Xi Guxing slapped him once, then again. Seeing that Shen Gurong, unusually, didn't resist or get angry, he seemed to have gotten addicted to hitting him, continuing to slap him incessantly.
Shen Gurong staggered, finally unable to bear it any longer, clutching his head and stammering, "Senior brother, it hurts."
Xi Guxing scolded, "You know pain?! I thought you were made of steel, that you wouldn't even cry out when struck by lightning!"
Shen Gurong's body was already weak, and after being hit and scolded by Xi Guxing, he began to wilt again.
Seeing his dejected and unfocused expression, Xi Guxing snorted and withdrew his merciless grip. He casually picked up a chair, sat down, and casually propped his long legs up on the edge of the bed, asking irritably, "Fine, let's begin."
Shen Gurong, rubbing his head, was taken aback and asked blankly, "Begin what?"
Xi Guxing kicked off the edge of the bed and snapped, "Begin admitting—your mistakes!"
Shen Gurong: "..."
He had never seen anyone force someone to admit their mistakes like this.
Knowing he was wrong, Shen Gurong had no choice but to reluctantly admit his mistake.
"I shouldn't have dared to trespass on Mu Zhe's tribulation and help him withstand the heavenly lightning."
Xi Guxing didn't even lift his eyelids: "Hmm? Anything else?"
"I shouldn't have disobeyed my senior brother and gotten too close."
"Continue."
Shen Gurong tilted his head, puzzled: "Anything else? That's all I've done recently."
Xi Guxing started kicking the edge of the bed again, cursing: "No, there's more, keep thinking!"
Shen Gurong had no choice but to try hard, finally attempting: "I...I shouldn't have called you...Sect Leader...behind your back?"
Xi Guxing: "..."
Xi Guxing revealed a sinister smile: "Shen Eleven, are you looking for death!?"
Shen Gurong wrapped his clothes tighter, stammering: "I was wrong."
Xi Guxing was so angry he almost kicked the bed to pieces. He suddenly stood up, causing the chair behind him to fall backward with a bang, crashing straight to the ground. The sudden sound startled Shen Gurong, who couldn't see anything, causing his pupils to shrink.
"Shen Eleven."
Shen Gurong looked up in confusion. Although he couldn't see Xi Guxing's expression, he could tell from his tone that Xi Guxing's face must be extremely pale.
"Why... do you always demean yourself like this?"
Shen Gurong was stunned, not understanding where his words came from: "Huh?"
His tone seemed to be anger, yet also the frustration of helplessness—something Shen Gurong had never sensed from the arrogant and haughty Sect Leader Xi.
The entire room remained silent for a long time before Xi Guxing took a deep breath and said in a muffled voice, "I will keep the matter of that half-yuandan a secret for you, but I don't know how long."
Shen Gurong looked up abruptly.
"Your protective barrier has been broken. Master will find out soon. When he emerges from seclusion, this matter will be impossible to hide."
"Shen Eleven, you..."
Shen Gurong pursed his lips, stammering, "How did you find out?"
"That lightning!" Xi Guxing said coldly, "It practically flew right over your head, and you're asking me how I knew?! Do you think I'm as blind as you?!"
Shen Gurong: "..."
Shen Gurong inexplicably felt a little intimidated, sensing that Xi Guxing had a handle on him.
"Then...then do Senior Sister and the others know?"
Xi Guxing glared at him: "If Senior Sister knew about this, Mu Zhe definitely wouldn't have survived the lightning tribulation before his yuandan was extracted."
Shen Gurong: "..."
Senior Sister is indeed terrifying!
Seeing that Xi Guxing truly intended to cover up the matter for him, Shen Gurong silently breathed a sigh of relief and sincerely said, "Thank you, Senior Brother."
Xi Guxing, who had been glaring coldly out the window, froze upon hearing this, staring at Shen Gurong in astonishment.
Not hearing a reply from Xi Guxing, Shen Gurong blinked in confusion: "Senior Brother?"
Xi Guxing suddenly exploded, angrier than ever before, almost roaring, "How many times have I told you? Don't you remember?!"
Shen Gurong: "..."
Shen Gurong's lips twitched. Do you have a phobia of being pampered? You get this angry every time?
Thinking this, Shen Gurong hatched a wicked plan. He tilted his head slightly, using the same trick he used to coax his teacher into not copying books when he was young, and said in a genuinely soft and coquettish voice, "Senior brother, thank you, senior brother."
Xi Guxing: "..."
Xi Guxing laughed angrily, "Shen Eleven, you're really something! If you provoke me again, believe me, I'll expel your disciple from the sect?!"
Shen Gurong immediately dared not act rashly, and said expressionlessly, "I was wrong, senior brother, please calm down."
Xi Guxing: "..."
What a spineless thing.
Shen Gurong then remembered, "Where is Mu Zhe now? Is someone helping him consolidate his cultivation?"
After forming his Nascent Soul, the aura of his Nascent Soul is impossible to control freely. He often needs to be in seclusion or have someone with a higher cultivation level to help him regulate his meridians and allow him to freely control his Nascent Soul's spiritual power.
Xi Guxing was taken aback, then turned his head and reluctantly said, "I didn't punish him..."
Shen Gurong didn't hear him clearly: "What?"
He tried to lean closer to hear Xi Guxing's words, but unexpectedly, his hand missed its mark, and half his body fell, almost to the ground.
Xi Guxing caught him. Shen Gurong blankly stretched out his hand, but couldn't see anything. He murmured, "Where's my spiritual power?"
Xi Guxing said, "The last lightning punishment sealed your meridians. Bugui has already treated you, saying that mermaid tears can restore you to your original state. He's already looking for them."
Shen Gurong's face turned pale. He felt that ever since he came to this world, he had been plagued by misfortune. First, he was seriously injured, then he was transformed into a bird, then shrunk, and lost half of his yuandan. Now, he had been struck by lightning punishment that could seal his meridians.
Shen Gurong reverted to his initial thought, his face expressionless as he thought, 'This is supposed to be the number one person in the Three Realms? I think he's the number one unlucky person! Is Heaven playing a cruel joke on him?'
Xi Guxing helped him sit up and draped a cloak over his shoulders.
Shen Gurong finally came to his senses. He was probably just too unlucky; he had learned to console himself and go with the flow.
If Lou Bugui said he could recover, then he could recover; there was no need for him to worry.
"What did you just say? What punishment?"
Xi Guxing was startled, his gaze sweeping fiercely across the window, landing on the person who had been kneeling in the courtyard for who knows how long.
“Ever since he formed his Nascent Soul, Mu Zhe has been kneeling outside, refusing to listen to anyone’s pleas.” For some reason, Xi Guxing felt a surge of resentment towards Mu Zhe. He said coldly, “Let me make this clear beforehand, it wasn’t me who punished him, it was his own choice.”
Shen Gurong was startled: “Kneeling outside?”
Xi Guxing said, “Yes.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Gurong tried to get up from the bed, but Xi Guxing impatiently pressed him down: “He took half of your Nascent Soul, causing you to suffer. What’s wrong with kneeling for a few days? Don’t always be so soft-hearted.”
Shen Gurong: “But…”
But that half of his Nascent Soul was forcibly given to him by Shen Feng Xue; Mu Zhe knew nothing about it.
But he couldn't say this to Xi Guxing. Shen Gurong stammered, "Then, Senior Brother, please call him in for me. I'll punish him in person."
Xi Guxing scoffed, "You? Punish him? Are you really willing to?"
Shen Gurong said seriously, "I'm a strict teacher. I'm very strict. Please respect me."
Xi Guxing knew he was trying to gloss over the matter by joking around again, and immediately snapped, "Go to hell! Who cares about you!"
With that, he stormed out the door.
Passing by Mu Zhe, who had been kneeling in the courtyard for two days, he didn't even glance at him, coldly saying, "Go in."
Mu Zhe, who had been keeping his head down, slightly flickered his eyes. In just two days, he seemed to have lost weight; his exhaustion and despair were visibly apparent.
Hearing that Shen Gurong wanted to see him, Mu Zhe's lifeless eyes regained a slight light, and he said hoarsely, "Yes."
He rose, the withered flowers on his robes, mixed with water droplets, slowly falling as he dragged his heavy steps toward the main residence of Fanjiang Residence.
His footprints on the ground somehow overlapped with the footprints on the snow-covered plains in Mu Zhe's memory. In a daze, Mu Zhe recalled that he had also walked like this in his memory, as if bound by enormous shackles, step by step on an empty road.
How long had passed, so long that he had forgotten who he was and why he was walking in vain, when a firefly appeared before him.
Mu Zhe looked up, and in the glowing light, stood Shen Feng Xue, dressed in white as snow.
—Shen Feng Xue, already lifeless.
"Mu Zhe?"
Mu Zhe's pupils contracted, and he looked up in a daze. The image of Shen Feng Xue with his closed eyes in his illusory memory gradually overlapped with that of Shen Gurong, sitting pale-faced on the couch.
Shen Gurong heard footsteps and knew it was Mu Zhe, but after calling out several times, Mu Zhe didn't respond. Just as he was about to lift his cloak and get out of bed to check on him, he felt a cold hand cover the back of his hand.
Shen Gurong shivered slightly from the chill.
"Mu Zhe?"
Mu Zhe stood before him, looking down at the vacant Shen Gurong. His eyes, once ashen, seemed to spring anew, like countless fireflies gathering, finally igniting a light in his despairing gaze.
Mu Zhe knelt down abruptly with a thud, startling Shen Gurong.
Mu Zhe's voice was hoarse as he said, "Master."
Shen Gurong frowned, groping to pull Mu Zhe closer. Seeing those familiar, well-defined fingers, Mu Zhe instinctively grabbed them, burying his face in his thin palms.
Shen Gurong said, "I heard you've been kneeling outside for a long time? Why are you humiliating yourself like this?"
Mu Zhe said hoarsely, "Mu Zhe... has implicated Master."
If it weren't for him, Shen Feng Xue wouldn't have lost half of his yuandan for no reason, Senior Brother Sanshui wouldn't have died, and Master wouldn't have been kidnapped and tortured to death by the demonic cultivators.
From beginning to end, it was all his fault.
Shen Gurong breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Mu Zhe was unaware of the half-yuandan. He gently touched Mu Zhe's face and said calmly, "It's nothing serious, no need to be so upset."
His words only made things worse. Mu Zhe's pent-up grief, suppressed for two days, finally erupted. He suddenly hugged Shen Gurong's waist, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Master..."
Shen Gurong: "..."
Shen Gurong nearly coughed up blood from the pressure. He tried to struggle but felt Mu Zhe's arms trembling slightly, as if he were desperately grasping a priceless treasure, one that, even if shattered, would only remain in his embrace.
Shen Gurong took a deep breath, trying to ease the pain in his lower back and abdomen. He attempted to adopt the loving demeanor of an elder, gently stroking Mu Zhe's hair and saying softly, "Don't cry, are you still a child?"
Tears streamed down Mu Zhe's face. This was the most he had ever cried in his life. The more Shen Gurong comforted him, the more he felt that the person he remembered was utterly unworthy of his master's treatment, causing the once glorious Shen Feng Xue to suffer such a fate.
What did he do to deserve such a virtuous and noble immortal suffering a lifetime for him?
Seeing Mu Zhe crying like this, Shen Gurong had no choice but to reach out and support Mu Zhe's arm, comforting him while helping him up.
Mu Zhe's body went limp, but his arms remained strong. He allowed Shen Gurong to pull him to the edge of the bed, his hands, which had been wrapped around Shen Gurong's waist, slowly moving forward, from his back up until they finally rested around Shen Gurong's neck.
Those warm hands touched almost every inch of Shen Gurong's body, from his waist to his neck—and it was Shen Gurong who had guided him to do so. Even someone as thick-skinned as Shen Gurong felt weak all over, his face flushed crimson.
Shen Gurong felt a mixture of shame and despair, realizing he hadn't suffered this much even when caring for his own younger sister.
But feeling the tears soaking his clothes on his neck, Shen Gurong's heart softened. He sighed helplessly, hugged the boy, who was even taller than him, and gently patted his back, as if comforting a child.
“Cry, cry, the child who knows how to whine gets candy.” Shen Gurong spoke softly, as if humming a tune. “You’re just taking advantage of my soft heart, thinking I won’t throw you out.”
He thought for a moment, then raised his hand to touch Mu Zhe’s brow—his blindness caused him to miss the mark on his first touch, nearly poking Mu Zhe in the eye.
Shen Gurong said harshly, “If I were young, you would have been lying on the ground by now.”
Mu Zhe tried hard to hold back his tears, biting his lip tightly, only his choked sobs echoing in Shen Gurong’s ears: “Master, this disciple was wrong.”
Shen Gurong: “…”
Shen Gurong’s heart softened again, and he quickly coaxed him, “Okay, okay, I won’t throw you, keep crying.”
Mu Zhe, having received permission, released his lips, and the tears he had just stopped began to fall again.
Shen Gurong stared blankly as Mu Zhe sobbed on his shoulder, his own emotions shifting accordingly.
From the initial, 'What's wrong with a child being a little spoiled?'
To, 'What's wrong with a child crying? You cried like a baby in the ancestral hall last year because you couldn't finish copying your books.'
And then, 'Why isn't he finished crying yet? My clothes are all wet, I'll have to change again later.'
Finally, Shen Gurong clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, and said, "Mu Zhe, while a man's tears are endearing, your flood of crying is a bit annoying."
Mu Zhe obediently got off his shoulder, wiped the tears from his cheeks, and choked out, "Yes."
Shen Gurong's heart was a mix of softness and hardness, almost beyond his control, especially since he was always prone to imagining things. Now, unable to see but only hearing Mu Zhe's hoarse sobs, he pictured the pitiful, adorable little face of Mu Zhe as a child, tears streaming down his face.
Shen Gurong: "Ah—"
His heart melted.
Hearing that Mu Zhe had stopped crying, the storm finally subsided, and Shen Gurong tentatively asked, "Are you... are you still crying?"
Mu Zhe's eyes were red, and the birthmark on his face had completely disappeared, revealing an extremely handsome face.
He had spent two days completely digesting all the memories in his yuandan. It was almost a lifetime's worth of emotions—too deep and heavy for Mu Zhe to control his emotions immediately. He could only force himself to hold back through Shen Gurong's words.
He bit his lip tightly, tears still welling in his eyes, but he still said softly, "Master told me not to cry, so I won't cry."
Shen Gurong tilted his head. What did he mean by "won't cry"? Was this still something he could control?
His curiosity was strong. He bit his fingertip and tried again, "Then...cry again?"
These words were like a switch; the next instant, Mu Zhe's tears flowed without warning. He threw himself at Shen Gurong again, sobbing uncontrollably.
Shen Gurong stumbled, startled.
My damn mouth!
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