Chapter 43
Hearing Shi Anxu say this, the other two white leopards finally let go of the one that Shi Anxu had touched.
Shi Anxu kept his promise and petted the other two white leopards.
After touching it, he prepared to leave, as he needed to quickly take the Ice Lotus back to Mu Qingzhou to heal his injuries.
He put the ice lotus into his ring space and started walking down the mountain.
He had only taken two steps when he felt something following him, so he immediately turned around to look behind him.
Upon seeing that it was the same three white leopards in front of him, he instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked up to the three white leopards and asked, "Do you want to leave this place with me?"
The three white leopards roared in unison, just like before.
Shi Anxu hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should take the three white leopards back with him.
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he asked the three white leopards, "If you leave, who will protect the Ice Lotus?"
The three white leopards suddenly jumped behind Shi Anxu and used their heads to push him back.
Shi Anxu was led back to the lotus pond by them, where he found that three more snow-covered lotuses had returned to guard the ice lotuses.
It turns out that after the first wave left, another wave will come.
Then there's no need for him to consider it anymore, since it's also the guardian beast of the Ice Lotus, its strength must be quite similar.
Their current situation is very bad; the more help they have, the greater their chances of winning.
He said to the three white leopards, "Then you may all come back with me."
And so, one man and three leopards marched out of the Mountain of No Return in a grand procession.
Shi Anxu released the flying boat again, letting the white leopards board it, and then he boarded the flying boat last and controlled it to fly back to the small courtyard.
——
Mu Qingzhou finally woke up from his deep sleep. Before he even opened his eyes, he reached out to his right to touch Shi Anxu.
He touched something icy cold, and suddenly opened his eyes, looking to his right.
The bed on the right was already empty, and the coldness of it told Mu Qingzhou that the person had been gone for a long time.
He immediately dragged himself out of bed, opened the door, and wanted to go out to find Shi Anxu.
Just then, Mu Xize was carrying a tray to deliver medicine to Mu Qingzhou when he was startled by Mu Qingzhou's actions. His hand holding the tray wobbled, and some of the medicine spilled onto the tray.
Seeing this, Mu Qingzhou took the tray from Mu Xize's hands and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, did I startle you, Master's wife?"
Seeing Mu Qingzhou's gaze constantly drifting behind him, Mu Xize sighed and said, "It's nothing, stop looking. Anxu went out to help me gather herbs."
Upon hearing Mu Xize's words, Mu Qingzhou immediately became anxious, "Master's wife, is the place where my senior brother went to gather herbs dangerous?"
Mu Xize patted Mu Qingzhou on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, how could I let your senior brother take such a risk?"
Mu Qingzhou finally felt relieved, and then realized that he was still standing at the door preventing Mu Xize from coming in. He immediately took two steps back to let Mu Xize in.
The two walked together to the spot where Mu Xize often sat down to read.
Mu Qingzhou put down the tray, picked up the medicine bowl, and drank it all without even frowning.
Mu Xize was afraid that if he said too much, he would reveal that Shi Anxu had gone to help him pick ice lotus, so he had no choice but to start telling Mu Qingzhou about his physical condition.
Do you feel like you're sleeping more than usual right now?
Mu Qingzhou was aware of his physical condition. He didn't need anyone to risk their lives to pick the ice lotus for him. He was already prepared to die. His only regret was that he couldn't spend some quality time with his senior brother.
He nodded. "I have been sleeping for longer periods of time lately."
Mu Xize placed his hand on Mu Qingzhou's wrist, which was resting on the table, and said, "The spiritual energy in your body is extremely disordered right now. The disordered spiritual energy is colliding in your body and will gradually erode your meridians. The time you spend sleeping will become longer and longer until you can no longer wake up."
Mu Qingzhou looked at the lush green courtyard outside the door and said, "I can now sleep for about half a day at a time, but it seems that time won't last much longer."
"What do you mean it won't be long?" At this moment, Shi Anxu walked in excitedly with Binglian and three white leopards, only to hear Mu Qingzhou say this.
Mu Qingzhou was about to explain to Shi Anxu when he saw the three white leopards behind Shi Anxu, and he immediately went into hiding.
He pulled Shi Anxu behind him and summoned Qingyuan to face the white leopard.
The three white leopards also thought that this ugly human wanted to harm their newly recognized master, and they bared their teeth at Mu Qingzhou.
Seeing that the man and the three leopards were about to fight, Shi Anxu immediately ran out from behind Mu Qingzhou and stood between them.
"Junior brother, these three white leopards have already recognized me as their master, they won't harm me."
Mu Qingzhou was still uneasy, so he continued to hold Qingyuan up to the white leopard.
Shi Anxu had no choice but to walk up to the white leopards and pat each one on the head.
Seeing that the white leopard showed no signs of aggression and instead seemed to be enjoying itself, he finally felt relieved and put away the Azure Abyss.
He asked, "Why did you bring back three spirit beasts while gathering herbs, Senior Brother?"
Shi Anxu touched his nose and said somewhat guiltily, "I happened to meet them when I was gathering herbs. I found that they had an ice lotus in their hands, so I was going to exchange something with them. During the exchange, I also helped them solve some minor problems, so they recognized me as their master."
Mu Qingzhou gave a soft "hmm," and Shi Anxu didn't know whether he believed him or not.
Mu Xize then stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "Now that we have the Ice Lotus, let's help Qingzhou clear its spiritual energy as soon as possible. The medicinal effects of the Ice Lotus are lost every second after it is picked, so the sooner we use it, the better the effect will be."
Shi Anxu nodded. He told the three white leopards to wait outside the courtyard, and then said to Mu Qingzhou, "Junior brother, please sit down on the couch. Senior brother will help you clear your spiritual energy."
Mu Qingzhou walked to the bed without saying a word and sat down cross-legged.
Shi Anxu took the Ice Lotus out of his spatial ring, sat behind Mu Qingzhou, and began to draw power from the Ice Lotus.
As he drew it out, he mixed his own spiritual energy with Mu Qingzhou's, which did not repel each other, and then accumulated it all in his hand.
After doing all this, Shi Anxu placed his palms on Mu Qingzhou's back and slowly channeled the accumulated spiritual energy into Mu Qingzhou's body, guiding the disordered spiritual energy back onto the right track.
Guiding spiritual energy is an extremely mentally taxing task. After Shi Anxu finished guiding Mu Qingzhou's spiritual energy, he was covered in sweat.
The moment Shi Anxu withdrew his hand, Mu Qingzhou immediately turned around, grabbed Shi Anxu's wrist, and pulled Shi Anxu into his arms.
Shi Anxu's head slammed directly into Mu Qingzhou's hard chest, and he struggled to get out of Mu Qingzhou's arms.
Mu Qingzhou rested her head on Shi Anxu's shoulder, inhaling Shi Anxu's unique fragrance.
His voice was muffled: "Senior brother, I know you went up Mount No Return alone to pick ice lotus for me. I can't judge this matter, after all, you also benefited from this misfortune. But I still worry about you doing such a thing, so please take me with you if you do anything dangerous in the future."
Shi Anxu originally thought that Mu Qingzhou would be angry with him after he found out about this, but he didn't expect to hear such a response. He reached out and grasped Mu Qingzhou's hand that was wrapped around him, and said, "Okay, senior brother promises you, we will face anything together in the future and will never be separated."
Upon hearing Shi Anxu's words, Mu Qingzhou's heart was instantly filled, and he couldn't help but kiss Shi Anxu's lips.
This was the first time in all his years that Shi Anxu had experienced the feeling of being in love, and he awkwardly responded to Mu Qingzhou.
Shi Anxu's response made Mu Qingzhou deepen the kiss. He pried open Shi Anxu's teeth and plundered her tongue until Shi Anxu could not breathe, before finally letting her go.
After being kissed by Mu Qingzhou, Shi Anxu felt weak all over, lying in Mu Qingzhou's arms as if he had no bones.
His lips were rosy from Mu Qingzhou's kisses, and his eyes were misty with the light of oxygen deprivation, making one want to cherish him.
It took Mu Qingzhou a lot of effort to suppress the lustful desire in his lower body. He couldn't do this at first, for fear of frightening his beloved senior brother.
At this moment, Shi Anxu still felt that Mu Qingzhou was much better than the male protagonists in those novels. He knew how to restrain himself and wouldn't end up with his clothes all over while kissing.
It wasn't until he was bedridden for a week that he realized how absurd his thinking had been.
After spending some more time together in bed, Mu Qingzhou released Shi Anxu's hand and followed her out the door.
Outside the door, Mu Xize sat in front of the medicine stove drinking tea. When he saw the two of them come out, his gaze lingered on Shi Anxu's slightly swollen lips for a few seconds before he asked, "Was the intervention process smooth?"
Mu Qingzhou answered for Shi Anxu: "Smoothly."
Mu Xize nodded, "Your spiritual power is still unstable and you need to recuperate for a few days. While you're at it, use these days to think of a strategy to deal with the current situation."
Upon hearing these words, Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou both became serious.
“A few days after it happened, I went to Jiang Linyu to help me come up with a plan. Then I overheard his conversation with the demonic cultivator. He colluded with the demonic cultivator to frame us. He did all of this.” Shi Anxu finished speaking with a puzzled look on his face. “But I can’t understand why he would do this?”
“Because he has always regarded me as his enemy for a long time, and he has always wanted to surpass me in everything he does,” Mu Qingzhou suddenly said.
Shi Anxu then remembered that Jiang Linyu had said something to him when he was on the verge of death: "Didn't he tell you?"
He asked in confusion, "Junior brother, what exactly is your relationship with Jiang Linyu?"
Mu Qingzhou was silent for a moment, then said, "It's quite a coincidence that our experiences are so similar. We both originally had very happy families, but in the end, they were both destroyed by a great flood."
Shi Anxu unconsciously walked behind Mu Qingzhou and hugged him, her voice muffled: "It's okay, from now on, wherever my senior brother is, that's home."
“Okay, with my senior brother here, this place is home.” Mu Qingzhou gave Shi Anxu a deep look and continued, “After that, we all grew up eating food from various families in the village. Jiang Linyu’s personality was better than mine, and he was very likable. At that time, he often came to talk to me, but I was cold-hearted and ignored him. Over time, he slowly began to resent me.”
Shi Anxu stood up for Mu Qingzhou, saying, "Jiang Linyu was just a bad kid. If she was like this when she was young, it's no wonder she did these things when she grew up!"
Mu Qingzhou said in a soothing tone, "Alright, senior brother, don't get too upset. Let's work together to figure out a way to make Jiang Linyu get the punishment she deserves."
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