Zhu Xingyao had no desire to waste more words with this demon. He channeled spiritual energy into his sword and launched another attack alongside Shen Xiuyun.
After several exchanges, “Zhu Xingyao” was clearly growing increasingly strained. He narrowly dodged a sword that Shen Xiuyun thrust at him from the side, then pressed his index and middle fingers together against the Frost Scar Sword’s blade, checking Shen Xiuyun’s advance.
“Master likes them young? That’s fine too. As long as Master says the word, your disciple can become whatever you want… guaranteed to satisfy you, even in bed…”
“Shut up!”
Shen Xiuyun cracked.
Zhu Xingyao stared in shock, his worldview seemingly shattered. “Master! He…”
Shen Xiuyun’s head throbbed as though it might split open. He wished he could hack that fake into pieces. “He said that on purpose. There’s no such thing!”
But the “Zhu Xingyao” across from him showed no restraint and continued, “Back at the pool bottom just now, it wasn’t like this at all.”
Zhu Xingyao pursued relentlessly: “What pool bottom? Master, what exactly happened?”
Fuck me!
Would it kill you not to spout nonsense?!
Was the misunderstanding not deep enough already?
“Zhu Xingyao” retreated a few steps, clutching his wounded chest, and laughed a few times with ill intent:
“Master, stop hiding it. How your disciple came to be here, you know full well in your heart.
Isn’t this illusion designed to manifest the person you want most in your heart? Your disciple is the one you can never forget.”
With that, not caring what anyone else thought, he vanished from the cave.
Shen Xiuyun nearly coughed up blood.
That scheming bastard… his words were specious half-truths. Wasn’t he trying to set him up to die?
How was he supposed to explain this clearly later?
He had never wanted Zhu Xingyao to experience these things in this secret realm in the first place. Now it was all for nothing.
A total patsy.
“Mm…”
The moment “Zhu Xingyao” disappeared, the immediate danger passed. Zhu Xingyao’s tightly wound nerves went slack, and his whole body seemed drained of all strength. He crumpled straight toward the ground.
“Careful!”
Shen Xiuyun caught him in one arm and eased him down to lean against the cave wall.
Zhu Xingyao was burning hot to a ridiculous degree. His mind seemed foggy from the torment, and his speech was incoherent.
“Master… are you really my Master? How could Master be in the demon realm?
Is this real or fake? I thought everything was just a hallucination from the poison.”
He portrayed that hesitation of wanting to confirm yet not daring to with flawless perfection… on the surface, there wasn’t a single crack to be found.
Seeing that he could no longer hide the truth, Shen Xiuyun simply confessed everything. “Your master was worried about you, so I slipped into the secret realm. I only intervened because I saw you in danger.”
Zhu Xingyao’s eyes grew hazy, as though he had lost his senses. His whole body was in agony, and not knowing what to do, he started banging his forehead against the stone wall with loud thuds. “Master… Master…”
Shen Xiuyun quickly grabbed him to stop the self-harm and sighed. “Don’t be afraid. It’ll pass soon.”
Leaning against Shen Xiuyun’s chest, Zhu Xingyao’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“Master, your disciple has been hit by an aphrodisiac poison.”
Shen Xiuyun straightened him up and said word by word, “You can temporarily force the toxin into your sea of consciousness.
Once we break the illusion and leave the demon realm, your master will find a medical cultivator to help you purge the poison.”
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
This was not what he wanted!
Zhu Xingyao struggled. “But your disciple doesn’t know how.”
“Your master can teach you right now.”
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
He appeared to comply, but in reality, he either recited the incantation backward or formed the wrong hand seals. In short, he didn’t succeed a single time.
Zhu Xingyao’s eyes grew scattered and unfocused, his pupils losing focus, as though he might drop dead at any second.
“Master… I can’t concentrate. I can’t do it…”
Shen Xiuyun was also sweating bullets from anxiety. “Try again. If the toxin isn’t relieved, you’ll bleed from all seven orifices and die.”
“But I… but I… Master, you need to leave! I can’t…” Before Zhu Xingyao could finish, he bit down hard on his own clenched left fist, swallowing back all the outrageous words that had been about to slip out.
Seeing this, Shen Xiuyun hurriedly pried at Zhu Xingyao’s jaw. “What are you doing? Let go! You’ve bitten your hand bloody!”
“Why do you keep biting yourself? No matter how bad it gets, you can’t hurt yourself.”
What kind of bizarre habit was this? And biting so hard, too?
“Because I can’t hold it back anymore…”
If I don’t bite myself, the one I bite would be you.
Before Shen Xiuyun could react, Zhu Xingyao hooked an arm around his neck.
Shen Xiuyun thought in despair: the little white flower had ultimately been corrupted.
All because of that accursed fake!
Shen Xiuyun felt he was no longer a happy salted fish.
Absolutely no one knew how he had survived these past three days.
Fuck!
He even needed his disciple to put food in his mouth for him.
Since coming back Reincarnated, he had never suffered such indignity!
System: 『Cough At least we got through it. Shouldn’t we hurry up and find where the blue-winged snake demon’s primordial spirit is hidden?
Only by scattering that creature’s primordial spirit can you return to the demon realm.
As a reminder, the trial has been going on for several days now, and Zhu Xingyao’s rank is firmly stuck at dead last.
Your ten thousand high-grade spirit stones just might really go down the drain.』
Shen Xiuyun: 『Gee, thanks for the reminder. No one has it worse than me.』
“Master has had a hard time these past few days. Please rest here with peace of mind. Your disciple will go out and scout the situation, and prepare some food for Master along the way.”
Zhu Xingyao helped Shen Xiuyun pull his robes on properly, picked up his sword, and prepared to clean up the hidden dangers left behind earlier.
He needed to retrieve his split-off other half of the primordial spirit in time, or it would arouse Master’s suspicion.
Shen Xiuyun let out a feeble grunt without so much as lifting an eyelid… the general gist being: get lost already.