Chapter 189 [Alien Species] Master Says He Is Dirty
It wasn't just "weak" that could describe it—it was "dissipating." Every breath he took felt like a breeze blowing from a distant icy plain, carrying the scent of frost and snow; every breath he exhaled was as light as a wisp of smoke, dispersing the moment it left his lips. It was as if his lungs had already frozen into glass, shattering into powder at the slightest touch.
Hua Jin stood at the door, hardly daring to blink.
He was afraid that in the blink of an eye, his thin, almost transparent body would collapse completely like a snowman in the next gust of wind.
"Master?"
Mu Chi continued to sit there as if he hadn't heard anything.
Seeing this, he closed the door and walked forward to take a closer look at where Mu Chi was injured.
Mu Chi was only wearing a shirt, which was soaked with sweat, and the lines and texture of his body could be clearly seen. Hua Jin took it off carefully and checked it inside and out, but found no injuries.
At this time, Mu Chi opened his eyes and saw Hua Jin was so rebellious and disobeyed his master's orders. His pupils shrank suddenly and he raised his hand and slapped him hard.
"...Master..." Hua Jin covered his face and looked at him, "You are so weak, where are you injured..."
"Get out..." Mu Chi picked up his clothes and put them on, then staggered to his feet, as if a loyal and virtuous woman had been molested, "Get out!"
He pointed at the door and shouted at Hua Jin.
Hua Jin stubbornly disobeyed his master's orders. When he approached Mu Chi, Mu Chi stepped back, as if he was very afraid of him.
"Master, it's been a year. What happened?"
Hua Jin's eyes were filled with an eagerness for an answer, which Mu Chi saw as if the man deep in his memory was angry and mad, ready to teach him a lesson. He retreated to the corner, his back against the cold stone wall, barely able to hold himself together and stop shaking.
"The Elder Hall wouldn't tell me, and Uncle Zhu wouldn't tell me either, but I just want to know what happened to you. Where are you injured? Is it serious?"
"Are you mad at me? But if I didn't do that, if I didn't comply with their wishes, how could I have rescued the people from the major sects? How could Zuo Qianqian have told me the plan?" Hua Jin paused. "Although I didn't do it well, I... I don't know what happened afterwards. I woke up in my room. Ye Musi said a year had passed and you were in seclusion again. So I went to ask the Elders' Hall and Uncle Zhu, but they wouldn't tell me. I had no choice but to come to Master."
Every rise and fall of Mu Chi's breathing made a very slight sound of tearing cloth.
"You forgot?" he finally said. "You don't remember anything?"
Hua Jin shook his head. He saw his master's pupils split into two in the candlelight - like black jade split by a knife, half reflecting himself, and the other half reflecting a shadow that had long been lost.
"Remember what?"
Mu Chi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but then tensed up again in an instant.
"I don't believe it. I don't believe what you said. You're the best at acting." He pushed Hua Jin away with all his strength, summoned the whip, and pointed at the confused Hua Jin with grief and indignation, "You lied to me, you want me to die!"
The candle flame "popped" and a spark of light burst out, like a very fine drop of blood splashing on the ground.
The tip of the whip hung down, trembling like a snake's tongue at Mu Chi's feet, but it was reluctant to be raised.
The whip never fell.
Mu Chi's wrist trembled in mid-air like a dead branch in the wind, his knuckles white from exertion, but he couldn't swing it. The whip tip drooped to the ground like a frozen snake, and even the trembling gradually stopped.
"...You lied to me." His voice was hoarse, but it was no longer a scolding, but rather a choked plea, "You clearly...you clearly remembered."
Hua Jin didn't understand what Mu Chi remembered or what he wanted him to know. He didn't understand, and seeing someone who was so different from what he remembered, he didn't dare to ask.
"I won't let you die, Master."
If you ask who in this world is the person who is most reluctant to see Mu Chi die, it is him.
Mu Chi did have such an unbearable past in his mind. This memory belonged to both of them, but Hua Jin really didn't remember it, leaving Mu Chi alone to bear it all.
"You are Xiaojin."
"Yes, I'm Xiaojin."
Mu Chi's mind was swaying. He had been like this since he left that place, losing consciousness from time to time, and his mind was filled with those dark days. He was tied up, bleeding, and surrounded by corpses. He had no magic power and could not save anyone.
He lay powerless on the corpse, which was mixed with the smell of dirt, corpse and rat.
This was just the beginning. He was locked up by that man... He...
Mu Chi didn't dare to think about it any further.
“…Master.”
Hua Jin called out again, his voice low, afraid of shattering anything. He saw that Mu Chi's pupils had lost focus, like a cracked mirror, reflecting countless distorted faces in the fragmented light—those long-dead, familiar and unfamiliar, now crowded in his eyes, gnawing at his sanity. Mu Chi's lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.
The next moment, he suddenly curled up, his throat strangled by an invisible rope, his knuckles tightly clasped his shoulder sockets, his nails piercing through his clothes and digging into his flesh.
The blood beads rolled down the collarbone, and they were also cold. They fell to the floor with a very light "tapping" sound.
"Don't look..." He squeezed out two words hoarsely, "Don't look..."
Hua Jin didn't care about the "master's order" at all. He crawled on his knees and took the person into his arms.
When you touch it, you feel jagged bones and a layer of skin as thin as ice, which seems like it will break with the slightest force.
But Mu Chi struggled frantically as if he was burned by a branding iron, and slammed his knee into Hua Jin's chest. His voice was almost broken with tears: "Let go! Don't touch me... It's dirty..."
dirty?
"It's not dirty." Hua Jin held him tightly. He didn't understand why Mu Chi said that, but his heart was still gripped tightly. "How is Master dirty?"
He could feel Mu Chi's teeth chattering, as if every bite was going to rip his tongue off. So he freed one hand and pressed the back of his finger between Mu Chi's teeth, refusing to pull back even as he bit until blood flowed. The smell of blood finally calmed Mu Chi for a moment.
His eyes were dazed, but he subconsciously loosened his mouth. When the tip of his tongue touched Hua Jin's wound, he retracted it as if it was burned.
After a moment, he said in a very low voice: "Go away, don't come to Xishan anymore..."
"What?" Hua Jin didn't hear clearly.
"The Linghong Martial Arts Competition is still two years away. You should start preparing," Mu Chi felt that what he had just said was not very appropriate, so he said, "I will be in seclusion for two years. During this time, you, A Si, and A Ye will go to Uncle Zhu's place and stay with Senior Brother Chang Feihong."
Chang Feihong is the most accomplished and hardworking disciple in the Yinyougu sect.
"Okay." Hua Jin helped Mu Chi sit back on the stage, took one last look at his sickly master, closed the door and went down the mountain.
He first went to the Elders' Hall, wanting to steal the Mirror of the Past to see what had happened in the past year, but was caught by Zhu Yingyan.
He ran and Zhu Yingyan chased him.
"what you do?"
"Master, why are you in seclusion? If you don't tell me, I will find out myself." He stared at the Qianchen Mirror that Zhu Yingyan had taken away.
"It's useless. I've already used the Mirror of the Past to check. It's blank for a year, nothing." Zhu Yingyan put the mirror away. "It's not that I won't tell you, but the Elders' Hall really doesn't know what happened. That day, as planned, I entered the formation and followed your instructions to rescue the people from various sects. When I came out, all around me was charcoal. Zuo Qianqian was dead, exterminated from the Three Realms, and you became a spirit within the banner. The Mirror of the Heart tells you, Master, that only by entering the formation can you be rescued."
"Is it possible?" Hua Jin asked, "That doesn't guarantee success. Why don't you stop him?"
You know, he would rather die than let Mu Chi get hurt.
"He's the Valley Master. No one can stop his stubborn temper. He even made arrangements for his funeral," Zhu Yingyan took a deep breath. "After he came back, he refused to see anyone, said nothing, and locked himself up."
Hua Jin had no intention of listening to what Zhu Yingyan said later. His mind and heart were filled with how Mu Chi had become like that for him. Mu Chi had a place for him in his heart and was not heartless.
"You went to find him, you saw him, how was he?"
"I'm not injured," but other aspects of his life were different. What kind of experience would make such a high-ranking person become like that, afraid to see people and talking nonsense? "Other than that... Master refused to tell me more, so I don't know. He told me to practice with Senior Brother Chang and participate in the Linghong Martial Arts Competition as usual in two years. He will then come out of seclusion."
Zhu Yingyan nodded.
"That's fine. Go find it. I'll pretend you've never been here."
Hua Jin bowed and left, feeling worried.
He didn't understand, and there was even a vague fear in his heart. He didn't know what he was afraid of. When he saw Mu Chi become like that, he felt inexplicably anxious and blocked, as if someone was pinching his heart and making it unable to beat.
He even felt a little regretful. He impulsively helped Zuo Qianqian and failed to wake up from the illusion. He hurt Mu Chi and did something that made his master angry.
If he hadn't gotten off the carriage out of anger one day, would the outcome have been different?
Hua Jin stood at the end of the stone steps, the mountain wind blowing the broken snow onto his face, just like the cold breath that Mu Chi had just exhaled, the pain was piercing.
He raised his hand and pressed his chest - there was a gap there, and the cold wind rushed in, making a buzzing sound.
If he had not lifted the curtain and got out of the car in anger that day, and had not followed Zuo Qianqian into the blood formation, Mu Chi would not have sacrificed himself and tied his life to the word "possible".
Regret is like a rusty nail, driving into the bones inch by inch, and bleeding with every step.
Mu Chi became like this because of him.
He went to find Chang Feihong.
Chang Feihong was practicing swordplay, the blade of his sword splitting the mist like a ray of light that refused to look back. Hearing footsteps, he sheathed his sword and turned around.
"Brother Chang," Hua Jin saluted, and then saw Ye Musi and Zhu Jianye sitting and resting nearby. "Master asked me to come find you and practice with you."
Chang Feihong didn't say much. After all, since that man died, Mu Chi had been in seclusion with Hua Jin serving him, while Ye Musi and Zhu Jianye followed him. He could be considered half a master of the sect.
He turned around and glanced at Ye Musi who was sitting there watching them.
"From now on, brothers, get along well with each other."
"Brother, you're worrying too much. If he's well behaved, I won't make things difficult for him."
The word "making things difficult" already made it clear that he hated Ye Musi extremely. Not only because Ye Musi did not act like a disciple of Yinyou Valley and was not worthy of being his master's disciple, but also...
There is also the little rabbit he raised a few years ago.
Mu Chi tolerated him and said that he was the one who strangled the rabbit. He asked him why he lied. He didn't understand. Mu Chi clearly saw with his own eyes that it was Ye Musi who did it, but he insisted on saying it was himself. Later, when he mentioned this matter, Mu Chi didn't remember it. He only knew it because he kept nagging about it next to him.
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