Chapter 15 Just Friends
As Yan Shuoyun stood up, he used force to push the jade box that Xiao Hanzhou had handed him back.
He laughed and said, "I'm sorry, the Snow Soul effect is too overpowered. I can't possibly accept such a blessing."
This could have been a perfectly normal excuse, but Xiao Hanzhou seemed to understand something from it and suddenly made a move. Yan Shuoyun's pupils shrank, and he pointed his fingers like a knife. In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged blows.
Ren Yi realized that Xiao Hanzhou's attack was aimed at him.
He had absolutely no desire to clash head-on with the Chosen One. Even now, with his cultivation unstable after rebuilding his spiritual root, he couldn't defeat the opponent before. This disguise was originally geared towards support. Ren Yi tried to retreat during their exchange of blows, but his spiritual energy stagnated for a moment, and it was too late for him to move further.
Yan Shuoyun was right; his body was indeed unable to withstand Xue Po at this moment.
Let alone the Snow Soul, he couldn't even stand the chill emanating from the jade box containing it. His old injuries throbbed, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat. In the brief moment of Ren Yi's paralysis, Xiao Hanzhou had already grasped his pulse point with one hand, while at the same time, Yan Shuoyun's fingers were already pressed against the side of Xiao Hanzhou's neck.
But Xiao Hanzhou seemed completely oblivious to the danger, remaining motionless as he gripped Ren Yi's wrist and probed it with his spiritual energy. His expression shifted several times before he blurted out, "What's going on?!"
Although the person in front of me looks alright, a quick probe with spiritual energy reveals that his meridians are covered with mottled old wounds. Although they have healed now, the horror of the past can still be seen. As for the spiritual energy he relies on, his spiritual root, which has been reshaped by the Spirit Shaping Pill, is weak and easily damaged.
After that outburst of question, Xiao Hanzhou seemed to suddenly realize something and raised his hand to probe Ren Yi's Dao bones.
He realized another terrifying possibility.
A-Yi possesses Dao bones, so he shouldn't need to rely on such weak spiritual roots for cultivation. The only possibility in this situation is that his Dao bones have been taken away.
Xiao Hanzhou's conjecture was not verified; the moment he made his move, Yan Shuoyun, who was prepared, reached out and stopped him.
Yan Shuoyun's face finally turned completely cold. He said in a chilling voice, "To attack an elder of my sect on my Xuanqing Sect's territory, Patriarch Xiao, is far too disrespectful to the Xuanqing Sect and the Western Continent."
Xiao Hanzhou did not respond, but stared intently at Ren Yi.
Ren Yi was genuinely worried that the two would fight. The secret realm was about to open, and while the two continents appeared outwardly harmonious, there were many undercurrents of conflict. If these two individuals, each holding a special position in their respective continents, were to clash, the situation could easily escalate.
Thinking it over, Ren Yi stopped Yan Shuoyun, who was about to make a move, and smiled politely at Xiao Hanzhou, saying that he had been injured before coming to Xizhou, but he was almost fully recovered now.
Xiao Hanzhou clearly wanted to continue asking questions, but faced with Ren Yi's polite yet distant expression, he opened his mouth but ultimately couldn't say anything.
He glanced at Yan Shuoyun beside him with a sullen face, then quickly turned his gaze back to Ren Yi, but slightly averted his eyes from that cold and unfamiliar gaze. "I also brought some healing pills and spiritual herbs with me when I came to Xizhou. Perhaps they will be helpful for your injuries."
After saying that, without waiting for Ren Yi to refuse, he said "Go back and look for it" and left in a hurry.
Yan Shuoyun, who was being completely ignored, didn't care. He stared blankly at Xiao Hanzhou's departing figure for a while, then suddenly turned to Ren Yi and asked, "Use your Dao Bone on him, right?"
Ren Yi: "...?!"
He didn't know how Yan Shuoyun had guessed. Dao bones were different from spiritual roots and golden cores. In this small world, only "innate Dao bones" were known; there were no acquired ones. Ren Yi's Dao bone was given to him as a medicinal ingredient to save Xiao Hanzhou, who had gone mad from cultivation. That time, he truly played the role of a "tool" in the literal sense. Ren Yi even suspected that the Dao bone's only purpose was to save the chosen one. In short, Xiao Hanzhou was saved, but his Dao bone was gone.
This incident left no trace, since no one would bother to test whether someone possessed Dao bones, not even Xiao Hanzhou.
Logically speaking, apart from Ren Yi and the medical cultivator who saved Xiao Hanzhou back then, no one else in the world knows about that matter. Ren Yi has never told anyone else, and that medical cultivator is still in Dongzhou. Yan Shuoyun can only guess... and guess so confidently.
Ren Yi considered it for a moment and felt that there was no point in arguing now, so he nodded hesitantly.
Yan Shuoyun's expression turned cold for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal. This overly calm demeanor made Ren Yi unable to help but scrutinize him.
Seeing his seemingly uneasy expression, Yan Shuoyun smiled slightly and said slowly, word by word, "Whether it's cultivation level, spiritual root, or Dao bone, it's all yours. I have no say in how you decide to deal with it."
Ren Yi: "..."
That makes sense, but he still felt uneasy about Yan Shuoyun's expression.
"but--"
Yan Shuoyun drew out his words, paused slightly, and his smile grew wider, making people feel increasingly uneasy. "Xiao Yi said before that the spiritual root is 'mine' now. If you want to use it for anything this time, I can say a word or two."
Yan Shuoyun emphasized the word "mine" with particular force. Ironically, the rest of the sentence, because of his calmer mood, sounded less strained. But Ren Yi still felt that his smile seemed to have a dark undertone.
Yan Shuoyun was still busy. Although he had made a special trip over Ren Yi's matter, after receiving the latter's assurance, he was eventually urged to leave by a series of messages.
However, just before leaving, he made a point of mentioning the spell Ren Yi had used while he was resting.
His expression finally returned to normal, and his smile truly looked like a smile. "I've been so busy these past few days, with no time to rest. But that short nap just now swept away my fatigue, and my mind is instantly clear... I'm afraid I'll have to trouble Xiao Yi again in a while."
Ren Yi readily agreed, and his mood improved as well.
He said his method was fine, but when he used it on Xiao Hanzhou back then, the other person always had a ferocious expression afterward, as if he had killed Xiao Hanzhou's entire family, which made Ren Yi uneasy.
However, Ren Yi thought about it and understood. At that time, Xiao Hanzhou was cultivating with every second counting in order to avenge himself. He forcibly dragged him over to rest, wasting the other party's cultivation time. Wouldn't he be the one to blame? Who knows how much Xiao Hanzhou hated him at that time.
That's what he thought, but due to professional requirements and work habits, Ren Yi always maintained a strangely tolerant attitude towards the chosen one.
We can't be intolerant either; he can't just quit.
Everyone encounters a few difficult clients in their life, but Xiao Hanzhou's level of difficulty doesn't even rank in the top three.
While Ren Yi sighed with emotion, Yan Shuoyun's expression turned cold the moment he left. He glanced at the direction of Yingsong Peak, his eyes filled with icy chill.
Do you want to ride on A-Yi's cultivation and Daoist spirit to achieve harmony and jointly explore the Great Dao?
How could such a good thing exist in this world?
Thinking of Xiao Hanzhou, whom he had met today, Yan Shuoyun curled his lips again.
Did that person really think he wanted to hold hands with the head of the Bai family?
The smile on his lips turned cold, and Yan Shuoyun silently wished him well.
When Xiao Hanzhou and Yan Shuoyun fought, Xue Po was dropped on the ground. Xiao Hanzhou was in a daze when he left and forgot to take it with him, while Yan Shuoyun, although he performed much better than Xiao Hanzhou, was also clearly not his usual self, as he didn't notice this detail at all.
Ren Yi, upon discovering the problem, did not hesitate for long before deciding to return it.
Are you kidding me? Do you think you can just take advantage of someone who's destined for greatness?!
Don't say this thing is useless to him now; even if it were, he couldn't just keep it like this, or he'd have to give it back tenfold. Just like back when he was following the plot, he accepted a piece of jade marrow from Xiao Hanzhou, and soon after, he had to use his spiritual root to save his beloved. That was under the constraints of the plot; now that the plot is over, if he really accepted this piece of snow essence, who knows how he'd have to repay it? It's like he wasn't even prepared for it.
As Ren Yi thought about it, he felt more and more that the thing in his hand was a hot potato and he had to return it as soon as possible.
...
However, when Ren Yi arrived at Yingsong Peak, he encountered a problem: Xiao Hanzhou was not there.
The Xiao family members at the gate did not recognize Ren Yi.
After all, once Xiao Hanzhou had avenged himself, Ren Yi's role as a plot device was pretty much over. The main characters would then begin developing their romance, and Ren Yi intentionally wanted to minimize his presence in the process. Firstly, interfering with someone's love life is unethical. Secondly, and very importantly, his role had shifted from a victim to a villainous supporting character. As is customary, the more he acted at this point, the more he would be humiliated.
Nobody wants to suffer unnecessarily. Although it's all part of the storyline, you can still manage the degree of tension yourself.
As a veteran employee with many years of experience in missions, Ren Yi was very familiar with this. Apart from the necessary storylines, he was very well-behaved and never tried to get too close to the chosen one. As a result, he was not familiar with the later disciples of the Xiao family at all.
Although he was stopped at this moment, Ren Yi had no intention of making things difficult for these disciples and did not insist on finding out Xiao Hanzhou's whereabouts.
However, he should return the Snow Soul in his hand as soon as possible.
The beauty's furrowed brows were a sight to behold, and before Ren Yi could say anything, the disciple who had been blocking him already showed hesitation.
The two disciples, facing each other sideways, exchanged glances. One of them hesitated before speaking, "The patriarch should be at the Bai family right now, probably delivering some medicine to Patriarch Bai. He should be back soon. If you wish to find the patriarch, perhaps you should wait a little longer?"
Among the many aristocratic families from the Eastern Continent, the Xiao and Bai families, both residing in Tianhuan City, naturally had a closer relationship than others. Furthermore, since Bai Jinliu took over as the head of the Bai family two years ago, the two families had long been as close as family. It was no secret in the Eastern Continent that the Bai family head had an old injury. When the two disciples saw their patriarch return in a hurry, carrying many mild medicinal herbs clearly intended for healing, and then rushing off towards the Bai family without saying a word, they could only guess that the Bai family head's old injury had flared up again, and that he was rushing to deliver medicine.
Ren Yi was taken aback; it turned out that Xiao Hanzhou had gone to find Bai Jinliu.
He was a little conflicted for a moment. He would have waited if it were anyone else, but Bai Jinliu was different.
Thinking about his role as a tool for the villainous male supporting character's secret crush, Ren Yi felt that the current situation was not good for him.
Based on his years of experience with missions, this could clearly be a plot point! Like how a vicious cannon fodder deliberately causes trouble when the main characters are alone, only to be slapped in the face by the chosen one.
There's no way we can wait any longer.
Ren Yi is now torn between leaving his things behind or pretending he was never there and leaving immediately.
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