CH 55

If you win, I will give my life to you; otherwise, I want your body.

As soon as the hoarse voice rang, the long sword held in Mu Chen’s hand was stimulated by the killing intent of its owner and buzzed instantly. The man was wearing a black robe, his face hidden behind a silver mask. Though his voice had changed, Mu Chen still recognized him at a glance.

Mu Chen raised his head and looked at the entrance, his fair eyes slanting a bit upwardly now full of pitiless killing intent, which made people around him feel a sudden shock in both their heart and spirit. Therefore, most of them drew back stealthily, afraid of being killed accidentally.

“You intended to kill my disciple that night, didn’t you, Wei Huaitong?” The cold voice with strong killing intent, presented a special sense and struck deep in everyone’s heart. The overwhelming force of the Demigod Stage unconsciously burst out, which made some cultivators who didn’t have enough time to withdraw kneel on the ground directly. Unable to bear this force, they trembled badly.

Seeing the man in black, naturally Mu Chen regarded Wei Huaitong as the one who attacked Gu Yunjue.

Twice!

Wei Huaitong licked his mouth feverishly, thinking that the reaction of Mu Chen was merely on account of knowing he planned to kill Gu Yunjue. If he destroyed Gu Yunjue, how painful and heart-broken Mu Chen would be!

“Since we parted 69 years ago, I’ve been missing you every second. Therefore, hearing that you, my dear brother, has apprenticed a disciple, I’m certainly obliged to visit you.” The malice was revealed in his hoarse voice. His words indirectly proved that it was he who intended to assassinate Gu Yunjue that night. His original intention was to put pressure upon Mu Chen. Therefore, now he surely would not deny it.

Seeing the look of Mu Chen turning colder and colder out of anger, Wei Huaitong was trembling excitedly. In his eyes, Mu Chen looked like a delicate doll with slim body and pure skin that could be broken easily, still this junior brother just could stand peerlessly against any kind of pressure with the back unbending all the time. At that moment he was so eager to make his little lovely bother into a doll which would become the most perfect collection in his lifetime! Irreplaceable!

Mu Chen pursed his lips, with a lively and beaming face of a juvenile popping into his mind.

That boy was called Fu An, who was the first attendant of Mu Chen in Lofty Cloudy Sect. Because Fu An wasn’t endowed with great talents, he couldn’t reach the superior cultivation manual but have to work as an attendant. However, Fu An didn’t resign himself to his fate. Assuming that he would be outstanding as long as he was diligent in cultivating, he forged ahead with great enthusiasm and practiced harder than anyone else. He once told Mu Chen his parents were so old that he cannot bear to cut off the fetters of this world after he stepped into the immortal world. He was a positive and filial teenager who usually ran down the hill secretly to send his parents necessities. Yet one day, he never came back after he had left.

Half a year later, Mu Chen found little Fu An in the basement where Wu Huaitong concocted pills. He should become a monster with full-mouthed tusks like neither a man nor a demon nor a ghost, howling constantly and biting anyone approaching him. If not for the protective talisman his mother gave him hanging on his neck, who would recognize him?

In order to concoct pills, Wei Huaitong went so far as to harm a child without any enmity toward him and tested pills on the tens of innocent disciples who finally died of poison!

More infuriatingly, he was now tagging Mu Chen’s disciple. It was a threat to let him live even one more day.

Furiousness filling his eyes, Mu Chen forgot the ban on fighting formulated to protect pill alchemists in Pill City. Only the blood can wash away the sin of Wei Huaitong.

With a faint smile, Wei Huaitong stepped forward. The overwhelming force emerging from him should be comparable to Mu Chen’s cultivation. He said, “So Fickle you are. The moment we meet, you just want to kill me. If we fought, both of us should suffer great losses. What about a bet instead?”

Mu Chen stared at Wei, disdain appearing in his eyes. He held his sword tighter, killing intent in his body not decaying a bit. Obviously he didn’t want to listen to the nonsense but to chop the man with his sword.

Wei Huaitong took out a black Soul Suppression Stone where a transparent figure was curling up into a ball but his appearance could be seen clearly. The deep voice of Wei Huaitong showed his confidence that he would certainly win, “I took the bother to keep the soul of that child cultivator. It seems that you don’t care about his reincarnation at all!”

“Fu An!” Mu Chen’s pupils constricted instantly.

“In this Pills Concocting Competition, if you lose, I want your body; if you win, I will give my life to you, plus this soul,” Hardly had his voice faded away, everyone took a breath back in shock. Asking for the body directly… Everyone showed pities self-consciously while looking at Mu Chen.

Nevertheless, Mu Chen knew that Wei just wanted to make the body into a puppet, or into another shell for hiding. His cool eyes brimming with disdain and contempt, Mu Chen was confident that he would never lose, but he didn’t believe Wei Huaitong would keep his words.

“I shall swear before God if I go back on my words, my soul and spirit will scatter and fade away!” Vows for cultivators meant fatal restraints. Anyone who betrayed his promises would suffer the wrath of heaven. Clearly, Wei Huaitong planned to give Mu Chen a guarantee. As for what he wanted to do, only he himself would know.

Gu Yunjue bowed his head down, a slightly cold light flashing by his eyes and a brutal killing intent surging instantaneously before going calm. The corners of his thin lips lightly curved into a smile as he looked down at the man below as if he was looking at a lifeless thing. Such a clown should dare to covet his precious?

Suddenly, Wei Huaitong felt a chilly and freezing intention of killing. As he raised his head, he just caught Gu’s eyes which were amorous normally but became deadly solemn when smiles disappeared, as if a demon devouring people was hibernating inside. The surroundings turned quiet suddenly as a vacant space and only the breathing of himself could be heard. Wei Huaitong subconsciously drew back, looking at that juvenile astonishingly. Gu Yunjue reached out his hand just as Wei had done toward him that night and grasped in the air…

At once, Wei Huaitong felt a hand grabbing him so tightly by his throat that he was almost suffocated. He could just haul it by his two hands, struggling to free himself from this damned suppression. Then the Soul Suppression Stone held in his hand fell off instantly.

Mu Chen, who always had constant vigilance to Wei Huaitong, crooked one finger and drew the Soul Suppression Stone to his hand. Seeing the man in front madly grabbing himself by the throat as if he was strangling himself to death, Mu Chen lifted his eyebrows and stabbed the sword at him without hesitation.

When dealing with such vicious persons, never hesitate to slaughter, for they might have murdered others before you planned to compete with him openly and aboveboard. There was no need to talk nonsense if you had the chance to strike first. No matter why he seized himself by the throat, just kill him.

His heart was impaled by one sword blow. Nine Yang Dark Fire burned through his chest instantly without sparing his divine soul and turned him into a transparent figure.

“Mu Chen, you...” Wei Huaitong glared at Mu Chen fiercely, with eye sockets almost cracking. Mu Chen should have planned to kill him directly!

Mu Chen said coldly, “So opinionated you are. I haven’t promised you to have a competition.” Seeing the intention of killing and resentment in Wei’s eyes, Mu Chen indifferently said, “I hate troubles and you are just a trouble.”

Therefore, killing him was the simplest to save trouble.

As for methods, well, he didn’t deserve it!

Seeing there was still a wisp of soul left, Mu Chen scowled and was going to finish him immediately. Unexpectedly, a delicate folding fan flew in from the outside, directly blocking the sword of Mu Chen. In next second, Wei Huaitong had already vanished off.

With luxuriant ornaments and extraordinary deportment, a man wearing a purple robe approached and asked politely, “Palace Master Mu, would you please do me a favor?”

Glancing at his facial features similar to Gu Yunjue’s, Mu Chen was startled with a ripple appearing in his cool eyes finally. Mu didn’t answer him. However, his exploration of that man couldn’t be hidden in eyes.

“I am Gu Yunjin. I shall express my gratefulness to Palace Master Mu for taking care of my little brother over the years.” Opening and waving the folding fan, Gu Yunjin was in the whole air of a toff from a noble family. His attire was distinguished from common people and his speeches showed refined manners. Seeing the look of him, Mu Chen immediately recalled the poor little disciple who was skinny with scars of wounds all over the body and dressed badly in coarse cloths years ago. They were brothers of the same family. But why the elder one was exalted while the younger one couldn’t even get enough to eat and had to help in the kitchen! How absurd the contrast was!

The way Mu Chen looked at him was the same as he looked at a scumbag wearing a human’s clothing with the word “rubbish” writing on his face. Therefore Mu Chen didn’t show due respect to him and pointed at him with the sword, directly asking, “Where is Wei Huaitong? Hand him over!”

Gu Yunjin’s smiling face suddenly froze, and he looked up at Gu Yunjue. The meaning in his eyes was only comprehendible by the brothers, “It is the man that father wants. I can’t hand him over. Come on and help me ask for a favor.”

Gu Yunjue walked down the stairs and stood by the side of Mu Chen, staring at his master with an appealing look, as if frightened to irritate Mu and get himself kicked out. However, his anxious eyes just softened Mu Chen’s heart a bit.

Then Gu Yunjue summoned up his courage to take a step and stand near Mu Chen, smiling at Gu Yunjin, “Just hand him over. This man harbors evil intentions. It’s better for father to seek another pill alchemist.”

Looking at Gu Yunjue, Gu Yunjin meaningfully asked, “Do I have to do that?”

Gu Yunjue nodded, “He is the traitor of Lofty Cloudy Sect who must be cleared out.”

“Father urgently needs a pill alchemist now. One thing you should know is that there are just a few of them reaching this level.” Gu Yunjin said, glancing at Mu Chen. The hint in his words was quite obvious–without Wei Huaitong, their target would be Mu Chen.

Gu Yunjue reached his hands out and said nothing.

“Such being the case…” Gu Yunjin took out a protection soul flag and handed it to Gu Yunjue, "Look out for yourselves.”

As soon as Gu Yunjue got it, he tightened his grip and directly crumbled it when Wei Huaitong, whose divine soul had already turned transparent, sent out a flash of dazzling light and vanished totally into nothing.

With mouth open in a short while, Mu Chen was a little discontented with the fact that his disciple took his due thing over. However, he hadn’t noticed that a flash sparkled across Gu Yunjue’s space ring and disappeared together with the soul of Wei Huaitong. Everything ended in peace!

Gu Yunjin glanced at Gu Yunjue and then left with a smile.

His eyes running down coldly all around, Mu Chen just caught Ying Lixun’s leaving figure. He knew it from the beginning that Ying had been watching all the time. In his last life Mu Chen had got Jade Zoysia Pungens from this man but he didn’t know whether Ying owned it or not at present. Just to be sure, Mu Chen had already left some divine sense on Ying in their fight just now. He intended to catch the man as soon as the Pills Concocting Competition ended.

Wei Huaitong had gone into the devil way for a long time, so killing him would not attract the attention of Pill City. But Ying Lixun was the one that he couldn’t attack temporarily.

At that moment, a team of guards of Pill City was about to take actions after receiving a tip-off that someone started a fight when they were stopped by a scholar in white. Swaying the jade talisman in his hand, the scholar grinned, “It was the private business of my Pavilion Master. So would you mind granting me a favor?”

“Private business?”

The scholar glanced at the short distance, seemingly not on purpose, and smiled, “Yes, private business.”

“In that case, we shall leave you alone,” the leader of the guards undoubtedly would save face for Gazing Chen Pavilion. Daring not to question thoroughly, he led his team to backtrack.

Chen Mo was following the scholar not far away. His eyes went dim when he noticed the other’s glance, Chen realized that he had been discovered!

*

After Gu Yunjin left, Mu Chen cast a stern glance at Gu Yunjue and said, “Come back with me. I have something to ask you.”

Though Gu Yunjue appeared well-behaved, his eyes revealed his desire while staring at Mu Chen.

Keeping a poker face, Mu Chen controlled himself not to concern too much. He returned to his room solemnly and slammed the door with a mute boundary set around the room.

Gu Yunjue’s eyes brightened and just as he was about to nestle up against his master when Mu Chen pressed his shoulders and pushed him away, “I have something to ask you.”

“Go ahead, master! I will be very frank without any reserve.” He was still the obedient and filial disciple, from whom hardly could any fault be found out, yet Mu Chen felt something strange. Seated in the chair, Mu Chen asked seriously, “You’d better confess your story, especially your family. Which one is the real you on earth?”

The eyes of Gu Yunjue were gloomy. It was time to make a full and clear confession. However, he had no idea how master would react after he let out the whole story.