abcnovels
Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Thoughts
The duo took refuge at the body of a hillside for the chilly, starry night. They were supposed to have arrived at Pine City during the afternoon. Owing to Mu Yu’s state, they had to take shelter outside, unfortunately.
Lan Ling’er roasted a rabbit over a flame, while Mu Yu rested on a stone slab nearby. It wasn’t the first time Lan Ling’er roasted meat. After all, everyone in the sect had secretly roated meat for themselves at some point when Uncle An cooked.
Mu Yu opened his eyes at long last. The both of them starved since neither wanted to eat the dry rations Uncle An packed for them.
“Finally,” remarked Lan Ling’er, begrudgingly tossed Mu Yu a rabbit thigh after he woke up.
Mu Yu caught the rabbit and took a bite, pleased with the taste. Though he didn’t want to say it, he couldn’t be ungrateful or deny he implicated Lan Ling’er. “Sorry for dragging you down with me.”
“I knew I was going to have bad luck with you hanging around. When I used to go out with Second Brother, only I would ever cause him grief, and he’d always clean up my mess.”
“You know, you’re pretty you’re not going on and on about Second Brother.”
“That’s obviously because he’s superior to you!”
Lan Ling’er’s retort spoiled Mu Yu’s mood after he was thinking things could’ve been worse. He aggressively bit into the rabbit thigh. “You’re the one who refuses to believe I beat Li Yuan. I don’t believe Second Brother is amazing as you make him out to be, either.”
Lan Ling’er snorted before resuming her meal. Neither of them felt awkward despite the silence. They were used to it already. Out of the blue, she stated, “Second Brother wouldn’t find himself in that situation.”
“What situation? Fly too low. Trespass into someone’s value, and put them through a beat down clinic?”
Mu Yu spat out a bone. He took out a handful of salt from his sleeve and sprinkled it onto his meat. He kept spices on him at all times for when he snacked behind Uncle An’s back.
“A filthy mouth can’t utter decent language.” Lan Ling’er glared at Mu Yu.
Mu Yu spat out another bone. “Are you saying your culinary skills aren’t up to par? Is that why my mouth is filthy?”
Lan Ling’er played the ignorant card. “Second Brother wouldn’t have tolerated someone slaying a pregnant flame horse, either.”
“What good is mentioning that now? What? Second Brother beat me at that, too?”
“I should’ve just left you to burn.”
Mu Yu was going to ask if Lie Shang was kidnapped or lost his memories but refrained from it in case he ended up caught in another round of verbal warfare. Hence, he chose to word it as, “Okay, okay, your second brother wins. At least tell me about him, though. What happened to him…?”
“Second Brother is mature, kind, talented, str-”
“Okay, I get the point. I’m the incarnate of evil, and he’s the embodiment of a saint. Next. Let’s hear how he went missing.” Mu Yu wasn’t educated on romance, but hearing Lan Ling’er praise her god gave him goose bumps.
“Glad we agree. Also, he’s our second brother. Don’t sound so distant,” sarcastically finished Lan Ling’er, glancing over to Mu Yu to warn him. “One day, he said to call him if we needed anything and that he would be pursuing his own path. He then left without goodbye.”
Mu Yu kept waiting for the continuation, but it never came. “That’s it?”
“I can tell you about his daily life. He’s astute, talented, has a great aptitude for cultivation, lives up to expectations, is disciplined, hard work-”
“Why are you describing me?”
“I don’t recall using the adjectives lazy and stupid.”
Mu Yu justified his inferior cultivation based on the fact he had only cultivated for only two years and brushed Lan Ling’er’s insults off. He took out a golden object and passed it to her. “By the way, you can have this.”
Lan Ling’er instantly recognised the fiend spirit. “How do you have it?”
Neither of them needed the fiend spirit as refinement material because their weapons were already extraordinary. Though it could easily be sold for ten thousand spirit stones in the markets, cultivators wouldn’t thoughtlessly sell it.
“I told you I stomped Li Yuan, yet you refused to believe me. Consider I picked it up when I saw it lying around.”
It wasn’t lying around. It fell out of Li Yuan’s shirt when Mu Yu drove his palm into the latter. Mu Yu was quick enough to escape Ju Wenxing’s surveillance. Because Cosmic Sleeve was another dimension and fiend spirits were sentient, it was impossible to store them in the dimension.
“You keep it. It’ll be helpful when you need to ascend to Golden Core Realm.”
Mu Yu shook his head. “I would consider it if it belonged to another fiend, but it doesn’t sit right with me when it’s the life of a mother and an infant who had yet to see the world. What would it make me if I was to use it when I was harping on about saving them?”
“Bury it, then. Perhaps it’ll allow them to rest in peace.”
“There are fiends with insanely keen smelling senses. If we don’t bury it deep enough, it’ll be sullied. Let’s take it back and ask Shifu what to do.” Mu Yu put the fiend spirit back in his shirt.
Mu Yu watched over the fire when Lan Ling’er turned in for the night. As he tossed branches into the fire, Mu Yu began to mull over the elemental demons. While humans couldn’t control the elements, they had ways of making use of them. For instance, they could turn leaves and stones into weapons with their spiritual energy. In addition, many of their weapons were forged from precious metals.
Mu Yu wondered if flying swords would be effective against elemental demons. Perhaps there was some trick to it. It was perplexing to think about why humans and elemental demons had to fight so persistently when humankind’s livelihood depended on the elements.
Everything in the world had its weakness. For instance, Mu Yu’s wood element was weak against fire. Despite his fondness for plants, he didn’t feel sorry for the branches he threw into the fire. The contradictions in life seemed unexplainable to him. The branch in Mu Yu’s hand suddenly sprouted new buds, but he manage to erase it when he shook his head.
Mu Yu threw the branch into the fire, then turned back to Lan Ling’er. He spaced out at the sight of her sleeping peacefully, a sight he never saw since they argued all the time. He never realised she had such long eyelashes. His lips curled up. Admittedly, he found arguing with her to be amusing because she was the only one who spoke to him. He prayed the night would last longer so that he could enjoy being alone with her.
Mu Yu shook his head again and reminded himself to not go there when her mind was still occupied with Lie Shang.
I bet only that mysterious fellow would like the annoying side of her.
Mu Yu’s heart palpitated faster. Before they descended the mountain, he dreaded travelling with Lan Ling’er, imagining all the ways she’d frustrate him to death. She perpetually hurled verbal jabs his way. Nonetheless, she didn’t abandon him. The fact she could sleep soundly with him around indicated she trusted him to have her back, a realisation he was happy about.
Lan Ling’er smacked her lips and rolled over.