Ning Que's breathing was short, he gritted his teeth, his eyes were dark and sometimes shallow. There was a vague shadow of the stand, it looked ghostly and hideous.
Lu Shenxing remained motionless, and his heart was overwhelmed. Hei Yaoding had already recognized that Ning Que was the master. He closed his eyebrows and looked at him, and he could tell that Ning Que was shaking.
That voice was still hysterica, screaming over and over again, and Ning Que's clear and bright eyes gradually became cloudy, dark, and scarlet. It was so noisy.
Lu Shenxing still didn't move, his calmness came from the trust and intuition accumulated over several generations.
Being stared at by that kind of gentle gaze that was almost intimate, there were too many things going on in his mind. Ning Que tried to recall where he'd felt this feeling before, as a sharp pain filled his mind, his thoughts raged uncontrollably, and his pupils shrank slightly. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body fell forward.
Lu Shenxing held Ning Que tightly in his arms. He lifted his eyes and looked back lightly. Liuyang stood in the shade of the trees not far away, the expression on his face unclear.
"You are not Bai Fenqi."
When Lu Shenxing passed by Liuyang, he heard this statement. There was no surprise. He didn't speak, silently acquiescing.
Liuyang, who remained in place, tightened his jaw, those words were not all he wanted to say.
Jiang Wangchu saw Lu Shenxing come back holding Ning Que, he hurriedly threw away his food and ran over. He asked, "Da Shixiong, what happened to Xiao Shidi?"
"He's just tired." Lu Shenxing calmly wiped the blood from the corner of Ning Que's mouth.
Jiang Wangchu accepted his excuse, he was also tired but didn't dare to sleep.
The wind rustled through the grass, but the tranquility of the secret wasn't beautiful. Who knew if there was a deadly creature hiding in the trees, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any time.
After scouring through the plot twice, Lu Shenxing pinched his nose impetuously, "Open your eyes if you're awake."
Ning Que, who was pretending to be asleep, sat up uncomfortably, his eyes drooping, "Da Shixiong."
Lu Shenxing hummed, "Hm."
After a moment of silence, Ning Que took out a small black three-legged cauldron the size of a copper coin and said, "Da Shixiong, this is for you."
Lu Shenxing nodded, "Since it recognizes you as its master, you can keep it."
The hand in midair retracted awkwardly. Ning Que panicked. Da Shixiong still blamed him. He was very confused, and the voice came out again, chattering endlessly. It screamed that Da Shixiong was his calamity and would ruin his path to immortality. He roared angrily, "Shut up!"
Ning Que's chest rose and fell rapidly, as he unconsciously tried to resist it. He hated to hear it speak about Da Shixiong.
Fool. The Eight-Headed Demon roared madly in his cage, and turned away from him, thinking that this man was too innocent. He had anticipated replacing him after he was released, and then he could return to the Demon Realm. In these past thousands of years, he had imagined dominating the Three Realms countless times. According to his vision he should've already taken control of this person's cultivation.
Unexpectedly right when his plan was about to commence, the stupid man recovered. The Eight-Headed Demon wanted to vomit blood, but he didn't yet have a body and couldn't even do that.
Unable to sort out his emotions, Ning Que sighed in frustration and moved to the side of Jiang Wangchu, "San Shixiong, if someone would rather hurt himself than hurt another person." He pursed his lips, "Then, what would that person think about the other?"
"Xiao Shidi, you've asked the right person." Jiang Wangchu blinked his small eyes triumphantly, "I actually know this."
Ning Que felt his heart rise into his throat, "What is it?"
"You want that person to be your..." Jiang Wangchu smiled, "Dao companion."
Ning Que blurted out, "Nonsense!" Then he got up and left in a hurry.
The confused Jiang Wangchu wiped his face. He was just making a joke. Why did Xiao Shidi get angry? Wasn't he also joking with him?
From the moment he walked into the mountain, Lu Shenxing found someone's eyes were always watching him. He suddenly turned around, and Ning Que, who was too late to fix his gaze, was caught.
"Tired?"
Ning Que tilted his head and feigned innocence.
"Ning Que." Lu Shenxing obviously didn't intend to let him go, so he simply called him out by name.
Being careful to hide his nervousness, the dimples on Ning Que's face were obvious. He smiled and said, "Da Shixiong, did you call me?"
Lu Shenxing rolled his eyes. Had he always been this awkward?
Liuyang's eyes flickered towards them for a moment, and he lowered his head.
Sometimes the path to one's heart was as winding as a mountain road, like for Liuyang, who never revealed his mind. There are also people who have a straightforward heart and can't hide anything. Jiang Wangchu was such a person. He felt that Da Shixiong and Xiao Shidi were very strange but he couldn't put a finger on the origin of such strangeness. They seemed close, such that others couldn't come between them and he looked at them with some envy.
Liuyang heard Jiang Wangchu voice his confusion, and with an expressionless face responded, "I don't know."
"I think Da Shixiong was right." Jiang Wangchu made up his mind, "I should follow Shifu and practice hard when I go back. Er Shixiong, please supervise me!"
Surprised, Liuyang lifted his chin slightly.
Lu Shenxing, who was walking ahead, was notified that the progress of his side task had reached 50%. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, at this rate he could finish the side task very quickly.
Ning Que wanted to give the Heiyao Ding to Lu Shenxing for safekeeping. The Eight-Headed Demon in it saw his thoughts and pitifully begged not to be given to him, it didn't like his aura.
So Ning Que gave the cauldron to Lu Shenxing, accompanied by the stern roar of the Eight-Headed Demons.
"Da Shixiong, I still can't suppress the Heiyao Ding." Ning Que twisted his eyebrows together. He was injured when he got the cauldron, and when a drop of blood dripped onto the cauldron, he sensed that there was still a spirit within it.
Lu Shenxing took the cauldron in his hand and considered looking for Wan Guanqian to ask if there was any way to suppress the Eight-Headed Demon, before the demon could recover.
After walking a little longer, Lu Shenxing suddenly felt that something was wrong. He stretched out his hand and touched his sleeve, his expression suddenly changing to one of horror. The egg was broken.
"What is this?" Ning Que's eyes lit up, and his eyebrows were curved with joy. "A snake?" He asked, not daring to touch it with his fingers.
"Snake? Where is it?" Jiang Wangchu yelled in fright. He saw a small strip of green squirm, and his whole body was covered in goosebumps. Xiao Shidi was even afraid of mice, why wasn't he afraid of this thing?
The little green thing was as long as an index finger and its body was fleshy. Lu Shenxing knew that this thing would soon grow up like crazy, and it would be round, so he simply named it Fatty.
So the male protagonist was known as Fatty before he attained his human form.
"It doesn't seem to be a snake." Ning Que seemed to like Fatty.
Jiang Wangchu looked at it frostily, he was most afraid of reptiles.
"A young aphid?" Liuyang lowered his voice.
Lu Shenxing didn't hide anything from him, "En, Shifu gave it to me before we left."
Liuyang frowned, "There aren't any spirits here."
Lu Shenxing and Liuyang looked at each other, his eyelid twitched. The cheat, no matter what the situation was, the male protagonist should definitely not be like this. His body's spiritual power seemed to be average, this time his story would probably end in tragedy.
Further up the mountain and in the forest, the humidity grew heavier, and there was a faint smell of blood in the air. Lu Shenxing turned around and walked to Ning Que very naturally, in a protective posture, Ning Que was stunned and cast his eyes down.
There were scattered pieces of meat and internal organs on the ground, it was hard to tell what it had belonged to. The smell was disgusting.
Liuyang clenched the long sword tightly and moved forward intently. Jiang Wangchu, in a rare moment of performing his solemn duty, stood with his face pale and his mouth closed, not saying a word.
"Who's there?"
The wary question came from within the lingering mist opposite them. Lu Shenxing raised his voice, "Bai Fengqi of Hengyang Sect."
"So you're a Daoist friend of the Hengyang Sect. I've heard of you."
Stumbling footsteps gradually approached, and Lu Shenxing saw a dozen young men and women coming out of the fog. All of them were covered with blood left over from the slaughter and belonging to Qiongxian Sect.
The woman in red was the one who planted the root of love in Liuyang's heart, the daughter of Qiong Xian.
Lu Shenxing glanced at Liuyang subconsciously. He gave the people of Qiongxian Sect a simple greeting and farewell, turning back to Liuyang after they'd passed them by, "Shifu told me that there are fragments of artifacts in the purple bamboo forest. Let's go quickly. The secret realm won't be open for long."
Jiang Wangchu looked back, "Da Shixiong, keep your voice down and you will be heard by Qiongxian's people."
The people of Qiongxian Sect, who'd listened to the whole thing, exchanged glances and laughed, "That Bai Fengqi is really a mess, how lucky."
Lu Shenxing walked for a while then rested for a while, moving slowly, as if he lacked any stamina.
Jiang Wangchu looked at him anxiously, "Da Shixiong, why did you stop again? We'll be robbed by the Qiongxian Sect if we're late."
"What's the rush? I'm not in a hurry to reincarnate." Lu Shenxing checked the green ring that was moving about his hand, and he spoke casually.
Ning Que touched his nose. Da Shixiong seemed to be planning something.
Liuyang didn't ask.
The fog that pervaded their surroundings became denser, like a flowing slurry, interfering with their five senses, as everything became cloudy.
Jiang Wangchu was the first to walk out of the fog, and he stood guarding his surroundings.
Some time later, Liuyang's figure appeared from the mist, he was also carrying a woman in a red dress. The air of death enveloping him was thick and suffocating.
"Er Shixiong, you and her, you..." Jiang Wangchu joked, but then he found that there were three wounds on the woman's neck. She had been scratched by something, her flesh and blood had turned black, it was obviously poisonous.
He took a breath, fortunately Da Shixiong was exhausted, and they didn't catch up.
He couldn't help but look at the traces of something on the woman's face. It looked a bit lewd. Jiang Wangchu thought awkwardly, did Er Shixiong do something to that woman?
Ah! What are you thinking about? Jiang Wangchu pinched himself, and looked into the fog eagerly, "Why haven't Da Shixiong and Xiao Shidi come out yet? Is something wrong?"
As Liuyang tidied his clothes, the shadow between his brows grew heavier.
In that mist, Lu Shenxing's mind was half blurred and half sober, no matter how Ning Que kissed him on his face, how he cried and moaned, begging him to comfort him, he didn't move until Ning Que called his name.
The mist in the mountains and forests was a bit random, some were poisonous, some psychedelic, and some were just mist. Lu Shenxing deliberately brought them over, just wanting to see what would happen.
People in this mist would expose the innermost part of their emotions, even thoughts they are unaware of, or lie to themselves about, or do not fully understand.
If there was no attachment, you could easily leave the mist, but once you enter, then you'd do everything you can to follow your heart, not stopping until you are satisfied.
"Da Shixiong...I feel uncomfortable..." Ning Que's overflowing voice was laboured.
"You'll feel comfortable in a while." Lu Shenxing kissed his burning earlobe.
Looking at him so openly, Lu Shenxing suddenly thought of something. He pressed Ning Que to his chest and whispered, "Close your eyes for me."
Fatty, who was lying on his stomach, closed his eyes that were the size of sesame seeds.
Under these circumstances, Lu Shenxing didn't play around, and directly confronted Ning Que. He stretched out his hand and grabbed him again, not letting go.
The door frame was exceptionally ordinary. Lu Shenxing couldn't help but shed two tears of excitement, and the tears flowed into a river.