Three days later.
Ruan Yaibai sat in boredom on the giant skull head of the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya, supporting his chin with one hand as he watched Bai Ruogu, who had transformed into giant bones, cautiously lift up white jade colonnade pillars one by one.
The little fellow was extraordinarily earnest. The pillars he had knocked down himself had to be returned to their exact original positions seamlessly, so even just aligning the openings took him half a day. Fortunately, although he was a skeleton, his finger bones were unusually flexible and strong. Ruan Yaibai sat on top of his head watching him lift the pillars, yawning as he looked on.
“I say,”
The Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya, who was concentrating on his work, was so startled by Ruan Yaibai’s sudden voice that his finger bones trembled, almost making the pillar he had just straightened tumble over. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and steadied it, crossing his finger bones to firmly protect the precarious pillar.
Even though he only had a pair of hollow skeletal eyes, they seemed filled with lingering terror at that moment.
[M-Master.]
After transforming into the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya, Bai Ruogu did not have vocal cords. Although he could use spiritual power to emit piercing, ghost-like screams to deter opponents, he was unable to speak normally. In this world, only the creator of the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya could communicate with him smoothly, and no one else could hear him.
“Although you are indeed the one who destroyed them, you do not need to be so earnest. With so many pavilions and halls, if you rely on a big skeleton frame like yours to repair them, it will take until the Year of the Monkey!”
In order to be allowed to stay, this silly disciple had taken the initiative to say he would repair all the buildings he had damaged.
For three days, the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya had indeed worked diligently and tirelessly like a giant crane, and one hardly knew what to say to him.
[It does not matter. As long as I can accompany Master, I will do anything.]
Hearing this, Ruan Yaibai glanced sideways at the two Xie brothers in the distance, who were standing and sitting as supervisors.
Knowing full well that I have no spiritual power whatsoever and cannot run away, when I came to find this reckless brat, he still insisted on having his left and right commanding officers watch me constantly. Anyone who didn’t know better would think I owed your family’s surname Ye a fortune!
“By the way, didn’t you say before that you couldn’t sense my spiritual power?”
[Indeed, I still cannot perceive it to this day. Master, what on earth has happened to you? Could it be that the Heavenly Lord is afraid you will escape and therefore sealed your spiritual power? Tell me, and I will surely find a way to help you.]
Certain past experiences made the little fellow regard Ruan Yaibai as his sole faith and dependence in this lifetime.
Aside from Ruan Yaibai’s three divine artifacts, he was probably the only non-human being capable of fighting side by side with the Sword Demon Bai Ye.
“It has nothing to do with Ye Tang. I truly have no spiritual power left.”
Crash!
Hearing this, the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya stood frozen in place like a puppet whose strings had lost control, as if his soul had ascended to heaven.
[Master, y-y-you, what did you say?]
Seeing the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya trembling so hard that all his bones were clacking and rattling from anxiety, Ruan Yaibai tilted his head and smiled indifferently, “I died once, so my spiritual power dissipated.”
Even though no sound could be emitted, Ruan Yaibai could feel the small skeleton beneath him trembling as if it were about to cry.
[It is all my fault, Master! I am the one who harmed you! If not for me back then. In short, from now on, I will protect you, and I will never let anyone hurt you!]
Ruan Yaibai waved his hand and said, “I said my spiritual power dissipated, not that it cannot be recovered. Do not be so emotional. Hold the pillar steady, do not let it fall.”
Hearing these words, the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly obeyed, holding the pillar in his hands steady.
[What method can help you, Master?]
Ruan Yaibai sighed and said softly, “You cannot help me.”
[Master, if you do not speak of it, how do you know I cannot help?]
Although he knew well that in front of his master, he was merely an insignificant brat, he was now also the Bone King of the Wufan Nine Domains, known to all throughout the three realms. He could say that as long as Master needed it, even if it meant climbing a mountain of blades or a sea of corpses and bones, he would not hesitate! There was nothing that,
“It requires dual cultivation with someone to recover spiritual power.”
Huh?
The Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya froze in place once more. He had considered the most difficult aspect, but he had not expected that this difficulty would truly be incomparable difficulty.
Hesitating for a long time, he stammered nervously:
[M-Master, this, this really is something I cannot help you with. You know my true form is merely a skeleton frame and does not possess the conditions for dual cultivation with a person. Otherwise, I would not mind lying down right now.]
Hearing this, Ruan Yaibai almost stumbled and fell off. Tapping the skull head, he laughed between exasperation and amusement, “What nonsense is this silly brat thinking about! Naturally, I could never consider you!”
The Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya gripped the pillar tightly.
[Speak, Master. Who do you want to mount? I will go catch them for you.]
This word “mount” pierced deeply into someone’s heart with great force!
Ruan Yaibai patted the skull head beneath him approvingly, “Those who understand me, little Ruogu!”
The praised Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya wore an expression of grand and heroic spirit!
“I want to mount Ye Tang.”
[System (sitting up with a start from near death): Holy cow, Host, you really dare!]
[Alright, I will go tie him, What?! Mount mount mount who?]
Ruan Yaibai probably thought this child truly had not heard clearly, and repeated it with incomparable calmness:
“I want to mount Ye Tang.”
Rumble, the pillars that had been neatly arranged almost fell over like dominoes. Bai Ruogu flurriedly steadied the colonnade pillars that he had finally managed to align, feeling as if rolls of heavenly thunder were echoing by his ears.
In the distance, Xie Xun, who was monitoring the two of them, twitched a leg and sat in place, puzzled, “Brother, what did the demon say to scare the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya like this?”
“Unknown.”
“A grand plan to escape? It doesn’t look like it…”
“Mm.”
“Could it be plotting how to backstab our Exalted Lord?!”
If not for the lack of eyes, the Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya would have wept a river of tears.
The little skeleton stood there, aggrieved, twisting his fingers together.
[Master Father, this is simply too difficult…]
Ruan Yaibai stroked his chin and spoke without drafting his thoughts, “It is not difficult. I have already succeeded once.”
[Ah?!] The Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya, who always trusted Ruan Yaibai implicitly, was full of admiration, [As expected of my precious master, no doubt Heavenly Lord Yaoguang is so obedient and attentive to you to an extreme degree.]
Ruan Yaibai felt a surge of inexplicable pride, straightening his back somewhat.
[System (numbly): Host, deceiving an ignorant youth invites retribution.]
[It’s just that, Master, since you already… um, why is there still no spiritual power circulating in your body?]
Ruan Yaibai paused, then suddenly sighed with regret, “You do not know this, but although the fellow named Ye usually looks very arrogant on the outside, his physical stamina is actually quite poor. He collapsed after just a few rounds, crying and begging for mercy, and even passed out later on. Naturally, I dislike taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable state… And so, the tiny bit of spiritual power I managed to barely recover was a drop in the bucket; it vanished before I could even use it!”
The system wanted to say something but stopped.
[I truly would not have expected it. Although the Heavenly Lord’s strength is peerless, his physical stamina is not quite up to par. Then Master, is there anything I can do to help?]
That hit the right spot. Ruan Yaibai’s eyes brightened, “I remember Feiyan brewed quite a lot of spiritual wine back then, seemingly called ‘Awaiting Spring in Delay’. I wasn’t interested in wine at the time, so I stored all of it inside your Jialan Bone Mirror… Come to think of it, those must be aged brews of over a hundred years by now, right?”
The Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya thought about it:
[Awaiting Spring in Delay is still there. Sect Master Fei said that this wine tastes extremely light upon the first sip, but burns fiercely once it enters the belly, and the longer it is stored, the more mellow it becomes. Even a Great Luo Golden Immortal would be drunk for three days after drinking century-old Awaiting Spring in Delay. Sect Master Fei also said this is an essential aged brew for staying at home, traveling, and performing dual cultivation.]
Ruan Yaibai smiled and said, “Keep it safe, keep it safe! When I need to use it, I will naturally come find you!”
[System: Host, you truly are… insidious, cunning, crafty, and shameless! But I love it!]
Just as Ruan Yaibai was planning when he might be able to use Awaiting Spring in Delay, Bai Ruogu suddenly asked a question that caught him off guard.
[Master, what does a widower mean?]
“A widower is a man whose wife has died… Wait, why are you asking this?”
[I saw that after Sovereign Shang spoke with you that day, your expression changed drastically, so I was somewhat concerned. I originally wanted to look for the answer myself, but Master, you have always strictly forbidden others from reading Sovereign Shang’s books…]
Ruan Yaibai clicked his tongue, “His books are too vulgar, of course you cannot read them.”
The little skeleton twisted his fingers together again.
Actually, he was already over a hundred years old, but Master always treated him like a child.
Having sat for too long, Ruan Yaibai felt somewhat tired. He simply lay down flat, casually taking out “The Banquet of Living Spring: Sequel,” which he had been reading for two days, and propped one leg over the other, shaking it up and down.
There were so many steamy scenes, it was an absolute mess!
Before flipping through it, he had never imagined he could find something so heart-warming and pulse-pounding.
The divine lord widower versus the stunning, gorgeous corpse.
The brilliance of divinity swallowed and gnawed upon by dirty desires…
The widow in the previous installment at least used physical enticement to make the father and son turn against each other, while the gorgeous corpse in this installment did practically nothing from start to finish, simply lying there, yet was able to make that supreme and lofty divine lord degenerate and sink into depravity.
Just how morbid must the mind of someone who could write this be?!
Yet the more he read it, the more hooked he became, unable to stop at all. He was already reading it for the third time.
He stared unblinkingly past a page of heavy steamy content, “Hiss, Shang Xingyun really dares to write anything. Even someone surnamed Ye doesn’t bother to manage him.”
“Why manage him?”
Dressed in silver-white immortal robes, Ye Tang descended right in front of him, filling his entire field of vision with the appearance of this peerless immortal lord.
Realizing that someone had arrived, the little skeleton fled in a panic, suddenly unsure of what he should do.
Ye Tang said coldly, “Focus on what you are supposed to be doing, or you will be driven out of Lanquque Heaven immediately.”
The Myriad-Bone Dharmakaya hurriedly and flurriedly went back to lifting his pillars.
Ruan Yaibai curved his eyes into a smile, showing no intention of getting up whatsoever, “Ye Tang, do not tell me you cannot figure out who the protagonists in Shang Xingyun’s new book are based on.”
“So what?”
Ruan Yaibai was stunned, “Could it be you have actually perused it yourself?”
Ye Tang replied, “Never.”
At this, Ruan Yaibai’s mischievous interest was piqued. Remaining lying in place, he held the book with one hand to half-conceal a shallow smile, while his other hand reached toward the immortal lord’s ankle, his fingers crawling upward step by step along the white boots.
“Then Uncle really ought to come take a look. This book portrays you in a rather extraordinary light.”
In the distance, Xie Xun, who was watching the two of them, couldn’t watch any longer. He stood up and said, “This demon is publicly seducing our Exalted Lord again. He is utterly devoid of shame!”
Xie Jiaya: “…”
Seeing that Ye Tang paid no heed to what Ruan Yaibai said, but instead stepped aside to prevent Ruan Yaibai’s hand from continuing upward, Xie Xun let out a breath and said, “Fortunately, our Exalted Lord has a mind like a clear mirror and is not affected by this demon!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the Heavenly Lord Yaoguang lean down and scoop Ruan Yaibai up horizontally from his comfortable reclining position.
Xie Xun: “Ah, pretend I said nothing.”
Ruan Yaibai, who had inexplicably been scooped up by Ye Tang, was startled into hurriedly wrapping his arms around Ye Tang’s neck, asking uneasily, “What are you doing?”
“You have been outside too long today. I am carrying you back.”
“I am not going back. My good disciple hasn’t finished his work yet.” Ruan Yaibai looked down at the giant bone frame beneath him, struggling to jump down from Ye Tang’s embrace, but lacking spiritual power, he couldn’t move at all.
It was not easy for Bai Ruogu to finally arrive; although he hadn’t successfully taken him away from Lanquque Heaven, at least Ye Tang gave him free time every day to watch Bai Ruogu work. Wasn’t that much more interesting than making him stay on the couch all day?
He didn’t want to go back so early. He wasn’t a dog that would come back just from being walked a bit.
“You make me stay alone in Moonfall and Crying Crow all day long, without stepping out the front door or the second gate. I am about to suffocate to death! Anyway, I can’t run away. What harm is there in letting me wander around here a bit longer?”
Ye Tang paused, his eyes lowering slightly as he spoke in a soft voice, “I apologize. These past few days, there were some troublesome matters I had to spend time handling, leaving you alone and bored. It is my fault.”
Hearing this, it sounded as if I were throwing a tantrum simply because you weren’t keeping me company.
You were absent these past few days, and I was having a wonderful time on my own!
Why are your skin so thick anyway?!
[System: Host, when it comes to thickness of skin, no one can rival you.]
Ruan Yaibai: Naturally. In the realm of looks, I admit to second place, and no one dares claim first.
[System: …What we are talking about is simply not the same thing!]
Ruan Yaibai turned his face away, “I do not want to go back.”
Ye Tang seemed about to say something, but then gave a light sigh as if giving up, “Then where does A-Ruan wish to go?”
Hearing this, Ruan Yaibai immediately turned his head back to look at him, his eyes shining brightly, “I want to go to the human realm.”
Ye Tang said softly, “Very well. In a few days, I will take A-Ruan out for a stroll.”
“No, I have a reason I must go right now!”
“Not right now.”
“Why—” Before Ruan Yaibai could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness roll over him. The near-death experience from his final moments in the living world seemed to stage a comeback; he only felt a violent contraction in his heart, followed by a sensation as if he had been heavily struck by a demolition vehicle with an iron ball, leaving his entire body feeling as though it were tearing apart into pieces!
He heard someone calling his name, a voice that was very familiar yet felt so distant…
Blinding lights, the mechanical and cold dripping sound, the high-voltage electrical current applied over and over again by the cardiac defibrillator.
After a long while, it seemed he was carried back to the couch in Moonfall and Crying Crow once more.
Someone reached out to untie his belt, and then stripped away his garments…
He felt as though he were currently a fish waiting on a chopping board.
By this time, his head was spinning like paste, but at that very moment, he suddenly recalled a sentence Ye Tang had spoken to him that day:
If you do not do it, you will die.