After Refusing Marriage to the Dao of Slaughter Patriarch (21)

After Refusing the Great Power of the Dao of Slaughter's Marriage Proposal (21)

A night woven from exhaustion, drowsiness, and deep slumber.

In the azure night sky, a crescent moon faintly overlapped the heavens. Beneath that cold white moonlight, the lightly equipped cultivators slowed their steps. Before long, they collapsed softly into the dense forest, crushing the ripe berries beneath them as even their breathing gradually quieted.

Ji Zhaixing staggered slightly.

As though unable to resist this strange drowsiness, his dark lashes lowered, trembling like startled butterflies taking flight.

...Retrospection Night?

It had come again.

The night wind and moonlight brushed across the sword cultivator's face like a gentle caress.

Ji Zhaixing once more returned to that path.

The lurking ferocious beasts were still around him. Ji Zhaixing vividly remembered the scene from three days ago and almost believed time had reversed itself—until the perfectly timed illusion was broken.

"Mo Xuan."

Ji Zhaixing heard a faint sigh behind him, and then a weight landed upon his shoulders.

The exquisitely beautiful youth, still bearing beast ears and tail, pounced over. His slender snow-white arms wrapped around Ji Zhaixing's long neck. The force was heavy enough to collapse an entire house, yet he rubbed against Ji Zhaixing's back with obvious satisfaction.

The spot he rubbed against immediately began to ache.

Ji Zhaixing: "..."

Too heavy.

"Mii." The youth let out an adorable sound, looking very much like he wanted to lick the exposed soft skin of the black-haired cultivator again.

Then the weight on his shoulders suddenly vanished as the youth was lifted away. The man restraining Mo Xuan was handsome and ethereal, taller by a head, and reproached the beast who had only recently taken human form with near helplessness.

"You mustn't be rude."

Although Ji Zhaixing had mostly given up resisting when the beast hung onto him, the man's actions still lightened his burden considerably. Turning around, he unsurprisingly saw that familiar face.

Beneath the moonlight, Yun Shu appeared even more refined and elegant. He seemed in rather good spirits, still holding the squirming little beast in his hand.

"Why am I here?"

"You came again?"

The two spoke at the same time, then simultaneously fell into silence.

Yun Shu lowered his eyes slightly, seeming faintly guilty as he said unhurriedly, "...I don't know why you appeared here either, but I can send you back."

Moonlight fell upon Ji Zhaixing's shoulders and back. By merely lowering one's gaze, one could see the stretch of his snow-white neck and the delicate collarbones hidden beneath his white collar.

Facing this Yun Shu, who seemed entirely temperless and easy to knead however one pleased, Ji Zhaixing also fell into a subtle mood.

"Thank you." Ji Zhaixing paused, seriousness filling his dark eyes. "What do you need me to do?"

Yun Shu froze briefly before realizing Ji Zhaixing had interpreted his words as a condition for exchange.

"You needn't be like this..."

Ji Zhaixing replied, "Since I'm already here."

Yun Shu: "..."

After thinking awkwardly for a moment, he tentatively suggested, "Then teach Mo Xuan how to speak? He refuses to speak human language."

The fierce beast, who had been quietly staying beside them like a shadow without any presence at all, lifted his head at those words. His icy blue eyes gazed at Ji Zhaixing as he let out a soft, gloomy "Mii."

The black-haired sword cultivator stared coolly at the beast in Yun Shu's hands. Then he crouched down and, with extraordinary calmness, began speaking to a ferocious beast.

Yun Shu watched Ji Zhaixing lean forward, his ink-dark hair spilling down. Suddenly, he felt something about that posture was strange.

He abruptly set Mo Xuan down.

Mo Xuan immediately protested loudly with a "Mii!"

Affected by this sudden reaction, Ji Zhaixing looked up at Yun Shu in confusion. The angle was extraordinarily delicate. At a glance, Yun Shu saw Ji Zhaixing's porcelain-white collarbone half-hidden beneath his robes, as well as those crimson lips.

Such lush, vivid color—as though he were a seductive ghost that devoured human vitality.

Yun Shu's pale face instantly flushed completely red, growing hot. He retreated two steps, looking remarkably restrained, as though Ji Zhaixing before him were the man-eating beast instead.

Ji Zhaixing's teaching methods were admittedly quite boring, but Mo Xuan loved imitating him. Before long, the beast who could only say "Mii" began stumbling out human speech bit by bit.

And throughout it all, Yun Shu remained quietly by the side, gazing at Ji Zhaixing for a long, restrained time.

Until dawn.

When the black-haired cultivator awoke, the disciples of the Mingling Sect around him were still asleep. After confirming they showed no signs of soul separation, Ji Zhaixing woke them.

When Lu Dengming opened his eyes and saw Ji Zhaixing, his mind remained sluggish for quite some time. His face reddened slightly, and only after a long while did he wake from his haze. This was not the Daoist Ji he had seen in dreams.

"How did I..."

The cultivators gradually awoke one after another.

Only then did Lu Dengming finally confirm, "Last night... it was as though we returned to Retrospection Night again."

But Retrospection Night only occurred once every month. Since the last one, merely three days had passed.

More disciples of the Mingling Sect awoke in confusion.

Something within the Spirit Domain was quietly changing, yet they knew nothing of it.

......

Ji Zhaixing entered the "dream" for the third time.

A trace of perfectly measured surprise appeared on Yun Shu's face.

"This time, I'd like to ask you to help teach Mo Xuan how to move around in human form."

......

"I want to understand the outside cultivation world."

......

"Thank you. Mo Xuan misses you greatly. Whenever you aren't here, he turns back into beast form."

Again and again, through each Retrospection Night, Yun Shu always waited there for Ji Zhaixing. Perhaps he had noticed Ji Zhaixing's reserved aloofness and thus never approached too closely, carefully maintaining a proper distance.

Sometimes Retrospection Night arrived after only two days, sometimes after seven. Ji Zhaixing himself managed well enough; at night, he merely entertained the recently transformed beast. But the disciples of the Mingling Sect had already been pushed to the brink.

One nightmare could still be endured. But reliving them every few days—no matter how resilient a cultivator's mind was, no one could withstand repeatedly being tormented in dreams by all manner of grotesque monsters.

Moreover, the abnormalities within the Spirit Domain themselves were already the greatest crisis.

After weighing the situation, Lu Dengming decided to return early to the exit and leave the Spirit Domain. He naturally informed Ji Zhaixing as well, intending to personally escort him back to the Wujing Sect encampment and report this accident to the sect elders. It was truly impossible to continue searching for treasures.

Ji Zhaixing's expression remained unchanged.

But inwardly, he was already considering how to separate from Lu Dengming.

He still could not return.

The increasingly frequent Retrospection Nights had ultimately triggered unrest among the demonic beasts.

Near the edge of the Spirit Domain, Lu Dengming had never expected an ambush from Nascent Soul demonic beasts.

—and not just one.

Three serpent-like creatures emerged from the soft swamp. Their foul saliva dripped onto the ground, corroding away most of the surrounding vegetation. Compared to the flesh and blood of nearby beasts, they were clearly far more covetous of cultivators' essence blood.

Among the group, Lu Dengming's cultivation was naturally the highest. Yet he was only one man, and facing these three companion beasts was no easy task. Even killing them would take time.

What was worse, the three serpent beasts seemed capable of linked consciousness. Two tangled themselves around Lu Dengming, while the third lunged toward the weaker yet still nourishing Golden Core cultivators.

The snake monster looked savage, its body covered in silver scales impervious to metal and wood alike. When it opened its mouth, crimson flesh and fragments of bloodied meat clinging between sharp fangs could be seen. Though bulky, it moved with astonishing speed, like a dragon lurking beneath water.

The black-haired sword cultivator's gaze remained calm. The longsword in his hand was already half-drawn, his dark eyes reflecting the serpent's vicious form as he quietly waited in ambush.

Though the disciples of the Mingling Sect clearly knew Ji Zhaixing was only at Golden Core cultivation, they still instinctively moved a step closer toward him.

The demonic beast was already upon them.

Just as Ji Zhaixing was about to draw his sword, he paused slightly and turned his head toward the distance.

—A streak of sword light slashed through the air from afar, magnificent as a soul-reaping blade. In a single strike, it shattered the serpent's scales and crushed both its demonic bones and essence blood into ash.

With one of the companion beasts dead, it became far easier for Lu Dengming to kill the remaining two. Once he finished, he turned around and only then noticed the newcomer, looking mildly astonished.

"Martial Uncle Yun."

The surrounding disciples of the Mingling Sect were equally shocked and delighted.

"To think we'd run into Martial Uncle Yun!"

For some reason, hearing that title made Ji Zhaixing think of Yun Shu.

He quickly dismissed the thought.

The man who had struck just now approached them. Pale and handsome, dressed in white-and-gold robes, he smiled faintly.

"Dengming, I never expected to run into you here."

It seemed he was quite close to Lu Dengming.

Ji Zhaixing looked at the man and the sword in his hand, feeling inexplicably familiar.

Only after Lu Dengming straightened his robes and stepped forward respectfully, addressing him as "Martial Uncle Yun Liu," did Ji Zhaixing realize why.

This man was Yun Shu's most beloved eldest disciple.

And likewise the inheritor of the Transformation Dao Bone.

Ji Zhaixing had never interacted with Yun Liu before. He only knew Yun Liu was the "protagonist" within the story. To speak of prejudice, there was none. Thus when Yun Liu Zhenjun's gaze swept toward him, Ji Zhaixing calmly maintained the effects of the Appearance Concealment Spell, looking utterly natural—as though he had merely heard of Yun Liu Zhenjun's reputation from afar but never met him personally. It fit his current identity perfectly.

What Ji Zhaixing had not expected was for Yun Liu to take the initiative and question him.

"And this is?"

Lu Dengming answered for him, "He is a disciple of the Wujing Sect. He became separated from his fellow disciples, so he's been traveling together with us."

Ji Zhaixing: "Mm."

Yun Liu did not mind Ji Zhaixing's coldness, nor did he object to Lu Dengming bringing along a disciple from another sect. Instead, he nodded slightly.

"We are all members of the immortal sects. Naturally, we should help one another."

Yun Liu then asked proactively, "You're aware of the disturbances within the Spirit Domain, I assume."

"Yes," Lu Dengming replied.

"The exit has also changed. It is no longer within the original fissure." Seeing the disciples widen their eyes anxiously, Yun Liu comforted them gently. "There's no need to worry. We simply need to work together to locate a new exit."

That was also why he had left the hunting grounds of the Chuyun Peak faction. After all, they belonged to the same Mingling Sword Sect. If something happened to one branch, it would be difficult to explain.

Lu Dengming inwardly praised Martial Uncle Yun Liu's thoughtfulness, and the two immediately agreed.

Then, as though recalling something, he asked, "Is Senior Tang traveling with Martial Uncle Yun as well?"

"Naturally."

......

Only then did Ji Zhaixing realize that the "Senior Tang" Lu Dengming referred to... was Tang Huaimeng.

The situation suddenly became somewhat awkward.

In truth, during Ji Zhaixing's time at the Mingling Sword Sect, Tang Huaimeng had been one of the people he was more familiar with. There had never been any real conflict between them. Tang Huaimeng had even let him go once during the later pursuit.

But while their relationship wasn't bad, it wasn't particularly good either.

At most, it was an unexpectedly coincidental connection.

Perhaps Tang Huaimeng had already forgotten those past events long ago.

To avoid awkwardness and unnecessary "recognition," Ji Zhaixing prepared to remain taciturn. Fortunately, he wasn't very talkative to begin with, so it wouldn't seem especially deliberate.

Compared to before, Young Master Tang seemed to have grown sharply taller again and much thinner as well. He carried himself with distant elegance, making him seem extremely difficult to approach.

And when Lu Dengming's group of Mingling disciples returned, perhaps because Ji Zhaixing's unfamiliar face stood out too much—or perhaps because his utterly ordinary appearance was simply too "remarkable" amidst the sea of beauties in the cultivation world—Tang Huaimeng's gaze immediately landed upon him.

Unexpectedly, he seemed interested in Ji Zhaixing.

Though he still maintained that same cold, aloof demeanor.

Lu Dengming knew that, in some ways, this Martial Uncle Tang was far more troublesome than Martial Uncle Yun Liu. If he were to speak now and drive Ji Xing away, refusing to allow an unfamiliar disciple to travel with them, Lu Dengming would not find it strange in the slightest.

Thus he proactively explained. Unlike with Yun Liu, he embellished the truth somewhat.

"This is this junior's friend. He became separated from his fellow disciples, so for now he's traveling with my branch."

No matter how cold-blooded Tang Huaimeng was, he would not drive away Lu Dengming's acquaintance.

"Friend?" Tang Huaimeng repeated lazily. "Come here."

He was speaking to Ji Zhaixing.

Ji Zhaixing also sensed something strange about the current Tang Huaimeng... He was no longer quite like the somewhat arrogant yet genuinely pure and lovable youth from when they had first met at the Mingling Sword Sect.

The black-haired sword cultivator silently walked over.

His brows and eyes lowered slightly, his expression not particularly soft. After all, Ji Zhaixing was currently thinking that if Tang Huaimeng wanted him gone, it would actually be another favor.

Tang Huaimeng's eyes half-lidded lazily, yet his hand reached up to touch Ji Zhaixing's cheek.

Though the action seemed intimate, there was not the slightest ambiguity in it. At least Ji Zhaixing knew clearly that he was testing whether an Illusion Transformation Spell had been cast upon his face.

Remarkably perceptive.

Lu Dengming's gaze darkened slightly.

Tang Huaimeng lazily asked again, "What's your name?"

"Ji Xing."

Suddenly, Tang Huaimeng stiffened slightly. The strength in his hand slipped out of control for a moment, pinching Ji Zhaixing's cheek red.