Chapter 14: An Evil Creature Wearing Human Skin
Delicacies were served like flowing water. Mo Yang devoutly tasted every dish, winning the admiration of Prince Li’s Manor’s kitchen staff with his outstanding appetite.
The remaining four people gathered together, the atmosphere as weird as it could be.
Yun Wuxiang sat on a chair, sweeping a glance over his disciple standing aside and Prince Li next to him.
Under his Master’s death stare, Shen Lanqing very consciously put distance between himself and Prince Li, moving his position with various excuses. However, Prince Li was like an automatic tracking device; wherever Shen Lanqing went, he followed.
After moving several times, Shen Lanqing’s suspended heart flew higher and higher, directly reaching his throat. Stealing a glance at Yun Wuxiang’s expression, that heart fell with a thud, shattering into pieces, instantly turning to dead ashes.
It’s over; he’s dead for sure this time.
Shen Lanqing couldn’t help giving Prince Li a resentful look. I shed blood to save you, yet you frame me like this in front of my Master. Are we still friends?
Prince Li received this look, his eyes darkening. His hand inside his sleeve tightly gripped a string of Buddhist prayer beads.
Then he turned to look at Yun Wuxiang, his gaze somewhat complex, before shifting his line of sight to the man beside Yun Wuxiang.
Song Yilou held Yun Wuxiang’s hair ribbon and gestured on his head. “Guanzhu, how about I help you tie the ribbon back on?”
“No need.” How could Yun Wuxiang hand his hair over to him?
Song Yilou raised his hand and tore off his own hair ribbon, snapping it in front of Yun Wuxiang, then threw it aside. He said in a fake-as-can-be surprised tone, “Oh my, my hair ribbon broke.”
Holding up Yun Wuxiang’s hair ribbon, he said, “How about the Guanzhu ties it for me?”
“Guanzhu~ Guanzhu~ tie it for me~” Song Yilou pulled at Yun Wuxiang’s sleeve and pleaded, a tall man acting coquettishly without any sense of incongruity.
Song Yilou’s face was truly very deceptive. Knowing full well that this guy was rotten on the inside, whenever he pretended to be a normal person on the surface, Yun Wuxiang would have a bit more patience with him.
“Turn around.”
Eh? He agreed?
Song Yilou’s eyes widened slightly, round like a stunned cat.
Seeing that expression made Yun Wuxiang feel a bit better. He manually pressed the person’s head, turned him around, took the hair ribbon from his hand, gathered the person’s hair together, and tied a crooked ponytail.
Shen Lanqing: “Guanzhu, this is?”
He never let Master tie his hair when he was little. Who is this?
He had felt from the start that this person was too close to his Master, and Master actually indulged him.
Is this his new junior brother? Why hasn’t he heard Master talk about him?
Moreover, Master’s attitude toward him is also strange.
Yun Wuxiang pondered whether to introduce Song Yilou.
Song Yilou spoke first: “I am the Guanzhu’s pet~”
Shen Lanqing’s jaw dropped, his eyes nearly popping out. “What?!”
Prince Li hadn’t expected this answer either, and his look at Yun Wuxiang seemed to contain something extra.
Under their gazes, Yun Wuxiang raised his hand and slapped the head in front of him. “Shut up.”
“Then tell me, what am I to you?” Song Yilou, who was half-squatting in front of Yun Wuxiang, twisted his body with the slap, thrusting his head forward and resting his chin directly on Yun Wuxiang’s knee, looking up high.
“Guanzhu, what am I?”
Looking at the head on his knee, Yun Wuxiang extended a finger and tapped his forehead: “Silence.”
Song Yilou opened his mouth again, but no sound came out.
Yun Wuxiang swept a glance at the two people beside him. “This is… an evil creature wearing human skin. I am keeping him by my side for strict watch for the time being. Stay away from him, and do not believe a single word he says.”
Shen Lanqing nodded seriously.
Prince Li looked at Song Yilou a few more times but failed to see where this evil creature differed from ordinary people.
With the demonic evil eliminated, Yun Wuxiang had no reason to stay in Prince Li’s Manor. He still had to continue searching for other stowaways.
The life savior was leaving. Prince Li should have tried to persuade him to stay, but due to some subtle psychology, he didn’t speak. Shen Lanqing, in his guilty conscience phase, dared not make a sound.
And the biggest simpleton, Mo Yang, seeing Yun Wuxiang leaving, lifted his foot and followed.
At the gate of Prince Li’s Manor.
Yun Wuxiang looked at Mo Yang.
Mo Yang hugged his sword, a bun still in his mouth. After swallowing it wolfishly, he said, “Where is Senior going to exorcise demons? Take me along.”
“The steward of Prince Li’s Manor just gave me some silver. I have money for food now.”
Yun Wuxiang: “…”
This isn’t a question of meals. Having one Song Yilou around is troublesome enough; adding a Mo Yang is a bit too lively.
His gaze went past Mo Yang to the two protagonists. “You stay here, protect the two of them. They will cover your room and board.”
Mo Yang: “The demonic evil here has been eliminated. I want to follow Senior.”
Prince Li said with a sour face, “I don’t need anyone to pro… mmph.”
Shen Lanqing raised his hand to cover his mouth, snatching the conversation to say to Mo Yang, “Daoist Mo Yang should stay. Since the Guanzhu said so, he must have his reasons. The person who left the copper piece hasn’t been found yet. If the mastermind sends other demonic evils over, wouldn’t the manor be very dangerous?”
“If the Daoist wants to exorcise demons, waiting here might have a higher chance of encountering them.”
Mo Yang thought about it and felt it made sense. Looking at Yun Wuxiang again, he suddenly felt that Senior’s words just now meant exactly this. He agreed readily, “Okay, I’ll stay.”
Yun Wuxiang swept a glance at Shen Lanqing’s hand covering a certain prince’s mouth. Shen Lanqing instantly retracted his hand.
Prince Li’s eyes flashed again.
Night fell. Shen Lanqing closed the doors and windows early, staying alone in the room, waiting anxiously.
Before long, the talisman already placed on the table transformed into a small version of Yun Wuxiang, looking at Shen Lanqing expressionlessly.
Before he could speak, Shen Lanqing immediately said, “Master, listen to my explanation! Prince Li and I are just friends.”
Yun Wuxiang really wanted to believe his disciple’s defense, but the two hundred-plus chapters of angsty romance from the original novel were still stored in his head.
Believe the Protagonist Gong and Shou are just ordinary friends, or believe Song Yilou can be whitewashed into a pure, flawless jasmine flower.
Heh, he believes neither.
Shen Lanqing understood his Master’s look and explained again, “He got injured last time blocking a blade for me. I can’t be ungrateful.”
“Besides, his condition is stable now. He isn’t as cruel and cold as the rumors say; he just seems to have a bad temper because of the torture of his illness.”
Yun Wuxiang: “So, for this life-saving grace, you want to be his antidote for a lifetime?”
If he dares to say yes, this disciple is disowned.
Shen Lanqing was stunned for a moment, his fingers rubbing the corner of his clothes. “I will help him find a way to detoxify.”
Yun Wuxiang swept a glance at him with half-lowered eyes. “You won’t find it.”
Shen Lanqing blurted out, “How can Master be so certain?”
Yun Wuxiang didn’t reply with the reason but just looked at him calmly and said, “This is the first time you have questioned me.”
Shen Lanqing’s expression went blank instantly. He actually questioned Master’s words? That is his omnipotent Master, the god in his heart who wouldn’t fall even if the sky collapsed.
To say it without exaggeration, even if Master said he drew the sun in the sky, Shen Lanqing would believe it without hesitation. But now, he was questioning his Master.
Shen Lanqing’s heart was in turmoil for a moment, his mind chaotic. He said with confused eyes, “Master, do I… like him?”
Yun Wuxiang said coldly, “I don’t care if you like him or not. If you dare to seek death or life for a man and make yourself crippled, I will clear the sect first and send you down to meet Shen Yueqiu.”
Shen Yueqiu was the name of Shen Lanqing’s father, who passed away shortly after he was born. Before dying, he entrusted Yun Wuxiang to take care of his young son. As a transmigrator with nowhere to go at the time, Yun Wuxiang came over to be young Shen Lanqing’s Master for a few years.
Shen Lanqing shrank his neck from the scolding, his brain instantly clearing up a bit. Then he looked up at Yun Wuxiang. “Master, you’ve been in seclusion for over ten years and still haven’t cured your Split Soul Disorder?”
When he was little, Master would be gentle at times and violent at others. Later, this condition became increasingly severe before he went to the island for seclusion.
After more than ten years apart, seeing Master speak gently the whole time last meeting, he thought Master’s illness was cured. He even missed the Master with the other personality a bit. Turns out the time between switching personalities has just become longer?
If not for you, would he have broken out of the Heart Demon Tribulation?
Yun Wuxiang looked at his worrying disciple. “Since you can’t avoid this Peach Blossom Calamity, then figure it out early. I’ve already given you the Dual Cultivation manual; handle it yourself.”
Shen Lanqing turned his head and raised his sleeve to cover his mouth. “Cough cough, this is still too early…”
Yun Wuxiang sneered. “Too early?”
Not refusing saying it’s impossible, but saying it’s too early. Heh.
The next plot point, the Spring Banquet, is arriving soon. The two’s first time in the original novel is right here. What’s too early?
Shen Lanqing immediately corrected himself. “Not early. Marriage is a major matter and should be thought through early.”
Yun Wuxiang’s tone was ambiguous. “Not early?”
Would you say ‘not early’ if you hadn’t caught feelings? You really treat my warnings as wind past your ears, huh?
Shen Lanqing couldn’t gauge his attitude and asked tentatively, “Then does Master think it’s early or not early?”
Yun Wuxiang: “I think you should become a monk.”
Shen Lanqing knelt on the ground with a thud. “Master, I was wrong!”
“The evil creature by my side can cure Prince Li’s poison.”
Shen Lanqing was jolted. “Master!”
Yun Wuxiang: “Trading with him carries great danger.”
“No! How can I let Master take risks for my affairs?”
Shen Lanqing clenched his fists, all the pink bubbles in his heart shattering. One was someone with whom things were just becoming hazily ambiguous; the other was his Master whom he respected like a father. At this moment, he could still make a choice.
“I will leave Prince Li’s Manor tomorrow and never see him again.”
Yun Wuxiang: “I didn’t tell you to leave.” The script has just started not long ago. If a protagonist runs away, it would be weird if the World Consciousness didn’t come for trouble.
Yun Wuxiang: “Ten years. If you have truly caught feelings, make Prince Li last for ten years. After ten years, I will help him detoxify. The method has nothing to do with the evil creature.”
After experiencing emotional highs and lows, the expression on Shen Lanqing’s face was a mixture of flavors, like a smashed fruit platter. Then he restrained it bit by bit, leaving only woodenness in the end.
After a long while, he looked at the little person on the table and said, “Master, were you testing me just now?”
Yun Wuxiang: “I’m not that bored. I told you this so you would be aware and stay vigilant. Watch Prince Li. If the evil creature by my side seeks him out, you are responsible for keeping him under control.”
Shen Lanqing: “Yes! Master!”
Having received Yun Wuxiang’s words, Shen Lanqing wasn’t too worried about Prince Li anymore. He began to worry about Yun Wuxiang. “Master, if the evil creature is so dangerous, why not just eliminate him?”
Yun Wuxiang: “I am already seeking a countermeasure. You don’t need to interfere in this matter. Staying far away from him is helping me.”
Shen Lanqing nodded. He would do whatever Master said. Master’s words were definitely correct!
…
Another room.
Prince Li looked sharply at the window, raised his hand to draw the long blade hanging nearby, and slashed toward the outside of the window with ruthless speed.
“Oh my, so rough. No wonder that Shen Lanqing can’t see you in his eyes.”
The blade swung through empty air. There was nothing outside the window, but a ghostly voice sounded from behind him.
Prince Li turned around and saw clearly the extra figure in the room. “It’s you.”
“So you’ve met me.” The man with a total of five small moles under his eyes hooked his lips in a smile.
Illuminated by the candlelight, that face, which appeared no different from an ordinary person during the day, now possessed a non-human eeriness. His entire being lacked a sense of humanity, and his eyes resembled a connection to a bone-corroding poisonous pool.
At this moment, Prince Li fully realized that the Guanzhu’s words about “an evil creature wearing human skin” were not false.
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