Those words again.
Ever since the Immortal-Demon Assembly, countless people had told Bai Shen that he and the Immortal Venerable were Cultivation Partners loving partners of over two thousand years, no less.
Utterly absurd!
Who was he? A heaven-blessed prodigy, the Demon Venerable, whose Cultivation Base in all the Three Realms could only be matched by the Immortal Venerable.
And now they claimed that, without his knowledge, he had formed a Soul-binding Covenant with someone as a Cultivation Partner.
Those people actually dared to question his memory!
Even the Immortal Venerable said the same. Did they really think he would believe it just because they said so?
In this world, apart from the Immortal Venerable, who else could alter his memory?
If the Immortal Venerable wished to become This Venerable One’s Cultivation Partner, he might as well simply alter This Venerable One’s memory to say they were already bound. Why go to such trouble, even telling people from the other realms that This Venerable One had lost his memory?
Therefore, his memory had never been altered. All of this was merely a scheme born of the Immortal Venerable’s infatuation with him.
Bai Shen had heard plenty of such talk these past few days, and now whenever someone mentioned that he and Mu Nanxiao were Cultivation Partners, he found it tiresome.
It was true that he had wanted to form a covenant with the Immortal Venerable at the Immortal-Demon Assembly, but he had no wish for others to use this matter to curry favor with him.
“Speak no more of this in the future,” Bai Shen said gravely. His robes disheveled, he pressed a hand on Mu Nanxiao’s shoulder, making him look at him, his expression solemn. “This Venerable One admires the Immortal Venerable, and the Immortal Venerable admires This Venerable One in turn. But the Immortal Venerable already has a Cultivation Partner. Once This Venerable One has dealt with him, then we shall form our covenant.”
Having received Bai Shen’s Spiritual Power, Mu Nanxiao could clearly feel a warm current surging in his lower abdomen, and he could sense the feelings transmitted from the spiritual fetus, contentment and joy.
As if it were satisfied by the nourishment of Spiritual Power from its other father.
His heart was connected with the spiritual fetus, and his mood relaxed. But before he could carefully savor the spiritual fetus’s presence, Bai Shen’s words gave him quite a shock.
Bai Shen had actually declared openly that he would deal with himself…
If Bai Shen someday recovered his memories and learned of all this, what would he think?
Mu Nanxiao mused on this and found it rather amusing.
By now he had a good grasp of the present Bai Shen’s temperament. Who would have thought that after losing his memory, Bai Shen would turn out to be so conceited?
He wouldn’t believe a single word from anyone else, trusting only himself.
Nothing he did on the swing in the courtyard had stirred even a flicker of memory in Bai Shen. The road to restoring his memory would surely be long and arduous.
“As you wish,” Mu Nanxiao said, reaching out to straighten Bai Shen’s robes, then walked toward the sleeping palace.
The person behind him didn’t move, so he even paused to ask, “Not following?”
Only when he heard footsteps did Mu Nanxiao push open the door of the sleeping palace.
On the table, the Space Stone set in the Storage Ring glowed with a gorgeous light, and Mu Nanxiao recalled his original plan.
After Bai Shen entered the sleeping palace, he looked the place over carefully. Finding quite a few of his own belongings in the room, he laughed and said, “For the Immortal Venerable to be like this, does his Cultivation Partner know? Clearly a man who already has a Cultivation Partner, yet he secretly hoards so many of This Venerable One’s things in his sleeping palace.”
Mu Nanxiao played along: “So long as the Demon Venerable is clear about it in his heart.”
In any case, Bai Shen wouldn’t believe a word he said, so he might as well go along with whatever his brain-addled Cultivation Partner said.
Bai Shen was very satisfied with this reply. He quickened his pace, took Mu Nanxiao’s arm, and helped him sit down in a chair. “How is your body? What happened in the courtyard just now. This Venerable One couldn’t hold himself back. That is simply how the Hehuan Sect’s Cultivation Method works. It must have tired the Immortal Venerable.”
Having lost his memory, Bai Shen had been utterly clumsy in doing those things.
Mu Nanxiao naturally would not say such things to provoke him. He nodded, “A little weary. Shall we rest together on the bed?”
Mu Nanxiao had not expected Bai Shen to refuse him, so he walked step by step toward the bed. The robes he had only just put on fell to the floor, leaving only the white inner garment beneath.
His skin bore many marks—red imprints like gorgeous runes, trailing from his snow-white neck down into the inner garment.
As Mu Nanxiao passed the table, he casually collected the Storage Ring lying upon it.
He sat on the bed, only then noticing that Bai Shen was still standing there, having not followed him.
“Does the Immortal Venerable treat others this way as well? Inviting someone he has known for mere days into his sleeping chamber like this, and even inviting him to share his bed.”
Mu Nanxiao replied with composure, “This Venerable One has already fallen for you, yet now you speak of such things… Just how does Bai Shen regard This Venerable One?”
“Naturally, the same as the Immortal Venerable’s feelings,” Bai Shen said. “This Venerable One is a Demonic Cultivator, renowned throughout the Three Realms for ages. To admire someone who has a Cultivation Partner can hardly be counted a bad reputation. But the Immortal Venerable is different… If the Immortal Venerable consorts with me, and in truth does have a Cultivation Partner, I fear he will struggle to command respect among these righteous cultivators. In the end, he would follow his heart only to sully his own name.”
Mu Nanxiao said, “If Bai Shen considers all this, why approach This Venerable One at all? You know perfectly well that the best way to keep This Venerable One out of it would be to stay away from him.”
Bai Shen’s contradictory thinking made Mu Nanxiao want to laugh. He wanted to see more of Bai Shen’s expressions, so different from before, and a playful urge rose in his heart.
After he spoke those words, Bai Shen gave no reply; those red eyes only darkened further.
Though a great distance lay between them, Mu Nanxiao could still feel the oppressive aura emanating from the man. Not the oppression of a higher Cultivation Base, but something else terrifying, impossible to ignore, born of desire.
“I cannot.” Only after a long while did Bai Shen force out those words.
Mu Nanxiao answered, “Then what of it? The Demon Venerable holds affection for This Venerable One, and This Venerable One likewise admires you. Why fear the eyes of others?”
“Does the Immortal Venerable mean to say he does not love his Cultivation Partner? Then why did he form a Soul-binding Covenant with him?” The moment the words “Cultivation Partner” were mentioned, anger crept into Bai Shen’s voice.
Mu Nanxiao was struck speechless, unable to answer.
Bai Shen did not believe the two were Cultivation Partners, and so naturally there was no way to respond to that.
Did he love Bai Shen? Of course he did.
Seeing Mu Nanxiao fall silent, Bai Shen’s heart plummeted to the bottom of a valley.
“Is the Immortal Venerable toying with This Venerable One’s feelings now?”
Furious, he wanted to flick his sleeve and leave, yet could not bear to part from Mu Nanxiao.
Contradictory emotions piled up within him, leaving him unable to choose.
Stay, or go?
Not knowing what to do, he stood there and demanded answers from Mu Nanxiao.
“This Venerable One’s feelings for you are also sincere… Never mind. Tomorrow, come with This Venerable One to a certain place, and you will know the whole story from beginning to end.”
Mu Nanxiao pinned his hopes on Medicine King Valley, and at the same time had Yu Yi investigate what had happened to Bai Shen on those days.
As it happened, at that very moment Yu Yi’s Spiritual Power arrived at Mu Nanxiao’s sleeping chamber carrying a message.
Before Mu Nanxiao could touch it, Bai Shen shattered it with his own Spiritual Power.
“This Venerable One long ago sensed that you and that treacherous disciple share some unspeakable secret. Now it seems that treacherous disciple of mine is the Cultivation Partner the Immortal Venerable has been hiding all along!”
The moment Bai Shen felt that familiar Spiritual Power, he could no longer control the emotions in his heart. He flicked his sleeve and left.
Mu Nanxiao stood frozen in place for a long while before he understood what Bai Shen meant.
He and Yu Yi were Cultivation Partners?
If Yu Yi heard those words, his legs would probably start trembling. He would hurriedly protest that he wouldn’t dare, then flee the Demon Abyss at top speed, to some place Bai Shen could never find.
Mu Nanxiao had not received any message from Yu Yi, but whatever it contained was surely related to what had happened between him and Bai Shen those few days.
But now was hardly the time for such matters. If he didn’t stop Bai Shen, then once Bai Shen recovered his memories, he would discover he was missing a disciple.
Mu Nanxiao quickly sent a message to Yu Yi, telling him to get out of there at once.
Then he straightened his robes and chased off in the direction Bai Shen had gone.
Spiritual Power circulated through his dantian. He had barely completed a single cycle, before he could even use the gathered Spiritual Power, when Mu Nanxiao felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
Cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead. Unable to control his body, he stumbled and fell from midair, landing in the forest halfway down the mountain. Bracing himself against a towering tree, he panted softly.
“Stop making a fuss. Saving someone comes first.” Mu Nanxiao pressed his palm over his lower abdomen and instinctively channeled his own Spiritual Power into it, only then feeling the pain ease somewhat.
But what had gone wrong with the spiritual fetus? Mu Nanxiao couldn’t make up his mind.
After only a brief hesitation between Yu Yi’s life and the spiritual fetus’s condition, he pressed a hand to his abdomen and set off after Bai Shen once more.
Spiritual Power slowly flowed into his lower abdomen, absorbed by the spiritual fetus, and the pain eased considerably. Countless negative emotions surged out from the spiritual fetus and were received by Mu Nanxiao. His body stiffened, and he struggled to keep his Spirit Platform clear.
The countless malicious thoughts made Mu Nanxiao doubt whether this was a spiritual fetus at all, but rather a Demonic Fetus.
Thoughts he had never had before kept breeding in his mind.
The urge to kill everyone around Bai Shen, to lock Bai Shen away that person was his, and rightfully his alone.
Mu Nanxiao had never harbored such thoughts. He was the Immortal Venerable, the Immortal Venerable beloved by all, the Immortal Venerable whose heart held great righteousness.
The lives and blood on his hands belonged to villains so wicked, so utterly beyond redemption, they could hardly be called human anymore. He would never take a life without cause, let alone contemplate killing people with whom he had barely any dealings.
And these were merely the first malicious thoughts to enter Mu Nanxiao’s mind more, even more unimaginable ones followed.
Mu Nanxiao discovered that only when he poured his own Spiritual Power into the spiritual fetus did these malicious thoughts lose their ferocity.
He felt the urgency transmitted from the spiritual fetus. The pain in his abdomen and the chaotic thoughts attacked him together, dulling his mind, leaving him unable to think further. He could only rely on instinct and rush toward the Demon Abyss.
By the time he reached the Hehuan Sect, the malicious thoughts and pain abruptly vanished. A Formation barred him outside the sect gates.
He had no time to think. With a wave of his hand, he struck the Hehuan Sect’s Formation, quickly drawing out the sect’s mighty cultivators.
Seeing Mu Nanxiao, those venerable ones respectfully opened the Formation and invited him inside.
If Mu Nanxiao had truly meant it, that Formation would have been nothing in his eyes.
His earlier attack had merely been a knock on the door.
“Immortal Venerable, you’ve finally come! If you hadn’t come soon, Senior Brother Yu Yi would have been killed by our Sect Master!” A figure, sensing the fluctuation in the Formation, appeared swiftly. Upon seeing Mu Nanxiao, the youth burst into loud wails.
Mu Nanxiao paid him little attention. Sensing Bai Shen’s Spiritual Power at the arena, he headed straight for it.
The youth followed behind Mu Nanxiao, quickly falling far behind.
By the time he arrived, Yu Yi’s clothes were stained with blood, his face pale, propping himself up with his sword just to keep from collapsing.
Bai Shen stood before him, holding his sword, walking toward Yu Yi step by step.
Fortunately, Bai Shen still had a shred of sanity left. Knowing this person was his disciple, he had not struck to kill.
But with injuries like these, it would likely take months to recover.
“Stop.” Mu Nanxiao let out a breath of relief, revealed himself, and attacked Bai Shen without mercy, locking him in combat.
The young man who had rushed over behind him, seeing this, hurriedly dragged Yu Yi off the arena and fed him a healing Alchemy Pill.