The Demon Venerable’s Wistful Desire - Chapter 21.2

Ming Shaoluo haggardly fled as soon as Song Weiyue got up with the hammer, much to his amusement.

While all three were originally paying attention to Ming Shaoluo who ran away, a quietly blooming peach blossom that suddenly appeared in front of them soon caught their eye.

This was a spell of the He Huan Sect.

Because of the Illusion Spell used, onlookers would have no idea where this peach blossom came from, even as it delivered its goods.

Xi Huai’s breath caught in his throat. This was the first time he had had direct contact with A-Jiu in more than two years, and A-Jiu had sent him something too!

After he retrieved the items from the peach blossom’s pistil, it gradually dissipated.

All that was in it was seventy-three spirit stones and three small pink buckets.

Song Weiyue pointed to the spirit stones and asked, “Is he giving you his entire fortune again to make amends?”

Zong Sichen followed him over to have a look and nodded. “It seems so.”

Song Weiyue picked up the small pink bucket and fiddled with it. “What is this thing?”

After injecting spiritual energy, the small pink bucket suddenly spurted out pink fluorescent lights, crystal peach petals, and some white butterflies.

Zong Sichen said after the spectacle, “A small firecracker used by the He Huan Sect during celebrations. It looks better when used at night.”

It didn’t look that stunning earlier because three big men accidentally set it off while messing around.

Song Weiyue jumped straight to his feet. “Another disposable item, ah? The Young Sect Master held destroying that Voice Transmission talisman last time against me for more than a year. H-how was I supposed to know it’s a one time use item? It didn’t exactly come with instructions, ah!”

Zong Sichen looked at the spirit stones instead. He sighed. “How poor a life he’s led can be seen from this. He even used these things as a gift to make amends.”

Xi Huai gnashed his teeth in frustration. “Can’t he come and talk to me himself?!”

The disciples continue to train within the Mitian Tongyin Array. The small team of thirty-two people continued to stay together.

However, they shouldn’t be the team in last place. After all, due to Xi Huai’s meddling, many teams have started to group together for safety. It’s more than likely that all the disciples would score on the low end on this excursion.

On this day, they encountered two Jilingshou. After successfully rounding up and killing them, the team rested in place.

The place where they resided for the moment was by a lake. An ancient tree reaching up to the sky stood on the lakeshore, its branches swaying despite the lack of wind. The surface of the lake glittered with scattered reflections of the brilliant sun. Its shining waves splayed out like beautiful scales, radiating a quiet and serene beauty.

Chi Muyao saw Xi Zihe go to sit by the lake with Han Qingyuan alone. They seemed to be contentedly chatting together.

It was astonishing how quickly the relationship between the two main leads developed when there weren’t any obstacles.

Chi Muyao went to sit next to Yu Yanshu and meaningfully advised, “Yu-shixiong, you should pay more attention…”

The male and female leads are about to fall in love and become cultivation partners, and you’re still here meditating?

And Ming Shaoluo’s been acting like she’s lost her soul these days, not doing her job as a second female lead by bullying the female lead, resulting in the two main leads’ romantic plotline racing to the big finale.

Yu Yanshu also felt like something wasn’t right. He glanced at Chi Muyao before asking, “You also noticed something amiss?”

“En?” What’s amiss?

“That disciple did have burns containing traces of Hui Dragon Flames on his body, but the other injuries were clearly not Xi Huai’s work. I’ve seen Xi Huai fight before. His style is savage beyond measure and very direct. It wouldn’t leave those strange injuries, much less anyone alive. In my opinion, the culprit used a formation with murderous intentions, and the Hui Dragon Flames are but a cover up to try and shift blame to Xi Huai.”

“Ah…” Chi Muyao responded while looking away.

Yu Yanshu continued his analysis, “I just don’t understand why Xi Huai would take the blame. Could it be that he has a scheme of his own?”

“Uh…”

Chi Muyao felt very profoundly that it was a bit inappropriate for Yu Yanshu to analyze the case so seriously in front of the culprit.

He was genuinely afraid that he might panic and accidentally admit to doing it. This was a true test of just how much stress Chi Muyao could take, one with very high stakes mind you.

Yu Yanshu was still musing. “I suspect someone unhappy with us immortal cultivators making peace with the demonic faction has deliberately created chaos and painted Xi Huai as the culprit to escalate tensions between the two realms. Xi Huai is the Young Sect Master of the Qing Ze Sect, a very clear representative of the demonic faction. It makes sense to target him. After all, Xi Huai is against the two realms making peace as well. That’s why he admitted to doing this, to provoke a war…”

The more Yu Yanshu analyzed this, the more it all seemed like a huge conspiracy.

Chi Muyao was a little helpless. He really wasn’t thinking much back then, ah…

Chi Muyao quietly replied, “I’ve also heard these past few days that the seriously injured cultivator has always had a bad reputation. He’s apparently an extremely arrogant character. Maybe what happened to him was just because of a personal grudge. It might not involve something as complicated as the balance between two realms.”

After this disciple was seriously injured, he inevitably became a hot topic of discussion.

From what Chi Muyao was able to passively overhear, this person was an ill-tempered brute that bullied indiscriminately. People called the girls he bedded ‘three night brides’, for they often died within three days. He was even more vile than demonic sect disciples. Even some of the Nuan Yan Sect disciples felt that he deserved to die.

“It could be. But Xi Huai’s identity will probably have some of the seniors overthink things as well once we leave the Array. Cheng Yu Pavilion has a knack for making a scene. They will almost certainly come to Nuan Yan Pavilion to ask our seniors for help making a scene at the Qing Ze Sect.”

“S-so how will that play out?”

“If the Qing Ze Sect is willing to make a show of punishing Xi Huai, even a little, perhaps this matter can be dismissed as a matter between juniors. However, if the Qing Ze Sect…”

“The Qing Ze Sect is very protective of their own. They will definitely refuse to apologize.” Chi Muyao knew this well, for it was the reason the Qing Ze Sect was later exterminated.

“Then I don’t know either.”

Chi Muyao’s head also hurt by this point. Like Ming Shaoluo, he started acting like he had lost his soul.

However, he didn’t even last an hour in this state because Xi Huai suddenly arrived near their team’s location. He seemed to have no intention of leaving.

This time, the whole team became alert. Tensions were high between Xi Huai’s group and everyone else.

Xi Huai didn’t mind at all. He just came to observe Chi Muyao.

Chi Muyao felt guilty at the sight of him. He tried his best to avoid him, losing his calm from before.

It just so happened that at this time, a group of Jilingshou emerged from the forest. They immediately fled in all four directions after being spotted.

The Nuan Yan Pavilion disciples looked at Xi Huai and didn’t move, still keeping a hand on their weapon on high alert.

Xi Huai’s group wasn’t interested in the Jilingshou to begin with so they didn’t move either.

Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi looked at the Jilingshou that were about to escape before looking at each other. They got up in unison to give chase.

They would take this boon, since no one else wanted it. This way their scores wouldn’t be so pitiful after leaving the Array. Moreover, if it really came down to fighting with Xi Huai’s group, two Yu Chong School cultivators like them weren’t going to make a difference.

So Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi chased the Jilingshou back and forth, weaving through the crowds as the two sides remained in a tense stand-off.

When Chi Muyao pursued a Jiliingshou to the lakeside, it hit him and sent him falling back towards the water.

Yu Yanshu, who was very close by, reached out to steady him.

Xi Huai saw that Yu Yanshu was going to touch Chi Muyao and immediately used his spiritual energy to flick away Yu Yanshu’s hand so that he missed.

As a result, Chi Muyao toppled straight into the lake, a part that was fortunately quite shallow. The water only reached up to his chest once Chi Muyao sat up. He brushed some water off his face as he haggardly got to his feet.

A disciple nearby actually laughed at his haggard state. “His sect uniform actually got wet.”

The sect uniforms of disciples from major sects were all enchanted vestments imbued with defensive properties. They were resistant to both ordinary fire and water.

The sect uniforms of the Yu Chong School, however, were just for show. Technically, the sect uniforms weren’t even that because they were made from ordinary materials. How shabby they were was immediately apparent to everyone.

The clothes were a little heavy due to how soaked they were. As Chi Muyao lugged his clothes back to shore, he noticed Yu Yanshu raise a hand and instantly evaporate all the water from the surface of his body, quickly drying his clothes.

Yet at the very same time came a burst of flames, deliberately calculated to just dry the water from his body. However, since the water had already evaporated and only dry cloth remained, the flames burned Chi Muyao’s clothing instead.

When Chi Muyao jumped in fright and attempted to dive back underwater, Yu Yanshu cast a Water Bomb Spell in his direction in an attempt to douse the flames on him.

Unfortunately, Xi Huai’s flames couldn’t be extinguished by ordinary water. Xi Huai recalled the flames himself, but the Water Bomb Spell still hit Chi Muyao.

In the end, after a series of events that occurred in quick succession, Chi Muyao’s clothes became both partially burned and wet again.

He looked down at his clothes in surprise, then looked up at Yu Yanshu and Xi Huai. He quickly raised both hands to ward off any further attempts to help. “No need, I’ll wait for it to dry by itself.”