Chapter 74 Spicy Rabbit Head: How Did You Two Meet? (First Update)...
After watching the song and dance performance, Hua Deng commented, "Your Ziyang Sect is too depressing. I want to go out and have some fun."
Shen Zhou said, "With your cultivation level, you'll be killed as soon as you step outside."
Hua Deng: "It's good that you're dead. I didn't want to stay here anyway."
After she finished speaking, Shen Zhou's expression turned quite ugly. He stared at her coldly and said, "Nonsense."
Hua Deng rebuked him: "You clearly won't do this again."
Shen Zhou asked, "What will I be like in the future?"
He found it hard to imagine that, according to Hua Deng, his future self seemed to be doing nothing, spending every day playing boring pretend games with her.
His life was so short, yet he didn't know how to cherish it and wasted it on these things.
Hua Deng thought for a moment, then took out a five-colored rope. The ring Chen Zhou had given her had a storage function, and she put the rope inside.
She couldn't use any of the other magical artifacts, but the ring had come here with her, which was quite miraculous.
She said, "A few days ago was the Dragon Boat Festival. You helped me and my family wrap zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and we also made five-colored ropes together."
She grabbed Shen Zhou's hand; his wrist was as cold as ice, and the blue veins were clearly visible.
"I happen to have one rope left over from what I made, so I'll give it to you."
Shen Zhou grabbed her arm with his backhand. Hua Deng felt the sudden force of his attack. Perhaps because he hadn't been in contact with people for too long, his conditioned reflex was to break her arm.
But due to the counter-kill curse, or for some other reason, he didn't do it in the end, silently holding her hand. In that moment of stalemate, she put the colorful rope around his neck.
The rope really didn't suit him. He was dressed in black from head to toe, except for his pale skin. Now there was a splash of color, adorning his prominent wrist bones.
Shen Zhou didn't say a word, his gaze fixed on the rope, then he turned and left.
The wide, long sleeves weighed down the colorful ropes, and Hua Deng didn't know if he had thrown them away.
Anyway, after a while, Jin Yue came again, this time specifically to take her out shopping.
Hua Deng, in high spirits, changed into a pretty dress, combed her hair, and followed him outside: "Did he ask you to come and keep me company?"
Jin Yue paused for a moment. His master's exact words were: "Keep an eye on her, unless you want to die with her."
He couldn't say that out loud, so he replied, "Yes, Your Majesty has ordered me to protect you closely."
"Oh, he's quite considerate."
With Yue possessing the cultivation level of the Integration Stage, and the surrounding area spanning hundreds of miles being the territory of the Ziyang Sect, Hua Deng has absolutely no need to worry about safety issues.
Even so, she still intuitively felt that this era was completely different from later ones. Even in the most prosperous towns, there were often corpses piled up on the roadside, and murder and robbery in the streets were commonplace.
Chaos, bloodshed, and disorder—this was the era in which Shen Zhou once lived.
According to Jin Yue, the expansion of the Ziyang Sect is a disaster for the various sects of immortality, but it may not be without benefit to ordinary people. At least within the Ziyang Sect's territory, there is no infighting among different forces, and no city can be destroyed with a flick of the wrist.
Jin Yue and his men could teleport instantly, and Hua Deng went to several places in a row, spending all of Chen Zhou's money, which gave them a unique kind of thrill.
As the sky darkened, Jin Yue couldn't sit still any longer and earnestly advised her, "Ancestor, let's go back. It's not safe to go any later."
Hua Deng said, "You're already in your fusion phase, what's there to be unsafe about? Look at that restaurant, I want to eat there!"
Jin Yue complained bitterly and hurriedly caught up with her to the restaurant, where he ordered several dishes.
The dishes were all served, but Jin Yue didn't touch his chopsticks. He didn't have the habit of eating, and instead continued to persuade Hua Deng, "Miss Hua, shall we go back after we finish eating?"
Hua Deng: "Don't you think Miss Hua looks a lot like a pretty girl?"
Jin Yue: "Huh?"
Hua Deng chuckled and picked up his chopsticks: "Wait a little longer. I've finally managed to get out here, and I don't want to go back to the First Palace."
As she spoke, she reached for her favorite Kung Pao Chicken, but as soon as she picked up a little bit of meat, it was knocked away by another pair of chopsticks.
Turning her head, she saw Shen Zhou sitting upright beside her, picking up a piece of chicken and putting it into her bowl: "If you don't return to the First Palace, where else do you want to go?"
Hua Deng: "How come you appear and disappear so mysteriously?"
Shen Zhou tapped the rim of his bowl with his chopsticks and said, "Eat now. Go back after you finish."
Hua Deng thought of something, beckoned to the waiter, and ordered an extra spicy rabbit head dish. When the dish arrived, she pushed it in front of Chen Zhou and said with a smile, "Try it, you'll definitely be able to taste the flavor!"
Shen Zhou was not in a good mood, but seeing that she looked like she wouldn't give up until he ate, he reluctantly picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.
He paused in his chewing, then swallowed slowly, expressionless: "Boring."
The reaction must have been from the spiciness. Hua Deng laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight, and even though Shen Zhou looked like he was going to kill her, she just couldn't stop.
Shen Zhou turned to Jin Yue, his tone extremely impatient: "What are you still doing here? Get out."
Jin Yue: "Okay!"
He happily rolled away.
After finishing his meal, Shen Zhou took Hua Deng back to the Ziyang Sect.
The Guiyi Hall now has everything. Hua Deng opened the wardrobe and put all the clothes he bought during the day inside, leaving only one item out.
"Even though it cost you your money, I also bought you a new outfit. Try it on!"
She was holding a snow-white dress, beautiful and elegant, but Chen Zhou glanced at it and threw it into the closet without hesitation, uttering a single word: "Ugly."
Hua Deng shook his head and sighed, "Your taste is hopeless."
Shen Zhou sneered and ignored him.
From then on, Hua Deng was granted permission to go out, and Jin Yue accompanied her every time.
Shen Zhou would sometimes appear, and when he did, he would steal her pastries or drink her tea, then leave. He was quite the thief.
The days passed uneventfully, and Hua Deng tried desperately to find a way back, but to no avail.
That day, she got bored while shopping and left early. On her way back, she was met by a large group of cultivators flying towards her, their swords pointed directly at the Ziyang Sect.
She was stunned for a moment, and so was Jin Yue, but the latter remained calm and unhurriedly led her back.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. On the ground, the army of cultivators faced Shen Zhou alone, led by a man in gray robes. They all had their swords drawn and their hair standing on end in anger.
Hua Deng listened carefully, and the gray-clad man roared, "You've gone too far! Being the emperor of the Demonic Sect isn't enough! Do you want to be the emperor of the Nine Provinces?!"
Shen Zhou didn't even flinch when faced with their questions.
He extended a long, slender finger and said with a half-smile, "I can refuse."
With a slight downward press of the finger, an immense pressure swept across the entire area, causing cold sweat to bead on the gray-clad man's forehead. When the finger reached its full depth, everyone collapsed to their knees.
"But you cannot refuse to kneel."
The man in gray was the last to kneel down, but he did kneel after all, dazed and unable to lift his head.
He himself was a master at the Tribulation Transcending stage, and behind him were many powerful figures from the cultivation world.
But he never knew before that there was a world of difference between different Tribulation Transcending Stages.
When Hua Deng reached the edge of the crowd, Chen Zhou began killing.
The highest level of puppetry is enough to drive anyone to their death. Without him even lifting a finger, the people on the ground began to self-destruct one after another.
Blood and flesh splattered more and more, and someone's severed arm fell on the gray-clad man's head. He finally couldn't hold on any longer and shouted, "Stop! You just want us to cede territory as compensation, right? I'll give it to you! All twelve cities of Youzhou are yours!"
Shen Zhou stopped his spell, stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly clapped his hands and laughed.
"When did I ever say I wanted your territory?"
The man in gray looked up in astonishment. They were all kneeling before him in such humiliation, yet he actually said he didn't want it anymore.
Halfway through the streetlights, I glanced into the distance and saw the gray-clad man with bloodshot eyes and a horribly green face.
Beside him stood a boy who looked quite young. Upon seeing this, the boy raised his voice and asked, "Why did you hit our people when you didn't want them?"
Shen Zhou recalled briefly: "You mean that True Lord?"
The boy said, "We've come to avenge the True Lord!"
Shen Zhou said casually, "The True Lord you speak of injured my subordinate without cause, so I chopped him into eight pieces as a form of reciprocity."
Upon hearing this, the boy pondered for a moment, then turned to his head and said earnestly, "Father, I don't think he did anything wrong. Let's go back!"
The man in gray rolled his eyes and fainted from anger.
Hua Deng couldn't help but burst out laughing.
She laughed, only to realize that the laugh was inappropriate. Apart from the sound of the wind, the entire room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and everyone was looking at her.
Even Chen Zhou looked at her and inexplicably smiled.
He said, "Come here."
Hua Deng came to his side.
He seemed tired of the killing game, and without looking back, he walked toward the palace with the lanterns.
But then, the gray-clad man jumped up again, pointing his sword at the sky and saying, "Don't think you're so powerful! We've found your weakness!"
Hua Deng was puzzled; where did his confidence come from? She didn't even know what Shen Zhou's weaknesses were.
But she soon discovered that what the man said was actually true.
As his sword energy erupted, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and sunlight poured down, shining on Shen Zhou's face and leaving a scorching mark.
His pale skin cracked open inch by inch with black smoke, constantly healing only to reappear.
He didn't seem to care and said to the streetlights, "Why are you so surprised?"
After saying that, he smiled and said calmly, "That's right. After he is reincarnated, he will definitely give up cultivating demonic arts, so as not to end up like me."
“If he were a demonic cultivator, you, a righteous person, would not become his Daoist partner.”
Hua Deng finally snapped out of her shock and immediately said, "I'm not..."
Shen Zhou ignored her words, turned around, raised his hand and summoned a celestial sword. The sword swept across the land without leaving a trace, instantly beheading hundreds of people.
In a matter of moments, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and corpses littered the ground. Hua Deng remembered this sword; Shen Zhou called it "Treasure Number One," and she had once held it in her own hands.
Amidst the scattered limbs, only one person remained alive—the boy.
Shen Zhou pulled him over from a distance and said to Hua Deng, "You come and kill him."
Hua Deng shook his head and pushed away the sword he offered: "He is your enemy, not mine."
Shen Zhou laughed: "Aren't you my Daoist partner? My Daoist partner is actually unwilling to kill for me."
Hua Deng raised his chin: "Now you want to admit I'm your Daoist partner? I don't think so."
Shen Zhou's face darkened: "What did you say?"
Hua Deng said, "I said I don't admit it!"
Shen Zhou turned around and kicked the boy, cursing him, "Idiot! Aren't you sad that your father died?"
The boy was kicked for no reason. He looked up and exclaimed "Ah!" Then he said blankly, "That's my godfather. I have three more godfathers like him."
Hua Deng: "...Pfft."
Given the inappropriateness of the situation, she forced herself to suppress her laughter.
Shen Zhou glanced at her, his expression still cold, and said with annoyance, "Get out! Go back and tell them that if they dare to come to the Ziyang Sect again, I will take over Youzhou and Yongzhou."
The boy took out paper and pen: "Godfather, can you write this down? I can't remember it."
Shen Zhou retorted, "Who is your godfather!"
Seeing that he was about to kill someone again, the veins on his forehead throbbed noticeably twice. Hua Deng quickly took the paper and pen from him: "I'll write it for you, you should leave now."
After speaking, she quickly handed the item back to the boy, who bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, godmother. I'm leaving now!"
After he walked away, Shen Zhou said quietly, "You really like having sons that much?"
Hua Deng whispered, "If you want, I can acknowledge you."
Shen Zhou: "You..."
Hua Deng: "What's the name of this sword?"
She quickly changed the subject, seizing on Baby Number One and asking a question she already knew the answer to.
Shen Zhou sheathed his sword with a gloomy expression and replied curtly, "Does a sword need a name?"
No need, then why did you name it "Baby"?
Hua Deng silently complained to herself, then asked curiously, "Why didn't you use Lie Tian just now?"
Shen Zhou frowned: "Sky-Splitting? What?"
He then realized that it was something he didn't understand.
"That's his business, it has nothing to do with me."
After saying this, he took the lanterns back to the underground palace and walked towards the Guiyi Hall.
Finally free from the sight of corpses strewn across the ground, Hua Deng breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest.
This action was quickly noticed by Shen Zhou, who said sarcastically, "You can't even stand a dead person, yet you still want to be with him?"
Hua Deng retorted, "That era was very peaceful, unlike here."
Shen Zhou scoffed, "Even in the most peaceful times, it's not his place to be a good person. Or is it that he can really pretend to be that good in front of you?"
Hua Deng glanced at him and said softly, "He rarely kills in front of me."
Looking at the person before her, she was even more confused. If he was already so powerful, surpassing all others in the Nine Provinces, why did he insist on reincarnating?
Is it because cultivating demonic arts shortened his lifespan, and he was unwilling to accept it, so he wanted to be reincarnated to make up for it?
While pondering, Shen Zhou had already sat down by the window of Guiyi Hall.
He was silent for a moment, then asked Hua Deng, "If he doesn't kill people, what does he do in his spare time?"
There's a lot to say about this streetlight. She sat down, rested her chin on her hands, and fell into her memories: "We usually get up at Chenshi (7-9 AM), or at Sishi (9-11 AM) if we're a little later."
"If you don't want to cultivate, you can go shopping. If you want to cultivate, then let's meditate and practice together. By the way, you wrote my cultivation method, and it's very effective."
“We’ll have breakfast down the mountain. I like xiaolongbao and shrimp dumplings. For lunch, we usually go to a restaurant. In the afternoon, we can go to a teahouse to listen to storytelling. You listened to storytelling with me the other day and even tipped the storyteller.”
"Dinner is not always the same. Sometimes it's crescent moon or full moon – my maid cooks it, and sometimes we cook it together. Although it doesn't taste very good, I like it very much."
"Of course, we don't need to eat every day, and we sometimes go into seclusion for a whole day."
"In short, there's still a lot we can do."
After she finished speaking, she saw that Shen Zhou remained silent. She didn't take it seriously and took the opportunity to ask him, "Do you prefer cats or dogs?"
Without hesitation, Shen Zhou replied, "Dog."
He paused for a moment, then said, "Why are you asking this?"
The girl touched her chin, looking a little troubled: "But I think I prefer cats."
He almost instinctively replied, "Then let's get a cat."
He was taken aback when he said it. But Hua Deng didn't think anything was wrong and started analyzing the pros and cons of keeping a cat versus a dog with him.
“Oh right, you’ve owned dogs before, so you must like them even more,” she said.
Shen Zhou looked at her: "He's told you a lot?"
Hua Deng nodded: "Of course, haven't you ever had nights when you couldn't sleep and wanted to chat with someone?... Oh, I forgot, you don't sleep at all."
"He can sleep?"
"Yes, we go to bed before midnight so we can chat, read books together, and eat together."
Her eyes sparkled as she spoke of these things, clearly enjoying this kind of life.
"Do you know about jujubes? They're delicious. Several times you've gone out at night and brought me back a bunch the next day. I don't even know where you picked them."
"And Li Ji's dim sum, you bought from many stores, but I said this one was the best, and then you could eat it often."
"You even played Ludo with me? You have such bad luck. I win eight out of ten games."
She rattled off a string of words, but Shen Zhou didn't respond. Instead, a slight hint of hostility faded from his face, which was usually etched with irritability and gloom, replaced by a brief moment of peace and silence.
When Hua Deng said he was tired and turned to pour tea, he calmly asked, "How did you two meet? Tell me."
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