Gone mad? How could he have gone mad? And what kind of madness was it?
Countless thoughts raced through Shu Yang’s mind, but he was no fool. Knowing the urgency of the situation, he did not waste time standing there in a daze. He shoved the wilted Ruan Wei into his sleeve, took several swift strides forward, and made a decisive decision: “I am going to the Dragon Palace now!”
“Immortal Lord!” Seeing Shu Yang about to leave, Xuanqing panicked. What would happen to the Phoenix clan if Shu Yang just walked away and never returned?
However, looking at Shu Yang’s tense expression, the cub did not seem as insignificant as Shu Yang had initially claimed. He must be a person of great importance, not to be treated lightly.
With this thought, Xuanqing gritted her teeth, took a step forward, and bowed to Shu Yang. “Immortal Lord, while you possess the power of the stars, your immortal body is currently absent. You cannot endure the strain of repeated travel. Allow my son to go to the Dragon Palace in your stead to retrieve the human cub.”
“…” Faced with such a mutually beneficial solution, Shu Yang’s fingertips, hidden in his sleeves, twitched. He did not speak immediately.
Seeing this, Xuanqing thought for a moment and added, “Immortal Lord, my son is a Phoenix by nature and an excellent flyer. He can reach the Dragon Palace in just two days.”
Two days was indeed faster than he could travel. Furthermore, Shu Yang had hitched a ride with Ruan Wei to reach the Phoenix clan’s territory. Since Ruan Wei seemed to be suffering from some kind of shock and appeared lethargic, Shu Yang could not force him to fly him to the Dragon Palace.
With Shu Yang’s reluctant agreement, Xuanqing immediately sent her son, Xuan Ai, to the Dragon Palace to bring back the human cub.
Meanwhile, Ruan Wei did not seem well either. He was dizzy and headache-ridden all day. Eventually, he simply hid in Shu Yang’s sleeve, coiling his tail around Shu Yang’s icy wrist to sleep, refusing to wake up no matter how much he was called.
According to Xuanqing, the round trip should have taken four days. But for reasons unknown, the Young Phoenix Master took a full eight days to return, twice the expected time. Xuanqing thought he had failed his duty and was about to scold him, but when Xuan Ai landed, she was shocked. The phoenix plumes on his head had been plucked nearly bald, and his once-shining feathers were now dull and lifeless; from a distance, he looked less like a phoenix and more like a country chicken.
Dragons loved beautiful things, though usually not themselves. Phoenixes, however, were extremely vain; they would never make themselves look so wretched unless absolutely necessary.
Xuan Ai looked on the verge of madness, his mental state even less stable than the cub crawling on the ground in the dark. Upon returning to the palace and seeing his own bald patches, he immediately let out an ear-piercing scream that blew half the leaves off the trees in the Zitong Forest.
The one responsible for Xuan Ai’s miserable state was undoubtedly the human cub crawling in the dark on the ground. He had grown a bit larger, but his aggression had increased exponentially. Whenever anyone approached, he would ram them with his head, claw at his own hair, or bash his head against the wall like a madman. He even cracked the wall into a spiderweb of fissures and dislodged several bricks, leaving the Phoenix clan members utterly shocked.
No, is this truly something a human cub can achieve?
When Shu Yang received the news and rushed to the scene, he saw the cub use his iron-head technique to knock over Xuan Ye, who had been trying to grab him. The cub’s eyes were cold and vicious. His hair was a chaotic mess stuck with dust and stone, looking exactly like Shu Yang did when he was a beggar as a child.
Shu Yang was stunned for a moment, mesmerized by the cub’s appearance. For a long while, just as the cub got on all fours and prepared to dash toward the next victim, Shu Yang furrowed his brow, flashed in front of the victim, and raised his palm, channeling his spiritual energy to block the cub’s attack.
The cub seemed genuinely insane, frantically bashing his head against Shu Yang’s energy barrier. Shu Yang stood before him, looking down with a calm, steady gaze. Not even a single strand of his hair moved, his faint blue spiritual energy reflecting off his cold, stable profile.
After a moment, his sleeve fluttered without wind. A massive surge of spiritual energy erupted, the aftershock sending the cub flying backward, slamming him hard against a wall several meters away. The cub fell and tumbled for a meter along the ground.
He seemed to be shaken back to sobriety. He coughed and slowly climbed up. Sitting on the ground, he stared at the expressionless Shu Yang, looking aggrieved. His cold, dark eyes filled with moisture, brimming with tears. The cub sniffed, began clawing at his hair again, and hit his head against the ground. Seconds later, he could no longer hold it back and burst into loud sobs.
Shu Yang: “…”
No, he is crying?
Shu Yang thought, I did not bully him that badly, did I? He was the one who went mad and started plucking people’s feathers first. If a brat is not punished, how can he be expected to behave?
With this in mind, Shu Yang’s face remained cold. When others felt a pang of pity and tried to set aside their grudges to comfort the child, Shu Yang barked, “Stand still. No one is to move.”
Shu Yang narrowed his eyes, looking at the wailing cub. “Let him cry. Let’s see who dares to comfort him.”
The Phoenix clan members: “…”
They exchanged silent glances and wisely withdrew, standing motionless behind Shu Yang. Seeing that Shu Yang made no move to comfort him, the cub sobbed for a long time, eventually finding it pointless, and slowly ceased his tears. He sat on the floor, eyes still wet, looking up at Shu Yang.
Shu Yang said blandly, “If you want to go mad, go outside and do it. If you act wild toward others again, I will not be polite.”
The cub pouted. After a moment, he stopped clawing at his hair, crawled cautiously to Shu Yang’s feet, and hesitantly reached out. With Shu Yang’s silent permission, he grabbed the hem of Shu Yang’s robe and tugged gently.
He could not speak, only making endless sounds. Shu Yang lowered his head and stared at him for a while, and once he was certain the cub would not go mad again, he leaned down and scooped him up.
The cub sniffed and hugged Shu Yang’s neck tightly, refusing to let go. Shu Yang paused, carried the cub back to the Phoenix Palace, and had a bucket of hot water brought in to have the cub scrubbed clean.
Although the cub was human, he liked crawling around on the floor. Shu Yang sat in his chair, watching him, and asked, “Why are you crawling? Are you a dog?”
Whether the cub understood or not, he tilted his head, stared at Shu Yang for a moment, and then shook his head.
Shu Yang: “…”
He waved his hand and said, “Come here.”
The cub crawled obediently onto his lap.
“You have made your hair a total mess.”
Shu Yang conjured two hair ribbons, intending to tie the cub’s hair into two little knots. But his hands were clumsy, and he quickly snapped a few strands of hair, leaving the cub teary-eyed.
Apologies, apologies.
Shu Yang was a man devoid of deep emotion; one could not expect him to feel much fatherly love. Finally, he forced the hair into two lopsided buns and sent the cub off to play. However, the cub seemed dissatisfied with the hairstyle, constantly pawing at it until it was tangled again.
Watching the hair he had worked so hard to tie become such a mess, Shu Yang felt his fists clench. He grabbed the cub by the ears, intending to lecture him, but the cub suddenly began to scream, going mad again just as he had during the day, bashing his head against the wall and any sharp-edged tables nearby.
Shu Yang: “…”
No, you dislike this hairstyle that much?
He caught the scrambling cub, forcibly held his hands down, and released Ruan Wei from his sleeve, having him transform into a rope to bind the cub’s hands.
Ruan Wei: “…”
I owe you.
After binding the frenzied cub, Shu Yang sat for a while to cool down, only then feeling that something was amiss. Does this cub have some kind of hysteria? Otherwise, why would a normal person constantly bash their head against a wall?
Something is wrong.
With this thought, Shu Yang called over the Phoenix clan attendant and asked, “Is there a human physician or someone of that sort nearby? Could you summon them?”
The Phoenix clan attendant hesitated for a moment before replying, “There are indeed two human physicians within twenty miles. If the Immortal Lord requires them, I shall report to the Clan Leader and have them brought to you.”
“Yes, go quickly,” Shu Yang said. “It is urgent.”
After the attendant left, the cub slowly regained his senses and ceased his frenzied behavior. Seeing this, Ruan Wei crawled off him quietly, nimbly slithered across the couch, and dove into Shu Yang’s sleeve to sleep.
Once the cub was lucid, he found Ruan Wei crawling about on the bed quite interesting and began to mimic him, crawling around the couch as well. He seemed very fond of Ruan Wei, even though Ruan Wei had beaten him. He not only mimicked Ruan Wei’s crawling but also shoved his head into Shu Yang’s sleeve, reaching out in an attempt to grab Ruan Wei, who was sleeping curled around Shu Yang’s arm.
Shu Yang: “…”
Are you lot suffering from some kind of disorder?
With this thought, he grabbed the cub by the back of his shirt. He gave the cub’s bottom a light swat and said, “Why are you crawling everywhere? He is a dragon, are you one too? You learn the bad habits quickly enough, but nothing good.”