Chapter 31

Seeing that he truly could not cut into their baffling topic, and with Gong Dongling clearly not on Buzhou Mountain either, leaving him unable to obtain any clues at once, Mu Chenlin asked no more. Instead, after everyone had fallen asleep, he left the outer disciples’ dormitory under cover of the dark, windy night.

He could only choose the easiest plan to expose himself: sneak into the dungeon where Qiu Yan was imprisoned and see whether this person, who had once belonged to their Demon Clan, could provide any useful information.

Recently, because of Xu Ruozhen’s orders, Buzhou Mountain had placed all its manpower under martial law on sealing the sect and searching the mountain for people. The dungeon had far fewer guards than usual, with only a few lazy disciples posted there.

After all, Buzhou Mountain currently did not allow anyone to leave the mountain. They had never imagined that someone would rush to sneak into the dungeon at such a time, which instead gave Mu Chenlin a chance to exploit.

Seeing the steward who patrolled the dungeon approaching, Mu Chenlin, who had long been waiting, transformed himself into a cocklebur and stuck to the hem of the steward’s robe, easily following him inside.

Getting in was not difficult. The difficult part was how to interrogate Qiu Yan without being seen by the jailers supervising the place.

The steward inspected one cell after another and finally passed by Qiu Yan’s prison cell. The cocklebur took the opportunity to quietly roll to the ground without a sound, watching the steward continue forward.

He knew the steward would return shortly. He had very little time. He had to finish speaking before the steward came back, then stick himself to the hem again and leave this dungeon.

Every criminal imprisoned in the dungeon had long since had their cultivation sealed by magical artifacts, making them no different from mortals. [unauthorized copy]Because of that, within the dungeon, outside visitors were not affected when casting spells. Once there was no one else nearby, Mu Chenlin transformed back into human form.

When the two met, Qiu Yan was leaning against the wall, staring blankly at the moss on the damp floor.

His legs were still crippled from before and had not received proper treatment. Now that his cultivation was sealed, not only could he no longer stand up, even the healing of his wounds had been affected. They had already festered and become infected, seeping through his filthy, tattered coarse clothes.

Sensing a gaze observing him, Qiu Yan lifted his head and met Mu Chenlin’s contemptuous eyes. He did not seem surprised. He only silently withdrew his gaze and continued staring aimlessly at the ground.

Afraid of attracting others, Mu Chenlin did not speak aloud. He only transmitted his words into Qiu Yan’s mind through his sea of consciousness. “Look carefully at yourself now. What have you become?”

After experiencing everything he had, Qiu Yan would no longer be angered by such simple words. He looked at Mu Chenlin and tugged out a smile, but the smile did not reach his eyes. He did not care at all.

As if punching cotton, Mu Chenlin could only choose another method. His attitude softened slightly. “I can rescue you, as long as you continue to pledge loyalty to me. After all, when you were exposed, you did not betray the Demon Clan. The Demon Realm will not abandon you.”

“You can’t save me. Don’t waste the effort.” Qiu Yan finally replied with his consciousness. Although both his cultivation and demonic power were sealed, he could still communicate with others through his thoughts.

It was just that his attitude was extremely negative, lazy and listless. He did not want to leave this prison at all.

As Mu Chenlin’s former subordinate, he knew too well that such promises were nothing but ​bailiantales.com​lies used to coax people. How many times had he been deceived like this before? They only wanted to squeeze out the last bit of his value, yet still acted so hypocritical and high above him.

If it had been in the past, he might still have raged indignantly.

But now, nothing mattered anymore. In any case, he would spend the rest of his life in this prison. The worst outcome left and right was merely death. Things could not get much worse, so what hope was there?

Seeing Qiu Yan’s detached indifference after seemingly seeing through the mortal world, Mu Chenlin grew increasingly furious. If Qiu Yan had not caused so much trouble, how would Mu Chenlin be here painstakingly investigating?

“Don’t forget the curse placed in your body back then. I can make you die at any time. You were born a dog of the Demon Clan, and even in death, you must serve the Demon Clan!” Mu Chenlin said angrily.

Qiu Yan narrowed his eyes and looked coldly at Mu Chenlin. “You want to threaten me with death? Then I might as well beg you to hurry and do it. I can die, but before I die, I will use the limited time I have to summon all the jailers and drag you down with me.”

Seeing Mu Chenlin furious yet defeated, a trace of pleasure suddenly rose in Qiu Yan’s heart. When Xie Yu took revenge on him before, had she also been this excited?

“Name your condition. I’ll exchange information with you. I want to know everything that happened the night you became demonic, as well as Xie Yu’s secret.”

Mu Chenlin no longer pretended. His brows were locked, and he looked at Qiu Yan darkly, finally saying this.

Hearing this, Qiu Yan at last showed a little vitality. So this was what they wanted. He did know all of it, but how could he give it so easily to his enemy?

“Aren’t you usually so capable? How is it that you can’t even solve this little mystery and have fallen to the point of begging me? Since you’re begging, act like you’re begging. Kneel with a little sincerity, and perhaps if I’m happy, I’ll tell you.”

Qiu Yan mocked him coldly. The scene from that night, when Xie Yu carved away his kneecap and made him kneel, circled in his mind. He also wanted to see Mu Chenlin kneeling before him.

“You! Don’t go too far!” Mu Chenlin naturally could not agree and warned him through gritted teeth.

But Qiu Yan did not care at all. Seeing that he was unwilling, he instantly lost interest and stopped paying attention to him.

The two remained in a stalemate for a while before footsteps from far to near interrupted them. Mu Chenlin had seen through Qiu Yan. Even if he truly knelt, the other party might still not tell him.

“Fine, you’re ruthless! The day I find the answer myself will be the day you die!” Even though he was this enraged, he still did not dare kill Qiu Yan at this time. This was also why Buzhou Mountain had left Qiu Yan alive.

Qiu Yan simultaneously held the secrets of both sides. If they could not unravel the answer using their own abilities, both sides would set their eyes on Qiu Yan, this trump card. At that time, it would depend on who could pry open Qiu Yan’s mouth first.

“You should worry about your own life instead. Xie Yu is no kind person. If you keep acting this unruly and lawless, sooner or later you’ll die at her hands.”

A faint, eerie light flashed in Qiu Yan’s eyes, making Mu Chenlin’s entire body bristle.

As Mu Chenlin transformed into a cocklebur, he could not help finding it strange. Xie Yu could be considered Qiu Yan’s enemy, so why did Qiu Yan not only not hate her, but even speak of her with admiration?

Just as he jumped back onto the person’s robe hem, he heard an urgent command coming from the Recording Stone in the steward’s hand. “The north gate has been broken through. The other side is only one person, but they launched a sneak attack and knocked out all the disciples stationed at the north gate. They may have already gone up the mountain. Requesting support!”

…

Gong Dongling had gone several days in a row without properly speaking to Xie Yu. Every time, the other girl seemed to be avoiding her. She would greet Gong Dongling from afar, then hurry off to find Immortal Lord Nandou.

Gong Dongling had already heard that Immortal Lord Nandou saw that Xie Yu’s spiritual root was exactly the same as his disciple’s and wanted to pass his legacy to her. This was the reason the Immortal Lord had insisted on making the two of them stay.

Ice spiritual roots were rare in this world to begin with, and Xie Yu had indeed become much more powerful than before, lending some credibility to the matter.

But Gong Dongling remembered that in the original novel, Xie Yu had also once been taken as a disciple by the Demon Lord while he disguised himself as a good person. In the end, the Demon Lord had wanted to use the power sealed inside her body. Worried that Xie Yu would be used by Immortal Lord Nandou as well, Gong Dongling secretly observed for several days and discovered that the Immortal Lord really was training Xie Yu with his full effort.

From then on, it became impossible to see Xie Yu in the room during the day. When she returned, she was also covered in wounds, her exhaustion plain to see.

At first, Gong Dongling had wanted to take advantage of the evenings to go to Xie Yu’s room and bandage her wounds like before. But Xie Yu refused her again on the grounds that the Immortal Lord had bestowed spiritual medicine bailiantales.comon her. Unfortunately, the Immortal Lord’s spiritual medicine truly was much more effective than Gong Dongling bandaging the wounds. The medicine cured injuries immediately. By the next day, all wounds would be healed.

But after being refused repeatedly, Gong Dongling still grew depressed. Perhaps people were like this. Once used to A-Yu’s closeness from before, being left out felt especially uncomfortable.

At this moment, she had just returned from the seaside. Immortal Lord Nandou had given her the daily task of feeding the jiao dragon.

She had to get up before dawn and bring the beast cores the jiao loved to eat. These were all the Immortal Lord’s stock. They looked expensive at a glance, yet the jiao could eat dozens in one meal. It was truly a gold-swallowing beast. Ordinary people really could not afford to keep such a noble guard pet.

Each time, she stood by the lake and threw the fist-sized beast cores into the lake one by one. The jiao would leap up and down like a puppy to retrieve the food that fell into the water. After finishing, it would even act spoiled with Gong Dongling and ask for more.

When not a single one remained, she spread her hands, and the jiao would angrily thrash about like a spoiled brat, swinging its enormous tail and splashing water onto Gong Dongling’s skirt as if sulking.

It was exactly like a little puppy, without the slightest trace of its original ferocious majesty.

Gong Dongling was filled with lingering frustration. How had she been frightened by this silly jiao dragon back then?

“System, has Xie Yu entered her adolescent rebellious phase? She isn’t close to me as her senior sister anymore. She’s like a stuffy gourd all alone and doesn’t tell me anything.” Carrying the basket, she walked back toward the house, yet her eyes involuntarily drifted toward the training field where Xie Yu usually trained.

Only today, there was no one there.

Before the system could say anything, she suddenly slapped her forehead. “Wait, no. Does A-Yu have someone she likes? A girl her age would suddenly become introverted if she had a crush on someone. But the question is, who does she like?”

Gong Dongling had been trapped by Xu Ruozhen for that period, cut off from all outside news. Without her interfering, who knew whether the original plot had corrected itself again and allowed the male and female leads to rekindle their connection!

Thinking of this, she suddenly understood. Perhaps because Xie Yu had chosen to save her, she had no choice but to separate from the other person, which was why she had become this melancholic and silent?

The more the system listened to the host’s imagination, the more black question marks filled its head. But it did not know how to remind the host either. After all, this was not within its scope of duties.

“I worked so hard to protect my cabbage from being rooted up by a pig, and after I leave for just a little while, the old flame rekindles? Is that old monster Xu Ruozhen arranged by the plot specifically to punish me? So he locked me up for so many days because of this!”

She planned to go find Xie Yu tonight and talk properly, trying to see how far Xie Yu and the other person had progressed, and whether she could still pull things back.

Gong Dongling raged uselessly as she cursed and grumbled. She pushed open a door and walked inside, completely failing to notice that she had gone into the wrong room.

The scene before her made her freeze in place. Before her was a massive alchemy furnace, as tall as she was. Golden runes were carved across its deep green bronze body, plating this originally low-key and ancient furnace with a layer of golden light. The runes were still leaping across its surface, changing position and combinations from time to time.

The artifact spirit of this furnace looked like a dignified, solemn old man, standing before Gong Dongling and examining her sternly. It unauthorized copyeven made Gong Dongling shrink back humbly.

Gong Dongling knew that her alchemy attainment was still not high enough. The amazement and longing in her heart gradually turned into shame. Only after waking from her astonishment toward this Heavenly Pattern Sun-Moon Furnace did she realize that she had accidentally walked into Immortal Lord Nandou’s alchemy room.

This alchemy furnace was one of the Ten Great Immortal Artifacts, and the only alchemy artifact among the top ten. No wonder it had such a soul-stirring presence.

Just as she realized she had intruded and was about to turn and leave, a voice called her back. “Young friend, please stay.”

Immortal Lord Nandou slowly walked out from the inner room and smiled at Gong Dongling, not especially minding her accidental intrusion.

“Immortal Lord, I didn’t mean to come in. I merely entered the wrong room by accident. Please don’t blame me.” Ever since Immortal Lord Nandou came out, the alchemy furnace’s artifact spirit had withdrawn its pressure. Now, what covered Gong Dongling was only Immortal Lord Nandou’s tolerant and benevolent aura.

“No matter.”

Gong Dongling looked beside him. Seeing no sign of Xie Yu, she found it somewhat strange that the two of them were not together today. “Immortal Lord, where did Xie Yu go?”

“Today’s training is outside. Once she completes her task, she will naturally return.” Immortal Lord Nandou paused, then turned his gaze onto Gong Dongling. His smile grew increasingly meaningful. “You recognize this Heavenly Pattern Sun-Moon Furnace, and you… also know alchemy.”

After saying this, Immortal Lord Nandou took in Gong Dongling’s startled appearance.

Gong Dongling reflexively looked at her fingertips. They were tender and white. Last time, it was because her fingertips had been scorched yellow that Mu Chenlin had caught her weakness. Ever since then, she had been especially careful. Who would have known she would overturn again?

“Because only alchemists can sense the artifact spirit of an alchemy furnace. You were standing frozen at the doorway just now because you were suppressed by the old man’s pressure, weren’t you?”

Immortal Lord Nandou was not at all surprised by this result. Previously, she had been so familiar with the contents of his alchemy book and had fed pills to the treasure-seeking rat as if they cost nothing. Clearly, that was something only someone who refined pills herself would do. This was merely further confirmation.

What was interesting, however, was that Xu Ruozhen seemed completely unaware that his own disciple knew alchemy. That had a bit of meaning.

“So that’s how it is. I embarrassed myself in front of Senior just now. Even the artifact spirit looked down on my low attainments.” Seeing that the Immortal Lord had already discovered it, Gong Dongling stopped hiding things and shamefully admitted it.

Hearing Gong Dongling’s somewhat resentful words, Immortal Lord Nandou laughed. “You girl. That old man even looks down on me. There isn’t an alchemist he doesn’t despise. After all, it considers itself an ancient divine artifact. Its personality has been so pretentious since birth. Just ignore it.”

“Speaking of which, young friend, what stage have you reached now?” Immortal Lord Nandou was rather curious about Gong Dongling’s alchemy level.

“I’ve only just learned the first few middle-grade prescriptions and haven’t had time to take the initial-grade alchemist certification exam yet.” Gong Dongling had not had the chance to touch an alchemy furnace for a long time and had delayed a lot of progress. She had no idea how long it would take at this rate before she could suppress the cold energy in her body.

“I wonder whether young friend can demonstrate before me. I can give you ​read the original at bailiantales.com​some guidance as well.”

Good heavens. Was this an immortal descending to earth to teach in the countryside?!

Author’s Note:
Senior Sister: 555, I think my cabbage has been rooted up by a pig.

Xie Yu: Thanks. The fully automatic cabbage is already chopping the pig.

On steel-straight-niece Senior Sister’s enterprise-level understanding and imagination.