Chapter 9

Not long after he covered his head, Mu Qingzhou pushed the door open and came in from the outside, carrying a bowl of porridge.

Helpless, Shi Anxu could only take off the blanket covering his head and tentatively ask, "Junior brother, I didn't do anything out of line while I was drunk yesterday, did I?"

Mu Qingzhou placed the porridge on the table and sat down to wait for Shi Anxu to get dressed. "No, he just kept muttering that he wanted to see his master's wife."

Shi Anxu touched his nose, his tone devoid of any imposing manner, "Senior brother just couldn't help himself because he was thinking of Master."

Mu Qingzhou replied, "Yes, it's been quite a while since we last visited Master's wife. What do you think, Senior Brother?"

The nonsense he uttered while drunk was a reflection of Shi Anxu's inner thoughts. Mu Qingzhou's words stirred up his memories of his master, and his desire to see his master's wife reached its peak. Now that Mu Qingzhou had taken the initiative to suggest it, he had no reason not to go.

"Okay, I think that's a good idea. I don't have anything else to do today."

Mu Qingzhou nodded. "Okay, remember to eat the porridge. I'll wait for you in the yard."

After saying that, he stood up, pushed open the door, and went out.

Shi Anxu felt that Mu Qingzhou was acting strangely today. It was as if he had just come in to tell him to visit his master's wife today, and then left after finishing the notification.

Ultimately, he had to see his master's wife. His heart was set on something other than anything else. After dressing himself properly, Shi Anxu quickly ate his porridge and went out to the courtyard to look for Mu Qingzhou.

When Shi Anxu found Mu Qingzhou, he was practicing his sword.

The young man wielded the Azure Abyss sword, his pure white disciple robes fluttering in the wind. With each move, snowflakes of spiritual energy fell like rain, his techniques fierce and his aura overwhelming. With a swing of his sword, the sword light flashed, instantly cleaving the spirit tree in two.

Shi Anxu watched for a short while before the young man sheathed his sword. He clapped his hands, stepped forward, and praised, "Junior Brother's swordsmanship is becoming more and more superb."

Mu Qingzhou nodded slightly and said, "Senior Brother is too kind."

“While you were practicing your swordsmanship earlier, I already arranged how to get to Master’s wife. Master also gave me a flying boat before, but it’s not as luxurious as Immortal Venerable Yunyang’s. It will come in handy when we go to the mortal realm to visit Master’s wife.” Shi Anxu said as he took out the flying boat from his spatial ring.

Shi Anxu's spatial ring was practically useless; he only used it to store large items, like the flying boat he was currently using. He didn't store anything else, so the ring was essentially pointless.

But actually, it's not that Shi Anxu has any special fetishes or that he only magnifies things; it's just that these are the only things he can display.

This is why he couldn't find many cultivation resources after searching the entire peak, and why he had to launch a new model to earn cultivation resources.

Shi Anxu followed Mu Qingzhou onto the flying boat. Recalling the magnificent flying boat that Immortal Venerable Yunyang had taken when he went to Xuanyuan Sect, and then looking at his own small and broken flying boat, he secretly vowed in his heart that he would definitely start implementing his resource-earning plan after returning.

The flying boat had been enchanted by Su Qinyi, and after the two boarded it, it automatically retracted into the steps and took off.

Shi Anxu imbued the pilot with his spiritual power, and the flying boat began to travel rapidly toward the human world.

Since boarding the flying boat, Mu Qingzhou has been sitting cross-legged on the deck cultivating, without uttering another word.

Shi Anxu was afraid that if he suddenly spoke while Mu Qingzhou was cultivating, he would disturb him, so he kept quiet and focused on piloting the flying boat.

One wanted to keep their distance, while the other wanted to speak but dared not. In this strange atmosphere, they arrived at Mu Xize's residence.

After Shi Anxu parked the flying boat, he couldn't wait to get off, as if a wolf would bite his butt if he was a second late.

He simply couldn't stand the strange atmosphere of being with Mu Qingzhou, so as soon as he got off the boat, he carried the jade token across the barrier and into the courtyard.

Mu Qingzhou waited until Shi Anxu was no longer at the entrance of the courtyard before slowly standing up and getting off the flying boat.

The flying boat shrank to model size immediately after Mu Qingzhou stepped off and flew into the courtyard.

When he entered the courtyard, Shi Anxu was chatting happily with the girl in the courtyard, and a bitter feeling immediately rose in his heart.

He didn't want his senior to chat with others, so he quickened his pace and walked up to the two of them.

Halfway through their conversation, Shi Anxu saw Mu Qingzhou approaching and immediately pulled him in front of her, introducing him as, "This is my junior brother, Mu Qingzhou, whom I mentioned earlier."

When Wen Xingyun saw Mu Qingzhou, she lowered her head shyly and replied to Shi Anxu in a weak voice, "Mmm."

Shi Anxu continued to introduce Wen Xingyun to Mu Qingzhou, "Junior brother, this is the child that Master and Master's wife adopted a few years ago, Wen Xingyun."

Mu Qingzhou replied calmly, "Nice to meet you."

Wen Xingyun kept her head down, not daring to meet Mu Qingzhou's gaze. "Nice to meet you, Senior Brother Mu."

Shi Anxu looked at Wen Xingyun's coy manner and knew that she had taken a liking to his junior brother, but his junior brother seemed to be a little oblivious to romance.

After greeting the person, he didn't look at Wen Xingyun again, but turned to himself and asked, "Where is Master's wife?"

Shi Anxu glanced at Wen Xingyun with some regret and replied, "Xingyun said that Master's wife went to the market and hasn't returned yet."

Mu Qingzhou was extremely annoyed. Why did his senior brother look at Wen Xingyun like that before answering his question? Did his senior brother like her very much?

When Shi Anxu saw that Mu Qingzhou did not respond for a long time after she replied, she shifted her gaze from the side to Mu Qingzhou's face and found that he was staring at her in a daze.

He raised his hand and waved it in front of Mu Qingzhou, which brought Mu Qingzhou back to his senses.

"Junior brother, what were you thinking about just now?"

"It's nothing, senior brother. Come with me. I have something important to discuss with you."

Upon hearing this, Shi Anxu straightened up and turned to Wen Xingyun, saying, "Senior Brother Mu and I have something to discuss, so we won't chat with you for now."

Wen Xingyun nodded, then secretly glanced at Mu Qingzhou, "Okay."

Shi Anxu was charmed by her appearance and reached out to pat her head. "Don't look anymore. I'll be back with Senior Brother Mu soon."

Mu Qingzhou clenched his fists tightly as he watched Shi Anxu and Wen Xingyun walk toward him after their conversation.

Before Shi Anxu could reach her side, Mu Qingzhou walked towards the crabapple tree in the courtyard.

Shi Anxu thought that Mu Qingzhou had something very urgent to tell him, and couldn't even wait for him to walk two steps.

Before he even reached the crabapple tree, he asked, "What happened?"

Mu Qingzhou glanced behind him without saying a word.

Shi Anxu was getting anxious. "Someone is following us? How could that be? We don't have anything to follow. Could it be that they're after Master's wife? No, I have to tell Master's wife right away and tell her not to come back yet."

After saying that, Shi Anxu raised his hand to form a hand seal.

Mu Qingzhou grabbed Shi Anxu's wrist, interrupting his hand seal gesture.

Shi Anxu looked at him, puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Mu Qingzhou released his grip and replied, "No one is following us."

Shi Anxu was even more puzzled, "Then what did Junior Brother want to talk to me about?"

After hesitating for a while, Mu Qingzhou finally spoke, "Senior brother, do you like Wen Xingyun very much?"

"Xingyun is a rather interesting girl, and I quite like her. However... this liking is just admiration."

Seeing Mu Qingzhou's expression change slightly as he spoke, Shi Anxu finally understood why Mu Qingzhou had called him over. It turned out that Mu Qingzhou had taken a liking to the girl and was testing him by seeing him being too intimate with her.

Just a few days ago he said he wouldn't become a Daoist partner with any other girl, but now he's fallen for her at first sight and won't even let his senior brother talk to her. He's really become enlightened.

Mu Qingzhou didn't understand why Shi Anxu suddenly looked at him with a different expression.

However, he was happy when his senior brother said he didn't like Wen Xingyun.

"Well, I have nothing more to say. Let's go back."

"Mmm." Shi Anxu was overjoyed and wanted to share the good news with Wen Xingyun as soon as possible.

When the two returned from under the crabapple tree, Mu Xize had already come back from the street. He had moved a chair and was lying down lazily, fanning himself with a fan in his right hand, looking quite content.

"Master's wife, you're back!" Shi Anxu said joyfully.

"Hmm, I didn't say anything because I saw you were talking. Are you here to pay respects to your master?" Mu Xize asked gently.

"It's been a long time since we last met, so I thought I'd come and visit you and Master today," Shi Anxu replied.

"You should all have seen Xiaoyun by now, right?"

Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou exchanged a glance and nodded.

“She is a child that your master and I found while traveling in the mortal realm. A-Yi originally said he would take her as his disciple, but not long after, such a thing happened in the immortal realm, and she has been living with me ever since.” Mu Xize sighed softly.

"Why haven't we seen her on our previous visits?" Mu Qingzhou asked.

Shi Anxu glanced at Mu Qingzhou out of the corner of his eye, wanting to see what expression Mu Qingzhou would have when he asked that question. Was he really in love?

Unfortunately, the face he caught sight of, Mu Qingzhou's, remained expressionless.

He found it boring, so he looked away and waited for Mu Xize's answer. He was also very curious about where Wen Xingyun had gone the last few times.

"You guys got together so well the last few times that I sent Xiaoyun to the mountains to gather herbs," Mu Xize replied with a smile.

Shi Anxu remembered that Mu Xize was a physician in the human world, commonly known as a doctor, and they had to collect many of the herbs themselves.

But to everyone's surprise, Mu Xize would let a little girl go up the mountain to collect herbs alone, and she would spend the whole day doing so.

"How could you let such a young girl like Xingyun go up the mountain to collect herbs?" Shi Anxu really wanted to know, so he asked.

“Xiao Yun is not as simple as you see her. I dare say there are few men on the street who can beat her. She is very skilled in martial arts.” Mu Xize replied with a smile, covering his face.

"I see. So Master's wife sent Xingyun to learn martial arts." After saying that, Shi Anxu looked at Mu Qingzhou with regret.

Junior brother is in for a rough time. With a Daoist partner whose martial prowess is off the charts, he'll probably have to go east if Xingyun tells him to.

If Mu Qingzhou knew what Shi Anxu was thinking at this moment, he would probably be amused and annoyed by Shi Anxu's words.

Mu Qingzhou did notice the look in Shi Anxu's eyes. Why was he feeling regretful? Was it because he felt Wen Xingyun's martial arts skills were too high for him to handle? Was he lying to him earlier when he said he didn't like Wen Xingyun?

Mu Xize was unaware of their inner thoughts and simply instructed them, "You know I am just an ordinary person, and I am frail and sickly, unable to provide Xiaoyun with the protection she deserves. Now that my time is coming to an end, I only hope that you can take good care of Xiaoyun in the future, and bury me and Ayi together after I die."

Upon hearing Mu Xize say that his time was coming to an end, Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou each squatted down beside Mu Xize and grabbed his hand, saying, "Don't talk nonsense, you will live to be a hundred!"

For the first time, the two spoke in unison.

Mu Xize grasped their hands in return, his voice soothing, "I know my own body best, and finding your master has always been my wish. It was delayed by some things, but now it's finally going to be fulfilled. I'm so happy that I can finally tell him with a clear conscience when I see him that I have fulfilled all your requests."

"Master's wife..."