Shen Gurong was exasperated.
Why was everyone so eager to help him kill Li Genglan? Was killing Li Genglan really that difficult?
However, Shen Gurong treated Shen Xiwu and Xue Manzhuang differently. He tried to reason with her: "Xiwu, I can handle Li Genglan myself."
Shen Xiwu said, "Letting my brother kill that beast himself would dirty his hands."
Shen Gurong: "..."
He looked down at his hands strangely, never realizing how precious they were.
Xue Manzhuang angrily said, "You're plagiarizing my words!"
Shen Gurong was at his wit's end. He only wanted to kill Li Genglan, so why did he bring so many people?
He was starting to doubt whether he could even kill Li Genglan himself with so many people causing trouble.
Shen Xiwu was trapped by Mu Zhe and couldn't move freely. She could only stare intently at Shen Gurong, wishing she could devour him whole so they could be together forever.
Mu Zhe disliked her gaze, frowning as he stepped forward and pulled Shen Gurong behind him.
Shen Xiwu's eyes immediately hardened.
Shen Gurong hesitated for a moment before taking out the osmanthus.
The osmanthus transformed into human form on the spot, and soon, Lin Shuhe's voice came from within.
"Eleven?"
Shen Gurong asked, "Sixth Senior Brother, can someone who has been bewitched by Li Genglan and fallen into demonic possession recover completely?"
Lin Shuhe stroked his chin: "Let me see."
Shen Gurong led Lin Shuhe to Shen Xiwu's side, and upon seeing Shen Xiwu's appearance, he clicked his tongue: "Isn't this Second Senior Sister's little disciple? She's been searching frantically on Liren Peak, I didn't expect her to actually come to Xianzhou?"
He raised his hand and pinched Shen Xiwu's chin, wanting to examine her more closely, but the moment he touched her, Shen Xiwu's eyes turned bloodshot, and she struggled to bite off one of his wooden fingers.
Lin Shuhe: "..."
Shen Gurong: "..."
Fortunately, this body felt no pain.
Lin Shuhe slowly withdrew his hand, expressionless, and said, "Hopeless. Just wait to die."
Shen Gurong's lips twitched: "Senior brother..."
Lin Shuhe glared at Shen Xiwu before reaching out to probe her meridians. After a long while, he withdrew his spiritual power and said, "Li Genglan's spiritual power can draw out the greatest desire in her consciousness, like a demon that wasn't her own being forcibly placed inside. It's very difficult to expel."
Shen Gurong's eyes darkened.
Lin Shuhe changed the subject, looking at Shen Gurong slowly and calmly, and said lightly, "But don't you carry the Soul Separation Elixir with you? Using that to strip the demonic energy from this child's consciousness is a waste of its potential, but Bugui shouldn't mind."
Shen Gurong was stunned: "Soul Separation Elixir?"
He had always thought the Soul Separation Elixir was useless, so he left it in his storage ring. He never expected it to come in handy now.
Shen Gurong took out the Soul-Separating Bead and handed it to Lin Shuhe.
Lin Shuhe took it, examined it with his missing fingers, and said, "Hmm, leave it to me. You go and do your own thing."
He flicked his finger, and a silver needle emerged from his sleeve, piercing straight into Shen Xiwu's body.
Shen Xiwu's pupils dilated sharply, she swayed a few times, and then collapsed, only to be caught by Lin Shuhe.
He was about to leave with Shen Xiwu when Shen Gurong suddenly called out to him.
"Sixth Senior Brother."
Lin Shuhe turned back in confusion.
"What?"
Shen Gurong gazed at him, then said softly, "I always thought you would blame me for that opportunity."
Lin Shuhe was confused, wondering why this was being brought up out of the blue. He asked curiously, "Why would I blame you? Didn't you save my life?"
Shen Gurong lowered his gaze slightly and said, "Because that opportunity... I obtained it by sealing Li Genglan."
That's why, when he gave the opportunity to Lin Shuhe back then, he said, "You wouldn't deign to accept such an opportunity."
Lin Shuhe paused, as if remembering something. He suddenly smiled, slowly walked to Shen Gurong's side, and gently touched Shen Gurong's head with his hand, which had lost a finger.
Shen Gurong instinctively resisted, but after a moment of stiffness, he immediately relaxed.
“He deserved it,” Lin Shuhe said softly. “After he confessed to returning to Huitang City, Liren Peak had no further connection with him. Even if you had killed him then, no one would have blamed you, and no one had the right to blame you.”
Shen Gurong stared at him, stunned.
Lin Shuhe said, “I thought our actions over the years had made our stance very clear. But you…”
He stroked Shen Gurong’s white hair, a hint of heartache welling up inside him: “We never dared to mention Huitang City in front of you. This is the first time you’ve brought it up on your own initiative.”
Ever since meeting Shen Fuji in Huitng City, Shen Gurong couldn’t bear to hear the words “Huitang City.” Every time he heard them, he would go mad. But the news of the Ghost Cultivator’s massacre of the city was common knowledge. Even if the people of Liren Peak didn’t mention it, someone outside would.
There was no other way. Li Nanyang, having already attained sainthood, spread his divine sense throughout the Three Realms, forbidding anyone from mentioning the words “Huitang City.” Mentioning it was like being struck by divine lightning, destined for sainthood.
Initially, everyone in the Three Realms thought Li Nanyang was spoiling his disciple rotten; how could one person silence everyone in the Three Realms?
But as it turned out, Li Nanyang could.
In the first year, countless cultivators were struck by divine lightning for publicly discussing Huitang City as gossip, at least half of them losing their cultivation.
From then on, no one dared mention the name Huitang City in the Three Realms.
Huitang City was gradually replaced by Fengdu.
And Shen Gurong's background, having survived the massacre in Huitang City, was also altered by Li Nanyang. Huitang City was changed to Youzhou, and his age was changed from sixteen to childhood.
Shen Gurong didn't care about this; he only cared about when he could kill Li Genglan.
Lin Shuhe asked him softly, "Have you been to Huitang City?"
Shen Gurong nodded.
Lin Shuhe's fingers trembled slightly, his voice even softer and gentler: "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Shen Gurong nodded.
At first, he had taken the kindness of everyone at Liren Peak as pity, and was ashamed to accept such kindness. But now, thinking back, even if Li Genglan was from Liren Peak, the people of Liren Peak were unaware of what he had done. Even if Shen Gurong was being unreasonable, he couldn't take his anger out on them without cause.
Xi Guxing and the others might have initially been kind to him out of pity or inexplicable guilt, but whose pity or guilt could remain unchanged for a hundred years?
Shen Gurong was somewhat oblivious to emotions, but at least he could distinguish whether their current feelings for him were genuine or feigned out of pity.
Seeing that he seemed genuinely less frenzied than before, Lin Shuhe breathed a sigh of relief and said softly, "Back then, I wanted you to leave the opportunity for your brother..."
Shen Gurong shook his head: "The dead cannot be brought back to life; I understand that now."
Besides, Shen Fuji wouldn't want to use the opportunity to survive alone.
Shen Gurong didn't say anything more, saying, "Sixth Senior Brother, I entrust Xiwu to you."
Lin Shuhe nodded: "Alright."
After saying that, he helped Shen Xiwu up and quickly left.
Xue Manzhuang rushed to Shen Gurong again, raising her voice: "Holy Lord, are you really not going to consider me? I am a descendant of a phoenix, the only one of its kind in heaven and earth. If you like my feathers, I can pluck them and give them to you as a token of our bond! I can pluck as many as I want!"
Shen Gurong: "..."
Having settled the crazed Shen Xiwu, he almost forgot there was still a troublesome bird here.
Shen Gurong rubbed his temples, looking exasperated. "Weren't you in Taozhou? Why are you here?"
Xue Manzhuang stared at Shen Gurong with shining eyes. "I'm here to help the Holy Lord," he said.
Shen Gurong: "Tell the truth."
Xue Manzhuang could only purse his lips. "The Demon Lord stole one of my phoenix feathers and has been impersonating a phoenix for so many years using the phoenix spiritual power on it. I'm here to reclaim my feather and kill him while I'm at it."
Shen Gurong was surprised. "Isn't he your father?"
Xue Manzhuang's eyebrows shot up. "You can't insult me like that!"
Shen Gurong: "..."
Xue Manzhuang muttered, "I, a descendant of the phoenix bloodline, have been calling him 'father' for so many years. This is a disgrace to the phoenix clan!"
Demon cultivators don't care about blood relations. It's not uncommon for sons to kill their own fathers to seize power, let alone Xue Manzhuang, who was never one to back down.
Ever since he learned that the Demon Lord was a usurper, he'd been plotting how to kill that pheasant with phoenix feathers. His search led him directly to Xianzhou.
Shen Gurong looked at him in surprise: "You actually found the Gate of Life?"
"What Gate of Life?" Xue Manzhuang looked completely bewildered. "I just rushed in, and almost died twice along the way."
Shen Gurong: "..."
Reckless, truly reckless.
Luckily you're a phoenix, otherwise you would have died eight hundred times over.
Shen Gurong ignored him, simply raising his hand and saying, "Go do your own thing, I'm going to find Li Genglan."
Xue Manzhuang said, "Don't! I'll kill him for you while I'm at it, it's just a matter of setting a fire."
Shen Gurong said expressionlessly, "No need, I'll do it myself."
Xue Manzhuang was about to nag again when Mu Zhe finally lost his temper, stepping forward and slapping Xue Manzhuang away, coldly saying, "Mind your own business."
Xue Manzhuang stumbled forward a few steps from the blow, turning back angrily, "What business is it of yours what I do with the Holy Lord? Who do you think you are?!"
Mu Zhe looked at him coldly, about to punch this peacock-like phoenix, scattering feathers all over the ground, without offering any explanation, when Shen Gurong suddenly spoke up.
"He's my Daoist partner."
Shen Gurong said seriously.
Xue Manzhuang was still smugly pleased with himself: "See? See? Even the Holy Lord said you're only a Daoist..."
He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing what he'd said, his eyes widening as if he'd seen a ghost, staring at Shen Gurong.
Xue Manzhuang nearly spat out a mouthful of fire in anger: "What?! Daoist partner?!"
Shen Gurong said, "Yes."
He didn't want to be bothered by this indestructible phoenix any longer. Besides, the Demon Lord had likely sided with Li Genglan. Xue Manzhuang had come to eliminate the Demon Lord, so he wouldn't harm Shen Gurong. There was no need for them to fight each other now.
Shen Gurong took a deep breath and directly summoned the Daoist partner contract. Red spirit butterflies circled around the two of them, the dazzling red almost bringing tears to Xue Manzhuang's eyes.
Xue Manzhuang stared blankly at the bright red Daoist partner contract, stammering for a long time, unable to speak.
After a long pause, he stammered, "I..."
Shen Gurong thought he had finally given up and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Xue Manzhuang chuckle triumphantly, saying, "We can even break a master-servant contract, let alone a Daoist couple contract?! I happen to have the formation for forming the contract, so even if you've already formed one, you can break it again!"
Shen Gurong: "..."
What did this idiot see in him? Couldn't he just change his mind?!
Shen Gurong hardened his heart and coldly said, "We've already cultivated together."
Xue Manzhuang: "..."
Mu Zhe: "..." No, no, I haven't even taken off my clothes.
Xue Manzhuang didn't care about that and continued his futile struggle: "So what if you cultivated together? It's just cultivation. After you break the contract..."
Shen Gurong interrupted, "We won't break the contract, not in this lifetime."
With that, ignoring Xue Manzhuang's deathly pale face, he grabbed Mu Zhe and lightly leaped off the city wall.
Mu Zhe was completely stunned. Even after landing and being led along the main street of Xianzhou by Shen Gurong's invisibility spell, he still didn't react.
Shen Gurong assumed he was just trying to persuade Xue Manzhuang with those words, but to Mu Zhe, they sounded like a deluge of honey.
Those sweet words were almost overwhelming.
Mu Zhe stood there, dazed, being dragged along by Shen Gurong for a long time before finally snapping out of it. He gripped Shen Gurong's hand and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Master?"
Shen Gurong was wandering aimlessly, hoping to stumble upon Li Genglan's residence by chance. Hearing Mu Zhe call him, he turned around in confusion, "What is it?"
Mu Zhe forcibly suppressed his inner desires and, holding Shen Gurong's hand, led them into a secluded alley on the right.
Shen Gurong looked puzzled and said, "You know how to hide at the end of the night... um!"
Before he could finish speaking, Mu Zhe pressed him against the wall, leaned down, and kissed him, silencing Shen Gurong.
Shen Gurong was uncomfortable being held so forcefully and instinctively struggled a couple of times, but Mu Zhe held his wrist and pressed him against the wall. During the struggle, the sticky, damp moss on the wall smeared Shen Gurong's hand.
Mu Zhe was passionately kissing Shen Gurong when he heard his master sob twice, his voice trembling as if he were crying. Another violent fluctuation surged through his consciousness.
'Filthy!'
'Mu Zhe, you've tainted me!'
Mu Zhe: "..."
In all the filthy words in the stories he confiscated from Yu Xinghe, none were as alluring as a single unconscious remark from his master.
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