A moment later, Shen Gurong finished dressing, and Su Xiyan arrived just then.
Mu Zhe bowed to her, "Martial Aunt."
Su Xiyan glanced at him and said, "Go find Xue Manzhuang and send him to Baishang Mountain."
Mu Zhe was puzzled but nodded in agreement.
Su Xiyan knocked on the door, "Eleven?"
The door opened, and Shen-shidi looked up at him, "Senior Sister."
Su Xiyan smiled, seeing that he was finally willing to wear the ice silk.
"We're going to Baishang Mountain." Su Xiyan looked at his short legs and said, "Shall I carry you?"
Shen Gurong quickly said, "No need to trouble Senior Sister."
Su Xiyan wasn't as domineering as rough sword cultivators like Xi Guxing or Wen Liubing; seeing his refusal, she didn't force him.
The two walked together towards Baishang Mountain, but it was just after morning classes, and both Jiuchun Mountain and Changying Mountain were full of disciples returning from class. Every few steps, they encountered groups of three or five people, all staring curiously at Shen Gurong.
Some recognized him as Holy Lord Shen's "illegitimate son," whispering to their companions, their eyes gleaming with excitement.
Shen Gurong: "..."
Shen Gurong felt extremely uncomfortable under their gazes. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer and tugged at Su Xiyan's hand, whispering, "Senior Sister, you should..."
Su Xiyan didn't hear him clearly and bent down: "Hmm?"
Shen Gurong gritted his teeth and said resolutely, "Senior Sister, please carry me."
Su Xiyan smiled upon hearing this, bent down and hugged him, using her wide robes to cover his body and shield him from the curious gazes around them.
Shen Gurong thought his senior sister was truly beautiful and kind-hearted, much better than that scoundrel Xi Guxing.
Soon, the two arrived at Baishang Mountain.
Lou Bugui, seeing them approach, hesitated for a moment before asking, "Where's Xue Manzhuang?"
Su Xiyan put Shen Gurong down, saying, "Mu Zhe will bring it later."
Lou Bugui didn't understand why Mu Zhe would go out of his way to bring Xue Manzhuang, but there were too many things in this world he didn't understand. Lou Bugui had long since learned to ignore them, so he casually replied and squatted down, opening his arms to Shen Gurong for a hug.
Shen Gurong's face clearly said, "This person is blind," pretending not to see Lou Bugui's actions.
Lou Bugui waited a while and, finding Shen Gurong wasn't coming, tilted his head blankly, thinking that Eleven didn't understand him. So he waved his arms up and down dramatically to assert his presence: "Eleven, come here, your senior brother will hug you."
Shen Eleven, blind and deaf, gave a confused look, indicating that he couldn't see what he was talking about.
Su Xiyan laughed beside him.
Lou Bugui, thinking his junior brother was stupid and couldn't even understand what he was saying, simply walked over and tried to hug Shen Gurong.
Shen Gurong let out a soft "hmph," turned around to run away to express his resistance, but after only a few steps, he bumped into someone again. Looking up, he saw Xi Guxing watching him with a half-smile.
Shen Gurong: "..."
A moment later, Xi Guxing grabbed Shen Gurong by the back of his collar and threw him into Lou Bugui's arms. Lou Bugui happily began to rub the little dumpling.
Shen Gurong was completely dazed, utterly dejected.
At Liren Peak, the sect was harmonious.
After being tormented for a while, Shen Gurong heard footsteps outside. He immediately dodged Lou Bugui's hand that was stroking his head and said, "Senior brother... Senior brother, someone's coming."
If his disciples saw the dignified Holy Lord being rubbed in his senior brother's arms, what would become of his dignity?!
—Although there wasn't much left.
Lou Bugui didn't understand why he had to stop when someone arrived, and looked at him blankly.
Shen Gurong used all his strength to jump out of Lou Bugui's clutches, stumbling as he landed, almost falling to the ground.
Su Xiyan and Xi Guxing were drawing a magic array with cinnabar at a nearby table. Glancing over out of the corner of their eye, they said softly, "It must be your disciple."
Shen Gurong tidied his messy white hair, looked up, and sure enough, Mu Zhe was carrying Xue Manzhuang, hurrying towards them.
Xue Manzhuang was drowsy, but perhaps sensing Shen Gurong's presence, he suddenly opened his round eyes and flapped his wings happily, flying over.
"Chirp chirp!"
Beauty! The beautiful Feng Xue!
Shen the Beauty expressionlessly slapped Xue Manzhuang, who was about to peck his cheek, onto the ground, sending him rolling several times. Xue Manzhuang didn't hold a grudge. He got up, shook his wings, and flew over again. This time, he was more obedient, perching meekly on Shen Gurong's shoulder, no longer daring to be intimate with him.
After seeing Xue Manzhuang off, Mu Zhe bowed and was about to leave when Su Xiyan said, "Don't go yet."
Mu Zhe stopped and looked over in confusion.
Xi Guxing was still holding a grudge against Mu Zhe for injuring Li Suo after being possessed by the ghost cultivator. The more he looked at him, the more dissatisfied he became. He coldly said, "She told you to stay, so stay."
Mu Zhe's face paled, and he lowered his head again.
Just then, he suddenly heard a soft, sweet voice speak fiercely: "Why are you being so fierce?!"
Mu Zhe looked up in surprise and found his little master glaring coldly at Xi Guxing, his cheeks puffed out in anger. He said in a cute but fierce tone, "He didn't say he wouldn't stay, why are you picking on him?"
Xi Guxing was speechless. Shen Gurong, convinced of his imposing presence, fiercely protected his little disciple, forgetting that his current physical state was utterly inadequate to support the aura of a Holy Lord.
Xi Guxing, regaining his composure, clicked his tongue and said, "I won't say anything, just don't..."
Shen Gurong, seeing this, was smug, thinking: He's definitely telling me not to get angry.
But then, Xi Guxing disdainfully finished his sentence: "...Don't be so coquettish."
Shen Gurong: "..."
You're the one who's being coquettish!
If it weren't for the inappropriate timing, Mu Zhe would have almost laughed out loud; the discomfort from Xi Guxing's deliberate targeting vanished instantly.
Shen Gurong was furious, determined to immediately revert to his true form—if this continued, his already dwindling dignity would shatter into dust and drift away with the wind.
Mu Zhe thought, It's long gone.
Su Xiyan had already finished drawing the array. She said to Shen Gurong and Mu Zhe, "Come here, try this."
Shen Gurong, fearing that Xi Guxing would target Mu Zhe again, stepped forward and cautiously took Mu Zhe's hand, leading him over.
Xi Guxing ignored him, sitting to the side brewing tea and waiting to see the show.
The array drawn with cinnabar looked somewhat eerie; each stroke resembled blood, quite glaring.
"Youzhou has many spirit beasts, but because of their scarce spiritual energy, even if they gain sentience, they cannot take human form. Therefore, this kind of array that helps spirit beasts take human form is very popular," Su Xiyan said. "I traveled all over Youzhou to finally figure out the blueprints for this array. This is the first time I've used it; I don't know if it will succeed."
Xi Guxing interjected, "Aren't these kinds of magic arrays easily bought on the Youzhou black market?"
Su Xiyan said softly, "They've already sold for exorbitant prices on the black market. I don't have any money, junior brother."
Xi Guxing: "..."
Xi Guxing turned his head away and muttered softly, "I don't have any money either, don't look at me."
Shen Gurong: "..."
So how did you guys even survive?
Shen Gurong came from a scholarly family, but his uncle was a merchant. He had never been short of money since childhood and couldn't understand what it was like to be short of cash.
Su Xiyan didn't expect his stingy junior brother to lend him money. She placed Xue Manzhuang in the magic array on the stone table, and with a gentle touch of her hand, the magic array suddenly began to rotate.
Shen Gurong forcibly suppressed the "Wow—" that was about to escape his lips, internally repeating the "Wow" several times to express his amazement.
Mu Zhe: "..."
Mu Zhe wanted to pull his hand away, but seeing that his master seemed to have forgotten about it, he could only remain silent, maintaining their clasped-hand position.
The array spun for a while, blood-red light enveloping Xue Manzhuang's figure, only his faint chirping could be heard.
A moment later, a sound like shattering glass echoed around them, and suddenly several flames appeared in the array. With two crackles, the array stopped operating.
It's ruined.
Xue Manzhuang, still unaware of what had happened, flapped his wings and hopped, chirping blankly.
Su Xiyan: “…”
Su Xiyan felt a pang of sympathy. Xi Guxing, standing nearby, said suspiciously, “Senior Sister, the array you’ve been researching for so many years doesn’t seem to be very useful.”
Su Xiyan studied it for a moment and said, “The bloodlines of spirit beasts in Youzhou are generally not very pure. This array is sufficient. It’s probably because the phoenix’s spiritual power is too orthodox, and the array can’t withstand it.”
Xi Guxing said “Oh,” pondered for a moment, and then said, “So, the array isn’t very useful.”
Su Xiyan: “…”
Fortunately, Su Xiyan had a good temper and didn’t argue with the annoying Xi Guxing. Seeing his beautiful and kind-hearted senior sister being bullied, Shen Gurong couldn’t help but stand up for her.
“Why do you talk so much nonsense?” Shen Gurong said. “Why weren’t you this good at picking bones when we were eating fish?”
Xi Guxing: “…”
Xi Guxing grinned maliciously: “Do you want to get beaten up, Shen Gurong?”
Shen Gurong chickened out again, taking a half-step back and hiding behind Mu Zhe.
Mu Zhe froze for a moment, instinctively reaching out to protect him.
Xi Guxing was amused by his behavior: "You, a master, hiding behind your disciple—what kind of decorum is that?!"
Shen Gurong finally realized what was happening, but not wanting to lose face, he forced a smile and said, "I wasn't hiding."
Xi Guxing pointed to the ground in front of him: "Stand here and talk to me."
Shen Gurong was timid; he didn't dare.
Su Xiyan rubbed her temples and said, "Stop fooling around, Eleven, come here."
Shen Gurong ran over.
Su Xiyan said, "Can you try using the contract to mobilize the spiritual power within Xue Manzhuang?"
Shen Gurong had mobilized spiritual power while in the water ghost barrier and when the phoenix transformed, but after turning into a dumpling, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't use even a trace of spiritual power.
Shen Gurong tried again, his face turning red, but he still couldn't use any spiritual power.
Su Xiyan patted him gently, not forcing him, and instead turned her gaze to Mu Zhe beside him.
Mu Zhe felt uncomfortable under her gaze and lowered his head even further.
"Don't be afraid," Su Xiyan said softly, "I sense that the spiritual energy in your body is from the same lineage as your master's. Did he... perhaps use his spiritual energy to regulate your spiritual meridians?"
Mu Zhe paused, recalling that when he first entered the Qi Refining stage, Shen Gurong seemed to have regulated his spiritual meridians, and since then, he could hear Shen Gurong's thoughts.
He nodded hesitantly.
Shen Gurong felt incredibly guilty, though he himself didn't know why he felt guilty.
Su Xiyan said, "Then you should be able to transfer some spiritual energy to your master to help him restore his original form."
Mu Zhe was somewhat confused: "Transfer spiritual energy?"
Shen Gurong quickly asked, "How?"
"Just place your hand against his palm."
Shen Gurong looked at Mu Zhe, rolled up his sleeves, and stretched out his small hand, asking him, "Is that alright?"
Mu Zhe was stunned again.
Even if Mu Zhe said no, an ordinary person would definitely forcefully draw spiritual energy from him to restore his original form, especially since Mu Zhe didn't intend to refuse; on the contrary, he was more than willing.
He just never imagined that Shen Gurong would actually seek his consent for such a small matter, earnestly asking him, "Is that alright?"
Mu Zhe's heart softened without him realizing it, and he whispered, "Yes."
Shen Gurong was overjoyed, quickly taking Mu Zhe's hand and pressing his palm against his own, tiptoeing like a child looking at sugar frosting with great anticipation. He seemed to be screaming, "I'm ready, you go!" Seeing this, Mu Zhe lost control and poured all his spiritual energy into him.
Shen Gurong felt his parched spiritual energy suddenly surge, like a gentle stream flowing into a dried-up riverbed.
Overjoyed, he immediately chanted a transformation incantation, intending to transform using this surge of energy.
Su Xiyan had already taken out an outer robe, intending to drape it over Shen Gurong in his new form.
A flash of light appeared on Shen Gurong's body, but it was only for a moment.
Mu Zhe was still too young; even with all his spiritual energy transferred, he couldn't support Shen Gurong's transformation.
When the light faded, a clear look of joy appeared on Shen Gurong's face. Without even looking at him, he asked, "Am I back? Am I back?"
Mu Zhe glanced at him, then lowered his head somewhat guiltily.
Xi Guxing nearly spat out his tea.
Su Xiyan sighed, as if he had expected this outcome. He walked over, squatted down, pinched Shen Gurong's chubby cheek, and said softly, "Eleven, you seem to have just gained some weight."
Shen Gurong: "..."
Shen Gurong: "???"
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