitting of a Demon Venerable: headstrong, arrogant, and insufferably proud.
And then there was…
Mu Nanxiao glanced at a nearby mountain. An elder of the Hehuan Sect had been thrown there by Bai Shen and had yet to return.
“Venerable, Dao-Enlightenment Tea has been prepared in the palace today, along with spirit bird eggs boiled in it.”
Ever since Mu Nanxiao mentioned wanting to eat food, the spiritual children of the mountain had racked their brains to come up with dishes rich in Spiritual Power and exquisite in flavor for the Immortal Venerable to taste.
Though called spiritual children, they were not actually of the human race. They were spirits flowers, plants, insects, and birds from the mountain who had cultivated into human form.
Originally, Mu Nanxiao lived alone on the mountain. The Spiritual Power around him was so abundant that rare and wondrous plants gradually absorbed enough of it to take human form, and the mountain grew livelier and livelier.
Grateful to Mu Nanxiao for giving them the chance to take human form, they stayed on the mountain to serve him as a way of repaying his kindness.
There were also demons who, after cultivating into human form, chose to go out and roam the world. Whether inside the mountain or beyond it, none of them ever forgot the debt they owed Mu Nanxiao.
They scoured the land for treasures on his behalf, and whenever the spiritual children returned from their travels, they would tell Mu Nanxiao amusing stories from their journeys, though he rarely responded.
The spiritual child gazed at Mu Nanxiao respectfully, then lowered his head. To look any longer at the Immortal Venerable’s peerless face felt, even with a single glance, like a desecration.
Mu Nanxiao nodded. “Very well.”
He was watching Bai Shen, and he knew Bai Shen’s gaze had never left him. For a moment, his feelings were complicated.
Bai Shen had lost his memories, yet the very first time he saw Mu Nanxiao, he had come at him with fierce, aggressive courtship.
But what Bai Shen had lost was precisely his memories of Mu Nanxiao himself. He most likely no longer remembered the child of theirs growing in Mu Nanxiao’s womb either.
It was the first time Mu Nanxiao had encountered such a situation, and for a while, he could not think of an appropriate way to handle it.
The Immortal-Demon Assembly lasted three days in total.
Everyone qualified to attend this grand event was no ordinary mortal; they had long since achieved Bigu fasting.
So when Mu Nanxiao ate, it drew considerable attention.
Mu Nanxiao did not return home. Every day, a spiritual child brought him delicious food to replenish his Spiritual Power.
When the spiritual fetus had first formed in his womb, Mu Nanxiao had not felt much. But in just one month, he could clearly sense that the spiritual fetus required more and more Spiritual Power.
If he were to nourish the spiritual fetus with his own Spiritual Power, his Cultivation Base would stagnate during this period. He didn’t know whether the fetus’s needs would only continue to grow later on, so for now, he had chosen to sustain the spiritual fetus by eating food to replenish his Spiritual Power.
Mu Nanxiao vaguely felt that this method was not a long-term solution. As the spiritual fetus continued to grow, Bai Shen’s involvement would also be needed.
But Bai Shen had lost his memory, how was he supposed to get him to help care for the spiritual fetus in his womb?
Mu Nanxiao lowered his eyes, his long, slender fingers picking a red fruit from the porcelain plate the spiritual child offered, taking an unhurried bite.
The fruit had thin skin and was full of juice; with just a light crack of the skin, red juice overflowed, staining his pale lips crimson. His slightly narrow eyes carried an air of carelessness and detachment.
He took the soft handkerchief the spiritual child handed him and wiped away the juice, though a faint red remained on his lips.
Bai Shen had watched Mu Nanxiao from where the Demonic Cultivators were gathered for three full days, carving that person’s appearance and every movement into his mind.
He still felt it wasn’t enough. He wanted more.
Deep inside, a desire that could not be suppressed surged forth.
The man standing across from him was meant to be his.
He should be gathered into his arms, his white hair coiled up, his clothes put on for him.
He would make those narrow eyes flush crimson, stain the fair, delicate skin hidden beneath the red robes with red, pull this lofty god down, and taint him with the mundane world together.
Countless fantasies flashed through Bai Shen’s mind. He made no attempt to hide them, his gaze toward Mu Nanxiao growing ever more brazen and greedy.
The two had been Cultivation Partners for over two thousand years. Even if the Bai Shen of now was somewhat different, he was still Bai Shen.
The moment Mu Nanxiao felt that gradually shifting gaze, he knew exactly what Bai Shen was thinking.
His body couldn’t help warming as well.
He lowered his eyes to conceal the flash of desire, and when he looked up again, he was once more the Immortal Venerable of ethereal grace.
The Immortal-Demon Assembly concluded, and the strongest of the younger generation had been decided. Once they left this canyon, that name would resound throughout the Three Realms, and his sect would rise to great fame.
Mu Nanxiao knew this better than anyone.
That was exactly how he himself had made his name across the Three Realms.
As the crowd dispersed, he took one last look at Bai Shen.
Bai Shen, meanwhile, returned to the Demon Abyss with the Demonic Cultivators.
A host of Demonic Cultivators followed behind him, an impressive procession.
“Venerable, if you are worried, why not follow the Demon Venerable to the Demon Abyss to investigate? You can leave this to us,” the spiritual child said.
Mu Nanxiao shook his head and also left the Immortal-Demon Canyon.
“Has Medicine King Valley opened its gates?” he asked.
Bai Shen didn’t remember him, his brain must be broken. Better to invite someone from Medicine King Valley to take a look and treat the Demon Venerable’s head.