Thank you W for the Kofi~~
(1/5)
Wei City lay over 400 li from Mu City—a journey that could be completed within hours by sword flight but would take three or four days by carriage with stops along the way.
Above this route through mountain forests hovered two Foundation Establishment cultivators on swords. They held tracking compasses in their hands as though searching for someone while chatting casually.
“Hey,” one remarked with amusement. “To kill just one crippled man? Fourth Master Chu actually hired Foundation Establishment cultivators? How generous.”
The other person smiled and replied, “Who doesn’t like making money? This job is great. Ah, we’ve found him.”
The compass needle settled, pointing towards a figure in the forest wearing fine, luxurious clothing.
He seemed to be struggling, moving with great difficulty along the mountain path. The two Foundation Establishment cultivators compared him to the portrait given by Fourth Master Chu, confirming that it was indeed their target, Chu Jinglan.
No matter his past glory as a prodigy, today he would become a ghost under their swords, his head exchanged for money.
Moreover, Chu Jinglan had been at the peak of the Golden Core stage before being crippled. Now he would die at the hands of mere Foundation Establishment cultivators. The thought gave them a strange sense of satisfaction.
Dealing with such a cripple, they disdained the idea of a sneak attack. They descended on their swords, blocking Chu Jinglan’s path directly.
“Young Master Chu, please stop.”
Suddenly confronted by two people blocking his way, Chu Jinglan showed neither panic nor surprise. He truly stopped, calmly raising his eyelids to give them a disinterested glance.
Despite his current miserable state, his gaze seemed to come from above, as if looking down on them from a great height, barely noticing their existence.
This look stepped on one of the Foundation Establishment cultivator’s nerves. He frowned, “We called you ‘Young Master,’ and you really put on airs. Do you still think you’re the Golden Core prodigy?”
Chu Jinglan truly seemed to lack strength, his cold gaze cutting through them without even bothering to speak. This dismissive attitude ignited the anger of the two who had come to bully him. One cultivator thrust his sword tip to Chu Jinglan’s face, “We’re here to take your life. The Chu family has completely abandoned you. Heartbroken, Chu Jinglan?”
With the sword at his face, Chu Jinglan finally looked up. His expression suddenly froze for a moment.
The two cultivators thought he was finally showing fear and were about to continue toying with their prey when Chu Jinglan’s bland expression disappeared. His eyebrows curved, and he actually smiled at them.
Chu Jinglan was handsome, so his smile was naturally attractive. But for some reason, this smile made the two cultivators’ hearts skip a beat. “Chu Jinglan” stared languidly at the sword tip and asked, “Should I be afraid?”
His tone, lazy yet playful, was different from the Chu Jinglan described in their intel. One cultivator had a strong intuition and felt something was amiss. He decided to stop provoking the situation and raised his hand to finish off Chu Jinglan. But unexpectedly, he met Chu Jinglan’s eyes.
A dark red light flowed in those pitch-black eyes as “Chu Jinglan” slowly spoke: “Kill the person to your left.”
The Foundation Establishment cultivator beside him laughed, “Ha, what nonsense are you—Ah!”
He looked down in disbelief to see his companion’s sword, which should have been aimed at Chu Jinglan, plunged into his own chest, piercing him through.
He moved his lips, dying without understanding why his partner had suddenly betrayed him.
The surviving cultivator muttered in a daze, “Kill… kill…”
“Chu Jinglan’s” voice poured into his ears: “Yes, now commit suicide.”
It was an order that should have been impossible to follow, yet the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivator unhesitatingly placed his sword against his own neck and sliced decisively, collapsing to the ground.
Blood trailed along the path.
Two Foundation Establishment cultivators, facing a single cripple, had both perished in the blink of an eye.
The red in “Chu Jinglan’s” eyes faded, his expression returning to indifference. Xiao Mo ended the possession, materializing beside Chu Jinglan.
Indeed, this had been their first collaboration, with Xiao Mo controlling Chu Jinglan’s body.
As a Nascent Soul stage demon, Xiao Mo’s perception range was vast. He had sensed these two Foundation Establishment cultivators pursuing them along the road. Since Chu Jinglan couldn’t fight in his current state, they had to rely on Xiao Mo.
This first possession was unfamiliar to both of them, but the experience was fascinating. For Xiao Mo, it meant finally having a physical body. The moment he took control felt very grounding, allowing him to truly feel a flesh-and-blood heart beating again after so long. Yet it was also a bit awkward, as if everything was separated by a thin mist—like using a machine that works but isn’t as comfortable as the original.
For Chu Jinglan, it was even more challenging. He had to willingly surrender his body, watching helplessly as it was controlled by another, resisting the instinct to reclaim control. It was like becoming a puppet on strings, and the feeling of losing control was far from pleasant.
Despite their internal struggles, their external cooperation was successful, effectively dealing with their pursuers.
Xiao Mo looked at the two corpses on the ground. Although he hadn’t wielded the sword himself, these two had indeed died by his hand. It was his first time killing, and while Xiao Mo wasn’t entirely comfortable with it, he wasn’t as afraid as he had imagined.
Perhaps it was because he had seen too many horrific deaths in the Mu Mountain Secret Realm, or maybe because their two souls had been so closely intertwined during the act that even the fear and discomfort were shared between them.
“Villains die from talking too much,” Xiao Mo said. “Of course, they would have died even if they hadn’t talked so much.”
The “Bewitchment” technique from the Demonic Sound Scripture was essentially a charm that affected the mind. For those with cultivation far below his own, Xiao Mo didn’t even need to play the flute; his eye technique alone could control their minds.
Chu Jinglan was already crouching beside the bodies, searching through their belongings.
Xiao Mo used black mist to destroy the tracking compass. As its name suggested, it was a tool for finding people, containing Chu Jinglan’s blood essence—taken from the soul lamp he had left in the Chu family ancestral hall. When Chu Jinglan was expelled from the family and the soul lamp removed from the hall, Fourth Master Chu had taken the blood and placed it on the compass to track Chu Jinglan’s whereabouts.
But the blood essence in the soul lamp was limited, and this use might have depleted it entirely.
Xiao Mo asked, “Sent by Fourth Master Chu. He’s in quite a hurry. Will the Chu family notice something’s amiss if we kill them?”
“With the blood essence gone, the Chu family won’t be able to constantly track our location. As long as it’s not a Nascent Soul cultivator coming in person, we… you can handle them.”
Xiao Mo narrowed his eyes, “It’s we who can handle them. Without your body, I couldn’t harm them either.”
Chu Jinglan readily corrected himself, “Yes, we.”
One without cultivation, one demon unable to kill directly—to survive, they were indeed bound together now.
The Chu family elders’ attitude towards Chu Jinglan was that a cripple wasn’t worth worrying about; they didn’t care if he lived or died. If their subordinates sent assassins, they would pretend not to notice. Fourth Master Chu hated him for not saving his son but could only afford to hire Foundation Establishment cultivators at most. Nascent Soul cultivators were all sect-protecting powerhouses in the lower realm; they wouldn’t have time to come kill him personally.
Satisfied, Xiao Mo helped search the bodies, “However, if it were a Golden Core expert capable of killing those above their level, I would have difficulty dealing with them too.”
Xiao Mo couldn’t store demonic energy in Chu Jinglan’s body, so when using demonic techniques, he prioritized using spiritual energy directly. This reduced their power but was faster. The alternative was to materialize demonic energy on the spot, which was slower but more powerful.
As they talked, they had already found money pouches on the two bodies. Opening them revealed only some silver fragments, low-denomination banknotes, and common medicinal herbs.
Xiao Mo was disappointed: “They’re this poor?”
They didn’t even have storage artifacts!
Not everyone in the lower realm could afford storage artifacts, as they were expensive. Even when Chu Jinglan was a young master, he only had a 10-square-meter storage artifact. Moreover, these two came to kill a cripple and didn’t expect to need much.
The loot from the two Foundation Establishment cultivators: 50 in banknotes, 10 taels of silver fragments, and two bottles of common medicine.
It was meager, but richer than the penniless human and demon. Neither could complain.
From Wan Yu’s death to being expelled from the Chu family, events happened too quickly. Xiao Mo had only taken some herbs from Chu Jinglan’s courtyard, leaving no valuables. The Chu family had sent Chu Jinglan away empty-handed, without even a copper coin.
Chu Jinglan gathered everything into one money pouch. Xiao Mo reached out: “I’ll keep it.”
Chu Jinglan handed it over without hesitation.
The two would be relying on each other from now on. Xiao Mo had explained his techniques and storage abilities, which Chu Jinglan understood as a pocket dimension storage space, which wasn’t incorrect.
As they stood up, Chu Jinglan suddenly felt dizzy and almost lost his balance. Xiao Mo quickly steadied him.
Xiao Mo looked at Chu Jinglan’s complexion and, surprised, raised his hand to touch Chu Jinglan’s forehead.
Chu Jinglan felt a cool sensation on his forehead, which was comforting. He heard Xiao Mo’s urgent voice: “Chu Jinglan, you’re running a fever!”
When Xiao Mo possessed Chu Jinglan, he didn’t feel the body’s pain or discomfort; only Chu Jinglan experienced it. Chu Jinglan’s body hadn’t fully recovered, and after this journey, he was exhausted.
Chu Jinglan’s pale face flushed with fever. He panted lightly: “It’s nothing.”
It clearly wasn’t nothing!
Xiao Mo helped him sit down nearby: “Rest for a while.”
Letting Chu Jinglan lean against a tree, Xiao Mo sat beside him and opened his interface to check his inventory. First, he looked at the herbs brought from the Chu family—none for treating fever. Then he checked the store—still nothing suitable.
Xiao Mo had to ask about a potentially useful item: “System, can he use the Qi Replenishing Pill?”
The system, acting like a half-baked doctor who could diagnose but not treat, dutifully replied: “His dantian can’t store spiritual energy, so he can’t circulate spiritual power to eliminate symptoms. Taking the Qi Replenishing Pill would only make his fever worse.”
Xiao Mo said glumly: “Such a big store without even fever medicine. Do you have a service rating? I’d like to leave a review.”
The system choked, replying weakly: “We don’t, dear.”
As Xiao Mo was about to say more, he felt a weight on his shoulder. Startled, he turned to see that Chu Jinglan had fainted from the fever and fallen onto his shoulder.
“Chu Jinglan, Chu Jinglan?”
Xiao Mo called out twice but couldn’t wake him. The demon’s spiritual body had no temperature, so he touched Chu Jinglan’s face again. It was so hot it felt like it would melt his hand.
This fever couldn’t continue.
Xiao Mo pressed his lips together, then lifted Chu Jinglan onto his back.
Xiao Mo added two layers of spiritual power to himself. His form didn’t change, but a shadow appeared beneath his feet. At the Nascent Soul stage, he could control how his form appeared to others. Now, if anyone passed by, they would see him carrying Chu Jinglan on his back, rather than Chu Jinglan mysteriously floating in the air.
If Chu Jinglan were healthy, Xiao Mo could have flown with him. But in his current state, the wind from flying would only worsen his fever.
Xiao Mo didn’t know the way to Wei City, but the system did. With his vast Nascent Soul perception, he could sense presences within dozens of li. In gaming terms, it was like having a god’s eye view with blurry 3D models.
Xiao Mo closed his eyes to sense their surroundings. On a small path leading down from the forest, a caravan was approaching from afar. The group included two late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, with the rest being ordinary people. They were too far to determine the caravan’s purpose, but based on its composition, it clearly wasn’t a noble family or sect outing.
He decided to try his luck and see if they could hitch a ride. Chu Jinglan couldn’t spend the night in the forest.
1 Kofi = 1 extra update
thanks for the chapter!