Chapter 48 The smile of Xiao Huaiyuan in the mirror, hidden away in a golden house, made his spine ache…
Inside the cave, one cannot distinguish between day and night; three years have passed in the world.
Over the past three years, the martial arts world has been far from turbulent, but it has also been far from peaceful.
The new Demon Lord Fu Ming, who could easily stir up trouble in the Three Realms, has secluded himself, reportedly busy building houses and growing vegetables. The righteous sects are also unusually quiet, with undercurrents only swirling around the competition for disciples.
On the contrary, an organization called the Tianfu Society among the independent cultivators is thriving. They claim to accept anyone regardless of whether they have spiritual roots or not, and have recruited countless disciples.
"Our Tianyan Sect also has a major event. Sect Leader Xiao's disciple died in the Grand Competition Secret Realm. The Sect Leader was so grief-stricken that he handed over worldly affairs to the Elders Council for discussion, so it is not easy to meet him."
The disciple, carrying a lantern, led a group of youths who couldn't fly on swords into the sect on foot, chatting idly along the way to pass the time. This wasn't a custom in previous years; it was said that someone from the previous generation was attacked in the attached city, so disciples with higher cultivation levels were sent to provide protection.
Who is that person? It seems to be Master Xiao's disciple, named Ming Chen.
"It's a pity. If you had come to the last recruitment conference, you would have been able to see the sect leader and his disciples in person."
The nine thousand white jade steps in front of the mountain gate were simply too long. Even after finishing the important business, there were still two thousand steps left to climb. How was he going to endure this? The disciple slapped his forehead, and an idea came to mind.
"Hey, speaking of which, this master and apprentice also have a scandalous history. Do you want to hear it?"
"They say that Mingchen is..."
Fu Ming suddenly opened his eyes.
After hearing her story of how she, a pure and resilient innocent girl, slowly melted Xiao Huaiyuan's cold heart, only to tragically die in his arms and ultimately become the only white moonlight in his heart, he clutched his heaving chest, unable to return to meditation.
In order to fully comprehend the True Immortal's Manual, he had been in seclusion in the Immortal Palace for a long time, but recently he had been hearing a lot of noise.
The vulgar Longyang story above, embellished with exaggerated details, was still relatively mild. What was even more terrifying was that he had heard Xiao Huaiyuan's own whispers several times, sticky and sinister, as if they were right next to his ear.
Could it be that a part of his soul remained in his clone? Such a basic mistake shouldn't be possible.
Fu Ming composed himself and prepared to continue his cultivation, but when he opened his eyes again, the ceiling above him had changed from the bright colors of the Immortal Palace to a dense darkness where one could not see their own hand in front of their face.
Huff, huff.
Fu Ming slowly pulled himself out of the suffocating feeling of drowning. The feeling was hard to describe; it was a bit like being entangled by swaying water plants while swimming, with the blades brushing against his limbs and dragging him into a deep whirlpool, the more he struggled, the tighter they entangled him.
He tried to contact the remnant soul of a true immortal, but found that the layout of this place was strange, and even with the control core, he could not communicate with the secret realm.
The system within his consciousness was also still dormant, leaving him utterly alone.
He felt himself lying on his back on a soft couch, with a pillow under his waist, forcing his legs apart. It was an uncomfortable position that he could never have gotten into on his own.
Where is this? Who is he? Has he traveled through time again?
Having experienced traversing the cultivation world and binding with a system, Fu Ming had developed a high level of acceptance for any unexpected events, but the current situation was still beyond his comprehension.
This body was even weaker than his modern, physically fit physique, devoid of spiritual power, with blocked meridians, unable to even lift a finger, and not even as strong as a pure mortal.
His eyes were clouded by shadows, and he couldn't see anything clearly. His mouth also tasted bitter, and Fu Ming subconsciously licked the corner of his lips, only to taste a strange, fishy, and salty flavor. He felt a little nauseous, and his intuition told him that this was no good thing.
There was no one, no light, no sound here; it was like a tomb, burying him deep within.
After a while, he finally regained a little strength. While he couldn't move mountains or fill seas, he could at least slowly shuffle off the bed, supporting himself against the wall. The owner of the house was quite thoughtful, having laid a soft carpet on the floor, so Fu Ming didn't feel any stinging pain as he moved barefoot on it.
Not long after they started walking, Fu Ming was forcibly dragged back by a tremendous force from behind. His skin and flesh were too fragile, so he had to kneel on the carpet, shivering.
Clang, clang. Something was jingling on his ankles and wrists. Fu Ming felt along his skin and found thin shackles, cold to the touch, each with several strings of small bells hanging from them.
A binding lock made of cold gold? Isn't it too extravagant to use it to lock up a useless person like him?
The body was dressed rather scantily, leading him to speculate that the original owner did not have a respectable profession. Could it be that he was a furnace vessel privately kept by some powerful being?
According to the historical knowledge that the remnant soul of the True Immortal had hastily supplemented for him, the practice of using furnaces and cauldrons was prevalent in ancient times, harming countless proud sons of heaven, and was later banned.
It's alright, it's just starting over again. Fortune changes every thirty years, give him another year or two, and he can break free from this cage. The reason why the furnace and cauldron disappeared is mainly because a powerful figure who was originally a furnace and cauldron created a Heaven-rank cultivation technique that furnace and cauldron practitioners could learn, and he happened to have read that book. In this way, regaining his cultivation is just a matter of time.
After playing the role of an overpowered protagonist for so many years, Fu Ming is always optimistic.
However, what he didn't know was that this script was different.
The crisp ringing of the bell gradually subsided, but faint conversations and the sound of chess pieces falling onto the wooden board could be heard overhead.
"It is also thanks to your advocacy of opening up trade that there have been few demonic cultivators causing trouble in Yongcheng in recent years, and the border has been much more peaceful."
This elegant and noble lady was playing chess with Xiao Huaiyuan. She is the current head of the Gu family. After the fall of the former city lord of Yongcheng, a branch of the Gu family, the Ghost Market business was taken over by the main family.
"Elder Gu, you flatter me. This was my disciple's idea, and I was just relaying the message." Xiao Huaiyuan played absentmindedly and quickly wiped out Elder Gu's white pieces.
Since his apprentice died, she always felt that Xiao Huaiyuan had become less human. Although he was cold before, he was not as ruthless and tough as he is now.
Elder Gu had nothing to say, and could only say, "Sect Leader Xiao, please accept my condolences."
The game is over.
Xiao Huaiyuan disliked being insincere with people, and besides, he had more important matters to attend to.
After the bystanders left, he reactivated the barrier and slowly descended the stairs from the side room's secret chamber.
It was always so quiet here, which gave him peace of mind.
His heels tapped on the wooden stairs, and the candlelight shone brightly, casting a warm glow on the person on the couch, making their cheeks appear rosy and their complexion healthy.
His senior brother had never been so obedient. No matter what, he would never listen to advice and would always return covered in injuries. Only when he was lying in bed recovering would he reluctantly apologize to him with a smile.
But those were all lies.
Xiao Huaiyuan sat sideways on the couch, his hand loosely grasping Fu Ming's throat, gradually tightening until unconscious cries escaped from Fu Ming's slightly parted lips.
He suddenly let go, embraced Fu Ming's clone in his arms, and leaned down to kiss him.
He had already reacted during that brief skin-to-skin contact.
This was naturally an extremely unusual and immoral act that would be condemned by the world. But Xiao Huaiyuan was born a monster. He was an illegitimate child born from his parents' illicit union, born with unusual signs, able to speak only at the age of three, and unable to enter the Daoist path by the age of twenty.
Back then, only his senior brother wouldn't look down on him, and now only his senior brother won't try to please him; he's truly cold-blooded.
Fu Ming's lips and tongue were much softer than his heart. As Xiao Huaiyuan leaned back and drew a silver line, he was breathing heavily with a dazed look in his eyes.
This is merely a clone of a soul separated from its body, retaining only the most basic reflexes.
Xiao Huaiyuan gently bit Fu Ming's earlobe and said, "Senior brother, didn't you say that everyone has the right to have their wishes fulfilled? What's wrong with granting my wish?"
Fu Ming was completely stiff, or rather, anyone would be too afraid to move if they were propped up with a fire poker. He was doing his best to disguise himself as a corpse, but Xiao Huaiyuan was simply too audacious.
I have to say, the feeling of having a hard object stuck in your back is really...
Fortunately, Xiao Huaiyuan didn't do anything to him in the end; he just carried him to another locked room.
Click, the somewhat rusty key turned three times and opened the huge lock on the door, revealing a small but clean and tidy bedroom. Inside, there were many odds and ends, all neatly arranged.
Two frayed prayer cushions, a wooden bed, a floor mat, a wooden cabinet containing many sets of Tianyan Sect uniforms, and many books, ranging from outdated storybooks to cultivation manuals.
It was the room he and Xiao Huaiyuan had once lived in, and the furnishings were exactly the same as they were fifty years ago.
It was very touching. Although Fu Ming didn't know why Xiao Huaiyuan was still excited and hadn't calmed down for so long, it was quite a manly thing to do.
Fu Ming was placed on a futon in front of the mirror in an awkward position with no cover.
Logically, disciples of the Tianyan Sect should wear an inner garment, a middle garment, and an outer robe. However, he was only wearing a plain silk undergarment and a disciple's outer robe. The oversized coat, which was clearly not his, was loose and had already slipped off his shoulders. He couldn't even reach out to pull it up, which made him quite unhappy.
When he looked at himself in the mirror, he realized that his disguise had completely disappeared, and his current appearance was not much different from his original self. Only his cheeks were thinner, and he still had the scars from the previous battle, giving him a more frail and delicate appearance.
Xiao Huaiyuan's fingertips brushed against the faint scar on his right cheek, and he muttered to himself, "Senior brother, do you still remember the origin of this glass mirror?"
Fu Ming thought to himself, he is not old enough to have dementia, and his memory is not that bad. Isn't this a gift he is giving to Xiao Huaiyuan to celebrate his coming of age?
In the first twenty years or so after he transmigrated, he discovered that people were using rather blurry bronze mirrors. So, combining his still-remembered chemistry knowledge, he invented a glass mirror. Later, he even sold the mirror-making recipe to earn some extra money and gave the very first mirror he made to Xiao Huaiyuan as a gift.
He figured that Xiao Huaiyuan, who came from a prestigious family, had seen plenty of good things, so he sent him a rare and unusual item from later generations. But what did that have to do with him coveting his senior brother's backside?
Seeing that he did not reply, Xiao Huaiyuan made a hasty judgment: "He definitely doesn't remember."
...This is truly a baseless accusation. That little brat deserves a beating.
A heavy head pressed down on Fu Ming's shoulder, while a pair of restless hands groped down his waist. Hot breath sprayed against his ear, turning Fu Ming's earlobes bright red.
He suddenly felt a soreness and swelling in his lower abdomen, and his empty dantian seemed to be surging with heat. Xiao Huaiyuan lifted the thin inner garment and placed his hand on the array pattern that emitted golden light.
A soul-summoning formation.
As the light grew brighter, Fu Ming's originally firm mind became hazy. When he came to his senses again, he had already eaten something that was equally fishy and salty.
It turns out the blemish on his cheek had always been...
The Xiao Huaiyuan in the mirror had high eyebrows and deep-set eyes, his features so handsome that there wasn't a trace of evil in him, but when he smiled, it sent chills down Xiao Huaiyuan's spine.
"Senior brother, you're back."
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Author's note: Praying I won't be...?
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