The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Xiuyun stuttered, a flush creeping across his face.
On second thought, what he’d just said sounded a bit… improper.
But Zhu Xingyao, who had his back to him, seemed completely oblivious, already calmly stripping off his robes to reveal a smooth, bare back.
This only made Shen Xiuyun feel all the more like something was wrong with him for overthinking it.
Was he out of his mind? It wasn’t as though he’d never seen Zhu Xingyao’s body before. Back then, he hadn’t found himself overthinking things like this.
Shen Xiuyun took a deep breath, trying to keep his composure. “Your lower back is indeed red here, and a bit swollen. It might be a crush injury.”
“Mm.” Zhu Xingyao’s voice sounded low and muffled, pressed even deeper than usual, as though he were restraining something.
Shen Xiuyun dabbed some ointment on his fingertips and spread it over the wound.
Soft fingertips moved with gentle pressure, spreading the ointment little by little. That soft, tingling sensation nearly made Zhu Xingyao lose control.
Right now, he wanted so badly, so badly to… do something to Master…
Yet those thoughts, on the verge of breaking free from his mind, vanished in an instant when Shen Xiuyun’s fingertip lightly touched his lips.
“Why are you biting your lower lip so hard? The wound that split open earlier is bleeding again. Doesn’t it hurt? Or is it the injury on your back that hurts?
If it hurts, just cry out. Your master won’t laugh at you.”
Ever since the incident last year when his disciple squatted for so long his legs went numb and he couldn’t walk, Shen Xiuyun had known that this disciple of his could be truly delicate at times.
But to call him delicate… sometimes when he was injured and medicine was applied, his eyes would turn red from the pain, yet not a single tear would fall. He would just grit his teeth and endure it, his whole body trembling.
Truly delicate yet stubborn.
Zhu Xingyao seized the opportunity and whined, “Your disciple really is in pain. Master, rub it for me a bit more, please.”
There was indeed a place that hurt terribly, but it wasn’t his lightly injured lower back.
After Master left later, he was afraid he’d have to make another trip to the cold pool.
After rubbing for a moment, Shen Xiuyun’s hand grew sore, and he asked, “Better now?”
Zhu Xingyao buried his face in the pillow and said in a muffled voice, “Much better.”
“Earlier, your disciple noticed that Master looked serious when he came in. Did things not go well with Senior Uncle?”
It wasn’t exactly that things hadn’t gone well.
Rather, it was because of the turn villain value that his expression had been so grave.
“It went fine,” Shen Xiuyun said. “Your master and your Senior Uncle discussed it and have decided to let you go to the demon realm to participate in the trial in a few days.
But you needn’t worry too much. Though the demon realm imprisons demonic beasts that plague the mortal world, they are suppressed by the secret realm, and their cultivation is all below Golden Core. With your late Foundation Establishment cultivation, you’ll be more than capable of handling them head-on.”
Zhu Xingyao did his best to keep his voice steady and said with measured composure:
“Your disciple will certainly work hard and perform well. I absolutely will not disappoint Master.”
Shen Xiuyun felt gratified in his heart. He’d said it all along… Zhu Xingyao wasn’t useless at all. Look at how readily he accepted the arrangement, as steady and composed as someone who had weathered many great storms. How rare was that?
“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Just do your best. Your master told you last time… no matter what, your master will never abandon you.”
Shen Xiuyun picked up the clothes beside them and draped them over Zhu Xingyao’s shoulders, then produced a universe pouch of treasures he had specially prepared for him.
He hoped that giving him something might make up for that suddenly appearing turn villain value.
However, things did not go as Shen Xiuyun wished.
“Thank you, Master.” Zhu Xingyao accepted it gladly, then pushed his luck further. “Master, if your disciple does well this time, could Master give your disciple a small reward?”
Shen Xiuyun said, “Go ahead.”
Perhaps fulfilling a small wish could… hmm… to be safe, he’d still need to see what the wish was before deciding whether to agree.
Zhu Xingyao said, “Your disciple is very curious about those few secret manuals Master reads often. Every time Master reads them, you forget to eat and sleep, so there must be something fascinating in them. Your disciple would also like to learn a thing or two. I wonder if Master could bear to part with them and lend them to your disciple?”
Once the books were taken away, Master wouldn’t be distracted every day looking at someone else’s things… he would only focus on him alone.
Shen Xiuyun raised an eyebrow. Hmm? Why the sudden craving for his four great secret manuals on the way of being a master?
Those books were for Master to read, not for a disciple.
Besides, could books issued by the System be shown to the male lead of the book itself?