Chapter 78 Didn't Senior Brother hate me? (20) "Now..."

From that day on, Fu Li began to live a life of ordering the male lead around every day.

When you want to be lazy, you can sleep until you naturally wake up without anyone urging you. If you have any requests, you can use a voice transmission talisman to make them to Chongjing Pavilion.

In an effort to annoy the other party as much as possible, Fu Li made many excessive demands. For example, he asked Chongjingge to go to the back mountain to chisel ice to make shaved ice for him, and he even specifically requested ice and snow from Drinking Water Peak.

That is the highest peak in the back mountain, covered with snow all year round, and bitterly cold. It is impossible to ascend the mountain by sword; one can only climb it on foot. It is often the place where disciples who make mistakes are punished.

Despite the hardships, Chongjingge climbed up Drinking Water Peak, took down clean ice, crushed it into a fine shaved ice, poured honey on it, and prepared it for Fu Li.

For example, if you want to eat pastries from the Imperial Kitchen in a town a hundred miles away, you must bring them back in the same condition as if they were freshly baked, otherwise you won't accept them.

And many other strange and demanding requirements.

Thus, the disciples of Longque Mountain saw that the aloof and expressionless senior brother of Xiaoyao Peak was busy going up and down the mountain every day, while Senior Brother Fu Li stood at the mountain gate with the Qintian Sword, coldly watching all of this.

Soon, news spread that the eldest brother was doing this because he was busy completing the task assigned by his Daoist partner.

Such doting affection led many to speculate that the rumors they had previously held about a strained relationship between the senior and junior disciples of Xiaoyao Peak were probably false.

The other senior brothers and sisters in the sect couldn't stand it anymore. Li Weiyan and Zhu Mingying secretly advised Fu Li not to torment the senior brother too much, and to stop after venting her anger.

In this way, not only did they not exhaust Chongjing Pavilion's patience, but they also showed off their "affection" in front of the entire sect, letting everyone know how much Senior Brother Chong of Xiaoyao Peak loved his junior brother.

Fu Li was heartbroken and helpless about this.

Just as Fu Li's "persuasion" plan was about to fail, that night, thunderclouds suddenly gathered on the back mountain. After a string of lightning bolts struck down, the clouds finally parted and a golden light shot into the sky—someone was undergoing tribulation.

Fu Li quickly found out who it was.

That night, a familiar figure entered the courtyard.

By the moonlight, Fu Li could see clearly his bones, which had been tempered by heavenly lightning, and his newly formed, golden nascent soul.

Xiao Yue gave him a bright smile, revealing two small tiger teeth at the corners of her mouth, and said in a comforting tone, "I know that Ali doesn't actually want to be partners with Senior Brother. Don't worry, I'll help you."

His eyes were deep in color, with a faint bluish gleam, as if they were poisoned.

Fu Li sensed that something was wrong with Xiao Yue. Before he could finish saying "Fourth Senior Brother...", Xiao Yue had already turned and walked away.

The next day, Xiao Yue, the fourth disciple of Xiaoyao Peak, successfully completed the Nascent Soul stage and challenged his senior brother, Chongjing Pavilion.

He said, "If the senior brother loses, please refuse the marriage proposal to the junior brother."

A battle between Nascent Soul stage cultivators is naturally a spectacular sight.

On either side of the dueling platform, one possessed superb magical skills and a solemn expression, while the other wielded a sword capable of breaking through ten thousand enemy swords, his eyes gleaming with icy coldness. The tense atmosphere, accompanied by the clashing of Nascent Soul stage power, caused a series of muffled tremors to reverberate between the two mountains.

Sect Leader Xiao Qinghe was the first to arrive, followed by a group of elders and disciples who were just watching the show.

With a worried and serious expression, he shouted at Xiao Yue, "You unfilial son, get down here! The matter of merging our household registration has been finalized; it's not something to be taken lightly. Do you intend to fight your fellow disciples to the death?!"

Xiao Yue ignored him and unfurled a talisman from her fingertips, which shot straight toward Chongjing Pavilion like a sharp blade.

The latter nimbly dodged. With Qintian not at hand, he transformed his qi into a blade, wielding a silver sword in his hand. This was the pinnacle of swordsmanship.

The two clashed in mid-air, tacitly giving their all. They both knew each other's thoughts and feelings for Fu Li. Both were determined not to lose, in order to defeat their rival.

Xiao Qinghe's cultivation level was only at the Lesser Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage, and the current situation was beyond his control. He could only watch the spiritual light and sword shadows in the center of the arena and sigh anxiously.

Although Xiao Yue had just formed her Nascent Soul, her proficiency in using talismans and formations was unparalleled. Furthermore, the Chongjing Pavilion possessed the Chong family's secret Dragon-Slaying Sword Technique, capable of even injuring Nascent Soul stage demonic dragons, making them a formidable opponent.

In an instant, sand and stones flew across the dueling platform, and spiritual energy and sword light spread outwards with immense pressure. The elders had no choice but to evacuate the remaining disciples and wait for the duel between the two geniuses of the cultivation world to come to an end.

However, there seemed to be another emotion in Xiao Qinghe's anxious eyes. His gaze followed Xiao Yue's direction, as if he was vaguely worried about something.

Xiaoyao Peak.

Fu Li was meditating and cultivating, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth by the window. Suddenly, she sensed that the Qintian tablet placed beside her bed was vibrating, as if responding to something.

Fu Li immediately realized that something had happened at Chongjing Pavilion. He then grabbed the Imperial Observatory and went out.

By the time he arrived at the dueling arena, the duel was already over.

Chongjingge stood in the center of the dueling platform, the cold light of his sword directed at the person before him. His arm, which held the sword, was wounded, the wound deep enough to expose the bone, yet it stood upright like a pine tree.

The person kneeling on the ground had half of their body soaked in blood, while the other half wore a lake-blue dress that Fu Li had personally chosen for Xiao Yue, with silver embroidered edges and auspicious cloud patterns that reflected the sunlight.

He seemed unwilling to give up and tried to get up from the ground to continue fighting, but Chongjing Pavilion did not give him the chance. It stepped on his shoulder and firmly imprisoned him in place.

"You lost," the young man said indifferently.

"Ah Yue, Senior Brother!" Fu Li rushed over, sword in hand, staring in disbelief at the scene before him.

His shout drew their attention.

A hint of guilt flickered in Chongjingge's eyes, but Xiao Yue seemed completely unable to accept her defeat, staring blankly in the direction of the boy.

"Ah Li, what should I do? What should I do? I lost." He kept repeating this like a confused child, but he couldn't get any answers.

Fu Li wanted to step forward and separate the two, but he saw black energy surging from Xiao Yue's deep pupils, which quickly enveloped his entire body, a sign of demonic possession.

"Yue'er!" Xiao Qinghe shouted anxiously, leaping forward to cast a calming spell into his body.

Xiao Yue conjured a thick cloud of black energy in her hand, and with a wave of her hand, she sent Chongjingge and Xiao Qinghe flying off the stage.

Supported by the black mist, he slowly stood up. His pupils were completely filled with the black mist, so deep that they seemed like an abyss with no bottom.

He looked in Fu Li's direction, muttering to himself as if possessed: "This isn't right, this isn't right, I have to win, I must win. Ah Li is my wife, my Daoist partner. Clearly, clearly we are the ones who should spend our lives together..."

"Yue'er, that was just an illusion!" Xiao Qinghe, struck in the chest and abdomen, collapsed to the ground, severely injured, and lamented. His eyes were filled with regret.

But Xiao Yue wouldn't listen. A surge of black energy rose from his body as he walked straight toward Fu Li. He saw his junior brother, who was usually close to him, reflecting his terrifying appearance in his eyes, and fear welled up in Fu Li's eyes, causing Xiao Yue to involuntarily take a step back.

Fu Li's actions became the last straw that broke Xiao Yue's back. Xiao Yue covered her head and knelt on the ground, letting out a mournful wail, a shrill cry like that of a vengeful ghost that echoed through the valley.

"Ah Li! Ah Li! Ah Li!" Her cries were filled with anguish and sorrow.

In an instant, everyone was stunned by the sound waves, their heads spinning and their ears ringing. When they came to their senses, the arena was empty, with only a faint black mist in the air about to dissipate.

Fu Li was dumbfounded. Only later did she find out what had happened.

Xiao Yue challenged Chongjing Pavilion to a duel for him, with the loser required to withdraw. He lost the duel and fell into demonic possession on the spot. His whereabouts are now unknown.

Inside the council hall, everyone discussed how to handle the matter. Ultimately, it was Sect Leader Xiao Qinghe who stepped forward to apologize.

"Everyone, this is all my fault. I failed to notice in time that something was wrong with Yue'er. Now my son is missing and his life is uncertain. I hope you can lend a helping hand to save Yue'er."

Hearing the sect leader's plea, the others couldn't bring themselves to criticize him. They arranged for people to search for Xiao Yue's whereabouts.

Before leaving, Fu Li was kept behind by Xiao Qinghe.

“Ah Li, although this matter is related to you, you don’t need to blame yourself for it. It’s all my fault. Perhaps you don’t know, but when you went to Golden Feather Town, you fell into the trap of the Illusion Flower Demon. Yue’er was more deeply trapped in the illusion than anyone else. He spent a hundred springs and summers in there, became the leader of the cultivation world, and even formed a pact with you.”

Upon hearing Xiao Qinghe's words, Fu Li's eyes widened: "What?! But he told me he only stayed inside for a year."

The middle-aged man in front of me was already in tears.

"No, it's been a full hundred years. A dream of fleeting glory, a dream from which he has not yet awakened. In fact, I already realized this when you brought him back to dispel his inner demons. Li Yue also told me that in this situation, we could use the Dream-Dissolving Pill to make him forget what happened in the illusion. But... but I saw that after he came back, not only did his cultivation level rise step by step, but his spells and formations also became more proficient, all of which he obtained in the illusion. Unfortunately, I wanted my son to become a genius, so I did not erase his memories of the illusion. I never expected... I never expected that this would lead to such a terrible mistake!"

"I thought that letting him cultivate diligently and achieve more than his peers would satisfy him. But I never expected that his obsession would actually be with you. The demonic energy was cleared away, but obsession breeds demons. How could I not have thought of that..."

From the sect leader's words, Fu Li gradually pieced together the truth.

He hadn't expected it to turn out this way.

"System, was this scene mentioned in the original storyline?"

The system calmly replied: 【I don't know!】

Fu Li: ......

He understood the sect leader's wish for his son to succeed, and he also knew that he told him the truth so that he wouldn't have too much psychological pressure. So he gently comforted him for a while, and then left the council hall.

Outside the hall, his second senior brother, Li Weiyan, was waiting for him.

Seeing him come out, a warm smile returned to her tired face. She handed him a bottle of ointment and said softly, "Go on, Ali. Senior Brother is seriously injured. You are his future Daoist partner, so you should care about him. We can handle A-Yue's matter. You don't need to take responsibility for it."

Fu Li nodded, inwardly complaining, "Why is it like this again?", and took the medicine bottle to the bamboo house in the back mountain.

However, Chongjing Pavilion was not there. He went to the medicine hall and saw Elder Meng with a worried expression. When the latter saw him, he gently comforted him and told him that Chongjing Pavilion had not been there.

Finally, Fu Li returned to her residence, only to find a blood-soaked figure standing in the courtyard. His hair was disheveled, and his handsome face was splattered with blood, whether his own or someone else's, it was unclear.

Upon seeing Fu Li return, the young man's eyes lit up slightly, and he followed him into the house.

Sitting at the table, Fu Li asked Chong Jingge to take off his outer robe and personally applied the medicine to him.

After thinking for a moment, she told him what the sect leader had said in the council hall, and added, "Fourth Senior Brother was just trapped by his obsession in the illusion, which is why he went into a qi deviation and injured someone. Don't blame him too much." After saying that, she stuck out her tongue, feeling that her words were so manipulative.

Chongjing Pavilion's voice suddenly rang out: "Then are you blaming me, Ali?"

"What?"

"I defeated A-Yue and forced him to flee into demonic possession. Now I still want to become your partner. Will you blame me?" The young man's voice was calm as water, yet it was as if it were filled with thick ink.

Fu Li paused, sighed inwardly, and said, "Of course not."

Hearing his affirmative tone, Chongjingge suddenly stood up from his chair and stretched out his arms to firmly embrace the boy.

The faint scent of pine mingled with the subtle smell of blood emanating from him reached Fu Li's nostrils. The embrace felt like a prisoner, leaving Fu Li unable to push it away. It was so tight it was almost suffocating.

"Ah Li, I'm so happy. I know I'm despicable, but I'm willing to do anything as long as I can be with you." The deep voice whispered sweet nothings into Fu Li's ears.

He silently accepted this profoundly meaningful embrace, and wearily said to the system:

"This engagement can't be called off now."

Author's Note: There's one last sweet moment with my senior brother, and then we'll get to the synopsis. Get ready for some angst!