Chapter 23 Peach Blossom Bracelet We're all family, let's not mince words. ...

Hua Deng jolted awake and sat up in bed.

Is that her? Is the person in the video her?

No way, it can't be real!

Would she hold Shen Zhou's neck in her mouth and invite him to bite her?

Hua Deng touched her neck in alarm. Luckily, he hadn't bitten her, otherwise...

"What are you doing? Did you get bitten by a mosquito?"

The sound she feared most rang out from beside her. Hua Deng gasped for breath, forced herself to remain calm, and turned her head, her gaze involuntarily drawn to the location of his Adam's apple.

Fortunately, there were no teeth marks.

But then he met Shen Zhou's suddenly enlightened gaze. He leaned lazily to the side and asked, looking down, "You remember now?"

Hua Deng's heart skipped a beat, and she asked with an innocent look, "What did you remember?"

Shen Zhou raised an eyebrow, looked her over, and said, "You're getting better and better at acting."

Hua Deng's expression became even more sincere, but Chen Zhou didn't believe her. He leaned closer to her and whispered, "Who taught you that?"

"And who was it that reminded you of this?"

Hua Deng shuddered, and she forced a smile, asking tentatively, "Is it possible that I'm just naturally smarter than others?"

Without hesitation, Shen Zhou replied, "Absolutely impossible."

Hua Deng: "?"

Hua Deng: "Wait a minute, you might not have heard my question clearly..."

Shen Zhou: "Listen carefully. You said you're smarter than others, and I said it's impossible. Do I need to repeat myself? There's no such possibility."

Hua Deng: Dad's dog of a man.

She pulled the covers up, lay down sullenly, and clearly didn't want to communicate.

The bedding next to him sank in a little as Shen Zhou sat down. He tugged at Hua Deng's blanket, but Hua Deng angrily pulled it back.

As if finding it amusing, Chen Zhou tugged again, and Hua Deng flung the blanket up, throwing it all over him, angrily saying, "Fine, you can use this! Aren't you afraid of dying of heat!"

Chen Zhou, wrapped in the blankets, lazily lifted his eyelids: "Why are you angry? Is it because I said you're not smart?"

Hua Deng cursed him in her heart, but tried to remain calm and smiled, "No, I didn't get angry at you. Can you let me sleep?"

Shen Zhou put the blanket back and turned to look at her: "Tell the truth."

This sentence uses puppetry. Hua Deng opened her eyes wide in horror, afraid that she would blurt out a string of profanities.

However, she heard herself say, "I've been waiting for you to come back for a long time. Why do you question me as soon as you arrive? Besides, you didn't go to Su Yiqing's place to pick me up."

Hua Deng: "..."

Hua Deng: "!!!"

Ugh, damn puppetry, die!

She dared not look at Shen Zhou's expression at all, and lay down like a zombie with the blanket over her head, exuding an aura of peace.

Shen Zhou's voice came through the blanket: "Actually..."

Hua Deng said, "Don't speak, I'm dead."

Shen Zhou tapped the blanket: "Is it alive now?"

Hua Deng rolled over in despair and began to ramble incoherently: "Do you know the rules of the room? I'll tell you the first rule of this room now: you can't talk to dead people. And I am a dead person."

There was no sound from outside, but after a moment, a soft, barely suppressed laugh rang out clearly.

Hua Deng paused, her hand gripping the corner of the blanket, and her heart began to waver.

Although the atmosphere was incredibly awkward, she still really wanted to see what Shen Zhou looked like when he smiled.

After hesitating for a long time, she secretly peeked half her head out from under the covers.

He was facing a face that was utterly unsmiling and utterly irritating.

Hua Deng: "..." She really learns from her mistakes!

The blanket was firmly held in place by her other hand, so she could no longer hide herself inside. She sat up angrily with a stern face, hugging her knees and remaining silent.

Shen Zhou sighed beside him, pointed to his throat, and slowly said, "Yesterday, you bit me and it hurt a lot."

Hua Deng stiffened, and the heat rushed up her neck.

She covered her ears and didn't turn around.

Shen Zhou continued, "It's so serious, Miss Hua, aren't you going to compensate me in any way?"

After a long pause, Hua Deng finally managed to ask, "What do you want?"

Shen Zhou's reply was a bottle of pills handed to him.

“It’s called the Heavenly Origin Pill. You should take one pill every seven days,” he said. “That way, even if I’m not around, my inner energy won’t cause you any pain.”

Hua Deng blankly accepted the pill, and after a while, he reacted: "And then?"

“Then you can give me 100,000 spirit stones,” Shen Zhou said.

Hua Deng pretended not to hear: "Okay, I'm going to sleep now. Thanks, see you tomorrow morning!"

Shen Zhou snorted, glanced at her, and got up to leave.

Hua Deng almost instinctively grabbed his wrist, then quickly let go when he looked over.

"It's nothing..." she said, bowing her head slightly.

“You can speak,” Shen Zhou said.

"..." Hua Deng quietly raised her eyes and whispered, "The secret realm will open tomorrow, and I'm a little scared."

The Xiashan Secret Realm was the plot she feared most; she was so worried that she couldn't sleep.

Shen Zhou didn't answer. She carefully finished speaking: "Could you stay and keep me company for the night? You're cultivating tonight anyway."

She didn't know what Shen Zhou was thinking; his eyes always held emotions she couldn't decipher.

But she knew he hadn't refused; instead, he calmly sat down and said to her, "Okay, go to sleep."

Hua Deng pulled the covers up and closed her eyes with peace of mind.

Soon, she fell into a deep sleep.

Shen Zhou sat quietly cultivating beside her for a while. Hearing her even breathing, he suddenly opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her sleeping face.

He knew what she was worried about, of course, but it wasn't really anything to worry about.

After all, he had already given her a bracelet.

Under the moonlight, Hua Deng slept restlessly. Shen Zhou covered her with the blanket she had kicked off, and as he got up, he uttered a single word: "Stupid."

That's so stupid, I still can't remember who he is.

As if hearing his whisper, the head beside him moved slightly, emitting a muffled humming sound from its nose.

The girl's quirky words surfaced and echoed in my mind.

"Hey sir, is this bracelet a gift for me?"

"Um."

"But I came out alone and secretly, and I have nothing to return to you."

"Need not."

"How about this, you can come find me in the future, and I'll marry you. We're family, so I won't give you any gifts in return!"

"……Need not."

The fragments of memory were distant and blurry, causing a sharp pain between his brows. Shen Zhou pulled himself out of his reverie, and suddenly heard Hua Deng's sleep-talking: "Shen Zhou..."

He glanced at it and casually bent down.

The person next to him continued muttering, "You bastard, I'll beat you to death..."

Shen Zhou straightened up and grabbed her chin.

"Shut up."

Unfortunately, the person in the dream was unaffected by the puppetry, and Hua Deng slapped his hand away and turned over.

Shen Zhou glanced at her coldly, silently pulled back the covers, and returned to his seat to continue his cultivation.

*

The Xiashan Secret Realm opens at 7:00 AM.

Hua Deng stood outside the teleportation array, waiting anxiously.

“My sword should be with you,” Shen Zhou suddenly said.

"Oh right." Hua Deng remembered, took his sword out of his Qiankun Ring, and felt a little guilty.

Because she promised to nurture the immortal sword for him, she only completed half of the process.

Shen Zhou didn't say anything, nor did he immediately accept it. Instead, he said to her, "You choose one."

Hua Deng froze, not understanding what he meant, but still tried to pick the one that looked best: "This one?"

Shen Zhou nodded: "Take it with you. We'll split up when we enter the secret realm. It can protect your safety."

Hua Deng's focus was entirely on the word "separation," and she grabbed his sleeve urgently, saying, "No! I don't want to be separated from you! Think of something!"

Shen Zhou glanced at her hand and said, "I know. I'll come find you within half an hour."

"One stick of incense!" Hua Deng bargained.

“Okay.” Shen Zhou readily agreed.

Hua Deng finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, then began to examine the sword she had chosen.

The sword is as thin as a cicada's wing, and its cold light shines through; it is truly a rare and precious artifact.

"It has a name, right? What's it called?" Hua Deng asked excitedly.

She imagined the scene from the TV series, where someone raises their hand and shouts "Sword, come!" and felt slightly excited.

Then Shen Zhou revealed the inscription on the hilt of his sword and replied, "Treasure Number One."

Hua Deng: "?"

Looking down, the words on the sword hilt really were "Baby Number One," and the handwriting was clearly from Shen Zhou.

She fell silent. After a long pause, she asked with difficulty, "And what about the rest?"

Shen Zhou stated in his flat, monotone voice, "Baby Number Two, Baby Number Three, and Baby Number Four..."

"Stop! I understand, stop reading."

Hua Deng's vision went black, and she thought to herself that she had asked unnecessary questions. Could someone who could come up with a name like "Very Powerful Sword Technique" possibly have a cool name for their natal sword?

She stroked "Baby Number One" with pity.

The sword's name was arbitrary, but the spiritual energy it emitted was exceptionally pure, completely different from Shen Zhou's usual scrap iron swords, and it was almost impossible to sense any blood energy.

The child is a good child, it's just that the father is a bit unreliable.

"Is it alright for you sword cultivators to give your swords to others?" She suddenly remembered something from the book: "The sword is the man, the sword is destroyed and the man dies."

Shen Zhou said nonchalantly, "Yes."

The streetlights looked up: "What?"

"It's alright," Shen Zhou said. "Take it."

Hua Deng blinked, then sheathed the sword, tentatively swung it twice, and asked Chen Zhou, "Will it obey me?"

“It can sense my true energy,” Shen Zhou said.

That means they can listen.

Hua Deng happily fed "Baby Number One" a few spirit stones.

This time, not only "Baby Number One" became restless, but all the precious fairy swords also became agitated and kept moving closer to her.

If we were to use a person as an analogy, it would be like a group of children surrounding her, chattering and shouting, "I want one too!"

Hua Deng was surprised and took out spirit stones to feed them: "Have they never been full?"

As she spoke, she looked at Shen Zhou with an expression that said, "You're abusing the child."

Shen Zhou said coldly, "Ten thousand spirit stones are not enough to feed them, so they deserve to starve to death."

The immortal swords kept eating, each one more pathetic than the last. He was annoyed by their behavior and raised his hand to beckon with his finger.

Even if Hua Deng possesses his true energy, it is not pure enough, and the Immortal Sword will inevitably follow his call more closely.

Shen Zhou said, "Come back."

The swordsmen all turned around in unison, and after a brief silence, they simultaneously moved closer to the lanterns.

Shen Zhou: "..."

His face darkened, and he gathered his magic power into his fingers, about to forcibly recall the immortal sword.

Just then, Hua Deng said, "Look, they like me so much!"

Her eyes shone with a light brighter than the stars, clearly showing genuine affection from the bottom of her heart.

Shen Zhou paused, and the magical power that had overflowed from his fingertips was quietly withdrawn by him.

He said calmly, "If you like it, you can have it all."

His expression seemed genuine, which startled the swords. They hurriedly returned to his side, circled him twice, and some even tried to brush against his arm.

Shen Zhou coldly dodged the attack, flicked the hilt of his sword away with his finger, and said, "Go find her, why are you looking for me?"

The sword emitted a clanging sound similar to "whimpering," and Hua Deng initially thought he was hallucinating.

Only when the Immortal Sword was so anxious that it wished it could grow legs and kneel down before him did Shen Zhou gently put the sword away while threatening in a cold voice: "If there is a next time, I will melt you all down."

Hua Deng, who was listening nearby, commented disapprovingly: "You can't be so harsh on children; you have to use affection to influence them."

Shen Zhou said, "A child? The child you've adopted?"

Hua Deng said, "Your child treats the sword like a child."

Shen Zhou said, "I don't have such an ungrateful child. You can have him if you like him."

Hua Deng politely declined, saying, "Forget it, it's too expensive. You should take on the burden of a family with twelve children."

Shen Zhou clicked his tongue in disdain.

Hua Deng then asked, "But why haven't I seen you use any of these swords?"

After saying that, he suddenly realized something was wrong. Could it be related to the Myriad Swords Sect...?

“They’re too weak, we don’t need them,” Shen Zhou said dismissively.

Hua Deng: "..."

She was overthinking it, really.

A commotion arose ahead; the teleportation array had finally activated.

Hua Deng held onto Chen Zhou's sleeve, knowing that they would still be separated after being teleported, but she still didn't let go.

He repeatedly urged Shen Zhou to find her, and the two stepped into the formation and disappeared.

On the other side, a figure kept staring in their direction, not moving for a long time, until a voice called out from beside them: "Senior sister, it's our turn."

"Um."

The woman smiled and agreed, her fingertips brushing against the medicine bottle hidden in her sleeve—medicine she had personally prepared…

Immortal-Slaying Powder.