Chapter 36

Shi Anxu asked, puzzled, "Why are you looking at me like that? Isn't this a good thing?"

This was certainly not good news for Mu Qingzhou, who already knew that Shi Anxu would leave him after he had achieved mastery of his cultivation.

He concealed the emotions in his eyes and replied, "It's a good thing, but I just feel uneasy."

Shi Anxu pinched the soft flesh on Mu Qingzhou's arm and said, "Does it hurt? If you can feel the pain, then it's real. Junior Brother, has the feeling of walking on clouds subsided a bit?"

Mu Qingzhou's expression faded, returning to her usual cold demeanor. "Hmm, now I have a real sense of the cultivation resources my senior brother has earned."

Shi Anxu's face was full of barely suppressed smiles. "Junior brother, I used to think that I was the one who felt the least real right now. You always seemed like nothing could bother you. But now it seems that you are indeed a bit different from before."

Mu Qingzhou did indeed feel that he had changed, and he asked Shi Anxu, "Senior brother, do you like me now or me before?"

Without hesitation, Shi Anxu replied, "Of course I prefer you as you are now; you are more like a human being this way."

Mu Qingzhou suddenly stepped forward and hugged Shi Anxu, asking, "Senior brother likes me the way I am now. I've always been like this, as long as senior brother doesn't leave me."

Shi Anxu patted Mu Qingzhou's back and comforted him, "Who told you that? Of course your senior brother won't leave you." He'll stay with you until I go home.

Mu Qingzhou knew that Shi Anxu was only saying these things to reassure him, and that when the time came, he would still abandon him and leave without hesitation.

He had considered slowing down his cultivation progress, thinking that as long as he couldn't become the number one cultivator in the world, his senior brother wouldn't abandon him.

However, this method is not a long-term solution. What my senior brother is most concerned about now is his cultivation. Intentionally slowing down his cultivation progress would be easily discovered by him, ultimately forcing him to painstakingly find a non-existent reason for his actions.

So he had already abandoned this method before, but now that Shi Anxu asked him if he was happy to have cultivation resources, he suddenly felt that following the path Shi Anxu wanted was not a bad idea.

He improved his cultivation according to Shi Anxu's idea. Once his cultivation was high enough, he would be able to prevent Shi Anxu from leaving, keep him by his side forever, and never be able to leave him.

He regained his composure and said to Shi Anxu, "I hope you keep your word, Senior Brother."

Shi Anxu quickly replied, "Of course, when has Senior Brother ever gone back on his word?"

Having made up his mind, Mu Qingzhou didn't want to make things difficult for Shi Anxu any further, so he said, "Then I'll trust Senior Brother."

Seeing that he had gotten away with it, Shi Anxu's lively expression returned. "You can always trust your senior brother."

Mu Qingzhou: "Mm."

Three days later, Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou sat upright opposite Mu Yi.

Holding the medical book and sipping his fine tea, Mu Yi slowly asked after a long while, "You haven't found the cause of the leak?"

Shi Anxu respectfully replied, "Yes, please enlighten me, Uncle-Master, what other methods are there to find the source of my problem?"

"Uncle-Master, you said that Senior Brother must come to see you in three days. Now that he has arrived, why haven't you made any moves?" After Shi Anxu finished speaking, Mu Qingzhou asked directly. He was now completely focused on Shi Anxu's health.

Upon hearing Mu Qingzhou's words, Shi Anxu rebuked him without any force, saying, "Junior brother, you must not be rude to your senior uncle. There is always a reason for everything your senior uncle does."

Mu Yi put down his teacup, showing no sign of anger, and said, "It's alright. Qingzhou is just too impatient. Being impatient isn't good."

Mu Qingzhou realized that he was losing his composure over Shi Anxu's affairs, so he said, "This junior is just too worried about senior brother, and I am indeed a little anxious."

Mu Yi said ambiguously, "Don't be too fixated on people and things. You already know the final outcome, so why bother?"

Mu Qingzhou said firmly, "How will you know the final result if you don't try?"

Instead of getting angry, Mu Yi laughed, "Hahaha, as expected of Su Qinyi's disciple, you have guts!"

After saying that, he changed the subject, "The reason for Shi Anxu's matter is that I granted him a Xue position last time. If it goes on for too long, it will have irreversible effects. That's why I told him to come and find me in three days. As for what you said about me not treating his illness, that's because you're still here, and I need space."

Upon hearing Mu Yi's words, Mu Qingzhou vanished from the spot in a flash.

Mu Yi smiled and said to Shi Anxu, "Your junior brother seems to care about you quite a bit."

Shi Anxu said shyly, "It's probably because I've been taking care of Master ever since he passed away. We're practically family."

Mu Yi made Shi Anxu sit down with his back to him, just like last time, and continued to ask, "So what do you think of him? Is he suitable to be a qualified Daoist partner?"

Shi Anxu thought about it carefully and replied, "Junior brother is a good person. He used to be cold, but now he has learned to take care of people. Moreover, he asked me how to pursue someone. I believe he will be a good Daoist partner."

Mu Yi then asked, "So, how did you feel when you learned that Mu Qingzhou already had someone he liked?"

Shi Anxu thought for a moment, then said with a mixture of uncertainty and certainty, "I am genuinely happy for my junior brother, but for some reason, I still feel a pang of sadness now."

Mu Yi said knowingly, "You have this feeling because you haven't seen through your own heart yet. Once you truly understand your own heart, you will understand the reason for this feeling. Alright, you can call Mu Qingzhou in, and we can discuss your spiritual energy leakage together."

Shi Anxu nodded and immediately sent a message to Mu Qingzhou.

Mu Qingzhou arrived quickly after receiving the message. He asked Shi Anxu, "Has everything that my martial uncle mentioned been taken care of for you?"

Shi Anxu nodded, "My martial uncle said we should start discussing my spiritual energy leakage now."

Mu Qingzhou's expression turned serious. He sat back down in the front seat and said, "Let's begin now."

Mu Yi asked Shi Anxu, "Did anything strange happen before your spiritual power leaked out?"

Shi Anxu replied, "We've thought about these things over the past few days, but there's nothing unusual. We're just doing ordinary, mundane tasks every day on the peak."

Mu Qingzhou continued Shi Anxu's words, saying, "Aside from opening a reading area, we haven't done anything else different from usual recently."

Mu Yi nodded. "I knew about the opening of your reading area. I was there on the opening day and didn't find anything unusual."

Shi Anxu frowned. "What else could cause my spiritual energy to leak out?"

Wait, he had set up a formation before the reading area opened.

"Oh right, I remember now, I also set up a formation."

Mu Qingzhou said with self-reproach, "If it really is related to the formation, it's all my fault for not checking carefully."

Shi Anxu comforted him, "Don't take all the blame on yourself. I set up the formation myself, and it has nothing to do with anyone else."

Although Shi Anxu said it had nothing to do with him, in Mu Qingzhou's heart, if that were truly the case, then it was all his fault.

If he hadn't insisted that his senior brother set up the formation himself, his senior brother wouldn't have encountered this situation or suffered such pain.

“Senior brother, this is my fault. I checked whether the formation was fully functional at the time, but I didn’t realize it then.”

Shi Anxu wanted to say something to comfort Mu Qingzhou, but Mu Yi interrupted her, "Shut up, what's the point of you two arguing about whose responsibility it is? We haven't even confirmed that the problem lies with the formation yet. You might as well come with me to Qinnian Peak to investigate."

Upon hearing Mu Yi's words, the two immediately shut their mouths and nodded in unison.

Seeing their expressions, Mu Yi sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Now you can talk."

Shi Anxu bowed to Mu Yi again and said, "We will now lead our martial uncle back to Qinnian Peak with us."

"Wait!" Mu Qingzhou stopped Shi Anxu, who was about to leave. "We can't go now."

Shi Anxu didn't understand, so he asked, "Why?"

Mu Qingzhou explained, "Have you forgotten? The reading area is still open, and there are still many cultivators subscribing to cultivation techniques inside. I need to disperse the cultivators in the reading area first before we can enter to investigate."

Shi Anxu was so anxious that he forgot about this. He said to Mu Yi, "Uncle has encountered a minor problem and needs Junior Brother to go back and handle it. We will check on the situation later."

Mu Yi sat down again and drank his tea. "No rush, let Mu Qingzhou go first."

Shi Anxu replied, "Yes!"

After saying that, he gave Mu Qingzhou a wink, and Mu Qingzhou immediately disappeared from the spot.

He sat down again to drink tea with Mu Yi, saying, "Come, Uncle-Master, let me pour you some tea."

Mu Yi put down his teacup, tacitly agreeing to let Shi Anxu pour him tea.

"Anxu, did you make any mistakes when you drew the array diagram?"

"No, I checked it carefully after I finished drawing it. It is exactly the same as the formation diagram I saw in the book. Moreover, my junior brother helped me test the formation to see if it was effective after it was completed. There were no problems at that time."

Mu Yi thought for a moment and said, "Based on what you've said before, the problem is most likely with the formation itself. There were no issues with setting up or completing the formation, so the problem must lie with the book on formations you've been reading."

Shi Anxu frowned and said, "That shouldn't be the case. The books on formations I read are all from Master's library. There shouldn't be any problem."

Mu Yi shook his head. "The book itself is fine, but whether there are any problems with the content you read is another matter. Have you read through all the descriptions of the formation you set up?"

Shi Anxu replied, "No."

Mu Yi had an "I knew it" expression on his face. "Then that's it. You only looked at the effect of this formation on the outside world, but you didn't look at the effect of the formation on the person who set it up. That's why you got this result."

Shi Anxu suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. Now all we need to do is go to Qin Nian Peak to verify this conjecture."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Qingzhou's message arrived.