Chapter 16

Early in the morning…

As usual, Qin Youzhou woke early.

There was a slightly heavy sensation around his wrist. When he raised his hand, he discovered that the silver snake, which had still moved so nimbly the day before, was now coiled stiffly around it.

It was wrapped so tightly that it had left marks on his skin.

Shizun’s artifact was always like this. Once it lost Shizun’s control, it would find somewhere familiar to curl up and sleep.

When Qin Youzhou had gone to the medicine garden alone as a child, Shizun had always worried something might happen to him and made the silver snake coil around his wrist.

Even now, the mindless silver snake often did the same.

It had probably failed to find Shizun’s true body last night, so it had simply chosen a familiar place to spend the night.

Qin Youzhou gently patted the snake’s back. Once it loosened its hold, he placed it beside the bed.

After briefly tidying the courtyard and preparing Shizun’s medicine, Qin Youzhou played with the spirit herbs for a while before getting ready to leave.

He was genuinely worried that if he was not there, Dai Yang would rush to cause more trouble.

“Bugu.”

Jiezi followed him eagerly all the way to the entrance and still refused to leave.

Qin Youzhou laughed and gently rubbed the lush leaves growing from its head.

“Jiezi, go back.”

“Bugu!”

Jiezi shook its head.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.”

After finally coaxing the reluctant little ginseng spirit once again, Qin Youzhou glanced at the sky and hurried away.

Creak—

The door to the alchemy room opened.

“Bugu!”

The moment the little ginseng spirit looked up and saw Ying Weiye, its leaves stood straight up in fright.

…It was this bad man who had gone around teaching people to put diced radish into soup!

The spirit herbs in the courtyard were close to Qin Youzhou, but they feared Ying Weiye.

After all, if the young Qin Youzhou had not sensed that they had developed awareness, Ying Weiye might already have thrown their muddled little selves into a pot to make soup and give Qin Youzhou an extra meal.

“He left?”

Ying Weiye asked despite already knowing the answer.

The moment he spoke, Jiezi fell backward into its clay pot in terror.

It frantically dug into the soil, and in the blink of an eye, only a trembling cluster of leaves remained visible.

Ying Weiye folded his arms and walked expressionlessly into the room.

“He only came back for one day before rushing to leave again…”

He muttered a string of rather neurotic complaints.

“He truly doesn’t want to stay at home.”

Jiezi cautiously poked its head out and watched blankly as Ying Weiye slammed the door shut.

The bad man… seemed a little sad?

---

At the sect plaza below the mountain…

“You still can’t sleep after taking the medicine?”

Qin Youzhou stared at the young man before him.

The free clinic had already ended, but as a medical cultivator, he naturally could not ignore someone who came to him seeking treatment.

“That’s right.”

Du Xiao propped his cheek against the back of his hand and answered listlessly.

“I still can’t sleep.”

“How long has this been happening?”

Qin Youzhou checked his pulse but found nothing seriously wrong.

A shadow crossed Du Xiao’s expression for a moment before he quickly returned to normal.

“A long time. I’m afraid it can’t be cured.”

“You only look a few decades old.”

Qin Youzhou laughed.

“Relax. The more stubbornly you think of a problem as incurable, the more likely it is to keep you awake.”

The young man fell silent for a moment.

“Then I’ll borrow Senior’s auspicious words.”

“Do you still miss home?”

Qin Youzhou carefully wrote the prescription, stroke by stroke, while taking the time to comfort him.

“Focus on preparing for the sect’s trials. If your family truly cares about you, they will be happy to see you accomplish something.”

“But Senior doesn’t want me to become your junior brother.”

Qin Youzhou: …

How had Du Xiao still not forgotten about that?

“You don’t necessarily have to become my junior brother.”

He tried to reason with him.

“The sect’s other elders are also excellent. I remember you placed among the top five in the first round of the beast cultivators’ trial. Elder Huo of Longling Peak is a very good person.”

Du Xiao pretended to be curious.

“Even better than Elder Ying?”

“Every disciple in the world reveres their own Shizun. To me, my Shizun is naturally the best.”

Qin Youzhou lowered his eyes and finished the final stroke. He handed over the prescription and stiffly ended the conversation.

“Go collect your medicine.”

He could not bring himself to dislike Du Xiao, but he deeply disliked his attitude.

Du Xiao forcibly suppressed the curve of his lips.

“Senior is right. Then I won’t disturb you any longer.”

Dai Yang had been watching from a distance and had planned to seize the opportunity to join them.

But by the time he arrived, Qin Youzhou had already vanished without a trace.

He wandered around before returning gloomily to the lodging area.

Of the five cultivators sharing his quarters, only the most irritating one, Du Xiao, remained.

He leaned against the wall, decocting medicine while lighting strips of dried herbs in his hand.

A bitter fragrance spread through the room, making Dai Yang cough repeatedly.

“What are you doing?”

He finally asked, unable to endure it any longer.

“That smell is disgusting.”

Du Xiao raised his eyes and swept him a glance before extinguishing the flame with a wave of his hand.

“Repelling insects.”

The herb could neutralize the effects of medicinal pills. Its fumes were not poisonous, but they were inevitably harsh and bitter.

Du Xiao burned it, and Dai Yang had no choice but to endure it.

“Stop lighting it.”

Dai Yang covered his nose and ordered him imperiously.

“You’re not the only one living here.”

“My apologies.”

Du Xiao lazily waved his hand and extinguished the open flame.

Then he smiled maliciously.

“I forgot that you are technically a person too.”

“You…!”

Before Dai Yang could finish losing his temper, Du Xiao said, “Instead of wasting your time, think about how to hide your fox tail properly. Stop trying to smear other people.”

Only then did Dai Yang realize that the way Du Xiao looked at him carried a hatred that was impossible to conceal, though he had no idea where it came from.

It was as though Du Xiao wished he could cut him into ten thousand pieces.

Dai Yang felt as though he had fallen into an icy pit. His entire body stiffened as he watched Du Xiao walk away.

Had that remark about a fox tail merely been an insult, or did Du Xiao truly know his identity?

If he truly knew, then he was the second person to discover it.

Dai Yang did not know who the previous person who had threatened him using his true form had been.

At first, he had suspected Qin Youzhou, but Qin Youzhou’s participation in the Winter Sacrifice was only a rumor among the public.

Even if Qin Youzhou truly had participated, he might simply have presided over the ritual.

Judging by Qin Youzhou’s personality, he was incapable of doing something like threatening someone.

Who exactly had gone wrong at which step?

A single careless sentence from Du Xiao frightened Dai Yang so badly that he failed to sleep the entire night.

By dawn, Dai Yang, with dark blue shadows beneath his eyes, reached the only conclusion his not particularly intelligent mind could produce—

Du Xiao could not be allowed to remain alive.

He needed to find a way to get rid of him.

According to Qin Youzhou’s original plan, the medicinal effects in Dai Yang’s body would not be fully neutralized until after the music cultivators’ examination.

Moreover, there was certainly more than just medicine concealing his demon nature. He must also have some kind of seal, or he could not have hidden it so securely.

But once the medicinal effects stopped masking him, that seal would have nowhere left to hide.

What Qin Youzhou did not expect was for Dai Yang to make a mistake during the medical cultivators’ examination itself.

The medical examination had always been a written test.

A vast crowd of cultivators sat across the plaza, making the scene as grand as mortals sitting for the imperial examinations.

If one cultivator made a small movement, the nearby proctors might not necessarily see it clearly.

But halfway through writing, Du Xiao, who sat beside Dai Yang, suddenly raised his head and called to a passing cultivator.

“Immortal Master.”

“The fellow cultivator beside me seems unwell!”

The cultivator who happened to pass by was Yun Luoyi, who had been dragged in as extra labor to supervise the examination.

She had been so bored she was nearly falling asleep, but immediately became alert upon hearing this.

She did not know how to diagnose illnesses and could only tell that Dai Yang’s complexion was poor.

She hurriedly found the nearest person, Yu Jia.

“Senior Brother, something’s wrong! A cultivator looks like he can’t hold on much longer!”

Yu Jia did not know how to diagnose illnesses either.

When he went over, all he could see was that Dai Yang’s complexion looked even worse.

He paled in alarm and hurried off to find Qin Youzhou, who was currently catching cheaters.

“Junior Brother, something terrible has happened! Someone is about to die!”

Qin Youzhou, who was lecturing a cheating cultivator: ?

He hurried over carrying his medicine case.

By then, Dai Yang was covering his mouth, drenched in cold sweat.

Several young cultivators temporarily helped Dai Yang out of the examination grounds while Qin Youzhou checked his pulse.

His pulse was chaotic, but his demon nature had not yet been exposed.

“You didn’t take the medicine I prescribed on time?”

Dai Yang’s eyes darted around.

“I did… but perhaps not at the proper times.”

Qin Youzhou neither confirmed nor denied it. He wrote another prescription.

“Return and rest properly. Someone will deliver the medicine to you.”

Dai Yang asked, “Can I make up the part of the examination I missed later?”

Yu Jia looked speechless.

“No.”

Luck was also part of cultivating immortality.

If someone’s luck was so poor that they missed a trial, it meant they were not suited to cultivate that path.

“It’s only one examination. Your health is more important.”

Yun Luoyi kindly tried to persuade him.

“I remember you passed every part of the previous round. You’ll definitely be able to find a master.”

“…But I want to place first.”

Dai Yang replied to her, but his eyes remained fixed on Qin Youzhou.

Only by placing first could he become Qin Youzhou’s junior brother and prove that Qin Youzhou’s attitude toward him was wrong.

Although he could not memorize all those complicated herbs, one of the cultivators sharing his lodging could.

He had already built a good relationship with him and arranged for the cultivator to reveal some answers.

Demons had good eyesight. If he deliberately copied, he could still see the other person’s work.

“If you want to place first, then you truly cannot miss the examination.”

But Qin Youzhou’s moral standards were ultimately too high, so he added, “However, I still recommend that you return and rest.”

“No. I must finish it.”

Dai Yang had originally begun to consider withdrawing, but after hearing Qin Youzhou tell him to leave, his rebelliousness surged.

“I’m going to place first and prove it to you!”

“The trial belongs to him. Why does he need to prove anything to Senior Brother?”

After they sent Dai Yang back, Yun Luoyi remained confused.

“How inexplicable.”

“Forget about him.”

Yu Jia sighed.

“Let’s hurry back. I’m genuinely afraid the others won’t be able to control the cheating.”

When it came to catching cheaters, spirit cultivators like him and Qin Youzhou were the most useful.

Wherever they sensed malice, they went to investigate. Nine times out of ten, someone was cheating.

“Once the supervision ends, could Senior Brother and Junior Sister accompany me somewhere?”

Qin Youzhou seemed deep in thought.

If Dai Yang had returned to rest, he might still have suppressed his demon nature.

But exposing himself to the blazing sun in the examination grounds was something even a great demon could not endure.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m coming too!”

The two people who loved excitement immediately became interested.

…

Dai Yang hid in an empty corner, his back already soaked with sweat.

The tip of his nose was red, aggrieved tears glimmered at the corners of his eyes, and his entire body trembled.

While holding the brush earlier, his mind had been too muddled for him to copy properly.

He had probably performed poorly.

He had clearly taken his medicine on time.

He had not even dared to eat the meals delivered by the sect.

How had he suddenly become unable to suppress his demon nature?

Hearing faint footsteps, Dai Yang reacted like a startled bird and shrank farther into hiding.

“Why is there movement inside?”

A cultivator’s voice sounded.

The footsteps stopped.

Dai Yang hugged his shoulders and blinked desperately, trying to suppress the demon traits threatening to emerge.

Demon markings flickered beneath his eyes.

Please…

Please, he could not be discovered!

He prayed with all his strength.

“Oh, it’s probably just one of the cats or dogs Longling Peak has taken in. Let’s go, let’s go…”

Another voice answered, and the footsteps gradually faded away.

Dai Yang sighed in relief and collapsed to his knees, all his strength gone.

But he had forgotten one thing.

High-ranking cultivators could walk without making any footsteps.

“You…”

A voice suddenly exploded behind him, making Dai Yang’s mind buzz.

He turned his head with difficulty.

The first thing he saw was the hem of a robe untouched by even a speck of dust.

His gaze slowly traveled upward until he met Qin Youzhou’s slightly astonished eyes.

This was bad.

The person he least wanted to see had witnessed him in this state.

“…Don’t tell anyone.”

He gasped heavily and pleaded without thinking.

“I’m begging you.”

As though everything were only natural.

Qin Youzhou was never supposed to expose him.

He was supposed to gently help him to his feet, smile, and tell him everything was all right.

He would protect him.

He definitely would, wouldn’t he?