Xie Yuan’s voice was laced with a biting chill. As Shen Zhuo stared at that face, he had a brief, hallucinatory vision of Moyuan. His heart jolted, and his sword slid three inches out of its scabbard.
“You have been influenced by the resentment,” Shen Zhuo warned.
Chen Qiu shouted urgently, “Daoist Xie, put down the jade pendant quickly!”
Xie Yuan acted as if he had heard nothing. The white jade fan began to vibrate in his hand, and the black mist surrounding him grew increasingly dense, appearing even more terrifying than what had possessed Chen Gouzi earlier.
“If it is for Master, what does it matter if I am consumed by resentment?” His gaze swept over the three of them, his expression frighteningly dark. “Or are you trying to stop me from finding him?”
“Calm down,” Shen Zhuo said.
Xie Yuan ignored Shen Zhuo entirely. The vibrating white jade fan suddenly went still. In the next second, the originally warm jade color was completely swallowed by black mist, emitting a heavy aura of bloodlust.
“Those who block me shall die!”
Before the words had even faded, he lunged, his white jade fan striking directly at Shen Zhuo’s vitals.
Shen Zhuo was well-prepared. He raised his sword to meet the blow, but the impact sent him reeling back several steps, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger numbing from the force. His long sword barely held against the fan, but the resentment remained unextinguished, constantly eroding the jade fan itself.
With his spiritual power depleted, a head-on clash with Xie Yuan was not a wise strategy. Shen Zhuo suddenly exerted force through his wrist, using the momentum to deflect the opponent’s power. He retreated half a step and shifted his sword stance instantly. His sword moved like a startled dragon, taking a tricky angle that forced Xie Yuan into a defensive position.
Xie Yuan only let out a cold snort. “Meager tricks.”
The white jade fan disassembled once more, flying out to neutralize Shen Zhuo’s offensive. However, Chen Qiu and Chen Dong reacted even faster. Two white figures circled Xie Yuan from the left and right, attempting to trap him while he was hindered by the resentment.
A blood-red light flashed in Xie Yuan’s eyes. The white jade fan suddenly split into several afterimages, carrying a murderous aura as they attacked all three simultaneously. Shen Zhuo hurriedly withdrew his stance to block, but Xie Yuan’s spiritual power was overwhelming. Relying on a single sword was not enough to resist; he was heavily knocked back several yards.
Two muffled thuds echoed nearby. Turning his head, he saw that Chen Qiu and Chen Dong had also been repelled.
“To think we cannot even take a single hit,” Chen Qiu muttered, wiping blood from his cheek as he stared at Xie Yuan, who was now entirely shrouded in black mist. “What do we do now?”
Shen Zhuo reached out to help the two up, his gaze thoughtful as it fixed on the resentment. “Perhaps I have a way.”
Chen Qiu was surprised. After everything that had happened, he had grown to trust this youth who was so different from the rumors. “Daoist Shen truly has a way to break this?”
Shen Zhuo replied, “I can try, but I need you to hold him off for a moment.”
Chen Dong clutched his chest and shouted, “We cannot stop him at all! That is Xie Yuan!”
Shen Zhuo pondered for a second. “Just for one breath.”
Chen Qiu thought for a moment and said resolutely, “Xiao Dong and I will strike together. It should be possible to buy a split second.”
“Good,” Shen Zhuo took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, a certain determination had settled within them. “Now!”
Chen Qiu and Chen Dong darted out again like two white shadows. Xie Yuan turned his jade fan to block them. Unexpectedly, as the fan blades approached, the two suddenly shifted their offensive. Their speed was so great that Xie Yuan’s spiritual power could not keep up. In the next instant, their spiritual power erupted, surging toward Xie Yuan.
Being Yanxue Sect disciples, their movement was incredibly fast. Seeing that his fan blades would not return in time for defense, Xie Yuan immediately changed his hand signs, intending to use his own spiritual power to forcibly suppress them.
However, at that exact moment, his movements stiffened. He looked down to see that the sign he had just begun to form was being gently held by a slender hand, preventing the spell from manifesting.
This downward glance made things even easier for the owner of that hand. Shen Zhuo used his other hand to grab Xie Yuan’s collar, pulling him downward as he tilted his head up and slammed his mouth against Xie Yuan’s.
He bit his own tongue, drawing blood, and before the other could regain his senses, he forcefully pushed past Xie Yuan’s teeth. Immediately, the metallic taste of blood filled both their mouths.
Shen Zhuo performed these actions with practiced ease; in his past life, he had done the same thing to Moyuan countless times. As soon as Shen Zhuo’s blood entered Xie Yuan’s mouth, the black mist around him suddenly swirled backward. The bloody scent spreading across their lips and tongues actually diluted the resentment.
Xie Yuan’s entire body jolted. The crimson faded from his bloodshot eyes, and a glimmer of clarity returned. A moment later, the black mist vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed. The white jade fan blades that had been chasing Chen Qiu and Chen Dong fell to the ground with a series of clatters as their master lost focus.
Chen Dong stared blankly at the two who were still kissing. He tugged on his brother’s arm. “So they really are in the kind of relationship where they can kiss.”
“Do not just daze there,” Chen Qiu said helplessly. “Take this chance to grab the jade pendant from Xie Yuan’s hand.”
Chen Dong snapped to attention. In an instant, he appeared behind Xie Yuan and easily plucked the black jade pendant from the other’s defenseless palm.
Shen Zhuo estimated that the timing was right and prepared to pull away. As he retracted his tongue, he accidentally grazed Xie Yuan’s lower lip with a light lick. This touch felt like a bolt of lightning, causing Xie Yuan to snap awake. He shoved Shen Zhuo away and retreated several steps, his eyes full of panic.
[Ding! Routine Mission completed (1/15)] [Reward issued: 1% cultivation restoration.]
The system prompt popped up in Shen Zhuo’s mind. His previously depleted dantian was instantly filled with spiritual power twice as abundant as before. He estimated he had recovered to the second level of Qi Refining.
He casually wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve and circulated spiritual power to his eyes to inspect Xie Yuan’s condition. Currently, there was not a trace of resentment left on the man. In his past life, Moyuan had kept him imprisoned day and night precisely because his blood could suppress the rampaging demonic energy in Moyuan’s body. Shen Zhuo had suspected that since this body shared his name and appearance, it might have inherited this special constitution as well. It seemed his hypothesis was correct.
He glanced at the bloodstain on his cuff and mused, “Two birds with one stone. I even finished that annoying system mission. Not bad.”
In stark contrast to Shen Zhuo’s nonchalance, Xie Yuan had leaped ten feet away. He pressed his fingers to his lips, staring at Shen Zhuo in disbelief, looking very much like he was guarding against another sudden assault. He instinctively tried to unfold his fan to hide his expression, but his hand came up empty. He hurriedly mobilized his spiritual power to summon the scattered fan blades back to his hand.
Spiritual power flashed, and the jade fan blades reassembled. Xie Yuan snapped the fan open to hide his face, but the feel of it was wrong. Looking down, he saw that his spiritual power had mistakenly fixed the fan surface together while the five fan bones were splayed out in a disorganized mess. Xie Yuan stared at the mangled fan bones in his hand, and his brow throbbed violently.
“Pfft!”
Chen Dong could not help but burst out laughing, though he was immediately silenced by an elbow from Chen Qiu.
Xie Yuan scrambled to restore his fan. When he finally opened it again, it had returned to its usual shape. He glared at Shen Zhuo and spat out four words through his teeth, “Have you no shame?”
Shen Zhuo looked innocent. “You said the same thing last time.”
These words were like adding fuel to the fire. The indignation on Xie Yuan’s face tripled. “You knew, yet you still dared to commit such a wanton act!”
Shen Zhuo continued his innocent act. “You used that word last time, too.”
“In any case, in any case,” Xie Yuan was choked up, stammering dryly, “stay away from me! You are not allowed to get close again!”
“Very well.” Shen Zhuo had no intention of getting close anyway and complied readily.
After a few moments of silence, he could not help but ask, “Can we kiss again next time?”
“You still want a next time?”
Chen Dong whispered to his brother, “Does this count as flirting?”
Chen Qiu saw through the situation and sighed helplessly. “Do not talk nonsense.”
Seeing that Shen Zhuo and Xie Yuan were still at a standstill, Chen Qiu stepped forward to play peacemaker. “Daoist Xie, do not blame Daoist Shen. You were being controlled by resentment just now and were not in your right mind. If Daoist Shen had not acted in time, the few of us might have been injured by your jade fan.”
Xie Yuan recalled the moment before, the sudden, overwhelming obsession to find his Master regardless of the cost, and the murderous intent to crush anyone in his way. It had all vanished mysteriously after Shen Zhuo’s kiss. He pursed his lips; the metallic taste of blood seemed to linger on his tongue. Ultimately, he only let out a cold snort and turned his face away.
After calming Xie Yuan, Chen Qiu turned to Shen Zhuo. “I am truly curious. How did Daoist Shen manage to dissolve the resentment with a kiss?”
“It was not because of the kiss, but because of my blood,” Shen Zhuo answered calmly. “I possess the Extreme Yin Constitution.”
This answer clearly caught Chen Qiu off guard. He knew what an Extreme Yin Constitution was. Those with this body were physically weak from childhood, but because they could accommodate massive amounts of spiritual energy, they were once-in-a-millennium cultivation geniuses. Once they began the path of cultivation, their progress would be lightning-fast. Furthermore, their flesh and blood were considered highly restorative for cultivators, making them exceptionally effective at suppressing resentment.
What truly shocked Chen Qiu was that the Extreme Yin Constitution had not appeared in the immortal world for nearly a thousand years.
“Then you,” Chen Qiu started to speak, wanting to ask how someone with the Extreme Yin Constitution, who had been taken as a disciple by the Xuanyun Sect Leader, could have allowed the title of “waste” to circulate for so many years. However, he realized mid-sentence that this involved sect secrets that were not for outsiders to probe, so he stopped himself in time.
Xie Yuan suddenly interrupted, “In whose hand is that jade pendant now?”
“It is with me.” Chen Dong opened his palm, revealing the jade pendant lying quietly inside.
Xie Yuan carefully observed Chen Dong, who seemed perfectly normal, and asked warily, “Does Daoist Chen feel anything unusual?”
Chen Dong shook his head blankly. “I do not feel anything at all.”
“That is strange.”
“Resentment amplifies the obsessions in one’s heart. The deeper the desire, the stronger the power stimulated by the resentment,” Shen Zhuo explained, then asked Chen Dong, “Do you have anything you particularly want?”
“Me?” Chen Dong thought seriously for a moment and said with regret, “It is a pity the wonton stall owner ran away so fast; otherwise, I really wanted another bowl.”
The remaining three fell into a brief silence.
Shen Zhuo: “…” Xie Yuan: “…”
Chen Qiu pressed a hand to his forehead and said helplessly, “My younger brother is slow-witted. Please excuse the embarrassment.”
“To have a mind free of distractions and shallow desires is actually rare,” Shen Zhuo laughed. “Since the resentment cannot influence Daoist Chen, it is most appropriate for him to hold it.”
Chen Qiu gazed at the jade pendant, his brow furrowing slightly. “Even so, this object is ultimately malevolent. It should be handled as soon as possible.”
Chen Dong asked, “How should we handle it? Give it back to Master Jian?”
“According to the servants, Master Jian has become violent and unpredictable in recent years, frequently beating and punishing them. Returning the jade pendant to him might not be wise.” As Chen Qiu spoke, his gaze turned to Shen Zhuo, clearly viewing him as the leader. “What does Daoist Shen think?”
“Naturally, it should be returned to its rightful owner. However,” Shen Zhuo turned his head toward the unconscious Chen Gouzi on the ground, “before returning it, we must first figure out exactly what happened. At the very least, we should find out where the resentment on this pendant came from, and to whom that bloodthirsty aura truly belongs.”