Chapter 39 Can I call him Brother Murong like that?

The next day at 9:00 AM.

Hearing the voice, he had just finished his morning class and hadn't even had a bite to eat before rushing off to Fufeng Pavilion to meet the mysterious man.

There was only one private room on the second floor occupied. Hearing the voices, I walked over without thinking. As soon as I lifted the curtain, a delicious aroma of food wafted out.

Hearing voices and feeling hungry, the bird instinctively wagged its tail upon smelling the aroma, its gaze following the pretty pastries on the table.

"Wow," he exclaimed, "you really like the pastries here?"

He Mu sat at the table watching him, a smile spreading across her eyes.

"I like it, what about you?"

“You have great taste,” Wenrensheng agreed. “I like it too. Someone used to take me to eat these things all the time. I thought they were gone after I came to Cangzhou.”

After he finished speaking, he glanced at the pastries on the table a few more times.

Indeed, they are all his favorite foods.

But the voices of the people he heard were unfamiliar to him, and they wouldn't eat his food on their own initiative. Even if they were hungry, they would just wag their tails and sit obediently to the side without touching their chopsticks.

Hearing that someone mentioned her, He Mu's smile deepened, and she asked, "You really enjoy being with that person?"

Upon hearing this, Wen Rensheng gave him a strange look.

"Don't pry into other people's private affairs."

Besides, how could he possibly enjoy spending time with the mountain god? Clearly, he hasn't even considered going out to find the mountain god once in the past two years.

Once a person makes up their mind, it's hard to change it. Even if they used to like and respect the mountain god, and even if they still think of him occasionally, once they decide not to meet him again, they won't go back on their word.

He Mu looked slightly disappointed and awkwardly lowered his head to take a sip of tea.

Hearing the voice and seeing that he didn't ask any more questions, she didn't suspect anything. She just waved to him and said, "Did you bring what I asked for today? How much did you bring?"

He Mu glanced at him, then put down his teacup, took something out of his pocket, and pushed it in front of Wen Rensheng.

Upon closer inspection, it was a tightly sealed oil paper package, which he guessed contained the "incense for rebirth" he wanted.

Upon hearing human voices, it immediately sat up straight, its wolf ears standing up.

"Is there only one packet?" he asked. "What if I don't use it properly?"

He Mu smiled and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, I'll teach you."

That sounds pretty reliable.

Hearing the voice, he nodded trustingly and reached out to take the item back.

Unexpectedly, the moment his finger touched the oiled paper, the person sitting opposite him suddenly covered the back of his hand, as if to prevent him from taking it.

For some reason, the moment his fingertips touched her, she felt a jolt of electricity run down her spine and a tingling sensation in her fingertips when she heard voices.

His wolf ears twitched sharply, and he withdrew his hand and stood up abruptly.

"What are you doing?!"

“Wait a minute,” He Mu said, looking at him. “There are rules in the underworld. You have to tell me what you need this incense for before I can sell it to you.”

"That's not what I meant!" Wen Rensheng's face turned slightly red. "Why did you touch my hand?"

"…………"

After a moment of silence, Mu said...

"Because... by accident?"

This child has been physically sensitive since childhood and doesn't like being touched by unfamiliar people, something Mu certainly knows.

But I'm not an outsider. I used to be able to touch him however I wanted, and I was willing to let him touch me and hear me speak. In my sleep, I would even lift my tail and rub against him, asking him to rub me.

This sudden change to such resistance left He Mu feeling very disappointed.

Wenrensheng, still angry, said, "Are you really a monster? How can you be so tactless!"

He Mu sighed sadly and said helplessly, "Alright, I won't touch you now, but if you want to use the Rebirth Incense to go to the Underworld, you still have to accept this reality."

Hearing a voice, he hesitated and asked, "What reality?"

He Mu pointed to the oil paper package on the table: "The Incense of Rebirth, if you wish to use it to separate your soul, you need someone by your side to act as a matchmaker, to cultivate with you, lest your soul wander aimlessly in the underworld—"

"stop!"

Hearing a voice, he shouted and hurriedly covered his ears.

What is this person saying?

Dual cultivation?!

Hearing human voices, he knew that demons could also engage in dual cultivation, but before he came of age, he had no idea what "dual cultivation" actually entailed.

Later, on one occasion, he came across a miscellaneous book in a bookstore in the city. It contained many methods of dual cultivation between demons. He only glanced at it before blushing and closing the book.

Absolutely, absolutely absolutely not!!

Hearing the voice, his ears turned bright red. He hurriedly squatted down, his back to He Mu, his tail swishing back and forth on the ground.

"Why does such a cheap incense have to be so complicated to use!" Wen Renfeng said angrily, "Are you lying to me?"

He Mu's gaze fell on the sound of someone's voice on the velvet tail, and he answered somewhat absentmindedly, "Young hero, this is the first time we've met, why would I lie to you?"

Although he was indeed deceiving people by listening to their voices.

The "Incense of Rebirth" does exist, but its use does not necessarily require the use of dual cultivation.

The underworld only accepts an even number of souls, and two people must enter together. The method is very simple: at midnight, light incense for the deceased, and the two people hold hands tightly to enter the underworld.

The talk about dual cultivation was purely to tease Wenrensheng and see his reaction. Of course, if Wenrensheng was willing, then so be it...

Thinking of this, Mu Wei frowned slightly.

No, that won't work.

His current identity is "Murong He". If Wen Rensheng agrees to cultivate with him, what would that mean?

Although Mu knew that it was almost impossible for him to agree based on his hearing, he couldn't help but want to test the waters when he thought about it.

He Mu then moved closer to Wen Rensheng and leaned down to ask, "Have you thought it over? Do you have a suitable partner for dual cultivation?"

Hearing a voice, she covered her face and shouted, "What's it to you? Who told you to ask!"

"I also want to go to the underworld, let's team up."

"You? You..."

Hearing the voice, he felt both embarrassed and aggrieved. Words stuck in his throat, and he didn't know what to say to refute this arrogant fellow.

Why specifically dual cultivation?

He has never been willing to get close to others since he was a child. Even the mountain god, who was his closest friend at the time, he never let him touch his tail. Why should he now cultivate with some random person?

He stopped covering his ears when he heard voices; instead, he hugged his legs and looked at the ground with shame and indignation.

But... he really wanted to go to the underworld.

Since the clan chief died, Wen Rensheng has been unable to sleep at night. He even regrets burying the clan chief in Fangze Mountain instead of bringing him back to Cangzhou, which has left him with no chance to visit the clan chief.

He had heard that demons do not enter the cycle of reincarnation within three years of their death. If he could go to the underworld now, he might be able to visit the clan leader and secretly ask about the time of his reincarnation.

But this hurdle stumped him.

"I..." Hearing a voice, the wolf's ear pressed down, and it stammered, "I...don't want to..."

He only ever wanted to cultivate with one person, that was his former lover, He Mu. Apart from that, he didn't want anyone else to touch his body.

Hearing his reply, He Mu breathed a sigh of relief and took a sip of tea.

His throat had been tight just now, afraid that he would hear someone say something like "Okay" or "I agree," and he really didn't know how he should react.

“It’s alright, I just heard about this method, and I’m not sure if it’s true,” He Mu put down his teacup. “Let’s try other methods first, and if they don’t work, we’ll see.”

Upon hearing a voice, realizing there was another way, the ears that had been turned away perked up again.

He turned to look at He Mu sitting in the seat and asked, "...Really?"

He Mu smiled and said, "We can't go wrong if we try it a few more times in the next couple of days."

"Very good!"

Hearing voices, she immediately perked up, jumped up and went to He Mu's side, straddling him to sit on the same bench.

After experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions, I unexpectedly developed a liking for this "Murong He" after hearing his voice.

Especially when she learned that he also wanted to go to the underworld, she felt a sense of comfort in knowing that they were in the same boat.

He leaned on the stool, tilted his head, and asked, "Are you also going to the underworld to find your family?"

After considering it for a while, Mu said, "Well... not really. It's mainly to help my family visit the person he misses."

He spoke in a somewhat convoluted way, and the voices he heard seemed to make sense to him, so he drawled out, "Oh—anyway, you also have old friends you want to see, don't you?"

He Mu nodded: "Yes, I don't want to see my family sad anymore."

Then he is the same kind of person as myself.

He has great empathy, especially when facing people with similar experiences to himself. He can't help but feel sorry for them, saddened by their plight, and filled with compassion.

After entering the private room for an hour, Wenren finally took a piece of pastry from the table, carefully took a bite, and then asked softly:

Can I call you brother?

Mu paused in his tea-drinking motion.

He stole a glance at Wenrensheng. The child was holding pastries in both hands, like a squirrel eating acorns. From He Mu's perspective, all he could see was Wenrensheng's furry head.

“Sure,” He Mu said with a smile. “I’m a bit older than you anyway.”

A little shy at the sound of human voices, she slowly finished the pastry in her hand before continuing, "Now that we have this incense for rebirth, when are we going to use it to go to the underworld?"

He Mu propped his chin up and pondered, "To go to the underworld, we need to prepare some ever-burning flames to guide the way, as well as Yin-Yang tokens to deceive the Yin soldiers, and paper money to pass through the checkpoints."

A voice asked, "Can you buy it on the black market?"

“I can buy it, don’t worry, I’ll have everything ready by tomorrow,” He Mu said. “The problem is, if we go to the underworld, it will take at least half a month, and you have a curfew. Can you spare the time?”

Hearing the voice, he lowered his head and thought for a moment before asking, "Brother, what kind of monster are you?"

"Uh..." He Mu pondered for a moment, then casually made up a story, "A snake?"

"A snake demon?" Hearing the human voice, a look of surprise appeared on his face. "That's even better."

He Mu shrugged: "What's so good about it?"

Upon hearing the voice, she quickly explained, "My master is also a snake demon. She is the city lord here and lives in the Hua Palace outside the city. Although I can't go out, you can come in. After you turn into a little snake, I will secretly take you in."

"Then, I told my master that I was going into seclusion to cultivate, and that he should stay in my room and hide so that we could use this incense to go to the underworld!"

"ah……"

He Mu pretended to suddenly realize something, while secretly taking a deep breath and pressing two fingers tightly between his eyebrows.

It had to be a snake...! You could have said it was a loach!

Wen Rensheng, still feeling that his plan was flawless, excitedly moved closer to He Mu and asked, "How was it? How was it?"

He Mu hummed twice, then forced a smile and said, "That's amazing, I never would have guessed."

Feeling a little embarrassed by the compliment, she lowered her head and pinched her cheek, trying to suppress the smile that was about to burst from her lips.

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Author's Note: Those voices—do you prefer your Murong brother or your Mountain God brother?